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[Nishastra]

It seems to be the unofficial 1.3 patch that screwed me. I reinstalled and it no longer goes unplayable in combat.

Now my only complaint is how the English voices are so much louder than the Russian ones, so I have to turn the volume down real quick whenever a cutscene happens. The sound files are all OGGs, so I suppose I could fix this myself...

 

[Orgun]

I'd been thinking of picking up Precursors for awhile now but it was far too expensive for a curiosity purchase, for $7 though...bought!

 

[shintoki]

According to their FAQ page:

http://www.beamdog.com/about/faq

I'm not sure, but it just finished downloading it. And when installing, it mentioned I had 2 activations left. This doesn't seem like something that would be included otherwise.

 

[Corto]

I'm not sure, but it just finished downloading it. And when installing, it mentioned I had 2 activations left. This doesn't seem like something that would be included others.

Yeah. I got that message too. But maybe Beamdog support will give more activations if needed...

What patches are you guys using on your game? As I have a Nvidia card I won't need the ATI flickering fix patch, but is there some new and easy to instal patch besides that?

 

[Nishastra]

Just the Russian voices here, since otherwise the game has no voices at all outside of cutscenes, and the game is (almost) fully voiced in Russian.

I was using the 1.3 patch, but... it seemed to do more harm than good

 

[shintoki]

Yeah. I got that message too. But maybe Beamdog support will give more activations if needed...

What patches are you guys using on your game? As I have a Nvidia card I won't need the ATI flickering fix patch, but is there some new and easy to instal patch besides that?

Sent a quick email and got a respond.

It has DRM, they confirmed, but didn't mention it.

It has a 3 machine limit, but you can deactivate it to retrieve a limit. It has a 10 deactivation limit though. He said you can email them or publisher for it.

 

[Orgun]

I expected it but...CTD on trying to load the game, everytime Screen goes black and I can hear what I assume is the dev logo or something swishing around then only half the screen is black and the other half is my desktop with looping audio.

*cracks knuckles* Let the game begin

edit: Fixed, game doesn't like Aero in Windows 7. Changed to basic. That's bug number 1 squashed

 

[Semblance]

Put some more time into Precursors today. Lots of saving and loading, a few crashes, and a couple of instances where the vendor didn't actually give me my money - and I couldn't care less. This game really has that special something to it. I'm picking up every quest I can, bunnyhopping through the desert, loading up my bags with anything I can carry, looking for whatever wacky thing comes my way next. What an oddly addictive game. Very fun.

What's up with the lost kid and the 'uncle' quest though? Every time I get somewhat close to where the two are the marker tells me 'away,' and when I get there I can't find anything. As I gain distance it pops up again, then goes back to 'away' if I approach. Is this a bug, or am I missing something here?

 

[morningbus]

I played a bit more of the Precursors last night and it really is something special. Like a low budget, big-hearted Sci-Fi film.

You should definitely take the time to enable the Russian voices, too. It really helps immerse you in the game world when people are speaking, especially with a foreign language that I don't understand. Here's my abbreviated version on how to get Russian voices (and keep the parts that have been translated to English):

Note: I did this with the BeamDog version, but that shouldn't matter. Credit goes to the nice people at RPG-Watch: http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12401

MAKE SURE TO BACKUP THE FILES WE'RE WORKING WITH HERE, JUST IN CASE

Step 1:
1) Download these two files: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Y9AC6BQZ and http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PMNALDJX
2) Unzip the two folders together (use 7zip, highlight both files and select extract all.)
3) You should have two files: gf_sounds.grp and main.fat. Find these files in your Precursors installation in the "packages" folder and replace them with ones you downloaded.

Step 2:
1) Download this: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UN4SUOH7
2) Extract and replace the files in the Sounds/Cutscenes/ folder with the ones you've just extracted. Do a wholesale copy, overwriting all conflicting files.

And that should be all you need to do to get Russian + English voices.

 

[Orgun]

I played a bit more of the Precursors last night and it really is something special. Like a low budget, big-hearted Sci-Fi film.

You should definitely take the time to enable the Russian voices, too. It really helps immerse you in the game world when people are speaking, especially with a foreign language that I don't understand. Here's my abbreviated version on how to get Russian voices (and keep the parts that have been translated to English):

Note: I did this with the BeamDog version, but that shouldn't matter. Credit goes to the nice people at RPG-Watch: http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12401


And that should be all you need to do to get Russian + English voices.

Do you get english subs for everything though?

 

[Confidence Man]

Did they ever fix the sound cutting out in Xenus 2?

 

[morningbus]

Do you get english subs for everything though?

Like, written subtitles? I don't have that enabled, if there's such an option.

