[Phillip of the Fire Clan]

Hey people , I just installed Gothic 3, gave it a test run and I am thinking of playing it with CP 1.75 and QP and CM. I have a few questions.

1) Is an archer build a good way to play for the first time ?
2) Should I use a one-hander and a shield, 2 one-handers or a two-hander ?
3) Is there a way to get money easily without cheats and exploits ?
4) What skills should I learn, both for money and fighting ?
5) Poison, poison arrows and poison weapons – are those skills worth the LPs ? How much does poison even help in fights ?
6) My laptop isn't really fit for playing G3 on max setting, but it lags the same on lowest and highest settings, what's up with that ?

I hope you can give me some answers, especially for question 6.
Also, if you think that I forgot to add something and I should know about it, please add it in.

[Bastardo]

6) My laptop isn't really fit for playing G3 on max setting, but it lags the same on lowest and highest settings, what's up with that ?

Slow hard drive or RAM, perhaps? By the way, does your laptop appear to heat up a lot when you play?

Also, post your hardware specs so somebody who knows this stuff can help.

[Darth Crow]

1. No, I don't think so. The "archer path" was always the most difficult in Gothic... for a first run I'd go for a standard warrior.
2. That really depends ONLY on your preferences. Both have advantages and disadvantages... So if you want to be fast and also have a good defence against arrows, go for one handed. If you are more of a "berserk" type, get a two handed axe and smack 'em hard :P
3. I don't know about any "super-easy" way, but the obvious thing is to gather EVERYTHING that is of some sort of value and sell it. You can get to a lot of money this way. (Orc weapons fetch a good price, just saying
4. For fighting... depends on your character. Strenght, correspondent weapon skill... you know, the obvious.
It also pays out to invest some points into smithing, as there are some pretty cool weapons you can only get this way.
5. I never used those, to me they are a waste of time and LPs... but I don't think everyone will share this opinion.
6. Unfortunately, there's little you can do about this, it's the game's engine fault. Community patches improve the game's performance a LOT, but even they can't stop the lagging altogether. You can further improve it by tweaking the settings, but don't think it's going to run at 200 fps constant...

[NCONiall]

3) Is there a way to get money easily without cheats and exploits ?

Liberating the cities is a good way to earn money, the orc weapons are around 200-300GP each. Another good way to make money is through Bastard Swords, as in forging them. All you need is raw steel and 10 iron ore. I'd recommend the prospector skill in that case, that way you get double the ore when you mine(10 iron ore per vein). Bastard swords sell for 4k, 4.4k with the bargain skill.

4) What skills should I learn, both for money and fighting ?

Bargain and Prospector, I've mentioned them above. Bargain decreases merchant prices and Prospector doubles the ore yield from any ore veins. As for fighting, just the usual. It can also help to learn the resistance skills like resistance to heat and cold. That way your stamina will regenerate at its normal rate in Varant/Nordmar making fights alot easier.

6) My laptop isn't really fit for playing G3 on max setting, but it lags the same on lowest and highest settings, what's up with that ?

You'll probably find that Gothic 3 performs much better when the laptop is charging. Here's what I did to get it to perform like that all the time.

Try this. Go into the power plan options and click change plan settings beside the high performance plan. Then click on change advanced power settings and that should bring up a menu with a bunch of options. Scroll all the way down and you should find ATI Graphic Power Settings(or the nVidia equivalent). Expand that and then expand ATI Powerplay Settings to get some more options. Set the On Battery option to Maximize Performance. Apply the settings and close them all down and set your power plan to high performance. You should see a performance boost in Gothic 3. At least I hope so or I've spent 10 minutes writing this out twice for nothing because WoG went offline when I clicked submit reply.

[Celestial]

Even with hunting skill maxed it is hair-pulling to waste 10 explosive arrows trying to kill one damn snapper!

[Phillip of the Fire Clan]

@ Bastardo: It doesn't heat up much at all. As for the specs, here's what I got from My computer > Properties
Processor: AMD E-300 with Radeon HD Graphics 1.30 GHz (performance tab in Wind. task mngr. shows two ''CPU usage history'' grids
RAM: 2.00 GB (1.60 GB useable) <-- what does that mean ?
GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6300 series

@ NCONiall: Your tip helped a bit, it doesn't run at 200 fps as Darth Crow said, but it did help. Thanks.

About archery: Got it! Won't play as an archer.

Now I have one more question.
Is liberating the cities a part of the plot or can I do it whenever I see fit ? Also what would be the best time to start liberating ?

And tnx for the help guys .

[Darth Crow]

Well... it CAN be a part of the plot, depending on your choices throughout the story. But I don't want to spoil anything
In general, it's much better to start liberating later in the game, because after you liberate 3 cities (Ardea doesn't count), all orcs will become hostile to you. This can be a bit of a problem, as I'm sure you can imagine

[Bastardo]

RAM: 2.00 GB (1.60 GB useable) <-- what does that mean ?

32-bit systems can't use more RAM than that (unlike 64-bit systems)

Anyway, I doubt you'll get rid of stuttering and framerate drops with G3 on that rig. You might find ways to make it run better though; tweaking Gothic3.ini can go a long way.

