geh4th Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 This is the Improved Anvil v6 list of "fixes and tweaks" to the game (building upon v5's changes.) Improved Anvil mod for BG2 & TOB VERSION 6 Author: Sikret This file will give you information about the fixes, tweaks and general enhancements applied to the game by Improved Anvil. ************************************************************************ Fixes, Tweaks, and General Improvements ************************************************************************ 1- Contingencies will not be triggered on dead mages' corpses anymore. 2- Many typos in several scripts (of the original game) are fixed. 3- Several creatures had inconsistent attributes in the original game (such as incorrect THAC0s, incorrect saves, etc). Many of such mistakes are detected and fixed. 4- Some creatures' undroppable items, weapons (or claws) were bugged which have been fixed. 5- Some creatures had broken/buggy immunities or abilities in the original game. They are fixed. 6- Some creatures had equipped their items in the wrong slots (ex: armor in the cloak slot). The items are moved to the right slots. 7- High level creatures in the SOA portion of the game simply lack any HLAs in the original game. This is because HLA is a TOB concept and didn't exist when the original BG2 game was designed. However, now that we have the concept, it doesn't make any sense to confine it to TOB. This is fixed and some HLAs are added to high level characters in BG2. 8- Cases have been observed (in the original game) in which enemy mages or other spellcasting creatures successfully fire their spell triggers (or even spells) on PCs who were under the effect of improved invisibility and were only partially visible. This is not legal and interestingly the game doesn't allow PCs to perform such an illegal action against enemies. This error is fixed and enemy spellcasters will not break the rules either. (Note: Spell triggers are divided into two general types: Those which include only area-spells and those which include spells which normally target a creature rather than an area. Only the second type of spell triggers are forbidden to be cast on invisible and partially visible targets by this mod.) 9- Cases have been observed (in the original game) in which enemy mages keep attacking physically even though they still have spells to cast. This is also fixed. 10- Cases (though few and rare) have been observed (in the original game) in which you read on the screen that a mage has cast a particular spell, though the mage has not actually cast it. This is also fixed. The false spell casting reports will not appear anymore. 11- Anomen's wisdom is fixed (increased) to make him a "legal" dual-class Fighter-Cleric. His wisdom bonus after passing his test is decreased. Hence, he starts with 17 wisdom and will gain 1 more (to a total of 18) when he joins the Order. Also, the number of his weapon proficiency stars were incorrect which is fixed. The types of proficiencies are tweaked and optimized for Improved Anvil (not only for Anomen but also for Valygar and Keldorn; their attributed are also slightly modified to be optimized for IA). Anomen was also joining the party with a bit too much xp at the beginning of the game; this fixed as well. 12- "Carsomyr" has bugs in the original game. Its dispel magic and dispel effects do not work. Its +5 damage bonus is also broken. Its +50% magic resistance bonus is broken too. The two latter abilities are fixed, others are removed. However, you can use Carsomyr as a template to forge the Holy Avenger: - Holy Avenger (Improved Carsomyr) will have 5% chance per successful hit to remove all of the target's protections with a single shot provided that it successfully hits the target, which means that it won't remove "Protection from magical weapons" and "Absolute immunity" (because they prevent a successful hit) but in absence of these two, if it hits the target, it has 5% chance to remove all protections on a single shot. 13- Some items descriptions had minor errors (mostly regarding their usability) which are fixed. 14- Rod of Smiting had inappropriate usability attributes in the original game. Despite its description, it was surprisingly usable by monks, fighter/thieves and fighter/druids (though not by single class druids). It is fixed so that it will be usable by druids but not by monks or fighter/thieves. The rod also wouldn't inflict the alleged extra damage to golems. This is fixed as well. (No upgrade needed for this fix to be applied, though the rod is also upgradeable as a matter of fact.) 15- Cloak of Mirroring, cloak of Reflection, Cloak of Non-Detection, Shield of Balduran, Reflection Shield, arrows of dispelling, Rod of Resurrection, and Gargoyle Boots are removed from the game. 16- The usability of all mage robes is fixed and they won't be usable by Kensai-Mages anymore. 17- Amulet of the Master Harper is fixed not to be usable by WizardSlayer-thieves. The amulet's immunity to Silence is replaced with lore bonus as well. 18- A wooden Stake is added to the library in spellhold to put Dace at rest. 19- The unbalanced scrolls of Protection from Undead are replaced with an improved sort of scrolls of Protection from Level Drain. Their effects last for 30 rounds and won't be dispellable during that period of time. Cheesy scrolls of Protection from Magic are also removed from the game. Only one single scroll with that name still exists in the game, but it can only be used as an item-upgrade ingredient. 20- The clerical Spell, "Greater Command" is changed and will not affect the caster's allies and party members anymore. 21- Air Elementals' whirlwind innate ability would kill any party member who was close enough to the elemental with no saving throw. This is changed so that the target is entitled to roll a save vs. Breath weapon to avoid death. 22- Assassins and Skalds' missing "to hit" bonuses retrieved and fixed. 23- Potions of Genius, Mind Focusing and Insight have been omitted from the game; new potions of "Acid Resistance", new potions of "Oil of Resurgence" and new potions of "Vitality" are added. (Omission of potions of Insight and the idea of Potions of Vitality are suggested by thetruth.) 24- Finger of Death spell requires the target to roll save vs. death. 25- All of the game's arrows and bolts (and quivers) are fixed in respect to their THAC0 and damage bonuses and their descriptions. +1 Arrows are also fixed not to be blocked by Protection From Normal Missiles spell. 26- Larloch's Minor Drain spell and innate ability were such that even if the target would not take damage due to magic resistance, the extra hp would be added to the caster. This inconsistency is fixed by making the spell bypass target's magic resistance. Furthermore, the innate ability had incorrect damage amount which is fixed as well. The same problem as well as incorrect damage amount is fixed for Vampiric Touch spell (the damage amount is also increased for high level casters). Another problem with Vampiric Touch spell (in the original game) was that when a mage cast this spell he/she would become immune to Vampiric touch spells cast on him/her by enemies. The spell is tweaked and it won't grant such an immunity anymore. As a result the mage can also gain the extra hp bonus of casting multiple Vampiric touch spells, though the amount of gained hp is also decreased. 27- There were three critical errors in the original game which have been discovered and fixed. The bugs could affect the spellcasting procedure of those enemy mages and clerics who rely on global variable ("LOCALS","GLOBAL",etc...) to track their spells. If you knew how to exploit The bugs you could deceive them to keep attacking you physically without casting most of their spells. The first bug was that when such a spellcaster was seeing a partially visible character (a character under the effect of Improved Invisibility), his/her global variables would all be set to the wrong numbers as if he/she had already cast his/her spells. The second bug would occur when a silenced spellcaster was seeing an enemy and the third bug would happen when the spellcaster was seeing an enemy during timestop (cast by PCs). Again, in these situations, his/her global variables would be set to wrong numbers. Improved Anvil is the only mod (so far) which fixes all these bugs for the original game AND doesn't have them its own custom scripts (However, I've noticed that other mods' authors "silently" copy Improved Anvil's fixes into their own mods without giving the due credit to Improved Anvil as the origin and the source of those fixes). 28- A missing dialogue in demons' plane in planar sphere retrieved and fixed. 29- Some of the Skeletons and Skeleton Warriors had incorrect resistance values in the original game. This error is also fixed. 30- Almost all of the game's spell casters would cast their pre-buffing spells at incorrect levels of experience in the original game. For example, an 18th level mage would cast his pre-buffing "Spell Turning" Spell as if he was a 9th level mage (in respect to the spell's duration). All such errors are detected and fixed. 31- The fourth level clerical spell, "Free Action" is fixed to grant immunity to stun and not to grant immunity to Charm. 32- Celestial Fury is tweaked and its chance to stun is decreased. 33- Melf's Meteors' damage type and amount fixed. Magic level is also reduced to 3. 34- Barbarian Rage now grants immunity to Imprisonment. Its missing +2 bonus to save vs. Magic is also fixed. 35- Magical (Mordenkainen's) Sword is tweaked. First of all, the damage it inflicts is fixed to match the spell's description. Furthermore, it has better THAC0, better saving throws and 75% resistance to magic damage, immunity to magic missiles and chromatic orbs; on the other hand, it now has a worse AC and its 100% resistance to physical damage is reduced a little bit. It still takes very little damage from physical attacks, but it takes some. 36- Silver Sword is a +3 Vorpal weapon and should have 20% chance to severe the target's head. The probability is wrongly set to 25% in the original game. It is fixed. The sword, however, is upgradeable and can be upgraded to a +4 vorpal weapon which will have 25% chance to instantly slay the target, provided that the target is not immune to this effect, of course. The finger of Death animation is also omitted, because it would display even on target's who were immune and unaffected by the vorpal hit. The "Vorpal Hit" message is added, instead. 37- The fifth level Wizard spell, "Spell Immunity" is fixed and tweaked. Immunity to one single school of magic can be active on a single creature at a given time. Multiple spell immunities will not work together. Moreover: - Immunity to Abjuration is fixed to grant protection against all abjuration magic-attack spells. it will now grant complete immunity to Spell Trust, Secret Word, Breach, Lower Resistance, Pierce Magic, Khelben's Warding Whip, Pierce shield and Spell Strike (i.e. all magic-attacks except Ruby Ray of Reversal which is not an abjuration spell). - Immunity to divination will grant much better protection against various methods of dispel illusion. (It really wouldn't make sense to me that a pathetic low level thief could dispel the illusion of a high level arch mage who was also under the effect of immunity to divination. The thief skill can still dispel illusions provided that the mage is not protected by immunity to divination.) A successful 'Remove/Dispel magic' will still work and will dispel the illusion even if the invisible mage is protected by immunity to divination (Remove Magic is not a divination spell or a specific means to dispel illusions). 38- Black Blade of Disaster's magic level, damage amount and disintegration effect fixed. 39- Energy Blades' damage and spell descriptions fixed. The blades inflict slashing damage despite the spell descriptions in the original game. Both Clerical and Wizard versions of the spell had incorrect descriptions which are now fixed. 40- The magic level of Carsomyr +6, Ravager +6, Staff of the Ram +6, Ixil's Spike +6 are all reduced to 5 (while THAC0 and damage bonus's are still set to 6). Ixil's Spike's free action effects are also removed. 