the game has been out for about a month now and Larian has yet to reveal their plans on the second patch. guess the devs are propably busy porting it to the consoles but let's not forget about the people who already paid for the game.

playing through Divinity II was fun, but what about the missing AA and highres textures, choppy animations and other minor bugs?

what are your thoughts on the next patch and do you think we'll ever see any additional content or even some kind of enhanced version?

I'm sure they probably have.
Most likely mentioned in the German Section.

I dunno.
Can't really help...

EDIT:Patch is coming Late August.
See here

Don't fear: we've been doing the patch while working on the console version. It's not really porting either. Whatever we put in the patch also has an important impact on the console version. Patch is going through QA right now.

Good news! =)

Big Patch -> Console version with patch -> english + console simultaneous international english release.

Step 1 nearly complete!


eh eh.

something is wired i did level up to 16 and got 5000+ in skill points :P....

That's the copy protection kicking in, AFAIK. There should be posts about this in the Help/Tips/Tricks forum; leave the DVD in an optical drive (if it is, it is apparently not being recognized for some reason). If you have a digital download version, contact the distributor.


Welcome to the forum.

swordsteel, if you've got hundreds of skillpoints, you're playing with a NoDVD crack or the SecuROM DVD check failed. Play with the official EXE and play with the DVD in the drive and make sure your drive works correctly. I.e. this is not a bug, it's the copy protection.

@lynn: i'd say its neither. its a buggy copyprotection. one that go off even WHEN playing unmodified WITH DVD in drive... securom is a piece of buggy crap that do more harm to those that actuallypay for their software than for those that dont... if this problem persist when the english version come out, it will be the last game i buy from larian... atleast until they get rid of securom... (and to those telling me securom is perfectly fine. right. securom have so far broken TWO DVD-roms and TWO DVD-burners so far. do NOT come and tell me its perfectly fine...)

Copy-protection: I also had an issue with that. Installed and played from my DVD-drive, then, suddenly without me changing anything (install, anything!), the stupid SECUROM s*** complained and would not let me launch the game anymore, said the DVD was fake.
I then put the DVD in my second drive (the burner) and it all went well so far. I found that behaviour to be very, very strange.

Is there any documented proof that SecuRom is damaging DVD drives? I know StarFire was damaging DVD drives, saw tons of complaints all over the net about them. I haven't seen anything saying SecuRom is doing the same.

I doubt Larian would want to purposely damage DVD drives, they just don't want their game pirated. Also a bunch of other companies are using SecuRom.

EDIT: Quick google, all the complaints are from Sept 2008 or older. It was by customers buying a game called Spore that used SecuRom without them knowing about it. There is a law suite (or was) but nothing stating the end result or if still going on.

Only complaint that stands firm is with multiple drives it can make errors in the disk check. People are using their primary DVD drive (lowest lettered drive; D: is usually the first DVD drive).

It is well public knowledge that Larian is using this DRM software. With no recent complaints about SecuRom damaging computers, I'm gonna assume it is safe.

EDIT2: Ok, giving up on finding anything on the net that is recently accusing of SecuRom software of damaging DVD drives. It appears their software never did this to begin with.

Just keep the game disk in the primary DVD drive and all should be good. (One with the lowest drive letter like D:)

1: Copy-protections are just waste of money (and time), when there is a cracked version just about 5 clicks away (what apparently IS the case).
2: Copy-protections never were, never are and never will be "perfect".
3: Copy-protections will always cause problems (in some cases).
4: There always will be someone, who is able to make the protection being bypassed.

Why spend money for that (and the effort coming with it) ?

This thread is going way off topic here. It is about the new patch not SecuRom, should get a different thread. Instead lets talk about what we hope will be in the patch.

Things I'd like to see..removed:

- achievements. I know about them for the X-box. But they need to be taken to the gallows on the PC version.

Things I'd like added:

- Label your map flags.
- to die from from far drops. Nice splatter effect.
- If you chose to kill the skeleton by existential thought, have him blow up instead of vanish.
- some books/scrolls that contained concept art or roughly drawn treasure maps. These were awesome in DD.
- early storage. It be nice to have this before the battle tower, especially for books and charms.
- Wizard staves, Wizard robes, 2 handed variants of the battle axe and war hammer.
- better magic effects on weapons that do magic damage. The zap, frost and fire effects in DD were fun.
- swimming water effects were bad around Sentinel Island and the Fjords, at times I was wondering if I was in the water of floating above it. This was plain weird...

would be also nice to have some sort of glowing effect on weapons when they got enchantment/charms in it.

