Hello kolbaszosfank

That’s pretty bad that Gamergate never added the patches to the game.

Have you emailed them about it. ❓

Also you said you tried to use the patch and some word came up in Russian did you run it through Google translator to see what it was asking for.

Hi Pinback,

No, no email yet (probably today). I can not copy paste the text from the message box - so I cant run the translator on it. (precursors_ati_fix.exe).

I did some investigation today on the net - as new player I have the following options to choose:

-play with the english retail, with a lot of missing ambient and other sounds, conversation sounds (russian) are completely cut out

-play with the russian release with the unofficial english patch installed

-play with the english release copying over the sound files from the russian release (this way you can have the conversations (at least in russian) and a lot of ambients which were cut out as well).

I collected these information from the deep shadows forum. The last or second option seems the best - but I would accept an expert advice from this forum.

Thanks

Well any one who been playing the game for the last few months is using the Russian version with Wesp5 patch.

As you say your best bet might be to try and copy over the missing files and see if they work with the Gamergate version of the game.

I'm wondering, isn't it possible to play the russian version with Wesp5's patch, and then copy over the english sound files?

I intend to include the English sound files into the next Unofficial Patch so this will indeed be possible soon :)!

I spent the past two days with researching on this stupid game (and trying out various versions), let me share my conclusion:

In general 1.0 version is crap. 1.1 is SO MUCH better, better mouse control (by turning off acceleration) smoother gameplay, I noticed major improvement after 1.0

1.0 english version is crap. A lot of sounds are missing from the release (almost 1GB of audio are cut out). Really hurts the atmosphere of the game, somehow i suspect not only dialogs are missing but ambients as well. 👿

The noise effect (film grain?) which is applied everywhere in the game - it is amazing what kind of stupidity is this that there is no option to remove that. I found a way to remove it completely - game is much better this way. To remove it you need to extract the postprocess txt files from the game and modify the NOISE parameters inside (I am attaching it to this post).

How to get the best version today:

1 - Get 1.1 russian version and install it

2 - Put the English Cutscene Sound Files to the main installation directory (can be unpacked from the english release)

3 - Extract the Noise_Fix.zip to the main installation directory (removes the stupid noise effect - optional)

4 - Install the Unofficial English Patch 1.2 made by Wesp5

5 - ini tweaks

Ini tweaks are needed only if you want to tweak the graphics, and mouse (the built in mouse acceleration really hurts)

Edit the following ini files (NOT in the main installation folder, but where your savegames are!)

VIDEOOPTIONS.ini

SMOOTHFPS=1

RENDERLAG=1

LIMITFPS=60 (or any other value, with 29 you can fix the ATI sky flicker issue)

DISABLE_ROTATION_MOTION_BLUR=1

CONTROLSETTINGS.ini

Keyboard Sensitivity=0.000000

ADD (if not there already, the main point is that the value should be 0 to turn off the mouse acceleration)

Mouse K2=0.000000

Hope this small guide will save some of your time 🙂

Kolb

I'm getting a crash from vital.dll ... Anyone found a solution ?

can you post the log? find it in Documents/Precursors/Logs

what version are you runnning?

I installed the english version 1.0 . All was fine in the beginning...after 2 days it started crashing.

Then i patched it with the russian patch(since there is no english patch). Then installed the english mod and all ran fine for about 30 mins. Then all went south again. Even tried the russian no-cd to see if it would help....but no.

I could not add .txt as attachment so here is the text log:

Precursors.exe caused an EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION in module vital.dll at 0023:55041852, t_staticmesh::WindowToLocalOrigin2D()+0018 byte(s), y:\ve_sdk5p\vital-full\static mesh.cpp, line 1191+0015 byte(s)

Registers:

EAX=0018B974 EBX=0018B870 ECX=00000001 EDX=0018B7BC ESI=00000001

EDI=0018B9D4 EBP=0018B904 ESP=0018B76C EIP=55041852 FLG=00210202

CS=0023 DS=002B SS=002B ES=002B FS=0053 GS=002B

Call stack:

0023:55041852 (0x0018B9D4 0x223C7468 0x0018B78C 0x218CE62C) vital.dll, t_staticmesh::WindowToLocalOrigin2D()+0018 byte(s), y:\ve_sdk5p\vital-full\static mesh.cpp, line 1191+0015 byte(s)