41- Staff of the Ram's piercing damage was not implemented in the original game. It's fixed. (thanks to thetruth) 42- The fifth level wizard spell, "Spell Shield" had some important bugs in the original game: A- If it was cast *before* the other fifth level spell "Spell Immunity", three (rather than two) protection removal spells (such as Ruby Ray of Reversal) would be needed to remove them. The first two were consumed by spell shield and a 3rd one was needed to remove the spell immunity (the same would happen if spell shield was cast before Minor Spell Turning). Similarly, if spell shield was cast together with (no matter before or after) Minor Globe of Invulnerability or Minor spell Deflection, one additional Ruby Ray spell would be required to remove them. This critical bug is completely and seamlessly fixed (thanks to Raven for his reports and for the consequent tests during applying this important fix). B- The second bug of Spell Shield spell in the vanilla game was that *sometimes* it was impossible to bring down the shield by protection removal spells (such as Ruby Ray of Reversal) no matter how many Ruby Rays were cast on the target. The only solution inside and during the game was to reload to a previous saved game and hope that it wouldn't happen again. This bug is not fully fixable but it's to some considerable extent fixed and (according to IA testers) it now happens much less frequently than in the vanilla game. The bug is fully fixed against the 9th level spell, spellstrike; but it still sometimes happens against Ruby Ray of Reversal. C- Moreover, the spell's duration in the vanilla game didn't match its description. I could change/fix the spell and make its duration match with the spell's description in the vanilla game, but I didn't find it to be the best solution as the spell's duration would turn to be too long and considering the unremovable bug which re-appears every now and then, I decided to shorten the spell's duration to 2 turns and to change the description as well. D- In order to block a possible exploit, The spell is also nerfed in a way that it can't be cast more frequently than once every two turns (unless it is removed by spellstrike). 43- The following items' prices have been increased (and none of them will be stealable): - Armor of Deep Night - Bracers of AC 4 and AC 3 - Cloak of Displacement - Dak'Kon's Zerth Blade - Nymph Cloak - Harmonium Halberd - Heavy Crossbow +3: Giant Hair - Heavy Crossbow of Searing (Its fire damage is also fixed to bypass target's Magic Res.) - Golden Ioun Stone - Helm of Brilliance - Club +3: Blackblood - Mauler's Arm - Harp of Pandemonium - Potion of Magic Protection - Potion of Magic Shielding - Scrolls of Limited Wish and Freedom - Firetooth +4 - Fortress Shield +3 - Sling of Seeking - Rod of Smiting - Warblade - Ras +2 - T'rahcie's Plate +5 - Axe of Hrothgar +3 - Sentinel +4 - Spear of Withering +4 - Wands of the Heavens, Cloudkill, Fire, Frost, Magic Missiles, Monster Summoning. 44- Robe of Vecna is tweaked to grant less casting time bonus (2 instead of 4) but better AC (2 instead of 5). 45- Stores are tweaked not to allow earning easy items by stealing them as well as cheesy methods of earning easy money by selling the stolen items back. 46- Soul Reaver is tweaked to have less chance to drain THAC0 from the targeted creature (i.e. 20% chance per hit) and for a shorter duration (10 rounds). 47- Death Ward spell's casting time was much shorter than the casting time mentioned in the spell's description; this is fixed. The spell's duration is also shortened. On the other hand, it's tweaked to grant immunity to Imprisonment as well. 48- Randomization Program: Some powerful items which were too easily available in stores are removed from the shops. Their locations in the game are randomized, which means that each time you start a new game they may be with different (randomly determined) tough enemies or in different (randomly determined and hard to access) chests or containers. 49- An exploit to gain easy experience points by summoning creatures and killing them is blocked. (Thanks to (Ø=M)^42 for drawing my attention to this issue. And thanks to thetruth for reminding me of a similar issue regarding vampires summoned by the Dao of the limited wish spell.) 50- Immunity to Haste effects is added to Ring of Free Action and Potion of Freedom. 51- Various versions of Flail of Ages have been tweaked: - Flail of Ages +3: - Target will be entitled to roll a save vs wands with -3 penalty to avoid the slow effect. - Duration of slow is set to 3 rounds. - The message displayed for the slowed target is fixed (changed from "slow" to "slowed"). - The elemental damage will have only 5% chance per hit to apply, though the actual ammount of damage is increased. - Flails of Ages +4: - Target will be entitled to roll a save vs wands with -4 penalty to avoid the slow effect. - Duration of slow is set to 4 rounds. - The message displayed for the slowed target is fixed (changed from "slow" to "slowed"). - The elemental damage will have only 5% chance per hit to apply, though the actual ammount of damage is increased. - Flail of Ages +5: - Target will be entitled to roll a save vs wands with -5 penalty to avoid the slow effect. - Duration of slow is set to 5 rounds - The message displayed for the slowed target is fixed (changed from "slow" to "slowed"). - Free Action effects removed. - The elemental damage will have only 5% chance per hit to apply, though the actual ammount of damage is increased. 52- All versions of "Remove/Dispel Magic" and "True sight/Seeing" spells are tweaked to destroy illusionary creatures without checking the targets' magic resistance and without requiring the target to roll a saving throw. True sight spells are also tweaked not to be dispellable. 53- Chan's globe of blades is fixed not to damage allies. Clerical globe of blades is also tweaked in the same way. 54- Nishruu's and Hakeashar's cre files had flaws, which have been detected and fixed. 55- Djinnis are tweaked to have 100% resistance to electricity (Efreets were already immune to fire, so it makes sense that djinnis have resistance to lightning). Moreover, summoned djinnis will cast better spells. On the other hand, two of efreets memorized spells have been changed. 56- While spiders are immune to web spell, the "held" message would still be shown for them if they failed to make their save. This error is fixed. 57- Ribald's Ring of Regeneration, Tolgerias' Ring of the Ram, Guardian of Telwyn's Helm of Glory, Conster's key and the light gem with deep gnomes in the underdark will not be stealable. 58- Arbane's sword is fixed to grant immunity to "hold person" spell, but not to "hold monster", "stun" and other similar spells and effects. 59- A missing dialogue in Sendai's enclave retrieved and fixed. 60- Djinnis of wish (and limited wish) are granted immunities not to die during battles before they do their job and not to turn hostile if they take damage. They will not waste time before initiating dialogue either. Limited Wish spell's Dao is also fixed not to be talkable by any other character except the spellcaster who has cast the limited wish spell. Enemies will not detect these two creatures as valid targets to attack them either. 61- Scarlet Ninja-To is fixed so that its effects bypass the target's Magic Resistance. 62- The Ras and spectral swords are tweaked (several spell immunities and better THAC0 and weapon proficiency are added to make them closer to Mordenkainen's sword; on the other hand their resistances to physical damage and AC are worsened a bit). 63- The Chaos short sword has been nerfed: Target is entitled to roll a saving throw vs. wands to avoid losing dexterity. The duration of the effect is also decreased to three rounds. (suggested by thetruth) 64- Staff of Command is tweaked: It won't be usable by good aligned characters (to match the reference to nefarious people in its description), its domination duration is decreased and the target is entitled to roll a saving throw vs. wands with a -2 penalty to avoid the effect (thanks to thetruth for drawing my attention to this overpowered item). The Blackrazor sword is also tweaked not to be usable by good aligned characters; the sword is also considerably nerfed. 65- Kangaxx's ring in his lich form won't be stealable. It was reported that sometimes his morale would break in the original game preventing him from changing to his demilich form. Sometimes even without a broken morale he would not change to demilich or would change with much delay. All of these problems are fixed as well. 66- Cloak of Balduran in nerfed (i.e. no magic resistance bonus). However, it is still a valuable item because it can be used as an ingredient to upgrade Cernd's cloak. 67- The following overpowered low level spells are nerfed: Miscast Magic, summon Insects and Insect Plague. (Creeping Doom has not been touched; it's a seventh level spell after all.) 68- Glitter Dust and blindness spells are both nerfed and fixed: Shorter duration and a +3 bonus to target's saving throw. The to hit penalty is also fixed in their descriptions and the missing Armor class penalty is added. Also, a bug in Blindness spell which would allow the message "blinded" to appear even if the target was not actually blinded is fixed. The remove invisibility efffect is also completely omitted (it wasn't working as advertised in the spell's description anyway). 69- Nature's Beauty spell is changed entirely: It now stuns the target for 5 rounds unless he/she successfully saves vs. spells. (If I see something very beautiful, I may be stunned watching its beauty for a while, but I don't think that I will be blinded. And yes, I know that even in PnP AD&D the spell blinds the target; nonetheless, it doesn't make sense to me.) 70- Wizard Slayers are no longer allowed to dual-class to mage and thief classes. 71- The description of the second level clerical spell "Draw Upon holy Might" is fixed. The spell's casting time was wrong in its description. 72- Wand of Spell Striking is fixed to cast the Pierce Magic spell instead of mimicking the effects. As a result, the spells will now be blocked by Immunity to Abjuration as well as other immunities which may block the spells (thetruth). The wand won't cast Breach at all. 73- Some plate armors would allow thieving skills in the original game. They are fixed. 74- Harm spell is nerfed. It will allow a save vs. spells to avoid the damage (thanks to Mordokai for drawing my attention to this spell). 75- The open hand attack charged with Shocking grasp, Cause Serious wounds, Cause Critical wounds and Harm spells had +6 enchantments in the original game, which means they could have been blocked by "Protection from Magical weapons" but not by "Absolute Immunity". Their enchantments are reduced to 5. 76- In the original game, Clay and Stone golems would cast their Haste and Slow spells even during time stop. The same bug existed for Vortex Spiders casting their Vortex Web spells. The bug is fixed. 77- Sunfire spell (if cast by high level wizards) could damage the caster in the original game. This is fixed now. Moreover, despite what the game's developers intended, the spell bypasses magic resistance most of the times in the vanilla game. This particular bug is not fixable in a way to ensure that the spell will never bypass MR; so I did a different tweak: The spell is tweaked to make sure that it will always bypass MR (rather than most of the times), but it's also tweaked to inflict less damage (as a compensation). 78- Teleport Field spell is fixed to allow the target to roll a save vs. spells (which was mentioned in the spell's description) to avoid the effect and also tweaked not to bypass target's magic resistance. 79- Iron Skins spell and Dragons' StoneSkin are fixed to be removable by "Breach". Negative plane Protection is also tweaked to be removable by breach. 80- The second level druidic spell, "Good berries" is tweaked: - At levels below 12, five berries will be created. Each berry cures 1 point of damage. - At levels above 11 and below 16, four berries will be created. Each berry cures 2 points of damage. - At levels above 15 and below 20, three berries will be created. Each berry cures 3 points of damage. - At levels above 19, two berries will be created. Each berry cures 5 points of damage. (The points leading to this change was that berries would cure too little in the original game to make the spell useful at higher levels. But on the other hand, the berries should not improve too much to become better than healing potions. I have changed the spell reasonably to make the berries a bit more useful, though not too much or to an unreasonable extent.) 81- Wand of Wonder is fixed/tweaked: One of its effects would petrify target with no saving throw and without checking the target's MR. It is tweaked to allow the target to roll a save vs. wands and to be blocked by the target's magic resistance (thanks to thetruth for drawing my attention to this issue). 82- Staff of the Magi is tweaked: (1) Its speed factor and weight are fixed to match the item's description. (2) Dispel magic per hit and immunity to charm removed. (3) Thaco and damage bonus are increased to 5. (4) Fireball-Lightning combo will be cast instantly (no casting required) (5) The Spell trap effect is omitted. (6) The staff is now usable only by evil human mages and permanently disables Stealth and Thieving skills buttons if equipped by a thief with "Use Any Item" ability. 