Cam is systematically stealing fixes: a roundup

[CamDawg]

Since I've already stolen everything I can from IWDification, IWD Fixpack, and BG2 Fixpack, I'm moving on to jmerry's Tweaks. With permission from @jmerry, I'm incorporating any fixes we haven't already nabbed.

Stuff we had fixed already and/or is no longer relevant:

• Wilson's strength doesn't stack indefinitely
• Vernus can be raised
• Fix Black Pits oversights
• Joinable NPCs don't have null kits
• Close polymorph immunity loopholes [multiple commits from Luke]
• Shapeshift corrections [multiple commits from Luke]
• Hold Person doesn't display multiple strings [offending eff no longer used due to 318/324 filtering]
• Nature's Beauty blindness can be cured [already fixed by Luke]

In progress:

• Enchant Weapon works in contingencies
• NPCs don't go in inaccessible locations
• Wish Hardiness doesn't stack with itself
• Barbarian Rage blocks cosmetic strings
• Dueling fireshields don't go infinite
• Standardize Wand of Missiles

Next on the list: review fixes from DavidW in SCS, and various fixes from EET.

Edited July 29, 2022 by CamDawg

[CamDawg]

EET raiding is done in this commit.

1. [bg] The Thayan Bodyguards could cause townspeople to go hostile in the first Neera encounter
2. [bg] Neera and Dorn inventory not carried over to a weird respawn (could dupe gem bags, other issues)
3. [bg] Aec'Letec fight could break if he followed the party out of the area; stairs now disabled during the fight
4. [sod] Dead NPCs shouldn't stay in the party in Chap 13
5. [bg] Cleaned out junk from the rest spawns of ar1801 (first level of CW mines)
6. [sod] Petrified victims of Telania had leftover player scripting assigned
7. [bg] Aec's cultists had shout scripts, potentially causing them to move around instead of staying put
8. [bg2] Arla's Dragonbane could be imported as a semi-broken Sling +3

#1 forced the creation of our first alignment change table; I'm approaching this like we did for the BG2 Fixpack since alignment changes were... much discussed.

#3 is also worth a look, too. Aec'Letec, thanks to the BG2 engine, can follow the party upstairs if the party runs away. The problem is that much of the fight's scripting (other culties turning into Aec, the final XP reward) is handled by the area script, so all sorts of stuff can break when this happens. @K4thos solved this by disabling the stairs; another possible solution is to make the stairs impassable by NPCs so that Aec can't come upstairs. The former seems a more reasonable solution, whereas the latter preserves oBG behavior where you could retreat upstairs, rebuff, and go back into the fight. For now I've kept the disabled stairs, pending discussion.

I think the rest are pretty straightforward, but we can discuss if anyone has questions.

[Jarno Mikkola]

The bastard, doing his swords job.

[Endarire]

@CamDawg
Note that certain mod-added abilities may allow warping out of the Aec chamber during the fight.  How does that affect your decision?

[CamDawg]

8 minutes ago, Endarire said:

How does that affect your decision?

There's not really much EEFP can do to affect mods installed after it, other than what we're already doing: provide as bug-free of a base as we can, and build extensible systems for some of the trickier mechanics. The primary thing I keep in mind for issues like this (definitely a bug, with multiple viable solutions) is to try and determine which fix seems more likely to match dev intent and, if there's no clear answer, then try to think about which approach is more sensible from a player and role-playing PoV. In this particular case I'd say there's not really a strong case for intent in either direction, and I can think of reasonable arguments for both.

This is why I solicit input. We're only a few months into EEFP and I've already had multiple occasions where someone--and it's a testament to the team and posters here that's it's been multiple someones--has brought up something insightful that's completely changed my view on an issue.

[CamDawg]

The good news from SCS is that most of these fixes are already in BGEE and/or not relevant:

• Some basic information for creatures was incorrect
• The groups of Cyrdemac and Gretek will now go hostile on a more reliable basis
• Power level of wands better match the level of the underlying spells (this commit is wrapped up with the implementation of a bulk fix framework, so it's got a lot of non-wand stuff to look through)

[Graion Dilach]

@Gwendolyne, could EE Fixpack get permission to raid the IAv6 beta repo for the hill giant (mghi) missing pixel fixes?

[bob_veng]

On 7/31/2022 at 5:59 PM, CamDawg said:

... For now I've kept the disabled stairs, pending discussion.

I agree that this is the best solution; it could be made even better by adding some kind of text somewhere informing the player that they can't leave (during the fight)

[CamDawg]

With @Angel's permission, I've raided Made in Heaven for fixes, made in this commit.

