Nature's Best Friend 1.1

[Ayce]

About a year ago, I began organizing and expanding a group of custom spells I had made for IWD years before into a BG2 mod. This group of spells included cold-based spells for a druid and restored some spell-list omissions imposed by 2nd edition rules.

 

When I was done, I had created about 20 spells and began discussion about them in the Divine Remix mod. Miloch got interested and we began to collaborate on this mod I had dubbed Nature's Best Friend. I was doing most of the spell creation while he added a few touches and did the Weidu coding. It was almost done, but we both got busy and never quite finished it.

 

Still, the idea was sound, basically the mod sought to restore/expand the unique flavor of the 1st edition druid. It also sought to provide some customization for Cernd (add cold-based spells) and Jaheira (more harper-based spells).

 

I have recently resumed work on this mod (fixing five spells, deleting three and adding 10 new spells). There are now 27 spells, all have been play-tested and work. I havne't been able to get a hold of Miloch, so I am looking for help with this mod in the following regards....................

 

1. Information on how to upload a mod and make it available for download on this forum.

 

2. Digital artists who can/will render/donate new .bams for use with these spells. About half of them borrow IWD bams, BG2 mage bams or other mod .bams (2) and don't blend in the priest's scroll all that well.

 

3. Most importantly, someone who can/will Weidu code the whole thing. I have no skill/knowledge in this regard. At present, the mod exists as a collection of .tbg spell and item files (the items are ceremonial wreaths with which you can learn the spells). The spells and items can be imported with IEEPro, but the standard for mods seems to be Weidu format. Help/collaboration would be appreciated.

 

Here is a list of spells available in the mod

 

1st Level

Cat's Vision (Infravions for caster only)

Fairie Fire (target glows and suffers -2 AC)

Freezing Grasp (like Shocking Grasp, but with cold-damage)

Moonglow (Harper version of fairie fire)

Moonray (Bless on caster only)

Slumber (Sleep)

 

2nd Level

Bear's Strength (18/76 strength for caster only)

Cat's Grace (18 dexterity for caster only)

Freezing Hands (like Burning Hands, but with cold damage)

Glitterdust (per 2nd level mage spell)

Miasma (Stinking Cloud, only works in wilderness settings)

Moondust (Harper version of Glitterdust)

Web (per 2nd level mage spell)

 

3rd Level

Cheetah Speed (Haste for caster only)

Protection from Cold (per 3rd level mage spell)

 

4th Level

Greater Miasma (Stinking Cloud, works anywhere)

Harper's Courage (various bonus for those in area of affect)

 

5th Level

Forest Guardian (summon Shambling Mound)

Shroud of Flame (Fire Shield - Red)

Shroud of Frost (Fire Shield - Blue)

 

6th Level

Blizzard Wind (like Cone of Cold)

Feeblemind (per 5th level mage spell, restored from 1st edition spell-list)

Harper's Champion (various bonuses for caster only)

Wyvern Call (per 6th level mage spell)

 

7th Level

Blizzard (cold version of Fire Storm)

Deadly Miasma (causes poison damage AND unconsiousness, no instant death)

Finger of Death (per 7th level mage spell, restored from 1st edition spell-list)

 

Again, these spells all work and can be imported with IEEPro, I'm just looking for help in making it availabe/usable for anyone else who cares to use it.

 

Thanx

[Mike1072]

3. Most importantly, someone who can/will Weidu code the whole thing. I have no skill/knowledge in this regard. At present, the mod exists as a collection of .tbg spell and item files (the items are ceremonial wreaths with which you can learn the spells). The spells and items can be imported with IEEPro, but the standard for mods seems to be Weidu format. Help/collaboration would be appreciated.

This should be quite easy for you to learn, with a little help. What you'd need to start with is the finished .spl and .itm files - along with textual descriptions for them. You'll need a folder for your mod where you can stick your files, a .tp2 (text file) telling WeiDU how to install it, and a copy of WeiDU to do the installing.

 

Let's say you decide to call your mod folder natures_best_friend. You'd name your .tp2 file setup-natures_best_friend.tp2, and stick your .spl files somewhere like natures_best_friend/spl. Your WeiDU executable would be called setup-natures_best_friend.exe (you can copy this from another mod's setup-modname.exe file). Here's an example of what you could start with for your .tp2 file.

