So it started with me getting a better internet connection...

[Kung Fu Man]

So the mugen thing has gotten dull...it gets tiresome when you and your friends are tired of being screwed by fanboys wanting five seconds of glory off your own work. These things happen. So with dsl in hand at last, I went and downloaded the four CD PST and got it set back up after playing through BG2 (quick note, Fade is a really damn awesome PC addition. Hats off to the folks behind her and the restorations to BG2 as well). And dug around, picked up the usual packs etc...well I should cut to the chase shouldn't I?

 

Long story short, Ash is back in business. And the restore pack is getting a boost too, just don't come here talking about unfinished business, I have no interest in such discussions and I'll just get very livid. Understanding of course, but still livid. I just don't feel it relevant to discuss in the scope of things here.

 

What's going to happen with the pack you ask? Simple, it'll progress. But you should see a few additions to it too, which are going to lead in to something else a few of you may recall. Nothing that'll be imposed and break it, but stuff that you should be able to dig and hopefully appreciate.

 

Right now I'm still getting settled in, but some minor work's been done to restore Strahan Runeshadow's voice bits to his character, and work with the other fixpack by the fellow whose name I cannot pronounce. I'll edit this post to be more accurate as the time comes, expect updates and whatnot as things go, and toss out things as you need to that I should take a gander at.

[Kaeloree]

You might want to check out Qwinn's PS:T mods, which are the most up-to-date available. WeiDU PS:T Fixpack, PS:T Unfinished Business and Qwinn's PS:T Tweaks.

[Kung Fu Man]

just don't come here talking about unfinished business

 

--;

[jastey]

I didn't understand that, either, and would have linked you to it, too; that phrase is very general. Now that I understand it I wonder why it would be so. Sorry for this, but stating something like that provokes the question "why that?".

[Kung Fu Man]

Well it's more a case of feeling a bit run over. I used to go by different names in the past, amongst them LordRampage, Darkside X and Cilantro before settling on Kung Fu Man, and I made the original restoration pack and want to finish it without finding it in Qwinn's shadow. He did some epic work and all, but things I disagree with (i.e. why remove a saving throw from a spell instead of fixing the description when it's already powerful?) and would have preferred discussion I guess: I'm not a terribly hard guy to find. Additionally while I'll end up probably doing fixes of a sort similar to the ones he did, I'm a little worried about the prospects of being accused of ripping him off, so it seems a good courtesy to distance myself in advance.

 

Besides I have plans that once a restoration is complete to offer an expansion and then go all out with Vengance for a last hurrah. It's better to prime the files with that in mind in my case.

 

So all I really need are notes on bugs, missing things not covered and typos to fix. I'm recovering a lot of the old 2nd Ed. DnD material via PDFs atm and checking out dialogues to restore missing quests and tidbits.

[SKARDAVNELNATE]

Greetings. It's good to see another contributor to the original Fix Pack. I made some comments about The Restoration and some improvements in my All Inclusive Pack. It's still available at http://www.mediafire.com/?1dnoytx2m09 though somewhat less relevant since Qwinn incorporated the previous efforts into his mods.

 

I don't know what your issue is with Unfinished Business specifically. The previous efforts got spread out over all 3 mods but you should be aware that Qwinn credited the sources he got everything from and in what places he did something different.

 

Qwinn asked if I had any contact with the other modders or what I knew about The Restoration since the notes that come with it didn't have any author information.

[Kung Fu Man]

Yeah for the record nothing personal with Qwinn, so sorry if it was being taken that way.

[Qwinn]

Hello.

 

Yeah for the record nothing personal with Qwinn, so sorry if it was being taken that way.

 

I am glad to hear that... I wasn't sure if "you and your friends are tired of being screwed by fanboys wanting five seconds of glory off your own work." was being directed at me or not.

 

I'm not a terribly hard guy to find.

