[Update #96: The Road to Eternity]

 

 

Edit-found my answer. Those books are going on my wish list on Amazon.

 

I wonder if obsidian has any plans for writing novels based on the game world of pillars of eternity by chance in the future?

Anything is possible. I am currently talking things over with folks about ways to expand the brand. One of the ideas that came up involved lots of short stories about PoE.

Hi Brandon，have you received the email about the asian translation problem in 1.05 patch，which Chris metioned of it with you？

 

 

I have. We are going to investigate, but Traditional Chinese is not an officially supported language. This means I have other things prioritized ahead of it for now.

 

Once we get some additional time we will look to the problems that people seeing with truncated lines, though.

[Update #96: The Road to Eternity]

 

 

We are shipping out game DVDs to tiers that get physical disc rewards very shorty. To ensure that your DVD will go to the correct location, please make sure your address is updated on our site. Next Tuesday, May 26th is the final cutoff to make sure that you have your address entered correctly.

 

 

By "very shortly" do you ACTUALLY mean very shortly, or the same lie you've been telling for over two months now where you claim they'll be going out "shortly" and then week after week goes by with no word on shipping, until the next lie about "Okay we're shipping them soon" happens?

 

As far as I know the discs are printed and we are just waiting on final address confirmations before they ship out.

[Update #96: The Road to Eternity]

Are we getting the doc on both dvd and blu?  I don't remember picking an option there?  Just checking - thank you!

 

A while back we had an update that let backers know that we weren't going to be able to ship discs for the documentary and the reasons why we made that choice. We added in another reward to take its place (notepad) and now let everyone download the documentary in full from Steam/GOG/Origin.

[Update #96: The Road to Eternity]

Edit-found my answer. Those books are going on my wish list on Amazon.

 

I wonder if obsidian has any plans for writing novels based on the game world of pillars of eternity by chance in the future?

Anything is possible. I am currently talking things over with folks about ways to expand the brand. One of the ideas that came up involved lots of short stories about PoE.

[Update #96: The Road to Eternity]

Update by Brandon Adler, Lead Producer

 

 

The long wait is over! We have officially released our documentary, The Road to Eternity. The documentary covers everything - from before the Kickstarter to after the game's release. It was an incredible journey, so take a look if you have the time.

 

Our next update will come when we release our next patch in a couple of weeks.

 

Addresses

 

We are shipping out game DVDs to tiers that get physical disc rewards very shorty. To ensure that your DVD will go to the correct location, please make sure your address is updated on our site. Next Tuesday, May 26th is the final cutoff to make sure that you have your address entered correctly.

 

Documentary

 

To access your documentary reward head over to your Products page on the Backer Portal. From the "Making Of Documentary" entry you can click the "Watch Video" button. If you prefer to download the documentary directly you can do so on Steam, GOG or Origin. In the future we will allow direct downloads from the Backer Portal. Steam and Origin currently have the documentary live and GOG should have the documentary live in the next day or so.

 

If you would like more information about redeeming rewards on the Backer Portal please check out our previous updates.

 

Great Stories

 

Two of our fellow Obsidianites have released novels recently. They are really good and we wanted to share them with you.

 

 

Forging Divinity

 

Andrew Rowe's (Game Designer) novel, Forging Divinity is the first novel in the War of Broken Mirrors series. It features a well-developed magic system, powerful characters, and epic combat scenes.

 

Check out this plot synopsis from Andrew: Some say that in the city of Orlyn, godhood is on sale to the highest bidder. Thousands flock to the city each year, hoping for a chance at immortality.

 

Lydia Hastings is a knowledge sorcerer, capable of extracting information from anything she touches. When she travels to Orlyn to validate the claims of the local faith, she discovers a conspiracy that could lead to a war between the world's three greatest powers. At the focal point is a prisoner who bears a striking resemblance to the long-missing leader of the pantheon she worships.

 

Rescuing the prisoner would require risking her carefully cultivated cover - but his execution could mean the end of everything Lydia holds dear.

 

Head over to Amazon and pick it up.

 

The Buried Life

 

Carrie Patel's (Narrative Designer) novel, The Buried Life, follows an inspector and a laundress as they investigate a series of murders in the underground city of Recoletta. It's a fantastical mystery about secret histories and dirty politics, perfect for fans of China Miéville and Cherie Priest.

