(Originally posted on Thursday, 14 January 2021)
The present post is just a continuation of this post:
A game with extremely dangerous orcs
Please read it first. I described there what skills I develop and what gimmicks I use. Generally I try to beat the game avoiding as many gimmicks as possible. It makes the game much more difficult, which actually confirms my belief that a warrior with hardly any magic spells should NEVER be better than a half-warrior-half-mage.
In the post above I showed gameplay movies from Chapter 5 – by far my favourite game chapter ever! In ANY game! Now it's time for the next two chapters. Chapter 6 is not so fun, but Chapter 7 is almost as good as Chapter 5!
Chapter 6
This chapter is extremely creepy, but it actually speaks very well of the game designers – they did their job as well as they could! Fortunately the chapter is quite short.
Zombies are very slow, but extremely strong, so it's better to deal with them from afar. It's pointless to try to “clear an area” because zombies respawn (new ones crawl out of the ground), so you have to kill only those that can't be bypassed. There are some traps, so it's better to use Telekinesis to get some of the needed gems.
This is a perfect place to develop Archery 1 (it allows you to use the Longbow) and Archery 2 (your arms are steady while using a bow). Archery 3 (quicker shooting) is not really needed.
There are ghouls too, so this chapter is NOT easy. Keep strafing.
Some zombies can be ignored completely.
This place is annoying because you have to go downstairs (after grabbing another gem), but any zombie you kill will respawn downstairs and will get in your way! You have to lure as many zombies as possible away from the stairway. I was actually too impatient.
Poison won't kill you, but will bring your health down almost completely, so any hit is lethal then.
Another annoying place, but if you are quick enough then you can open the gate before zombies get close to you.
Killing the lich with hardly any gimmicks, especially without the Adrenaline effect is extremely difficult, unless you stun him with a charge attack, topple him and impale him.
A short pause before an extremely difficult combat – save the game just before getting to the top of the stairway!
Fighting against 3 ghouls at the same time is just too much! I used another “hidden” gimmick – if you strike an enemy when he is close to an edge of a high place then the enemy seems to be scripted to fall down.
A side gameplay movie – this is where you can get the Bow of Fiery Rage. It's yet another gimmick, so I don't use it myself.
I love this place just because of the climbing.
A big fight against spiders.
The cut-scene at the end is a huge plot twist, so I skipped it. Personally I don't like it, but it's kind of gritty. Fortunately the rest of the game can be played exactly the same way as before the cut-scene.
Chapter 7
This chapter is similar to Chapter 5, because the enemies are similar, but the level design is enjoyably different and the exploring is even more fun. In fact the most stunning place in the whole game is in this chapter!
Cool exploring right at the start of the chapter.
You don't have your equipment, but you can get it back without fighting anyone!
This is how to get to a secret place, but you can also ignore it completely and jump to the next video.
The chest can be opened only with the skill Burglar, which would be a total waste of skill points. Near the chest is another place where you can make the Earthfire Sword, but this sword is also a gimmick, so I simply discarded the Flamegold bar there.
Last orcs for some time.
Another cyclops to kill, but this time in a fantastic scenery!
Another cool exploring part!
This is a perfect place to develop the skill Magic Affinity 2 which increases mana from 40 to 70, so no mana from a potion will be wasted.
A few spiders more and cool exploring again.
The most stunning place in the whole game! I love this place!
Another funny goblin conversation. The battle is annoying because goblins seems to re-spawn infinitely (they keep jumping down from a higher place). This is also where you can find the Earthfire Shield, but I myself discarded because it's just another gimmick.
I went back to show you where to find another magic shield – the Lightning Shield. It's yet another gimmick, so I discarded it too. The goblins stopped respawning after I climbed up.
Yet another cool exploring part! Please notice that at the end of the video you can stand at the edge without “activating” the Giant Worm.
After the first jump the giant worm appears. You can get to the next pillar without jumping (just sprint ahead) and then you actually have to WAIT. Rinse and repeat with the following pillars. Save the game BEFORE breaking the wooden boards at the end of the video.
Save again here!
You should NOT sprint all the way! After the worm attacks the “starting” place (you have to sprint away from there) you should alternate sprint and normal running. It saves stamina, but it also seems to “confuse” the worm what place it should attack. Sprint and jump above the small boxes and then above the big box. After than WAIT for the worm to attack the “escape” place.
The flying monsters again. Then the spiders again. Then SAVE!
Extremely annoying fight! If you jump or accidentally fall into the water then you will die because the water level rises too quickly.
This is a cool place that I probably like even more because it comes after the annoying fight.
Just a short walk to the next loading point.
A different view at the most stunning place in the whole game. You can also find the Bow of Winter's Breath here, but it's a gimmick, so I discarded it.
You can find here the best armor in the whole game! Please notice that I had exactly 17 skill points needed to develop the skills Endurance 2 and Enduracne 3 to be able to use this armor!
I let the first orc to strike me to show you how good the new armor is. Stay close to the edge to get some easy kills.
Two traps a la Indiana Jones!
Cool exploring at the end of the chapter.
I skipped the last jump down plus several seconds to avoid a spoiler (see my comments at the end of chapter 6).
What a great chapter with cool exploring parts! Overall it's almost as good as Chapter 5!
I will describe the following chapters too, but in other posts.
Tuesday, 16 June 2015
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 3
(Originally posted on Tuesday, 19 January 2021)
The present post is just a continuation of these posts:
A game with extremely dangerous orcs
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 2
Please read them first. In the first one I described what skills I develop and what gimmicks I use. Generally I try to beat the game avoiding as many gimmicks as possible. It makes the game much more difficult, which actually confirms my belief that a warrior with hardly any magic spells should NEVER be better than a half-warrior-half-mage.
In the first post above I showed gameplay movies from Chapter 5 – by far my favourite game chapter ever! In ANY game! In the second post above I showed gameplay movies from Chapters 6 and 7. Chapter 6 is not so fun, but Chapter 7 is almost as good as Chapter 5!
Now it's time for Chapter 8 that is MUCH HARDER than any of the previous chapters!
ATTENTION! There is a strange bug that “disables” your charge attack permanently! I think it happens during some fights against vampire knights, but I have no idea exactly when. After this bug occurs any later game save will be “corrupted”, which means that you have to reload an earlier save to be able to use the charge attack again! What a weird bug! If you missed it and don't want to reload a much earlier save then you can use the jump attack as an alternative (it can knock down an enemy), but you need the skill Melee Combat 3 (instead of Melee Combat 1) to do it.
To disarm an enemy during a sword-lock quickly click mouse buttons: left-right-left-right-left-right-… (the skill Melee 2 is needed), but it seems NOT to work against vampire knights. It doesn't really matter because sword locks are very rare against them anyway.
Chapter 8
This chapter is extremely creepy, but it actually speaks very well of the game designers – they did their job as well as they could! A very good anti-necromancy level!
Necrolords (stronger necromancers) and vampire knights are extremely durable, which means you need lots of time to kill them without the Adrenaline effect. Necrolords are rather slow, so you can deal with them with relative safety, but the sprinting speed of vampire knights is simply terrifying.
The start of the chapter is very easy – there are black guards (clearly weaker than orcs) and standard necromancers (clearly weaker than necrolords).
One more black guard and then the horror begins. Fighting the very first vampire knight was terrifying and you can clearly see that my fear made me automatically a worse fighter. Fortunately he was accidentally hit by a necrolord, so my job was easier. The necrolord was very hard on his own and I almost died too.
Fighting a vampire knight on a stairway is not a good idea – he can hit you below your guard.
Standard necromancers are easier to beat.
On the top level there are two black guards and a standard necromancer, but you have to kill them as quickly as possible while going RIGHT, so a vampire knight one level below will not notice that something is happening above him.
One of the hardest fights in the whole game, unless you manage to knock all the vampire knights over the edge (this is a kind of hidden gimmick).
All the vampire knights have already sprinted up, so the remaining levels are empty now.
I have probably omitted one gameplay movie before the next one – there should be two black guards practising on the training ground.
It's definitely easier to fight against a vampire knight when there is more room around you.
One necrolord to kill.
This is where I started to use the Ring of Fire Protection. Why? Because there are several necrolords to beat, so it gets extremely difficult with hardly any gimmicks.
Extremely creepy place. A very good example that necromancy is definitely not a good thing.
Yet another necrolord.
Just a very short walk to the next loading point.
The blond girl is alive!
Two standard necromancers.
Another vampire knight.
Yet another vampire knight.
A big battle against numerous enemies, but fortunately most of them are standard ones.
A place where you have to make a decision. Actually you can reverse the order and still save the blond girl later.
Spiders again!
Killing the giant spider without the Adrenaline effect is extremely time-consuming! Please notice that poison won't kill you (it only brings your health to 5) and that you can ignite your arrow from a fire.
I used all of my arrows! I don't use the endless quiver because it's yet another gimmick.
A little exploring without any fighting.
A short walk to the next loading point.
This place can turn into a death trap. Your best chances are to kill the 2 standard necromancers in the first room to the left as quickly as you can and hope that the vampire knight down the corridor won't notice anything.
You have to keep the blond girl alive if you want to have a good ending. The best way is to hide her from the enemies! I remember that during some other play-through I cleared this area alone and only then went back to kill the giant spider and free the blond girl.
