kreso

'fraid so. Unfortunately, on my install Illasera's pet mage isn't a Conjurer so he doesn't have this spell. If I can find one I'll CLUA him in....it works fine when you summon them, so I doubt that AI using them will be much different... Disregard this combat log messages, here's your basilisk in all of it's glory.

Speaking of Spell Shield, there is one issue with it. It doesn't protect one against Breach cast via Wish (apperantly, nothing does, it goes through everything). I did some tinkering on SR side to change that, but I'm sure people who don't use SR would appreciate the fix to be in SCS.

There's one more issue. Sarevok final battle in BG1 seems kinda bugged, unlike most oponnents these won't flee cloud spells and similar.

Well, I already mentioned that basilisk will be an overkill, so imo the simplest fix would be to replace the creature with something less likely to cause such mayhem. I can give you tweak I use if u want (you'll have a pair of beefed-up werewolfs with about 80HP, +3 weapons, hasted and with very quick regeneration); fixing animation issues is beyond me. It could be something local on your install, the weapons they use, etc.

You mean the bug where basilisk crashes your game?

It doesn't work even on vanilla engine with vanilla Refinements. Oddly enough, the casters seem to get the spells, but don't use them.

There is one issue I could never got to work - Refinements spells appear not to be used anymore. I'm sure they worked in v28, but ever since v30 is out I've never witnessed a mage or a cleric using any of Refinements spells.

Fwiw, I'd keep Stoneskin working as it is now even if SR is present, ditto Mind Blank. Removing pre-cast stoneskins will make change some BG1 encounters from potentially deadly (Silke, Nimbul) to flat-out arrow practice. For a mage w/o clerical buffs available, Mind Blank is an extremely good spell to have. May be considered a bit unfair, but with 8 hour duration.....maybe enemies can sleep for 6 hours only?

I think SR makes it so to avoid that memorize - delete from memorized spells - memorize another spell - rest routine so popular with Cleric/Rangers which struggle with spell slots for Insect Plagues/Ironskins/Chaotic Commands... So what do you suggest?

SR makes Stoenskin 8 hours, nobody complained about not really being in the spellbook.... Yeah, Mind Blank is definitely a very valid defensive pick (immunity to all mind affects + all PW attacks). My gripe with wasting a slot on this is that 8th level slots are very important for AI offensively, and mages come super-buffed as it is. What it does do is allow them to avoid backstab+PW:Stun combo while they're neutral.

To chip in on this (I'm having an awful case of flu and am spending my last holiday days in bed ) ignoring Spell Turning/Deflection, since I think it will lead to lots of targeting of protected creatures when unprotected ones are available (though elsewhere in v31 I do pay some attention to the need to force them sometimes) Seems fair enough I guess. avoiding checking for Slay before casting FoD Fine. letting Imix be subtle about spell turning. (Not everyone is perfect) Isn't he supposed to be a genius? Using Mind Blank or Protection from the Elements, since I don't think anyone has it memorised Replacing SI:Conjuration with SI:Abjuration in fighter-mage buffing (that routine already sometimes gives them SI:Abjuration) Mind Blank is supposed to be a very-long term buff (has the same duration as stoneskins, for example). Can u replace SI:Con with some other spell then (just not another SI)?

Yes. For some spells it's a bit more complicated however.

The problem is that I cannot replicate it. Looking at your Weidu, there seems to be an awful lot of mods that don't play nice. Try installing BG2 on a new folder, only install Fixpack, SR, SRforSCS, in this order, to rule these 2 out. For using such a huge number of mods try BWS tool, installing such mod ammount w/o it is hard work.

I'll try to do something about this tomorrow, I should have time for such things. 2 Cornugons? Note that I'll probably write this as a "standalone" mod; since this doesn't really have anything to do with SCS.

I agree, but to enter Lavok's Sphere you need to initiate plane travel. I don't think this guy would be so dumb not to notice he is traveling. I was just tossing ideas, I haven't given this much tought. HP boost won't happen, mages are super-HP buffed already (Tolgerias has 96 HP for example). Simmys I'd prefer to remove from the game rather than be used more. This level/XP dependant style enemies are doable, but I'd rather avoid it. It's a *very* stupid mechanic imo. Marlith/Glabrezu sounds nice there, but Lavok is Lawful (I think?) so I'd vote for some devils instead...