 

The sequel, Cities and Thrones, comes out July 7. Make sure to be on the lookout for it.

 

Head to Amazon and grab yourself a copy of The Buried Life.

 

 

[Full Making of Documentary is Now Live!]

 

Hey, everyone. We are currently working on getting the doc placed on Steam and GOG. We hope to have it live sometime this week. Once we do push the documentary to those platforms, we will send out a small backer update.

 

Thanks for your patience.

 

Is there any chance, for there will be subtitles then?

 

Not currently. We can ask the documentary crew what the cost and logistics would be, though.

[Full Making of Documentary is Now Live!]

Hey, everyone. We are currently working on getting the doc placed on Steam and GOG. We hope to have it live sometime this week. Once we do push the documentary to those platforms, we will send out a small backer update.

 

Thanks for your patience.

[Update #95: Patch 1.05 - New Features]

Hi BAdler, thanks for update and patch! But there is no hint when we do get the NOVELLA!?

 

What do you think? I've heard somewhere that CA has not even finished the WL2 novella?

 

When do we get the novella? I would appreciate an answer to this.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Chris is currently working on the novella. When we have more information about it, we will send it out in a backer update.

[Update #95: Patch 1.05 - New Features]

Update by Brandon Adler, Lead Producer

 

 

Good news, everyone! We have a brand-spankin' new patch for you.

 

This is a big one. Patch 1.05 features hundreds of bug fixes, balance changes, and new UI features. There are many minor fixes that are not listed in these notes.

 

 

We anticipate that 1.06 will be shipping out later this month. 1.06 will continue the trend of adding in new features, balancing existing gameplay, and fixing bugs important to the community.

 

More Shipping Info

 

Physical discs are being printed for shipping now. One reason for waiting was so we could get the 1.04 patch as the base build on the disc. You should start seeing your discs in the next few weeks.

 

To make sure that your latest shipping information is on record, please go to the Backer Portal and update your address by Monday, May 11th.

 

Documentary

 

We have received the final cut of the Pillars of Eternity documentary and are going through it now. Shortly, we will be able to give an exclusive sneak peek of the documentary to our backers before the general public gets to see it. Be on the look out for an update about it in the next week or two.

 

Patch 1.05 Notes

 

Note: We performed some changes to the game's Steam depots yesterday. Most of you shouldn't notice any difference, but some individuals that may have had non-standard game install locations were seeing some strange behavior where the PillarsofEternity_Data folder in the root of their game directory was getting renamed to EmptySteamDepot. If you rename that folder back to PillarsofEternity_Data, it should resolve the issue.

 

If renaming the folder doesn't work, try performing the Verify Integrity of Game Cache option in Steam to fix the problem. You can do this by right-clicking on the Pillars of Eternity game in your Library, clicking on Properties, clicking on the Local Files tab, and clicking the button that reads Verify Integrity of Game Cache. This will repair any missing or damaged files so you can play the game again.

 

Head to this thread on our forums for more information about the process.

 

New Features

 

• You can now rename save games.
• You can now change the portrait and sound set of characters from the character sheet. Click on the gear icon to open the customization window. You can only use this feature on player characters and hired (non-companion) characters.
• New Stash sorting. You can now sort stash by item type, enchant score, and sell value.
• Added a Latest News feature on the main menu to keep you informed on patches and Kickstarter updates.
• Added a new color for unique items in the inventory.
• Added a new hotkey for switching weapon sets on selected characters.
• You can now bind extra mouse buttons to Ability hotkeys.
• There's a new option to reset newly recruited companions to level 1 (without losing the experience). This will allow you to level up companions to your liking.

