http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/might-and-magic/643622p1.html

Sounds fun, especially the description of the sword fight, and hopefully Arkane makes better use of Source than Troika did with their Vampire game.

Edit: Eagerly anticipates Vysez's special hate. :p
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Edit: Eagerly anticipates Vysez's special hate. :p
lol, dont we all.

Hmm, im suprised that i havent heard about this game until this thread. Going to have to dig around for more info.

epic
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Well... You know... I didn't really hate Arx Fatalis, it could have been lots of fun if it wasn't for this strange camera/fight system they opted for.
I have some faith for this game (Unlike Bethesda products).

Oh, and once again the Source Engine shows the world what technical powerhouse Valve is. This texture mapping technology is impressive! It looks so REAL!
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Oh, and once again the Source Engine shows the world what technical powerhouse Valve is. This texture mapping technology is impressive! It looks so REAL!

LOL Smart ass.
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Well... You know... I didn't really hate Arx Fatalis, it could have been lots of fun if it wasn't for this strange camera/fight system they opted for.
I have some faith for this game (Unlike Bethesda products).

Oh, and once again the Source Engine shows the world what technical powerhouse Valve is. This texture mapping technology is impressive! It looks so REAL!

Yeah, I see what you mean. It looks just like Morrowind the way I play it.
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That looks like ASS!

I hope it plays better.
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BTW I was trying to sell my wife on the game, and she was like
"The textures on the rock and background look like crap, so flat"

So um well she is right, but it still seems kind of neat...

Anyway what is the deal with that, these are release screenshots can't they pick a better spot or use better quality textures. I don't know maybve they are not trying to misrepresent the quality of the actual game, but I almost wish they would just so I could see somethig that looked nice and had some depth.
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I really like the combat description...graphics aren't going to hold up well in 2006, but I like the art. And I like fantasy FPS's, so... ;)
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Yeah, I see what you mean. It looks just like Morrowind the way I play it.
Ya.. never liked how morrowind looked.
shit textures and poor performance.
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I really like the combat description...graphics aren't going to hold up well in 2006, but I like the art. And I like fantasy FPS's, so...

Same here. I've been craving one since the halcyon years of '97 and '98 when Raven gave us Hexen 2 and then Heretic 2 back-to-back. I loved those games. . .stuff like Quake, the first pure shooter that hooked me, was just a preamble to me for those games.
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Bethesda/Valve haters never miss a chance :lol:
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All I have to say is: that's got to be among the worst video game names of all time.
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A promotional video of the game engine (Source) (http://www.clubic.com/video-jeux-video-1939-0-dark-messiah-of-might-magic.html).

The Ice magic spell cast on the ground to make your enneies slide looks fun, but I guess no one will ever use it like this, once playing the game, though.
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Bethesda/Valve haters never miss a chance :lol:

Offcourse, there are people who see it as their duty to bash certain devs/engines. Just ignoring isn't good enough.
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The Ice magic spell cast on the ground to make your enneies slide looks fun, but I guess no one will ever use it like this, once playing the game, though.

If i can make my enemies slide off a cliff i sure will.
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Firstly, apologies for resurrecting an old thread.

This game wasn't on my radar until I saw some of the gameplay movies at 3DGamers (http://www.3dgamers.com/games/darkmessiahmm/downloads/) recently, and while it doesn't look like a threat to Oblivion's visual splendour, Dark Messiah's gameplay dynamics, particularly the swordplay variations appear rather nifty.

I haven't played any of the Might & Magic games before, although I believe they are related to 3DO's Heroes of Might & Magic franchise, which I really enjoyed, especially the first two games. How related are the two franchises? Is there a lot of story crossover?

I would recommend checking out the two 720p gameplay clips in the 3DGamers link above to get a feeling of the games's combat possibilities.
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Even worse thread resurrection! :razz:

Firingsquad report (http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=11492) that FilePlanet (http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/darkmessiahMM/index.shtml) will release a playable demo on August 8th! Hopefully it will filter out to the other non-subscription download sites shortly after.

Can't wait!
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Those GS screens do look hidious. Is that 640x480 resolution? The gameplay vids I have seen look very impressive imo. This screen looks pretty good http://www.mightandmagic.com/uk/images/Screenshot_Guard_m.jpg

Some pretty good Vids here http://browse.files.filefront.com/Dark+Messiah+of+Might+and+Magic+Media+Videos+and+T railers+Official+Videos/;1376970;/browsefiles.html
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Those GS screens do look hidious. Is that 640x480 resolution? The gameplay vids I have seen look very impressive imo. This screen looks pretty good http://www.mightandmagic.com/uk/images/Screenshot_Guard_m.jpg


Wow. That screenshot looks....pretty darn impressive! I wonder if it's got realistic material simulations going on with that chainmail? That'd be a sight to see.
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thanks for the heads up. i'll probably pick this up. looking to be a busy fall, it they don't all delay till '07.
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I watched the 7 minute trailer ... the graphics, AI and environment physics look pretty good. I really don't like the sound of the "special moves" thing though, way too much like a console thing. Too twitch-gamey for my tastes.
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as long as i can go as a stealth/archer, i'll be happy. im more into the exploring, loot, scenery, music, development options, than the cartoon combat.

http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/darkmessiahMM/index.shtml

demo out on tues aug 8th!

mighty nice of them. i'd bet it's a good game.
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Just a reminder that the demo is due out today.
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Just a reminder that the demo is due out today.

For me it was due out yesterday :'(
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Just a reminder that the demo is due out today.I had forgotten! I cannot wait! :D Roar!!
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It's out. The demo is huge 1.4gb! I'd hate to dl this and find out its only half hour or so. I'll just wait for one of you fine gentlemen to dl it and let us know if the demos worth it.:)
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It's out. The demo is huge 1.4gb! I'd hate to dl this and find out its only half hour or so. I'll just wait for one of you fine gentlemen to dl it and let us know if the demos worth it.:)Was just about to post this! Yes, its mega huge. Waiting in line. :)
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Here's where having a paid subscription at Gamespot pays off. They should have the demo up tonight and I'll just start the d/l before dinner.
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Here's where having a paid subscription at Gamespot pays off. They should have the demo up tonight and I'll just start the d/l before dinner.

....or you can use sites like Gamershell.com :wink:
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Pretty short demo. You get to the Ogre & its over. Is it better then Oblivion? Guess i'll have to wait till I actually can play more then 20 minutes. Runs smooth at max detail. I'll buy it.
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I'm sold on it. More RPG elements available than what I expected in a fantasy, action game. The demo is too short, but I've been replaying the 2nd level by placing those 6 skills points in different areas.
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Hmm, I'm getting a pretty sluggish framerate on my A643000+ / X800XL combo. One of the first games I apparently can't really play comforably at the native res of my new LCD.:cry:
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So...can anyone provide some screenshots on max settings? I'm still downloading and i'm curious to seeifthe visual quality of this demo is at all anything like what was shown before (see initial posts in thread).

Thanks ;)
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I have a .RAR with 15 .BMP screens if you want to check them out. They are all 1280x1024 Rez. 4xAA, 8xAF, Max detail. File size is 23.24 MB

http://files.filefront.com/D_3M_Screensrar/;5375435;;/fileinfo.html
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Here is one, 1920x1200, 6xAA, 16x HQ AF, everything maxed out in the game, and driver wise for quality. Except for AAA, forgot to enable it. :(

http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Gamescreens/MM.JPG
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Here is one, 1920x1200, 6xAA, 16x HQ AF, everything maxed out in the game, and driver wise for quality. Except for AAA, forgot to enable it. :(

http://home.comcast.net/~dfall/Gamescreens/MM.JPG

Thankyou, looks very nice..

Though I was wondering, am I seeing some JPEG artifcating? Just wondering if you mspaint'ed it or the game created the screenshot at a compressed level or something...

I love the apparent bloomy/fuzzy effect on the lighting where it's entering the cave :)
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I did mspaint. Hit prnt scr, pasted it in MS Paint, saved as jpeg, and uploaded it. Im sure the quality is not the best, but apparently the game does not have a screen shot dir, and I dont think bmp's are what people want. I can take another and save it as bmp if you'd like.
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Paint.NET is your friend.
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I did mspaint. Hit prnt scr, pasted it in MS Paint, saved as jpeg, and uploaded it. Im sure the quality is not the best, but apparently the game does not have a screen shot dir, and I dont think bmp's are what people want. I can take another and save it as bmp if you'd like.

