The Adventures of Thomas: Lucy's Quest

[geegee]

10 hours ago, pwl said:

when I was in the Pub I could hear a bottle clinking it was under the foot of the man playing the lute

That's a wandering minstrel or troubadour, although in truth his home turf is the tavern made famous in King of Diamonds.  So he's seen everything and I can't picture him being perturbed.  When it came time to renovate the interior of a structure decorated with the Belcher's sign made originally by Springheel construction I believe, I'd just been hypnotized by the tavern in KoD, by the lighting and ambience, so I had that tavern in mind when I copy/pasted from Spooks' work.   

[stgatilov]

On 6/11/2022 at 3:26 AM, geegee said:

I wonder if this erratic behavior could be produced by the spawnarg neverDormant=0 that's on those AI?  It only happens on some AI with the spawnarg.  There's been no report of the AI in the "yard" area (first area of the FM) behaving like that though the spawnarg is set on all of them. 

Yes, I think it is very likely.
If they stay dormant since the beginning of the mission till the moment you see them (which is a bug of course), then you should see them as T-pose still figures.
If someone can reliably reproduce the issue from fresh start, then it would make sense to drop the spawnarg on these AIs and check if it helps.

To be honest, I recall seeing guards in T-pose some time ago, most likely when I tweaked/broke something. I'd suggest to check if people who have/haven't the issue have the same version of TDM: maybe e.g. they use dev build where this is broken.
UPDATE: I think I got T-pose guards after I set wrong cvar related to AI interleaved thinking. Surely not the problem that people have, but the mechanics is the same: AI has never "think"-ed -> you see T-pose AI.

[Marbrien]

I have continued palying, and I am confused as to the whereabouts of Airmid's grotto. I've found a note that says once I get beyond Bleak House it's a smooth run to Airmid's Grotto. I've dealt with the surving thugs at the house, but see no path to the grotto, so I'm stuck.

Ok, it seems I need to

Spoiler

frob a glowing plant in the watery area for it to open the path to the grotto.

 

Edited June 12, 2022 by Marbrien

[Marbrien]

On the issue of spawning, I knocked out all the Hammerites I could get to when I first entered their building. When I returned with Helot's quarters key to explore the rest of the building,

Spoiler

it was annoying to find I had to do it all again.  I could see no real reason why I had to do it all twice.

 

[nbohr1more]

On 6/11/2022 at 12:11 AM, geegee said:

@nbohr1more , a problem has been reported and I wonder if this FM could be taken off the database and I could retract the release until the issue is resolved? 

My apologies.

Mission management is ( now ) done via SVN so I am not sure how to "pull a mission" other than deleting the SVN folder and committing ? @stgatilov  ?

[stgatilov]

13 minutes ago, nbohr1more said:

My apologies.

Mission management is ( now ) done via SVN so I am not sure how to "pull a mission" other than deleting the SVN folder and committing ? @stgatilov  ?

We have never removed any FM from the new database yet.

Looking through the scripts, I think simply removing the directory should work.
The best thing would be to "svn move" the directory outside "fms", so that later we can "svn move" it back with some updates.

@geegee, Should I do it right now?

[geegee]

I have updated the download link to a version 1.1 that hopefully addresses the issue of AI immobilized in T-pose in the Belcher (and possibly other places).  Version 1.1 will probably break the savegames from earlier versions (I''m not certain of that).  

Apologies to everyone.  

[geegee]

8 hours ago, Marbrien said:

it was annoying

Yah, changing of the guard often takes thieves by surprise.  That's why the taffers do it.  Fortunately in this case they were half-assed when they did their change act and with the thief having prior knowledge of the layout it's rather a cakewalk.

[stgatilov]

9 minutes ago, geegee said:

I have updated the download link to a version 1.1 that hopefully addresses the issue of AI immobilized in T-pose in the Belcher (and possibly other places).  Version 1.1 will probably break the savegames from earlier versions (I''m not certain of that). 

I temporarily removed the mission from in-game downloader by @geegee request.

