Ironworks Gaming Forum - THANK YOU!!!! You guys are the greatest!

Yo,

Hey you guys, you saved my butt. I posted about the bug with Bodhi and the quest being screwed up. Remember me?

A few of you instructed me on the use of debug, create item, etc. Well, it worked like a charm and now my game continues. If you care to know the circumstances and how things evolved read on:

I started the game about 5 weeks ago after convincing a friend in Austin, TX to buy the game too. Multiplayer is where it's AT for us. We had real fun with BG I a year or so ago, so it wasn't hard to persuade. We try to play every day, sometimes just a little - sometimes killing off a whole afternoon. My buddy likes to search and plunder each map/level exhaustively - I'm a bit more capricious and like to move thru the BG world as the mood strikes. It appeals to me to play the game differently than others would. Anyway, the combination of our styles surely led to our difficulty, although the real fault would lie with some programmer not addressing ALL combinations of encounters. We'd likely be a good beta-test team.

By the time we discovered that we were "locked" in a quest conflict, there were no saves to fall back on - weeks had literally gone by since the crucial decisons. We spent a couple of days probing and searching, dialoging and hoping for a "magic" conversation that would set things aright. I simply couldn't believe that we had a "broken" game ... much more likely that we missed something. By the time we were ready to acknowledge that things were indeed foul, there was a bit of despair and depression brewing with my companion and me. A cruddy mood it is too - akin to grief with all its attendant stages - denial, anger, etc.

Our first line of defense, we thought, wouldst be the cheats. Something we had set out to avoid. Although the riddle of the pipes had sent us scurryin' there before, as did the proper way to kill the "manifestation" near the cult (we were suitably embarrassed at not figurein' that out ourselves). So we were hardly purists. Surely OTHERS had run into our problem before, and would dish up some pearls of wisdom. This is NOT the case, and all we accomplished was spoiling ourselves in other areas - even though we tried not to let this happen. You know THAT feeling? Attempting to find info, but not TOO much info? Arggggh.

So there we were - just a few days ago. Morale was low, I assure you. When we went into the game to poke around, the bitching of Jaheira or the whining of Aerie concerning our tendency to keep them standing around while searching - well, it was like bamboo slivers driven into the ear. Our game, once fun, was a chore and there was no joy in Muddville.

Then a Google search pulled out Ironworks. This forum. We were just short of concluding that our game was irretrievably scrod ... possibly never to replay (starting from scratch was not enthusiastically embraced). This all changed when you guys pointed us to the fix via debug. Oh, happy happy day. I nearly swooned and my cohort in Austin assures me he was overcome with a vociferous bout of the "vapours", such was our relief. Now we're knee deep in Bodhi's maze and thrilled to be there.

Our appreciation is limitless. If we ever make it back to the mainland we shall journey to the Trademeet hamlet. We did some rather brave things and seem to hold considerable sway there. They even erected statues (blush) of our likeness to honor our heroism. I intend to proclaim an "IronWorks Day" - there'll be games, dancing, and a huge feast. On the menu many delicacies, such as Programmer Sweetbreads ... ya'll come.

S*T