Messages

61

Suggestions / Re: Tolerant patchers

« on: January 08, 2016, 03:13:44 am »

Well, the executable can have a version number consistent with the splash screen - surely that's within the governance of compilation / linking / building.

I don't know how the patches originate, but I suspect they come from Stygian and GOG just wraps them in their own GUI widgets. (I doubt that Stygian only provides GOG with a full installer for each subversion, and GOG generates their own binary diff.) If indeed Stygian produces the patch, it can simply contain the new version of all the resources modified since v1.0.0.0. When it is run, it can therefore update a v1.0.0.0 installation or a v1.0.0.1 installation or a v1.0.0.2 installation or a v1.0.0.3 installation or a v1.0.0.4 installation or a v1.0.0.5 installation or a v1.0.0.6 installation to v1.0.0.7 simply by injecting the v1.0.0.7 resources it contains. Stygian hand this patch over to GOG, and GOG wrap it in their GUI, and the one patcher is then useful to all players regardless of which old version they currently have installed.

Anyway, it's just a suggestion for an ongoing approach to take to patching.

I'm just as happy if the full patch is available for download the traditional way from underrail.com - as long as it's a patch that can bring multiple origin versions up to date.

62

Bugs / Re: Stuck in Evelynn's Bunker

« on: January 08, 2016, 12:25:30 am »

If you use the trapdoor in her pantry, you get external access to her bunker door but cannot open it without the keycard, which Evelyn has.

If you are male and go along with her "I shouldn't talk to you but you're so nice I can't help myself" seduction, and dive down the laundry chute in her bedroom, you get internal access to her bunker door but cannot open it without the keycard, which Evelyn has. You also get internal access to the escape ladder, but it's locked on the outside (in the slums).

If you hack and pick slum access to the escape ladder, you get internal access to her bunker door but cannot open it without the keycard, which Evelyn has.

You can get the flash drive evidence via the slum access when the bunker is vacant; then get seduced and get another chance while she's rampaging; then escape via the ladder or kill her to get the keycard to open the bunker doors.

Alternatively you can report her to the Chief in his secret hideaway town hall, in which case guards arrest her and open the bunker doors themselves, without you having seen or used the keycard.

The situation in the OP is that the player only accessed the bunker via the slums, but in the dark it's easy to click the Electronic Lock at the wrong time, or too many times, resulting in it starting to roll downwards while you're walking through it toward the trapdoor and ladder. You're then stuck on the wrong side of the roller door without access to the Electronic Lock. If you don't realise it you can proceed and then find yourself unable to get out again.

63

Suggestions / Tolerant patchers

« on: January 07, 2016, 02:01:12 pm »

I am using GOG's version of Underrail (partly because I find "achievements" such as Steam has very discouraging; they put me off playing).

The installer file is named "setup_underrail_2.0.0.2.exe"

C:\Games\GOG\UnderRail\underrail.exe / File / Properties / Details / File Version says "0.1.0.0"

Within the game, the splash screen shows in the bottom left corner "Version: 1.0.0.0"


GOG has only one patcher I can download.

GOG displays it as "PATCH 1.0.0.7"

The downloaded patcher is named "patch_underrail_2.2.1.5.exe"

Running it displays an error:

Update 2.2.1.5 for UnderRail

This patch does not support your version of the game
please download a new installer

I don't have enough download quota to (re)download the full installer for version patches.


My suggestions would be:

• standardise the version numbers so that one version of the product deployment presents one consistent version number on the splash screen, Properties, installer, Start Menu, and everywhere else
• provide patchers that can accept any existing commercial version of an installation and update it to the patch's version

64

Suggestions / Screenshot feature

« on: January 07, 2016, 01:53:25 pm »

At the moment, using Alt-Printscreen in Windowed mode works (albeit with the Windows border). Printscreen in fullscreen mode just produces a black rectangle in the clipboard.

It would be really nice if hitting Printscreen (or a customisable key) within the game automatically saved a PNG to "C:\Users\Me\Documents\My Games\Underrail\screens" as a feature built into Underrail itself.