@LighteningLocky

Why do you want achievements to be removed?
They do not stop you from playing the game.
Nor do they cause problems.

tnx that did say why...

i'm still waiting for the English V to be ship from webhallen.com i booked it there. so yes so i play a crack version of the game... and yes this game is worth paying money for (i only buy games i like to support the game comp for a good jobb) good game love it...

They are annoying. And pointless. I do not want to them on my screen.

The worst example I have ever seen is even in Divinity 2:



God, as much as Larian made a great game and all... I really hate how they made such a great scene and then *ruined* it with such a stupid achievement for the MS kiddies!

Can't you turn them off?

Well, in my case I'm actually glad that an PC has achievements at all ! Normally this is only on consoles ...

Yeah, another reason why consoles are just "playthings" and PCs are "playthings and more".

"You ACHIEVED SOMETHING. You are great. The girls are going to like you. You are not just playing some computer game for fun. You. Have. Achieved. Something. HURRAY!" - really, it's nothing else than that.

For ruining the scene mentioned above alone I want it disabled by default on the PC.

I rather meant that this "achievements" thing is that you might actually discover something special or so.

This "speciality" is then missing on the PC version, I guess, hence my thought.

Achievements are great in mmorpg's where you spend months to years leveling characters.

For a game like this, they seem immature. When I think of Larian, my thoughts are on "A company that produces epic mythological role playing games for a mature audience." The achievements on this masterpiece is absolute tarnish.

The option to turn them off would be great, especially if it is pointed out on how to disable them in the tutorial section.

Even with finding super secret hidden areas, we didn't need them in DD, and don't need them in D2.

Ok, we can agree on that. There are achievements ok... If you found the secret cave, the secret quest, combined the secret item, then it's ok to note that somewhere.

Just giving out achievements for "Hey, you entered the second chapter of the game" or "You rock, you just beat the game" or "Wow, I'm so impressed by your strength, you just killed your first monster!!1" or "!!!ACHIEVEMENT!!! You found out how to open the menu!"... god, those suck!
And Larian really showed how not to do it with the one in the spoiler above. I'm still annoyed about that.

Something I thought of, there really were no birds in the game. I'm not talking chickens or ducks, but birds that flew that were not really monsters. Just graphics to give atmospheric depth of birds flying or hopping around on roof tops.

It was something I saw in DD when replaying it the other night, birds flying across the screen. Also no cats killing rats in town or pet dogs barking.

Almost every Developer have such stupid achievements.

If everyone would shoot himself in the head (or take heroin or whatever)... would you try to convince me to do it as well because "everyone does it"?

It sucks, it's some stupid marketing idea from console-world (you know, nice *cough* companies as Microsoft and Sony). I agree that for really *special* things you can have achievements. But that should be it.

Arent there bigger problems in the world out there? For example that every second Afrcian has Aids and have to eat insects to keep themselves alive?

You dont get it right? Your problem is so small... omg, just live with it.

^ that is not a valid argument, gemex. Those kinds of 'arguments' are just conversation killers. If you can't spout your ire over things that seem petty in comparison to other things, there would be absolutely nothing to talk about.

Anyway, I agree. The only thing they could make achievements work is to make such an epically long saga with such grand achievements that it would be impossible to make before you go bankrupt. And still people would complain.

The only way is to just leave them out, and yes, a checkbox in the options menu for PC would be handy.

Compared to all the bad things in africa this discussion is a small thing. Why bother replying to puny issues like this, why argue where there are so much bigger fights to fight?
You see: Something like what you did is pointless, so please... don't start it.

Why dont kill conversations where no conversation should be? ;]

It's about this: You have an opinion and you think there should be no conversation as no other than your opinion is valid.

if you don't think the conversation is worth meddling in... don't meddle in it?

That makes no sense, if i have something against a political conversation should i shut up then too?
But anyways we're moving out of Topic:

Achievements good or not good? Thats the Question =)

Gemax, your really taking this off topic. Your rambling on stuff that has nothing to do with the game.

Africa, bugs, aids, politics... geeze.

Back to the original discussion before the derailment...



There is a lot to be said here with this. We have computers to keep away from console versions of the games and many people are insulted when asked if they play X-box, PlayStation or the Wii. It is great to be able to reach out to a larger audience, though Achievements is annoying in the eyes of avid PC gamers as we can see here.

Such a simple thing to remove disable or just plain hide that we don't see it.

A switch would be best thing: Those who like them, have the achievements, those who do not like them... don't have them. It'd be very simple and everyone would be happy.
You could even make a middle-version, where achievements are tracked, but they do not get displayed on the screen when you get one...

but gemex, you're the one who said that "the Question", as you now put it, is silly and inane. So, for you, it is not 'the Question', it is a matter of no importance at all and everyone should shut up about it.

