Research books--bug?

[fezbling]

Ever since updating to the Redux version, I don't see an option to research the books (on field dressing, angling, etc.) that I have.

There is no Research section when I go to the Journal. If I click on the envelope icon, I can see the research books I have, but there's only an option to "examine" it--like rotate it--but not to "read" it to up your skill level.

Seems so odd I wonder if it's a bug? I saw another user posted about this about a year ago and no one answered.

[Doc Feral]

4 hours ago, fezbling said:

If I click on the envelope icon, I can see the research books I have, but there's only an option to "examine"

Research is done from the inventory

[peteloud]

fezbling - I have had the same problem.

 

Doc Feral - I don't understand your reply. 

When I go to the inventory the only place I see the books is in the journal, as fezbling describes.

 

While I'm at it let me ask about a problem I have in the Wintermute journal. 

On the side mission Basics of Survival, the box for snaring a rabbit has not been ticked off in spite of my having snared many rabbits.

[Doc Feral]

1 hour ago, peteloud said:

fezbling - I have had the same problem.

 

Doc Feral - I don't understand your reply. 

When I go to the inventory the only place I see the books is in the journal, as fezbling describes.

 

Whaaat?! Since when? I got the "deep forest" achievement on the 27th of march and I've read "Advanced guns guns guns" by the fire. Unread books appear in the tools (the one with the hatchet) section of the inventory, or at least they did last time I checked.

Unless it's in Wintermute (it wasn't stated), in that case it may work in a slightly different way but I don't remember the details. There was another similar topic a while ago. Wintermute is picky. You may need to find all clues, do things in the right region, fully harvest and all that.

Edited April 9, 2019 by Doc Feral

[peteloud]

Hawk,

"... You only research the books in Survival Mode. Not in Story Mode. "

Yeah, that's what I thought.  For a moment I wondered if I had missed something fundamental.

[hozz1235]

A noticeable difference is that in WM, they don't show as an inventory item (hence the reason they cannot be "used").

[fezbling]

Yes, I'm in Wintermute. And yes, I'm in story mode. So if it only works in survival mode, that would explain it.

Seems odd that there would be research books placed there, but aren't researchable. They aren't even burnable! (b/c they are not in inventory but appear along with the notes etc. I've picked up.) This world's god has an odd sense of humor

[Mroz4k]

On 4/10/2019 at 11:51 PM, fezbling said:

Yes, I'm in Wintermute. And yes, I'm in story mode. So if it only works in survival mode, that would explain it.

Seems odd that there would be research books placed there, but aren't researchable. They aren't even burnable! (b/c they are not in inventory but appear along with the notes etc. I've picked up.) This world's god has an odd sense of humor

No, it isnt, you should pay more attention  I am playing Wintermute redux at the moment too, so I have it very freshly in my memory - every time you pick up a "research book" in there, your journal updates with new side quest. Its a side mission that is meant as a tutorial of sort. Say you pick up the sewing primer at Grey Mother´s - your log updates that you are supposed to "repair a clothing" - to teach you about the repairs. In the previous version of the game, you had to stay in the ravine at the crash for a few days to "recover" as the game taught you several things. This was deemed pretty lame by people reviewing the game. Now, the redux just throws you in, puts you through grinder till it teaches you some things. Its a lot more fun, too. 

Used to be the survival school was in Episode 2 as a part of the main quest (I'm not that far in Redux yet but I expect at least part of it still is) - but now, you get side quests about survival school in Episode 1 already as well, where it explains some things and gets you to work on them. Like picking up a book about skinning animals actually triggers a side quest to snare a rabbit, and teaches you how to make snares.

Edited April 12, 2019 by Mroz4k

[fezbling]

Ahh, got it, thanks :)

[Hesha]

I have a minor questions that is in relation to research books: When should I read them? asap or does it pay off somehow to read them later? It does in other games, that's why I'm asking.

[ManicManiac]

@Hesha
In survival, it's all about choice.  Sure, the faster you read them the quicker you gain the benefit of that extra knowledge.  However, I might suggest another option, to use those skill books to more productively "pass time."  If you keep a book you need to read with you, then if you need to wait an hour for something to cook, or for a blizzard to pass - you can just read some of the book instead of "playing cards" to pass the time.   

