Shar-Teel killed *again*, dang it

[cmorgan]

Well, so far, DavidW and Macready have both had the same reaction as I have -- it stinks, but is something pretty universal to Tutu. I guess the logic could be:

 

a. SharTeel (BG1 original) often was met as a L1 character, and had a good chance of dying in combat if a party wailed on her. For whatever reason, BioWare developers didn't stage a true duel, but put it so the party could go hostile (otherwise it would be a cutscene or something). Therefore, technically it isn't truly a "bug", but more ov a stinky oversight.

 

b. EasyTutu tries not to mess with Tutu except to correct true "bugs", so it isn't Macready's.

 

c. SCS actively modifies the creature to make sure that the L0 part is covered, but ends up pretty much equalizing to original BG1/Tutu, in which a. happens. DavidW could add it if he feels it helps his mod, but it is not core to SCS's mission, which is tactical challenge. Nothing much more challenging than trying NOT to kill the lady you have a large sword pointed at who is aiming to clobber you -- ask any Coast-Guard officer what the difference between a Marine and a CG officer is, and I expect the reply will be "Marines are trained to kill. We have to train twice as hard to NOT kill." So, it might be ok for SCS to consider that part of the tactical challenge.

 

d. BG1 NPC actively aims to not mess with "developer's intent", but in several places we adjust original behavior to allow NPC interactions to take place, so this falls squarely in our category. BG1 NPC assumes that someone installing the mod is looking to increase interactions, and chunking Shar-Teel, well, that sure doesn't leave much room for conversation . I have added this to the invisible core fixes, along with the "Make Tazok Killable" component. Unfortunately, the side effect is that Shar-teel will always survive the fight. I am ok with imposing this difficulty (WizWom pointed out recently quite correctly in another post, the choice is the player's to install the mod, and not all mods are for everyone).

 

e. Tutufix deals with bug repair, so it shouldn't go there.

 

what is left?

 

f. BG2 Tweaks: perhaps this falls in the category of "tweak". I will ask on the BG2 Tweas side.

[CamDawg]

There are two issues here. It seems that Shar-Teel is not spawning at the levels dictated by npclevel.2da--i.e. you should only encounter level 1 Shar-Teel if the party is at level 1 or 2 which, given her location, is extremely unlikely. If that's the case it's a bug and should be handled by Tutufix.

 

The monhp1 issue is not strictly a bug fix, but I don't see why it would fall outside of the domain of any of the mods mentioned--SCS, BG1 NPC, or Tweaks.

[DavidW]

There are two issues here. It seems that Shar-Teel is not spawning at the levels dictated by npclevel.2da--i.e. you should only encounter level 1 Shar-Teel if the party is at level 1 or 2 which, given her location, is extremely unlikely. If that's the case it's a bug and should be handled by Tutufix.

 

The monhp1 issue is not strictly a bug fix, but I don't see why it would fall outside of the domain of any of the mods mentioned--SCS, BG1 NPC, or Tweaks.

 

I don't have a problem incorporating it as an SCS component. (I just wanted to check that this was a feature request, not a bug report!)

[berelinde]

Definitely a feature request on my end. After all, it might be inconvenient, but it isn't a bug.

[cmorgan]

OK, setting this up as a tweak at the end of install along with Jason Comptons Banter Accellerator and the Wait at an Inn and Move components. berelinde, and anyone who is interested (especially those of you who are playtesters who want to see the results of your work) a new internal version "chevalier3.rar" is available at the usual download site in about 1 hour. It successfully installs on BGT, seems to work, and incorporates the latest fixes and all of the proofread tra's. While it might install over the current Beta2, I would suggest sticking to regular protocol and doing the uninstall/reinstall/start new game thing, as it will make for less potential problems Have a happy weekend tearing it apart!

[berelinde]

Heh, heh, heh. I can break anything.

[cmorgan]

oh blast - just uploaded ti, but SharTeel was still in core fixes. Don't download yet...

[cmorgan]

OK, the latest beta is up on the internals -- "chevalier3.rar". No-Kill Shar-Teel is now a Tweak added into BG1 NPC. I'm off to try to figure out a good solution to Dynaheir's cutscene.