And yes, if you have something against a political conversation taking place, it is best to shut up about it. If a political conversation is being held, then it means that it is necessary that it is held. Perhaps to you it doesn't matter, but as long as it matters to anyone (as it obviously does in this case) then they ought to be free to discuss it. Anyone who says they shouldn't, is advocating curtailing the right for free speech, and that is very precarious ground.

i don't like the idea of having achievements in a PC game neither. especially if there's no purpose in unlocking them. hope they'll remove them in future versions.

@ForkTong:

Can you tell us the exact time the patch will be released? I am working for a big german gaming portal and would like to announce your patch as soon as it will be available.

TIA,
Gor

according to the publisher, it's gotta be today.

It doesn't have to be today.
It was there rough estimate.

wahrscheinlich means most likely so i assumed that it's gotta be today since it's the last day of august.

in worst case the QA Test failed and they need more time to fix unexpecting topics.

well, one ore two weeks more would be allright. I (and everyone!) need a worked out patch, not any kind of worthless snapshot

Der Beitrag von Betty ist mir bekannt. Aber "vermutlich" bedeutet nahezu gar nichts. Ich bin Software-Entwickler und kenne die Begriffe sehr genau.

och echt ?" kake

True story... most people dont understand that its nearly impossible to fix a date about releasing a "bug-free" piece of software. THere is just too much stuff that can go wrong in-between.


And, if things go the way i imagine, this is probably THE patch that will have the english-version release, so things better go right on this one, thus the delay so that everything goes as smooth as possible.

Ofc, thats just me throwing theories into the air to shake the thread. lol.

The patch is ready, has been going through testing for some time now and we're waiting for QA to release it. Should be any day now.

The list of improvements is quite impressive I think, and we'll be releasing an entire list when the patch is out. In a nutshell: lots of UI improvements, different difficulty levels, extra graphics settings to increase the quality (significantly) a bunch of graphic improvements (e.g. swimming, animation speeds,...), a high-res texture pack, a number of optimisations, and of course a number of bugfixes.

Awesome stuff, thanks for the heads-up. It seems you guys were reading the forums a lot :P

sounds great. way to go

I'm wondering on the system requirements for that high-resolution texture pack ?

This is great news (almost as great as my CE version of Div 2 arriving in one piece...) . Thanks for the update!

wow thank you alot thats sounds quite impressive : )

hope to see the patch in a few days

Hey Lar, is it safe to assume that since there hasn't been international version released yet, that this patch(and potential subsequent patches?) will make it into the international release version?

BTW, just your short synopsis of features sounds great. Good job to the team!!

Wow, that sounds like a fair deal of stuff.

I'm guessing this patch will ship likely with the USA Release of Divinity 2 (or whatever the newest patch is), whenever that might be?

But what's about savegames compatibility between 1.01 and 1.02 patches? Do I need to start a new game after installation of the patch?

P.S. Yeh, I know, english-hacked version is not supported but will be there an English strings in upcoming patch by chance? :P

@devs: how's it progressing? any news?

You can play "1.01 savegames" with 1.02, but then you haven't all fixes.

What fixes will not be applied, for example?

I don't know. The patch notes will release with the patch.

Ok, let me summarize things: you know that "You can play "1.01 savegames" with 1.02, but then you haven't all fixes.", but you don't know "What fixes will not be applied, for example?".
I am right? Correct me otherwise >_>

And what's about:

That's right. dtp betty said it in the german forum here.

As for the savegame backwards compatibility:

All fixes will work for every savegame. Clear enough?

I would say, read the patch notes and then decide if you think it's important enough to start a new game or continue your old savegame.

Great idea! Could you please post the patch notes.

Sorry, I had to try this...

So long,
Jy'Ger

<3<3<3<3<3<3 D2 engine :P

Also, Greever, do you know by chance if 1.02 patch includes some voiceover/dialog changes? If so - will be english strings provided for these changes as well? ;P

For the German version of the game ? Why ?

Remember, this patch is currently directed at the German version of the game. No other editions, since they are simply not available, read: "not there".

Alrik...

Well, if Larian wanted to and as long as their publishers are okay with it, they could go the route of CD Projekt did with The Witcher...

Larian could release all the voice-over packages and subtitles packages (if they are done, of course) for the registered game owner to download from their site so the gamer can choose to play the voice-over audio and subtitles in whatever language as they see fit.

