NovusPeregrine

Member
Game Developer
Nov 27, 2017
336
618
After choice sometimes the screen turns to black and not working. (working in the magic shop, going to Guildhall...)
It becomes okay when I exit and restart the game.
But, after the choice "The Blacksmith" the screen turns to black and it is still changed to black even I restart the game.
I can enter the Blacksmith through the magic shop work event, but that's all, the screen still black
Welll....the Blacksmith thing is an ongoing issue I've been trying to fix since the beginning. It's been hell since only a cross-selection of players are having the issue...and I'm not included in that. Even when I load saves from players that have the issue, it fixed itself on my system, making it difficult to figure out what's going on. I'm planning to completely rip that section of code out on the next update and replace it from scratch, since for the life of me I've been unable to find any reason for the bug, despite looking line-by-line, several different times.

The other places though, that's far more concerning. There was an issue like that back near the very beginning, but it was fixed early on. There was an update to the engine recently that I was forced to apply (steam being a jerk) and I was worried about it maybe causing issues, since the original problem was in the engine itself. You, however, are the first one to report an issue since the new build release. So, can you provide me some information?

--------------

Which Build are you playing?

Are you playing on MAC, Windows, or the Online version?

Have you tried the workaround version? Does it behave the same way?

Is the blackscreen issue (with the exception of the blacksmith) always in the same places? Or is it random?

--------------
 

kochun51

Newbie
Jul 19, 2020
23
5
Welll....the Blacksmith thing is an ongoing issue I've been trying to fix since the beginning. It's been hell since only a cross-selection of players are having the issue...and I'm not included in that. Even when I load saves from players that have the issue, it fixed itself on my system, making it difficult to figure out what's going on. I'm planning to completely rip that section of code out on the next update and replace it from scratch, since for the life of me I've been unable to find any reason for the bug, despite looking line-by-line, several different times.

The other places though, that's far more concerning. There was an issue like that back near the very beginning, but it was fixed early on. There was an update to the engine recently that I was forced to apply (steam being a jerk) and I was worried about it maybe causing issues, since the original problem was in the engine itself. You, however, are the first one to report an issue since the new build release. So, can you provide me some information?

--------------

Which Build are you playing?

Are you playing on MAC, Windows, or the Online version?

Have you tried the workaround version? Does it behave the same way?

Is the blackscreen issue (with the exception of the blacksmith) always in the same places? Or is it random?

--------------
I play the game on this site.
Win10, offline
I don't know what is workaround version
Random, but I think this is a problem of first loading.
- Once it happens, it never happens again.
- It happened only in the beginning part.(Soon after starting the game)
 

NovusPeregrine

Member
Game Developer
Nov 27, 2017
336
618
I play the game on this site.
Win10, offline
I don't know what is workaround version
Random, but I think this is a problem of first loading.
- Once it happens, it never happens again.
- It happened only in the beginning part.(Soon after starting the game)
Thanks for the information. Particularly the bit about it only happening once, that sounds a lot like they tried to fix the original engine issue and caused another in the process, I'll look into it.

As for the workaround version, it's essentially a downloadable version of the Web Release. Since it plays in-browser, it eliminates a lot of issues that are hardware specific. In point of fact, it was originally something I did for Mac Users that couldn't get the game to run right on some builds of the Mac OS. I've discovered since then, though, that is often eliminates other hardware-specific issues. If you want to try it, you can find it at on the over on my Patreon. Listed as the 'Offline Web Build.' As this is essentially a new bug (except for the blacksmith stuff), I have no idea if it would help or not though.
 

NovusPeregrine

Member
Game Developer
Nov 27, 2017
336
618
! And, of course, this means that I've updated the links for the main post to Build 11, as said build has been released to the public.

Build 12 saw some serious issues crop up with the Visual Novel Maker Engine. Namely, that the assholes who make it forced a non-optional update on me that broke every single one of the over 2000 images and videos in the game -_-. I had to spent about a week fixing them all manually, resulting in the build not having everything in it I wanted. That said, it still does a good job of introducing the new Quest Hub, The College of Allund. You can now progress through any of the three quest chains in New Landing and move on to The College of Allund, moving the story along and getting the first major clues about the chastity belt... Find out more in the release notes below! But before that...

