:Malevon Glitch

[Charles the Paladin]

On the home stretch as some of you and am encountering a glitch or two. When I kill the fake Malevon, the true one does not appear. I've waited for as long as five minutes and searched through the whole area. I also have a glitch where the static charge spell won't work for my druid. I've played this far with only a few spell glitches. I think my version is OK, but not sure how to check if I need the patch or not. As for Malevon, I could just go back to a saved game, but it's too far back and I don't want to play two more hours to get back where I am. Any suggestions?

[Aerich]

For starters, I'd patch whatever version you have. There's a few significant bugs in the original game that can cause plenty of headaches.

As for your problem, you really only have two choices. First, you could patch the game, go back to a previous save, and try again. Second, you could download the game editor and add Malevon's badge to your inventory.

edit: the game editor is called Dalekeeper, and there's a link to it through the ironworks IWD site. Possibly under "cheats."

[ 07-18-2004, 02:23 PM: Message edited by: Aerich ]

[Charles the Paladin]

Thanks for the quick reply, Aerich. I did find that I have version 1.3, so I'm not so sure the 1.06 patch will do me any good, will it? I'll keep Dalekeeper in mind, but if anyone can help me maintain my honor in killing Malevon, I would be very grateful.

[Aerich]

Is version 1.3 the version with Heart of Winter? If you do have HoW, try downloading the free Trials of the Luremaster expansion. It includes the 1.42 patch for IWD. Don't use a patch that's lower than the version you have. If you try to install patch 1.06 over HoW, BIG problems will result; that's because the Heart of Winter has a patch included that is subsequent to the 1.06 patch.

Once you have it patched, clean out your cache folder, go back to a game saved before you entered Malevon's lab, and try again.

EDIT: Welcome to Ironworks, Charles! Nice to see that there's still people playing Icewind Dale.

[ 07-18-2004, 07:30 PM: Message edited by: Aerich ]

[Charles the Paladin]

Aerich, your wisdom was well-taken, applied, and successful! I installed a borrowed copy of HOW, then Trials of the Luremaster, finding that the final patch did have a specific fix for Malevon "non-appearance" (I'm not crazy, yeah!). It was like Christmas! The game took on a new look and I suddenly had some really kick-butt spells that I could have had all along. Malevon has been defeated. My honor is intact. And I've gone to look for some more goodies that I understand may be hidden in the nearby abandoned village. To the end!

[Aerich]

Glad it worked for you, Charles. It's great that you can now get through the game without trouble, hacking and slashing your way through the evildoers without needing (I hope) to fight any more ugly software battles.

I've got to say though, that my "wisdom" was nothing more than good advice from other peoples' posts. I can't take credit for anything but a retentive memory.

Out of curiosity, what's your party composition and how are you finding the game so far?

[Charles the Paladin]

Aerich,
I went with three fighters, a mage/thief, cleric, and druid. The thief has been invaluable for me to check out areas then slap a spell on an unsuspecting target. I've mentioned my druid on another post. One problem I realized I had is that I never had half the spells I could have because I was playing without the HOW expansion pack installed. Therefore, it's good to see how well you're doing with your priests. I must mention I have found there are a few special situations in the game set up only for bards. Read my other post and if need be, start another thread. Currently, I'm into a palace in Lower Dorn's Deep- there's some deadly fighters, but they have lots of goodies. Using domination on them is kinda fun, but it seems to wear off quick. Glitches seem gone, so onward to the end!

[Aerich]

That's a strong party. All the priest spells (maybe not counting the evil-specific ones), a sneak artist, and three mulchers.

AFAIK, there's no real bard-specific situations. Having a bard can give you more options (and more XP), but theoretically any party can win the game. There's also opportunities for extra experience when using a paladin.

Good weapons for druids are rare, but there's a certain staff available for druids. HoW also adds weapons to Conlan's smithy, including a good scimitar (I believe they don't appear if you've been to Conlan's before installing HoW, though). However, what with casting offensive spells, using shapechange, and the Moonblade and Flameblade spells, good melee weapons aren't strictly necessary. Moonblade is probably better than any druid weapon you can find, expecially against undead. Need to have a sling or darts, though. I play my druid as a last-resort melee character. The AC is just too poor. A fighter/druid, however...

Don't forget, I'm "cheating" a bit with the party o' priests. I've got three multi-classed fighters in there, (crossed with cleric, druid, and mage) otherwise I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.

I'm hoping that the magic-resistant bosses won't be too much of a problem (I've got Yx coming up soon). I've got lots of buffing spells and healing spells, and plenty of summons to take the pain. Dispel may be my biggest threat, because it can take out my anti-melee traps of 4-8 spells with one casting.

Anyway, give some thought to having large masses of spellcasters in your next party (two mage-spell casters is nice). It forces you to play a different style, and there's a lot of satisfaction in casting six spells in a single round while the enemy is immobilized/being chomped on by summons.

[Charles the Paladin]

Aerich,
One of my fighters is a paladin-you're right, he sure is handy. My bard comment comes from realizing I can't ever talk to any animals and there's one scenario late in the game (I've read) where only a bard can make something happen with some painting you receive- we'll see. By the way, my druid finally did pick up a magic scimitar late in the game....moonblade sure would have been nice earlier on. I pretty much use her for healing and missle attacks as you have rightly observed. No shame in having the dual class priests- it'll just take longer to move up levels......Six spells at once! How sweet!

[Aerich]

I don't think you can ever talk to animals, even with a bard. A ranger can allow you to Charm them, but even that isn't very useful (not many animals).

The episode with the portrait can net you some extra experience for peaceful diplomacy, but if you don't have a bard you can just blast your way through. No big deal.

A bard is actually most useful as the support character extraordinaire. The pickpocket skill takes pressure off your thief, the mage spells take pressure off your mage, the ability to use a longbow or crossbow makes the bard a decent ranged fighter, the identify skill is handy (can often use items right away, without needing to memorize Identify in a valuable 1st level slot), and the songs can make or break a fight in certain areas.

Consider using your druid to set spell traps as well. As you may know, my favourite combo is Entangle and/or Web with Spike Growth. The best thing about it is that you aren't taking away many (only one 2nd level) slots that could be used for healing. I know that I only cast Protection From Fire from my druid's third level spells before I got HoW. With HoW, the third level druid spells are fantastic. Don't overlook the higher level summoning spells and multiple Static Charge spells, either. Fourth level spells are amazing for druids, clerics AND mages.

As for the multi- and dual-class priests, the XP hit is the reason I've got the difficulty on expert. That and a judicious bit of levelling on DE lvl 3 (all those numerous and oh-so-easy Cold Wights) ensures that my characters are at just as high a level as single-classed ones would be on normal difficulty.

[ 07-23-2004, 02:59 AM: Message edited by: Aerich ]