Lauriel

13 minutes ago, Jarno Mikkola said:

How could it ever be 2 foam milk coffee ?

Thank you for making me laugh out loud.  You're crazier than I am! LOL

1 minute ago, Jarno Mikkola said:

Yeah, it's called a Fireshield (red). Ouh, you say it doesn't.... it does, to me.

That's good to know.  Thanks!

6 hours ago, Angel said:

Mm, maybe I should implement a Protection from Insects spell/scroll in one of my mods to take the -ahem- sting out of Summon Insects, Insect Plague and Creeping Doom. ^^

My copy of Wizard's Compendium says that there is a spell called Mordenkainen's Protection from Insects and Arachnids, but implementing that might make Cloakwood too easy...  Maybe the druid spell Repel Insects? ^^

Yes please

1 minute ago, Angel said:

I played this mission several times and don't recall having too much of an issue with it.  And that was with SCS installed and difficulty set to Tactical.  Of course a lot depends on when exactly you go to the Cloakwood, I usually do so when my party is around 5-7 (my Charname is usually paladin which is one of the slowest leveling single classes, so party tends to be higher than her).

And yes, most unique casters from Cloakwood on are level 9 or higher (Davaeorn is 11 if I recall right).  But it's also true that Insect Plague is really damn annoying and there is almost no defense to it (SCS actually nerfs its damage and makes Fire Shield block it).  I suppose that if people really wanted me to I could tone them down to level 8...

l looked in my game set up.  I don't have SCS intalled but the druids are the level 10 ones.  I just don't remember it being that hard of a fight.  I don't remember what I did to defeat them, either.  I remember having to do it twice because that stupid Siren got into the mix, but that's about it.

Ouch!  That's a bit harsh!

Why don't we read in the maximum characters that the field can be?

Thank you, @Gwendolyne!  That worked.  I've attached the resulting .tpa file that I've adapted from your tutorial.  I really don't know what I'm doing when it comes to reading in those files, but I think I made some handy changes to the code at large.  Also, I've put in some debugging stuff that helped me track down bugs.  I'll be taking it out once I'm positive it's fully bug-free.

Thank you again, for this and all the help you've given me!

GW_Cartes.tpa

On 11/2/2017 at 3:51 PM, Jarno Mikkola said:

You mind putting that into the subtitle instead of being a ... tease. Or I'll put penises into this thread.

LOL!  

Although I gotta admit, I came into this thread thinking, 'Yippeee!  I can' play on my tablet.  I'll even spring for the cost of the game again if I can play EET on my tablet!'  Oh the joy that swelled in this little old heart of mine...for a moment...until it was crushed. 

On 2/4/2020 at 1:25 PM, Gwendolyne said:

A few years ago, I wrote this tuto for a French modder. It is written in French, but you should understand its meaning following the images.

@Gwendolyne, I modified your GW_CLONE_TRAVEL_TRIGGER to allow for the passing of the original region's name.  In my case, there are 2 travel regions going to the same destination, so I can't just use that.  The only problem is, it's not finding the one I'm looking for because it's only bringing in the first 8 characters and the region names are all 9 characters in the area file.

This is what I have for the line that reads in the region name:

            READ_ASCII ("%GW_region_off%" + 0x00 + (0xC4 * i)) "region_name"            // Region Name

What am I doing wrong?  Why isn't it reading in the entire name?

On 2/4/2020 at 7:38 PM, Lauriel said:

If anyone comes by the sound effect file of someone unlocking a door or chest, I'd be very grateful if you'd share that tidbit of knowledge.

Found it...never mind

11 minutes ago, ithildurnew said:

Silly random thought: LOTR has Tom Bombadil as a pretty significant and extremely powerful 'side character' who doesn't seem directly central to the main quest/plot, but is a memorable, mysterious 'chance' encounter that leaves room for a lot of questions and speculation.

He's only not directly central to the main plot other than he saved their collective asses. LOL  But I understand what you mean.

12 minutes ago, ithildurnew said:

Which leads to... re-imagining LOTR as a typical CRPG (in the tradition of DM of the Rings) ... the 4 hobbits try to find all kinds of ways to cheese kill ('Frodo, use fake-talk on Bombadil!') jolly Tom for his stuff and XP... so they can be better prepared to take on Sauron of course ('Oh yeah, I beat Sauron with fake-talk too')! 

  Yeah baby!  I soloed the entire quest as a sorc!

3 hours ago, ithildurnew said:

After seeing @Subtledoctor's posts I think I'd amend my initial mod suggestion to introduce McGuffins in both ch2 and ch 6:

1.  McGuffins in ch2 would help justify delaying the trip to Spellhold a bit, especially for people who easily and quickly hit 20k/40k gp. Alleviates the need to raise the amount asked by Gaylen Bayle to a comically astronomical amount. However, delaying it for too long undercuts sense of urgency which I fear would make it feel like an artificial extension (which is why I'm adverse to using the SCS option to raise the fee to some silly number...  40k, maybe even 60k doesn't seem too crazy, but 'ONE MEELLION GOLD PIECES MUHAHAHA'  feels clumsy. This is probably a fine balancing act - add real urgency, consequences for delay that I suggested, but still make it feasible to finish several quests so you're not cramming them all into CH6.
2. McGuffins in ch6 in order to get soul back, unfinished quest bosses possess the needed Mcguffins -  believable motivation for pursuing chapter 2 quests that were skipped or unfinished because of the urgency of getting to Spellhold. Gameplay-wise, content like Twisted Rune, Kangaxx also probably makes more sense in Ch6 than cheesing/savescumming those encounters in Ch2 right out of Chateau Irenicus.

 

Sorry - yes, I missed this.  Just make all the bits optional so in case someone doesn't like doing 'quest xyz', it won't be necessary for them to do it.  And don't make it obvious which quest is needed for which part.  I hate being led by the nose...

5 hours ago, Skitia said:

My preference is some mod expanding Throne of Bhaal instead or adding quests or unique content specific to its chapters. 

Oh yes!  Please!  ToB is painful for me to complete because I just don't care at this point.  "Someone tried to kill me?  Oh well...how unusual.  I must do something about that because that's never happened before..."  At this point, I'm more like, "Oh bring it!  But y'all better bring it all at once or else you're just wasting my time."  And ToB is so linear that I feel like a fish on a hook.  I hate feeling like a fish on a hook.  It isn't fun.  I play games to have fun.  Ergo..yes please, someone give me some purpose other than killing off some siblings just because they MIGHT cause problems in the future.  I don't mind putting out fires, but I feel like I'm murdering folks just because they own matches.

20 minutes ago, Lauriel said:

I think anything that ties BG2 into a cohesive unit is a good thing, either before or after Spellhold.  It doesn't really matter to me.

Or both!

3 hours ago, ithildurnew said:

Tom Bombadil? 

I love Tom Bombadil!  It kept the story alive and interesting when he put in all these extraneous characters to help or hinder the quest.  And they weren't flat characters, either.  They each had their own history and language and OMG the man was a genius!  He had me so immersed, he could have said the sky was green and I'd have believed him.  And how he split 'the quest' into various quest lines that you followed separately and together.  You just couldn't get bored.  But he also spent his whole life on the story and game producers just don't have that sort of time.

But, it was still one big quest.  Each part was a necessary part of the whole.  That's the big difference between Tolkien's story and this story.  The story we play in is a bunch of fragmented calls for help that distract you from your real goal.  It worked much better in BG1 because you had no real purpose other than surviving and trying to figure out who is trying to kill you, but you should have no clue that what's happening in the mines has ANYTHING to do with your problem before you take out Mulahey.  And then solving the iron and bandit issue begins to become a lot more personal.  It's a good story, although I always have a tough time justifying the whole Durlag's Tower thing.  It's so outside of the loop.  "Hey everyone, I know this has NOTHING to do with what everyone wants to accomplish, but doesn't a good dungeon crawl sound like fun?"  In fact, after I'm finished with my Transitions mod for EET, I'll be doing it after I'm finished with Sarevok and before SoD kicks in (there's a few weeks time in there) or if I decide to tell the Dukes to go...ahem...find someone else to manipulate, there's even more time before Irenicus snags you.  Perfect time to gather a new group (or perhaps keep the old-depending upon who's in your group) and to take a sea voyage to Lycanthrope Island, visit an isolated island, and clear out Durlag's tower.

13 hours ago, ithildurnew said:

How? The oldest trick in the book for adventure/action plots -  Mcguffins. In chapter 6 you're racing against the clock supposedly because your soul is missing and you need it back; plotwise it doesn't make sense to spend a lot of time chasing after the quests you didn't get to in ch2/3... But what if in order to get your soul back, you NEED to chase those quests to fetch Mcguffins that are required to be in your possession to ensure you'll get your soul back? I mean, CHARMAIN doesn't exactly have a plan for HOW to get the soul back once he catches up to Jon anyway - give him one. Have him find content in Jon's journal that hints items/regeants X, Y, and Z are needed to make the soul exchange. Irenicus with all his power and knowhow needed tons of dead Shadow Thieves and intricate machines/rituals in order to extract Charmain's soul - yet Charmain expects to get it back just by stabbing Jon? Let's make it a little more interesting and sensible, and give a credible reason why we need to chase down the quests we didn't get to in earlier chapters - Jon's journal gives clues where these items might be found, script said mcguffins to be in the inventories of boss types from unfinished ch2/3 quests.

I really like this idea.  It would help unify 'the quest'.

4 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

There are really two issues: 1) the 'OMG I can't sleep knowing Imoen is imprisoned!' thing, and 2) the 'Imnesvale, hm, sounds interesting, I think I'll go learn about its history' thing.  I think the urgency to rescue Imoen is adequately addressed by the "Imoen is Stone" mod - she may be in the clutches of unfamiliar powers, but they seem more or less lawful, and as a statue she won't even notice what's going on.  So it's okay to gear up and take the time to make a good plan.

A Macguffin mod would handle the 2nd issue: tying the motivation to do side-quests and gallivant around the countryside a bit more closely to the motivation to do the main quest.  Of course the player wants to do both, and of course the player wants to get the most XP and loot for Charname.  But within the story itself, it would be nice to bring those two parts of the game more into alignment.

  This too.

I think anything that ties BG2 into a cohesive unit is a good thing, either before or after Spellhold.  It doesn't really matter to me.

Then there's the 2nd dungeon crawl, can someone please put a request to go there via Helm's temple?  Please?

10 hours ago, ithildurnew said:

As for motivation for breaking into houses... ... for me having someone like Imoen (or even Coran or Alora) is enough. I mean, she probably won't break into and rob EVERY house in Beregost say, but given her personality and skillset she's definitely going to have a look around and might even pocket some nice things, just like she used to do back in Candlekeep (where DID she get that Wand of Missiles, hmm...).

I've used that too.  The thieves overhear me chastisting the poor fool who wants to have someone steal the telescope, and scoop up the job.  Yes, I'm ok with that.  They would do that on the sly.

10 hours ago, Arthas said:

You want a knock the door mod?  that's actually a cool idea!

Yes, yes I do!  I want someone to ask me to check up on Joseph's wife because everyone in town knows she worried about him and you're going there anyway.  I want signs for 'Help Wanted' in windows.  I want to hear 'woe is me! oh won't someone help me!' coming from a house as I walk by, I want shopkeepers to say 'you know, that looks like so-and-so's ring that this other so-and-so was asking about', I want a bulletin board where people put up requests for help.  We do that here.  You walk up to any local store, and there's a hundred little signs asking for help or offering their services.  Yes, I want reasons for good characters to enter into people's houses

Speaking of motivation - I'd like reasons for good characters to break into every house on the every block in every town.  Seriously?  I just don't do it and miss out on SOO much.

That's pretty good!  I always used to rush to get Imoen...until @jastey's Imoen Forever mod, in which she doesn't go to Spellhold until you do.  So, the point of doing all the quests in that scenario is to get strong enough to defeat Irenicus, I guess.  I thought a good addition would be to give a different reason for going to Spellhold ... since it's no longer to rescue Imoen for me.  Rather like the Alternatives mod.  But I'd be motivated to go to Spellhold with the purpose of bringing Irenicus to justice for the horrible things he's done.  Just keeping him in Spellhold (as if they could actually keep him there) because he let loose some spells wouldn't be justice enough for keeping people in jars for pity sake!

25 minutes ago, Gwendolyne said:

@LaurielI already shared the blue roanned one with a French modder. If you need one, please ask for it, knowing that I want to save the paladin steed and the unicorns for my mod. One it is released, people will be allowed to use them, but I have sweated so much blood to create them that I want to keep them exclusive till my mod release.

And sorry for the off-topic, @jastey

LOL - she started it, so I don't feel so bad.    I'm in the middle of a mod right now - not an NPC mod, an EET mod to help with transitions between the game areas.  But ya know!  After that, I think I'll need a tiger mod.   That blue roan is gorgeous and would have been my pick, too, for a horse mod.  I can hardly wait for you and the other person to finish your mods!

4 minutes ago, Gwendolyne said:

I wrote a tuto inspired by mod.

You can also cheat to create two different doors at the same location, one of the door being an animaiton.

I noticed animation doors in Firkraag's maze.  The door to the cell where the kidnapped child is being held is a door polygon.  If you view the region and filter layers with 'doors', it won't show up.  But if you filter 'door polygons', it does.  But if you look in the edit screen, it looks like a regular door.  I haven't studied it enough to understand the difference, when it's best to use one over the other, and what can having both there do for the area.  I'll be very interested in your tutorial.  Mahalo! 

1 minute ago, Gwendolyne said:

Fortunately, you can do a lot of things: for example, hide a container behind a door and have only aces to the container once the door is open (hidden behind a painting on a wall...).

You're a mind reader!  I was thinking of using artwork on the walls as hidden 'wall safes' in my houses.   This is going to be fun!

3 minutes ago, Gwendolyne said:

Unfortunately, you can't overlap doors. The engine does not allow to create two doors at the same location. The only way to deal with this is to create 2 travel triggers bound to the same door and to choose which travel trigger is used by script.

I was afraid of that.  Thank you for the verification.

@Gwendolyne!  Those are little tiny masterpieces!  Wow.  No words....

7 minutes ago, Gwendolyne said:

If I understand your request, you want to use the same door leading to different areas according to your mod. So you should not need to clone the door.

I'd actually love to be able to clone the door, if the original one can be deactivated with a script - which I don't think it can.  So I'm stuck with using the existing door, but I can make it work.  The only snag is if the door is locked originally.  I need to make it use a key to unlock it, so I'll need to modify the original door to also be unlocked to begin with so the PC can enter it as close to normal before it's picked as a reward.  I'd prefer to keep them completely unchanged, but I don't see how to do that without being able to deactivate the original door.

8 minutes ago, Gwendolyne said:

Anyway, if you look at Lava's Ooze mod, you will find a few macros I wrote to insert a brand new door in the Slum District (specially dealing with the wed file).

Thank you!  I'll do that!

On 1/7/2020 at 10:11 AM, djarv said:

So of course I'm assuming you will now add Grey to BG2 (*cough*) and perhaps another pet companion or two.  I'd love to run a 'pet-solo', probably as a Mage.  Get a familiar, grab Grey to help tanking, then Wilson (the bear), perhaps a Raccoon   with some Thieving traits, and some sort of mild healing pet (but that seems a bit troublesome to find a good fit).

If I could have a horse and a panther along with the dog, I'd have my childhood dream group done.  I could settle into the ranger's cabin in Ulmar Hills and be happy camper.    I always snag Wilson, too.   Love the bear!

EDIT:  I almost forgot the falcon!  Must have a falcon as well!  Then the childhood dream group is complete.