kreso

Edit: Solved by adding player1.tra to stratagems.tp2 so the .tra that contains line 314 gets processed.. but doesn't exactly feel like a great solution. I haven't tried installing this on EE2 or EET. I used patches from BWP and EET, I have no idea what went wrong with this or if I should add some line somewhere. Maybe ALIENQuake/K4thos can point me. I haven't found Asension Beta fixes.

No on both accounts... I didn't have the time to do it in such a manner, altough it could be possible I reckon. My main gripe against it is that I couldn't get the v30 option of using a custom library file to work, it should be very easy (a matter of adding one line) but it doesn't work. And I need that file. The code governing those is beyond my comprehension, and I don't even know where to start looking for the bug preventing this to work. This version installs and works the same as SCS. You can tweak it (i.e. dragon's HP, slowcast etc.) via ini file just like the original.

I just tested it on EE2, value set to 1 seems to work fine. Otoh, value set to 2 seems to make casting nearly impossible to interrupt.

What? What's bugged about it? I haven't really payed much attention to it, does it not work properly yet?

Don't take this the wrong way but I'd love it if this didn't happen. I really really really want to use all these SR-specific improvements to SCS, but a bunch of mods that I use are not compatible with KR. So if KR becomes a *requirement* to use this, I will sadly miss out. No worries. If I implement it, it will be detecting a KR-specific file .

a) ok b) scrap all I said, MM needs magic damage. Or an eff which kills Mordy. Since the latter isn't probable to be implemented, keep MM as it is. SCS needs MM to kill the sword. c) I'd still change it to slashing. It would be more unique (is there a single player who picks Fireball over Skulls, ever? Even if you change save type Skull is always a better pick, both for it's "ambush" mechanics and it's damage type), it would be less effective against armor (imo a good thing), and it would have a clear purpose as the spell you'll use against MR. d) I wouldn't really go into what exists in BG2 and nowhere else, here you can summon Planetars to do your bidding, discuss contracts with Wish genies in the middle of combat and similar stuff so ProMagicEnergy/Shadow Shield being in the game is not such a big deal. My gripe with ProMagEnergy is that it's simply too situational to use. I never bother with it and simply pick 8th Pro Energy for rare few instances I want it like Beholders lair in Underdark. Level 6 slot means it competes with Chain Lighting, Globe of Invlnerability, PfMW and the like. I see no space for PfME being on this level. Those few times you know you're gonna eat an ADHW one drinks a Magic Shielding potion. One purpose I found for this spell is to cast it on a tank character and then blast Skull traps on him. Other than that, it's too underwhelming. Even if tweaked, the spell would need to keep it's MDamage resistance factor or Disintegrate would become seriously OP... How and why a Shadow Shield would stop Disintegrate/Magic missiles (transmutation & evocation) I don't know. AI uses Shield on a regular basis. All in all, probably just leave things as they are. May not be perfect, but it's a known system that works well in practice.

Uploaded new version, same link. Change-log: - added EET compatibility code - Mind Blank should be used by AI as prebuff sequence (provided one installs some "mage use prebuffs" option). Due to it's long duration and the fact it doesn't have a IDS name it's force-cast, and doesn't count per spell limit (like stoneskin) - SCS will now pick up on some SR spell changes and skip redundant options. "Breach affecting Liches" can still be installed should one desire to.

a) didn't you say "magic cold" somewhere? It won't crash the game anymore. b) it would be odd but MM is such a power-spell that I think it would be fine c) yea. But Skull Trap/ADHW/Magic missile have zero similarity in what and how they do, yet one spell makes all of them innefective...Skull trap is imo better not doing "negative energy damage", it even has breath save. d) I'm all for it. The spell is too weak for it's level (you have Pro Energy at level 8), AI uses it anyway, so... Anyhow...taa-daam... Any mage who can cast level 8th level spells gets this one now as a long prebuff spell. Have fun hitting them with PWords. Muahahahahhaa.... I'll add EET compatibility tomorrow and upload a new build. (SCS will skip some SR checks, Truesight vs blindness checked for SR so it's skipped as well, Breach vs Lich remains optional, Mind Blank used in prebuffs for high-level mages, hopefully EET-compatibility sorted.)

