Do level adjustments for mages work?

[Silverstar]

I am beginning a new SCS installation with v21. This time I want to make game even harder, namely by upping enemy spellcaster levels by 3-4. I have edited mages and clerics by hand in a previous game, (and have discussed it here in another thread) but it was kinda tedious. SCSII says there is a way of adjusting enemy lvls with editing scsii.ini file.

 

However, the one in SCS folder has only 'edit at own risk!' written. So I copied the command codes from scsii.ini, (Add_mage_level and others) and adjusted the lvls by 3 for mages and 5 for priests. I installed SCS smarter mages component then. After installation I used SK to check enemies. Tarnesh, the first mage enemy in the game was still lvl 4. So I guess the code did not work.

 

Is there a way to adjust mage lvls in SCS just like SCSII does? Am I doing something wrong?

[DavidW]

No - I don't think SCS has that functionality.

 

If you copy this code into a component of some mod and install that component, it'll raise the levels of all mages by 4. Do this before running SCS "smarter mages" and it'll respond to the new mages. You might want to manually reset the levels of party-joinable mages, though.

 

COPY_EXISTING_REGEXP ~.*\.cre~ ~override~
   PATCH_IF BYTE_AT 0x273 = 1 BEGIN // change "1" to 3 to get Clerics, 7 to get Fighter/Mages, 8 to get Fighter/Clerics
            WRITE_BYTE 0x234 BYTE_AT 0x234 + 4 // change "4" to the desired change
   END
BUT_ONLY

[Silverstar]

Heya, that is a great work-around! Where should I copy this? Into scs.ini or somewhere else? Oh you mean I should add this to another mod so it will also do this lvl adjustment thing, and then SCS will recognise the changes? How do I do that?

[Shaitan]

That's what I call modularity

[DavidW]

Heya, that is a great work-around! Where should I copy this? Into scs.ini or somewhere else? Oh you mean I should add this to another mod so it will also do this lvl adjustment thing, and then SCS will recognise the changes? How do I do that?

 

If you open setup-scs.tp2 (in your BGT/TUTU folder) in a text editor, and scroll down to line 314 or so, you'll find this:

 

// BEGIN ~test~ DESIGNATED 0

 

Remove the "//", then paste my code below. This creates a new component 0 of scs, "test". Install that component (BEFORE Smarter Mages or Smarter Priests). If you want to make any manual edits, install the test component, then do the edits, then install the rest of scs.

[Silverstar]

Okay I will try it and see if it works. In the mean time, do you mean that if I edit a mage's lvl before installing SCS, it will work as I intended? For example, say I open up SK and set Tarnesh's lvl to 12. (for testing purposes, I am not that sick) But I do not bother giving him new high lvl spells and such, cos it is such a bother and time consuming. Just set the lvl to 12 in a second and exit. Then, if I install SCS will it say 'hey he is lvl 12 let's give him some fireballs and flesh to stone spells and the intellect to use them, this is going to be fun!' and it will work as intended? Or do I have to give the actual spells to his CRE file manually too?

 

Oooh I opened up the tp2 file with notepad and wow that is some..complex stuff! You are used to mod in this complex structure? All respect to you, sir! I could not even find the line you said, I search with CTRL+F and can not find the ~test~ line and each line starts with BEGIN so it is no use. It is too big and intricate like a spider webbing. I could do the manual-editing of caster levels before installing smarter mages, then, though it will be of too much work if I have to add the spells manually too. I would like to do this your way but I..fail...to find that line! Bummer.

 

EDIT:Okay apparently wordpad does a better job at this, I am learning I found the line and it looks so much easier now thanks to wordpad. Notepad fails miserably. lol

[DavidW]

I'm working from memory, but I'm 90% sure SCS will just

In the mean time, do you mean that if I edit a mage's lvl before installing SCS, it will work as I intended? For example, say I open up SK and set Tarnesh's lvl to 12. (for testing purposes, I am not that sick) But I do not bother giving him new high lvl spells and such, cos it is such a bother and time consuming. Just set the lvl to 12 in a second and exit. Then, if I install SCS will it say 'hey he is lvl 12 let's give him some fireballs and flesh to stone spells and the intellect to use them, this is going to be fun!' and it will work as intended?