EDIT:
Sure, it would likely be a hefty few GB download for one voice-over and subtitle pack and all of that -- but, that's for the gamer to deal with, right? :P

That or say CDV and Larian if they wanted to could re-release the game Divinity 2: Enhanced Edition w/ ALL the voice-over packs on disc at a later said date sometime down the line, maybe?

Just some thoughts here...

You will not believe me but german version of the game has english language!
>_>
<_<

Officially from Larian?
With English written subtitles?

If Larian is going to release an official patch to allow switching the text language, it will not be until after the international release of the game. I'm pretty sure publishers would not want sales cannibalized by having an easy to get/play import version available before the official release in their area, so that is likely a standard part of any publishing agreement.

But from what I am reading thus far, CDV doesn't seem to be a popular publisher. And they might actually get more sales if "English language pack" is provided for registered users with imported version of the game.

How Would they get more sales?
English Language Pack could mean more people pirating the german version.

That would be fine with me.


Quite understandable.

And more people that would import the game. Why do yo think that only people that pirate the game would want the English pack?

Edit:
Making decisions with pirates in mind is not the best way to improve sales and recognition.

More often than not, those type of decisions only aggravate the customer and piss off loyal fans.

Here is a different viewpoint for your reading pleasure

Well thats not exactly good for CDV and other Publishers.
I think that people will pirate it as its the easiest way to the game.
Having the English Pack makes it even more enticing.

I agree that CDV will not be happy, but I am sure fans will, so I guess in the end it depends on Larian.

TBH, I am fine with whatever they decide. I do software development myself, and I know what is it like to deal with the "sales department..."

They could require us to register our games (via a form of proof of purchase) in order to obtain the English package.

Yes, it won't stop dishonest people from uploading the package. But those people shouldn't be the target audience, they will likely pirate the game sooner or later (when the US release is out).

I have to believe that fans (esp. everyone that posts here and would go through all the hassle to import the game and use the rather tedious procedure to hack English into the game) are not the dishonorable types.

Just my 2 cent. But I do think that nowadays, there are too many "bad" trends in the game industry. "Doing things with the sole consideration for pirates" is one of them.

What is the point of these words? To state your opinion? Useless, it is not changes the fact - game HAS english subds.

My point is: there is no actual reason to release patch which will be incompatible with "english" version. It is like trying to extinguish a small flame when the house is already burnt down. And just a spittle in the face of the community.

But yeh, I understand, money comes first. I just hope that patch initially will be made with english string and then translated to german without cutting the first ones (like - I guess - the game was made :P).

No, it was actually all questions -- as it was written.

I wasn't sure if it was officially or unofficially supported.
Thanks for clarifying.

Do a lot of German games (fully voice-acted and fully subtitled in German) get an additional option for the US gamer to be able to use English written subtitles officially?

Yes, but that'd be taken advantage of by pirates as well. The English package would just be spread around in the same fashion as the game itself is right now. Unfortunate as it may be, you're probably not going to find a way to make something piracy-proof. Given enough time, I'm sure any means of security could eventually be cracked. Some of these pirates are extremely knowledgable.



It's actually quite the opposite of difficult. From what I've seen, it looks like you just copy/paste a file and make a small change to a registry value. It also seems that many people are not experiencing these bugs that are supposed to plague a language hacked version. It actually seems as though those who got the game legitimately are having more problems than the pirates somehow.

Yeah I know, hence the reason I posted above that rather than doing everything trying to fight against people that will probably never get the game anyway, why not spend the energy on standing by honest customers?




I said "tedious" not "difficult." There are lots of files to change.

I have the hacked version that I brought and so far so good. Also, a lot of the bugs that I have read have to do with the Securom somehow not detecting the DVD in the drive properly, which is a bug that would affect non-hacked version too.

In one pirated release of this game that I saw on a public tracker they have the entire process automated at this point, so it's just a matter of double-clicking something. It's pretty crazy what they come up with. And yeah, I've noticed far more legitimate owners of the game being screwed over by the SecuROM stuff than pirates. Seems the lengths they've went to to discourage piracy (level 15 skillpoint overload, etc) is in fact hurting paying customers instead of the actual intended victims.

Can't really blame the company for trying everything they can to protect the thing they've invested so much time and effort in.

But the answer is obvious. Don't you wan to say that you didn't know that?
>_>


Can't say but how in the hell it changes the fact that Divinity 2 does have english language and the whole situation as well?



Same here. Well, I had plans to purchase a digital version, but since there is no patches for it I dropped this variant >_>
And yeah, I've got a plenty of bugs too, like character stuck and doesn't move, etc...