Oh no that's ok, the screenshot was more than suffucient, i'm just anal about JPEG compression that's all :razz:
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If you want to test out things etc:

Make myconfig.cfg @ X:\X\DarkMessiahDemo\mm\cfg folder, and put this to it:

bind "F1" "mm_npc_create_orc_sword_shield"
bind "F2" "mm_npc_create_goblin"
bind "F3" "mm_npc_create_cyclope"
bind "F4" "mm_npc_create_Phenrig"
bind "F5" "mm_npc_create_human_guard_bow"
bind "F6" "mm_npc_create_undead"
bind "F7" "mm_npc_create_wizard"
bind "F8" "exec myconfig.cfg"
bind "F9" "god"
bind "n" "noclip"
bind "[" "map_warrior e3_l06_l09"
bind "l" "mm_player_add_skillpoints 20"
bind "q" "mm_player_add_adrenaline 100"
bind "mouse3" "ent_remove"
bind "mouse4" "ent_text"
bind "t" "give weapon_mm_staff_wood"
g_ragdoll_maxcount 200
arrow_unlimited 1
mm_player_stamina_megasprint_cost_per_second 0
ent_messages_draw 1
developer 1

bind "g" "give item_potion_life"
bind "h" "give item_potion_mana"


and then add this to it's shortcut:

+sv_cheats 1 +map_warrior e3_l06_l09 +exec myconfig.cfg
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so...

1.5gb of materials,
350mb of models,
300mb of sound,
150mb levels,

for a 10 minute tutorial and even shorter demo...

Somehow I feel cheated spending 5 hours downloading this.


Otherwise though, looks promising, but the combat just doesn't work for me.
Don't like the HDR. A number of times I ended up waiting for it to tone down so I could actually see anything :/
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Try the Call of Juarez demo if you really want to see HDR that blinds.
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Okay, now that's a short demo! Quite a letdown after the awesome prey demo earlier this year, but the game might still turn out great. Not exactly a great appetizer though ... and 1,4 gig ... for what? :???:
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Wow i like it. Reminds me alot of deus ex inventory system. Not to complicated for a RPG it seems , control/inventory look managable for me(not like other RPGs). Overall i'm looking forward to this.
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Damn it, you got me all intrigued!

http://www.bluesnews.com/cgi-bin/board.pl?action=viewthread&threadid=69783
http://www.fileplanet.com/166052/160000/fileinfo/Dark-Messiah-of-Might-&-Magic-Singleplayer-Demo

Links to the demo since I didn't see any in the thread.

EDITED BITS: Gamer's Hell (http://www.gamershell.com/news/31926.html), 1Mbs down and no wait in line. :cool:
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Download/demo length gripes aside, I rather enjoyed it. They've done a decent job with the Source engine and art assets in not making the game seem "flat" and as mentioned, the RPG elements and focused combat maneuvres add an interesting dynamic. The second level reminded me of Drakan. :smile:
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It reminds me of Oblivion, but I like the sword fighting better in this one so far. :)

Definitely looks interesting.
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I think the gameplay is awesome. The melee attacks are so strategic and dynamic. Kicking rocks. You literally get to parry with realistic results. I thought the teacher dynamic in the tutorial was cool. The teacher sounded kinda old school in a way somehow. Very cool.

It sure runs rough though. It may use the Source engine but it sure doesn't run like Half Life 2 runs! Textures are pretty bad I thought too. The demo seems to have quite a few rough edges also, like loading screens with the text half cut off.

Awfully large for a demo that one can beat in 20 minutes though. It must come with a significant portion of the game assets.

Looking forward to the whole game.
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I think the gameplay is awesome. The melee attacks are so strategic and dynamic. Kicking rocks. You literally get to parry with realistic results. I thought the teacher dynamic in the tutorial was cool. The teacher sounded kinda old school in a way somehow. Very cool.

It sure runs rough though. It may use the Source engine but it sure doesn't run like Half Life 2 runs! Textures are pretty bad I thought too. The demo seems to have quite a few rough edges also, like loading screens with the text half cut off.

Awfully large for a demo that one can beat in 20 minutes though. It must come with a significant portion of the game assets.

Looking forward to the whole game.
On the first time I ran the demo, when I altered the res too, I had missing text too, but on next run I had all the text in loading screens.
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I don't know. I didn't enjoy it quite so much. I mean, I thought it had great graphics and all, but I just didn't quite get the melee combat.

And I was rather upset when it attempted to "phone home" when I started up the game for the first time (I gave it a big Hell No and it played just fine, but I just think that this sort of shit is ridiculous, particularly since there's absolutely no notification to the player about what is being sent, at least not that I saw).
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I don't know. I didn't enjoy it quite so much. I mean, I thought it had great graphics and all, but I just didn't quite get the melee combat.

Give the combat a few more tries, Chal. I didn't care for it too much at first either, but it grows on you.
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And I was rather upset when it attempted to "phone home" when I started up the game for the first time
Heck, what demo/game doesn't call home anymore?

Or rather, which tries to I should more properly say....ZoneAlarm kicks the schnizzles out of M$'s firewall for stuff like that. ;)
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I'm gonna have to download it! Time to flex those new connection muscles (4mb/1mb for only $15 a month!!!).

I'll give it a go this afternoon, though it does sound so short. Even if its only a 45 minutes download now, 10 minutes of play? :(
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You must play a lot of Source-engined stuff, Digi, because most of the single-player games I play don't.
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I'll give it a go this afternoon, though it does sound so short. Even if its only a 45 minutes download now, 10 minutes of play? :(
Oh, certainly more than 10 minutes of play. I didn't time myself, though. It's basically two short levels (a tutorial, and a dungeon crawl stopped short).
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Downloaded it from Gamearena (unmetered for me), corrupt download...iconless exe that just starts Drwtsn32 shortly after running and crashes. Downloaded it a second time from Fileplanet...corrupt download again.

I give up, 2.8gb of wasted time/usage, i'm seriously pissed right off now. I think i'm just going to wait until it hits stores, I honestly couldn't be stuffed wasting more time trying to download the demo.

For the love of god fallguy (nay, ANYONE for that matter)...a video-walkthrough please? :razz:
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i loved the demo... ran great at 1920x1200 on my xtx. will definitely purchase the full game.

as for downloading the demo.... i'd recommend filefront. that is my favorite of those download sites.... no registration, no wait, and always download at 600 KBs
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Alas, I am undone (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GTA7HG/sr=8-2/qid=1155584337/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-7196847-0268764?redirect=true&ie=UTF8), the way to privy purse is laid bare!

Such trinkets and baubles should not sway ones resolve and yet these glittering prizes have drawn me in as surely as the weary traveller makes for the nearest tavern. Curses be to the Arkane alchemists of this tale, for their magiks have reasoned our desires only too well and set upon them with scrupulous villainy! :razz: Tip o' the cap to Firingsquad (http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=11702) for the hail.
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New hands-on preview: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/darkmessiahofmightmagic/news.html?sid=6155894
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The sword fighting is nice. Still needs more tuning, like you can't immediately block when you are swinging a sword or making a power attack, you have to wait till your swinging sword/power attack movement complete, then you can block.

This can prevent fewer spammage.

Running is a little bit muddy and they immitated the acceleration when you starting to run. This is unneccessary.

After all the swords fighting, I now looking for more kick power attacks:grin:
Or yeah a martial arts add-on:lol:
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Can someone who has played it please explain to me the roguely aspects of it? Because if it forgets rogues, then I'd be more than happy to "forget" to play this.
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Can someone who has played it please explain to me the roguely aspects of it? Because if it forgets rogues, then I'd be more than happy to "forget" to play this.

The target reticle indicates when you're hidden from enemies. And there are special attacks you can do if you sneak up behind an enemy.
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The target reticle indicates when you're hidden from enemies. And there are special attacks you can do if you sneak up behind an enemy.

I find this is also flawed.

When I was in a dark place, by strafing my body left and right, the sneak indicator just flashing from on and off rather than transitioning to lower levels/higher levels.

