Dungeon Lords-some newb help please?

[Lost Sheep]

Playing a warrior and now in abandoned theater. Need some help please.

1.In middle of repair/identify window there is a slider bar where you can slide a skull back and forth.What does that do?

2.What do you have to do to learn identify skill?

3.If you leave theater to get items ID'ed can you return to complete the area?

[Dhruin]

I don't believe you can go back - to be honest, I stopped playing the game and don't remember accurately. Last I played, the repair skill simply didn't work. Hopefully someone else can do better.

[txa1265]

I hope you are playing the Collector's Edition - or at least have patched to 1.4 on the original. If you have then identifying works automatically and you can also repair items. I don't remember the slider ...

And once you leave the theater you cannot return.

[Acleacius]

I actually thought you could return to the Theater, since you get the key, though I never really needed to go back.
If you have the key to leave, this means you must have defeated everything, so your just collecting loot, you could Save, Exit and try to reenter. :)

Seems Identify was based on Intelligence or maybe I am confusing DL with another game it's been more than a year, since I have played.

Can't remember about the Slider either, is there some sort of pop-up when you mouse over?

If no one here knows you can try posting in GameBanshee, as they have the most active DL crowd and member Steve2d has a very nice Save Game Editor which is very handy when and if quests break.

Here is a link to the main DL forum which includes the Stickied, Editor. :)
http://www.gamebanshee.com/forums/dungeon-lords-93/

[chamr]

1.In middle of repair/identify window there is a slider bar where you can slide a skull back and forth.What does that do?
Nothing. One of the many UI uglies this game suffers from, sadly.

2.What do you have to do to learn identify skill?
You have to choose a class that has that skill. Check Gamebanshees excellent guide section to find out which classes give you the Identify skill. Or, if you've bought the CE, I think there is a listing of the classes in the back of the manual with what skills each class adds to your character.

3.If you leave theater to get items ID'ed can you return to complete the area?
I think so, but to open the door to get out, I'm pretty sure you have to get the key from the end boss, so by then there's not much reason to return. You may as well collect all the loot first and then leave.

Also, in general, Gamebashee's DL site and forums are an excellent resource where you should be able to get most if not all the answers you need.

[Lost Sheep]

WOW!
As a new member of the forum I'm most impressed (and grateful) for the speed and quality of the replies to my questions.
Thanks a lot to all who replied,your replies are most helpful!

Yes,I am playing the collector's edition,bought cheaply on a whim,and it's not bad so far.
I'll be sure to check out Gamebanshee,as suggested, (thanks for the link) and I'm sure I'll be back here soon!

[Zaleukos]

After some more time with the Dungeon Lords demo I remain befuddled about some things.

M is supposed to "toggle automap", but doesnt seem to have any effect. Do I need my char to carry a map item for it to work?

How do you target a particular enemy? The timing of my strikes is distinctly off, and given that the connection of blows dont seem to be totally random I get the feeling I am missing something. Or is there no targetting per se but rather weapons hitting anything that is at a particular distance and within the "swing angle" of the attack move?

How do you pick locks and disarm traps? When I try to access a chest and click disarm or bash all I get is a timer and a progress bar on a dialog that doesnt seem to respond to any particular clicking. are you actually supposed to do anything at that stage, or is the rate of failure purely based on the characters skill level?

Is there any way to assign spells to quickslots?

EDIT: Figured out the lockpicking, but I must say that I dont enjoy that particular minigame. What are the benefits of increasing your lockpicking skill?

[chamr]

After some more time with the Dungeon Lords demo I remain befuddled about some things.
M is supposed to "toggle automap", but doesnt seem to have any effect. Do I need my char to carry a map item for it to work?

The demo is based on the pre-patched code, so it will be the most buggy and be missing the most features. The minimap is one of the latter.

How do you target a particular enemy? The timing of my strikes is distinctly off, and given that the connection of blows dont seem to be totally random I get the feeling I am missing something. Or is there no targetting per se but rather weapons hitting anything that is at a particular distance and within the "swing angle" of the attack move?

The hitting is contact-based, meaning you have to actually hit the baddie with your sword. Make sure your close enough. Try moving the camera to an angle mostly above the fight to see how close you are. That might help you get the hang of it. It takes a bit of practice. One more thing, monsters do have a chance to parry your hit, so if you see a puff of grey smoke, it means your hit was parried and didn't cause any damage.

