subtledoctor

Only thing that occurs to me is, the game considers both 0x0000 and 0x4000 to be "trueclass." But some game functions and Weidu functions do not work with both. I've had trouble in the past when filtering for trueclass, because most NPC .CRE files are set to 0x4000 but Imoen, uniquely, is set to 0x0000. I had to manually patch her .CRE file to 0x4000 in order for some things to work correctly. Maybe the Dual-to-Kit mod only handles one of those kit values? And mt17's character has the other value?

Like I say, all of the above will still work if you are willing to cannibalize one of the existing familiars. As for leveling up, there's ways to do it. It can be something in the familiar's script... there are several way to skin that mephit. And as to permanent companions... I have no idea how that is done.

Well that’s unfortunate and weird. More Beamdog sloppiness...

I think FAMILIAR.2DA is a useless file; the familiar chosen is completely hard-coded. You just have to hijack an existing creature file like FAMRAB.CRE, etc. Oh, except, I guess that means you can't use the NG slot, since both LG and NG must be hard-coded to give FAMPSD.CRE. Oops, sorry. Well, you could do it with basically the same technique laid out above, but you would have to take the place of one of the existing familiars. My choice would be either Faerie Dragon (why do we need two mini-dragon familiars??) or the mephit (why have mephits if you can only get access to one of the dozen or so different elemental varieties??). Here's how I change the Quasit into a rat: I know there's a lot going on there, but if you look at it with Near Infinity open to a .CRE file, you can see I am just changing lots of characteristics of the Quasit, including the animation, so that it becomes for all intents and purposes a rat. You could adapt the techniques discussed earlier to force NE wizards to get a quasit, or a cat, and then change the mephit into a grizzly bear, and force Beastmasters to get the NE familiar. Boom - a grizzly bear animal companion for Beastmasters.

Seeing that you're talking about Beastmasters, I can guess where you are probably going with this. If you want to get really clever, you could have your Beastmaster-only NG familiar be some kind of spirit-looking thing, with an override script that triggers a dialogue with the caster and asks "what kind of animal companion do you summon?" And the answers could be bear, wolf, lion, moose, etc. And depending on the answer, it could trigger a spell that does a permanent polymorph to the familiar to change it into that creature. This is one (slightly hacky) way to overcome the 9-familiar limit; it's what I was planning to do to allow wizards to summon a mephit and then choose which elemental variety it is. Could be cool for Beastmasters. In fact that would be an interesting thing to add for Beastmasters in my mod; my familiars give passive bonuses to their summoner, so with a Beastmaster you could set it to have a bonus to STR, or HP, or AC or temperature resistance, etc. depending on which animal companion they choose. That would be cool. Shoot, now you've got me wanting to add mephits and Beastmaster companions to my familiar mod...

