I accepted a Mages Guild quest to rid Citadel of Hawking off an atronach who recently escaped the Mages Guild captivity.

Now I got there and explored this castle as much as I could, killing imps and mages along the way. The only thing I can't kill is the harpies (due to my weapon type) but I can easily avoid them. The problem is I just can't find this atronach! It's been like 2 hours of going back to places I've already visited, not to mention this dungeon is extremely big. Argh!

I don't know what to do, I'm stuck. I don't want to fail this quest though.

The only honest way to finish is to be persistent. It's almost certainly somewhere...unless you are running DF under native XP/Vista, in which case it might be invisible due to the DF program being incompatible with NT OSes.

Alternatively, you could use the bracket cheat (i.e., use the "[" key) to cycle through the dungeon locations where quest resolutions occur. Search this forum for how to implement and use cheats.

I run the game using DOSBOX on windows XP so I don't think that's an issue. I'll try that cheat you told me though. Thanks.

To do so, go into your DAGGER folder and open up z.cfg. Make a new line somewhere and put cheatmode 1 (assuming a line like that isn't already there - if it is, obviously, edit the 0 to a 1). With cheats on, hitting the left and right brackets will take you to the previous and next spawn location for quest items, respectively.

And yeah, Daggerfall dungeons can be really painful. You have to be really persistent - just keep at it.

Thank you, that worked. Funny though, he was invisible when I got near him. I hope this won't happen every time...

Now to get the hell out of here (somehow) ^_^

EDIT: Did some more missions, it seems the person I have to kill is always invisible...hmmm...

And met with the Lady. Finally getting the hang of the game

Then you are probably not actually running the game through DOSbox. Also, 2 hours in a dungeon is a short time to give up after, IMO. Daggerfall dungeons can sometimes take 4 to 6 hours or more!

I think of the occasional dungeon where the quest object can be found in the first ten rooms are just advertising teases for the ones that take me most of a week to complete.

Wow. I can't be this lazy. I'll make sure I take at least an hour or two longer in a dungeon, I'm not used to this though

And Jormungandr, you were right, I was clicking the daggerfall icon instead of the doxbox icon.

i noticed a similar with my game....

Well the remedy is to load the game using dosbox. But when I do I get a black screen and it stays like that (and I've read various threads with the same problem as mine), so I can only run DF using daggerfall.exe and not dosbox.

What? There is no Daggerfall.exe, however there is a fall.exe and a dagger.exe.
For the black screen problem, try to set the OUTPUT= to OVERLAY, MEMSIZE= to 63, CORE= to DYNAMIC, CYCLES= to AUTO
I would also recommend to copy all the files in the arena2 folder on the disc, to the arena2 folder in your DF install, then reapply the patches, then change the Z.CFG so that both the PATH= and PATHCD= to the arena2 folder in your install, as it is in Dosbox, then launching it with the command FALL Z.CFG.

Don't know what your current configuration is, but this works on my ancient work laptop, as well as on my own computer under both Vista and Ubuntu.

My mistake, it's not daggefall.exe. I had renamed this file to daggerfall though, maybe it was DAGGER (see http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/8071/daggerfallds6.jpg).

I'll try some of your suggestions and report later, thanks.

EDIT:


I did this (edited doxbox.conf), and this time when I double click dosbox 0.72 I get this: http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/3460/dagger2gb2.jpg

When I installed the game (about 4 months ago?) I had no problems and I followed everything step by step carefully, I'm nearly sure I did not mess up the installation part.

In z.cfg these are my configurations:

type dfall_huge
path c:\dagger\arena2\
pathcd c:\dagger\arena2\
fadecolor 0
mapfile d
rendergame 1
user 1
startMap 179
region 17
helmet 0
maxSpeed 200
controls betaplyr.dat
maps mapsave.sav
cheatmode 1

Did you follow the sticky here? While it covers most of the stuff, there is still some files that I found out to be left out, mostly regarding the sky textures.
Also, post the contents of your Dosbox.conf file, and while you're at it, a screenshot of your Dosbox folder.

