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[Mod] The Elder of Murwynd Woods - release version 1.05

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 3:24 pm
by Skuggasveinn
This project was certainly more than I could chew on :D
But what a fantastic learning experience.
I hope some of you will take the time to check it out.

A Video trailer showing off the environment can be found here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6F0tWFPNws

Information about the mod
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Important info:
* Don't make or import party, you play as Blake Stormarrow.
* You start at level 7.
* The story of the game takes place after Legend of Grimrock, if you haven't finished LoG then some spoilers are to be found.
* This mod is light on the puzzle side and focuses more on exploration and combat.
* You can expect about an evening's worth of gameplay.

Story Settings:
Blake Stormarrow is an agent of the King of Theraen.
You have been sent to Murwynd Woods to meet up with Sultor, another agent in the service of the Kingdom of Theraen.
The two of you are to investigate strange happenings in that region in the aftermath of the Grimrock explosion.

Game mechanics that differ from standard Grimrock:
* Doors in houses can be opened by clicking them
* Water can restore some food
* You start with a notebook, read it
* Notes and scrolls can be added to the notebook
* Some walls are breakable, look for weaknesses
* Information found in notes and scrolls can be vital to your success

Technical Game info:
* Near to 300 custom models created for this mod.
* A forest outdoor region along with a small town, underground tunnels and a swamp.
* A large amount of customization to the original dungeon and temple tilesets.
* The mod was created and tested on mid- to high range PC, Linux and Mac was never tested.
* In some places the engine is pushed near its limits, I tried to plan it so that no combat was taking place during these moments, lower end systems may struggle.

Known issue:
* Sometimes the game can crash during level transition, the reason for this is unknown at this time, so as always, saving often is your friend.
Special Thanks go to:
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Georges Dimitrov - Lua Code
John Wordsworth - ActionBar,Notebooks,GrimFBX,Lua Code
Mahric - code from "Awakening of Taarnab"
Grimwold - Lua Code
Phitt - Cozy Dungeons
Wallasaurus - Mummy 3d model and FBX scripts
PGrinbergs - 3d model
Enthymeme - 3d model

Tjörvi Oskarsson AKA -Subminimal - Music and Sound effects (https://soundcloud.com/subminimal/)

Bl@de - Testing
BraBra - Testing
Gormurinn - Testing
Memnoch - Testing
Thicki - Testing

All the crew on the LotNR Skype Channel
The LoG community at grimrock.net
Almost Human for great modding support
Steam link
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =250468228
Nexus link
http://www.nexusmods.com/grimrock/mods/387

The mod has been played from start to finish a couple of times, but as can be expected we will have some unexpected bugs popping up.
But hopefully nothing major ;)

As always I value your thoughts and critique, so feel free to comment.

-EDIT
There are a few puzzles that people seem to get stuck on
So here is a quick walkthrough for these specific puzzles.

Can't get down to the 3rd level of the Ruins of Lythrin, its flooded.
Hint
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you need to repair the water pump so it can drain the lower level
Answer
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you will need 3 items to repair it with, a medium size gear (located in the Wardens Chamber),
and a steam canister and a fume nuzzle (both located in the engineering room)
How to repair the broken bridge outside the town ?
Hint
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You will need some wooden planks that are inside the Town Storage
Answer
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The town storage is the house closes to the swamp.
The Storage is locked and the key is lost in the swamp, you will find it in an oak alcove in the swamp.
I can't get into the Castle (Arkosa Keep) the drawbridge is closed.
Hint
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In the Hunters Cabin there is a note that explains how to get inside
Answer
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You need to cast a powerfull offensive spell on the oak next to the drawbridge.
Firebolt, lightning bolt, poison bolt will do, if you don't have a champion in
your party that can cast these spells then there is a lightning rod in one of the secrets
in ruins of Lythrin and there is a fireblade+poison blade in the basement of the Hunters Cabin.
How to find Carla the 3rd party member
Hint
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She is hiding in the Autumn Forest Tavern in the small town.
Answer
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You need to find an Iron key that's in a sack in one of the houses
Then head up to the second floor of the tavern and unlock the door with the Iron key and step close to the next door.
A dialog will start and she will join your party.
I'm stuck in the teleporting chamber in Arkosa Keep.
Hint
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There is a note in the Arch mage chambers (library room after the trapped hallways in Arkosa Keep)
that explains the orbs and how the colors effects the distance traveled, traveling to the Throne Room
needs the minimal amount of power.
Answer
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You will need 3 red orbs to teleport to the Throne Room, one is given by the Willow in the swamp after you talked to him, the second one is on the east of the forest before you come to the keep, guarded by a spider, the 3rd is in the Arch mage library inside Arkosa Keep.
How to find Clive, the 4th party member Walkthrough
Hint
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Clive is located in the Ruins of Lythrin inside one of its secrets.
He is petrified in front of the remains of the Great Worm of Khazajan
You need to find a way to remove his condition.
Answer - (get your good slippers and a cup of coffee :) )
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To get Clive several items have to be acquired.
4 Blue Glass Orbs
2 Blue Gems
2 Green Gems
and the spell "Remove Petrification"