This is one of the hardest fights in the whole game – 3 vampire knights and 3 necrolords!
The end of the horror.
High praise for the game designers – I was literally happy that I could finally return to the normal world! A very good anti-necromancy level!
The present post is just a continuation of these posts:
A game with extremely dangerous orcs
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 2
Please read them first. In the first one I described what skills I develop and what gimmicks I use. Generally I try to beat the game avoiding as many gimmicks as possible. It makes the game much more difficult, which actually confirms my belief that a warrior with hardly any magic spells should NEVER be better than a half-warrior-half-mage.
In the first post above I showed gameplay movies from Chapter 5 – by far my favourite game chapter ever! In ANY game! In the second post above I showed gameplay movies from Chapters 6 and 7. Chapter 6 is not so fun, but Chapter 7 is almost as good as Chapter 5!
Now it's time for Chapter 8 that is MUCH HARDER than any of the previous chapters!
ATTENTION! There is a strange bug that “disables” your charge attack permanently! I think it happens during some fights against vampire knights, but I have no idea exactly when. After this bug occurs any later game save will be “corrupted”, which means that you have to reload an earlier save to be able to use the charge attack again! What a weird bug! If you missed it and don't want to reload a much earlier save then you can use the jump attack as an alternative (it can knock down an enemy), but you need the skill Melee Combat 3 (instead of Melee Combat 1) to do it.
To disarm an enemy during a sword-lock quickly click mouse buttons: left-right-left-right-left-right-… (the skill Melee 2 is needed), but it seems NOT to work against vampire knights. It doesn't really matter because sword locks are very rare against them anyway.
Chapter 8
This chapter is extremely creepy, but it actually speaks very well of the game designers – they did their job as well as they could! A very good anti-necromancy level!
Necrolords (stronger necromancers) and vampire knights are extremely durable, which means you need lots of time to kill them without the Adrenaline effect. Necrolords are rather slow, so you can deal with them with relative safety, but the sprinting speed of vampire knights is simply terrifying.
The start of the chapter is very easy – there are black guards (clearly weaker than orcs) and standard necromancers (clearly weaker than necrolords).
One more black guard and then the horror begins. Fighting the very first vampire knight was terrifying and you can clearly see that my fear made me automatically a worse fighter. Fortunately he was accidentally hit by a necrolord, so my job was easier. The necrolord was very hard on his own and I almost died too.
Fighting a vampire knight on a stairway is not a good idea – he can hit you below your guard.
Standard necromancers are easier to beat.
On the top level there are two black guards and a standard necromancer, but you have to kill them as quickly as possible while going RIGHT, so a vampire knight one level below will not notice that something is happening above him.
One of the hardest fights in the whole game, unless you manage to knock all the vampire knights over the edge (this is a kind of hidden gimmick).
All the vampire knights have already sprinted up, so the remaining levels are empty now.
I have probably omitted one gameplay movie before the next one – there should be two black guards practising on the training ground.
It's definitely easier to fight against a vampire knight when there is more room around you.
One necrolord to kill.
This is where I started to use the Ring of Fire Protection. Why? Because there are several necrolords to beat, so it gets extremely difficult with hardly any gimmicks.
Extremely creepy place. A very good example that necromancy is definitely not a good thing.
Yet another necrolord.
Just a very short walk to the next loading point.
The blond girl is alive!
Two standard necromancers.
Another vampire knight.
Yet another vampire knight.
A big battle against numerous enemies, but fortunately most of them are standard ones.
A place where you have to make a decision. Actually you can reverse the order and still save the blond girl later.
Spiders again!
Killing the giant spider without the Adrenaline effect is extremely time-consuming! Please notice that poison won't kill you (it only brings your health to 5) and that you can ignite your arrow from a fire.
I used all of my arrows! I don't use the endless quiver because it's yet another gimmick.
A little exploring without any fighting.
A short walk to the next loading point.
This place can turn into a death trap. Your best chances are to kill the 2 standard necromancers in the first room to the left as quickly as you can and hope that the vampire knight down the corridor won't notice anything.
You have to keep the blond girl alive if you want to have a good ending. The best way is to hide her from the enemies! I remember that during some other play-through I cleared this area alone and only then went back to kill the giant spider and free the blond girl.
This is one of the hardest fights in the whole game – 3 vampire knights and 3 necrolords!
The end of the horror.
High praise for the game designers – I was literally happy that I could finally return to the normal world! A very good anti-necromancy level!
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 4
(Originally posted on Wednesday, 20 January 2021)
The present post is just a continuation of these posts:
A game with extremely dangerous orcs
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 2
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 3
Please read them first. In the first one I described what skills I develop and what gimmicks I use. Generally I try to beat the game avoiding as many gimmicks as possible. It makes the game much more difficult, which actually confirms my belief that a warrior with hardly any magic spells should NEVER be better than a half-warrior-half-mage.
In the first post above I showed gameplay movies from Chapter 5 – by far my favourite game chapter ever! In ANY game! In the second post above I showed gameplay movies from Chapters 6 and 7. Chapter 6 is not so fun, but Chapter 7 is almost as good as Chapter 5! In the third post I showed gameplay movies from Chapter 8 – an extremely creepy, yet very good anti-necromancy level.
Now it's time for Chapter 9 that is still very hard, but a little easier than Chapter 8.
Chapter 9
To get a good ending you have to go to a kind of Church and cleanse yourself from your demonic “aura”. Cool.
A short walk and SAVE!
A very tedious fight, but only because I wanted to avoid the “spikes gimmick”. In fact I had trouble to AVOID the gimmick, because there were so many spikes!
Last ghoul (for a minute) and a little exploring.
Stay on the bridge and try to get some easy kills.
A little break from fighting.
First undead cyclops to kill from a close distance.
Alone again.
Ghouls again.
This way to the good ending.
Evil will try to keep you away from Church even at its doorstep.
She threw a vase at me! Like a real angry woman! Hilarious!
A blessing. And new weapons, but I consider them as gimmicks.
Some bow-sniping.
A very difficult fight.
A “secret” place.
This fight is a little easier, because there is more room to manoeuvre. Plus another secret place (this one is less obvious).
Just a short walk to another loading point.
A little exploring.
There are some normal enemies, but several ghouls strike right after that.
Another dragon to beat, but first you have to hide.
Without the spell Sanctuary it's quite hard to kill a dragon.
The blond girl is happy that I cleansed myself in the Church. She needs a rest, so I had to keep moving alone.
The way to the good ending is as unique as the whole game! I love it!
The present post is just a continuation of these posts:
A game with extremely dangerous orcs
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 2
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 3
Please read them first. In the first one I described what skills I develop and what gimmicks I use. Generally I try to beat the game avoiding as many gimmicks as possible. It makes the game much more difficult, which actually confirms my belief that a warrior with hardly any magic spells should NEVER be better than a half-warrior-half-mage.
In the first post above I showed gameplay movies from Chapter 5 – by far my favourite game chapter ever! In ANY game! In the second post above I showed gameplay movies from Chapters 6 and 7. Chapter 6 is not so fun, but Chapter 7 is almost as good as Chapter 5! In the third post I showed gameplay movies from Chapter 8 – an extremely creepy, yet very good anti-necromancy level.
Now it's time for Chapter 9 that is still very hard, but a little easier than Chapter 8.
Chapter 9
To get a good ending you have to go to a kind of Church and cleanse yourself from your demonic “aura”. Cool.
A short walk and SAVE!
A very tedious fight, but only because I wanted to avoid the “spikes gimmick”. In fact I had trouble to AVOID the gimmick, because there were so many spikes!
Last ghoul (for a minute) and a little exploring.
Stay on the bridge and try to get some easy kills.
A little break from fighting.
First undead cyclops to kill from a close distance.
Alone again.
Ghouls again.
This way to the good ending.
Evil will try to keep you away from Church even at its doorstep.
She threw a vase at me! Like a real angry woman! Hilarious!
A blessing. And new weapons, but I consider them as gimmicks.
Some bow-sniping.
A very difficult fight.
A “secret” place.
This fight is a little easier, because there is more room to manoeuvre. Plus another secret place (this one is less obvious).
Just a short walk to another loading point.
A little exploring.
There are some normal enemies, but several ghouls strike right after that.
Another dragon to beat, but first you have to hide.
Without the spell Sanctuary it's quite hard to kill a dragon.
The blond girl is happy that I cleansed myself in the Church. She needs a rest, so I had to keep moving alone.
The way to the good ending is as unique as the whole game! I love it!
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 5
(Originally posted on Saturday, 23 January 2021)
The present post is just a continuation of these posts:
A game with extremely dangerous orcs
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 2
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 3
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 4
Please read them first. In the first one I described what skills I develop and what gimmicks I use. Generally I try to beat the game avoiding as many gimmicks as possible. It makes the game much more difficult, which actually confirms my belief that a warrior with hardly any magic spells should NEVER be better than a half-warrior-half-mage.
In the first post above I showed gameplay movies from Chapter 5 – by far my favourite game chapter ever! In ANY game! In the second post above I showed gameplay movies from Chapters 6 and 7. Chapter 6 is not so fun, but Chapter 7 is almost as good as Chapter 5! In the third post I showed gameplay movies from Chapter 8 – an extremely creepy, yet very good anti-necromancy level. In the fourth post I showed gameplay movies from Chapter 9 – this chapter is still very hard, but a little easier than the previous chapter.
