Larian Studios Forums Divine Divinity (English) Technical Problems Corrupted saves?

I've been doing a little diggin on the site because I've finally reached a point where I don't think I can ignore the problems that I'm running across. I'm in the Dark Forest and I've gone up the stone steps to an area with two imp statues outside of a fortress type area (with an imp teleportal just outside the entrance.)

Inside there's a "Holy Book" that I can click on and tell it's supposed to do SOMETHING, but nothing happens. I also cannot go down the stairway in the back room. ANYTHING I try to interact with ignores my mouse clicks (dropped loot, barrels, etc.)

I'm 30th level right now, but I've gone back to a save when I just made 22nd and just hauled booty to the same place to see if it still happens - it does I guess I could try something earlier, although I'm not sure I'd survive the trip...

In any case, I was trying to finish the game for the first time, but it appears the BINARY 1010 gods are against me unless someone has some ideas for me? I've tried to do the delete in the Dynamic folder already and it didn't work. I guess I could try a re-install. I'll do that now, but I don't expect it to work...

Thanks in advance!

AryzTheFenix

Sorry, should have added the following:

gog.com version (1.004a)
WinXP
Macbook Pro 2.53 GHz
4GB RAM
Nvidia 9400 video

And before the Mac haters chime in, this is my first Mac and I've built HUNDREDS of PCs myself and I'd have to say the Mac has been the most stable Windows PC I've ever owned (and that's saying a lot.) I still love my gaming rig, but for solid system stability my MB Pro rocks.

I was running the game for awhile on my gaming rig (Win7, i7-860, 4GB RAM, Radeon 5850) but it was crapping out so often that I was hoping it would run better on the "true" XP install on the MB Pro. It has a little, but it still crashes quite often.

Here are the most notable crashes that are repeatable:

The lizard mages do a melee attack on my skeleton wall (I'm an archer with skele wall distractions.)
Pretty much any spell like effect (I try to freeze them and then kill to avoid spells even though Freeze is totally broken i.e. makes the game TOO easy and I'm playing on HARD level.)
The head named orc in the orc camp would cast a spell (froze and killed him so he wouldn't cast to get past that.)

I don't really want to start over, especially seeing this could happen again.

Thanks again

Someone else with a digital download version (Impulse) ran into a similar problem recently: Cannot open chests. In that case, they could not pick up items, take stairs, etc, if they were in the vicinity of the warrior's guild in the Dark Forest. Their save was not corrupt, though, and worked fine loaded in the CD version (1.0034A) of the game.

Shunmaha's crash problem with Shrimpo was also absent on my system, but from the description appeared to be triggered when Shrimpo attempted to heal himself (either the character animation when he turned around, or the spell effect).
I suggested a clean re-install of the game, but did not hear back about any results.


Interestingly, the imp castle and the warrior's guild are the only locations on mountains, though that may just be coincidence.


There is a file verification procedure in the topic below, though it is for the CD version of the game, and I'm not sure how many game files were changed between that and the GOG version. If a clean reinstall doesn't fix your problems, though, it could possibly be helpful.

Troubleshooting Tips (& manual install procedure)


I assume you tried various compatibility mode options, etc?

Raze,

Thanks for the prompt response.

New info:

I did an uninstall (removed save games after backing up to another place) and did a fresh install on my XP install. I've been wanting to try a mage build on HARD, so I started a brand new game last night with a mage. Got lucky and found a Meteorstrike +1 belt around 5th level Anyways, as soon as I could I sprinted for the Dark Forest (I believe I just dinged 8th!) I made it and remembered that there WAS one other place I had some weirdness and it was the Warrior Guild on the mountain - there's a staircase there I couldn't go down either.

Sooooooooooo, guess what? It didn't work again with the mage in either the Warrior's Guild or Imp Castle (how I managed to survive running around in Imp Castle? Can you say 25+ Minor Restorations and Summon Vermin? lol) - so there's definitely something weird going on with the "new" version of the game Fortunately, I do own the previous version of Div Div, so I guess if I still want to keep playing I'll have to load that up. Sounds like the savegames are compatible though? Can I switch back and forth?

After playing through as a mage and an archer(warrior) I'm thinking that maybe the melee warrior might be the hardest build - especially early on. The archer was tough against mini-bosses in the Catacombs - I can't imagine trying to go toe-to-toe with them with a melee fighter! Or maybe they're tougher than I think? Hmmm, maybe I'll try that build too...