 

Sorry, bud, but I'm afraid you were. You were the hardest of all, actually, as I didn't have any contact info at all - nothing in the Restoration Pack download even hints at authorship. The only way I ever heard the name "Cilantro" was from the Sorcerer's Place description of your mod. I also had no idea that you went by other names... when you say "Ash is back", should I infer that you are the Ash McGowen that got credited in Platter's Fixpack? If so, good to know and nice to meetcha. Please do know, as SKARDAVNELNATE just vouched for and as I explained in detail in the Fixpack readme FAQ, I -did- try to find you. I just had nothing to go by.

 

He did some epic work and all, but things I disagree with (i.e. why remove a saving throw from a spell instead of fixing the description when it's already powerful?) and would have preferred discussion I guess

 

Nothing I did is immutable, and I plan on doing many updates to come. As mentioned in the FAQ, I welcome discussion and any disagreement with the way I handled things. If you would indeed prefer discussion, I'm all for it, shoot.

 

You only actually cite one disagreement, so I'll respond to that. I can only assume you're talking about the recent version 2.0 change removing the saving throw from Mechanus Cannon? I did it that way because, in my opinion, the spell -isn't- already powerful, in fact it's much much worse than the spell Meteor Storm Bombardment, and really isn't even as good -with- the change. Here's the ORIGINAL descriptions for the two spells, which are both 8th level:

 

METEOR STORM BOMBARDMENT

Range: 50

Duration: Instant

Speed: 8

Area of Effect: 50 ft X 50 ft area

Saving Throw: 1/2

 

Meteors from across the multiverse are called to rain destruction upon all who oppose the caster.

 

This spell calls forth a great shower of meteors to bombard all enemies within sight for 10-120 pts. of damage, or half the damage with a successful saving throw vs. spell.

 

MECHANUS' CANNON

Range: 50 feet

Duration: Instant

Speed: 8

Area of Effect: 1 creature

Saving Throw: 1/2

 

The true, logical justice of Primus shall be delivered unto the illogical, as pure energy descends from Mechanus.

 

This spell summons the ultimate form of 'equalization' from Primus: A huge energy blast that comes from the very heart of Mechanus and fires toward the target specified by the caster, via a portal. A temporary portal will appear 10 ft. from the target and Mechanus' Logical Justice will be handed down, inflicting 30-90 pts. of damage, with no saving throw.

 

Notice that Mechanus Cannon says saving throw for 1/2 in the stats, but no saving throw in the description. Assume that the "Saving Throw: 1/2" were what it should be. Why would -anyone- memorize a single-target spell that does 30-90 damage (save for 1/2), when they can memorize one that does 10-120 damage to every enemy (and only enemies, so no worries about hitting friendly targets) in a 50x50 area (save for 1/2)?

 

With both spells having a saving throw, I'd always memorize Meteor Bombardment every time, no matter the circumstances. With Mechanus Cannon having no saving throw, I'd -still- usually memorize Meteor Bombardment, unless I knew I was prepping for a single boss fight. But at least I'd have a reason to ever memorize it. As the spell originally was, 30-90 points with the saving throw for 1/2, I'd say that spell should be 5th level. Maybe. Certainly seems worse than the normally 6th level Disintegrate of 2nd ed. D&D. At least that spell has a shot at killing the target outright.

 

The description needed to be fixed, one way or the other, to resolve the contradiction. I went with the choice that seemed to me more balanced, and adjusted the way the spell worked accordingly.

 

Hopefully that clears up why I did what I did. If you'd like to present an argument for why the original Mechanus Cannon was "powerful" for an 8th level spell compared to others of that (and even lower) levels, please go for it. I'm serious when I say I enjoy those kinds of discussions and am always willing to implement things differently if presented with a new way of looking at it that makes sense.

 

I sincerely hope you feel I extended sufficient credit for the information I was able to glean by looking through your mod, and that whatever is making you "livid" at the thought of discussing my mods can be assuaged somehow. Let me know if there's anything I can do.

 

Qwinn