polytope

30 minutes ago, Christian said:

As for buffs: Antimagic sphere clears buffs on the target which are not given by equipment. I didn't try using potions apart from healing potions.

Clears, but doesn't prevent subsequent application of by the user (in my version anyway), and that's the thing, inside an Antimagic Sphere Shell your character's potions should be, well, homeopathic in effect since magic isn't supposed to work inside it any more than it does in real life.

ETA: @jmerry on my version of IWD spells - that packaged with SCS - Antimagic Shell, (why did I keep calling it a sphere...) is both a spell protection rather than a specific one and sets the same detectable stats as the scroll of Protection from Magic, thus the most powerful beholders can remove it, as can Spellstrike (power level of 10 in my game version).

On 2/7/2023 at 12:50 AM, boof said:

I just realized that the improved shapeshifting component adds a lot more changes than was implied in the readme.
I installed it thinking it basically just changed shapeshifting to be instant via the tokens.
"Other than that, the effects of the shapeshift are largely the same as previously, though some of the ability score and attack bonuses have been tweaked slightly"
That's from the readme, but the changes to greater wolfwere and HLA transformation are rather massive (50% permanent physical resistance on earth elemental, wtf).
Can someone help me out and tell me which files I would need to edit, and what to edit within them exactly to remove these changes? Or if there's a way to install the component without these changes?
I don't disagree that the base game shapeshift powers are rather useless, but some of this stuff is kinda bonkers.

You may alter it as you please by finding the file stratagems > gameplay > shapeshift.tpa open with notepad and comment out, for instance, the references to both spr732 (the ability that creates the token) and dw#shear (the filename of the earth elemental attack for instance).

If you don't already know, when editing a tp2 or tpa you comment out lines you don't want like so:

 /* removed section */

be careful not to break the syntax by removing a BEGIN, END or LAF command.

I actually thought the druidic shapeshift abilities were balanced (in the current version anyway and definitely in comparison to the IWD spells), the 50% physical resistance while transformed into an earth elemental is intentionally unstackable with Hardiness (for f/d multi) or Armour of Faith, it's comparable to arcane Tenser's Transformation, since rather than doubling hp it halves damage (physical only though!), and of course being a much better damage dealer and having usually somewhat better AC than a wizard under TT, which is fine since it's a HLA after all.

11 hours ago, Christian said:

Thank you for the detailed explanation. This will make dealing with beholders for some classes outright trivial (I will report back on hive mother, since I installed the component which allows Spellstrike to remove the Protection from magic effect). I am still wondering if this is intentional. If I remember correctly you get exactly two copies of the scroll in an entire playthrough. And now (I try the IWD spells for the first time now) you get basically the same effect as a level 6 mage spell. 

At the very least, Antimagic Sphere and Protection from Magic scrolls alike should both disallow self buffing and healing (through potion and item usage, two more buttons need to be disabled...).

I'm of the belief that IWD spells in SCS were not tested for balance and are much more of a benefit to the player than a threat in the hands of AI controlled opponents.

Even very small shields like bucklers appear to have been carried in hand, rather than worn on the forearm when fighting in a melee, because it would be slower and more awkward to try to intercept blows by interposing your forearm rather than your extended hand. I'm no historian but I think shields were only worn on the forearm when riding a horse and possibly as part of a shield wall or similar formation, which doesn't happen in game.

It's an interesting trick, problem is that you're using a 6th and a 7th level spell to get str/con/dex to 25 for only one character, for only one turn. Did anyone think the Wish option to raise the entire party's stats to 25 for 4 rounds was worth it? Also, for a kensai->mage 25 strength is the most noticeable benefit, 25 dex is only two points improvement of AC over 18 (kensai already have good speed factor, and don't use missile weapons) and while 27 extra hp from 25 con versus 18 is good, it's still kind of redundant for a character that's likely to be starting the battle with Stoneskin.

Also, when the rabbits die and become skeletons (human skellies with weapons...) you've exceeded your summon limit since they're controlled, unlike the rabbits.

And PETA would have something to say about this tactic.

Oho, this is the easy part of the Ascension finale (even with SCS, although Improved Bodhi is even more dangerous here than in default Ascension).

