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Posted by: Galactygon Aug 8 2004, 05:27 PM

This is where all such updates shall be posted.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 8 2004, 05:37 PM

8-8-04

I haven't done much work on Lost Crossroads during the summer; I was occupied with other matter of things, as well as preparing for next semester (which will be the toughest semester to be seen). On the other hand, the graphics work is pretty much done, as well as several spells converted to their true P&P counterparts.

The spells are:
-Flamestrike (area effect, but rather than 6D8, I have set the damage to 8D8)
-Lower Resistance (has a 50% chance of bypassing magic resistance, but may lower the magic resistance by a higher percent)
-Dimension Door (range of 30 feet per level, rather than 30 yards; the maps in the game are too small for such large ranges)
-Magic Missile (I might have mentioned it before, but a saving throw means the creature dodged the missile & is negated. One must be made for each magic missile, so it's possible some missiles are dodges and some aren't)
-Clairvoyance (works like farsight, except it can only be cast in explored areas)

I have also decided it might be best to disable the visual range limit of many spells. Rather, there will be a range limit. So it's possible to cast a spell on creatures the spellcaster may not necessarily see (but allies see it). Some spells will require visual range (such as fireball) because it looks a bit wierd if you have a ball of flame pass through walls and the like.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 9 2004, 07:36 PM

There are a series of other updates I forgot to mention. One of them is progress on the spell overlapping of Lost Crossroads.

I found it ridiculously annoying when you have an enemy fire elemental with a high fire resistance and you cast resist fire/cold (for cheese, perhaps) on the fire elemental, only to find out the fire elemental is now vulnerable to fire. The same applies to the spell, Strength of One, and other not-so-useful strength spells.

I am revamping this so bonuses overlap rather than the latest bonus setting the resistance/stat.

Example #1: Shiva a specialty priest of mystra has a fire resistance of 65% (due to a magical ring), and a cold resistance of 0%. She casts a Resist Fire/Cold on herself, thus granting a 50% resistance to both fire and cold. Since her cold resistance is under 50%, her cold resistance is raised to 50%. However, her fire resistance is above 50%, so her fire resistance remains unaltered until her ring is removed and her fire resistance drops below 50%, in which case the bonus of 50% fire resistance comes into effect until the spell duration expires. Casting an Elemental Barrier (which sets all elemental resistances to 75%) will make that spell overlap with existing resistances.

The same applies to all strength-enhancing spells unless noted.

I have already coded some parts of this system come into play, and it's quite easy once you know the trick to it. This will also eliminate the well-known cheese of setting the creatures' stats to a lower value (such as casting the 5th level cleric spell, Magic Resistance on a Dragon, bypassing saving throws and magic resistance).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 10 2004, 07:44 PM

8-10-04

To compensate for what little was done, I have converted 348 spell icons today, Lightspeed is diligently working on the new interface, and Sir-kill of the Sol-ek-sa is making several new 256 colour spell icons (like the ones used in IWD2/PST).

So far, things are turning out perfectly.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 11 2004, 05:50 PM

Redone chaos, so a saving throw is only applicable for fighters and wizards (sorcerers, dual/muti-classed mages, specialist mages, and mages uncluded. Bards are excluded).

I haven't done the intelligence part of the spell (if your intelligence is high enough, you get a saving throw) yet, due to hardcoded issues. I'll get around doing that some later day.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 13 2004, 07:12 PM

8-13-04

Done a slew of GuI work. All of the buttons, as well as the cursors were redone. I find the new feel of BG2 just about 'perfect' (I even got carried away playing the game, that's how impressive the design is). I'll post screens in a few days (I am a bit reluctant about the latter).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Windwalker Aug 13 2004, 08:16 PM

I would definitely like to give that a look. New GUI gives a new feel to the game, and maybe you could even get the DLTC team to hire you for new GUIs.

Posted by: Andyr Aug 15 2004, 08:12 PM

Personally I feel a new GUI would merit packaging as a mod by itself. Hint hint... screens please!