Now it's time for Epilogue that is definitely the hardest level of the whole game while playing with hardly any gimmicks!
ATTENTION! There is a strange bug that “disables” your charge attack permanently! I think it happens during some fights against vampire knights, but I have no idea exactly when. After this bug occurs any later game save will be “corrupted”, which means that you have to reload an earlier save to be able to use the charge attack again! What a weird bug! If you missed it and don't want to reload a much earlier save then you can use the jump attack as an alternative (it can knock down an enemy), but you need the skill Melee Combat 3 (instead of Melee Combat 1) to do it.
To disarm an enemy during a sword-lock quickly click mouse buttons: left-right-left-right-left-right-… (the skill Melee 2 is needed), but it seems NOT to work against vampire knights. It doesn't really matter because sword locks are very rare against them anyway.
Epilogue
This chapter is quite creepy, but also quite stunning – you go through an underground necropolis with very high cliffs. What a unique level design!
I don't help Ishtvan, because a lich fighting on your side is just another gimmick. This is why I ended up with 2 less skill points than the max.
First enemies are easy, but when you encounter a vampire knight it's best to backtrack a little and knock him off the cliff.
Save at the end of this movie!
A lich and a necrolord!
The last cyclops to kill (of any kind), but there are also vampire knights and zombies! A nightmare!
A standard, but very long fight against a cyclops.
A little climbing.
Two necrolords to kill.
A trap leading to a secret place.
Another trap.
There are 4 vampire knights down there! Better to stay up here.
It takes time, but it's totally safe.
A little more time.
I want to have only one vampire knight left alive.
Black guards appear when there is only one vampire left.
Two vampire knights more.
This is what happens when the bug occurs. The last uncorrupted save was too far back, so I just went ahead.
Save here:
My original plan was to stun a particular lich, knock him down and impale him. The jump attack works a little differently, but it can also knock an enemy down.
Second lich down, two to go. There was a zombie at my hiding place, so I couldn't save the game earlier.
Third lich down, one to go.
When I was starting this gameplay with hardly any gimmicks I thought that I won't be able to beat the four liches. But I was wrong!
Save here!
You have to kill the necrolord right away, because there are also 2 vampire knights close by. This time one of them “arrive” a little later than usual.
A necrolord and a vampire knight.
Do NOT go into that crypt because there will be several additional enemies when you go out.
The jump attack is sometimes hilarious. This time it catapulted a necrolord high into the air above me!
A little exploring without any enemies.
The blond girls caught up with me!
You can see Arantir down there, but there are also his two bodyguards.
I used the “high place” gimmick.
First you have to “defeat” Arantir one-on-one. Very hard without hardly any gimmicks.
When Arantir uses the spell Sanctuary you can't kill him. I had no strategy against the bone dragon, so I wasn't sure what to do. So I hid.
I have tried many different strategies against the bone dragon, but with hardly any gimmicks only one strategy worked. Please notice that I had 17 spare skill points, just in case. In fact during some other recording I used 10 of them to develop the skill Magic Affinity 3, but as I re-recorded this moment again and again and again I forgot to do it during the final recording. I used magic mushrooms to replenish my mana reserves, but this little gimmick didn't change anything, except that it saved my time. Without them I would have to simply wait for my mana reserves to replenish automatically.
This is the only place where you are close enough to Arantir to hit him when he is temporarily vulnerable. But save the game before that (after several hits at the bone dragon).
You have to sprint to Arantir before he gets invulnerable again. Rinse and repeat.
And again.
And finally!
The good ending!
I beat the game with hardly any gimmicks on Hard (medium) difficulty setting! I impressed myself. :)
And it all started with the Hobbit movie trilogy, followed by the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy! Well, actually it all started with my daughter reading the Hobbit novel as her required reading for school and bugging me about the Hobbit movie just because her teacher mentioned this movie at school. The weak orcs in these movie trilogies made me remember this awesome game with extremely dangerous orcs.
The present post is just a continuation of these posts:
A game with extremely dangerous orcs
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 2
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 3
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 4
Please read them first. In the first one I described what skills I develop and what gimmicks I use. Generally I try to beat the game avoiding as many gimmicks as possible. It makes the game much more difficult, which actually confirms my belief that a warrior with hardly any magic spells should NEVER be better than a half-warrior-half-mage.
In the first post above I showed gameplay movies from Chapter 5 – by far my favourite game chapter ever! In ANY game! In the second post above I showed gameplay movies from Chapters 6 and 7. Chapter 6 is not so fun, but Chapter 7 is almost as good as Chapter 5! In the third post I showed gameplay movies from Chapter 8 – an extremely creepy, yet very good anti-necromancy level. In the fourth post I showed gameplay movies from Chapter 9 – this chapter is still very hard, but a little easier than the previous chapter.
Now it's time for Epilogue that is definitely the hardest level of the whole game while playing with hardly any gimmicks!
ATTENTION! There is a strange bug that “disables” your charge attack permanently! I think it happens during some fights against vampire knights, but I have no idea exactly when. After this bug occurs any later game save will be “corrupted”, which means that you have to reload an earlier save to be able to use the charge attack again! What a weird bug! If you missed it and don't want to reload a much earlier save then you can use the jump attack as an alternative (it can knock down an enemy), but you need the skill Melee Combat 3 (instead of Melee Combat 1) to do it.
To disarm an enemy during a sword-lock quickly click mouse buttons: left-right-left-right-left-right-… (the skill Melee 2 is needed), but it seems NOT to work against vampire knights. It doesn't really matter because sword locks are very rare against them anyway.
Epilogue
This chapter is quite creepy, but also quite stunning – you go through an underground necropolis with very high cliffs. What a unique level design!
I don't help Ishtvan, because a lich fighting on your side is just another gimmick. This is why I ended up with 2 less skill points than the max.
First enemies are easy, but when you encounter a vampire knight it's best to backtrack a little and knock him off the cliff.
Save at the end of this movie!
A lich and a necrolord!
The last cyclops to kill (of any kind), but there are also vampire knights and zombies! A nightmare!
A standard, but very long fight against a cyclops.
A little climbing.
Two necrolords to kill.
A trap leading to a secret place.
Another trap.
There are 4 vampire knights down there! Better to stay up here.
It takes time, but it's totally safe.
A little more time.
I want to have only one vampire knight left alive.
Black guards appear when there is only one vampire left.
Two vampire knights more.
This is what happens when the bug occurs. The last uncorrupted save was too far back, so I just went ahead.
Save here:
My original plan was to stun a particular lich, knock him down and impale him. The jump attack works a little differently, but it can also knock an enemy down.
Second lich down, two to go. There was a zombie at my hiding place, so I couldn't save the game earlier.
Third lich down, one to go.
When I was starting this gameplay with hardly any gimmicks I thought that I won't be able to beat the four liches. But I was wrong!
Save here!
You have to kill the necrolord right away, because there are also 2 vampire knights close by. This time one of them “arrive” a little later than usual.
A necrolord and a vampire knight.
Do NOT go into that crypt because there will be several additional enemies when you go out.
The jump attack is sometimes hilarious. This time it catapulted a necrolord high into the air above me!
A little exploring without any enemies.
The blond girls caught up with me!
You can see Arantir down there, but there are also his two bodyguards.
I used the “high place” gimmick.
First you have to “defeat” Arantir one-on-one. Very hard without hardly any gimmicks.
When Arantir uses the spell Sanctuary you can't kill him. I had no strategy against the bone dragon, so I wasn't sure what to do. So I hid.
I have tried many different strategies against the bone dragon, but with hardly any gimmicks only one strategy worked. Please notice that I had 17 spare skill points, just in case. In fact during some other recording I used 10 of them to develop the skill Magic Affinity 3, but as I re-recorded this moment again and again and again I forgot to do it during the final recording. I used magic mushrooms to replenish my mana reserves, but this little gimmick didn't change anything, except that it saved my time. Without them I would have to simply wait for my mana reserves to replenish automatically.
This is the only place where you are close enough to Arantir to hit him when he is temporarily vulnerable. But save the game before that (after several hits at the bone dragon).
You have to sprint to Arantir before he gets invulnerable again. Rinse and repeat.
And again.
And finally!
The good ending!
I beat the game with hardly any gimmicks on Hard (medium) difficulty setting! I impressed myself. :)
And it all started with the Hobbit movie trilogy, followed by the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy! Well, actually it all started with my daughter reading the Hobbit novel as her required reading for school and bugging me about the Hobbit movie just because her teacher mentioned this movie at school. The weak orcs in these movie trilogies made me remember this awesome game with extremely dangerous orcs.
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – Hardcore difficulty
(Originally posted on Wednesday, 10 March 2021)
I posted my Youtube videos from my play-through of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic with hardly any gimmicks on the Hard (medium) difficulty settings here:
A game with extremely dangerous orcs
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 2
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 3
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 4
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 5
Now, playing on the Hardcore difficulty setting, I used this very powerful character build (without the extremely overpowered spell Charm):
Telekinesis (1), Heal (3), Alertness (1), Magic Affinity 1 (2), Stamina (1), Endurance 1 (4), Flame Arrow (1), Freeze (3), Melee 1 (1), Magic Affinity 2 (5), Sanctuary (7), Magic Affinity 2 (10), Mana Regeneration (12), … (the remaining 37 skill points can be used on whatever skill you want – I used 8 of them on the skill Burglar, just out of curiosity).
