Angel

It's not just my mod, Stratagems fails completely too.  I suppose there is something in WeiDU 247 that makes SFO fail.

Linux version of WeiDU 247 does not work at all.  It fails to read translation files.  So guessing these issues are with WeiDU, not with my mod.

2 hours ago, Grammarsalad said:

I don't much graphical talent either, but I might be able to help with this. I've been really getting into creating spell icons lately. If you want, give me a list of spells that need icons and I'll see what I can do

Pretty much all of them, really.  I made a few icons for some of them but they're not very good.  So I'd be grateful for any help.

I'm not familiar with that particular mod.  If he's an NPC and gets stored in baldur.gam my string fixer should have fixed him too, but I understand he's not a NPC in the normal sense.  In theory fixing it should be possible but I cannot give you a guide on how to do it, sorry.

Most of the time you can safely ignore what Jarno says but this once he is exactly right; the only sure-fire way to fix everything is to start a new game and remember to never change mods on a running game again.  There are ways to do it, but you have to understand exactly how the game and mods work to pull it off, and even then you might screw up or just get unlucky, so it's best to just don't do it.   My tool is not anywhere near complete and I don't know when or even if it will ever be.

12 hours ago, kjeron said:

"Black" entangle, EE-only.

Overlay effect in mh#wiz44 updated in archive. Just need to Add&Assign the projectile to test.

Projectile tentacles are 2x size (to better fit the EBT spell, easy to reduce back to 1x if desired), wrapping tentacles size unchanged.

There is some unavoidable quality loss in the tentacle animations, since a "black" projectile cannot utilize transparency (as black is the color converted to transparency). The entangle animation is especially a PITA because of this.

Looks like it works, thanks.  I agree with Endarine here, if pure black is an issue, purple or dark gray would work just as well.  I might give that a try myself, simple image editing I can do.  It's putting it all together that is still an issue, although I learn a little bit every time.

Too bad it only works for EE, but that's how it goes.

5 minutes ago, Endarire said:

Do your spells already have custom icons?

A few do, yes.  Unfortunately I don't have much graphical talent, but I try my best.  And I do know how to convert pictures to .bam files.

16 hours ago, Endarire said:

Who knows significantly more about this?

While I appreciate that you enjoy my spell pack so much, it's really not needed to make such a big fuss about it.

6 minutes ago, bob_veng said:

is this about the color of a spell icon? i can do it but no ETA

No, it's about a custom projectile.  I implemented Evard's Black Tentacles in my spell pack (basically by editing Entangle and adding blunt damage), but since it uses the Entangle projectile the "tentacles" are yellow, not black.

I still struggle with the relation between .pro, .bam and .vvc files and apart from a limited description on IEDSP there just doesn't seem to be a good guide or tutorial on them, at least none that I found.  Recoloring simple .bam files I can do.

On 9/23/2020 at 5:09 AM, Endarire said:

Does your "de-greening" also mean the removal of Evard's Green Tentacles in favor of black or dark gray ones?

I'm sorry, but no.  This is mostly about the icons in the spell lists of the readme.  I did try to recolor the spell, but I couldn't figure it out, sorry.  I really don't understand bam/vvc/pro interaction very well, and there is precious little documentation on it.

49 minutes ago, grodrigues said:

Some suggestions for and questions about the new alpha compatibility, mostly with SCS.

- Graveyard Catacombs: does it play well with SCS improved Bodhi? A suggestion: independently of compatibility concerns, separate the catacomb encounters from Bodhi.

- Firkraag: how does the beef up of Firkraag play with SCS dragon enhancements? We will face something like a super Firkraag?

- Underdark: SCS touches and beefs up the Illithid Lair, including adding no-rest at hardcore level, as well as the numbers in the Beholder hive.

- SCS already revises several creatures on your list: spiders, golems, vampires, basilisks and probably a few more that I cannot remember right now. Expect compatibility issues?

In general, my mod plays very well with SCS in my own tests.  SCS concentrates mostly on AI enhancements while I do very little with AI scripts.  I wrote them in such a way that they can actually be installed in any order, so for those concerned it is possible to install the alpha after SCS in case you have to remove (parts of) it.

