The Wooly Mammoth gets petrified...

maalri · Post by **maalri** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 11:15 pm

The Wooly Mammoth gets petrified...(SPOILER)

Well, I have an improtant question-- I know what the MINIMUM system requirements are to run this fun game, but what do y'all Gurus recommend?

My aforementioned Wooly Mammoth computer seems to be a bit older and slower than I previously thought.

The Christmas gift I got 2 years ago is NOT 2.3 Ghz with 256 DD RAM, as my friend said it was, and this could be a major contributing factor as to why I now cannot go further in the Temple. Yep, on the second level, in combat anywhere near the Fire Temple side (wiped out the Air Temple OK), my initiatives just won't end.

Now, Nortons is off, the maps cache is self-cleaning on start-up, and I have no other computer apps running, but everytime I get in battle, magic missiles won't fire, or after a melee swing, the intitiative just won't move on to the next character or enemy

It COULD be because, although I do have 512 RAM on this old beastie (SD I am sure, not DD) the processor is only a paltry 1.15 Ghz!!

I must have been thinking of my other computer- the one I was using before this gift. Hey, an old friend bought a new computer and gave me this one, and it has run absolutely great-up till now. It seemed "cleaner" and better put together than my old one-which I had a computer shop special build about 3 yrs before- back when I was rich, and which is now the kids computer.

BUT, as my "old" computer was assuredly 2.3 Ghz (I just rechecked it) with 256 of SD RAM, I may be cleaning off the Barbie Pet Rescue Files, and the Game of Life, and Pooh stuff, and possibly even reformatting the hard-drive on the old computer to get it sweet once again. With this RAM of course- maybe BOTH RAM chips.

My Question is -what is a decent set-up to run ToEE? I wish I could still get it working on this 'puter, because I don't even know if the other one has a dial-up modem (what I am forced to use these days due to location.) And this system has all my stuff on it, like Norton's 2005 and Microsoft Word, that I need for college, and it just would be a B*tch to redo it all...

Some advice guys?

Lord Plothos · Post by **Lord Plothos** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 1:45 am

Just to make sure, you're not using any of the auto-counter weapons like Scather or Fragarach, are you? This causes hang ups and a general refusal to go to the next party member because of the fire damage you take when you fight the salamanders and flamebrothers in there. If you are, then that's probably yor problem.

As for the specs, I'm running it now on a 3.0GHz processor with 512M ram, but prior to that I ran it just fine on a now-5-year-old laptop with just a 600MHz processor and 256M ram. It was slower and saving took forever and the fire temple was a real chore to slog through, but I never got a real hangup. I just had to be really patient right there.... and turn down all the graphics options, of course.

maalri · Post by **maalri** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 9:56 am

Yes I was using Scather and I am in the fire temple- I shall go to Nulb and put it away in my chest there for a bit, and see if that helps.

Also- I hear people talking about "chucking a Fireball" to initiate combat--when would you do that--just when walking around, or when entering a room? I would think entering a room where combat is gonna happen, pretty much initiates the the combat anyway right? So that leaves chucking Fireballs at random when walking around to avoid scrying?--

Nice to know that this Wooly Mammoth has the specs to run the game! BUT, LP, do you think the fact that you didn't run the Co8 mods on your original computer might make a difference? For instance, does the Co8 4.0 with livs and Teds 1.2 and others in it neccesitate a better processor/RAM?

Lord Plothos · Post by **Lord Plothos** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 1:08 pm

Okay, so yes definitely get rid of Scather for a while. You see, because it counters when you take damage and when you attack flamebrothers and such you take damage when you attack them, this weird kind of loop gets started and the game doesn't really know how to handle it. The game will still give you some lag in the fire temple because of the fire effects, but you should be able to finish combat (probably what happened is a flamebrother moved and attacked the scather wielder and started the problem, even if you didn't necessarily attack with that guy) (this will be easier to see if you turn off concurrent turns, which I always do anyway, so I can better grasp what's happening to me). Anyway, yeah the combat should be better now.

As for the fireballs, here's the deal: there are a few places right on the edge of the enemy becoming hostile were the game will just absolutely lock up on me. There's a bunch in a few places on the nodes and one on the fourth level of the temple. I speculate that it's due to the enemy trying to detect me, because if I throw a fireball ahead and force combat the problem totally goes away. It's definitely not map related or anything like that, because after the combat ends the problem is still there. I don't recommend running around throwing fireballs everywhere, but if you run into a spot where the game is freezing up or being really super laggy, you might want to try this. There aren't many places where you'll need to (because, as you say, when you enter a room typically the battle starts on its own), but there are a couple places (and there are no doors in the nodes) where this isn't the case. Just bear this in mind if you have a freeze/crash problem in a particular spot.

The co8 patch almost certainly makes the game jump through more hoops than it normally would, especially with Liv's mod changing the AI around, and that can only increase the amount of power you'll need to run it well, but it's unclear whether the difference is really significant. The game in its normal official patch version runs better than unpatched, smoother and such, but still requires a lot of processor work to run at all, as you know. With that as a baseline, the extra work required to run co8 is probably minimal, though there may be one or two places where it causes a real problem. I just can't say for sure. I suspect any problems you have are going to be there even without co8's patch. The scather and fireball-needing things are prime examples; they'll be there no matter what patch you're running.

maalri · Post by **maalri** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 5:56 pm

Thanks again LP, I wish me luck tonight without Scather-- It is important to note though, that my lock ups and non-initiative ending problems existed when fighting Fire Temple Bugbears as well as the Fire brothers--in areas around the main fight...

And thanks for the Fireball clarification.

maalri · Post by **maalri** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:40 pm

Update- Things seem to be working Well without Scather in the party- I actually had to leave it in Nulb, just unequipping it didn't help much.

Does anyone have any idea when I can Re-equip Scather? I am on the third level now...

Lord Plothos · Post by **Lord Plothos** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 1:35 am

Spoiler alert, highlight to read.

I don't think you'll have any problems similar to the fire temple until you get to the elemental nodes. There is one spot on the right hand side of the fourth level where I encounter some problems, but it's not scather-related. Make sure you save a lot around there, cause you'll probably get a crash before you find out where it is. Then get somebody into the door and get combat started ASAP. Problem resolves once combat begins. (C.f. my comments on the fireball solution.)

maalri · Post by **maalri** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 6:26 pm

I know seem to be having the same problem with my Barbarian using the Frostbrand found in the Fire Temple!

I am on the third level now- in the Jacka;were area- is that the area you were referring to? -hmm you said fourth level though...

Sigh- are all the good swords unusable??!!

Lord Plothos · Post by **Lord Plothos** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 10:47 pm

I can't think why that would happen. Frostbrand normally imbues fire resistance, but jackalweres don't do any fire attacking. Perhaps Liv or co8 have done something to that encounter or the sword. Sorry, but I never have problems there.

maalri · Post by **maalri** » Tue Dec 06, 2005 10:34 am

It was definitely the Frostbrand. None of the other characters beside the Barbarian using it was having Initiative ending problems, and when I left the blade in Nulb, everything went back to normal. Unequiping the blade wasn't good enough, just as it had not been good enough with Scather, I actually had to remove it from the party. Got him using a +3 greatsword now.

Also, as far as the Wooly Mammoth, my friend says it is really a 1.53 GHz, not a 1.15, and that I have somehow messed something up on the clockspeed of the computer-- maybe if I can figure out how to fix that things wil be a little better too.