Now we are in the realm of the theoretical, because you need to cast subspells. First add a kit check to SPLPROT.2da (I happened to have just added this to something I'm working on, so here is code): APPEND ~splprot.2da~ ~KIT_EQUALS%TAB%152%TAB%-1%TAB%1~ UNLESS ~KIT_EQUAL~ APPEND ~splprot.2da~ ~KIT_EQUALS%TAB%152%TAB%-1%TAB%5~ UNLESS ~KIT_NOT~ COPY_EXISTING ~splprot.2da~ ~override~ COUNT_2DA_COLS cols READ_2DA_ENTRIES_NOW rows cols FOR (row = 1; row < rows; ++row) BEGIN READ_2DA_ENTRY_FORMER rows row 0 ~stat~ PATCH_IF ~%stat%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~KIT_EQUAL~ BEGIN SET kit_is_row = %row% END PATCH_IF ~%stat%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~KIT_NOT~ BEGIN SET kit_not_row = %row% END END BUT_ONLY You need the IDS value of your kit, which I think involves something like COPY_EXISTING ~kit.ids~ ~override~ READ_2DA_ENTRIES_NOW rows 2 FOR (row = 1; row < rows; ++row) BEGIN READ_2DA_ENTRY_FORMER rows row 1 ~kit_name~ READ_2DA_ENTRY_FORMER rows row 0 ~kit_num~ PATCH_IF ~%kit_name%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BEASTMASTER~ BEGIN SET kit_number = %kit_num% END END BUT_ONLY Now add a 177 effect at the beginning of the FF spell (insert_point=0) with parameter2=8 (filter by ALIGN.IDS) and parameter1=0x21 (NG). This points to an .EFF you create. The .EFF uses opcode 326 with parameter2=%kit_not_row% and parameter1=%kit_number%: CREATE EFF ~*****~ WRITE_LONG 0x10 326 WRITE_LONG 0x14 1 WRITE_LONG 0x1c %kit_number% WRITE_LONG 0x20 %kit_not_row% WRITE_LONG 0x24 1 WRITE_SHORT 0x2c 100 WRITE_ASCII 0x30 ~*****~ #8 The first "*****" should be the name of the .EFF file, the same that is in the resource field of the 177 effect; the second "*****" should be the name of a new .SPL file. This new spell will have the opcode 57 LG alignment change, the second one you wrote above. That takes care of everyone else. Now, add another 177 effect with insert_point=0, parameter2=9 and parameter1=%kit_number%. This points to another .EFF file that you will create, this one will have the other opcode 57 effect: CREATE EFF ~*****~ WRITE_LONG 0x10 57 WRITE_LONG 0x14 1 WRITE_LONG 0x20 33 WRITE_LONG 0x24 0 WRITE_LONG 0x28 0 WRITE_SHORT 0x2c 100 Now, I'm fairly certain those .EFF files will trigger before the end of the FF spell, so the 0-second alignment change will work. I'm moderately certain the subspell of the 326 .EFF will also trigger before the end of the FF spell. The double-conditional ins necessary, so this is the only way to achieve this.

Got a working beta done! It's pretty cool, I'm excited about this. It could open up a bunch of new modding possibilities as well, like a new take on divine spell spheres.

Sure. Well, you would probably want to manually create the creature. There are different variants for different games, and if cast at different level, etc. Familiars are complicated. Probably best to copy and adapt one of the existing ones, and then set it for NG. Just adding an opcode 57 effect with timing = 0, duration = 0. The result will change your alignment instantaneously, for the purpose of that spell's effects only; but will have no lasting effect in-game. (It won't cause a ranger to fall, for example.) This is tested and works reliably - it's how I do my familiar choice mod. You choose from the various familiars, and the resulting spell changes your alignment for 0 seconds and then casts the normal Find Familiar spell within the window of that zeroth of a second that your alignment is different.

It would be a big pain in the nuts. My familiar mod replaces the usual system in its entirety, giving you a choice from among six different familiars instead of forcing one on you based on its alignment. With such a replacement system in place, it would be possible to adjust the group of choices on a case-by-case basis. (It would still be limited to nine possible familiars overall, though, without some serious chicanery). But squeezing that into the normal system? Not easy. EDIT - now I think about it, I suppose you could exploit the fact that the vanilla game only has eight familiars. Add conditional effects to the spell: if your alignment is NG and you kit is not the custom kit, do a zero-second alignment change to LG. If your kit IS the custom kit, do a zero-second change to NG. Then make a new familiar and assign it to NG. Your kit should get that new familiar, and everyone else who is LG or NG should get the pseudodragon as usual. That could only be done once though (NG is the only available slot), and of course would be incompatible with any other mods that alter familiars.

