PureSpirit

Hey folks, 

I am making an item for BG2 SoA/Tob (old school) that is supposed to summon a group of random creatures. But I do need assistance. I am using the program called DLTCEP.

1.) I am making the new creatures, but don't know how to determine what equippement they will have, the spells they will use, how they will look like, and what they will sound like. I also need to know how I can make it that, even if a friendly player would by misstake attack these summoned creatures, they would not attack back.

2.) I would like to be able to summon as many as possible. No summon limit. In one way or the other. Is that possible? 

3.) I will also need to set the behaviour of these summoned creatures. Clerics to be healing, Sorcerers to be casting magic, Paladins to be guarding, and Fighters to be attacking. Any way to do this?

Thank you everyone for your help in advance.

Cheers!

Heya!

I was wondering if the following are possible in the standard BG2SOA/TOB?

1.) Able to have a spell which reacts upon when a player is hit AND when an enemy is in sight?

2.) Teleport all characters to a certain area of the map just by selecting it (like Farsight, but with teleport)?

 

Huh? What you guys saying? Do I have to get ToBEx first, to install this P5tweaks mod?

 

(On a side-note, will Bg2Fixpack and these work well together with unfinished business mod? )

 

Thank you all in advance.

No, you don't. But if you do, be sure to take one afternoon free, make yourself a nice coffee and read each sentence carefully.

But you should be perfectly fine with P5tweaks alone. All those mods should work with Unfinished business mods without problems.

 

Hahah, it's a deal! While at it,I'll make you some too. Thank you mate. Much appriciated.

Excellent, excellent. I'll be getting to it soon enough then. All the best to you!

 

ToBEx must be installed first.

That is true but I interpreted that OP chose and meant P5tweaks without Tobex.

 

Huh? What you guys saying? Do I have to get ToBEx first, to install this P5tweaks mod?

(On a side-note, will Bg2Fixpack and these work well together with unfinished business mod? )

Thank you all in advance.

I'm afraid this is not domain of Fixpack, there are couple of tweak mods which are dealing with those aspects. I don't know about resistance cap altering part but if you want to prevent losing loot with cold/freeze/petrification death you can set it up with Tobex. If you lack experience with that than this mod may be stuff you are looking for: http://www.shsforums...24586-p5tweaks/

oooOOOOOoooo... awesomeness indeed! Allright. I will install the BG2 Fixpacks first, and then add this. It should work, right? Thanks a bunch mate! Much appriciated! Ice-weapons, here we come. 8-)

The resistance cap is there for a reason. It's there so you only can regenarate 27% of the hit damage ... and take -100%(-) damage ... which kiilllllllssss everytime. As the 8-bit value is split in the middle, so no, you can't ever be 133% fire resistant and thus get 10 hitpoint when you are hit with fireball that would normally take 30 hitpoints from you, cause the game engine won't allow that.

Awww... allright. Well I can live with that, as long as Ice stuff and Petrification is managle bro. Ice is my top fav of all, like I said. Thank you for clarification also on how the game engine worked. I didn't know.

Howdy!

I have a question regarding BG2Fixpack? I assume it is on the old original versions of SoA and ToB.
One of the things I have absolutely been frustrated about BG2 in general is that no items and armor are dropped when the enemy shatters of strong ice damage/petrification. Second thing that is excruciatingly annoying is the resistance cap. You can resist an element at max 127%. Can these be altered please? Is it even possible? Water/Ice based attacks are by far my most favourite in any RPG.. and BG2 kinda killed it for me, since the cool (pun intended) death animations don't give you loot.

Thanks in advance!

There are two .IDS files involved: PROJECTL.IDS and MISSILE.IDS. With DLTCEP you open the Edit tab, then select Identifiers.

 

First you need to add the name of the custom .PRO file to PROJECTL.IDS and give it a unique ID number. There are two columns in PROJECTL.IDS. The first is the ID number for the projectile, and the second is the name of the .PRO file. Let's say your new projectile is TEST.PRO, then in the PROJECTL.IDS, you need to add a new line, enter a UNIQUE number (hexadecimal or decimal), then write TEST after it. You can uncheck "Hexadecimal" to convert all ID numbers to decimal. To make sure the number is unique, you can check "Order by value".

