Bartimaeus

"This video is private."

It can be pretty difficult to write succinctly as well as accurately, . What launchers with their own magical ammo in particular are letting you use other ammo?

@n-ghost Thanks for the silly tilde error spot - that was a recent addition from not too long ago that I clearly did not test with SR pre-installed, . Nothing to worry about with the opcodes - just means you're not on an EE install, and that it's patched them out some opcodes that would otherwise crash the game! I'm actually going to silence them since you're not the first person to be concerned about that. @DrAzTiK Ring of Energy: I had wondered this a while back, too, and was tempted to change it but left it be seeing as Robe of Arcane Might is 25% MDR as well. Magical Stacking Ammunition: I was under the impression that this was already fixed by simply not allowing ammunition to be equipped while the given launchers are being used. Is that not the case? +HP items: Yeah, I don't love that little "feature", either, but the "add bonus HP" version of the opcode is bugged in at least ToBEx (and non-ToBEx) games to basically be an infinite heal via multiple equipping exploit (though I'm not sure about EE games). I don't really fancy changing Adjatha the Drinker, Defender of Easthaven, and Axe of the Unyielding all to be Regeneration at this time, though (also, Axe of the Unyielding already has regeneration...), so it's unfortunately an issue that'll still continue to exist. If the normal mode opcode works correctly in EE games, I could at least patch those to use the correct mode when detecting an EE install, though.

The basic gist is that way, way back, I kind of redid rods and wands, but ended up reverting some of it. I intended to revert the class requirement (hence the description still mentioning that anyone should be able to use it), so thank you and fixed. If you need me to correct yours in particular so you don't have to reinstall to fix it, let me know.

Physical Mirror is actually supposed to be 1 turn + 1 round/level, but there are technical and compatibility problems between ToBEx, the EEs, and 1pp that prevent this same as Protection from Missiles from having a variable duration that I would have to solve first (although the fact that Physical Mirror is 2 turns is a pretty good argument for Protection from Missiles being upped to 2 turns in the interim at least). I assume you meant 2 hp/sec with Regeneration, since the rate is currently 1 hp/sec, not 1 hp/round. Yeah, I've mucked with Regeneration before (especially when I was working on the Regenerate Wound series of spells), but didn't find anything I particularly liked. Vanilla gives 3 hp / second for 1 round/2 levels (up to 1 turn for 180 HP at 20th level)...hmm. If players want to horribly abuse movement speed exploits, it is beyond anything I can do to fix it outside of literally removing everything that gives movement speed bonuses. It's an exploit that's existed as long as these games have, and it's an extremely powerful one in the majority of encounters, and veteran players should probably not be using it unless they're playing with crazy difficulty settings/mods where it's borderline required. So in terms of non-exploity use, it's still a very good spell (though not as good as vanilla's version), but I don't feel it's exceptionally powerful. @Mike1072 Thanks for your input, and I perfectly understand your position, hence why I have never pushed on the subject (but have had to make a number of defenses now). As to the nature of Alien's request, this problem does not affect me at all (as I do not use any automated tools to install and it is not particularly difficult to extract one more zip file among dozens of others - I'm surprised that this would apparently pose any problem for an automated install tool, as it's literally just a matter of extracting IR/SR first, then IRR/SRR second: is it really that difficult?), so I'm pretty ambivalent about the whole thing.