Huh. Reflecting, I tend to think of this as a mistake in the documentation, rather than a mistake in the code. Magic attacks counter spell protections, and Dispelling Screen is not a spell protection and doesn't protect any spell protections. Remove Magic bypasses spell protections and does not remove them, so Dispelling Screen is kind of irrelevant to the magic attack-vs.-spell protection, and therefore should not interact with it. Put another way: Dispelling Screen is to combat buffs what Spell Shield is to spell protections. So just as magic attacks remove Spell Shield as well as spell protections, so should Dispel/Breach remove Dispelling Screen as well as combat buffs. I'm not sure what value there is in having magic attacks cross over and interact with the combat buffs side of things. And I can see definite down sides for that; if Dispelling Screen absorbs a Secret Word, then it is acting like a de facto spell protection, another layer like Spell Shield. That system really doesn't need any more layers. Mages can already layer Trap/SS/GSD/GOI/SD/MSD before they can be affected by a Fireball. Adding DS into the mix seems like overkill on top of overkill. IMHO! Huh. Can't say I love that. A mage can already be protected by 4+ layers of spell protections before they can be Breached... adding another layer seems, again, like overkill, and probably leads to more situations where you just wait out their defensive spells instead of overcoming them. If this is standard SR behavior then I might have to modify it in my MBR mod... Isn't Shield of the Archons basically the same as Greater Deflection, or Spell Trap? I forget. But if it functions the same, maybe it should have the same animation? Maybe the gold one should be for the divine version... or maybe the white one? ........................................ Down to brass tacks, if you want to convert your changes into an installable thing, here is what I suggests upload your .BAM/.VVC. files roughly list which file goes with which spells/effects if you have it handy, list which vanilla animations need to be suppressed I'll put it all together with a Weidu installer. If you're so inclined, of course! And whenever it is convenient.

Congratulations, you win the prize for Hyperbolic Statement of the Day! Your prize is, uh, to continue living with the delusion that your experience playing a 20-year-old video game is indicative of your "willpower." Good luck with that! I don't know who said that stuff, but it sure wasn't anyone in this thread. Go rant on the Beamdog forums. This is a thread about a VOLUNTARY MOD that you only install VOLUNTARILY if you VOLUNTARILY think it would make the game fun for you. This guy has some good ideas! And here people come saying "stop having ideas." "Just use willpower." Don't install SCS, just stand around for three rounds to let the enemy spellcasters get off a few protective spells before you start engage in combat. Don't make scrolls more expensive (thereby increasing the value and wonder of the hard-to-find spells), instead open the console and delete some of your gold whenever you buy one. Because that sounds fun. Christ. See @Bartimaeus you were indeed reasonable compared to tripe like this. But this is the kind of nonsense that starts to pile on when it becomes a debate about challenge-oriented rules modifications versus "just using willpower." It's bullshit and completely irrelevant to the thread topic, which looked for feedback on modding ideas. "I reject the very premise of your ideas" is shitty feedback.

But... there is a mod that allows just that... but you pointed him to a different and wholly irrelevant mod... I just... don't understand...

No, that is wholly separate. This is purely for modders' convenience, to ensure that everyone's spell-adding mods work with everyone's spell-patching mods.

Why, when someone says they want to dual-class from a non-kitted class into a kitted class (so only one kit), would you point them to a mod that is specifically for multiclasses (not dual) and specifically for combining more than one kit? Instead of to the mod that is specifically designed for dual-classing from an unkitted class to a kitted class? I cannot even fathom. OP: the Dual-to-Kit mod works fine for me. It is a UI mod, though, and UI mods are not always compatible with each other. If you are using another UI mod (like Dragonspear UI), then that might indeed conflict with Dual-to-Kit. If that's the case, then you're just going to have to choose one or the other.

Actually once I get the 5E code tested and tightened up, it looks like it should be trivially simple to use it in particular kits, like an Arcanist. So I guess it can stay.

