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Topics - MustangMR

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1
Complaint Department / Bring back the fun
« on: August 02, 2008, 09:30:52 am »
Hey guys, me again,

First, I really want to say that PS is a great game in the making.  Tons of potential and I don't want to whine about what may or may not be implemented or how it's done, but I should relate my recent experiences here.  I do jump around a lot playing games and there are a ton of them out there.  PS is not the only free MMORG.  In many ways it is the best, in others it's got a long way to go.  When I play a game, I am looking for something to draw my attention in and hold my interest for a while.  I've read a few threads about how player numbers are down.  Here is a thought on why.

I recently had a few hours and was looking for something to do.  I decided to play PS for a while.  So I log in.  New patch, great!  Updates perfectly and runs.  So far so good.  So I go in and decide to go exploring.  I start running.  30 seconds later, I have to stop and sit for a couple minutes to regen stamina.  Get up, repeat.  Get up, repeat.  I find a small area I don't remember going to, so I zone in and am thoroughly impressed by what I see.  The Bronze Door area with the cave and massive waterfall, excellent.  Somehow I missed this little out of the way zone, so I'm psyched!  So I keep running.  And sitting.  Repeat.  I'm trying to explore this little area and I constantly have to sit and rest.  Sit, rest.  Get the picture?  It seems I have to sit 2 minutes for every one minute of movement.

But anyway, I keep going because I'm kind of used to this.  Now I'm up on the top of the keep above the waterfall.  I'm looking around because I picked up a quest to find some people.  I click on someone far away to see his name, but apparently I missed by a pixel and bang, I run off the edge into the waterfall and die.  Now I'm in the death realm, and, because I have no place to store anything, I carry my stuff with me.  So when I get out I'm overloaded, of course, and now I'm sitting there for a half hour unable to do anything.  Half hour passes, I get up and start trying to find my way back cause I hadn't spent enough time there and really wanted to see that zone again.  Add to the fact that I really don't quite remember how I got there, and now I have some exploring to do again.

Run, sit............., run, sit............

Finally get back and it's now two or three hours that I've been doing this and I've spent more time sitting than playing.  This is NOT fun.  So I log until the mood strikes me again to go back and play.

So I know many of these complaints have been posted before, but I really wanted to relate an experience from a perspective of people who are just trying to find out what PS is like.  I do feel a new player will spend way too much time sitting and that needs to be fixed (also the "click" thing too, but I turned that feature off and shall never turn mouse-run on again).

Suggestions:

1. Give every player some off character storage.  I know the bank is coming, give it some priority.  I also know guilds have some form of it, new players won't be in guilds, and many players, such as myself, will chose to stay out of guilds until we're more sure of the game.  If I could just store all that ore and crafting supplies off character till I wanted to use it, then I wouldn't be so overloaded all the time.  This is pretty standard, and that alone would have saved me a half hour of sitting with the death curse unable to move.  Also, not asking for the death penalty to be removed, I'm okay with it as it is, but we get trapped into the condition where we can't plan for it.

2. Relook at the run/sit ratio.  I know it's somewhat related to our carrying weight, but consider new players who start with very low stats.  They are deciding whether they're going to play and if all they end up doing is sitting all the time, they aren't going to stay.  Please understand that I am not asking for encumbrance or stamina to be removed.  It's a great feature, but I think we should only take a stamina penalty when we're running, and when we walk we very SLOWLY regain it, but we don't lose it.  That way we can keep moving and not have to sit so dang much.  If we chose to sit, we regain it much faster such as when we get to a group of monsters that we may need to fight.  The point is, keep us doing something, anything, that shows some progress.  Making us stop all progress constantly is not a good way to keep people interested.  The ratio of running vs. sitting for an average character should be at least 1:1.  From my experience, the combat usage of stamina is fine, it's just the run/sit/walk ratios that really need looking at.

When I started playing PS years ago, I don't remember this kind of frustration.  Seems it has evolved to this over time and should be relooked at.

2
Wish list / Death Realm Return Point
« on: May 14, 2008, 08:36:15 pm »
This may have been thought of before, but I didn't see it on a quick scan of the forum...

As I was sitting in the middle of the road recovering from Dakkar's curse, it struck me kind of odd that a person who just went through the trauma of dying and surviving the death realm would be sitting right in the middle of the road.  Wouldn't that be considered a sacred point by the people of the city and maybe make a small shrine around that point?  Someplace where weakened characters could recoup their strength, a place that may be relaxing and designed to help people cope with returning to the living?

