temnix

Are wall polygons necessary in an area? I have already made a search map of this place I'm working on, marked walls as impenetrable obstacles, and true enough, the character can't see or walk through them. But the TIS I used as a starting point also has rows of turqoise wall polygons, not corresponding to anything any longer - I swapped the area around. Do I need them? Do I need to make my own? Can these polygons be the reason why special effects are cut off strangely in tight places and corridors? One of the types of polygons is a "shade wall." What's that? While I'm at this, the area shows as jumbled. This time I didn't forget to include the TIS file generated from the PNG, in fact, the game crashes if I try to go to the area without a TIS, but with it there is a chaos of broken scenery. I thought at first that the TIS might have become corrupted somehow, but this is all brand-new stuff derived from the same PNG, the PVRZs and the TIS in a bunch. Any guesses as to why this might happen?

Working from a copy, I edited an area, first rearranging it, redrawing it, then reducing its vertical dimension. Area dimensions have to be in multiples of 64, because all tiles are 64 x 64 squares, so I counted off the right number from the bottom, where the original had some special tiles I did not need, and cut my area down, or rather up. The search map for this area had been made from scratch, however, and it is very complicated, with many passages, turns, different terrain types underfoot and so on. I had worked on the search map all along, and now that the area has gotten shorter, I can't simply junk it. The search map still works, but for this reason or another DLTCEP doesn't recognize the actual area, the one I created from my shortened and edited PNG in the form of a TIS file and some PVRZs. All of these I put in override, and I can play in the area, but DLTCEP persists in displaying the old version of the area, so the search map has to be edited by memory right now, switching between the editor's window and the game window. How do I refresh DLTCEP's version of the area (the WED file, I suppose, or the TIS)? I also noticed that after the redrawing of the area that I did, dragging around some portions of the floor where walls used to stand and vice versa, tiles don't overlap correctly. I fixed the search map to suit, of course, but the character's figure dives "under" some tiles, and when traps shoot, their explosions are also cut off abnormally or displayed only half-way: There is nothing special about this place. The only guess I have is that this wrong overlapping may be projectiles butting into areas marked as Solid obstacle, but walls have to be that type, of course, or they would be see-through. Is this situation familiar to anybody? This screenshot shows an outline of a wall which is no longer there, brought out by the light of the fireball.

The second aspect is a problem, in my opinion. I don't think it makes any sense to miss, especially so fairly often, when by all rights you should have hit. The randomness already exists in attacking as the 1d20 die roll, but why should a master fighter with an enchanted sword miss a feet-dragging goblin? Life is not THAT unpredictable, and it's not unpredictable in THAT sense. Anyway, I don't want a debate on critical misses here. Like I said, in a changed form, in a richer combat system overall, they could add to the fun. And let somebody develop one! As they are, they don't add to mine. By the way, what seems like free attacks when invisible must be just stabbing animation before the roll if the weapon is slow, invisibility goes away at once.

As I said, if they could be made to happen less often... In Fallout they certainly didn't happen once every 20 attacks. In principle, it's possible to add randomness here and so overall decrease the chance of a miss, and then design a table of critical miss results, more interesting that "trip over and fall down"... But the rest of the system is too primitive anyway. Can't target body parts, no attacks of opportunity, can't even shut doors in enemies' faces, because there are no doors. I have tried with other mods, but this is like beating a dead horse.

I use EE all right, and the staff doesn't show. But never mind, I think this idea is another blind alley.

I find critical misses incredibly frustrating. If they could be made to happen less often and with interesting effects, like in Fallout, and if the rest of the combat system had the sophistication to match, some more complicated mechanism would be worth making. As it is, they either happen once in every 20 attacks or, with this EE-only tweak, never (unless some spell or item increases the critical miss chance). Enjoy. There is no Setup file in this archive. Copy one from another mod and rename it "Setup-No Critical Misses.exe." No Critical Misses.rar

How do you mean, "in BGEE couldn't enter them from street level"? I was playing with a single character just now, BGEE, of course, and I could descend there through the grates, no problem. If you mean enter separately, that can be arranged, but they will still need to travel to nearby sewers sections as a party. I didn't eliminate all party-required transitions in the game, though I have done something similar with "Out of Commission."