The power of this build confirms my belief that a warrior with hardly any magic spells should NEVER be better than a half-warrior-half-mage.
I decided to beat the game with hardly any self-restrictions, but I still avoid these gimmicks:
1.The spell Charm – it still feels like cheating because it makes one enemy your ally for a short time, usually long enough to get him killed by other enemies.
2. The stupid level design that allows you to “use the environment” – who on earth stores heavy barrels 2 meters above the ground or leaves things with sharp spikes pointing out?
This time I use the Adrenaline effect, but I made the Adrenaline level go down by 5 points every 10 seconds. Normally it goes down by 1 point every 20 seconds, so overall it now goes down 10 times quicker, but there is still enough time to use the Adrenaline effect while fighting against a cyclops.
Here are the commands in my autoexec.cfg file that I use to greatly reduce violence effects (you have to leave some decals to able to see the effects of the spell Freeze when cast on the ground) and to make the Adrenaline level go down by 5 points every 10 seconds:
r_drawdecals 1
r_decals 10
r_drawmodeldecals 0
npcarx_noblood 1
arxnpc_decapitatebloodamount 0
violence_ablood 0
violence_agibs 0
violence_hblood 0
violence_hgibs 0
player_time_to_remove_adrenaline 10
player_value_remove_from_adrenaline 5
The present posts shows only a part of gameplay videos that I recorded. To see all of them you have to watch this playlist directly on Youtube. From the early chapters (up to Chapter 4) I recorded only the most difficult fights. From later chapters (from Chapter 5) I skipped some exploring parts, but I recorded most of the fights.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvly247cQ6TSvbXq1fYwNkZ-qmjxE7L9C
This was my very first play-through where I abused the kick attack. I did it mostly to “inspire” newcomers.
Please, notice that a female voice you sometimes hear doesn't come from a physical person, but from your “spiritual guardian”. You know that hearing voices inside your head is not a good sign, don't you?
Chapter 2
The enemy archers are VERY dangerous on the Hardcore difficulty setting, so it's better to deal with them first. By the way, you as an archer are pathetic on this difficulty setting.
When the Adrenaline bar is full it's clearly better to take down an enemy with a shield. The top of a stairway is a very good place for kick attacks.
Chapter 3
The “ghoul run”.
This can be quite a difficult fight, but only when you play it “fair”. This is the easy alternative.
Chapter 4
Your enemies can't swim.
This is the place where I start using the spell Freeze.
This place has always been one of my favourite ones, but the kick attack makes it ridiculously easy.
By far the hardest battle so far. It's VERY hard even when abusing the kick attack.
Chapter 5
By far my favourite game chapter ever! In ANY game!
The spell Freeze is almost game-breaking if you know what you're doing.
The spell Freeze is an instant kill against the flying monsters (they fall down and shatter into pieces).
The power of the kick attack against orcs.
First dragon kill.
First spiders. I developed the skill/spell Sanctuary, but I didn't use it here.
I HAD to record this funny goblin conversation again!
I hate fighting against goblins in this game, because their weapon reach is totally WRONG! The kick attack made this fight a little less annoying.
First fight against a cyclops. There is just enough time to pump up the Adrenaline bar, but you have to be very good to make it full.
This fight is sooo easy when using the spell Sanctuary and the kick attack! An overkill!
I overused the spell Sanctuary here – there is no need to use it against a single orc, like I did at the end of this fight.
More orcs.
And more orcs again.
Wait for the orcs here!
Aratrok's speech.
I used magic spells and Aratrok called me an honorless snake. Hilarious! First it's better to kill the standard orcs and leave Aratrok for later. This is a re-recorded fight because during later fights against vampire knights I realized that kicking a lying enemy allows more impalements than just one!
A secret place with the best robe for a mage. This is when I developed the skill Magic Affinity 3.
A first encounter against ghouls.
What an unforgettable chapter! Nothing can compare to it!
Chapter 6
With my character build the whole chapter is actually a breeze.
This part is MUCH easier when using the spell Sanctuary.
Killing a lich with the Adrenaline effect is actually very easy.
The combination of the spell Sanctuary and the kick attack makes this fight ridiculously easy.
Spiders at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 7
This chapter is similar to Chapter 5, because the enemies are similar, but the level design is enjoyably different and the exploring is even more fun. In fact the most stunning place in the whole game is in this chapter!
This is when I developed the skill Mana Regeneration. Game over! I mean that there is not a single skill left that is needed. Later I developed the skill Burglar, just out of curiosity.
The spell Freeze rules against orcs.
Last orcs for some time.
Another cyclops to kill.
Cool exploring and lots of spiders.
The most stunning place in the whole game! I love this place!
This battle is annoying because goblins seems to re-spawn infinitely (they keep jumping down from a higher place).
Yet another cool exploring part! Please notice that at the end of the video you can stand at the edge without “activating” the Giant Worm.
This time I took a good look at the giant worm. The spell Sanctuary is just too good!
The spell Freeze against the flying monsters.
A different view at the most stunning place in the whole game.
I reached a place which I was not supposed to reach! Please notice that the level design elements above me were “empty” and my arrows went through them as through the air!
The power of the kick attack at the edge of a high place again.
Chapter 8
The kick attack is great for keeping a vampire knight (or a necrolord) lying on the floor.
The kick attack rules near high places.
The spell Freeze + kick attack. Again.
Several necrolords.
One of the hardest parts in Chapter 8 and the whole game.
The fight against the giant spider is quite easy with Adrenaline effect. This time I did this fight AFTER clearing the path to the exit, so Leanna wouldn't be in any danger.
Chapter 9
Lots of ghouls very soon into the chapter.
Ghouls are harder to kick from an edge because they keep strafing.
Killing a cyclops is definitely safer with the spell Sanctuary.
She threw a vase at me! Like a real angry woman! Hilarious!
A blessing.
Several ghouls again.
A wild sequence.
I always like this part (the outside of the castle).
Epilogue
Lots of high places to kick your enemies from.
The power of my build – a lich, a necrolord and a cyclops together with some vampire knights and ghouls.
This sequence cost me lots of mana, but I wanted to finish the game as quickly as possible.
Four liches in one take.
Arantir.
By sheer accident I discovered the best strategy against the ghost dragon. Killing it for the first time is the hardest because you have to build up your adrenaline bar, but after that your adrenaline bar gets almost full kind of automatically while you attack Arantir (when his Sanctuary spell is down). Then it's just a couple of shots and the ghost dragon is down again.
I recorded the whole credits as a tribute to all the people involved in creating this awesome game. Respect!
I posted my Youtube videos from my play-through of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic with hardly any gimmicks on the Hard (medium) difficulty settings here:
A game with extremely dangerous orcs
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 2
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 3
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 4
A game with extremely dangerous orcs – part 5
Now, playing on the Hardcore difficulty setting, I used this very powerful character build (without the extremely overpowered spell Charm):
Telekinesis (1), Heal (3), Alertness (1), Magic Affinity 1 (2), Stamina (1), Endurance 1 (4), Flame Arrow (1), Freeze (3), Melee 1 (1), Magic Affinity 2 (5), Sanctuary (7), Magic Affinity 2 (10), Mana Regeneration (12), … (the remaining 37 skill points can be used on whatever skill you want – I used 8 of them on the skill Burglar, just out of curiosity).
The power of this build confirms my belief that a warrior with hardly any magic spells should NEVER be better than a half-warrior-half-mage.
I decided to beat the game with hardly any self-restrictions, but I still avoid these gimmicks:
1.The spell Charm – it still feels like cheating because it makes one enemy your ally for a short time, usually long enough to get him killed by other enemies.
2. The stupid level design that allows you to “use the environment” – who on earth stores heavy barrels 2 meters above the ground or leaves things with sharp spikes pointing out?
This time I use the Adrenaline effect, but I made the Adrenaline level go down by 5 points every 10 seconds. Normally it goes down by 1 point every 20 seconds, so overall it now goes down 10 times quicker, but there is still enough time to use the Adrenaline effect while fighting against a cyclops.
Here are the commands in my autoexec.cfg file that I use to greatly reduce violence effects (you have to leave some decals to able to see the effects of the spell Freeze when cast on the ground) and to make the Adrenaline level go down by 5 points every 10 seconds:
r_drawdecals 1
r_decals 10
r_drawmodeldecals 0
npcarx_noblood 1
arxnpc_decapitatebloodamount 0
violence_ablood 0
violence_agibs 0
violence_hblood 0
violence_hgibs 0
player_time_to_remove_adrenaline 10
player_value_remove_from_adrenaline 5
The present posts shows only a part of gameplay videos that I recorded. To see all of them you have to watch this playlist directly on Youtube. From the early chapters (up to Chapter 4) I recorded only the most difficult fights. From later chapters (from Chapter 5) I skipped some exploring parts, but I recorded most of the fights.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvly247cQ6TSvbXq1fYwNkZ-qmjxE7L9C
This was my very first play-through where I abused the kick attack. I did it mostly to “inspire” newcomers.
Please, notice that a female voice you sometimes hear doesn't come from a physical person, but from your “spiritual guardian”. You know that hearing voices inside your head is not a good sign, don't you?