83- (Fallen) Devas and (Fallen) Planetars scripts and number of spells fixed. 84- Assassins' Poison weapon ability is fixed. It will now require the target to save vs. poison and will inflict 12 points of damage total if the target makes his save (as mentioned in its description) and 24 points of damage if he fails. The ability is also tweaked to inflict all of its damage within 12 seconds. The weapon will remain poisoned for 3 rounds (rather than 5 rounds). 85- Azuredge Axe's ranged attack is fixed to require the same saving conditions the hand-to-hand attack mode requires and not to be blocked by Protection From Normal Weapons spell. The axe's description is also fixed. 86- Roranach's Horn's resistance to crushing damage bonus is replaced with a +3 bonus to AC vs. blunt weapons. 87- Vampyre creature in the old crypt (Korgan's book plot) would stand at his place doing nothing if the party were not in his line of sight (he would not move to approach the party). The script is revised and the creature is also completely replaced with a brand new and more powerful type of vampire. 88- Summoned Nymph's attributes and combat scripts fixed/tweaked. Now they have their 50% magic resistance which was missed in the original game; but on the other hand, their THAC0 is worsened to match their PnP descriptions. They will only cast druidic spells plus their dimension door. 89- Non Detection spell's description is fixed. 90- Paralytic bolts are fixed to require the target to roll a save vs. paralyzation. 91- Boots of Speed are fixed. In the original game, the boots had bugs which were fixed by Baldurdash fixpack, but a new bug was created and the movement rate bonus of the boots could stack with the movement rate bonuses of "haste" and "improved haste" spells resulting in quadruple speed. Not only haste spells, but also other spells and abilities such as (Greater) Whirlwind could add their movement rate bonuses to the already doubled movement rate. This bug can be the source of cheesy "hit and run" tactics in the game. The bug is fixed. The boots also won't be usable by monks. The same fix is applied to Grandmaster's Armor +6 as well. 92- Contagion spell's range is fixed to match its description. 93- Rod of Reversal's usability flags are fixed. It was wrongly unusable by Cleric/Rangers. The item is also tweaked not to be rechargeable/sellable. 94- If a character is blinded, blinding him again should not apply further penalties. The bug is fixed and Blindness effects will not stack together anymore. Also the -4 penalty to AC was never implemented to blinded characters which has been fixed. 95- Nahal's Reckless Dweomer, Contingency and Chain contingency spell's descriptions fixed. 96- The description of the Axe of Unyielding +5 is fixed. The finger of Death animation is also omitted, because it would display even on targets who were immune and unaffected by the vorpal hit. The saving throw penalty is also reduced to -2 to match with other vorpal weapons in the game. Also, to prevent the well-known cheat of equipping and un-equipping the axe to heal the wielder, the constitution bonus is replaced with hp bonus. 97- Jarlaxle in the Underdark says that he gives you some gold for your trouble bringing him the gems, but you get nothing in the original game. This is fixed. (Thanks to thetruth for drawing my attention to this issue.) 98- Tenser's Transformation Spell could be cast multiple times from scrolls and its effects would stack in the original game. The bug is fixed. (thetruth) 99- Vhailor's Helm is tweaked. Simulacrum is replaced with Death Spell (probably more useful and certainly less cheesy than Simulacrum; it also fits better with the helm's appearance). It's now a better version of the other helmet, "Skull of Death", which good parties don't usually have access to it in the game. 100- The stalkers' version of "Haste" and "Protection From Normal Missiles" spells could be blocked by characters' magic resistance in the original game. The bug is fixed. (thetruth) 101- Improved Haste and Remove Curse spells could be blocked by Minor Globe of Invulnerability in the original game. The bugs are fixed. Improved Haste is also fixed not to be overridden by Stalker's haste spell. 102- The first level wizard spell "Spook" is fixed not to display false "Panic" messages on targets who are not actually affected by the spell. 103- Magic Missile, Blindness, Horror, Slow, Confusion, Emotion, Power Word Silence, Fire Storm, Power Word Stun, Prismatic Spray, Pierce Shield, Imprisonment, Meteor Swarm and Power Word Kill are all fixed to be hostile spells. 104- Sling of Everard is fixed: It's damage amount is fixed and it won't be blocked by Protection From Normal Missiles spell anymore. 105- Otiluke's Resilient Sphere spell is removed and replaced with a new 4th level spell: Ray of Fragmentation. 106- The Hardiness cast through Wish spell is fixed. It will not stack with itself and with the Warrior Hardiness anymore. (Thanks to leonidas for drawing my attention to this issue.) 107- Imoen's class is changed to sorcerer. Moreover, her xp will be modified to match yours (albeit to a certain extent); She will be either level 13 or 14 (not close to 15) or 14 (close to 15) depending on your protagonist's xp. 108- Berserker Rage is fixed not to display confusion animation while the berserker is actually immune and not affected by the effect. 109- Halberd +4 Blackmist is fixed and tweaked. Its blindness effect is fixed so that the required (but missing) AC penalty takes effect and it will not stack with other blinding spells anymore. On the other hand, the blindness effect's duration is reduced to 5 rounds and it will not be usable more than once per day. 110- To minimize the use of cheesy methods, "Project Image" and "Simulacrum" spells are replaced with two new spells. 111- Unconscious/confused/panicked Umberhulks and myconids would still hurl their confusion (in the original game). The bug is fixed. Their script is also slightly revised to let them behave a bit more intelligently. The confusion effect is also enhanced to require the target to roll a save vs. spells with a -4 penalty and not to be blocked by the 6th level spell, Globe of Invulnerability (just like the chaos spell). 112- SpellStrike and Lower Resistance spells' descriptions fixed. They are abjuration spells, but in their descriptions in the original game, it was wrongly mentioned that they are alteration spells too, which wouldn't make sense at all. 113- Zone of Sweet Air is tweaked to be a "General" clerical spell and thus available to druids as well. Jaheira and Cernd already had access to this spell in the original game and the spell's effect actually looks very suitable for druids. 114- Mental Domination and Champion's Strength spells are erased from Cernd and Jaheira's list of known spells. The spells are not available to druids normally. 115- Improved Invisibility and Mass Invisibility spells are fixed. They will not stack with each other and with themselves anymore. Wrong power numbers were also assigned to some of their effects in the original game, which have been fixed too (thanks to thetruth). Also, the extra and incorrect +4 bonus to AC in the 4th level spell is omitted. Being improved invisible automatically applies a -4 penalty to the attacker's "to hit" roll, there was no need to have it as an extra effect in the spell's file. This bug is fixed as well (thanks to Ymarsakar for drawing my attention to this latter issue and thanks to Clown for performing the relevant tests for me). 116- The mage spells Skull Trap, Minor Spell Deflection, Minor Spell Turning, Spell Deflection, Mislead, Cacofiend, Delayed Blast Fireball, Summon Fiend, Power word Blind, Spell Trap and Gate are replaced with new spells. The clerical spells, Glyph of Warding, Gate and Holy Word are replaced with new spells as well. 117- Rings of Elemental Control are fixed. Their bugged charm abilities are omitted and their abilities (which were mostly using wrong effects) are also fixed to cast the relevant spells rather than mimicking the effects. The Ring of Fire Control's bonus to fire damage is also reduced to 25%. 118- Nymph Cloak is tweaked to cast Charm Person instead of mimicking the effect. The cloak's description is also fixed (not usable by Wizard Slayers and Invokers). 119- Hold Monster Spell could still affect many types of undead creatures despite what is mentioned in the spell's description. The immunity has been added to those undead creatures. 120- Some enemy spellcasters would fire their spell triggers while confused/unconscious/panicked in the original game. The bug is fixed. 121- Beholders anti-magic ray could be blocked by Spell Shield without consuming the shield. The bug is fixed. The ray can't be blocked by spell Shield anymore. 122- There was a bug in the original game regarding conditions under which Samia calls her allies or initiates dialogue. Under certain conditions it was even possible to have two identical sets of her friends during the battle. All these bugs are fixed. 123- Some of the game's stores had unreasonable sell/buy prices, which are fixed now. (Thanks to luan for drawing my attention to this issue.) 124- Fire Seeds spell is removed from Anomen and Viconia's collection of known spells. It's a druidic spell and should not be known by clerics. (thetruth) 125- Kundane +2 is tweaked. Its hidden bonus to APR is omitted. +1 bonus to Dexterity is added. 126- Defender of Easthaven is fixed and tweaked. It's name and description are both fixed and the resistances it grants are decreased to 10%. 127- Shield of Harmony is fixed to match its description and not to grant immunity to all sorts of hold effects (but just to Hold Person). The shield (and the Lilarcor sword) are also fixed to prevent "Confusion" string and icons properly. 128- Summoned elementals' attributes (Strength, THAC0, Morale, etc) are fixed. (thetruth) 129- Hangard's Axe, Klogarath Axe, Rifthome Axe, Azuredge, Throwing Axe +2 and Dwarven Thrower are all fixed so that their ranged attack mode will not be blocked by Protection From Normal Missiles any more. (thetruth) 130- Firecam Full-Plate Armor is changed. First of all, its hidden immunity to slow is removed. The immunity to hold effects is also replaced with partial resistance to Magic damage (which fits better with his kit and is probably even more useful in Improved Anvil's battles). 131- Older and higher level Dragons should have more powerful breath weapons than the younger ones. This change is applied to the great wyrm and Wyrm (the two new dragons added to the game by this mod). 132- Crom Faeyr had a critical bug (in the original game) which could break enemies' scripts. The bug is fixed. The hammer's description is fixed too. The hammer's electrical damage is also tweaked to apply only with 10% chance per hit, though the actual amount of damage is increased. 133- Ring of Human Influence and Nymph Cloak are tweaked to require a minimum charisma of 9 to be worn. 134- The Alhoon in the Illithid Hideout and the Slayer Irenicus had bad sound sets assigned to them in the original game. Both are fixed. 135- Cloak of Bravery is tweaked not to be usable by paladins and rangers. 136- Remove/resist Fear spell's duration is decreased to 1 turn (10 rounds) to match their pnp descriptions. 137- Apprenti's chance of success to forge the Robe of the Apprenti is modified. In the original game their chance of success was 20% regardless of any other conditions and reloading for several times could eventually make them forge it for you. Now: 1- If the protagonist is a Pure mage the apprenti have more chance than when the protagonist is a dual/multi-class mage or a sorcerer. 2- If the protagonist is a human dual-class, the apprenti have more chance than when the protagonist is a multi-class or a sorcerer. 3- Sorcerer and mage-cleric protagonists stand third. 4- Other multi-class protagonists have the least chance to instruct successful apprenti. 5- Protagonist's high wisdom has its own positive effect. 6- If the apprenti fail the first time (which is still random considering the abovementioned modifiers) reloading the game will not change the result (starting a new game will). 138- Devil Shades and Shadow Fiends' resistance to electricity is fixed (set to zero). Thanks to Raven for drawing my attention to this issue. 139- Two of the druids in the druid grove area would cast bad and unnecessary spells. Their scripts are fixed and slightly improved. 140- The Demon Wraith in the 3rd level of Watcher's Keep had a broken script. After the first couple of rounds, he would start to infinitely cast Symbol of Fear and nothing else. He is not only fixed but also seriously improved. 