coaster's weidu log for Beta v2 & bug reports

[coaster]

PfMW - yeah, I have a few +3 weapons now (Short Sword of Backstabbing, Flail of Ages, Stonefire) so Mantle may not be ideal. You're right - at least forcing me to switch to normal weapons prevents me from disrupting spellcasting.

 

I stand corrected on Power Word: Blind - I had no idea it was an area effect, I can honestly say an enemy has never hit me with it on any of the (embarrassingly high number of) playthroughs of BG2 I've done.

 

I'm not 100% sure they were being affected by their own PW:B - it might have been that they just got the graphical effect but were immune. It was a bit hard to tell in the melee that was going on.

[DavidW]

I stand corrected on Power Word: Blind - I had no idea it was an area effect, I can honestly say an enemy has never hit me with it on any of the (embarrassingly high number of) playthroughs of BG2 I've done.

 

It's an underrated spell (at least for enemy scripting). No saving throw, area effect, seriously degrades a warrior's effectiveness, and not easy to protect against. It's nice to have some alternative to endless Horrid Wiltings at L8! (That's another reason for the "Fiends penetrate pro/evil" thing - it makes Summon Fiend a worthwhile spell at L8).

[coaster]

Just taking on the lich in Spellhold. Is it legal for him to have 2 chain contingencies+1 contingency firing?

[DavidW]

Just taking on the lich in Spellhold. Is it legal for him to have 2 chain contingencies+1 contingency firing?

No, it's illegal as hell. It's legal for him to say "Chain Contingency" twice, though, and I think that's what he's doing (still a bug, admittedly, and one I've just fixed locally).

 

See if he's playing fair in terms of the spells he actually puts up (admittedly, the autobuff is hard to tell apart from the contingencies). On your install, that lich should throw up:

 

Long-term castings (probably cast as soon as you turned up, since he's spawned when you enter his area):

- Stoneskin

- Protection from Magic Energy

- Protection from Acid

- Protection from Fire

 

Instant-up castings (cast on sight):

 

- Spell Trap

- Protection from the Elements (a bit redundant for liches, on reflection)

[i used to use Spell Shield, but in testing I found it wasn't always being removed by antimagic attacks]

- one Spell Immunity

- Shadow Door

- Spirit Armor

- Protection from Normal Missiles

- Mirror Image

 

Chain Contingency (cast on sight, or when you get in range if you're protected from undead): either

 

a) Simulacrum or Project Image, Spell Immunity: Divination, Improved Invisibility

b) Simulacrum, Project Image, Mordenkainen's Sword

c) Protection from MW, Spell Immunity of some sort, Wilting

d) Protection from MW, Wilting, Summons (Glabrezu/Mordy)

 

Contingency (cast as soon as one is needed, which sometime is instantly depending on Chain Cont choices):

 

- Protection from Magic Weapons

[coaster]

I think it's OK - I was mistaking some of the "instant up" spells you've listed as one chain contingency since they came up after the chain contingency double text. Anyway, he's dead (again) now

[DavidW]

I think it's OK - I was mistaking some of the "instant up" spells you've listed as one chain contingency since they came up after the chain contingency double text. Anyway, he's dead (again) now

 

Good battle?

[coaster]

Yes, pretty challenging. As usual the killer is if the lich manages to summon a Dark Planetar - without 9th level spells or better weapons a Planetar is out of my league. Edwin brought down spell protections, Viconia used True Sight, Haerdalis cast Breach - it's a pretty good combo, having three separate spellcasters casting these key spells helped a lot with getting defenses down quickly before he summoned his Planetar.

 

Not much to report so far today - I'm most of the way through the Underdark. Three minor things to note:

 

-the drow leader who is supposed to chase the escaped slave in Ust Natha was stuck down by Deirex's home - wouldn't talk or anything

-in one of the mage pit fights, the enemy mage took Edwin out with a power word stun - but instead of attacking further just went to stand next to him. I wondered if he had run out of spells and wasn't meleeing for some reason?

-the imprisoned mage (forget his name) didn't go to the Fire Elemental gate like he was supposed to after returning from the Earth Elemental plane (he did his "Fire Elemental gate" dialogue next to the Earth Elemental gate)

 

And one general point - I find that if I cast a spell with a very low casting time (particularly power words stun and silence) I can hit mages before their defences go up. The silence is usually just a small delaying tactic, since most mages cast vocalize straightaway. The stun is more problematic for a mage with fairly low HP to avoid. eg. in the battle with the imprisoned mage, I stunned him, his defences went up, but I was able to strip most of them down before he came to. I guess this is cheese (since the defences going up is supposed to emulate pre-casting, so the "moment of vulnerability" is artificially created) but I thought I should let you know about the exploit here - I'm not sure if you can do anything about it.