"Graveyard Catacombs" does not affect Bodhi herself at all (but Revised Vampires does, although only in a minor way since Bodhi is a very non-standard vampire), it mainly deals with what you face before encountering the mistress herself.  In my own experience it's not too difficult, to the point that I'm ramping it up much more radically.  (Thinking IWD Tomb of Kresselack level.)

"Firkraag" works fine with SCS.  The extra creatures spawn through the area script and thus don't directly affect Firkraag's AI at all.  They are some golems (type depends on difficulty slider) some fire elementals, and a steady stream of 12th level orc warriors and archers.  I don't know how it compares to "Super Firkraag" as I never tried that mod (something that is on my to-do list), but I found the battle an entertaining challenge.  However, the effect of my new "Revised Dragons" component on this battle is currently untested.  The main effects of that are to give him a proper claw/claw/bite routine and legendary status that comes with more HD and an improvement to AC and thac0. Default "scion" rank: +10 hd (+60 hp), -6 AC (-11 => -17) and -3 thac0 (-5 => -8, not counting his 25 strength).  Again, I do not change his AI scripts.

"Underdark" currently does not affect the beholder hive at all, and the illithid lair in only a small way.  I make the ogre jailer and the mad dwarf 20th level fighters, toughen up the umber hulks in the first arena battle (lesser scion legendary rank) and place a few extra creatures here and there, but not that many.  I could play through it combined with SCS with not too much trouble.  However, my new "Revised Golems" may have an effect on the battle with the Elder Brain, as I improve brain golems quite a bit.  The biggest effect of the Underdark component is actually on the kuo-toa which I make several levels higher (as I found them pitifully weak compared to the drow, beholders and illithid), and on the battle with Deirex the lich in the mage tower of Ust Natha, who will now constantly spawn undead minions.  (As with the Firkraag battle, they spawn through the area script and don't affect his AI at all.)  I actually planned to give him a few additional powers, but I haven't gotten to it yet.

There should be no trouble with SCS as far as I know.  SCS affects AI and I affect everything but AI.  Briefly: Spiders get +3 hd (BG1 already partially did this, so the difference shouldn't be too big), golems and vampires get a few additional resistances (biggest for vampires is probably their resistance to turning), greater basilisks their deadly gas cloud, liches gain turn immunity, resistance to edged and piercing weapons and their special abilities (fear, paralyzing touch) are a little harder to save against, jellies get their proper P&P abilities as do dread wolves and winter wolves, and ankheg gain their proper combat abilities and get flagged as the 8 hd creatures they actually are, making them immune to sleep.

On 9/19/2020 at 9:33 AM, jastey said:

First off: I do like this idea very much from a story telling/ingame motivation POV to pursue Irenicus. The reason I will not use it for Imoen4Ever is rather simple: the mod aims at taking the pressure out of chapters 2&3 - completely.

That's also the reason why I didn't come up yet with a good solution to the requested "make Imoen's early return optinal through an ingame choice so I4E could be installed in all installs without having to play the content" - the moment I put anything in the game that makes Imoen suffer after the escape from ID for which Ireniucs has to be pursued as fast as possible the feeling of the story is back to what I wanted to change with Imoen4Ever. If it makes sense.

It does make sense, and I always felt guilty for not rushing to Spellhold ASAP too.

However, story-wise there now is a problem with good characters that aren't interested in power or revenge; they have no reason to go after Irenicus at all anymore, yet the story and game will go nowhere unless you do.  I now got a guilty feeling for my paladin making shady deals with a criminal like Aran Linvail for no good reason whatsoever.  And yes, I know Alternatives can avoid the issue of having to choose between two evils, but that brings its own problems as the good path Alternatives offers is 1) incredibly boring and 2) not entirely logical.

The way I see it there is no need to put Imoen in more danger (although since when was an assassin or mercenary or two really a problem for Charname?), there just needs to be a new valid story reason for good characters to go after Irenicus.  Maybe the Cowled Wizards finally realized they bit off more than they can chew and ask Charname for help.  Or perhaps they meet some elves who can give them a suitable motivation; Siege of Dragonspear already established that not all the elves agreed with Ellisime's decision to let Joneleth live.

