Dragon Age 2: Wayward Son Glitch Workaround

I can confirm this works and I've been playing along happily ever since.  I mentioned it in my last post.

1. Enable the console.  There are several guides to do this out there.  Most of them can be found here.
2. Use the command "runscript zz_dae_debug" - this should bring up a menu of options.  You will not to able to see the command as you type it.
3. Click on Plot Jump -> core/critical path -> investigate -> circle plots  -> wayward son -> more options -> the cave on the wounded coast  
4. This will set the quest to the wounded coast stage and teleport you to the cave entrance
5. Head on in and finish the quest.
   

There is related to the solution posted here, but avoids skipping over any major part of the game.  Ideally this should leave your other quests untouched.   The biggest benefit is you can still finish the quest as planned and make your choices.

Hopefully this works for people.  On a related note, these two posts have gotten me more hits than ever before.  This means the problem must be pretty common, hopefully bioware will put out a fix soon.

-Liam

UPDATE:
I don't see why this wouldn't work for other similar bugs: give it a go and explore the menu.  There also maybe other scripts for various DLC

Dragon Age 2: Wayward Son Quest Glitch + Workaround?

Update: Here is an improved workaround.  It should allow you to complete the quest and not effect the rest of your game.

Or how I learned to stop playing and get some work done.

I recently purchased Dragon Age 2 and was having a pretty good time playing it.  I know some people have some gripes with the game and while some the the choices Bioware made are disappointing, they aren't really deal breakers - at least for me.

Interesting Dichotomy

But unfortunately,  I literally cannot finish one of the main quests required to complete the game.  I'm pretty sure loot-able corpses fall through the floor of the levels after a few seconds - or otherwise disappear.  One of these corpses has a map which I needed to move to the next stage of the quest.  I can no longer get it.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident.

 I sent an email off to EA's support and they said that they don't know any way to solve the problem and they suggested I post the glitch on their boards to try and get their attention.

They ended their canned response by saying the glitch may never be fixed.

Seriously?

Games have bugs, all the time.  But they usually aren't show stoppers and even then they're usually fixed.  They must have put DA2 through testing.  How could they not catch a glitch that makes the game unplayable?

Anyway, there may be a workaround using the console - if you're on PC, so I would look into that.

One particular command zz_dae_debug can let you change your state in the plot, but I'm kind of hesitant to use it because I don't want the choices I made to be wiped clean.

Anyway, that's me on Dragon Age 2.  Fun to play - if you can.

-Liam

Quite Possibly the Best Thing about JRP'S

It's not the style, the plots, the characters, the world or the battle system.

It's the character themes. They'd hit at just the right moment and it would rock so hard.

Here is a couple good ones. It may be hard to understand the context. I seriously suggest playing the games the music comes from to see how it really meshes together. These are chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI related







Of course twas the days of 16 bit, So they didn't really sound quite like this:



but more like this:



They really had the music down.

I think this is kind of missing from western RPGs. I can't really think of one with defined themes for the characters. It would be really cool. Especially since they can do cool stuff with the characters themselves.

When someone bursts in, says something awesome or even charges off, they should have a theme, and that theme should be blaring.

-Liam

Dragon Age II

Could be total crap, I don't know; I'm too busy playing it.

It also contains Gwen Cooper! 10 points to Dragon Age!

-Liam

Wireless Network Security - An Overview

Hi Everyone,

Last Semester I made a pretty comprehensive document detailing the history of Wi-Fi security.  In terms of what was used to secure it and how people broke the encryption.

I thought I'd put it out there as a resource for anyone interested.

Click here to get it [pdf]

It's 11pt font, single spaced, 2 column and adds up to 11 pages: all content..  Probably about 25 pages if I had used a lesser formatting.

I made it for a course and got 100%, so it's probably pretty good.  Everything is cited, so at the very least it's a good starting point.

-Liam

Video Games and Graphics

I've wanted to write about this for some time, so here goes.

The game industry as been trying to make better and better looking games for some time now (ever).  I don't think this is going to stop.  Ultimately, it may have done more harm than good, and I think in a lot of ways, the end product suffers.

There have been a lot of arguments out there already.  Those have been said, and that's not really what I want to talk about.  I think we've lost a lot of the story telling that comes with substandard graphics.  You heard me right.  Limited graphics brought something to the table gaming has now lost: The use of the minds of the players.

The basis for a psychological horror movie is that your mind fills in the blanks with whatever scares you the most.  This is what worked so well for Paranormal Activity and many more.  You literally never see what's out there.  Your mind does the work.  It finds whatever scariest to you and fills that in.  If there is a sound - whatever made that sound is the worst thing you can imagine. That scares the shit out of you.

But that's not limited to horror movies.  It works in gaming too.  Your mind can fill in what makes that story work for you.  Your mind makes the connection.  This is probably why the silent protagonist was so popular in old school rpgs.  Even something as simple as your character talking can cause a disconnect with your involvement in the story.  Your mind attaches the meaning that works best for your context.

