It was suggested to me on the Rebel Act Studios (RAS) forums that I should perhaps add some technical support information to this web site, so that's precisely what I'm doing. If you know of a bug in BOD that can be reproduced, please let me know so that I may post information about it here. At the present time, the following help topics are available:
8.1 System Issues
8.1.1 The game crashes at startup
8.1.2 The game crashes back to the desktop while I'm
playing
8.1.3 Screenshots
8.1.4 The long-awaited patch
8.1.5 "Player1 not delcared in pi.py" error
8.1.6 Game stops at loading screen error
8.1.7 Freezing at startup or when done loading
8.2 Game Issues
8.2.1 The Biting Axe doesn't look right/performs
the wrong combo
8.2.2 The cut-scene near the end of the Mines
of Kelbegen "stalls"
8.2.3 I can't pick up the green gem in the Temple
of Al Farum!
8.2.4 I can't pick up X
8.2.5 How do I drop the bow?
First, if you are running Windows NT/2000, this is a known problem that is fixed by the patch. If you have not already downloaded the patch, do so and apply it, then try again. Whether or not you are running Windows NT/2000, if you haven't patched BOD, you should try this first as it solves many of these sorts of issues. Second, if you are running firewall software such as ZoneAlarm, Norton Personal Firewall, BlaceICE, etc., try disabling this software before running BOD. If the problem goes away, then the crash is most likely occurring because your firewall is either trying to get your attention and trashing the system in the process, or it is simply conflicting with BOD. Third, make sure you have the most stable drivers for your hardware—particularly your video and sound cards.
|
Note: |
Running the latest and greatest video/sound drivers might be fun, but they can often be significantly less stable than the official drivers from your hardware vendor(s). |
In addition to the remedies mentioned in 8.1.1, this may also be caused by a damaged installation or a conflicting application running in the background. First, try closing all possible applications before running BOD. If this fixes the problem, then trial and error should allow you to determine precisely which application is the culprit. Second, try repairing your BOD installation by re-installing. The BOD installer will overwrite the files and if any were missing or damaged, your problem might be repaired.
In the released version, the blue and red channels were swapped in all screenshots. This may be corrected with a number of different image-editing software packages. The best and simplest solution, however, is to install the patch as it fixes the problem completely.
Screenshots are stored in the folders corresponding to the map from which they were taken. The map folders are located beneath the "Maps" folder in your BOD game directory. Screenshots are prefixed with the characters "snp" and may be found easily using Windows explorer's file finding tools.
The patch has finally arrived! Click here for one of the less-overloaded download sites. If that site isn't working, try one of the following:
Rebel Act downloads
(English)
Rebel Act downloads
(Spanish)
ZDNet
(English)
Action
Trip
Adrenaline
Vault
*** UPDATE: June 6, 2001 ***
The official version of the patch is also now available on FilePlanet. If you already applied the version from Rebel Act Studios, you can ignore this; otherwise, check out the following links.
US Patch to version
1.001
European Patch to version
1.001
While I haven't seen this problem myself, it apparently prevents some folks from even getting into the game. If you see this error on startup, there are several possible fixes for the problem. I suggest trying the various fixes below in the order they are listed.
Unfortunately, if none of these things work, you might be out of luck. For the record, it seems that most people do not experience this problem. For those that do, however, I imagine this will be of little comfort.
If the loading progress bar either freezes in place or fills all the way without ever letting you into the game, then you might be having this problem. The only documented solution to date is for users running Windows ME, and the solution is to try some variant of Windows 98 instead. While this might sound kind of silly, Windows ME is actually less compatible and less stable in most cases. And in at least one case documented on the RAS forums this solved the problem completely.
This problem, much like 8.1.6, has been reported by plenty of people. At least one person reported to me that fixing the problem was as simple as turning down his video acceleration settings. Thus, I'm posting instructions here in the hope that it might help someone who is stuck. To change video acceleration settings, take the following steps:
If turning down the video acceleration a notch or two (or all the way) fixes your problem then either experiment to determine the maximum setting for which the problem does not occur, or try locating different video drivers for your card. The video acceleration slider determines the degree to which hardware acceleration features of the card are utilized. Unfortunately the performance cost for turning down the video acceleration can be significant, and various odd compatibility problems can also arise with other applications. It's disappointing that this is the case, but that's the kind of crap Windows users must endure.
If changing the video acceleration setting does not solve the problem, you might also try running the game at a 16-bit color depth (rather than 32-bit color depth). I have not confirmed that either of these fixes work, but then, I have not had any of the freezing problems others are seeing.
There is a known problem with the labeling of the Killer Axe. In game, it is described as the Biting Axe when it clearly is not. This seems to be a consistent problem throughout the game and is most confusing for Nagflar. I have made RAS aware of the problem, and we can only hope that they will fix it eventually.
There seems to be some kind of pathing problem. After the red, green and blue gems are placed in the appropriate receptacles, a cut-scene is supposed to take over showing the character walking to the wooden platform near the center of the room. For whatever reason, the camera seems to hover behind some of the surrounding architecture as the character either stands stupidly in place or walks in circles. This problem seems to have been exacerbated by the patch. If this problem occurs, simply press the escape key, which will skip some or all of the cut-scene and resume play. Warning: the troll (or ogre) waiting below may be quite close after pressing escape, so be ready! I have made RAS aware of the problem, and we can only hope that they will fix it eventually.
This is sometimes due to players not being close enough to the pedestal on which it rests. Try from a couple of different positions and see if that helps. If that doesn't solve the problem, read the specific comments below for an alternate work around.
This can happen in a number of different situations, but each can be traced back to a single problem: your inventory slots are all used. At any one time, you may carry the following:
From this list, some things are obvious. For example, if you can't pick up a fifth weapon, that's because you're not supposed to be able to pick it up. Where this problem can be much more annoying, however, is when you cannot pick up some item that is necessary to move the story forward. For example, this problem frequently occurs at the Temple of Al Farum when characters try to pick up the green gem and cannot, which is usually due to their having previously picked up an amulet of unknown function elsewhere. It isn't entirely clear why this happens, but it seems to be the case that certain items such as potions, amulets, etc. share a pool of available inventory slots. The only way around the problem is to free up one of these slots. With the problem at the Temple of Al Farum, for example, since it is not possible to drop the amulet, it is typically necessary to drink a potion. Some people report that only 1,000 HP potions will work. In short, when you can't pick something up that you should be able to pick up, save your game at that point (in an empty slot if possible!) and try drinking a portion or two. Most often, this will free up an inventory slot.
The answer to this, though disappointing, is simple: you cannot. For whatever reason, the bow is simply a weapon that cannot be dropped once picked up. This is a bit annoying insofar as it's hard to decide sometimes which of all the weapons to keep, but it's a good thing insofar as you cannot access all of the secrets and obtain all the runes without the bow.