FastBlackCat

I'm definitely keeping the music on. For me, the music sets the stage for playing the game, especially when the soundtrack is wonderful. Jeremy Soule and Inon Zur are two of my favorites.

I was going to pre-order it from Amazon, but decided instead to get up early on November 11th (since it's a holiday for us U.S. citizens) and fly over to Frye's (a big West Coast chain of stores that specialize in all things electronic and electronic-related) and get a retail copy into my hot little hands. Is it true that we're going to have to download the game files through Steam like we did with FONV?

Did you merge your xml files? Try this: CharGenMorph Compiler. Also if you're new to modding DAO, this wiki is very helpful: Using Dragon Age Mods for Dummies.

I have the Steam version of the Witcher, and the 2.0 patch is not downloading and installing. It appears to start, but then the window disappears and the download just never continues. Even though I've never had a problem with the other patches installing with the antivirus on, I turned off my antivirus :ohdear: to see if that would help, but it was still no go. I really don't want to uninstall/reinstall the game considering that I'm halfway through a game on the Iorveth path and the original Steam download took forever. However, my nearest and dearest did buy me the retail disk version of the game from Frye's Electronics for my birthday last month (they said because I might need it in case of emergency :laugh: ), so uninstalling the Steam version and installing my retail version may be the way to go.

Okay, now I'm curious. In what way is the American version censored and what does the director's patch uncensor?

I can testify that Steam takes a really looooonnnnnnggggg time to download. I normally like to have a disk in my hot little hands, but in July they had a sale for TW2 that hypnotised me, so I bought it. I have cable, so I thought, "How long could it take?" (I had forgotten at this point in time how long it had taken to get the download last October for FONV which was around 15 hours.) I started downloading the game that morning. BY THE FOLLOWING MORNING (24 hours later), it had only downloaded 67 percent of the game. :mad: (I was snarling and foaming at that point, but I was already committed.) I went to work, came home for lunch 4 hours later and it was at 81 percent. (I was beyond snarling and foaming, and was headed straight for aneurysm.) :verymad: Went back to work, and it finished downloading sometime before I got home from work. So I estimate it took about 30+ hours to download. So definitely go for a retail edition (I don't have much knowledge about Gog) unless you have the patience of a saint. The good thing about Steam: it installed all the patches for TW2 with no muss or fuss, and Steam allows you to take pictures in-game.

You can also access the books faster if you go into your inventory and select the books icon so you don't end up having to scroll through the entire inventory. Any info obtained by books, locations, etc., will be added into your journal, too.

I don't have Hsli's mods installed into my game because I usually play a rogue and love the Phoenix Armory armor. From what you described it sounds like you have missing textures/models. I checked the installation instructions in the description for the Hsli's mod you were referring to and it seems pretty straight forward: - Double click on DAZIP to install it - Drag and drop the .override into DAO Modmanager to install the textures and models - Right click on the installed override to select config - Choose the configurations you want Did you follow these instructions and it didn't work? You might want to try posting this in the DAO Mod Troubleshooting section and see if someone more knowledgeable than I can help you with this problem.

Are you wanting to contact the mod author of Beautiful Elf presets? I'd start by asking in the comment area of the mod, or you could try personal messaging the author. Earlier, you also asked about Natural Bodies. I can tell you how I installed it. Have you installed DAO Mod Manager yet? If you have, open DAMM using your desktop icon. Open the mod by using 7Zip. Drag and drop the NBaio override folder directly into the middle column of DAMM titled "installed overrides". Once it's in there, right mouse click on NBaio and select "config". You can set up the body styles from there. (Hopefully this works for you like it did me.)