According to what the game told me is that the sneak indicator fuller means you are better hidden. What I saw from the demo is the sneak indicator constantly 3 level filled(vs. 4 level full).

Well...:smile:
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Can someone who has played it please explain to me the roguely aspects of it? Because if it forgets rogues, then I'd be more than happy to "forget" to play this.

If according to Ubisoft/Arkane, the demo doesn't represent final version quality, then I think you can still try to remember to play this game:wink:
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Hmm, interesting. Is there certain armor classes, like oblivion or WoW, that would suit certain classes better than others? What about classes?
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Hmm, interesting. Is there certain armor classes, like oblivion or WoW, that would suit certain classes better than others? What about classes?

Unfortunately, the demo doesn't let us know more than just sword fighting:lol:
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There are weapons and shields in the game you can't equip unless you've upgraded your fighting skills, so I'd assume more advanced armor types to equip become available later in the game.
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There are weapons and shields in the game you can't equip unless you've upgraded your fighting skills, so I'd assume more advanced armor types to equip become available later in the game.

I sincerely hope that the RPG elements in DM:MM won't be the same as Oblivion.
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I sincerely hope that the RPG elements in DM:MM won't be the same as Oblivion.

I can't imagine how they would be even remotely similar.
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Yeah, it seems to me that DE:MM is going to be much more like a classic FPS in a fantasy setting (linear, but with magic and swords and things).
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I can't imagine how they would be even remotely similar.

Why?
What we know about DM:MM RPG systems now?
Basically nothing besides a 5 skill points when you finished the prologue.
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Yeah, it seems to me that DE:MM is going to be much more like a classic FPS in a fantasy setting (linear, but with magic and swords and things).

Better not be another Might and Magic VIII:lol:
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Thought i'd give it one more shot.

I downloaded the demo again, and AGAIN, the file ended up borked. Absolutely useless... I've tried a straight-out download from Gamearena, that ended up in a 1.2gb corrupt installer that failed to even run. I tried a download managed download from a Gamershell link (I think that's where it was from), that resulted in a 1.25gb file that failed to run. I Just tried a download using Flashget from Gamearena (free unmetered highspeed servers for me, being a customer), and I ended up with a 1.38gb file that runs, and gets to about 90% intalled and dies.

f**k it. :evil:
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strange.......
if you can try torrent maybe that'll help you...

I've been playing this demo many times. Mainly to get used to the movement and sword fighting.
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strange.......
if you can try torrent maybe that'll help you...

I've been playing this demo many times. Mainly to get used to the movement and sword fighting.

4.2gb for one lousy demo that doesn't even work is my limit.
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Download managers can be nice for downloading big files. I find they tend to be more reliable (like Getright). Bittorrent is also nice, because it manually checks the consistency of each packet you download.
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I just downloaded it from fileshack public servers.

Waited for like 30 mins and after that got 500K/s...
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4.2gb for one lousy demo that doesn't even work is my limit.

Have you tried, www.ausgamers.com or maybe its www.ausgamer.com. Anyway really fast speeds, no subscription crap. I always download at 1.1, 1.2 megs a second of this site. Especially good stuff when downloading wow patches. Considering that no one seems that have your problem it might just be your fault. Do you have a download manager. Try free download manager. Its a great lil tool.
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Have you tried, www.ausgamers.com or maybe its www.ausgamer.com. Anyway really fast speeds, no subscription crap. I always download at 1.1, 1.2 megs a second of this site. Especially good stuff when downloading wow patches. Considering that no one seems that have your problem it might just be your fault. Do you have a download manager. Try free download manager. Its a great lil tool.

I think I did, but I was getting a terrible speed (happens randomly from them..), I always used to use them though.

I've grabbed a torrent of the demo, if all goes well, I should have it when I get home, or later tonight...but I think there's SFA peers/seeds so, might take a long time. Does anyone know of a decent, plentifull torrent for it? :?:
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http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/darkmessiahofmightmagic/news.html?sid=6156719&tag=topslot;action;4

Nice little write-up on the MP portion of the game. Sounds kinda interesting, but class balance will probably decide just how fun it really is.
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http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/darkmessiahofmightmagic/news.html?sid=6156719&tag=topslot;action;4

Nice little write-up on the MP portion of the game. Sounds kinda interesting, but class balance will probably decide just how fun it really is.
The crusade mode sounds neat. Firingsquad is reporting (http://www.firingsquad.com/news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=12030) that the game will also be distributed through Steam.
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i had forgotten about this demo. downloaded it at work, then forgot about it. just installed it at home. looks pretty. im running everything maxed. gonna try the cheats someone listed.

somehow my control keys got deleted (except for 'w') when i set options. restore defaults fixed it. looks like solid standard flavor of control. a good sign.

i've already got it preordered as well. (along with just cause, scarface, gothic3). the least i could do is play the demo. lol.
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i played this for about an hour last night. mostly as an archer (once i got the bow).

i have to say, im VERY impressed. plenty of things to mess with. (break supports, shoot ropes to trigger booby traps, find stuff in crates, throw crates onto fires (or bodies) and they burn! throw oil jars on stuff and light it up. climbing chains.

not too good with the sword combat system yet, but hey, im an archer! i was able to snipe a couple orcs (in the fortress) from the beginning of the map (took 2 shots, each, i hope that gets better as you become more skilled). i also pinned an orc on the wall behind him with an arrow. oh and in the first tutorial. i could throw the corpses onto those spikey wall things and they stuck there!

quicksave! standard (familiar) control setup. nice looking and nice ambiance.

walking seemed a little slippery (non responsive). but that's a quibble compared to what i enjoyed.

really looking forward to this one. thanks for the heads up! (wasn't even on my radar till i read about it here)
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New interview:

http://www.celestialheavens.com/viewpage.php?id=618

Raphael: We worked a lot on the game since the demo, and we fixed many of the problems that people have experienced with it. We also made many optimization rounds since then so I think most issues are fixed now.
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I clearly remember when we discovered how creating an icy surface made the the orcs slip on it. I think it was when we realized that we were right trying to create a simulated world where everything was possible. This was really fun. Also, the very first time that all the fighting mechanics came into place and that we realized it was actually going to be fun and unique!

true dat raphael.
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Dark Messiah went gold, too, and is due out the third week of this month.
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Forgive me for not being at the top of my game regarding info on this game, but are there mounts in this? How large is the world in comparison to say Oblivion?
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This game isn't a Oblivion or Gothic 3 kind of non linear game. It's more like thief, deux ex or other semi linear FPS'.

I do believe there are parts of the game where you ride a horse, yes.
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http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/darkmessiahofmightmagic/download_ini.html?sid=6159891&id=6159891

14th official movie from Ubi. Kinda cute.
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:!: Don't show that video to Hilary Clinton :!:
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New video:

http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/9696/Dark+Messiah+of+Might+&+Magic+Sound+&+Music+Movie

Its a 4 minute interview with the sound guys. There are also 3 tracks from the game at Gamespot (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/darkmessiahofmightmagic/downloads.html). My opinion: The concepts they talk about for the music sound cool but the tracks come across as nothing special. In any case I'm still chomping at the bit for this one.
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Desslock has a late beta build of the game, loves it, and says that it's very much like KotOR 2 in terms of party control. He also stated that it has higher system requirements than Oblivion (eeek).
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Desslock has a late beta build of the game, loves it, and says that it's very much like KotOR 2 in terms of party control. He also stated that it has higher system requirements than Oblivion (eeek).

Oblivion is a terribly coded pile of crap though, so I'm not sure how much that really matter. If a middle of the road system on the specs performs decent then that'll be good news.
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Aw, Christ, is my mind shot these days. I meant to post this in the NWN2 thread.
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As the days grow shorter until this game's release, my mind becomes more and more fixated on it. I just watched some of the videos for it, and the swordplay is UNPRECEDENTED. The executions are phenomenal, PHENOMENAL. I'm excited that they've actually made rogues glamorous in this. Sneaking up on people and backstabbing them, or cutting their necks, it's all brilliant. And the manipulation of your surroundings was highly realistic.