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 18 2004, 12:18 AM

The following spells have been altered today:

-Detect Invisibility
-Invisibility Purge
-Cone of Cold

Detect Invisibility allows the caster to detect invisible creatures, thus he may target them unless they have a Nondetection active. It lasts for 5 rounds/level, and invisible enemy creatures falling within the caster's line of sight have their invisibility somewhat dispelled, but not completely (as Invisibility purge).

Invisibility purge now an abjuration spell belonging to the sphere of wards. It is an area effect spell of 10-yard radius per level. It dispels invisible character, but not ones affected by a nondetection spell. In P&P, invisible characters who are visible within an Invisibility Purge were supposed to become invisible once out of the area effect, and nondetection doesn't work against it. Since it is not possible to implement the becoming invisible part in BG2, I have reversed those 2 properties above.

Cone of cold's area effect now increases as you level up, as it should be.

Hence the incomplete new site, I am describing on what I've done in detail. That should change soon, and I will simply list the spells I redone.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 18 2004, 04:12 PM

8-18-04

The following spells have been altered:

-Mirror Image
-Sunsorch (it was a TDD spell, but it's altered. Not having TDD will result a new spell being put into the game).

Mirror image lasts for 3 rounds/level and conjures 1D4 + 1/3 levels of images. Up to a maxiumum of 5-8 (1D4 + 4) images can be conjured. This time, the random number of images work, as intended.

Sunscorch does considerable damage and more damage if the creature is undead. Also, blindness may occour. A saving throw negates this spell entirely. Since BG2 is a dungeon-indoor mod, I have lifted the restriction of casting this spell outside.

Also, as for cone of cold, the area effect can be as small as the burning hands (for level 1 mages), or as large as 1 800 by 600 screen diagonally (for a level 20+ mage).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Nerik Aug 18 2004, 10:17 PM

Don't know if this is relevant - the only PnP reference to a Sunscorch spell I could find in the Wizards Spell Compendium (Vol. 4) is:

Sunscorch
Evocation

Level: 3
Range: 5 yds/level
Casting Time: 3
Duration: Instant
Area of Effect: 1 creature
Save: half damage

When a wizard casts this spell, an intense blast of heat emanates from his hand, forming a narrow beam that curves around obstacles and moves to follow its target, striking as unerringly as a magic missile spell.

The beam bakes the target with 6d4 points of heat damage - plus an additional 2d4 if the creature is wearing armour or physically touching any metal weapon or item larget than a sword, including a shield.

The sunscorch spell cannot be cast underwater or through water, including rain or fog.

The magical heat of this spell affects living flesh only, Undead or nonliving objects are immune, even if they are highly flammable or vulnerable to sunlight. Thus, a warrior carrying a skin of goat's milk can be coked to death while the milk remains col and unspoiled.

Common in Al-Quadim

Now where is the 'I had to go and look it up' smiley?

Charles

Posted by: Echon Aug 19 2004, 07:09 AM

I am fairly sure the Sunscorch spell Galactygon is talking about is the 1st level priest spell from Player's Option - Spells & Magic.

-Echon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 19 2004, 04:04 PM

Echon is right; I meant the 1st level priest spell, sunscorch. I still remember making the wizard spell for Vlad, when he requested 20 spells to be made for the new NeJ2 release that might come within a week or two (from what he said in e-mails, at least).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 19 2004, 09:34 PM

8-19-04

I have done the load game GuI and the loadbar GuI. I'll post some screenshots in a few days as well as increase the number of screenshots in the hall of shame gallery.

I have put the first level wizard spell, blindness into the second level wizard pool. Glitterdust is also redone, with proper variable durations, lighting, and such.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Andyr Aug 19 2004, 09:52 PM

Would you consider making the GUI part a separate release?

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 20 2004, 04:06 PM

Yes. However, it won't involve any spell icons. That I am promising

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 20 2004, 06:17 PM

8-20-04

Ghoul Touch is now a deadly spell, as it supposed to be. It not only affects humanoids with a paralyzing touch, but also a filthy stench of carrion shall envelop the touched humanoids, making everyone within 10 feet attempt a saving throw vs. death or have a -2 penalty on attack rolls.

I have also developed a new system with touch spells ~ the caster may use any number of touch spells (such as Lich Touch, Ghoul Touch, Chill Touch, and Imprisonment) as well as melee weapons can be used to transmit touch attacks. For example, this will prevent the spell, Star Metal Cudgel from being dispelled when the caster attempts to transmit a cause wounds spell.

