Sword Coast Stratagems v35 (edit: now v35.11) now available

[DavidW]

Sword Coast Stratagems is a collection of interconnected mini-mods for Baldur's Gate (on the BGT/BGTUTU/BGEE versions) and Baldur's Gate II. It is primarily a tactical and AI-enhancement mod: the idea is to make the game's combat more interesting, tactically challenging, and realistic by more effective use of, and choices of, creatures' abilities. It also contains a few rule tweaks and ease-of-use features.

Version 35 is a fairly substantial release, with the following main features:

• 60-odd bugfixes and compatibility fixes
• (Provisional, experimental, partial) support for Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition
• New 'revised handling of death effects' component
• New 'revised elementals' component
• New 'revised resting' component
• New 'revised inns' component
• Reorganization of spell tweaks components along with some new optional tweaks
• 15 new spells (9 mage, 6 cleric) with the mage spells mostly focused around elemental effects and the cleric spells mostly borrowed from Divine Remix
• Multiple changes to achieve compatibility with my forthcoming 'Talents of Faerun' mod
• New component, 'Include bard songs from IWD:EE' (identical to the IWDification component)
• 'Make spell sequencers and contingencies into innate abilities' restored
• A few dozen more minor tweaks

 Grab it direct here. You can also visit the extensive project pages, readme, or SCS forum for more information.

Full changelog in the next post.

[DavidW]

New or Substantially Modified Content

• (Provisional, experimental, partial) support for Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition:
  • The 'Improved General AI', 'Better Calls for Help', 'Smarter Mages', 'Smarter Priests', 'Potions for NPCs', 'Smarter Dragons', 'Smarter Beholders', and 'Improved Fiends' AI components now work in IWDEE
  • New IWDEE-only AI component: 'Revised Icewind Dale Undead'.
  • The 'Reduce the power of inquisitors' Dispel Magic', 'Improved Shapeshifting', 'Thieves Assign Skill Points in Multiples of Five', and 'Ease-of-Use party AI' gameplay components now work in IWDEE
  • New IWDEE-only gameplay component: 'Wider availability of wizard spell scrolls in Icewind Dale'.
  • The various spell-tweak components mostly now work in IWDEE (the exceptions are tweaks that make BG spells more like IWD)
  • Two new IWDEE-only spell components: 'Use Baldur's Gate-style Insect Plague and Creeping Doom instead of Icewind Dale versions' and 'Use Baldur's Gate-style Mordenkainen's Sword in addition to Icewind Dale version'

