Mod News TOEE: Livonya's Mod Beta 1.0

[Trash]

Numbers hurt my head.

 

[Fez]

Hajo is a genius.

The mod sounds impresssive.

 

[MarFish]

I heard that Atari changed the ESRB rating 6 months before going gold. And thats why a lot of things seem broken. Is that true? Oh, and the mod looks pretty good, by the way.

No - publishers don't change ratings, the ESRB does.

D&D is a WotC property, who, in turn, are owned by Hasbro, the "american family values" toy company. Their directive is "T" for teen for D&D games.

As much as I think you would like to create the legend of Atari backstabbing Troika, I think the game was planned as "T" all the way but some dumbasses at Troika had to try to sneak sheep sex in and wonder that the few testing resources they got were diverted after Atari found it out.

 

[gromit]

How many cups of coffees must I drink to drink less than I do now when I currently drink zero cups of coffee?

Just have yourself a real good puke in the morning.

 

[Ellester]

Well if this mod actually makes Hommlett’s quests interesting and not boring as hell, this might be worthwhile. Plus all of the fixes to make the battles more realistic and challenging sounds pretty sweet.

Although it is a beta and problems are occurring. I might just wait for some more testing before I jump in. But I do think this is worthy for a replay of ToEE. As it stands I was never able to finish it twice, this should be enough motivation for a replay.

 

[Mithter Thibbs]

I'd prefer a total conversion type of mod -- IMO, the whole Temple of Elemental Evil scenario wasn't all that great in the first place -- but it's great to see someone working on the engine nonetheless. Aside from those massive slowdowns and freezes in the lower reaches of the temple and in the nodes, it's an engine with boatloads of potential.

 

[Livonya]

first post

I have been visiting this site for many years, but never have I felt inclined to post.

But I find it nearly impossible to stay silent when the post topic actually involves me personally.

Just so people know this is just the beginning for TOEE.

When I first started my mod I had no intention of releasing it. I was just working to make the game better for me. Over time I learned to do more and more.

I released this so I could get a feel for how my work was doing. Hard to always test everything on your own.

My intention for the future is to fix any problems with my code and then I intend to do a lot more with TOEE.

Personally, I think TOEE is one of the best D&D games ever made. Unfortunantly, the powers that control $$ didn't give it time. I don't really care who's fault that was but it happened.

If TOEE had had another 6 months of production I think it would have been a legendary game.

What happened with TOEE is probably a sign of the times. PC gaming is dying. Production costs are too high and the money to be made is not worth the time (as far as corporate gaming companies are concerned).

I worry that TOEE will be the last game of its kind... hopefully I will be wrong.

But it sure seems that PC games are a dying breed... especially RPGs with actual strategy content.

I have bought exactly three games in the last 3 years. The selection is pretty poor these days.

In any event, I have more in plan for my TOEE mod.

My hope is that my mod shows what is possible with TOEE. The engine is really great, and once you know the scripting language anything is possible.

A complete conversion would actually be possible, but the time would be vast.

Don't write off TOEE too soon.

Personally, I think it still has many years of enjoyment to offer... especially when you consider how many good RPGs have come out since it was released.

- Livonya

 

[Sheriff05]

Re: first post

about ToEE Mod

- Livonya

I'll admit I was skeptical as even with 3.0.4 and Moebius mod as good as both those are, I was still finding some "fixes" that led to weird behaviors that got annoying so the trade off wasn't really that much better than the official patches. I went thru the work of doing a clean install and ended up played this about 5 hours last night, its great. It totally changes the perspective of many things, combat is much harder, the enemy AI is night and day. The only bug I have found so far is using characters with custom portraits cause the game to crash, hopefully this will be fixed. the game has had so many many fixes since its original release it's really quite impressive. If you've never gotten around to ToEE because of all the bad press now is the time.

 

[Diogo Ribeiro]

• 
  * Changed some content to add realism

No thanks.