 

Balance

 

• Reblanced XP rewards of some quests, particularly the bounty quests, to prevent parties from hitting max level before Twin Elms.
• Ciphers now start with 1/4 max Focus instead of 1/2.
• Wizard and Cipher's base endurance has been raised from 30 to 36, and per level from 10 to 12.
• Wizard and Priests health multipliers were raised from 3 to 4.
• Interdiction range has been reduced from 20 to 10.
• Tuned down damage on the Retaliation mod.
• Citzal's Spirit Lance will now do 50% more damage, is faster, and has an increased AoE.
• Sanguine Plate's Retaliate mod has been replaced with Spell Holding: Frenzy.
• Wind Blight's Returning Storm is now set to 1/encounter.
• Earth Blight's Teleport ability is now set to 2/encounter.
• Sturdy bonus is improved from +20 to +30 vs Prone.
• Hand and Key's Preservation has been replaced with Loyal.
• Aru Breaker's Preservation has been replaced with a +1 Speed.
• Angio's Gambeson's Reflex bonus is replaced with 1/day Deleterious Alacrity of Motion.
• Rebel's Call Preservation has been replaced with Wary.
• Lightning Strikes damage is increased by 25%.
• Fan of Flames damage is reduced by 25%.
• Minor Arcane Reflection base duration is changed to 60 seconds.
• Llengrath's Displaced Image gives 50% hit to graze conversion on Deflection and Reflex.
• Wizard's Double now grants +40 Deflection against a single attack.
• Mirrored Images now grants a base +30 Deflection. It decreases by 5 after each hit.
• Ilengrath's Safeguard's bonuses are now unified.
• Crucible of the Soul, Speaker to the Restless, and Steps to the Wheel ranges have been increased.
• Arcane Veil now grants +50 Deflection, with Hardened Veil adding +25, for a total of +75 Deflection.
• Scroll of Paralysis is now slightly weaker and has a higher skill requirement.
• All Spell Holdings are 2/encounter.
• Soul Shock radius reduced from 2.5 to 1.25.
• Blizzard damage reduced significantly and attack speed increased to from 0.2 to 0.8.
• Overwhelming Wave now uses a range of 30-40 and stun duration lowered from 10s to 8s.
• Noxious Burst trap damage now is in line with other player trap damage.
• Reduced the accuracy on higher level player traps.
• Unbroken is now a per encounter ability.
• Malignant Cloud damage increased.
• Ghost Blades set to foe only.
• Death Ring damage slightly raised, made foe only.
• Ninagauth's Freezing Pillar switched over to foe only.
• Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon set to foe only.
• Stag's Horn damaged lowered. Reflex and Deflection penalties cut in half, and reduced duration from 15 to 10.
• Bracers of Spiritual Power and Archer's Gloves reduced damage from +20% to +10%.
• Scroll of Revival AoE reduced, range slightly reduced, and restored endurance halved.
• Marked Prey and Sworn Enemy have been set to 0 recovery actions, so they can be used and the Ranger/Paladin can immediately act again.
• Winter Wind has had its damage, range, and push decreased. Base interrupt has been increased.
• Vile Thorns has had its damage increased and range decreased.
• Petrified has had its damage bonus reduced from x4 to x2.

 

Items, Spells, and Abilities

 

• Battle-forged status effect now ends when combat ends. This should prevent it from stacking because of save/load.
• Fix for Elusive Quarry so its status effects now end when combat ends. This should prevent it from stacking because of save/load.
• Many spells and abilities will have more accurate and updated stat blocks and improved output in the combat log, tooltips, and character sheet.
• Modal abilities now have activation and deactivation timers.
• Fixed an issue where some AOE attacks were not displaying the extra Intellect bonus properly.
• Added new effect when petrified.
• Traps can now be passively detected at -4 Mechanics.
• Added an animation to the Fox and the Hunter ability and removed the damage effect.
• Second Chance will no longer trigger the defeat screen if the entire party goes down right before the effect fires.
• Fixed display of the cast UI for Seven Nights She Waited While the White Winds Wept.
• Tuning Wheel's effect is not hostile anymore.
• Painful Interdiction is now correctly marked as hostile.
• Escape should now always prevent disengagement attacks.
• Seven Nights She Waited While the White Winds Wept will no longer attack allies.
• Barbarian Threatening Presence will no longer spam the combat log when the Barbarian loses all endurance.
• NPC Chanters will now resume chanting once they use their invocations.
• Getting maimed will not clear fatigue.
• All wall spells should now disappear when combat ends.
• New Glossary entries for spellbind, spell holding, and spell striking.
• Switched the ingredients for Freezing and Shocking lashes.
• Druid's Wildstrike Belt is now working as intended.
• Marked Prey is now working at intended.
• Draining Whip is now working as intended.
• One Stands Alone is now working as intended.
• Interrupting Blows is now working as intended, and will correctly increase interrupt.
• Mortification of the Soul is now working as intended, and should only award 1 wound.
• Scion of Flame, Spirit of Decay, Secrets of the Rime and Heart of the Storm should now correctly increase damage of all abilities.
• Driving Flight will now work properly with Blunderbuss type guns.
• The Retaliate mod should not strike allies after using Field Triage.
• Pet fatigue has been removed.
• Wild Leech is now combat only and the Leech effect will last until combat ends. This fixes issues with it not working with save/load correctly.
• Fix to Total Max Focus stat that would reset to the base value if you had the Greater Focus talent after a save/load. This is a retroactive fix that will restore your Cipher with an extra +10 focus if you have the talent.

