My new "Made in Heaven" mods

[Angel]

On 11/28/2019 at 1:25 PM, Arthas said:

Does it mean that this error 

5.) Half of the components of the "Made in Heaven: Encounters & Quests" mod cannot be installed because of errors: "Couldn't add MH_EMERALD_CLOUD to spell.ids as no slots remain" even if there are free slots.

is fixed?

That one is already fixed in my current code on github and will be part of v3.  (It's actually an engine limitation so it's more of a workaround than a fix though.)

On 11/28/2019 at 1:25 PM, Arthas said:

Some unrelated questions:

1) Are you planning for an item upgrade mod?

I have considered making a few of my custom items upgrade-able, but so far I haven't come up with anything yet.  I also don't really like the browse through your inventory method of Cromwell and Cespenar, it really gets old after you've been through it more than a dozen times and I'd rather not add more to it.  I might bring my own upgrade NPC Brokk to BG2 though.  If you have any ideas here, please share them.

On 11/28/2019 at 1:25 PM, Arthas said:

2) Did you use EE  specific op-codes?

For most of my stuff, no.   I may have done so in one or two things that only go into SoD, I don't recall exactly.  I actually do all my item- and creature editing in a non-EE BG2 setup specifically to avoid this issue.

I'd actually be very interested in what BWP writes about my stuff, because they never contacted me in any way about what they found. ^^

Edited December 1, 2019 by Angel

[Lilaina]

I finished BG1 with the itempack + encounters and quests mods + latest SCS. My overall impression: They're great! I'm especially picky about overpowered items in these games but I thought the overall increase in power wasn't too much. You also need them since endgame dungeons were noticeably more difficult and I was especially unprepared for the 1st level of Candlekeep dungeon which was brutal! 

Some specific thoughts and suggestions:

1. The Cloak of the Arachnid was the only glaringly OP item imo. I would move it later into the game or make it more expensive.

2. The zombies in the farmlands are still easy and boring and now they also give too much XP for the effort it takes to kill them.

3. The 2nd level of candlekeep catacombs was pretty easy in comparison to what came b4 so I think it could use something more.

4. I really liked what you did with the Surgeon. Would it be possible to to make him provide temple-healing services similar to NPCs in Icewind dale dungeons? I always lose someone in the middle of Cloakwood and it's a long way back to the closest healer who can rez.

5. Could the new ambush with the green ogres take place in the southwest or the narrow southern part of the map? Atm they're very easy to kite and it's kinda awkward how the guard stands there and doesn't help you deal with them, and one ambush already takes place there with SCS when you first arrive.

6. The new enemy type in Mutamin's garden is immune to normal arrows but there's no "Weapon ineffective" message.

7. I really liked the changes to oozes, basilisks, ankhegs etc. Basilisks are especially nasty in small spaces with no room to kite now, and ankhegs are much harder for unprepared low level parties.

8. XP gains are bigger due to more enemies but most of the big XP bombs happen later in the game. I hit the XP cap in durlags tower without Balduran's Isle. Next time I think I'll just remove the cap since the more difficult endgame dungeons more than make up for the +1 level at best that you might get if you do everything.

Overall very nice mods that will go to my permanent modlist.

edit. Oh yeah, one more thing. The Ioun Stone animation is kinda fast and distracting. Is there some way to slow it down? Other mods that add them have also had the same issue so I assume it's an engine limitation?

Edited December 2, 2019 by Lilaina

[Angel]

1 hour ago, Lilaina said:

I finished BG1 with the itempack + encounters and quests mods + latest SCS. My overall impression: They're great! I'm especially picky about overpowered items in these games but I thought the overall increase in power wasn't too much. You also need them since endgame dungeons were noticeably more difficult and I was especially unprepared for the 1st level of Candlekeep dungeon which was brutal!

Yeah, it actually caught me by surprise how difficult those barrow wights are.  They will be toned down a notch in v3.

1 hour ago, Lilaina said:

Some specific thoughts and suggestions:

1. The Cloak of the Arachnid was the only glaringly OP item imo. I would move it later into the game or make it more expensive.

Mm, I suppose I could move it to the Sorcerous Sundries.

1 hour ago, Lilaina said:

2. The zombies in the farmlands are still easy and boring and now they also give too much XP for the effort it takes to kill them.

