temnix

Still nothing.

For some reason Weidu won't replace some of the text in scripts. The script code compiles by itself, in the editor, but nothing ends up rewitten here. Am I using the patching function wrong? COPY_EXISTING_REGEXP GLOB ~.*\.BCS~ ~override~ DECOMPILE_AND_PATCH BEGIN REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~IF AttackedBy([GOODCUTOFF],DEFAULT) Allegiance(Myself,NEUTRAL)~ ~IF AttackedBy([GOODCUTOFF],DEFAULT) !Allegiance(Myself,ENEMY)~ REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~IF AttackedBy([GOODCUTOFF],DEFAULT) !Allegiance(Myself,ENEMY)~ ~IF AttackedBy([GOODCUTOFF],DEFAULT) !Allegiance(Myself,ENEMY) HPPercentGT(Myself,50) CheckStat(LastAttackerOf,14,CHR) THEN RESPONSE #1 RESPONSE #7 Enemy() END IF AttackedBy([GOODCUTOFF],DEFAULT) !Allegiance(Myself,ENEMY) HPPercentGT(Myself,50) CheckStat(LastAttackerOf,15,CHR) THEN RESPONSE #2 RESPONSE #7 Enemy() END IF AttackedBy([GOODCUTOFF],DEFAULT) !Allegiance(Myself,ENEMY) HPPercentGT(Myself,50) CheckStat(LastAttackerOf,16,CHR) THEN RESPONSE #3 RESPONSE #8 Enemy() END IF AttackedBy([GOODCUTOFF],DEFAULT) !Allegiance(Myself,ENEMY) HPPercentGT(Myself,50) CheckStat(LastAttackerOf,17,CHR) THEN RESPONSE #4 RESPONSE #9 Enemy() END IF AttackedBy([GOODCUTOFF],DEFAULT) !Allegiance(Myself,ENEMY) HPPercentGT(Myself,50) CheckStat(LastAttackerOf,18,CHR) THEN RESPONSE #5 RESPONSE #10 Enemy() END IF AttackedBy([GOODCUTOFF],DEFAULT) !Allegiance(Myself,ENEMY) HPPercentGT(Myself,50) CheckStatGT(LastAttackerOf,18,CHR) THEN RESPONSE #6 RESPONSE #10 Enemy() END IF AttackedBy([GOODCUTOFF],DEFAULT) !Allegiance(Myself,ENEMY)~ END BUT_ONLY

Is it possible to get Charisma to influence the selling price somehow? I can only think of writing special dialogue branches and quests that might improve the mark-up for selling, but that only works for particular stores, and it isn't about Charisma.

Oh, god. I was hoping no one would reply. If what you said is right, this dooms me to develop another idea... Okay, I rewrote some of the code, but in this form it doesn't change anything: READ_LONG 0x2C purc-cat READ_LONG 0x30 purc-num SET "present" = 0 // this is a check for this item category FOR (index = 0; index < purc-num; index = index + 1) BEGIN READ_LONG ("%purc-num%" + ("%index%" * 0x0c)) "present" PATCH_IF present = 75 THEN BEGIN SET "present" = 1 END END PATCH_IF ("present" = 0) BEGIN // if not buying them already INSERT_BYTES ("%purc-cat%" + ("%purc-num%" * 4)) 0x4c WRITE_LONG ("%purc-cat%" + ("%purc-num%" * 4)) ~75~ SET purc-num = purc-num + 1 WRITE_LONG 0x30 purc-num END It's as if "present" gets set to 1, that is, as if the store already buys earrings. It doesn't. If I remove the check, I can get this to add earrings, but there are unused bytes tailing then.

What an unexpected association.

You called them a murder simulator once. I hope for more. And some things are possible. This is my last post here - I don't want to derail the topic any more, but I can mention that I made, for example, a replacement for Oracle that gives real information on creatures. It "measures" their hit points, sometimes "revealing" that their health is below maximum - in effect it lowers it - and "discovers" properties like special vulnerabilities or strengths or that the creature is an illusion altogether. Granted, that's still going around the prickly pear of combat statistics, I can't up and write in whole worlds' worth of NPC and content, but this is an example of magic that expands the world. It creates breathing space instead of garroting people.

It has been asked, and here I am. And why not? It's a good place for new modules.