Just an idea for way on down the road when other more important things are done.  Yes, I know, people go through that point a lot kind of minimizing the effect, but just imagine what the first person who went through there must have felt like, and the impact it might have had on people around the city when the first person returned from the grave.  That had to have shaken people up and made that spot kind of sacred.

3
General Discussion / Question about quest language
« on: May 07, 2008, 03:40:28 pm »
Sorry if this is addressed somewhere, but I would like to know how the community feels about the language used in the quests.  I admit it, I'm American.  We speak English different from other parts of the world, even within our own country, and I don't want to come across as saying it all has to be American English.  Let me use a quick example that is a fundamental part of the game right now that is quite awkward for me. 

There is something we all type to get a quest... "Do you have a job?".  That question would not be correct to get a quest for us.  What that is asking is if the person I'm talking to has a job, as in "employed", so if I ask Harnquist that question, he should answer "Yes, I'm a blacksmith", not "Oh, sure, go do this for me".  See the difference?  I would never think to ask it that way except the guide told me to do it that way.  It needs something else to qualify "job".  I would ask "Do you have a job for me?" or "Do you have any work?".  Either of those would indicate I'm looking to do something for him, but anything other than "do you have a job?" seems to put puzzled looks of confusion on the NPC's face right now. 

I know it's a bit of a strange question, but it's kind of important because doing the quests requires a certain perspective, and if I am having troubles doing one, I don't want to post a bug report on something that is really a language issue.  I'm no English major, but these kinds of issues can get pretty frustrating when trying to work inside a text parser like PS has.  I do want to help make it as good as possible.

Thoughts?  Don't worry about it?  Learn to speak other dialects? 

4
Newbie Help (Start Here) / A bit of character theory, please
« on: May 03, 2008, 06:58:00 pm »
Okay, not trying to start a debate/flame ware here.  You can lock the thread quickly if you want, but I've been trying to find out how hit points work.  Every thread I found so far has been locked down and pretty much out of date, so I assume I'm walking on a touchy subject.

At present, I can only find one way to raise them, with Body Development, but that, according to the Skills thread, is not working, and that has been locked as well.  Has there been an update to that?  A number of topics I read said that you wanted to remove HP's for something more abstract, but everything I see in game now is still numbers based...

So, just a bit of theorycraft, please.  Is the game intended to hold HP's constant and learn to protect them with other skills, such as armor types?  Or do you see a time when HP's will be needing to be increased and it's just not implemented yet.. or maybe it has been implemented?  Or am I missing another obvious way to raise them?

I don't need specifics.  Some quick generalized answers about where you want to go with this will do, unless I've just missed something completely.  Thanks.

5
I'm on the second part of "helping Mirra" with clackers.  First quest went fine.  I am trying to give her the materials but she won't take them.  I tried to be very carefull about writing down the exact ingredients she wanted and I'm nearly positive it was 2x[something] and 2x[something] (hiding the items for spoiler rules, but you know what I mean).  They were both two of each item and I'm sure I have the items correct, but maybe I messed up on the quantities or missed an ingredient?  If it is 2x of each, then it may be bugged because she won't take them and finish the quest. 

Server just went through a reset too and she wouldn't take it before or after.

And I can't drop it to try and get it again to check the numbers.

6
Okay, few things about this thread....

You say over and over this is the SETTINGS thread, but what you're really talking about is lore, not settings.  Maybe it's a language barrier issue, but settings in English games almost always refer to game mechanics and the game engine itself, the parameters it's going to operate under and present data to you in.  I understand you're looking at from the setting of the environment and culture, but when we use that kind of setting, its singular, like the setting of the scene of a play.  When we use plural form, then it implies setting of a bunch of options.   It's very rare to hear settings plural in the way you're using it, and then needs to be backed up with some nouns on what the settings are for.  I almost didn't bother coming here for that reason because I thought this thread was just about features that may be broken or something like that.

When we discuss the types of things you're asking for, we almost always use the term lore to describe the world we are going to be playing in.   The lore of a world is it's history, it's people, what they believe, what they don't believe, how they work together, how their cultures came into being, etc...  That is much more appropriate for what you are asking for.

Again, I'm not trying to be mean because I know this is really a very international game and that's fantastic, but it is written mostly in English, and the question was asked that way, so I thought I would draw that distinction.  Probably too late to change, but there it is.

Second, you say many times that things are explained in game already.  I don't disagree with that, but where?  Does anyone tell me when I ask something dumb like, "oh, go talk to that guy because he knows all that stuff" or things like that?  What I see to my poorly phrased questions are "I'm sorry, I don't understand you".  So if I had to answer the basic question, it's that I'd like more knowledge in game about who the NPC's are and what they can do or explain, and then have it backed up in game.  I had a few people tell me I need to read a books for a skill, but I have no clue where to get books.  No one in the library has any.  And someone told me I had to put a book in my "mind" slot.... I about fell over cause I had no idea that was how that worked.  There wasn't even a tooltip to tell me where my mind slot it, though I think I know.