One example is the fallout games:

Old School Fallout

New School Fallout

Fallout 1 and 2 both fill you with a feeling of dread as you walk through the wasteland, I remember feeling haunted by the oppressive ruined world.  In Fallout 3, I liked walking around, but otherwise didn't feel what I did before.  Fallout 3 shows you everything, and that kind of makes it meh.  The atmosphere, the characters, the harsh unforgiving world was all done much better in Fallout 1 and 2.  Why because my brain took what I thought would be terrible about the end of the world and used Fallout as something to both draw out and project those ideas onto.

Ode To Ayla

Woot!

I'd like to say this was a product of being bored on the ferry, but in truth I thought this was a really good idea regardless.  I make no claims to its quality, but I do like it.

Characters they come and go, I've enjoyed a fair sum
But for now, I'd rather just talk about one

From the times prehistoric
Comes a woman, most prolific

With flowing blond hair and clothes made of fur
This cat packs much, much, more bite than pur

Stronger than any man, and respects strong women
Truly the pinnacle of human physical condition

She does not use weapons, for her a fist is fine
For no weapon can do damage: nine-thousand nine-hundred and ninety nine

She was born before the time of magic
but to the core - her triple kick is tragic

Alas she is not just might, but charming, all the quicker
from the two headed snakes she takes a mega elixir

And though it's sometimes easy to miss
she also has a healing kiss

Alas she may not seem the brightest, at that may at times be worrisome
but she's actually quite smart - she just talks in third person

And let's not forget, because this point is not moot
In a contest, she can drink an whole lot of soup

When her people where endangered by the reptites - so radical
She called from the sky, the mighty pterodactyl

And when charged by lightening like some god damn human dynamo
She can beat the shit out of the black Tyranno

And here once again she proves she is stronger than them all
I know of no one else – admittedly indirectly – who can cause a red star to fall

Yes! Strong, fierce, might and morally just
And while I'll only use marle lucca, robo and frog if I must
In Ayla, I place my absolute trust

So when it's the fated hour and it's time
The clock  set for 1999
As long as we have Ayla, everything'll be fine

Because while la may mean fire, and vos may mean big
Ayla owns face

"Ayla fight while alive! Win and live. Lose and die Rule of life. No change rule"

— Ayla

Published! - Mind the Gap! Bridging the Dichotomy of Design and Implementation

Hi Everyone!

I just got word from the 4th International Workshop on Software Engineering for Computational Science and Engineering.  Aka SECSE 2011 and our paper Mind the Gap! Bridging the Dichotomy of Design and Implementation has been accepted!  Not only that, but our reviews were quite positive!  The best part is that this is one workshop of many which is at ICSE 2011.

Which this year, is in Hawaii!  Woot!  Hopefully this will get me there.  I have another paper in the works for another workshop in Hawaii and hopefully I hear about that one soon in a couple of days.  Maybe, just maybe, I'll be 2 for 2.

This is my first ever publication, which is awesome!  Looks like my academic carrier is off to a reasonable start.  I got to work with some great people and hopefully that will continue.   Everyone has to start somewhere and I apparently have started here.  Today, I had my first ever publication.  I'm also chilling in Portland enjoying great food and hospitality.  Tis a good day.

Thanks to everyone who helped out! Especially Donna and Yvonne!

I am so very excited.

-Liam

Thoughts on Grad School While I Warm Up my Curry

Made curry last night.  It worked out.

This point of my life has been extremely intense.  I've never felt so stressed out, nervous, excited, tired, awake or frightened before.  There have been very few points where I have felt this taxed and rewarded.  There is so much going on. It's hard to describe

Research has been good yet breakneck - though I am in a bit of a lull right now.  We managed to get two papers into conferences in Hawaii!  SECSE and IWMSE 2011 to be more precise .  One is based on my honors project and is pretty much all me.  The other is with a small team of us.  Both are kind of heavy for different reasons.  I think they both turned out pretty well.  I'm first author on mine, so here's hoping!  I had a lot of help from Andrew Brownsword who has awesome insights into performance and optimization.

Teaching is a very interesting experience and continues to be really rewarding.  I'm learning a ton every day.  Maybe someday I'll sort it all out and write some lessons learned, but first I have to figure out what those are.  It's super fun running a CSC lab - especially in 110.  You have a lesson plan, but we also get to add our own spin/creative variation. It's cool when people understand things or get legitimately excited.  Computer science is often pretty boring, but it really doesn't have to be. Making it fun and bringing people over to the dark side is pretty awesome.

In terms of actually coursework, I don't do a whole lot.  I'm in advanced cryptography, which appears to be working out.  It's interesting, but really theoretical, which isn't really what I'm into.

I'm also doing a grad seminar with a focus on being an international researcher.  Every Thursday we go in at 8:30 am and talk to folks in the UK.  That's kind of cool, but I think I need to know more about being a Canadian researcher before I branch out to the rest of the world.

Anyway, that's me for now.

-Liam

More on Usage Based Billing

Hi Everyone

The CRTC has been asked to reconsider their billing rules. So far the CRTC is digging in its heels and reacting to public pressure with disdain.

We urgently need to send a clear message to CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein that we demand access to an unmetered internet. Enough is enough.

Seriously people, it costs Bell a penny per GB and they want to charge you 2 dollars for it.