 

Quests and Companions

 

• Party member stats on the character sheet will now show properly if the companion is removed and re-added from the stronghold.
• Fixed issues where companions could lose their items when assigned to the stronghold.
• Grieving Mother's Perception and Intellect scores have been switched.
• The Man Who Waits: The citizens of the Sanitarium will no longer become hostile if you kill and loot Azo after the Sanitarium riot and then fight flesh golems. Fix is retroactive.
• Fixed issue with a reputation loss with Gilded Vale when entering Raedric's Hold.
• Removed disposition exploit with the Records Keeper.
• A few encounter placement changes.
• Fixed issues with stronghold hirelings becoming hostile.
• Retroactive fix to update Sanitarium quest stage to proper state if you already talked to Ethelmoer and then asked for Sanitarium directions from a city guard.
• Added retroactive fix if you've advanced Heritage Hill quest to Icantha but then asked a city guard for directions to Heritage Hill.
• Fixed a number of issues with the Winds of Steel quest. This should be a retroactive fix if the quest was already started before working on the second quest with the Dozens or Doemenels, or if the quest was acquired or completed in conjunction with Bronze Beneath the Lake or Changing of the Guard.
• Attacking any of the main three Defiance Bay factions after having secured their invitation to the hearing will now make Lady Webb give you an invite in the name of Dunryd Row.
• Fixed issues with the Hermit of Hadret House quest.
• If Sul or Oernos were defeated before speaking to Desthwn for the first time then The Old Queen and the New King quest will not revert to an earlier quest stage.
• Hendyna's conversation is fixed up to be properly linked together.
• Fixed a case where one of Clyver's responses would not appear in conversation if you ask him twice about the hearing.
• Killing Alwah while she appears in Oldsong now prevents her from appearing alive in Galawain's Maw when you turn in the Prison of Ice quest.
• Fixed an issue where the Hall of Revealed Mysteries would turn hostile after opening the door to the Elder Archives and then re-loading into the scene (while not in stealth).
• Rinatto will no longer appear in the Celestial Sapling if you convince him to leave Twin Elms as part of the Hard Bargain quest.)

 

UI

 

• Changed the display of most stat multipliers to be percentage based.
• Added Shift as a default control for multi-selection, in addition to Ctrl.
• Inverted the Stronghold log.
• Improved the output in the Bestiary and added beast abilities.
• Portraits now turn grey if Stamina is being capped by Health or Fatigue.
• Improved multi-selection.
• Stronghold adventures will now show the duration before you embark.
• Added apply button to resolution options screen.
• Default stealth key on Linux is now Ctrl.
• Weapon set buttons are now disabled when Spirit Shifted.
• Fixed several issues with containers and mouse cursor state on hover.
• Fixed an issue where the Lore requirement on scrolls was always displaying as red text.
• Fixed an issue where weapon sets were not visually unlocking.
• HUD does not upscale until 1920x1200.
• Fixed attack roll formula tooltips so they should now be readable in lower screen resolutions.
• Expert mode is now hidden on the main menu to avoid confusion about it not being selectable outside of a game.
• Changed slider bars so that they can slide the entire length of the options menu.
• Changed the order of the option buttons to make them more user-friendly.
• Tooltips now include sell price where appropriate.
• Chanter inspection UI should now display the correct durations.
• Armors should now correctly display DR in the inspection UI.
• Adjusted position of the Concentration skill in the Character Sheet.
• Cleaned up problems with improper ability icons showing if you switch party members with hotkeys.
• Improved loading screen scaling for resolutions greater than 1920 x 1080.
• Corrected a tooltip string on the voice volume slider.
• Fixed issues with tooltips being obscured in the inventory screen.

