Beholder Ray of Client Crashing

[Beldar]

Twice now I have been zapped by the occulus ray of client crashing. I can't tell you what it might be because the game crashes to the desktop. I also died when it happened. The second time that it happened I got double the usual debt (perhaps once before I crashed and then again when I logged in).

The debt particularly sucks because I am 26th level. When I don't crash I kill the beholders with ease so their crash ray is a great weapon for them. There is not much to grind at level 26 - I guess I have to beat up on the epic heroic metallics because I can't afford 5k of debt (an hour of grinding) from a bug.

[Beldar]

I have seen the beholder ray of client crashing a few more times now. I have been zapped with the following spell effects without seeing crashes so they can probably be eliminated as the cause: sleep, slow, flesh to stone, perfect disjunction (not sure what the official name for this is, but I sure wish it was available to PCs also). I am pretty sure I have been avasculated without crashing although I am not 100% certain.

I don't always die when I get crashed in this manner.

[Beldar]

I got hit by the crash ray twice in quick succession. The first time when I logged back in I was in the same spot and immediately got hit with the crash ray again. When I logged back in I had more than double debt.

Do they have some sort of save or die attack (like disintegrate)? It might be one of those that crashes me.

I can solo in the zone for hours without problems, and then all of a sudden I get crashed and killed. I don't think the occulus have ever killed me without crashing me. The debt from this is realy frustrating. Double debt is about an hour of grinding.

[Beldar]

I had almost worked off the debt when this happened to me again. I didn't bother to restart the game when it happened (it was 3am), but when I logged back on I had double debt.

I am wondering if the issue is that the debt is incurred when killed and then again on relogin. Regardless, I have been hit with double debt again. Another extra hours of killing the same goblins.

[Beldar]

It happened again. The enchanted lands are completely unplayable in this condition. I am now up to 12000 debt. I managed to level from 26 to 29 in their but I can't get the last little xp I need for 30 (hell, I can't even get out of debt). I'll return if/when this is resolved.

[Kieron]

I tested the Beholder's Ray attack with some PCs last night and we didn't notice any crashin effects. Is there a specific place? Beholder? Time? Action that you are taking?

I hope I can help in some way.

[Beldar]

I have killed hundreds of these F'ers. I have only encountered the problem around 5 times. He zaps me with something that instantly crashes NWN2 to the desktop. When I restart nwn2 and log back in, I have double xp debt (or slightly more). I can't tell you what the effect might be that is doing it as the crash is instantaneous (no freezing the current image on the screen at all). I am wondering if it might be some sort of save or die. Maybe it crashes when I fail the save and when I log back in the debt is added a second time.

Other than that I can't really help debug it. Most people kill these guys with range weapons to avoid getting hit. I am curious if anyone else has seen the problem. You would probably need to perform melee attacks on a number of them in order to see it.

Whatever is triggering my problem, the beholders don't seem to use it that often. I had a bad run last night, but I have had days of xp farming without seeing it as well.

I have accumulated so much debt that I don't feel like messing with it anymore. The EL is the only zone that gives xp for this build that he can do solo. I guess he is retiring at level 29 (with big time debt).

[nicethugbert]

What's your build? Do you steadfast resolve or something like that?

[Kieron]

It sounds to me like a reaction from a spell you sometimes have on, or a check of some sort. When this x-factor combines with the beholder's action or ray or whatever, this is the cause.

We should try to test this as soon as possible. That's really all we need to do to find the issue.

Maybe we can test it prior to the event tonight?

[siegelayer]

I tested this and died, so the beholder does need fixing. I shouldn't be dying. lol

[Beldar]

The build that I am using is a pure melee build. No buffs. Dual wield rapiers. The only feat I have that might be a bit unusual as far as interacting with the beholder is epic dodge. I am not sure that epic dodge works with ranged touch attacks - I have never seen the "attack evaded" message while fighting beholders. Not that I know for certain that beholders have ranged touch attacks - just kind of assume that they would.

[nicethugbert]

Well, then, it's your fault! Haha!

[Kieron]

I believe this to be related to a VFX issue with one of the attacks of the Occulus. After some pretty intense testing, all signs point to this being one of the most likely culprits.

[Beldar]

Ok, Kieron and I did some testing on this issue tonight. He spawned multiple Occulus and I stood around and let them beat up on me. Eventually, one of them did the magic crash ray. Interestingly, Kieron, logged in as DM, crashed at the same time I did when the beholder zapped me. We suspect that it may be visual effects related - not much else can explain how me getting zapped would crash him.

If I had a complete list of the attacks for these guys, I could probably give you a pretty good head start on the process of elimination by pointing to ones that I know I have suffered without crashing. The following are okay for sure: dispel, avasculate, sleep, and slow. I personally suspect that it is a save or die of some sort, since I always am dead when I log back in.

[Beldar]

heh, heh, simultaneous posting...