How do you pick locks and disarm traps? When I try to access a chest and click disarm or bash all I get is a timer and a progress bar on a dialog that doesnt seem to respond to any particular clicking. are you actually supposed to do anything at that stage, or is the rate of failure purely based on the characters skill level?

EDIT: Figured out the lockpicking, but I must say that I dont enjoy that particular minigame. What are the benefits of increasing your lockpicking skill?

The level of the lock/trap is first checked against your inspect traps skill which determines how much of the symbols you can see before the timer bar starts. Once you've started the timer bar, the speed at which the bar moves across the symbols depends, again, on the level of the lock/trap, but this time compared to your pick locks skill. The higher your inspect, the more clearly you'll see the symbols before the bar starts. The higher your lockpick, the slower the bar will move. Of course, you could always just Bash it. The higher your strength in comparison to the level of the lock/trap, the better random chance you'll have of opening it.


Is there any way to assign spells to quickslots?

When in your character screen ('C', I believe), hover over a given spell and hit the number you want it assign to. Once in game, it's a bit tricker and, again, was improved a bit after the demo was released. Bascially, if it's an instant effect spell, such as firing a fireball, when you hit the number it will simply fire away. For other types of spells, you'll have to have the spell bar up (which I think is 'F'). But when you have it up, you can't swing normally. And, in the demo, you can't toggle it off with 'F'. You have to hit another key to turn it off, just can't remember which one off the top of my head.

[Zaleukos]

I'll go the strength route and bash galore then:)

[Zaleukos]

Finally started some serious coop yesterday. Taking on mobs together is fun, even though our current tactics are limited to one player keeping the enemy busy while the other retreats for healing.

According to the manual the only party-wide spells are rune buffs.

Party dynamics are in all not very well implemented. We havent figured out how to share quest rewards (XP and honour points are inconsequential, those can be edited afterwards if we feel cheated, but when my mage gf gets a celestial crystal that my adept could use thats a major turnoff). Since there's only crap on TV tonight we'll probably try to find some workaround for these poor implementations tonight.

And we thought the respawning would end once in the city. Bummer. At least the (immortal???) guards keep all those snakes and rats busy while we look at our character screens.

[chamr]

We havent figured out how to share quest rewards (XP and honour points are inconsequential, those can be edited afterwards if we feel cheated, but when my mage gf gets a celestial crystal that my adept could use thats a major turnoff).
You both have to talk to the quest giver and receive the quest and then both talk to them afterward to get the reward. Lame, but true.

And we thought the respawning would end once in the city. Bummer. At least the (immortal???) guards keep all those snakes and rats busy while we look at our character screens.

The spawning, NEVER STOPS.... :uhoh:

[JDR13]

I actually saw a bundle containing Dungeon Lords CE and Gothic 3 on the same DVD at Circuit City the other day. It was called the "RPG Pack" or something similar and it was $29.99.

[chamr]

I actually saw a bundle containing Dungeon Lords CE and Gothic 3 on the same DVD at Circuit City the other day. It was called the "RPG Pack" or something similar and it was $29.99.

Wow. If you don't have either and you like 3rd person, actiony-combat, single hero RPGs, that is a HELL of a deal!!

[JDR13]

Yeah I thought it looked pretty good, but I already have 1 copy of Gothic 3 and I'll be getting another when I purchase Gothic Universe.

I wouldn't mind getting Dungeon Lords CE, but I wouldn't pay more than $10 for it.

[Zaleukos]

You both have to talk to the quest giver and receive the quest and then both talk to them afterward to get the reward. Lame, but true.

Lame but bugged. Most of the time we can get two rewards and quests, but sometimes the game seems to forget about one of the players. This proved pretty fatal for one of hour guild quests. The game is event driven to the border of the absurd, and when triggers break you are screwed:(

My gf (started out as mage) hosts the game and joined the celestial order (aiming for sisterhood later but they dont have a first tier class and some minor healing ability seemed useful) after helping seera augustus (a quest that we both received), while my character started out as an adept (aims to be a paladin later). We went to help augustus but only she could get any reward. Then we both received the initiation quest for the celestial order, put two bloody candles in place, go back, and while she gets a heraldry bonus and options to gain second tier classes I only get the message "go see seer augustus", who supposedly is dead but still stands in his room. I do get a summon of some sort for the fellow and try to talk to him, but he only delivers crap lines about last breaths and the like. My Paladin plans are thus made impossible as I cant seem to fix this using the editor. The alternative is to play my character in singleplayer and go through some 5-10 hours of butchery just to complete a quest that I've done already. And we dont have any old savegame from just before the incident. I'm pretty pissed at the game at this moment... The only hope would be if the stupid guildmaster in Arindale acts more rational (e g if the broken trigger isnt "guildwide" but limited to mr Dimwit in Fargrove).

