Animate Dead Now (mod for EE)

[temnix]

Edit: still putting the lastest touches on. This will be out in a few days.

Edited May 3, 2020 by temnix

[Endarire]

What's this mod do?  You got my attention!
@temnix

Edited May 14, 2020 by Endarire

[temnix]

4 hours ago, Endarire said:

What's this mod do?  You got my attention!
@temnix

It puts necromancy and resurrection on their heads. Animate Dead is real and raises slain enemies as undead, and another spell makes it possible to resurrect friendly and neutral creatures outside the party, including NPC already found dead or dispatched in cutscenes. But there are many elements there, and it will be some time before I'm finished.

[Goddard]

cool

[Endarire]

@temnix
What happened to this intriguing animate dead mod?

[Guest Fan]

This mod and the chance of a ranger kit by you are the only two reasons I still log in these boards.

[temnix]

Well... This is to Fan... I deleted "Animate Dead Now" and another mod in the making from my computer. They were more or less the essence of my dreams, what's left of them. I deleted them because there is no point. They were mostly finished, though. "Animate Dead Now" was completed except for some extras, some new quests. I always must have extras... I deleted it, but if you like I can use a recovery program and try to bring back the files. It isn't very likely to work, I made many downloads to the hard drive since then, and recovery tends to bring out garbled files when that happens. But I can try, if you want, and upload it as-is if it is recoverable.

And if not I can tell Endarire there the secret, and he can make one like that himself.  

[Fan]

I guess that it is partially my fault for not registering before and showing you my support.

In fact, judging by your previous portrait, I should have asked you... what do you want?

But you know that this is not the right question... 

Can you breathe on the remaining embers? I can hope... And hope is all we have.

 

 

Edited September 11, 2020 by Fan

[Endarire]

@temnix
Please recover your mods and share them with the world.  We like you, we like your work, and we want to enjoy the results of your mod labor.

Thankee!

[temnix]

I remembered another one the other day. "Perilous Streets." It's on these boards also. The two mods mentioned here, "Animate Dead Now" and the other one, which went by the name "The Space-Fun Continuum," couldn't be recovered. I found early versions, though. They lack many features that I added later, but "Animate Dead Now" has both the new Animate Dead and Xzar's similar special ability, Reckoning (it can only be used away from light). I think these work without problems, but I don't guarantee anything with these versions. I probably returned to these spells later and made them more robust and improved them in every way. The mod is still missing the spell for resurrecting dead NPC and companions outside the party. It was called Gift of Life. I have it on one of the screenshots above, where it is used to raise Thalantyr, but the late version that contained it is gone forever. If this is the magic Fan here wanted, he is out of luck, unless Endarire wants to make a spell like that. I can explain how, but I'm not making anything myself any more, and I don't even have the games installed now. If there any complaints and errors during the installation, you will have to sort them out on your own. There may well be mutiny when installing for Icewind Dale, that game is a little different and it takes going an extra mile to make a complicated mod compatible with it. I realized this not long ago and went that mile with my last mods, but for this early stuff you may have to add missing entries to IDS files and so on.

This version of ADN already has disease. Again, this may not be implemented as well as it would be later, but disease plays much more of a role. All corpses now are permanent in that they don't disappear like loot on the ground. After a while they begin to decay and throw up small puffs of stench before they disintegrate completely or monsters show up to chew on them. While they rot it becomes unsafe to hang around them, except for paladins, who are immune to disease. Some diseases are just unpleasant, others will kill you if you let them progress. Strikes with weapons, including the party's, can deliver tetanus, and monsters' and animals' claws add rabies. Later I would install a Cure Disease option at temples, but this is not in yet here. The standard Animate Dead, the one that summons skeletons, is also present, called Skeletal Servitor, and it is a Summoning spell (from Hades). Priests get it automatically, wizards can buy scrolls.

One feature already in so early is that animated undead, as well as summoned demons, must not be brought in sight of various policemen in towns, or they will sound the alarm on the party. Keep your horde out in the park.

Again, all sorts of problems are possible with this mod and the others.

I'm uploading two other modules in this early state. One is called "See No See." It was to revolve around vision vs. reality. I introduce disbelief there and illusion spells. I don't remember the exact changes, some of the elements later went on to be used for other mods. The best idea is to read spell descriptions for True Seeing, Dispel Illusion and similar spells. Invisibility detection works differently now. Disbelief is a mechanic that lets creatures, especially intelligent ones, see through invisibility and ignore certain spells, called Performance spells. There are some new spells in this category, but Mislead, Simulacrum are now also Performances. All spells of this type come with an explanation of the disbelief mechanic in the description. I intended to make a large number of these spells and let parties choose the career of traveling performers. Performances that aren't disbelieved will bring some XP and gold for the caster from neutrals around, and fans, happy and unhappy, may show up later to share their impressions. Outstanding performances may even convert enemies to neutrals. If you use Performances often on enemies, and don't kill them right away, but, say, avoid them or stun them, monster fans may also begin to appear, from the ranks of minotaurs and hags, and may teach the party something useful in gratitude (or do something less pleasant if they think the performance sucked).