I've heard the main problem with using a language hacked version is that the end cutscene may not work, as it looks for the English version which doesn't exist, so it crashes. So in theory, couldn't you play the entire game in English, then right at the end of the game, change back to German?

Sorry if this is off topic. I'm kind of thinking aloud.

No, you can. Game crashes because it's can't find "Endscene_English.wmv" which is fixable in the same way as English language hack activation ;P (read: plain renaming of file(s))

Ah, thought so. Handy information, but I'll still wait for the English version before going all the way through the game. Being able to actually understand the spoken dialogue will probably change the experience dramatically. Such a crappy decision, as I want to play it all now, yet I don't want to spoil the whole thing. Blah. December can't come soon enough.

Wow, people playing with hacked versions posting here ... how far down can it get now ?

Please dont hack the game. Language work-arounds, copy protection, crashes, bugs, etc... All that will make your gameplay experience lousy and you will lose out a lot of the game glory.

Wait for December, wait for the major patch, enjoy the game as larian wanted the fans to enjoy it.

Not sure why importing the game and making its text English is viewed so negatively... As I said, I did buy the game... Do you guys wanna see my invoice or something?

Anyway, sorry for the digression, but I am kinda tired of being treated like some sort of criminal...

Back to the patch, any updates?

How would playing the game with text translated bu Larian ruin the gameplay? It's fine unless you have some averison to German. I live in Holland and I too bought the game just last week, because the English release was delayed. Having such an option is great to be honest, Larian such 'support' it by not making it impossible with the patch. As for pirates, they'll pirate it anyway. I really doubt CDV will use an uncrackable CP.

I'm a software developer and honestly i find it realy hard to understand people think its "ok" to temper with the software with hacks and ways to go around an issue that wasnt clearly intended by the developer, but dont mind me, i'm just old-fashioned i guess.

Didn't want detract the thread so much, so I will wrap my take with the spoiler tag.


end of


Back to the patch, there seem to be a lot of talk about it on the German forum. Those of you who are fortunate enough to know German, any news on the patch?

thanks in advance

I legally bought f*--^W "The Damned" german version because tired of waiting for English/Russian release. Personally, I can do with the game content what I want (also, if you didn't notice yet - I'm not asking for support because of that), that's my right. Don't tell me what I must do, kthnx.


Nobody have any idea what Larian did want since there is such mess with releases.

Adomingues

One thing I'd like to see with the patch is improvements with the shields in the game. (Not spell shields but metal ones for melee combat). They were too weak, only good for mages. 2 hand or duel wield are better for warriors because you'll kill the enemy off quicker.

@kein -> You are an extremely rude person and i wont enter a conversation with you or continue this offtopic, but you cannot do whatever you want with a piece of software, thats why there is EULA(s) in mostly every software out there.


Offtopic end for me.

"Hacking" in this case gives the consumer more options. If I can't wait for the English release (which is too far away to be honest), I can just import the game and play it. Yes it could be used for pirating, but that'll also happen when the US version is released. If Larian makes this hack impossible with teh upcoming patch, they'll only delay the English speaking pirates while punishing the consumers. Without the ability to "hack" games, many of the classics we now know wouldn't even be remembered.


Nah no official news. Just some users speculating, asking where the patch is etc.

Quick update for you: It's ready, it's gone through QA, and it's being prepped for release. That basically means that it's now with the digital distrubtion partners, and once they are ready, the patch can be released. My guess is late this week, or early next week.

That's great, thanks.

Thanks for the update, Lar_q!

That is awesome news, thanks Lar_q. Speaking of digital distribution partners, how many of them are there? (just trying to find more vendors for future imports )

Uhh...
Digital distribution? Does that mean the patch only for digital version? :<

No, it's for both versions but since the game is also being distributed digitally, it means we have to go through the digital distributors to make sure they have the patch available when it gets released. Unfortunately it delays the entire process a bit, but at least it'll be with you soon.

The digital distribution partners in Germany (that I'm aware off) are Metaboli and Steam.

Hello, thanks for the time you took posting this info.

Any chance that there will be a digital distribution on Steam for the english / international version?

Well, if this does help -- CDV does have Sacred 2: Fallen Angel up to buy on Steam.
I would NOT be surprised if Divin 2 joins the club, as well.

Yeah, i bought sacred2 on steam thats exactly why i ask

I happen to like digital downloads more than boxed games, just think they should be somewhat cheaper compared to the boxed version because they are much cheaper to produce for the distributor, but i understand that has nothing to do with the developer, eh eh

Sacred 2 also was available on Impulse, which I prefer much more than steam. (Not a fan of having to be online all the time for steam, and the pop ups of steam is annoying as heck, esp. when you are playing a game that doesn't like being "alt-tabbed")

Thanks for the update Lar. Looking forward to the Dec. release.

