Messages

1

Solved'n'fixed bug reports / Re: [3.70b] Character Creation Skill Page Bug

« on: June 30, 2021, 02:42:40 AM »

Would like to weigh in that I just bought the game on Steam and am experiencing this bug as well. Windows 10, I tried with both Custom Easy and Too Easy. I was about to just give up on making a custom character, and use the quick and easy option, so I'm glad I checked this forum. I'll test Custom in a few minutes, but seeing as others have said it will work I'll only report if it doesn't work for some reason.

If it helps any, I had it whenever I removed a single point. I noticed the popup saying that you have run out of points can be delayed somewhat by just not clicking or hovering anything at all, and not pressing anything on your keyboard. I'd need to do more extensive testing, but it seems that the pop-up only shows up when you try to provide some sort of input to the computer. Not really helpful for workarounds, but might help find the source of the problem?

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Off-topic / Re: Best music to listen while playing UrW

« on: March 24, 2021, 06:48:55 PM »

This is a tad old but I just wanted to say that I've made a Spotify playlist with a few suggestions from here, figured someone else might find it useful!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6oB4by9CmRsOZ1UeC13F6R?si=TdB4NfbvRz2SKAwHMO1T0Q

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Modding / Re: Adding Custom Music?

« on: March 24, 2021, 06:42:37 PM »

Sorry for the late reply, I've been in-and-out of the game as of late. ^^;

I have this planned as a feature in my current project. My question is, when do you want sounds/music to be played? looped? I have many ways of doing it, so I'm open to ideas people will actually use contrary to just my own thoughts.
@Karmatose , @ConnorA

I was imagining something where for example you could have different atmospheric tracks play depending on whether you were deep in the forest, or in an open field where you can see and be seen for miles on end. So...locational based, but also event based like for example if you're in a fight with a bear, the track would change, etc...Possibly different tracks for different times of day, as well. I think this could work with either music, or ambient sound (like crickets chirping in a field at night), or a combination of both. Might be interesting to also have the music get more intense as your physical condition gets worse... Like the closer you are to death the more intense the music gets (if you're still in a battle) but if you've left the battle/you're dying for non-injury related reasons, then the closer you get to death the more ominous the music gets, and then at a certain cutoff point the music starts to get very quiet...until it stops completely and you die. But, that might be a tad too advanced to be honest.

My worries are that finding good copyright-free music/ambient might be difficult. Using a site like https://asoftmurmur.com/ to create ambient mixes might be interesting though, but I'm not sure about their terms of use (despite reading it the legal jargon went a bit over my head..but from what I understand that specific site allows usage for non-commerical use only?) or if you could manage to convert the tracks you make into MP3/WAV files or not.

@Night Is the project you're referring to your URW Mod Extender (https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6325.msg18406#msg18406) you released recently? I'm looking at the thread and as someone brand new to modding in URW I'm...somewhat lost ^^; How would this be used to add music?

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Stories / Re: Old Character Journals [Unfinished]

« on: February 14, 2021, 06:27:32 PM »

@Karmatose your journals look really great. What software do you use to draw, btw?

Typically I draw in Krita, but in the case of those journals I did the art and writing in a program called Inkodo. It's available on the window's app store. It's not really an art program, or at least not in the sense that you're probably expecting, but I used it in this case because I wanted a simple program that allowed me to make very simple sketches and didn't distract me with extra tools and what not.

I will say that erasing is a pain in Inkodo as you cannot erase a partial line. If you want to erase something, you must erase the entire stroke at once. I have no idea why it is like this, though.

If you're looking for an art program, Krita is free and provides a huge amount of functionality for the (non-existent) price tag. I also have a Wacom Intuos non-display tablet that I used for the art in those journals, IIRC it cost me something like $20 and has helped massively with my attempts at photomanipulation and digital art. I've seen people do amazing things with just a mouse and keyboard, but that sort of dedication (and damage to your hands) is not for me. ^^;

Good luck.

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General Discussion / Re: Information about the Spirits

« on: January 01, 2021, 07:22:57 PM »

Thanks everyone for the help! I am thinking I will adjust my idea a bit, perhaps the person watching my character is not actually a spirit, but rather the itse (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_paganism#Soul) of a deceased relative. Still developing the idea, but it seems to make a lot more sense. ^^

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Modding / Adding Custom Music?

« on: January 01, 2021, 07:08:19 PM »

I've been wondering if it'd be possible to add custom music to play in-game? I see that the audio files are pretty self-explanatory, but I don't know if it's possible to add more music (as opposed to replacing existing music) without getting into coding, or how difficult it'd be to code that in? I noticed there is an 'audio.txt' file in the game folder, but all it says is 'start'...So not sure that's what I'm looking for. Any pointers?