Also you need a character that has Spellcraft skill of 10 or higher (Blake starts with 5 and Carla also)
Two skillbooks can be found around the game that give 5 points each when used, and of course you can level the skill when
your character levels on his journey.

So lets take this in the order you move through the game

The first Glass orbs is in the forest near to your starting position.
Head north over the small bridge and to the west, there is a tree stump that holds the first one, take it.

On the first floor of the Ruins of Lythrin in the hallway where you see Sultors cloak, there is a room infront of you
that you need to break a wall to get into, inside that room there is an alcove with a Blue Glass Orb, take it.

On the first floor of the Ruins of Lythrin in the hallway that has 4 rooms with doors guarded be Herders (mushroom monsters)
there is a Blue Gem in one of the alcoves, take it.

On the Second floor of the ruins after the hallway with the Goromorg statues (that light up when you enter)
you need to break a wall to step into a cave area and then get back inside the dungeon proper, head back to the
locked door from the other side and you will see another Blue Gem in a alcove, take it.

After you have killed to Warden and set Sultor free, go to the prison cell closest to the Wardens Chamber (it's now open)
there is a weak wall in the back, break it and follow the tunnel until you find the another Blue Glass Orb, take it.

When you used the Prison Master key to free Sultor you also opened the Cells on the first floor, head back there and have a look
inside the cells there, you will find a Green Gem, take it.

The fourth Blue Glass Orb is located in the swamp in a oak alcove, take it.

After you have repaired the bridge outside of town and crossed it there is a way underground to your right, go down.
Go forward to the area where you can see the dungeon ruins take over from the cave area and take the stairs down.
You are now inside a room with 4 Dragon Statues, place a Blue Glass Orb into the mouth of every one and a secret door will open.
Go inside the secret and use the teleporter, it will take you into the lair of the Great Worm Khazajan (don't worry he's dead)
In front of the Skeleton there is Clive in his petrified state, at his feet there is a sack, inside there is a Green Gem, take it and leave.
We will return to Clive later.

At this point you should have 2 Blue Gems and 2 Green Gems, the blue gems can be used to open up another secret in the Ruins of Lythrin, remember to take them back
if you used them there. Head to Arkose Keep.

Inside Arkosa Keep on its first floor in the 3x3 room before you encounter the Ogre in front of the big stairs up, there is a Wall Tapestry
Rip the Tapestry and press the small button, head up to the secret room that opened.
Inside the secret room there are 2 daemon heads, place the Blue Gems in one, and the Green Gems in the other, a secret door will open.
Inside that secret room there is a Scroll that will teach you the spell Remove Petrification.
Go back to Clive and free him.

Re: [Mod] The Elder of Murwynd Woods - release version 1.0

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 3:42 pm
by Drakkan
Altough I though I am done with LoG1 I will definitely try this ! Thanks for all the effort, I really love all your custom tilesets and custom stuff.

Re: [Mod] The Elder of Murwynd Woods - release version 1.0

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 6:32 pm
by Komag
HOLY CRAP this is big news! :o :shock: :D

Unfortunately I'm totally booked till next week, but I'll be giving it a run (probably after a couple bug-fixes have been dealt with!)

Re: [Mod] The Elder of Murwynd Woods - release version 1.0

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 6:41 pm
by msyblade
This is a MUST play. Do not let this opportunity to experience what can be done with the LoG1 engine pass you by! 5 Kudos awarded to Skuggs, and 2 bonus Kudos for the amount of technical help he has provided to new modders recently. Thanx and congrats Skuggs!

