XP Bonus Table - some alterations

[Qwallath]

Hi Everyone!

 

First of all, thanks for all the great work you've been doing here - I've been enjoying a lot of the mods for several years now.

 

In any case - I'm not at all a modder, but I did fabricate my own variant on the xpbonus.2da to suit my taste:

 

When I first played BG2, I was delighted to see that thieves gained XP for opening locks and removing traps. Even more fun was discovering that the bonus changed at certain levels. After a while, though, I realised that I would like the system better if the XP reward increased gradually, instead of in big leaps. The bonus still reaches its normal maximum on lvl20 (1550 for locks, 3250 for traps), but the reward in levels before it is changed as follows:

 

locks starts at 12 at lvl 1,2. Then it doubles to 25, 50, 100 at lvl 3,4,5. After that, there is an increase of 100XP per level until 1500 at lvl19 and 1550 at lvl20. The values for traps are related to it: Starts at 30 on lvl 1,2 - then 55, then 110 on 4. At that point the reward for traps is simply 220% that of locks, which is thesame proportion as in the final values of 1550, 3250.

 

It would be clearest in a table, naturally, so this is an attempt:

 

12 12 25 50 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1550 1550

30 30 55 110 220 440 660 880 1100 1320 1540 1720 1980 2200 2420 2640 2860 3080 3200 3250

 

This way, the modification is usable for both BG2 and Tutu, without being either weak or too powerful, in my opinion. Standard Tutu has lower bonuses, which I found a bit too meagre compared to the values in BG2.

 

However, because the Learn Spell XP Bonus is in the same document, and we wouldn't want the massive 1000XP/spell level bonus in Tutu, I've come up with something for that as well.

 

New XP rewards for learning spells are spell level squard x 100XP. So for lvl1 spells, you get 100XP, which is a lot in early level Tutu play, perhaps, but maybe functions as a nice bonus for the relative weakness of spellcasters in the low levels. After that, 400, 900, 1600, you get the idea. This table could also be used for BG2, if you think the rewards were previously too high. The cap is 8100 for lvl9, obviously.

 

I'm curious if anyone thinks this is a good idea or a handy modification. If so, feel free to let me know, and I can post a zip with the new 2DA file. Even better, if anyone wants to include it in a Tweaks Mod, go right ahead and ask!

[Icendoan]

It probably would be better if you WeiDUised it, and I think editing 2DAs count as modding...

 

Glad you came to join the community!

 

Icen

[Qwallath]

Thanks!

 

I don't have any idea how to implement this into WeiDU - that's why I said I wasn't at all a modder, hehe.

 

Another thing is, of course, to let the table progress beyond level 20 for use in ToB. Do you think the rate of increase should be bigger after lvl20, or is there already enough XP lying around in ToB?

[Icendoan]

More than enough EXP in ToB.

 

You would use something like (might be incorrect, I am not good at 2das)

COPY_EXISTING ~Your2da.2da~ ~override~

REPLACE_2DA_ENTRY

 

Icen

[Mike1072]

If you want your version to completely replace the current file with your values, you can do a simple COPY ~MyMod/xpbonus.2da~ ~override~. If you only want to change parts of the file (say, the locks and traps), you will need to do a COPY_EXISTING ~xpbonus.2da~ ~override~ and then a bunch of SET_2DA_ENTRY(_LATER) later, where you give the (row,column) coordinates of the entry you wish to replace (see: WeiDU readme). Feel free to ask for help if you get stuck.

[Qwallath]

Thanks for the help! I'll have to dive into the WeiDU manual some time, when I find the time.

 

Indeed, it would be most convenient if people can choose to only do the thief bonuses and leave the spells as it is, or vice versa. Perhaps it would be convenient as well to have the setup check if you're using it on Tutu or BG2, and change the options/file version accordingly.

 

I hope I'll find the time to look into it soon...