Chapter 2
The enemy archers are VERY dangerous on the Hardcore difficulty setting, so it's better to deal with them first. By the way, you as an archer are pathetic on this difficulty setting.
When the Adrenaline bar is full it's clearly better to take down an enemy with a shield. The top of a stairway is a very good place for kick attacks.
Chapter 3
The “ghoul run”.
This can be quite a difficult fight, but only when you play it “fair”. This is the easy alternative.
Chapter 4
Your enemies can't swim.
This is the place where I start using the spell Freeze.
This place has always been one of my favourite ones, but the kick attack makes it ridiculously easy.
By far the hardest battle so far. It's VERY hard even when abusing the kick attack.
Chapter 5
By far my favourite game chapter ever! In ANY game!
The spell Freeze is almost game-breaking if you know what you're doing.
The spell Freeze is an instant kill against the flying monsters (they fall down and shatter into pieces).
The power of the kick attack against orcs.
First dragon kill.
First spiders. I developed the skill/spell Sanctuary, but I didn't use it here.
I HAD to record this funny goblin conversation again!
I hate fighting against goblins in this game, because their weapon reach is totally WRONG! The kick attack made this fight a little less annoying.
First fight against a cyclops. There is just enough time to pump up the Adrenaline bar, but you have to be very good to make it full.
This fight is sooo easy when using the spell Sanctuary and the kick attack! An overkill!
I overused the spell Sanctuary here – there is no need to use it against a single orc, like I did at the end of this fight.
More orcs.
And more orcs again.
Wait for the orcs here!
Aratrok's speech.
I used magic spells and Aratrok called me an honorless snake. Hilarious! First it's better to kill the standard orcs and leave Aratrok for later. This is a re-recorded fight because during later fights against vampire knights I realized that kicking a lying enemy allows more impalements than just one!
A secret place with the best robe for a mage. This is when I developed the skill Magic Affinity 3.
A first encounter against ghouls.
What an unforgettable chapter! Nothing can compare to it!
Chapter 6
With my character build the whole chapter is actually a breeze.
This part is MUCH easier when using the spell Sanctuary.
Killing a lich with the Adrenaline effect is actually very easy.
The combination of the spell Sanctuary and the kick attack makes this fight ridiculously easy.
Spiders at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 7
This chapter is similar to Chapter 5, because the enemies are similar, but the level design is enjoyably different and the exploring is even more fun. In fact the most stunning place in the whole game is in this chapter!
This is when I developed the skill Mana Regeneration. Game over! I mean that there is not a single skill left that is needed. Later I developed the skill Burglar, just out of curiosity.
The spell Freeze rules against orcs.
Last orcs for some time.
Another cyclops to kill.
Cool exploring and lots of spiders.
The most stunning place in the whole game! I love this place!
This battle is annoying because goblins seems to re-spawn infinitely (they keep jumping down from a higher place).
Yet another cool exploring part! Please notice that at the end of the video you can stand at the edge without “activating” the Giant Worm.
This time I took a good look at the giant worm. The spell Sanctuary is just too good!
The spell Freeze against the flying monsters.
A different view at the most stunning place in the whole game.
I reached a place which I was not supposed to reach! Please notice that the level design elements above me were “empty” and my arrows went through them as through the air!
The power of the kick attack at the edge of a high place again.
Chapter 8
The kick attack is great for keeping a vampire knight (or a necrolord) lying on the floor.
The kick attack rules near high places.
The spell Freeze + kick attack. Again.
Several necrolords.
One of the hardest parts in Chapter 8 and the whole game.
The fight against the giant spider is quite easy with Adrenaline effect. This time I did this fight AFTER clearing the path to the exit, so Leanna wouldn't be in any danger.
Chapter 9
Lots of ghouls very soon into the chapter.
Ghouls are harder to kick from an edge because they keep strafing.
Killing a cyclops is definitely safer with the spell Sanctuary.
She threw a vase at me! Like a real angry woman! Hilarious!
A blessing.
Several ghouls again.
A wild sequence.
I always like this part (the outside of the castle).
Epilogue
Lots of high places to kick your enemies from.
The power of my build – a lich, a necrolord and a cyclops together with some vampire knights and ghouls.
This sequence cost me lots of mana, but I wanted to finish the game as quickly as possible.
Four liches in one take.
Arantir.
By sheer accident I discovered the best strategy against the ghost dragon. Killing it for the first time is the hardest because you have to build up your adrenaline bar, but after that your adrenaline bar gets almost full kind of automatically while you attack Arantir (when his Sanctuary spell is down). Then it's just a couple of shots and the ghost dragon is down again.
I recorded the whole credits as a tribute to all the people involved in creating this awesome game. Respect!
Friday, 5 June 2015
Broken default printing in Windows
(Originally posted on Tuesday, 24 March 2020)
Today I discovered why I sometimes have trouble while printing images. It’s the default Windows settings “Fit picture to frame” and “Fit to page” that are somewhat HIDDEN and CANNOT be changed!
First of all the name of the setting “Fit picture to frame” is misleading for most people. When this setting is checked some pictures are actually trimmed! Below is a double example that I found on this site:
https://www.windowsphoneinfo.com/threads/default-fit-picture-to-frame.282429/
As you can see the whole picture is visible only when this setting is UNCHECKED! The checked setting is usually used when you want to print a real photo that would fill a whole photo frame, but very few people print real photos at home, so they don’t understand the word “frame” as a real photo frame. In most cases people want to print a WHOLE picture!
What’s worse, much worse, you CANNOT change the default setting! It’s always checked! ALWAYS! To print a whole (untrimmed) picture you have to uncheck it EVERY SINGLE TIME!
Even worse, some programs use this default Windows setting without giving you any chance to change this setting even for printing a single picture. It means that these programs will ALWAYS print such a picture in the wrong (trimmed) way! ALWAYS!!!
This problem has existed for over 10 years! TEN fucking years! Here’s an example from 2010:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/turning-off-fit-to-frame-when-printing-a-picture/7d7f6f1f-14dd-481c-9225-963e5ca9aca3
The easiest way to print an untrimmed picture is to print it directly from a file (without opening the file first) – just right-click the file, then select “Print” AND then uncheck the setting. Unfortunately when you have 100 different pictures to print, you have to repeat the whole process 100 times! Are you kidding me?!
Unfortunately printing directly from a file has a downside too. This way you CANNOT print a small picture on an A4 page! By default Windows printing ALWAYS fits a picture to a page! When a picture is too big it is scaled down (which is usually good), but if a picture is “too small” it is stretched (which is usually bad).
Please notice that this hidden default setting “Fit to page” is NOT dependent on the setting “Fit picture to frame”. The hidden default setting “Fit to page” means that a small picture is either stretched to fit a page using the “wrong” side of the picture (with the checked setting “Fit picture to frame”) or it’s stretched to fit a page using the “correct” side of the picture (with the ununchecked setting “Fit picture to frame”).
Below is a four-picture example. You can save the first picture and try it out on your own computer. The last picture shows the real size of the picture on an A4 page (in the program Paint):
Again, the only explanation for this hidden default setting “Fit to page” is printing real photos – a very small photo (a photo in a very small resolution) is automatically stretched to be printed as a normal size real photo. But again, very few people print real photos at home and in many cases they want to print a small picture in its real (not stretched) size!
To print a small picture in its real size you have to use a program, for example Paint (Print -> Page setup -> Scaling -> Adjust to 100% normal size):
Unfortunately, the default Paint print scaling setting is ALWAYS “Fit to 1 by 1 page(s)” and you CANNOT change it! When you have 100 different small pictures to print, you have to repeat the whole process 100 times! Again, are you kidding me?!
Today I discovered why I sometimes have trouble while printing images. It’s the default Windows settings “Fit picture to frame” and “Fit to page” that are somewhat HIDDEN and CANNOT be changed!
First of all the name of the setting “Fit picture to frame” is misleading for most people. When this setting is checked some pictures are actually trimmed! Below is a double example that I found on this site:
https://www.windowsphoneinfo.com/threads/default-fit-picture-to-frame.282429/
As you can see the whole picture is visible only when this setting is UNCHECKED! The checked setting is usually used when you want to print a real photo that would fill a whole photo frame, but very few people print real photos at home, so they don’t understand the word “frame” as a real photo frame. In most cases people want to print a WHOLE picture!
What’s worse, much worse, you CANNOT change the default setting! It’s always checked! ALWAYS! To print a whole (untrimmed) picture you have to uncheck it EVERY SINGLE TIME!
Even worse, some programs use this default Windows setting without giving you any chance to change this setting even for printing a single picture. It means that these programs will ALWAYS print such a picture in the wrong (trimmed) way! ALWAYS!!!
This problem has existed for over 10 years! TEN fucking years! Here’s an example from 2010:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/turning-off-fit-to-frame-when-printing-a-picture/7d7f6f1f-14dd-481c-9225-963e5ca9aca3
The easiest way to print an untrimmed picture is to print it directly from a file (without opening the file first) – just right-click the file, then select “Print” AND then uncheck the setting. Unfortunately when you have 100 different pictures to print, you have to repeat the whole process 100 times! Are you kidding me?!
Unfortunately printing directly from a file has a downside too. This way you CANNOT print a small picture on an A4 page! By default Windows printing ALWAYS fits a picture to a page! When a picture is too big it is scaled down (which is usually good), but if a picture is “too small” it is stretched (which is usually bad).