Is the psychoanalysis really necessary? The fact of the matter is it's not my mod (~90% of both IRR and SRR are not my work - even if I have made edits to 100% of the files doesn't make them my work, since such changes are incremental), and therefore it's not totally up to me. That's all. It's not in any way technically difficult to effect a change from: ~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #0 // Item Revisions by Demivrgvs: V4 Beta 10 (Revised 1.2.5) to ~IR_REVISED/IR_REVISED.TP2~ #0 #0 // IR Revised by Demivrgvs & Bartimaeus: 1.2.5 That would take, what, a couple of minutes tops to do? But you literally only have to look directly above your original post to find someone who's unhappy that this version of the mod even exists, nevermind any talk of stepping on the toes of the original even more. I have graciously received permission from @Mike1072 to host IRR and SRR here in their current form for the people that might want it as an alternative during the absence of Demi. Furthermore, Mike has been previously clear that any "creative" changes will not be integrated into the base mod - he's even been a little stingy about stuff as basic as text fixes, which I understand, because some of them are pretty subjective and I am sure he wants to preserve Demi's work as much as reasonably possible given that Demi is the author, and I am not. Maybe I should just have each component require that the main component of the official versions of the mods be already installed before it can proceed. Except that wouldn't really work, either, since there's a bunch of patching stuff that would have to be either...some combination of disabled or removed and redone, and the base versions of IR and SR drop a boatload of item and spell icons that I would need to remove somehow because IRR and SRR have very different implementations of how to do it (both base IR and SR are very overwrite-of-the-original-icons happy, whereas SRR and IRR take a bit of a more nuanced approach depending on what's most appropriate)...ugh. I do it this way because it's the cleanest method with the least to go wrong, even if it's a bit of an inconvenience. So yeah, I'm not really sure how to solve this.

It's a bit troublesome to change it. I only have permission to do it this way, so that would be the first problem to resolve...if it can be. I deliberately asked for this less convenient way with the express purpose of avoiding any issue of "replacing" the original mod. There's also the added bonus that anyone using it is someone who has specifically navigated to these forums, is presumably able to figure out if it's what they actually want vs. the original mod, and read at least enough to be able to figure out how to install it in the unusual way it's given. Nobody is getting the two confused as it stands because of that, which is not at all a guarantee if it's made much more conveniently downloadable and installable. So while I realize it is inconvenient, due to its unusual nature of being a pretty thorough and more or less unsanctioned modification of somebody else's modification, it might be best that it stays this way. What would you suggest?

Uh, because both this and IR were unworked on for years, and even when it's been apparently worked on, there's been no evident insight by people (including me) into when stuff will actually be fixed, much less some of the conceptual problems addressed. I don't want to wait 2-3 years for basic problems to be fixed as has been the case in the past. When I want something fixed, or some other kind of improvement occurs to me, I can immediately implement and use it...and other people that use this can discover problems and suggest things and more or less immediately receive feedback and possibly see stuff implemented as well. As I have repeatedly maintained, this is essentially my own pet project that was never meant to be used by anyone else, but I was encouraged by people such as Salk that were fixing problems themselves (as I had been doing) to release it so that people at least have an option. Additionally, I have found a lot of the feedback on both projects to be very valuable, and it's now the case that a lot of my conceptual changes would never make it into the base versions (especially without discussion..which is another issue that I don't need to strictly adhere to like Demi has in the past - democracy, even "soft" democracy, can be cripplingly slow), so I would have a split-off version anyways. If you're satisfied with the official versions of SR and IR and don't want to acknowledge its existence, then don't: it's not for you. I'm thankful to have a platform here, but I can't really do anything to address your problem with IRR and SRR existing beyond what I already have, especially SRR where I already made a large effort to document some of the worst problems to fix in the base version already. On a side-note, the Wyvern problem(s) do not apply to base SR at all, since my implementation of Wyverns are pretty different from SR's. Finally, I will be releasing an official V1.1.1 when I have solved the Protection from Missiles/Physical Mirror issue, though that might still be a while before I get a chance to really work through it. (...Similarly, I will be doing the same with IRR when I get to working through one or two more major issues as well.)

dvslay.spl's effects seem to have their saving throw type set to death and the penalty to -2 from what I can see. Saving throws are usually applied in the linked .spl file itself, not in the opcode linking to it. (e): If your arow03.itm has the slaying effects directly in the .itm's extended header (instead of linking to dvslay.spl), then your arow03.itm has been overwritten by another mod. My thought was to use .effs and .spls to self-immunize against the same .effs from being applied twice, but if you equip your off-hand weapon first, then it'll use that weapon's effect instead of your main-hand weapon. Additionally, weapon-switching could be problematic.