Well, nobody forces a Lich encounter on you... Ok, Breach affecting Rakshasa, Lich etc. stays optional for a less hardcore experience. All others fixed. Now I'll see if I can get Mind Blank prebuff on mages, and sort out EET compatibility.

Let me know how it works out. I'd actually prefer if this bug was my doing, since I'd knew what I did wrong. I know for certain I had the same bug a few times, but only on non-Fixpack installs. As per spell tweaks from SCS: standardise BG1 spells - I use it (fair play imo) Add BG2 spells - same as above Breach doesn't penetrate Spell Turning etc - skip it. I'll add a check if SRv4 is present to skip this automatically Antimagic attacks penetrate improved invisibility - skip it. Again, it should be skipped on SRv4. Extra scrolls - skip if you install Item Revisions "Store Revisions" component Truesight protects from blindness - INSTALL THIS. SCS will use this install check to detect if caster can cure blind condition from himself. It's not yet automatic if SR is present (I'll tweak it so it will be skipped if SRv4 is present, since SR already does that)

@Serg ERROR: illegal 4-byte read from offset 106 of 0-byte file IPLOT01K.ITM ERROR: [iPLOT01K.ITM] -> [override/IPLOT01K.ITM] Patching Failed (COPY) (Failure("IPLOT01K.ITM: read out of bounds (GET_OFFSET_ARRAY)")) I didn't touch any of this stuff. But, IPLOT01K.itm does ring a bell. It's a common error. Not only for SCS.; the file is bugged. For some reason, I don't even have it in override (BGT). Bleh. It's easy to fix however. Download any mod, here, have mine. Open condrain/components/condrain.tpa, delete everything, and copy-paste this inside the .tpa: COPY_EXISTING ~SW1H01.itm~ ~override\IPLOT01K.itm~ Install my mod. Then install strategems. Should work. Scrap that, look here. It's 4 items that will bug out apperantly. As per which version I used, SCSv30 (fixed), then I implemented EE-specific fixes as suggested by ALIENQuake. It won't install only on EET (yet).

I hope you've read my above post . Anti-Magic Rays are handled just fine by Dispelling Screen. Mages can use Spell Shield (fully blocks AM Ray) as well for an additional protective layer. SCS Beholders don't really fire Anti-magic Rays like a machine gun, I fight them w/o some specific anti-beholder equipment and imo they're fine. Lesser variants like Gauths are pretty straight-forward, regular Beholders are dangerous in groups, Hive Mother in Underdark will make you cry, Abazigal cave golem/beholder interbreed specimens will very likely kill you. What's not to like ? Per vampires, I made a mod called "condrain" a while ago. It removed the annoying drain from vamp claws, but it still allowed vamps to heal up as they hit you. Personally, I don't use it but it works fine. Goes after SCS, in any case. I'd love to make some aspects of KR usable in SCS, but it's not as straightforward as with SR. Called shots use could be scripted however, similar how archers would use their. Stances I'd stay away from, since it's not possible for the AI to judge if one or the other should be used. And if I could mingle up something IF_X=disbaled use offensive stance; IF_X=!disabled use defensive stance; result would be less than stellar - AI can't rethink the situation that easilly and it would overflow the scripts even more. I'll see what I can do with Called Shots. One last thing I'd really love to implement is AI using Mind Blank as a prebuff. However, spwi802 doesn't have a symbolic name identifier. And I wouldn't just give this to anybody who can cast spwi593, for sake of balance and fair play. I'll see how this can be made, I'm sure some forced casting a la Tactics could work. However, that'd mean that a) enemies don't need to have this spell memorized b) they get an extra "free" 8th level slot then again, given this spell's duration, this might be perfect actually... Mind you, if there are suggestions, please go ahead. This I'd call a "preliminary" build - just to see how people like this kind of gameplay. It's easy to build upon it further. What we could do (and I'd like it since we can make AI not suffer from it and play along) is a) ADhW - cold damage. This sharing damage type with magic missile is nuts.... b) magic missile - ? missile damage? I only fear it would be too effective vs stoneskin, but given Shield stops them who cares c) Skull Trap - slashing, MR bypassing damage? Less effective overall (innefective vs stoneskin, damage reduced by physical resist) but a good spell if it would bypass MR. d) Pro Magic energy- changed into something more appropriate for it's level, a substitute for SI:Necro, removable by Breach