My guide up there does the following: Maintains pre-existing English voicework in cutscenes (so, for example, the opening cinematic is still in English) and adds Russian voice acting to any area where there was no voice acting before (like, for example, when you talk to a shop owner, or a person on the street). Subtitles are not needed for the latter, as it is already written out in the dialog boxes.

 

[Nishastra]

Do you get english subs for everything though?

No. That's why you need the English cutscene voices.

The Russian voices cover everything else in the game, which already has text.

 

[dionysus]

Will probably get Precursors from gamersgate when I get home from work, are there any official or unofficial patches I need to install?

I have been playing a couple of Russian/Eastern European games recently in scifi settings, sadly most have been pretty crap.

Star Wolves 3 and Starpoint Gemini, I wouldn't recommend either of these games. Starpoint Gemini especially, the difficulty curve is WTF level very early on in the game.

 

[Aaron]

Beamdog is going to be adding the unofficial patch to their release soon.

 

[Corto]

Beamdog is going to be adding the unofficial patch to their release soon.

That's the one that adds the russian voices?

 

[catapult37]

kills me that i missed the $5 sale. i was on the fence about precursors but bought that on sale just so i don't regret later. i will be watching this thread closely!!

 

[morningbus]

That's the one that adds the russian voices?

I don't think so. I installed the unofficial patch and still had to do the stuff outlined above.

 

[Semblance]

What's up with the lost kid and the 'uncle' quest though? Every time I get somewhat close to where the two are the marker tells me 'away,' and when I get there I can't find anything. As I gain distance it pops up again, then goes back to 'away' if I approach. Is this a bug, or am I missing something here?

So am I the only one experiencing this? I took the uncle's buggy, but him and the kid are MIA. Guess it's just bugged?

 

[broham]

So am I the only one experiencing this? I took the uncle's buggy, but him and the kid are MIA. Guess it's just bugged?

The problem I had with that quest was when I was walking back to town with the kid. His path finding goof'd midway and wouldn't leave the immediate area. After a few minutes of trying to fix him I got fed up and just ended up shooting him, and then I drank the soda he was carrying.

 

[Alex Connolly]

Did they ever fix the sound cutting out in Xenus 2?

You simply need to nab the sound files from the Russian version - available via links in this thread - then drop them into the Xenus 2 directory. Worked for me.

 

[Semblance]

The problem I had with that quest was when I was walking back to town with the kid. His path finding goof'd midway and wouldn't leave the immediate area. After a few minutes of trying to fix him I got fed up and just ended up shooting him, and then I drank the soda he was carrying.

Ah, so it looks like it's bugged for me then. Seeing as how it'd just lead to an escort the runt back mission anyway, I think I'm okay with this!

 

[dionysus]

Some thoughts after an hour or 2 of play in Precursors:

-In keeping with every game made in the Ukraine and eastward, the player has copious amounts of hard liquor to loot. Also in keeping with previous games from the region, there is a mandatory DUI goggle effect if you imbibe any of it.

-So far I have escorted a drunk dead beat husband home, placed 4 beacons in the desert, killed a lair of gnorks (or some such other pulp scifi name), got some spices for my bosses soup, and delivered water to a village. Holy shit, I am playing a boring MMO.

-In keeping with a absurdly ambitious shoe string budget eastern european game, there are a lot of mechanics that don't quite work or add nothing to the game

-Ancient extinct civilization with hints of cataclysmic end, protagonist has weird mental powers, humans are divided against themselves while ignoring larger external threat, creatures with names like gnorks, check check check check. I love the pulp space opera feel so far, hilarious writing and translation included.

- Is it a mediocre to terrible FPS? Yes. Is it a mediocre RPG? Yes. Is it a mediocre space sim? Don't know, havent gotten that far yet. But you put a bunch of mediocre elements together in one game with lofty ambitions and you get a fun experience if you don't demand AAA perfection in your games.

Final thought: This is the type of development team you wish got ten million dollars to make a game without interference from marketing, focus groups, lead designers chasing COD sales, etc. etc.

 

[Metallix]

I'd been thinking of picking up Precursors for awhile now but it was far too expensive for a curiosity purchase, for $7 though...bought!

Yeah, at under $10, I'd give it a buy sooner or later as well.

 

[Alex Connolly]

Well said, Dionysus. I happen to really like its kinda-off FPS mechanics. Great game, with lots of quirk.

 

[Aaron]

Final thought: This is the type of development team you wish got ten million dollars to make a game without interference from marketing, focus groups, lead designers chasing COD sales, etc. etc.

No, I wish it was given to a different developer, like the makers of Metro 2033, to polish it for six months or so. The core game is all there. It just needs a lot of adjustment.