I think I have Blind Fighting for fighters there, too, and a bunch of new spells in stores. The alignment-detecting spells (Know Alignment, Detect Evil) now use a nine-color system. When they work on a person, instead of a message telling alignment there is a glow on a spectrum between blue (law) and yellow (chaos) and green (good) and red (evil). Lawful Evil, for instance, is purple. Check out the new implementation of paladins' Detect Evil, too. Only one attempt to discern somebody's alignment can be made in a day, though. The Oracle spell now also gives information about creatures, it was completely replaced.

There is a wizard spell in this module that you can only get from the console. I was going to insert it in a quest but never got around to it. The spell is called Red Stone of Gingema and the item name is GINGEM_#. Another spell that may not be found in any store is ILLREX_#, Carafe River. Actually, you may have to look in the tp2 a lot and type scrolls from there. Although this is a working iteration of the mod, it was not meant for play and there may still be problems not eradicated by the time I stopped working on it.

Here are some screenshots from there.

This last screenshot is for a spell called Yesterday, which in "See No See" is a Performance. It is a form of time travel, discounted for being in the Illusion school. In the next mod, "The Space-Fun Continuum," Yesterday is also found - actually found for scribing - but as an ordinary spell. "Continuum" was developed later, when I realized how monumental a task it would be to develop the disbelief system and the artistic career fully. If you want Yesterday as a Performance, you should install "See No See" after "Continuum."

Now, "The Space-Fun Continuum" is a sort of medley. It included items that ultimately went to "Adventurer's Miscellany" and special effect improvements that made it to "The Elements of Destruction" (including cone breath for winter wolves). I snipped off those parts here, because they are already obsolete. What remains is, first, the patch-based barrier spells. These are versions of Web, Entangle and Grease that work on a number of small patches of ground, where the caster wants a barrier, instead of going off as one huge explosion. This makes it possible to build accurate tactical obstacles - and thicker, too. The patch version of Web is called Arras, Entangle's is called Seething Furrows and Grease's is called Lardgesse. They also employed updated representation for webs, grease and tangles for the patch spells and the originals. There is also a new barrier-type spell called Thunder Hedge. This one, unlike the others, is hard to find. A wizard in BG1 somewhere has it as a scroll, and it may be extracted from the flesh of one of the monsters you will end up fighting if you go down to Durlag's dungeons. A wizard may be able to derive a formula from that chunk to scribe, and a sorcerer can absorb this power, too, directly, but not pleasantly.

Secondly, there are phantom trees and their fruit. I won't spoil it with these much, just say that before you go to Cloakwood in BG1 it is a good idea to listen to rumors in Beregost or the Friendly Arm. And if you find yourself mysteriously stuck among boles in the forest, remember that the trees are illusionary creatures and, when not summoned by you, hostile, so everything that destroys enemy illusions will work against them (except dispelling). They can be damaged, too, but not attacked.

Thirdly, the Ice Island in BG1 received some new stuff. Fourthy, there are two valuable books of magic now in BG1: one is Dradeel's spellbook on the Werewolf Island and the other is the book the ghost of Ulcaster asks you to find. If you let Dradeel rot in his hut and plunder the book yourself for magic, you can extract some unique spells from it, and you may be able to do that with Ulcaster's book also, if you want to risk it. It is very old, and the poor ghost needs it so. Decisions... But there is a reason why there are so few white wizards. In this line of work good guys finish last.

One new priest spell will only appear in scrolls of non-lawful clerics.

I don't remember what else this mod might have, keep your eyes peeled generally. I think after 20 years of sleepwalking through familiarity in BG it is a good idea for anybody. But I repeat, some spells in "Continuum" overwrite Performances in "See No See." That mod should probably be installed later than this one.

I'm attaching two more archives with resources. "Uncommon Elements" is a mod that, in principle, installs, but not all of its spells work. Among those that do, Memory Window is for taking a snapshot of the game at any time, even in combat (a forced save); Turn Living is what it says; Portcullis creates a grate that can be raised and lowered to block a passage; Seeker calls down a worm from the stratosphere, anyway the resources are there; Voices of the Grass is a telepathic roll-call for druids; Heat Metal and Chill Metal are D&D traditionals; Galvanize Self and Other strike small nasty lightning bolts out of the caster or somebody else; Nystull's Magical Aura is supposed to change class to wizard for a while, for dialogues and such, but I never fixed it to work right; Sorcerers' Moon is a folder of resources for igniting a sinister glowing orb that will, that would, that could inspire and strengthen everyone not from this reality. There are some shoots of ideas here. "Crane" is a folder with a giant paper crane. I'm uploading these for enthusiasts who will, who would, who could complete them or use the resources for something of their own.