SCS for SR (or viceversa) What might one expect from this dowload? Few years ago when I noticed that on SR+SCS installs some spells were misused by AI. Since SCS's main concept is "don't do anything stupid" this bugged me a lot. So I decided to change it. This mod is a compilation of my own tweaks I used in numerous No-Reload games. Most of the changes are found in Demi's first post. I'll go into how this affects gameplay, since with newest SR it will differ from ur usual SCS experience. BG1 part may not be so affected, but BG2 is a much different experience than before. The biggest two changes are 1) Dispelling Screen. This tweak probably changes gamplay the most. It's a substitute for the uber-cheese SI:Abj (fwiw, Spell Immunity in PnP worked by absorbing a single spell, and then dissapearing). The difference between Dispel Screen and SI:Abj is that SR makes Dispel Screen work much more like it's PnP counterpart. It will now absorb a dispel attempt (by "dispel attempt" I mean anything that dispels - Carsomyr, Dispel Arrow, Anti-magic ray and similar) or Breach, then dissapear. As a balancing factor, the spell now has AoE similar to Protection from Evil, so even your fighters can enjoy beeing buffed bit longer. AI will use Dispel Magic and Breach against it to bring it down. As in-game effect, this will make early BG2 a bit easier, it will make late BG2 a bit harder, and it will make ToB a living hell for your mages. If you're enjoying vanilla mage omnipotence, this change you will not enjoy. With ToB Demons using Dispel at will you'll see that mages are no longer as overpowering as they used to be. Dispelling Screen *always* gets removed, regardless of dispel level check. You'll want a balanced party to play SR/SCS game now. Fwiw, my longest no-reload run using this ended in ToB, Sendai enclave Lich Odamaron. Anybody finishing this battle on this install w/o cheese deserves a medal. 2) Spell Deflection targeting. I made this change after SR introduced "NWN-style Deflection" component. What I noticed is that, since SCS was already scripted to ignore Deflections with AoE spells, Spell Deflections I used on my mages would get "burned through" with ADHWs, Fireballs etc. This seemed cute in action. Then we had a lenghty discussion about it. Implementing this always had some bad effects. Either Breach spells would be wasted, AI could be screwed etc. The idea is now refined, more specific checks are used (I even added a custom trigger in SCS library file to account for Archons/Trap and seperate them from other Deflections), and in practice you'll be witnessing a fairly dynamic combat against AI mages. Spells like Spell Deflection, as far as AI is concerned, have two possible values. Either it's 1 (active) or 0 (not active). This made AI ignore casting spells at a character protected by Deflection, even if it had only one more spell level apsorption left. No.of spells absorbed was completely irrelevant, for AI it doesn't matter if it's 1 or 99 - no spell would ever be used against it. Some people complained it was a bug. In reality, it's not a bug, it's a scripted thing. If stat=1, don't cast vs it. This is now changed. AI will use even single-target spells to bring down your Deflection, in addition to usual removal methods via spell removals like Ruby Ray of Reversal. In some cases, this will make the game easier (like absorbing a Finger of Death). In some cases, it will make it harder (you have one Deflection layer left and AI blasts you with 3xFlame Arrow sequencer, which would never happen before. First will be absorbed, but two will go through). SCS randomizes such stuff, so it's hard to predict how this changes the overall difficulty of the game. In ToB, difficulty will rise drastically (Demons will simply eat your Deflections with Charms/Unholy Blight, Glabrezu will use PW:Stun (7th level, usable at will! WTF?!) vs it etc.) In short - watch your mages' buffs carefully. Just as an example of a scenario: Say you have Greater Spell Deflection active. AI will consider you a valid target for 3xDisintegrate