Some Good News along with the bad! As of Build 12, I've been able to (due to the same changes to the engine that broke everything, actually) make an experimental patch to update the game from Build 11 to Build 12. The patch is still very experimental until my patrons can let me know (hopefully) if it works completely or not. If it does, then as of the new update, there will be an option to upgrade rather than download the whole game again. The patch sizes are still in the 1-2gb range, because they have to include the entire engine due to the asinine way said engine is built. But that's a heck of a lot better than downloading 10gb each time!

Now, release notes!

Build 12 Release Notes:

Build 12 contains an entirely new hub area! The College of Allund adds 3 major characters, 30 new sex scenes, and several new bits of story!

New Area - The College of Allund is the next major quest hub of the game. Meaning it is now possible to actually finish up any of the three routes through New Landing and move onward in the story! Make sure you're done in New Landing, though! You won't be returning! There are/will be several minor impacts on the game depending on which route you take to leave new landings, as well. Though currently the only real effects are if you take the Thief Route or another option, and the differeces are minor.

New Major Characters - This build introduces Delinna the Librarian, Avinea the Cursed/Blessed magic specialist, and Melieana the Battle Mage. These are three of the four Major Characters for the College of Alllund, and each of them will be more individually/deeply developed than any previous character! Each one has jobs/favors you can do for them...and things to spend the accrued Favor on!

Story Reveals! Avinea, in particular, has quite a bit of information you can earn from her. For the first time, you can get some REAL, SOLID information on Kiralia's situation...

Other Stuff

Character Menu Overhaul!
The original Character Menu was ugly as heck. It was originally supposed to be temporary...and I've finally gotten around to replacing it with a much better-looking version!

Blacksmith Overhaul - The Hope's Rest Blacksmith has been a major source of issues from the beginning, and previous attempts to fix the issues have failed. In build 12, I completely ripped out every freaking line of code/script, and replaced it with an entirely fresh version. While the content is the same, its code has been brought perfectly in line with all other areas of the game. Hopefully, this will finally squash the issues with it!

Code Improvements - I've made some changes to earlier code in the game that will, hopefully, make the speed of transition between scenes less horrible. There will always be a 500ms lag between scenes, because that's built into the engine and my attempts to change that caused major issues in the past. But, hopefully, there are now no delays beyond that.

Credits Menu Updated - While I had hoped to overhaul this menu, I didn't get a chance because of the issues with the build. Even so, I've still added a page for the College of Allund, as well as updated the Patron listings.

Known Issues

- Completely forgot to edit the chats for Delinna and Melieanna :-(. They are likely horribly rough and have lots of grammar/spelling errors T-T. Sorry! I was so focused on fixing the issues as fast as possible that this slipped through the cracks!
 
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mdk2100

Member
Feb 4, 2019
411
847
When I walk into the bar I guess the correct question is "who" is on tap tonight and not "what". I also feel as thought I should tip more. It is dinner and a show after all.
1614978891191.png
 
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Mr Technician

Active Member
Apr 30, 2018
883
1,009
Oh yeah! Skyrim on SexLab with Devious Devices + S.L.U.T.S + Ceraph + Whiterun Brothel, maybe Trapped in Rubber also because location looks similar and awesome (from the screenshot).

Good mods setup! :love:

PS: Actually my avatar is a screenshot from Skyrim + Real Flying from nexus! Haha!
 
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cubba

Member
Jul 12, 2018
291
453
I might have found a bug?
After the first rogue quest when you enter the room with the guildmaster and are unbelted Lysa offers you to have some fun as a thank you for helping her friend.
After that I don't have the option to ask Rolf about my next job anymore.
(I pickt the option to figure it out myself for the rougue quest. I don't know if thats important.)
 
