Daxtreme

Can I just add a new scroll, drop the .itm in override and then give it to a monster who drops it?

Or I could try to find some unused scroll in there...

When I read demi's main_component.tpa for this mod, he goes out of his way to re-use scrolls in the game. The only new scroll he added, I think, is Ghostform (scrlw801.itm)

If adding a new scroll in the game isn't buggy, I will do it. And share it here in case someone wants their summon fiend and gate back

Oh that's great! Since it's a vanilla string, that's what I'm gonna do!

Basically --

ACTION_IF NOT (name == 10006) BEGIN // Check if name has been changed from Vanilla name

COPY_EXISTING blablabla

I guess tooltip is the 2nd name field?

What do you mean PATCH_IF vs ACTION_IF? What's the difference?

Thanks a lot!

edit: Holy crap I just realized that I was using NearInfinity version....

1.32

That one was released in 2010!

Haha jeez, this is gonna be such a huge jump! Thanks to Roxanne for mentioning the Dialog Tree format in a help thread and me realizing I didn't have the tree view in question

EDIT2: Here's what I came up with, pretty sure it's correct:

	COPY_EXISTING ~cowenf2.cre~ ~override~
  		READ_LONG 0x08 name
  		READ_LONG 0x0c tooltip
  		BUT_ONLY
	
	ACTION_IF (name != 10006) BEGIN
  		COPY_EXISTING ~mage16c.cre~ ~override~
  			LPF SANITIZE_CRE RET ok = ok END
   			PATCH_IF ok BEGIN
				WRITE_LONG 0x0008 10006
				WRITE_LONG 0x000c 10007
			END
    	BUT_ONLY
	END

Thanks for your help! I think I'm gonna get the hang of this soon (I wrote some lua a few years back)

no that's not quite it! I need to check if it was changed first.

If it hasn't been changed, do nothing! Only change the name of the other cre file if the first has been changed

But thanks, so READ_LONG 0x08 returns the string name (as numbers) of a cre? Awesome!

hey guys,

I'm still a beginner at weidu modding and I was wondering how I would go about reading a .cre file's string name, see if it matches, then if it does, change another cre file's string name?

Basically I'm making a small mod that has to check if another mod has changed the name of a cre file's name. If it did, then I change another cre file's name to match it.

I know how to write a cre's file, but not how to check it!

Here's what I have so far, the WRITE part. I change "mage18a" name to "Cowled Wizard"

        ACTION_IF FILE_EXISTS_IN_GAME ~mage18a.cre~ BEGIN
		COPY_EXISTING ~mage18a.cre~ ~override~
			LPF SANITIZE_CRE RET ok = ok END
			PATCH_IF ok BEGIN
				WRITE_LONG 0x0008 10006
				WRITE_LONG 0x000c 10007
			END
		BUT_ONLY
	END

I simply have no idea how to READ and put an IF statement along with it Like

If (NOT) ~cowenf2.cre~ NAME = 10006

THEN change ~mage18a.cre~ NAME to 10006 (I think I got that part right above)

Hopefully that makes any sense

Well, the game is not impossible per se with those options installed, it's simply meant for veteran players.

Don't be disheartened

You can still beat those encounters, provided you are high level enough, which is why you shouldn't gimp your XP progression.

Just go back to the Planar Sphere later, or cheese your way out of Lavok. Unfortunately I play with SR on so I don't recall especially which vanilla spells could help you here, but summoning lots of stuff and letting the mage waste spells on them usually works decently enough.

If you have access to level 5 spells, Lavok is not a Lich so he's technically not immune to Breach. Normally it should work as some point! Try Summoning stuff then spamming Breach, maybe the summons will get him.

You alternatively might find a way to let his buffs expire, although SCS will try to prevent you from doing that as much as it can.

SCS makes Lavok a real, actual threat especially this early in the game when players expect this guy to fall easily from the vanilla playthroughs

I wish I could help you more but apart from leveling more if you absolutely can't defeat him, I don't know what to say! Do you have a protection from magic scroll? Cast it on main fighter and try to bash him to death while your team kill the summons.

