K4thos

Gorionar, fantastic art, thank you very much for this contribution. Considering this area contains water, which seems quite tricky to implement (and in EE engine there are also other changes that need to be taken into account - this is how the ship TIS file looks like in EE), if you still have this image with water present on a separate layer, please share - it will make TIS creation easier (I think).

thanks, I've updated the first post taking above into account.

These images look as good, if not better than vanilla areas. Really good work. Since Gorionar's upload contains 10 unique images, I think that's enough variety for both IWD1 and IWD2 content, so we can skip IW0001- IW0005 areas mentioned in the first post. Kexik’s art is also of high quality, but with so many details (trees, lake, bridge, cave) I think it may be better to leave it for someone interested in using it as whole (for example in a dedicated mod for IWD games, where it could really shine), instead of cropping the art into 1280x960 pieces for random encounters. So the only area art that may still need editing or replacement to differentiate it from vanilla one is the ship exterior. Of course the work also awaits for someone willing to actually convert these images into proper BG area files, as described in this tutorial: http://www.simpilot.net/~sc/dltcep/index.htm And there’s also encounter design task described in the first post.

edit: all icons have been converted to BG style by bob_veng. Old post:

To speed up development of the IWD-in-EET mod I'd like to ask for help with some time consuming tasks, so that I could focus on other stuff. This topic is about BG style random encounters. Random encounters feature was initially meant to be implemented by @White Agnus (here is a proof of concept video), but since he is missing in action, maybe someone else will be interested in working on it. I've prepared following graphic resources for random encounter areas. All with 1280x960 dimensions since that’s the size of all RE areas in BG games. https://imgur.com/a/SGRhntA As you can see they are based on vanilla areas. Of course if some artist would be interested in editing them or working on completely new art, such contribution would be more then welcome (especially the ship exterior seems jarring to me since it’s very recognizable art from BG2). I've already prepared TIS, PVRZ, MOS, BMP files. What else is needed: - IW0001-IW0004, IW0001N-IW0004N: WED file (either need to be created from scratch or extracted from vanilla OH3000 WED file), - IW0005: WED file (created from scratch since that portion of vanilla IWD2 AR2000 area was not accessible, so doesn't have trees polygon etc.), SR.BMP (same situation, vanilla SR was not usable in this case) - IW0006: WED file (data can be extracted from the vanilla BG2 AR1607.WED file), TIS/PVRZ files (I know next to nothing regarding TIS water tiles, so I skipped this one). Currently these areas use empty ARE files, so patching them may also be needed (adding stuff like wind ambient sounds etc.). Here are current resources for random encounter areas: https://www.dropbox.com/s/trn1iu7wtevzocf/map_random_encounters.zip?dl=1 In case someone would like to extract data from vanilla WED files, tiles position on the original maps can be checked in xcf files, inside source folder (by displaying layers on top of vanilla image). -------------------------- Another task is designing actual random encounters. If someone will be interested in doing so, I can write spawn scripts myself. What would be needed is a list of creature files that should be spawned, with the exact map axis, information for which campaign the spawn is for (IWD1 or IWD2), in which chapter, and on which random encounter map creatures are meant to show up etc. I think the best way to handle it is analysing how random encounters work in vanilla games and designing something similar: BG1 (in EET with BG, not AR prefix): AR5600, AR5601, AR5700, AR5701, AR5800, AR5801, AR5900, AR5901, AR6000, AR6001, AR6100. BG2: AR0041, AR0042, AR0043, AR0044, AR0045, AR0046. Balancing wise, please think about it as if you would be designing such encounters for vanilla IWD1 and IWD2. It may be handy to actually test those encounters with your IWD:EE parties in particular chapters. Keep in mind that the mod will contain optional creature scaling feature. -------------------------- edit: thanks to Gorionar's contributions there is a new ship exterior and 10 unique images that can be used for encounter areas. PNG files: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4cygq6oc1rvox48/Location RE1.7z?dl=1 PSD images with ship exterior: https://www.dropbox.com/s/64e9hm5f2u72704/Ship%2Bwater_0.psd?dl=1 JPG preview: https://imgur.com/a/vK8I6VG Snowy areas will be converted to BG format by Fluke565.

