IWDEE: File format changes

[Galactygon]

I've got one question about foot circle size in SPLPROT.2da. Entry 13 "Huge Creatures" looks for a footcircle size of greater than 3. The various animation .ini files use another system for determining footcircle size; most creature animations use 16 as their foot circle size. Huge creatures such as giants have foot circle sizes of 48 or more in their .ini files. What is the correlation between the two scales (SPLPROT.2da vs. ini files)?

[lynx]

Sounds like a factor of 16.

[Avenger]

Normally a factor of 16 yeah. But one is the circle size the other is the actual personal space which is taken up in the search map. The circle size is really just the circle size (a visual parameter). So they can differ for some creatures, mostly upright creatures like giants got a smaller personal space than equally huge, but flattened body creatures

[Galactygon]

After extensive testing I can verify that the "0x102 circlesize" pseudostat actually looks at the "personal_space" attribute of .ini files, which is independent of the "circlesize" attribute in .ini files. "circlesize" determines the size of the foot circle graphic that you see/can click on and uses a refined scale (i.e. 16 for most animations incl. PC avatars). "personal_space" on the other hand affects pathfinding and (im)passability and uses a much rougher scale. Most creature animations (i.e. PC avatars) have their "personal_space" set to 3. Giants and similar creatures have their "personal_space" set to 5 (footcircle is 24) while BG2 dragons have their "personal_space" set to 13 (footcircle is 72).

 

Based off of these values (72 -> 13, 24 -> 5, 16 -> 3) personal_space is graphically equivalent to roughly circlesize divided by 5.5-5.2. Note that these two parameters need to be independently set in each .ini file so it's possible to have a large foot circle with a small personal_space and vice versa. EE's opcode 342 allows you to override personal_space size which is useful to simplify pathfinding when a large number of actors are present (by setting personal_space to 0).

[Gwendolyne]

That's the way I found to allow my unicorns and warhorses mounts to follow their paladins, even with bigger selection circles.

 

Only in Enhanced games...

[Galactygon]

Warning: I've experienced issues with EE's opcode 342 when personal_space is set to 0 and those effects are removed or the creature is killed/destroyed. An impassable block will appear at the location of the creature that cannot be removed.

[Gwendolyne]

Thanks for the warning. That's a good point to know.

 

But as I use brand new creature animations, I coded the personal space in their ini file. And for classical ToB game (with IA), I claimed for "small circle" in the IA listing thread instead of the large ones I use in EE. Otherwise, my mounts were blocked in too many maps. And as unicorns can only teleport themselves once per day...

[Shin]

Regarding this:

 

Projectiles

Projectiles definitely had the most work to bring in all of IWD's spell goodness. What follow is essentially a data dump from Avenger:

 

0x2c - extended flags

• 1024 - implemented, example mfmiss2.pro - create multiple projectiles (like magic missiles or lightning chains)

 

What controls how many projectiles are created? Single target or multiple?

[kjeron]

What controls how many projectiles are created? Single target or multiple?

Each entry in PROJECTL.IDS preceding it with that flag checked is another missile, until it reaches an entry without the multi-projectile flag checked or an AoE projectile, which becomes the "base" projectile.

 

Mordy's Force Missiles are listed in PROJECTL.IDS as:

 

436 mfmiss // Multi-projectile flag not checked, fires just 436

437 mfmiss2 // Multi-projectile flag checked, fires 437 & 436

438 mfmiss2 // Multi-projectile flag checked, fires 438, 437 & 436

439 mfmiss2 // Multi-projectile flag checked, fires 439, 438, 437 & 436

440 mfmiss2 // Multi-projectile flag checked, fires 440, 439, 438, 437 & 436

441 mfmiss2 // Multi-projectile flag checked, fires 441, 440, 439, 438, 437 & 436

etc...

 

It just happens to use the same projectile, "mfmiss2", for all but the base, but this is not mandatory, you can use any projectile file, so long as it has the Multi-projectile flag checked and is a single-target projectile. The projectile speed is determined by the Speed field of the "base" projectile, the arc is determined by the Speed of the projectile specified in the item/spell.

 

Projectiles flagged to "Pass Target" will not arc, but otherwise still work with the mult-projectile flag.

[kjeron]

More on Multi-projectiles: Flagging "Limited Path Count" in a Multi-projectile will result in that projectile being cosmetic-only, so you can have multiple projectiles arc and display without each of them delivering effects.

[Shin]

Excellent information, thanks. What about the rectangular aoe flag? Is it controlled solely through the .PRO file or are there external entries as well?

[kjeron]

It's all within the PRO file.

Width = Trap Size

Length = Explosion Size

Duration of AoE (ticks) = Frequency * Repetitions

Triggers every tick (reducing it to once per (x) requires granting (x)-duration immunity as the last effect of the spell)

Area of Effect is perpendicular to the direction of casting (cast it to your east, it will run north/south, cast it to north, it will run east/west, cast it to the southeast, it will run northeast/southwest).

"Face Target" flag orients the explosion animation to also be perpendicular to the direction of casting, provided it has multiple orientations available.