Well, seeing as you put like, basically, ALL the most challenging encounters and optional AI mods possible, I would say that gimping your XP might not be the best course of action here.

Having SCS on is one thing, but SCS + all tactical options through the roof + Spell Revisions is just hell on Earth. In fact, some fights in BG2 and above will be challenging with those settings even if you had a full lvl 30 party!

As for SCS Lavok, barring some big cheese/glitch, I don't think you're meant to kill him at level 9

Just wondering roxanne, do you have SCS and SR installed?

hey guys, a while ago demi said he removed the gate and summon fiend scrolls from the game to test Monster VIII and IX, is there a way to make them available again now?

He was talking about making summon fiend quest-related and maybe Gate as an HLA, but is there a temporary fix I can do myself for that?

I don't wanna cheat the spell in my spellbook because we're planning for a multiplayer game and cheating a spell into a spellbook mid-game is kinda boring.

And not casting the spells either is equally as boring!

yeah it's kinda hard to affect high-level spellcasters without higher-level spells.

Sorry I didn't see your post, I think we posted at the same time?

I'll try to delve deeper.

First of all, I think you should install Spell Revisions (and optional: Item Revisions). It will give you more options, and the new spells are nice. I think the fights will be more balanced that way. It would require a re-install though so yeah... think about it

Second, have you tried using summons? Enemy spellcasters in SCS will still target you, but with summons they will have to deal with them too so they will waste spells on them. I find that summons work quite well overall.

Third, yes Spell Shield basically protects you from Breach, so it's very important to look for this spell. If it's on, use Secret Word or Spell Thrust, don't remember which. Spell Revisions changes some of those spells so I might be confused as to which does what.

Fourth, spellcasters in SCS will prioritize dispelling your buffs, so try to have some up and they will waste time dispelling them. During that time, you might be able how to figure out how to dispel theirs, and then attack them. The flail of ages does multiple elements damage, try it as much as you can as it may disrupt their casting if even a single damage from ice/cold/lightning goes through

Fifth, try using scrolls. Protection from Undead, Protection from Magic... They're meant to be used!

There is a rakshasa in Firkraag's dungeon, in the cave. With the suiciding kobolds He's quite annoying even in the vanilla game.

Yes fluent, SCS is meant to be hard. The planar sphere isn't meant to be done that early in SCS I think, as Lavok is much, much stronger here than in the vanilla game.

Breach is supposed to work on mages, maybe they have spell shield up? Remember that it doesn't dispel everything. You should be able to Breach then attack though.

Don't forget though that unless you installed the optional SCS component, Breach doesn't work on liches and rakshasa since they are immune to 5th level spells.

I recommend spamming dispel magic too. It won't work much on high-level wizards, but mid-level ones it should do some work.

Ok so if I understand this right, for Cowled Wizards for example, they would be in their respective bcs-file for each Athkatla area since they spawn later?

That's interesting.

 

Not sure if this is the case for you (there are so many variations of modded vampires...) but you can look yours up in NI (first check the area you encounter them to see which cre-files they are). If they have script Vampir01.bcs assigned in some slot, remove it.

 

Mind that the check will only be effective from any save prior to visiting the area they are in or prior to the event that spawned them.

 

Random question but how do you find out the cre file of a monster you're fighting?

Hey guys,

This mod looks very interesting!

I see that it modifies the spellcasting graphics based on each school of magic from the BG2 effect to IWD effect, which is awesome. (I think the tweak anthology does that too?)

Anyway, I have a question though: Does it also modify the spell's actual effects?

Case in point:

http://www.ironworksforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55930

The BG2 spells are kinda ugly in comparison to their IWD counterparts. I remember that the IWD fireball doesn't look at all like the BG2 one.

Is this kind of modification part of the mod? I went through the readme but I'm not sure if modifications to casting graphics includes that!