Jaheira tells you exactly whom to bring it to, and this is also recorded word by word in the quest log: Bernard the barkeep in the Copper Coronet.  And yes, if Jaheira already left you are too late.  Bernard won't admit to anyone else that he is a Harper.

20 hours ago, Endarire said:

More specifically, what do you want people to check/test/report regarding this mod version?

I didn't really share it to be tested, more to show what I am up to, as it seems a few of you are quite curious. ^^  To be honest, my modding is rather haphazard, I do what seems to be a good idea at the time.  Too much planning makes it too much like work, and unless Beamdog wants to hire me as well I prefer this to remain strictly a hobby with no obligations. ^^

That said, if you want to test it the questions are of course:

1. Does it even work at all?  (I did smoke tests on old BG2, BGT, BGEE and BG2EE, but barely any functional testing.)
2. Was it too easy?  Too hard?  Just right?  Anything you'd like to see different?
3. Did I make any awful spelling- and/or grammar errors?  (English is not my first language.)
4. Anything else that might be of interest?

22 hours ago, Truman said:

I have a similar problem. When i took out Bodhi, the Lanthorn said that there were 3 missing lenses. At that point in time, i only had the Temple sewers to complete. I took out the Alhoon in the secret area and there was nothing. I took out Mekrath and the Lanthorn went from 3 lenses to 2. After killing the Unseeing Eye, there was no change. I went back to Elhan and he said to retrieve the Lanthorn, there was no odd clues as to where to look for them. I'm stuck. Of the possible owners of the lenses, there aren't any left. What do i do now?

See my earlier answer; if you have SCS or another mod installed that changes creature's battle scripts, the lenses won't be created in the designated holders' inventories.  (This was a bad design choice IMHO, far better would have been to append to the area scripts, or to at least attach a separate script to the creatures.)

Anyway, if this is the case, the only way to continue is to use the console (or a save game editor) to create these items in your inventory.  First create the one that belongs to the creature or location you were prompted for, that should give you a hint on which one is needed next.

• KishLnsP - Firkraag
• KishLnsC - Unseeing Eye
• KishLnsM - Captain Haegan (leader of the slavers in the slums)
• KishLnsR - Shadow Dragon
• KishLnsF - Torgal
• KishLnsD - Trademeet Rakshasa
• KishLnsT - Kangaxx

Some parts are still unfinished, so there might be more text depending on what I decide to do with them.  I'll probably not change the current lines though.

Specifically, these parts are still unfinished:

• Enhanced Battles: Amkethran (only Vongoethe is finished, more or less)
• Enhanced Battles: Watcher's Keep (still have to do the deeper levels)
• Enhanced Battles: Sendai's Enclave (not even started yet)
• Enhanced Battles: Pocket Plane (only good part of Retribution is done)
• Enhanced Battles: Durlag's Tower (got some stuff planned for the demon knight)
• Enhanced Battles: Balduran's Isle (not even started yet)
• Enhanced Battles: Zombie Farm (still thinking on what to do with this one)
• Enhanced Battles: Athkatla Liches (haven't gotten to Kangaxx yet)

And for those interested in playing, these parts haven't had proper testing yet:

• Revised Ghoul Lords
• Revised Golems
• Revised Liches
• Revised Spiders
• Enhanced Battles: Undercity (recoded the old version with SFO, content mostly unchanged)
• Enhanced Battles: Spider Plague (rewrite from scratch)

15 minutes ago, Endarire said:

What makes it an alpha to you instead of a beta?

A beta is in the final stages of development, has been tested to some degree, and just needs the last bugs flattened.

An alpha is an early concept that has received little or no testing and may have key features missing.  That's pretty much what this is.

10 hours ago, Endarire said:

@Angel
Since you mentioned weeks ago you were considering releasing a beta, what about releasing this beta so you get more and better feedback you can use to shape your mods in the near-term?

Mm, it would be more of an alpha than a beta, as there are large parts yet untested, and a few bits still unfinished.  But you seem really eager to, so why not.

EDIT: It's up, v4alpha is available for those foolish brave enough to test it.  Just to be clear, this is an untested version.  Also, for old BG2/BGT, InfinityAnimations with at least the IWD animations is now required for several of the components.