I can't wait!
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come midweek nextweek im gonna have 4 games i love (or think i will love) in my hands! unprecedented.

i need to make some decent gothic3 and scarface progress...and maybe play more than the 30 minutes of "just cause" i've played. woot.
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Well two UK magazine reviews are up (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/darkmessiahofmightandmagic?q=dark%20messiah) so far. They come in at 88 & 84 respectively.

The quote from PC Game UK mentions "over explanation" as a possible negative point. Personally, I much prefer getting proper training even if its a bit heavy handed to too little training. It bugs me when a game lets me spam through without truly learning how to use all the tools available.
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I've been looking at some more of the trailers. I'm really exicted about the combat system, if its half of what's been promised then it should really kick ass. I also like what I've seen done with the Source engine as far as physics go, some impressive work there too. I'm really looking forward to this game now that I've seen some more trailers. *Fingers crossed*
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Uhm, I know I don't have the best gaming rig right now, just a lowly 1600, 1Gb of ram, 4200+ x2, but the demo crashed so many times it was laughable. Light spell, lockup, try to impale a skeleton, lockup. Change screen resolution, everything off center.

Maybe next year when it's fully cooked I'll look into it.
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That's odd. What drivers and video card were you running? I know one's mileage may vary, but the demo was stable for me.
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G will be playing this in exactly 9 hours. He'll be sure to post a first look after a couple hours of gameplay.
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i still haven't gotten shipment notice. i went to site yesterday and they anticipated 10/25 shipdate. however no email shipped notice this morning (usually get that). oh well i still have G3.
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Got two automated phone calls from EB last night reminding me that I geekly pre-ordered over a month ago.
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http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/7828/darkmessiahyt9.th.png (http://img160.imageshack.us/my.php?image=darkmessiahyt9.png)

:roll:
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Ouch.

This game is going to make me wish I'd pulled the trigger on that Dell 3007 30" this past weekend, even though the fastest graphics board I currently have, a single 1950 XTX, would probably chug pretty heavily at 2560x1600 with HDR, AA, and AF all enabled.
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DOH!


Items not yet shipped:
Delivery estimate: November 2, 2006 - November 9, 2006

* 1 of: Dark Messiah [CD]


DOH!

time for plan B.

plan B executed.
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Hmm I'm having all kinds of technical problems with this game after finishing the prelude. Which is actually pretty strange since just about every game or app behaves for me for some reason.

EDIT - To be more specific in Stonehelm I'm getting missing audio that is replaced by loud static along with sound loop crashes. Its pretty much unplayable at this point. Seems like most everybody is having such problems.
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EDIT - To be more specific in Stonehelm I'm getting missing audio that is replaced by loud static along with sound loop crashes. Its pretty much unplayable at this point. Seems like most everybody is having such problems.

Any commonality on game configuration (everyone crashing is enabling EAX) or hardware? And is it just Steam installations or also the boxed copies (on the off-chance of the Steam servers hosting a corrupted sound file related to that level)?
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Seems like just steam. I don't believe Source supports EAX. Pretty much everybody is having the problems so I guess the common denominator would be the game itself :razz:

They seemed to have fixed the audio issue but the crashing is still happening to everybody at the same place. And before then for me :| See the Ubisoft or Steam Dark Messiah forums for details.
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My limited edition pre-order didn't show up in stores today, just the regular, so. . . .
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mine arrives today (plan 'b'). received shippin notice.


what i've heard is there's a ladder early on (only route) that can't be climbed, but it is unclear who is affected (steam only?). some people don't have that problem with the ladder. many have finished the game (some as little as 10 hours (12 levels) wailing about too short)...but im guessing those are the sort of people (kids) who just TRY to finish as quickly as possible.

in the demo there was plenty of opportunity to screw around (i played for over an hour first time). so i imagine it'll take me longer. (hope it's not like HL2 Ep1)
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Yes, I had the ladder problem as well. I had to cheat past it. I'm hitting them all it seems. I'm still on chapter one, I'm not sure I want to continue until they release at least one update. This game is so messed up that I am willing to bet that there is something afoul outside of the game itself that is causing most of the problems. Such as issues with the Steam distro system. All the crashing and obvious bugs that nearly everybody is getting couldn't have gotten past a professional QA team.

FYI for me this game has had far worse audio stutter than any other source games. Its a constant annoyance.

EDIT - Cranking heapsize up to 2gb cleaned up 90% of my stutter. It also about doubled load times though. This game is a lot more open ended at first than I expected. They actually give you a little town to walk around in and talk to people etc. So its not totally on rails.
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I bought my copy yesterday and thus far here is my opinions:

First and foremost the source engine is definitely beginning to show it's age. Countless occasions I took a gander at the ground and thought to myself that the textures looked rather bland. Or maybe I've been spoiled by the sheer splendour of Oblivion. Also the game seems really one dimensional.. Don't buy this game under the guise of freedom to explore. There isn't a lot of detail during indoor sequences. The house interiors seem rather plain, again I blame Oblivion for spoiling me with it's immensely populated structures. The combat system though is fantastic. You can critically wound foes to the point where it hamstrings them and they limp towards or away from you. Environmental manipulation is also top notch. You can use virtually anything around you as an object to cripple the movement of your foes, or even kill them.

In lieu of my experience, the game retains a great deal of value, but I can't write this review without paying major homage to Oblivion, which in my mind stands as the most successful RPG to date.
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Called the store and they now don't know when the Limited edition will arrive. Time to just go buy a regular copy of the game, me thinks.
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Anyone who has it who is having difficulty want to try using the .exe from the demo to run it?

I've been reading that the demo exe works as a no-cd patch for this, but it also doesn't seem to have as much trouble running as with the retail exe.

Not a piratey thing, just thought it may help those having problems.
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the demo exe actually fires up the retail game once installed? how does that work. is the demo exe obliterated by the install? or the basic demo just needed more files to be a full install?

does the demo level appear in game? where?
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Anyone else having issues even starting the MP portion? Also I don't know about anyone else, but I wasn't even PROMPTED for my cd-key, so what's the point of it? It's probably going to prompt me when, if I ever even do, get MP finally going.
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the demo exe actually fires up the retail game once installed? how does that work. is the demo exe obliterated by the install? or the basic demo just needed more files to be a full install?

does the demo level appear in game? where?
No, you have to copy the demo exe and rename it to the retail exe. Make a back-up of your original retail exe first.
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Gamespot review (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/darkmessiahofmightmagic/review.html?sid=6160563&tag=topslot;action;1&om_act=convert&click=topslot) by Jeff Gerstmann. He didn't think the combat or visuals we're anything special, so he gave it a not so great score. But what I found most interesting is that he had the crashes and the loading lockups on "multiple systems".
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happy to report NO bugs, NO crashes on my (shipped) copy.

played for an hour or so...im somewhere in Chapter 2. I find some hidden goodies (like Weapon Master ring) early on.

the combat is a little tough (archer) but im weak yet (level 1)...weapon master ring +2 on wielded weapon helps.

fun game so far...but i stopped after an hour and went back to Gothic 3 for the balance of my evening. don't even ask me about scarface or just cause! i'll get around to them... looks like our IS dept 'consolidation' means some folks are gonna get the axe....(im a newly 'promoted' DBA that doesn't to much yet of value)....hmmm. sidewinders. oh well, 6 week contract that lasted 9 years. it's all gravy.
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Forgive me for just jumping in for a tic, but Jim, your sig...have you not seen - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNxhrPaaCA4 ? :razz: :razz:
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Gamespot review (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/darkmessiahofmightmagic/review.html?sid=6160563&tag=topslot;action;1&om_act=convert&click=topslot) by Jeff Gerstmann. He didn't think the combat or visuals we're anything special, so he gave it a not so great score. But what I found most interesting is that he had the crashes and the loading lockups on "multiple systems".

First review I've seen that sad anything bad about the combat. I also find it odd that he had technical issues. I kinda get the feeling he didnt get a free advanced copy and has to complain in some way.
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My limited edition finally came in today, in time for the weekend. Woot! :razz:
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happy to report NO bugs, NO crashes on my (shipped) copy.

played for an hour or so...im somewhere in Chapter 2. I find some hidden goodies (like Weapon Master ring) early on.

the combat is a little tough (archer) but im weak yet (level 1)...weapon master ring +2 on wielded weapon helps.

fun game so far...but i stopped after an hour and went back to Gothic 3 for the balance of my evening. don't even ask me about scarface or just cause! i'll get around to them... looks like our IS dept 'consolidation' means some folks are gonna get the axe....(im a newly 'promoted' DBA that doesn't to much yet of value)....hmmm. sidewinders. oh well, 6 week contract that lasted 9 years. it's all gravy.

