Some feedback on v0.31

[ghales]

I've just tried OpenMorrowind 0.31 and it is fantastic. Thank you all for your great work. Thanks also to OpenmwUser for putting together the openSUSE package. I installed the binary from the openSUSE repository, then ran it on the first try with no fiddling required.

I did notice a few things, though:

Int Potion - I made a Fortify Intelligence potion, but I could not drink it. The inventory window closed when I dropped it on my character, and I got the potion drinking sound effect. But, I didn't get fortified Int, and I still had the potion in my inventory afterward.

Sideways Scroll - When I accidentally hit scroll down (using the mouse wheel) when reading my release papers, the text scrolled to the left, cutting off the first couple of letters of each line. Scroll up restored the text. This also happens with some text boxes, such as spell lists for sale, but only when the lines of text fit exactly in the text box. Too many lines and it scrolls normally; too few and it doesn't scroll at all. I use a 1920x1200 full-screen display.

Active Spell Reset - Loading a saved game forgets the active spell, unlike the active weapon, which is restored on load.

Stolen Items - Picking up some alchemical ingredients that I had just dropped was reported as a crime, and earned me a bounty. I experimented and found that the suspect items did not stack with similar items. For example, I had a stack of 9 Comberries, plus a single Comberry. Dropping, then picking up the singleton triggered a theft, but not so for the stack. I could however, sell the singleton. I can't remember where I got the suspect ingredients, but I didn't steal them from people's houses. I think I got them in the smuggler's cave near Seyda Neen. I killed all the smugglers, so the items should not have had any owners. I was able to put down and pick up a common amulet I think I also found there, so the problem may only happen for ingredients.

Collision Detection - I killed a Cliff Racer which fell into the ground. Depending on where I was standing, the body blinked into and out of view. I couldn't activate it, even when I could see it.

Collision Detection II - A guard fighting a slaughterfish was standing on top of the water.

Collision Detection III - I got stuck inside a tree and inside a rock. I wasn't even moving fast or jumping. Ouch. It looks like Ogre collision detection is even worse than stock Morrowind.

Guard Range - I was just outside of Seyda Neen and I attacked a mudcrab. Two guards came running over to help, from much farther away than in stock Morrowind. After that, they helped me kill a slaughterfish. By the time I was done practicing my combat skills, Seyda Neen was defenceless and guards were scattered all over the Bittercoast. None of them made any effort to return to Seyda Neen, not even the ones swimming in the Inner Sea.

Guard Weapon Selection - The guards fought the mudcrabs and slaughterfish hand-to-hand, without using their weapons. I guess they like their meat tenderised.

NPC Faction Cooperation - I was able to take out Larrius Varro's "bad people" one at a time. Specifically, I taunted Vadasa Sathryon until she chased me downstairs. Marasa Aren followed us and watched while we fought, but did not join the fight. In stock Morrowind, all three bad people on the main level of the Corner Club always fight together.

AI Magic and Ranged Combat - The Mage in the smuggler's cave didn't cast spells at me, and the thief didn't use her throwing stars. I see that this is a feature due for the next release, so I will wait patiently for it. By the way, this is the only issue I found that was in the bug/features database.

FPS - Interior 40 to 50. Exterior in Balmora 10 to 15. I have an older AMD 5200+ dual core, 2 GB memory, nvidia GTX 550 Ti with 331.89, running 64 bit openSUSE 13.1. Stock Morrowind under Wine gives me about 40 FPS outside in Balmora.

Load Times - Time from clicking my desktop icon to "Play" dialog was too quick to measure. From clicking Play to Load screen was about 5 seconds. From clicking Load to save game dialog was instantaneous. From selecting a save game to live play was 3 seconds. This is awesome; stock Morrowind takes much longer.

What you guys are doing is amazing. I would not have believed it was possible. Thank you all, and please keep on going.

[scrawl]

Thanks for taking the time for this feedback.

Sideways Scroll - create a bug report, please.

Active Spell Reset - afaik this only happens for enchanted items, not spells. Either way, please create a bug report.

Marasa Aren followed us and watched while we fought, but did not join the fight.

http://bugs.openmw.org/issues/1141

Stolen Items - Picking up some alchemical ingredients that I had just dropped was reported as a crime, and earned me a bounty

http://bugs.openmw.org/issues/1443

Depending on where I was standing, the body blinked into and out of view

http://bugs.openmw.org/issues/455

I couldn't activate it, even when I could see it.

http://bugs.openmw.org/issues/827

Guard Weapon Selection - The guards fought the mudcrabs and slaughterfish hand-to-hand, without using their weapons. I guess they like their meat tenderised.

https://bugs.openmw.org/issues/1609

Guard Range - I was just outside of Seyda Neen and I attacked a mudcrab. Two guards came running over to help, from much farther away than in stock Morrowind

https://bugs.openmw.org/issues/1579

None of them made any effort to return to Seyda Neen

Hm, it's working here. Spawned a cliff racer, guard rushed to help, killed it, and returned to his previous position afterwards.

Int Potion - I made a Fortify Intelligence potion, but I could not drink it. The inventory window closed when I dropped it on my character, and I got the potion drinking sound effect. But, I didn't get fortified Int, and I still had the potion in my inventory afterward.

