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SCS and the difficulty slider


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I think, for my part, that this widget is really nicely implemented and works great. The possibility of fine-tuning everything is a wonderful addition to SCS.

I spotted a minor error on my install : the "doppelganger" choice in the widget leads to the Torgal / d'Arnise fine tuning. The D'Arnise choice seems to be correctly linked to the trolls, so i guess only the doppelganger one is bugged.

Edited by Palanthis
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18 minutes ago, Palanthis said:

I think, for my part, that this widget is really nicely implemented and works great. The possibility of fine-tuning everything is a wonderful addition to SCS.

I spotted a minor error on my install : the "doppelganger" choice in the widget leads to the Torgal / d'Arnise fine tuning. The D'Arnise choice seems to be correctly linked to the trolls, so i guess only the doppelganger one is bugged.

OK, yes: I can see what's happening there. It's actually only the description that's bugged - that option does control doppelganger difficulty, it's just got the wrong labels. Fixed locally.

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It would be very nice to have work-around to access this difficulty-tuning dialogue without new button in the interface at Gameplay Options (Maybe there is a one already?). I often install full UI overhauls and couple of them I tried overwrote this menu and button disappeared. Since all options from Smarter Mages and Priests no longer configurable at the installation it brought very annoying situation where I could not remove prebuffing without complete uninstall of whole component.  

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There is no install-time option to move the control to CHARNAME’s innate ability bar, at least not in weidu part, it defaults for new button in EE installation. I checked setup.tra for v32.5 and new control is never mentioned.

So getting something as questionable and a fairly bugged as complete caster prebuff auto-installed was a very unpleasant surprise.

 

 

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From what I have encountered in BG 1 EE on SCS v32.4:

1) I hit Red Mages forest encounter with couple of Stinking Clouds and when I was shooting them into the face, unconscious, all of them had insta-casted Mirror image refreshing every round. Similar thing with another mage (Ogre, iirc) who did instant Mirror Image after I hit him with Blindness.

2) Couple of Druids in Larswood. Both start with Iron Skins. That makes both of them lvl 9 I guess what is a bit high by BG standards. I also noticed them using shapeshifting every couple of seconds back and forth and one of them turned into reactive bear, but neither Faster Bears or Shapeshift Rebalancing were installed in my game. 

Another incident, when I shooted Iron Skins from Druid, run out of sight for HiS and backstab, he had it instantly recasted, but SCS removes 0 cast time from this spell for a player.

3)  Another Druid in Third Cloakwood, Amarande, on the second floor of the tree house. He always turns hostile when Jaheira in the party. This guy started with Shield of Archons and Phisical Mirror prebuffed and was worth 120 exp. Really weird by BG 1 standarts.

4) And druids again, several of them in Cloakwood Grove spawn with 2 extra low-level helpers.  You can talk original Druid out of attacking you and he leaves, but his entourage stay there dialogues-less and forlorn.

 

And in general, I restart often, but SCS difficulty options affect current save game only, so I need to go through all configuration menus every time to get mix of the options I like. It was more convenient when configured install-time.

 

PS I really like SCS and respect all the titanic work that was put into the mod, but my first reaction after 10 hours in BG 1 was like "wow, it used to be much more sane and subtle back in 2009".

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(1) Some of that looks like buffing happening when the player is out of sight for some reason; bug, will chase.

(2) Shapeshifting even if that component isn't installed is a known issue.

(3) SCS doesn't modify the casting time of Ironskins, but for the same reason, enemies shouldn't be casting it at that speed (repeat of (1) I think)

(4) Amarande isn't a bug; that's how much XP he's worth in vanilla and I don't mess with XP.

(5) Helpers is a bug, albeit one probably present in 2009 too as I haven't altered that code.

(6) L9 druids is intended, and again unchanged from 2009

(7) Having to reconfigure for a new game is the tradeoff for being able to change your game configuration in real time. Feedback so far seems to be that most people prefer it that way, so I don't expect it to change.

 

Thanks for the detailed feedback.

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Finally getting around to trying v32 and the slider. I had been waiting for IWD-in-EET for "one run to rule them all", then realized I had enough NPCs to play with the require several runs. So here I am :D

You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar for your incredible work, diligence, and attentiveness to this mod.  The difficulty slider revolutionizes SCS. I am now confident enough to install Smarter Mages -- knowing that if I get destroyed by arcane casters that were created at high level for their HP and Saves (Silke is level 10 :O), but now have their full arsenal and AI, I can adjust as I wish on the fly. Makes all the difference.  In fact, I'm about to increase the Mages slider from where I had it, post Tarnesh, Silke, and the Nashkel Fair tent.

So far, your upping the ante of the game reminds me a lot of what I do as DM at my home D&D table to my powergamer players.  It helps keep things interesting, after all these years, and with all those crazy levels, magic items, and abilities. Looking forward to the rest!

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Hi guys,

There's a question I've been asking myself for some time regarding SCS and the difficulty slider (hopefully, it hasn't been answered elsewhere, couldn't fin anything on the readme at least).

How dynamic is it? If I change it for example mid-fight, does it properly update everything? I could see that working when it comes to AI scripts but how about components that increase HP like for dragons. Or do you need to reload the game? Change map? Or maybe never have entered the map with the dragon yet?

Anyway, just curious. I almost never change it's value but it's a great feature and I'm thinking of using it more, especially when I'm really stuck on a particular battle, instead of waiting for the RNG to be on my side 😅

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I've adjusted it a few times for really difficult fights (Rakshashas during Trademeet quest, when that was the first side-quest on a druid playthrough).

I change it before encountering the mobs and it seems to take effect - I've never changed it mid-fight, I would guess that would not work.

My usual flow, for the rare times I adjust it, is:

- Quicksave

- Get beat down + reload (repeat 10x)

- Adjust difficulty slider down

- Quicksave

- Succeed in encounter

- Adjust slider back up

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