trigger (previously you'd not be valid target). GSD absorbs 12 levels. Disintegrate is level 6. First two are absorbed, last one goes through....even if you survive, you're left w/o Deflection and exposed for further spell bombardment. Not all is bad for mages however. You can make your Deflection spells last longer by buffing with specific protections like Chaotic Commands, pro x type spells, Globe of Invulnerability etc. If you play wisely, these can go a long way in keeping your caster ass safe. Moreover, Spell Trap now has unlimited spell apsorbtion. Hence, AI will not use spells against someone protected by it - this (and Archons Shield) work as "old" SCS targeting - if stat=1, don't cast vs it. They will need to remove it or wait it out. They will protect you from AoE provided u use relevant SR component (and you should), so they're "high-priority" spells to memorize. This works best with "NWN-style Deflection" tweak in SR and hasn't been tested w/o it. Likewise, I highly reccomend using Item Revisions as well. Other changes are more-less fine tuning of some SR/SCS compatibility, with some targeting priorities tweaked etc. One more tweak I added is that enemy clerics use Break Enchantment on disabled fighters. I also made virtually all priests have this spell memorized. This will make spells like Charm-Cofusion-Feeblemind-Greater Command a bit less game-enders for AI fighters, provided they have an operational priest nearby... There might be a few instances where this will might heavilly affect an encounter difficulty, depending on your spell choices (Sendai in Ascension + Yaga Shura camp battle come to mind....) but overall it shouldn't affect gameplay much. It's a very cool feature however, so it's there. For some advices: - mages may be nerfed, but they're still the most powerful class in the game - druids (up to ToB) have similar offensive power as a sorcerer devoted to summoning and evocations - priests can become very tanky characters which hit for massive damage. They're legit frontline fighters with SR. - saving throw system is *much* harsher than in vanilla. Previously, you had to worry for your spell save, rarely death, breath was almost non-existent, same as poly. This is changed. Not even dwarfs are safe anymore, and a failed save is nothing uncommon. Item Revisions will help a lot for buffing your save vs x type (ex.breath for fighters, death for mages). - touch-attacks are a great way of killing a mage under PfMW, and are very valid picks - Dispelling Screen can be refreshed if it gets removed mid-battle. It's rather expensive (5h level) but it may save you. Trigger with DS/Imp.Haste/Deflection goes a long way. - both mages and priests have access to Break Enchantment. This is a valid sorcerer pick, and a must have for a priest. - for personal experience, use Boots of Grounding on your PC if he's a fighter. While a spell trigger with 3x Chain Lighting was pathetic in vanilla, with SR if used against a fighter it will often kill him instantly or cause massive damage. Same applies for Skull Traps, but in this case buff with Pro Mag Energy. Luck spell will also decrease the damage you take from such spells. - make a habit of carrying around Stone to Flesh scroll. - Dispel Screen protects you against the dispelling abilities of Anti-magic Ray. Spell failure, inability to use items etc. will still affect the character however. - all cure x wound spells are cast *much* faster with SR. Don't just sit there with your cleric and waste potions. - experiment. SR goes a long way of making all spells useful. Some might not be so great for a sorcerer, but a thief-mage has great use of them. Some spells work best on fighters, some are exellent on mages, some destroy thieves. SCS will make enemies have same weak(and strong) saves as your characters, so use this to your advantage. Fighers will often survive a Finger of Death, but they may not be so good against Feeblemind. - SCS sometimes uses a 3xDispel Magic sequencer. Dispel Screen will only block one instance of it, other two will affect your PCs.