141- Gnasher Club is tweaked to be usable only by druids and rangers (though not ranger/clerics). 142- Potion of Clarity is fixed and tweaked. It's fixed not to show confusion animation and charm and confusion text messages when the character is immune and is tweaked not to grant immunity to fear. The potion is not usable by wizard slayers which was missed in its description. 143- Flame Tongue sword's "to hit" and "damage" bonuses are fixed and its magic level is reduced to 1. Also, the magic level of the War Hammer +1, +4 vs. Giantkin is fixed (reduced to 1). The Root of the Problem's magic level is reduced to 1 and the Bone Club's is reduced to 2. 144- The 3rd level clerical spell "Protection from Fire" is fixed to set resistance to fire to 100% rather than adding 100% to the current resistances. 145- invisibility 10' Radius spell's description is fixed. The spell's duration was wrong in its description. 146- The Stalker's Minor Spell Deflection spell's icons fixed. (leonidas) 147- Belt of Inertial barrier is tweaked to grant 25% resistance to magic damage. 148- Ring of Gaxx is fixed and tweaked. It's broken resistance to poison is fixed. It's wrong protection from magic icon is also replaced with magic resistance icon. And it's tweaked not to grant immunity to disease. 149- Both versions of Mace of Disruption are fixed. Their undead destroying effects are fixed not to require the undead to roll saving throw "twice". Their enchantments are fixed to match their descriptions and the improved mace's icon is changed. Moreover, the improved mace's permanent immunity to level drain is omitted. The weapon is too easily available in the game to have such powerful abilities. 150 - Armor of Faith Spell is tweaked. First of all, its duration is fixed at 15 rounds; the resistance it grants is also fixed at 10% and it will only give resistance to physical and magic damage as its description suggests (i.e. the hidden resistances to magical fire and magical cold are removed). 151- Nalia's thieving skills are re-distributed to make her a better trap finder/disarmer. Her missing weapon proficiency in the vanilla game is fixed as well. 152- Chaotic Commands spell's hidden immunity to hold and stun are removed. The spell's duration is also decreased. 153- Rangers' useless "Tracking" HLA is replaced with a new one: Contact with Nature. It can be chosen only once from the list of HLAs and once used will grant 18hp/round regeneration for 1 turn. While in contact with nature, the ranger is also immune to petrification and imprisonment. 154- A bug in the 2nd level spell "Resist Fire/Cold" fixed. 155- Rift Device is tweaked not to harm anyone but The Unseeing Eye. 156- Wand of Lightning is tweaked not to discharge more than one lightning bolt per round and to actually discharging the spell rather than mimicking the effect. It's also no longer usable by enchanters. 157- Cernd had some additional and incorrect weapon proficiencies in one of his files. The bug is fixed. (Thanks to Raven) 158- Bigby's Crushing Hand spell had some minor bugs in the vanilla game which are fixed (Raven). The spell and Bigby's Clenched Fist are also both tweaked so that their damage won't be blocked by the target's MR. Both spells' "hold" effects are also removed. 159- Inquisitor's dispel magic is nerfed. It's still much more powerful than the dispel magic of other spellcasters but not as wild as it was in the vanilla game. The inquisitor casts the spell at a higher level than his actual level (but not at double level). The difference between inquisitor's actual level and the level at which he casts Dispel Magic is according to the following table: Inquisitor's actual level The difference between levels ========================= ============================= 1 - 3 1 4 - 5 2 6 - 8 3 9 - 12 4 13 - 17 5 18 - 23 6 24 - 30 7 31 + 8 For example, a 13th level inquisitor casts dispel magic as if he is 5 level higher (level 18). 160- Albruin sword is tweaked to cast "detect invisibility" rather than mimicking the effects. It is also tweaked to cast "Neutralize Poison" rather than granting permanent immunity. 161- Power Word Kill spell's description fixed (thanks to Dago for reporting the issue). 162- Faldorn's duel with the protagonist is fixed. The duel is supposed to be a fair one-on-one combat. Now, you won't be able to pass any items (weapons, potions,...) from your NPCs to your protagonist during the battle. NPCs can't actually interfere in any way. Moreover, all of your buffs will be dispelled before starting the duel (Faldorn also starts the duel with no buffs). 163- An exploit to gain infinite XP by killing giants in Saradush fixed (thetruth). 164- If you defeat Slavers' in Slums before going for the Guarded Compound, you will find a letter with Captain Haegan which will indicate that Sion and his companions are salvers. In this way, good aligned parties will be well justified to attack the compound and will also have an additional dialogue option while talking to Sion. 165- Level progression tables are revised. Level up requires more xp in all classes in general. Multi-class characters will require to reach certain high levels to start to gain HLAs: - Single (and dual) class characters start gaining HLAs (approximately) at 3,400,000 xp. - Double-class characters start gaining HLAs (approximately) at 5,100,000 xp. - Triple-Class characters start gaining HLAs (approximately) at 6,800,000 xp. 166- The levels of joinable NPCs upon joining the party now depends on the protagonist's xp rather than the leader's level of experience. Hence, the exploit of having high level NPCs by using a thief as the leader or the protagonist is blocked. Some of the NPCs will always join with the lowest possible level, some others will gain xp if the protagonist has more xp than a certain amount. 167- A possible cheesy exploit based on booting multi-player NPCs and having them again in the party is detected and fixed. The exploit was that if you had a kitted multi-player custom NPC with some innate abilities of its kit, you could have him cast his innate spells and then pretend that you want to dismiss him from the party, but when he asked whether he should leave you could reply "No join again." and he would not leave at all. He would rejoin the party with all of his innate abilities refreshed. This is now fixed. (Thanks to Dago for reporting this possible exploit to me) 168- Otyughs' xp value and morale fixed to match their pnp attributes. They are also supposed to be immune to surprise; I interpreted this as immunity to backstab in BG2. 169- Deck of Many Things' fixes and tweaks: - Demon Knights and Death shade gated by the Deck had incorrect attributes which are fixed. They are improved as well. - The deck will now grant Ring of Protection +2 (rather than +3) - The "emperor" effects' duration is shortened, but it's also fixed not to be blocked by the recipient's MR. - Buffing your character before using the deck will not protect you against its possible ill effects. - The "Star" card would fail to grant the permanent dexterity bonus to thieves and bards in the vanilla game (thanks to Raven for reporting this issue). The bug is fixed. 170- The known "Force Talk Cheat" is blocked for some important enemies. (Note: I have not bothered to block this cheat for all possible enemies, because I don't believe that any serious player will ever use it. So, be your own policeman.) 171- Foebane +5 is tweaked; its Larloch's Minor Drain on the target ability will bypass target's MR for the same reason explained for the spell above. (Raven) 172- Trolls who fight with shadow druids in the wilderness near the druid grove would not spawn properly in the vanilla game if the entire party were invisible. It's fixed. 173- The tips the game displays each time you load a saved game are revised. Some less important tips are removed, some new and more helpful ones are added. 174- Donation to temples is made more expensive (Thanks to Ryel ril Ers for the suggestion) and it won't raise your reputation above 16. 175- Most dragons' breaths in the vanilla game would respond to the spell shield spell and you could see the message "spell ineffective" on the screen. In most cases the damage was not actually blocked, though in some cases it could even be blocked. All dragons' breaths are fixed. Blue Dragon's breath would not respond to spell shield even in vanilla game but it had another problem and could be blocked by Spell Immunity: Invocation. This is fixed too. 176- The lich in Deril's state didn't have the regular immunities of all liches in the original game. It's fixed. 177- The 6th level mage spell "Protection from Magical Weapons" had incorrect secondary type in the vanilla game which is now fixed. 178- Nalia will give you 4 more days before starting to complain about your delay to go to save The keep. 179- The 6th level clerical spell 'Physical Mirror' is fixed not to block Melf's Acid Arrow (nor the phantom arrows of Tansheron's Short Bow). It's also tweaked to merely block the ranged weapons rather than bouncing them. The spell's name and description are changed as well. 180- The Demi lich's imprisonment is tweaked not to be bounced by spell turning and not to be blocked by any protective spell other than Spell Immunity: Abjuration and Death Ward. On the other hand, demi liches are fixed not to cast more than 8 Imprisonment spells. 181- Most of psionic attacks are tweaked not to be blockable by Spell Shield. 182- Darts of Stunning and wounding are tweaked (fixed) to be +1 weapons with the appropriate THAC0 and damage bonuses. Darts of stunning had also a wrong duration for the stunning effect in the vanilla game, which is fixed to match the description. 183- The 9th level spell, spellstrike is tweaked not to be blocked by spell shield while still being capable of removing it. Notably, even the spell shield's unfixable bug which sometimes appears (see entry no. 42 above) can't prevent its removal by spellstrike. (With the tweaks applied to Spell Immunity spell, Ruby Ray of Reversal had gained a major advantage over other protection removal spells. This latest tweak will hopefully (at least partially) compensate it in favor of SpellStrike (as a 9th level spell)). 184- Shillelagh spell is fixed to match the spell's description. 185- Bone Golems are fixed: Now they have their pnp ability of issuing Hideous Laugh; they are also fearless as per their pnp description. Their number of attacks per round was also incorrect in the vanilla game which is now fixed. 186- Minotaurs are fixed and improved further. Now they have all of their pnp abilities and more. (They now have their pnp abilities of grappling and charging targets. The missed immunity to maze is also implemented and enhanced with immunity to charm and confusion. Moreover, they have better THAC0s and equip better weapons; they are fearless and their pnp bonus vs. surprise is interpreted as immunity to backstab.) 187- Silence 15' Radius is nerfed to have shorter duration. 188- Enemy clerics' "Turn Paladin" ability is tweaked to dispel all dispellable effects on the targeted paladin as well as making the paladin immune to remove fear effects for its duration. 189- Invisible Stalkers had several bugs in the vanilla game which have been fixed: Their weapon which was supposed to have +2 enchantment was actually non-magical; they didn't have their 30% magic resistance; they had incorrect THAC0 as well. Their 'class' is also changed/fixed from mage(!) to Elemental of Air. 190- Amulet of Power is tweaked not to cure silence nor to grant immunity to silence. 191- Namarra +2 is tweaked: Its Silence 15' radius is replaced with Cure Serious Wounds (once per day) 192- Ilbratha is fixed to actually cast Mirror Image rather than mimicking the effect. 193- Spirit animals' weapons fixed and tweaked. The spirit animals summoned by totemic druids had unenchanted weapons in the vanilla game. The enchantment numbers were set on 5 or 6, but the "magical" flags were not set properly. Now, they are fixed so that they are indeed magical but also fixed to have +3 enchantments rather than 5. The level drain effect of the wolf's attack and the horror effect of the bear's are omitted and the bear's claw is fixed to do crushing damage rather than slashing (to be in harmony with other bears). 194- The Ogre Jelly form of Polymorph Self spell had wrong attributes (such as 100% MR instead of 10% which is the correct MR of an ogre Jelly). This and all other similar bugs related to Polymorph self are fixed. 195- Book of infinite spells had bugs in the vanilla game. The bugs are fixed and its spells are also replaced with more useful ones. 196- Sir William Reirrac and Garren Windpear's dialogue files are fixed so that Regain paladinhood only applies when the protagonist is indeed a fallen paladin. 