Actually I recall reading about some unfortunate side-effects of using opcode 291. Ultimately in my own game I just overwrite SPTURNI2 with a blank animation, and patched individual spells to add an opcode 215 "play visual effect" with whatever animation is desired. If starting from scratch, that's what I would do for a mod like this. Just completely get away from which animations are hard-coded to which opcodes. Makes sense! I don't know how that portion of SCS works, but it should be simple enough to Weidu-ize what you have done, and condition that part of the install on SCS being found. (This mod could be installed very late.) Yeah, Deflections can indeed stack - the number of spell levels absorbed doesn't stack, but the number of Secret Word spells needed to remove them all does increase with each layer of Deflection. It's a little-known tactic, and not very sensible. My mod actively embraces this layering, auto-casting all lesser deflections whenever you cast one, and then gives the magic attack spells an increasing ability to remove multiple layers at once. I'm pretty sure that is working as intended: you use magic attacks to remove spell protections, and Breach/Dispel to remove Dispelling Screen. (Does Dispelling Screen block Breach? In other words, when casting Breach at a target with Dispelling Screen, does the Breach only remove Dispelling Screen? Or does Breach remove Dispelling screen and all combat protections? I assume, and hope, it is the latter.)

Well, the planned release is a full 5E spellcasting conversion. So every spellcaster would be able to cast like an Arcanist. Which would make the Arcanist as a standalone kit pretty obsolete! I suppose I could leave it as-is, for people who only want one kit... seems kinda silly though.

Yeah, the NI interface is not great for opcode 233. You need to set the number of stars in the bottom window, then make sure you click "update" so that the values get populated in the upper window. Yup, right-click and copy the 233 effect, and paste it, then edit the one you pasted to the new weapon. No. Yes. There's an opcode for it IIRC, you can find it in the IESDP. Copy an effect like the proficiency effect, paste it, then edit the pasted one to the UAI opcode.

Yup .................................................... Separately, I'm throwing this out there: Nishruu are wildly overpowered.. sort of. I'm in chapter 3 in BG2, about 13th level, and enemy mages are routinely spawning two of these instantaneously at the start of each fight. They don't really hurt me; but they have 90 hit points and 50% resistance to physical and magic damage, so effectively 180 hit points. I don't know what the point of that resistance is. Also, they seem to be healing every couple seconds, which makes killing them uncannily like taking down the Greater Wolfwere in TotSC. (I think that is because my game has an underlying repeating effect attached to everyone in order to give them stat bonuses, and the Nishruu is treating that as if a spell was cast at them. Maybe I need to figure out how to exempt that healing effect from self-cast spells? Or spells with power level 0? Or something. Honestly I can't even find that healing effect in the .CRE file...)

These kits are just normal kits, they will work with anything else normal kits work with. But I don't know anything about the multikit mod. I suppose it might only work with vanilla kits, not mod-added kits? Or maybe it doesn't work with sorcerer kits, because sorcerers cannot be multiclass? I don't use the multikit thing because I have a bunch actual multiclass kits in my game, to me that seems like a better approach to giving kits to multiclass peeps... ............................................... Is anyone using the Arcanist? Drop a note if so. I'm working on a sort of big thing, and a consequence of publishing the new thing is that I might be removing the Arcanist from TnB. Drop a note if you have a problem with that.

I absolutely love that you don't understand the fundamental logical problem with that. You write a four-paragraph screed about how mods could address the game and player engagement, I point out that a bunch of mods are doing exactly that, and then you say "I'm sure no mods here address my concern and clear evidence right in front of my eyes will not convince me otherwise!" Huh, I've expressed precisely those concerns on many occasions when discussing how to improve that part of the game. How weird and, I'm sure, completely coincidental that someone could understand and discuss an issue that you are sure is completely over their head! You have a serious mental block about this stuff, and your solution is avowedly to stick your head in the sand... I suppose if that works for you, then you do you.