BACKUP ~natures_best_friend/backup~

AUTHOR ~Ayce~

 

VERSION ~v1~

 

BEGIN ~Nature's Best Friend~ // everything after this point is part of the first component of the mod

 

ADD_SPELL ~natures_best_friend/spl/catvis.spl~ 1 1 ~CLERIC_CATS_VISION~

SAY NAME1 ~Cat's Vision~ // name of the spell

SAY UNIDENTIFIED_DESC ~Cat's Vision (Divination)

Level: 1

Sphere: Divination

etc.~ // description of the spell

 

// more ADD_SPELL stuff for your other spells would go here

This would take your Cat's Vision spell (which in the example is named catvis.spl), and rename it, adding it to the priest spellbook in the first available slot (say, sppr112.spl). It would also add the name and description of the spell to dialog.tlk so they'll show up properly. You wouldn't need the wreath .itm files this way, but if you wanted to use them for flavour or a quest, that would be possible.

 

The syntax for the ADD_SPELL command I used is:

ADD_SPELL path type level identifier

patch list

where

path is the relative path from the BG directory to your .spl file (in the example, ~natures_best_friend/spl/catvis.spl~)

type is for the kind of spell - 1 for divine, 2 for arcane

level is the spell's level (in the example, 1)

identifier is how the spell can be referred to in scripts (in the example, ~CLERIC_CATS_VISION~)

patch list is for any patches to the file you want to make - in this case we just set the proper name and description for the spell (and this is probably all you'll need to patch for the time being).

 

Hopefully that was clear enough and didn't sound too difficult. Once you get the basics down, it's easy to go from adding one spell to adding 30 spells. Give it a try, and let us know how you fare.

[Icendoan]

However, level counts from 0, iirc. So a level of 1 is actually level 2. (Not wanting to complicate things!)

 

Maybe this has been changed, and I don't use ADD_SPELL much.

 

Icen

[Guest Guest]

Wouldn't it make most sense to see about including these in Spell Revisions, or making it some sort of Spell Revisions addon?

[Icendoan]

Well, I think Spell Revisions is about revising spells, not adding any, but that is for Demivgrvs to decide, not me.

 

Icen

[Ayce]

Hopefully that was clear enough and didn't sound too difficult. Once you get the basics down, it's easy to go from adding one spell to adding 30 spells. Give it a try, and let us know how you fare.

 

Thanx, I'll give it a try when I get time (saving the page). I'm off break again, so it'll be slow going. I'll start by seeing if I can get just one spell weidu.

 

Wouldn't it make most sense to see about including these in Spell Revisions, or making it some sort of Spell Revisions addon?

 

The are not spell revisions, they are not meant to replace any existing spells. While many (most) resemble other spells, they have been modified in terms of level, area of effect, where they work/don't work, how they deal damage and how much damage is dealt. These changes were made in order to tailor each spell to the druid class and (hopefully) maintain class balance.

 

Example, blizzard is just an firestorm spell that does cold damage (using the ice storm graphic). It's a 7th level spell, so it doesn't make the druid more powerful, other than it makes him/her a bit more versatile. Still, it is equal in power to a fire storm spell.

 

The inspiration for this (and other cold-based) spells was to create a sort of psuedo-kit with Cernd that plays on the fact that he is from the north and therefore would have powers/spells that reflect his point of origin. After all, modding is all about customization, right?

[Ayce]

UPDATE

 

I have successfully created an alternative inquisitor kit that can cast spells (an issue I raised some time ago in another thread, basically, it always bothered me that inquisitors couldn't cast a few minor spells like other palidans).

 

The point? I am starting to get comfortable using WeiDU and I think I can manage making an installer for this spell pack, eventually (it's more a matter of finding time now).

 

This still leaves me with two requests for aid............

 

1. How do I upload it as a completed mod and make it available for download? In other words, who and how OKs the addition of new mods on this site?

 

2. Any help with already existing or newly created custom bams for some of the spells that don't blend in all that well would be appreciated. I have little artistic sense and have only managed minor alterations to existing bams (uning teambg bamworkshop from long ago).

[Icendoan]

1. Any gibberling, be that Cmorgan, icelus, theacefes, anyone with the Gibberling tag.

 

2. None here. I probably have less artistic sense than you!

 

Icen

[Miloch]

2. Any help with already existing or newly created custom bams for some of the spells that don't blend in all that well would be appreciated. I have little artistic sense and have only managed minor alterations to existing bams (uning teambg bamworkshop from long ago).

