Icewind Dale II Forum Update
Posted Friday, October 11, 2002 - 21:07 CEST by Veldrin

J.E. Sawyer, Lead Designer

IWD2 Fun Facts: * The statue in Ginafae's lair is the statue of Marketh from Lower Dorn's Deep in IWD.

* Viciscamera is bastard Latin for "chamber of change".

* Firtha is an aspect of Ravel.

* Garradun Tanner originally was the first character in IWD2 to mention the Legion of the Chimera by name. He also had a fireball scroll on him that he would read at ground zero if you exposed him. You could also pickpocket him and then laugh at him when he tried to go for it.

* If you let the villagers at Shaengarne die, they show up as Animated Villagers (undead) on the bridge.

* If you keep the Moonblade at Shaengarne, a load of goodie-goodies show up later in a little southern niche to beat the hell out of you.

* The Beastlord Harshom is a Barbarian 2 / Enchanter 12 / Ranger 2.

* It took approximately 1,000 years to get the Ghost Lights working properly in the engine.

* If you talk to Hiepherus of Bane with a half-orc or tiefling female, he hits on the character and spews craziness about breeding a master race.

* Every named character from the Easthaven expedition and Kuldahar who died in IWD is buried in Hrothgar's Glen.

* Rob Holloway unearthed scripting commands in the Infinity Engine that other script-folk didn't even know existed. That's how he did the crazy things he did in the Western Pass and Dragon's Eye.

* Mother Egenia was named after Iphegenia, the title character from Iphegenia at Aulis, by Euripides. In it, Agammemnon learns that the only way he can get himself and his men off of an island is to sacrifice his eldest daughter, Iphegenia. He does so, earning the wrath of his wife, Clytemnestra. Euripides followed this up with the (someone depressing) Iphegenia at Tauris, where it is revealed that Iphegenia did not die at all, but was actually transformed into a deer and escaped, rendering the whole sacrifice worthless. Of course, that didn't stop Clytemnestra from killing Agammemon and setting the stage for her murder at the hands of her son, Orestes.

In conclusion, go read the Orestaia.

Darren Monahan, Producer

Assertion Errors: Two suggestions:

1) Install the beta patch 2 and see if that helps.

2) Reinstall (but don't delete save games). That usually happens when a file is bad. Also make sure the bottom of your disc 2 is spotless, no scratches, etc.

Are you using the beta patch 2? This error occurs when the game cannot successfully uncompress a file from the CD or your hard drive (depending on the install type).

What install type are you using (Min, Rec, Full)? Also does the bottom of your disc 2 look free of dust/dirt/fingerprints/scratches/etc.?

Definitely make sure to get the second patch, we included some retry code in it that might help.

Regarding the discs, sometimes during the manufacturing process they just get some cardboard fibers and lint - just a suggestion to check against as that can cause read problems.

If the patch 2 doesn't work and if you aren't using a Full install, try doing a Modify on your installation and upping it to a Full install.

Thanks,
Darren