 

General Fixes

 

• Removed exploit of being able to transition into a new area with a dead player character. Sorry speed runners.
• Spells and abilities stuck in 'Already Activated' state will be fixed whenever a game is loaded.
• Now camping in a stronghold map when Brighthollow is unlocked uses Brighthollow instead.
• Party members will no longer switch weapon sets when charmed.
• Resolved a problem where misses on some secondary attacks were not being reported in the combat log.
• Camera should center on party members faster.
• Trial of Iron: Loading a game will now force a save to happen to prevent save scumming.
• Fixed many issues related to auto pause.
• Firearms will now reload when combat ends on alternate weapon sets.
• Poison and interrupted VO now has a cooldown.
• Allow quick-loading when UI windows, like dialogue, are up.
• Removed unneeded navigation blockers in the Valewood that were causing animal companions to become stuck.
• Fixed issue where Guest Hirelings that were available at the Stronghold for hire were not being saved properly into the save games.
• Fixed additional problems with prestigious visitors visiting the Stronghold after they had been killed.
• Fixed a problem with Stronghold prisoners showing temp text at times.

 

 

[1.05 Patch is Live]

Apologies to anyone that has had to redownload the game. One thing to try if you get the error and you have the EmptySteamDepot folder might be to try and rename the EmptySteamDepot folder to PillarsofEternity_Data. It may work for you.

[1.05 Patch is Live]

 

 

How much space is the game supposed to take from the HD? 14gb? Mine is currently 27gb.

 

And there is this folder called EmptySteamDepot that's basically a copy of PillarsofEternity_Data by the looks of it. Same files, same size, explains the sudden extra 13gb of HD claimed.

 

I assume this is related to the problem we were having, since the actual folder was missing for some reason?

 

Do you happen to have Pillars installed in a strange location? We were able to see the error, but only after we manually moved the PIllars folder into another location.

 

The EmptySteamDepot folder is really strange and shouldn't be there. Is that folder in the root of the game directory?

 

No, I have Pillars of Eternity installed on my game drive like all the other games through Steam. So nothing unusual about the location.

 

Yeah, the EmtpySteamDepot is at the root and it was there when I first patched the game. The PillarsofEternity_Data was missing, or I assume it was because that's what the error was about. The EmptySteamDepot is exactly the same size and seems to hold the same files as well.

 

Based on the dates however, it seems that the EmptySteamDepot file holds some of originally installed files as they have dates that go back to March 26th.

 

Soooo.. the old data folder was.... renamed? I don't know.

 

Is it safe to delete now though? It does eat  quite a bit of space.

 

 

It should be safe to delete if you already have a folder named PillarsofEternity_Data in the game's root. The game won't look for the EmptySteamDepot folder.

[Translator Addon in game.]

Hi,

I would like to propose an idea to your great game. Many texts in game can be for some players difficult due to lack of their ability to speak English or any other native game languages. So my idea is to make an ingame addon which will translate words to any language (via google translator, or any other free translator) but not whole sentences, just only one word if cursor is on this word. I think that this will help people like me to enjoy the game and learn english as well.

thanks,

Jacob

 

Hey, Max1987. The idea is good in theory, but may not work well in practice. Many of our lines/words can be read in different ways depending on the context of the situation. This is very difficult for automated services like Google Translate to discern and my end up more confusing for people than if there was no translation feature at all.

[1.05 Patch is Live]

How much space is the game supposed to take from the HD? 14gb? Mine is currently 27gb.

 

And there is this folder called EmptySteamDepot that's basically a copy of PillarsofEternity_Data by the looks of it. Same files, same size, explains the sudden extra 13gb of HD claimed.

 

I assume this is related to the problem we were having, since the actual folder was missing for some reason?

 

Do you happen to have Pillars installed in a strange location? We were able to see the error, but only after we manually moved the PIllars folder into another location.