The read-me seems to imply that those weapons *are* suitable for backstabbing, just with a penalty. You are correct about rods' backstabs being different than other clubs'. I wonder what the component is interpreting rods to be. Will look into and hopefully fix (although since rods have superior damage to clubs with Weapon Changes, I might leave it at 3x instead of 4x to sort of separate these two weapon classes a little further a la Maces and Morning Stars). The readme needs an update in general, I guess, yeah.

That subcomponent is completely untouched by IR Revised. 1. Those numbers look correct. 2. Not seeing the club issue on my end - can you give me a copy of a club where you're seeing this problem (e.g. BLUN01, BLUN22, BLUN23, etc.)? 3. Yes, the backstab penalties would stack when dual-wielding with any unsuitable weapons, I suppose. I can think of ways to sort of fix it, but it would create exploits, even accidental, I think. Unfortunate that you can't conditionally apply an opcode depending on whether you equip it as a weapon or as a shield. 4. Fixed. Looks like when I renamed the effect a while back, I forgot to update the .itm to match. Thanks!

To be honest, I don't think the summonable wyverns even have a custom script to switch between the claws/bite and tail weapons, so it's kind of a moot point anyways. ...But I can and just did change that by giving them their own custom script with a chance of random weapon switching in between every couple of rounds. I'll also implement the tail range increase, since that's a neat idea, too. Thanks!

Yeah, I kind of waffled on that. It is a "classic" item, but on the other hand, even 1 bonus spell slot per level is pretty silly strong...2 is absurd. I might change that back and make it just for me. You can delete misc89.itm from your override, or take misc89.itm from your item_rev\backup\0 folder and put it in override, either way.

Good spot on the poison damage being missing. Fixed. I also like the idea of making them immune to poison, especially seeing as they have bonus saving throws to it in 3rd Edition, so I did that as well. I'm not sure that I understand your duration tweak, though.

Taulmaril: Weirdly, its damage is split up between three different sources. The base damage (0 unless you're using Weapon Changes + arrow damage), an extra 1D6 projectile damage that is in a separate opcode, then an extra 1D6 magic damage that is in its own separate opcode. I'm not sure why, because looking at Tansheron, Tansheron's puts the 1D6 projectile damage right in the base damage and doesn't use an extra opcode for it. Protection from Missile: Yeah, still working on fixing this (and Physical Mirror).

Yeah, I can only guess that having short durations for protective spells was simply to make it so you don't use them to pre-buff (and instead have to use it in the middle of combat for it to be effective)...but I'm not exactly sure why that would've been an objective. I hate summonables that remove the object from your inventory while it's in use, and it's especially annoying when it's a weapon, and even more so again for only a single turn of it. Oh yeah, you don't have either SR or SRR installed. I guess I'll make an alternative version that just casts a 60 second version of the spell for non-SR games when it doesn't detect it as being installed.

Ring of Earth Control: The description specifically mentions that it only lasts a turn, does it not? I'm not exactly hundred percent sure why, but protective spells cast by items only last 1 turn in IR, and I opted to keep it that way. Bolt of Polymorphing: Still sometimes weird that these effects aren't supposed to be magic resistable when it feels like they very much should be. Confirmed and fixed. Efreeti Bottle: Can't confirm - summons fine for me. The item is misc3c.itm, uses dvefreet.eff as the summoning effect, and the creature is also dvefreet.cre. Please confirm that it is indeed broken, and if so, confirm the existence of these files (and upload them for me so I can take a look if they all do). Ras: You are correct. As if using this summonable wasn't annoying enough, huh? Confirmed and fixed.

Thanks! Arrow of Detonation has its projectile set to 351 ("bdimodag" - whatever that is). I'm not really sure why, since if you're using IR Revised, it should be using 3 ("Arrow Exploding"). Some other mod must be setting it to that, but only a changelog of it might reveal why. Anyways, that would be why it's not blocked. ...Actually, wait a second: I just recalled that I actually made a new projectile just for Arrow of Detonation so that it would correctly apply the missile damage only to the target while applying the fire damage to everyone in the AoE blast, so that's probably what's happening here and why it's seemingly set to a random projectile for me. So I need to remember to fix that, too. Arrow of Biting is set to the correct projectile. Looking at spwi311, it looks like Protection from Missiles somehow has opcodes defined for the new EE/1pp projectiles...but how? I installed SR on my BG2EE, and those opcodes didn't get added. Any insight into how that might've happened?

