any mods that change XP gained learning new spells?

[Guest John]

I'd like to know if there is a mod out there that either

1. reduces the amount of XP awarded when a mage learns a new spell,

2. restricts the XP only to the mage learning the spell or

3. eliminates the XP altogether.

 

If there is one, how compatible is it with the WeiDu-type mods offered here at G3 and thru PPG?

 

Thanks.

 

John

[Azazello]

Ding0 Experience Fixer

 

The only mod that readily reduces xp percentages. Install it at the very bottom of your list o' mods (it's OK to install before Yacomo's Worldmap). It's compatiable - just ignore various errors that occur during installation.

 

"John", it's time for you to register.

[Doune]

I can offer you something for option 3. (And it's very compatible with those "WeiDu-type mods" because it was written by one of the WeiDu ninjas over at PPG.)

 

According to its readme the Ding0 Experience Fixer (DEF JAM) contains the "option for 0 XP rewards for learning spells".

 

It can be found on PPG - House of Sim.

 

 

Hope this helps!

 

Folkert

[igi]

iiTweak contains a component to eliminate the XP gain for scribing spells to the spell-book.

 

http://www.teambg.eu/memberpages/igi/mods/...iitweak(05).zip

 

A later revision will probably allow a custom value to be entered.

[Miloch]

Is either mod (iiTweak or DEF JAM) Tutu-compatible or just for BG2? If Tutu, we can them to our list of compatible mods.

 

N.B.: In testing, only v5 of Yacomo's Worldmap is Tutu-compatible. The latest v6.3 causes crashes to desktop when loading a game or starting a new one. I've raised this to SHS but no one yet has a resolution.

[SimDing0]

DEF JAM should be compatible with pretty much anything. I know the BGT folks are recommending it as a staple part of the install.

[igi]

The xp-for-learning-spells component of iiTweak should be compatible with Tutu.

[Miloch]

The xp-for-learning-spells component of iiTweak should be compatible with Tutu.

Looks like you have some other mods out there:

> Projectile Retrieval

> Learn Through Use

> Spell Refresh

> Key Names

 

Are these BG1/Tutu-compatible or just for BG2/IWD or something else?

 

Thanks for the info,

-Miloch

[igi]

> Projectile Retrieval

> Learn Through Use

> Spell Refresh

> Key Names

 

They should all theoretically be Tutu compatable, except maybe Learn Through Use.

I don't have tutu or BGT installed at the moment, so I can't check. If you try any of my mods out in tutu/BGT, let me know how it turns out, and if oyu do turn up any issues, I'll take a look at them.

[Guest John]

Just wanted to say thanks for the info. I've d/l both mods (SimDing0's and igi's) to check out.

 

BTW, to the questions about which game my question dealt with, it was BG2, but it's good to know the suggested mods can be used in Tutu..

[Miloch]

They should all theoretically be Tutu compatable, except maybe Learn Through Use.

I don't have tutu or BGT installed at the moment, so I can't check. If you try any of my mods out in tutu/BGT, let me know how it turns out, and if oyu do turn up any issues, I'll take a look at them.

Ok, tested all of your mods in EasyTutu. Sorry for hijacking the original thread but I wanted to finish up here before transferring the results to our compatibility thread.

 

> iiTweak

All components install except the following:

- No Item Stat Requirements

- Zero Weight Items

These generate the error (Failure("IPLOT01K.ITEM: write out of bounds")). I assume this is simply due to item differences between BG1 and BG2. If you don't feel like going through all of BG1 just to make these two components compatible, no big deal, we can flag it compatible with those exceptions like we've done for other mods. I didn't exhaustively test every single component in this mod since there are quite a few, but those I did look at seemed to work fine (e.g. starting gold, no racial requirements, fully explored areas, etc.). If there are any particular components you may have doubts about translating, let me know and I'll look into them further.

 

> iiKeyNames

Installs successfully... but are there keys in BG1? And if it's intended for BG2 would it touch those?

 

> iiLearnThroughUse

Installs successfully in EasyTutu. Has a few glitches. Works for most melee weapons and thrown weapons (darts anyhow) but not bows/crossbows (I set the "gain" rate quite low to test... 1, 3, 5 etc.). One character who was using an axe said to have gained "axe sword" proficiency - actually ended up with two axe proficiences (was not dual wielding either, if that matters). Some characters wielding short sword also ended up with small sword proficiency - may have to do with differences between BG1 & BG2 proficiency systems? Though I thought Tutu uses the BG2 system by default... There are mods that change the proficiency system so I'm not sure how they'd interact with this mod (haven't cross-tested them as yet). Also not sure how other proficiencies are handled (if at all) such as two-weapon fighting etc.

 

I quite like the concept of this mod - it makes sense you should get better at weapons you actually *use* not ones you simply *choose*. My only suggestion on the install would be to have recommended values to gain each proficiency. Offhand, I don't know what these should be, but they should be quite high I would think (and get higher for each notch of proficiency).