Please notice that this hidden default setting “Fit to page” is NOT dependent on the setting “Fit picture to frame”. The hidden default setting “Fit to page” means that a small picture is either stretched to fit a page using the “wrong” side of the picture (with the checked setting “Fit picture to frame”) or it’s stretched to fit a page using the “correct” side of the picture (with the ununchecked setting “Fit picture to frame”).
Below is a four-picture example. You can save the first picture and try it out on your own computer. The last picture shows the real size of the picture on an A4 page (in the program Paint):
Again, the only explanation for this hidden default setting “Fit to page” is printing real photos – a very small photo (a photo in a very small resolution) is automatically stretched to be printed as a normal size real photo. But again, very few people print real photos at home and in many cases they want to print a small picture in its real (not stretched) size!
To print a small picture in its real size you have to use a program, for example Paint (Print -> Page setup -> Scaling -> Adjust to 100% normal size):
Unfortunately, the default Paint print scaling setting is ALWAYS “Fit to 1 by 1 page(s)” and you CANNOT change it! When you have 100 different small pictures to print, you have to repeat the whole process 100 times! Again, are you kidding me?!
Thursday, 4 June 2015
Outlook alters plain text messages and hides it from you!
(Originally posted on Saturday, 28 November 2020)
I've just “discovered” an outrageous fact about Outlook – it ALTERS plain text messages and HIDES this fact from you!
First of all, I would like to “answer” a possible “explanation” from an “Outlook expert” that I should use HTML format because it has a special marker for a new line. Such an explanation would be moronic because in plain text messages there is already such a marker, namely ENTER!
A true solution (for plain text messages) is given towards the end of the present post (it can be found by searching for “__”, which visualises two spaces next to each other).
I send all my e-mails in plain text, because I don't care about visuals – the content is what really counts, not the presentation. Moreover I had always thought that the plain text messages are the safest ones, because there is no extra formatting, but Outlook spoils them anyway!
Please notice that the first example I will give you is a “light” one, just to show you how I made my “discovery”. I will give you a much more extreme example towards the end of the present post (it can be found by searching for the words “extreme example”).
All the examples are a little simplified. Most importantly in my original message the first sentence was so long that it was divided into five lines, not three.
Recently I sent an e-mail that looked like this (I can't actually quote it because it was a business e-mail):
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
That was how it looked BEFORE I sent it. When I looked at the already sent e-mail I saw something different.
I-a. Default view shown to the sender:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
The point 3 was in the same line as the point 2! I thought that I messed something up by accident, so I sent the e-mail again, the way I wanted it to be sent. And I was shocked to see that the end-result was ALTERED again! I got really surprised.
I noticed that at the top of the sent e-mails there was info “We removed extra line breaks from this message”. After I clicked this info and chose “Restore line breaks”, I was shown a seemingly correct e-mail.
II-a. Non-default view shown to the sender:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
I started to wonder why Outlook doesn't do it automatically and forces me to click the info “We removed extra line breaks from this message” and chose “Restore line breaks” every single time. Then I found on the net that I can change the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages”. Click to enlarge.
This option is checked by default, so I unchecked it. I sent my e-mail again, but this time I also sent it to myself (as a hidden recipient). And I got PISSED! The “sent” e-mail was shown the way I saw it after clicking the info “We removed extra line breaks from this message” and choosing “Restore line breaks” (a seemingly correct e-mail), HOWEVER the e-mail I GOT (as a recipient) was totally different!
Before I go on I have to make some rules, so my description will be as clear as possible. From now on when I write the word “default” I mean what you can see when the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” is CHECKED without clicking anything. When I write “non-default” I mean what you can see when this setting is UNCHECKED or when you click the info “We removed extra line breaks from this message” and chose “Restore line breaks”.
II-a. Non-default view shown to the sender: a “correct” view (the way I wrote it).
II-b. Non-default view shown to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a
very long sentence that was wrapped to
the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate
entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
So, the first sentence was actually divided into THREE lines and the point 4 was divided into TWO lines!
The outrageous thing is the fact that you CANNOT see this effect as the SENDER, no matter if the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” is checked or unchecked! Only the recipient can see the actual sent e-mail (but only in the non-default view)!
It means that Outlook does something (alters an e-mail) and HIDES this fact before the sender!!! UNACCEPTABLE!!!
This is probably the reason why there is no “preview” option and why the sender is NOT warned BEFORE sending a plain text message that some new line breaks will be added to the ones created by pressing the Enter key.
What usually happens is that the sender thinks that he (or she) sent an e-mail in the correct way (the way it was written) and the recipient simply thinks that the sender sent an e-mail that is messed up! In other words: Outlook makes idiots of its users!!!
The interesting thing is the fact that in the non-default view my first two e-mails were also shown “correctly”, so I guess that the first two e-mails were altered in the same way as the third.
I checked the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” again and ALL my e-mails were show with the info “We removed extra line breaks from this message”, including the third mail that I sent AFTER unchecking this option. And yes, in the third e-mail the point 3 was also in the same line as the point 2! So, NOTHING really changed!
It means that the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” does NOT change the way e-mails are sent, but only the way e-mails are shown!!!
At that point I realised that Outlook alters some sent e-mails by dividing some lines into two or more lines and then tries to reverse the process by combining two or more separate lines into one line before displaying e-mails, but in some cases it messes things up and combines lines that shouldn't be combined! Are you kidding me? Are you FUCKING kidding me?!
How the e-mails are shown in Outlook depends on the RECIPIENT's setting, not the sender's! It means that to see the actual sent e-mail the recipient has to click the info “We removed extra line breaks from this message” or to uncheck the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages”!
Obviously when the recipient doesn't use Outlook, but some other program then he (or she) sees the e-mail that was actually sent (the way a recipient with Outlook would see it in the non-default view). Oh, GOD!!!
Why did Outlook messed up my first e-mail? Because I missed a dot at the end of point 2! Yes, a single dot may be important! I started to make experiments. I sent several DOZENS of e-mails and I realised that the “reverse process” depends on many different things and is FAAAR from perfect.
I will show you the most extreme example. I sent an e-mail similar to the first one, but on purpose I wrote at the end of the first sentence a semicolon instead of a colon and at the end of the points 1, 3 and 4 I wrote commas instead of dots:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line;
1. Name of a corporate entity A,
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C,
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron,
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
That was how it looked BEFORE I sent it.
The end results (not one result, but THREE different results, exactly like in the original example) were these:
I-ab. Default view shown to the sender and to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line; 1. Name of a corporate entity A, 2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C, 4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron, 5. Name of a corporate entity E.
Outlook combined everything into ONE line! Ridiculous!
II-a. Non-default view shown to the sender: shown in a correct way (the way I wrote it).
II-b. Non-default view shown to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a
very long sentence that was wrapped to
the next line;
1. Name of a corporate entity A,
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C,
4. An extremely long name of a corporate
entity D with a patron,
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
So, either way the recipient is shown an ALTERED e-mail! The text is either combined into one line or divided into additional lines.
What's worse the sender is shown an e-mail that is different from the one that was actually sent! The text is either combined into one line or shown the way it was wrote, but not sent! What a moronic idea!
Let me point it out again: there are three different views of ONE sent e-mail! THREE!!! Outrageous! Totally OUTRAGEOUS!!!
In the Outlook options there is the setting “Automatically wrap text at character …”, so the obvious question is: “Does it help?”, but the answer is: “Not really.”. The default number is 76, but the max is set at 132. ONLY 132! It doesn't change much. I re-sent the first e-mail and there were THREE different results AGAIN:
I-ab. Default view shown to the sender and to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
The point 3 was in the same line as the point 2 AGAIN!
II-a. Non-default view shown to the sender: shown in a correct way (the way I wrote it).
II-b. Non-default view shown to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped
to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
So, the first sentence was still divided, but this time into TWO lines (previously it was divided into 3 lines). This time the point 4 remained unchanged (previously it was divided into 2 lines).
Anyway, there were still three different views of ONE sent e-mail! THREE!!! Outrageous! Totally OUTRAGEOUS!!!
I re-sent the extreme example again (with the “132 characters setting”) and it was still totally messed up:
I-ab. Default view shown to the sender and to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line; 1. Name of a corporate entity A, 2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C, 4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron, 5. Name of a corporate entity E.
Outlook combined everything into ONE line AGAIN! Ridiculous!
II-a. Non-default view shown to the sender: shown in a correct way (the way I wrote it).
II-b. Non-default view shown to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped
to the next line;
1. Name of a corporate entity A,
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C,
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron,
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
So, the first sentence was still divided, but this time into two lines (previously it was divided into 3 lines). This time the point 4 remained unchanged (previously it was divided into 2 lines), but the recipient is still shown an ALTERED e-mail! The text is either combined into one line or divided into an additional line.
There were still three different views of ONE sent e-mail! THREE!!! Outrageous! Totally OUTRAGEOUS!!!
I tried to divide the lines myself, but I added ENTERS where I wanted them, not where Outlook would place them:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was
ENTERED to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name
of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
That was how it looked BEFORE I sent it. When I looked at the already sent e-mail I saw something different!
