ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

This addon restores the 1.1.4 version of the Orc Breeding Pits. Not much, but it works.

Addon can be found here.

What this addon does: Uses a hook to load the existing encounter back in, thus spawning the zone. (hooks/load.lua)
Overloads one chat to remove the phrase 'the final solution' (Instead, 'the solution to our problem') (overload/data/chats/orc-breeding-pits.lua)
Creates 1 file in data for the hook to use.

Why was this addon made: To restore the tipped balance that removing a dungeon (especially one with a significant impact in reducing the encounter rate in the east), as well as allow the achievement to be acquired ('Genocide') And because removing it was just the wrong thing to do, from a balance or ethical standpoint, though perhaps the right one from a publicity standpoint. also, the effort that was made to tweak the pits by DarkGod never got much feedback because one day after it was put out, it got cut. Feedback is still necessary.

This has been tested to show that the encounter on the worldmap shows up, the breeding pit entrance then spawns, can be entered, cleared, and offers the genocide achievement for clearing.

I have to admit I don't recall seeing this. Usually because I die before making it to the East. But the more dungeons, the better.

I figured someone would eventually do this. Hopefully this means it will get implemented again.

I support this, 100%. The orc breeding pits were the game's first area to make me actually feel something other than idle observers' curiosity/interest. Also, both the experience/level and the reduction in orc patrol spawns acquired therein is critical to improving upon what little progress I have made through the East. Removing the breeding pits was, from a balance standpoint, incorrect and ill-conceived.

I never got to see darkgod's tweaks, so I'm looking forward to making it that far in the game again.

Thanks Crim. Nothing this important should be missing from the game.

RKade8583 wrote:Thanks Crim. Nothing this important should be missing from the game.

I was also immensely pleased to see this add-on come to fruition! As mentioned in a comment on the add-on page, however, I would be ecstatic if this restored the breeding pits in their pre-censored form to ensure the most poignant experience and to align as closely as possible to DarKGod's original vision.

This does not diminish my gratitude, but do see it as an opportunity!

I'm of two minds about doing that right away. First of all, because part of the purpose here is to allow for some feedback for DarkGod related to the altered version he made. 1.1.4 with the altered version existed for what... 24 hours? Hardly time for adequate response. Based off what that feedback is, I may or may not alter it, though I'd prefer that it be something he can agree with. Especially given how this zone ties in with the upcoming orc sequel, I'm leery of messing with it willy-nilly. (Plus, respect for his work.)

I respect his work too, but he was blackmailed into the change by threats of reporting it to Valve. A choice of the original version would be welcome.

I'm getting a strange side-effect using this addon. I don't see any code that would affect the UI, but with the UI set to 'minimalist', enabling the pits addon changes the color of buttons from grey to blue and squares the corners. The inventory screen looks fairly different as well. I actually like the look better, but when I use my own addon that changes the color of the tranmorg highlight, instead of changing the color, the highlight goes away. I'll probably just remove that change in my own addon, but I'm curious as to why this is happening.
The top is the UI with 'items-vault', 'steamui', 'stone-wardens', 'oldrpg' addons enabled. The bottom is the same but with 'orcpitsrestoration' added and no other changes.

I played with it some more and this is a bit bizarre. If I change the Interface Style with the HUD on Minimalist, then Steamtech, Metal, and Stone all work as they should, but with the pits enabled, Simple uses its own thin borders but the interior colors and highlights from Metal.

O.o

This makes no sense. This addon doesn't touch any UI elements. At all. I can't imagine what could be causing this...

That was my reaction. But hey, whatever this is, I like the look of it.

Minor update. This addon is now available via steam.