Forums > Game Forums > Sword of Aragon > Fix for "hero stuck in the corner" bug?
Aladda on 10/17/2011 2:20 PM · Permalink · Report
Sometimes when I get a hero, he appears in the top left corner of the screen instead of with my army. He's stuck on the island and can't get off! Does anyone know how to kill him or move him? The game only allows me to have a limited number of heroes, and this marooned hero counts against my limit! A bugfix or a workaround would be greatly appreciated. I know you can edit the game's files but I can't figure out how to change the location of heroes.
Here's a screenshot of the hero stuck in the corner.
Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 10/17/2011 3:30 PM · Permalink · Report
This is a legendary SOA bug for which I'm not sure any good fix exists. Where do they come from, why are they there... no good answers. If you save rigorously you can pre-empt their creation by reverting to an earlier save, but if not, you have a chance at killing them (well, removing the unit through "attrition") by trying to move them off their island block during harsh winter months -- attrition is calculated for even attempted moves, even though no actual move is possible from that position.
Aladda on 10/17/2011 7:36 PM · Permalink · Report
Thanks! I wouldn't have thought of that. I'll give it a try!
I was going to quit playing...to play this game you need a max hero stack, and magicians are the most important to get to high level! I'll just save and reload during winter until he dies. Thanks again.
Aladda on 10/18/2011 2:57 AM · Permalink · Report
I talked with the original author of Sword of Aragon, and he said he'd never seen this bug come up. Go figure!
Is there anywhere on the net to talk about SoA? I couldn't find anything online.
Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 10/18/2011 3:22 AM · Permalink · Report
Who knows, maybe SSI introduced something into the code when shipping that caused it to fly under the testers' radar. When I say "legendary" I mean "known well to me and all my friends 15 years ago when we played it", but it's true I haven't gotten that much SoA chat in with teeming throngs elsewhere.
Please consider documenting the online version here! I haven't gotten around to it, but it's eminently worthwhile.
Aladda on 10/21/2011 5:18 PM · Permalink · Report
Well, my game finally got to December so I tried the fix. It didn't work. The attrition never affected the unit stuck in the corner, no matter how many times I moved it and got "impassable water". It also didn't die in the field of attrition - I think perhaps heroes are exempt from this sort of attrition.
Back to the drawing board...my next idea is to edit the troop location data in the savefile. Only, I have no idea how to do this. I've already looked at the aragon.hr* files (where is * is the letter from the save slot you want to modify) data in a hex editor, and no idea how the locations of the troops are stored or how to modify them.
Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 10/21/2011 6:15 PM · Permalink · Report
Sometimes Winter kills heroes, but it's true they are less susceptible to it. Sorry for the mismemory of calculating attrition even when they can't successfully move.
Aladda on 10/28/2011 8:51 AM · Permalink · Report
The hero did eventually die of attrition in the winter, but it took a long time and by then I was already past needing new heroes. My uber-army took Estellah with light casualties and the quest was finished. Just for kicks, I decided to try to assault the formidable elven city of Tranavan. I remember trying this back in the day, and the elves slaughtered my men with dozens of archers. Not this time! My men charged into the city, the arrows bouncing off their plate mail and shields, and killed the elves with powerful melee attacks. Tranavan was mine, at last, and I could develop my lumber as much as I wanted! Muhahahaa.
Pseudo_Intellectual (66362) on 10/28/2011 4:46 PM · Permalink · Report
Congratulations! I know getting past all the objectives in SOA took me ages. (Even fighting individual battles took ages... I remember giving my armies their orders then going upstairs for dinner during the computer's turn... then finding after dinner that the computer was still thinking!)