Range and Radius

[Guest Roboghost]

I'm modding the spells myself to fit more into the Tutu environment and have two questions for the expert(s):

 

1. Why is the SR maximum range for the LONG equal to 30 feet? When playing BG1, there are a lot of outdoor areas that could use more range for example.

2. I suspect the radius of a lot of spells are wrong in accordance to their descriptions and all [i bet SR fixes this], so how {technically/exactly} do you determine and change the radius of spells? I use NI to play with the spells...

 

Okay...one more: How come all SR spells use "Melee" and not "Magical" within [EasyTutu uses Magical]?

 

I love SR, but it doesn't seem to quite fit into the Tutu world

 

Thanks!

[Demivrgvs]

I'm modding the spells myself to fit more into the Tutu environment and have two questions for the expert(s):

 

1. Why is the SR maximum range for the LONG equal to 30 feet? When playing BG1, there are a lot of outdoor areas that could use more range for example.

2. I suspect the radius of a lot of spells are wrong in accordance to their descriptions and all [i bet SR fixes this], so how {technically/exactly} do you determine and change the radius of spells? I use NI to play with the spells...

1. if I'm not wrong 30 feet is the maximum visual range in this engine, and it should also be the maximum in-game range you could apply to a spell. I haven't done much tests in a long time but I don't think assigning 40 feet would make any difference.

2. Yeah, I've made a few fixes though it was a long time ago, but SR also changes some AOE here and there, I'd suggest you to look at a few .pro files and test the spells in-game. IESDP is extremely helpful when modding, look here for projectiles offsets. Anyway this matter is quite difficult to handle imo...as in-game tests made me use different values than the ones you'd obtain analysing vanilla's 30 feet radius offset (256). The 'offset/8.5' ratio doesn't seem to work well on lower radius imo, especially the smallest ones like 5 - 10 feet (where I've used 60 and 110 respectively).

 

Okay...one more: How come all SR spells use "Melee" and not "Magical" within [EasyTutu uses Magical]?

Ehm...I don't know. I've modded BG2 spells, which happened to use "Melee" headers...and I actually don't know if it does make any difference.

 

I love SR, but it doesn't seem to quite fit into the Tutu world

Well, if you'd like to share with us what doesn't seem to fit BG1 in you opinion we may discuss it together. I'm always open to discussions and suggestions.

[Shaitan]

After I've been through BG1tutu with SR three times now, I find SR to fit nicely to that part of the game also.

 

Just my 2 cents (that's øre around here)

[Guest Roboghost]

Thanks for reply - I'll play and see what I can come up with and give feed back, but:

 

1. Range: quoting Dudley: "The range of many spells was capped at 120 ft by Bioware for game play purposes." makes me suspect that 30 ft is not enough, but I'll test to be sure. I'll create a powerful mage and let his spells do the walking [testing] through Candlekeep to see how far a spell can go. I'm to guess that the maximum game area is a 120 foot radius -- which means if you’re standing in a corner, then a 120ft spell should roughly reach the center.

2. Radius: aha!: it's in Kibbles & Bits, so here is my guess based on this quote from your link and the 30ft hint: "If the projectile is an area affect projectile then an additional struct is added to the file. It has 100h (256) bytes."

 

Then this would be the rough radiuses:

2048 = 240ft (2000 being the safe or workable max?)

1024 = 120ft

512 = 60ft

432 = 50ft

336 = 40ft

256 = 30ft

216 = 25ft

176 = 20ft

136 = 15ft

096 = 10ft

056 = 5ft (60 being the safe or workable min?)

 

A hint to the maximum radius is the Invisibility Purge spell having a radius of 2000. This approximates to a diameter of 240 feet and translates to [if you’re standing in a corner of the largest game area], being able to purge all the way to the other corner…theory so far

[Ardanis]

1. Why is the SR maximum range for the LONG equal to 30 feet?

To be able to target a point beyond visual range you have to allow for the spell to be cast without a need for LOS. Not sure if that bit is designated as such in NI (looks to be the 11th, right after 'breaks invisibility'), but anycase DLTCEP has it for sure.

 

Problem is, if able to fire at a blind spot it will be able pass through walls as well...

[Guest Roboghost]

Well...looks like range is only visual; I tested and 30ft is it. However, it looks like they set a lot of the visual range spells to 40ft -- maybe to ensure for strange variances in the game engine on certain spells that the spell did what it was supposed to do?

 

Anyway, I guess I'll move on...oh, I'll strike the not so Tutu comment my only small grip being that some of the spell level changes make some mods "slightly crippled" since they [any mods that take spells into account such as tactic type mods] perhaps were expecting this not to be, etc. Thanks all.

[Guest Aranthys]

1. Why is the SR maximum range for the LONG equal to 30 feet?

To be able to target a point beyond visual range you have to allow for the spell to be cast without a need for LOS. Not sure if that bit is designated as such in NI (looks to be the 11th, right after 'breaks invisibility'), but anycase DLTCEP has it for sure.

 

Problem is, if able to fire at a blind spot it will be able pass through walls as well...

Can't you use the Farsight spell to cast a spell beyond the visual range ?

There's two defined ranges for a spell : It's maximum casting range, and his effect radius.

From what i understand, Spell Revisions makes sure the casting ranges are correct (Touch / Melee / 10 / 20 / 30).

 

Has anyone tested this ? Having a casting range that is superior to 30 for some spells could prove itself to be usefull, for example.

[Demivrgvs]

1. Why is the SR maximum range for the LONG equal to 30 feet?

To be able to target a point beyond visual range you have to allow for the spell to be cast without a need for LOS. Not sure if that bit is designated as such in NI (looks to be the 11th, right after 'breaks invisibility'), but anycase DLTCEP has it for sure.

 

Problem is, if able to fire at a blind spot it will be able pass through walls as well...

Can't you use the Farsight spell to cast a spell beyond the visual range ?

There's two defined ranges for a spell : It's maximum casting range, and his effect radius.

From what i understand, Spell Revisions makes sure the casting ranges are correct (Touch / Melee / 10 / 20 / 30).

 

Has anyone tested this ? Having a casting range that is superior to 30 for some spells could prove itself to be usefull, for example.

Well, to do it you should not only set a casting rage superior to 30 but also flag the spell as Ardanis said. In terms of in-game implementation though I wouldn't do that, if only because due to AI limitations, any spell cast without LOS can probably be exploited in absurd ways.