Yeah, I understand this is probably very frustrating. I'm kinda hoping Demi will tweak MSIX to summon something else rather than basilisk. My main gripe against how AI mages play is that most of them are piss-poor weak w/o some meatshields if they're solo like Lavok, which is the main idea behind this tweak. While I can uderstand that original SCS idea isn't to beef up such encounters; I'd probably rework some of them. Example of what I'm pointing at: Lavok is supposed to be an ultra-powerful mage. With SCS, he has levels, he has spells, he has "brains" to use them, yet the battle is very easy since he can be overwhelmed by sheer numbers - and this makes all his levels, spells and "brains" moot since after he eats a Breach spell he's pretty much dead, with the player witnessing approx 20% of what he CAN do, but usually fails to. If he's that powerful, couldn't he create some creatures that assist him? Has some deal with a Demon from the Planes? Just imagine this battle now vs one where you'd have Lavok + a Pit Fiend or two. A Lich could also be there. Now you've got a worthy battle, not some solo schmuck mage with a unique animation. There are quite a few such encounters in SoA. ToB is (imo) much more balanced regarding; mages are rarely alone there. Improved Anvil goes around that by increasing enemy immunities so they last much longer, but that's not really the direction I want to go. Thus, I went for instant summons to at least give mages some backup. If I find the time and willpower to learn more about scripting (I do already know a thing or two; I just need to learn the finesse stuff) I could probably make an optional component; or a mini-mod for "more beefy encounters".

You mean Spell Revisions? What I've sent to Demi is some updated code so Deflections will work much better and cover much more spells. Also fixed REfinements code. I hope he will include some other tweaks as well; if for nothing than for SoD AI to work properly (mages use Haste to speed up entire armies, but with SR they fail with it...). As per Item Revisions, I've last posted some stuff that needs to be tweaked/changed etc. Demi hasn't responded on it. As per EE-only SR component, it's not really "needed"; but it's (kind of) done. I haven't really played or done any modding stuff in ten days or so, pretty much due to burnout (going through thousands of files with NearInfinity several times isn't fun) and having much RL work. I work at a school so just before holidays I'm swamped in damn paperwork. However, starting from today I'm on a 3-week holiday so..... . I'll get back on BG in few days. To my great dissapointment, EEs didn't implement Tobex concentration check properly. It's bugged, it seems to be completely random and fixing this is something that has to be done on engine level.

They're in the long preparation buff routine. There aren't really many 8 hours summons (maybe undead? I can't remember) so....

Neither Emotion or Remove magic require a visible target. AI can't cast the spell on the ground like you can, so that's sort of a workaround AI uses. Melf's meteors issue I know of, but I don't know exactly what causes it. If he's using single-target spells against you (charm person, flame arrow and similar) while you're imp.invisible that's a bug; I haven't witnessed it however.

It doesn't.

Yes, I've only just managed to send some SR code to Demi. Just didn't find the time to do everything I wanted to. Demi will have a new build available soon I guess. I'll finish my EE-only SR code (spells are done, I just need to go through the traps and innates), then I'm kind of done with "base" SR stuff. What's next on my to-do list is tweaking some spells not available to the player to make them more in line with SR. Then, I'll search for any inconsistencies (there's a few of them which is pretty unavoidable with mass spell/item patching, but mostly unnoticable and won't affect gameplay in any way). With that done, I'll finish what I plan with SCS. I have a new build on my computer; if there is interest I can upload it, but I'd wait for next SR since it will be a bit more balanced (and it will buy me time to make AI use Vitriolic Sphere and Energy Drain). No, I haven't included Vithal's fix in SCS. Will do, same for Lonk. (I've just checked Lonk, seems fine on my install....will look into it).

Imprisonment will disband them permanently, without a save or MR check.

Either that, or Pit Fiend should be toned down I guess. Thing is, you can protect yourself vs magic attacks. Only way to protect vs demon is kill it, which isn't easy. Summons, +3 weapons. Undead can work vs demons. SCS rarely limits cheese, I won't start in any case. Fwiw, should you rest, enemy's buffs will be refreshed. Iirc, it's not possible to play "hide and seek" vs Pit Fiends, nor Liches, nor SCS mages in general (they tend to teleport to you). I'm not saying the code governing that is perfect since it has limitations, but it's decent enough.

three Pit Fiends, four cornugons, a Fallen Planetar, two greater mummies, 2 greater basilisks, bunch of mordenkainen's sword and an efreet* (in addition to the Lich). I think that's all it summoned, maybe I forgot ogres and whatnot. didn't work so well at first, I died twice but I managed to kill the Lich with triple dispel magic and other pierce spells spam and all my summons attacked it. Then I hid behind a door and waited for the summoned crap to disappear haha, Great. I feel as if fighting a high-level Lich (Conjurer) should look something like this. Note that monsters summoned via any of MS spells can be banished.

I have no idea. Btw, how did you fare against three Pit Fiends?