Heroine's Quest questions... please help! :-(

[Rath Darkblade]

I've been playing Heroine's Quest again (as a fighter), and having a good time. However, I have come across a problem or two...

1. I've uncovered the Cave of Bones in Nidavellir (sp?), and have defeated all the monsters... and then I'm promptly kicked out to the desktop. Is this a known issue? If so, is there some way to work around it?

2. I traded away my shovel to Eitri in exchange for the Gloves of Gierrod (sp?). However, now I need to defeat the hagubui (sp?), and to do that, I need the shovel in order to dig up its grave. Sigrun doesn't have another shovel for sale, and there doesn't seem to be a way to get it back from Eitri. The only thing that Eitri says he will accept in trade is the return of the elf that's missing (Arvassi, IIRC??), but in order to revive that elf, I need the eitur from Aurvandel - and to get the eitur, I have to defeat the hagubui. So I'm stuck stuck stuck! Stuck in the stickiest situation since Sticky the stick insect got stuck on a sticky bun. So... is there a way to get another shovel? *crosses fingers*

Thanks for your help!

[Rath Darkblade]

Uhm, never mind about the second question - I've figured it out myself. All I had to do was trade Eitri another tool (e.g. the pick or the tinderbox) in exchange for the shovel.

Unfortunately, the game still CTDs in two places - when I beat the Cave of Bones, and when I win the game. Alas!

So, any idea what to do? Is there a fix or workaround of some kind to avoid Ratatosk's Evil, Nasty, CTDs of Doom?

[Rath Darkblade]

So............. no answer, then?

[adeyke]

Apparently you can trade for the shovel back if you give Eitri some other basic tool (like a tinderbox).

[Rath Darkblade]

Yes... unfortunately, I sometimes need both tools (e.g. the tinderbox in order to burn the bones of the Hagbui, and warm up the frost flower so I can take it without dying, and the shovel to dig up the root for Aurvendel, and other things[/url]).

At any rate... do you know about the CTDs during the Cave of Bones, and the CTD during the ending of HQ? Can I avoid them somehow?

[adeyke]

I think you can get extra tinderboxes from fighting certain foes.

I don't recall the game crashing for me.

[Tawmis]

I have not gotten further than initially walking into the town - so I'm no help. That's why I have not pipped up (I wasn't ignore ya!)

[Rath Darkblade]

I think you can get extra tinderboxes from fighting certain foes.

I don't recall the game crashing for me.

Hmm... my current game version is 1.2.1. Is there a version past this one? If so, maybe I should update my game?

I think - I'm not sure - that these problems weren't there in version 1.1, but began when I updated my game from 1.1 to 1.2.1.

I have not gotten further than initially walking into the town - so I'm no help. That's why I have not pipped up (I wasn't ignore ya!)

Thank you Tawm. Gee, if you haven't gotten much further than walking into Fornsigtuna, then try the game! It's terrific fun, a little reminiscent of QfG1 but very different and cool too.

[adeyke]

1.2.1 is the newest.

[Rath Darkblade]

OK... then maybe I should roll my game back to version 1.1? Would that help, by any chance?

[adeyke]

I have no idea if it would help for your problem in particular, but since 1.2.1 fixed various problems and bugs, I can't recommend a downgrade.

[Rath Darkblade]

OK... when my game crashes (whether in the Cave of Bones or during the ceremony), I get the following error:

Adventure Game Studio

An error has occurred. Please contact the game author for support, as this is likely to be a scripting error and not a bug in AGS.
(ACI version 3.3.0.1162)

in "room196.asc", line 285

Error: Error running function 'on_call':
Error: Null pointer referenced

Is this a known error? If so, any ideas what I can do to fix it, if anything?

[adeyke]

A quick Google search brought up this, and I'll note that the "future release" hasn't happened in the time since that post. I don't have any information beyond this. I only played the game through once, quite a while ago, and what little knowledge I have of the game comes from that or a Google search. Especially for questions of a technical nature, you'd be better off using either the Steam forum or Crystal Shard's forum.

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmmm... now I think you may have hit on something there, adeyke. When I play HQ (or any other game), I usually play offline. I don't think I've ever played online games unless I had to (for instance, when I played TF2 or Diablo II with friends).

It seems that HQ doesn't mind that I play offline, but when it comes to the Cave of Bones and the ending sequence, I have to be signed into Steam...? I'm guessing here, based on the link to the Steam topic you raised.

It may be that since I'm not connected to Steam, it can't create the achievements in the Cave of Bones and the ending ceremony, and crashes. I'm not sure if that's it, since I've played offline before without issues, but I'll give it a try. Thanks, adeyke!

[Tawmis]

It may be that since I'm not connected to Steam, it can't create the achievements in the Cave of Bones and the ending ceremony, and crashes. I'm not sure if that's it, since I've played offline before without issues, but I'll give it a try. Thanks, adeyke!

That's very poor design if that's the root of the problem.