OK, off to install 1.34. I'll have to dig around to see if I can get the higher resolutions - I think you just edit the div.cfg right? Although I thought I did that and had some issues with the Automap?

Thanks again for putting in the "time" to help others still playing a great game

FYI: I bought Dragon Age: Origins, played it for about 10 hours then got bored and haven't fired it up since. I still love the "old skool" RPGs better. I'm even trying to write one for my iPhone (hence the reason I got a Mac.) I'll throw something on here if I ever manage it, so you all can check it out

Laters,

AryzTheFenix

The save game version numbers didn't change between 1.0034A and 1.004A, and a save made in the latter can be loaded in the former. I'd guess it should be safe to switch back and forth.

If you want to test something in a new game again, iZakaroN's SaveEditor (or from Kiya's site, with description) should work to give a large stat/experience boost to a new character.


With the CD/DVD version of the game, you can edit the config.div file (in Notepad or another text editor) to play at a higher or unsupported resolution. The game itself should be fine at higher than supported resolutions, but opening the auto-map can cause the game to crash (the frequency of which is resolution and system dependent).

Are there resolutions that are "safer" than others? I'd like to run at 1920x1080, but if let's say 1680x1050 runs the automap better then I'd rather suffer a slight visual loss as I tend to use the automap frequently... (reminds me of when I was trying to troubleshoot and thought it might be something related to graphics - I loaded the game at 640x480 and thought "How the hell does anyone play at this resolution? You can barely see 10 feet in front of you lol! Spoiled at 1920x1080 and shooting from double most of the monsters sight range!)

I guess I could use the automap hindrance as an extra handicap as I'm finding the game on HARD only hard in the beginning and not so hard after finishing the catacombs (For example, to challenge myself, I kill all the undead after killing Thelyron rather than running out of the area...)

I've also avoided the "broken" skills like Freeze and Poison Weapon (and scorpion traps in 1.34.)

I also, for a while, did the cheesy load-reload if I didn't like a loot drop or a vendor's items, but I've stopped that for extra challenge as well...sucks when you know a mini-boss should drop good loot and he drops a Pile of Gold(34) lol. Oh well

Any other suggestions?

Got 1.34 re-loaded and will play later. Have some friends coming over to play Battlestar Galactica (the boardgame.) It's a good one, you should check it out if you haven't.

For my problem the Uninstall did not do any help and also tried asking for help from the impulse forums.

Seems like others are having problems too, and it is a problem of the remastered version.
I was told there is supposed to be a new patch to fix these problems later.

AryzTheFenix;
In my experience the higher the resolution, the more likely it will cause a problem. On my system I could play at 1152x864 with very rare crashes opening the automap. At 1280x768 the crashes happened a bit more frequently, but I didn't play much as the text was starting to get a little small at that resolution. You will have to try it on your system to see if or how frequently you get a crash at a particular resolution.

I made sure to kill all the undead after Thelyron more for the experience points than the challenge. My first game I left the room to go after a couple stray skeletons, and had to reload after Zandalor showed up and robbed me of the extra experience/loot.


Shunmaha;
Sorry to hear reinstalling didn't help.

I'll try to get my 1.004 saves into my separate 1.0034 install tonight to see if they work and/or fix the problems we're having...

I'm wondering what kinds of issues might result from switching back and forth though? Looking at the "fix"/"improvement" issue, not a whole heck of a lot - although my archer has True Shot which I'd lose on 1.0034, but that's not the end of the world. I guess I could just use 1.0034 for those areas where 1.004 doesn't work then switch back again after...pain in the a$$ but probably worth it so I can finish it

I have the exact same problem as ArzTheFenix: in the Imp Castle and the Warriors' Guild I cannot pick up items, rifle the dead, or descend the staircases, although these items are highlighted when the cursor is on them.

Other information:
Operating system: Windows XP, SP3, all current security updates installed, administrator rights
Size of RAM: 1 GB
Graphics card and driver version: ASUS A9800XT/TVD/N/256M/A (Radeon 9800 XT),
driver version 6.14.10.6844
additionl hardware: ...
additional software running in the background: ZoneAlarm, McAfee, LCDC (panel display)
Size of swap file: 1.5 GB, fixed by administrator
Game version and patch: version 1.004 of Divine Divinity, downloaded from GOG,
compatibility modes OFF
size of partition/hard drive, free space left: 277GB total, 157GB free
DirectX version: 9.0c
colour depth 16 bit or 32 bit: 32 bit
additionals: have you used a fix download before: No

Hope you can patch this.

Thanks for a great game.

Garth