I-ab. Default view shown to the sender and to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was ENTERED to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
Outlook JOINED two lines into one line! THREE TIMES! Outlook made the fist sentence look like one line, even though I divided this line MYSELF! And Outlook made the point 4 look like one line, even though I divided this line MYSELF! And of course the point 3 was in the same line as the point 2 AGAIN! Now this is fucking CRAZY!
II-ab. Non-default view shown to the sender and to the recipient: shown in a correct way (the way I wrote it).
There were “only” 2 different views of ONE sent e-mail, so is the problem solved? NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why? Because most of the Outlook users have no idea what the setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” really does. When somebody sees the word “extra” then he (or she) thinks that the sender by mistake place some unneeded line breaks! So the recipients leave this setting CHECKED! So, when I send an e-mail the way I want it to look, the Outlook OVERRULES me!
Imagine that as a sender you don't use Outlook and you write a plain text message that you arrange yourself – you decided where the next lines are started. The CRAZY thing is that if the recipient uses Outlook then he (or she) sees a different (default Outlook) view of your e-mail, NOT the real one! OUTRAGEOUS!!!
The extreme case was still totally messed up, even when I added ENTERS where I wanted them, not where Outlook would place them:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was
ENTERED to the next line;
1. Name of a corporate entity A,
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C,
4. An extremely long name
of a corporate entity D with a patron,
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
That was how it looked BEFORE I sent it. When I looked at the already sent e-mail I saw something different!
I-ab. Default view shown to the sender and to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was ENTERED to the next line; 1. Name of a corporate entity A, 2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C, 4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron, 5. Name of a corporate entity E.
Outlook combined everything into ONE line AGAIN! Ridiculous!
II-ab. Non-default view shown to the sender and to the recipient: shown in a correct way (the way I wrote it).
There were “only” 2 different views of ONE sent e-mail, so is the problem solved? NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why? Because most of the Outlook users have no idea what the setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” really does. When somebody sees the word “extra” then he (or she) thinks that the sender by mistake place some unneeded line breaks! So the recipients leave this setting CHECKED! So, when I send an e-mail the way I want it to look, the Outlook OVERRULES me!
Imagine that as a sender you don't use Outlook and you write a plain text message that you arrange yourself – you decided where the next lines are started. The CRAZY thing is that if the recipient uses Outlook then he (or she) sees a different (default Outlook) view of your e-mail, NOT the real one! OUTRAGEOUS!!!
So, Outlook makes idiots of all of its users, also when they are recipients! In the default view Outlook ALWAYS shows not the e-mail that was actually sent, but an e-mail “reconstructed” by Outlook! OUTRAGEOUS!!!
What can be done?
Yes! There is something you can do to trick Outlook! But at what price! You have not only to add ENTERS where you want them to be, but also you have to add TWO SPACES at the start of EVERY line!
__Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was
__ENTERED to the next line;
__1. Name of a corporate entity A,
__2. Name of a corporate entity B
__3. Name of a corporate entity C,
__4. An extremely long name
__of a corporate entity D with a patron,
__5. Name of a corporate entity E.
I showed a single space as “_”, so two spaces look like “__”. I did it to make them visible.
This is what “solves” the problem! ALL four views of such an e-mail (default and non-defualt for the sender and for the recipient) are shown by Outlook correctly!
Oh, dear GOD!!!
I am not the only one who has been devastated by how Outlook alters plain text messages. Somebody on this site:
https://www.masternewmedia.org/newsletter_publishing/newsletter_formatting/remove_line_breaks_issue_Microsoft_Outlook_2003_when_publishing_text_newsletters_20051217.htm
called this feature “retarded”. I will quote the whole post:
“I have to say -- the feature in question, the automatic removal of line breaks -- has to be the stupidest, most idiotic addition to any application -- EVER. It's 100% useless, inaccurate, and just plain retarded. Whoever thought this little gem up ought to be dragged out into the parking lot and shot -- seriously. We should not feel bad that this problem has had so many of us stumped and coming up with work around "hacks". It was a stupid idea on Microsoft's part, and badly implemented.
Outlook -- an application DESIGNED to read messages as they are sent -- which is how they were intended to be read -- should NEVER, EVER, EVER alter the content of a message unless that content was deemed to be dangerous in some way -- and even then, I would argue that it SHOULD NEVER EVER ALTER CONTENT.
I can't believe I've had to spend so much time figuring out how to get a message I send to display correctly using the oldest technology around -- plain text. Absolutely ridiculous.
In any event, I have an alternative solution you might be interested in. Instead of adding two spaces to the start of each line, I add a tab character right before the line break at the end of the line (CR, LF). This seems to satisfy Outlook, in that even if this RETARDED feature is enabled it will treat all lines correctly.
Why is this important? Why can't we just turn the option off? Believe me -- I have, but you can't expect other readers to know, or even care about doing that. It should be the responsibility of the content provider (sender, in this case) to ensure that content is formatted correctly, regardless of the end-users' setup. User's are not always the smartest of people, so even when you provide them with crystal clear 1,2,3 instructions, you can't expect them to A) follow them, or B) get it right.
Anyway, that's my two cents on the subject -- I just had to vent. Hope my alternate solution is of benefit to others.
Microsoft -- PLEASE DO US A FAVOR AND REMOVE THIS COMPLETELY RETARDED FEATURE! Or at the very least, disable it by default!”
It was posted in 2006! It's 14 years later and this problem still exists! FOURTEEN fucking years!!!
I've just “discovered” an outrageous fact about Outlook – it ALTERS plain text messages and HIDES this fact from you!
First of all, I would like to “answer” a possible “explanation” from an “Outlook expert” that I should use HTML format because it has a special marker for a new line. Such an explanation would be moronic because in plain text messages there is already such a marker, namely ENTER!
A true solution (for plain text messages) is given towards the end of the present post (it can be found by searching for “__”, which visualises two spaces next to each other).
I send all my e-mails in plain text, because I don't care about visuals – the content is what really counts, not the presentation. Moreover I had always thought that the plain text messages are the safest ones, because there is no extra formatting, but Outlook spoils them anyway!
Please notice that the first example I will give you is a “light” one, just to show you how I made my “discovery”. I will give you a much more extreme example towards the end of the present post (it can be found by searching for the words “extreme example”).
All the examples are a little simplified. Most importantly in my original message the first sentence was so long that it was divided into five lines, not three.
Recently I sent an e-mail that looked like this (I can't actually quote it because it was a business e-mail):
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
That was how it looked BEFORE I sent it. When I looked at the already sent e-mail I saw something different.
I-a. Default view shown to the sender:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
The point 3 was in the same line as the point 2! I thought that I messed something up by accident, so I sent the e-mail again, the way I wanted it to be sent. And I was shocked to see that the end-result was ALTERED again! I got really surprised.
I noticed that at the top of the sent e-mails there was info “We removed extra line breaks from this message”. After I clicked this info and chose “Restore line breaks”, I was shown a seemingly correct e-mail.
II-a. Non-default view shown to the sender:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
I started to wonder why Outlook doesn't do it automatically and forces me to click the info “We removed extra line breaks from this message” and chose “Restore line breaks” every single time. Then I found on the net that I can change the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages”. Click to enlarge.
Before I go on I have to make some rules, so my description will be as clear as possible. From now on when I write the word “default” I mean what you can see when the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” is CHECKED without clicking anything. When I write “non-default” I mean what you can see when this setting is UNCHECKED or when you click the info “We removed extra line breaks from this message” and chose “Restore line breaks”.
II-a. Non-default view shown to the sender: a “correct” view (the way I wrote it).
II-b. Non-default view shown to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a
very long sentence that was wrapped to
the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate
entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
So, the first sentence was actually divided into THREE lines and the point 4 was divided into TWO lines!
The outrageous thing is the fact that you CANNOT see this effect as the SENDER, no matter if the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” is checked or unchecked! Only the recipient can see the actual sent e-mail (but only in the non-default view)!
It means that Outlook does something (alters an e-mail) and HIDES this fact before the sender!!! UNACCEPTABLE!!!
This is probably the reason why there is no “preview” option and why the sender is NOT warned BEFORE sending a plain text message that some new line breaks will be added to the ones created by pressing the Enter key.
What usually happens is that the sender thinks that he (or she) sent an e-mail in the correct way (the way it was written) and the recipient simply thinks that the sender sent an e-mail that is messed up! In other words: Outlook makes idiots of its users!!!
The interesting thing is the fact that in the non-default view my first two e-mails were also shown “correctly”, so I guess that the first two e-mails were altered in the same way as the third.
I checked the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” again and ALL my e-mails were show with the info “We removed extra line breaks from this message”, including the third mail that I sent AFTER unchecking this option. And yes, in the third e-mail the point 3 was also in the same line as the point 2! So, NOTHING really changed!
It means that the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” does NOT change the way e-mails are sent, but only the way e-mails are shown!!!
At that point I realised that Outlook alters some sent e-mails by dividing some lines into two or more lines and then tries to reverse the process by combining two or more separate lines into one line before displaying e-mails, but in some cases it messes things up and combines lines that shouldn't be combined! Are you kidding me? Are you FUCKING kidding me?!
How the e-mails are shown in Outlook depends on the RECIPIENT's setting, not the sender's! It means that to see the actual sent e-mail the recipient has to click the info “We removed extra line breaks from this message” or to uncheck the Outlook setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages”!