 

[undead dolphin hacker]

Remind me why we should care about a shitty early 2004 RPG getting a boring mod?

Is it because this site got addicted to sucking Troika's cock, and even though Troika's dead, (thank god), you still feel the need to knob schlob whatever newb releases shitty content for a shitty game?

 

[Kuato]

ooooopen yoooooour miiiiiiiiind

 

[Greatatlantic]

D&D is a WotC property, who, in turn, are owned by Hasbro, the "american family values" toy company. Their directive is "T" for teen for D&D games.

As much as I think you would like to create the legend of Atari backstabbing Troika, I think the game was planned as "T" all the way but some dumbasses at Troika had to try to sneak sheep sex in and wonder that the few testing resources they got were diverted after Atari found it out.

And you don't think publishers don't aim and expect a certain rating when they make a game? What I meant was Atari gave Troika a green light to make the game M rated, and suddenly lost their back bone and told them to change it to T. What did you think I meant? I'm not sure of the particulars however, and was hoping somebody could clarify. I'm trying to find interviews or articles about this right now, and if I find anything I'll post it.

 

[Jaesun]

Great job Livonya! I'll finally play my copy of ToEE that I bought, that has been collecting dust. For a long time.

 

[Sheriff05]

Remind me why we should care about a shitty early 2004 RPG getting a boring mod?

Because in retrospect all D&D games since the Gold Box days fucking sucked and this was the only one that was ever worth a damn. Even thou it was released in a shitty beta state with no QA, its still the only game that ever got the combat right.
This mod finally makes it the "full" game, whether you like it or not really just depends on how much of a douche bag you are.

 

[Hory]

Hey Livonya, I think ToEE really can become legendary if the right people get together to improve the quests and the dialogues. Combat and graphics are already good and the scripting is powerful, as you said. With some talented writers, ToEE could get as good as Fallout. I have only played it a little as I only like RPGs that are deep in non-combat areas too... but I hope that in a few years it can get a lot of improvements. ToEE could become one of those "sleeper" games, like Arcanum which didn't have many sales from the beginning but rather streched over several years. If it had a deeper story and freedom, I bet a lot of the die-hard CRPGers would buy or play it...

 

[Flink]

Re: first post

I have been visiting this site for many years, but never have I felt inclined to post.

But I find it nearly impossible to stay silent when the post topic actually involves me personally.

Just so people know this is just the beginning for TOEE.

When I first started my mod I had no intention of releasing it. I was just working to make the game better for me. Over time I learned to do more and more.

I released this so I could get a feel for how my work was doing. Hard to always test everything on your own.

My intention for the future is to fix any problems with my code and then I intend to do a lot more with TOEE.

Personally, I think TOEE is one of the best D&D games ever made. Unfortunantly, the powers that control $$ didn't give it time. I don't really care who's fault that was but it happened.

If TOEE had had another 6 months of production I think it would have been a legendary game.

What happened with TOEE is probably a sign of the times. PC gaming is dying. Production costs are too high and the money to be made is not worth the time (as far as corporate gaming companies are concerned).

I worry that TOEE will be the last game of its kind... hopefully I will be wrong.

But it sure seems that PC games are a dying breed... especially RPGs with actual strategy content.

I have bought exactly three games in the last 3 years. The selection is pretty poor these days.

In any event, I have more in plan for my TOEE mod.

My hope is that my mod shows what is possible with TOEE. The engine is really great, and once you know the scripting language anything is possible.

A complete conversion would actually be possible, but the time would be vast.

Don't write off TOEE too soon.

Personally, I think it still has many years of enjoyment to offer... especially when you consider how many good RPGs have come out since it was released.

- Livonya

Keep up the good work Livonya! I agree completely. ToEE's engine is fantastic, had it been properly tested and had a more developed story, ToEE could very well have been the best CRPG ever. I'm very glad to see that this still might happen...

