GrayFace MM8 Patch v2.5.7 [Mar 4, 2022]

[lightbringer23]

Of course it did, because it has bad data. However, what's strange is that the autosave also contains wrong data. Are you sure you didn't load any game between deleting new.lod and starting new game and that you have the latest patch installed? Check version in mm8patch.dll properties.
Anyway, the fix I've made to ignore the issue works, as well as when I start a new game with these LODs, it starts with correct data. So, time for release.

Huh. Curiouser and Curiouser.
The properties of MM8patch.dll say 2.5.4, yet it's what comes with the current Merge build -- claimed to be 2.5.6. I did not load any other save between deleting new.lod and starting a new game.

Followup:
I swapped out the .dll for the 2.5.6 version, and the crashes persisted. I then added the following to mm8.ini under settings, as instructed from the Merge installation wiki (this previously had no effect, with the 2.5.4 .dll)

DisableHooks=44D96C,44DD9A,4541C9,47DA26,47DAA8,497A69

The map loaded without crash!

Now, I have NO idea what the above line does, other than apparently disable features of your patch. Am I missing out on things by including that line?

[Tomsod]

These are all hooks for the feature that takes note of artifacts in chests you never found and allows finding them elsewhere if they disappear after respawn. Some maps have totally inaccessible chests that sometimes contain artifacts, so you might miss an artifact or two without this, but it's probably not crucial.

[lightbringer23]

These are all hooks for the feature that takes note of artifacts in chests you never found and allows finding them elsewhere if they disappear after respawn. Some maps have totally inaccessible chests that sometimes contain artifacts, so you might miss an artifact or two without this, but it's probably not crucial.

Ah, okay. Good to know. Artifact hunting is a big part of my game, so I'll want to pay attention to that. I recall there being one in the Air Castle. I'll check the patch notes and see if there are others. Once I successfully save in a location, I should be able to load into it thereafter, so I may keep that line of code commented out unless I need it.

[GrayFace]

DisableHooks=44D96C,44DD9A,4541C9,47DA26,47DAA8,497A69

The map loaded without crash!

Now, I have NO idea what the above line does, other than apparently disable features of your patch. Am I missing out on things by including that line?

This one:
[-] Now, when a location re-spawns, all artifacts generated in chests you've never opened get cleared from "obtained artifacts" list.
Also, 2.5.4 has another serious bug, don't use it. Install 2.5.7 I'll release today and remove the DisableHooks line.

[GrayFace]

Version 2.5.7
<< MM6 - MM8 >>
[*] Support (i.e. no problems like crashes) for old saves with inconsequential incorrect data caused by my bug fixed in the previous version.
<< MM7, MM8 >>
[-] My bug: The Acid Burst fix that changes its element from Physical to Water was doing so even if it's explicitly set Physical in spells.txt. Now you can also disable the Acid Burst fix by adding FixAcidBurst=0 to INI.

[lightbringer23]

Confirmed success!

I removed the DisableHooks line, loaded up the old crashing save with 2.5.6, and observed the CTD. Then I swapped in the new 2.5.7 dll. The old save no longer crashed.

Thanks for your work, Grayface!

[uhm]

Hey Grayface! I've found that artifact "Berserker Belt" that uses some generic belt's graphic (item121), has it's own, unused graphic - item259. Would it be possible to replace it in the next release?
https://tcrf.net/File:M%26M8_icon_item259.png

[Kaancag]

Hi Grayface, @grayface,

I’ve been using the latest match and the party creator (the one you create 5 characters at the start). It’s been a blast thanks a lot.

Quick question, I had to dismiss a character to take on the troll for the main quest. However the dismissed character is not in the adventurer’s inn anymore… Is it gone forever? It’s not hard to replace but the cavaet is that he had all the cheese for that “cheese” quest in his inventory

[GrayFace]

Quick question, I had to dismiss a character to take on the troll for the main quest. However the dismissed character is not in the adventurer’s inn anymore… Is it gone forever? It’s not hard to replace but the cavaet is that he had all the cheese for that “cheese” quest in his inventory

My bad. Run this script from Ctrl+F1 console:

Code: Select all

local PlayerNumbers = {0,
	1,
	7,
	48,
	49,
}
	local base = 399 + Party.QBits.Low
	for i = 2, 5 do  -- set Hired bits
		Party.QBits[base + PlayerNumbers[i]] = true
	end

Update the choose party script from https://gitlab.com/GrayFace/mmext-scrip ... se%20Party

[Smyslovik]

Hello!

I have a following bug. With your patches installed on MM7 and MM8 the ground can simply disappear outside of dungeons in specific places. It looks like this.

https://postimg.cc/30mPGQcn

What to do to fix it?

[EstelRandir]

GreyFace,

I love the flexible UI. It brings so much more immersion to the game. Regarding the UI scaling options: Scale, partyscale, & StatusbarScale: would you please add scaling options to other parts of the UI? It would be nice to be able to scale them all individually, but of most value would be an independent scale for the minimap and the UI elements in the lower left corner.