• New BGEE/BG2EE-only component, 'Revised handling of death effects like disintegration, petrification and imprisonment', that (among other things) allows you to resurrect characters who are disintegrated or killed by massive damage, keeps petrified characters in the party, restores imprisoned characters to the party on freeing them, and stops the game from ending if the main character is imprisoned or petrified.
• New EE-only component, 'Revised Elementals', that revises the stats and abilities of the various elementals (earth/air/fire/water) that appear in the game or can be summoned, as well as the elemental-summoning spells themselves. The goal is to make elementals more interesting and varied, and to make elemental summoning a more interesting tactical option.
• New BGEE/BG2EE component, 'Revised Resting', that requires you to use provisions to camp in the wild. You can restock provisions by resting at an inn, or (if you have enough druids or rangers in your party) by foraging; the maximum number of provisions you can have at a time is controlled by the difficulty slider.
• New EE-only component, 'Revised Inns', that grants a modest buff for resting in higher-quality inns (and also significantly increases the cost of a higher-quality room).
• A significant number of new spell tweaks (none of which are required by SCS AI), including:
  • Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting no longer affects creatures without moisture (note that the new 'Telekinetic Storm' spell, below, partially fills the resultant tactical hole - that tactical hole was why I didn't do that sooner)
  • Rebounding lightning bolts only inflict damage once
  • Symbols and Power Words move to the school of Enchantment
  • Energy Drain removes 5 levels rather than 2
  • Larloch's Minor Drain has increased damage at higher levels
  • Symbol of Pain no longer permits a saving throw
  • Mordenkainen's Force Blade is now used with the THAC0 of a fighter at the same level as the caster (instead of half the level)
  • Lots of small changes to BG spells to match more closely how they work in IWD, and vice versa (I didn't do this systematically, only when I significantly preferred one implementation to another)
  • Fairly substantial revision to Polymorph Self: the druid-overlapping forms are removed, along with the ogre and flind; the spider form gets a minor web-spinning power; four new forms are added (Hill Giant Barbarian, Ogre Mage, Hell Hound, Rat); in addition, you get to choose your first form at time of casting rather than having to wait a round. This is mostly about rebalancing a spell I find underwhelming, but also about thematic distance from druid shapeshifting (and about removing the idea that a polymorph spell lets you create a powerful magic weapon!)
  • Fairly substantial revision to Shapechange, along similar lines: the werewolf and elemental forms are removed; the mind flayer form gets some damage resistance, can use psionic blast at will, and lets you spellcast; the iron golem form gets a breath weapon; the giant troll form gets substantially increased regeneration and permits spellcasting. (These are intentionally fairly powerful - the spell is supposed to be competitive with Time Stop and Imprisonment, after all.)
  • Removal of the IWD spell 'Antimagic Shell', which doesn't fit will with BG2's existing range of antimagic and counters.
  • Haste and Slow effects now fully cancel each other, and Slow always imposes a (non-cumulative) -4 penalty to THAC0 and AC. (This tweak requires the Enhanced Edition.)
• 15 new spells (9 mage, 6 cleric), with the mage spells mostly focused around elemental effects and the cleric spells mostly borrowed from Divine Remix.
• Smarter Mages now uses the new mage spells, and includes elemental specialists as possible mage specialization choices, if the new mage spells are installed). (Smarter Priests uses some of the new priest spells too, though the effect is much smaller.)
• Multiple changes to achieve compatibility with my forthcoming 'Talents of Faerun' mod (if installed):
  • If Talents of Faerun priest kits are installed, many priests will be given those kits (across all three games, I use priests of Auril, Bane, Bhaal, Corellon Larethian, Cyric, Gruumsh, Helm, Ilmater, Iyachtu Xvim, Kossuth, Lathander, Lolth, Malar, Mask, Myrkul, Selune, Shar, Talona, Talos, Tempus, Tymora, Tyr, and Umberlee).
  • If Talents of Faerun high-level abilities are installed, they will be used by Improved General AI, Smarter Mages, Smarter Priests, and all components that rely on those.
  • SCS will use the modified proficiency system in Talents of Faerun if it is installed.
• New component, 'Include bard songs from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition'. (This is identical to the equivalent component from IWDification.)
• 'Make spell sequencers and contingencies into innate abilities' has been restored.
• Other Content Changes
  • On EE installs, the difficulty fine-tuning system is now integrated into the user interface, rather than being controlled by dialog. (As a side effect, difficulty fine-tuning settings are global on EE installs, rather than being stored in your savegame).
