Vanishing Fathamurk key

[helivoy]

[Also mentioned on another thread]

I have a problem on the first level of Fathamurk: I collect the diamond chip key -- but when I look at my key ring, the key is not there, so I cannot unlock the door. I've done this twice now. The key disappeared both times.

Specifics: I reloaded an old high-level character, whose key ring is crowded. Also, I'm a Mac user. Thanks in advance for any pointers/bug fixes!

[SpottedShroom]

Can you attach a save game file with your character next to the loot bag that contains the key? Then we can try to reproduce, and BW can do in-depth debugging if necessary.

[BasiliskWrangler]

Yep, looks like we have a little problem with our key rings overloading. Unsure why this was never encountered during beta testing.

Working on a fix now...

[BasiliskWrangler]

So, the vanishing key issue is caused by having too many keys on your key ring, which seems to be linked to people reusing characters or resetting maps.

I can have a fix in the next version, through I have no estimation of when that may be released. So, the question I ask is: do I need to post a hot fix for anyone? Basically, I'd be fixing an issue that is only present when the game is hacked or altered, which really only affects a small number of you.

[helivoy]

Everyone, thanks for the helpful replies! Xolotl's Eschalon II character editor is time-consuming and complicated to install for non-Windows users. He and I discussed this in private exchanges a while ago. I know he has a call out for a Mac-native version of his editor.

I did something very simple: I opened the Char file in Simple Text and deleted all the redundant keys. It took the key number down to 12, which allowed the keychain to accept the Fathamurk diamond key.

The dungeon is terrific and also integrates the SF and fantasy themes. Congratulations, Thomas!

P. S. Jedi_Learner, judging from your handle, you might be interested in this:
We Must Love One Another or Die: A Critique of Star Wars.

[xolotl]

I did something very simple: I opened the Char file in Simple Text and deleted all the redundant keys.

Wow, I'm actually fairly impressed that doing so didn't munge up the savegame file, given the mix of binary and text data in there. Anyone else attempting this should be sure to make backups, hope that your text editor will save in CRLF line-ending format, and probably make sure to leave the key lines blank instead of deleting the whole line, btw...

Everyone, thanks for the helpful replies! Xolotl's Eschalon II character editor is time-consuming and complicated to install for non-Windows users. He and I discussed this in private exchanges a while ago. I know he has a call out for a Mac-native version of his editor.

BTW, there's still no prepackaged version of the editors for Mac, though I did receive some instructions from a mac user which makes it sound not terribly difficult to get running, so it may be worth checking that out.

[helivoy]

Heh, heh. I knew this primitive kludge might munge something. So before the keychain surgery I made a backup copy of the Char file and also took the precaution of tucking all quest-vital items in a barrel . My futzing resulted in the deletion of two items. But nothing indispensable or critical.

[Unbeliever]

BW/Jedi Learner:

I used Jedi Learner's suggestion, installed the character editor, and after backing up my saves, editted my keyring to remove duplicate keys and add the Diamond key.

I am happy to report success! Restarting the game, the doors opened. (I haven't proceeded further yet.)

I *WOULD* suggest to BW some sort of logic such as: "When taking a key, if the key is already on the keyring, just destruct it, otherwise add it to the keyring normally".

In addition to solving issues for boneheads like me, it would also auto-correct bugs where the same key IS dropped more than once...

Anyway, thanks to Jedi for the suggestion. Since this IS rare, mostly associated with cheaters (*BLUSH*), and there's now a workaround, I'd say BW doesn't need to worry about a hotfix. Though it WOULD be good to fix in the last game update...

Thanks for the help guys...

[SpottedShroom]

Given that the problem only affects people using the game in a way it wasn't designed for, I don't think you're under any obligation to provide a fix. If they were comfortable messing with their game before, they should be okay with using xolotl's editor to fix the problem.

That said, if the fix it easy to implement it might be nice to throw into any future release you end up doing for other reasons.