Can not replicate this. Do you have the openmw.log from when it happened? Or a savegame to replicate the bug?

[ghales]

Sideways Scroll - create a bug report, please.

OK, will do. But, pardon my ignorance, how? I found the Issues dB on https://bugs.openmw.org/projects/openmw/issues, and the Bug Reporting Guidelines, but I can't find a "submit a bug" button. The FAQ doesn't explain how to do this either.

Active Spell Reset - afaik this only happens for enchanted items, not spells.

You are right. An ordinary active spell is restored.

Stolen Items - my mistake. I was convinced I hadn't stolen anything, but I remember now I looted the Excise Office. 1443, 455, 827, 1609, 1579 - I need to work on my search skills.

Int Potion - I just created another Int potion and tried to drink it. It didn't work. The openmw.log had this error:
Error in framelistener: magic effect can't have both a skill and an attribute argument

The bc "" console command output was:
Content File: [None]
RefID: $dynamic43
Cell: Balmora, Guild of Mages
Coordinates: Vector3 (-119.312, -1646.56, -746.514)

[lgromanowski]

Sideways Scroll - create a bug report, please.

OK, will do. But, pardon my ignorance, how? I found the Issues dB on https://bugs.openmw.org/projects/openmw/issues, and the Bug Reporting Guidelines, but I can't find a "submit a bug" button. The FAQ doesn't explain how to do this either.

Hi,
you have to register on our bug tracker and log in. Then there will be visible "New issue" link near "Issues" link in bug tracker menu.

[cc9cii]

Sideways Scroll - create a bug report, please.

OK, will do. But, pardon my ignorance, how? I found the Issues dB on https://bugs.openmw.org/projects/openmw/issues, and the Bug Reporting Guidelines, but I can't find a "submit a bug" button. The FAQ doesn't explain how to do this either.

If you sign-in (after registering, see top right hand corner), you'll see a new tab called "New issue" where you can fill in the details of the defect.

EDIT: note to self - need to work on typing speed

[scrawl]

Int Potion - I just created another Int potion and tried to drink it. It didn't work. The openmw.log had this error:
Error in framelistener: magic effect can't have both a skill and an attribute argument

Yes, that helps. I fixed it.

[RounCole]

Hey dudes, I dont know where to put this so sorry for being off topic...

Is there any kind of working build that exists, and if so, what all does it do?

[HiPhish]

The "working builds" are the official releases that can be found on the download page and 0.31 is the latest version. In its current state it is playable, but it is not feature-complete yet, nor is it properly optimised. If you want to actually play the game properly you'll have to wait until version 1.0, but if you just want to mess around, see how far you can get and test the program the releases from the download page are what you'll want. The project can always use more testers.

[ghales]

I have a few more observations:

Merchant Gold - Paying for Enchanting or Training doesn't add to merchant gold. Stock Morrowind is a bit funky, but if you sell something to a merchant first, then train or enchant, their gold will be increased by what you paid, and you can get it back. In OpenMW, your gold is always gone.

Disappearing Potions - After a save and reload, dropped custom potions disappear. Purchased or found potions left lying around will survive a save and reload. Loading the game with the dropped potion does not generate any openmw.log messages.

Fireblade NIF - This is odd. I got the Fireblade from Sharn gra-Muzgob for the "skull of..." quest and I dropped it on a bed in the Balmora Mages Guild. With it there, the openmw.log shows the following message:

...
loading cell Vivec, Ralen Tilvur: Smith
loading cell Vivec, St. Olms Underworks
loading cell Vivec, Telvanni Enchanter
Changing to interior
cellName: Balmora, Guild of Mages
NIFSkeletonLoader: Warn: Unhandled NiTextureEffect in meshes\w\w_shortsword00.nif
Quitting peacefully.

This doesn't seem to cause a problem. In spite of what the message says, the sword looks fine just lying there; it even has the shiny magic effect. Maybe it's a bug in stock Morrowind's textures, or maybe my install is corrupted? Is it worth following up?

BTW, RounCole, I would recommend installing OpenMW from your distro's repository, if available, instead of building it yourself. Unless of course, you want to wrestle with broken dependencies and files scattered in strange directories. They tell me that's a valuable learning experience However, I am using OpenmwUser's openSUSE RPMs, and if I have a problem, I will politely ask him to fix it for everyone's benefit. There is no point to all of us falling down the same set of stairs.

[scrawl]

Merchant Gold - Paying for Enchanting or Training doesn't add to merchant gold

Good catch. Actually applies to repair, spells, spellmaking and travel as well. Fixed.

Disappearing Potions - After a save and reload, dropped custom potions disappear

Fixed.

Fireblade NIF - This is odd. I got the Fireblade from Sharn gra-Muzgob for the "skull of..." quest and I dropped it on a bed in the Balmora Mages Guild. With it there, the openmw.log shows the following message:

Please note warnings are to be expected. There can be several reasons for a warning. First, in the case where vanilla assets/content is partially broken or shabby (you will see that for scripts... a lot). The other type of warning is when a feature is not implemented in OpenMW yet. This can still occasionally happen in the .nif mesh loader. However most features missing in it are either particularly bizarre or completely undocumented.
In general, warnings are there for developers and content creators, not players. Unless you see something wrong in the game, you can ignore them.