None. There is only one effect for changing personal space. But you, being a living being with a mind, can switch to smaller weapon or to the fist to reduce the size taken up. I think it should be possible to tangle up opponents, too, by coming in close with a small radius and then switching to something large. You will or may both get stuck. The effective minimum range between creatures, though, is a combination of both of their weapons. You can only approach an enemy with a halberd or a staff only so close, even if you go fist. The computer is brainless and can't know when to switch to a smaller or larger weapon, not that most enemies have a choice of them, and that's why I put in a little randomness where an enemy will suddenly deflate for a few seconds and come through. Makes the AI appear less dumb. I should mention that this changing of personal space is not always safe. If not done right, a creature can get stuck on terrain. That's not something I've observed for this mod, and switching to the fist nullifies changes, but if somebody notices a sticking problem, where a creature just can't get off a spot, do write about it here. I can include a bump-off effect then.

I haven't tried this so I can't tell how exactly they did it, but probably there is. For one thing "tinting" might mean they applied coloring effects to the creature files. I recolored the actual animation files. There is a difference. Plus my imps and quasits have a sound component. They move with a hop, they have different voices, they mumble... It's a new creature.

A long time ago I posted on Spellhold an invitation to share the work and laurels... rather literally in this case... of an herbal mod. These herbs and shrooms would be collectible by characters and would have some useful properties when eaten. In principle, it might be possible to mix them into potions, but I didn't go that far with my planning. What I did have by that point and still have among my files is a bunch of already prepared herbs and mushrooms - inventory items, with icons, description images, text, powers, the works. I'd make a few more, and it would be an impressive set. The other half of the job, and what I wanted somebody interested in area editing for, would be to put the herbs on the ground. The collecting part, you see, is easy: the player just looks around or holds down Tab, herbs become highlighted in green, he picks them up. Without Tab they blend quite completely with the environment. But the herbs should be placed where it makes sense: among bushes, in shady or sunny spots, the mushrooms should go under the trees and so on. It is possible to scatter them around an area, but that's just not the quality I set sights on. And so I advertised for a partner who likes areas enough to give each a personal treatment: plant some toadstools by the druid rings, grow a few rushes near the waterfall and so on, or in different places as he likes. He can invent what environment the plants prefer. Some are fantastical, others real. I have a simple device for making a plant appear at coordinates, but it takes looking for the right nooks and crannies outdoors, and in some dungeons, too, they might grow. I've been busy with other things, but the offer is still open. I think it would be a pity to let the material go to waste, and I can't do everything myself. Naturally, it would be a 50/50 credited job.

This is a clean-up update that removes some files that were unnecessarily shipped with the module.

In the "Player's Handbook" not all schools had two oppositions. Divination had just one, and maybe another. But yes, it's easy to patch spells with more exclusions. I wouldn't expect players to flock to this, especially if they lose their Fireballs... Another problem is that in PnP many spells belonged to two schools at once, even to opposed schools sometimes. Spook, for instance, was both an Illusion and a Necromancy spell, if I remember, and learnable by specialists from both. More often a spell would belong to adjacent schools. In these computer adaptations the type has a mechanical meaning and fixed in the table used for things like spell immunities. They all have to be of one type there. What a modder can do is revamp the system and put all wizard spells in the NONE school, make them general, then add prohibitions on the spell-by-spell basis. This would reproduce the logic of the old AD&D, which was to look at the workings of the spells themselves and include them where the designers thought appropriate (sometimes their thinking eluded me, but it was human error and a DM could decide otherwise). This, at any rate, was different from the abstract approach of 3E and later editions, which put forward a system of descriptors, tags, in effect. It was done in an attempt to streamline the rules, and succeeded, only the substance went out with the bathwater. (Among other things, in AD&D some spells of the same name for wizards and priests worked somewhat differently, to wit, Detect Magic, Know Alignment... All this was junked.) Recreating the system for these adaptations would only cost Spell Immunity, which would become useless. I don't think this would be a huge loss to bring back the old elaborate tapestry. I haven't got any more suggestions to put forward, but about your, Rhastor, wonderment that I say there are not enough spells and not enough different spells, the explanation is simple: you look at these games as action games, I look at them as RPGs. For an action game only less hectic than Diablo, with a few more conversations and a party instead of a single character, there is a good arsenal of destruction here: fireballs, webs, all those things you have trouble choosing from. No argument from me about that, which is why I rarely make combat spells and items myself - there are enough of those. But to my mind the games are about creating a personality to live in an imaginary world with meaningful choices, where there will be some fighting from time to time, yes, and for those purposes fireballs don't cut it. Where is demon summoning, the real kind, where you can bind demons, send them on errands, bargain with them? Where is Contact Other Plane (Icewind Dale actually did have it, and it gave real information - hurray to that game for that)? Oracle, the real one? Where are illusions and disbelief? Where is Geas? Teleportation? Real Animate Dead? Minor and Major Creation? Wall of Iron that you can throw down on enemies and crush them or just sell for scrap metal? Where is Fool's Gold? Water Breathing? Useful applications of Charm? Friends doing what it is supposed to, which is not just to increase Charisma to buy stuff for less? I understand that the entire richness of a real tabletop game between humans using their imagination can't be replicated on a sorry heap of microchips, and these games are very old to boot, but some of the above IS possible, just no one has bothered with sophistication, because hardly anyone respects such a thing. The crowd is plenty happy to electrocute monsters, yee haw! And so, because there are already few spells with a difference, I don't think there is a point to restricting wizards further. Don't you want spiffy stuff to kil thangs with? At least you can switch between Confusion and Fireball if you get both their schools. That ought to alleviate boredom a little.