Bottom line, if all this info is in game, how about a little guidance on getting to it?  I know the fun is in discovering it, but lets face it, you can't ask every question to every NPC in the game, and running around playing 20 questions with every NPC can be pretty frustrating.  Something should guide us along somehow.

7
Development Deliberation / MOB Behavior Problems with getting stuck
« on: April 25, 2008, 04:18:40 pm »
Hi guys,

I'm new and getting pretty frustrated at the mob issues with them getting stuck.  I decided to download the source and see if I could help any.  If I'm completely off base, just ignore.  I don't know how much time I have to help out, but I may try and download the full source and get a server going to test it.  I really can't commit, but if I can find anything obvious, I'll post.  Here are a few thoughts:

In the npcclient directory, the NPC::CheckPosition() method, it says right in the front comment that the position only needs to be checked once.  If I interpret that right, I would disagree with that.  It needs to be checked every time an NPC moves.  I don't see any other way to reset the mob.  If they got stuck, they would be stuck forever if I'm reading it right.  I don't see any reset code in the GEM or NPC logic other than in this method.  The only other way I saw to reset that condition was with an NPC::ClearState command, but again, I don't see it called anywhere other than the destructor.  Maybe it's being called from somewhere outside the GEM and NPC handlers?

Now, I don't much about CS, so maybe there is something that you are expecting it to do through a callback? 

One other thing I noticed.  In gemActor::MoveToValidPosition, there is some code that stops a falling entity from /unsticking itself, assuming that a PC will be able to do that.  Could that be blocking things since NPC's can't do an /unstick?  Just a thought.

8
Complaint Department / MOB Problems & Resting
« on: April 25, 2008, 11:48:55 am »
Okay, I know, 1000 posts on this issue, but that should be telling you something.  I will be respectful of the developers cause I'm a software developer myself and I can appreciate those bugs that just don't want to go away.  I seem to have a lot of time to post though because I'm constantly sitting to rest up.

This issue really needs resolving.  I'm new here and it's frustrating starting the game with nothing to do.  I understand your desire to RP first, but there needs to be something to keep the game moving.  Fortunately, I saved up a lot of my progress points while I figured out the game and can now mine and do metallurgy to keep things interesting, but running around (and resting every 20 feet) to find out all the mobs I'm capable of killing are broken is just irritating.

One thing I've noticed, and not sure if it's accurate, but it seems that the mobs break one at a time.  Once they break, it's over for that mob until a server reset happens.  Eventually, all the mobs are broken.  I fought a rat last night that broke on me and this morning he was still in the same location.  I'm wondering if you could just put in a reset timer on all mobs once every hour or something to work around the core problem for the time being. 

Think this issue and the amount of time I have to spend just resting all the time are the single biggest issues in the game.  I can appreciate a hard game and the rest I can understand, but these two items I think are just a bit over the top.  I should be able to walk across a small courtyard without having to sit down and rest. 

EDIT: It's not my intent to blast the devs.  There is a ton of hard work that went into this game and I appreciate that.  My main point, that I kind of forgot in the first post, is that all other issues should be stopped until this is fixed.  Please stop working on new additions until you correct the core game module.  Put all your resources on this problem, and I bet it gets resolved fast. 

9
Newbie Help (Start Here) / Beggining Mining
« on: April 25, 2008, 06:58:29 am »
I have a question about mining. Currently, my skill is 0 in it.  Whenever I try to mine something, it says I don't have the skill to do it.  I have found spots for Iron, Silver, Coal, and Tin.  None of them will let me mine.  I am wondering if I put points into it, will it do me any good.  Don't I have to practice a skill in order for my skill to go up?  Will the points I spend in it count towards being able to mine so I can get the practical experience to raise it to 1?  Or am I stuck at never being able to mine?  I would just like to know before I spend 7 or so progression points on it.  Thanks.

10
General Discussion / Banking Items
« on: April 23, 2008, 07:22:16 pm »
Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, but I'm not sure where to put this question cause I'm not sure if this is a bug or a feature that isn't implemented yet, but I tried to store some items in the bank and every time I try to put them in, they fall on the ground.  Is the banking feature supposed to be functional now?  If not, is there a method besides drag and drop that I should be using to put an item in the bank?  I don't see one.  I tried giving the item to the banker, but he didn't want it, tried a few other things but nothing seemed to have any effect.  It always ended up on the ground.

If it's not supposed to work right now, then those tabs should really be disabled.