 

Next is MISSILE.IDS. This is not required, but it is recommended. This file also has two columns: the first is the ID number, and the second is the name you want to call your projectile - preferably a self-explanatory name. Let's say your TEST.PRO is an alternate projectile for Storm of Vengeance, and you want to call it "New Storm of Vengeance". So in MISSILE.IDS you want to enter a new line, enter the ID number, then write New Storm of Vengeance after the ID. One thing to keep in mind: the ID numbers in MISSILE.IDS are ONE UNIT HIGHER than their corresponding values in PROJECTL.IDS. So if your TEST.PRO has an ID value of 400 in PROJECTL.IDS, then in MISSILE.IDS you have to give it 401 as ID value. This is because in MISSILE.IDS there is an extra entry called "None" at the beginning that takes up the value 1. If you don't add your custom projectile to MISSILE.IDS, it still shows up in the list of projectiles when you want to add it to a spell, it just doesn't have a self-explanatory name.

 

All this will make more sense when you open up the two .IDS files and read them.

 

After you have registered the new projectile properly, you can open a spell, then navigate to the "Projectile animation" field. The new projectile will show up with its corresponding ID, name of the .PRO file, and the self-explanatory name that you call it.

 

EDIT: Yes Item Revisions and Spell Revisions are mods for BG2.

I've never tried searching for a tutorial for making projectiles. I did a quick search, didn't really find anything. I just figured things out myself over time. Some probably handle projectiles using code, but I prefer to open stuff up and manually make changes.

Excellent. I will taking a look into this then. Maybe it will be of use in making unique projectiles for my Familiar Evolution mod. Thank you for your detailed explanations as always. They are very much needed.

I understand. You see, I've been working on my weapon mod (custom weapons) for over 10 years now. If I choose to install Item Revision and Spell Revision mod, will they collide with my weapon mod strings somehow? Or them overall?

After having it in beta for more than half a year, I finally have a release candidate ready for Unfinished Business v27. Sorry for the wait.

 

This release has not yet been fully tested, and not all translations have been updated yet. Contributions to both are still welcome!

 

 

Download location:

https://github.com/AngelGryph/UnfinishedBusiness/releases/tag/v27rc1

 

 

A few highlights of the new features available:

 

- Full EET compatibility, all fixes from the Big World Project have been added.

- Restore Minor Dialogs will now restore several cut dialogs (some fully voiced!) that were uncovered during work on BG2EE.

- Item Restorations will restore three more items, and in non-EE games one more item will be imported from your save in BG1. (EE already has this feature.)

- The optional encounter with Artemis Entreri in Bodhi's lair now features a short banter between Artemis and Drizzt.

 

One note to non-EE users, as per this version UB must have the BG2Fixpack installed to work properly. There are no longer any workarounds for non-fixed games in UB.

 

 

 

 

I have a question regarding this. I am a non-EE user. And I have a weapons/spell mod which I have been working for over 10 years. It's personal stuff, so I haven't changed any of the original game content. Am I able to install this, and BG2Fixpack still, without danger of erasing my weapons, spells and their string values?

1) Oh, you're asking how to make a spell that when cast gives you a list of sub-spells to choose from. The parent spell needs to use the effect "Select Spell" (opcode 214), then the Resource should point to a .2DA file in which you list the names of all the sub-spells. For example, the SPWI510.2DA is the list for all the Spell Immunity sub-spells. The middle column lists all the sub-spells: SPWI590.SPL (Immunity: Abjuration), SPWI591.SPL (Immunity: Conjuration), and so on.

 

If you mean a MACE.SPL spell creating a MACE.ITM item, then there's no problem.

 

3) When using the effects "THAC0 vs. type bonus" (opcode 178) and "Damage vs. type bonus" (opcode 179) in an .EFF file, the Parameter 3 specifies the bonus amount. AFAIK, this way only allows you to specify a fixed amount. Like I said, to make it a varying amount, you need to use .EFF files as on-hit effects using opcode 12 "Damage".