IWD1 content items works the same as in IWD:EE (there is quite a lot item randomization done via 2da files). IWD2 is all about item randomization (at least when it comes to unique items) and that's still intact after content conversion to EE engine. I recommend looking for description how it all works in some IWD2 guides. No additional item randomization is planned for BG content (although external mod could add it, if someone would be interested in creating such mod).

no. edit: at least when it comes to system stuff discussed in the recent posts. IWD2 content itself has been already converted before by dradiel for classic engine (it’s part of a giant project called "World of Baldur's Gate" - only for Polish version of classic BG2).

I've never played NEJ, so don't know what "item upgrade" means here. You can see current descriptions of all converted IWD2 items here: there is no perspective yet (and won't be since the testing phase start depends on EEex development, and I don't want to put pressure on the author). It will be released once it's ready. thanks. I've rewritten IWD2 descriptions from scratch in order to make them more in line with EE ones, less confusing (IWD2 vanilla text is often vague, sometimes misleading, in some cases miss some existing class features). English is not my first language, so feel free to list any grammar/spelling errors you find. the priority for the first release are IWD2 features, so the answer is no, for now, since that game didn't have prestige classes. But I'm indeed interested in implementing at least those prestige classes present in NWN1 (so none of those you just listed) down the road. Before it happens several more feats and skills that were not present in IWD2 will need to be implemented (they are among the requirements for these prestige classes) Skills: - Discipline - Tumble Feats: - Alertness - Mobility - Spring Attack - Whirlwind Attack Tumble skill, Spring Attack and Mobility feats also require "Attack of opportunity" feature, which I'm struggling to think how it could be implemented in IE engine to work decently. When it comes to NWN features missing in IWD2, I'm also interested in implementing meta-magic feats down the road and maybe some other skills and feats present there. The Lua code is already written in a way to support prestige classes. Thier implemention is just not a priority until the core mod is finished. almost all IWD2 feats have been re-implemented from scratch in EE engine, so IWD2 bugs don't matter (there WILL be new bugs to be discovered during testing though, that's inevitable). edit: here are descriptions how they work in this mod: Notice that I didn't manged to implement "Blind-Fight", "Precise Shot" and "Strong Back" feats yet due to engine limitations.

unless you treat paladin and monk orders, cleric deities and mage spellschool specialization as such, there are no "kits" in IWD2 (or in 3E PnP for that matter). Below is description how custom rules base classes currently work (almost completely the same as in IWD2). None of these changes affect vanilla "classic rules" characacters (and no changes to 2da files affect "custom rules" characters - those are handled via Lua tables, extremly easy to mod btw.).

I don't use classic games, so can't help you with testing, but I'm interested in seeing these screenshots. Please consider reuploading them in fullsize instead of 180x100 resolution

I don't really know how vaiable particular class combinations are from powergaming point of view. The mod provides an option to create a character with class system that works like in IWD2 and it's up to player to make or break the character (or ignore it and still use the classic system) Quoting the readme (very much WIP, the readme file is nowhere near ready, I will need to credit Sorcerer's Place and some IWD2 gamefaqs authors, since I'm using huge portions of thier IWD2 system explanations in the readme) edit: In short, everything works like in IWD2, but the full Hit Dice advancement is capped at level 10 (to not create characters with insane amount of HP), characters gain 2E saving throws (since I don't see a point in using 3E ones - doing so would require patching most resources in game) and we're calling 3E BAB as base THAC0 (even though its progression for custom rules characters is the same as in IWD2). And of course we're following BG XP reward scale (level 30 at XP cap = 8000000 instead of 528000).

yes, you can think about it as "create your own kit". There are no silly workarounds here like dialogs or spells. Everything has been re-implemented in Lua (thanks to EEex) and the menus looks exactly the same as in IWD2 - see the example screenshots from chargen (level up screens for custom rules characters also looks like this, vanilla hardcoded/2da based chargen and levelup functionality is not used at all by these characters).

