Battlespire:Bugs

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No matter how hard the game creators will try, there will always be some bugs in existing in any game. This page will list any discovered bug, anything from a mere inconsistency to a full blown game crasher, along with any solutions if applicable. Feel free to contribute anything you feel deserves a 'bug' label in the game. Below are a list of common bugs that plague the game to this day, using the 1.5 version of Battlespire.

Critical Bug.

There is a very severe bug in the latest version 1.5. In the worst case it can cause unusable save games. Luckily this bug occurs only in Level 5. Due some reasons the game creates useless object entries for containers every time the game is saved. There will be about 20 new entries per loaded save game that are generated in this way. As long as you don't quit the current game the useless object entries in your save game won't increase. But as soon as you load your latest save you have these useless entries permanently in your current game. The next time you load your latest save you have again 20 new entries and so on, until there are too many objects in your save game. Once this point is reached the game will drop to DOS every time you try to load the polluted save while saying it couldn't allocate object memory. This occurs usually when there is a total of about 600+ containers. This will be usually the case after you have started from a saved game for the 30^st or at most 50^st time, depending on how many entries are generated per save. You can observe this phenomenon easily if you take a look into your save games. If you count the containers that are present in your save games you will notice that their number increases with each new save, which was previously loaded from a polluted save.

Although the README.TXT of v1.5 says that this bug has been corrected when compared with previous versions, this doesn't seem to be the case. It is very unlikely that this error has been even worser in prior versions.

It is assumed that the mixture of exterior and interior cells, which is encountered in this level is the cause for this phenomenon, since prior to Level 5 there is only one cell, the game level itself and Level 6 and 7 have only one interior cell, a single building. But no other level beside Level 5 has so many interior cells (houses, a cave, horned temples, a crypt) and even an interior cell in an interior cell (the tower in the cave behind the waterfall).

There is no solution for this serious bug except the advise to save as little as possible. There is nothing more frustrating than encountering this error near the end of the level with the only solution to re-start the level from the scratch, provided one has an according save game.

More Serious Bugs.

1. In many cases dropped damaged magical items can't be picked up again, although they are clearly visible on the ground. Clicking such items brings up only an empty menu-screen. Always use containers to store/drop such items, if you plan to pick them up again. (v1.5)
2. The "resist fire" effect seems to be broken, it never works. (v1.5)
3. Getting stuck in void. Sometimes you fall or just walk through a wall or crack forcing a reload. (v1.5)
4. On some places you take damage for no reason. Near the seducer bodyguard on Level 7 for instance, standing on where the top part meets the bottom (ie, at the crack) you take considerable damage. (v1.5)
5. If you 'pause' while on a moving lift (such as going into your inventory) you're position is paused but the lift movement isn't. When you 'unpause' you're sitting at the bottom. Can be deadly if its a high lift. (v1.5)
6. Pausing thing also affects spells you cast. For instance I quaff a potion of Etherealness, return to my inventory, wait, exit, the spell has worn off. Doesn't appear to work for spells cast on you by enemies? (v1.5)
7. Cursor position on automap in Levels 4 and 5 (and others) is wrong (v1.5).
8. Problem clipping monsters in Level 4 near Quam warding sigils. Parts of monster and replaced by wall/ceiling/floor graphic. Occasionally monster disappears completely for long periods of time (still attacks, is not invisible) v1.5
9. Jumping icon in Level 5 dungeon is not drawn (v1.5).
10. Random crashes and GPFs in Win95. Problem may be not enough swap space. Don't ignore any warning message on startup. See the Technical Manual for information on how to solve this.
11. Character gets stuck in many places, can't move or jump and have to reload (v1.5)
12. Monsters die without leaving sack of stuff, even though you were firing arrows at (v1.5)
13. Can't pick up scroll on floor in Level 2 entrance (v1.5) and other places as well.
14. Mobs get stuck easily on, well, anything (v1.5). Mostly corners and tight places.
15. A magical cape found on Level 2a is worn as pants? (v1.5)
16. Scamp disappeared on Level 2. Was seen in a blocked off section but when I went in it was gone (v1.5)
17. Spider daedra near end of Level 3 (the one with the entry rune) walked up into the air and out into the void, never to return (v1.5).

Smaller Bugs.

1. Empty sacks should disappear when left on the floor
2. You can hear footsteps when standing on a lift (Level 1, v1.5)
3. Bookcase graphic on Level 1 upside down (v1.5), of course it is a mage's chamber so...???
4. Some monsters disappear and come back to life after you kill them sometimes (scamp and vermai) (v1.5)
5. Two of the coffins on Level 3 don't have riddles on them (v1.5)?
6. Walking and Sneaking speed seems to vary slightly, annoying (v1.5).
7. Boats and ballon disappear when you exit them (v1.5). Ballon does return to mooring place eventually but where do boats go?
8. Some of those purple healing crystals are really big (man size) v1.5. Is this on purpose?
9. Bad graphics in places, Level 5 near waterfall, Level 3 under those rising platforms in big room (v1.5).
10. In Level 6 you enter the castle of Lord Imago Storm through the south gate, therefore you should also emerge at the south end inside the castle. But you will always emerge opposite the entry-gate at the north side of the castle.