GameBanshee Forums

Planescape: Torment FAQ and Links

Since there is no such thread in this forum, I've decided to write a small guide to Torment, including available resources and some frequently asked questions.

EDIT: June 10 2007

-added possible fix for display corruption on nVidia cards; updated unofficial fix pack info

EDIT: July 26 2006

-links updated


Where can I still buy this game?

Checking local stores might be your best bet. You can buy a brand new copy of the game online as part of the Planescape Torment & SoulBringer Combo Pack at Gogamer.com (search for Planescape), although it is not known how long supplies will last. Used copies exist aplenty through Ebay and Amazon.


Patches

It is recommended to install the official 1.1 Patch as well as the fantastic Torment fan patch, preferably prior to even starting the game.

Official Planescape: Torment 1.1 Patch

Attention: Do NOT use with the 2-CD version of the game.

Readme
Mirror 1 (rpgclassics.com)
Mirror 2 (Fileshack, Registration Required)
Mirror 3 (Fileplanet, with waiting)


Unofficial Planescape: Torment Fix Pack v1.37

Download and Readme - Highly Recommended!
Extract the zip file into Torment's override folder - for example;
C:\Program Files\Black Isle\Torment\override\

You may also download a beta v1.38 patch after installing the unofficial v1.37 fix pack. Unpack this to Torment's override folder. This small patch for the fix pack is not totally necessary and in beta form, but fixes two bugs related to the Hargrimm/Silent King and Mar's Ornate Box quests.


How to do a full install:

Doing a full install of the game will greatly reduce loading times, as long as you have sufficient disk space.

After you have installed the game via the installer program, do the following:

1.) Create a folder on the hard drive that you wish to install the game data to. For this example we'll create a folder on the C drive called TData.

2.) Insert Torment CD2 and copy the entire contents of the CD to the TData folder (for example, to C:\TData\). NOTE: On the CD there should be a folder called CD2. Do not copy the folder itself, only copy the files located in it.

3.) Repeat step 2 with CD3 and CD4. Choose to overwrite files when prompted to do so.

4.) Edit your Torment.ini file using Notepad or some similar text editor. This file can normally be found in C:\Program Files\Blackisle\Torment. At the very top of the page you'll want to edit the lines that start with CD2, CD3, CD4. Edit them as follows:

CD2:=C:\TData\
CD3:=C:\TData\
CD4:=C:\TData\

5.) From time to time the game will ask you for disk two to authenticate the game. When playing the game keep this disk in your CD tray. You have now completed the full install of Planescape: Torment.

Walkthroughs:

GameBanshee's very own, featuring lots of maps and information. Highly recommended.

Dan Simpson's text walkthrough is probably the most in-depth one around. It's the first one on the list. Also highly recommended.


Planescape: Torment Developement history

For concept images, trailers and old screenshots check out PlanetBaldursGate's media section. Additionally, the Sorcerer's place has some nostalgia as well.

You can also take a look at Platter's Miscellaneous Torment Crap.


Frequently Asked Questions:

Technical

Q: The game crashes immediately on startup and gives me a blank screen!

A: Most likely, you have applied the official 1.1 patch to the 2-CD version of the game.


Q: I'm getting a runtime error or the game is just crashing when loading a new area.

A: This is usually caused by errors in the CD reading process. The only 100% fix for this is the Full Install explained in the beginning of the FAQ.


Q: The game won't install! (Windows XP)

A: Most users experience no problems with Torment and Windows XP and this particular problem does not have a definite solution. Some people have reported success by going to 'My Computer' and right-clicking on the Torment CD, choosing 'Open' and running the Setup.exe manually. Also, the cause may be a corrupt Windows Installer. In Windows XP, go to Start and choose 'Run', type

msiexec /unregister

and then

msiexec /regserver


Q: The spell effects have graphical glitches.

A: Try updating your graphics card drivers. You most likely have either an ATI or nVidia graphics card.

If you have an nVidia card, you may experience problems even with the latest drivers. It has been suggested by forum member Vorlin and others that graphical corruption can be prevented by reducing your video card's graphics acceleration. The instructions to do this are as follows:

1) Right-click on the Windows Desktop
2) Click on "Properties"
3) Select the "Settings" tab
4) Click on the "Advanced" button
5) Select the "Troubleshoot" tab in the new window
6) Turn the graphics acceleration bar down 3 notches.

Note that you should not do this while the game is running. When you start Torment, the game's cursor will display graphical corruption initially but this should not be a problem once you load your save game. Also, make sure that you set the graphics acceleration back to "Full" before you play games other than Torment.


Q: Everything was fine, but now I get display corruption in the game or it crashes for no apparent reason!

A: Deleting the contents of the cache and temp folders will likely fix this issue.


Music

Q: Where can I download music from the game?

A: You can find the game's music in MP3 format at Planescape-Torment.org.


Miscellaneous Stuff and Mods:

Planescape Torment Instruction Manual in PDF format
NOTE: The official instruction manual contains some minor errors. See the 'Bugs and Errors' section for more info.