Hmm I followed the sticky exactly as it was written, I didn't add anything else. As for the Dosbox.conf, I edited as you told me, and I changed a scaler too.

DOSBOX.conf

# This is the configurationfile for DOSBox 0.72.# Lines starting with a # are commentlines.# They are used to (briefly) document the effect of each option.[sdl]# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen: original or fixed size (e.g. 1024x768).# windowresolution -- Scale the window to this size IF the output device supports hardware scaling.# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb,ddraw.# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lowest,lower,normal,higher,highest,pause (when not focussed).#             Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.# usescancodes -- Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.fullscreen=falsefulldouble=falsefullresolution=originalwindowresolution=originaloutput=overlayautolock=truesensitivity=100waitonerror=truepriority=higher,normalmapperfile=mapper.txtusescancodes=true[dosbox]# language -- Select another language file.# memsize -- Amount of memory DOSBox has in megabytes.# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,pcjr,vga.# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.language=machine=vgacaptures=capturememsize=63[render]# frameskip -- How many frames DOSBox skips before drawing one.# aspect -- Do aspect correction, if your output method doesn't support scaling this can slow things down!.# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.#           Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,advmame2x,advmame3x,hq2x,hq3x,#                         2xsai,super2xsai,supereagle,advinterp2x,advinterp3x,#                         tv2x,tv3x,rgb2x,rgb3x,scan2x,scan3x.#           If forced is appended (like scaler=hq2x forced), the scaler will be used#           even if the result might not be desired.frameskip=1aspect=falsescaler=hq3x[cpu]# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: normal,simple,dynamic,auto.#         auto switches from normal to dynamic if appropriate.# cycles -- Amount of instructions DOSBox tries to emulate each millisecond.#           Setting this value too high results in sound dropouts and lags.#           You can also let DOSBox guess the correct value by setting it to max.#           The default setting (auto) switches to max if appropriate.# cycleup   -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.# cycledown    Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.core=dynamiccycles=autocycleup=500cycledown=20[mixer]# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will#         probably lower their sound quality.# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering#              but sound will also be more lagged.# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.nosound=falserate=22050blocksize=2048prebuffer=10[midi]# mpu401      -- Type of MPU-401 to emulate: none, uart or intelligent.# device      -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.#                This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,none.# config      -- Special configuration options for the device. In Windows put#                the id of the device you want to use. See README for details.mpu401=intelligentdevice=defaultconfig=[sblaster]# sbtype -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.# sbbase,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the DOSBox mixer.# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.#            On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.#            All OPL modes are 'Adlib', except for CMS.# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.sbtype=sb16sbbase=220irq=7dma=1hdma=5mixer=trueoplmode=autooplrate=22050[gus]# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.# gusbase,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the #            Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)# gusrate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory.  In this directory#             there should be a MIDI directory that contains#             the patch files for GUS playback.  Patch sets used#             with Timidity should work fine.gus=truegusrate=22050gusbase=240irq1=5irq2=5dma1=3dma2=3ultradir=C:\ULTRASND[speaker]# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.# tandy -- Enable Tandy Sound System emulation (off,on,auto).#          For auto Tandysound emulation is present only if machine is set to tandy.# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation. Covox Voice Master and Speech Thing compatible.pcspeaker=truepcrate=22050tandy=autotandyrate=22050disney=true[joystick]# joysticktype -- Type of joystick to emulate: auto (default), none,#                 2axis (supports two joysticks,#                 4axis (supports one joystick, first joystick used),#                 4axis_2 (supports one joystick, second joystick used),#                 fcs (Thrustmaster), ch (CH Flightstick).#                 none disables joystick emulation.#                 auto chooses emulation depending on real joystick(s).# timed -- enable timed intervals for axis. (false is old style behaviour).# autofire -- continuously fires as long as you keep the button pressed.# swap34 -- swap the 3rd and the 4th axis. can be useful for certain joysticks.# buttonwrap -- enable button wrapping at the number of emulated buttons.joysticktype=autotimed=trueautofire=falseswap34=falsebuttonwrap=true[serial]# serial1-4 -- set type of device connected to com port.#              Can be disabled, dummy, modem, nullmodem, directserial.#              Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of#              parameter:value. Parameter for all types is irq.#              for directserial: realport (required), rxdelay (optional).#              for modem: listenport (optional).#              for nullmodem: server, rxdelay, txdelay, telnet, usedtr,#                             transparent, port, inhsocket (all optional).#              Example: serial1=modem listenport:5000serial1=dummyserial2=dummyserial3=disabledserial4=disabled[dos]# xms -- Enable XMS support.# ems -- Enable EMS support.# umb -- Enable UMB support.# keyboardlayout -- Language code of the keyboard layout (or none).xms=trueems=trueumb=truekeyboardlayout=none[ipx]# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.ipx=false[autoexec]# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