Augh...I'll implement it then. Might take 2-3 days for that. Anyhow, Demi asked me to write sort of an introduction for this. I wrote 2 pages of text, then my computer crashed. I'll write it tonight, I need a long walk.

All hotfixes are included per default. ALIENQuake sent me the links, so I've (f***in copy/paste from Github....no less than 60 min of work since I *accidentaly* copy-pasted "+" several times... ) implemented those EE-specific issues as well. Also, some other bugs (Blade Barrier not being used in BG2, Ascension woes etc.) are also fixed and included. BWP should work (I ran test install on Ascension/BGT/Revisons/Refinements/SCS + some other small mods), EET should work (if the original SCS works, I don't know why my version wouldn't. Untested, but if it installs it should work properly.) Cheers, thank you.

@Serg. This is nothing to worry about. The issue is fixed in Weidu v239, so if it bothers you download v239, copy weidu.exe in your game folder, rename it into setup-spell_rev and install. I haven't tried it on Tutu, let me know if you have issues with installing SCS on it. I've installed it on EE + SoD and works properly, I hope Tutu will as well.

- that's a good idea since it will only break AI on non-SR installs - noticed - -....

Well, here it be. The tear lies beyond. (if someone can put this link in a pinned thread, it'd be great btw). Tested on BG:EE1 + SoD (hope Demi included my hotfixes for SR) and old BGT install. Untested on EE2 but it should work. If it doesn't I'll check it tomorrow. Special thanks to ALIENQuake for EE, and to Demi for making my life miserable by tweaking touch attacks again. Any and all further development will be run only on EE engine. Install instead of usual stratagems, have fun and if anybody notices any really odd AI caster behavior let me know.

It's a 1st pick for me if I have a sorcerer in BG1. Before Stoneskins. If that doesn't prove it being OP, I don't know what does.

Speaking of Cold damage- Ice Storm has a no-save 50% MS reduction that is bugged to bypass MR. Suggestion - allow a breath save for MS reduction, fix MR. This spell is just too good.

This. If you open up that box Ao only knows what will come out of it.

It's a good spell.

I think this is overcomplicating indeed. Fire Shield shares a slot with uber-buffs like Stoneskin and Imp.Invisibility. It should be powerful. You can counter it in numerous ways - IR spears, ranged wepons, spells, Dispel magic. Buff with elemental resistance. With enough fighters bashing the mage, Fire Shield won't do that much damage before the mage is killed, even in melee. Moreover, if you start going this route, you'll be cancelling more and more stuff... We could do something to make the damn Stoneskin a bit less overwhelming however.... 1) give it a sec type (might actually not be needed, Spirit Armor can be labeled as a specific protection, AI doesn't care and Breach removes both anyhow) 2) make dragon claws, Adamantine Golem fists and similar huge power creatures kill it instantly by removing sec.type of level 4 and below. We could even make a patch code that collects all STR=25 creatures and gives them this ability.

Remember the annoyance of petrification effects? Romance endings, people crashing to no reason and similar? Worry no more... @Demi - this is how basilisk work with the petrification code I sent you.

That's the one I use! But dwarves don't get 18 DEX. Are you sure about this ? The mod's Readme mentions "-Dwarves can now have 20 CON, but their CHR is limited to 16." Yes. The Readme doesn't mention 17dex since it's not changed from vanilla. While I agree that shortie save bonuses are still outstanding despite my nerf, balancing classes with different xp progression is a recipe for disaster imo (see vanilla's Bard becoming the ultimate buffer and dispeller, or druid's stupid level scaling). Those things might work for specific cases (especially on PnP with a DM finely tuning it) but as a global rule it's not a good idea imo. You wouldn't be balancing classes with different progression (I also find vanilla bard hilarious), you'd be balancing races. Example: a human fighter would need 2000XP for level 2. A dwarf fighter, armed with outstanding resistance to hostile magic, would need 2400 to get to that same level 2. The opcode works perfectly, and you can't "fool" it by soloing or similar - shortie XP cap would in fact be 20% lower than that of humans. This means not only slower level progress, but less HP and less HLAs - so you have to choose between having beefed up saves OR better late-game + faster level-ups. This wouldn't be too difficult to code actually. Also, with breath save included in SR evocations you already kind of "balanced" shorties even before +5>+3 nerf.