[BGEE/SoD] More Issues and thoughts Pt 2

[RoyalProtector]

1. Dire wolf doesn't have the usual paperdoll (is that the word? sorry, not a native speaker) in inventory. Just mentioning this since the usual druid form does. It's now just an empty space. (Present in BG2EE too) [Low priority]
2. Slow poison has an outdated description, since the slow poison implementation was deprecated [Fixed]
3. This I don't think is a problem with your mod per se, but could use improvement: produce fire description is unclear as to how much it lasts when it hits and enemy (burns every round but for how many rounds?). Perhaps your version of the spells could ship with a better description. [Unmodded Game Issue]
4. Tiny detail, maybe the string that says "any spellcaster (besides sorcerers and shamans) must memorize..." in the Spellbooks should probably include Favored Souls? [Fixed as of Beta 5]
5. - Carrion Crawler Ichor and Nightmare Paste poisons actually seem to be the same as Blue Whinnis. They make the target unconscious, feedback in the log says something like "Dorn: Poison: Blue Whinnis: Flaming Fist Mercenary" and that's it. [Fixed as of Beta 5]
6. Poison Weapon claims that you can "supplement" the damage listed there, but it seems like they only replace. Description should be fixed, or the powers tweaked? [Fixed as of Beta 5]
7. All the dragon varieties of Dragon Disciple except Red Dragon have the 7th level and 13th level lines duplicated in the description  [Fixed as of Beta 4]
8. The disadvantages section in Bloodrager have an unexpected extra line break at the beginning and after the first disadvantage [Fixed as of Beta 5]
9. More of a comment than an issue, which is probably unavoidable and not a big deal, but I suppose awareness should be there: I believe that your proficiency system changes coupled with the strategy of starting at level 1 to not miss out makes SoD's mechanism to determine initial gear for your character unreliable or otherwise not too useful. For example, if you create in SoD a character with more proficiency points in Two-Handed Swords, they'll be given such a weapon. So that functionality is probably broken. Not a big deal for me because I always play each game in order through imports. [Likely won't be fixed]
10. Found a strange error when leveling up Avenger saying "character no longer can use quick items, items will be dropped", but nothing seemed to happen. I think it happened after I chose the feats. (Tested in SoD, leveling up avenger up to 500K). Seems to be harmless though. [Unknown cause, likely harmless]
11. Detail probably not from this mod: improved invisibility by avenger says "the wizard is no longer invisible". Maybe outside the scope of your mod, but anyway. [Unmodded Game Issue]
12. - Winter wolf icy breath from Avenger shapeshifting only works on enemies (neutral targets are not affected) and it has no special effect when cast, and it is not a cone of cold as described either, it only affects one target. [Fixed as of Beta 5]
13. - Water Genasi race string does not show in the Record screen (empty line, SoD), same for deep gnomes (problem might exist in others) [Fixed as of Beta 5]

Cheers!

WeiDU.log

Edited May 1 by RoyalProtector

[DavidW]

Great, many thanks.

[RoyalProtector]

More stuff noted in SoD (yay):

1. Shadowdancers should not have Trap Master feat available, as they cannot set traps [Fixed]
2. Viconia starts off with 97 MR, instead of the expected 27. Becomes immune to magic, of course, at level 10. [Fixed as of Beta 5]
3. Viconia has two versions of Cause Serious Wounds, they have different descriptions each (maybe some issue with darkcloak of shar...) [Fixed as of Beta 5]
4. Baeloth has a duplicated Magic Resistance Icon EDIT: false positive, caused by the robe or archmagi, it's fixed when re-equipping, and has 82 MR instead of the expected 27 [Fixed as of Beta 5]
5. NPCs that join you at the start of the campaign don't have set the weapon proficiencies at 1 for everything, like when you create your own character. Is this a bug or limitation? [Fixed]
6. And those NPCs also don't seem to benefit at all from stat-based bonuses (saving throws at least) -- and actually not even your own character does for some reason (with 18 DEX, 18 CON, 18 WIS, as a bard -- no bonuses, works in BGEE). [Fixed as of Beta 5]

A couple of questions:

• Have you thought of including tweaks for weapon styles in your weap. proficiency tweaks? Never liked them much myself. The worst parts are probably sword and shield (generally not very useful) and a second pip in single weapon style. SubtleDoctor had a mod that tweaked the styles considerably in a more interesting way, such as adding a shield bash chance to the style, though I'm unsure that sort of modification would work with yours anyway, and I'll always prefer a tweak integrated in your mod if possible. [Feature added]
• NPC customization component I assume is required so you can give them feats in the previous levels before they join, if any, right? The readme should probably warn about this (apologies if I missed it though). [Fixed as of Beta 5]

Same WeiDu log as the first post. Cheers.

Edited May 1 by RoyalProtector

[DavidW]

Thanks for those reports, will check. Going through quickly now:

1. good point, I'd forgotten they don't get ST

2/4: The MR issue with drow NPCs is *probably* fixed locally already.

