Profile for Spidweb
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Displayed name | Spidweb |
| Member number | 1 |
| Title | Board Administrator |
| Postcount | 960 |
| Homepage | http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com |
| Registered | Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
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| Author | Recent posts |
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| "Failed to open sound channels" crash in Tech Support | |
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Board Administrator
Member # 1
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written Thursday, March 30 2006 11:53
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Thank you VERY much for this information. The MPlayer thing was my mistake. I will fix the support info and spread it to the other support pages for our games. - Jeff Vogel Later edit ... this is the new support page message: "Unable to open sound channels" Error If you get the error "Unable to open sound channels" when you launch the game, carry out these steps to fix the problem: i. Open the Applications folder. ii. Open the Utilities folder. iii. In this folder, run "Audio MIDI Setup" iv. Under Audio Output, change the Format to 44100.0 Hz. This should correct the problem. ### Now I have to dig into the code and try to figure out a gentler way around this problem. [ Thursday, March 30, 2006 12:05: Message edited by: Spidweb ] -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| "Failed to open sound channels" crash in Tech Support | |
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written Wednesday, March 29 2006 13:39
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Hmm .. this is from the Avernum 4 support page, but it might be a general issue. Try this ... MPlayer Incompatability It has been reported that installing MPlayer can interfere with Avernum 4's ability to run. The program will return the error "Unable to open sound channels" and quit. Going into the "Audio MIDI Setup" and set the Audio Output format to 44100.0 Hz should fix the problem. (We only use plain, vanilla Mac system calls for sound, which makes these problems frustrating.) - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Stuck in the Skree caves [spoiler] in Avernum 4 | |
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written Thursday, March 23 2006 13:34
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The v1.0.3 patch should fix this. For people with an older version, the back to start cheat is the only way out. Some of the wyrms should repop. I forget where in the Scree Caves they were. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Avernum 3 crashing in Tiger (Mac OS 10.4) in Tech Support | |
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written Thursday, March 23 2006 13:29
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Get the v1.1.4 patch here. http://www.avernum.com/avernum3/techsupp.html It should fix the crash. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Avernum V in Avernum 4 | |
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written Thursday, March 16 2006 15:35
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The way I currently picture Avernum 5 is: i. In a whole new area of the underworld. ii. On a much smaller scale, plot-wise. You have a major mission, but no monolithic power trying to blow up the world. iii. More like Avernum 2 in details of storyline. iv. Vahnatai are present. v. More talk and diplomacy. vi. More PC icons and graphical improvements, but the same underlying engine. But I won't think about things in real detail for a year, at least. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| New Avernum 4 patches (Mac and Windows) in Avernum 4 | |
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written Thursday, March 16 2006 12:06
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The new patches for Windows and Macintosh Avernum 4 are now officially available on the Avernum 4 Support page. http://www.avernum.com/avernum4/techsupp.html I'll have full installers for the updates up and ready in the next few days. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Windowed Avernum 4 in Avernum 4 | |
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written Tuesday, March 14 2006 11:39
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There is no windowed mode for Avernum 4, but Alt-tabbing should work just fine. If you are getting crashes when you alt-tab, I'd suggest the standard steps (uninstall, redownload, reinstall, reinstall fresh display drivers). Also, I am about to release a patch which improves the code for when Avernum 4 is in the background (it won't hog system resources as much). This might help. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| New Avernum 4 patches (Mac and Windows) in Avernum 4 | |
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written Tuesday, March 14 2006 00:22
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I have made two patches for Avernum 4, one for Mac and one for Windows. These patches make 2 changes: i. The game will be much better at sharing system resources when in the background. ii. You can no longer enter the Scree Caves except through Fort Emerald. This prevents some plot problems and the possibility of getting stuck in there. If you have any problems with these updaters, please let me know at spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com. Mac patch: ftp://ftp.spiderwebsoftware.com/mac/Avernum4.v103.update.sit.bin Windows patch: ftp://ftp.spiderwebsoftware.com/win/Avernum4v101Updater.exe - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| A4 - Very Slugish on Windows XP in Tech Support | |
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written Monday, March 13 2006 12:32
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Thanks for letting me know. I'm adding something to the support page now. Anything else you notice is greatly appreciated. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Irritating L'il Bug in Avernum 4 | |
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written Monday, March 13 2006 12:29
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Every few games, I get a situation where several small glitches are crammed in the same area, making me look stupid whenever I fix one because it just reveals the next one. It was always intended that the Fort Emerald north barriers aren't player-dispellable and that the Scree Caves can only be reached through Fort Emerald. The first part is currently working as intended. The next patch will fix the second. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Avernum V in Avernum 4 | |
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written Monday, March 13 2006 12:26
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I'm afraid that this will never happen. One of the reasons the vahnatai are so cool are that they are alien, the other. It is unthinkable to me to change this. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| A4 Windows 99% cpu time in Tech Support | |
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written Saturday, March 11 2006 14:23