 

[Sol Invictus]

Some of you people seriously need to shut the fuck up. Nobody's forcing you to play the mod if you don't want to, so stop behaving like we're trampling on your rights or something.

General stupidity and rudeness aside, keep up the good work Livonya. There's some of us who'd like to get our money's worth from TOEE even if that value comes from a modification.

 

[bgillisp]

I do like the sounds of some of these changes. Will have to put on my summer playing list to replay TOEE now (once finals and school ends, that is).

But, I hope this does not lead to another trend, where companies release incomplete games and let the modders finish it off.

On another note, does anyone know of anyone working on a complete conversion?

 

[Sol Invictus]

Livonya's mod is the closest thing to a conversion. Like she said, it's only the beginning.

 

[Volourn]

"Because in retrospect all D&D games since the Gold Box days fucking sucked and this was the only one that was ever worth a damn."

Oh friggin' please. Don't overrate the GB games. IWD, PST, BG series, NWN, and even D&D games I dislike like TOEE and IWD2 are actually better than the Gb series in every way (though I personally found the GB games more fun that IWD, IWD2, and TOEE).

Go live in the Gb days where every RPG (other than Ultima) was a dungeon crawl. In fact, CRPGs = dungeon crawl back then. Pettoee. Godo riddance to them. Now odner the GB days died out and POR2 bombed when they tried to bring it back. TOEE has a lot more in common with the IE games and NWN then the Gb games. The only reason why you like the Gb so much still is ebcause you are stupid enough to believe tb combat = role-playing.

R00fles!


"Some of you people seriously need to shut the fuck up. Nobody's forcing you to play the mod if you don't want to, so stop behaving like we're trampling on your rights or something."

Waaaa! Some mean people said some mean things that hurt my feelings so now I will tell them to shut up because freedom of speech only works when the speech agrees with me. Is the Codex or is this 'Waaa! You hurt my feelings Lnad'.

Choose now.

 

[Shagnak]

If at the end of the day if it improves the game a lot, so that it becomes a very enjoyable experience, surely this is a good thing Volourn?

From what I understand the engine was pretty damn good, but there were issues with game content. If this modders efforts improve this factor, then surely it does not matter if the original is crap. All that matters is that it is now enjoyable.

In the same way that I found the NWN OC to be terrible, but the game engine itself okay, so that when the game content was much more enjoyable in HOTU I actually had a good time.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

No - publishers don't change ratings, the ESRB does.

D&D is a WotC property, who, in turn, are owned by Hasbro, the "american family values" toy company. Their directive is "T" for teen for D&D games.

As much as I think you would like to create the legend of Atari backstabbing Troika, I think the game was planned as "T" all the way but some dumbasses at Troika had to try to sneak sheep sex in and wonder that the few testing resources they got were diverted after Atari found it out.

The content like the brothel and the children were approved and then later dis-approved shortly before release. You're not going to slip something in a D&D CRPG on Hasbro/WotC without them . They're extremely pedantic about the D&D license and constantly check what's being done in a CRPG using that license.

However, that "300k Word Limit Atari supposedly imposed" rumor is false.

 

[M0rphz0rz]

Remind me why we should care about a shitty early 2004 RPG getting a boring mod?

Remind me why we should care about your pathetic ramblings?

Get a clue. Liv's mod is anything but boring. A lot of people still like ToEE, still play it, and are very excited about this mod.

By the way, you got the date wrong.

 

[Greatatlantic]

The content like the brothel and the children were approved and then later dis-approved shortly before release. You're not going to slip something in a D&D CRPG on Hasbro/WotC without them . They're extremely pedantic about the D&D license and constantly check what's being done in a CRPG using that license.

Ok, thanks. Hmmm... I wonder what they would have done about the Brothel of Slating Intellectual Lusts. Or for the scores of prostitutes. But Planescape was ultimately rated T, so I guess both got past the censors.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Freedom of speech =/= freedom to behave like a dick