How To Enter Durlag's Tower?

[Splunge]

I'm sure I'll be embarassed once I get the answer, but I can't get into the tower. I've done the Shandalar quest, and I bought a wardstone from someone in the Ulgoth Beard Inn, but when I go to the tower, I just get a message saying that it's full of rubble. Where is the entrance?

I have Tutu installed, if that makes a difference.

TIA

[merlac]

I think you need to start the souldagger quest in the Ulgoth's Beard pub -OR- buy a tour from the guy just outside the pub. My money is on the quest though, since it will be the reason for you to finish the whole dungeon.

[Splunge]

I had already started the Soultaker quest, and I just tried the tour - Ike said to meet hem at the base of the Tower, but the he runs into the Inn. He's neither in the Inn nor at the tower base.

I should probably mention that I've been having some issues with quicksaves - occasionally, when I try to quicksave, I'll get a message saying the quicksave failed, and do I want to exit the game (which I do). When I start up again, the quicksave is there (even though it supposedly failed), so I carry on. Perhaps something is corrupted.

[Caradhras]

You don't need to start the quest or the tour if you want to go through the superior levels of the tower but Merlac is right you do have to start the quest if you want to go to the lower levels.

Quicksaves can be bad because they use the same slot and thus can get corrupted. It seems to me that there is something fishy with your save. Have you tried saving and reloading (sometimes it triggers stuff but it's more of an uneducated guess as far as I'm concerned).

[merlac]

I've had something like this in SoA. I had some minor bugs going on, nothing that couldn't be solved with the console, but when I was about to enter Firkraags dungeon some mercenaries popped up, which I fought and killed, and then I couldn't enter the dungeon. Using Ctrl+4 I could see there was an actual door there, but mousing over it didn't do anything. I solved it by console-transporting myself to the first area of the dungeon. I don't remember whether BG1 has a transport-to-area code, but you could probably look that up somewhere and most walkthroughs/FAQs have area codes with the areas.

[Caradhras]

Originally Posted by merlac

I solved it by console-transporting myself to the first area of the dungeon. I don't remember whether BG1 has a transport-to-area code, but you could probably look that up somewhere and most walkthroughs/FAQs have area codes with the areas.

Splunge is playing Tutu.

[8people]

Should be in the ToB forum then

Sounds like a problem save tbh, some of the triggers are set correctly, could try and look them up but can't really promise much. Does Ike just run around a bit like a loon then?

[Splunge]

Originally Posted by 8people

Should be in the ToB forum then

Nope

From the BG1 forum description:

For posts concerning the first part of the Baldur's Gate saga and the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion

From the TOB forum description:

Any discussions about the BG1Tutu or BG Trilogy mods should be posted in this forum

My question was about TotSC. It wasn't a "discussion about" Tutu per se (unless the problem is Tutu-related which, based on the comments so far, it doesn't appear to be). Therefore, the BG forum is the right place.

Anyway, I might have an earlier save I can go back to. Failing that, I'll try merlac's suggestion. Thanks for everyone's help.


---------- Added 0 hours, 12 minutes and 1 seconds later... ----------

Well, it looks like the mods disagree with me on location. Not sure why, though - the way it's worded, I posted in the right place. If simply having Tutu installed means that I should be posting in the ToB forum, the wording should be similar to that used if you have ToB installed and are playing the SoA portion. Meh.

[Sikret]

Originally Posted by Splunge

I should probably mention that I've been having some issues with quicksaves - occasionally, when I try to quicksave, I'll get a message saying the quicksave failed, and do I want to exit the game (which I do). When I start up again, the quicksave is there (even though it supposedly failed), so I carry on. Perhaps something is corrupted.

This type of problems typically happen if you use a saved game started on a computer and continued on another computer; or alternatively a saved game started on an installation using Vista and then transferred to or conitnued on another installation (on XP).

Did you possibly change your computer or your OS recently?

[Taluntain]

Originally Posted by Splunge

Well, it looks like the mods disagree with me on location. Not sure why, though - the way it's worded, I posted in the right place. If simply having Tutu installed means that I should be posting in the ToB forum, the wording should be similar to that used if you have ToB installed and are playing the SoA portion. Meh.

It's always been the case that if you have BG1Tutu installed, you need to post in the ToB forum, regardless of where in the whole saga you are. Tutu introduces ToB features into the game and changes so many aspects of the original and SoA that it only makes sense to have it in the ToB forum. No one's complained about the wording in all these years, but now that you mention it, it could be clearer... I'll change it.

[Splunge]

Originally Posted by Sikret

This type of problems typically happen if you use a saved game started on a computer and continued on another computer; or alternatively a saved game started on an installation using Vista and then transferred to or conitnued on another installation (on XP).

Did you possibly change your computer or your OS recently?

Thanks, Sikret, but no - same computer and O/S (XP) that I've had for a few years.

@ Tal - thanks for the clarification. The new wording is much clearer. I just like to complain about things that aren't important.