11
Hi, first the required stuff:

OS:  Mandrake Linux 9.0
Processor: Intel P4, 1.8 GHz
RAM: 256Mb
Video Card: ATI Radeon 64 DDR VIVO
Video Card Memory: 64 MB
PS Client Version: The latest version you have in the RPM\'s on your website.  Just downloaded them.
OpenGL or Safe Mode: OpenGL, Mesa 4.1
Description of the bug:

Trying to get PS to run on above box.  I installed PlaneShift from the 4 Linux RPM files on your site.  I start up the psclient from the command line in \"/usr/local/games/planeshift\" and get the following messages:

[bin]$ psclient
psclient psclient-exec Starting planeshift client
WARNING: cssgiimg, failed to load, because:
/usr/local/crystal/cssgiimg.so: file not found
/usr/local/crystal/lib/cssgiimg.so: file not found
/usr/local/games/planeshift/cssgiimg.so: file not found
WARNING: could not load plugin \'crystalspace.graphic.image.io.sgi\'
WARNING: cswalimg, failed to load, because:
/usr/local/crystal/cswalimg.so: file not found
/usr/local/crystal/lib/cswalimg.so: file not found
/usr/local/games/planeshift/cswalimg.so: file not found
WARNING: could not load plugin \'crystalspace.graphic.image.io.wal\'
WARNING: motion, failed to load, because:
/usr/local/crystal/motion.so: file not found
/usr/local/crystal/lib/motion.so: file not found
/usr/local/games/planeshift/motion.so: file not found
WARNING: could not load plugin \'crystalspace.motion.manager.default\'
WARNING: sndmod, failed to load, because:
/usr/local/crystal/sndmod.so: file not found
/usr/local/crystal/lib/sndmod.so: file not found
/usr/local/games/planeshift/sndmod.so: file not found
WARNING: could not load plugin \'crystalspace.sound.loader.mod\'
WARNING: sndogg, failed to load, because:
/usr/local/crystal/sndogg.so: file not found
/usr/local/crystal/lib/sndogg.so: file not found
/usr/local/games/planeshift/sndogg.so: file not found
WARNING: could not load plugin \'crystalspace.sound.loader.ogg\'
Loading required GL library /usr/X11R6/lib/libGL.so.1.2
Mount: $.$/ -> /planeshift/...ok!
Mount: $.$/art$/textures$/ -> /planeshift/textures/...ok!
Mount: ./art/world/dungeon.zip -> /planeshift/world/dungeon...ok!
Mount: ./art/world/roads38.zip -> /planeshift/world/roads38...ok!
Mount: /planeshift/world/ -> /this/art/world/...ok!
Mount: ./art/models.zip -> /planeshift/models/...ok!
planeshift.application.client: Planeshift Atomic Blue
planeshift.application.client: This game uses Crystal Space Engine created by Jorrit and others
planeshift.application.client: 0.95 rdev [Linux-X86-GCC]
planeshift.sound: Warning: Couldn\'t initialize soundplugin.
planeshift.application.client: Cannot initialize iSoundManager
crystalspace.font.csfont: Could not read font file /fonts/ttf/scurlock12.csf.
Detected res of 800x600, changing font
planeshift.application.client: psEngine initialized.
Loading RPG Data.....Loading RPG Data.....1OK!
                                                       
The crystalspace images and libraries were installed to \"/usr/local/crystal\", and I setup an environment variable for CRYSTAL=/usr/local/crystal, but not sure if that\'s right.

At this point, I see the opening splash screen, and am taken to the create/quit/connect screen.  I can see both screens just fine I think.  Three gems in the middle of the screen with a gray fantasy theme background.  When I press \"Create\", the following errors occure:

libpng warning: Application was compiled with png.h from libpng-1.0.9
libpng warning: Application  is  running with png.c from libpng-1.2.4
libpng error: Incompatible libpng version in application and library
Error ID: crystalspace.maploader.parse.image
Description: Could not load image \'/planeshift/art/backdrop/crmain86.png\'. Unknown format or wrong extension!

At this point, I am on a screen which I cannot read directly.  I can see some text to click on character and stuff, but the background is all messed up and looks like a black and white checkerboard.  I have checked my png installation and it looks ok.  I\'m not sure who is complaining about the 1.0.9 version.  Which version of png did you build from?  I\'m not too familiar with PNG, and I\'m not too sure if this is a real problem or not, but I\'m sure it\'s why I can\'t see the background.  I\'m also not sure about the missing files above.  They are not installed on my system.

Thanks in advance.  This looks like a really interesting game.  Looking forward to it\'s continued development.

Mustang

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