 

In unmodded BG2, Daystar uses the EVILHIT2.EFF as a "While equipped" effect which has "THAC0 vs. type bonus" with Parameter 3 = 2, target = MASK_EVIL. So it gives +2 bonus to hit against all Evil targets. It also has DBLDEAD.EFF as an on-hit effect, which adds 1D8 + 2 magic damage to undead every hit ("double damage").

 

With Item Revisions installed, Daystar uses EVILHIT2.EFF, EVILDAM2.EFF (+2 damage against Evil), and UDDMG6.EFF (+6 damage against undead), all as equipped effects.

 

Other than that, Daystar also lets you cast Sunray (SPPR707.SPL). In unmodded game the spell can deal a huge amount of damage (1000+) to undead in general. With Spell Revisions installed, it only deals that damage to vampires and shadow-type undead. You do this by attaching .EFF files with opcode 177 "Use EFF file", IDS target = GENERAL, IDS value = UNDEAD (for specific types of undead you need to select IDS target = CLASS or RACE), then the .EFF files themselves use opcode 12 "Damage" which specifies the amount of damage done by the .EFF files. Sunray itself uses UNDDEATH.EFF which in unmodded game deals 1000 (fixed amount) + 14D6 magic damage.

Thanks man. I appriciate your help. I'll check that out soon enough. I do not have the Item Revision though. Some kind of mod for BG2?

Also, can I ask you one more thing? About making custom projectiles... I made an edit of Storm of Vengeance, with a different color cloud and lightning. How am I able to use this new projectile in the spell I wish to make? I assume there must be a table list of available projectiles somewhere, from which they are read into the game?

Also, do you know if there are any good DLTCEP tutorials for projectile making in this game? I tried googling but to no help.

Best wishes to you!

 

 

I am however wondering whether the skills obtained by the familiar through SoA will be transfered to ToB once the player is done with SoA and goes for the expansion. It is unknown to me at this point.

 

 

As far as I can tell, yes, if you have a familiar in SoA, when you're in ToB the game will detect that and move the familiar to your main character. You can verify that by checking BALDUR25.BCS.

 

Hmm... BCS stuff, I am not familiar with those things. (No pun intended. xD Intentionally that is) I will check it out. If it is true that the familiar keeps the innate abilities and properties gained during SoA events with this mod, then it's excellent.

Ask Argent77 for help. He is a great and really insightful guy.

Allright friend. I will do so tomorrow. Thank you.

By "paralysis" did you mean like some sort of "debuff"? In my experience there are several properties that tend to go along with each element type:

 

- Fire: damage over time, panic

- Cold: slow, or frozen (there could be other effects accompanying slow, such as AC and to hit penalties)

- Acid: damage over time, AC penalty

- Electricity: short duration stun

- Earth: some hold kind of effect, like the Stonehold property that Item Revisions gives the Staff of Earth

- Magic: up to you, I guess. Maybe some sort of magic disruption effect that applies casting failure?

 

The ranged attack for each type of element should be easy enough to do. There are enough projectiles in the game you should be able to find one fitting for each element. Then there's only the matter of damage amount.

 

The key problem here as I see it is what "projectile" to use for the spells. For example, for a single target lightning spell you can simply make use of the lightning bolt. Single target fire spell: fire arrow, or fireball without AoE explosion. Acid: acid arrow, or the "Acid Blob" projectile. Cold: ice arrow, or blue fireball without explosion. Earth: there's nothing that deals "earth" damage in the game, even though it's a legit element. You'll just have to be creative with this one. You could make something like what the Ring of the Ram does, using the "Small Comet" projectile, and dealing crushing damage. Magic: magic missile projectiles - how many projectiles depending on how powerful you intend for the spell to be.

 

Same with the AoE spells. You have to decide what kind of projectiles you want to use. How powerful the spells are is also a factor that could affect this. I mean, if you use the visual effects of Meteor Swarm, you kinda expect the results to be dramatic too. If you're just using the visual effect of a fireball explosion, maybe not so much.

 

One thing that should be really useful to you is how to modify projectiles: color, speed, number of repetitions, and so on. For example, for a cold AoE spell, you can just use the projectile of Code of Cold, which is a cone. Or you can remove the "cone-shaped" flag so that it will become a full-circle explosion, just like what Sunfire does.