Could please someone who had the T-pose guards issue update to the new version of FM and post whether they still have the issue or not?

[Shadow]

I played the newer beta up to the point of the Belcher and the pub has normal looking people in it now instead of warped mannequins. But boy, my FPS was straggling this time. I don't know why but in the Yard it was in the low teens and some places it was below 10 FPS.  I fired up the recent Noble Affairs just for measure and FPS was upwards of 175-200 most of the time. I did modify the advanced video switches recommended in the first post but nothing helped. I hope it's just me and no one else has his issue. Willing to try the next release if that ever comes.

[nbohr1more]

36 minutes ago, Shadow said:

I played the newer beta up to the point of the Belcher and the pub has normal looking people in it now instead of warped mannequins. But boy, my FPS was straggling this time. I don't know why but in the Yard it was in the low teens and some places it was below 10 FPS.  I fired up the recent Noble Affairs just for measure and FPS was upwards of 175-200 most of the time. I did modify the advanced video switches recommended in the first post but nothing helped. I hope it's just me and no one else has his issue. Willing to try the next release if that ever comes.

This mission has an enormous number of active AI and thus requires more CPU horsepower than most other missions.

The 1.1 "fix" appears to be removing some think optimizations so that will lower performance further unfortunately.

I tested this mission on the latest SVN version ( 2.11 ) and performance is much better. I suspect that the latest 2.11 "Dev Build" should also perform well:

 

[geegee]

21 minutes ago, nbohr1more said:

The 1.1 "fix" appears to be removing some think optimizations so that will lower performance further unfortunately.

Yes, it takes out the neverDormant=0 spawnarg globally, not just in the Belcher.  Because I have no way of knowing where else the problem might occur, and on what machines.  

Shadow's report does confirm stgatilov's diagnosis of the problem.

What I can't understand is how on the same machine Noble Affairs gets 175-200 fps most of the time.  At the same video settings (maps, med soft shadows, everything else off) I get nothing close to that on my machine, and most of the time Lucy scores better.  For example, on the dock at the start I get 45-55 fps as I rotate 360.  In the first corridors I get 25-35 fps, and in the manor it's the same with spots going down to 20.  Such variation baffles me. 

Comparing with shadows stencil and soft shadows off, Noble Affairs gets 80-100 fps most of the time, which is pretty good.  But half what Shadow gets.  On Lucy with stencil and soft shadows off the increase in fps is much more modest.

I'm running v2.10.  I'll switch to v2.11 dev build, although this problem doesn't happen on my machine, or is near imperceptible. 

[Heuli]

I'm playing with an old AMD processor
und Ubuntu 16.04
Geforce 1060 ti
16 gb RAM

I have a few models in T-pose in the Belcher pub
only in Belcher pub

low FPS in the street even just a few minutes

if everyone writes what kind of CPU and OS and graphics card
that might narrow down the problem

[stgatilov]

By the way: I would be glad if someone shared a savegame with T-pose guards on the original version of the mission. If it persists after save/load of course. Such a save may help diagnose and fix the original problem.

[Heuli]

hi may  save game folder

 

https://app.box.com/s/qdfk66laie7viyptpnm1f66b9ma8aczm

Edited June 13, 2022 by Heuli

[Marbrien]

I was nearing the end of the original version, so I continued with it, finishing with

Spoiler

9268 out of 10,323

loot. 

On returning to the Belcher having been to the lab, all the AI were behaving normally.

Two queries please.

1. There is a building adjacent to the blacksmith's with a locked door into the yard. Where is the key for that door?

2. In the Hammerite building there is a small gargoyle in a glass case. It highlights, but does not interact with anything I have. What does it do?

Thanks.

[esme]

On 6/12/2022 at 4:21 AM, geegee said:

I'm glad to see you're still playing it! 

It's an excellent mission, not found any other issues with it, I just need to find this drop box or work out what I haven't done that triggers it

[tapewolf]

7 hours ago, Marbrien said:

I was nearing the end of the original version, so I continued with it, finishing with

  Reveal hidden contents

9268 out of 10,323

loot. 