I'd love to get the IWD spell graphics back in BG2, they're so awesome

Also, is it compatible with Spell Revisions + SCS right now? (kreso's SCS that comes with BWS)

Thanks for your time

Hey guys,

Just a small question for you -- SR changes Spell Deflection animation, but in doing so, changes every spell/effect in the game that looks like Spell Deflection.

I would like to precisely change Spell Trap's animation, make it look different than Deflection (so you can see it's spell trap better), but seems to me like these spells are done in a weird way? They're not like the others, where a "3D effect" is added to the spell.

Now I know my way around NearInfinity and EEKeeper a bit, but when I remove the SR-modified spmagglo.bam and vvc files from the override folder, instead of reverting back to the default animation, spell trap is invisible.

Is there something I'm missing?

How would I go about changing only Spell Trap animation?

Daxtreme,

 

my bad. I misread and thought you were advocating such a change for SR, not as an option. Of course I have nothing against it.

 

Said that, I find a little odd how you think it is "really cheap" to have a 15% vorpal effect for a creature like Planetars but it is not cheesy to follow the strategy you suggested just after:

 

Encounter a challenging fight? Just summon a couple planetars and have them attack. Nothing happens? reload. But eventually if you're lucky they'll just one-shot anything in the game.

 

At first I thought it was funny but now I simply don't summon them anymore, pure cheese.

I guess tastes are tastes. Personally, I can hardly think of something cheaper than that.

 

That's... exactly my point!

I said it was extremely cheesy to summon planetars, wait for them to one-shot, then reload if it doesn't happen. It's what I don't want to happen!

In the current version with planetars having a 15% chance to one-shot things, basically most of the challenging fights, instead of banging your head against the wall and trying to find a solution, just send planetars and they'll fix the problem if you're lucky, and I hate that. Some bosses are immune, maybe, but a lot of very challenging encounters in this game aren't.

I'm in the middle of a nice, heated, challenging, and lovely fight when suddenly my planetar one-shots the enemy caster (through stoneskin)

Meh.

Boring conclusion.....

I don't want that in my game, so I removed it. And I know for a fact by reading this very forum's older threads that some other people dislike it too.

Stun would be better in my opinion, especially since a contingency condition is "helpless", enables more options and answers instead of outright death.

 

Thank you that worked perfectly

 

May I suggest adding this as an option for Spell Revisions in the future?

 

I seem to recall that quite a few people weren't fans of the Vorpal effect of Planetars a few years back, and I have to agree with them. It gets annoying after a while.

 

I don't agree with the change.

 

Many high level enemies are immune to that effect. Planetars are supposed to be extremely powerful and, if I am not mistaken, the chance of the insta-kill has already been nerfed by both IR and SR (Bartimaeus can probably answer this).

 

If you don't like the optional component of removing vorpal, you could always, you know, not install it?

I fail to see how that changes your game in any way if you don't like it? That's what mods are for, installing optional components that some people like.

Sorry if I'm being a bit blunt here but I recall several people saying they'd like to see this optional component being made available a few years ago. It took me literally 2 minutes to remove the vorpal effect from my install once I knew how to do it (thanks Bartimaeus!)

That being said, it could also be switched with something else. Great idea! Maybe a stun effect? Still very strong.

Thank you that worked perfectly

May I suggest adding this as an option for Spell Revisions in the future?

I seem to recall that quite a few people weren't fans of the Vorpal effect of Planetars a few years back, and I have to agree with them. It gets annoying after a while.

 

I use Near Infinity. Plangood.cre (and all other planetars) have a silver sword called planetar.itm which is the one I was talking about. It is in the weapon1 slot.

 

 

Not for me

Looks like my weidu might be needed here

 

Hey guys,

 

how would I go about removing the Planetar's 15% insta-kill attack?

 

It's really cheap.

 

Encounter a challenging fight? Just summon a couple planetars and have them attack. Nothing happens? reload. But eventually if you're lucky they'll just one-shot anything in the game.

 

At first I thought it was funny but now I simply don't summon them anymore, pure cheese.