You should have just enough time to run your casters to the east of the map out of her LOS so she can't hit them with her cloud of bats ability, yes there's another Fallen Solar there, so make sure a melee character follows and starts hitting that one to prevent that Solar launching dispelling arrows and encourage them to use their action for that round to teleport (rather than another spell like ability which will almost certainly be worse) at which point you can have your mage cast Time Stop and Imprisonment on Bodhi, although if you have any scrolls of Freedom it's also probably worthwhile to use one and destroy her properly after the other enemies in the first round are dealt with (to avoid problems later in the real battle with Mel and the five...).

It's an EE specific bug, but on the other hand at least EE fixed blindness to be a -4 penalty to THAC0 and AC rather than a (cumulative per application!) -10 penalty to THAC0 only.

Iirc some things like sectype removal have always failed (on the old engine) to remove effects with permanent timing modes and even dispel of permanent effects could become unreliable if you save/load the game.

As jmerry said, unnoticeable unless you play SCS on EE, because vanilla enemies in the intended plotline don't use this spell, it's a similar case with bonuses from opcode #285 not displayed on the inventory view, because such are simply unused and unusable for players in the default game and unique even for enemies (one creature has it, I think).

On 2/2/2023 at 9:32 AM, Chronis said:

I have been playing around with ChatGPT today for the first time. It's pretty cool and can generate an essay on any random topic on the fly. I gave it the following input. The progress with AI really is incredible.

Input:

 "Write a review of the Sandrah's Saga Mod for Baldur's Gate."

Output:

Sandrah's Saga is a highly regarded mod for the classic RPG game Baldur's Gate, and it is easy to see why. The mod adds a brand new storyline that is both engaging and well-written, with a focus on well-developed characters and attention to detail...

Off topic, but this seems an interesting variant on the idea of a Turing Test, in that an AI, no matter how "smart" and erudite it seems lacks the human facility of taste.

If asked whether something is "good", the AI - since it cannot experience it - instead trawls for a consensus as to whether or not it is (probably, I'm no programmer, I'm unsure of the technical details of how it works). If the thing in question is heavily promoted/advertized/astroturfed by the owner or creator, then the AI will return a positive verdict on it, even when most people wouldn't. Maybe a reliable way to detect bots.

15 hours ago, guyudennis said:

You misunderstood me: I wanted to make an ability that allows my character to “break free” if he is rendered helpless, but I didn’t want him to break free from a forced hold like during a cutscene.

Yes, I knew you were talking about adding an ability only triggered by STATE_HELPLESS.

The pause target opcode (#165) doesn't set STATE_HELPLESS, so if it were used for cutscene spells like spin769 & spin863 (in place of the usual hold effect) it wouldn't trigger your special ability. Of course, spin862 then needs to be an unpause (#270) not a remove paralysis (#162).

On 1/26/2023 at 5:02 PM, guyudennis said:

Is it possible to change op185 so that it wouldn't set STATE_HELPLESS?

This way I can safely use op232 with para2 = 5 to trigger certain behaviors, without having to worry about characters breaking free from cutscene hold.

Why not just use opcode #165 - pause target, and its obverse #270 unpause target?

Paused creatures appear frozen in place and can't take actions, but are not STATE_HELPLESS and oddly retain normal armor class (irrelevant during a cutscene or sequence of the game where only the protagonist is supposed to be able to act).

4 hours ago, a.greene said:

are we sure that the the description is not actually correct and the CLAB file is incorrect?

The kit description ofc was written for Shadows of Amn, the table expanded with probably deliberate revision in the expansion.

I don't see how this kind of bug could happen, the CLAB is a two dimensional array, now if archers gained their bonuses at levels:

3,6,9,12,15,18,23,24,27,30,33

or, for instance

3,6,9,12,15,18,23,26,29,32

I'd say, yes, that's an obvious bug with either an entry in the wrong column or insertion of columns skipping the appropriate level, now even if it was something weirder, like the archer instead gaining a swashbuckler's hit & damage bonuses (SPCL141 vs SPCL122, by default) and at the rate of 1/5 levels (as the swashbuckler) from 18th, that would also be a clear bug. I just don't see how the archer's CLAB file as it is could be an error rather than a design choice.

On 1/18/2023 at 11:37 PM, subtledoctor said:

Does SCS change this encounter? I thought RR used its own custom scripts etc. And that encounter was designed from the get-go to be a huge leap in difficulty compared to the rest of SoA - putting the party in the position of unprepped enemy stooges jumped by a fully buffed, coordinated party.