  • On EE installs, the hotkeys for the Ease-of-Use AI are now integrated into the main keybindings section.
  • Deprecated resurrection-rod changes on Enhanced Edition, as it is obsolete as of 2.6.
  • Tweaked the algorithm for 'wider selection of random scrolls'.
  • Deprecated a few minor fixes on EE that were done natively in 2.6.
  • 'Faster bears' is now 'More appropriate-speed bears', and has been recoded on EE, to reflect the fact that EE bears are already sped up, so that the problem is now that they move too quickly when just ambling around the wilderness.
  • 'Improved NPC customization and management' now handles thief XP at first level internally to the usual levelling system, without the awkward workaround of granting special one-off abilities. For technical reasons, this means that this component now automatically installs 'thief skills are spent in multiples of 5%'.
  • 'Improved NPC customization and management' now skips Baeloth (it was already skipping Caelar and Hexxat), because features of the character are too awkward to make compatible.
  • 'Improved NPC customization and management' now warns players that they can't select a favored enemy for Rangers (so far as I can see this is impossible in the current engine).
  • 'Improved NPC customization and management' now warns wild mages that they need to save and reload to get their wild-mage spells (again, this is working around a hardcoded limitation).
  • 'Treat mages' and priests' High-Level Abilities as innate abilities rather than memorizable spells' now ensures that all such spells are cast at the minimum level at which they can normally be used (18 for wizards, 14 for priests) - otherwise dual-classed characters get very low-powered versions of these abilities.
  • If you install the appropriate spell tweak, Entropy Shield now protects generally against Abjuration spells (but not antimagic spells like Secret Word) - this is more for technical reasons than anything else, as the previous version was a bit glitchy).
  • If you install the appropriate spell tweak, the casting time for (Greater) Divine Protection has been increased to 3, and the spell now protects only against physical damage (this is an attempt to rebalance the spell given feedback that it's overpowered - further feedback welcomed).
  • Mages who are neutral on the Law/Chaos axis now summon tanar'ri, rather than having a 50% chance each of tanar'ri and baatezu. (Avoiding Blood War issues between casters' summons was proving too fiddly to prevent otherwise.)
  • Reorganization of the component structure: all new-spell and modified-spell components now share a group (and this collective set of new and modified spells gets referred to as 'Stratagems of Mystra' in its documentation, because I want to be able to use it in ToF too).
  • Rearrangement of the spell-tweak system components and their documentation to make it more transparent, along with a substantial reduction in the number of spell tweaks required as part of the core AI install.
  • Enemy spellcasters now recognize the Exaltation spell.
  • Enemy spellcasters make more effort to bring down Entropy Shield.
  • If you are using the spell tweak to Nature's Beauty, it also sets the duration to 999,999 seconds rather than making it permanent (this permits it to be removed more straightforwardly).
  • Various tweaks to spellcaster spell choices (we use less Control Undead, for instance).
  • Creatures notice the protective effects of Barbarian and Berserker rage after one attempt to affect them, rather than instantly. (This is actually a technically-motivated change to fit in better with Talents of Faerun.)
  • If the new 'revised handling of death effects like disintegration, petrification and imprisonment' component is installed, then spellcasters (and beholders) will be less reticent about using Disintegrate, and less reticent about targeting the main character with Imprisonment and petrification.
  • In BGEE (but not in Siege of Dragonspear), most (I think?) Enhanced-Edition-added mages and priests get SCS mage scripting.
  • Stalman, and two of the statues in Watcher's Keep, are raised to a high enough level to get HLAs. (They still only get them on the highest difficulty settings.)
  • There is now a variable (DMWWNoFiendTeleport) that turns off fiend (or celestial, rilmani, etc.) teleportation. (The reason for this is that there are persistent reports that fiends teleport on top of people and trap them. I'm unable to reproduce those reports despite some effort, so I can't address the bug directly. If you have this problem, the workaround is to turn off fiend teleportation with this variable. And if you can find a scenario where the bug is reliably reproduced, I'd appreciate hearing about it.
  • The psionic 'ballistic attack' power is now marked as OFFENSIVEDAMAGE rather than MAGIC_ATTACK (and so, inter alia, is not blocked by Spell Shield).
  • Breach now bypasses spell immunity by being effectively level 10 (on reflection the mismatch with Spell Turning isn't as bad as the alternatives).