When the big tree grows strong, mice hang pants on the branches. ~ Imaginary dojo crap The gradations are in the radius of personal space. There are no fractions, and even one point makes a difference. The mod is complete now, I'm updating the head post. Held space was somewhat reduced to take into account that both creatures approaching will probably have a weapon equipped. Not the case for, say, coming up against a slime or an elemental, but with equipped fighters it is the space of the short sword of one + the spear of the other. The parties can switch to smaller weapons or fists to get past a deadlock. The computer can't be expected to know this, so I added a small random variation in space size. Sometimes an enemy who looks securely blocked away behind a couple of his fellows with halberds taking up all the room will suddenly go through. When the opportunity runs out and space swells again, he may become stuck until someone moves away. Anyhow, accidents may happen, but hopefully that will make things more interesting.

Hold off downloading for now. I'm still adjusting the ranges. What you say about your weapons training I respect, it's good to have a perspective from experience here, but you must realize that faithful representation goes only so far, and not far, with this toolset. For one thing, unwieldiness and "danger zone" are different animals, of course, but here they are represented by the only effect available. Ranged weapons should theoretically have an enormous "danger zone" and keep away everyone, but, of course, I can't squeeze people off the map. And using bows as makeshift clubs and things like that - well, here is where superiority of real life makes itself felt. You can do that sort of thing there, anything could be a weapon, in principle, but in these games it would require giving bows separate melee abilities, and there aren't even animations to represent thwacking with a bow. The different gradations are also not so fine, just one point makes a big difference. I think I've done as much with the mechanic as can be done and is worth doing. I am making some adjustments to animations used for spears, staves and halberds for apparent flexibility. Spears will sometimes be used to thwack with, backhand and overhead, staves will have more varied swinging too, and halberds show every kind of blow, including thrusts. This ought to make ground control more sensible. Also blunt weapons, staves, spears (now that they are sometimes used to whack), halberds and slings, when they score a hit, will be delivering knockback. The feints and finishes have no gameplay effect but they make fighting a bit more convincing, as do falls and turnarounds. I still can't make this much more than chugging THAC0, in essence, but it's something. Also I have a couple of mods that do add a tactical dimension: "Flanks and Rear," "Initiative," you can count "Surprise!" here as well...