As with the resistance overlapping system, I find this system incredibly useful and flawless (coding has started on this system as well).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Baronius Aug 20 2004, 07:39 PM

Marvellous and very promising!

Posted by: Nerik Aug 20 2004, 08:13 PM

Ahh... I didn't think to check the priest spells

I don't see why you could keep the 'outdoors only' restriction, (or even the 'only during daylight' option) - like call lightning - but thats just my opinion.

On a tangental subject, I notice that you've done two of the wall spells - have you done any of the others as well (wall of ice, wall of iron, wall of force, prismatic wall) or are you planning to do any of them?

Charles

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 20 2004, 08:16 PM

I plan to do wall of ice. I already have the source; I just need some 3D artist to make the animation.

-Galatcygon

Posted by: Echon Aug 20 2004, 09:07 PM

It is actually a bit odd that they decided to add the carrion stench to this spell since that is one of the characteristics of the ghasts, and not the ghouls.

-Echon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 21 2004, 04:58 PM

One can always rename the spell to 'ghast touch'.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 23 2004, 11:15 PM

8-23-04

This should really be yesterday's update, but I am posting it now due to time constraints.

So far, I converted all levels 1-3 (and some level 4) wizard spells for a more closer representation to their P&P counterparts. I introduced a few new spells, namely Icelance, Gedlee's Electric Loop, Blink, and some others.

My personal favourite is Blink. It lasts for 1 round/level, and makes the caster blink in and out (or teleport) to a random location at a random time every round. It's quite nifty, since you never know when you blink. Even if you just blinked, it doesn't mean you don't blink the next second. I have had my mage have a blink interval of 1 second, and the other time, it was 11 seconds.

Every blinking in and out disrupts your spellcasting (if you were in the middle of the spell) as well as attacks. Of course, other creatures have their attacks and spellcasting disrupted as well if they were targetting the caster while he blinked in and out.

-------
You should note that I won't be working as much on the mod as I did this previous week anytime soon, hence the large amount of work and studying I have to do. I wish myself good luck on that.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 23 2004, 11:19 PM

One last statement I wish to say:

Can someone do me a large favour bymake a conversion of the spell, "Friends" and send it to me? Both the duration and the bonus is random, so that should be kept in mind when making the spell. I really can't do it the next few weeks, hence it's a huge favour for my part.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 25 2004, 12:38 AM

This is only a small update, but not from my part. Grog has submitted me the friends spell, so that is taken care of.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Windwalker Aug 28 2004, 06:03 PM

So, Galactygon, do you think it will take a lot more before the mod is completed? This is one of the most greatly expected mods of the last years, and I would be very very happy to see that happen soon!

-Windwalker

PS: Just asking, not trying to rush you in completing it.

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 28 2004, 07:14 PM

It really depends on the circumstances. I can finish all the spells with ease (I have all the graphics and such done except for a few... PST cutscene-type spells several which have been de-cutscenized) during this year.

Kits and creatures as well as scripts will take a long time. If I can perhaps arrange for someone to do all the kits for me (or use LoI's kits and alter them), my workload will be cut down by more than half a year. Scripts and creatures will take another few months, as well as the GuI, unless I recieve some help to cut down on my workload. Such as someone making me the .cre files, etc., etc.

I will most likely release a beta (unavailable to the public) with all the spells but without the other features.

I don't know what percentage is done, neither did I know this is an extremely popular mod-in-progress.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 28 2004, 07:23 PM

8-28-04

I finished the spell, 'implosion' with its full P&P incarnation. It's a spell that can be cast once per round for 3 turns. At the end of each round, a constitution check determines whether or not you can cast implosion again. If you fail the check, the spell ends, and you cannot use the implosion ability until you cast the quest level spell again. If succesfull, you can cast implosion during the next round, and you have another constitution check to see whether or not you can continue. Due to engine limitations, I have lifted the restriction of having to use one implosion each round. You can do other actions (although the 3 turns expire, as well as constitution checks keep happening once per round).

Thus, my test character who has 25 in all stats was able to use implosion 30 times, but Aerie failed her 2nd constitution check on the second round, being able to fire off the spell only twice.

