gas mask bug? ps - I HATE gas masks...

[bobsbarricades]

So the gas masks have been the bane of my existence in this game. I'm playing Ranger Easy because the health/damage seems more realistic. Well I stocked UP in the beginning because I had previously been left to beat that ♥♥♥♥ part (with the tape) with one filter. Well lo and behold I get there and somehow I have no filters....AGAIN. I manage by luck to run by all the ♥♥♥♥'s (how???) and get to the building with lots of filters... however I waste so much time *IN* the building that I it doesn't matter - I'm down to 1

Spoiler:

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for the car/♥♥♥♥/demon bit

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AGAIN so I just zoom past everybody [again- how????]

now I'm a bit miffed by all this running because I don't get to enjoy the awesome atmosphere they put into this game. The mask is PERPETUALLY blurry so I can never even read my "this is what I'm supposed to do clipboard" (which is awesome and I'm glad someone took something from Far Cry 2) which I now have to rely on when I go outside.

Why? Well I used to play in Russian with English subs - it was great. Much better voice acting. However there was just too much not being sub so I switched back. Now everytime I go outside I'm always breathing so damn hard I can't HEAR THE SCRIPTED PLOT POINTS!

Anyway - I'm at the part just before the library, and this is the bug part, and I KNOW I have 6 filters. I die from the demon thing (which hadn't happened before and I had a fun ride!) Wait..I only have 2 filters when I restart.

Then I get crushed by the falling roof (i couldn't avoid 'em aparently). Now I restart and only have *1* filter...and so I get to play this entire BEAUTIFUL library bit ALWAYS RUNNING trying to find filters. I have no idea what my guys are saying, and I'm thanking the game for being SO linear that it's almost impossible to not hit the quicktime scenes (unless of course, I get lost because my mask is so fogged up and I'm dying).

The dumbest bit is that my 2 comrades look at me and just watch me die instead of give me a freaking filter...

THEN I MEET THE LIBRARIANS!!!!!

Spoiler:

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thank God I realized I'm awesome with throwing knives...

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tl:dr - ultra fog mask+game stealing my filters+librarians=not enjoying the game anymore. ironically the SAME REASON I stopped playing the first time.

/vent

[edit] lol @ german political regime getting pink hearts. How does a game forum ever talk about something like RO2 ^o^

[xzoltan]

Well. I doubt I can help you. But I will say, that the number next to your filter, is NOT amount of filters. It's amount of total minutes left of clean air left in TOTAL. Time on your current filter is shown on your watch.

Furthermore, unless it really is a bug, some people having these problems must be doing something wrong. I've played the game 4-5 times or so on almost every possible difficulty, and I never really had a problem with filters.

The thing I did when playing on ranger difficulties was to just ALWAYS buy all the filters I could, EVERY time I met a merchant selling them. That kept me going with no problems. And, furthermore, I don't know what is fastest, killing the librarians or staring them down, but you are not supposed to kill them.

[bobsbarricades]

1 - so other people *do* have these problems?

2 - I DID! buy tons of filters. tons and tons and tons. But I think this death+lose minutes bug made it so that it didn't matter. I only just noticed it.

3 - stare down the librarians? I might have to try that but one quick knife thrown to the face will also put them down pretty quick. Wish I knew that BEFORE wasting so much ammo...or that I could just stare them down!!! >.<

But I really don't have time - it's a constant battle to just get to the next air filter from a dead guy =( I usually die looking for it and just reload, rinse repeat until I am able to sprint to the next air filter. Really not fun in any way

[Atwooooood]

Like mentioned, the number next to the gas mask in the HUD is total minutes left. I always thought it was the amount of filters too.

Ever since market station I believe it was, no other cities have filters on my ranger easy playthrough, and filters on the surface are few and far between. I find that I have to spend less time looting and take off the gas mask from time to time to save a couple minutes.

Also, when you buy filters at a city with your military grade ammo, I believe the max you can get is 43 minutes, atleast that's what I've been told, so don't waste bullets trying to buy more time.

I also despise that you can't pick up filters unless you have I think its 12 minutes or less. Again this is something I was told, and so far it has held true. If those 2 things aren't true, someone let me know.

[JBBooks]

Originally Posted by Atwooooood

I also despise that you can't pick up filters unless you have I think its 12 minutes or less.

My last time through (on Ranger Hardcore) it seemed that I was unable to pick up filters until I was down to about 6 minutes. I also found then when I hit that point, there were plenty of filters to be found, if you took the time to look. In Dead City 2, for example, you need to look in trucks, in dumpsters, in buildings, nooks & crannies.....

While I had to manage filters (just like ammo), I never got to the point that I had to worry about running out of air. Search everywhere. I finished the game with about 10 minutes of filter time left.

I never encountered the "disappearing filters" bug that I am aware of.

[bobsbarricades]

well I went from 6, walked across the bridge, died, reloaded, had 2, died, reloaded (3 times reloaded to the same spot) had 1...that doesn't sound normal to me.

all in very frustrating. I haven't gone back to play anymore but I think I might be close to the end at this point so I'm just trying to blitz - now that I have no ammo...

[Atwooooood]

Yeah that definitely doesn't sound right.
I didn't encounter any bugs on my first playthrough, but have encountered a couple so for on my current playthrough.

I have had the gas mask bug where if you run out of filters, you can't take it off until you find some more.

Another when my weapons didn't show back up after a cut scene, so I was totally vulnerable to enemy's.

And a couple times that I had to reload a checkpoint, I would be moving forward without pressing any keys, and I would have to spam WASD to get my character to stand still.

Not sure why I'm experiencing so many more issues this time around.