197- Two possible exploits with Cloak of Sewers are blocked. 198- Dragon's Breath Halberd's missing +4 damage bonus is added and fixed. The item is also tweaked to have 5% chance per hit to inflict its additional elemental damage (though the amount of damage is also tweaked so that its average is only halved in long terms). 199- Bards' spell progression and level progression tables are revised. 200- There was a bug in Cleric/Rangers' HLA table in the vanilla game. It's fixed. 201- The version of Haer'Dalis creature summoned by the Fate Spirit in Pocket Plane was bugged in the vanilla game. It's fixed. 202- Harper Pin item is nerfed. 203- Nadinal's Ring of Wizardry is replaced with Ring of Protection +1. As per the item's description, the only way to acquire the Ring of Wizardry should be through forging it in Planar Sphere. 204- The Answerer is tweaked: It's MR decreasing effect is omitted, its AC lowering effect will be applied but with 10% chance per hit; however, it's also changed to bypass the target's magic resistance. 205- Vocalize spell will only cure silence (not greater or grave silence though); the spell doesn't grant immunity to silence for any duration. 206- The fifth level clerical spell, Magic Resistance, is tweaked. It adds (rather than set) +5% per three levels MR to the cleric up to 30% at 18th level. But it cannot be cast on any other character or creature than the caster. Multiple uses of the spell won't cumulatively work together either. 207- Chaos Shield and Improved Chaos Shield spells are both nerfed: Shorter durations and less Wild surge Bonuses. The improved one had actually a wrong (too long) duration even compared with its vanilla description. 208- Enhanced Bard Song is improved to grant more magic resistance bonuses, but also tweaked not to grant immunity to Fear, Confusion and Stun (the same for Skald's song). 209- Cerebus, the creature summoned by the Moon Dog Figurine is tweaked: His spell-like abilities and innate immunities are omitted, but on the other hand, his +1 claw is improved to have +3 enchantment and his number of attacks are increased (from 1) to 3. He has much better morale during the combat as well. 210- Wizard Slayers' miscast magic percentage is fixed. 211- Joolon, the lion summoned by the Golden Lion Figurine is improved: His +1 claw is changed to +3 and he fights more intelligently. 212- Comet spell is fixed and tweaked. It's fixed not to be bounced by Spell Turning; it will no longer show the false "Stun" icon either and it's also fixed not to be blocked by SPell Immunity: Invocation. Its throwing effect is also tweaked not to allow saving throw. Its unconsciousness effect's duration is shortened considerably but is also tweaked not to allow saving throw. 213- One of the dialogue options with the djinni of "Wish" spell didn't match with the spell the djinni actually granted in the vanilla game. The bug is fixed. Also, the "Breach on enemies" option would make ally summons hostile. This is fixed too. The related dialogue option is also changed to "Breach on everyone in the area except party members" to indicate the fact that the breach will affect allies and neutral creatures in the area as well (though as mentioned above, this particular version of breach won't be considered as a hostile action by allies and neutral creatures and won't make them turn hostile). 214- The second level mage spell "Strength" is fixed and tweaked: It's casting range is fixed to match the spell's description and the spell's duration is shortened. 215- Staff of The Earth and staff of Air are both fixed to function similar to Staff of Fire in regard to the number of elementals they summon. The elementals summoned by all three staves are slightly improved to behave more intelligently during battles. Moreover, the lesser elementals summoned by the Air and the Fire staves were using the wrong animation/avatar in the original game, which are fixed too. 216- Helm of the Rock is tweaked. Resistance to poison is replaced with Ac bonus vs. blunt weapons. The improved helm will cast Horror once per day (rather than mimicking the effects three times per day). 217- Drizzt's level and THAC0 were not matching together in the vanilla game. A compromise has been decided. His level is increased to 18 (from 16) and his base THAC0 is changed to 3 (from zero). As an 18th level ranger, he will also have one use of HLA per day which he will use in Bodhi's lair if you invite him to help you in that battle. 218- Some of the Stoneskin scrolls in the game were not usable by dual-class mages. This is fixed. 219- Whirlwind and Greater whirlwind are both fixed not be overridden by "Haste" spell. The same problem existed with energy blades (Haste spell would reduce your number of attacks) which is fixed as well. 220- The Spirit Armor spell could stack with itself in the vanilla game resulting in more and more saving throw bonuses. The bug is fixed. The spell is also tweaked to have shorter duration, and the damage it inflicts to the recipient will be applied with no save (thanks to Ymarsakar for drawing my attention to this issue). 221- The "Mist, Horror" creature, its natural weapon, and the version of "Chaos" spell it casts had some bugs and inconsistencies in the vanilla game, which are all fixed. 222- The "Cavalier" kit was one of the kits of the vanilla game which had too many advantages with almost no significant disadvantage. The kit is tweaked and rebalanced by omitting the permanent immunity to fear effects from the list of advantages (immunity to fear effects would unjustifiably make the cavalier immune to evil clerics' turning ability, which was a big edge over other paladins; with this change in IA v6, enemy clerics will attempt to turn cavaliers as well; in the previous versions of the mod, enemy evil clerics would only try to turn a paladin if he was not a cavalier). 223- A cheesy exploit while talking with the Black Dragon fixed. 224- An xp exploit in the tanner's hideout and a similar xp exploit in spellhold are both blocked and fixed (thanks to Clown). 225- Ice Storm spell's description is fixed and its damage is set according to pnp AD&D. Fire Storm and Meteor Swarm, on the other hand, are fixed to match their BG2 descriptions. 226- Harp of Discord is tweaked to actually cast 'Confusion' rather than mimicking the effects. 227- Demiliches' and Bone Golems' immunity to 9th level spells are fixed to include immunity to 'Dragon's Breath' spell. 228- Potion of Magic Protection is fixed to match its description and to set MR at 50% (rather than adding 50% to MR). 229- In the Vanilla game, Maheer would take all of your diamonds or Beljuril gems to upgrade horns of Valhalla if those gems were stacked in one inventory slot. The bug is fixed (thanks to Dago for drawing my attention to this issue). 230- The two first level mage spells, 'Armor' and 'shield', are both tweaked to work much similar to each other except for one point: Armor will add additional AC bonus to 'piercing' and 'slashing' weapon types, whereas 'Shield' will grant additional bonus to 'missile' and 'blunt' weapons. 'Shield' will no longer grant immunity to 'Magic Missile' spell. 231- Thieves' Hood is tweaked not to grant immunity to backstab. 232 - Transmuters couldn't learn "Larloch's Minor Drain" and "Vampiric Touch" spells in the vanilla game. The bug is fixed. 233- The undead destroying effects of both versions of Runehammer are fixed (in the vanilla game, the undead could roll a saving throw vs. Death "twice" rather than once). 234- Wand of the Heavens had wrong power numbers assigned to its effects and the amount of damage it would inflict was wrong as well. The bugs are fixed (Raven). 235- In the vanilla game, you could return to the drow city even after exiting underdark (in chapter 6). The bug is fixed. You can return to underdark, but not to the drow city. 236- Some of the options of wish spells had wrong power numbers in the vanilla game which are all fixed (Raven). 237- Warriors summoned by Horns of Valhalla (except the improved one from IA) had bugged weapons which are fixed. Their number of attacks are also fixed and now they use Berserker Rage ability and fight a lot more intelligently (raven). 238- All bugs related to blades' Offensive Spin ability in the vanilla game are completely fixed. 239- A cheesy exploit in the vanilla game which would allow the player to gain access to Imoen during the dream in spellhold without losing one point of one of his or her attributes is blocked and fixed. 240- The 4th level spell, "Enchanted Weapon" can't be cast more than once a day (24 hours). 241- When a creature is partially visible (improved invisible), you are not able to target him with spells which normally target a creature rather than an area. However, due to a bug of the vanilla game you were still able to "cheesily" cast the same spells on the target using scrolls. This bug is fixed in IA v6. If you are a cheesy player and want to try it, you will still cast the spells from the scroll, but they won't take effect anyway and such spells won't work on partially visible targets. 242- More Sensible Wish spell (Wish spell is rebalanced to work in a more sensible and balanced way): - "Time Stop + Improved Alacrity" combo will be offered only to those who practice pure arcane magic (= single class mages). To be honest, It was never making sense to cast time stop and then attack the enemy with a sword rather than casting spells. Now, Multi-class mages can't have this option of the wish spell. - "Magical Rest" option is also rebalanced to be offered only to single-class mages and work more sensibly as follows: When you wish "Make it as if the entire party has just rested a full night", your wish will now have a chance to indeed make it as if you have rested, which means there will be a chance for your enchantments and protections to expire (due to resting) and also a chance for new hostile creatures to appear (during the night). The first time you use this option of the wish spell, the chance of negative effects will be zero, but if you repeat choosing this option during the same day, the risk of the side effects will increase seriously. 243- Time Trap is replaced with a more sensible HLA. The new HLA fits much better with the thief class (it was never making sense that a thief could stop the flow of time mimicking the effect of a most powerful arcane spell). 244- Improved Anvil has now its own xpcap-reviser and will not work with any xpcap-remover. This new feature of the mod does not remove the xpcap, but changes it to 12.2 million xp (it was 8 million in the vanilla game). Notes regarding the new xpcap: 244-1- This amount of xp (= 12.2 M) is more or less equal with the total xp each party member can gain in the entire game with a party of 6 members. So, players who play the mod with a party of 6 won't even notice that a cap exists (regardless of whether they play single-class or multi-class characters). In other words, such players won't notice any change in their characters' level progressions. Even those who play with a party of 5 members will notice the cap late in game. Playing with a party of 6 is recommended. 244-2- The new xpcap is still enough for single class characters of all classes (even rangers and paladins) to reach level 40 regardless of the number of party members. The only single-class characters who can't reach level 40 are the mage and the bard who will stop level progression at level 36; but even such characters won't notice the cap if the game is played with a party of 6 members, because even without the xpcap, there is not more xp to gain in the game. 244-3- While the new xpcap won't affect single class characters in any remarkable way, it will adequately and sensibly block absurd level progression of multi-class characters in a game with no xpcap and in a party of few members. Actually, The only character type whose level progression will be practically and noticeably affected is a multi-class character who is NOT a member of a full party. 245- There was a bug in the vanilla game which would allow fighter/thieves to pick more than one Assassination HLA. Another bug would also prevent the fighter/thief from picking 'Avoid Death' if he had already picked Assassination. Both bugs are fixed. 246- Multi-class thieves and Swashbucklers' HLA tables are revised. 247- All traps are removed from bards' HLA table (thanks to shadan). Fighter/Clerics won't gain the warrior Resist Magic HLA. 248- 'Scribe Scrolls' and 'Alchemy' HLAs are all fixed not to turn to a source of infinite gold. The scrolls and potions created by these spells won't have any market value and can't be sold . 