In that case, may I have a copy of your spwi311.spl? Also, you might as well give me a copy of arow05.itm just so I can make sure it has the new projectile type. I have been conducting my own tests and have found that Protection from Missiles is *not* protecting from many types of enchanted arrows on BG2EE, so I am curious to see how yours does.

...But you don't have SR installed, so, uh...how does that help? (e): Also, I'm confused - WHY does Protection from Normal Missiles protect against all missiles if you don't have SR installed?

Basically, the Enhanced Editions, and 1pp for non-EE games (from where the Enhanced Editions originally take it from), introduce a bunch of new projectile animations, ones that better match the inventory graphics of the items they're assigned to. To block a projectile like Protection from Missiles does, opcode 83 ("Protection from Projectile") is used, where you define a single projectile to be blocked. That is, every single type of projectile that you want to block must have its own specific opcode for that to happen, so naturally, Protection from Missiles has about 20 of these opcodes to protect against all the standard projectiles from the original non-Enhanced game. SR was not made with 1pp or the Enhanced Editions in mind, and unless there's a patching mechanism that I'm not aware of, it would seem like Protection from Missile could very well be missing its protection against these various types of missile animations. If you could, would you please test to see whether SR's Protection from Missiles currently protects from all types of arrows? You don't have to keep track of which ones do or don't - just the fact that it's missing more than like 1 would be proof enough, I think. Note that you should not be testing with non-Revised IR installed, since non-Revised IR changes back all of them to the non-EE projectiles (but IR Revised should use the correct ones).

Interesting to note that Protection from Missiles (full missile immunity and all) used to be a flat 2 turns in V3, but was patched to be only 1 turn at some point in V4's development, though it took many years for that to be reflected in its description (as it continued to say 2 turns when it was actually just 1 for quite some time). Personally, I think 1 turn is too short for me to consider using it myself, but do not care for awkward 2 turn durations, which is probably also too long for a 7th level caster casting it (especially given that there's not any counter at those levels). I think I mentioned 5 rounds + 1 round/level being what I'd change it to if I were changing it, and I think that's about right. One major technical consideration with changing its duration is 1pp's improved projectiles subcomponent/the EEs. You're on an EE game, right?

Are there any encounters in particular that you're thinking of that is necessitating this train of thought? I've played through BG1/2 (but not ToB, since ToB kind of sucks) plenty of times with SCS and SR, and I don't remember any particular encounters where I thought, "well, that PFM ran out really quickly and now they have no defenses"...but I also don't think it was much on my radar to begin with. It was mostly my impression that it's usually lower level mages that this spell is most effective for, and even then, not really if they don't also have Stoneskin and/or Mirror Image up. So do you have anybody(s) particularly in mind?

The name and description (both being examples of what the game calls "strings") of the spell are set by the setup executable - i.e. they're set when you install the mod via its normal exe. When you just drop a .spl or .itm file into your override, you're basically putting a nameless and descriptionless version of the file into your override, except sometimes instead of referencing nothing, the name and description might reference some other random string from the game, since it wasn't set like it was supposed to. The fact that you took the SR version of the file and put it in your override and it immediately worked correctly simply proves that it wasn't SR causing the problem (...this is not always a totally safe assumption, as SR could be patching it in some other way after it drops the .spl file into your override, but I know it to be the case with 99% certainty for this scenario in particular). So do a changelog and figure out what else could be messing with it.

1. Cause Wounds series: Yeah, there's a huge damage disparity. The SR version does like 3.5x the damage on average, has no saving throw, isn't subject to magic resistance, and doesn't need to be cast in melee. I would probably reduce its extra damage scaling to half speed (capping out at 20th level instead of 10th) if it didn't require an attack...and I'm not sure how it would affect the AI, if they'd correctly target enemies with it. 2. I don't think there's any problem there. The problem with Prismatic Mantle was that SCS expected it to grant weapon immunity, and that part of the spell had been completely removed. This is just a matter of a shorter duration.