DavidW

I'm also interested by kit revision, it would be very interesing as current kits are seriously imbalanced.

 

I know it might take some time for SR v4 but I trust you are that kind of modder that won't just suddenly disappear from the scene, leaving his projects incomplete. You might take some time but in the end you deliver. Thanks for that.

 

I feel targeted by your description lol.

Personally, I'm totally relaxed about being the kind of modder who might disappear at any minute . We don't get paid for this, after all. That's why I don't usually announce projects until they're finished (IWD-in-BG2 is a bit of an exception on both counts, since it's a collaborative effort.)

Comments in this thread would be easiest, to be honest, though I can cope with pdf.

As we inch towards something actually releasable, here are draft readmes for the converter and the Fixpack/Tweakpack.

Updated to mention that Kulyok's mod is now IWD-in-BG2 compatible.

Updated the list.

As a gesture towards being open-source, I thought I'd try to keep the actual sourcecode for IWD-in-BG2 somewhere accessible.

Unless you are seriously interested in how IWD-in-BG2 works, READ NO FURTHER. This version is not relevant even for people who want to help test the mod.

IWD-in-BG2 works like this. (It's not far off how BGTUTU works.)

1) start with a copy of BG2, with the IWD-in-BG2 folder as a subfolder.

2) run the get_iwd_resources batch file. Cam wrote this, and I've lightly modified it. It grabs all the IWD resources from an install of IWD and dumps them somewhere accessible. It also uses BGT voodoo I don't understand to convert the tilesets to be BG2-friendly.

3) run setup-iwd_in_bg2 as a weidu mod. (I haven't packaged a copy of weidu, so you need to add a local one) and install all components.

It's also helpful to think of setup-iwd_in_bg2 as having several components:

(a) the core contents of setup-iwd_in_bg2.tp2, which do most of the processing. The early part of this was based on Cam's version but most of it is mine.

(b) the convert_pro macro. This converts projectiles to the BG2 format. Nythrun wrote the core, I added various bells and whistles.

© the david_itm_spl macro. This converts the spells and items - it's based on Cam's original macro but it's been fairly heavily modified and expanded.

As well as actually running the conversion, setup-iwd_in_bg2 creates (via component 10000) a list of all IWD resources that are simply copied over, as well as where they're copied to and (in a few cases) what they're renamed to.

The actual version of IWD-in-BG2 I distribute is actually more like EasyTUTU than BG1TUTU. It contains a copy of every file modified by setup-iwd_in_bg2: that is, it contains the override directory (prior to that directory being biffed by component 5000 of setup-iwd_in_bg2), and the folders iwd_in_bg2/biff/X, where X=gen_cre, X=dv_cre, or X=cre_ini. It also contains the above list of files to copy over.

When the distributed version runs, it clones a new copy of BG2 and then copies over all required IWD resources, as specified in the list. Then it dumps the modified files into the relevant places. Finally, it runs those few components of setup-iwd_in_bg2 that aren't replicated by the above process (the most obvious one is the animation converter).

In any case, the sourcecode is here for anyone interested. I say again, REALLY only look if you want to poke around in the code. This is a copy of my local version; it isn't even tested as working elsewhere.

To generate the executable, you have to run the sourcecode version and install all components except 1000 and 5000. Then you need to use the results to update the executable. (It should be fairly self-explanatory from the executable how to do this; basically, copy over setup-iwd_in_bg2.tp2, override, gen_cre, and biff-file-list.2da.)

Unfortunately the sourcecode for versions 3, 5 and 6 is lost. (It's faintly possible someone other than me has a copy of the v5 sourcecode; let me know, if so. 3 and 5 are permanently lost as a consequence of bad backup habits on my part.) I can supply the sourcecode for version 4 on request; for versions 1 and 2 there is no distinction between sourcecode and executable.