249- Chain Contingency spell can't be cast more than once per day (thanks to LZJ for suggesting this tweak/fix). 250- Multi-class mages won't have access to Improved Alacrity (Raven). 251- The constitution bonus in Obsidian Ioun Stone and Malla's Soul Stone are replaced with hp bonus (thanks to Kerkes and SpellStorm). 252- Revised THAC0 tables: While the nerfed THAC0 tables of the vanilla game are not ideal, the totally unnerfed THAC0 tables of Ease-of_Use are not satisfactory either. Improved Anvil has now its own custom THAC0 tables (something between the nerfed tables of the vanilla game and the unnerfed tables of Ease-of_Use). 253- Characters will be able to wear minor and mid-power protection rings and cloaks with each other and together with armors, but the powerful (+3 and better) ones can't be worn simultaneously or with armors. The related component of Ease-of-Use which allows unlimited use of such rings and cloaks together and with armors no longer works with IA. 254- Some bugs in hell trials fixed. For example, SI:divination could block the penalties of one of the trials in the vanilla game. 255- The scripts the player could assign to party members (to be used when the party AI option is 'on') had some bugs which are all fixed. The scripts are also slightly improved (however, despite the improvements and bugfixes, I still do not recommend turning on the party AI; a true tactician should be able to play much more effectively than one can expect to gain from any such scripts). 256- Monsters who spawn to interrupt the party's rest no longer carry any treasure nor do they have any xp value. The same tweak is applied to all other monsters who can respawn infinitely during the game. 257- One of the effects in the first level spell, Doom, had a wrong power number. It's fixed. 258- Some items in the vanilla game grant small and negligible resistances to elemental damage AND add the icons to the characters portrait as well. During battles the protection icons added by these items can play a negative role, because they prevent the player from noticing that the main protective spells on the character are expired or dispelled. Such misleading icons are mostly removed from those items. 259- Staff of Curing's cure disease effect fixed to remove the disease icon as well (thanks to geh4th). 260- The third level mage spell, slow, is tweaked not to incur any AC or THAc0 penalties. It just now slows the target. 261- Summoned skeletons and some other undead creatures were not immune to charm in the vanilla game. the bug is fixed (LZJ). 262- Wakizashis were usable by druids despite the items' descriptions. The bug is fixed (Raven). 263- The first level mage spell, Magic Missile, used to inflict a wrong amount of damage per missile in the vanilla game. It is fixed to match the spell's description (Raven) 264- Evasion and Greater Evasion could stack with each other in the vanilla game. The bug is fixed (Raven). 265- Hold Monster spell is tweaked to affect one single target. 266- The Spectral Brand +5 is tweaked not to grant immunity to level drain. 267- The names of some scrolls had typos in the vanilla game. They are fixed (Raven). 268- The skullcrusher mace had a bug in the vanilla game. Its bonus damage would be applied even to the second weapon the character might wield. The bug is fixed (Raven). 269- Dwarves, Halflings and Gnomes won't gain more than +1 racial bonus to their saving throws. 270- Specialist mages can't dual class. 271- Learning spells from scrolls won't grant any xp. The xp of disarming traps and picking locks is also modified (lowered). 272- The Fireshield (Blue) spell had a bug in the vanilla game which would allow it to affect even rakshasas, liches and demi-liches. The bug is fixed (Raven). 273- Short Swords of Mask (+4 and +5) are fixed and tweaked. Wrong power numbers in their effects are fixed. The +4 sword's chance per hit to entangle the target is reduced to 10%. The +5 sword's ability to level drain is omitted, but its chance to entangle is 15% per hit. 274- Shield Amulet is fixed to actually cast the spell rather than mimicking the effects. The item is also now usable only by mages. 275- Berserker's enrage ability protects against level drain, but the message "x levels drained" would still appear on the screen. Barbarian Rage also protects against some effects without preventing the either the portrait icons or related messages. These bugs are fixed. 276- A hidden bug in the vanilla game sometimes causes the exit of the sphere to lead to the Slums rather than the demons' plane. The bug is fixed (Raven). 277- Boots of the North displays a wrong icon on the wearers portrait in the vanilla game. The bug is fixed (geh4th). 278- Due to a bug of the original game, sometimes Melissan would appear prematurely during the battle with Gromnir and his guards before the battle was completely over. The bug is fixed (Raven). 279- Two new druidic HLAs are added. 280- The Negative Plane Protection spell is now working almost similar to its pnp version. In pnp, the spell protects the character only for one single shot. Now, vampires have a chance to dispel the NPP spell with each successful hit. If we wanted to make the spell work exactly similar to pnp, we should have set the dispelling probability at 100%, but we thought that 100% might be overkill and didn't go that far. Vampires used to be a joke in the vanilla game, with this change they are (hopefully) going to be as fearsome as the legends tell us. 281- The spell, Melf's Acid Arrow is tweaked to inflict its entire damage instantaneously in one shot. The total amount of damage will be 2d4 + 2/three levels of the caster (capped at 18th level). 282- The Stonefire and Frostreaver axes are tweaked to have a chance per hit to inflict their elemental damage (rather than 100% chance per hit which they had in the vanilla game). The amount of damage is increased instead. 283- The cheesy method of hiding the silver blade somewhere in order to go to Cromwell's shop before confronting Kruin is blocked. Cromwell's shop won't be accessible as long as you haven't dealt with Kruin. 284- Rangers' Charm Animal ability is improved by implementing a -6 penalty to the allowed save. 285- The infinite gold exploits are removed from strongholds. 286- The spell "Shield of the Archons" had a critical and unfixable bug in the vanilla game; the spell is completely reworked and replaced. 287- Some weapons in the vanilla game would incorrectly consume enemies' Spell Turning on hit. The bugs are fixed. Link to comment
geh4th Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Sikret's Improved Anvil v6 "Installation and (in-)compatibility guide." Amusingly, Sikret continues to insist that Improved Anvil isn't a total conversion mod - that it's fully compatible with just about any other mod as long as the author of said mod simply contacts him and complies with re-writing it to conform to IA's "standards of excellence". In his eyes you (other modders) are just stubborn and ignorant if you're unwilling to do this. It all makes perfect sense to him... Improved Anvil mod for BG2 & TOB VERSION 6 Author: Sikret Read this file very carefully before installing the mod. ************************************************************************ Installation & Compatibility issues ************************************************************************ =================== Pre-installation: =================== Before installing Improved Anvil, make sure that you have installed the game in the following order: 1- BG2 2- TOB 3- TOB Official patch 4- Baldurdash TOB fixpack-1.12 (Non-weidu version) Note(1): All of the changes Improved Anvil applies to the game are based on the assumption that the player HAS installed Baldurdash TOB fixpack v1.12. So, please do not forget to install it and do not replace it with any other fixpack. Note(2): Don't install Baldurdash's game text update. Note(3): Players who don't have Baldurdash TOB fixpack can downloaded it from the following webpage: http://www.baldurdash.org/ToB/Fixes/TOBfixes.html It's the first one in the list. Only install that one and forgo others. Alternatively, you can also take it from this page as well: http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?showtopic=3853 Note(4): If you start the game in multi-player mode to create custom NPcs, after the game starts, save it and quit; then go to your main BG2 folder and cut the saved game from the mpsave folder and paste it in "save" folder; then load the saved game in single player mode. ============================================================================ Recommended and Ease of Use components to be installed before Improved Anvil: ============================================================================ "Ease of use" (install right after Baldurdash fixpack): - Infinite Weapon, Potion and Ring/Amulet Stacking for SOA and TOB (Recommended) - Shut Up "You Must Gather Your Party Before Venturing Forth (optional) - True Grand Mastery (Recommended) - Un-Nerfed THAC0 Table, Saving Throws, ... (Recommended) - Multiple Strongholds (Recommended) - Bonus Merchants (optional) - No Drow Avatars On Party In Underdark (optional) - Imoen ToB Dialogue Fix (Recommended) - Romance: Bug Fixes (optional) Note 1: Use the original "Ease of Use" mod (rather than the BG2 Tweakpack). Note 2: Don't install any other component of Ease-of-Use except the mentioned ones. You can of course choose not to install some or all of the recommended and optional components mentioned above, But do not install any other components which are not in the list. ================================ The summary of pre-installation: ================================ 1- BG2 2- TOB 3- TOB Official patch 4- Baldurdash TOB fixpack-1.12 5- Selected components of Ease of use (optional) OPTIONAL:6- Any other mods, provided that they are NOT in the list of incompatible mods below and provided that they will NOT require you to install them after Improved Anvil. Now, you are ready to install Improved Anvil. ===================== Order of Installation: ===================== ************************************************************ *** Install Improved Anvil AFTER all of your other mods. *** ************************************************************ Notes: (1) You need to start a new game (even if you were already playing a previous version). (2) If you accidentally install a mod after Improved Anvil, you will need to amend the order of installation. To do this, uninstall Improved Anvil and then install it again. Hitting the RE-install option will not do. You will need to uninstall Improved Anvil completely and install it afresh to make sure that it is installed after all other mods. (3) If any other mod also requires to be installed "after" all other mods, just skip it and do NOT install it with/after/before Improved Anvil. ============================================================== List of mods which should NOT be installed with Improved Anvil: ============================================================== Improved Anvil is compatible with the majority of other mods, however, there are a few mods (or mod-components) which should not be installed with Improved Anvil if you want to have a bugfree game (some of them are technically incompatible with Improved Anvil, some others are conceptually problematic and some others are bugged regardless of their compatibility with Improved Anvil). Also, for any given mod, if more than 50% of the mod's content is known to be incompatible with Improved Anvil (while the other 50% is untested or dubious), the entire mod is listed as incompatible for more safety). This is the list of the known mods and/or mod-components which should not be installed if you intend to install and play Improved Anvil: 1- Item Upgrade 2- Spell50 3- Ascension 4- Tactics (and any other mod which adds tactical challenges to the game) 5- Improved Battles 6- Big picture 7- SCS II 8- NEJ2 9- Rogue Rebalancing 10- Solaufein NPC 11- Divine Remix 12- Oversight (and any other mod which tampers with creatures' alignments) 13- G3's BG2 Fixpack 14- G3's BG2 Tweakpack 15- D0-Tweakpack 16- The Bigg Tweaks 19- Unfinished Business 20- Quest Pack 21- Ashes of Ember 22- PS-tele and/or any other mod which adds teleportation ability to the party 23- Ruad (and any other itempack with powerful items) 24- Refinements (and any other mod which adds new HLAs or adds resistance to physical damage to armors) 25- Any mod which adds new bardsongs or new types of traps (or modifies the existent ones) 26- Any spellpack which modifies the game's existent spells or adds new spells to the game if those new spells are available to players (this includes any kit-mod which adds spells or spell-like abilities). 