[ajb1978]

4 hours ago, Hesha said:

I have a minor questions that is in relation to research books: When should I read them? asap or does it pay off somehow to read them later? It does in other games, that's why I'm asking.

I tend to keep a book on me at all times early on, so if I get stuck in a blizzard or something I can use that time for something productive.  Other than that, it doesn't really matter when you read books, with the exception of the Frontier Shooting Guide.  That book only works up to level 3, at which point the game will say "Your skills are too advanced for this book" or something like that. So try to save any copies of Advanced Guns Guns Guns until after you reach level 3 with the rifle.  Also, you gain the full benefit of a book as a lump sum when you finish the final hour of research.  So say you're level 1 and need to pass time, you can read the first 24 hours of Advanced Guns Guns Guns without getting a benefit, then stash the book to finish later after you hit level 3, and read that final hour to get the full benefit applied to your skill.

I personally try to avoid using a skill whenever reasonably possible, until I am confident I have searched the entire game world and have completed researching all skill books that apply to that skill.  Just so I don't inadvertently master the skill ahead of time, then find a book I can't use.  But that's just my overly-miserly play style.

Edited May 27, 2019 by ajb1978

[Hesha]

2 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

I tend to keep a book on me at all times early on, so if I get stuck in a blizzard or something I can use that time for something productive.  Other than that, it doesn't really matter when you read books, with the exception of the Frontier Shooting Guide.  That book only works up to level 3, at which point the game will say "Your skills are too advanced for this book" or something like that. So try to save any copies of Advanced Guns Guns Guns until after you reach level 3 with the rifle.  Also, you gain the full benefit of a book as a lump sum when you finish the final hour of research.  So say you're level 1 and need to pass time, you can read the first 24 hours of Advanced Guns Guns Guns without getting a benefit, then stash the book to finish later after you hit level 3, and read that final hour to get the full benefit applied to your skill.

I personally try to avoid using a skill whenever reasonably possible, until I am confident I have searched the entire game world and have completed researching all skill books that apply to that skill.  Just so I don't inadvertently master the skill ahead of time, then find a book I can't use.  But that's just my overly-miserly play style.

I know the feeling. Back in the day when playing Gothic 2 I actually had to find all the skill tablets before I would put any experience points into my skills. It was terrible, ruined the game for me. Luckily, I wouldn't dream of doing that nowadays, I just don't have the time. Plus there are maps (e.g. TM) that have no appeal to me.

[ThePancakeLady]

51 minutes ago, ajb1978 said:

 

I personally try to avoid using a skill whenever reasonably possible, until I am confident I have searched the entire game world and have completed researching all skill books that apply to that skill.  Just so I don't inadvertently master the skill ahead of time, then find a book I can't use.  But that's just my overly-miserly play style.

Ah, yes. The "I read 2 copies of Advnaced Guns! Guns! Guns! first, and now can't read The Frontier Shooting Guide at all!" dilemma. Never read the "Advanced" books first. I think the rifle skills books are the only ones affected by this, since it is the only skill that has 2 tiers of skill books for it. But you do need to know that after you reach a certain skill level for rifles (Lvl 3 I think?) the "beginner" book becomes just a bit of fuel for a fire. 

[shade_grey]

On 5/28/2019 at 5:27 AM, ajb1978 said:

Other than that, it doesn't really matter when you read books, with the exception of the Frontier Shooting Guide.  That book only works up to level 3, at which point the game will say "Your skills are too advanced for this book" or something like that. So try to save any copies of Advanced Guns Guns Guns until after you reach level 3 with the rifle.

I actually read "Advanced Guns Guns Guns" books through all but the last part. So once I'm done with all of the "Frontier Shooting Guide" books that I could find in the world, it only takes a couple of hours improve my rifle skill as much as I can without firing a single rifle round.

[E_T]

I've gotten two copies of "Surviving the Outdoors" fire starting guide book, AFTER having gotten to Level 5 (Master) at fire starting, making them useless.  It would have been nice to have gotten them much sooner in my run.

Voyager difficulty, Current build, Starting in Mountain Town.  Found both the Books in HRV.

Edited June 23, 2019 by E_T

[Annajam]

Not sure this applies... All my skills have been at 5 for some time now (just got my 500 days chevio) but the badge still says only 84% even though it also says I have read 250 hours. None of the books I have found after getting to level 5 can be read as when I try I get the message (Your skill level is to high. or something like that) and then become fuel. Is this a bug/glitch? 

