The Bard's Tale Geforce Slowdown Fix

[Tordek]

Recently I bumped into the same problem, so I tried to hack some in-game settings (absense of 'particles - none' option bugged me a lot). Well, now I've got kind of a solution for that.
The first problem is testing. I just played till the end of Kirkwall (first visit), so not much testing was done. It worked fine on world map and Caleigh summoning, but who knows what will happen later...
The second problem is complexity of fix. It's a manual hex patch with vague directions

so blame me freely for not being user-friendly. Or try finding some hex-editing tutorial on Google.
Well, anyway, I'll post it, since it changes only 'default settings' for particles, not some code or game files... It is like editing .ini file or registry value.
While playing, every time you return from the menu to game, it multiplies some value by number, which is based on p-settings. for 'all' multiplier equals 1.00, 'most' -> 0.75, 'some' ->0.50.
I tried to set it manually to 0 by a trainer program, and there were no lines, particles in my next 'summoning Caleigh test'. It was no fun, so I tried to set it to 0.10.

Okay, the patch. In exe file ("The Bard's Tale.exe") you look for hex string -
(I've got two finds but patched first one only)
90 0D 86 00 00 [00 00 80 3F] , Value in brackets = float equivalent for 1.0 (it's for 'All' setting)
~8-10 (0x0C)bytes later will be hex string 00 00 40 3f, = 0.75 ('Most')
~8-10 more bytes - 9A 99 19 3F = 0.5 ('Some')
I recommend setting 0.5 to 0.05 - that way, there are lines in summoning sequence, but game doesn't slow down as much as before.
Hex strings :
0.1 = 'CD CC CC 3D' ,
0.05 = 'CD CC 4C 3D'.
Just write any of these over original 9A 99 19 3F and save the file. In game, set particles to 'Some' and try world map. If it works, then you did it right.
Any feedback would be good. Especially bad effects.

Taken from IGN Boards.

To make the hex changes use HexWorkshop or a program in its likehood.

Any troubles PM me, i've already done this and it works.

 

[digitalman]

Which Nvidia Gforce series. I am running a 6600GT and I am thinking about picking up this game.