DTP just uploaded the second patch to www.divinity2.de. IT seems like the server is taking a heavy hit right now, so you might want to wait a bit before downloading it.

Yeah, looks like it died ;(
I hope there will be mirros <_<

Can someone post a changelog? Even if it's german only, I'll try to translate things via g00gle >_>

Patch-notes:

- Sorting function for items in the inventory and in a few other menues implemented
- Improvement of texture quality
- More options in the graphic options menu
- 3 new custom buttons for the aiming system
- Crashes caused by the fading system fixed
- Navigation-path improved for big creatures like trolls or demons
- Performance for single core-processors improved and an extra option in the graphics options implemented
- Problem with aiming of story-NPCs has been fixed
- "Always running" when frequently using pause/running buttons has been fixed
- Fading system has been improved

This is a good training for my English-studies! My pleasure!

"Fading"? Do you meant "FADE"? The latter is a copy protection system from Codemasters.

I'm thinking it means that items will no longer pop into view

It's no translation as it is the English term (I guess). I think you can call it LOD system. If that's more clear.

Err...
Anyway, can someone post a full changelog from patch? Or, better, convert it to UTF-8/Unicode and upload a .txt somewhere :P
Thanks.

That is the patch note from the patch.

btw, Lar_q and everyone at Larian, superb job with the patch. I loaded up one of my save games, and the it ran so much smoother.


And the new graphics options are very nice and extensive indeed. Though I think AA is still not working, but TBH I really haven't focused on looking for that yet, been too busy enjoying the game (I have been waiting for the new patch to continue playing for weeks now...)

@Lar_q: can you give us some idea of what features of the new patch will only be activated by starting a new game please?

Edit: I just noticed (after having been playing for over an hour :blush:) that you guys added the MANUAL TARGETTING SYSTEM!!! I would give you all many if I didn't live so darn far away!

I can't access the official web site.

It just doesn't load.

So much about a "server hit" ...

Okay here are the things that I have noticed in the new patch (I am running on Extreme setting with only shadow set to medium)

1. More graphics options
2. Much smoother performance. (No more FPS slow down at the menu or inventory screens! And no more laggy mouse when the dialog selection screen comes up. ) Though there is still very noticeable stuttering when you are running around in the world. (It is the worst in heavily wooded areas. And strangely, my FPS never dipped below 35 FPS, and SLI setting for my 295 GTX doesn't change the behavior.)
3. Better inventory textures. And in-game textures in general. They are much much more detailed now! Seriously they are gorgeous!


4. MANUAL TARGETTING system! You can bind keys to "tab" target!
5. Difficulty option added.
6. Much longer view range (at highest setting).
7. Swimming animation is improved. Your character actually swim in water (for the most part) rather than "floating" on top of water.
8. Water looks "livelier." Water in river has a better flowing animation.
7. (Not sure if this is completely new, but it definitely wasn't working for me before) You can access selections using the number keys.

9. Did I mention much more detailed textures? At the highest settings, everything in the game looks so much more detailed. I could swear that under different lighting, your character and esp. your minion even has a very artistic "cell shade" look to them.
10. I don't know if this is true or not, but the initial CD check seem to be shorter. Perhaps a securom update? (Also, exiting the game is much much faster now)

Edit2:
10. New and much faster box destruction animation with PhysX enabled.


Though, I have encountered few issues. I will only mention the ones that are graphic related since I am playing the "modified" version of the game. (Edit: btw, to those that have also purchased the German version of the game, you'll be happy to know that the "PhysX version mismatch dialog box is actually in English now! )

1. Stuttering problem as I mentioned above in RED
2. Minions does NOT cast shadow, even with the highest shadow setting.

that is it for now. I will test some more.

Some updates about the stuttering. It seem to be caused by the fact that the game isn't given enough time in between each frame updates.
As a result, if the FPS is well above 30 FPS most of the time, the game will "stutter" frequently so it can "catch up" and give the gfx card the "right" frames to render and display.

The side affect of this is that you might actually get a smoother game performance at higher gfx settings...

While playing around with every single settings of my gfx card, I noticed that when I got a setting where the FPS was consistently around (little bit below ) 30fps, the stuttering of the game was greatly reduced. At below 27fps-ish the stuttering was gone, but ofc, the sluggishness of having such a low FPS kicks in.

I will have to play around with the FPS capper program tomorrow. [color:#33CCFF]But a question to the folks at Larian:[/color]

Does the Div 2 engine support tripple buffering? If so, please expose the option to enable it, and also the option to toggle Vsync.

thanks

lethial thanks a bunch for posting your impressions. Bad part is that now i cant wait even more to play the game :P

Thanks for the update, lethial.