[UpUpAway95]

1 hour ago, Annajam said:

Not sure this applies... All my skills have been at 5 for some time now (just got my 500 days chevio) but the badge still says only 84% even though it also says I have read 250 hours. None of the books I have found after getting to level 5 can be read as when I try I get the message (Your skill level is to high. or something like that) and then become fuel. Is this a bug/glitch? 

Hours towards feats can accumulate over multiple runs, so you'll have to start a new run in order to be able to read more books to get that particular feat now.  I don't think it's a bug.  The description under the badges is worded "You've completed 250 hours of Research..." right from the start.  It's the percentage bar that keeps track of how many hours you've actually read.  If your progress bar is at 84%, you've probably only read 210 hours so far.  So, you'll have to read only 40 more hours in a new file to get the badge.

[Annajam]

So, you can't earn that "feat" with just one game run? Strange. Ok, I'll try that as soon as I get through with the Nomad. Thanks!

 

[UpUpAway95]

33 minutes ago, Annajam said:

So, you can't earn that "feat" with just one game run? Strange. Ok, I'll try that as soon as I get through with the Nomad. Thanks!

 

You can, but it's a lot of RNG (how many books you actually find), combined with how slowly you level up so that you read all the books you find before reaching level 5.  There is also a thing where you're better off not reading the Advanced Guns! Guns! Guns! until you've read all the Frontier Shooting Guides you can find in your game.  Once you reach Level 5, there's nothing left for a book to teach you, so they disabled the reading of them after that point.  They make great fuel for starting fires though.

Edited June 30, 2019 by UpUpAway95

[Annajam]

2 hours ago, UpUpAway95 said:

You can, but it's a lot of RNG (how many books you actually find), combined with how slowly you level up so that you read all the books you find before reaching level 5.  There is also a thing where you're better off not reading the Advanced Guns! Guns! Guns! until you've read all the Frontier Shooting Guides you can find in your game.  Once you reach Level 5, there's nothing left for a book to teach you, so they disabled the reading of them after that point.  They make great fuel for starting fires though.

Ok, yes that is true... but somehow I have a mental block to burning them. I guess that is why there are drawers full of them somewhere in hyperspace? So, when playing I tried to level up my person and fast as I could so I could hit something (at least with that aiming feature wandering all over??) because there was no telling if I'd find any of the books (RNG and all)... or should I say "... when I would find...? It was strange, one of the last I found before all was at 5... was one book (don't remember what the title was) that was 25 hours of read? Most of the other book were 12 or so hours if memory serves?

[UpUpAway95]

2 minutes ago, Annajam said:

Ok, yes that is true... but somehow I have a mental block to burning them. I guess that is why there are drawers full of them somewhere in hyperspace? So, when playing I tried to level up my person and fast as I could so I could hit something (at least with that aiming feature wandering all over??) because there was no telling if I'd find any of the books (RNG and all)... or should I say "... when I would find...? It was strange, one of the last I found before all was at 5... was one book (don't remember what the title was) that was 25 hours of read? Most of the other book were 12 or so hours if memory serves?

Yes, it takes a lot of luck and a bit of skill-up management to get the badge in one run, but most of the badges aren't really intended to be achieved in a single run.  Fire master takes 1,000 fires... that's a 1,000-day run lighting one fire every day.  On lower difficulties levels and in the zones where there are lots of houses and trailers, a savvt player can easily go a week without having to light a fire.  If you're playing at higher difficulty levels, there's a pretty good chance something will kill you long before you light 1,000 fires.

[Annajam]

On ‎6‎/‎30‎/‎2019 at 8:16 AM, UpUpAway95 said:

Hours towards feats can accumulate over multiple runs, so you'll have to start a new run in order to be able to read more books to get that particular feat now.  I don't think it's a bug.  The description under the badges is worded "You've completed 250 hours of Research..." right from the start.  It's the percentage bar that keeps track of how many hours you've actually read.  If your progress bar is at 84%, you've probably only read 210 hours so far.  So, you'll have to read only 40 more hours in a new file to get the badge.

Great, Thanks for the info... started another run at CH and found four books... went to over to DP via Crum H and found enough to finish out that feat. That's all of them.