Finally it appeared as ready for playing here as well. Few comments:

- I'm getting totally sick of developers who let a game seek for internet access while the loading display is shown. Under Windows keyboard access is blocked usually, so all you can do is press reboot. After a restart it appeared McAfee Firewall was asking whether I wanted to approve net access. Grrrrr.....

- During drive access, like loading and saving it stutters like hell. I've seen this before with Source games, but in HL2 and EP1 is virtually non-existent these days.

- Loading times are not that dramatic. Maybe 30 secs or so.

- Sometimes it looks pretty sharp, sometimes "outdated". As someone mentioned here this is not the Source engine showing its age, just non-consistent level design.

- What's up with the pre-rendered cut scenes ? In HL2 everything is rendered in-game.

- The first chapter while riding a hourse is nicely done. The following action scene is heavily scripted but a good and exciting ride. Thumbs up. Remind me of the intro level in HL2.

- Fighting is quite though but do-able.

So far a pleasant surprise. Didn't run into much crashes etc. So far so good.

(I've a X2 4600+, 2 GB, GF7900GTO)
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I thought this post (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5618285&postcount=4) about stealth was interesting.

What's up with the pre-rendered cut scenes ? In HL2 everything is rendered in-game.

(I've a X2 4600+, 2 GB, GF7900GTO)

What settings are you running the game at and how is performance on that card loekf?

Regarding cutscenes, Half-Life 2 didn't have any. And even if it did I'd have to respond with, "DM isn't HL2". What I've never understood is why can't a game load the next level while a cutscene video is playing. Ok sure the video might stutter on a single core, but on a dual core you have that whole extra device just ready to get it done.
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I thought this post (http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5618285&postcount=4) about stealth was interesting.



What settings are you running the game at and how is performance on that card loekf?

Regarding cutscenes, Half-Life 2 didn't have any. And even if it did I would have to say respond with, "DM isn't HL2". What I've never understood is why can't a game load the next level while a cutscene video is playing. Ok sure the video might stutter on a single core, but on a dual core you have that whole extra device just ready to get it done.

I'm running at 1280 x 1024, settings as determined by the game. I think everything most settings are on on high, except for "GFX level" (what is this ? new for me, didn't see it in Valve's games) which is set to medium and e.g. water set to medium as well. For some reason the game selected bi-linear filtering.

I think I need more tweaking.

My GFX card is a Xpertvision/Palit GF7900GT, 512 MB, the core is clocked at 550 MHz. It's a "GTO" card.
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F'n Source engine. HL2 was one of the very few games to ever give me motion sickness and DM is doing it to me too. Anyone know how to change the FOV? I enabled the console but typing "fov 90" ain't working. Source defaults to 75 I believe.

Hate the movement too. Feel like you're Brian Boitano skating around on ice.
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I've never gotten FOV adjustment to work in any source game. The most I've managed is to get it to go to what I set then "melt" back to default. Also, I'm sure its up to the developer to set default and not the engine.

The movement does feel sticky at first but I kind of like it after getting used to it. I doubt it would help with the motion sickness thing though.

Dear DM players,

We are all, here at Arkane Studios, very sorry to see that a lot of you guys are going through troubles, and sometimes heavy ones, while playing Dark Messiah.

We hope we will be giving you some hope through this message telling you that everybody is doing hard work over here working to fix the bugs you are facing.

Try to be patient as we are spending a lot of time to fix all this.

I might suggest you to post your problems here, specifying if it is Steam or retail version, Multi or solo player, and as much as you can in term of config details.

We will do our best to fix all the single player troubles (we cannot do much on the multi, as we did not develop it).

We will be realesing a patch very soon.

Thanks again for your patience and we'll be around the forums to help you guys as much as we can.

Cheers

Marco
Arkane Studios Dev Team

Hopefully very soon means very soon. I've got NWN2 looming on the 31st :|
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I've never gotten FOV adjustment to work in any source game. The most I've managed is to get it to go to what I set then "melt" back to default. Also, I'm sure its up to the developer to set default and not the engine.

The movement does feel sticky at first but I kind of like it after getting used to it. I doubt it would help with the motion sickness thing though.

No problems here. I only ever got motion sickness when playing the infamous boat level in HL2.

About the settings. GFX detail (of course) increases the poly levels. I can crank it up to high, no impact on frame rate. Further it looks much better as well. Now the leaves of tree are actually leaves and not some blurry texture.

I'm getting a flashback to Heretic, but maybe it's just me ;-)
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Just purchased the game (the retail version) and I can't even get it to run. First Securerom tells me to replace the backup disc with a orginal (yeah, please do be quick jump to conclusion securerom) and now nothing happen when I try to run the game. I can't even uninstall the damn thing.
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What I've never understood is why can't a game load the next level while a cutscene video is playing. Ok sure the video might stutter on a single core, but on a dual core you have that whole extra device just ready to get it done.
Both are streamed from harddisk. The processor isn't the bottleneck.
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Well your typical PC game cutscene video is hardly high bitrate 1080p. I'm sure the movies in games like this are no bigger than 60 - 130 mb. Plenty small enough to just run from memory.
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Well your typical PC game cutscene video is hardly high bitrate 1080p. I'm sure the movies in games like this are no bigger than 60 - 130 mb. Plenty small enough to just run from memory.

Believe me the in-game movies / cutscenes of this game look a bit...well.... low bit rate. Kind of blurry, limited colour depth ?

Maybe it's because they are rendered at a smaller resolution and it's the (poort) upscaling.
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Not a single technical glitch yet and I'm in chapter 7 now. Not one crash, sound stuttering, nothing. <knocks on wood>
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So far so good for me. I am in Chapter 3 and not a signle crash in the game at all. Some minor sound issues that I fixed after reading the games message boards and changing texture settings from high to medium. This fixed the sound issues and also improved the speed of loading sections in the game.

So far I am having a blast. I love the fighting style. Nothing wrong with a game that does not require much cerebral action if the action is fast and fun. Dark Messiah has this in spades IMHO.

System: Athlon 64 3500+ 1Gig, ATI 1600pro 512MB RAM, Windows MCE 2005.
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I've never gotten FOV adjustment to work in any source game. The most I've managed is to get it to go to what I set then "melt" back to default.

Not sure if you mean that the fov wont stay, but the command to change the default is

default_fov [angle]



for those having sound issues, i've always found in the past sound crashes or issues can be solved by removing DirectX acceleration before playing the game.

Control Panel -> Sounds, Speech, and Audio Devices -> Sounds and Audio Devices -> Advanced at the bottom, performance at the top, change the acceleration to lower levels like Basic, usually helps.
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The FOV switch just doesn't stay. You have to manually change it everytime you launch the game.

I'm in chapter 8 and loving this game, now. No more motion sickness and I'm flailing around with a fire sword I crafted. Pumped my skill points into straight combat tankage, so I'll have to replay as a thief and mage. I've heard magic is fairly underwhelming, so might save that for last.
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So is that an official JR recommendation?
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Absolutely. The game has some shortcomings, such as level design and monster variety, but I'm really enjoying the atmsophere and combat.
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Not sure if you mean that the fov wont stay, but the command to change the default is

default_fov [angle]
This does not work for me in DM and never has in any source games. You set it, it changes, but it then pops right back to what it was once you exit the console. If anybody knows some kind of special way to make the FOV adjustment stick, please let me know.
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This does not work for me in DM and never has in any source games. You set it, it changes, but it then pops right back to what it was once you exit the console. If anybody knows some kind of special way to make the FOV adjustment stick, please let me know.

you know i wonder something. Technically changing the FOV constitutes as a cheat as silly as that sounds. Try sv_cheats 1 and then the FOV commands.
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Yeah I've tried that, still no go.
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The action in this game is astounding. I love it. Talk about strategic intelligent melee lol. Hands-on. One sec you can get your ass kicked, the other you can kill 'em all unscathed. It all comes down to planning how you take on the baddies.