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General Discussion / Re: Information about the Spirits

« on: December 30, 2020, 12:13:23 PM »

The game mentions spirits in plural, with each body of water having its own spirit, each stretch of forest having its own spirit (there's an in game incantation for greeting the local spirit before going to sleep when traveling, for instance).

Hmm, I did not realize that. I thought the spell for the local spirit that you make before sleeping was for a tontuu of some sort, although I can't recall why. I was under the understanding that there are major spirits, or possibly more aptly referred to as 'gods', that have influence over all the world, and then lesser spirits such as the water spirits you mentioned which may have influence over a certain region. Perhaps I should proceed with the usage of the term 'god' or 'goddess'?

From that perspective, I'd see a vengeful spirit of the water to be the spirit of a particular body of water, so the dangers would be present only there. Said spirit would ensure the fishing luck was abysmal, swimming within its domain would result in poor swimming results, currents that oppose the swimming direction, cramps, and possibly getting bitten by pikes (the game does have swimming result rolls, but no currents, cramps, or pike attacks). Trying to use a craft on that body of water might require more work than it should due to currents and the craft might capsize (neither present in the game currently). Walking on the ice might result in falling through despite the ice really being thick enough for an elk to run over it.

I realize not everything will happen in-game, I can take liberties with the story, usage of the game is mostly for the sake of inspiration as well as screenshots.

However, the spirits of the game are fairly simple creatures (mechanically, anyway), that forgive past transgressions if you provide them with sufficient offerings or simply let time pass. Of course, a story version might reject the offerings or demand some particular compensation. If you want a story to match the game you should probably play enough to meet them (I believe they're called the water folk in the game).

You harbor a very good point there, I have played a lot of the game but I have a very bad habit of starting over frequently so I haven't gotten particularly far in a single save file. I was not aware until recently that you could even meet the spirits at all. Are the water-folk the only spirits you can meet?

UrW magic is usually subtle. So subtle that you can't actually tell if it exists at all or if it's just luck. Did the ritual have the desired effect, or were you just imagining it did? Anyway, it doesn't harm to perform the rituals, as they generally don't cost much in materials and effort (there are a few exceptions).

I know that URW magic is typically more subtle, but as this is from the perspective of the spirits/gods I believe it'd make sense to understand their abilities and such both in and out of the game, as while I am inspired by the game, the story did not take place in a game, if that makes sense? The characters believe it's real, so I cannot make the excuse that "I didn't flesh out this character because the game didn't tell me anything about them".

Post added while the above was written:
You anger the spirits by taking without offering compensation, so fishing a lot without offerings will put you on a bad standing with the water folk, killing a lot of animals, cutting a lot of trees, and setting a lot of traps are all actions that affect the spirits of the forest negatively. However, I doubt anyone has made a tool to hack the standing with the spirits (the information is obviously stored somewhere in the save).

Understood, so angering the spirits would take a fair bit of time, and cheating it is currently unknown territory. Thanks for the information.




I believe I've gotten everything I need out of this thread. I'll leave it open in case someone has something they would really like to contribute (and because I have no idea how to close threads, or if it's even possible for me to do.) That said I think my main questions have been answered, thank you all for the lovely insight and resources.

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General Discussion / Re: Information about the Spirits

« on: December 30, 2020, 10:24:11 AM »

Although, as memory serves, older version of the game had a spell for safer swimming and the rhyme in Finnish did mention ‘Hiisi’ as the spirit to be appeased with the incantation to allow swimming—prevent drowning. That’d likely fit your narrative better than Ahti being vindictive.

Hmm, that's very interesting. I should mention that my idea was not necessarily that Ahti was vindictive, but rather that for whatever reason he is irrevocably displeased with my character. I haven't fully fleshed out the idea, but I imagine it was something beyond her control or direct knowledge - something done by her ancestors, perhaps, that placed a "curse" of misfortune on her entire family.

Is it possible to cheat the game to lower your standing with the spirits? Can anyone explain how to do that?

And then a general level comment from the Enormous Elk team 

In a way, I think that exact names and well-formulated definitions on which god / spirit does what, is maybe a later invention. Or, if we take a look at any contemporary major established religion, we see that despite all the centuries of organized scholarship to define the exact dogmas of this or that religion, there still are a lot of internal disputes, different sub-versions constantly being forked from the main-stream interpretation of a religion.

So I feel that it would be safe to assume that this was going on already a 1000 years ago in pagan Finland. Different regions called their spirits using different names. The definitions weren't set it stone, and a lot of villages or individual people could have their own local variations and adaptations.

Then, later on, when some people got this idea that history can be documented by writing it down, we got lists of deities based on what was known at that time by that person doing the writing. It is very likely that the actual folklore was seven or twenty three times richer that what got documented.