Unfortunately, I don't have any of Beautiful Elf Presets installed into my game, and not having had the pleasure of installing it or the files in my DAO download files, I don't have the experience to instruct you on how to install it. Hopefully, someone else who's had experience with this mod can help you. I do have Bidelle's Cosmetics installed, and it has a preset for each race, and installed correctly, you just go through the preset selector bar in the character generation screen and the face morphs appear. I usually use the vanilla elf preset 8 (sans the green lipstick!) because I happen to like it. The toolset is available here: http://social.bioware.com/page/da-toolset And the tutorials on how to use the toolset are here: http://social.bioware.com/wiki/datoolset/index.php/Main_Page There is also this mod you might want to look at: http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=428 And a tutorial on how to use the Face Replacer here: http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2063 I haven't had time myself to sit down and learn to use the toolset yet, but I'm working on it . . .

This may help: http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Using_Dragon_Age_Mods_for_Dummies And whenever you add a mod that changes the character generation (i.e., More Hairstyles, Pineappletree's Vibrant Colors, Beautiful Elf Presets, etc.) you need to compile the xml files so that they work together. You can do that manually or you can use Terra_X's mod. This may help you, too, as far as doing that: http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Installing_cosmetic_mods_for_Dragon_Age When I first started playing DAO, I was used to adding mods to Morrowind and Oblivion, so it was a little bit of a learning curve. Hopefully, the links above will be able to help you.

I think Dragonbird's analysis is pretty spot on. I definitely enjoyed playing it, but not everyone does. As far as the patches . . . I let the Witcher sit on my shelf for almost two years before I decided to try playing it again this past June, in preparation for playing TW2. When I tried to install it, I too have Win 7, and discovered I had to download the patches. Three hours into downloading the first one, the connection was lost. :pinch: Okay, enough of that, I decided. I went over to Walmart that afternoon and bought the Witcher enchanced version for $19.95 and it installed quickly and without issues, and I was playing the game in just a few minutes.

LOL. Me too on ME2 :) I know it's supposed to be a great game, and don't dispute that, but I just couldn't get interested enough to go through the learning curve. I suspect that I just don't personally like sci-fi games. I also left TW1 on the shelf for about 3 months, after getting slaughtered time and time again during the Prologue. It was only after I went back to it that it finally clicked and I found out what an amazing game it was. That was my first real-time combat game, back in May this year. I'm going to have to say me three :tongue: as far as the age bracket and how I feel about ME2. And I really wanted to like ME2 because I've been a science fiction fan for . . . well, I won't say, but it's been a LONG time. It's gathering dust on my book shelf right now. I figure I'll give it another go sooner or later. DA2 is another one gathering dust, I gave it two playthroughs (because I am nothing if not persistant) and now there it sits and I'm not interested in doing anymore with it, ever. And TW1 sat on the shelf for, um, like a year and a half because when I realized I was locked into one character (Geralt), I immediately lost interest and went back to playing Oblivion. When I finally decided to try it again this past June, I had to go out and buy the enhanced edition because I couldn't use the original on Win 7 :laugh: . And I discovered I really liked it now. My husband LOVED Morrowind and when Oblivion came out, he detested it. He tried playing it, but it was no go. So I'm a firm believer, too, that if you don't enjoy it, by all means put it away and play something you do enjoy.

Now that's something I'd like to see! I'm in a second playthrough so when I get to harpy time, I'll hang around the quarry a little bit longer than I did the last time watching the fun. Those darn harpies are almost as pesky as cliff racers in Morrowind (well, the cliff racers were just plain nuisances after about level 2) and drowners in TW1.

If you leave the harpy traps lying on the ground near the nest sites, the harpy's will pick them up themselves. Last game I spent a couple of minutes at the quarry (near the hut of the gent that wants harpy feathers) watching the harpys grab the traps and drag them around with them. It was sort of like watching a fantasy zoology documentary :laugh: . There are also lures available to purchase/craft, but I've never used them myself.

I have to admit I'm impressed by CDProjekt's responsiveness. A friend, MondoTomHead, sent me a link to The Escapist about the update: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/112382-Big-Witcher-2-Update-Coming-Next-Month

How about Ian McShane as Loghain? He's more handsome than Loghain, but I think he could pull if off. http://deadwood.wikia.com/wiki/Ian_McShane And Johnny Depp as Zevran is a great suggestion. His ability to blend into a roll is amazing.

