BG2:ToB - A few notes concerning some STATS.IDS entries

[Avenger]

Ok, i have to refine my statement, the visual range counts, but you won't see farther with your PC's. Scripts will handle the increased range, but the discovered map chunk won't grow beyond 30'.

[aVENGER_(RR)]

I've never seen it happen, but it's possible you got hit with a morale break modifier (a very few spells and items may increment morale break, causing instant morale failure).

 

In any case, it's effective immunity (the morale is still there, it's just not something you'll normally be able to fail).

 

A small note here: through testing I've confirmed that a 0 in MORALEBREAK will indeed grant total immunity to natural morale failure. For example, natural morale failure can occur when several party members die in a short time span. Here's a (fairly gruesome) way to test it: have six party members in your party and repeatedly kill (via CTRL+Y) and then repeatedly resurrect (via CTRL+R) four of them. Eventually, the morale of the fifth party member will drop and he will suffer a morale failure. The protagonist, however, will never exhibit this behavior since he is immune.

 

OTOH, if you make a spell which magically alters MORALEBREAK to say 20 and then cast it on the protagonist he will experience a morale failure. An example of such a spell would be SPIN105.SPL the innate Horror Bhaalpower.

[devSin]

Back when I was testing morale, my experiments consisted of CTRL+Qing Minsc while he was trapped in his cell and then repeatedly killing and raising Jaheira.

 

I saved at various points in the process to see how Minsc's morale was affected (both lost and restored); my notes should be around here somewhere, although from your findings, it looks like morale >= break is no failure (morale < break is failure). Or it's possible that morale never drops below 1. IIRC, morale always resets to a static value (10, I think), not the value that previously in the CRE file.

 

Note that scripts don't run on a character who suffers morale failure (they get a shot off at the start of failure, which is how I was able to fix up some of the erroneous BreakingPoint() blocks in some scripts with MORALE < x and MORALEBREAK > y stat checks). Scripts continue to run while panicked (from the effect), but the engine routinely interrupts actions (and clears the queue) and has the affected creature run away (but you can still get high-level cheaters to ReallyForceSpell() Remove Fear or whatever on themselves).

[WizWom]

So it seems that, at least in the IWD2 version of the engine, the VisualRange setting effects all the creatures on the map.

From what I've been seeing, this is not true in the BG2 engine - VisualRange seems to be a creature stat.

[aVENGER_(RR)]

A small update regarding stat #175. According to the IESDP, effect #292 Protection: Backstab modifies stat #175 (from STATS.IDS) to param2. I've tested this and it appears to work as advertised, which allows stat #175 to be used as means of a detection for creatures which are immune to backstab. For example, the following script block will return true for Dragons, Beholders, Golems and any opponents wearing items which protect them from being backstabbed (i.e. Gargoyle Boots):

 

IF
See(NearestEnemyOf(Myself))
CheckStatGT(LastSeenBy(Myself),0,175)
THEN
RESPONSE #100
	DisplayStringHead(LastSeenBy(Myself),3042) // The backstab seems to have failed.
END

 

However, note that this block will not return true for Barbarians since their immunity to backstab appears to be hardcoded and not implemented through effect #292. BTW, this works fine even in the unmodded game, so the description of stat 175 should probably be added to the Detectable Spells wiki and documentation.

[Guest Guest]

hey guys, is there a way to disable FOG OF WAR completely?

[BigRob]

There should be, I believe it's used in cutscenes, so having a look at coding for those might help, if no one knows it offhand.

[devSin]

There's no way to completely disable the fog of war. It's possible to create creatures that extend areas not covered by the fog of war (see CUTSPY* type creatures), and you can completely reveal smaller areas using such creatures, but there's a definite limit (and it's pretty small) of visibility objects the engine can handle (there's no way you completely remove the fog of war in a larger area).

[igi]

Added, thanks.