  • On Enhanced-Edition installs, SCS removes rapid regeneration from fiends, celestials, dragons, and Berenn the priest (in each case in their AI component). This regeneration is in the original game but non-functional due to a bug. The Enhanced Edition fix that bug, but in doing so quite sharply disrupt game balance (which was playtested in the no-regeneration regime).
  • Wolves and dogs in the Wood of Sharp Teeth are no longer affected by 'realistic wolves', in recognition of Realmslore describing the Wood of Sharp Teeth as 'feared more for its less intelligent denizens, who are numerous and savage...' (1e FRCS, 'Cyclopedia of the Realms', p.90).
  • For technical reasons, the effects of 'thieves gain skill points in multiples of 5%' are now included in 'NPC customization and management'.
  • Crossbows and clubs have been added to the 'fine weapons' component.
  • On Enhanced-Edition installs, the AI initialize component now gets temples to cast Dispel Magic at 20th level, not 1st level.
  • Davaeorn's teleport sequence is now part of Smarter Mages rather than Improved Chapter 4 end battle (I actually did this a version or two ago, but forgot to document it).
  • 'Grant large, amorphous, solid, or similar creatures immunity to Web and Entangle' spell tweak now also covers Grease.
  • 'Party's items are taken from them in Spellhold' now lets you ask Saemon to wait for you while you collect your gear. (Thanks to ScrambledKhegs for the suggestion.)
  • 'Smarter Yaga-Shura' now sets the values of chapter-10 Yaga-Shura's damage resistance to 69% rather than 60% (matching the level it eventually ends up at in the chapter-8 battle.)
  • The 'restoration restores ability drain' tweak now works on non-Enhanced Edition installs.
  • Simplified the way translations are used in 'Increase the price asked by Gaelan Bayle', fixing some bugs that would occur in certain languages along the way.
  • 'Improved TotSC textscreens' has been retitled 'Improved Textscreens' and now slows down the text by a UI tweak rather than through spacing out the string.
  • 'Improved textscreens' now uses the unused Ulgoth's Beard mosaic (thanks to Ychap for spotting it!)
  Under-the-hood changes (not visible in game)
  • Updated to Weidu v249.
  • tra files are now all encoded in UTF-8.
  • Standardized readmes (somewhat) on US English.
  • Lots of small under-the-hood changes to incorporate parts of 2nd-edition SFO (this will mean something to maybe 5 people, everyone else can ignore it).
  • Changed the nomenclature of the spell states SCS uses to detect immunity items from (e.g.) ITEM_CHARM to (e.g.) CHARM_IMMUNITY, to match the conventions for the forthcoming EE fixpack and save on spellstate bloat.
  • Updated Detectable Spells to 4.03, to fix a bug noted below and to detect Exaltation and Entropy Shield.
  • SCS's install of Detectable Spells now skips a couple of stats that are redundant given ToBEx/EE.
  • Some under-the-hood changes to manage ToF/SCS compatibility.
  • New items in 'improved Abazigal's enclave' and 'Improved Kobolds' are now created from existing items rather than copied in direct.
  Bugfixes
  • Incorporated Icewind Dale spell fixes from IWDification (mostly due to CamDawg).
  • 'Wider selection of random scrolls' should no longer create invisible undroppable items.
  • Fixed a nasty bug where the psionic (illithid) version of Maze caused the player permanently to be ignored by enemy spellcasters; many thanks to jmerry for identifying this. (It is actually a consequence of a more general bug in the 'Detectable Spells' function, whereby Detectable Spells was ignoring requests to manually set the duration of a detection.)
  • BG1 masterwork weapons are no longer flagged as enchanted on BGT/TUTU installs.
  • Fixed some problems with dual-classed characters in the NPC auto-leveller.
  • The auto-leveller now correctly detects BG-only NPCs in EET and SoD-only NPCs in SoD.
  • Restored demiliches' Trap the Soul ability (it had been deleted in error).
  • Solars now get their spells properly (thanks to jmerry for untangling what was going wrong here.
  • Planetars and Devas had accidentally been removed from 'Smarter Fiends and Celestials' when the two components were combined; they've now been restored.
  • 'Smarter Priests' now installs correctly if you set the 'no swift shapeshift' ini option.
  • NPCs with kits now receive the right number of special abilities (previously they were only receiving one, even at higher levels).
  • Sorted out a complicated set of issues involving the Spell Shield effect of Impervious Sanctity of Mind (many thanks to jmerry for diagnosing this).
  • Help scripts now work harder to avoid creatures going hostile when attacked by confused allies of the party.
  • Sorted out some logic errors that may have been preventing Gromnir using Vhailor's Helm correctly.
  • Fixed typo in 'remove convenient items' that meant a couple of items weren't being removed.
  • Thorn Spray damage is no longer negated entirely on a successful save.
  • Fixed a typo in the defensive-spells code for Smarter Priests if Spell Revisions is installed (thanks, mercurier).
  • The (single) difficulty variable check in 'minor BG1 encounters' was undefined; it now piggybacks on the general-AI difficulty (thanks, Ychap).
  • Fixed a dozen or so chapter checks that weren't working in EET (thanks, Sephira)