The systematic changes are:

- a revised algorithm for handling death variables that doesn't choke on over-long creature names

- a partial reversion to an older way of handling hidden creatures, as the new way doesn't work very well in multi-player games

- correction of a typo which was preventing random treasure appearing in chests

- correction of a mismap of scripts that was causing various creatures (e.g. Therik) to wipe their own scripts

- removal of the ability for creatures to run between areas (this was causing large numbers of bugs)

- shift to the Infinity Animations method of handling creature animations (among other benefits, this significantly decreases install time, as animations now install in 2 minutes rather than 45.)

- upgrade to the latest version of ToBEx

- correction of a typo in the script compiler that was preventing some creatures (e.g. Mother Egenia) from resetting their location

- some general tweaking of the GUI

Complete(ish) changelog:

- rebuilt local version of v6 from Easyv6, Cam's fixpack and local v5 (sigh)

- fixed typo that was preventing random loot appearing in containers

- tweaked the character generation GUI to look better

- cone of cold's projectiles worked fine in the main converter but weren't being copied over to the Easy version

- edited the strings used at character generation for specialist mages to match the actual UI

- reverted Blindness to 1st level, so that illusionists can actually select a first-level spell and get off the CG screen

- identified and rectified a systematic error in the mapping of ChangeCurrentScript(), based on a mislabelling of Actor scripts in ARE files by NI.

- fixed a vanilla-game problem where Therik didn't initiate conversation if you returned to AR3301.

- added hand-management of random ammunition, since the automated method doesn't handle multiple items well.

- fixed a bug in sound conversion that wasn't mapping creatures random "twitch" sounds over properly.

- opcode 59 (stealth) now boosts both Move Silently and Hide In Shadows.

- corrected glitch in vanilla IWD that was preventing Hold Monster's icon from being visible in the conversion.

- Flozem now reliably drops his inventory (fix to dflozem.dlg).

- We now map ForceHide() to an autocasting of silent invisibility, rather than the unreliable Hide().

- Fixed a dialog bug where Valestis only wanted 3 items to brighten the arboretum. (It's inexplicable to me how the original ever worked - but it did.)

- Caught still more XPVar strings that the converter was missing.

- slightly tweaked the logic of Cam's OnIsland() workaround.

- Greater Werewolf is now immune to normal weapns (vanilla IWD bug).

- Fixed an error in the .ini converter, which inter alia was preventing Hobart from appearing.

- Faked the hard-coded "spawn Hobart" global variable which IWD sets on start.

- sped up the go-see-Wylfdene cutscene, so the camera keeps up with the player

- made sure Angaar ends up in the right place

- replaced "2haxe" with "i#axe", since items beginning with a number are hard-coded to be replaced with gold.

- fixed typos that stopped the "close Luremaster tower staircases" fix from working.

- Luremaster Keep temple of Helm added to the list of areas where an area transition needs to be disabled.

- added a fix for the area transition in AR9701 (cloned from the AR9703 transition and pasted into the v5-residual component. Yes, this is structurally inelegant; so sue me).

- the auto-generated variables used in the .ini file converter were longer than 32 characters in a couple of cases (leading, notably, to the continuously spawning jellies in AR9707).

- While IWD Hidden() creatures can initiate dialog, BG2 Deactivate()d creatures can't. We work around this for the Magic Mouth.

- Some old code was trying to "fix" a few minimaps which now work fine, and was just breaking them (this was causing crashes in AR8004, AR8005, AR9601, AR9711 and AR9712).

- Death variables are no longer illegally set to >32 characters

- druids can now revert to natural form (the "natural form" shapeshift had been omitted from the list in the "Characters" component)

- most (not quite all) exits are now NPC-impassible (the other way around is breaking far too much)

- moved Cam's item description fix to be run as part of Easy install, since it edits dialog.tlk

- shifted the animation converter to use Infinity Animations technology

- ice golems in Icasaracht's Temple now go hostile if party attempt to pass them

- ice golems now have correct foot circle.