As you can see in the third screenshot you can select between classic and custom rules during character creation. Which means it only applies to player created characters (for example starting a new game with a party of 6, just like in IWD1 and IWD2) and mods created with IWD-in-EET in mind. Changing vanilla NPCs to follow custom rules is outside scope of this project. I'm thinking about adding a feature for something like Level1NPC mod (via toogle in options screen) which spawns new vanilla NPCs (not mod added) at level 0, so that you can create them from scratch. Nothing more since I don't really want to spend time thinking which skills, feats or class combinations particular NPC should use. The mod supports vanilla kits and mod added NPCs just fine as it is. edit: that description is indeed wrong. Compared to classic rules the only difference for WIS is: - bonus spells based on Wisdom score (following IWD2 rules) - the minimum score needed to cast a Cleric, Druid, or Ranger spell is 10 + the spell's level (so for example you won't be able to cast level 7 spells with 16 Wisdom). Paladins use Charisma instead. - ability modifiers affecting skill scores governed by this ability edit: when not wearing armor monk's Armor Class is also affected by Wisdom modifier

nope. It's been a while since I've checked the active topics here. I will read if there were any other interesting ideas. I've been focusing on Lua side of the mod recently. Quoting myself: Here are the results of these (ongoing) efforts: https://imgur.com/a/teitafp This is not a normal GUI skin. For example whole character creation, levelling up and spellbook screen no longer use hardcoded functions. Thanks to EEex, I've re-implemented normally hardcoded functionality from scratch in Lua, in order to support 3E style multi-class system, character progression and other IWD2 features introduced by this mod (among other things: feats, subraces, mixed spellcasting types on the same character etc.). As you can see on the third screenshot, IWD-in-EET supports both custom rules (3E style features, most of the IWD2 systems) as well as classic BG rules at the same time (selectable during character creation), which makes the mod very compatible with existing mods (no problems with installing kits or even tweaks that change the ruleset via 2da files – those are ignored by "custom rules" characters)

I remember reading about a function/macro that can assign spells to CLAB files and append new rows if needed (only if there are no free slot in the column left). I was sure that I will find it in this topic but can't see it mentioned in the first post. If anyone knows where to get this function please post a link.

yes, I'm using fixpack before resources conversion. I've also considered using fixes mentioned in this topic, but the link to that mod is offline.

looks like the host deleted your saves, please reupload

if it worked before but now doesn't then Beamdog added or changed something in global script, or maybe the area flag used for this no longer works, some other mod forces game over when player1 is dead, or you didn't start a new game. No idea. If anyone else is interested in making this tweak functional again, as mentioned in the post, the code if free for grab.

thanks, will be fixed in the next version.

I'm not interested in maintaining this tweak anymore, sorry. You can still install it via this upload:

please run this bat file and post here what text is present in "arch_var.txt" file (created by arch_var.bat in the same directory) arch_var.bat

yeah, if item is for normal mode only then normalizing huge ST mods seems reasonable. Maybe even a cap of let's say up to -5 for normal mode and -15 for HoF mode? (penalty lower then this would automatically disable saving throw check during item conversion). From what I see there are no droppable items in vanilla EE games with bigger ST penalties. The only problem with this approach are items droppable in both modes - adjusting those would have to be done on a case-by-case basis.

Sorry for the late reply. Like always, save file is needed.

@bob_veng, could you please elaborate what you mean? The "Save vs. X at -Y negates" form is used in vanilla EE descriptions. Exemples: If you're referring to the amount, which in this case is -14, it may look weird at first, but it makes sense considering most items with such high ST mod values are exclusive to Heart of Fury (Legacy of Bhaal) mode only, in which all creatures have extra 10 bonus to Saving Throws (so the -14 is as effective as -4 when fighting the same monster in non-HoF mode). In IWD2 the save penalties/bonuses information is hidden (which I think is bad considering applying save penalty or bonus makes all the difference in weapon effectiveness). In EE descriptions they are always listed, so that's the convention I've used too. Let me know what you think should be changed here.

sure, if you're an artist or find one, feel free to improve icons. Don't forget about red animation on icons, though (not used by EE, but I don't see why mod like this couldn't be released for old engine too) btw. SoD icons suffer from obvious colorloss and transparency problems that Beamdog never addressed. Example: SoD icons have been made with partial transparency applied in some spots (or at least that's by assumption based on the above image), but the outcome file has been saved into BAM v1 format (which is limited to 256 colors for all icons and doesn't support transparency at all), instead of BAM v2, so now they look straight out broken. If I remember correctly, when I imported the icons into EET icons file, I did some fixes on SoD icons to get rid of those blank spots but they still look kinda bad.