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Poison bug: Poisoned weapons create zombies

WindsongWindsong Member Posts: 21
edited November 2012 in Fixed
Describe Current Behavior:
Enemy targets killed by poisoned weapons die and spring back to life, almost like zombies, and do not die for good until the damage-over-time period of the poisoned weapon expires.

Describe Expected Behavior:
Enemy targets killed by poisoned weapons should stay dead and not spring back to life.

Background:
I've always encountered a bug when using poisoned weapons that do damage over time (e.g., poisoned arrows, bolts, etc.). For example, when the enemy target is at a low hit point level and I hit him with a poisoned arrow, he will not die normally when all his hit points are depleted.

If I recall correctly, once the target's hit points are depleted, he collapses, usually drops all his droppable weapons and items, and springs back to life. He will not be able to move from the spot where he died, but my party members will continue to attack him in his "zombie" state and he will also attack in melee if any of my party members are close enough to where he "died." He eventually dies for good, presumably when the damage-over-time period has expired.

I used to love using poisoned weapons in games like Icewind Dale because it was great for disrupting spell casters. But I stopped using them in BG and BG2 not only b/c it disrupted my battles (party members kept attacking him when live enemies were still around) but b/c it seemed so strange to me.
Post edited by Tanthalas on

Comments

  • BoasterBoaster Member Posts: 622
    I've noticed this on a fresh install of BGTuTu.
  • AndreaColomboAndreaColombo Member Posts: 5,533
    Sounds nasty!
  • BhryaenBhryaen Member Posts: 2,874
    Oh, good one! Hopefully BGEE can restore your interest in poisoning people. ;-)

    Still... Arrows of Zombification... has potential...
  • BhryaenBhryaen Member Posts: 2,874
    OK, testing this out using assassin with poisoned weapons, Arrows of Biting (had to modify since they don't kill otherwise), a force-recruited sword spider, and the spell Poison... I have the feeling you won't have anything to worry about in this regard. ;-)
  • WindsongWindsong Member Posts: 21
    Please also test with the Bolt of Biting. I encountered the poison-zombie bug primarily with the Arrow of Biting and the Bolt of Biting. I think the bug occurs when the enemy target's hit points are first lowered during battle and then he is killed by the damage-over-time poisoned weapon. I usually played with either BGT or BG2--I am told BGEE uses a modified BG2 engine, so the bug should pop up in BGEE as well...
  • BhryaenBhryaen Member Posts: 2,874
    edited July 2012
    Well, I didn't bother with the Bolt of Biting since, erm, same damage type as Arrow of Biting. Hard to make that one stick too because in fact that poison is coded to damage to a per cent of HP, so enemies almost never really die of poison that way (unless they were already wounded), just get reduced way down so you're vulnerable to other damage. But the aspect of poison continuing to bite away after death... or of the dead person dropping equipment and getting back up to twitch... Let's just say it feels confirmed ok... ;-)

    [EDIT] Added to Fixed forum, although I couldn't successfully reproduce this in BG1 using Arrows of Biting (AROW05) to kill Marl, Mutamin, Tarnesh, Angelo repeatedly.
    Post edited by Bhryaen on
  • WindsongWindsong Member Posts: 21
    Just wanted to confirm -- were you playing BG1 on the BG2 engine? The poison-zombie bug was encountered on the BG2 engine.
  • lansounetlansounet Member Posts: 1,182
    edited July 2012
    Off-topic remark : I though that poison percentage damage thing was just in description and there was no code to backup that effect?

    @Windsong Were you playing with TobEx v22 when you encountered that bug? It could have been installed through other mods that require it like SCS(2)/aTweaks/RR
  • WindsongWindsong Member Posts: 21
    I'm not sure what TobEx v22 is but when playing BG2 or BGT I had the following mods installed:

    1. Ascension
    2. BG2 Fixpack
    3. BG2 Unfinished Business
    4. Sword Coast Stratagems II
    5. BG2 Tweak Pack
  • lansounetlansounet Member Posts: 1,182
    I'm not sure of the version number (might have been v21, whatever) but yeh, that's probably where your bug came from. I suppose at the time you did that install SCS2 was shipped with the TobEx version that had that bug.

    TobEx is a mod that injects stuff in your bgmain.exe to work around harcoded stuff.
  • WindsongWindsong Member Posts: 21
    edited July 2012
    I bought my copy of BG2 from gog.com and never had to patch the game. So the poison bug came from SCSII?
  • WindsongWindsong Member Posts: 21
    I see your point about posting bugs from modded games, but your "been fixed quickly... that's like 2011 old!" comment is incorrect.

    The version update of SCS2 that you are most likely referring to was not made available until this month. I just checked the Gibberlings3 website--I used v20 when playing BG2, which I haven't played in a few weeks. v21 was uploaded just this month.

  • BhryaenBhryaen Member Posts: 2,874
    Thanks, @lansounet! :-)
    Shame on you, @Windsong! :-P

    Definitely a lesson learned: clarify if issue comes from a modded game before even investigating...
  • lansounetlansounet Member Posts: 1,182
    Yay my first promote!
    Sorry @Windsong I meant that TobEx was updated as it can be installed on its own before other mods which prevents other mods installing older versions (like SCS v20)
  • WindsongWindsong Member Posts: 21
    edited July 2012
    @Bhryaen Yes, it was my error to post bugs when I had some mods installed. I am new to the art of bug posting.

    @Iansounet thanks for the clarification. Just installing the five mods I had in the proper order was a big deal for me so the separateness of TobEx was a bit beyond me. But with v21 now available, I will use that version the next time I play. Hopefully they will have a version of SCS that is compatible with BGEE.
  • AshielAshiel Member Posts: 254
    I'm glad to know it was from SCS. Here I was wondering WTF was going on when my imp polymorphed into a giant spider, poisoned enemies, and produced unkillable folks I had to kill with Ctrl+Y. :P
  • agrisagris Member Posts: 581
    on the other hand... if the zombies where on your team, that sounds like a nice unique poison to find.
  • DukeOfSuffolkDukeOfSuffolk Member Posts: 22
    @agris I was just thinking that ;)
  • BalquoBalquo Member, Developer Posts: 2,746
    @Tanthalas Non issue/fixed.
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