- worked around the awkward foot-circle size for olive slimes (slimes no longer overlap; slimes that can't fit through doors get replaced with zombies)

- fixed a slight glitch in the conversion of opcode 67 (inter alia, this was stopping the Icas. gem from summoning vodyanoi)

- rewritten Icas. combat and cutscene scripts to avoid various glitches

- slight improvement to script replacements: we now (try to) identify MoveToObject([PC]) commands that are supposed to work when the player isn't in sight

- the manually-changed version of D4INFMOV predated the general mapping of MoveToObject([PC][0.0.10000.10000]) to MoveToObject(Player1)

- the transition from the Sea of Moving Ice back to Kuldahar now works more smoothly

- sorted out some glitches with Bandoth's use of spells in combat

- small tweaks to the range of the Zombie Lord Aura effect

- tweaked the gui and ToBEx settings for mutual compatibility

- disabled the ToBEx Arena mode by default

- disabled the tutorial (which crashes the game). [The tutorial button cannot be disabled, but it can be made invisible, and if pressed anyway, it just explains that the tutorial is unavailable.)

- worked around the fact that in multiplayer games, the savegame does not seem to store information on deactivated creatures

- tweaked the start-of-game screen to warn players to play in single-player mode where possible

- players no longer gain Slayer Change in expansion-only games

- fixed a vanilla bug whereby a snow troll in AR7002 gets no script (this was invisible in IWD because he starts hidden)

- fixed a little glitch in Cam's version of the AR9603 search map.

- tidied up the Easy installer process a bit.

- installer hopefully now handles a directory with spaces in as the destination folder for the conversion.

Version 7.13 of the Fixpack/Tweakpack is available here.

Changelog:

v7.13

• Avengers now restricted from studded leather
  
• Shield (via spell or item) now protects against Magic Missile
  
• Various innates (such as druidic shapeshifting) weren't working since they were set as level 0 spells
  
• Fixed a bug with the trial involving trapped chests in TotL
  
• Fixed bug with Damien spamming help stringheads in Easthaven
  
• Fixed a pair of creature soundsets
  
• Fixed bug with Souls not casting Shadow Pact in the Severed Hand
  
• HLAs are no longer available
  
• Began import of fixes from the latest IWD Fixpack; this should be complete when the mainline mod hits v8
  

v7.12

• Entrance to the Watchknight's crypt is now correctly locked.
  
• Purvis no longer crashes the game
  
• tightened some of the difficulty-dependent code that determines which enemies show up in the Luremaster's Keep
  
• Fixed (properly this time?) the bug in the Amulet of Black Ice
  
• Oswald's necklace of missiles now has >1 charge
  

v7.11

• Wylfdene's death animation no longer causes a CTD
  
• Angaar no longer disappears from the gate after your first conversation with Wylfdene.
  
• Everyone now starts with a staff
  
• Non-hostile wailing virgins should no longer be encountered
  
• On-island detector now works correctly for parties of <6
  
• On-island detector creature is now hidden (no more unlabelled neutral creature near Hjollder on the BI)
  
• Stairs in AR9701 are now accessible from the bottom
  
• Moved the spectral guards in AR9711 onto the new hidden-creature system
  
• Corrected a logic error in the transcription of CheckAveragePartyLevel (this was causing various TotLM hostiles to vanish if the party was too high level!)
  
• Rakshasa/Hobart scene now plays correctly
  
• Djinni now appears more promptly
  
• Blast skeleton in Watchknight Crypt is no longer visible through the wall when you enter.
  
• Fixed vanilla bug with Mirror of Black Ice Amulet: it now protects against wands.
  
• AR9700 rhinoceros beetle no longer stands around looking stupid.
  
• Various wands etc that were single-use are now multiple-use (I think this was actually a vanilla-game bug.)
  
• Traps in AR9705 test of courage now work correctly.
  
• Stone nuisances now correctly produce 5 magic missiles per casting
  
• Defeating the luremaster no longer displays a "0 XP" message
  
• It's now possible to sleep in AR1109 even if Old Jed is asleep
  
• Cloudburst no longer causes crashes
  
• Mage/thieves can now use light crossbows
  
• Wylfdene/Seer face-off now looks prettier
  
• Edion's ring now works correctly.
  