 

As for what exactly each spell does, I think you should start simple. Then gradually come up with things that make sense to you. You could look into Item Revisions and Spell Revisions and maybe the rule books too for ideas. Acid Fog, Incendiary Cloud from Spell Revisions, or Prismatic Explosion from Item Revisions (an ability of the Prismatic Chain), for example.

Yes friend. I did intend some debuffs. And that list is similar to what I had in mind. I've been thinking to add "Hold" or "Pause Target" on the ice section though. But I could add slow as area effect, and frozen solid on single target spell. And do something similar to the others spells too.

Ahhh yes. Do you know per chance what number in the list the "acid blob" and "blue fireball" projectiles have in the list?

I sincierly thank you for the input. I'll take this to Heart. Though, I have never edited projectiles myself. Is it possible to create new ones by editing existing ones? And if so, how could I do that? This would sincierly help me making some more unique spells. I really really REALLY like the Cone of Cold idea you mentioned. I want to do that for sure. It would be awesome looking indeed.

Prismatic Explosion? Never heard of that one I'm afraid. What spell is that?

I appriciate your input.

This seems great. But:

 

1) Are you sure feeding them is the right idea? Why not go for xp to make them grow?

2) Will the game acknowledge the familiar, so if he kills someone you get the xp ?

3) Will he occupy the slot of a party npc?

1.) I'm not sure how to implement xp into this. I am no coder. I do like the idea of feeding them too. You learn the "feeding" through a book. And you could feed them 3 times per day. I actually prefer the feeding to level up in combat, because in the end, it's all about you caring about your familiar, and making a bond, seeing them grow into an awesome elemental, etc.

#2 and #3 - No. The familiar is the standard familiar cast with the "Familiar" level 1 spell. I am however wondering whether the skills obtained by the familiar through SoA will be transfered to ToB once the player is done with SoA and goes for the expansion. It is unknown to me at this point.

Hello again

I have been working on a mod for quite some time now. It is called "Familiar Evolution" and will be released for original BG2. I will require a little help and andvice from you guys to complete it. I am almost done. I just need to set up the elemental spells, and it should be A-OK.
Here's a little info:

What it does

What I need help with

What I already have

Like I said, the basic spells for the familiar are all done. All I need is some tweaks. The list is as follow:

GOOD

===============

NEUTRAL

===============

EVIL

===============

The tasks you mentioned are fairly straightforward to do, but how long or detailed the answers for your questions should be depends on how familiar you are with using the editors to modify game data. A step-by-step instruction might be a bit long. I'm just writing the short versions here for now:

 

1) Main thing: you use the effect "Protection from spell school" (opcode 204). There are other parameters to set up which depend on the nature of the spell. One quick way to make a spell like this is to make a copy of one of the vanilla Spell Immunity sub-spells, change the corresponding school to what you want, delete all redundant effects.

 

2) You modify the .2DA file corresponding to the class/kit of that character. CLABFI01.2DA, for example, corresponds to the true fighter. Each column represents a level. You just need to add the innate to the levels at which the character is supposed to gain the innate.

 

Making a kit just for your own personal installation doesn't require any coding in most cases. There are quite a few steps involved and a bunch of files to modify. You can refer to this guide for instruction http://forums.pocketplane.net/index.php?topic=630.0. If it's just for your own use, you only need to work through Part 1 and Part 2.

 

3) Typically, you attach an .EFF file to the weapon. There are two variations: either as an equipped effect, or as an on-hit effect. If you want to add a fixed amount of damage, you can attach the .EFF as an equipped effect that is always active and gives you bonus damage to a specific type of target. If you want to add a varying amount, like 1D8 + 2 extra damage every hit, for example, then attach the .EFF file as an on-hit effect which procs against a specific type of target.

Thanks for the reply

1.) I have successfully created a meditation spell, which, when activated, lets you choose which spells to recover during meditation time. Either priest spells or wizard spells. I figured they didn't work too well. I do know you can use similar tactics to let your character create different set of items upon spell casting? Much like that Enchanted Weapon spell, or whatever it was called. The one which lets you create a sword, axe or mace or somesuch, which has +3 enchantment. Is there anything I have to be aware of when creating these? Say, what if my spell name has same name as the actual item file? Will there be any conflict?

