There's a bug with the progress bar, which will delay loading when vsync is on. IIRC, the VU will indeed fix it. But you can try disabling vsync and see if it helps.Originally Posted by Acleacius
Let Steam validate your local files. If you have the VU installed, uninstall it first, then reinstall afterwards.Running Unpatched DX IW, getting 'app error' 'can't find steam'. Then it starts my browser and loads the main Steam page. I'm definitely logged into Steam.
Thanks, ooc do any of the video resolution work from VU help the vanilla install play? It's really painful playing at 1024x768, and would be great to play at 1920x1080.
Edit: Uninstalled VU, verified Steam files, reinstalled VU and tried to start Unpatched game. App Error, can't find Steam (logged in) and starts browser then loads Steam main page.
Last edited by Acleacius; 14th Jul 2018 at 14:52.
Not sure what you mean, but I'm almost sure the answer is no.
You had the "keep the unpatched game available" option checked during the VU install? I'll try installing the Steam version myself and see if I can replicate it - maybe something has changed in Steam.Uninstalled VU, verified Steam files, reinstalled VU and tried to start Unpatched game. App Error, can't find Steam
Just wondered if some of the fixes actually worked on the vanilla, allowing access to higher resolutions.
Yes, 'keep the unpatched game available' was checked during install.
The way I handled it, to test for the Pilot Beacon in Bay 24, kept a vanilla copy of the whole game. So I can just switch out since I couldn't get VU to allow unpatched to work. I'm just made it to Trier but need a break. For the most part I'm just doing enough to get to the next map in each area. Atm, if I do see the Pilot Beacon in vanilla, guessing one of the textures is glitched, possibly transparent. I forgot to mention, in addition to the sound effect, Ade (The Expanse joke) Infolinks me telling me I found the Pilot Beacon. Now I just need to activate it, according to Ava.
Both bugs I experienced are in the vanilla game. The Pilot Beacon was still not there and the guns not firing. No idea what's causing this, maybe video and mouse drivers, possibly using 64bit Win 7.
Oh well, thanks for the tips and I'm glad it's not VU.
So am I.But too bad if it's stopping your play-through. I would guess that these are map or engine bugs that you just happened to trigger, the way you played it.
I'll have a look at the save you uploaded but it's not very likely that it can be fixed.
I got that as well. Also, the overlay now works even if you install using the new exe file names. So clearly something changed in Steam. Thanks for pointing it out, I'll see if it's fixable.
I had a look at your save. There's a flag which looks like it gets set when you activate the beacon. I tried setting it using the debug menu but it didn't work. There's another way to do it, but I probably won't get time for that before the weekend.
Thanks for taking a look at it.
I've been trying to think if there's any choice I make that could be responsible. The only thing, I've come up with is completely avoiding the Sid, since he is tied to the Beacon also. I never talk to him or do any quest, involving him.
Had another look, trying to set that flag from the debugger. Unfortunately the code is different from Thief 3 (which is where I've done this before) and I couldn't find a suitable place to make the change.
Thanks again for trying!
I thought about trying to do Syd's quest though I don't want to hire him. There's too much ego for safe travel in that helicopter! That being said I did start a new game, just not moving really fast. While I do like it, it's not really good enough to play it this many times. It not like it's Vampire Bloodlines, easily played it 40 to 50 times just helping Wesp. I've literally been testing the Unofficial Patch since Dan Upright made it for the game breaking bug, at release.
After you mentioned Thief, I should probably play it again. It's just I've got so many damn games installed, can't get them all played!
The worst problem in Invisible War is the forced Autolinks. If there was some way to skip them it might be easier to deal. It's absurd we can't ignore people calling, to pick and choose who we speak too.
There's no 'skip to the next level' feature that I know of. As a last resort you can start any map by making a shortcut to the main exe and adding the map name to the target line - so it would end in e.g. "DeusEx2.exe M6_LibertyIsland_Hub_Front". This will not carry over any state from your current game, so the experience could well be anticlimactic. You'll start out without any stuff, but you can use the debug menu to equip yourself...
Not sure if this will work with Steam vanilla but since you now know that the invisible beacon is an original bug you may as well switch back to the VU? Also, I've used this myself only for testing - can't remember if I've ever tried if level transitions work etc.
I would hope a few of my choices would make it to Liberty Island. No worries I'll do it the hard way, play and oh yes, VU no doubt!
Are you sure you mean hangar 24? I'm guessing you meant 23, but just in case: Hangar 24 is where the Templars are keeping Paul. The Templars have a pilot beacon overlooking hangar 24, and there is a datacube about setting it up. But the pilot beacon you need to activate to leave Cairo for Liberty Island is overlooking hangar 23.Thanks to all, for the hard work on this Visual Upgrade!