[coaster]

Chapter 6 and almost everything looking okay.

 

Shadow dragon: I've read Lemernis' post and also was able to set snares with my F/T. If I'd had a spike trap he'd probably have been instant toast. The wardstone seems a bit inconsistent; it let me set traps OK, but as soon as I cast haste, he saw me and attacked. Is haste considered an "offensive spell", ie. as if I'd attacked the dragon?

 

I'm in Firkraag's dungeon now - one minor thing, the orc archers on the second level (who hide behind 2 locked doors) aren't firing arrows, they are meleeing.

[DavidW]

Chapter 6 and almost everything looking okay.

 

Shadow dragon: I've read Lemernis' post and also was able to set snares with my F/T. If I'd had a spike trap he'd probably have been instant toast. The wardstone seems a bit inconsistent; it let me set traps OK, but as soon as I cast haste, he saw me and attacked. Is haste considered an "offensive spell", ie. as if I'd attacked the dragon?

 

It's not as well worked out as it should have been... dragons have a generic "go-hostile" script that fires if they have good reason to suspect they're being buffed against - spells like Haste, Strength of One etc don't go down well. (That script is supposed to detect trap-setting too, but isn't). I forgot about the Shadow Dragon's special reasons for not going hostile. For the moment I've left it as it is (maybe the Wardstone is broken by "hostile intent"?) but I'm open to advice here.

[coaster]

Completed all parts of the Underdark now & Windspear. Only spotted a couple of further problems - there appears to be 2 Elder Orbs which drop the Eye/Amulet of Spell Warding/Equaliser blade. Firkraag also failed to go hostile when I carelessly left some traps around. The "lower fire resistance" he casts is new, isn't it?

 

Just Kangaxx, guarded compound & Twisted Rune left in terms of big battles, then off to Suldenesselar.

 

Edit: Firkraag was v3 beta, so I assume the trap issue will not arise in v4. Will test on the dragon in WK.

[DavidW]

Completed all parts of the Underdark now & Windspear. Only spotted a couple of further problems - there appears to be 2 Elder Orbs which drop the Eye/Amulet of Spell Warding/Equaliser blade. Firkraag also failed to go hostile when I carelessly left some traps around. The "lower fire resistance" he casts is new, isn't it?

Actually, no - it's in his vanilla script, but not much used.

[coaster]

Another lich issue - Kangaxx's AI is working fine (his casting of Wish was particularly fun!), except he doesn't transform into the demilich - he just dies. I've tried this twice (once cheesy using spike traps, once properly with spells & melee) so I don't think it is a one off. I also got 22k XP for killing Kangaxx (I think you get 64k for killing his demilich form?)

 

PS he still drops the Ring of Gaxx - if you didn't know about the demilich transformation it wouldn't be apparent that anything was wrong.

 

Edit: the demilich can be spawned with CLUAConsole:CreateCreature("HLDEMI"), so no problem if you can't get a fix done in time.

[DavidW]

Another lich issue - Kangaxx's AI is working fine (his casting of Wish was particularly fun!), except he doesn't transform into the demilich - he just dies. I've tried this twice (once cheesy using spike traps, once properly with spells & melee) so I don't think it is a one off. I also got 22k XP for killing Kangaxx (I think you get 64k for killing his demilich form?)

 

PS he still drops the Ring of Gaxx - if you didn't know about the demilich transformation it wouldn't be apparent that anything was wrong.

 

Edit: the demilich can be spawned with CLUAConsole:CreateCreature("HLDEMI"), so no problem if you can't get a fix done in time.

 

Fixed it - it's included in the reupload of beta 4, or you could use the hotfix.

 

Wish: cool. It's randomized actually - wish is one of the 4 "HLAs" that get given out at random. I've tweaked the algorithm in beta 4 to give a bit less variety and a bit fewer endless Dark Planetars.

[coaster]

OK, SoA completed. Hell Irenicus was...quite tough!

 

One minor bugette. The component "Prevent party members from dying irreversibly" stopped Korgan from getting chunked in the Hell trial where you sacrifice a companion. I therefore resurrected him and suffered no real penalty by taking the evil path.

 

On to WK and ToB...

[coaster]

WK third level. Completed Ilasera & Saradush as well. Couple of minor issues so far:

 

-not sure if this is SCSII but the statues on the first floor of WK were moving (basically, with the standing idle animation). Looked a bit weird

-the succubi on the 3rd floor don't go hostile with their leader

 

AI is working very well, Ilasera was a real challenge instead of the utter weakling she is in vanilla. Also great to see all these melee characters in ToB using HLAs, makes things much more fun. Gromnir (& his simulcrum from the helm) was also pretty cool.