3. As in, two in her spell book? I'll look at it in any case.

5. If they're not getting them even if you use NPC Customization and start them at level 0, it's a bug. Otherwise it's a design issue I haven't thought about much (but probably should) - requiring NPC Customization is probably the simplest solution,

6.Looks like the ability-boost-control script isn't being applied in campaigns (will affect EET too). Try this hotfix: open bpbaldur.bcs in Near Infinity and add this block at the top:

	IF
		!GlobalTimerNotExpired("dw_wrap_spell","GLOBAL")
	THEN
		RESPONSE #100
			SetGlobalTimer("dw_wrap_spell","GLOBAL",1)
			ApplySpellRES("dw3ewrp",Player1)
			ApplySpellRES("dw3ewrp",Player2)
			ApplySpellRES("dw3ewrp",Player3)
			ApplySpellRES("dw3ewrp",Player4)
			ApplySpellRES("dw3ewrp",Player5)
			ApplySpellRES("dw3ewrp",Player6)
			Continue()
	END	

 

On the questions:

(1) I haven't. I don't know the mechanics of how SD's version works, it might or might not be compatible. (Obviously I don't just want to steal other people's ideas!)

(2) Not required, exactly, but certainly a good idea; and yes, I should mention it, possibly even autoinstall it. (The feat system was the original motivation for me building that component, way back when.)

[RoyalProtector]

On 1/9/2024 at 5:54 PM, DavidW said:

As in, two in her spell book? I'll look at it in any case.

Yes, with different descriptions.

On 1/9/2024 at 5:54 PM, DavidW said:

If they're not getting them even if you use NPC Customization and start them at level 0, it's a bug. Otherwise it's a design issue

Yes, I wasn't using that component. I'll test with that component.

On 1/9/2024 at 5:54 PM, DavidW said:

I don't know the mechanics of how SD's version works, it might or might not be compatible.

In case you want to take a gander, it's component 70 in the readme: https://github.com/subtledoctor/Combat_Skill_Proficiencies

On 1/9/2024 at 5:54 PM, DavidW said:

Try this hotfix

Will try and report back any changes.

Edited January 21 by RoyalProtector

[DavidW]

25 minutes ago, RoyalProtector said:

Yes, with different descriptions.

Would you mind opening her file up in Near Infinity or similar and telling me what the spell resrefs are? 

[RoyalProtector]

SPPR414 and SPPR428

[DavidW]

Thanks; okay, I think I see what's going on there.

[RoyalProtector]

I added that to the script -- I think you misspelled it, I modified bdbaldur.bcs. That seemed to do the trick, everyone is getting their saves appropriately.

Speaking of that, I spotted a possible issue. I tried to start the game by importing from a character file. I chose "Meryll" which I think is shipped with the game, right? Well, their level is not set to 0, they were actually at 7, so the current workaround to fix the issue of missing feats doesn't seem to work with importing character files. I'm not sure how problematic this is, since I believe in BGEE the importing is automatic (i.e. you start sod automatically after killing sarevok), but to be honest I have forgotten how imports work exactly. [Fixed]

Not sure if this is a problem when importing character files to BG2EE though.

Edited February 11 by RoyalProtector

[RoyalProtector]

More stuff (tested in SoD )

1. NPC customization component. Can only level up NPCs one by one instead of directling jumping to the required level. Limitation? [Fixed]
2. With NPC customization, characters are getting unexpectedly extra kit abilities. Example, leveling up Dorn will give him 2 Aura of Despair and Absorb Health where only 1 was expected. Should probably account for level 1 abilities. It seems unreliable somehow though, because in a different test, Dorn got 2 Absorb Health, but only one Aura of Despair as expected. Strange [Fixed]
3. Previously reported for Avenger: When leveling up a Shapeshifter from level 1, when accepting, it warns about items in "invalid quick slots" [Probably harmless...]
4. Beast master description specifies pseudodragon and fairy dragon as possible familiars since in vanilla they can only be good aligned. This should probably account for more loose alignment restrictions component. [Fixed]

Speaking about Dorn, since you have Extra Lay in Hands, and Absorb Health is essentially the "evil" counterpart, maybe there should probably be a feat for it, or otherwise other components that add new uses at higher levels, like the component that adds Lay in Hands and Smite Evil uses. Just a thought  [Fixed]

WeiDU.log

Edited March 8 by RoyalProtector

[RoyalProtector]

Even more stuff in SoD:

1. - 2 dragon breath abilities in Dragon Disciples when leveling them up. Not sure if it's bug or the description is not saying how many uses you get (says once per day) [Intended, description will be fixed by Beta 8]
2. - When using Stonefist and the saving throw is failed, it shows the message "You don't remember Aldeth's brother, most interesting" [Fixed]
3. - Black Dragon breath doesn't do anything. No effect or damage [Fixed]
4. - Polymorph self has an empty icon in the cast spell list  [Fixed as of Beta 4]
5. - Invalid quick slot items error happening with Green Dragon Disciple too when leveling up [Unknown cause, likely harmless]
6. - Chromatic Orb seems to do no damage on save success at level 11 [Fixed as of Beta 4]
7. - I haven't the faintest clue how this happened, but while testing in SoD, leveling up Dorn gave him 33 proficiency points (and he did not get the base 1 proficiency point in everything either). EDIT: It seems to happen if a character receives any amount of XP while they are at level 0 with 0 XP. I tried with Khalid, he had 2 XP for some reason and got 34 proficiency points. [Fixed]
8. - NPCs can't die until you level them up to the end goal level, I assume by design? [Fixed]