  • New journal entries in Kaishas's quest now properly get added to the 'Mysterious Island' group (thanks, Ychap).
  • Raemon's bandit flunkies now spawn correctly (thanks, Ychap).
  • A bunch of random numbers in the make-lich, make-fire-giant, vampire, etc, code are now working correctly (thanks, Ychap and supasillyass).
  • Fixed a minor problem with dialog in Kaishas's quest (thanks, CamDawg).
  • Demilich protective item is now edited a bit more delicately (thanks, Ychap).
  • Slightly more robust removal of the Candlekeep 4th-wall-breaking text messages (thanks, Ychap).
  • Fixed a couple of errors in the code for HLAs as innates (thanks, Ychap).
  • Sleep and Color Spray should be better targeted when the target is dual-classed,
  • Class-based constraints on potion allocation are more strictly enforced (thieves don't get invulnerability, monks don't get oil of speed; thanks, jmerry).
  • Tightened up potion use (notably, enemies should now drink invulnerability potions if they have them - thanks, Person).
  • Eler Had has calmed down and no longer gets the Berserker kit even though he's a thief (vanilla bug that was confusing SCS script allocation; thanks, Person).
  • You now recover all the reputation you lose if Dorn joins the party, once you have the good sense to kick him out again (thanks, Mercurier/jmerry).
  • Spell Shield is now discharged the first time it blocks a beholder antimagic ray, rather than blocking them indefinitely.
  • If you are using the "go to Watcher's Keep between games" component, Neera's ToB quest can't trigger in Watcher's Keep (this was causing trouble with map access). Thanks to jmerry for tracking this one down.
  • Enemies should now detect Divine Protection and avoid attacking creatures protected by it.
  • Non-hostile spellcasters no longer use area-effects spells that can affect their allies and turn them hostile.
  • Archers and spellcasters no longer make ineffectual attacks on creatures protected by Entropy Shield.
  • Mekrath has recovered from a debilitating bout of underconfidence and is now a sensible level again.
  • Fixed some logic errors in chasing offscreen characters.
  • Anadramatis has had a chat with Mekrath and has recovered her self-esteem: she now has an appropriate THAC0 (-6 rather than +8).
  • Restored Demon Knight teleportation, for real this time.
  • Drow katanas in the improved Sendai's enclave should now disintegrate more reliably.
  • Added a note to the description of the 'install batch mode' component to make it clearer to the player what to expect (it initially de-installs, which isn't a bug but looks like one).
  • Kobold shamans (from 'Improved Kobolds') now get assigned mage scripting properly.
  • 'Grant large, amorphous, solid, or similar creatures immunity to Web and Entangle' spell-tweak component should now be working correctly.
  • Slightly rearranged the order in which items are removed in Spellhold, following reports that it might be more stable that way. (Thanks to ScrambledKhegs for the suggestion.)
  • 'Smarter Yaga-Shura' no longer reduces chapter-10 Yaga-Shura's fire resistance, but does reduce his magic damage resistance.
  • Scripts for doppelgangers in 'Improved Durlag's Tower' now compile correctly.
  • Beholders mostly don't target GOODBUTBLUE creatures (this is basically to avoid problems with the Phaere/Solaufein fight with a beholder).
  • Neutrals don't go hostile when attacked by confused creatures.
  • Improved Textscreens now works on EE (thanks, Ychap).
  • Timestop detection works properly on SoA as well as ToB (thanks, supasillyass).
  Compatibility fixes
  • The difficulty system, if it encounters a UI it doesn't know how to patch, should now be a bit better at going to the backup innate-ability system rather than just sulking and throwing an install-time failure.
  • On SR installs, we no longer check alignment before casting Holy Smite/Unholy Blight (thanks, Person)
  • On SR, we (probably, usually) don't use two Haste effects in a row (thanks, Person)
  • 'thief skills are spent in multiples of 5%' now enforces the rule that all thief kits gain skill points in multiples of five (otherwise you could get stuck on the levelling screen).
  • Smarter Mages no longer gets upset at not finding Conjure Water elemental if you have sequentially installed Spell Revisions and the IWD spells.
  • The core spelltweak that allows antimagic spells to penetrate Improved Invisibillity now works on Spell Revisions installs. (Feedback from the SR community seems to suggest this is the right current behavior; see https://www.gibberlings3.net/forums/topic/37009-scs-dealing-with-mage-invisibility/page/3/#comments
  • The difficulty system now correctly detects the chapter on Enhanced Edition Trilogy installs.
  • The 'improved general AI' component now integrates more smoothly with IWDification's 'randomized equipment' component.
  • The 'fine weapons' component now integrates more smoothly with IWDification's 'randomized equipment' component (my high-quality weapons overwrite IWDifications').
  • Removed a block that was trying to fix an issue in SRv4 that the latest release has fixed already, and was causing (harmless) WARNINGs.