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NovusPeregrine

Member
Game Developer
Nov 27, 2017
336
618
Oh yeah! Skyrim on SexLab with Devious Devices + S.L.U.T.S + Ceraph + Whiterun Brothel, maybe Trapped in Rubber also because location looks similar and awesome (from the screenshot).

Good mods setup! :love:

PS: Actually my avatar is a screenshot from Skyrim + Real Flying from nexus! Haha!
Well spotted on most of those! Well, assuming you spotted them out instead of just checking out the credits, I suppose :p. I haven't actually used Trapped in Rubber. Mostly as I've no idea what's in it, as I've never used that mod myself and it hasn't turned up when I was looking for something specific yet. I know it exists, and generally what it's story is, but that's about it.

I might have found a bug?
After the first rogue quest when you enter the room with the guildmaster and are unbelted Lysa offers you to have some fun as a thank you for helping her friend.
After that I don't have the option to ask Rolf about my next job anymore.
(I pickt the option to figure it out myself for the rougue quest. I don't know if thats important.)
Yikes! Yes, you definitely found a bug. Thank you for reporting it! It took a bit of a headache inducing 20 minutes to find it, but thankfully your report was specific enough that I was able to locate it. The rogue quest code is easily the most complex of the three chains and it looks like there was a variable check left over from before I rewrote how advancing through it was tracked. I think. Going to have to actually test it to make sure that I didn't just break something horribly by removing the old check. That particular chunk of code is a bit of a birds nest of chaos.

Unfortunately, there's no real way to make patches for small fixes like this, so it's unlikely I'll be able to publish a fix until the next build. I can tell you that, if you pick up the next job from Rolf before getting Lysa's reward (by going into the office belted the first time after Quest 1) that the quest chain will work fine. I'm guessing the vast majority of people must do that, since this hasn't been reported before and it has to have been that way for several builds >-<. Either that or people just haven't reported it. *Sigh.* Thanks again for reporting it, it's like pulling teeth sometimes to get even my patrons (as much as I love those guys and gals for supporting me) to report bugs T-T.
 
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Fafa39

New Member
Dec 13, 2018
13
4
I don't know why, but the game doesn't start. I click on the Game.exe but nothing. I also tried to run it as an administrator but nothing. Do you know how to solve?
 

xenomorph7510

Newbie
Jan 16, 2019
77
23
I don't know why, but the game doesn't start. I click on the Game.exe but nothing. I also tried to run it as an administrator but nothing. Do you know how to solve?
You may want to run it as administrator. I solved that problem a few times by doing that.
 

NovusPeregrine

Member
Game Developer
Nov 27, 2017
336
618
I don't know why, but the game doesn't start. I click on the Game.exe but nothing. I also tried to run it as an administrator but nothing. Do you know how to solve?
Which version are you running, and on what OS? There are some problems specific to Mac that you may be running into if you're a mac user...
 
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NovusPeregrine

Member
Game Developer
Nov 27, 2017
336
618
I'm on windows, and I have the build11 version
Hmmm, that's definitely odd, as few issues have ever been reported with the Windows version. However, that doesn't mean there aren't a few things you can try.

1) Some people have noticed that it doesn't like playing from the Desktop or Dowload folders. This isn't the case for everyone, but make sure you've unzipped the program to a location other than those.

2) If you have a good internet connection, you can try the Online Version, which runs in a browser and therefore doesn't have compatibility issues. The Online Version will actually even run on Android/iOS.

3) If you DON'T have a good internet connection, you can actually still run the Online Version. There's been enough weird issues with the engine I use (that are actual issues with the engine, not my code, and therefore I can't fix), that I release a Workaround Build for those with odd issues. This build, along with some instructions about how to use it, is always linked in the public release posts on my Patreon. However, I'll also copy the text/link here:

Offline Web Build:
Note, this version is for those that can't get other versions to work for one reason or another. It is, essentially, just the browser version from the Web Build, made downloadable. It is confirmed to work on Windows, Mac, and Linux...but it requires you to . Do so only at your own risk! Note: Some people have reported that newer versions work fine without the CORS security features disabled. But I have not personally tested this.