 

I think it's their weapon that insta-kills? I know my way around EEKeeper and NearInfinity a bit

Did you try to change Planetar.itm >> item ability >>>effect >>>Kill target >>>probability 25%? (This reflects the NI sequence to it)

 

I'm not sure this is the right item?

I summoned a planetar and it summons plangood.cre, which has the following item equipped:

But the item itself has no tooltip.

Or did I mess up something?

Hey guys,

how would I go about removing the Planetar's 15% insta-kill attack?

It's really cheap.

Encounter a challenging fight? Just summon a couple planetars and have them attack. Nothing happens? reload. But eventually if you're lucky they'll just one-shot anything in the game.

At first I thought it was funny but now I simply don't summon them anymore, pure cheese.

I think it's their weapon that insta-kills? I know my way around EEKeeper and NearInfinity a bit

Hey guys, small question: has anyone played a full EET playthrough with the "No Traps or Locks" mod enabled?

Obviously it's a red-tagged mod in BWS because it kinda breaks the game the way it's meant to be played, but I was wondering if there were any major bugs with it in the forms of crashes or weird things?

Alternatively, is there a mod somewhere that makes it so stealthed thieves can also detect traps at the same time?

This looks VERY interesting I must say.

As someone mentioned Simulacrum, let me make a suggestion:

 

One of the things that always kind of bugs me with PI/Simulacrum, is that you really have to use it before casting other spells; what use is a cloned spellcaster with no spells memorized? In my own spell tweaks in Tome & Blood, I added an opcode 316 "magical rest" effect to the clone, so that no matter what you have already cast, even if you have nothing else memorized and Simulacrum is the last spell you cast, your clone will have a full complement of spells. It just takes some of the annoying micromanaging out of the spell.

That's a great idea, would love for it to be in the game

Have you tried installing it on a different computer?

Yeah, I understand this is probably very frustrating. I'm kinda hoping Demi will tweak MSIX to summon something else rather than basilisk.

My main gripe against how AI mages play is that most of them are piss-poor weak w/o some meatshields if they're solo like Lavok, which is the main idea behind this tweak. While I can uderstand that original SCS idea isn't to beef up such encounters; I'd probably rework some of them.

Example of what I'm pointing at:

Lavok is supposed to be an ultra-powerful mage. With SCS, he has levels, he has spells, he has "brains" to use them, yet the battle is very easy since he can be overwhelmed by sheer numbers - and this makes all his levels, spells and "brains" moot since after he eats a Breach spell he's pretty much dead, with the player witnessing approx 20% of what he CAN do, but usually fails to.

If he's that powerful, couldn't he create some creatures that assist him? Has some deal with a Demon from the Planes? Just imagine this battle now vs one where you'd have Lavok + a Pit Fiend or two. A Lich could also be there. Now you've got a worthy battle, not some solo schmuck mage with a unique animation.

There are quite a few such encounters in SoA. ToB is (imo) much more balanced regarding; mages are rarely alone there.

Improved Anvil goes around that by increasing enemy immunities so they last much longer, but that's not really the direction I want to go. Thus, I went for instant summons to at least give mages some backup. If I find the time and willpower to learn more about scripting (I do already know a thing or two; I just need to learn the finesse stuff) I could probably make an optional component; or a mini-mod for "more beefy encounters".

 

Be careful not to confuse SCS with tactics however.

Tactics' goal is make every encounter as hard as possible. The aim is for you to be kinda forced to reload to find the cheese to that encounter.

SCS aims to make it so the enemies aren't dumb, or at least not as dumb as the vanilla game. Even a very powerful mage can be surprised/taken off-guard, and that's when mages are at their weakest.

After playing revised SCS for a while I think the level of difficulty sounds about right. Sometimes, even my powerful characters die because an enemy mage so went off with the right combination of spells, and I didn't have the right spells prepared. Sometimes, they kinda fail and I unleash the fury.

> A Lich could also be there. Now you've got a worthy battle, not some solo schmuck mage with a unique animation.

I love this

Also, remember that, technically, you're supposed to fight Lavok quite early in the game. If you buff him too much... Bad things could happen