As a suggestion,  would you consider changing the projectile for Green Dragon Disciples breath attack, seems a bit underwhelming visually and functionally (small cone). How about something like spitting a Cloudkill type effect that last for 2 rounds, doing heavy damage?
If I remember correctly, that's what green dragons do, they spit poisonous gas. Other options that occurred to me were recoloring other projectiles like Cone of Cold's or the Red Dragon's...

And speaking about poison, a feat to increase Poison Damage much like Spirit of Flame could be interesting... If anything so it can compete with the others damage-wise (even if damage options are limited). [Concentrated poison feat added as of Beta 8 - But deprecated in Beta 9 ]

Edited May 1 by RoyalProtector

[DavidW]

Thanks again. Your testing framework is impressive!

[RoyalProtector]

Thanks,  maybe because I'm a developer in real life, testing is one of my fortes, I guess! Too bad I can't help with technical issues and code. Alas, my notions of WeiDu are basic.

[RoyalProtector]

Okay, one last report, tested in SoD. After this, I'll head over to BG2EE and see what I can find there

1. - Stronheart Halfling description states twice (in different ways) that they have one extra proficiency point [Fixed]
2. - Ghostwise Halfling line about rage should start capitalized [Fixed]
3. -Half-orcs do not get HP bonuses. [Fixed]
4. - Force of personality doesn't seem to work. I started off with a bounty hunter ghostwise halfling with 10 WIS and 18 CHA and had a +2 penalty to Spells, both before and after acquiring the feat (and resting, for good measure) [Fixed]
5. - The description of WISDOM refers to the monk AC bonuses by inappropriately referring to "you" instead of "them". Seemed odd to me since the rest is impersonal. (It's also mentioned twice in the description -- I feel like the first instance should probably be deleted) [Fixed]
6. - The description of constitution mentions how it affects hit points twice, becoming redundant. [Fixed]
7. - I was also still able to replicate the issue of asking to select difficulty before venturing forth by clicking on biography. Not yet sure how to replicate reliably. I just made a Wild Elf Barbarian, nothing special. [Seems to be fixed]
8. - The description of Barbarian indicates that they can get 5 pips on weapons (I thought it was odd, but maybe I'm wrong), but in the game, they can only get 2 at most, as per vanilla (seems odd anyway since Paladins and Blackguards can get 3 in my configuration). [Fixed]
9. - I doubled checked and the insane amount of proficiency points issue happens when they get XP before setting them up from level 0. [Fixed]
10. EDIT: Shouldn't charisma include Blackguards in the description? [Fixed]
11. EDIT: I created a Blade with 3 pips in two-weapon style, and picked ambidexterity. I held two basic longswords, but the THAC0 was 4 and 5, and not the 4 and 4 I was expecting. [Fixed]

 

Edited May 1 by RoyalProtector

[RoyalProtector]

Just a couple of observations when I was testing a few unrelated things:

1. Faerie Fire (Avenger) seems to work but in daylight it says "Faerie Fire is ineffective in daylight". However, nothing in documentation explains this, and I don't think it malfunctioned in any way. [Fixed]
2. Strength of Stone doesn't work. That is, STR is not modified. Additionally, the description states that it's a caster-only spell, but it is not, you can cast it on others. [Fixed]
3. Baby Wyverns poison is actually 5 poison damage per second, and not the advertised 1 poison damage per second. [Fixed]
4. Looked more into Winter Wolf Icy Breath (fixed in previous post regardless): the spell only works on enemies (neutral or friendlies are not affected in any way), and the spell has no special effect when cast, and it is not a cone of cold as described either, it only affects one target. [Fixed]
5. Maybe I'm missing something but maybe there's no point in disabling quickslots while shapeshifted? Because you can use everything there from the inventory menu. [Fixed]

I would also like to note that in many ways, the "upgrade" of the Avenger from Hunting Spider to Sword Spider is a downgrade, because they lose the poison, and poison is generally very powerful.  [Fixed] (Speaking for myself, I would have said no, if upgrade was a choice). Unless this is a mistake and they're supposed to just do 2d4 damage as per the description (in which case, I would consider this form worse than all the others, barring immunity to web which could be useful in a small handful of situations). But then, the wyvern would overlap with spiders in features, although I think the Wyvern is better in every way, except APR.

Speaking of this, can I ask how this interacts with SCS? If I remember correctly, Shapeshifting in SCS is handled through "tokens" you can equip like weapons. Just wondering how these two mods work together... I haven't tested it because SCS takes quite a while to install and for now I have enough just testing this one.

Edited March 8 by RoyalProtector