Fixed With this mod fighting becomes a little more entertaining and lively as every scoring strike with a weapon or fist leads to a quick finisher, a little feint or maneuver. Shots from ranged weapons that hit also evoke a little cheering from the shooter every now and then. A melee weapon's connection may also lead to a swapping of places, when both parties end up on the ground and then up again and facing each other. Plus I slightly increased daggers' range. Spears, staves and halberds will show more strike variations, with thrusting and thwacking. All blunt weapons, spears and halberds, and slings, or rather shots from slings, will also knock the hit creature back unless he saves vs. death. Installing on an Enhanced Edition game, there will be another element: weapons' ability to control ground. Every weapon except fists will increase the character's personal space, in these categories progressively: daggers and darts; short swords, hammers, maces, clubs; long swords, scimitars, morningstars, axes, flails, bows, slings and crossbows; staves, spears, two-handed swords and halberds. The change represents both the amount of free space a weapon requires to be used effectively and its "danger range," ability to keep away attackers or anybody who comes near. There is no breaching a character's personal space while the weapon is drawn. The only way to get past the character is to kill him. The big weapons are effective at blocking corridors and doorways, including when you want to enter a tavern and the door is not wide enough. Put them away then. As for usefulness in a fight, this screenshot was taken on an open plain, but it shows ground-controlling power of two weapons: Notice the distance between the xvarts. This is close to how near they can come to each other and fight with their short swords. Minsc, for his part, is unapproachable any closer than that with his greatsword. He is still attackable at this range by anybody, the mechanics don't allow actually preventing xvarts' attacks on account of too-short blades, but if he were standing in a corridor in, say, the Firewine ruin, he could hold them all back. There would probably be no elbow room for another party member to stand next to him with a large weapon, though. Special provisions were made for ogres with their huge morningstars and gnolls, so that they only partially obstruct each other on the stairs of the Gnoll stronghold. While you can switch a party member to a smaller weapon or the fist any time and get past or around a control zone, the AI can't and his minions with large weapons would be hopelessly stuck behind each other. Often the party may be able to use this to its advantage, but you have to keep in mind personal space of your characters as well, even outside of combat, for such things as pathfinding. Characters don't know to switch to fists to slip between each other and may go half a way around the map if you don't watch them. Also NPC sometimes strike conversations with party members as if they were near instead of walking up to them - tolerable but ineradicable weirdness. Fixes for the EE-only component In this update I made some fixes to weapons, in particular spears had been overlooked before completely. Now they also have a personal space and their damage type is either piercing or crushing, whichever is better against the enemy's armor, given that they sometimes use a thrashing animation now. This should give spears a bit of a boost as a weapon choice. Enemies' ability to "deflate" sometimes and sneak between others' personal space, which I thought was a good idea, turned out to make them stick on terrain, and was eliminated. On the whole, the play with personal spaces is a little ornery, so it is now an optional component. Without it only finishes and falls will be installed. This picture shows the final weapon reaches. The tasloi, armed with spears, cannot approach each other or Halen in blue with a staff any closer than this. Imoen with a bow could actually move a little closer to the tasloi on the left, but when personal spaces touch, it is melee range with ranged-weapon penalties. Viconia will have to put away the mace (switch to the fist) to go between Imoen and the tasloi below Edwin. You must tell her to do this - if you simply click below without relieving her of the largish weapon, she will walk all the way around the tangle. The unarmed Edwin's own space is very small, as is Xzar's on the right - even smaller than shown, in fact. Two bare-handed characters can almost walk through each other. All weapons now also have a hidden property to unhitch stuck creatures. If a character becomes stuck on terrain for any reason (hopefully not on account of this mod), you can switch to any weapon or fist, and he will be off the hook. Download

Updated.

I can't answer your question, but I can point out that the reason why people don't think of playing mages is because there are too few spells generally and too few that do anything interesting. Players don't feel, and rightly, that they miss out on much because of a restriction. I don't want to derail the discussion - or even start one - but how many higher-level versions of Secret Word do we need, removing progressively stronger defenses which other spells progressively mount? This reminds me of a Robert Sheckley story where an inventor comes with plans for a super-cannon in one pocket, plans for an armor that stops the super-cannon in a second pocket, plans for a super-super-cannon that penetrates that armor in a third pocket and so on. If there were more spells with standalone, interesting mechanics in every school, especially Divination, flexibility would become as important in these games as in PnP, and then mages would be valued. And while I'm here, let's set the vocabularity straight: there is no such thing as a specialist mage. The character class is called wizard, and wizards who have access to all schools are called mages, while ones that specialize are specialists. Just as with the warrior class, under whose umbrella we have sub-classes: fighter, paladin and ranger. Now I will be a little useful and say that I do remember hearing of mods that add opposition schools, only not of players being too eager to handicap themselves.