EDIT: And the shops seem to be an exception to the respawning.

[chamr]

Did you try saving the game right there, and then loading it up with only your character and trying to get the reward then?

[Moriendor]

I wouldn't mind getting Dungeon Lords CE, but I wouldn't pay more than $10 for it.

I also wouldn't mind getting paid $10 per hour if I were forced to submit my poor self to the infinite crap that is the Dungeon Turds CE :biggrin: .

[JDR13]

I've never played DL CE, only an old demo of the original version. I've heard quite a few people say that the CE is improved enough to at least get a few hours of fun out of it.

Keep in mind they didn't say it was actually a good game, just that it was worth a few hours.

[chamr]

Easily worth $10. $20 at least, imho.

[JDR13]

Here's that combo pack I was talking about.

http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=647194

Gamestop list the release date as 11/12/07, but the Circuit City by my house already has it.

[Zaleukos]

Did you try saving the game right there, and then loading it up with only your character and trying to get the reward then?

We did while dealing with Augustus, and it didnt work. But since we could proceed with the main quest we ignored it. It was only much later, after more or less clearing the path to Arindale, that we realised that my progress within the celestial order was blocked. By then we didnt have any appropriate savegames.

Luckily it turned out that my hope of only the NPC in Fargrove having bugged triggers was true. The guildmaster in Arindale has different triggers and let me progress. Funny thing is that once I've become Paladin (in Arindale) and return to Fargrove, Seer Paulus treats me as if I just talked to his buddy Augustus and asks me to talk to the Celestine. If I do that he offers me to join his order and go place a candle!!! Not wanting to mess things up further I politely declined:p A funny side-effect is that only my gf has access to the celestine order's "member inventory", and since they stock a slightly different sortment of crystals that's a nuisance.

The other similar bug we've seen was with the freeing of a prisoner that gives you a password to the slums district. My gf and I both talked to the prisoner, both got the password, etc, but only she got a quest reward and only she can open the door to the slums. At that instance we did a lot of experimenting (given that the whole "quest" is so short) but never got around the problem.

Otherwise we ARE having fun with the game, but the fun is mainly with tactical fighting. The event driven roleplaying part of the game is rather weak both in technical implementation and story, and both visuals and audio are rather crappy. Luckily we are prepared to overlook that in MP.

[chamr]

Otherwise we ARE having fun with the game, but the fun is mainly with tactical fighting. The event driven roleplaying part of the game is rather weak both in technical implementation and story, and both visuals and audio are rather crappy. Luckily we are prepared to overlook that in MP.

Good to hear! :) I've never completed the game in MP myself, but have read several times that others have, so there shouldn't be anything you 2 can't get around (unless you both chose Urgoths, in which case I can point you to the work around for a quest-stopping problem with them).

Surprised you found the visuals "crappy". I quite liked the art direction and find the monster design to be some of the most interesting I've come across in a while. Of course, if you're refering to the lack of diverse terrain or the semi-empty towns, or the "hilly" water, or the artificially limited view distance outdoors, I can understand that. ;)

[Zaleukos]

We're both habitual humans (for some reason we always go human or elf), so the Urgoth bug shouldnt be a problem:)

In all fairness I've mainly played either fairly new (Gothic 3, Two Worlds, Oblivion) or too old for one to care about the graphics (Arcanum & IWD 2 with the latter arguably looking better than DL) in the last year, so I am not in a position to give a unbiased judgment on the games visuals. So I go by a rather subjective believability criterion, and here DL isnt that great. If anything I'd put the graphics in the ballpark of Gothic 2 (but now I compare with something I havent really seen for two years), only less immersive.

Aside from your "short" list of beefs which all have been noticed the wilderness feeels empty as well(it is funny how it feels like we are running into more random encounters inside Fargrove than in the wilderness), but thats not what bugs us. It's the horrid player character animation that bugs us the most though, and given the games perspective you have to look at that all the time:p I dont know how to describe it, but it feels a bit like watching someone trying to run on ice, with the leg movement not quite matching the character's speed. We are however not overly concerned with graphics, so we can live with that.