27- Sword and Fist 28- Planar Sphere mod 29- All components of Ease-Of-Use except those listed as recommended (or optional) above. Note(1): It's also recommended not to install "Saerileth NPC" & "Valen NPC" with Improved Anvil. Note(2): Dungeon-be-gone (version 1.4) is compatible with Improved Anvil; however, Improved Anvil's "Item Randomizer" program initiates in that area at the beginning of the game and it takes a few seconds before it can fully initiate. On slower computers it may take about 40 seconds (after the initial auto-save), on faster computers, it can be done faster. The point is that you should not rush to talk to that fellow and leave the area too quickly. You don't need to do anything special, just stay in the area long enough to see the message "Item Randomizer successfully initiated" and then you can leave the dungeon without any problem. Don't use any other version of Dungeon-be-gone. Only v1.4 is recommended. Note(3): "The Four" version 3 (and newer) is compatible with Improved Anvil and is the *only* mod which can be installed *after* Improved Anvil. Older versions of "The Four" are incompatible. Note(4): In addition to those particular tweakpacks which are listed as strictly incompatible, it is also strongly recommended that you do NOT install any other tweakpack. Note(5): The standalone versions of Auramaster druid kit and Riskbreaker kit are not supported any longer. The newest versions of these kits already exist in Improved Anvil. You should not install the outdated standalone versions of these kits. ========================== Upgrading to version 6: ========================== If you already have a previous version of Improved Anvil, you can easily update the mod to the new version as instructed below: 1- Uninstall the old version of Improved Anvil 2- Uninstall all of the (listed) incompatible mods/components if you have any of them installed. 3- Delete the "ImprovedAnvil" folder from your main BG2 folder. 4- Unzip the new version of the mod in your BG2 folder. If asked whether you want to replace anything, reply "yes". Now, you should have a new "ImprovedAnvil" folder in your BG2 folder. 5- Install the new version of the mod. 6- Starting a new game is mandatory (even if you were already playing a previous version). Have fun! Link to comment
geh4th Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Sikret's Improved Anvil "Terms of Use and Copyright." Take special note of the "Expectations" section at the bottom. I think that what Sikret wrote there was a shot meant especially for you, Saros (particularly point #4). ************************************** ** Terms of Use & Copyright ** ************************************** ============ I- Copyright: ============ Even though the fan-made modules and materials we release are not subject to 'legal' copyright, the standards of moral courtesy are still applicable to them. Improved Anvil is not a public property. If any fellow mod-maker wants to borrow any idea from Improved Anvil to use in his own mod or to make a separate and new mod, I expect him/her to contact with me and ask for my permission. Once the permission is granted, I will also expect him/her to add a note to his/her mod's credentials to let everyone know that the idea has been borrowed from me and Improved Anvil. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation. Currently the Gibberlings 3 site is disgracefully hosting a mod which is made by directly stealing one of my ideas (the idea of randomizing items via scripts) which was used in Imprvoved Anvil for the first time. The thievery has happened without sending any permission request to me and without even mentioning my name in the mod's credentials. Many other individual fixes and tweaks are also silently copied from Improved Anvil and used in other mods without my permission and without mentioning my name in those mods'documents and credentials. I'm sure that players who follow moral standards in their lives will never install and use such stolen materials. Sites which accept to host stolen mods only ruin their own reputation. ================ II- Terms of Use: ================ We expect players who download and install Improved Anvil to agree with the following terms of use: 1- Improved Anvil is not a public property. I agree to use this mod without modifying, hacking, or editing its content. 2- I agree to follow the mod's installation instructions accurately. 3- I agree to play Improved Anvil the way it is intended to be played without cheating during the game. 4- If I violate any of the abovementioned terms, I will not receive any technical support from the mod's developers and will not send any false and misleading reports to the mod's forum about problems I have created in my own game. Link to comment
geh4th Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 And finally Improved Anvil v6's ReadMe document. Improved Anvil mod for BG2 & TOB VERSION 6 For my daughter, Kiana! Author: Sikret (e-mail address: sikret_the_great@yahoo.com) Forum: http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?showforum=99 Improved Anvil is a mod for BG2 and TOB. It requires TOB. ===================== What does this mod do? ===================== 1) Tactical challenges and Improved enemies 2) Many New quests and encounters 3) New types of monsters 4) Fixes and tweaks: Improved Anvil applies several corrections and changes (including fixes and tweaks) to the original game. For details see the related document which is provided in the download package. 5) Item Randomizer program: A novelty introduced by Improved Anvil for the first time: A good number of powerful items have been removed from their original locations. Each time you start a new game with Improved Anvil, those items will be randomly (and sensibly) redistributed into new and difficult locations and/or in the inventory of improved and tough enemies. In other words, each time you play the game with this mod, each of those items may be in different places and you won't be sure where to look for them. 6) New item upgrades: Cromwell and Cespenar have 101 new item upgrade recipes most of which require brand new components which are also added to the game by this mod. 7) Two new ranger kits, a new druid kit and a new fighter kit are added to the game. The new kits are all available to the protagonist at character creation stage. In addition, the new druid kit is assigned to Cernd and one of the new ranger kits is assigned to Valygar as well. All those experienced players who are tired of playing the same game over and over can now Play BG2 as if they are playing an entirely new game. You can see players' comments and opinions about Improved Anvil on this web page (copy and paste the URL address in your address bar when connected to Internet): http://www.blackwyrmlair.net/quotes.php#anvil You can see Improved Anvil's download statistics on this web page: http://dragonshoard.blackwyrmlair.net/table.php?all ============================ Warnings and important notes: ============================ (1) Improved Anvil is "The mod for the experienced players". It includes some really difficult battles. If you do not have the required level of tactical knowledge, you will need to have patience and draw a learning curve for yourself and improve your skills gradually while playing the mod. If you don't have the time or the patience for that, you may need to postpone playing this mod to a later time. (2) Never cheat during the game if you intend to play Improved Anvil. Cheating may look harmless at the first glance and may even help you win some battles, but many global variables are checking the events during the game and cheating may mess up the events in your game. Cheating is not confined to using console commands or using external programs. Any action which is deliberately performed to exploit the game's engine is a cheat. Any action which a DM would not allow you to perform in a pnp is a cheat as well. See the attached pdf document to the following web page: http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?showtopic=4067 (3) It is strongly recommended to play Improved Anvil with as many party members as possible. Improved Anvil is not designed for solo characters or even for parties with fewer than five members. Take your time to choose and collect your desired NPCs normally (no need to hurry) in the game, but don't go too far into the game with a party of fewer than 5 members. A full party of 6 members is strongly recommended even over a party of 5 members. ========== Documents: ========== Eleven other separate .txt files are included in the download package of this mod: - Document I-Items.txt - Document II-Tactical Content and new adventures.txt - Document III-Fixes and tweaks.txt - Document IV-Installation.txt - Document V-Vagrant-Kit.txt - Document VI-Auramaster-Kit.txt - Document VII-Riskbreaker-Kit.txt - Document VIII-level-progression-tables.txt - Document IX-Protector-Kit.txt - Document X-THAC0-tables.txt - Document XI-Terms-of-Use-and-Copyright The first one will give you information about the new items and the ingredients to make them. The second one presents general (not detailed) information about the tactical content of the mod as well as new quests and adventures. The third one gives you information about the fixes and tweaks applied to the game by this mod. The fourth one gives you information about how to install the mod and also about the known and probable incompatibility issues. Read the file very carefully before installing the mod. The fifth document includes the description of Vagrant kit. The sixth document includes the description of Auramaster kit. The seventh document includes the description of Riskbreaker kit. The eighth document lists the new level progression tables. The ninth document includes the description of Protector kit. The tenth document lists the new THAC0 tables. The eleventh one has two sections. The Copyright section is for fellow modders who want to borrow material from Improved Anvil; the Terms of Use section is for players who want to install and use the mod. ============== Installation: ============== Please see the text file "Installation.txt" presented in the "Documents" folder very carefully. =============== Version history: =============== Version 6: - More fixes and tweaks are applied to the original game. - Expanded Mage Stronghold is enriched with more quests. - One more new quest added for Vagrant rangers. - Several other new quests added. - More Tactical Challenges and new encounters added. - The existing tactical challenges are refined and improved further. - More new monster types are added to the game. - A new Ranger kit is added and assigned to Valygar. - More items are added to the item randomizer program. - More new spells are added to the game. - More recipes for new item upgrades are added to Cromwell and Cespenar. Version 5: - More important fixes and tweaks are applied to the original game. - High level enemy clerics will now control undead and turn paladin. - Vagrant kit is revised a little bit and has (hopefully) become more attractive for players. - Refinements are applied to all of the mod's improved encounters. - More item upgrades are added and the recipe of some previous upgrades are slightly changed. - New encounters, quests and tactical contents are added to the game. - A new quest is added to the expanded ranger stronghold. - Auramaster druid kit and Riskbreaker kit are added to Improved Anvil. The auramaster kit is also applied to Cernd. - More items are added to the item randomizer program. - New level progression tables are apllied to all classes. - A new 4th level, a new 7th level and a new 8th level wizard spells are added to the game. - The tips the game displays every time you load a new game are revised. Some unimportant tips are omitted, some new and more helpful ones are added. Version 4.2: - Several More fixes and tweaks are applied to the original game. - Two new tacical features are added to the game. - A bug which would prevent Cromwell from forging one of the mod's new items is fixed. - Two of the game's improved battles in the previous versions had minor glitches which are fixed. Version 4.1: - Some spellcasters would not use their scroll properly in IA V4. The bug is fixed. - A bug which would cause the Flail of Ages and Frostreaver Axe to disappear from the party's inventory are fixed Version 4.0: 1- Many more fixes and tweaks apllied to the original game. 2- Many More tactical challenges. 3- New quests and adventures as well as expanded strongholds. 4- Many new additional encounters. 5- Many more new types of monsters. 