Maybe the Steam client does this (externally) for Steam customers. I'm using the GOG installation (partly because I find "achievements" such as Steam has very discouraging; they put me off playing). The GOG installation doesn't seem to have this ability.

65

Suggestions / Re: Edge scrolling toggle

« on: January 07, 2016, 01:36:26 pm »

While on the topic, I find the right-drag scrolling goes the opposite way to what I'm expecting (but I'm gradually getting used to it, I guess). Similar to how many games have an "Invert joystick" checkbox, an "Invert right-drag scrolling" checkbox would be a nice GUI enhancement for slow learners. (But this would be a lower priority in my mind to the OP.)

66

Suggestions / Edge scrolling toggle (done!)

« on: January 07, 2016, 01:32:52 pm »

Please provide a toggle in the GUI that disables edge-scrolling.

I play Underrail in Windowed mode (because that is the only way I can take screenshots).

In Windowed mode, I cannot just slam the cursor against the edge of the display and have the viewport moved because the edge of the display is well beyond the Underrail window bounds: ie edge scrolling is not useful in Windowed mode. There are already keys and right-drag options to scroll the viewport anyway.

Whenever I move my cursor to the taskbar to select another program, this triggers a momentary scroll as my cursor flies over the Underrail window border. This is annoying if I was setting up for a screenshot of a particular area.

A GUI toggle that dis/enables edge scrolling would be fantastic.

Edit: changed thread topic only.

67

Suggestions / Interacting with computers breaks stealth (was: Touch Typing feat)

« on: January 07, 2016, 01:22:06 pm »

At the moment, when a stealth / hacker character access a computer terminal, they pop out of stealth. Maybe this is because they are a one-finger-typist who needs to see their hands to type. Maybe it's because although there are Psi Mentors that can do neural imprinting, there's no neural interfacing to regular computer terminals. Maybe it's because all computer terminals require the user to hold still for a retinal scan before getting even basic access. Maybe it's just that computer use is mechanically implemented as dialogue and dialogue deactivates stealth.

Be that as it may, it would be cool to introduce a feat that allows the player to interact with a computer terminal while maintaining stealth.

Edit: changed threat topic only.

68

Suggestions / Re: Revamp option for cheaters and casual gamers

« on: January 07, 2016, 01:16:38 pm »

-Add a once-in-a-game opportunity to revamp yuor character after returning from the Junkyard, as you probably know by then what you've done wrong in the character build.

Definitely. I think it would be best as a "once per playthrough" done as a "Neural imprinting" inventory item awarded from a quest. That way when importing your old character into a replay, you could do that quest, right-click to activate the Mentor and be taken to the level-up screen to reallocate points / skills / feats.

To flavour it more as an Easter-egg, it could be triggered via the Games entry in Evelyn's personal laptop, since chargen happens at the start of Play Underrail.

69

Suggestions / Re: More verbal warnings

« on: January 07, 2016, 01:04:14 pm »

Actually if door is red, there a big chances that if you enter this territiory you induce hostility.

But in the three locations quoted, there are no (red) doors.

In the embassy, there's a guard, turret, and a gap in chickenwire fencing.

In Foundry prison, both sets of double doors in the camera / auto turret airlock are wide open and non-interactable (well, you can use the computer console nearby, but the doors themselves don't change the cursor on hover).

The Junkyard docks have a warehouse with no Eastern wall (nearest the auto turret) and if you simply wander into the open building, combat starts.

In none of these situations is there any "red door" warning, and a simple speech bubble on approach saying, "Get off my lawn you kids!" would help a lot. Especially re-entering the embassy with a speech bubble saying, "unequip your belt items and weapons!" would be a big improvement.

70

Suggestions / Re: Auto function in barter should use up SGS credits first in SGS

« on: January 07, 2016, 12:51:34 pm »

Definitely.

SGS gives you SGS credits to ensure you spend them at home rather than taking your custom elsewhere. In which case, they should accept you doing business with them in SGS credits without having to shift-split your stacks manually to balance the trade.

