Can game be completed w/o Rubble?

[J.D.]

I've got the rocket range (gunnery) open...
Rubble was NOT there...
I killed the dummies (not knowing what was up at the time)...
Since learned Rubble was supposed to have been there...
I applied the patch...
It's applied correctly...
Still no Rubble an Covert Op is still shut tighter than a drum...
I only carry one saved game...

So... can I complete the game without ever getting into to covert ops, which I believe would earn me the security clearance to get to the upper most level on Gigas? If not, will someone please tell me so I can start all over again with a fresh party.

Thx

[Fantasm]

Well I guess that's your first lesson. =) The last time I went and cleaned out old saved game files, I had a whopping 73 pages of saves. That's 73 pages times 5 saved games each for a total of 365 saved games! Maybe we should have a contest here to see who has the most saved games (yes, I save after EVERY combat .

The only thing I can think of is that perhaps you got into Mt. Gigas by some other means than completing Umpani missions? Are you working for the T'Rang and got a fake ID from somebody? Did you go through Bayjin and enter through the underwater caves? If you've completed several Umpani missions and Sgt. Balbrak specifically told you to go see Sgt. Rubble and he wasn't there, then I guess you've hit a rather nasty bug. I think there are instructions at www.wizardry8.com about how to submit bug reports, and they may even look at your save game to see what's up (that's assuming that you haven't used any editors...another source of potential problems).

As far as Sgt. Rubble goes, if you don't find him then AFAIK it simply means that you won't be able to continue doing any missions for the Umpani. Keep in mind that I haven't completed the game yet (having too much fun playing, don't want it to end , but I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who have worked solely for the T'Rang and finished the game quite nicely...look at it this way, once you finish you can restart and play the game a different way working for the Umpani and get a different game experience...

Good luck...

I would think though that if you have the problem in one game, you are going to have it in another...I can't say that I am right but I'd reccommend a complete uninstall/re-install of the game before starting over with the drivers for all your hardware updated prior to the re-install.

I've only had to use the first patch in my game...the one that fixed the inevitable crash of Ascension Peak...I feel terrible for those of you having to suffer with bugs! It really is a great game and has run smoothly for me (with the exception of a crash if I use Firestorm on Savant beings in two areas, which tech support blames on a faulty install) through a complete game and half of another.