Elements of Destruction (mod)

[temnix]

I'll take this guy over a Steve Jobbs any day.

 

This mod improves many special effects in the games, adding new or revamping old graphics and sounds. For the most part the changes are done by patching and should not interfere with alternative versions of spells, items and abilities that might be installed, but a few cases are wholesale replacements and there are some changes to what a few of these do, not just to how they appear. These changes are mentioned below one by one. The latest version of the module adds more effects and upgrades some of the old, touching in particular on Call Lightning, burnt ground for fireballs, bringing Chromatic Orbs of every color, redrawing Bigby's hand and replacing Color Spray and Prismatic Spray - also adds a ray for the wand of paralyzation - and brings some changes to game mechanics. It is only compatible with the Enhanced Editions. I'm leaving a link to the old version on the bottom for those without. Some of the effects may be difficult for old and weak machines, especially the ice cover and fireball aftermaths. In that case delete the files ICEWOL_#.PRO, ICEDRA_#.PRO, ICECON_#.PRO and CONCO2_#.PRO for ice and FIRAFT_#.PRO for fire. Onward to the powers.

Arrows of fire

 

Melf's minute meteor

   

 

Fire seed

 

Agannazar's Scorcher and the wand of fire

 

Fireball

Trying to open the gate with eyes. On its way...

...the blast...

...and the aftermath.

 

Oil of fiery burning

Messing up such a nice house.

 

Flame Strike

 

Incendiary Cloud

Tested In Hell (TM). Wear lead trunks when walking over ground zero.

 

Lightning Bolt

The bolt is a little slower-going than before for technical reasons.

 

Call Lightning

There is a change in mechanics here. Beginning Call Lightning will now cause rain to fall in the area, and precipitation there must be possible, or the spell won't be completed. No outdoor areas in the first Baldur's Gate were so dry as for this spell to be unworkable, and I did not look into whether a storm even makes sense in Icewind Dale, so this spell performs there as it used to. In the second Baldur's Gate, however, places like the Oasis and Amkhetran, Avernus, the Abyss were excluded, even though they may be under an open sky - but that's not a normal sky. On the other hand, it is now possible to use Call Lightning in Irenicus' patch of the Elemental Plane of Air, before the grand dome in Kalah's illusion and in a couple of rooms of the Spellhold challenge, because those are clearly mini-planes of some sort. In short, where there is a normal sky and climate permits, the spell can be used. (Modders and players who want to use this mod for other worlds should notice that with these exceptions outdoor areas were all patched to enable weather. There will still be no actual rain or snow there, though, unless the percentages are set.) As for the spell itself, now everyone caught near the bolt when it descends must save vs. paralyzation or go deaf. Also the damage these bolts do is not magical - magic resistance won't stop it.

Stinking Cloud and Chain Lightning 

Chain Lightning no longer selectively strikes only enemies.
 

The wand of frost

 

Cone of Cold

As breathed by a winter wolf (much more dangerous now):

 

Cast as a spell. I have updated drawing and accompanying effects, and cones of cold cover the ground with slippery ice.

 

Magic Missile

My favorite. The tails were missing in the old version, restored now.

 

New in the EE-only update

Color Spray

It is a smaller cone now.

Prismatic Spray

Similar to Color Spray but larger, brighter, uses a variant gamma and its sequence is different.
 

Bigby's hand



Redrawn and rearranged to strike in a somewhat different manner. When it bursts everyone nearby will be splattered with this dark ectoplasmic gunk for a while.

The wand of paralyzation

Paralysis, stun and hold effects have been changed, more about this just below.

Chromatic Orb

This spell now has an orb of every color. The effects were patched, but if you have a different version of the spell, there will be no harm done, at worst nothing will happen. My changes should be compatible with mods that revise this spell completely, as I was tempted to do but refrained. As amended, the orange orb (third level) now only inflicts 1d4 fire damage, not 1d8, but this damage comes in the next round as the target is set on fire, and will interrupt any spells they might begin then. The violet orb, the one before the last, paralyzes instead of stunning. I applied a game-wide change to items and spells that stun, hold or paralyze. Now these are all different. Stun is as before, however, items and powers with "paralyzation" or "paralyze" in the name deliver on the label instead. Hold is like stun, but any Dexterity bonuses are nullified. This doesn't matter for Armor Class, because motionless creatures can be hit at will regardless, but it may matter for any stat checks. Ghouls and ghasts now inflict hold instead of paralysis, and, in accordance with AD&D rules, ghouls' touch no longer affects full-blooded elves. This applies also to the Ghoul Touch spell. Ghasts are still "it." By my fiat, paralysis is worse than Hold, it is detrimental permanently. The Dexterity drop persists even after the character can move again, and he is also slowed. Remove Paralysis, Free Action or Heal need to be cast to restore a character who was paralyzed.   

One creature who deserves a separate paragraph is the carrion crawler. The Monstrous Manual has some interesting information about it: it attacks with its soft tentacles, which have the power to paralyze (and with my mod for much longer than before). The crawler tries to immobilize as many creatures as it can, then proceeds to gnaw on them at leisure with its small mouth. So let it be written, so let it be done: the monster now has 5 attacks per round, the maximum number. These attacks do no damage, but the character must keep rolling saving throws. Once he is paralyzed, the monster will abandon him and go to the next enemy. It will ignore paralyzed prey for a while, but not so long as the paralysis lasts. When it comes back around, it will start eating up the victims, automatically biting for 1d2 damage a pop but not using the tentacles any more, thus the paralysis won't be getting extended again and again. As soon as the victim can move, the crawler will repeat the pattern.

Spook

No flying skulls. Charname simply gives people a glimpse at his inner nature. Early access, so to speak. Works quicker.

 

The lastest update - EE only

The EE version of this mod has been updated with a few last retouches. Some of these changes might actually work on the old version, but it is so far behind, I don't care to sort out what might be salvaged.

  

Fire impact now blends, and ice impact has its own graphics and sound.

Disintegration

This update to all disintegrating spells and abilities removes people cleanly and permanently, leaving behind only a modest pile - multicolored, because I've always thought that a heap of assorted atoms would be. Pink there could be carbon, green oxygen or some such. The projectile is pretty hardcore in that it is made to ignore difficulty, so it will destroy characters even if you play on Easy, and it eradicates everyone on the way, not just the target. The ray fades quickly and the caster is frozen in place, so there is no running around mowing down whole battlefields, but if you shoot from just the right angle, you might be able to take out more than one creature. And this merits boldface: beholder hive mothers now use this projectile, with all its properties, for their disintegrating power, so the shield of Balduran will not help.

Snares

I like the bear traps, but how do they shoot arrows? Instead thieves plant clockwork devices with rotating cogs, camouflaged, that will activate and spread out in piercing chains when triggered. The trigger radius (yellow circle) is much smaller than before to avoid the situation when the first enemy to step onto the scene would set off the trap and the ones following would be untouched. The player now needs to take care to actually place the trap somewhere on the path enemies are likely to take, but the actual range of damage, shown in red, is quite large (in fact a little larger than I drew here). Special snares are of reddish metal. The second screen shows the spike trap, which now has no cheap "magicky" glow but is an all-business orb that will inject a set of darts into the interloper. All of the traps' projectiles do no damage to spectres, ghosts and wraiths of all kinds nor to will o' wisps, who are made up of energy. These creatures still trigger the traps, this is unavoidable for technical reasons, and will expend the single shot of the spike trap, but will not be harmed.

This update also brings the delayed blast fireball, which I had forgotten to include. The fireball will turn around on the spot until it is triggered. The trigger radius is the same as the yellow circle, smaller than before. The same goes for skulls traps, which are now more like traps than another fireball, and they do piercing damage, not magic.
 

Just-so update: big-blast fireball

I was finally able to make the type of fireball I have always wanted: one enormous explosion. This is an optional component that will override the cluster-blast effect for Fireball spells. I injected this option into the version compatible with the "classic" engine, otherwise not updated. Delayed Blast Fireball, for its part, was not covered before and will receive this rendition even without the option. An important note: the old version now comes with a formerly missing file (------_#.BAM), whose absence might have caused crashes. This file should be in the override folder, if either version of this mod is installed.

P. S. I have brought this up before and I might as well do it again: if you find my efforts enjoyable, feel free to float a few dollars in my direction. I have a PayPal account. It's up to you, but buskers on the street make a living singing and performing, and the passerby feel obliged to put something in the cap when they are delighted. Why don't modders get the same?  

Download - old version

Download - EE-only version

Edited March 3, 2022 by temnix

[Endarire]

What does this mod do?  I saw screenshots from at least 3 different games.

[Jarno Mikkola]

3 ? The first one is different from the rest, but how do you figure there would be a 3rd ? Yes, they are either from BG1EE or from a BG2EE game installed with EET on it. Yes, hello, they are all from BG1 areas... but presumably in the EE engine, so that leaves the said 2 options.

[subtledoctor]

Yeah, Temnix only plays BG1, he’s not into BG2. (Which I actually respect.)

[temnix]

Guys, this is not a content mod. I mean, it doesn't matter which game you install it on. Could be Icewind Dale. Getting screenshots from BG1 was simply easier. I thought it would be self-explanatory what it does, or at least you could guess to right-click on the screenshots and save them.

[Jarno Mikkola]

42 minutes ago, temnix said:

Guys, this is not a content mod. I mean, it doesn't matter which game you install it on. ... I thought it would be self-explanatory what it does, or at least you could guess to right-click on the screenshots and save them.

And here's where you failed.

See, now that I know the later part of the message, I can see the image name alterations you made ... but it's only revealed after you said it to be so, you could also edit the above post and give the iamges titles, like: Scorcher, Fireball 1 & 2, Flame strike, Incendiary cloud, Lightningbolt, Chainlightning and stinking cloud, Wand of frost, Winterwolf hail, Magic missile.

But you have not. Aka, the mod alters how the spells look during fight and effect.

[temnix]

25 minutes ago, Jarno Mikkola said:

And here's where you failed.

See, now that I know the later part of the message, I can see the image name alterations you made ... but it's only revealed after you said it to be so, you could also edit the above post and give the iamges titles, like: Scorcher, Fireball 1 & 2, Flame strike, Incendiary cloud, Lightningbolt, Chainlightning and stinking cloud, Wand of frost, Winterwolf hail, Magic missile.

But you have not. Aka, the mod alters how the spells look during fight and effect.

You have come to the rescue of the stupider portion of the audience on these forums splendidly, Imp.

[temnix]

Updated.

[temnix]

Updated.

[temnix]

Final version. This one covers Call Lightning.

[temnix]

A big update, and this one is probably the last for real. The old version, the one that should not require the Enhanced Edition, is as it was before. All of the additions and a few fixes went into the new, EE-only version.

[temnix]

This file, nonetheless, will restore tails to magic missiles. Put it in your override directory.

MAGTAI_#.BAM

[temnix]

Updated the EE version.

[Grammarsalad]

Looks nice

[Guest Bor]

Incendiary cloud looks silly, otherwise very nice.