First time making new spells, missing a crucial step?

[Bimmy]

Hi, I figured I'd try to make an account here to ask for help since I can't find any info about my specific problem anywhere else. Sorry if this is too much text for a possibly simple question but since I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong exactly (and not sure what I'm doing in general), I'll give you as much details as possible:
So today I decided I'd try my hand at making new items and spells for Icewind Dale (specifically IWD Complete Edition, with HoW installed and all that) after hearing how easy DLTCEP is to use.

I never actually tried to mess with a game like this, have no experience with modding or whatever, the only thing I've done to change the original game beforehand was installing the IWD Fixpack and Unfinished Business.
So I read about how DLTCEP works, got it working and then tried making a new weapon by basically copying an old one and then adding some minor tweaks to it, just enough to notice the difference. Saved the new item, added it via Dalekeeper and everything was working pretty much perfectly.
Then I tried to do the same with spells, specifically to make a cold damage version of Burning Hands - all other parameters the same, just changing the damage type. No errors when saving, spell can be added to the game the same way that the weapon was added, and when I load up my save, the character has the spell in their spellbook like they should, spell description and everything. I even get a targeting reticle (the half-moon thingy) to aim my new spell. Except when I click again to cast it, nothing happens. I made sure that everything is properly copied as it should be, but there's simply no reaction. No character voice line, no spell casting animation, just cancels out of casting it. I still retain the spell with the same number of castings in my spellbook, as if I just clicked cancel instead of confirm. Then I tried making the exact same copy of Burning Hands (fire damage and everything else copied exactly), and the same thing happened. And then again when I just loaded up an existing spell and tried to save it under a different name. I can get the spell to appear in game, but I can't trigger it. Even checked to see if I missed any step in setting up DLTCEP but everything is supposed to be working fine, and like I mentioned already, creating new weapons works perfectly fine.
I've been trying to find what exactly I am missing for the past 2 hours, but no tutorial on this sort of thing mentions having any problems like this, which makes me think that I'm missing something very basic here, but I can't figure out what it is.
Any help would be appreciated (though keep in mind that you're talking with a complete beginner at this sort of stuff)

[Sir-Kill]

I mod with a sledge hammer so I am not an expert , and I do not have iwd installed.

when you open your spell in dltcep

on the General properties tab, Spell version section: is it set to IWD2 V2.0?

also look and the extended effects tab: check your range is it the same as burning hands, and projectile animation. (get it working then do further edits) also mind the extended header 1,2,,3,4...

last  thing I can think of is: type field set to- cold or magic cold

I doubt those last two are it.

Just FYI you can open 2 (or more) instances of dltcep to compare

Edited January 8, 2021 by Sir-Kill
projectile...

[Bimmy]

Nah, it wasn't set to IWD2 v2.0. I'm assuming it shouldn't be set that way considering the game just crashed when I did try setting it just in case.

I did try opening multiple instances but there doesn't seem to be any differences in any of the settings. I dunno, like I mentioned, even just renaming an existing spell and saving it under a different name, without changing anything else, makes the "new" spell unusable. Feels like just the fact that I'm doing something to it is enough to cause it to mess up the triggering.

[Sir-Kill]

um well crap,
try a new spell but just change the fire to cold. keep the name the same as the original and see if that works then keep changing 'till it does not work then you know where the problem is.

[lynx]

What filename did you use for the spell?

[Bimmy]

Damn, I was saving it like "FrostHands.spl" and such, but now that I read your post I tried saving it as SPWI119.spl and it worked. Oh man, I knew it was something dumb on my end. Yeah, I didn't even consider that I had to follow proper naming conventions, like when you're adding custom portraits and such.
Thanks to both of you for responding, looks like I can get started on working on spells.

There's one more thing that I'm interested in now that I spent some time messing around with items, if you don't mind me asking:
How do I apply bonuses vs enemy types to weapons?
For example, in IWD, there's that club weapon called Evil Spider Crusher of Doom that's a +2 weapon and also has a +4 extra damage and THAC0 vs Spiders.  But when I open the item in DLTCEP, I'm not seeing any additional properties that I can copy over to my sword that would give it the +4 bonuses vs Spiders, and from what I can see, the club is indistinguishable from an ordinary +2 weapon?

[Jarno Mikkola]

4 minutes ago, Bimmy said:

Damn, I was saving it like "FrostHands.spl" and such, but now that I read your post I tried saving it as SPWI119.spl and it worked. Oh man, I knew it was something dumb on my end. Yeah, I didn't even consider that I had to follow proper naming conventions, like when you're adding custom portraits and such.

Well, to add more clarity, the game only accepts 8 character . 3 character file extension, so FrostHan.spl would have worked, but not the 10 character one. The reason, this is OLD game, meaning it has file format restrictions.

 

9 minutes ago, Bimmy said:

There's one more thing that I'm interested in now that I spent some time messing around with items, if you don't mind me asking:
How do I apply bonuses vs enemy types to weapons?
For example, in IWD, there's that club weapon called Evil Spider Crusher of Doom that's a +2 weapon and also has a +4 extra damage and THAC0 vs Spiders.  But when I open the item in DLTCEP, I'm not seeing any additional properties that I can copy over to my sword that would give it the +4 bonuses vs Spiders, and from what I can see, the club is indistinguishable from an ordinary +2 weapon?

Well, if you want to do this anywhere else than in the old IWD, you use the opcode178... 177, 179 or other opcodes to add in the effect. In the old IWD, this is hardcoded to the item file name in the IDMain.exe ... meaning you won't be able to see it, as it's only there in that single game and single item name.

[Bimmy]

So it can't be done then? That's kind of a shame if that's the case, but on the other hand it's not like I really needed a special anti-spider sword, I was just curious because I randomly opened up that one item and couldn't find what made it tick.

[lynx]

It is possible, you just have to follow the same inane naming as the original. Searching for ZZ doesn't find anything on the forum, but there should be a thread somewhere where we collectively drilled down. The best I can offer is our code - see the comments on what each letter means:

https://github.com/gemrb/gemrb/blob/master/gemrb/plugins/ITMImporter/ITMImporter.cpp#L137

[Bimmy]

Huh. Okay, I get how it works, more or less. I'll keep that in mind, and I'll look for that thread later, just in case I ever need that kind of effect. Guess that answers all the questions I had for now, so thanks to all of you once again for helping out.

[temnix]

You all didn't ask him what game he was modding for. You gave him a confusing answer. If he wants a power like that for IWD 1, then it's as you say, but for everything else the answer is: yes, one can add such a power very easily.

[lynx]

Unlike you, we read what he wrote, that's why.

[Almateria]

19 hours ago, temnix said:

You all didn't ask him what game he was modding for. You gave him a confusing answer. If he wants a power like that for IWD 1, then it's as you say, but for everything else the answer is: yes, one can add such a power very easily.

Lmao thank god you came to rescue with this helpful answer.

[temnix]

He didn't say he was modding for IWD1. He said there was an item in IWD1 with a power he would like to reproduce. He is, in fact, modding for the Enhanced Edition of Icewind Dale, where a plus power is added very simply. Instead of confusing him about game versions and throwing a bunch of opcode choices at him, which he doesn't even understand yet, you should have said simply what I said. Dumbasses...

[Almateria]

On 1/5/2021 at 8:03 PM, Bimmy said:

So today I decided I'd try my hand at making new items and spells for Icewind Dale (specifically IWD Complete Edition, with HoW installed and all that)