I would like all stores to buy Earrings (75). How do I do that? Here is the code I have tried. COPY_EXISTING ~STOBLACK.STO~ ~override~ READ_LONG 0x2C purc-cat READ_LONG 0x30 purc-num SET "present" = 0 // this is a check for this item category FOR (index = 0; index < purc-num; index = index + 1) BEGIN READ_BYTE ("%purc-num%" + ("%index%" * 0x0c)) "present" PATCH_IF present = 75 THEN BEGIN SET "present" = 1 END END PATCH_IF ("present" = 0) BEGIN // if not buying them already WRITE_LONG 0x30 purc-num INSERT_BYTES ("%purc-cat%" + ("%purc-num%" * 4)) 0x0c /// assuming it's 0 bytes WRITE_LONG ("%purc-cat%" + ("%purc-num%" * 4)) ~75~ END The offsets for stores are from the file for Black Lily's store, and the offsets are the same in all of them, but the value at 0x2C differs. What does that mean, exactly? Anyway, if anybody knows what to do with non-working code, you're welcome to say so. I have tried increasing purc-num by 1, too, it doesn't help.

Updated.

You have come to the rescue of the stupider portion of the audience on these forums splendidly, Imp.

Without quotes that could read as a classified, but my intentions regarding your daughter are pure, sir. In my latest mod about thieves pickpockets whistle to themselves as they flaneur towards the bulging afts of party members' cargo pants. I thought it would be nice to do some homage to Fritz Lang's "M" and make them whistle the starting notes of "In the Hall of the Mountain King." From "Peer Gynt." Everybody knows that tune. I can do the males' whistling myself, so-so, but it will take the power of femininity for the female scoundrels. Make your voice heard!

Why? Anybody who wants to can get it here. For future engineers, they can work on enabling bouncing AOE projectiles for "classic" games. This is how you get forward-facing cones for Caster spells. Not my discovery either. But they already work in the Enhanced Edition and never will in "classic," so it's a moot point.

Guys, this is not a content mod. I mean, it doesn't matter which game you install it on. Could be Icewind Dale. Getting screenshots from BG1 was simply easier. I thought it would be self-explanatory what it does, or at least you could guess to right-click on the screenshots and save them.

Updated With this mod, which should be compatible with everything, being on the streets of big cities becomes unsafe. Streets here means any outdoor area of the city type with the exception of small burgs: Nashkel, Beregost and Trademeet. There things are rustic and friendly. With them deducted, this leaves in practice Baldur's Gate itself and Athkatla, but in principle the mod will apply to any other cities you might have, in alternative universes, expanded worlds and so on. Installing this to Icewind Dale's Ten Towns doesn't make much sense, but it will work. During the day in those big cities every once in a while the party may be approached by pickpockets. This may happen to any member of the party, whether they are together or scattered over the area. Having allies at hand helps to react quickly. The screen will move to the pickpocket when one appears. They are blue-circle, but enemies, and the party will attack them if you switch the AI on. I recommend that now if you leave for a cup of tea or something like that. The pickpockets have enough skill to steal any kind of item from a character, and characters with low Wisdom will lose two. The thieves will then make for the nearest exit. If you don't kill them on time and they escape, they will in most cases disappear for good with the goods, but sometimes they may turn up in areas important to the underworld. I will just hint that they will probably want to sell the stuff, but you can open the spoiler below if you are absolutely stumped. Here it helps to remember that attacking fellow thieves will cause alarm. Using Charm can be profitable, though. Or lifting the stuff back off them, I suppose. Or killing them with one stab in the back. During the night the party may be attacked by aggressive nightcrawlers. This is straightforward and the circles are red, but Charm can also give good results. The screen will also move, and again it's a good idea to enable the AI. The enemies are not strong, but if the characters just stand there, you may find them slaughtered. Guards will help you against both types, if they are near. P. S. To implement this for, in principle, any city I had to patch city areas to use scripts with the same name: AR3501.ARE or whatever will have AR3501.BCS as the script name. If there was a script, it will be extended with the code, if not, created. Areas already have corresponding script names by default, but only in Enhanced Editions. Now it will be the same for city areas in Tutu, BGT and EET. Update A few stores in all of the games carry the Charm Monster spell in case you want to charm someone who isn't a person. Also the prisoners at the Flaming Fist compound in BG1 have a dialogue. Not that they have much that is interesting to say. Since their doors don't open, in "classic" games you will have to teleport inside their cells, but in EE they can be spoken to from the corridor. This is just for atmosphere, really. Enjoy! Download

Updated - see the head post. This is the final version. My Medifire now works, so @Jarno Mikkola , please delete your link.