The monster replacements are now a complete and problem-free mod - "Blink Dogs and Phase Spiders."

See No See

The Space-Fun Continuum

Uncommon Elements

Edited March 22, 2022 by temnix

[temnix]

Good news! I found a later version of "Animate Dead Now." One with Gift of Life and other extras. I'll upload it tomorrow.

[Fan]

Thanks for the release.

I'm frustrated you quit, because your mods are for me the only reason to switch to EE: every mod by you is a little revolution on bg mechanics, hence my interest on both this one and the ranger kit mod by you.

Anyway, when in real life people ask me why switching to EE, I suggest checking your mods on the board. 

Thanks for all the mods, and I hope you will be back one day.

 

Edit: oh, and by the way, the traveling performers idea is amazing and I will be starting a new playthrough based on that mechanic. Thank you for gifting me new hours of fun.

And I will be experimenting with the gift of life and exploring ice island...  

 

Edited September 13, 2020 by Fan

[temnix]

Thank you for the kind words. Sure, I tried to be original. I squashed a number of ideas which were just nice and would be popular but not very interesting. One film director, when asked why he had made only two pictures, both of which had been highly innovative and profound, replied that he could easily whip up a "festival movie," it is a genre of its own nowadays, but he didn't care to. So it is here. Not that I mind simple small pleasant improvements, if there is a grain of not-boredom in them. Here is a simple idea I leave for any takers: splashing potions. Go through all of the standard potions and add a second ability to them: deliver the effects at a short distance to someone else. Splash with healing, splash with strength or antidote. A little fizz to go with it, and it would be a good thing. Characters out of spells and ammo could help the party this way, sparing others an action around. An easy mod, maybe somebody will make it. Another idea was ley lines... Well, power nodes, special regions on every map, undisarmable traps from the mechanical point of view. They would be detectable as normal traps and standing on them would give some bonuses or penalties. There could be several in an area, overlapping, crisscrossing. They would need to be irregularly shaped, though, with many randomly placed vertex points. I wrote the code for creating one such in every outdoor area and dungeon, a rectangle to begin with, and I found that Weidu struggles with generating those vertices en masse, but maybe my old computer is simply short of breath. I asked for suggestions on the boards, and I got the usual flood of intelligence and enthusiasm in response.

See, the thing is, it's possible to make all this and more, but why bother? For whom? Most people don't come here for "revolutions." They only understand numbers and adjustments to numbers: a touch of balancing down, a little up. They like these games just as they were when they came out. It is a nostalgia niche where they feel comfortable. Nor do I even think that my mods will become popular posthumously, so to speak, once I'm gone. Today's culture is not hierarchical, crap enjoys all the same rights as gold, hacks quote the relativism they brought from college to insist they deserve as much consideration as real writers. "Who is to say"... So let them enjoy themselves. The mistake is to continue casting pearls before swine once you have seen that they are, in fact, swine. And they may be friendly and helpful swine, too, on occasion, only that doesn't change what they are. I'm glad I tossed up a few little suns over these three or four years, but I should have left a long time ago.

Okay, back to "Animate Dead Now." Here is the link. This version is still not the latest there has been, but it contains Gift of Life and Nigromancy, the spell for finding corpses. I don't know how well-developed and tested they are at this point. I can say where the mod stops more or less precisely, though. There was supposed to be a dealer in corpses in BG1, hard to find, in the Undercellar, selling bodies to carry around when you need zombies on the quick, or you could be generous and restore them to normal life with Gift of it. There was a lot of material there, but it's all gone. You can try to type in this creature as STEGOS_#, he should still buy bodies, at least. You may be able to sell Duke Eltan to him etc.

This version also stops short of giving all dead NPC scattered across BG1 custom dialogue. Later I would go through most of slain soldiers and miners and adventurers and commoners and give them conversations for when, and if, they would be raised by Gift of Life. Duke Entar's son at the caravan raid was to receive one, so would Joseph of the greenstone ring. Usually raising them would improve the party's reputation and earn some experience. At this point, although they will get up, they are all silent except Emissary Tar. It's that fat woman who unwisely goes upstairs in the Iron Throne building to get killed. You can raise her now, and she will talk to you. Gift of Life will raise any neutral or friendly creature, though, only they will have nothing to say. The screenshot with Thalantyr is a little deceiving. I killed him with the mouse so I could show him get up, but in real play the party would have to attack him first, he would turn hostile and would not come back for them. I was going to give special dialogue to some alive NPC as well, for when they see their friends and relatives raised as zombies and paraded before them. Ah, wouldn't that be delicious.

