New player seeking help

[LeGioN]

Hello everyone, I'm a new poster aswell as a new player of IWD. I bought some sort of box set a long time ago, and then forgot about it. After digging it out, I don't seem to have the rules/instruction booklet if anyone could lend some help with the commands like the scripts, that would be great.

Also notice here that there have been some updates, so I downloaded two, IWDpatch106 and HOWtrials. Are these the correct updates?

Do you really have to use gamespy to play this game online?

Now I know this game is pretty indepth, is there any hints/tips from experienced players to keep in mind while playing?

[Aerich]

Welcome, LeGioN! [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img]

You sure packed a lot of questions into your first post. I'll do my best to answer them all.

1) Rules: there's a manual for IWD on disc 1 of the set. Just explore the cd for "manual" and you'll find it. There is also a supplementary manual on the Heart of Winter (HoW) disc.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "some help with the commands like the scripts". Are you referring to the annoying character scripts that run mages into the middle of packs of goblins? You can turn that off; there's a Character AI toggle button in the bottom right of the game screen. If you combine that with the autopause feature, it gives you much better control over your characters.

Additionally, Dundee Slaytern (a most helpful chap) has made and tested extensively some better AI scripts. You can find them here. You may not want to use them until you get the hang of the game yourself.

2) Patches: All you need is the Trials of the Luremaster (TotL) download. In addition to being a worthy (and free) expansion, it contains the final patch to the game. You might have it already, but if not, you can find it here. The final patch is in the TotL download. Do NOT install any other patches except the one in TotL (v.1.42, I believe). Installing other patches will screw it up royally.

Install in this order.
a) Icewind Dale
b) Heart of Winter
c) Trials of the Luremaster

3) online playing: I don't play online, but from what I know, gamespy IS the only (or one of the only) place(s) to do so. You can also do it on a LAN/ host your own game. However, and be warned, HoW was not made for multiplayer. The basic game plays fine in multiplayer, but HoW may not. More information on it can be found in this thread.

4) Hints: Here's where I could go nuts.

Simple hints as follows:
a) save often
b) try to have balance in your party, but lean toward more fighters and clerics than to thieves
c) if you mess up a fight, sit back and think what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening next time
d) Most importantly - hang around this forum and ask questions, or search through the archives if you have the time to do so. There's one heckuva lot of IWD experience floating around on this board, and everybody's willing to share it. Best of all, there's a good crop of new players who were in the same situation as you just a couple months ago. This is a great thread for your needs. For more party composition and general tactical advice, look right here.

For some more tips, and probably more information than you can assimilate in one sitting, look here.
For a selection of sneaky tricks (and watch out for spoilers) go to this thread.

[Calagari]

Could you offer me a bit of help to make the game read these scripts? I tried installing them once before and for some reason I must have done it wrong. The scripts never listed what the actions were only the title of the scripts shown. I would like to get these much better scripts to work if possible.


BTW Welcome to the forums Legion

Originally posted by Aerich: Welcome, LeGioN! [img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img] You sure packed a lot of questions into your first post. I'll do my best to answer them all. 1) Rules: there's a manual for IWD on disc 1 of the set. Just explore the cd for "manual" and you'll find it. There is also a supplementary manual on the Heart of Winter (HoW) disc. I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "some help with the commands like the scripts". Are you referring to the annoying character scripts that run mages into the middle of packs of goblins? You can turn that off; there's a Character AI toggle button in the bottom right of the game screen. If you combine that with the autopause feature, it gives you much better control over your characters. Additionally, Dundee Slaytern (a most helpful chap) has made and tested extensively some better AI scripts. You can find them here. You may not want to use them until you get the hang of the game yourself. 2) Patches: All you need is the Trials of the Luremaster (TotL) download. In addition to being a worthy (and free) expansion, it contains the final patch to the game. You might have it already, but if not, you can find it here. The final patch is in the TotL download. Do NOT install any other patches except the one in TotL (v.1.42, I believe). Installing other patches will screw it up royally. Install in this order. a) Icewind Dale b) Heart of Winter c) Trials of the Luremaster 3) online playing: I don't play online, but from what I know, gamespy IS the only (or one of the only) place(s) to do so. You can also do it on a LAN/ host your own game. However, and be warned, HoW was not made for multiplayer. The basic game plays fine in multiplayer, but HoW may not. More information on it can be found in this thread. 4) Hints: Here's where I could go nuts. Simple hints as follows: a) save often b) try to have balance in your party, but lean toward more fighters and clerics than to thieves c) if you mess up a fight, sit back and think what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening next time d) Most importantly - hang around this forum and ask questions, or search through the archives if you have the time to do so. There's one heckuva lot of IWD experience floating around on this board, and everybody's willing to share it. Best of all, there's a good crop of new players who were in the same situation as you just a couple months ago. This is a great thread for your needs. For more party composition and general tactical advice, look right here. For some more tips, and probably more information than you can assimilate in one sitting, look here. For a selection of sneaky tricks (and watch out for spoilers) go to this thread.

[Aerich]

Well, I don't use them myself yet (I prefer micromanagement), so I can't help you there. Maybe if you do a search throught the archives you can come up with an old thread that has detailed installation instructions. Or, you could give Dundee a PM.

[LeGioN]

Thx for the info. And yeah I meant the AI scripts, that seems to be fine now. The patches on the other hand, I downloaded 2, and installed 2. I haven't had any problems yet, but I'm gonna format on Monday and from there I'll just install the one patch.

[Aerich]

The patches should be alright; just don't get them out of order. If you did:

Installed IWD
then patch v.1.06
Installed HoW
then patch v.1.41
Installed TotL
(v.1.42)

then it will be ok. However, if you tried to put v.1.06 in after you installed HoW, then it will be an issue.

[NobleNick]

LeGioN,

Welcome!

To clarify: I think Aerich was giving you the proper order if you INSIST (or have already) installed one or more of the 1.xx patches. I can tell you, though, that if you are starting from scratch, the best option is to install, in this order:

1.) IWD
2.) HoW
3.) TotLM

That's it. This is the best build possible. Permanently discard all your other patches.

Well, not quite THE best build: There is a "no-disk" fix that I installed some three years ago, that allows you to play without all the disk swapping that IWD usually requires. The only drawback is that I've socked my disks away in storage to keep them away from my kids, and have forgotten exactly where they are!

--------------------
What's a party,
without a song?
Bards ROCK!
Party On!!


[ 11-15-2004, 05:33 PM: Message edited by: NobleNick ]