There is a quarterstaff model, "Glowing staff," which has no representation in the inventory when equipped. How would I go about adding a paperdoll picture for it?

Fixed and made bigger This mod has two independent components. The first, which used to have serious problems, applies to all versions of the first Baldur's Gate, including the original edition. It takes some areas off the master list. A master area is a specially listed area that serves as a hub for outlying smaller areas. For example, Ulgoth's Beard, the village, is the master area for its inn and houses, Southern Baldur's Gate is the master area for all of the buildings there, including the harbormaster's and all of the floors of the Iron Throne building. Every level of a dungeon, on the other hand, is usually a separate master area. This technical detail is not normally noticeable to players, although the transitions between them usually require the whole party and autosave the game. Some master areas don't make sense, some are bad choices. This mods cleans up the list for the first BG, combining a few areas into complexes where "You must gather..." requirement does not apply (notice, this also disables autosaving at those doors). Item: 1) Tazok's tent at the bandit camp is now a part of the bandit camp outside. The fight within can be taken out and enemies can run after the party, if the indoor area is still active (there is still a party member within). This makes it possible to set up traps outside and otherwise prepare. Shouts for help and alarm will also reach between the tent and the camp; 2) the Thieves' Maze before the door to the Undercity is an extension of the Thieves Guild abovestairs, and you can lead difficult monsters up onto the swords of the thieves; 3) the building of the Friendly Arm Inn, on top of the stairs, can be entered and exited by any party members separately, and Tarnesh can follow the party there, where you can hope for some help from those who want peace and quiet around the place; 4) all four levels of the Cloakwood mine are now connected to each other for separate walking and to the forest on the surface. You can try to lure Davaeorn up to the third tier or even all the way to the woods, if you care to, and ambush difficult guards by camping on top of the stairs (with a party member leading them there and another remaining below to keep the area active); 4) the temple of Bhaal in the Undercity can also be entered individually, exited, and Sarevok and Company can be lured out to where you can slay them on your own terms among the ruins. The second component changes all detectable floor traps so they respond to the passing of enemies and NPC, not just the party. Intended for ambushes. Making neutrals come or flee and trigger fireballs and such will also work. I've made a few mechanics that move neutrals about, like juggling apples in "Adventurer's Miscellany" (not perfect, due for a fix and update). Download

Too many precautions and additions. *shrug* If your saving throw penalty is only 2-3 ticks long, there is no need for blocking at the end. But - so long as it works...

One last thing I'm going to include here: not sounds but somewhat brighter and livelier southern seas, the kind seen at the Werewolf island. I happened to be there. Put these files in override. A belated word of caution: these two files are only for the Enhanced Edition. WTSWAM.TISWSWAM00.PVRZ

It turns out I might have been wrong about MYAREA. I just don't know to what extent exactly. The areas where I tested its stubborness, a house by the side of the road and a couple other places like that, turned out to be on the list of master areas of the game, for absolutely no reason, so the greater area's script didn't reach there.

There are some areas in MASTEREA.2DA whose presence there makes no sense to me. Those are small rooms, houses, without any area transitions leading to them. One is a house next to the Friendly Arm inn, with some nameless NPC in it. They seem to have been added ad hoc, below on the list, because the numbers don't follow the incrementing order. Did Beamdog put them here? Anyway, how do I delete a listing from a 2DA file? Clearly a lot of these make no sense, and it's crucial for my current mod that only real masters be listed there. By the way, why is the inside of the Friendly Arm a separate area from the environs? This has always seemed strange to me. Why is an area transition required there? "You must gather your party" and so on? Is there technical necessity, or is that some arbitrary ad hoc logic?

I think I've tried testing whether these extra effects, passed through Apply effects list, Self, and put on top of the effects stack with "insert_point = 0" so that they are cast first, really do apply first, and I think that is the case. But it was a long time ago. To test one would need something like this: take Magic Missile, put Apply... on top, before damage, and in the subspell as the effect put Display String for some number, it doesn't matter which string. Then cast MM at someone and see if the message appears in the bottom window before or after the damage report. If before, then the save penalty would also come earlier, but you would need to test for secondary and tertiary subspells in the chain to see if the whole linkage still precedes the main effect.