Re: [Mod] The Elder of Murwynd Woods - release version 1.0

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 10:09 pm
by Isaac
This is an absolutely fantastic mod! Very impressive! 8-) 8-) 8-)

Bug report: (so far)

[And yes, these are spoilers... do play the mod through before reading these; it's worth it not to know anything in advance.]
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The dialog with the tree overlaps the panel.
Image

Bug in the Hunter's cabin. The stairwell from the holding pens needs collision. The player can step to the side from the stairwell, and out of your map.
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Not a big issue, but the dragon statue note overlaps the notebook panel.
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The Castle Drawbridge closes after you enter, but does not prevent the player from walking through it, or over the moat back into the forest.

Note under Archmage pit floor, has "once" misspelled as "ones".

Methodical is misspelled in the Archmage note; Multiple is also misspelled in the same note. The paragraph overlaps the panel.
Image

Observations:
The Ogres are not teleported by the orb teleporters; intentional or otherwise, but I noticed because I tried luring one into them.

Map could have secret doors placed at the breakable walls, and opened or destroyed when the blockage is broken.
That would keep them hidden on the auto map; (currently they are not hidden at all).

The gear for the water pump is a special gear that looks just like every other gear in the engineering room; but it's not found in the engineering room with all of the
other parts that are... that is bad I think; certainly confusing. It could have the engineering room gears swapped for smaller ones that look noticeably different, or could even have a dialog mentioning that they are too small to fit.
Same thing with the Blue glass Orbs and the ranger's magical orb and the Orb of Radiance; they all look exactly the same.

_____
BAD BUGS:
First ogre battle at the double stairs. The player can toss (and lose!) objects at the empty pedestal (including the Stone Axes). Presumably they are all like this.

Game crashes every time I enter the room with the Two goromorgs at the altar; (the room with two gold keys from the Ogres). I cannot get farther than that just yet. As soon as I step in the room, the game CTDs.

Re: [Mod] The Elder of Murwynd Woods - release version 1.0

Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2014 11:12 pm
by JohnWordsworth
Can't wait to try this out. :)

Re: [Mod] The Elder of Murwynd Woods - release version 1.0

Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 12:03 am
by Skuggasveinn
Isaac, thanks for great feedback, I'm fixing these things as we speak.
As for the CTD that's my fault, I was fixing spelling as a last minute change and I renamed the dialog, so when you come into the room it calls for something that doesn't exist :( (never do a last minute change unless you play test, no matter how small the change is - lesson learned)
I've hidden it from steam and Nexus until I fix this since it will CTD for everyone that plays it.

Hope it will be back online in a couple of hours.

Re: [Mod] The Elder of Murwynd Woods - release version 1.01

Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 2:01 am
by Skuggasveinn
Version 1.01 is up on both steam and nexus.
The following changes have been made:
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Version 1.01
Thanks to Isaac for the following bug fixes

- entering the Throne Room will no longer cause a CTD
- its not possible to throw things behind the empty statue base anymore
- fixed the stairs in the hunters cabin so you can no longer step into the "void"
- fixed spelling in the Gateways note
- fixed text going out of bound in the willow dialog
- The Orb teleporters will now teleport monsters (missing setTriggeredByMonster(true) in scripts
As for the other suggestions:
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Map could have secret doors placed at the breakable walls, and opened or destroyed when the blockage is broken.
That would keep them hidden on the auto map; (currently they are not hidden at all).
I tried that, the problem was that when I secret door is in the space, it also prevents the wall from being broken (2 models in the same space and the broken wall never gets hit), I never found a fix so I decided to live with it
The gear for the water pump is a special gear that looks just like every other gear in the engineering room; but it's not found in the engineering room with all of the
other parts that are... that is bad I think; certainly confusing. It could have the engineering room gears swapped for smaller ones that look noticeably different, or could even have a dialog mentioning that they are too small to fit.
The water pump gear IS smaller then the other gears, it also has a description that says it looks to be a part of a larger machine.
The water pump gear has the name of "Medium Size Gear" but the others in the junk are all "Large Gear"
Same thing with the Blue glass Orbs and the ranger's magical orb and the Orb of Radiance; they all look exactly the same.
Agreed, this could have been done better, I will look into that for next update.
Skuggasveinn

Re: [Mod] The Elder of Murwynd Woods - release version 1.01

Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 4:41 am
by minmay
Version 1.01 still crashes when I enter that room (no, I did not transfer a 1.00 save).

Re: [Mod] The Elder of Murwynd Woods - release version 1.01

Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2014 5:55 am
by Isaac
minmay wrote:Version 1.01 still crashes when I enter that room (no, I did not transfer a 1.00 save).
I did [transfer the save], and it crashed. I assumed it would crash if I had started over; glad I didn't ~(yet).