The monsters on the other hand are great and is part of what pulls us in. They are fairly varied and really require us to be on our toes to a level that wasnt needed in the old Infinity engine classics or NWN that was distinctly lacking in surprise elements.

My initial fears about getting shafted on the experience front are alleviated, having another player cover your back and take some heat of you is such a huge advantage that a slightly lower level doesnt matter at all:)

[txa1265]

I thought that the monsters were well done, as were the dungeons, but the exteriors looked to me like a 3D-ified Wizards & Warriors ...

[zakhal]

Mobygames says the Bad Reputation... Terrific Game!
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dungeon-lords-collectors-edition

Perhaps its just the lack of reviews (for the CE edition). And Im really not in great need of yet another (3d) fantasy rpg. There are so many better ones nowadays that games like DL have no place really.

[cutterjohn]

heh heh, I got my DLCE for $5 and G3 for $10... :D

I liked the idea of a more complex class and skill system for an ARPG, along with what I thought was a decent combat system. The dungeons and interior areas seemed to be fairly well done, although towns and outside areas seemed kind of barren. It's too bad that the game wasn't completely finished and polished, even for the "collector's edition".

I played about halfway through it, but haven't played it much since as I'd been hoping that wine would eventually be able to run it perfectly, but while it runs it now, it doesn't allow full camera rotation. It stops at about the halfway point and forces you to move the camera the other way around to see the other area, unlike windows where is spins freely along a 360 degree arc.

IIRC in my game, I had a cleric type of character(dwarf IIRC) with wizard(IIRC) and it seemed that identify would only be attempted once when you examined an item(been a while since I played) and you'd only get the one shot at it in which the item would be IDed or not.

I can't remember if I ever got repair to work reliably...

@txa1265
The DL engine was a modified version of the same engine from Wizards & Warriors...

[chamr]

Perhaps its just the lack of reviews (for the CE edition).

Sadly, they earned almost every bit of bad reputation they got, misdirected and otherwise, by releasing a very unfinished game, pretending they didn't, and then having the gall to ask already paying customers to pay even more for the (almost) finished version. Very, very bad business practices that greatly harmed the rep of a pretty fun game. Too bad.


It's too bad that the game wasn't completely finished and polished, even for the "collector's edition".

That's probably the greatest tragedy of the whole tale. The game left so much potential on the table, it's painful to think about.

and it seemed that identify would only be attempted once when you examined an item(been a while since I played) and you'd only get the one shot at it in which the item would be IDed or not.

Not quite. If you fail, you just have to wait a while before the game lets you try again. Nice mechanic to incentivise and make worthwhile uping your identify skill, imo.

I can't remember if I ever got repair to work reliably...
It does. Confusing thing was that you had to unequip to repair. An example of the less than elegant UI implementation.

[cutterjohn]

BTW: I was browsing totalgaming.net (stardock) and noticed that they had DLCE for $19.95 or 2 tokens...

You can problably find DLCE cheaper somewhere if you look enough...

[xSamhainx]

I just got the jewel case "collectors edition" at Wal Mart for 9.99.

[skavenhorde]

I liked DLCE. I know it wasn't finished but it was a fun game. I didn't like that certain spells were still broken but overall I played the game to the finish and glad I bought it.

[Acleacius]

Damn, xSamhainx that's a sweet deal. :)

[Zaleukos]

We took up Dungeon Lords again this weekend, and are still having a blast, but we noted another multiplayer bug. My second fighters guild quest involves killing a slaver and talking to his knight prisoner afterwards, but only my gf (who is hosting the game) could talk to him. If I try to talk to him and she doesnt he just wanders off onto a mountain, where he was attacked by a bunch of randomly spawned ninjas who we couldnt reach:p

After that the quest was broken. Luckily we still had a recent save and only lost about an hours worth of playing.

EDIT: Encountered another MP bug. One of Staroxias quests require you to pick up a totem, but only the host can pick it up, and the quest doesnt register as completed for the other player.

We got to the shadow ruins last night, and after 2h of frustration we decided to print the walkthroughs for the section. I truly hate teleporter mazes. We did some manual mapping but gave up as we got to parts with series of identical small corridors and floating islands. In another game I would have tried dropping items to use as markers for the otherwise identical areas, but dropped equipment seems to disappear in Dungeon Lords.