In recent versions SCS's modifications to e.g. fighters may alter the enemies' proficiencies (haven't checked, but they did touch other mod added fighters), my point was more that it didn't feel like a vastly greater challenge than the major SCS - an outdated version! - battles before then.

Btw. If any modder wants to avoid these global proficiency changes to an introduced fighter/ranger/paladin etc., it can be done through in game script by creating/equiping their weapon GiveItemCreate() ... FillSlot() and also applying proficiencies through a .spl, there are other ways, but even more awkward.

About being unprepped, that became expected after enemy mages got the Wish:Breach option, although they rarely have allies with the same melee/backstabbing power as the chosen.

15 hours ago, Dan_P said:

Considering rangers cap level 34, probably no one cared enough to change it.

Yes, this seems much more likely than a typo or misalignment in the CLAB file (which would have to have been repeated thrice), note that pre-EE there were other undocumented but nevertheless deliberate kit ability scaling like Jesters song gaining new effects/save penalties with level.

As for why, it may have to do with the general trend of nerfing missile weapons in BG2 compared to the prequel, they were probably worried archers in ToB with HLAs would be too powerful.

Anyway, bonuses at lvls 23, 28 and 33 short the archer by 2 points of damage per hit compared to a progression of 21, 24, 27, 30 and 33, it's a difference between a +9 and +11 bonus in total. THAC0 hardly matters for archers at lvl 20+, they have no problems with accuracy, and the difference in how the kit plays isn't noticeable until 3.9m xp, a minor issue imo whether changed or left as is.

This isn't SCS content, it's Rogue Rebalancing.

Anyway, I've played with the Chosen of Cyric before, you'll probably want Spell Trigger/Sequencer or Chain Contingency (from Limited Wish if you don't have it) to get buffs up quickly enough and remove their advantage of a full prepped ambush vs your unbuffed party. The main enemy has a ring granting immunity to divination, so you can't remove his Improved Invisibility with True Seeing etc. you'll need Remove Magic for that (you can collect his ring, but I wouldn't use it, it's a game breaker). None except the barbarian are immune to disabling effects, but they all have good saves, so you can use disabling weapons that don't allow saves (Flail of Ages, Soul Reaver etc.).

Also, not to bash SCS but it says a lot that in the current version the CoC are so much harder relative to other late SoA content. I remember around version 15 (with max settings) and this encounter didn't stand out as a major leap in difficulty.

There was indeed something wrong with the spell, rather than the scripting action.

It's still interesting to me:

• spell required (wrongly, in this case) level x in its only header
• cleric/mage of levels x, x-n

Can cast it if it's a priest spell (cleric level x) or a schoolless innate (highest level in any class is x), can't cast it if an innate with an associated school (which seems to check for mage level instead, and was less than x).

Ok, I solved this one.

I had absentmindedly left the spell with a minimum level requirement for the first extended header, greater than 1.

The creature trying to cast it had a priest level exceeding the level in another class (mage), hence why it could cast it as a priest spell, or a schoolless innate, but could not cast it as a schooled innate because the game seemingly assumes that innates with an associated school (abjurer through transmuter, probably, MSCHOOL.2da) should check corresponding mage level rather than highest level in any class.

A mistake on my part, but still possibly useful to know the latter information.

1 hour ago, jmerry said:

Huh. The specific details here make me wonder - is this about the casting animation?

I didn't think so, because casting animation is skipped with ReallyForceSpellRES() and ApplySpellRES(), which still failed, a quick test reveals it's the school itself, not the casting animation which prevents it executing if an innate rather than a cleric/wizard spell.

Incidentally, Hardiness is an innate which by default has both alteration casting animation and school in vanilla game, yet Hardiness can be cast via ForceSpellRES("SPCL907",Myself) whereas an new .spl of my own could not, possibly a hidden exception for vanilla game files.

Note that DRGRBRHT.spl - Green Dragon Breath - is an innate which has a school of GENERALIST rather than NONE, it's cast by ReallyForceSpellRES() in their script, and works (even with an 8 character filename!), whereas my added spell didn't, further supporting the idea of exceptions or possibly the action is unreliable if the .spl file contains special characters in the name (but why it should only fail for innates with schools is still beyond me).