 

Regarding the gargoyle,

Spoiler

It seems to switch off the defences for the walking stick.  This confused me at first since the note implied there was a key for it, and the switch accessed from below the stick didn't seem to do much.  However, pressing both button and gargoyle seemed to be required to get at the stick.

 

[tapewolf]

I've just completed the unpatched version last night.  None of the other NPCs seemed to display the T-pose issue suffered by the folks in the Belcher.

The mission was impressively large and I particularly liked the whole portal business.  Good stuff, and a very enjoyable mission.

I'm sure I'm missing a few keys, but the only thing I couldn't do which I think is probably a bug was:

Spoiler

Retrieving Bass' head from the display cabinet.  I was able to extinquish the magical floss with water arrows, and successfully grabbed the other two skulls, but Bass is unfrobbable so it looks like he's going to have to remain on display. 

I've reloaded and tried a few times, but it seems to be a persistent issue.

[geegee]

18 minutes ago, tapewolf said:

I've reloaded and tried a few times, but it seems to be a persistent issue.

A triggering problem.  Thanks.  It happens rarely (in my playthroughs).  I'll put it on my list.  

Glad to hear that the portals did the job.  

[geegee]

5 hours ago, esme said:

I just need to find this drop box or work out what I haven't done that triggers it

Spoiler

There are 4 drop boxes. Aeden's (first one, walking stick goes there), Gwyneth's at the farm (2nd, Aeden's note to Gwyneth goes there, as well as some items from Gwyneth's sidequests), Airmid's at the grotto, Alchemist Gray's at the lab.

Read the objectives carefully as each tells what dropbox to use.  The drop boxes aren't hidden.  To pass from the Gwyneth farm area to the Airmid grotto area you have to do the right thing with Smythe, as Gwyneth's quest objective says.  Stuff that goes in Airmid's drop box is all optional, but does enhance the game if completed.  It's essential to put Airmid's herbs in Alchemist Gray's drop box.  

This doesn't really spoil much if people read it but it's best to use the spoiler flag.  Thank you.

 

[geegee]

7 hours ago, Marbrien said:

1. There is a building adjacent to the blacksmith's with a locked door into the yard. Where is the key for that door?

That's Weezil's key.  Once you've done the main quest the game world is totally open and there's access to several routes back to the start.  One is to find Weezil's key and use that door.

[Marbrien]

36 minutes ago, geegee said:

That's Weezil's key.  Once you've done the main quest the game world is totally open and there's access to several routes back to the start.  One is to find Weezil's key and use that door.

The door I'm talking about is an external door, which has a short inverted L shaped path between itself and the blacksmith's external door. I already have Weezil's key, but the door in question is locked, and won't open with that key or any other key I have, and it isn't pickable.  it's the only locked door left I think - I haven't been to its other side.

Edited June 13, 2022 by Marbrien

[geegee]

2 hours ago, Marbrien said:

The door I'm talking about is an external door, which has a short inverted L shaped path between itself and the blacksmith's external door.

Oh that!  There is no key.  That's the door most of the AI in the yard exit into after the show is over. 

So congrats on finding all the keys!

[esme]

20 hours ago, geegee said:

  Hide contents

There are 4 drop boxes. Aeden's (first one, walking stick goes there), Gwyneth's at the farm (2nd, Aeden's note to Gwyneth goes there, as well as some items from Gwyneth's sidequests), Airmid's at the grotto, Alchemist Gray's at the lab.

Read the objectives carefully as each tells what dropbox to use.  The drop boxes aren't hidden.  To pass from the Gwyneth farm area to the Airmid grotto area you have to do the right thing with Smythe, as Gwyneth's quest objective says.  Stuff that goes in Airmid's drop box is all optional, but does enhance the game if completed.  It's essential to put Airmid's herbs in Alchemist Gray's drop box.  

This doesn't really spoil much if people read it but it's best to use the spoiler flag.  Thank you.

 

wups, sorry

One other question if you don't mind

Spoiler

Where is the key for the lab gate ?