Link:
 

NovusPeregrine

Member
Game Developer
Nov 27, 2017
336
618
Time for another release of the game! Build 13 was released on the 30th for my $5+ Patrons, which means Build 12 was released to the public. It introduced the new Hub Area of the game, The College of Allund, finally moving the game's main plot on from New Landing.

Of special note...there is now an experimental patch for the Windows version that can update between builds. In theory. None of my patrons tested it, apparently, or not the ones that I got to respond about it anyway. If you use the patch to go between versions, please let me know how it worked for you!





Build 13 Release Notes:

This build focused on wrapping up content for the New Landing and College of Allund Hub Areas. New landing finally received proper content for belt removal at the Dawn's Rose, and other unlockable bits were added to New Landing involving the Scarlett Sisters and Guard Captain Annalisa! Meanwhile, Allund was massively expanded, adding a fourth Major Character (the Artificer Tholindere), futa expansion for several areas, and the ability to explore the college for 12 different random encounters (4 each for Belted, Unbelted, and Futafied statuses).

New Major Character - Tholindere the Artificer! The final Major npc for The College of Allund, Tholindere has a similar favor system to the other three such npcs. Also like them, he has a total of 10 core scenes to explore.

Explore the College - You can now explore the College grounds, looking for random events with various students and staff...as well as one surprised 'other'!

Other College of Allund Content - The Library now has Futa, support and a couple of other miscellaneous scenes were added.

The Scarlett Sisters - Most of you probably thought I forgot that the chastity belt unlock option at the Dawn's Rose (New Landing Docks) was supposed to be temporary! Far from it...but I HAD decided that I wanted to keep it. The original temporary measure has now been replaced by an unlocking option with actual scenes. In addition, there is futa support for both sisters...though you'll have to figure out how to unlock one of them ;-p.

Guard Captain Annalise - Also in New Landing...the Captain of the Guard has a secret, beyond her futa status! Find the trigger to unlock a few new scenes with her...

Other Stuff:

- Credits updated, though at this point I really need to overhaul them pretty badly. Maybe next build.

- Modified the Favor cost and Payout of the Client Sponsorship option with Mel. As there are now two randomly chose scenes, I lower both the cost and payout to make the favor more easily repeatable.

- Fixed a bunch of bugs and Typos.

Known Issue:

-One of Tholindere's experiments results in an effect that lasts beyond his lab. Currently, this event doesn't acknowledge if you try/succeed to get/in getting the Chastity Belt removed while it's ongoing. And oversight on my part that was only noticed late in testing. I've noted it down to be fixed in Build 14.
 

qwsaq

Active Member
Feb 2, 2020
696
1,190
NovusPeregrine
I'm legitimately curious about what's going on in the back-end in your game, particularly in the online version.
There is no reason loading times should be as long as they are between scenes, even for poverty internet it shouldn't be more than a minute or so to load. But my halfway decent internet sometimes takes much longer than that. Even more frustrating is that on some loading screens, I'll check my download rate and it will be at 0kb/sec. I would assume that's just my internet taking a shit on me, but the connection's fine as refreshing a page on another website will make it spike right up to >1Mb/sec.
All it should need to load is a few still images (maybe an mp4 or two depending on the scene), code for the buttons, text, check for relevant variables, and run a little RNG. Also, looking at the download file size (>10GB, holy fuck!) that suggests there's A LOT of optimization that needs to be done. What is bloating your game so badly? Any chance we can get at least a half-assed assessment of what assets weigh how much? There is no reason a game like this should be so massive.

I don't want to come off as mean in any way. You ARE making a good game, but the amount of bloat makes it hard to enjoy. This is purely intended as constructive criticism. I'm by no means a world class coder but plenty of people on this forum would be happy to help with this issue.
 