The spiders are almost too much for me. Yikes. Didn't we talk about how spiders-in-games should be outlawed? :)

The sound FX are awesome too. I love how the spells sound. Voice acting is great. Overall FX are just kick ass. Music is great too. Unique soundtrack. This game has a really cool ambiance to it, very dark and weird. Loving that too.

Graphics range from almost retro to very modern. Overall I'm impressed though, and it runs fairly well.

I haven't hit many bugs at all actually. It crashed once on me when I was loading a save. Autosave works perfectly.

Overall, I have to say I'm really enjoying the game. It's not perfect, but it sure as hell is different and refreshing.
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As a mage you will be falling back on melee combat whether you like it or not. Enemies just get the jump on you or close while you are low on mana. So it is worth spending a few skill points on combat skills. But as of chapter six odd my ranger/mage mix is starting to get quite potent. Fire traps excell for sneaky tactics and are fairly deadly.

For starters they can be used to lay traps. The fight up the stairs against orcs to place the Shantiri crystal had me laying firetraps on narrow spots in the path and then luring Orcs onto the traps. Or on the fight into the temple I used them to mark the ramps up to the roof I hid on so that I had warning when someone was charging up after me. Gave me plenty of time to switch from bow to melee weapons and prepare to dispatch the now weakened intruder. Annoyingly the traps are triggered by friendly allies so don't let Leanna and co walk over them, she tends to then hate you and the mission fails.

Freeze was also excellent for the defend the gangplank segment, watching guards slice helplessly into the water is quite entertaining...

Just love the many ways you can tackle problems. Reminds me a lot of Thief and other Looking Glass Studio games for the whole provide the user with a toolset approach to gameplay.
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This does not work for me in DM and never has in any source games. You set it, it changes, but it then pops right back to what it was once you exit the console. If anybody knows some kind of special way to make the FOV adjustment stick, please let me know.

You know, you're right. DM uses 85, too. Still hate the movement, but I got comfortable enough with it for the game to stop giving me motion sickness.
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Finished the game and immediately restarted as a mage. The finale wasn't as hard as I would've liked, at least on normal difficulty, but I had some pretty powerful weapons due to choices I made toward the end. Some of the items you find toward the end are rather nice.
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Well I'm on chapter three and have been thinking its been a cake walk so far. I don't even get hit usually. For John and the others that have finished, would you recommend playing on hard the first time through? I usually like a fair bit of well designed challenge.
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Well I'm on chapter three and have been thinking its been a cake walk so far. I don't even get hit usually. For John and the others that have finished, would you recommend playing on hard the first time through? I usually like a fair bit of well designed challenge.

Hard might not be a bad idea. I might try that with an assassin-type skill build. I'm not particularly enjoying a pure mage that I was playing last night. Get two or three blackguards on you at once and it's hard to deal. The Charm spell, for example, works ok, but with two opponents the non-charmed one kept coming after me, which had me backpedalling and the charmed guard chasing after, scoring very few hits. Spell wears off, little damage done to either enemy, I'm lower on mana, and I've got two guards chasing me around. Might be more fun skulking around on hard difficulty and sniping as many enemies as possible with a bow.

My pure tank died very few times from combat. More deaths occurred due to falling than anything else, though the giant spider toward the end fell on me twice after I killed it.
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Who's idea was it to do the movement in this game? Its terrible! The lag moving backwards is a bit annoying, and the side sway is down right retarded! Oh well, its very still!
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It's kinda like Thief III. I like having a body. IMO the movement makes it feel like you actually have some mass.
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I finally have an opinion of this game, I'm in love with Leanna. :yep2:
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It's kinda like Thief III. I like having a body. IMO the movement makes it feel like you actually have some mass.

Umm, do you almost tip over when going to your left or right? I sure hope not. Do you pause for a second before you step back? I sure hope not. Its extremely over down.
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I am in chapter 8 at the moment at hard difficulty and training my character as a melee. At the hard difficulty the game proves quite a challenge at certain times if you ask me. The story starts of slowly and somewhat weak, but as you progress into the game the plot thickens and you await a plot 'twist'. :) Very nice game up until now, except for the occasional crashes and bugs. :(
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Sigh.

Just a massive amount of crashes and stutter for me. When its running right its silkly smooth, but most of the time it stutters very badly till I pause it and then alt tab out then back in. Its like the game does not know what to load at first.

I must say I'm really enjoying the game. The roof top action in the end of Chapter 2 and start of Chapter 3 was a ton of fun, though I played it about 7 times because I had crashes over and over.

Sigh. :(
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Yeah I've given up on it as well. Supposedly there will be a patch tomorrow or early next week for multi and single.
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Yeah I've given up on it as well. Supposedly there will be a patch tomorrow or early next week for multi and single.

I hope it fixes my issues. I've restarted my computer more today alone than the last two months because of this game.
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I must say I'm really enjoying the game. The roof top action in the end of Chapter 2 and start of Chapter 3 was a ton of fun, though I played it about 7 times because I had crashes over and over.

That's where I am, just after the roof (where you get the staff). While it loads the next level it keeps restarting my computer. It sucks, because so far I love the game and can't wait to continue. :(
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That's where I am, just after the roof (where you get the staff). While it loads the next level it keeps restarting my computer. It sucks, because so far I love the game and can't wait to continue. :(

I'm at some loading screen right now. It tries to load but crashes back to desktop every time. I've tried loading it up a number of times, same result. I'm with you, I love the game but the bugs are really making it hard for me to recommend to anyone yet.
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Just played it through. No problems here except for three crashes (DVD version). Those guys at Arcane really must have liked the Thief series a lot: Rope arrows, loot glint, the secret area sound? Very familiar. On some levels I really felt like I was playing Thief 4 in disguise. (Still not convinced? Read the description of the Master Thief Outfit. ;-))

After reading some of the comments here I decided to try the Hard difficulty level. But it wasn't hard at all. Especially the bosses were too easy and near the end I was pretty much invincible (played as a mage and with Inferno, Mana Regeneration and Mana Potions aplenty enemies turned into coal left and right).

At first I was a little disappointed since the game is little bit light on the role playing side, but once I accepted the game as what it is (a fantasy shooter with role playing elements) I really liked it. And it really gets better as the game progresses. The story is ok, but not great. The FMVs are nice.

I have a few complaints: Levels are too linear. The constant hints are a bit "in your face". The skill tree could be bigger, more "rpgish". Items/Weapons are mostly uninteresting. When readying some spells, your hand get into your field of view. On the positive side: Fighting is fun! Some of the levels are pretty creative and very good looking, too. Some very nice scripted events and some fun elements. You can actually influence the story a bit. The RPG elements add a bit of depth to the gameplay. Very polished overall.

Apart from that I would say it's the best First-Person-Someting in quite a time (and certainly much better than Prey). It's really beyond me why some review sites (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/darkmessiahofmightandmagic) (GameSpot, IGN, Game Spy) gave such low ratings, especially when compared to (the IMO mediocre) Prey (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/prey). I would give it a 85/100.
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Apart from that I would say it's the best First-Person-Someting in quite a time (and certainly much better than Prey). It's really beyond me why some review sites (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/darkmessiahofmightandmagic) (GameSpot, IGN, Game Spy) gave such low ratings, especially when compared to (the IMO mediocre) Prey (http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/prey). I would give it a 85/100.

You, me, and many others are always surprised by "reviews". I tend to just completely avoid them these days and listen to those who actually play games (I personally swear reviewers play only 30 minutes and then decide from there, much of the time never finishing the game) and then I draw my conclusions. I also think demos are ever more important in order for a game to prove that it has promise at least.