 

> iiProjectileRetrieval

Installs fine. Somewhat erratic in testing, at least initially. Set bolt retrieval to 90% but didn't retrieve any bolts until about the 4th or 5th monster I killed. Then it seemed fairly normal though the actual recovery may have been a bit less. Also noticed the recovered bolts had perhaps a different property than normal bolts as I couldn't add them to my (depleted) stack. This also happens for stolen items, for what it's worth.

 

> iiSpellRefresh

Installs and tests fine from what I can tell. Some spells seem to function strangely after this but that might just be my imagination, since I'm not a huge spellcaster normally. It should just affect the refresh rate, not the actual spell workings, right?

[igi]

Thanks for your work, Miloch

 

iiTweak

As I remember, iiTweak was developed to work on all engines (components that don't work for the game you're installing on are automatically skipped), obviously the testing missed a few things though

I suspect the errors you encountered are easy to fix, so the next release will have them fixed

 

iiKeyNames

I don't recall keys in BG1 (but I barely recall them in BG2 - I don't play that often). I have vague recollections that the BG1 engine treats key items differently in any case (they are not automatically removed, I think).

However, I can say for that that using the BG1 engine the mod will not work (it relies on scripting actions only available in the BG2 engine), though it should work fine for Tutu.

 

iiLearnThroughUse

I'll look into the bow issue

The 'Axe Sword' issue is a known one (this is only version 1! ).

I'll have to check the short sword/small sword - BG1 does have a different proficiency system, and I'm nut sure how Tutu combines the BG1 and BG2 systems.

 

My only suggestion on the install would be to have recommended values to gain each proficiency. Offhand, I don't know what these should be, but they should be quite high I would think (and get higher for each notch of proficiency).

 

Yeah, nice idea. Any suggestions as to actual values? I guess if someone played through the game and noted how many hits they got, I could work out an average progression rate, failing that I'll just have to make something up

 

iiProjectileRetrieval

If it works at all, it should work completely. I'd just guess the engine was messing with you, 90% is not 100% after all

The recovered items should be fine though. I wonder if Tutu uses different 'standard' items - actually, I don't wonder, I know it does. I'll code in a Tutu check for the next release and see if creating different items works better.

 

iiSpellRefresh

It should just affect the refresh rate.

Again, I doubt this will work BG1, as it relies on opcodes only present in the BG2 engine, but Tutu should be fine.

[Miloch]

Any suggestions as to actual values? I guess if someone played through the game and noted how many hits they got, I could work out an average progression rate, failing that I'll just have to make something up

Yeah... I would prefer to use some sort of algorithm rather than taking a shot in the dark. Like take an average foe like a hobgoblin, take its max HP, figure out how many hits to kill it (let's say an average "hit" = maybe 4-5 points of damage). Then figure the xp value for the hobgoblin and how many hits/kills/levels it would take you to gain a proficiency in normal rules (though this varies by class - see table below). Math isn't my strong point though.

 

Warriors (Fighters, Paladins, Rangers, Barbarians) start with 4 proficiency points and gain 1 every level that is divisible by 3: level 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, etc. (Rangers start with 2 extra points in 2-weapon style.)

 

Priests (Clerics, Druids and Monks) and Rogues (Thieves and Bards) start with 2 proficiency points and gain 1 every level that is divisible by 4: levels 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40.

 

Wizards (Mages, Wild Mages, Specialty Mages and Sorcerers) start with 1 proficiency point and gain 1 every level that is divisible by 6: levels 6, 12, 18, 24 and 30.

I got this from frabjous on the Bioware forum... not sure where he got it from but I think it's solid for BG1/Tutu and BG2. It makes sense to make it easier for fighters to gain weapon proficiencies and tougher for mages, regardless of how often they use the weapons in question, due to their professions.

[Miloch]

DEF JAM should be compatible with pretty much anything. I know the BGT folks are recommending it as a staple part of the install.

Ok, tested this in Tutu too (gods that sounds bad... )

 

Good news: all components install and appear functional in game.

 

Bad news: generates a whole horde of typo, syntax and parsing errors. I believe these all hit in the Quest XP Reduction subcomponent. Rather than enumerate them here, I've uploaded the log here for your perusal to see if any of them are meaningful (just grep it for typo, syntax, etc.).

 

For what it's worth, the SoA Starting XP Reduction/ToB Starting XP Reduction components will install, but obviously aren't relevant for Tutu (maybe should be auto-detected and auto-skipped? No big deal if not...).

 

Also generated the post-install error: "Cannot find the file 'xpmod\ReadMe' (or one of its components)." The file (in English) is actually ReadMe - Ding0 Experience Fixer.txt. You might need to get rid of spaces or convert them to underscores or dashes.

 

Will cross-post this on the PPG Sim forum. I think I read there someone's observation that this mod affects only the PC's experience gain, not NPCs in the party - is this still true? If so, it might cause some uncomfortable balancing issues...