[DavidW]

I'm going to experiment with locking the announcement post and creating a new comments/questions post, in the hope of avoiding all the bug reports collecting into one post.

[DavidW]

Updated to 35.1. Changelog:

• Updated Polish translation.
• Fixed a crash bug in the priest memorization screen.
• Provisions are no longer deprecated on unsuccessful attempts to rest (e.g. when your party is scattered).
• The main character is now affected properly by Protection from Petrification.
• 'IWD better scroll placement' no longer causes widespread item duplication.
• 'IWD better scroll placement' no longer places scrolls of deprecated spells.
• 'Rebalancing of slightly-too-powerful spells' no longer chokes on items that use the lightning bolt animation.
• Improved Haste now works correctly if you have the 'haste cancels slow' tweak.
• The NPC customization and management component wasn't giving thieves all their skill points if Player 1 was 1st level.
• Fixed a library bug that was giving fighter/druids the fighter/thief HLAs.
• Polar Ray and Turn Pebble to Boulder's projectiles now have the correct projectile animation.
• The Shapechange basilisk's form's gaze now uses the correct projectile, and requires a save vs petrification rather than vs spell.
• The Hill Giant animation (used by the Revised Polymorph tweak) is now correctly installed on BG2EE.
• Tweaked the way Larloch's Minor Drain works to more closely mirror the way the unmodded one drains hit points, and to affect the innate version too.
• Fixed several errors in Acid Storm tweak.
• Fixed several errors in Create Boneguard.
• Fixed several errors in Combust.
• Fixed many minor spell errors caught by Luke.
• Symbol of Pain description now removes mention of a saving throw (previously it said 'saving throw: none' but still mentioned the saving throw in the main text).
• Thorn Spray description now correctly notes there is a saving throw.
• Shapechange description now correctly reports Mind Flayer MR as 90%.
• Fixed a library typo which was removing icons from Shapechange and Polymorph Self.
• Shapechange duration is now 1 hour (as originally intended), not 10 hours.
• Updated Iron Body tweak to allow for changes in IWD spell conversion library.
• Fixed a code typo that was messing with how Elemental Swarm works.
• Fixed a library bug that was messing with the way newly-created scrolls are targeted.
• Chain Contingencies containing multiple 'Summon Fiend' spells should now work correctly.
• Player-summoned fiends now attack properly.
• Fixed a few text typos.

[DavidW]

Updated to 35.2. Changelog:

• Updated Russian translation (thanks, RealApxu).
• Improved compatibility with some mods (like Artisan's Kitpack and Shadow Magic) that use the ClassSpellTools function to add new spells.
• The new elemental component now overwrites Conjure Air Elemental/Conjure Water Elemental if they're already there. (Thanks, Angel.)
• Fixed a logic error in the strip_scs_scripts function that (possibly among other bugs) was breaking improved deployment for mages and priests and making Anadramatis unkillable. (Thanks, Angel.)
• Tightened up the code for mages fleeing clouds, fixing a missing file for fighter/mages in the process. (Thanks to Totor for noticing the latter.)
• Ascension Melissan now uses her Symbol:Slow correctly; previously a failure to update to the new version of Ascension was causing trouble. (Thanks, Totor.)
• Fixed several more minor code errors - thanks to Totor for a careful read.
• Ease of Use AI now appends new entries to the LUA language files in a way less likely to cause trouble with UI mods.
• Fixed a library bug that was inflating the THAC0s of non-fighters.
• Fixed a library bug that was messing with SSL installation on non-Windows systems (many thanks to Angel for tracking this down).
• Sorted out some minor glitches in kit editing library on oBG2.
• In the 'Improved NPC customization and management' component, points spent on Find Traps at 1st level were sometimes being routed to Set Traps.
• The 'Improved NPC customization and management' no longer skips NPCs (like Haer'Dalis) whose death variable is longer than 8 characters.
• Temporarily deprecated French translation since apparently it's causing some problems. (A new one is being worked on.)
• Slightly decreased Bassilus's level, from 12th to 10th.

[DavidW]

Updated to 35.3. Only one change: Fixed some glitches in the 'Wider availability of wizard spell scrolls in Icewind Dale' component.