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When the game is being played, it will grab as much of the CPU as it can. This is a game thing, and it's not going to change. Getting a good FPS rate is a processor-intensive thing. When the game isn't in the foreground, it is taking up most of the CPU, but it shouldn't. I am working on making this stop happening. The next release of Avernum 4 for Mac will be well-behaved when running in the background. I'll work on Windows next. What I am most interested in, now, is Avernum 4 specifically for Windows specifically. A small number of people are reporting slowness on very up-to-date machines, and I'm trying to track down why. I will post something shortly on this issue. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| A4 Windows 99% cpu time in Tech Support | |
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written Friday, March 10 2006 14:02
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Some people have reported a strange slowness in the game. It should really run swiftly on the machines being reported (and should be fast on a brand new machine). It seems to be a very uncommon problem, related to some weird interaction without some video card or piece of installed software or something. At this point, I really don't know what to do about it, because I have no idea what might be causing the problem. Since the vast majority of machines run the game with no problem, it's pretty unlikely to be a problem with my code. The best thing I can recommend is to play the game after a fresh restart and without any other programs running. Some other program might be trying to grab some resource the game needs. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| A4 - Very Slugish on Windows XP in Tech Support | |
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written Friday, March 10 2006 13:57
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Try running the game after a fresh restart with no other programs running. Does this help? Also, try reinstalling your display drivers (and perhaps DirectX). Odd problems like this are often fixed by this (even if your display drivers are up to date ... sometimes they become corrupted). - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Easter eggs? in Avernum 4 | |
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written Wednesday, March 8 2006 14:55
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OK. Here is the deal with the Nethergate Easter Egg (which will be made easier to find if I ever rework the game). There is some space in a corner of the vale that, when you step on it, makes a little message on the text area. At this point, there is another spot in the opposite end you can step on. If you do this IN THE SAME PLAY SESSION, the quotes on the chapter heading screens change to funny ones. It's ridiculously obscure. I did better in other games. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Not really a bug, but odd effect in Avernum 4 | |
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written Wednesday, March 8 2006 14:52
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"I noticed that if you start a character with no spell skills they will still know minor heal and bolt of fire at level one" I just do this as a minor convenience, both to me (since it allows me to assume when coding that everyone always knows at least one spell) and to the player (so that, should they decide to buy a spell skill, they don't have to hunt down a spell merchant to get use out of it). As we 1337 game developers like to say, By Design. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Easter eggs? in Avernum 4 | |
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written Tuesday, March 7 2006 14:24
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""Fiesty slap of pain!" was the only monk quote that originated with JV." Actually, I lifted that from a comic strip. But I honestly can't remember which one, and Google didn't help me. Avernum 4 has no Easter Eggs, unless you count the towns where the characters are named after favorite books/TV shows of mine. For example, "Pea Eye." Whether a game has an Easter Egg depends on my mood at the end of it. By the time Avernum 4 and Geneforge 3 were done, I was, like, "OH GOD! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF MEEEE!!!!!!" so no extra effort. And, frankly, Avernum 4 is big enough. I will try to do something neat for Avernum 5, though. Maybe I'll make it at the very beginning, since I'll be too tired at the end. I'm still not sure anyone ever found the Easter Egg in Nethergate. Think that one might have been too obscure. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Ash Got Banned... in General | |
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written Saturday, March 4 2006 16:00
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I temporarily unlocked this topic to say what was going on. Or, at least, the view from my end. Someone posted asking why they should buy my game if they dont like it. I responded, in a moment of great candor, "Don't buy it." Someone I'd never heard of before said he wanted it in his sig. I then made a mistake. I jokingly said "Knock yourself out," with a smiley, without realizing how the quote could be used out of context to make it look like I was telling people I didn't think they should buy my own game. The person did just that. I asked him to change his sig. He refused. I banned him. I told him in an E-mail how irritated this made me. He made it clear that he felt I was entirely to blame. There was no mention whatsoever made of even considering to change the .sig. I have not been blameless in this. I made some errors in judgment. But these are the forums for my business. I will not let someone take advantage of a lapse of judgment on my part to continuously ram an out of context quote down my throat, and I will not let someone twist my own words to try to dissuade people from purchasing my games. I apologize for any confusion and worry I have caused in this mess. I am not planning to run roughshod over the boards, banning at will. I will not punish people for reasonable, honest, constructive criticism. But if you intend to go out of your way to bait me and make me angry, you will probably succeed. By the way, I am not going to "lighten up." This business is the sole source of support for my family. I see being too serious preferable to being not serious enough. But I usually have a pretty thick skin. There has been a LOT of criticism of me on these boards, and I've left pretty much all of it alone. Many developers do not do this. I do not see myself as a terrible person. I hope this makes at least one side of the story a little clearer. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
| Spellcraft vs. Magery in Avernum 4 | |
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written Saturday, March 4 2006 11:15
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There is no difference in the effects of Spellcraft and Magery. This is kind of, well, not so much a bug as an oversight. In the next game, I'll work out different bonuses for them. - Jeff Vogel -------------------- Official Board Admin spidweb@spiderwebsoftware.com Posts: 960 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |