jmerry

No, you don't just put the mod folders in with the game. The mod has an install script that modifies various game files and puts the modified files in the "override" folder, along with any new files. Step 1: Put the whole mod folder in your game folder. Alongside all those folders you named, not in any of them. Step 2. Mods that explicitly support Mac OS should have a file named "setup-xxxx.command". Pull this one out of that folder and run it. Follow any instructions, make any needed choices. Also, the mod probably has a readme somewhere, which should mention installation... I use an alternate step 2 myself, running the Mac Weidu Launcher tool. Unfortunately, I don't know where to find that at the moment, since the Beamdog forums are currently unavailable.

Yes, the SCS "ease-of-use" scripts include some daily items. That uses a timer of about seven hours. For what I'm building here - and the fact that I'll probably never turn on the auto-use of items and spells myself outside of testing - I'll read this as "no good way to do it". My scripts will not include any daily-use items or items that stick around after you've used all of their charges. The idea here is an extension of the existing bddefai script, with additional blocks copied from the various bd*****c scripts or otherwise tweaked to use more stuff. And better trigger conditions on core class abilities, like allowing Shadowdancers to auto-hide when enemies are near or having clerics actually use Turn Undead.

Is there a way to check an equipped item's properties in a script? I'm working on extending the standard party member AI, including using a considerably wider range of items, and I've run into a snag. There's no obvious way to check whether an equipped item has charges left, or for that matter if it's identified. I can put together a block that knows how to use the Gargoyle Boots, but that isn't exactly helpful if it just keeps trying to use the boots after they're drained for the day and giving "Item Drained" messages.

Values for things like spell slots, base saving throws, and base THAC0 are read from 2da tables when a character's level changes, either through leveling up or a level drain effect. They will always reset back to those values unless you change the tables themselves in the game files. For example, a mage's spell slots come from MXSPLWIZ.2da. Non-party characters will not be affected by any changes made to the table.

A bit belated, but this certainly is possible. AdvanceTime(time) is a valid script action. See, for example, BANCUT01.bcs in BG1.

Carsomyr's dispel requiring a saving throw ... oh, that must be a component I never installed. Why nerf an item I hardly ever use anyway? Looking at the file for it, it should work. Planetars are good at lots of things. Dispelling isn't one of them. The weapon dispel is something like level 10, a quarter of the time. Their Dispel Magic spell is level 0 or 1 (it's the divine spell, and they're single-class mages). Since I'm coding up a tweak mod right now, there goes another component - fix it so all of their spells have high caster level and the weapon actually dispels at their (base) level. I do throw the defender a bone and move the dispel effect to the end of the list - that way, Death Ward will keep you alive before it gets dispelled.

No saving throw against the dispel; I'm pretty sure no dispel effects in the game use that. Carsomyr's on-hit dispel is level 30, as is the Staff of the Magi. Arrows of dispelling always dispel with no level check. The planetar weapon dispels with "use caster level", with a 26% chance coinciding with the vorpal effect. This is not changed by SCS. Planetars are level 25 mages. There's a parameter where the level goes for "use specific level"; zero in vanilla, 15 in my old SCS install. (Edit: that's not a mod change, that's a 2.6 change. SCS does not modify the weapon at all.) Testing it (cast Death Ward on the Jailkeep Golem, tell planetar to attack it)... in vanilla, a level 12 Death Ward stands up to the planetar's dispels for a while, but not forever. Seven dispel/vorpal hits, three failed saves, and it went down. The SCS version was about the same. Further testing, using a party member on my SCS install: The first vorpal hit fails to dispel either a level 8 Stoneskin or a level 12 Death Ward. The second kills the target. So ... the ordering doesn't let Death Ward protect against the vorpal effect if the dispel check succeeds (I'd change this, and move that dispel effect to the last spot). But on the flip side, it's definitely not a level 25 dispel; the dispel check fails way too often for that. I don't know what level of dispel it is, but I suspect around 10 (with or without SCS).

Dead magic areas dispel everything. However, spell defenses such as Spell Deflection, Spell Turning, and Spell Shield are not dispellable. So they remain. On the Antimagic Ray/Spell Shield interaction, I'm currently building a tweak mod addressing that among other things. Currently, in both the vanilla game and SCS, Antimagic Ray is an abjuration spell with the MAGICATTACK secondary type that hits as level zero. The secondary type lets it go through abjuration immunity but makes it subject to the deflection effect of Spell Shield. And since it hits as level zero, it uses up none of Spell Shield's one level of deflection and the shield remains. In effect, Spell Shield grants immunity to antimagic rays for its full duration. I offer two options in my mod. - Antimagic rays ignore Spell Shield. I remove the school and secondary type for this one; antimagic rays just go through all spell defenses this way. - Spell Shield blocks one antimagic ray. I set the power to 10 for this one while leaving the types in place. Spell Shield (and nothing else) will still block a ray, but will be used up in the process.

Filling another little gap, here's ALTER_STORE_CURE: Cures are simpler than just about everything else - only two elements and twelve bytes per cure. But it's still annoying to have to break out the low-level tools for them. Anyway, here's the documentation for the function, with a sample use taken from the tweak mod I'm putting together. (Also ... this is my first post here. I've been over at Beamdog for a while, and lurked here reading some things, but I only registered just now.)