Obviously when the recipient doesn't use Outlook, but some other program then he (or she) sees the e-mail that was actually sent (the way a recipient with Outlook would see it in the non-default view). Oh, GOD!!!
Why did Outlook messed up my first e-mail? Because I missed a dot at the end of point 2! Yes, a single dot may be important! I started to make experiments. I sent several DOZENS of e-mails and I realised that the “reverse process” depends on many different things and is FAAAR from perfect.
I will show you the most extreme example. I sent an e-mail similar to the first one, but on purpose I wrote at the end of the first sentence a semicolon instead of a colon and at the end of the points 1, 3 and 4 I wrote commas instead of dots:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line;
1. Name of a corporate entity A,
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C,
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron,
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
That was how it looked BEFORE I sent it.
The end results (not one result, but THREE different results, exactly like in the original example) were these:
I-ab. Default view shown to the sender and to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line; 1. Name of a corporate entity A, 2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C, 4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron, 5. Name of a corporate entity E.
Outlook combined everything into ONE line! Ridiculous!
II-a. Non-default view shown to the sender: shown in a correct way (the way I wrote it).
II-b. Non-default view shown to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a
very long sentence that was wrapped to
the next line;
1. Name of a corporate entity A,
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C,
4. An extremely long name of a corporate
entity D with a patron,
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
So, either way the recipient is shown an ALTERED e-mail! The text is either combined into one line or divided into additional lines.
What's worse the sender is shown an e-mail that is different from the one that was actually sent! The text is either combined into one line or shown the way it was wrote, but not sent! What a moronic idea!
Let me point it out again: there are three different views of ONE sent e-mail! THREE!!! Outrageous! Totally OUTRAGEOUS!!!
In the Outlook options there is the setting “Automatically wrap text at character …”, so the obvious question is: “Does it help?”, but the answer is: “Not really.”. The default number is 76, but the max is set at 132. ONLY 132! It doesn't change much. I re-sent the first e-mail and there were THREE different results AGAIN:
I-ab. Default view shown to the sender and to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
The point 3 was in the same line as the point 2 AGAIN!
II-a. Non-default view shown to the sender: shown in a correct way (the way I wrote it).
II-b. Non-default view shown to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped
to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
So, the first sentence was still divided, but this time into TWO lines (previously it was divided into 3 lines). This time the point 4 remained unchanged (previously it was divided into 2 lines).
Anyway, there were still three different views of ONE sent e-mail! THREE!!! Outrageous! Totally OUTRAGEOUS!!!
I re-sent the extreme example again (with the “132 characters setting”) and it was still totally messed up:
I-ab. Default view shown to the sender and to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped to the next line; 1. Name of a corporate entity A, 2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C, 4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron, 5. Name of a corporate entity E.
Outlook combined everything into ONE line AGAIN! Ridiculous!
II-a. Non-default view shown to the sender: shown in a correct way (the way I wrote it).
II-b. Non-default view shown to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was wrapped
to the next line;
1. Name of a corporate entity A,
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C,
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron,
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
So, the first sentence was still divided, but this time into two lines (previously it was divided into 3 lines). This time the point 4 remained unchanged (previously it was divided into 2 lines), but the recipient is still shown an ALTERED e-mail! The text is either combined into one line or divided into an additional line.
There were still three different views of ONE sent e-mail! THREE!!! Outrageous! Totally OUTRAGEOUS!!!
I tried to divide the lines myself, but I added ENTERS where I wanted them, not where Outlook would place them:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was
ENTERED to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name
of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
That was how it looked BEFORE I sent it. When I looked at the already sent e-mail I saw something different!
I-ab. Default view shown to the sender and to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was ENTERED to the next line:
1. Name of a corporate entity A.
2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C.
4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron.
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
Outlook JOINED two lines into one line! THREE TIMES! Outlook made the fist sentence look like one line, even though I divided this line MYSELF! And Outlook made the point 4 look like one line, even though I divided this line MYSELF! And of course the point 3 was in the same line as the point 2 AGAIN! Now this is fucking CRAZY!
II-ab. Non-default view shown to the sender and to the recipient: shown in a correct way (the way I wrote it).
There were “only” 2 different views of ONE sent e-mail, so is the problem solved? NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why? Because most of the Outlook users have no idea what the setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” really does. When somebody sees the word “extra” then he (or she) thinks that the sender by mistake place some unneeded line breaks! So the recipients leave this setting CHECKED! So, when I send an e-mail the way I want it to look, the Outlook OVERRULES me!
Imagine that as a sender you don't use Outlook and you write a plain text message that you arrange yourself – you decided where the next lines are started. The CRAZY thing is that if the recipient uses Outlook then he (or she) sees a different (default Outlook) view of your e-mail, NOT the real one! OUTRAGEOUS!!!
The extreme case was still totally messed up, even when I added ENTERS where I wanted them, not where Outlook would place them:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was
ENTERED to the next line;
1. Name of a corporate entity A,
2. Name of a corporate entity B
3. Name of a corporate entity C,
4. An extremely long name
of a corporate entity D with a patron,
5. Name of a corporate entity E.
That was how it looked BEFORE I sent it. When I looked at the already sent e-mail I saw something different!
I-ab. Default view shown to the sender and to the recipient:
Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was ENTERED to the next line; 1. Name of a corporate entity A, 2. Name of a corporate entity B 3. Name of a corporate entity C, 4. An extremely long name of a corporate entity D with a patron, 5. Name of a corporate entity E.
Outlook combined everything into ONE line AGAIN! Ridiculous!
II-ab. Non-default view shown to the sender and to the recipient: shown in a correct way (the way I wrote it).
There were “only” 2 different views of ONE sent e-mail, so is the problem solved? NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why? Because most of the Outlook users have no idea what the setting “Remove extra line breaks in plain text messages” really does. When somebody sees the word “extra” then he (or she) thinks that the sender by mistake place some unneeded line breaks! So the recipients leave this setting CHECKED! So, when I send an e-mail the way I want it to look, the Outlook OVERRULES me!
Imagine that as a sender you don't use Outlook and you write a plain text message that you arrange yourself – you decided where the next lines are started. The CRAZY thing is that if the recipient uses Outlook then he (or she) sees a different (default Outlook) view of your e-mail, NOT the real one! OUTRAGEOUS!!!
So, Outlook makes idiots of all of its users, also when they are recipients! In the default view Outlook ALWAYS shows not the e-mail that was actually sent, but an e-mail “reconstructed” by Outlook! OUTRAGEOUS!!!
What can be done?
Yes! There is something you can do to trick Outlook! But at what price! You have not only to add ENTERS where you want them to be, but also you have to add TWO SPACES at the start of EVERY line!
__Start of a very long sentence … end of a very long sentence that was
__ENTERED to the next line;
__1. Name of a corporate entity A,
__2. Name of a corporate entity B
__3. Name of a corporate entity C,
__4. An extremely long name
__of a corporate entity D with a patron,
__5. Name of a corporate entity E.
I showed a single space as “_”, so two spaces look like “__”. I did it to make them visible.
This is what “solves” the problem! ALL four views of such an e-mail (default and non-defualt for the sender and for the recipient) are shown by Outlook correctly!
Oh, dear GOD!!!
I am not the only one who has been devastated by how Outlook alters plain text messages. Somebody on this site:
https://www.masternewmedia.org/newsletter_publishing/newsletter_formatting/remove_line_breaks_issue_Microsoft_Outlook_2003_when_publishing_text_newsletters_20051217.htm
called this feature “retarded”. I will quote the whole post:
“I have to say -- the feature in question, the automatic removal of line breaks -- has to be the stupidest, most idiotic addition to any application -- EVER. It's 100% useless, inaccurate, and just plain retarded. Whoever thought this little gem up ought to be dragged out into the parking lot and shot -- seriously. We should not feel bad that this problem has had so many of us stumped and coming up with work around "hacks". It was a stupid idea on Microsoft's part, and badly implemented.
Outlook -- an application DESIGNED to read messages as they are sent -- which is how they were intended to be read -- should NEVER, EVER, EVER alter the content of a message unless that content was deemed to be dangerous in some way -- and even then, I would argue that it SHOULD NEVER EVER ALTER CONTENT.
I can't believe I've had to spend so much time figuring out how to get a message I send to display correctly using the oldest technology around -- plain text. Absolutely ridiculous.
In any event, I have an alternative solution you might be interested in. Instead of adding two spaces to the start of each line, I add a tab character right before the line break at the end of the line (CR, LF). This seems to satisfy Outlook, in that even if this RETARDED feature is enabled it will treat all lines correctly.
Why is this important? Why can't we just turn the option off? Believe me -- I have, but you can't expect other readers to know, or even care about doing that. It should be the responsibility of the content provider (sender, in this case) to ensure that content is formatted correctly, regardless of the end-users' setup. User's are not always the smartest of people, so even when you provide them with crystal clear 1,2,3 instructions, you can't expect them to A) follow them, or B) get it right.
Anyway, that's my two cents on the subject -- I just had to vent. Hope my alternate solution is of benefit to others.
Microsoft -- PLEASE DO US A FAVOR AND REMOVE THIS COMPLETELY RETARDED FEATURE! Or at the very least, disable it by default!”
It was posted in 2006! It's 14 years later and this problem still exists! FOURTEEN fucking years!!!
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