Dosbox Directory:
http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/50/dosbox1es6.jpg

Daggerfall Directory:
http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/8299/dosbox2zm0.jpg

Damn, I had the CYCLES= at MAX I noticed now (just got home from work), and put the SCALER= to normalx2...

Bah, just copy my entire Dosbox.conf and see if it works.
I've added a few lines at the end, so that the games folder in the Dosbox folder will be automatically mounted as C: when you start Dosbox.

# This is the configurationfile for DOSBox 0.72.# Lines starting with a # are commentlines.# They are used to (briefly) document the effect of each option.[sdl]# fullscreen -- Start dosbox directly in fullscreen.# fulldouble -- Use double buffering in fullscreen.# fullresolution -- What resolution to use for fullscreen: original or fixed size (e.g. 1024x768).# windowresolution -- Scale the window to this size IF the output device supports hardware scaling.# output -- What to use for output: surface,overlay,opengl,openglnb,ddraw.# autolock -- Mouse will automatically lock, if you click on the screen.# sensitiviy -- Mouse sensitivity.# waitonerror -- Wait before closing the console if dosbox has an error.# priority -- Priority levels for dosbox: lowest,lower,normal,higher,highest,pause (when not focussed).#             Second entry behind the comma is for when dosbox is not focused/minimized.# mapperfile -- File used to load/save the key/event mappings from.# usescancodes -- Avoid usage of symkeys, might not work on all operating systems.fullscreen=falsefulldouble=truefullresolution=1280x1024windowresolution=originaloutput=overlayautolock=truesensitivity=100waitonerror=truepriority=higher,normalmapperfile=mapper.txtusescancodes=true[dosbox]# language -- Select another language file.# memsize -- Amount of memory DOSBox has in megabytes.# machine -- The type of machine tries to emulate:hercules,cga,tandy,pcjr,vga.# captures -- Directory where things like wave,midi,screenshot get captured.language=machine=vgacaptures=capturememsize=63[render]# frameskip -- How many frames DOSBox skips before drawing one.# aspect -- Do aspect correction, if your output method doesn't support scaling this can slow things down!.# scaler -- Scaler used to enlarge/enhance low resolution modes.#           Supported are none,normal2x,normal3x,advmame2x,advmame3x,hq2x,hq3x,#                         2xsai,super2xsai,supereagle,advinterp2x,advinterp3x,#                         tv2x,tv3x,rgb2x,rgb3x,scan2x,scan3x.#           If forced is appended (like scaler=hq2x forced), the scaler will be used#           even if the result might not be desired.frameskip=0aspect=truescaler=normal2x[cpu]# core -- CPU Core used in emulation: normal,simple,dynamic,auto.#         auto switches from normal to dynamic if appropriate.# cycles -- Amount of instructions DOSBox tries to emulate each millisecond.#           Setting this value too high results in sound dropouts and lags.#           You can also let DOSBox guess the correct value by setting it to max.#           The default setting (auto) switches to max if appropriate.# cycleup   -- Amount of cycles to increase/decrease with keycombo.# cycledown    Setting it lower than 100 will be a percentage.core=dynamiccycles=maxcycleup=500cycledown=20[mixer]# nosound -- Enable silent mode, sound is still emulated though.# rate -- Mixer sample rate, setting any devices higher than this will#         probably lower their sound quality.# blocksize -- Mixer block size, larger blocks might help sound stuttering#              but sound will also be more lagged.# prebuffer -- How many milliseconds of data to keep on top of the blocksize.nosound=falserate=22050blocksize=2048prebuffer=10[midi]# mpu401      -- Type of MPU-401 to emulate: none, uart or intelligent.