2.) Thanks for the link. I am hoping to be able to make a fighter/mage/thief for the human class - though a more powerful variant.

3.) Hmm... allright. I will think of that. Because the Daystar truly confuses me as a weapon. There are eff files in it which use a 3rd parameter, when opening it up in DLTCEP, and I am not sure what they mean. And I do wonder how Daystar can make such absurd amount damage on Shade Liches, when casting the spell it has.

No one? :/

Hey again peeps

Got some question, which I hope you can answer.

By the way, @ABlake, I have noticed that some creature I make, which I set to CONTROLLED.... they turn on me if they get injured by my spells. Is there any way that the summoned creatures do not attack the PC, no matter what?

Howdy again peeps,

I have a question regarding one of my spells. Basically, I have made a ring which, when worn, gives the melee and ranged attacks of its wearer a 5% chance to fully heal party members in the near vicinity of the hit impact. So basically, if you shoot an arrow at a target far away from you ... all your allies near that area should be healed fully.

I have currently set the chance to 100% for debugging purpose. And frankly, the ring is actually healing my enemies, not my party members.

I used a custom spell, which targets 1 creature. Its projectile animation is #158-Instant Area (Party Only). The effects of the spell have a "Pre-target" setting.
Then I have created a custom EFF file, which casts spell (at Point) [Opcode 148], with resource set as my spell name, and target set to "Self".

Finally, my ring, has Set Melee Effect [248] and Set Ranged Effect 249] in the Equipped section, with my custom EFF file as resource. The target is self.

I can't understand how come my enemies are healed instead of my party members?

Thanks in advance

Make sure the dragon's allegiance is set to CONTROLLED, not ALLY or something else. Then there's no reason why you can't move him.

 

To add spell with DLTCEP:

 

- Navigate to the "Items & Spells" tab, then the "Memorized Spells & Innates" area

- In "Level Slot" field, select the level of the spell you want to add - Priest/Wizard/Innate. For example, choose "Wizard Level 1" if you're about to add a Magic Missile spell.

- Next click "Browse" under the "Choose Spell" field

- A window will pop up. It lists all the spell resources in the game. You'll have to know which resource is for which spell - for example, the standard Magic Missile is SPWI112. The wing buffet dragons use is SPIN695.

+ All standard wizard spells start with SPWI. SPWI1xx for level 1, SPWI2xx for level 2, and so on.

+ All standard priest spells start with SPPR. SPPR1xx for level 1, SPPR2xx for level 2, and so on.

(To know which resource represents which spell, refer to SPELL.IDS)

- After you've picked a spell, click "New Spell" to the right. Every time you click "New Spell", the spell you just picked will be added to one memorization slot. So for example, if you want the dragon to have five casts of Magic Missile, choose Magic Missile then click "New Spell" five times.

 

With DLTCEP, that's about it. Since the dragon or a summoned creature in general is not a standard NPC and can't join party, so a few steps can be omitted and everything would still be fine. After all spells/abilities have been properly added, you will be able to see them in the dragon's Spell Select / Special Abilities, and can cast them yourself.

 

Personally, as far as spells/items are concerned, I prefer NearInfinity over DLTCEP. More user-friendly.

 

Here we're only adding stuff that are already in the game. If you want custom spells/abilities for your summoned creature, naturally you'll first have to create them yourself.

Dude, thanks a bunch. I followed your steps, and now it works like a charm! I can control the dragon, and I have tons of spells in the inventory to play with! Way awesome. Sure was confusing with all these options, but now I got it! Thanks man! *hands over a free beer* :D

Well, your override script is NONE in the picture... just change that to be say... DEFAULT.

It attacks if it's attacked.

Hmh! It works! I tried using Planetars, but it didn't work. One more thing though...

How do I move him? He is static when I summon he. Although I click for him to move here and there, he doesn't.

And I also don't know how to add spells for him.

Thanks a bunch!

What have you assigned on the .cre's override script ?

Ohhh... sorry about this double post. My internet was lagging, and I clicked twice on creating the topic. I forgot... LOL it is in my other topic, with same name. I think I tried using a planetars?