• ToBEx updated to v23
  

v7.10

• Corrected the new critical bug where Lysan does appear, but doesn't speak. (Sigh.)
  
• Prevented duplicate Flozems from appearing.
  
• Worked around the problem with Ice Storm being applied multiple times (at the cost of removing the graphic)
  
• Fixed the Arboretum dialog so that Valestis acknowledges when the Arboretum is fully restored.
  
• Properly fixed Kontik's ring.
  

v7.09

• Corrected the critical bug where Lysan doesn't appear (caused by a slip in the new spawn-hidden-creatures code)
  
• Moved the dying version of Arundel onto the new spawning method
  
• Fixed a scattering of bugs in Recitation, Prayer, and Chant
  
• Provided a BG2 version of WTASIGHT to allow summons from BG2 to fight correctly (the tiny number of IWD creatures using IWD wtasight get their own version)
  
• Water elementals no longer stutter
  
• Terikan's reappearance should now work correctly
  
• A few creatures (notably, skeleton archers in Terikan's tomb) should now get the right quantity of arrows
  
• New tweakpack component: BG2-style journal entries (this is definitely a work in progress, but it's a start)
  

v7.08:

• Recoded many of the creatures that spawn in so as to use the BG2 spawn-from-area-script method, rather than the IWD activate-hidden-creature method. A probably-non-exhaustive list of modified creatures is: everything in Lysan's cave; the orogs and townspeople in the Kuldahar attack; the spirit animals and wailing virgins on the Burial Isle; the hidden umber hulks in the collapsing buildings; the yuan-ti mages who spawn behind Yxunomei; the squirrel Easter Egg in post-invasion Easthaven; the versions of Hrothgar and Arundel who deliver a smackdown if you kill commoners. This hopefully will mean a big improvement in spawn behaviour, fixing the various glitches and slowdowns. Feedback and testing requested.
  
• Fixed Death Fog. (It still doesn't work quite correctly: it does a flat 2d8 damage per round, not the increasing amounts in the spell description. This is unlikely to change any time soon.)
  
• removed Malavon's Corrosive Fog from the sorcerer spell list. (It's clearly an NPC-only spell, with no icon or description.)
  
• changed the method of removal of BG2 spells to use ToBEx's externalisation rather than setting them to L10. (This is unlikely to have any in-game-visible effects but it's more stable and plays better with other mods.)
  
• restricted first level characters so as not to be able to put more than two stars into any proficiency; coded (but not yet documented) a tweaks component to restore original behaviour.
  
• restricted sorcerers to 2 9th level spells, as that's all that there are. (This is reverted if you install the BG2 spellset).
  
• stopped imposing the SoA (2.95M XP) experience cap.
  
• switched off the broken files (iplot, xr2400 etc) that confuse NI and some tweakpack components.
  
• Given Nym an attack script. (I'm not actually sure how he attacked in IWD, but never mind.)
  
• given sorcerers and monks some starting gold.
  
• restored the missing translocation arrows in Dragons Eye L5.
  
• restored the DRAW_UPON_HOLY_MIGHT state entry (this has no direct in-game impact but will probably help with compatibility)
  

v7.07:

• Sorted out a rather tangled mess I'd made of Blindness/Spook, which inter alia caused savegame corruption if you tried to learn Blindness
  

v7.06:

• Monster Summoning VII is no longer set to 9th level (this could break the game if you tried to learn it).
  

v7.05:

• the patch for randomly generated arrows wasn't correctly modifying skeleton archers; this could cause crashes. We now modify them correctly. (Will not fix skeletons in areas you've already been to.)
  
• skeletons are now strong enough to use their own weapons (vanilla game issue)
  
• skeleton archers now start off with their bows equipped (cosmetic issue really)
  
• Malavon's Minor Globe of Invulnerability isn't visible until he is
  

v7.04:

• fixed an animation bug caused by (my failure to understand) Infinity Animations. (Inter alia, this fixes the ar8012 crash.)
  