Yes, and Qlippothic Flesh is an 8th level wizard spell. It will be for sale at a few stores in BG2, and in BG1 Steegosaul can cast it on a party member for a lot of money. You can also just cheat and type in the scroll: EXHUME_#.

Edited September 13, 2020 by temnix

[Fan]

I would be tagging Ardanis and Camdawg when you need help. Maybe also DavidW. 

I totally understand your point when you talk about pearls and swine, and I'm sad I agree. 

Are there mods by you that I didn't enjoy as much as I thought? Of course, but the fact that I could experience them and actually start a game with renovated entusiasm just to check what you added left me with gratitude.

Currently, on a range from great to very bad, I would say most of your mods are on good territory.  Animate Dead now would be in gold territory if you executed all the ideas you listed. Most of the mods released by you are a must in my EE install. And I will reccommend them when I have the chance.

I hope you will come back to modding. I will go back to lurking hoping to see more from you. Have a good week.

Edited September 13, 2020 by Fan

[Endarire]

@temnix
Thank you for your modding, temnix!  Your mods have been different and inspirational as to what's possible within the EE engines!  Perhaps most people don't come here for revolutionary mods, but if so, it's likely because they don't yet know that they should!  Your mods in general have been ones that, to me, have made me realize you were trying to make Baldur's Gate closer to tabletop, and you have a gift for making and publishing unique, different, and outstanding mods!

I only found your mods late last year when I was investigating on forums which mods were EET compatible and how to install lots of mods at the same time.  At that time I'd beaten Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 EE, but only with a small number of mods.  I recalled an item randomizer mod from someone's forum post years ago and, at the time, thought the idea was stupid.  Years later, I became thrilled with game randomizers having played many of them.  I was pleasantly surprised when I saw someone who I later understood was you, temnix, had made things besides the more standard fare of mods, those being new/revised items, spells, NPCs, dialog, quests, and locations.  Some of them weren't to my taste, like Out of Commission.  Some were off-putting at first, but more interesting once I understood them, like Out!  Brief Candlekeep.  Some I took a liking to quickly, like Beholder Rays or Adventurer's Miscellany.

Remember, much of what your mods have done has required the Enhanced Editions.  Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition was released about 8 years ago as of this writing, after the original Baldur's Gate had been available for about 14 years.  By this time, the early modders of the pre-EE games had mostly left the community, but these early mods set the tone for what was expected of a BG mod.  The early mods were simple and probably modified the common stuff I already mentioned, but formed a foundation of what people would come to expect in BG mods.

To expound upon what you said, many people played BG and thought, "I like this game, but I'd like it even more if I had a separate kit tailored to my liking."  You, however, probably played this game, liked it, and thought, "This game would be better with a more realistic sleeping system, animate dead, and corpses that spread curable diseases."  You, temnix, were and are a visionary for Baldur's Gate mods because you simply thought differently, expected different things, and were willing and able to implement at least much of your mods' visions!  It's more complex than changing +1 arrows to +2 arrows, but I'm glad that you did it!

If you're concerned about your mods not being not popular enough, there are ways to increase your mods' popularity.  For example, ask the Gibberlings3 admins to give you a forum or a buncha forums for your mods.  Upload your mods to GitHub for greater discoverability by those inside and outside of the Infinity Engine modding community.  Broadcast your mod releases and major updates on BG mod forums (Gibberlings3, Beamdog, and Spellhold Studios), as well as other social media platforms (Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.)  Since your mods require EE, ensure they're also EET (Enhanced Edition Trilogy) compatible, since many people who play the BG EE games also use EET.  Talk with AL|EN about how to add .ini metadata for your mods for Project Infinity.  Ensure your contact information (email, forum profiles, and any social media handles you feel comfortable sharing) is readily-accessible in the readmes of all your released mods.  If your mods conflict with other mods, talk with the authors/maintainers of these mods to fix these conflicts.  Publish YouTube video trailers of your mods or/and Let's Plays where people can watch someone (most likely you) play your mods, experience their goodness vicariously, and play the mods of yours they most like.  (YouTube of the added benefit of ad revenue if your channel is big/popular enough.)  I'm unsure what the policies are for Patreon, but plenty of people on Patreon have asked their subscriber base for money so they can make mods.  There are probably other means of increasing your mods' popularity and likely getting you paid without needing to invest a significant amount of money directly into advertising, but this is a strong start for now.

Temnix, Fan and I are your fans, and there plenty of other people who want to be your fans if they knew about your work!  Thankee again for your many contributions to BG modding!  We're looking forward to hearing further good news from you, and seeing you smile!