I suspected that is the case. As it is right now, your dragon is using Abazigal's scripts.

 

I'm assuming you have mods like SCS and/or Spell Revisions? SCS scripts for many enemies specifically instruct them to target PC players and/or friendly (green circle) creatures only, because those enemies can never be a friendly in the whole game. So if you change allegiance of one such enemy to a "friendly" type, the MAJORITY of the stuff that they usually do won't happen, because you, the PC, are not their enemy. Or more precisely, because THEY are no longer ENEMY. There is usually a "check" that goes something like - IF Allegiance(Myself,ENEMY) - that goes before the majority of their actions. It means it requires them to be ENEMY (red circle) for them to execute any of those actions.

 

In most cases, their scripts do have a couple of generic lines near the end of the scripts that instruct them to attack whoever attacks them, for one round or so (using AttackOneRound() or AttackReevaluate() action). This is most likely why you see them attack for a bit, when they are targeted by a hostile, then stop.

 

Making a custom script for a custom friendly like this can be quite easy or quite a bit of work, depends on *what* you would like them to do. If you simply want the dragon to act mostly as a tank, with a dragon's wide range of immunities and resistances, and just basic attack, then that's fairly simple. You can probably just use the vanilla WTASIGHT.BCS, for example, for that purpose. This is a very simple script for a generic melee fighter. This script simply instructs the creature to attack the closest hostile, or whoever attacks them. No potion using, no ability using, no smart target selection. Nothing fancy. The vanilla script is something like 30 lines long.

 

However, if you want your friendly summoned creature to do other stuff, like casting spells, using innate abilities, it could take quite a bit of work. Take the Planetars, for example. The Planetars have many innate abilities as well as standard spells. There are a lot of things they could possibly do aside from basic attacking the closest enemy. The script for a Planetar can be 400+ lines long, as per Spell Revisions, or nearly 4000 lines long, as per the PnP Celestials mod.

 

Another factor affecting how complex the script *should* be, is whether you want this friendly summon to be uncontrollable, or completely controllable by you. If it is controllable by you, the script might be simpler. Because you can give the creature commands to suit the situation, doing what and when as you see fit. On the other hand, if it is uncontrollable, and if you want it to be an EFFECTIVE combatant, usually the script needs to be a bit more specific. You'll need to instruct it to use every single ability that you give it in a reasonably smart manner (it's pointless if you give it a specific ability but never instruct it to use the ability at all), select its target in a reasonably smart manner, and so on.

 

So you probably want to start looking into the codes and play around with them, if you would like to make a custom summoned creature. If you start from scratch, first you want to decide what you want the creature to do, what abilities they have, and so on. Then give them instruction to perform each action.

 

Or, you could take the script of the original enemy, then modify it so that it works even when they are friendly. This could potentially require a lot of work, because you would need to go through every single block (and there are MANY of them, if you have SCS and smart dragons installed) and modify the targeting and triggers. Use NearInfinity and open up the script for the black dragon in chapter 7 and take a look at it, you'll see.

Oh that's very comprehensive information - thank you for this! Unfortunately, I don't know coding. And no, I don't have any mods installed. :/ I've been working on my own for over 10 years now. Just my own gear. And I didn't install any other mod in fear of it overwriting some of my files, or changing strings in the dialogue.tlk file, thus messing up the description of my items.

But yes, the Dragon is supposed to be some kind of tank AND healer. He is supposed to have a behaviour similar to a planetar. He would have the best priest and wizard spells, paired with some dragon breathing action (which only damages hostile creatures). The spells would not necessary be needed to be cast automatically, save for some protective spells for the party - but the PC would be able to choose the vast variety of spells to cast.

What script is your dragon running? Did you make a new one from scratch for it, or is it based on an old one?

 

Most if not all attacks of many enemies specifically target PC, so if you change them to friendly, you won't see them do much, I imagine.

 

If you attach the script that your dragon is running, we could take a look at it see if there's anything not ok.

Emm... not sure. LOL I just used standard. I think. I really have no clue what I'm doing. Couldn't find good tutorials on .CRE making.

And I don't know scripting. I thought the AI would handle the attack reactions automatically.

Here are screenshots of my current settings of the .CRE file.