Sniff (mod)

[temnix]

Fixed and updated

With this mod dogs of all kinds and wolves receive the ability to follow trails. This is true for wild, summoned or charmed animals of the canine sex and for any doggiedoo companions or NPC, unless they are already in the party. In that case they will have to wait until the next playthrough.



Click on the button when not in combat, and the dog or wolf will sprint off in the direction of the nearest neutral or hostile creature (other than those directly around, that is). This is not very useful on crowded streets, where the wolf or dog will just bark up the hosiery of some gentleman of Verona around the corner, but it does show the way to the inhabitants of wild places. Fliers, ghosts and constructs either have no smell or leave no footprints to be found this way, though. If the creature is hiding or invisible, the animal, arriving, will throw it out of that state. This works better in an Enhanced Edition, where the animal will head first for the closest invisible, if there are any, and show him to the world, before the search is made for normal people. Partial invisibility (where the creature can't be targeted by spells) will linger for another round. The SoA engine, however, is very primitive, and all that is possible here is to run to whoever is nearest and, if he happens to be invisible, dispel the cover.

Dogs and wolves now also spot invisible creatures at all times. It is no longer possible to send a thief hiding in shadows past a wolf pack, non-detection is also necessary. On your side you can take advantage of this by relying on the AI when fighting invisible enemies: the animals will start to lunge at what looks like empty air.

Optional component, EE only: Personal Detect Invisibility

Using hounds to reveal invisible creatures makes a bigger difference if the party does not have readily available low-level magic that turns invisibility into a nuisance. Invisibility should be a challenge and a puzzle. I moved priests' Invisibility Purge to level 4, plus this component makes it so that wizards' Detect Invisibility mostly benefits the caster himself. For the duration, which is 3 turns, he can cast spells at partially invisible creatures and attack them without a penalty. With the AI on the caster will attack or cast, depending on his script, even enemies who are completely invisible, just like the dogs, but every 3 seconds invisibles around are brought to the state of partial invisibility that lasts 12 seconds. Allies will have to make do with handicaps, unless they can cast Detect Invisibility on themselves also. The enemy or neutral will remain partially invisible as long as the wizard is around; the caster needs to go away for 12 seconds and let partial invisibility quite expire before the others in the party get relief. This is a bit weird, but it does drive home the point about subjective vision and makes encounters with invisibles harder and fuller of incident.

This component should probably be installed only before the party includes priests who can use 3rd level magic. I patched all creature files to know and memorize Invisibility Purge as a 4th level spell, but I can't do anything about priests who already exist knowing it or having it memorized as a 3rd level spell. They may not be able to cast it. It's possible that the spell will sort itself out to the right page of the scroll when the priest levels up, but I can't guarantee it.

Update

The hounds will chase off neutrals and harm enemies once. The ability is more reliable. And there is another command, to go to and protect s friendly or neutral creature. The hound will be distracted by fighting, but will come back to escorting its charge afterwards, until ordered elsewhere. It is possible to click on a portrait with this ability to send the dog to that character.

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Edited March 26, 2022 by temnix

[jmerry]

One thing to watch out for - in many areas, particularly the BG1 wilderness, enemies and potential enemies don't spawn until you get close to them. Only a few specific creatures (generally those with dialogue or quest content) and never-hostile animals are pre-placed. So there's a very good chance your dog will just run off to bark at the nearest squirrel, until it gets surprised by a bunch of skeletons on the way. Not a criticism of the mod at all, of course - that's a perfectly reasonable thing for a dog to do.

[temnix]

I can't do anything about that. But there are a lot of ready encounters. The wolves east of the Song of the Morning temple? I think they are always there. And does a spawn point react to anyone except party members?

[Endarire]

Thankee for this new mod!

Does this sniffing ability also apply to Grey the Dog from jastey?

[jastey]

8 hours ago, Endarire said:

Does this sniffing ability also apply to Grey the Dog from jastey?

I wouldn't mind if it does. I was considering giving Grey some sort of "See through Invisibility" ability at some point but can't remember whether it's already implemented or not. It's obvious that a dog should be able to sniff out opponents, though, undless Invisibility spells also cover smells.

13 hours ago, jmerry said:

So there's a very good chance your dog will just run off to bark at the nearest squirrel, until it gets surprised by a bunch of skeletons on the way.  (...) that's a perfectly reasonable thing for a dog to do.

Heh.

[subtledoctor]

Spell Revisions doggy summons have had op193 to sniff out invisible enemies forever. It’s a nice touch IMHO and it would indeed make sense for Grey. 

[temnix]

I said in the very beginning that this covers dog and wolf companions. Also only party members and familiars set off spawn points. The hounds' usefulness, then, is limited to creatures who are already on the map. I'm uploading an update that makes this ability more reliable and easier to use, plus the hounds will do a few points of damage to hostile creatures they throw themselves on, if those can be hit with normal weapons, and make most neutrals retreat a short ways. This can be useful for getting NPC away from doors, out of sight of shelves where the party is about to rummage and so on. I changed static animations of commoners, boys and so on into ones that move. These things happen only once, though. Plus there is another ability, for protecting characters.

Edited March 26, 2022 by temnix