# device      -- Device that will receive the MIDI data from MPU-401.#                This can be default,alsa,oss,win32,coreaudio,none.# config      -- Special configuration options for the device. In Windows put#                the id of the device you want to use. See README for details.mpu401=intelligentdevice=defaultconfig=[sblaster]# sbtype -- Type of sblaster to emulate:none,sb1,sb2,sbpro1,sbpro2,sb16.# sbbase,irq,dma,hdma -- The IO/IRQ/DMA/High DMA address of the soundblaster.# mixer -- Allow the soundblaster mixer to modify the DOSBox mixer.# oplmode -- Type of OPL emulation: auto,cms,opl2,dualopl2,opl3.#            On auto the mode is determined by sblaster type.#            All OPL modes are 'Adlib', except for CMS.# oplrate -- Sample rate of OPL music emulation.sbtype=sb16sbbase=220irq=7dma=1hdma=5mixer=trueoplmode=autooplrate=22050[gus]# gus -- Enable the Gravis Ultrasound emulation.# gusbase,irq1,irq2,dma1,dma2 -- The IO/IRQ/DMA addresses of the #            Gravis Ultrasound. (Same IRQ's and DMA's are OK.)# gusrate -- Sample rate of Ultrasound emulation.# ultradir -- Path to Ultrasound directory.  In this directory#             there should be a MIDI directory that contains#             the patch files for GUS playback.  Patch sets used#             with Timidity should work fine.gus=truegusrate=22050gusbase=240irq1=5irq2=5dma1=3dma2=3ultradir=C:\ULTRASND[speaker]# pcspeaker -- Enable PC-Speaker emulation.# pcrate -- Sample rate of the PC-Speaker sound generation.# tandy -- Enable Tandy Sound System emulation (off,on,auto).#          For auto Tandysound emulation is present only if machine is set to tandy.# tandyrate -- Sample rate of the Tandy 3-Voice generation.# disney -- Enable Disney Sound Source emulation. Covox Voice Master and Speech Thing compatible.pcspeaker=truepcrate=22050tandy=autotandyrate=22050disney=true[joystick]# joysticktype -- Type of joystick to emulate: auto (default), none,#                 2axis (supports two joysticks,#                 4axis (supports one joystick, first joystick used),#                 4axis_2 (supports one joystick, second joystick used),#                 fcs (Thrustmaster), ch (CH Flightstick).#                 none disables joystick emulation.#                 auto chooses emulation depending on real joystick(s).# timed -- enable timed intervals for axis. (false is old style behaviour).# autofire -- continuously fires as long as you keep the button pressed.# swap34 -- swap the 3rd and the 4th axis. can be useful for certain joysticks.# buttonwrap -- enable button wrapping at the number of emulated buttons.joysticktype=autotimed=trueautofire=falseswap34=falsebuttonwrap=true[serial]# serial1-4 -- set type of device connected to com port.#              Can be disabled, dummy, modem, nullmodem, directserial.#              Additional parameters must be in the same line in the form of#              parameter:value. Parameter for all types is irq.#              for directserial: realport (required), rxdelay (optional).#              for modem: listenport (optional).#              for nullmodem: server, rxdelay, txdelay, telnet, usedtr,#                             transparent, port, inhsocket (all optional).#              Example: serial1=modem listenport:5000serial1=dummyserial2=dummyserial3=disabledserial4=disabled[dos]# xms -- Enable XMS support.# ems -- Enable EMS support.# umb -- Enable UMB support.# keyboardlayout -- Language code of the keyboard layout (or none).xms=trueems=trueumb=truekeyboardlayout=[ipx]# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.ipx=false[autoexec]# Lines in this section will be run at startup.mount c games -freesize 1000c:

I'll copy/paste your configurations onto mine (thank you for posting yours), though I'll change the 1280x... with 1024x768 since that's the highest res my monitor supports

EDIT:

http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww283/xuerebx/daggerproblem.jpg

:( Argh. Maybe the z.cfg file has something to do with it? (posted it on post #12)

FYI for DOSBox you should run Daggerfall via the command:

fall z.cfg

To avoid any "missing CD" errors and stuff.

Excuse my ignorance, but where should I write that line? If I write it http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww283/xuerebx/daggerproblem.jpg it says "illegal command".

It seems that you are misunderstanding something. Type CD Dagger first, then FALL Z.CFG, CD Dagger opens up the Daggerfall directory, while FALL Z.CFG starts the game.

Also, renaming the executable (or any part of the path) to daggerfall may be causing some problems. DOSBox, if I remember correctly, doesn't recognize, respond to, or generally like any of these newfangled long file names, so everything has to follow the old 8.3 naming conventions.

Aye, it mimics the behavior of DOS 5.0 I think, and that does not allow file or folder names with more than 8 characters. You can have it, but when you try to open it you can usually just type 6 letters, and have to add a ~1 at the end of it.

Thank you!

Daggerfall now does load up with DOSBOX.

Thanks again, finally ^_^

Not to hijack someone's thread, but having tried searching in several different ways, this one thread seems my best hope..

Due to my one char having encountered her first Daedra Lord too early (thanks to the Temple of Kynareth; wish I'd read a few threads here before joining that Temple), and another character getting stuck in a dungeon due to elevators and wall panels that need to be triggered, I thought I'd enable cheats just to see if I can work my way through before backtracking the story. I've added the line, "cheatmode 1," to Z.CFG, but simply doing that doesn't seem to have enabled cheats, unless I'm missing something in the implementation elsewhere. For instance, I thought I'd try hand-2-hand against the Daedra Lord (my first prob is I have no weapon capable of striking it), but CTRL-F4 (per UESP wiki) does NOT enable "god mode"/invulnerability. I'm not thinking there's a "console" like more recent games possess, but other than simply hitting the key combination during play, is there anything else to enabling a cheat code?

Thanks..

EDIT: I should update that I am pretty sure the issue here is that clearly, for DOSBox to have the control it has, any cheat that requires the function keys is likely going to be inaccessible under DOSBox. I have indeed confirmed cheats are enabled, as I can use the brackets to navigate dungeons if I need to. Has anyone figured out what to do for invulnerability/god mode under DOSBox?

Ahh.. THIS was the thread I was looking for to post in after I got finished in the Wayrest palace dungeons the other day. I have to assume I never really dug into dungeons back when the game was released and I started playing, 'cause I KNOW I never spent this long in a single dungeon, and Wayrest's palace crawl is HUUUUUUUUUUUGE! I can understand the OP's initial post much better now, as I recently did a few quests that are similar (if not that very quest), and I must offer my testimonial too, as I crawled that entire dungeon, ending up retracing steps I tread many times, without finding the quest object. I am pretty sure the real issue is having missed a switch or wheel that needed to be pushed/toggled/turned somewhere, because depending on the lighting in your gaming room of choice, and the contrast & brightness & gamma on your display, some of those things can be difficult to locate.

And maybe it's just me, but I'm really growing to HATE those fricking giant scorpions.. Bastiages keep stinging my character to paralysis around every turn (frequent saves are mandatory).

Still, I've been fully svcked back into this game moreso even than I was into Morrowind in '02. I hope my social life manages to survive, and my band doesn't kick me out for not rehearsing my stuff..