The implosion effect itself kills creatures outright with a -4 saving throw penalty. I decided to use my own version for the graphics. The animation is quite ground-shaking as the air closes in on the target, crushing it into chunks.

I have also replaced 'Repulse Undead' with a slightly modified version of 'Undead Ward'.

Chaos has been redone in case I haven't mentioned it earlier.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Sir-Kill Aug 28 2004, 08:37 PM

Is the implosion spell a third imposion spell? or what?

Posted by: Chev Aug 28 2004, 11:02 PM

Gal and other Modders,

Look heres the deal, We all want all the mods right NOW!!!!! But we know that this can't be. I think that BG gaming will be around for a year or 3, but people will lose interest if they are waiting for things too long. I have been waiting since first announced at TeamBG. What could you put out in 2 weeks?? Then 3 months?? Then 6 months?? This way we all get new spells to play thought the game again and modders could add them to their mods (I know you have already done spells for modders). Then we could play though again and play new quest with your kits and creatures. I understand that large Quest mods may need to be released as 1 big release to make sence, but with things like this you can release a spells pack, kit pack and other packs as you have stuff ready.


On a personal note will Lost Crossroads be BP and BP/BGT compatible? I am think of the TDD spells and Full kit slots? Make a patch to uninstall some TDD Kits and spells to make your's work.


Thank you for all your hard work!

Chev

Posted by: Andyr Aug 29 2004, 02:17 AM

I think Galc originally was going to make this just for TDD/BP.

I too would be in favour of smaller standalone packages, such as the GUI revamp and spell revamp.

Posted by: Windwalker Aug 29 2004, 06:15 PM

Personally, I would like to see the cleric kits of LC a standalone package.

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 30 2004, 01:01 AM

@Mindflayer: Get the Cleric Remix, it should take care of your request.

@Others: I have always planned to make several beta releases (non-public from the start) that have this component in, and that component, etc.

As far as I know, only the GuI part will be released seperately in public.

Here's my reasonable excuse: All other components have to stick together. For example, if I try to put the redone spell icons in a seperate release, some spells which are deleted in Lost Crossroads (such as know alignment) will have their old spell icons, thus there will be an ugly mixture of both new and old spell icons. If I try to include the new spells seperately, 2 major errors will happen: The new spell icons that are used by those spells will look ugly next to the existing spells, and creatures using replaced spells in scripts will use them incorrectly. Here's an example: The level 4 spirit armor has been moved to level 3. The level 4 spirit armor slot was replaced by the spell, 'Mordenkainen's Force Missiles'. Now imagine what happens when you have several dozen enemy mages being scripted to cast whatever is in the slot of 'Spirit Armor' on themselves. I also cannot put the P&P monsters in a seperate mod unless you get really messy (like Caedwyr's P&P Celestials mod). And besides, they will use spells present in the Lost Crossroads addition.

Having Kits as a seperate component will also result in the inclusion of spells that will be present in the Spell Revamp part of LC.

Thus, that's why they are betas, not public releases. In the betas, you ignore (in my eyes, at least) a few of these inconsistencies that will eventually be eliminated. The public release comes when either:

a.) I 'mysteriously' disappear for more than one year without saying something. Then you have my permission to take over the project and release any betas. I really don't wish for this mod to befell the fate that did ToiW, and a few (or most) other mods...
b.) I announce when it is time

I am always next to flexibility, but it's not always worth it when you have to sacrifice the quality and harmony of the mod. Hence the 'Compatible Patches' weren't discovered without a good reason.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Chevar Sep 2 2004, 01:13 AM

Footnote/reminder. there are CHU differences between SOA and TOB that prevent them from being cross compatable with respects to the GUI. I know we talked about this on another forum, but I've had a playtested with TOB verify it. if you don't adjust the CHU the menues will be compatable with both versions.

Posted by: Galactygon Sep 2 2004, 02:11 AM

I have no intentions on making a SoA-only version. It is made for ToB.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Chevar Sep 2 2004, 06:00 AM

Oh, thought you might be making one compatable with both. my error.

