: When I played this level last year, I got so upset at this non-working PB
: that I wrote Claude Errera to see if he knew whether or not this was
: deliberate. He contacted someone on the Evil team and asked them. I wish I
: could remember who Claude contacted. I know it was not FM. Claude wrote me
: back and told me that the reply he got from the Evil team member was that
: this non-working PB was not deliberate, but was in fact a mistake. The PB
: was supposed to be a working one, but that it somehow got past the
: testers. It would seem to make sense to me. Otherwise the player has quite
: a large chunk of the map that must be covered before reaching the first
: working PB.
John, your post made me smile. I felt so frustrated with the inactive PB that I, too, sought help as you'll read in the thread associated with this post to the Story Forum more than 2 years ago. Although I never did find out if the inactive PB was deliberate, John Harper did post a patch that he called Schmackle Spackle to fix the inactive pattern buffer. Unfortunately, as long as there were players who had successfully completed Schmackle on TC, this felt to me like cheating as noted in the rest of the thread. I never did apply the patch, and it took me until now to gain the skills to finally beat this level.
: I have tried and tried to vid this level without success. My downfall is
: always the same....i can get all the way to that Mystic you mention that
: blocks your way to the working PB, but can never get past it. :( Under
: vidmaster rules, all you have is the Pfhor Staff and your Magnum. That
: appears to be for me not quite enough to complete a vidding of the level.
John, I seem to recall you posting just a few days ago on how you kept encouraging Sidoh to keep trying with Sodding the Logs - a similarly difficult level. I just got done vidding Schmackle on Kindergarten to prove a point - I know Kindergarten is not nearly the same as TC, but it does allow one to try out strategy. Although hellatiously difficult, it is possible to clear out all the monsters in that large open room without using weapons. The big challenge is that you will constantly be dodged by guided cyborg grenades, but these will eventually take out all the monsters and you need then only make a quick jog around the naearest sharp corner to escape whatever's left over. There is a drone in the ensuing passage that must also be dealt with, but that's easy, leaving nothing in your way to deal with except that remaining mystic, which is easily taken out with the Pfhor staff. I know it must be much worse on TC, but it should be doable if you'll keep at it ;^)