Has anyone had an issue with the Pilot Beacon on the final Cairo visit, before leaving for Liberty Island? The sound effect is there but no Beacon, in the little alcove 2nd level of hanger 24. I've tried reloading the map and reloading from the previous level. Could be just a vanilla bug but going to try removing all the visuals before loading the map to see if it appears.
Thanks for any tips.
Right, thanks Heywood. Sounds like I got them mixed up. Could have sworn the Bay was 24 when I took the screenshot of the missing Beacon. Anyway, I was in the right place but the Beacon was missing. I think Snobel was able to confirm this, but not fix the missing Beacon.
Steam version (haven't tried GOG) has a game breaking bug for me, the Pilot Beacon 23 does not show up to get to NY. This time I completed Syd's quest and talked to him at each area, still no luck.
I thoroughly hate the game now, after playing it so much due to the forced Autolinks from idiots like Chad.
I'll be curious to see if I hit this bug too. I started playing the Steam version earlier in the month, but I stopped to go on a holiday and haven't gotten back to it. Until now, I've always played the boxed version with patches, and the only bugs I've ever encountered are the inventory stacking bug and the (sometimes) missing scientist at Mako. When searching the internet for this pilot beacon bug, the only hits I get are your posts.
It must be especially annoying since the pilot beacons serve no real useful purpose in the game.
Yeah, it's especially bad since it forces you to play 90% of the game before hitting a game breaking bug. The only questlines I didn't do were the Coffee shops, NG Resonance , Pit Fighting quest or betting. I'm probably still Raw from playing this about 4 times in the last month but the forced Autolinks are the worst. You can't skip them like a video and they get started over if you don't complete them (mostly due to starting in person conversations).
Hell, if Snobel could figure out how to make those skippable... it could be one of the greatest contributions to the history of gaming, just due to all innocent lives it would save!
[Full disclosure, atm there are no 'Reported' incidents of innocents killed.]
It's been a good while since I played the game... I don't remember anything that was time-consuming and not skippable. What exactly do you mean by 'autolinks'?
Just noticed this, been trying out Thief 3 Sneaky.
It's as I listed the forced Autolinks from people like Lemay Chin, Chad, Billy and forgot the wackjob's name from the Templars. They comlink and you are forced to listen to it you can't even work the zone out function (i.e. change levels). The only thing that stops it is an 'In Person' conversation (starting a conversation with an NPC by choice). Even then once you complete the chosen 'In Person' conversation that Autolink you interrupted starts back up.
Hmm, I think I need to replay a bit...
It's going to be a while, though - I'm currently preoccupied with improving the Thief 3 level editor and it may be some months before I get time for this.
It's just part of the game design that you'll have to live with. A fair number of goals/objectives are given by infolink, and sometimes other important information. So I don't think you could really skip them without missing something. Instead, you would have to create a voice mail system to store them in a queue for later listening. Having to frequently check your messages might break up the flow of the game more than the infolinks.
Personally, the infolinks don't really bother me through most of the game. They start coming frequently in Trier as additional faction leaders start to want things from you. Then the game mostly leaves you alone in Antarctica, but they get frequent again during your return to Cairo and on Liberty Island.
Cool, we just disagree. We automatically get the quest those forced AutoComLinks talk about, I see no reason what so ever why we should be forced to listen to them.
"Oh, look it's that annoying person who I can't block in my com for some reason. Someone who I've never done anything for and refuse to deal with, is still calling me and giving me order?"
Yeah, that's not so real or realistic.
Haha, it would be funny if you constantly accepted 'ALL' spam calls on your mobile and home phones, to prove me wrong!
I don't think we disagree completely. No matter what you do in the game, every faction will continue to vie for your help right up to the very end in Alex Jacobsen's old office, where you access the sole remaining Aquinas router and decide which faction to upload the Aquinas spec to. That's not so real or realistic, no matter if the goals are given to you via infolink or other means.
One of the complaints people had with DX1 is the forced allegiances. You were always doing somebody's bidding, but never really had the option of deciding who to work for until the end at A51. Ion Storm responded to this criticism, but went too far in the other direction with Invisible War, where you're almost always independent and never given the chance to fully ally or oppose yourself to any faction. I say almost because you ARE forced to fight the Templars in Trier and revive JC Denton. But outside from those levels you can choose sides at will and change your mind at any time.