Yeah, I'm not quite satisfied with this one myself.  I really did give them ju-ju zombie stats as per the MM, but I guess those aren't enough of a challenge either after the ankhegs.  I'll have to think on this one.

1 hour ago, Lilaina said:

3. The 2nd level of candlekeep catacombs was pretty easy in comparison to what came b4 so I think it could use something more.

Mm, I'm a little wary here.  The first level can be skipped by just going east immediately (although you'll then miss the loot), but the second one is mandatory to escape Candlekeep and continue the game.  I don't want to make it impossible for a player to progress.  Another one I'll have to think on.

1 hour ago, Lilaina said:

4. I really liked what you did with the Surgeon. Would it be possible to to make him provide temple-healing services similar to NPCs in Icewind dale dungeons? I always lose someone in the middle of Cloakwood and it's a long way back to the closest healer who can rez.

Yeah, I've been in that situation myself once or twice, especially with what SCS does with Davaeorn.  Mm, I suppose I can do that.  I'll put it on my to-do list.

1 hour ago, Lilaina said:

5. Could the new ambush with the green ogres take place in the southwest or the narrow southern part of the map? Atm they're very easy to kite and it's kinda awkward how the guard stands there and doesn't help you deal with them, and one ambush already takes place there with SCS when you first arrive.

Mm, I guess I could move them to the southwest, before the narrow path.

1 hour ago, Lilaina said:

6. The new enemy type in Mutamin's garden is immune to normal arrows but there's no "Weapon ineffective" message.

Mm, this is not intentional.  I pretty much copied them from wyverns.  I'll have to look into this one.  I might keep it though, I kinda like it. ^^

1 hour ago, Lilaina said:

7. I really liked the changes to oozes, basilisks, ankhegs etc. Basilisks are especially nasty in small spaces with no room to kite now, and ankhegs are much harder for unprepared low level parties.

Thanks, I really worked hard on those, I made them as close to the MM as I could.  Yeah, the mustard jellies and ankhegs are surprisingly nasty this way, more than I had expected actually.  Oh well, all the more use for my Oil of Acid Resistance I suppose. ^^

1 hour ago, Lilaina said:

8. XP gains are bigger due to more enemies but most of the big XP bombs happen later in the game. I hit the XP cap in durlags tower without Balduran's Isle. Next time I think I'll just remove the cap since the more difficult endgame dungeons more than make up for the +1 level at best that you might get if you do everything.

This is indeed a bit of a concern, between my own modifications plus Northern Tales, Stone of Askavar and Serpents of Abbathor, I actually hit the Siege of Dragonspear XP cap (500,000) near the end of BG1.  My paladin is typically level 9 when going up against Sarevok (but with what SCS does to him, I don't feel that is overpowered).  It does tend to make SoD and the start of BG2 quite a bit easier than intended though.  But if people have a problem with this, they can also install the XP Mod and tone the rewards down.

2 hours ago, Lilaina said:

Overall very nice mods that will go to my permanent modlist.

Thanks, this (and the fact that BWP picked them up) really shows me that my mods are growing beyond something I made only for myself.  I feel kind of inspired now, so I will try to get v3 done today.

2 hours ago, Lilaina said:

edit. Oh yeah, one more thing. The Ioun Stone animation is kinda fast and distracting. Is there some way to slow it down? Other mods that add them have also had the same issue so I assume it's an engine limitation?

This was actually directly copied from D0Tweaks.  There might be a way, but I am not very proficient with editing bam- or vvc files yet, so I don't know how to.  If you want to, you can turn the animation off in the .ini file though.

Anyway, thank you for trying my mods and giving me this feedback.  Have you considered using my spell pack as well?

[Lilaina]

1 hour ago, Angel said:

Yeah, I'm not quite satisfied with this one myself.  I really did give them ju-ju zombie stats as per the MM, but I guess those aren't enough of a challenge either after the ankhegs.  I'll have to think on this one.

My suggestion on SCS forums was MORE ZOMBIES! Like instead of small clumps you have to fight them all at the same time. Or maybe after turning in the initial quest some necromancer shows up and summons a small army and you have to protect the farmer.