6- Refinements applied to the tactical content of the previous versions of the mod. 7- Radomization program applied to the location of some of the game's items. In this program, some of the game's original items which were too easily available have been removed from their original locations. Every time you start a new game, the items will be randomly distributed between a number of tough and improved enemies in the game, which means that each time you play the mod the items may be with different opponents and you won't be sure where to look for each of them. 8- Polygonal scripting system: It's an advanced scripting method devised for and used in Improved Anvil. As a result, creatures can behave much more intelligently. 9- Some of the items' prices in the shops are increased. Also, cheesy methods to make easy money (stealing items and selling them back) are blocked and will not work anymore. 10- Some of the key items of the mod are made uncheatable and should only be gained or forged normally during the game. 11- Some of the original game's overpowered items and spells are nerfed. 12- A new ranger kit is added to the game. Version 3.0: 1- Many more fixes and tweaks apllied to the original game. 2- More tactical challenges and new encounters added. 3- Several new types of monsters added to the game. 4- Some minor refinements applied to the tactical content of the previous versions of the mod. 5- More content added to the strongholds. 6- New item upgrades added. Version 2.0: 1- More new item upgrade recipes added to Cromwell's (and Cespenar's) repertoire. 2- A good number of items have new inventory icons and animations. 3- Some of the new upgrade components are moved to better locations in the game. 4- Many new tactical challenges and improved battles are added. 5- The improved battles of the previous versions of the mod are also refined. 6- More fixes are applied to the original game. 7- 'Documents' folder (containing the text files) added to the download package. Version 1.1: 1- More Tactical challenges added to the game. 2- some fixes applied to the mod. 3- Readme Edited. Version 1: - Initial release of the mod. ============ Testing Team: ============ I have had the advantage of working with the best BG2 players during preparing the mod and testing its various features: - thetruth - Raven - Dago - Clown - LZJ - geh4th - Critto - shadan ======== Credits: ======== 1- My special thanks to Baronius for hosting this mod in his great site (BWL), for teaching many helpful modding skills to me, for helping me as the technical advisor of the mod and for his continuous kindness and helpfulness. 2- My special thanks to thetruth for testing a large number of the enhanced battles of IA v2.0 and the entire IA v4.0 (quests, battles, etc) and for making very helpful suggestions. Also, for reporting many of the vanilla game's bugs all of which are now fixed by Improved Anvil. 3- My special thanks to Raven for testing IA v5 and IA v6 and performing many other important tests, for reporting a big number of the vanilla game's bugs and for giving me very useful suggestions. 4- My thanks to Dago, Clown, LZJ, geh4th, Critto and shadan for testing IA v6 and many other important tests and for sending me very helpful reports. 5- My thanks to Nazar, leonidas and antizyclon for performing many important tests and for sending me very helpful reports. 6- My thanks to smr49 for recording those high quality voice files. 7- Thanks to BWL site's Portrait City and the anonymous artists who have made the 3 portraits I have picked from the Portrait City for three of the mod's NPCs. And thanks again to Raven for searching the Portrait City to help me find the right portraits. 8- I also wish to thank Hoppy, Mordokai, Lionheart, methusalar, Silverstar, (Ø=M)^42, Romulas, smr49, Vardaman, luan, Fillian, Noelle, shadan, vik, Ryel ril Ers for their various kinds of help (i.e. comments, suggestions, reports, proof-readings). Link to comment
geh4th Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Just as a side note, turning Valygar to Tolgeras now results in 18 reputation penalty Still, I will find a way to turn the ranger for the ring . Sounds like a "Don't do that you damn bastard! I LOVE Valygar!" <lol> Or it could be a precaution measure, since some people, in attempt to exact vengeance upon certain someone, might turn Valygar just because poor guy has the same face. In vanilla you could kill Valygar, open the sphere and then go back to hand in his body to Tolgerias and go back to clear and obtain the sphere, meeting tolgerias again, etc. I think that exploit was blocked this way. Does your reputation go down exactly when you kill him or when you kill him in front of the sphere? Sorry...you post got sort of buried under all of what I posted. I also don't know the answer to this question. Saros would likely be the best person to give info on when the reputation drop occurs, since it's something he's already tried out. I'm a goody-goody at heart and as a player I wouldn't normally kill Valygar (despite his avatar always reminding me of a certain megalomaniacal mod designer.) Link to comment
Saros Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Actually, I never did try that in an IA game, because simply killing Valygar gains me nothing. The Planar Sphere door can be opened by the living Valygar just the same, and then I can ditch him to his ranger cabin. Moreover, killing him in SoA may cause his loss in ToB (I usually summon everyone in the Pocket Plane and take their game-generated equipment). I hold no grudge vs Sikret (despite the fact that he's the last person in the world whom I'd respect), so I don't kill Valygar just because Sikret's avatar on BWL is Valygar's face. I turn him in because of two reasons: Ring of the Ram and experience. As a side note, I like the 'nerfed' Harper pin. The item in IA 6 adds only 2 save vs spells bonus, only 25% elec resistance, but its Magic Missiles immunity had been replaced by 25% magical damage resistance, which is a bonus. Still, the item disables the Hide in Shadow button forever after being equipped even once EDIT: About the new Monster Summoning spells: The reason those are overpowered is the fact that they actually summon IA monsters. The main strength of IA monsters are their innate abilities - resistance/immunity to certain type of physical/magic/elemental damage, good combat abilities, good APR, and almost all IA monsters (if not all) regenerate. Well, for certain those called by Monster Summoning above III lvl regenerate - minotaurs, salamanders, trolls and greater yuanti. For example, I tried eliminating a group of improved spiders using the Limited Wish spells for one-time wish 'to be more experienced', which summoned some hostile golems (Juggernaut, Sand and Adamantite), which I dominated and sent them vs the spiders. Big mistake. The golems were no match. They were held after a couple of spider strikes, and slain. Then tried the Minotaurs. Those cannot be Held (innate IA ability) and regenerate, and those certain IA abilities helped them to prevail in this fight. Link to comment
DezsoKovacs Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 hey sergei stanishjev _you_ so obsesed with IA spenting 100000 hours with it and that´s morer respect to its autor´s than complimentating him you asshat Emm...sorry,but your legal knowledge leaves something to be desired. If there's anyone who's actually breaching author's rights, it's Sikret, not Saros.Oh, i highly suspect you're either Baronius or Sikret hoping to start a flame war here, so Kevin Lynch will lock this thread. Sorry, mate, i'm not going to fall for that. _guess_ what he did you _smart_ ass? End of the line. Take arguments about distributing mods to PM. and yes, he´s closed it hihihihihi Link to comment
yarpen Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Currently the Gibberlings 3 site is disgracefully hosting a mod which is made by directly stealing one of my ideas (the ideaof randomizing items via scripts) which was used in Imprvoved Anvil for the first time. The thievery has happened without sending any permission request to me and without even mentioning my name in the mod's credentials. Many other individual fixes and tweaks are also silently copied from Improved Anvil and used in other mods without my permission and without mentioning my name in those mods'documents and credentials. I'm sure that players who follow moral standards in their lives will never install and use such stolen materials. Sites which accept to host stolen mods only ruin their own reputation. This guy actually starts to amaze me. Link to comment
the bigg Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 This guy actually starts to amaze me. Starts? That drivel was already posted on July in the 'announcements' section of BWL. Link to comment
Shadan Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 I've never had any problem with G3 or its members (well I've never were forumer or user here), however I have to say now I saw some very disgusting things here. 1. DezsoKovacs is disgusting. 2. That guy who stole IAV6 and published it is a pure THIEF. Even if you don't agree with Sikret, IA is his work and he has the right to make decisions about its publicity... 3. I knew geh4th as a good guy from IA testing team, but it seems I was wrong. These acts, posts and other things is pure vengeance from geh4th and as I wrote to him in private he wrote so rude posts on BWL what I wouldn't have tolerate also at all. So George, I am disappointed in you... I've never cared about nationalities, so it is irrelevant for me who is from where... I am hungarian, if you want to write some kind of bad joke or bad roumors about my nationality... Link to comment
Saros Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 Frankly, from all experienced so far, I think that geh4th's posts represent the truth about IA 6.0 and its modder in 100%. As for the distribution of the mod - thievery is reported to the authorities, right? Copyrights and such? However, Sikret has no right over BG2, and modding it gives him no copyright either. So he has no legal base on which to protest. Moreover, he repeatedly states that the Premium membership on his forum is not payment for IA, but needed to support the forum. And now he comes with the idea of thievery. On what base, since apparently no one is paying for the mod itself? If you want more legal explanation, geh4th paid for his beta version with endless testing and helping, while isleepwithfuckinggoats probably paid in cash. Both of them have their legal copies of the mod. IMO, it's absolutely up to them what to do with the mod afterwards, provided it's not against the law. But let's not divert from the topic Here is another new spell (probably mentioned it before): Giant Strength (lvl 6, alteration, casting time 6, duration 2 turns): Sets the strength of the target to giant proportions. A 12th level mage will set the target's strength to a Stone Giant (20). A 14h level mage - to a Frost Giant (21). 16th level - to Fire Giant (22). 18-th level - to Cloud Giant (23). And finally, a 20-th level - to Storm Giant (24). Link to comment
Shadan Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 You are wrong, Saros... If you buy a CD with a music or film, you cannot copy and sell or give them to free to all people. Geh4th and the thief both bought (with work or money) their copy for THEMSELVES, not to give them to everyone. Geh4th whole behavoiur since his left from BWL is quite opposite what I've learned from him, and I found the new Geh4th as a not trustworthy man, not that one who I can call a friend. I don't mention the thief, since I don't know him, I can guess his BWL identity only, but I've never knew him so far I as I knew Geh4th. I usually don't like posting on forums, and I wouldn't post here also, just I was not able to step away after I saw this whole thing. Probably I will skip replies here, since I don't like flaming, I just wanted to know all of you MY opinion. Link to comment
the bigg Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 When you bought BG2 you also agreed that you wouldn't alter the game in any way, so all modders and mod players are all copyright infringers by that account. Link to comment
Saros Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 OK, this is getting annoying...can anyone experienced with the mod help me with a Spell Immunity scroll location? Checked bridge fence, trademeet tent merchant and even Pai-Na's lair. Help Link to comment
the bigg Posted October 26, 2010 Share Posted October 26, 2010 I don't want to create an installation to search for them myself, but you can use Near Infinity to search for references to scrl6s.itm (unless all copies are controlled by Item Randomizer or somesuch). If I had to hazard a guess, you'll find some in the Planar Sphere. You have to go there early because of Valygar anyway Link to comment
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