 

Yep. (Try it and see.) Spells are determined randomly for all casters in the game based on their in-game level and whatever (vanilla or modded) spell progression you've got installed.

 

Incidentally, a few wizards' levels are fixed by SCS. (Tarnesh is one of them.) If you edit scs/mage/level_override.2da you'll find it looks like

%tutu_var%TARNES		   4
%tutu_var%CULTT1		  10
%tutu_var%BORDA			6

That's enforcing the fact that Tarnesh is 4th level, for instance. So if you wanted to force, say, Kysus to be 15th level, just find his creature file - I think it's KYSUS.CRE, or _KYSUS.CRE, and add "%tutu_var%KYSUS 15" to that file. ("%tutu_var%" is a variable that is replaced by "_" on a TUTU install and removed on a BGT install.)

 

The same is true in BG2, only there there are several dozen overrides.

[Silverstar]

That's good! Umm I have a problem. The 'test' component works I managed to do that. And checked with SK and saw all mages +4 levels. Kudos for that!

 

However, I have removed an older mod before starting to install SCS. It had reinstalled the mods after that with a lot of warnings. I feared that would hinder more complicated mod installations later. Now, when I try to install initialise component, it goes as normal only to fail at last second and say ERROR:Error RUFIE.CRE not found for copy. Rufie? Was it that wolf-thing the demon-in child disguies quests to find? Why is it not found for copy? This has nothing to do with the alteration we did to TP2, I am sure. I checked with SK and there is no RUFIE.CRE in my game. There is RUFFIE.CRE which is a slave named 'miner ruffie' so..I am at a loss and do not want to start from all over BGT installation ugh Is there a quick solution? Why does SCS touch Rufie anyway?

 

EDIT:Oh this sucks. I extracted a regular vamprici wolf, and changed its name to RUFIE.CRE for sake. It worked and apparently SCS now found it but failed to find the Nortua.CRE. Something has happened to my CRE files, because of I did some mess up with old mod installation it seems, and only choice is a complete BGT reinstall, right? (I can't replace every missing CRE file with other files lol) Break me the bad news gently please. Heh.

 

EDIT2:I am quite innovative I think, I found NORTUAry is a guy from Iron throne, so I replaced his CRE file with a bandit file, (he is not that important a character anyway!) just changing its name to NORTUA and it worked! Inıtialisation completed without any more problems! Is this it? Can I continue modding or is my installation hopelessly, horribly broken and I need to delete this one redo everything right now? You are the expert, sir, yes sir!

 

EDIT3:Okay it is hopeless. Now the smarter AI failed to find Abela.cre she is that nymph in that quest. Oh what the hell has happened to my CRE files some are gone! Waaah! Lesson learned:Never ever delete a mod component if there is other components installed after that it does funny things. I'll scratch this installation and begin anew....which is excruciating. Ah well, you live, you learn.

 

I found the code here invaluable I'll use it in my next clean installation. It will take a few days at most, I think..sigh.

[Tonton Fred]

a few wizards' levels are fixed by SCS. (Tarnesh is one of them.) If you edit scs/mage/level_override.2da

 

Sorry for slightly hijacking this thread, but is the override meant to ignore all other settings ? I installed SCSII with Mage_Level_Scale 75 ; the Shade Lich, Elemental Lich, Nevaziah and Tolgerias are all levelled at 75% of the level indicated in level_override.2da (ie lvl13 for Nevaziah, 22 for the Liches, 15 for Tolgerias, etc). I'm fine with it since I'm playing with 75% XP and quest rewards, but if you truly meant for their levels to be fixed no matter what, it ain't working.

 

Fred

[DavidW]

Yes, it's intentional (iirc): the ini settings and the baseline values in level_override are cumulative.