Posted by: Chev Sep 2 2004, 07:20 AM

Who just plays a SoA game? Sure we may not get all the way to ToB, but not have it installed??

Posted by: Chevar Sep 2 2004, 07:40 AM

I haven't been able to find it it a store ANYWHERE... and to answer the next question; yes I lived in the woods for the last two years.

Posted by: Andyr Sep 2 2004, 05:01 PM

A significant minority don't have ToB, yes.

Posted by: Galactygon Sep 4 2004, 07:51 PM

In case someone is curious, I have attatched my own creation of implosion.

You might need http://www.dragonlancetc.com/forums/index.php?board=9;action=display;threadid=857, http://www.idi.ntnu.no/~joh/ni/, or http://infexp.sourceforge.net/ to view those animations.

BAMW1 and BAMW2 are also fine, but I couldn't find any links to those tools, since TeamBG is down.

It also has a .vvc file (if you wish to use it for modding), as well as a soundfile that I made.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Sep 5 2004, 08:42 PM

9-5-04

Done a great deal of scripting today. I did this for variety, as most people tend to get bored after giving the 100th spell a fix.

I modified the WTASIGHT.bcs script file today, which is a script used by many of the creatures. I'll upload it in the workroom ASAP.

I made creatures act more upon their intelligence rather than simply saying "it's a smarter targetting system, etc.". Really, would a gibbering idiot figure out he is in a cloudkill? No.

This will give way to more realistic combat, where ogres are the big brutes who think little, but it will be harder to fight against the sly baatezu.

BTW: Can someone do me a large favour? Can someone give me a list of the names of internal doors, but indicate whether or not the door requires a specific key to open or is a game-breaker? Thanks to whoever completes the favour for me.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Oct 11 2004, 05:58 PM

10-11-04

Aside from those beta packs I made these past weeks, there was little much else going on.

However, I have nearly finished coding the spell, Seven Eyes, and it was quite a monster to code. It was, in fact, harder to code than the spell, Prismatic Sphere. I think it works better than what the Black Isle team did in the Icewind Dale series.

However, I haven't completely finished it yet. I have to code each poisonous item, for example, to remove the eye of venom. I figured this could only be done in WeiDU, since it would be quite cool to have mod items dispel a part of the 'Seven Eyes' spell.

Now, I would certainly appreciate WeiDU assistance from any WeiDU guru out there; it has to do with modifying a part of the items' extension header. I would certainly have the gratitude of someone who can undertake this task for me. I'll give any details to those who volunteer.

For those who are curious, here is a test run as proof of what is possible:

• http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/seven_eyes_shots/initial_casting.jpg
• http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/seven_eyes_shots/list_of_abilities.jpg (from left to right: Eye of the Mind, Eye of the Sword, Eye of the Mage, Eye of Venom, Eye of the Spirit, Eye of Artifice, and Eye of the Stone)
• http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/seven_eyes_shots/eye_of_stone_vanish.jpg
• http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/seven_eyes_shots/eye_of_mage_vanish.jpg
• http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/seven_eyes_shots/eye_of_mind_vanish.jpg
• http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/seven_eyes_shots/eye_of_venom_vanish.jpg
• http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/seven_eyes_shots/eye_of_artifice_vanish.jpg
• http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/seven_eyes_shots/eye_of_mage_absorb.jpg
• http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/seven_eyes_shots/eye_of_mind_absorb.jpg

-Galactygon

[EDIT] Some links are still faulty. Give me a few hours and I'll fix them.

Posted by: Echon Oct 12 2004, 08:27 AM

The last four screen shots are the same and the one with magic missile has a lightning bolt instead. By the way, it is called expend and not expand. Other than that, nice work. Must have taken quite some time.

-Echon

Posted by: T.G.Maestro Oct 12 2004, 05:44 PM

Also, it'd be nice if the spell would have at least one unique string in case the mage chooses to expend an eye's power for offensive use. The current "the eye absorbs the effect and disappears" line is very unfitting.

Posted by: Galactygon Oct 12 2004, 05:58 PM

I was aware of the faulty strings and such from th start, but didn't bother to make corrections until I have a rouch version working (the screenshots are really my second run). However, as time progresses, they will be corrected.