What hardware are you running? I'm curious as to if the issues people are having are related to that in any way. I noticed my stutter went away once I turned off Transparency AA for my Nvidia card, but crashes are still there.
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You, me, and many others are always surprised by "reviews". I tend to just completely avoid them these days and listen to those who actually play games (I personally swear reviewers play only 30 minutes and then decide from there, much of the time never finishing the game) and then I draw my conclusions. I also think demos are ever more important in order for a game to prove that it has promise at least.I agree on the demos. But I was really surprised by the ratings of those sites I mentioned as my personal opinion is usually not that far off from the scores they give. Actually I'm generally a bit more "conservative". ;-)

What hardware are you running? I'm curious as to if the issues people are having are related to that in any way. I noticed my stutter went away once I turned off Transparency AA for my Nvidia card, but crashes are still there.[/quote]My current system is: AMD X2 4800+, ASUS A8N-SLI Premium, 2 GB Ram, Gigabyte X1950XTX, X-Fi Fatality, Hitachi 500 GB & Raptor 150 GB HDD. Everything properly patched, current drivers, no unnecessary installs, no tweaks, stock clocks. I seldom have/had any serious issues with games with my current or past systems.
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It is a pretty good game, played it up to the dragon crashing through the roof but then it just crashed and went back to my desktop. I would say its a close call between this and Prey, but would give Prey the edge just to the fact of fighting at weird angles and at least some form of puzzles.

My system is basically the same as N00b's, would be identical drivers anyway, and only the one crash up to now, and no stuttering at all.
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Welp, I've hit my limit. When loading Chapter 4 it crashes to desktop every time. I guess I'll be waiting for the patch.
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After my long time awaiting it's arrival, I installed it, played it twice, then reinstalled Oblivion and made another rogue in WoW.
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Lots of issues here (stuttering when speech loads, crashes when loading), but when I manage to play it the game is a lot of fun. I'm a bit disappointed that archery isn't very useful, though.
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Archery is a tough road early on (at least)...i felt i was more competent in the demo. useless mostly unless you have a protected perch to shoot from (window, etc)
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Multiplayer v1.01 patch is out

- ‘Can’t find background image materials/console/startup_loading.vtf�error: Due to incorrect registry key setting for Steam language, now fixed
- ¾ Loading Progression lockup: Fixed
- Loading bar: Now displays progress information
- Remembering skills on disconnect: When a player reconnects to a server the game should return him to his previous level. This will not work across campaigns (new campaign wipes all skills).
- Scoreboard fonts: Changed the scoreboard to ensure it displays 32 players even at low officially unsupported resolutions (e.g. 640x480)
- Main Menu: We have made sure the main menu displays even at low resolutions (e.g. 640x480)
- Battle Begins Message Flicker: Fixed
- Backstab improvements: We have made yet more improvements to the backstab system, making it smoother to trigger and preventing 'lockup' situations
- Assassin cloak / capture points: Now the action of taking a point is considered an 'aggressive' act and will de-cloak an assassin
- Stoneskin damage change: Stoneskin now lasts less long on priestesses than other characters. Stoneskin will slow a staff user's attacks down while stoneskinned.
- Leaping attack bug fixed. Knights must now sprint up to a minimum speed before triggering Leap Attack. Sprint forwards for 1/2 a second or so, jump and press fire to trigger the attack.
- Nvidia antialiasing code: Prevents users selecting an antialiasing mode their card does not support
- Alt-Tab is now re-enabled: This is officially unsupported and the users�mileage will vary depending on drivers/cards etc.
- Windowed Mode: Entering a command line parameter of �window�will enable the game to be played in a window.
- �width�will specify a standard resolution (such as –width 800 for 800x600): Again, this is officially unsupported and mileage will vary!
- Game Servers in Steam Browser: Should now be visible in the standard out-of-game server browser


I'm crossing my fingers for single player today but we'll probably see it monday or tuesday. I guess its NWN2 for me until then.
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Single Player v1.01 patch changelog (currently in QA at Ubisoft)

- Crash fixed on Save/Load if player has an object in their hands.
- Health and poison effects are no longer displayed during credits.
- Player’s hands don’t appear behind the credits when you combine the Skull of Shadows with an equipped spell.
- All game menus are hidden when a video starts.
- Problem fixed when the player tries to switch between Xana mode and an equipped scroll.
- Indestructible shields are now really indestructible Smile
- Crash fixed when the player tries to throw a dagger, then immediately jumps and parries.
- Crash fixed when the player tries to switch between casting a fireball and taking an object.
- The DM fonts now support all Eastern European languages.
- Bug fixed. Player cannot re-use a scroll multiple times after switching to Xana mode.
- Saving is now disabled during end game credits to avoid system anomalies.
- The player now dismounts correctly from the top of ladders, even when moving backward.
- Leanna no longer shows the wrong animation when exiting from the giant spider’s lair.
- Fixed a bug that could occur when saving a game at the end of level 12_A. The chain that allows you to exit from that part of the level won’t be shortened (unusable) if you reload at this point.
- Instantaneous spells (Magic Protection, Heal, Wizard Eye) no longer break other spells like Firetrap.
- Climbing NPCs can't be charmed and fall if shrunken.
- Bug fixed that allowed player to break the planks from the last house of the l07_a without being inside the house.
- Bug fixed. When the player uses magic against Aratrok, his bodyguards now react.
- Fixed getting stuck on door on Level 11, when jumping on a rope attached to it.
- Fixed weapon being unequipped after jumping in certain conditions
- Fixed when pressing E multiple time in certain conditions would quicksave the game
- Fixed when pressing E very quickly to get his backpack back at a specific location, backpack was recovered but all objects were missing
- Localisation: while in game pressing esc and then switchwing to MP, the confirmation window was not tranlsated.
- Fixed not being able to take any objects under certain conditions
- Fixed game crash after de-equipping a weapon in certain conditions
- Fixed a potential first person hands animation problems
- Fixed being stuck sometimes in some specific locations close to stairs
- Fixed looping dagger and staff sound when doing a power attack and parrying in the middle.
- Fixed some scrolls that could be used several times (much like a spell)
- Fixed teleporting that could occur when using lockpick
- Fixed Fireball staying stuck to the player until it explodes
- Localisation: German: fixed improper wall signs
- Fixed the mission failed message not appearing when killing the wounded guard on the island.
- Fixed, shrinked enemies are now sensitive to melee weapon
- Fixed a crashwhen killing a NPC with a fire weapon when he is knee deep in the water
- Fixed Percy getting stuck in a window
- Fixed Percy not reacting properly to certain players choice (avoiding spoiler)
- Fixed a certain NPC (still avoiding spoiler..) still looking Alive when he is should be dead
- Fixed invisible wall present on level 7
- Fixed a crash when at the raggdoll in level 2 with a fire arrow spell
- Fixed collision disapearing on Trap behing the barn after a reload
- Fixed lockping becoming a weapon (melee animations played)
- Fixed Lighting bolt scroll not working
- Fixed issue with telekeninesis not always working as intended
- Fixed issues with "Adjust Brightness Level" still being in game after using it in the menu.


Hi all,

I would like to add some comment to this patch 1.01 fix list.

- I understand some of you may feel disappointed that some "minor" bugs seem to have been fixed before the major ones (crash & performance).
The fact is: they are not the same people working on these "minor" bugs & on the "major" ones. Meaning while some of us fixed the minor ones that match our "job", other were & are still hard at work on others.

- Reason why we're going to release this first patch without waiting for additional fixes is that it includes some fixes to some really annoying walkthrough stopper bugs and fixes for bugs that are damaging the experience (like unbreakable shields that breaks..)

So we dont want you to wait for these fixes, since they are already available.

Note the patch also features the first pass on stuttering reductions.

Keep in Mind: Releasing this patch DOES NOT mean we're giving up on other bugs.
WE WILL NOT LEFT THE GAME BEHIND AS IT IS WITH SO MANY OF YOU HAVING PROBLEMS.

Just to let you know what is currently under work for a second patch(among other fixes):
- Fix for the loading crash
- Fix for stuttering & perf Pass 2
- Fix for Magic Weapon display glitches on Direct X 8 Cards
- Fix for black BINK video files on Direct X 8 Cards
- Fix for bad underwater FX on Direct X 8 Cards

.................................................. ...............

We talked about doing some tuning on game difficulty (mainly AIs and mainly on the second half of the game)
There is also talks about adding a Hardcore mode.

But these things needs time of a lot of people and right now we're focusing 200% on the crashs.
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First patch is out! Looks like they included some or all of the important fixes from "patch 2" described above. Changelog is here (http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=news&id=819&cc=--).
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thanks for the info!

i haven't played this title since the first night i got it....too absorbed in G3.
haven't touched "just cause" beyond 1st night either. actually i fired it up last weekend thinking i had made it through the first 'mission', but i had nothing to load!
haven't touched scarface since i installed gothic3 either.

nice to have a backlog for a change.
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Two yes two new patches are on the way. First up we have the single player patch (which you may or may not already know about).

