Help Requested: Updating More Style for Mages (MSFM) to EET Compatibility

[Endarire]

EDIT 10 20 21:
After thorough testing, this list includes bugs for the pre-EET mod.  Some of them are due to BG1 components not installing onto EET.  Some of them use the wrong strings for activating ("DRINK POTION" to activate a staff or a hat instead of "ACTIVATE").  Some of them involve reusable items that are consumed after their first use.  Some of them involve NPCs (Imoen, Xan, Yoshimo, and others according to the documentation) who should be able to have familiars due to this mod not having their familiars.

Intro
Greetings, all!  I ask for your help in updating this mod to EET compatibility due to my inexperience with Infinity Engine modding.  (My last IE mod was a sound pack I made for BG around 1999 but never publicly released.)  I have modded other games, but each game and each mod may have its own way of doing things.

For the Infinity Engine, I like More Style for Mages, among other mods.  GitHub user LarryErb and I have been working together to update MSFM to full EET compatibility,   MSFM uses assets from BGEE and BG2EE and it kinda works already if some the mod components are installed pre-EET and others post-EET.

As of this writing, the public version of MSFM isn't yet EET compatible, but the goal of this update is to make it fully EET compatible.  As this is only a technical update, it doesn't require explicit prior author permission to post the new version once it's done, but having asked the author (Renegade0 AKA Pecca), he showed no signs of opposition to having someone else update this mod to EET.  We intend to give the author access to the revised version for a new public release.

What's Been Updated Since The Author's Last Official Public Release
-The arcane familiar components for player characters (but seemingly not NPCs) work on EET.

What May Need Doing for Full EET Compatibility
-Arcane familiar components for certain NPCs.

-Staves of Wizardry: They're always +3 weapons priced as +3 weapons, even in BGEE, when they should be +1 versions in BGEE - at least initially.  Problem may be caused due to item naming.  A Wizard's Staff (+1) is seemingly the BGEE version while a Staff of Wizardry (+3) is seemingly the +3 version.

-Teleport Stone: This warps parties to maps with specific area codes that likely differ in EET.

-Wizard's Hat: It's an item with a custom animation for male human Mages & Sors.

-More.

Finally
Thankee for your aid!

Edited October 20, 2021 by Endarire

[Endarire]

Greetings again!

It's been a few days and I still seek help on how to update MSFM to full EET compatibility as described above.

Thankee again for your assistance!

[Avenger]

What help you need with changing a +3 weapon to +1? Check out IESDP if you need knowledge of the file structures.

If you just need an alternate version (+1) instead of (+3) make a clone with a changed bonus and price.

 

[Endarire]

@Avenger
After thorough testing, this list includes bugs for the pre-EET mod.  Some of them are due to BG1 components not installing onto EET.  Some of them use the wrong strings for activating ("DRINK POTION" to activate a staff or a hat instead of "ACTIVATE").  Some of them involve reusable items that are consumed after their first use.  Some of them involve NPCs (Imoen, Xan, Yoshimo, and others according to the documentation) who should be able to have familiars due to this mod not having their familiars.

[Skitia]

So on the Familiar Spell, there is hard coding IIRC that is difficult to get around in regards to it working for player only. But it is pretty easy to psuedo replicate for NPCs.

You would create a custom spell, which would either set a variable to trigger a custom dialogue, or summon a creature with similar conditions as per find familiar. There are quite a few ways to go about it, so plenty of creativity, it would just have to be custom. You'll need to code the familiar to have similiar attributes as the player one, including moving around areas if that is something you like to do. In my work in Recorder, I wasn't looking for a full familiar, so I made them more of a temp summon. Her ferret Gustav just functions as a scout that can't be killed, escaping the area after removing themselves from player control as soon as their health gets low. But when I started I did make them exactly like a familiar, including a con penalty if they died, and dialogue if the player talked to them, which is still retained in the current spell iteration.

High Hedge and BG1 MSFM Item Bug

-Items not appearing in CreateItem is a result of the item not being added to Weidu correctly.

Example: COPY_EXISTING ~%MOD_FOLDER%/Item/ITEMNAME.itm~ ~override/ITEMNAME.itm~

A common error is from copy-pasting, not changing the override name, duplicate .itm name, or just mispelling. You need the above at a min to create it, then your name1/name2/desc.

Wizard Hat Bugs 

-Wizard hat has no character model. You can check in NearInfinity's Equipped Appearance, by default it is none. Nothing you can do here, sadly unless you want to make your own model, which I have not seen anyone do.

Wizardry Staff Bugs 

-See how Throwing axe works in Nearinfinity. I have never made a ranged/melee weapon, but it is how I would start my approach, because the item already has what you are looking for. Any other item with a multi-ability that you can switch will also work.

Teleport Stone Bugs

-In Nearinfinity, or whatever tool you may be using, make sure you have Item Remains(0) set for When Drained, and Recharge After Resting for the Flag.

-The description is purely reflecting whatever you write for it. If the item has a DESC tag in Weidu, make sure the text you want is included. If it's missing the DESC tag and using some generic tag, make sure you add DESC and then the ~Text Here~ after it.

[Endarire]

@Skitia
Thankee and alleluia!

[Endarire]

@Skitia
I learned that, in msfm.tp2, adding eet to the sections that installed on bgee (~bgee~) installed the relevant items in their right spots.  How to handle the scripts so they work properly on EET?

The teleport stones stopped working entirely.  (Before this change, they could teleport parties to a destination from their list exactly once before being consumed.  Now, they're only consumed with no dialog prompt, even if the party has been to a valid location.)  Familiars for NPC casters don't work.

Thankee!

Edited November 5, 2021 by Endarire

[Skitia]

EET has different naming conventions for areas. I'm betting the items are not using the correct area names, and therefore, are not working.

If you're doing this via dialogue, to root down the problem, remove conditions (and just have the action be a displaystring that says "This works" or something.). That is usually how I do my troubleshooting, then restoring things slowly until I get the culprit and then adjust it as needed. No dialogue though will fire if your conditions are wrong, so most likely it's a condition error/area convention naming.