One of the bigger annoyances with how the sub-screens of how all 3 games work (map, spellbook, quest log, etc) is that to open them requires one key, to close them requires another action (esc, or mouse clicking the close button). Is it possible to force them to open and close with the same mapped key? The character information screen ("~" key) performs like this. No need to perform 2 separate actions.

[Tomsod]

Hello!

I have a following bug. With your patches installed on MM7 and MM8 the ground can simply disappear outside of dungeons in specific places. It looks like this.

https://postimg.cc/30mPGQcn

What to do to fix it?

From the readme:

[+] ViewDistanceD3D option to set view distance in Hardware 3D mode, increased to 12000 by default. In Software mode you can increase view distance slightly by setting dist_mist. Known issue I haven't been able to fix yet: ViewDistanceD3D above game's default 8192 causes occasional brief disappearance of a near ground tile.

So you just need to set ViewDistanceD3D=8192 in mm8.ini.

[EstelRandir]

Hello!

I have a following bug. With your patches installed on MM7 and MM8 the ground can simply disappear outside of dungeons in specific places. It looks like this.

https://postimg.cc/30mPGQcn

What to do to fix it?

From the readme:

[+] ViewDistanceD3D option to set view distance in Hardware 3D mode, increased to 12000 by default. In Software mode you can increase view distance slightly by setting dist_mist. Known issue I haven't been able to fix yet: ViewDistanceD3D above game's default 8192 causes occasional brief disappearance of a near ground tile.

So you just need to set ViewDistanceD3D=8192 in mm8.ini.

Using 3D accelerated mode & ViewDistanceD3D, I can get ViewDistanceD3D=32000 without stuff disappearing. Beyond 32000, the npc's begin disappearing. In order to use this, I must make sure mm8.exe is in windows xp service pack 2 or 3 compatibility mode. I can even set ViewDistanceD3D=100000 without the ground, or buildings disappearing. But there will be no npc's visible.

I could only reproduce your error in software mode.

[Rinba]

Hello!
I'd like to ask how to disable strafing in mouse look mode in MM8, according to readme "NormalStrafe=1" in mm8.ini should do the trick, but that doesn't seem to have any effect for me. Using the most recent v2.5.7 [Mar 4, 2022] patch.

Alternatively, would it be possible to increase the strafe speed? Its rather slow speed is what makes me want to disable it in the first place.

[Anubis]

Chests in the Merchant House of Alvar were supposed to store your items as an NPC says this at one point (I could be wrong?) but it seems this isn't the case. Kind of like how you could store stuff in Harmondale Castle in MM7.

Also, is there any way you can make it so that XP is shared across NPCs/hirelings in the Adventurer Inn? If not, would be a pretty neat feature.

[Erisian]

I installed this patch in the middle of a game, which might not be the wisest thing to do, but I was having crashes upon trying to enter the Destroyer's palace before installing it and the patch fixed the problem nicely. One issue though was that it wiped clean all my set Lloyd Beacons. I don't know if this is a bug or just something unavoidable but I thought it good to report it, just in case.

[Erisian]

Chests in the Merchant House of Alvar were supposed to store your items as an NPC says this at one point (I could be wrong?) but it seems this isn't the case. Kind of like how you could store stuff in Harmondale Castle in MM7.

After defeating the Destroyer and returning to the Merchant House I received a dialogue saying I can now use the chests permanently, suggesting that before that, it was only a temporary arrangement. That might be the issue but don't quote me on it.

[Xfing]

It was an obvious bug: acid burst isn't set to physical element, instead it doesn't have any element set, like all non-combat spells, and it only defaults to physical because of a quirk in the code. Besides, all other combat spells have their element correspond to their school. Just because it went unfixed from MM7 to MM8 doesn't make it a feature.

Hey, interesting! This reminds me of the fact that the Dragon's breath weapon was able to kill the NPCs in the Tomb of Lord Brinne, despite them being immune to literally everything. Is this also due to the fact that it too had no element assigned?

[Xfing]

Chests in the Merchant House of Alvar were supposed to store your items as an NPC says this at one point (I could be wrong?) but it seems this isn't the case. Kind of like how you could store stuff in Harmondale Castle in MM7.

I think that was the intention, but in the vanilla game the Merchant House of Alvar had a respawn time, so you'd eventually lose everything in the chests. There have been fixes made for this - not quite sure what the situation is now, but I'm assuming the Merge has a permanent, integrated solution, and so does Grayface's MM8 patch.

[Tomsod]

This reminds me of the fact that the Dragon's breath weapon was able to kill the NPCs in the Tomb of Lord Brinne, despite them being immune to literally everything. Is this also due to the fact that it too had no element assigned?

IIRC dragons attack with "element number 50", but there are only 10 elements in MM8 with their associated resistances, so the 50th element doesn't get a resistance and thus cannot be resisted at all, kinda like "energy" in MM6.