Yes, I appreciate the approach of wanting to familiarize with the details, names and natures of the ancient Finnish spirits and deities - or those adaptations we have in the game. Yet, I feel that the one thing we learn also in the game is that gods, deities and spirits are little bit elusive. So, ones own personal imagination is a valid guide as well, when venturing into the realm of seldom-seen aspects of our world.

I do like the idea of being given creative freedom, true. Perhaps I will run with this a bit. Perhaps the spirits do not have formal names, I'll have to see how to write that though. Could be an interesting challenge.

All that being said, I also have an answer to one of the details asked:

-How can the spirit affect the everyday life of an individual?

I don't know for sure, but I'd guess that one way is to send accidents and other unfortunate events. When an individual feels that something unfortunate and highly unpleasant happens, it is rather tempting to assign that to the spirits, or some malicious witchery by other people. Go fishing, return with empty hands having caught only cold, and lie down in fever? Probably a punishment from the water folks? Or maybe it is Jussa from the neigbouring village - a week ago I instulted Jussa, and now he has sent his unseen spirit minions to harm me, maybe I need to go back to apologize him?

I see. That makes a whole lot of sense, and kind of was along the lines of what I was thinking, yes. Thank you for the kind insight. ^^

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General Discussion / Re: Information about the Spirits

« on: December 30, 2020, 09:13:07 AM »

Kalma seems interesting as well...perhaps I will write from the perspective of various different gods/goddesses. We will see.

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General Discussion / Re: Information about the Spirits

« on: December 30, 2020, 08:26:13 AM »

Browsing through the links mentioned and some Wikipedia articles. My story would be set in the game universe...I'm thinking of writing one of the major gods, most likely...Possibly Tapio or Ahti. Ahti is appealing as I like the idea of him waiting for my character to go into the water so he can drown her, but never getting the chance. I think I will have a system where if my character does a certain action (such as swimming or boating) I will roll a dice to see what happens/if she survives.

Anyway, thanks for the links and the general help. I'll look into this more. ^^

EDIT: To clarify, the in-game name of Ahti is Waterman, yes?

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General Discussion / Information about the Spirits

« on: December 30, 2020, 06:17:02 AM »

Hi there!

I'm planning a creative project in which I write a story from the perspective of one of the spirits who is observing my character. In particular, I'm thinking this spirit absolutely despises my character, and is constantly looking for ways to kill them. Unfortunately, I do not know much about the spirits as individuals. I have heard mention of a "Waterman" and an "Old Man of the Forest" but I know nothing about them besides their domain, and the wiki(s) are unhelpful. Can I get more information on this? Specifically, the questions below:

-What is the name of the spirit?
-What does the spirit control/what is the spirit's domain?
-How can the spirit affect the everyday life of an individual?
-What powers does the spirit possess?
-Does the spirit have any motivations or goals? (i.e., protecting something, destroying another thing, etc.)
-What is the spirit's relationship to other spirits?

If this is something that can be found in real-world mythology, if someone could please point me in the right direction for searching it up myself, that'd be great. I've tried looking up 'Finnish Waterman' etc, but no luck. Would also need a list of the spirits present in-game as well.

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Not bugs / Re: Portrait Limit?

« on: December 30, 2020, 04:13:33 AM »

Got it! Would you mind linking that post here when you do write it?

Also, is it possible to split up the female portraits in East/West/North like the males with mods like that? It'd be helpful for sorting through the images if I could separate them by culture. ^^

I'm not afraid to mess around in the code a bit, so long as I have a good tutorial.

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Not bugs / Re: Portrait Limit?

« on: December 30, 2020, 12:20:24 AM »

It's alright...I weeded out a lot of the images I like less, so I'm now below the cap. Would still like information on whether raising or removing this cap is possible.

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Not bugs / Re: Portrait Limit?

« on: December 29, 2020, 11:56:00 PM »

I know at least 47 male images are supported for each culture as I have around that many for each culture and they all show up. I'm assuming the cap for each culture, as well as for females is 50. So I suppose I'll just have to weed out the ones I don't like as much. Still not sure what you meant by converting the images to e/w/n, as I tried naming some of the portraits 'feme1', 'femw1', 'femn1' but they all showed up regardless of culture. I also tried 'femEast1', 'femWest1', femNorth1', same thing. So I don't think it makes a difference if you try to split them up, the game still registers them all as applying to all cultures.

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Not bugs / Re: Portrait Limit?

« on: December 29, 2020, 11:32:23 PM »

Seems girls have no culture,
You could try converting all URW to women replacing /adding E/N/W images in addition to fem

just a guess

As in, split up the female images into East/North/West and separate them the same way the males are? Would that even work without adding code?