Not everything in Seven-eyes can be implemented; rather than blocking the next physical attack for the eye of the sword, I made it block all attacks, and the next point blank attack or melee attack cancels the orb.

It was also late at night when I typed the above topic (man, I never have any time before the evening on weekdays), so forgive me for any spelling errors I commited (and still do).

*corrects the above post*

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Oct 12 2004, 08:00 PM

Links are now corrected to their screenshots. You should note that I copied + pasted several strings from IWD, so I still have the Eye of Fortitude string instead of the Eye of Artifice (they weren't able to implement the stuff I can; even with the decompiled .exe at their hands!).

10-12-04

I have backed my work up in 4 different places (I do it on a regular monthly basis).

One of them is backed up on my laptop, the other one on a different harddrive on the same computer, the initial one I am working on, one on a CD, and one on the BW server. There is simply no possible way my work can be lost, as opposed to the foolish mistakes I committed a year ago.

After Seven-Eyes, I will be making the 'Resist elementXYZ' spells that also grant saving throw bonuses to specific types of damage (I was able to code some of that, so I know it is possible to implement).

-Galactygon

Posted by: igi Oct 12 2004, 08:49 PM

I can practically guarentee then could implement absolutely anything they wanted.

Posted by: Galactygon Oct 12 2004, 10:31 PM

With all the bosses and managers behind their backs making stuff get cut?

-Galactygon

Posted by: igi Oct 12 2004, 10:46 PM

Then it's not a case of not being able to implement, but more a case of not having time to implement. If so, it's nothing to comment on, seeing as you *dont* have bosses and managers on your back...

Posted by: Galactygon Oct 13 2004, 12:35 AM

Sure.

-Galactygon

Posted by: NiGHTMARE Oct 13 2004, 12:56 PM

*Cracks whip*

Oh no?

Posted by: T.G.Maestro Oct 18 2004, 07:37 AM

The occasional and so-called rise and fall of Ego...

Posted by: Galactygon Oct 18 2004, 05:35 PM

10-?-04

Done Power Word Kill and Death Spell. Death Spell kills creatures within a 30-foot radius that each have less than 8HD, and the total Hit Dice killed in this manner is 8D6. I might change it if it's not really balancing.

Power Word Kill causes death among creatures with less than 60 current hit points within a 15-foot radius; the total amount of hit points affected is 120. So for example, 4 creatures with less than 31 hit points each can be killed this way.

-Galactygon

Posted by: T.G.Maestro Oct 19 2004, 07:05 AM

I suggest assigning a smaller area of effect for PwK. 15' can be quite large, 8-10' would be more than enough.

Posted by: Galactygon Oct 19 2004, 07:52 PM

10-foot radius and 15-foot radius don't make much of a difference. However, the 10-foot radius one causes a few coding issues, so 15-foot radius is the most ideal solution, in this case.

-Galactygon

Posted by: T.G.Maestro Oct 20 2004, 08:33 AM

Actually, it does when it comes to instant death effects.

Posted by: Echon Oct 20 2004, 10:16 AM

I suggest keeping the 15-feet radius it is meant to have.

-Echon

Posted by: Galactygon Oct 20 2004, 03:09 PM

I realized 8D6 Hit Dice is a bit too little against the 9th level Amnish guards (do they go adventuring?), and the 5th-level commoners.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Nov 7 2004, 01:47 AM

11-6(or 7)-04

For the past 2 weeks, I had tough weeks, so I didn't mod as much as usual. And I had to take a modding break anyways.

However, I have done something in the meanwhile; I have reworked some of the icons that show up in the spellbook/priest scroll to fit nicely, and not look like a couple of icons were just "thrown on there". Expect a screenshot within the next few days of what might look like in a spellbook/priest scroll.

I have also worked a bit on improving various parts of the PnP celestials mod; which I will do for the next few weeks (or until I am satisfied with the outcome).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Nov 7 2004, 11:09 PM

11-7-04

Done a large spell revamp for the PnP celestials mod; the results are quite staggering.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 5 2004, 11:44 PM

12-5-04

I have thought it might be a good idea to post what the main menu theme will most likely be (it is used by the Wake of Gods mod for Heroes 3).

http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/MainMenu.mp3 (I might advise you to save the file and play it off-line than on-line)

It will be a replacement to the existing one (yet another one of those I-don't-like features of BG2).

