Sword Coast Stratagems v34 (edit: 34.3) now available

[pochesun]

I recall you were pondering over Restored Rhynn Lanthorn Quest being included as optional setting in SCS. Is it still a possibility?

[DavidW]

6 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

Agree to disagree that reading the contents of a file, destroying it (!), and then recreating it from what was read is "not that weird" versus simply patching/appending to the file.

The method of reading a file into a data structure, modifying that data structure, and then writing that data structure back into a file, is totally standard in programming.

[DavidW]

3 hours ago, pochesun said:

I recall you were pondering over Restored Rhynn Lanthorn Quest being included as optional setting in SCS. Is it still a possibility?

I think I’m happy with it being standalone for now.

[Angel]

On 10/11/2021 at 8:30 PM, DavidW said:

The method of reading a file into a data structure, modifying that data structure, and then writing that data structure back into a file, is totally standard in programming.

WeiDU even has a similar concept built in, with the READ_2DA_ENTRIES_NOW and SET_2DA_ENTRIES_NOW constructs.  In general the technique is known as "memory mapping" and has been a standard practice for quite some time.

Anyway, to avoid the problem, maybe a function to sanitize CLAB* files could be created?  I'm pretty sure I saw a similar function somewhere for XPLEVEL.2DA.

Edited October 13, 2021 by Angel

[subtledoctor]

On 10/11/2021 at 2:30 PM, DavidW said:

The method of reading a file into a data structure, modifying that data structure, and then writing that data structure back into a file, is totally standard in programming.

I have come across the phrase "garbage in garbage out" to express that an error in the result is not necessarily the fault of the program. So, fair enough. I don't come from a programming background so I don't know (or care) what is standard; my experience in this context is in dealing with modded BG2 installs... which tend to be chaotic and full of garbage like inconsistent 2da table structures.

When your mod is typically installed after 50 other BG2 mods... have to assume some garbage is coming in. 

Edited February 5, 2022 by subtledoctor

[CamDawg]

For CLAB appends, I've just started doing stuff like this since they can be 40- or 50-column tables:

APPEND ~%clab%.2da~
~ABILITYY   ****       ****       ****       ****       ****       ****       ****       ****       AP_cdidrpsn ****       ****       ****       ****       ****       AP_cdidrif CDREPLACE~

COPY_EXISTING ~%clab%.2da~ ~override~
  COUNT_2DA_COLS cols
  FOR (index = 17 ; index < cols ; ++index) BEGIN
    REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~CDREPLACE~ ~**** CDREPLACE~
  END
  REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~CDREPLACE~ ~****~
  PRETTY_PRINT_2DA
  BUT_ONLY

Alternatively, there's stuff in Tweaks (like the max HP components) that extend CLABs out to level 50, in which case you can always do a 50-column append.

Fixing a mixed column table wouldn't be that hard, but I don't have any code handy for it.

edit: thinking about it, the random treasure function from IWDification may be a better example, as it takes input of an arbitrary number of columns and adapts it to the number of existing columns in the table.

Edited October 14, 2021 by CamDawg

[Guest Alkaid]

So, the Tree of Life version of Irenicus (SUJON.CRE) does absolutely nothing. No precast triggers, no using spells manually, etc. SCS and the Scales stat bonuses are the only things touching the file directly. 

Mods affecting SUJON.CRE:
00000: /* created or unbiffed */ ~SCALES_OF_BALANCE/SCALES_OF_BALANCE.TP2~ 0 200 // SBO - Stat Bonus Overhaulv5.33
00001:  ~STRATAGEMS\SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ 0 6030 // Smarter Mages34.3
00002:  ~STRATAGEMS\SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ 0 6100 // Potions for NPCs34.3

[DavidW]

2 hours ago, Guest Alkaid said:

So, the Tree of Life version of Irenicus (SUJON.CRE) does absolutely nothing. No precast triggers, no using spells manually, etc. SCS and the Scales stat bonuses are the only things touching the file directly. 

Mods affecting SUJON.CRE:
00000: /* created or unbiffed */ ~SCALES_OF_BALANCE/SCALES_OF_BALANCE.TP2~ 0 200 // SBO - Stat Bonus Overhaulv5.33
00001:  ~STRATAGEMS\SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ 0 6030 // Smarter Mages34.3
00002:  ~STRATAGEMS\SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ 0 6100 // Potions for NPCs34.3

I can't reproduce this on an SCS-only install. What else do you have installed?

[Guest Alkaid]

Full list. Probably just best to chalk it up to my weirdly cursed installation if there's nothing on your end, though I haven't seen anything glitch out as severely as Jon did there, so hopefully it's an isolated incident.
 

[InKal]

Oh man, 34 is kinda nerfed compared to 31. Insane difficulty: 

31 - crooked lich will greet you with abu dalzims in trigger, then time stop, summon dark planetar (game over man game over), then comets, dragons breaths, abu dalzims etc. etc 

34 - crooked lich will greet you with nothing then summon mordekainen swords (uuuu scary!!!lol), then time stop, incendiary cloud, abu dalzim, that high level fire damage spell. he is much easier but much less cheesy, looks like "all egligible spellcasters gets HLA" is completely removed from the mod and probably the most difficult spawns in dungeons (including lich) is also removed. makes me sad. ;[

[subtledoctor]

I think SoA mages getting HLAs is determined by difficulty level, and/or the fine-grained in-game difficulty options. 

Also ADHW shouldn’t be in triggers, they are limited to 7th-level spells aren’t they?

[InKal]

No. In 31 it is an option but not in 34. IMO it looks like this:

31 - "all egliglible spellcasters gets HLA" is the most difficult option

34 - insane difficulty is an equivalent of 31's "only selected spellcasters gets HLA", "all egliglglegaleble spellcasters gets HLA" is removed

pretty sure by triggers I mean 9 lvl spell chain contigency(?), sry for confusion.

Edited October 16, 2021 by InKal

[DavidW]

If you check the readme you’ll see that all the existing HLA and toughest-spawn options are still available; you just need to set them using the ‘customize difficulty’ control. (The contents of CC are randomized at install time.)

[subtledoctor]

Yeah but my point is, you can fine-tune various settings to deviate from the normal behavior for each difficulty. This is in my v33 install and for some reason using dialogue instead of the UI, but here’s what you can adjust.
 

Edited October 16, 2021 by subtledoctor

[DavidW]

25 minutes ago, subtledoctor said:

for some reason using dialogue instead of the UI

The UI is just a button to press to activate the dialog. I think a full-UI version is theoretically possible, but it's a lot of work and I'm not sure it's worth it.