I like the "ioun stone at feet" thing! Though I guess it can make it hard to spot. In any event if this were to be a mod, it would be simple to remove the ioun stone animations from actual ioun stones, it would be optional after all. I'm curious, did you also disable the normal animations? In my game I have revised Non-Detection, and I just noticed that it creates the big blue bubble, probably because I added an opcode 205 effect and I guess that animation is hard-coded to opcode 205? It's super annoying because it is exactly the opposite of what Non-Detection should look like. I also had the "shimmering ground" vanilla spell shield effect when casting Haste, because I set Haste and Slow up to cancel each other rather than replace each other, via sectype removal. I managed to disable the Haste/Slow animation, I suppose I need to do the same thing for Non-Detection/opcode 205. But it would be super great to have a single mod that makes all of these animation adjustments, and it looks like you have a great start to that! I like that the blue bubble is Spell Shield, since visually it sits outside the other animations and seems to protect them. I wonder if Dispelling Screen should use a similar bubble, in a different color? (White?) I like the different colors of the different Deflections... though, my mod sets them so that if you cast Greater Deflection, it actually gives you all three at the same time. Three versions of the same animation in different colors might look... muddled. How did you come up with the colors for the Deflections? I wonder if it's worth trying to systematize it. To me green says "novice" or "introductory" and gold says "the best." Also, in some of my mods I use purple for more high-level magic, since purple seems like a weird, arcane color to me. E.g. I like the progression of PfNW (green)->PfMW (blue)->Abs. Immunity (pink). Just throwing out random thoughts though, it's not a knock against what you've already done. I'm excited about this - great work! I'm about top publish some major updates to my mods (including a game-wide 5E spellcasting conversion), which will inevitably lead me to reinstall and start a new game. I'd love to have this included when I reinstall...

@DavidNYC I love the concept. The only thing that gives me pause is the floating orbs... I have about 3 party member with ioun stones right now, and if the same animation denoted combat protections, it might be confusing. But that aside, I love it. I had sort of similar ideas, once - though a different concept. This should be its own mod... seems like a lot of fiddly work to me, which is why I never bothered with such a thing. But you've done the fiddly work! So maybe we should talk about weidu-izing it. EDIT - probably in a different thread, as it is not specific to SRR. (Sorry for having continued off-topic discussion, Bartimaeus)

I know, sorry, your post was well thought-out. It's just a pet peeve of mine. That is quite a different issue from good vs. crappy game design. If you want to design a spell that lets you expend a 9th-level slot to go nova and fire off three 8th level spells instantaneously in the middle of battle... that sounds cool! But for Pete's sake write lore and a spell description that is true to what that spell does. If you describe a spells that stores magical effects and allows them to trigger independently later, based on pre-defined contingent circumstances, that sounds cool too. But now design the software to actually work that way! Contrarily, if you create the first spell, and lazily slap the description for the second spell onto it, well then 20 years later we have to listen to people go "dur, my sorcerer is so awesome because I mastered teh Chain Contingency exploit!" ... That's not immersion, or good world building. What it is, is a missed opportunity to put both of those two spells in the game and let players use them creatively. Because all you do is talk a lot of smack without actually looking at what modders have done. Making wands less spammable is a "nerf," but one that forces players to move past lazy gameplay and engage with other abilities and systems in the game. Limiting the number of enchanted garments you can wear leads players to use their class abilities, giving weight to their choices, rather than just shrouding themselves with all the bling that the game throws at you. Limiting resting injects a new layer of resource management into the game. Modding the Shield of Balduran can change fights against beholders from stupid to interesting challenges (well, to an extent). Et cetera.

EEKeeper is Windows-only, and not maintained in any case. It can be run through WINE, but WINE seems annoying to deal with IMHO. NI works fine on Macs - just have to install Java since it is a Java app. (I'm sticking with Mojave, so not sure about Big Sur, but off the top of my head I don't see why it wouldn't work there... maybe otherss can chime in.) In a Finder window, click the "Go" menu, hold down option, select "Library." Then go into Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common. The game folders should be there. I make an alias of my game folder and put the alias on my desktop, for easy access.