Early in the game, you can pick and choose WTO and Order objectives, and the worst that will happen is a brief hostile encounter with Klara (if you try to kill Nassif) or a couple of seekers (if you destroy the greenhouse). You can choose to be favorable to the Templars throughout your first visit to Cairo, and even offer to join them at the recruiting booth, but they will still be hostile in Trier and Antarctica. You can choose to kill Nicolette DuClare in Trier rather than rescue her. She's been Dumier's lover/wife and partner for 20+ years, but if you kill her he'll shrug it off with a minor scolding. On your second visit to Cairo, you are given what seems like a plot-relevant hard choice between the factions, but the only difference it makes is which side's forces are friendly to you when you show up on Liberty Island.
By the end of your second visit to Cairo, you are given opportunities to kill every single faction member you've met except the heads (Saman, Dumier, JC), which the game keeps alive until Liberty Island. Every Templar, every WTO/Order/SSC/Illuminatus, and/or every ApostleCorp member. But you can still choose any side you want at the bottom of UNATCO HQ and each of the faction heads will still plead their case at the end. The purpose of the whole game up to that point is merely to present the player with the relative merits and demerits of each ideology, so as to inform your choice at the end.
The problem with this approach is that you go through the game not being held accountable for your actions, and without much sense of purpose. To me, receiving infolink messages from people you don't want to work with is a relatively minor annoyance in comparison.
Last edited by heywood; 6th Aug 2018 at 23:35.
Thanks for the very detailed info! The problem with forcing comlinks just as cutscences, is they are extremely annoying in the real world after repeated and unwanted play. It makes people literally upset and not want to play the game. I just played DX2 4 or 5 times to near completion in a month. It wasn't because I like the game that much it's because I was trying to help find a bug for the community. It pisses me off that, I had to waste time listening to that crap, even though I care enough to try to help. In the 13+ years of testing Bloodlines, more than 50 times (mostly for Wesp but Dan_Upright too) I've never had that problem.
Secondly and probably more important, is that it breaks the RPing experience of the player. You do not miss anything by skipping a comlink you have been forced to listen to a dozen times before. You still get the pertinent quest info in the logbook. If I'm trying to RP for the WTO, sure other factions can send requests to my log, but wtf why would I take their call? Not only is it more realistic in the gameworld but in the real world too.
Personally in this case, I don't care what Ion (or eidos if they made the call) wanted, because they were wrong. Just as they have been many wrong many times before. It's annoying, completely unnecessary and breaks gameplay. That's the difference between excellence in RPG design, player choice and control. Black Isle and Troika have been the best because they recognize it and built it.
So, if your saying it's ok to force players to watch unwanted comlinks for any reason, then no offense personally but we absolutely disagree on this point.
Last edited by Acleacius; 7th Aug 2018 at 08:48.
Hi, I want to thank you for your efforts to get Deus Ex 2 into a playable state. I only just installed it for the first time and in comparison to Deus Ex which I was able to play through (after some modding) without issue, I was disappointed to find Deus Ex 2 in a sorry state.
Running a vanilla installation I was met with the mouse issue (mouse unresponsive in menus) and no way to set the game to my native resolution. After using the Windows display scaler set at 149% rather than 150% to workaround the mouse issue and I tried to persevere through it for a while. The game minimising to desktop every time you transitioned to a new map would have been tolerable if it happened in Deus Ex as it's levels were quite large. Sadly the issue is extremely annoying for DE2 as due to the console requirements for the game, the levels were small and so transitions/loading were more frequent and so was this white screen/minimise to desktop every 2 minutes. The final straw was a crash as I was entering a nightclub and but when it crashed my desktop resolution was set to the game's resolution! I found this situation untenable so I searched for solutions and came across this mod.
The Visible Upgrade fixed the resolution, mouse and the level transition issue as well as increased the visual fidelity to more than satisfactory standards. Unfortunately I appear to have an issue that I don't see documented elsewhere. It seems that at random intervals, sometimes 5 seconds or as much as 12 seconds, the game freezes for about 1-3 seconds and then continues. During the freeze the mouse and sound will also freeze/stutter and then go back to playing as normal. It happens regardless of mouse movement, when it's in the main menu, when you're playing, in video cutscenes or in conversations - it's literally the entire game application.
I reinstalled the game and VU mod but without the texture pack this time but it still exhibited this behaviour. I uninstalled the VU mod and then the stuttering disappeared but of course that's unplayable for the original reasons again.
My system is an i7-6700K, 16GB 3000Mhz DDR4, SM951 256GB M.2, Geforce GTX 980Ti (Driver version 388.13), Windows 10 version 1803 build 17134.165.
I'm hoping that there is a solution or that a future version of this mod will solve all issues so I'll be able to return to playing Deus Ex 2.
Thank you for you efforts in maintaining games that should not be forgotten.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote