Sword Coast Stratagems v33 now available

[DavidW]

Yes, it's SCS (following Ascension). I should have a look and see if it's a bridge too far (and probably ini-gate it at any rate). Might be a little while, though (I'm only semi-around right now given RL). In the meantime, edit fiend/fiend_shared.tph and comment out the relevant lines around 185.

[Andrea C.]

Thank you, David.

[Guest marlon_rando]

SCS is supposed to change Mirror Image so that it doesn't protect against AOE attacks. Does this actually work in recent versions? Because I've just started a playthrough of BG2 and my mirror images are definitely tanking fireballs and cloudkills.

I'm playing on non-EE ToB with SCS 33.5.

 

 

[Guest marlon_rando]

Figured it out. It's because I didn't have the latest (0026) release of ToBEx. Turns out both latest Ascension and SCS bundle version 0023. According to the ToBEx changelog, the implementation of mirror image bypassing was fixed in version 0025.

So, I guess this is a packaging bug in SCS.

[Silverstar]

This broken mage ai in 33.7 made me rather unhappy, I thought I had the perfect installation, too! You know how long it takes to create the perfect mega mod installation. And uninstalling-reinstalling scs is a big noooooo in my game, it took quite a few hours (no ssd) in the first place, I am afraid something will be broken badly if I do a reinstall using the fix above. 

So what I did, I cut some part of the script from an ancient, original bg2 scs installation I found in my harddrive and created a basic support script for the now broken mages of scs.

I named the script atak.bcs basically, this script enables the mages to walk around and attack when needed. I don't think it is perfect but it works, as explained below. Normally, v33.7 mages just stand there, never move, never attack even if they run out of spells. Which is a bummer. Makes fights not realy realistic and far easier than intended with the realistic ai of scs.

To test it, I tried ohnredw.cre, a red wizard enemy from Neera's quest. In my installation, scs gave this guy the default script of DW#MG299 (every mage gets a special script in this current version of scs) so I used dtlcep and added ATAK as general script to the guy and console spawned him and tried.

Oh wow, I never hoped it would work but it works perfectly. The red wizard guy now uses all the normal lines from its original dw#mg299 script, but also walk around when needed and attack with weapons!

To try it in your v33.7 game, here is the ATAK.bcs script. Manually add it to a mage guy in your game (just type ATAK to  general script with dltcep), put ATAK.bcs into your override folder, spawn the guy via console and try fighting him.

If only I was weidu savy enough to code a little mod to add this script to every v33.7 installation mages as a general script. -as a patch to v33.7 mages, for example. Oh I can do this manually but I have more than 400 mages to go through in my game, I think. I tried using clab files, making sure that every mage kit gets a level 1 effect with opcode 82 (change ai script) to get ATAK.bcs as general script. But it does not work. I think such changes do not work unless the npc is in the party. Shame.

ATAK.BCS

Edited July 16, 2021 by Silverstar

[subtledoctor]

2 hours ago, Silverstar said:

This broken mage ai in 33.7 made me rather unhappy,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but does this refer to what mages do after they've run out of spells? Because if so, I still maintain that 1) I don't think I've ever seen an enemy mage run out of spells;* and 2) if an enemy mage runs out of spells you can give them the most amazing script in the world, they are still a dead man walking. So who cares how fast or in what direction they walk?

* EDIT - although now I think about it, I use a mod that gives all wizards unlimited 1st level spells, so they can pelt you forever with Magic Missile or Larloch's Minor Drain etc. Upon reflection, this seems to be a much better solution than scripting them to charge my heavily armored fighter with a dagger...

Edited July 16, 2021 by subtledoctor

[Bartimaeus]

3 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

* EDIT - although now I think about it, I use a mod that gives all wizards unlimited 1st level spells, so they can pelt you forever with Magic Missile or Larloch's Minor Drain etc. Upon reflection, this seems to be a much better solution than scripting them to charge my heavily armored fighter with a dagger...

I was about to say, I've pretty regularly seen mages run out of spells in BG1 - this would be why you don't, .

Just a note to everyone else: the mage AI problem can be fixed (before installing) here.

Edited July 17, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[yakattack]

4 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but does this refer to what mages do after they've run out of spells? Because if so, I still maintain that 1) I don't think I've ever seen an enemy mage run out of spells;* and 2) if an enemy mage runs out of spells you can give them the most amazing script in the world, they are still a dead man walking. So who cares how fast or in what direction they walk?

* EDIT - although now I think about it, I use a mod that gives all wizards unlimited 1st level spells, so they can pelt you forever with Magic Missile or Larloch's Minor Drain etc. Upon reflection, this seems to be a much better solution than scripting them to charge my heavily armored fighter with a dagger...

They do a bit of other stuff. When working correctly they will attack between spells (potentially with MMM which can be significant), and move around a bit. Not sure how they decide where to move, but it can make them harder to target. Being immobile can also make them ineffective if they're on the opposite side of the fight to the party. Even more so if the player indulges in a little kiting.

[Silverstar]

9 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but does this refer to what mages do after they've run out of spells? Because if so, I still maintain that 1) I don't think I've ever seen an enemy mage run out of spells;* and 2) if an enemy mage runs out of spells you can give them the most amazing script in the world, they are still a dead man walking. So who cares how fast or in what direction they walk?

* EDIT - although now I think about it, I use a mod that gives all wizards unlimited 1st level spells, so they can pelt you forever with Magic Missile or Larloch's Minor Drain etc. Upon reflection, this seems to be a much better solution than scripting them to charge my heavily armored fighter with a dagger...

No, in correct scs, mages also walk in between spells (to foil melee attacks and keep their distance) and attack with whatever is in hand (darts or melfs meteors) when suitable. This is very similar to how a smart, real player would play with their mage.

When a smart player plays a mage, he does not cast a spell and then stay rooted to the spot, taking the melee hits in. You will try to kite and avoid melee attacks in between spells when possible, and attack if you think you have a chance in between spells. The correct scs ai does that.

In the broken v33.7 ai, mages never do that. They cast a spell-then wait for their round in their exact spot, never moving an inch. Taking melee hits freely. They never attack in between spells, they never attack with melf's meteors or energy blades, they never attack when  their spells run out, they just sit there and wait to die. This makes them far easier than intended. It also feels robotic, and not realistic enough. And yeah I do cry 'it breaks my immersuhnnn!' 

 

To test this, here are the the dw#mg299 script my scs gave to ohnredw.cre, and the cre file itself.  I editted the cre file to add my atak script patch as general ai. Now, drop the cre and dw#mg299 scrip to your override (without atak.bcs in your override), spawn ohnredw.cre and fight him (Do not kill him instantly with an overpowered character, just aggro him and try to see what he does!) You will see the broken ai I described, the mage will NEVER move or attack, just cast a spell-wait-cast a spell. Now exit the game, drop the atak.bcs to your override in my previous post, and try again. The mage will act smarter, will walk around, attack when necessary etc. Far more realistic, engaging and challenging. You will see a world of difference. (also set scs mage ai difficulty to the max, ie: mages will attack with meteors in between spells)

I manually added this atak.bcs as a general script to most of the mages in my game...using dltcep and handpicking each and every enemy mage. (I skipped most neutral mage npcs I will never fight) it took a few hours, but at least now my game does not feel broken. I can't create a weidu mod to do this automaticaly, though.

dw#mg299.bcs ohnredw.cre

Edited July 17, 2021 by Silverstar

[Guest Wheaze]

I am playing with SCS v33.7 installed and I am finding that whenever an enemy mage casts Wish, the djinn speaks to me and I have to choose a Wish as if I had cast it myself.

Have you (or anyone else ofc) ever encountered this issue before or more likely to be an issue with my own install do you think?

[subtledoctor]

On 7/16/2021 at 9:09 PM, yakattack said:

They do a bit of other stuff. ...

Ah, I understand better now. Thanks!

[Satrhan]

Hello all,

I'm having trouble installing SCS. During a mod setup I noticed several components of smarter AI and tactical challenges installed with warnings, or wouldn't install at all. Main issue seems to be that 'dw#mage.baf' can't be found. So not 'initialise AI compontents' and 'Smarter mages' install with a lot of warnings.

At first I thought it was an issue with Spell Revisions, since that was the only mod I've added compared to my last install about a year ago. But after checking with Bartimaeus we've eliminated that as a possible cause. 

Thought it might be something to do with windows 10 blocking something installing in the default steam location, but I'm not sure that is it. Other mods installed just fine. I've tried copying the game to a different folder (still same drive though), that didn't change anything. Did try installing it on an almost clean BG2EE (still steam in the default folder), there the main component does install without errors, but smarter mages still has the same problem. I've included the logs for both. Anyone have any clue what could be causing this?

I'm using the 2.5.something beta on BG1EE btw. The BG2EE is on 2.6 for now, was just using that for some tests.

SETUP-STRATAGEMS.zip

Edited July 26, 2021 by Satrhan

[Angel]

11 hours ago, Satrhan said:

Hello all,

I'm having trouble installing SCS. During a mod setup I noticed several components of smarter AI and tactical challenges installed with warnings, or wouldn't install at all. Main issue seems to be that 'dw#mage.baf' can't be found. So not 'initialise AI compontents' and 'Smarter mages' install with a lot of warnings.

Mm, looks like there is an issue with compiling this particular SSL script.  There should be a folder called weidu_external in your game folder that may have more information, particularly the file weidu_external/data/STRATAGEMS/sfo_warnings.txt

My first impression is that SCS is encountering some wizard spells it doesn't know how to handle, perhaps due to corruption.  Have you tried it on a completely clean game?  I don't think it's a permission issue, as SSL scripts other than dw#mage.ssl and dw#lich.ssl seem to compile just fine.  Corruption from another mod seems to be the most likely issue.

Edited July 26, 2021 by Angel

[Satrhan]

Yes that seems to be the case. I thought I had the issue tracked down to having something to do with the Weidu version. But after trying i'm able to install both 33.4 and 33.7 without issues on a clean install, using weidu 246 and 247 respectively, with the game on the 2.5 beta.

Still weird that I had mostly the same problem trying to install it on BG2EE, even though that only two small mods in it for testing purposes. After uninstalling those the problems remained.

Anyway, seems I'll have a lot of checking to look forward to while I'm installing my mods for now.

Thanks for looking into it. 

[Salk]

Did you make some changes to SCS's stratagems.ini settings, @Satrhan?