Glad I could be of any help. At this rate, I have no doubt that the game will be even more awesome by December. I will definitely buy another copy, though I just hope there will be a English CE too

We mirrored the patch to our servers, so more people can get it. Where are the times when games used to be so much smaller than this patch...

Download:
http://www.patches-scrolls.de/divinity2.php#102

Matthias

As I thought - patch breaks english hack :<
Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2
Screenshot 3

Well, that was expectable.
Larian... :<
>.<

Yep there are problems. Books can't be read for example.

Well, seems to be the right time to test your German skills xD

Anyway, good work with the patch @ larian
Download time with glassfibre connection around 5 minutes, awesome

Well, of course, any unofficial mod/hack you use that are NOT supported by the developers/publishers are always under the "use at your own risk" category...

Well, we do have some games nowadays cracking 15-20 GB or more -- i.e. Sacred 2 (with High Texture Pack installed).

can't dowmnload because of the STUPID add that goes over the download link
can you make another link

EDIT:wow managed to click the link before the add loaded)

If someone else has problems with downloading, here is DIRECT LINK

Just had a "world of warcraft friend" that is playing div2 atm with the new patch and he says the game is now very close to brilliant. His opinion does mean a lot to me since he is a veteran of games ranging from elvira series up to AOC and WOW, baldurs gate, sacred, everything mostly and he always seemed to have some serious opinions about everything, acording to him its material to go up to 90% reviews, while before the patch the game would range on the 80% ish due to bugs, bad targeting and bad balancing.


Even though its obviously not my opinion since i didnt play it yet, i thought it would be interesting to share.


Seems the patch is a blast!

Wow, nuff said. If "veteran of the games" said it's rulz then it is!
Lolz.


Crazy numbers. Tbh i didn't encounter any engine bugs (crashes, etc) in the D2 v1.01, except some quest logic issues, where you can't complete some quests or open some chests.
An, ofc, stupid game protection.

Patch 1.02 more like an expansion of features than a bug fixes. Actually, the whole changelog tells nothing about which bugs were fixed (well, there is mentioned only some crashes produced by "fading" - ??? - system).

Age of Conan use 30gb on HDD after install. And thats a number without a 4GB patch

What does Sacred 2 need a high-res texture pack for ???

There are always only so many tiny things to see from above ???

Shield levitating area!
Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2

I have a problem with the patch:
It doesnt start to work (it has something to do with the administrator permission that takes so long)
Is there a way to extract files from it?
Or maybe there are standalone patch download?

Well, right after you run the installer it extracts temporal files into windows TEMP dir (defined in env. variables %TMP%, %TEMP%), so, yes, you need to wait a bit untill UAC dialog will appear (on Vista).

Btw, the interface text, and book problems can be fixed.



I've played around with my gfx setting and I can confirm now that if I keep my game's fps below 30fps, I will NOT get the very noticeable stuttering in heavily wooded area.

do tell ;P

Out of respect of Larian and everyone else here, lets take the discussion of the fix offline (via PM or something).
I cannot guarantee that the fixes will cover everything either, but so far them are working great for me.

Well, yeah, I have an idea how to fix them too, but it's a dirty fix, probably will broke more. PM me with your method please :P

A lot of the newer games are doing this -- having an extra option to install a high-res texture pack which takes up even more space.

Usually, they do this b/c they are really meant for higher-end rigs -- especially ones exceeding the "Reccommended Specs". When a game drops, not everybody can run these settings well.

DDO and Sacred 2: Collector's Ed both have an option to install a High-Res Texture Pack.

BTW, Sacred 2 looks even more fantastic w/ the High-Res Texture pack installed.

patch has been a major disappointment for me so far. sure, the new high rez textures look nice but it also causes heavy performance issues on my system, propably related to the new cpu enhancements they've implemented.

check out http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=385074#Post385074 in case your german's decent enough.

Performance issues not a problem here, but the patch disappointed me a bit too. I was hoping for quests and some chest triggers to be fixed, but they aren't fixed :-<

Hi Guys, I've been lurking around the forums for quite a while and finally decided to create an account. Witch is actually the first time I've registered myself in a forum and I've been a gamer for a good 10+ years.

Also could not wait for the english release and found myself buying the german one, since my german isn't all that great I had to get the language patch. So you already know what happened to it after the patch. ;P Was wondering if someone could PM me about the little fix for the small problems that cropped up.