• Kontik's ring now works properly
  
• Flozem now reacts to the death of Fleezum in an appropriately fraternal way
  
• Lysan's ability to freeze things no longer extends to the game
  

v7.03:

• unscrambled the description strings for crossbows (scrambled by an error in putting together the distributed version of the converter)
  
• fixed (I hope) the glitches with starting hit points
  
• corrected the a GUI anomaly in multi-player play (the button for arbitration was sometimes incorrectly labelled)
  
• marked a couple of NPC components in the tweakpack as requiring the main NPC component
  

v7.02:

• Fixed a glitch in the Blindness scroll (this showed up in-game, if you installed "restore BG2 spells", as a blank item in Orrick's shop)
  
• Added Miloch's fixed sahuagin crossbow animation (obviating my workaround)
  
• Unbroke the code that converts BitGlobal (broken by David in adapting v7 to modern WEIDU compilation)
  
• Fixed a small bug that stopped the music changing when you find the Gloomfrost Seer
  

v7.01:

• Fixed a couple of glitches on the map GUI that may - or again, may not - have something to do with the intermittent map crashes.
  
• Paladin innate abilities should now be useable
  
• Boring Beetles no longer look like Mariliths(!) [nb: this won't work for areas you've already visited]
  
• Certain mummies no longer have broken animations (I don't think anyone's encountered this yet, but it's a consequence of the same bug that broke the beetles)
  

Version 7 of Icewind-Dale-in-Baldur's-Gate-II, a conversion project to play IWD in the BG2 engine, is now available. This is a joint project, mostly by CamDawg and myself with lots of community help.

I am cautiously optimistic that version 7 is recreationally playable, but it's definitely still a beta. Basically all the bugs noticed in testing version 6 are now fixed, but there will no doubt still be others lurking.

You can download the mod here. (Be warned: it's about 20 MB.) To install:

1. Ensure that you're running Windows (the mod doesn't work for Mac or *nix)
   
2. Ensure that you have a full (and preferably unmodded) install of BG2, including ToB, and with the latest patch
   
3. Ensure that you have a full (and preferably unmodded) install of IWD, including both Heart of Winter and Trials of the Luremaster (the converter doesn't work without both)
   
4. Run the mod executable (preferably as an administrator or with UAC turned off, if you're on Vista or later) and enter a new directory for the mod to be installed in
   
5. After a minute or two, you will be prompted to enter the path of your BG2 install; do so
   
6. After another minute or two, you will be prompted to enter the path of your IWD install; do so
   
7. Go and have a coffee or something, as the rest of the install process will take fifteen minutes or so
   
8. Look downthread and download and run the latest version of the fixpack/tweakpack
   
9. Run the game by running BGMain.exe, in your IWD-in-BG2 directory.[/font][/color]
   

Note that if you want to create more than one character yourself (rather than playing with the basic NPCs included in the fixpack/tweakpack, or with Kulyok's Icewind Dale NPC mod), you should

1. save immediately after starting the game
   
2. move your savegame folder from the MPSAVE folder to the SAVES folder
   
3. reload your savegame in single-player mode
   

You should be able to use the widescreen mod with IWD-in-BG2; you should also probably be able to use Kulyok's Icewind Dale NPC mod and CamDawg's IWD Item Upgrade and IWD Unfinished Business mods. Other mods that introduce kits and tweaks may also work, but are at own risk currently.

Download the latest version

View the readme

View the project pages

Looking at the video, I believe Stworca is using "Fiends cast as normal wizards" option, which isn't recommended as many of their abilities such as Fire Storm, Symbol Stun and Blade Barrier have a long casting time and are easy to interrupt, considering most fiends lack defensive buffs.

I agree. (I still don't think anything actually breaks on that setting, but certainly Demo doesn't act his best.)

Btw. DavidW, I've found a more reliable way to simulate innate casting than SpellNoDec + casting speed bonus, as even spells with an alleged casting time of zero can sometimes be disrupted by damage (or silence, miscast magic effect etc.).