[DavidW]

Updated to 35.4. Changelog:

• Non-English languages should now cope properly with missing TRA entries.
• Undeprecated French translation

[DavidW]

Updated to 35.5. The main changes are a bunch of fixes to the spell tweaks (including one that was letting Breach bypass Spell Turning) and a fix for a fairly nasty bug in IWDEE. Full changelog:

• Fourth-wall-breaking version of 'skip Candlekeep' now works properly.
• Fine arrows (etc) no longer have garbled descriptions (thanks to Ychap for diagnosing this).
• Fixed some bugs with the 'increase spellhold cost' component (most notably, Gaelan Bayle's sound files are no longer removed).
• Several items were not being removed/moved by the 'remove overpowered items' component (thanks to jmerry for identifying the problem)
• Removed an erroneous reference to damage type 'missile (piercing)' from the fine-arrows descriptions.
• Kobold weapons now apply poison correctly.
• (Hopefully) fixed various errors in how IWD creatures' scripts work, inter alia restoring various lost dialogs.
• Slightly tweaked the regexp used in 'increased Spellhold cost', to work better with other languages.
• Fixed a library bug that was messing with foreign-language installs of 'replace +1 weapons with fine ones'.
• Some hobgoblin archers were not getting help scripts.
• The hobgoblin ambushers south of Nashkel were getting the wrong scripts.
• Made the UI edits a bit more robust, in part to improve compatibility with Lefruet's UI and with EEUITweaks.
• Deprecated the 'use IWD slow poison' spell tweak, as it would require systematic regimenting of BG/BG2 poisons.
• 'Increase the accuracy of Mordenkainen's Force Blade' tweak should now install.
• Resolved some inconsistencies in the Stonefist spell's description and effect, and fixed the missing level in the description of 'Telekinesis'.
• Resolved an invalid string in Chromatic Orb if the 'Use IWD Chromatic Orb' component is used.
• 'Use IWD Chromatic Orb' component now affects avenger and trap versions of Chromatic Orb.
• Breach no longer bypasses Spell Turning.
• Strength of Stone should now work correctly.
• IWD bardsong component now correctly adjusts bard kit descriptions.
• New divine spell descriptions now match EE spell-description conventions.
• Various minor library fixes.

[DavidW]

Updated to 35.6, because I forgot to include ElGamerViejuno's new Spanish translation. No other differences from 35.5.

[DavidW]

Updated to 35.7. The main changes here are two translation updates and some fixes to the functions I use to read CLAB (and other 2da) files. They should no longer be deleting kit abilities that stray outside the normal namespace (like those added by multiclass kits) and ought to deal better with malformed 2da files. (Think of my function library as responding to mangled 2da files with a world-weary sigh and an attempt to sort them out, rather than by going off in a sulk.) I think the fixes are robust but they modify functions I use quite extensively so there's always a chance I've broken something.

Full changelog:

• Updated German translation.
• Updated Chinese translation.
• Non-English languages should now cope properly with missing TRA entries, for real this time.
• Fixed a few tp2 errors that meant some components were not being offered in batch mode.
• 2da files now try to cope better with the proliferation of illegal 2da formats in the mod ecology. (This may en passant have fixed a bug I can't reproduce where 'improved scrolls' mangles the treasure table.)
• Library files no longer get confused trying to read in saving throws when they are defined up to level 50 for some classes and level 40 for others.
• CLAB-editing functions no longer delete CLAB rows outside the "ABILITY[0-9]+" namespace.
• Fixed a compatibility problem on IWDEE between 'Smarter Priests' and the item component from Argent77's 'Improved Shamanic Dance' mod.
• Protection from Fire no longer gets an annoying animation glitch from 'IWD-inspired tweaks to BG spells'.
• Sorcerers can now select contingencies/triggers again; fixed some other minor issues with the innate-triggers component.
• Fixed some issues with the new camping system.
• Brimstone wasn't getting proper dragon abilities.
• Fixed a library bug that meant Polymorph Self and Shapechange were losing their casting-bar icons.
• Hill Giant barbarian rage (from Polymorph Self) no longer persists once you shapechange to something else.
• Tweaked Chromatic orb now correctly gives no saving throw against damage.
• A few miscellaneous library bug fixes.

[DavidW]

A corrupt file unfortunately crept into my upload of 35.7. It should be fixed now; if you've just downloaded and are getting bugs drop the attached file into stratagems/sfo2e.

lib_sfo.tph

[DavidW]

I've had to advance to v35.8 because of issues in 35.7 that broke installation on oBG2 and on BGEE. (Naturally, my install test for SCS this time around was on BG2EE, whereas my install test for ToF was on BGEE.) 

If you downloaded 35.7 for BG2EE, you don't need to bother with this update.