10 hours ago, ensbana said:

… not entirely though, unfortunately. The merchant at the Shadow Thieves’ Guild Hall still has that problem. 

Still, thanks for the fix. At least this fixes that annoying issue with the containers. 

Yes, with areas it doesn't always work.  Because of how the creatures are embedded in the area file, it's a little tricky to match embedded creatures to the original .cre file.  I'm still working on improving that, but not sure how far I'll get.

2 hours ago, Endarire said:

For your Quest Pack readme, I think you made an oopsie:

Enhanced Firkraag's Lair
This component enhances Firkraag's lair in the Umar Hills. The Umar Hills spawn a wider selection of slightly stronger monsters, and see the return of a dangerous monster not seen since BG1, so better be prepared! Inside King Strohm's tomb you will now encounter some creatures that were previously unused in the game. The rest of the lair is mostly unchanged, but you may see some more orcs than before.

Note how you mentioned a tomb for Firkraag's Lair.

That entry does need to be updated, but King Strohm III's tomb really is in Firkraag's lair.  (The part with the genie guardians.)

25 minutes ago, Endarire said:

@Angel
For your MiH packs, what do your components do?  I can't tell based on your GitHub page nor the original post in this thread what these things do.

May we get this fixed?

Thankee!

Try the included readme, it's in the "docs" folder.

Yes, containers are implemented as stores and my fix should patch them up as well.  I repeat though that it is experimental, but it has fixed my game two or three times so far.

15 hours ago, ensbana said:

I will give this a try. Thanks. 

The two systems were set up maybe about a week apart, so the versions of the mods should still be the same. I guess one or two mods or features that don’t exist in the first system have caused the problem. Maybe I will try to uninstall them and see if that helps.

Yes, mod features installed on one system and not on the other would do that.  The problem is with dialog.tlk, which is an index of strings.  The index stored in files in the baldur.gam or baldur.sav files still references the dialog.tlk on the other system which is not the same as your current dialog.tlk (and no, you can't just copy the other one, that will mess up other references).

What my fixer tool does is loop through the files stored in baldur.gam and baldur.sav, check out the real files on disk, and attempt to guess what the references should be from there.  Due to the way files are saved this unfortunately doesn't always work with .are files, but with NPC .cre files it usually does.

Brief how-to (for Windows): Copy the save_fixer folder into your game directory, then locate the baldur.gam and baldur.sav files in your latest save and copy them into save_fixer\old_save.  Locate a copy of weidu.exe (or grab the setup-xxx.exe from any other mod) and copy it as setup-save_fixer.exe in your game folder.  Run setup-savefixer.exe and choose option 1 to attempt to fix string references.  Afterwards, the changed baldur.gam and baldur.sav files will be in save_fixer\new_save, copy them back into your save game, then attempt to continue from that save.  Should anything go wrong, the old baldur.gam and baldur.sav are still in save_fixer\old_save.

While save_fixer works a lot like a WeiDU mod, it is not stored in weidu.log and can be run as many times as needed.

As others already pointed out, this is caused by using a save from a game with different mods (or different versions of mods, or different order of installation).  The reason for this is that NPC character files get stored in the baldur.gam file including the reference to their name in the dialog.tlk file, it is not looked up again from  the .cre file.  The same thing can happen with areas and shops, which are saved in the baldur.sav file. This is different from items and spells, which do refer to the game file every time they are referenced, so this never happens with items and spells.

I have a tool that might fix this, but it's very much experimental so use at your own risk.  The tool is found here:
https://github.com/AngelGryph/BGSaveFixer

13 hours ago, Endarire said:

What do you mean by IWD-style shapeshifting?

In Icewind Dale, the progress of druidic shape-shifting is different.  Instead of gaining all forms at level 7, it's more spread out, with the druid gaining a new, stronger form every four levels.  The forms are also generally more useful IMHO.  (If memory serves, the progress is Boring Beetle at 4th, Winter Wolf at 8th, Polar Bear at 12th and Fire/Earth/Water Elemental at 16th.)  Though I'll probably leave elemental shape-shifting as a HLA in BG.)