Max HP on Level Up Mod
In Torment, upon leveling up, there is a chance that you will not get your maximum possible hit points. Because of this, many people decide to save right before leveling up and reload the savegame multiple times to gain as many hitpoints as possible. With this mod, you will always gain your maximum hitpoints when you level up.

G3 Planescape: Torment Tweak Pack
This mod let's you enable a variety of tweaks for the game. It let's you stack rings, earrings and bracelets, for example. Also, you will no longer have to identify items all the time.

Planescape: Torment Restoration Pack
This mod should be installed after the official 1.1 Patch and the unofficial Fix Pack. There is a long list of changes, but suffice to say, Torment contains a number of items, sound effects etc. that were never used in the actual game. This mod enables them. For example, when the player breaks a person's neck, a neck cracking sound will now be played.

City of Doors Initiative (No longer active)
This is a work-in-progress mod for Bioware's Neverwinter Nights. Once complete, it will bring the Planescape universe to a 3D environment.


Bugs and Errors

Q: My party members have disappeared!

A: In certain areas of the game, party members are supposed to disappear for a while. The problem is that they may not come back. For a list of situations where this bug might occur and for a fix check out the Lost Party Members Fix. NOTE: Before applying this fix, make sure that the party members are not hidden behind an arch or some such. In the game's options menu, you can make characters translucent when they are hidden behind objects.


Q: The instruction manual says the every class gets the same amount of hitpoints, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Why?

A: This is not correct. Hitpoints are awarded as follows (thanks Sorcerer's Place):

Fighter
Levels 1-9 = 1-10 HP per level
Levels 10+ = 3 HP per level

Mage
Levels 1-10 = 1-4 HP per level
Levels 11+ = 1 HP per level

Thief
Levels 1-10 = 1-6 HP per level
Levels 11+ = 2 HP per level


That's all folks. I hope this guide was helpful in some way

Very nice Did you write all of this yourself?

Here is another link. That's platter's site and it provides by his own words "miscellaneous Torment crap". It's the single most comprehensive site on the net for Torment trivia, and was actually the main reason I got back to PS:T after almost a year. I recommend that anyone who hasn't checked this site out yet does so.

Originally posted by Vicsun
Very nice Did you write all of this yourself?

Here is another link. That's platter's site and it provides by his own words "miscellaneous Torment crap". It's the single most comprehensive site on the net for Torment trivia, and was actually the main reason I got back to PS:T after almost a year. I recommend that anyone who hasn't checked this site out yet does so.

Thanks for sharing the link!

All the sites I point to as well as any quotes or technical issues have been composed by other people..

As for any games if you need a good FAQ check out http://www.gamefaq.com the best place for guides to all your games, including Torment.


Doh I'm dumb, I didn't see that Mike already put this link there.

For specific RPGs, I still think the place where you're posting--GameBanshee--probably does the best job. You might at least want to check it out.

Sort of a BUMP, but also a question.

Does anyone know if you can do the same for a full install with the 2 CD version?

[QUOTE=sdwillie]Sort of a BUMP, but also a question.

Does anyone know if you can do the same for a full install with the 2 CD version?[/QUOTE]

I don't know, but it would be interesting to find out. Could you try following the full install guide and simply skipping the parts mentioning Disk 3 and 4?

If that doesn't work, as a legal owner of the game, you can create .iso's of the CDs on your hard disk with Isobuster and then use a program like Daemon Tools to mount them.

This should be a Sticky.

I've tried doing a full install with the 2 disc version, and so far it's worked-since I'm not out of the mortuary yet that isn't much of a surprise. Anyway, it seems as if CDs 2, 3 and 4 have all been crammed onto the second disc, since the torment.ini file on the 2 disc uses these lines


CD1:=G:\CD1\
CD2:=G:\CD2\
CD3:=G:\CD2\
CD4:=G:\CD2\


so I just replaced them with these


CD2:=C:\TData\CD2
CD3:=C:\TData\CD2
CD4:=C:\TData\CD2


The only reason that I can think of that this might not work is something anyone with the 4 disc version can answer: if everything on the last 3 CD's of the 4 CD version would compress onto 1, the only thing that would have to change is the torment.ini file. Since there's a bunch of stuff on the 2CD that wasn't on the 4 CD (manual, IWD demo, maybe a couple other things) a direct size comparison won't work, and unless someone wants to list filenames and their size-which I don't-I'll just get going and let people know when it asks for disc 1, crashes, or I finish. Worst case is to replace the altered torment.ini with the original, so if you'll all excuse me, I have to go fling Pools of Radiance into the lake so I can play something that won't reboot my machine for me.

Bump and a small question-

Exploring CD1 of the 2 CD version shows only two files that should make you swap discs. If the 4 CD version also has only 2 cab files, and their sizes are 494 KB and 560,358 KB, then a full install of the 2 CD version should work like a champ. Unfortunately compression information isn't available, so the file sizes might not match but be the same, but the likelihood of files with different compressions being the EXACT same size is pretty small.