Doh, well it would have to be BAMs you're hung up on. That is the most time-consuming part of this and a number of other things I've been working on.

 

I did get a previous version of this coded too but as I recall, it needed BAMs and maybe a few other things. I might be able to help with the BAMs or find people who can, or at least point you in the right direction of how to make them. I can also host this on my (crappy) server until it's ready for official release somewhere.

 

[Edit: And no, no, *no* this is not going in Spell Revisions! ]

[yarpen]

I think I can help you a bit. I'm currently working mainly on BAMs, but these aren't looking best I think. Few of my samples.

 

For Spell Revision (fire trap spell)

 

For my Armiger kit

 

And I've thought that it's something better but have no interest from community Item graphics revisions

 

So please send your requests and current icons as resources to me and I can look what can be done.

[Miloch]

I think I can help you a bit.

Yeah, and I was thinking of you when I said I might know someone (assuming it doesn't interfere with your alpha testing ).

 

Ayce said there is still a need for some BAMs but will perhaps post here to clarify which exactly.

 

Also, I have templates for spell BAMs but you probably have your own too.

[Miloch]

These are some of the BAMs Ayce needs, from what I gathered. They should be pretty easy, some maybe just recolours or edits to existing BAMs:

Cat's Vision (infravision, caster only)

Freezing Hands (burning hands, with cold damage)

Protection from Cold

Shroud of Frost (Fire Shield, Blue)

Shroud of Flame (Fire Shield, Red)

*Miasma (Stinking Cloud, forest only)

*Greater Miasma (Stinking Cloud, anywhere)

*Deadly Miasma (Stinking Cloud with poison damage)

The latter three are from Auril's Bane for IWD, so maybe some could be ripped or modded from that.

[Ayce]

Dude, sorry I didn't see the last few posts in this topic until now. I got a note from Miloch a couple of weeks and he asked if I had heard from you, but I was totally unaware you posted here (I saved the thread and studied Mike1072's tutorial and didn't check back here until now).

 

That said, your artwork sure beats mine and I be glad for the assistance in getting better bams for these spells.........................

 

As for specific requests, well I've got my most updated list right here..........

 

Most of the bams I'm currently using are either from BG2 or IWD, the IWD ones don't blend in well. There are a couple of exceptions to that, but let me detail what I'm looking for.............

 

1. Cat's Grace, Cat's Vision Cheetah Speed all use the Cat's Grace bam from IWD, I would like it to blend in betterand look more akin to spells like detect evil, know alignment, etc (in terms of color scheme, no design)

 

2. I'm moving forward with an idea to create a fairie light spell in contrast with a more powerful fairie fire spell, I have a custom bam for fairie light, but would like it emboldened for the more powerful version.

 

3. Bear's Strength uses the Druid Shapechange innate ability bam which looks pretty lame in the spellbook. Definitely could use a bear spell bam, preferably white like the strength spell.

 

4. I'm working on produce flame and produce fire spells which use the IWD bam for the spell of the same name. Again IWD and BG bams don't mix well.

 

5. I'm working on a Deep Slumber spell, Slumber uses the sleep spell bam, I'd like a "higher level" heavier, bolder version of that for Deep Slumber.

 

6. I've finished with a Constrict spell, which combines damage with an entangle spell, I'd also likea heavier, bolder version of entangle to use with this.

 

7. A pallette swap for Protection from Cold so that it blends with Protection from Fire and Protection from lightning would be good.

 

8. I'm working on Winter Staff, akin to Flame Blade. A staff spell bam akin to shillelagh and flame blade would be good.

 

9. Shroud of Flame and Shroud of Frost could stand for some innovation. :-)

 

10. Freezing Grasp REALLY needs help, I'm using shocking grasp from IWD. 'Nuff said.

 

You should be able to get most of these icons by extracting them with winbiff, but I can send them all to you just the same. The only "custom" bam in actually using is the one I've got for fairie fire. I'll send whatever you need. Thanx.

 

 

I think I can help you a bit. I'm currently working mainly on BAMs, but these aren't looking best I think. Few of my samples.

 

For Spell Revision (fire trap spell)

 

For my Armiger kit

 

And I've thought that it's something better but have no interest from community Item graphics revisions

 

So please send your requests and current icons as resources to me and I can look what can be done.