Learn by Editing

[sirthaddeus]

I have been slowly and I mean slowly reading up on modding and the like for BG over the years. At the same time I have been reading up on anything 2E related, especially classes and items.

 

During those same years, I have gathered a number of mods that I wanted to use in my next play thru of BG1 w/ tutu (planning before BG:EE was announced).

One mod I was curious to play is the "Harper Scout Kit". Link for it on PPG is dead but I have a copy of it on my pc.

 

So recently I have been reading up on kit creation, etc. And I felt the best way to learn is also to look at others work. So I've been looking around at this kits set of files and want to know if I am on the right track with editing, etc.

 

_{Please know, that anything I edit I will not re-release in any sort of way. I value the original creators work and give full credit where it is due. I am only doing this to help myself learn.}

 

In the "Harper Scout Kit" it adds two kits, one to thief and one to bard. Originally the kit is for BG2, so to of the abilities gained are at higher levels, which arent reached in BG1. For example:

 

- At 5th level gains the Tymora smile ability, which grants him for next 5 rounds +2 to luck and +20% to pickpocket ability.

- At 10th level gains Brew Harper potion, which create one of this mixtures: potion of invisibility, potion of insight or potion of thieving mastery. There is also a 10% chance to take 10 points of damage, without any potion.

 

So I was thinking, to make this more "BG1 friendly" level-wise, what if I edited the files to meet the levels on BG1.

After reading and looking around, I came across the "y#harpbard.2da" file. In it there is a list of number of which i assume is the level, then a line regarding ability; which i assume is abilities gained a certain levels. Example below:

****
		1		   2		   3		   4		   5		   6		   7		   8		   9		   10		  11		  12		  13		  14		  15		  16		  17		  18		  19		  20	  21		  22		  23		  24		  25		  26		  27		  28		  29		  30		  31		  32		  33		  34		  35		  36		  37		  38		  39		  40
ABILITY1	AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 ****	AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1 AP_Y#HARPB1
ABILITY2	AP_Y#HARPB2 ****		****		****		GA_Y#HARPB3 ****		****		****		****		GA_Y#HARPB4 ****		****		****		****		****		****		****		****		****		****	****		****		****		****		****		****		****		****		****		****		****		****		****		****		****		****		****		****		****		****

 

Am I correct in this regards?

 

Second, if was to move "GA_Y#HARPB3" from the 5th to 3rd, this means the ability will be gained when npc is at 3rd level instead of 5th, correct?

 

If so, is this coming from a file that is a part of the kit? For I am not seeing a Y#HARPB3 file at all in the kits files.

 

Thanks for the help in advance!

[CamDawg]

Yes, every kit has a 2da file that dictates when and what abilities are applied (AP_) and gained (GA_). And in an act of shameless self-promotion, this is a pretty good rundown of kit creation; what you're looking for specifically is probably best covered in part two.