 

Have the creature ForceSpell() an innate (casting time 1) which does nothing but display the casting graphic/animation, then in the same block ReallyForceSpell() the actual spells - the ReallyForceSpell() action is normally carried out under timestop or disabling effects, but will not be if the creature first has to force cast another spell in the same scripting block - although ForceSpell() does seem to be possible for unconcious creatures, STATE_SLEEPING would need to be checked for.

That's very cute. (Though I'll probably delay testing it until after I've got the current version out.)

OK, so I've had a chance to check Stworca's comments now now, and it's mostly incorrect.

"Demogorgon the Pathetic starts off with a mean pre-buff, and begins casting a powerful summoning spell. If you interrupt this cast, his scripting will be ruined, and he will just melee you for the duration of the fight (bug)"

That's not correct (or at least: I can't reproduce it). I think what's going on is that , if you interrupt Demo's casting, he'll spend the next several seconds attacking you before he gets a chance to cast again. He has a very high attack rate and it can certainly look as if he's stopped doing anything else except attack. But he returns to spellcasting fairly soon.

"His stoneskins are immune to any dispel methods (cheese-o-bug)"

He uses Melissan's version of Stoneskin, which (it turns out) can be taken down by anti-spell attacks (e.g. Spellstrike) but not by Breach. But it's certainly not "immune to any dispel methods". (It's possible that some other mod was messing this up, but I think it's more likely to have been in-battle confusion).

Having said that, I don't actually like Melissan's Stoneskin, for all that it's in the vanilla game. I hadn't realised it wasn't affected by Breach but was by anti-spell; now I do, I'll probably tweak it for the next version.

"He does not begin the fight with time-stop, he should - written in the script (bug)"

It is written in the script, but it's intentionally disabled (I thought it was a bit too difficult). You can re-enable it at the console; it's documented.

"His scripting can be.. brace yourself.. dispelled (it's so buggy that it makes the other bugs look like "working as intended")"

I haven't a clue what this means. (His scripting is actually pretty simple and linear; there's not much complicated going on beyond general SCS melee code.)

Fair enough. The Ascension version of Demogorgon is identical to the vanilla one except for (i) his script; (ii) his hit points. If you install "Improved Fiends" from SCSII, that overrides the script. If you also install "Give Fiends more Staying Power" from SCSII, that overrides the hit points (from 390 to 400, iirc).

So don't bother with Ascension unless you want Demogorgon, but only Demogorgon, to get more hit points.

As for Stworca's report, testing it is one of the (few) remaining things on my to-do list for SCSIIv20. I tentatively think it's a mod-interaction issue, since (a) it's pretty dramatic, and I do test these things; (b) no-one else has reported it. Still, I've made mistakes before, and that component is relatively old so may be clashing with some more-recent version.

I'm slightly confused here.

My text (emphasis added):

the Ascension "tougher Demogorgon" component is overridden by the "Improved Fiends" component of SCS II.

Your question: does SCSII enhance Ascension, or override it?

Doesn't that answer itself?

Cloud Spells

As I said, there's little I can do about them. On one hand I hope SCS AI can handle them relatively well, otoh if players want to heavily exploit them, let them do so and ruin their experience. It's not an exploit you can do "by accident", you have to purposely "cheat" to make them cheesy.

 

The only two things I can think of to limit them and maybe help the AI are:

* reducing duration to 5-6 rounds

* reducing AoE from 30' to 20'

The latter in particular may help SCS AI in quickly escape the area when doable. Let me know what do you think about it.

SCSII handles them so-so. (SCS doesn't handle them at all). It's still possible to exploit cloudkill, but it's hopefully the case that you're less likely to end up "accidentally exploiting it", as it were. (Basically, (most) creatures not otherwise engaged in melee or what-have-you will move directly away from the centre of the spell.)

Or is tactically unwise: most of my testing was with prebuff on, at least for clerics. But in any case, this isn't SR's problem as it's true in vanilla too.