Single player patch highlights:

* The “hard�difficulty setting of the game has been totally reworked and is now harder
* Global difficulty has been adjusted in the second half of the game to better reflect character evolution
* An intermediary texture details level has been implemented. As a result, the former “high�setting has been renamed to “very high�br /> * All major bugs have been fixed, except one that is still being tracked by the teams and will be fixed in the coming days

Multiplayer player patch highlights:

* New game mode: capture the flag
* New maps for capture the flag mode: CTF_1 and CTF_2
* All existing maps have been tweaked
* Introduced several options to tweak game setting for lower configs
* All classes have been tweaked for balance

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/808101043/m/1121076805
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Quick question, they offer this over steam. I got a copy of this with my EVGA 8800 GTS. Will this thing allow me to activate it within my steam account? Or are the keys seperated? I tried the demo and it was ok, but since I have it, might as well try it out :D
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Quick question, they offer this over steam. I got a copy of this with my EVGA 8800 GTS. Will this thing allow me to activate it within my steam account? Or are the keys seperated? I tried the demo and it was ok, but since I have it, might as well try it out :D
I was able to install mine straight off the DVD and though it installed Steam when the game was installed, the game doesn't use Steam and doesn't show up on Steam. You can, however, enter the CD key in Steam and activate it there, but you would need to install it separately.
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Run steamsetup.exe in your DM install directory Maintank.
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Cool thanks.
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well i've played this title up to level 3 (chapter 3?) now. but im a little annoyed. im trying to play as an archer (invested points), but im 'forced' into melee by being bumrushed by, typically, 3 soldiers at a time. also chasing some ghoul (never catching him) doesn't give me any time ('mission failed') to enjoy the scenery. i've only managed 1 headshot (kill) with bow. the demo was paced so i could choose to attack from a distance. tell me this game allows that later on? once i passed the ghoul level (by frenetically finding the 'right' path, instead of considering my options), im back to getting bumrushed by 3 soldiers.

tell me this isn't the same 'game' mechanic used throughout! anyone else play archer?
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In the early game both magic and archery are too weak to directly kill a lot of the time. Here you need to exploit the environment as much as possible. Archers often get precariously balanced weights needing just a single arrow to cut a rope to cause significant chaos.

Even so expect to whittle the health of a charging enemy down and switch to the short sword once they close. Also always look for a vantage point to fight from. Standing on stairs and kicking enemies once they get close down the stairs and peppering them with arrows works well too.

Once you get critical shot and a better bow you will be making more one shot kills and become less reliant on the melee skills.
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I finished the game for the second time this weekend as a pure mage and started over as a pure stealth using dagger and bow and this 3rd time, despite knowing the game quite well, is easily the hardest. Playing as a fighter was the easiest, without a doubt, but once you get sanctuary and inferno as a mage enemies drop rather quickly (granted that you keep your mana up, since the latter spell sucks it down damn fast).
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The v1.02 patch for single player is out

- Combat Difficulty in “Hard” mode is now harder.
PLEASE NOTE: This fix will not take effect in any game saved prior to this patch.
- Added a new "Hardcore" difficulty mode (1 more step beyond “Hard”).
- Re-balanced NPC's strength & health on the second half of the game for all difficulty modes.
PLEASE NOTE: This fix will not take effect in any game saved prior to this patch.
- Added an intermediary “Texture" setting between "Medium" and "High". ("High" could create an overload with some video card memory: so, to offer more scalability, it has been renamed to "Very High" and the "High" option now offers "Medium" textures for the scenery, but "High" textures for the NPCs.)
- No more crashes when NPCs are beheaded (occurred with the “head_link” error message)
- Fixed the black Bink playback problem with GeForce FX video cards
- Fixed FPS drops with GeForce 6800
- No more graphical glitches on GeForce FX cards when player is under water
- No more graphical glitches on GeForce FX cards when player is being hit or is almost dead.
- No more graphical glitches on GeForce FX cards when equipping a Magic Weapon. If you still have trouble, please set GFX Detail to “Low”
- Fixed additional stuttering problems, linked to Expression files being read when they should not be
- Fixed random crashes due to a memory patch in the decal system
- Fixed a crash that could appear very rarely on the Tutorial Map if Phenrig plays his base animation
- Fixed crash on Telekinesis used on a NPC after having frozen and then kicked him
- Fixed a crash at the end of chapter 07 if you equipped telekinesis when the mage was talking to you
- Fixed a showstopper bug with Percy in Chapter 09
- Saved Game system changed to the new Async System to prevent excessive stuttering when the game is auto saving (if you’re still experiencing problems, you may want to disable the Auto Save feature in the “Gameplay” options menu)
- GFX Option is now properly saved
- Variable mat_forcemanagedtextureintohardware is now correctly handled, based on individual PC specs
- Prevent Rope Bow from disappearing under the world surface before getting to it.
- Fixed inconsistency with the way Xana behaves during “City of Flames” chapter events depending on player’s choices
- Fixed a bug where the giant spider was not spawned at all.
- Fixed a bug with some potions being destroyed on map spawn in the “Temple of the Spider” chapter
- GFX Detail level option is now properly translated in the French version
- Avoid user being stuck in the walls while using the Rope Bow
- Final Boss has been re-balanced
- Removed some dev button that could be found behind some walls in the Epilogue
- Fixed the way some objectives were badly managed with the Pao Kai in the last chapter
- Removed an improper “use” flagging on some wooden beams in “Gleam of a Cold Knife”
- NPCs immune to Telekinesis can't be grabbed using Telekinesis Spell when they are in ragdoll behavior
- Arrows that are out of the Game world are now removed properly to prevent framerate from decreasing to zero
- Max number of potions/food you can stack in your inventory is now properly configured
- Prevent the Ghoul script from being broken in some cases (if player used the bow to attack the creature) in “Dead Man's Trail”
- Remove small memory leak on the Particle System (about 100Kb was lost on each load/restart/map change)
- Remove small memory leak on clear value
- Better memory management with BINK playback
- Disabled two auto save points just before change level that could lead to corrupted saved game in Chapter 05
- Prevent a specific mana potion from disappearing from player inventory during Chapter 05
- Spells cast against the player now deal the correct amount of damage based on difficulty mode
- Vampire Knights will now always correctly play their stun animation
- Arantir's health has been increased
- Game will not auto save twice when triggering the final events in the Epilogue
- Added missing precache on Undead spawned by Necromancer Lord
- Fixed excessive virtual memory fragmentation, which led to occasional program crashes.

Hopefully the game is finally in the state that it should have been in on release. I'm going to give it another go in a couple hours to see if the loading crashes are fixed.
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thanks for the tips. im level 2 archer (2 bubbles lit) (next level costs 8 points i think), i have 3 in the 'bank'. (i think i am a 1 bubble swordsman too).

am i missing out on possible points (i know i missed at least one thing with a candlelabra i collected the first night, month later i can't remember where to go to place it to get to a vault in some study that i don't the location of either....pillars?)

just after chasing the ghoul (did you catch it?), what level were you at in your chosen profession? (wondering if it's more missed opportunities)
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* Sorry for the thread bump.... had to post.

I purchased the Collectors Edition and have just completed the game.

I really liked the ability to spread your experience points across the three types (warrior, mage and theif).

Gread sound effects and music, some really nice action/dramatic sections of music that heighten the tension/excitement. Best music in a game since the Sin Episode 1.

Loved playing this title to bits - some sections I replayed over and over again trying out all the differernt ways of killing the enemys :).
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i should get back to this title. haven't played it since my last post.
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Shoulda been developed with coop in mind (like every game should!)

I beat it with a warrior and am very slowly working on a mage. Warrior felt more fun. Being a mage is really tricky cuz you get rushed and get just beaten down. Spells are cool but too weak IMO.

I absolutely love the sound effects in this game. Weird and otherworldly, for sure.
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The spells get better...but you've got to be careful with some of 'em.

I had a lot of fun with this game, but it's kinda short. I've played through as a fighter, a fire type mage, and a thief. I'm not sure what my favorite was, they were all fun in their own way.
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