0023:207062F8

0023:55066EF3 (0x0018B968 0x20706154 0x00000001 0x00000002) vital.dll, ibuffer::~ibuffer()+0003 byte(s), y:\ve_sdk5p\vital-full\instruction buffer.cpp, line 0021+0003 byte(s)

0023:0018B974

0023:5503905B (0x223C4868 0x223C7468 0x00000040 0x00000000) vital.dll, t_rigidbody::GetContacts()+0411 byte(s), y:\ve_sdk5p\vital-full\rigid body.cpp, line 1411+0022 byte(s)

0023:55063A3C (0x00000040 0x00000000 0x0000000A 0x0018E38C) vital.dll, t_seltrg::~t_seltrg()+0028 byte(s), y:\ve_sdk5p\vital-full\world.cpp, line 7559+0028 byte(s)

0023:223C7468

0023:55064F57 (0x6F9BC8E6 0x753B7D79 0x00000000 0x753B8103) vital.dll, wldRBMakeStep()+0647 byte(s), y:\ve_sdk5p\vital-full\world.cpp, line 6065+0029 byte(s)

0023:6703F320 (0x630194BE 0x67174B50 0x6F930F64 0x753DED58) VERender3.dll, IOCompletionCallback()+80464 byte(s)

0023:6703E8F9 (0x67174B50 0x07F909C9 0x07F909C9 0x6F936295) VERender3.dll, IOCompletionCallback()+77865 byte(s)

0023:59087D0A (0x00590138 0x77802E3A 0x749D8F8E 0x00000000) Precursors.exe, DLV_GetInterface()+9034 byte(s)

0023:77802E5E (0x749D8F8E 0x00000000 0x00590000 0x005911F8) ntdll.dll, RtlInterlockedFlushSList()+2185 byte(s)

0023:77802E3A (0x002A1F50 0x00000100 0x00000108 0x002A331A) ntdll.dll, RtlInterlockedFlushSList()+2149 byte(s)

0023:77803282 (0x005911F8 0x002A3428 0x0018FCD4 0x00000011) ntdll.dll, RtlInterlockedFlushSList()+3245 byte(s)

0023:777FE1CC (0x77802A32 0x00000000 0x005911F8 0x00000080) ntdll.dll, RtlInitUnicodeString()+0356 byte(s)

0023:77802E3A (0x00000000 0x005911F8 0x00000080 0x002A3320) ntdll.dll, RtlInterlockedFlushSList()+2149 byte(s)

0023:77802A32 (0x00590000 0x00000002 0x77812508 0x749D8EF6) ntdll.dll, RtlInterlockedFlushSList()+1117 byte(s)

0023:77812FA2 (0x00000018 0x00000000 0x00000018 0x00000100) ntdll.dll, RtlPrefixUnicodeString()+1081 byte(s)

0023:777FDF32 (0x777FDE86 0x73124D83 0x00590000 0x00000000) ntdll.dll, RtlAllocateHeap()+0172 byte(s)

0023:73124D83 (0x00590000 0x00000000 0x00000018 0x590EAE80) MSVCR80.dll, malloc()+0122 byte(s)

0023:73124D83 (0x00000002 0x00000000 0x00000020 0x00000001) MSVCR80.dll, malloc()+0122 byte(s)

Bought the Gamersgate Digital Download version and applied the modifications in this thread about sound http://www.spacesimcentral.com/the-precursors-f42/sound-issues-t1596.html#p13228 , particularly the excellent instructions by Corwyn on page 2, and have had no problems. Where I did have problems was with Wesp5's Unofficial English Patch v1.2. It seemed to lie with the replacement of the Video directory which houses these four files:

1. Deepshadow.ogg

4. Video_1s.ogg

What I noticed was that if I replaced in particular Menu0_1.ogg, my mouse was flaky in the menu screen. So I decided not to install the video directory part of the patch, but only use precursors.ico, resource.qrc. The game has been working like a charm. I also applied the videooptions.ini changes DISABLE_ROTATION_MOTION_BLUR=1 and maybe Weather effects=1.