Out of curiosity; do you play with prebuff option 1 for clerics and 2-3 for mages? I seem to recall quite a lot of discussions on the SCS board that clerics don't have "enough staying power" - would option 1 help noticeably (I'm considering those settings myself)?

Yes, that's my normal choice. (Wizards have enough sequencers, contingencies et al to cope without prebuffs; clerics don't.)

Wouldn't a working concentration check help in this regard? I

Probably, but that's much too radical a change for me to assume it in core SCS scripting.

Or is tactically unwise: most of my testing was with prebuff on, at least for clerics. But in any case, this isn't SR's problem as it's true in vanilla too.

Out of curiosity; do you play with prebuff option 1 for clerics and 2-3 for mages? I seem to recall quite a lot of discussions on the SCS board that clerics don't have "enough staying power" - would option 1 help noticeably (I'm considering those settings myself)?

Yes, that's my normal choice. (Wizards have enough sequencers, contingencies et al to cope without prebuffs; clerics don't.)

SCS AI casts prayer istantly during the prebuff routine, or tries to cast it during the battle effectively wasting a round so there is no middle ground.

Chant's casting time was 1 round even in vanilla, thus I assume SCS knows what it does when it uses it.

Or is tactically unwise: most of my testing was with prebuff on, at least for clerics. But in any case, this isn't SR's problem as it's true in vanilla too.

Long story short, if we are persuaded by David's arguments I'd say that having no limit to how many contingencies/triggers a mage can prepare per day is fine. After all, you are still limited by one contingency/trigger per type for each encounter anyway, and those who want to re-fill them could just sleep and re-fill them. I guess the whole point of the tweak is to simply remove the silly "sleep, prepare, sleep again routine", isn't it?

That wasn't quite what I meant. The annoyance isn't the need to sleep to regain contingencies, it's the need to mess with your spell choices, sleep, then mess with them again. I'm forever forgetting to change them back, and it's terribly faffy. (Of course, you'd want to sleep twice in general anyway, so as not to lose slots.) I don't ultimately think it's too important, but on balance I'd keep it at once/day. That also ameliorates the combat-casting issue.

Sol's searing Orb

Long story short, as long as we can do it without hurting the AI (afaik it never uses it) I'd actually remove the whole "create a weapon like item" part, and make it work much like a normal spell with a single target.

It does use it if SR is installed (as of the latest version of SCS).

Ohh, cool. Do you prefer it to remain untouched then?

For preference, yes. (Otherwise high-level priests will cast it at themselves.)

Contingencies and Triggers

Does it actually boost mages? It only makes a difference in situations which are time-critical, i.e. where resting twice isn't an option. There are few or none of those in the game.

Ok, you're right, I'll re-formulate my statement: making them innates usable at will is a huge boost for roleplayers. For all other players such tweak simply removes the annoying routine of resting twice, and implementing it actually makes both roleplayers and power players on the same ground.

 

I guess this tweak would make no difference for SCS because you already doesn't count contingencies and triggers for AI controlled mages' spell per day limit right? Thus implementing it would actually be a plus for roleplayers in this case, because they wouldn't feel "cheated" by SCS relying so much and so easily on them. Correct me if I'm wrong.

That's correct (with the proviso that I'm not sure the roleplayers should feel cheated: for most wizards in BG2 there's little reason to think that they use their sequencers every day, so chances are they last refreshed them several rests ago.)

@Ardanis, I'm not at home to check it right now, were you saying that making them innates prevents us from flagging contingencies and triggers as "not usable during combat"? I'd be pretty annoyed by this, though having them their long 1 round casting time partially makes up for it anyway.

If you really want to, get the spell to summon an invisible creature that kills or otherwise inconveniences the player if it sees enemies. (But since it's fairly obviously an exploit, you could just put "cannot be cast in combat" in the description and rely on the honour system.)

AI takes advantage of multiple Web spells? Really?

The only time is beholders, yes (since they float above webs and so are immune to them). I'm not horrified by losing the ability to do it, though.