 

The EmptySteamDepot folder is really strange and shouldn't be there. Is that folder in the root of the game directory?

[1.05 Patch is Live]

 

 

Patch downloaded automatically on Steam, tried to start the game and it fails. Said something about "there should be a data file next to the executable".

 

Did verification of files, now re-downloading 5,6gb worth of files. Good times

 

Hey, Foksuh. What OS are you on?

 

Windows 7.

 

Edit: Based on Steam forums it seems to happening to other people too.

 

 

We have been unable to reproduce this problem internally. Not sure what would cause it. Please let me know if after a build verification it works correctly.

[1.05 Patch is Live]

Patch downloaded automatically on Steam, tried to start the game and it fails. Said something about "there should be a data file next to the executable".

 

Did verification of files, now re-downloading 5,6gb worth of files. Good times

 

Hey, Foksuh. What OS are you on?

[1.05 Patch is Live]

Hey, everyone. the 1.05 patch (Build 567) is now live on Steam. We are packaging everything up for GOG and Origin, so those builds should be updated in a day or two.

 

Some highlights from 1.05 include:

• You can now rename save games.
• You can now change the portrait and sound set of characters from the character sheet. Click on the gear icon to open the customization window. You can only use this feature on player characters and hired (non-companion) characters.
• New Stash sorting. You can now sort stash by item type, enchant score, and sell value.
• Added a News Feed on the main menu to keep you informed on patches and Kickstarter updates.
• Added a new color for unique items in the inventory.
• Added a new hotkey for switching weapon sets on selected characters.
• You can now bind extra mouse buttons to Ability hotkeys.
• There's a new option in the Difficulty settings to reset newly recruited companions to level 1 (without losing the experience) when they get added to the party for the first time. This will allow you to level up companions to your liking.

 

For the full patch notes on 1.05, please go here.

 

During this patch we needed to change around our Steam depot structure. Most of you should be unaffected by these changes, but if you have problems please report them in this thread. You can also go to that thread for an explanation of the Steam depots and why we needed to change them.

 

Enjoy!

[Change in Steam Depots]

1.05 patch is now live. The depot changes should now be taking effect. Please let us know if you run into any crazy build problems on Steam.

[Change in Steam Depots]

Personally, I don't think so. I don't want to talk about any expansion details at this point, because we haven't announced anything, but once we do I don't mind talking through some of the details with you guys.

[Change in Steam Depots]

Depot rebuild is still going on. Taking a while because these depots have never been built before.

 

It is currently uploading the last major depot. Once it is finished I can make the build live for 1.05.

 

Those of you downloading data are not getting 1.05. You are just getting shuffled data from the depots changing. Once the depot creation/upload is complete it should go back to normal.

[Change in Steam Depots]

Hey, CaptSpaz. That is the only real side effect of changing out the depots. Until the depots are rebuilt (they are rebuilding now), you will download both builds. Hopefully the rebuilt depots will be finished in the next 30 minutes or so.

 

Once the rebuild is complete the download size should go back to normal.

[Change in Steam Depots]

Build 567 is going to be the 1.05 build. If you already have those files, you shouldn't need to download any additional stuff.

[Change in Steam Depots]

This change is happening right now. 1.05 should be uploaded shortly and (if everything goes as planned) you will be able to play soon.

[1.05 Patch Beta Live on Steam]

Would any of you guys know if the bug that increased spell count permanently on members not in the active party when transitioning from certain areas was fixed in this patch? It was the one caused by the bonus spell tier talent.

 

Here is the thread

 

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/76212-bug-hiravias-can-cast-too-many-1st-level-spells/?do=findComment&comment=1685193

QA said that this should be fixed for 1.05. Not sure if the fix is retroactive, though.

[1.05 Patch Beta Live on Steam]

Just put out another update to beta. Only issue is a reduction in Petrified bonus damage. It has been lowered from x4 to x2.

[Change in Steam Depots]

 

Thanks for your (future) patience.

Well, I'm predicting some future impatience!

 

Good to know that the patch is coming soon. No beta this time? Or did I manage to miss it?

 

We have had the beta running for about a week. We have a slight change we are going to make (nerfing Petrified from X4 damage to X2 damage), but otherwise what is up for the beta is pretty much it.