 

[Clevinger]

No, I wish it was given to a different developer, like the makers of Metro 2033, to polish it for six months or so. The core game is all there. It just needs a lot of adjustment.

What? Metro 2033 was a linear borefest. They'd be a horrible pick.

 

[broham]

No, I wish it was given to a different developer, like the makers of Metro 2033, to polish it for six months or so. The core game is all there. It just needs a lot of adjustment.

But metro is the polar opposite of precursors. Besides, another dev probably wouldn't be willing to be so ambitious and that's part of the charm.

 

[Stallion Free]

No, I wish it was given to a different developer, like the makers of Metro 2033, to polish it for six months or so. The core game is all there. It just needs a lot of adjustment.

... what?

 

[Alex Connolly]

All Xenus 2 and Precursors really need is a nice little mod community, something along the lines of Pavel and co's work on STALKER. They're great games in the vanilla, but I wouldn't say no to tweaks and a few extras.

Doing a Xenus 2 run at the moment. Watched Expendables and thought "Y'know...there's really only one game I know that can match the awesome silliness of that film."

 

[Aaron]

What? Metro 2033 was a linear borefest. They'd be a horrible pick.

You completely misunderstand. Polishing doesn't mean altering the basic game. It means making the shooting feel better, making the menus less ugly and easier to use, making sure all the sound effects actually work, etc. I picked the Metro 2033 devs because they're also Ukranian so there would be no language barrier, and no matter what you think of their game, it's polished to the nines.

 

[Stallion Free]

You completely misunderstand. Polishing doesn't mean altering the basic game. It means making the shooting feel better, making the menus less ugly and easier to use, making sure all the sound effects actually work, etc. I picked the Metro 2033 devs because they're also Ukranian so there would be no language barrier, and no matter what you think of their game, it's polished to the nines.

The shooting and playability of Metro 2033 didn't feel very polished. The hit detection with the shooting was terrible.

 

[broham]

I'd pick the stalker devs before the metro devs.

 

[Oneiroscope]

I'd pick the stalker devs before the metro devs.

Hehehe. This is funny because the two main Deep Shadows guys used to work for GSC Game World and while they were there they made Codename: Outbreak, which is kind of the prequel to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series.

 

[dionysus]

You completely misunderstand. Polishing doesn't mean altering the basic game. It means making the shooting feel better, making the menus less ugly and easier to use, making sure all the sound effects actually work, etc. I picked the Metro 2033 devs because they're also Ukranian so there would be no language barrier, and no matter what you think of their game, it's polished to the nines.

What this game needs most is more time in the oven to QA test it and optimize the shooting. I'd imagine the original devs could do it, they just need the funds. Unfortunately, publishers with funds also demand control and bring marketing, focus groups, and all the other plagues of modern game design into the project and you end up turning DAO into DA2.

 

[Monroeski]

I don't think so. I installed the unofficial patch and still had to do the stuff outlined above.

I'm installing it now, but the description at least definitely SAYS it adds in the Russian voices.

 

[morningbus]

I'm installing it now, but the description at least definitely SAYS it adds in the Russian voices.

Yeah, I saw that when installing the patch, too. But the voices didn't work until I did those outlined steps. Which makes sense because the patch isn't large enough to contain the Russian audio files. You end up having to replace a 40mb file with a 1.5gig file.

 

[Nishastra]

So Beamdog now has the Russian sound files up as "The Precursors Fan Improvement Pack", which you can download through the Beamdog software.

 

[morningbus]

So Beamdog now has the Russian sound files up as "The Precursors Fan Improvement Pack", which you can download through the Beamdog software.

I gave it a shot and it unfortunately didn't work for me. Thankfully, I made a backup of the install and can reapply my manual patches.

I'm not sure if it's because it used the files I had already modified with the unofficial patch, but be wary if you already have it set up to your liking. It does appear to download all the correct files, though. So I'm not sure where the problem is.

 

[SparkTR]

Well, I've been playing the BeamDog version of The Precursors along with Russian audio, unofficial patch 1.3 and no film grain downloads. To be frank, it reminds me of a poorly funded B-grade cheesy space opera, and with that said, I'm loving it. The gameworld is so packed with small details and places to discover I'm finding myself constantly ditching quests to check out an new place. I've spent 5 hours in the beginning world and I'm not even close to be tired of it yet. I haven't experienced any glitches or crashes yet, though there are slowdowns occasionally. It reminds me of a mix between Outcast (if you haven't played this, do it now) and Stalker, I honestly can't think of a better combination.

 

[Alex Connolly]

The amount of strange drug-related flora in Precursors is hilariously vast. Seems like every plant in that game is some sort of psychotropic substance.

