Pikeman at List Field

[Kuroshi]

Does the Pikeman at List Field (the one you ask to train) have a schedule? I haven't been able to find him. I just happened to notice because I got back from the Silver Seed quest and haven't been able to get Luther to give the shield back because I can't train. Going back through my savegames it seems he disappeared within an hour period between getting my wolf's pelt and going to the banquet. Hasn't been in a single savegame since (and it's been a long time!).

Any suggestions on how to bring him back?

[Kuroshi]

Heh, apparently Fawn Tower is co-inhabited by Goblins and Pikemen at the same time as well. I wonder if I did something out of order to cause that.

[wjp]

Hm, the pikemen seems to disappear occasionally when doing the banquet. We've had several other reports of this.

[RazorBlade]

This happened to me in the original game some times. A workaround for getting your shield is to try to walk on the wall and ask him for the shield. It worked for me, but the Pikeman never returned. So it is no Exult bug I think. I recommend trying an older savegame though.

[drcode]

Yes, he doesn't have a schedule, but is supposed to be created by an 'egg' by the desk each time you approach. There must be a bug causing that egg to disappear, but I've never been able to duplicate it.

[wjp]

Kuroshi: if you still have the savegames right before and right after the pikeman disappears, could you email them to me?

[Kuroshi]

Just sent them. Went through the banquet in the first save twice earlier today and wasn't able to repeat the disappearing pikeman, just so you know. Maybe just savegame corruption?

[wjp]

I tried three times, and couldn't get him to disappear

Can you remember anything else you did between the savegames?

[Kuroshi]

Well, the first save was at 23:01 game-time and the second was 23:09, it takes about :04 to walk there, and I remember that I had a little trouble finding the hall (forgot where it was). Essentially, I didn't do anything but walk around looking for the place. I think the only reason I have a save during the banquet is because I was wondering if I could (save that is).

[Kuroshi]

I got all my times mixed up. It was 23:01 and 23:09 my time, and it was :22 between saves game-time. I probably exited the game during that time to go get a drink or something, but I'm not sure, it was a few days ago. It takes :04 to walk there and I'm not sure how much time had been spent in the banquet. If I did anything in-game it would have been inventory management, though I could have talked to someone (it would have had to have been quick). I'll try to figure it out.

[Kuroshi]

Hmm I was just able to repeat it. I made the mistake last time of just checking to see if the Pikeman was there instead of looking for the egg. I just walked to the banquet in the first save, went through the banquet as quickly as possible, saved before I got my party back, walked over to the Pikeman and the green U was gone (the one near the desk). Sometimes when I load he's there, and sometimes he's not, but the U is always gone.

Tried again and both he and the U were there. Still working at it.

[Kuroshi]

I got one that has worked five times in a row. Instead of using the banquet doors when I'm right in front of them, I used them before I got to the front of the building, and the Avatar auto-walked over there to open them. Every time the Pikeman was gone. Tried it twice using the door when right in front of it, and the Pikeman was there both times. I'll try it a bit more. I don't think saving, quitting the game, alt-tabbing out, or using a window has any bearing on it, because I haven't done any of those during the tests. I use 400x300 resolution, mainly because it's the lowest one for Exult that looks right on this monitor.

[Kuroshi]

Forgot to mention that I'm walking down the left side of the banquet hall, the one near List Field. Haven't had the Pikeman disappear when I walk down the other side to get there, though I only tried twice.

[wjp]

Hm, from what location did you open the doors exactly? left, right? Also, what path did you take to the banquet hall? past the list field or approaching it from the east?

[wjp]

Never mind; got it

Approach from the left, and open the doors as soon as you can see them. This way, the pikeman's egg is closer to the avatar than the egg that controls the banquet doors. This causes find_nearby to return the wrong egg, and it is then deleted.

Thanks for the help!

[Kuroshi]

Good to be of help.

For anyone that this might have happened to earlier but wasn't willing to go back to an earlier save (like me): I suggest loading an earlier save and looking at the egg near the pikeman. Then you can create it in your current save with ExultStudio.

[drcode]

Thanks! I just tried it in the original SI, and the same thing happens.

We have to be really careful about fixing this, as other things depend on the order in which find_nearby() finds things.

[Dominus]

aargh, those bugs from the original. Bugger!!!
We can do without them....

[drcode]

Maybe we should report them to Origin:-)

[Colourless]

It's another case of we are emulating the original engine so perfectly that the originals bugs also appear in Exult

-Colourless Dragon

[British Fiend]

How can you take pride in having errors?

[wjp]

Easy: they're not our errors

(The errors are in the data files. In this case the egg placement and/or usecode are faulty)

[Soul Harvester]

Here's a question for the exult coders or anyone who knows something about the Usecode.

In the original U7:SI, if you smashed the two chests closest to the door (I could never break the door) with a long weapon or powder keg or smth (you could do it through the door), the pikeman then, upon ever asking him about training or sparring, says he can't because he has "Lost the keys"(i am NOT joking).

Why does it cause this, and if it is because the object is gone or there was an egg inside it or something, why oh why were eggs in a visible container or even in a location where a non-cheating player could mess with them?

[Neutronium Dragon]

I would suspect that the chests are where your equipment is stored while you're sparring or training. With the chests gone, the game has nowhere to stash the items, and thus returns the "I can't find my keys" comment to avoid an error.

Neutronium Dragon

[Soul Harvester]

Ah, that makes sense, considering there are six chests.