I was also a bit disappointed about the quest and chest triggers not being fixed but oh well. Am I the only one who gets peeved about the only way to solve the soulforged chicken thing?

I assume that this is due to the roaring crowd wanting graphical fixes & enhancements NOW, and not considering what the results of this would be ...

It very much reminds me of the roaring crowd wanting the change of the voice in Beyond Divinity ... A very few later came back and said that the first Death Knight's voice was better than the new one ... and they kind of felt ashamed that they had make Larian into doing that ...

It's can be solved other way than killing chicken & Casper. See my post here. Not a bug or/and issue, that is just how the the quest was intended to be.

I guess thats too bad about the poor guy, really wanted to give him some help. (though in his situation death might not be so bad)

Well, such quests (like casper's) and choices (island's servants) in Div2 - the main reason why I hate and love Larian at the same time :P

mind spoilers, please, guys

Quite realistic in a way, things aren't always one of Disney's films. The whole happily ever after thing seems so bogus sometimes (not to mention annoying).

And I do apologize for the spoilers.

It is expected the patch would overwrite files and registry entries. It be best to un-hack (or install a fresh copy of the game) and then re-hack it back to English. Unless Larian totally disabled the easy work around.

Keep in mind they probably did fix a ton of stuff, and if all notes were printed, I'm sure the list would be huge enough to fill several posts. This is probably just the most noticeable or most anticipated stuff and more of a summery.

Patch Notes: (google translated)

- Sorting of goods in inventory and in some other operating menus implemented
- Improvement of textures
- More options in the graphics settings
- 3 new customizable buttons for the target system
- Crashes that were caused by the fading system, fixed
- Navigation system has been improved for large creatures such as trolls or demons
- Performance for single-core processors has been improved and added an extra option in the graphics settings
- Problem with the sighting of Story-NPC has been fixed
- "Always run" with frequent use of pause / go buttons has been fixed
- Fading system has been improved
_________________________________________________________________

Notes:

- Patch 1.02 includes patch 1.01
- In order for the optical optimization in power, must be a new game bekonnen [started?]
- The patch currently works for the DVD and the Metaboli version of the patch for the gamesload version will be replenished [released?] Gamesload itself

Wth is this mysterious "Fading system"? Srsly? Someone already mentioned LOD, but I see no reason why there is can't be LOD word in german changelog. Pretty sure if it was LOD then it would be mentioned then.

Can someone explain what is this? ;P

I'm a bit more interested in what would we miss by not starting a new game. Has anyone noticed anything?

Have you never ever noticed objects fading in/out on the horizon in games?!

Yeah, but I always thought it is called as "view range". Fading is... odd word for that imo ;P

Hmm... there is still left annoying issue - after playing few hours I quit the game but it didn't respond. So, I alt-tabbed it and went to do some other things and when came back after 30-40mins - the application was still here >_>
Funnay.

Nice sig. Eddard Stark, no?

I've had the same problem Kein.

So what about English patch 1.02 for Divinity 2? I have played version 1.013xx and it's lagging what is really annoying. My pc meets minimal req and recommended besides GPU(256 not 512MB) so it should works at medium-high details easily.

English patch? There is no english patch planned since the english version of the game released already.

As in, the English version of the game released with the patch already incorporated (or what's the word)

Integrated :P

I meant 1.02 version of the game because english is 1.013xx version and it's lagging

Still don't get it what are you trying to say.

There was 1.02 patch for german version released since basic version was 1.0
English basic version is 1.013xx so I'm looking for patch 1.02 designed for english version
Without this patch english version is working terrible. Am I clear now?

Ive played through english version 3 times only encountering minor bugs, no terrible running and the german 1.2 patch stands equal to the english 1.013 one.

Benelux release (your english version) already patched to 1.02. Ingame version count things a bit wrong.

So why ingame main menu says 1.01367 not 1.02? It's not patched version because in 1.02 there are more graphic options in menu to set, manual targetting is also available, in my it's not.

I have german retail version of the game patched to 1.02. In game, version says: 1.0.13.40

I dunno why devs chose such version counting, but it's not so important. Much important is the question: are you sure you bought not a pirate copy but a legit one? Actually, some people said path 1.02 intergrated into Benelux release, also, it's partially confirmed that there is no 1.02 patch for english version.

Yeah mine is original one and it's not patched because as I said - manual targetting from 1.02 patch is not available. Plus my friend from Poland where the game was also released 30 Oct has the same problem - his version is signed as 1.015xx. He called Cenega - polish seller as the box of the game says - 1.02 patch included and it became clear that Larian made a mistake and polish version is without 1.02 patch.

How did you know there is no manual targeting?