Oh, definitely Helen Mirren as Wynne. Although Chris Hemstreet has his charms as Alistair, so far I'm leaning in Scott Speedman's direction more (as far as looks, anyway). I do have a fondness for David Boreanaz, though . . . And Evan Rachel Wood is spot on as far as looks for Lelianna. I know that she's played Sophie Ann LeClerq (the queen of the Louisiana vampires in the HBO Tru Blood series), but I don't know about her voice. Pete Postlethwaite, who passed away in January, would have played a good Ulrich, although his voice was wonderful and not like Ulrich's smarmy voice.

Ursula? Love the name for the Kayran! I'll think I'll continue calling it that from now on. :laugh: I, for one, did not find that fight "dead easy", although others seem to find it so. LenSquig's and BarefootWarrior's posts are good advice. I personally never used many bombs unless required to, although I started having a lot of fun with them (and traps) in the last chapter, but I do use potions, my personal favorites being Swallow, Tawny Owl, Petrie's Philtre (on occasion but not often), Wolf and Rook--and Cat in really dark places because I HATE not being able to see. And yes, save the whetstones for later fights because I'm pretty sure they're all you're going to get. I've looked assiduously for them and have not been able to find them for sale anywhere. As for signs, in TW2 I found myself using Quen more than any other, although Yrden became a big factor when dealing with Ursula. In TW1, I was using Aard more than any other sign. Experiment with things and you'll discover your preferences for how to play. Have fun doing it!

Oh-oh, now that you mention it, I think I did leave the gate open . . . :ohmy: Towncrier headline the next day: Escaped golems wreck havoc in Loc Muinne! Council is considering a ban on golem ownership!

I resolved the golem problem . . . somehow. I decided to call it quits and leave the golem alone, wandered the city a bit, picked up the contracts on the notice board, then decided to have another whack at Mr. Golem . . . and it wasn't there anymore. :blink: Went and checked the other room and that golem was gone, too. Disappeared, vamoosed, GONE. All I can think of is that they were there to prevent you from getting into the rooms before you picked up the Gargoyle Contract.

So I'm trying to find the sewer entrance to get into Loc Muinne, and I've found two different places where there are stairs leading downward, but they go into rooms where there are golems (one in each room), strange glowing symbols, and chests. I've been working on one golem for about 10 minutes and my patience is getting thin. Are these rooms where you access the sewers or am I barking up the wrong tree? And if they aren't the sewer accesses, do they belong to some quest? I did notice as Geralt rolled and dodged to avoid being obliterated by the golem, that you can "deactivate" the symbols. I'm wondering if you turn them off, if the golem turns off? :blink:

Bravil is my least favorite, followed by Leyawin. Although a mod called "Blood and Mud" turned Bravil into a far more interesting and ominous (although no less dingy and depressing) place. And there was another mod that I think was called "Leyawiin Reborn" that turned Leyawin into a jewel of a seaport.

From what it sounds like, I probably should go buy a lottery ticket, because I'm still playing my first playthrough of TW2 (just started Act 3) and I've managed to acquire two madness mutagens somewhere along the way and I'm playing on "easy." :tongue: As far as traps and lures, I've never used the lures, and only the traps when required to except in one case: when I took the crystal out of the viewer and got mobbed by harpys after about the third death I decided to put down conflagration traps where the darned things were spawning before I grabbed the crystal. It worked pretty well on slowing them down a bit so I could hotfoot it before they swarmed Geralt.

Let's see . . . Loghain deserted his king with the knowledge that in all probability that Cailen, his troops, and the Gray Wardens with them would be slaughtered (desertion, treason, and murder by proxy), set bounties on the Wardens and then hired the Crows to assassinate the Wardens (murder again), was apparently going to seize the throne from his daughter (treason again), and was selling Fereldan citizens into slavery to fund his efforts. Let him live? Not a chance . . .