Changelog:

• Fixed a problem where 35.7 was assuming the Enhanced Edition at one point, breaking installability on oBG2.
• Fixed an issue caused indirectly by the new 2da-management system, that was failing to load localization variables on BG installs.

[DavidW]

Upgraded to v35.9 largely to handle cosmetic issues with kit and class name displaying weird info (e.g., {K=0,C=29}).

Full changelog:

• Fixed some cosmetic issues where odd symbols were sometimes displayed next to class names.
• Kobold weapons now have the right poison probabilities.
• Corrected the title of the madman's book in Spellhold, and added a new tome by the same author to the Candlekeep library.

[DavidW]

Upgraded to v35.10. The main changes are a fix to the problem with sequencers, a tweaking of the random-scroll-drop component to become less stingy, and fixes for a bunch of oBG2 crash bugs.

Full changelog:

• Innate sequencers/triggers should now be created correctly.
• Fixed some more cosmetic issues where odd symbols were sometimes displayed next to class names.
• Tweaked the random-scroll component to be less stingy.
• Blocked compatibility problems in IWD installs where the broken file '#bonecir.spl' has already been removed by another mod.
• Mantle spell tweak correctly lets ordinary Mantle protect against +3 weapons.
• Fixed some glitches with the monster summoning spell tweak.
• Removed corrupted version of 'Demon Fear' which was causing crashes on some versions of oBG2.
• Tightened the logic around the creation of lich fear effects.
• Cornugon animations are set correctly on oBG2.
• Celestial SPECIFICS entry is now added correctly (this caused crashes on oBG2).
• Several spell tweaks weren't being marked as EE-only, which was causing even more crashes on oBG2.
• Water Weird animation is now correctly detected on oBG2.
• Eliminated one or two more cosmetic issues with odd symbols next to class names.
• Under-the-hood change: my function library now throws a warning if it can't find an IDS entry.
• In EE, a party-joinable bear (i.e. Wilson) maintains combat speed after resurrection.
• Mage spell choices should now cope properly with installs where the extra arcane spells are installed but the IWD spells are not.
• The verbeegs in the Temple of the Forgotten God have had a stern talking-to about the importance of duty and are recommitted to attacking enemies, rather than cowering at the back.

[DavidW]

Updated to v35.11. The main changes are some translation updates, a UI bugfix, and a fix to the bug where player 4 just drops dead in Dorn's Deep.

 

Full changelog:

• Various text updates due to a careful proofread from Jazira.
• Updates to Chinese, French, and Polish translations.
• Fixed a UI bug which sometimes caused the game to crash if you went from the wizard to priest spell screen when 8th or 9th level spells were selected.
• Drow mages in IWD have got over their irrational hatred of Player 4 and no longer strike him/her dead upon entering Dorn's Deep.
• Fixed a typo that was messing with correct flagging of enchantment on TUTU/BGT BG1 items.
• Mages and priests no longer have bloated hit point totals.
• Several random encounters that are supposed to trigger in Chapter 6 were triggering too early on EET installs.
• If you use the 'fine weapons' component, the magic axe that Feldepost sells is no longer unidentified.
• Fixed a minor issue with the Wand of Spell Striking in the 'more consistent breach' spell tweak.
• Fixed a library bug which meant the new Fiendish Warding spell was given to some non-evil joinable NPCs.
• Fixed even more cosmetic issues where odd symbols were sometimes displayed next to class names.
• Fixed a bug in the Resurrection component which was causing compatibility issues with Grey the Dog.
• Third-party mods that add scrolls with '!' or '#' no longer confuse the spell system.
• The 'stunned' string is correctly displayed when using Stonefist in BGEE.
• Symbols weren't being correctly moved over to the Enchantment school.
• Tweaked Chromatic orb now correctly gives no saving throw against damage, for real this time.
• Fixed several issues with Strength of Stone.
• Ice Knife correctly does piercing damage now.
• Fixed a documentation error for Sol's Searing Orb (no in-game change).
• Made a few changes to the 'Spell Tweaks' system to make things easier for translators.
• Foebane +5 now casts Larloch's Minor Drain at level 1.
• Added a spell tweak that renames 'Favor of Ilmater' to 'Favor of the Martyr'.
• Elementals are now immune to their own offensive spells.
• Addressed an edge-case issue which meant that enemy-summoned fiends were sometimes party-controllable.
• Fixed a layout problem with the description of single-target Power Word Blind.