 

[broham]

The amount of strange drug-related flora in Precursors is hilariously vast. Seems like every plant in that game is some sort of psychotropic substance.

One of my favorite moments was getting high on every drug I could get, stealing a hover craft, and shooting anything that moved all while looking like a rainbow threw up on my screen.

 

[Alex Connolly]

One of my favorite moments was getting high on every drug I could get, stealing a hover craft, and shooting anything that moved all while looking like a rainbow threw up on my screen.

A gaming experience anyone can aspire to! My favourite was simply drinking as much booze as possible and getting into a buggy.

 

[Monroeski]

Bought Precursors from Beamdog, and now it's asking me for a serial number to activate the game but I have no idea where to find it. "Key management" just keeps taking me back to the screen where it asks me to put in the serial number.

::edit::
Nevermind, found it. Had to go all the way to the game keys section on the website; never did find where the key is in the game client.

 

[corporateslave]

After reading this thread, I bought Precursors from beamdog. I'm enjoying the game but I must be the worst player ever at this game. After barely beating the tutorial portion, I picked up a ton of quests in the first town. After a few in town quests, I attempted to hoof it out in the desert and was crushed multiple times in quick succession by the overwhelming amount of buggers running around. So i went back to the story missions through the point where you leave planet for the first time and completed the cave mission and returned to Goldin

I then went back on foot into the desert. My faction ratings are all neutral and the desert Security bots even started firing on me, though i have no idea why. I assume they were offended by my ineptitude.

Is there an easier way to travel through the desert without dying 200 meters outside town? I haven't done the buggy quest yet. Is that almost mandatory for survival? Or am I just that bad at this game?

 

[Alex Connolly]

After reading this thread, I bought Precursors from beamdog. I'm enjoying the game but I must be the worst player ever at this game. After barely beating the tutorial portion, I picked up a ton of quests in the first town. After a few in town quests, I attempted to hoof it out in the desert and was crushed multiple times in quick succession by the overwhelming amount of buggers running around. So i went back to the story missions through the point where you leave planet for the first time and completed the cave mission and returned to Goldin

I then went back on foot into the desert. My faction ratings are all neutral and the desert Security bots even started firing on me, though i have no idea why. I assume they were offended by my ineptitude.

Is there an easier way to travel through the desert without dying 200 meters outside town? I haven't done the buggy quest yet. Is that almost mandatory for survival? Or am I just that bad at this game?

Buggy. Nab the buggy. Either that or there's a VTOL you can nab as well, but I recommend the buggy for pretty much every mission outside of Goldin. Make sure you take spare tires from other buggies (or simply nick them!), too. Fellows like to shoot out your tires.

 

[corporateslave]

Awesome, thanks for the tire tip. I otherwise likely would have been stranded and dead after quicksaving somewhere in the wasteland.

 

[KPJZKC]

These have just gone on sale at gamersgate (I watch those sales like a hawk...stop taking my money Gamersgate!)

$15 each.

 

[deleted]

I just found these thread and both games sound amazing!
They are now on my "to buy" list and I'll play them once I finally finished Alpha Protocol and ME2.

 

[morningbus]

Is there a group actively working on improving the English translation? I'm enjoying this game so much, I'd like to contribute to it in some way.

After reading this thread, I bought Precursors from beamdog. I'm enjoying the game but I must be the worst player ever at this game. After barely beating the tutorial portion, I picked up a ton of quests in the first town. After a few in town quests, I attempted to hoof it out in the desert and was crushed multiple times in quick succession by the overwhelming amount of buggers running around. So i went back to the story missions through the point where you leave planet for the first time and completed the cave mission and returned to Goldin

I then went back on foot into the desert. My faction ratings are all neutral and the desert Security bots even started firing on me, though i have no idea why. I assume they were offended by my ineptitude.

Is there an easier way to travel through the desert without dying 200 meters outside town? I haven't done the buggy quest yet. Is that almost mandatory for survival? Or am I just that bad at this game?

One thing I've noticed, playing on Normal, is that the difficulty can be insane at times. I've simply lucked out a few times, being able to sneak around the more deadly creatures, but every once in a while I'll step just a little bit further than my comfort zone and get seriously wrecked. I'd suggest auto-saving frequently.

My tips for just barely surviving: acquire a ton of ammo for your weapon of choice; wait a few in-game days for the raiders just outside the town to respawn, kill them, and loot all their possessions, including their buggies; sell everything you don't need and buy medkits.

Also, it isn't entirely apparent in the game, so make sure you're upgrading your character. If you see an upwards pointing arrow on the right side of your screen, you can buy some helpful perks.