[Acleacius]

The Save Game Editor, might work if you encounter a broken quest, not upgrading rewarding correctly.
We had similar problems the sever must always carry Quest items and do the talking first to be on the safe side and prevent broken quest.
Especially when Saving your game, if you lose an item most likely you can add it back with the Editor on the Host's Save, just back up first.
It's much easier to spend 10 minutes with the Editor than replaying an hours worth of game.
You probably already know this, always Save before picking up a Quest and don't Overwrite it until Quest complete. :)

http://www.gamebanshee.com/forums/dungeon-lords-93/new-dl-saved-game-editor-dungeon-lord-game-72087.html

[narpet]

Mobygames says the Bad Reputation... Terrific Game!
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dungeon-lords-collectors-edition

Perhaps its just the lack of reviews (for the CE edition). And Im really not in great need of yet another (3d) fantasy rpg. There are so many better ones nowadays that games like DL have no place really.

Hehe... that review "Bad Reputation... Terrific Game" is one I wrote...

Take that knowledge for what it's worth :)

[chamr]

We got to the shadow ruins last night, and after 2h of frustration we decided to print the walkthroughs for the section. I truly hate teleporter mazes. We did some manual mapping but gave up as we got to parts with series of identical small corridors and floating islands. In another game I would have tried dropping items to use as markers for the otherwise identical areas, but dropped equipment seems to disappear in Dungeon Lords.

:lol: That was definitely one I felt absolutely no guilt for using a walkthrough.

[Acleacius]

Prices in the US, have jumped back up to $39, since xSamhainx's great deal, a week ago.

[JDR13]

Prices in the US, have jumped back up to $39, since xSamhainx's great deal, a week ago.

Nonsense, here's a bundle with Dungeon Lords:CE and Gothic 3 for only $29.99


http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=647194

[Acleacius]

Nicely done, I didn't even think or know about a Gothic 3 and DL package. :)

[Zaleukos]

The Save Game Editor, might work if you encounter a broken quest, not upgrading rewarding correctly.
We had similar problems the sever must always carry Quest items and do the talking first to be on the safe side and prevent broken quest.
Especially when Saving your game, if you lose an item most likely you can add it back with the Editor on the Host's Save, just back up first.
It's much easier to spend 10 minutes with the Editor than replaying an hours worth of game.
You probably already know this, always Save before picking up a Quest and don't Overwrite it until Quest complete. :)

http://www.gamebanshee.com/forums/dungeon-lords-93/new-dl-saved-game-editor-dungeon-lord-game-72087.html

Having played (often buggy) RPGs since the early nineties I know a thing or two about sound savegame practices, but my gf is hosting (for some reason we get shorter loading times when her slow computer is hosting) and, not being native to RPG peculiarities, she sometimes mess up:p

The save game editor unfortunately cant solve all potential problems (quest rewards being a fairly inconsequential one, given that there is unlimited experience to be had from moonbeasts and arena). Problems mainly occur when quests arent flagged as done due to only one of us having a quest item, and when that flag is used to trigger something else (I mentioned a problem with the guildmaster of the celestial order in Fargrove earlier in the thread). Currently I have two uncompleted quests that my gf doesnt, one from Staroxia (the totem), and one old Celestial order quest that stems from the bug in Fargrove.

In an event driven game we dont know how important these broken triggers are (so far we've managed to get around ignoring them, and since others have completed the game in MP I'm fairly optimistic). And the editor wont let you add items or change quest flags as far as I can tell...

We havent seen detrimental effects from me picking up quest items though. They cant be transferred, and only I can apply them, but it's never been a showstopper. There's also the odd occurance when quest items are transferred to my gf upon loading a savegame, which I take as yet another sign (the first being that I have to reassign my quickslots every time we start up the game, something that killed me more than once) that the game doesnt have completely separate data fields for the characters in a MP savegame.

[chamr]

@Zaleukos: if you mean the Quest Log when you're talking about quests not being flagged as done, don't worry too much. The Quest Log updating properly has been a bug since release. They made some fixes, but I'm not surprised it doesn't work properly in MP. As you said, as long as you can progress the story line, you'll be fine.

The apparent random movement of quest items from you to your gf/host was actually a kludgey "fix" they put in for MP in one of the patches to avoid some quest-breaking that used to happen.