Edit: I just realized I have been responsible for changing the wording of forum descriptions, and changing the title of Random Babbling from "post" to "thread". I rule!

[Sikret]

Originally Posted by Splunge

Thanks, Sikret, but no - same computer and O/S (XP) that I've had for a few years.

Start a new game and see if you have the same problem with quick saves. If you don't have the same problem in a new game, it means that your installation isn't corrupted and the corruption (whatever it is) is in your saved games. If the latter, then one possible cause of the corruption is the saved games might be that you had modified your saved games with Shadow Keeper and it had failed to save the modified game correctly (in that case, if the modification was done recently, you can return to a saved game before using Shadow Keeper and test whether the same problem exists there as well or not).

[Splunge]

Originally Posted by Sikret

Start a new game and see if you have the same problem with quick saves. If you don't have the same problem in a new game, it means that your installation isn't corrupted and the corruption (whatever it is) is in your saved games. If the latter, then one possible cause of the corruption is the saved games might be that you had modified your saved games with Shadow Keeper and it had failed to save the modified game correctly (in that case, if the modification was done recently, you can return to a saved game before using Shadow Keeper and test whether the same problem exists there as well or not).

Thanks again, Sikret. Based on your comment, I don't think I need to start a new game; the problem with my quick saves only started about halfway through my current game, which is roughly when I used SK to change a couple of things I did on levelling up which I subsequently decided were mistakes. So likely SK corrupted my game somehow, and I don't have an early enough save to go back to. I haven't had a chance to play since Sunday, but I think I'll just carry on with my current game and hope for the best; I don't think I have much further to go before I'm finished. The quicksave error was more of an inconvenience, but if it's causing other problems (like not being able to enter the Tower), then obviously it would be more serious.

It's strange; I have used SK counless times in the past, with no issues with quicksaves failing. However, this is the first time I've played BG1 (and also with Tutu). I know BG1 has Gatekeeper, but if Tutu is installed, SK has to be used. Maybe it's an SK/Tutu issue. Or maybe it's just that I inadvertently did something wrong.

[Midget Gems]

Just in case anyone is wondering, you don't have to do anything before being allowed into Durlags Tower. You won't get to see the Demonknight unless you take the tour, but otherwise you can still go upstairs and downstairs if you wish to.

I just checked to be sure. My party is a bit low level since I have just started chapter 3, but I had a quick look around and went downstairs to make sure I didn't need a wardstone. Previously I have visited the Tower early in the game to pick up the Tome, or a magic weapon, if I needed it for some reason and I never had any trouble getting in.

However, my Tutu game sometimes suffers badly from 'slow down' in the outside area and I can't see why it does it here more often than anywhere else.

[Splunge]

*Ahem*

Remember how I said I'd be embarrassed when I found out the answer?

It seems that Durlag's Tower is not the Deserted Tower in Ulgoth's Beard, but rather is in an entirely different map 40 hours to the south of Ulgoth's Beard. So I figured it out. All by myself. No thanks to you turkeys.

[dmc]

I think I can speak for everyone here by quoting that famous luminary, Gregory House:

"You're an idiot."

[8people]

Oh Splunge, you loon! It's times like this I am reminded why my supervisor insisted I made people calling tech support check the power cables

Hope your Quick Save problem fixes itself as well

[Splunge]

What threw me off was that, when you’re in Ulgoth’s Beard, and you go to the map, the Deserted Tower has a marker on it, so I thought it was accessible, and therefore I thought it was Durlag’s Tower. (I don’t really know what the point of the marker is.)

I reloaded an older save. What finally clued me in was (i) when I got the Soultaker quest, I was told that Durlag’s Tower was to the south, but the deserted tower was to the west of the inn, and (ii) when I agreed to take Ike’s tour, I got a message saying my world map had been updated, but the map of Ulgoth’s Beard was no different. Using my amazing powers of deduction, I realized that maybe, just maybe, Durlag’s Tower wasn’t in Ulgoth’s Beard after all, and when I looked at the world map, there it was to the south.

Me are a jeanyus.

(My quicksave problem is still there, but now it's just back to being a minor annoyance.)

[T2Bruno]

I was going to rep you for being man enough to admit that....

[Blades of Vanatar]

I believe I made that mistake myself the 1st time I played the ToSC. But I figured it out right away... back then I wasn't part of an online community where I could ask the embarressing questions of Splunge. Lucky me!

[Caradhras]

There is nothing to be ashamed of. After all BG is not like today's games in which you have shiny map markers that point you in the right direction no matter what and make sure you can't lose your way.

[Taluntain]

How many Splunges does it take to find a haunted tower on the map?

[dmc]

One. But it has to really WANT to be found, and the Splunge needs to learn how to read and access the world map.

[Decados]

I suspect that it's an inverse correlation: the more Splunges there are around, the safer the tower is.

[Montresor]

Originally Posted by Taluntain

How many Splunges does it take to find a haunted tower on the map?

Five: One to find the map, three to find out which tower they need to go to, and one to ask for directions to the wrong tower on the Boards of Magick!