ToBEx installation is handled automatically by SCS(II). You don't need to install ToBEx separately. (If you already have an up-to-date version of ToBEx installed, SCS(II) will just skip installing it.)

 

What if I want to install some of the optional components from ToBEx?

Then you'll need to install ToBEx itself. (Technically you could just edit the relevant .ini file, but that's probably a recipe for trouble unless you know what you're doing.

Up to which beta version of ToBEx is SCS2 installing all of the core components?

19. (But if you have a newer version, SCS2 won't overwrite it.)

Sol's searing Orb

In BG vanilla, this spell bypass protection from magical weapons. I think it could make this spell more appealing.

Actually its vanilla version doesn't bypass PfMW (the orb is considered a +6 weapon), but it bypasses Absolute Immunity (this spell really sucks in vanilla). That being said, I obviously agree it should bypass them but implementing it is kinda complicated (though doable).

 

Long story short, as long as we can do it without hurting the AI (afaik it never uses it) I'd actually remove the whole "create a weapon like item" part, and make it work much like a normal spell with a single target.

It does use it if SR is installed (as of the latest version of SCS).

Sphere of Chaos

is obvisously a powerfull spell now. (large AoE, duration, differents effects) I find this spell a bit too much powerfull. I also don't like very much the teleport field animation (this animation provide slowdown Imo ) but it's a matter of taste.

Well, the animation is a leftover of vanilla's spell, but if we prefer to remove it I'm not strictly attached to it.

It's nice to know where it is, though.

Contingencies and Triggers

On one hand I'm sympathetic to this, otoh turning them into innates usable at-will is both a drastical change to a well established PnP rule and a HUGE boost to mages, who already dominate the game!

 

I'd like to hear more opinions on this matter while I think about it myelf a little more.

Does it actually boost mages? It only makes a difference in situations which are time-critical, i.e. where resting twice isn't an option. There are few or none of those in the game.

SCS and SCSII, as of v17, take advantage of Ascension64's "Throne of Bhaal Extender" (ToBEx), which is a sophisticated program for fixing some problems with the Infinity Engine and adding a bit of improved capability.

ToBEx installation is handled automatically by SCS(II). You don't need to install ToBEx separately. (If you already have an up-to-date version of ToBEx installed, SCS(II) will just skip installing it.)

In other words, if you don't even know what ToBEx is, don't worry about it. You don't need to do anything, it all gets dealt with behind the scenes.

If for some reason you don't want to have SCSII make use of ToBEx, edit scs/scs.ini or scsii/scsii.ini (as appropriate) and add this line:

Disable_ToBEx 1

SCS(II) will then attempt to do some backup hacking of the BGMAIN.EXE file to make up for the lack of ToBEx. If you don't want that either, add this line:

Disable_Hacks_If_ToBEx_Skipped 1

Nothing catastrophic will happen if you don't use ToBEx (or the hacks), but some features of the mod will work less smoothly. (Dispel Magic will be too effective; Mirror Image will provide protection from area-effect magic; antimagic spells will only imperfectly target invisible creatures; mages' concentration will be slightly too easy to disrupt.)

unless David implements my suggestion regarding pre-buffs (the one about removing all animations and text messages)

Funny you should say that.

...and the master table is back up. An archive copy as been pinned at the top of this forum, but please note - the best and most efficient way of making sure mods don't mess with other mods and with vanilla game resources is to register a prefix at BWL.

I agree with the general sentiment, but as a matter of pedantry, vanilla game resources don't care if you register a prefix or not

Spiders being immune to Cloudkill's "deadly poison" isn't mandatory, I give you that, but it makes sense indeed, and it may help improving spiders appeal and the variety of possible tactics. If that causes any issue (e.g. SCS AI uses Cloudkill to kill spiders) then I can back off from this.

I don't think so.

(As an aside, this is an interesting example of how what people think of as "realism" is so varied. I have mild realism angst about creatures being immune to an inhaled toxin just because they use an injected one, and exterminators across the world can testify that poison gas works on poisonous invertebrates. But I can't say it's something I'm going to lose sleep over.)