[JBBooks]

Originally Posted by Atwooooood

Another when my weapons didn't show back up after a cut scene, so I was totally vulnerable to enemy's.

Not sure why I'm experiencing so many more issues this time around.

I've had that one. Loading an earlier checkpoint, rather than the last one solved it for me, every time, although a few comments I've seen say that does not work for some people. It happened on my 1st time through, so it's a bug that's been there for a while.

I did have an issue where I was unable to swap gas masks with one lying on the ground, loading my last check point fixed that one.

[bobsbarricades]

Originally Posted by Atwooooood

Yeah that definitely doesn't sound right.
I didn't encounter any bugs on my first playthrough, but have encountered a couple so for on my current playthrough.

I have had the gas mask bug where if you run out of filters, you can't take it off until you find some more.

Another when my weapons didn't show back up after a cut scene, so I was totally vulnerable to enemy's.

And a couple times that I had to reload a checkpoint, I would be moving forward without pressing any keys, and I would have to spam WASD to get my character to stand still.

Not sure why I'm experiencing so many more issues this time around.

I think I've had all of those. But this was a blessing. The last bit where there's lots of librarians around, right before you end the chapter. my mask wouldn't come off because I had a big fat red 0...but I seemed to be immune to the world around me. Maybe I didn't need a mask there? but it sure looked like I did.

Anyway here's hoping for no more mask missions!! Finally going to finish this game! yay! I really do love it - there's so much TO LOVE about this game. And actually animating how lights are turned off in the sequel 0.o too cool!

Minus the regen health this game reminds me of Half-Life in a lot of ways. Wish Artyum spoke more, but this is a great great game.

...dumb filters....

[Bilateralrope]

Originally Posted by Atwooooood

I have had the gas mask bug where if you run out of filters, you can't take it off until you find some more.

I had that bug. On dry. When my autosave has about 1 second left on the current filter. So I had a 50/50 chance of managing to get the mask off (leaving me with no filter time left*) before time ran out.
I had a few minutes left at the end of dead city, problem is the cutscene at the start of dry ate that time up.

*Didn't see a filter drop until frontline. Where I got 2 minutes worth, meaning sneaking through the bottom isn't an option.

[shauntmw]

Only had this problem when playing Ranger Hardcore. The filters ran out so fast, that I had to skip the radio tower and go loud in the enemy base (no time for stealth), and then run down to Black Station. Fortunately on this mode you only take 2-3 shots to kill one guy.

For some reason, my filters don't seem to run out in the library. Never had any problem in the library. And the librarians are down with 3-4 shotgun shots in the face.

[Bilateralrope]

Originally Posted by shauntmw

Only had this problem when playing Ranger Hardcore. The filters ran out so fast, that I had to skip the radio tower and go loud in the enemy base (no time for stealth), and then run down to Black Station. Fortunately on this mode you only take 2-3 shots to kill one guy.

My current save has me at the radio and 2 minutes of filter time left. This means every time I reload I have to rush to the hole (hoping I don't get grabbed by a demon, trigger a trap I didn't disarm or fall off the roof), kill a ♥♥♥♥ who has 2 minutes of air. And the only other guy I can kill without attracting attention I can't take filters from.

Then there are another 3 ♥♥♥♥♥ to deal with. I don't have enough filter time to do anything but go in guns blazing, but that gets me killed.

Anyone know of any cheat for unlimited filters ?
Because I can't see myself doing anything other than getting angry and frustrated at this section otherwise.

All I can find is a god mode cheat, or 'cheat' pages that only contain a partial list of the achievements.

[shauntmw]

2 minutes from the rooftop is a bit too few to me. That's why reload a checkpoint and skip the rooftop.

You can get one filter by killing the guy patrolling the corridor after you drop down into a room with fireplace. Try not to head shot him, I think that might break his filter.

You can find more filters near the exit of the building. I remember was 2 to 3 of them.

I don't think there is a way to 100% stealth here. The 3 guards at the exit are constantly watching each other. Use a Kalash and kill them all quickly.

[Bilateralrope]

Originally Posted by shauntmw

2 minutes from the rooftop is a bit too few to me. That's why reload a checkpoint and skip the rooftop.

I might do that. Though trying to go through in a hurry the first time, while going carefully enough to kill silently, with the mask fogging up at the most annoying times, isn't something I really want to repeat.

You can get one filter by killing the guy patrolling the corridor after you drop down into a room with fireplace. Try not to head shot him, I think that might break his filter.

That's the guy with a 2 minute filter.

You can find more filters near the exit of the building. I remember was 2 to 3 of them.

Assuming I can pick them up. I've passed a few killed enemies (hellsing to the chest/shoulder, gas masks intact) with obvious gas masks I couldn't pick up with only 4 minutes left.

I don't think there is a way to 100% stealth here. The 3 guards at the exit are constantly watching each other. Use a Kalash and kill them all quickly.

I tried that a few times. Problem is, having to repeat the part leading up to the fight makes me want to get it done quick, making me careless because I just want to get to the part I haven't got through yet, meaning I stuff up and fail on the part I've already completed tens of times. Leading to frustration and anger.
I could manage that anger on other parts by taking it slow, keeping things enjoyable. Which isn't an option with the filter limit.

It doesn't help that this is really breaking the immersion. The ♥♥♥♥♥ have set themselves up on the surface, none of them seem worried about their filters running out, yet when I kill them I find that, had I not come along when I did, they would have died a few minutes later when their filters ran out.

[bobsbarricades]

Exact same shoes as me for the first time I quit... =/. I did find out though that staying to the left of the parking lot when running to the exit kept me alive. I only had to do it once even!!

So try that. Stick to the left!