An update: the script of a master area doesn't recognize a MYAREA-scope variable, set from another area, even written specifically for the master area. In AR2301 there is no way at all to set "VAR","AR2300",1. The conditions for setting that variable are recognized (if the triggers are GLOBAL, and GLOBAL variables are written, too), but the local variable doesn't change. It doesn't even help to add a presence check for characters: TriggerOverride(Player1,AreaCheck("AR2300")) returns true in any slave area. I'm seriously fed up with this.

You haven't explained who you need this ability for. Just any character? You can channel the bonus through a Self-targeted Apply effects list using spell states. First you would need to patch all spells of the school you have in mind with this effect, use INT_VAR insert_point = 0 so that it goes on top of the list. In the filter menu for this effect choose some rarely encountered spell state, like STORM_SHELL. This effect will cast a secondary spell whose only effect will be again Apply, again to Self, filtering this time through another spell state. I go for combinations that can't be encountered normally, like the spell states for abilities from different kits. To be on the safe side, the secondary spell is going to cast a tertiary spell, and that one will lead to spell number 4 whose effect will be directed at Preset target with penalties to All saving throws. Use a very short duration, like 2-3 ticks. It's practically impossible that anything else should hit the target in that split second. Now it remains to make the character with this ability don those spell states. If this is an item, use Instant/While equipped, if a permanent ability, include them in a spell you put on the character.\ I wouldn't suggest a permanent spell state or several, though, there may be conflicts over the scope of the game. It's possible to use some unimportant character ability instead of a filter. One of the subspells can set the character's Charisma to 25, for example, for a few ticks, and target that stat. If this is for a kit, instead of spell states just use one subspell filtered through the kit of the character.

With that code I would only patch specific files. My code is for excluding some files and including others that wouldn't normally meet the criteria (not a wild area). But this is only a part of the code, the conclusion, as I said. I did separate it out, hoping it would make Weidu's job easier, but even by itself it never gets anywhere. I have a BUT_ONLY after this, of course. It's not an essential part of the mod, but it would be handy to assign a variable to all areas of the right kind that could be looked up instead of going through AreaCheck and so on.

This mod I'm making is making Weidu go a little slower, possibly because of memory stress, but not terribly so, and then it stops and just continues to blink there, going nowhere. This is the second time. The last time I had to close the window, and this means lots of files got patched midway, without even a way to undo the changes. My own installation must have gotten messed up. But more important, it's happening again, and not for any kind of extreme patching either. Simply scripts are getting extended, on top, with a small snippet of code on top, unproblematic, and in a long list of updates that were successful one hangs the system. It isn't the same script as the last file either, judging by the recent files that appeared in override. Weidu just hangs. I'm going to restart the computer now and see if that helps, but - any suggestions? Edit: okay, restarting and trying the installation on a more powerful machine didn't do the job. But since some of the scripts are getting extended before this freeze, clearly the fault is not with the code being added but with how I wrote my tp2. It overburdens Weidu somehow. Here is the culprit code, I think. This is actually already past the script extension stage, it's for setting an area variable that will mark "wild" areas. Without this, the mod installs. But Weidu doesn't find logical errors here, only the code somehow bogs it down. The part in red is several checks to exclude starting areas in all of the games. The part in green covers area types - dungeons, forests and general-wild (outdoor but not a city) that should be included, an OR links it to areas in purple, which are indoor but in wild places (cabins etc.) and should get patched as well. PATCH_IF !(((GAME_IS ~bgee~) & (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR2600~)) || ((GAME_IS ~bg2ee~) & (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR0601~) & (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR0602~) & (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR0603~)) || ((GAME_IS ~iwdee~) & (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1000~)) || ((GAME_IS ~eet~) & (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG2600~) & (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR0601~) & (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR0602~) & (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR0603~))) & ((((flags2 & BIT4) == BIT4) || ((flags2 & BIT5) == BIT5) || (((flags2 & BIT0) == BIT0) & ((flags2 & BIT3) != BIT3))) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1009~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1010~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR2000~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1008~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR2001~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR2002~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR2003~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR2004~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR2005~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR2006~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR2007~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR2008~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR2009~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR2010~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR2011~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR2012~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG1009~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG1010~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG2000~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG1008~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG2001~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG2002~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG2003~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG2004~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG2005~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG2006~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG2007~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG2008~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG2009~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG2010~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG2011~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG2012~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR3201~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG3201~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1601~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG1601~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1602~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG1602~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1805~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1806~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1807~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1808~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1809~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG1805~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG1806~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG1807~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG1808~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG1809~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR2101~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG2101~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1901~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1902~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1903~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1904~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1905~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1906~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR1907~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG1901~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG1902~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG1903~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG1904~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG1905~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG1906~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG1907~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR3202~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG3202~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~AR4101~) || (~%SOURCE_RES%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~BG4101~)) THEN BEGIN LPF fj_are_structure STR_VAR fj_structure_type = variable fj_name = ~REP-WILD~ fj_variable_value = 1 END END