If anyone with the 4CD version could explore CD1 to compare those files (or if there aren't 2 cab files) I'd be eternally grateful.

But I'm still not having your baby.

This is CD 1 (4-CD Version):

Thread stickied in order to be easily accessed by people new to the game and/or this board

Good sticky.

Sorry for not getting this up sooner-graphics weren't accepted, but now that i know geocities has such cool templates that won't be a problem anymore! The JPEG of CD1 is the thing right in the middle-just thought I'd point that out in case the rest of the page is too distracting/nauseating.

http://www.geocities.com/sdwillie/frillyhellokitty.html

Just based on filenames and types it doesn't look like any conclusion can be drawn on whether or not doing a full install of the 2CD version will eliminate the need for swapping. I'll just go on and see what happens, but since rebuilding my drives after SP2 wiped everything, Torment crashes whenever it sits idle if I walk away from my machine. So far it's run error free as long as I give it input, but crashed every time it's sat idle for as long as it takes to get a drink, hit the can, or whatever. It could be nothing more than the fact that I tried an install off of burned CD's, but it's cut down how much time I put into a session.

I would like to keep this thread spam free if possible. I just had to move two of the replies to a thread of their own, as they were questions in their own right and did not belong here.
If anyone has any questions about the game, they should create a new thread - not post here.

PS: Added No Spam to the title.

PS 2: This is a link to the City of Doors Initiative - a group dedicated to creating original Planescape modules for Neverwinter Nights. I haven't thoroughly explored the site, nor tried any of the modules but at first glance it seems quite intriguing.

A short while ago we released a Ps:T Tweak Pack at G3, so I figured it might be nice to mention it here. You can find the mod's page at the following link: http://www.gibberlings3.net/pst/

If you're having problems installing to XP systems, target the setup.exe file from your command line, and add the flag -lgntforce to it, then run it. This tip courtesy of Tricky, and it works.

Re: Installing on XP

Q: The game won't install! (Windows XP)

A: Most users experience no problems with Torment and Windows XP and this particular problem does not have a definite solution. Some people have reported success by going to 'My Computer' and right-clicking on the Torment CD, choosing 'Open' and running the Setup.exe manually.

I've just (finally) got my hands on a copy of Planescape: Torment, and wasn't able to run the installer on XP.

I found that restarting the computer in Safe Mode is all it takes to get around this problem.

Widescreen fix

Here's a great software, that makes you able to play game with better resolution and in WIDESCREEN.

G3: Widescreen Mod

Also works with following (awesome) Infinity Engine games:
Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (with or without Throne of Bhaal)
Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter
Icewind Dale II
Planescape: Torment

Platter's Planescape links need updating

MikeDykeLike, the post you wrote to start this thread contains some broken links. Specifically, Platter's site is now just a spam site, it got taken over by squatters.

You link to the site in two places. You mention the "Unofficial Planescape: Torment Fix Pack" and then later you link to "Platter's Miscellaneous Torment Crap."

I had a feeling that Platter's site was going to die, as he hadn't updated in a couple of years. So I ran HT-TRACK on it, which is a site downloader. I got a full copy (except the forums) before it disappeared. So if you want to adjust your links, you can. Your first broken link could be redirected to this:

planescape.outshine.com

And your second broken link could be changed to this:

planescape.outshine.com/index2906.html?page=crap

I left the pages mostly unchanged. I did add a link to this forum on Platter's home page, and I also zipped up all the soundtrack MP3s into a single file for easier downloading. It's otherwise exactly as it was.

Ergopad wrote:Here's a great software, that makes you able to play game with better resolution and in WIDESCREEN.

G3: Widescreen Mod

Also works with following (awesome) Infinity Engine games:
Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (with or without Throne of Bhaal)
Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter
Icewind Dale II
Planescape: Torment

Actually trying to do this now, and unfortunately, the widescreen mod actually isn't that great for PS:T. I'm experiencing severe lagging issues when I try to fix some fog of war rendering problems, and most everything is forced into the upper left of the screen anyways (menues) and the dialogue menu is forced into the lower left, which doesn't really help things at all.

For me, personally, the game is unplayable with the widescreen mod.

EDIT: I managed to fix the rendering problem without getting the lagging problem, but the game...still has problems in higher resolutions. All the menues are forced into the upper left at 640x480, same with all the on screen text. The entire thing really distracts from gameplay, and generally makes it really annoying...during dialogue, the screen "centers" on the upper left since the dialogue is in the lower left. Unfortunately, the mod maker doesn't seem to plan to fix the GUI to change these things....so, still, the game is still pretty annoying to play at higher resolutions, unfortunately.

This mod is excellent for BG2, but for PS:T... no dice.

2nd EDIT: The lagging/fog of war problem comes from enableing the Software Transparency BLT, which isn't related to the widescreen mod at all...its a problem with newer video cards, like my 8800 GT. Looks like I'll be replaying this on my laptop...