On 1/12/2023 at 9:29 AM, morpheus562 said:

Players will have the option to either allow it remove the critical hit immunity many bosses and difficult foes have. Finally, I'm open to suggestions on which items should receive crit immunity. So far I have: Blessed Bracers, Claw of Klazgaroth, and my Imaskari Bracers of Immortality. Other items up for consideration include Ilbratha, Gargoyle Boots, and the upgraded Helm of the Rock.

Cloak of Displacement? It makes sense that an item which projects the wearer as being in a slightly different position also prevents hits on their vitals.

Also, it would allow monks and kensai some source of crit immunity in the early game when they most need it.

As the title says, an innate (spell type 4 in the header) with associated school other than NONE fails to execute in scripts when called through the ForceSpellRES action, simply changing the type to either wizard or cleric solved it immediately.

Schoolless innates have no such issue, neither do innates with a school if those are included in SPELL.ids and scripted for use via symbolic name rather than filename (i.e. Spell/ForceSpell/ReallyForceSpell/ApplySpell... drop the RES).

IESDP notes this action is unreliable, I've never had a problem before though, even with 8 character filenames rather than 7. Tested on original BG2 but don't see a fix of this mentioned for EE.

18 hours ago, sirnicklaus said:

I had just assumed that elemental planes were outer planes because they aren't the plane the story takes place in.  You're thinking that by outer planes, the developer intent was to only be referencing the lower planes?

D&D cosmology has undergone a lot of revisions over the editions, but at the time these games were published the elemental planes were inner planes separated from the prime by the ethereal plane, whereas the astral plane connects to the various outer planes, home to either fiends or angels.

I'm quite sure mace of disruption never had the % chance per hit of annihilating elementals in any edition (so there's no reason to expect it to work in game). I also don't really know where Rakshasas are supposed to come from, they're either from hell or an alternate prime I guess (they do show up in the expansion too).

Thanks for the recommendation, but last I checked SCS packages version 23 by default, with some weirdness (creatures are untargetable if standing at certain map coordinates, to attack them you need to run away and lure them to follow,, things like that).

On 1/9/2023 at 5:42 AM, sirnicklaus said:

This mace is neither doing double damage to outer planar creatures (tested on water, fire, and earth elementals, and fire salamanders), nor registering its 5% chance of destroying them outright.

Lorewise - and probably developer intent - a mace of disruption is only supposed to work this way on undead and evil extraplanar creatures. Did you test it on Rakshasa?

Ok, salamanders are evil, but they're elementals, not things from the lower planes.

In addition to what others have said your OS may be important information. I seem to recall other players complaining about trying to install SCS on Linux.

Also, if you have the original games rather than the Enhanced Editions SCS packages by default an engine modification - ToBEx - for increased functions, I believe that has problems on Linux (and ToBEx still has bugs on Windows too, but unfortunately is no longer being updated).

7 hours ago, jmerry said:

Sounds like this bug: https://www.gibberlings3.net/forums/topic/33992-maze-leaving-permanent-effects-on-characters/#comments . Psionic Maze, in the current version of SCS, permanently sets the spell state DO_NOT_TARGET_SPELLS. It should only last a few seconds, but the v34 update broke it.

Can I request one of the moderators like @jastey to sticky this thread in the SCS forum (or split + sticky the fix that was posted on the second page) because this one in particular is really gamebreaking and several players have run into it with the result that their party members subsequently confuse SCS AI spellcasters (or anything with targeted spell like abilities) for the rest of the game.

Edit. It's been a problem for more than a year as DavidW has been busy offline.

On 1/6/2023 at 10:56 AM, GaxGuy said:

Maybe there's a way that on that vampires "death", the cloak can be created on the floor?  It's been 20 years since I knew all this.

This bug is EE specific, so hasn't been around for 20 years.

As for creating a cloak on the floor, no, there is a DestroyGroundPiles() action and CopyGroundPilesTo("Area",[x.y]) but to put new objects on the floor they generally need to be dropped by a creature. It is possible to ensure a petrified/frozen/disintegrated creature will simply DropInventory() and that seems the simplest solution.

The other solution of course is a "dummy" cloak with the critical item flag, which can't be destroyed, carried by Dragomir and replacement with the actual cloak by area script as soon as the party picks it up via TakePartyItem() ... GiveItemCreate() if anyone dislikes the former option for cosmetic reasons.