Added:

• [bg2] flindbar (flind1.itm) was already correct in BG, but needed fixing in BG2 (should cause a 4 THAC0 malus, not bonus)
• [bg. bg2] Gnoll alignment changes added (a handful of gnolls were CN instead of CE)
• [bg2] Water elemental class fixes added (were using NO_CLASS instead of ELEMENTAL_WATER)
• [bg2] Ground icons for quiver/case of plenty fixed (were using individual bolt/arrow ground icons instead of quiver, main icon already correct)
• [bg2] Fixing slime priest spawning on top of slime in Ust Natha added (a priest and slime had the same spawn coordinates)
• [bg2] Door and region vertex fixes (this and this)
• [bg2] Proper dual-wielding Drizzt (BGEE changes Drizzt to properly dual-wield his scimitars, this simply gives BG2 Drizzt the same treatment)

Skipped:

• Increase ankheg HD, poison mist, and Solar Stance! fixes are already in
• MiH fixes damage resistances for BG skeletons, but these are already correct in BGEE
• Mummy race fixes were skipped as there's no MUMMY race in EE
• Spear damage fixes skipped (systematic base damage change from 1d6 to 1d6+1)
• Fixes to summons skipped (already no drops)
• mxsplwis skipped (bonus spells from Wisdom, already discussed)

Posting for discussion:

• [bg2] Removing shadow doors after Shade Lord dies added (clearing the one lingering shadow door) - This closes a loophole (who's powering the shadow doors without the Shade Lord?) and is exactly the kind of QoL fix BD would make
• [bg, bg2, possibly iwd and pst] ] Gnoll STR boosts - MiH bumps the strength score for some gnolls from 9 to 13 so that they can legally wield their halberds (which require 13 STR). I broadened this into a general search and ran it against BG and BG2, looking for any creature that lacked the stats to wield their weapons. I got ~100 or so hits on both BG and BG2, all for STR. Generally these were minor (generally bumping 9 to somewhere in the 10-13 range) where the change would make no material effect. On the other hand, quite a few creatures use composite  longbows, which would boost the STR up to 18. While this makes no difference when they're using the bow, it's a substantial effect when they swap to melee. So on the one hand I want to fix this, but OTOH following through with consistency has unintended consequences. (Yes, we could swap the composite longbows for something appropriate to their STR, but then we're making negative, material changes to their primary combat capabilities.)

[Angel]

19 hours ago, CamDawg said:

[bg2] Removing shadow doors after Shade Lord dies added (clearing the one lingering shadow door) - This closes a loophole (who's powering the shadow doors without the Shade Lord?) and is exactly the kind of QoL fix BD would make

Well, I'm a little biased here as this is my fix.  (Although admittedly I nabbed the idea from the Oversights mod.)  Anyway, my reasoning for labeling it a fix instead of a tweak was the same as Cam's, while it's not a technical inconsistency it's definitely an inconsistency in the plot.  Also, why did the devs make it a door if it can never be opened at all?  They could have made it a simple info point, but they went through all the trouble to make it a door, hinting that it was meant to be opened at some point.

19 hours ago, CamDawg said:

[bg, bg2, possibly iwd and pst] ] Gnoll STR boosts - MiH bumps the strength score for some gnolls from 9 to 13 so that they can legally wield their halberds (which require 13 STR). I broadened this into a general search and ran it against BG and BG2, looking for any creature that lacked the stats to wield their weapons. I got ~100 or so hits on both BG and BG2, all for STR. Generally these were minor (generally bumping 9 to somewhere in the 10-13 range) where the change would make no material effect. On the other hand, quite a few creatures use composite  longbows, which would boost the STR up to 18. While this makes no difference when they're using the bow, it's a substantial effect when they swap to melee. So on the one hand I want to fix this, but OTOH following through with consistency has unintended consequences. (Yes, we could swap the composite longbows for something appropriate to their STR, but then we're making negative, material changes to their primary combat capabilities.)

While I am actually not against the idea of raising the strength of appropriate creatures, I can see how this would lead to some backlash.  Perhaps an alternative would be to give them bows appropriate for their strength and then give them a small dex boost to compensate?  ...Mm, I might take that route in my own fixes, something to think about.

By the way, the reason I did this for gnolls and not the others (yet) is because I am considering an Improved Gnolls component for EQ so I was examining their current abilities.  That's also when I stumbled across their alignment inconsistencies and the flindbar issue.

Edited October 31, 2022 by Angel

[CamDawg]

Angel's added two more fixes that I've committed: one more door fix for Gromnir's basement (ar5007), and adding the option to use the Blessed Bracers to resurrect the dead dad in Saradush.

edit: Almost forgot, you can ask the merchant outside Saradush about the fire giant enclave, but only the very first time you meet. It's been added as an option for return visits.

Edited November 4, 2022 by CamDawg

[polytope]

On 10/30/2022 at 10:48 PM, CamDawg said:

•  On the other hand, quite a few creatures use composite  longbows, which would boost the STR up to 18. While this makes no difference when they're using the bow, it's a substantial effect when they swap to melee. So on the one hand I want to fix this, but OTOH following through with consistency has unintended consequences. (Yes, we could swap the composite longbows for something appropriate to their STR, but then we're making negative, material changes to their primary combat capabilities.)

I'm aware of this issue with goblins, archers in the slaver ship (SLARCH1.cre) and in the oasis battle of ToB (AMTARC01), since the latter two use magical composite bows replacing these with another bow would result in less loot and gold for the party.

Neither goblins nor Tethyrian archers even have melee weapons, so boosting their strength to 18 has little effect, albeit it's a bit implausible for the little goblins, that leaves just the slaver guards who use non magical shortswords, which you could replace with daggers if you think 18 str would increase their melee dps too far, but honestly they're really weak anyway, even with SCS.

[Graion Dilach]

On 7/29/2022 at 6:55 PM, CamDawg said:

• Standardize Wand of Missiles

This introduces a bug - Obe's dialogue isn't updated as part of this which allows taking the wand along.

EDIT: Nevermind, I overlooked that Obe's list already had both variants of the wand listed.

Edited November 5, 2022 by Graion Dilach