13 hours ago, Endarire said:

May we also get mass freedom of movement and other mass buffs?

Mm, maybe, if there is a case for it.  Mass Negative Plane Protection is actually a nod to Order of the Stick, where the cleric Durkon developing this spell specifically is a plot point.  (In order to deal with a lich sorcerer with a fondness of casting Energy Drain over and over, although it also comes in handy against vampires.)

13 hours ago, Endarire said:

(Seeing Evard's Black Tentacles made me grin with relief and delight!  Finally, a D&D game that isn't NWN where I can use this spell!  Alleluia!)

Hope it lives up to your expectations.  Right now it's implemented as a modified Entangle spell with crushing damage added.  Actually recoloring the tentacles is still on my to-do list. ^^

There is a list in the docs folder.  But for the heck of it, here is a current list.  This may change in future versions but for now it is accurate:

Arcane, Second Circle:
- Spark Shower
- Seeking

Arcane, Third Circle:
- Improved Magic Missile
- Heroism
- Blink (still a little flaky, might change)
- Scintillating Sphere
- Minor Malison
- Ball Lightning

Arcane, Fourth Circle:
- Iron Maiden
- Command Elementals (untested)
- Rary's Mnemonic Enhancer
- Evard's Black Tentacles
- Isaac's Lesser Missile Storm
- Tenser's Giant Strength

Arcane, Fifth Circle:
- Superheroism
- Spell Matrix (works fine with targeted spells, a bit iffy on AoE ones)
- Ramazith's Slime Summons
- Dismissal (still in development)
- Starfire (planned)

Arcane, Sixth Circle:
- Mordenkainen's Lucubration
- Isaac's Greater Missile Storm

Arcane, Seventh Circle:
- Faerie Sword
- Stygian Ice Storm
- Banishment (still in development)

Arcane, Eighth Circle:
- Deathbolt
- Major Globe of Invulnerability
- Polar Ray
- Mechanus' Cannon (some graphic glitches)

Arcane, Ninth Circle:
- Rune of Torment

Divine, First Circle:
- Striking
- Faerie Fire

Divine, Second Circle:
- Seeking
- Resist Acid/Corrosion

Divine, Fourth Circle:
- Sticks to Snakes
- Heroism
- Repel Insects (untested)

Divine, Fifth Circle:
- Lightning Storm
- Inferno
- Break Enchantment

Divine, Sixth Circle:
- Superheroism
- Celestial Protection
- Conjure Water Elemental

Divine, Seventh Circle:
- Mass Negative Plane Protection
- Conjure Air Elemental

Paladin powers:
- Smite Evil (1/day, paladin, cavalier, inquisitor)
- Smite Undead (1/day, undead slayer)
- Smite Good (1/day, blackguard, EE only)
- Divine Favor (1-3/day, as cleric of Tyr)
- Lay on Hands (one extra use every 7th level, paladin and cavalier)
 

There might be more in the future.  Things I have planned are IWD-style shape-shifting for druids and a few new HLAs for wizards.

I've tried to make all of these as close to the source material as I can, but due to engine limitations and my own inexperience I had to make some changes.  Be sure to check the descriptions.  Scrolls for the arcane spells are added to Thalantyr's, Sorcerous Sundries, Adventurer's Market, Sister Galena, the Arcana Archives and a few other places.

Aw, you mentioned my little spell mod, how nice!   Hope it can live up to the big names here.

It's not so strange, the hell Irenicus battle really is quite difficult with SCS.  I was a level 28 paladin on my latest run and that was one of few battles that really gave me trouble.  (Others were Bodhi on insane, and the Gibbering Twelve battle of the G3 anniversary mod.)

I'd say if you really can't pass it, try lowering either the overall difficulty a notch or two, or maybe just either mage or fiend difficulty, and see if that gives you an enjoyable battle.  There's no shame in that, SCS really can be a bitch.

And yes, Dispel/Remove Magic under 2e rules is weighed very heavily in favor of higher-level casters.  I recently saw a mod here on G3 that claims to even the odds a bit, but I haven't gotten around to testing it yet.  But perhaps it might help you.