All I have to say is WOW, what a game! Like what I had been reading before buying the game there is so much depth in this game it is incredible. I have played through so many quests without even beginning to start the main quest and have accumulated about 7000-8000 credits. The graphics are awesome. The freedom is awesome. The game is awesome. Playing this is like the equivalent of playing MorrowWind in space as far as freedom is concerned. I have not even got onto my own ship yet, which as I have been reading, you are allowed to walk around in and explore. This is what the gaming industry should strive for as far as immersiveness is concerned. It was thus far, well worth the price I payed for it.

This is another game I have been following for a long time.

The last news on the English page of the developer are well over a year old, so I guess that they do not really care.

As for GamersGate (UK website), from long experience with them, their 'support' is non-existent, consisting either of crediting the money (not refunds, which is a violation of UK customer right laws), or telling us to contact the developer directly for any actual technical support; I have a number of games bought through them, non-working due to major bugs, non-creditable because the bugs were found well into the story (example AIM with a story-breaking bug in the last maps ), and without any English support.

Which is to say that I do not expect them to do anything about this.

I still do want to play this game, but I will wait until such time as a proper up-to-date English release is available.

I intend to continue my Unofficial Patch which works well on both the English and Russian versions of the game. I will also look into the problem that was posted here about the menu screen of my patch slowing the mouse down...

Might be a long wait as I really don’t think we will ever see an up to date English release of the game.

An up-to-date release no, but Wesp5, badmofo, player1, niadly and sg_paradox are doing everything they can to make the game better for everyone.

They can only do what's possible without an SDK but I still think they are doing one heck of a job.

I would help them if I could but I got no experience with such things.

Thanks for the feedback on getting the gamersgate version running SGDominator. I will probably wait until Wesp5 introduces his new patch before buying the game just because I am hoping to have a solid performer and your comments on the game and the experience is great thanks. And on the sequel, yeah I would like to see it made but I do think they are in trouble. You never know maybe enough purchases for Precursors could rebound Deep Shadows but that is up in the air. They are very silent and all of my emails in the past to them have gone unanswered.

Edit:

Should we make a sticky post for 'How to get Precursors to run stable' thread? We can cut/paste all of the great info here and make it easy to find for new people to getting info on Precursors on files to edit and what patches to/not install?

That would indeed be a good idea cause I think its getting confusing for newcomers.

I don't have the game yet so I wouldn't be the best at making a guide on this so if someone has the time to make a thread for this I will gladly sticky for everyone. Please be as descriptive as possible and use the 'code' bbcode tag to display any code edits that are needed and link to any patch files that are needed. (If I don't have them in the download area please let me know).

You are so very Welcome. I finally was able to get my own ship for space adventures. I will post a few screen shots of the interior in which you can walk around in.

A few more screen shots.

The last three.

As an existing customer of GamersGate, having bought a significant number of games from them, I just sent them a support request to try to obtain a statement from them regarding an up to date version.

IF they reply at all, I will post their reply here as well.

This is NOT a support request, but a pre-order enquiry.

However, the 'contact us' link on your website arrives here

I am interested in the game 'The Precursors' ( http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/DD-PREC/precursors ) which I had been following for well over a year on Deep Shadows website (English page not update for well over a year) and on Space simulations review website.

From that review website, it appears that what you are currently offering is an incomplete English translation of the old version 1.0

That version had major issues, and the Russian version was upgraded months ago to a version 1.1 fixing most of the problems.

I would like to know WHEN you will provide an up-to-date English version of the game, at which point I will be buying it.

But I have no intention to buy the English version in its present form.

There is NOTHING in this question that Game Tutor can help with, as this is a commercial issue between you and the developer.

Please acknowledge and answer

Those pics of the interior of the ship look great SGDominator, mind if I add those to the gallery?

Would be a shame to not have a sequel to Precursors because it looks like Deep Shadows did spend a lot of time on the game and especially the artwork.

No fear, I know from a reliable source that an official English patch will be released soon :)!

Yes, by all means, add them to the gallery. I agree about the sequel, in fact it is a shame that the developers did not stick with this game. Can you imagine the additions and expansions they could have created. Not to mention the modding tools. It would be nice if someone would pick up the ball from here. I tell you, when you finally decide to take the plunge, you are in for a treat graphics wise and game play wise.