NovusPeregrine

Member
Game Developer
Nov 27, 2017
336
618
NovusPeregrine
I'm legitimately curious about what's going on in the back-end in your game, particularly in the online version.
There is no reason loading times should be as long as they are between scenes, even for poverty internet it shouldn't be more than a minute or so to load. But my halfway decent internet sometimes takes much longer than that. Even more frustrating is that on some loading screens, I'll check my download rate and it will be at 0kb/sec. I would assume that's just my internet taking a shit on me, but the connection's fine as refreshing a page on another website will make it spike right up to >1Mb/sec.
All it should need to load is a few still images (maybe an mp4 or two depending on the scene), code for the buttons, text, check for relevant variables, and run a little RNG. Also, looking at the download file size (>10GB, holy fuck!) that suggests there's A LOT of optimization that needs to be done. What is bloating your game so badly? Any chance we can get at least a half-assed assessment of what assets weigh how much? There is no reason a game like this should be so massive.

I don't want to come off as mean in any way. You ARE making a good game, but the amount of bloat makes it hard to enjoy. This is purely intended as constructive criticism. I'm by no means a world class coder but plenty of people on this forum would be happy to help with this issue.
As to wanting to know what's going on in the back-end...you and me both! I'm using Visual Novel Maker, and their engine is basically inaccessible. All I have to work with is the GUI/Scripting I can manipulate from the creator-side. And from what I can tell, their engine is a ^$#@%ing mess. I seriously regret choosing it but by the time I realized what a total piece of shit it was, I was too deep into development to change course. Honestly, you're better off downloading it, particularly as I've started trying to provide patches between versions. The online version was only ever intended to help people who didn't want to download the files, couldn't get the DL version to work, or who wanted to play on mobile. Considering how much my host is bitching about my data usage, I will probably discontinue the online deployment as soon as the game is actually finished.

-----------------
As for the size...I'm really really really tired of explaining this. So this will be the last time I do so. Period.

Rough Sizes:
Size of the Game Engine Itself: 1.5gb
Size of the 5+ HOURS worth of HD Video: 8.5 gb
Size of the thousands of still images: 1.5gb

ALL still images use JPEG compression. ALL movie snippets use WEBM compression (VP8 is used : Sadly VP9 is not supported by the VNM engine). All video is 24 fps 1080p, all jpeg images are similarly 1920x1080. And please keep in mind this is VIDEO, not the 3-5 frame animation loops you see in most games.

The simple truth is that this game is already heavily compressed. Sadly, compression isn't magic no matter what the people of the internet believe. This is also not your namby-pamby 3-hour visual novel. Unless you're skipping like a mad loon, the game probably has 10-15 hours of content, at minimum. And that WITHOUT grind mechanics. Frankly put, five-plus hours of 1080p HD video is large, even under compression. The download is large because the game has more content than virtually any other 2 or 3 adult games combined. The sheer number of encounters dwarfs even games like Harem Hotel or Mythic Manor. Though, I manifestly DO NOT claim the scenes are as high quality or original as those extremely good works. There's simply a genuinely massive number of such encounters. Somewhere around 285 unique encounters, plus variants.

I know the game is large. I know that sucks. But there's literally nothing more I can do to fix that, not without drastically lowering the quality to a level I find completely unacceptable. I provide multiple download mirrors, an online version, and most recently version upgrade patches, in an attempt to mitigate the pain of having to download such a large amount. Please do not bitch and moan, or worse accuse me of needing to optimize. From this post on, I will not respond to such comments again, as they show a lack of basic awareness and common sense about how compression works, or else that the poster hasn't played enough of the game yet to realize how freakin massive it is, content-wise. And, worse, that they haven't bothered to read any of my other numerous explanations on the subject.

And no, I'm not angry at you specifically. Actually, I'm not 'angry' at all. Just utterly fed up with that being the single most common comment and compliant, while I struggle to get even my most loyal patrons to tell me what they actually like about the game. Constructive feedback is amazing. Bitching about something beyond my control because I'm not a wizard or immortal space god that can warp reality to make problems go away, is not. You specifically weren't overly impolite about it, so I apologize for making this rant in reply to you directly. I've simply heard this unreasoning complaint too many times.
 
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3.60 star(s) 8 Votes