Just open them in an audio player, if you care to nitpick so much. I'll give you a hint, though: the ones starting with WAL are walking sounds. By the way, someone downloaded the file just five minutes ago, before I updated it again for the final time. One squeak was not quite perfect. This hungry downloader should get the copy of the file that is up now, with 0 downloads.

Forgot to add sounds for walking on wood. The existing sounds are unbearably hard, like prancing in stiletto heels in a gymnastics hall. The file was updated again.

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'll keep it simple.

I added three more sounds, concluding the most annoying ones: door open and closed and the corpse search sound.

It is a confusing situation. And I don't completely understand it myself. I know that the setting and the reading of valuables are consistent in that from a slave area they are neither set nor read for the master area or for the rest of the area complex, all those other slave areas. If you set VAR at 1 in AR3303 and exit to AR3300, it won't be detected there. And vice versa: VAR set to 1 at AR3300 won't be detected in slave areas. The problem here is that a master area like AR3300 plays two roles: it is a sort of overseer for the smaller areas, who don't need to have scripts of their own, but it is also itself an area like them. And this is where the scope problem comes in: what does MYAREA apply to in AR3300? Only to itself, it turns out. The "overseer" role of a master area is that its GLOBAL-level variables work for the slave areas. Even timers of creatures left in the master area finish correctly when it is inactive, in the LOCALS scope anyway, and GLOBAL too, I'm sure. Nobody from the party needs to be there. But when it comes to the MYAREA scope... I need all this for a Reputation system that would be local as well as global. Crimes and achievements are supposed to lower or raise local reputation. New master areas, where the party hasn't been yet, would set its Reputation to 10 the first time they are entered. Returning to a place, reputation should spring back to the local value, but global reputation should catch up after a while and update the local reputation, and itself become adjusted by it. I more or less had this worked out when I ran into the fact that instead of one MYAREA value that could be factored in, an area complex has a MYAREA for every place, all unconnected. Changing one doesn't do anything to others and isn't recognized there. Setting an area-specific global like "AR3300" instead isn't going to work because there is no telling how many and which slave areas there are for a master area. I would need to know this to patch them with checks. But it seems that the slave relation is established the first time the party enters an area from a master area, if it isn't a master area itself. I copied a sub-area for AR0800 as AR0720, teleported the party there in a new game. The moment I stepped through the door into a former connection, AR0800, the script for that area began to apply and continued after everyone returned inside. It looks like I made AR0720 into a slave of AR0800.

If you have too much of an open mind, you end up with the third edition, which removed level limits and made gnome paladins possible, because surely in the breadth of possible experience those may happen too. And after that you need to knock down the walls of your home, because they arbitrarily separate the inside from the outside. The kits you mentioned - stalker and so on - should be seen as specialties of the same virtuous ranger.

A small mod that makes summoned creatures and demons vanish when the summoner is killed, when the game is reloaded or when the party leaves the master area (e.g. Central Baldur's Gate, going into the buildings is not a problem). This goes for both the party's and enemy minions. I owe @Jarno Mikkola for encouragement. Download