[Darth Crow]

Actually, 32-bit systems can use as much as 3 GB of RAM. That "usable" thing means that system has reserved a part of the RAM for itself and you cannot use it for other purposes

[Bastardo]

Actually, 32-bit systems can use as much as 3 GB of RAM. That "usable" thing means that system has reserved a part of the RAM for itself and you cannot use it for other purposes

Right. My tired ass got confused. It doesn't even make any sense for Windows to be able to show RAM capacity beyond the limits of the system.

[Phillip of the Fire Clan]

OK. I see.
And now for the last question (hopefully), and probably the hardest: What should I go for when tweaking the .ini ? Refresh rate or something ?

[Bastardo]

What should I go for when tweaking the .ini ? Refresh rate or something ?

Check this out: http://forum.nordicgames.at/showthre...perform-better
There's probably a better thread somewhere around here but I can't be bothered to search for it.

[C-Hawk]

1) Is an archer build a good way to play for the first time ?

Maybe not for the first time, only if u can aim well (take heed of the distance and speed of the target and its direction)

2) Should I use a one-hander and a shield, 2 one-handers or a two-hander ?

I prefer the 2 one-handers, because of the mighty heavy strike (twisting around with them and when thats done do a quick strike. I can kill trolls easily at 190 STR, a katana and a paladin sword... thats surely not top quality battle-gear. Oh and around 60 armor all-round and 655 HP...

3) Is there a way to get money easily without cheats and exploits ?
As stated earlier, prospector and bargaining skills. I don't know about the 'picking difficult locks' skill... The rest is over-rated imo.

4) What skills should I learn, both for money and fighting ?

I don't know the difference between all the skills (progress in one fighting style, PLZ SOMEONE explain srry for caps). But you own fighting style is what counts. U can easily dodge archers... but when ur in melee combat while being shot at, well... u just don't want this.
The arena fights are also alot easier with 2 one-handers. Maybe also for the 2-handers, nvr been fan of 'em.
In any case, try to single them out, this makes the difference.

Spoiler:(zum lesen bitte Text markieren)

U can eat/drink while fighting, just open ur inventory and eat.
Btw, what rly helps u in fights is knowing the effect of the attackt the enemy does.
When a hashishin attacks u with a forward strike, he wants to poison u, when ur grabbing ur stomach he strikes again... Not something u wanna experience (can deal much dmg)
Or an Orc swinging his wpn vertically, if u don't evade/stop him, ur lying on the floor.

5) Poison, poison arrows and poison weapons – are those skills worth the LPs ?
How much does poison even help in fights ?

As for the poison, u need to hold right click (defend) and then left-click once to do a poisonous attack (kinda bullshit) Its usefull, especcially when the target is unknowing about what u will do.
The poison slowly takes life away from the victim.

6) My laptop isn't really fit for playing G3 on max setting, but it lags the same on lowest and highest settings, what's up with that ?

This is, as stated before, because of G3 itself.

I hope you can give me some answers, especially for question 6.
Also, if you think that I forgot to add something and I should know about it, please add it in.

The miscellaneous skills are rly useful.

Hope it helps u

[Phillip of the Fire Clan]

I'm preparing myself for the HC challenge with G3 (even if it's my first playthrough ) so I don't use the inventory bug.
I have learned Procpector and Bargain. I am using 2-handers and know Heavy weapons II. I was kinda dissapointed because I thought that I would get new moves but it only increased damage a bit, oh well.

And also, I learned difficult locks. I dunno, I guess it's usefull.

One thing irritates me very much. Why almost every hit MUST BE A KNOCKDOWN ? Is it cause I'm playing on Hard or what ? And why can't I interrupt animals' power attacks and they can interrupt mine ? Not fair .

[triangles]

I have the impression that you've already started playing without the CP 1.75 patch... big mistake !

DON'T PLAY WITHOUT CP1.75 PATCH

It's only worse without, really worse !

[Phillip of the Fire Clan]

Patch 1.73 actually. I got the game a while ago and downloaded the patch back when 1.73 was the newest.
I am downloading 1.75 ATM along with CM and QP.

[C-Hawk]

I'm preparing myself for the HC challenge with G3 (even if it's my first playthrough ) so I don't use the inventory bug.

I don't know this one, plz explain...
I do know of the G1 smithing/cooking glitch

edit: I searched on the interweb after my post and this is what I found :P

when you open your inventory, the world freezes (everyone stops). Which means you cant die in combat, because if you are on the verge of dying, you just open your inventory and drink/eat anything you want until you are fully healed.

LoL, I told u myself xD
edit2: This quote is from WOP itself
http://forum.worldofplayers.de/forum.../t-903977.html

[Phillip of the Fire Clan]

@ C-Hawk: lol

OK, I installed the CP 1.75.14, QP 4.2, CM 2.4 and the OrcMod.
Shadows off, the rest is mostly on High/Very high and it is almost stutter free (sometimes a little bit but that's no problem) meaning that my biggest problem has been solved. The CPT did a great job .
I want to thank everyone for the help , all answers I needed have been given.
Mods, this thread can now be §CLOSED.

[C-Hawk]

B4 I installed CP 1.73 I had much lag as well, now its almost completely gone, its sporadic
And I use custom graphics settings (guess what lvl of everything)