71

Suggestions / Re: Put the mutagen scanner in an area where you have time to read

« on: January 07, 2016, 12:45:10 pm »

I couldn't do it in one, two or even three trips

My strategy so far when there has been a time limit while I'm reading dialogue (eg the Free Drones train bomb) has been to whack Alt-Printscreen, Escape out of the dialogue, then press Enter to get into turn-based (effectively pausing the game until I act). Then I paste my screenshot into GIMP or whatever, and read it at my leisure. It's a workaround, but it works.

It only works when playing in Windowed mode though - for some reason the screenshots are completely black if done in fullscreen.

72

Suggestions / Re: Unrealistic stealth

« on: January 07, 2016, 12:37:49 pm »

The same thing would apply to doors, lifts, filing cabinets, ventilation ducts, etc. all being opened / activated / etc. by unseen ghosts.

An easy way for the mechanics to handle this would be that any time such a "clue" is observed by an NPC, treat it as though a security camera went red on the scene. That way a flood of NPCs will converge on the clue location, mill about, and then wander off if none of them detect or Bump! the stealthed character. This already happens if you let of a TNT within sight of NPCs but don't manage to damage any of them - they wander over to see if there's anything to see.

73

Suggestions / Re: Altering the level cap (Warning: Text wall)

« on: January 07, 2016, 12:32:00 pm »

allowing you to reinvest skill point and stat points or pick different feats.

Yes, definitely. Skill points are abundant enough but now that I've got the hang of the game and found a playstyle to follow, I realise I wasted feats on "that might be useful, but I don't really know what it's talking about" because the level-up process forces you to spend all your attributes / skill points / feats before submitting.

IIRC, the character / level-up GUI reminds me closely of Neverwinter Nights (not AOL's version, Atari later one) and that allowed you to defer choices until you knew what you were doing. That way you could level up to gain access to the desperately needed hit points, and leave a bunch of resources unspent. Next time you levelled up, those unspent options rolled over, and you could spend them now if you'd figured out what you wanted.

A third option would be to have an external character editor that allows one to completely recustomise any aspect of their character. That way, someone disciplined could give their levelcapped avatar a bonus +1 attribute every 5 hours of play time (or whatever they had set themselves), and someone playing for the first time burdened with poor feat choices can swap them out rather than begrudgingly starting again now they know what they're aiming for.

(FWIW I love the oddity system.)

74

Bugs / Re: Zone Transition Exploit

« on: January 07, 2016, 12:59:48 am »

I think all of this is intended.

There was a time when Styg considered making hostiles follow the player between transitions

I think it's intended too. If you allow NPCs to map transition, that opens up more exploits where players get a train of hostiles to trail them back to SGS to get mown down by auto turrets and use that strategy to painstakingly clear entire maps, naked, at level 1.

As for blowing up rocks near transitions: there should always be corners you can hide behind or enough space to get away from the blast. Plus, you can also use a jackhammer instead of TNTs.

I agree that definitely seems to be the intention of the map designer, but there have been a number where there just isn't space / cover.

As for jackhammers, I was level 10 (with oddity paradigm; play time 1:00:06) when I submitted the drill rotor control circuit board and SGS NPCs immediately told me to buy explosives from Lucas to go out to Hathor and the battery plant. I was level 13 (play time 1:11:09) when I discovered Foundry on my own, with no instruction or mission to go there, and was surprised to find it had extensive content despite having no lead-ins to entice you there in the first place. But yes, once you've found out Foundry exists, you can get a jackhammer (for free). However, between those two points is 11 hours with only TNT, trying to stand out of the blast. On the other hand, if Lucas only sold jackhammers once the tunnels were cleared...

If I can figure out where the insufficient demolition staging areas were, I'll post screenshots.

But yes, freezing the map a player leaves and thawing the map the player enters is completely understandable, if only for computational resource reasons.

75

Bugs / Re: Report spelling/grammar errors

« on: January 06, 2016, 02:40:26 pm »

Vince has some dialogue options quoting the toll as 5 charons. One is "then" charons (ie 10). But even when the player replies with 5, Vince responds contradicting that the price is actually 5 charons.

It's unclear whether Wyatt's text is meant to be white, spoken "Look at these ruins!" or green, contextual "He looks at these ruins."