1 hour ago, Angel said:

Mm, this is not intentional.  I pretty much copied them from wyverns.  I'll have to look into this one.  I might keep it though, I kinda like it. ^^

I didn't mind the immunity either (too many enemies can be dealt with by kiting + ranged damage as it is). The lack of message was just confusing and I thought they had stoneskin or something at first.

1 hour ago, Angel said:

This is indeed a bit of a concern, between my own modifications plus Northern Tales, Stone of Askavar and Serpents of Abbathor, I actually hit the Siege of Dragonspear XP cap (500,000) near the end of BG1.  My paladin is typically level 9 when going up against Sarevok (but with what SCS does to him, I don't feel that is overpowered).  It does tend to make SoD and the start of BG2 quite a bit easier than intended though.  But if people have a problem with this, they can also install the XP Mod and tone the rewards down.

I don't use big quest mods myself so just this mod on it's own won't make that big a difference. I've always thought basilisks give too much XP however, and there's a lot more of them now so I wouldn't mind a component that lowers XP rewards. Still, SoD is a much bigger offender regarding BG2 balance so it's not a big deal.

1 hour ago, Angel said:

Have you considered using my spell pack as well?

I'm even pickier about spell/kit mods since SCS doesn't take them into consideration and it feels like cheating. Some of the individual components do look interesting now that I checked, additional paladin powers especially. Gonna be a while b4 I start a new game however.

[Angel]

1 hour ago, Arthas said:

I know I shouldn't ask, that I'm not reviewing your stuff and that I'm not deep as the other people here actually putting out an extensive review for your stuff, but I truly like your work and I would also be interested in your tweaks to difficulty for BG2.

Modding is hard and often frustrating, a few words of encouragement do mean a lot actually.

I just put up v3 of both the item pack and the encounters&quests pack, the latter now has some BG2 stuff.  It should also fix the install errors, during my tests it installed cleanly on BG2 (with fixpack), BGT, BGEE and BG2EE.

https://github.com/AngelGryph/MadeInHeaven_ItemPack/releases

https://github.com/AngelGryph/MadeInHeaven_EncountersAndQuests/releases

[Chitown Willie]

"OMG people actually play this!?"

Yep - and agree with the others that I'm really enjoying your mod.

Just started a new game w/ v2 and felt the difference when i couldn't just pick off a Dread Wolf w/ ranged weapons.

Can't wait to see how your "Enhanced Xvart Village" + Big Picture's "Improved Xvart Village" stack up - Should be amazing!

I would go so far as to say that MIH + SCS is now the new "gold standard" for tactics mods.

Thank you - thank you - thank you.

 

[Chitown Willie]

On 12/2/2019 at 4:54 AM, Angel said:

Yeah, it actually caught me by surprise how difficult those barrow wights are.  They will be toned down a notch in v3.

Angel,

Quick Q: Since I'm running v2, is it possible to manually apply the fix from v3 to tone down the wights?

Thanks.

[Angel]

On 12/6/2019 at 5:01 PM, Chitown Willie said:

Angel,

Quick Q: Since I'm running v2, is it possible to manually apply the fix from v3 to tone down the wights?

Thanks.

Since I did not make any big changes in areas between v2 and v3 (and most of the new v3 stuff is for SoD and BG2 anyway), you can probably uninstall v2, install v3, and continue where you were without any ill effect.  Do remember to remove the v2 files and folders before unpacking v3.

On 12/6/2019 at 4:58 PM, Chitown Willie said:

"OMG people actually play this!?"

Yep - and agree with the others that I'm really enjoying your mod.

Just started a new game w/ v2 and felt the difference when i couldn't just pick off a Dread Wolf w/ ranged weapons.

Double surprising for me since I never really announced E&Q like I did the item- and spell packs.  And yes, dread wolves are fairly powerful with these changes.  I always felt they were way too easy for their 650 xp worth.  And mind you, I only implemented their P&P version as closely as I could, I did not tag on any "extras".

But wait till you get to the winter wolves, and when you do remember I actually have been rather merciful with those, their P&P and IWD counterparts are even nastier. ^^

Edited December 7, 2019 by Angel

[Angel]

On 12/2/2019 at 1:52 PM, Lilaina said:

I didn't mind the immunity either (too many enemies can be dealt with by kiting + ranged damage as it is). The lack of message was just confusing and I thought they had stoneskin or something at first.

Alright, I checked this out.  This seems to be an EE thing, all dragons in BGEE and BG2EE are immune to non-magical arrows, bolts and thrown spears.  The immunity is patched into the hidden item dragring.itm that all dragons have equipped.  This was not present in the original BG2.  Unfortunately, adding a message to this is not possible.  However, for fairness' sake (and because I like this actually) I will at least make sure they have the same immunity in a non-EE game.

[Shin]

On ‎12‎/‎2‎/‎2019 at 11:54 AM, Angel said:

On ‎12‎/‎2‎/‎2019 at 9:41 AM, Lilaina said:

edit. Oh yeah, one more thing. The Ioun Stone animation is kinda fast and distracting. Is there some way to slow it down? Other mods that add them have also had the same issue so I assume it's an engine limitation?

This was actually directly copied from D0Tweaks.  There might be a way, but I am not very proficient with editing bam- or vvc files yet, so I don't know how to.  If you want to, you can turn the animation off in the .ini file though.

They can be slowed down by reducing the frame rate in the vvc files.

[grodrigues]

Installing (some) the components from the BG1 Encounters group, Ramazith's Tower fails with:

"ERROR: [AR7242.are] -> [override] Patching Failed (COPY) (Failure("Adding non-existent actor basill to area!"))"

On classical BGT + ToBEx on arch linux. Weidu log attached.

weidu.log

[Angel]

3 hours ago, grodrigues said:

Installing (some) the components from the BG1 Encounters group, Ramazith's Tower fails with:

"ERROR: [AR7242.are] -> [override] Patching Failed (COPY) (Failure("Adding non-existent actor basill to area!"))"

On classical BGT + ToBEx on arch linux. Weidu log attached.

Yes, that's a BGT quirk, for some reason basill.cre is not in BGT even though it was in BG1 (and it is in BGEE).  I thought I had fixed it everywhere, but apparently I missed this one.  I'm working on a new version that will have this fixed, but in the meantime if you want to fix it yourself you can do so by replacing all instances of "basill" in folder mih_ip/tables/ramaziths_tower_l5.2da by either "bgbasill" or "basles01".  It will also be fixed if you install either the "Enhanced Mutamin's Garden" or "Enhanced Durlag's Tower" components before this one.

[Angel]

On 12/27/2019 at 12:12 PM, Arthas said:

Hello,
are items specifically for EE described inside the readme?

Not in the readme, but you can check the item lists in the docs folder.  If you want to experiment, as far as I know the only item that won't work with BGT is the Medallion of the Arctic (mh#amul9), that one uses an opcode not found in the old engine.  I've not tested this in any way though.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Angel

[Angel]

12 minutes ago, Arthas said:

I don't know if you already added that, because I still didn't play your enhanced candlekeep, but have you considered adding 

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Miirym

with some awesome loot, provided that you could beat her?

An interesting tidbit of information, but a great wyrm ghost dragon should be totally beyond what a level 6-8 BG1 party can handle (in a properly balanced game).  Still, I might do at least something with that in a future version.

[Angel]

1 hour ago, Arthas said:

One could come back when he is higher level, provided that he has BGT or EET. 

And the encounter should also be optional, because I doubt someone would like to face a wyrm when being low level

I do not currently write for EET, other than trying my best to keep basic compatibility.  Not saying I won't do it in the future, but at the moment I have no interest in it.  And in BGT it's normally not possible to backtrack to the BG1 areas after BG2 starts.

At any rate, even if I could properly script a dragon battle (which I doubt), doing so is beyond the scope of this mod component, which is to make Candlekeep challenging for the way the party is supposed to be at that point in the game, i.e. 6 members, level 6-8, appropriate equipment for their level.  I can't possibly keep up with players wanting to return there in EET, having 10 party members in GemRB, having overpowered equipment with various insane item mods out there, or any other shenanigans one might pull.  If you seek challenge for such a nonstandard setup, I'm afraid you'll have to look elsewhere because I cannot provide it.

That said, it still is an interesting bit of lore and I might use it for something at some point, if I can figure out what and how.   I really would like to try scripting a properly epic dragon battle sometime.  (I have vague plans for a white dragon encounter in late BG2 or maybe in Watcher's Keep.  No promises though.)

Edited December 30, 2019 by Angel