And yeah, despite little posts, there are updates going on reagarding the mod.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Echon Dec 6 2004, 08:43 AM

Please, no. This song does not fit into BG2.

-Echon

Posted by: igi Dec 6 2004, 03:05 PM

I agree with Echon, the music doesnt seem to fit BG2.
Though, I am all for changing the menu music - I start BG2 with the sound muted, as it is so annoying.

Posted by: SimDing0 Dec 6 2004, 03:12 PM

I quite like the ToB menu music.

Posted by: Baronius Dec 6 2004, 04:23 PM

Go ahead, Galactygon.

The music of ToB and SoA (and of every IE game) is beautiful but this one wasn't bad either and some new, some refreshing is always good. Since I don't know its original location, I'm not influenced so perhaps this is the reason why I have nothing against the music suggested by Gal.

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 6 2004, 08:34 PM

I had thoughts on making this part an optional and seperate download, and the differing opinions reinforce those thoughts.

I also planned on making another (optional) download that replaces the combat music to BG1 and perhaps a theme or two with its IWD1 counterpart.

Baronius: I never knew you played WoG!

-Galactygon

Posted by: SimDing0 Dec 6 2004, 08:42 PM

Lower Dorn's Deep music > BG2 music.

Posted by: Kalindor Dec 6 2004, 11:23 PM

I am not a big fan of this music selection. Doesn't seem to fit the BG2 mood, as stated already. I'd still use the mod if it was a necessary component, though. It's not THAT big of a deal...

Posted by: Baronius Dec 7 2004, 04:51 PM

Galactygon: I didn't... I found the music good because I had downloaded it and had listened to the mp3 file.

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 8 2004, 01:20 AM

Baronius: I misread your post

I read it as do rather than don't. So, apologies.

I also forgot to mention that they might not fit the current theme, it might fit better with the new interface (don't forget that I am applying modifications to the theme I already gave BG2). All we have to do is wait and see which musical theme fits better once we get to the actual implementation.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 13 2004, 08:43 PM

12-13-04

For those who are curious, here is an entire .rtf file containing all the new and modified priest spells (without the quest level). A few things within are bound to change as I work my way through them, but this is pretty much final.

In case you see any spelling errors, I wouldn't mind any reports. In fact, I encourage them.

http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/lostcrossroads/priestspells.rtf

I will later on change the website to reflect the current changes as well as make an array of new updates (including the notorious news section). The past server issues with TeamBG and BW has frustrated me into constantly delaying it (I might have mentioned this somewhere, sometime).

-Galactygon

Posted by: egm Dec 14 2004, 05:17 PM

Hi, I've send you a couple messages. If you're interested, just answer me

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 14 2004, 09:01 PM

I noticed, I just don't have as much time these days to answer a lot of PMs and e-mails.

-Galactygon

Posted by: egm Dec 14 2004, 10:00 PM

Oki doki

Posted by: Galactygon Jan 11 2005, 12:38 AM

1-11-05

I have done some more GuI work ~ all of the GuI that isn't in-game, except the multiplayer and character generation are fully complete.

I am starting to work on integrating EGM's work with mine.

In case anybody has noticed, I have been unable to re-upload V2 of SpellPack. I will not bother with that anymore; I will upload V3, when I get to it.

-Galactygon

Posted by: SirLancelot Jan 13 2005, 11:34 PM

Wow!

Posted by: Galactygon Jan 14 2005, 12:59 AM

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Jan 27 2005, 12:03 AM

1-26-05

I have done quite a bit of work up until now. I have resumed my work on the GuI mod. The inventory stands nice and ready, as well as the mage and priest books. The journal GuI is also at the polishing stage.

I have used various BG1 and IWD2 elements in the above mentioned. For example, the background for the mage/priest/journal screens all come from BG1, not to mention the scrollbar of the journal screen. On the other hand, the font, the title, and the stone slabs come from IWD2. They complement each other perfectly (in my view, at least).

The next screenshot update will include screenshots from each of those screens.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Falkentyne Feb 10 2005, 07:53 AM

Greetings,

Does your spellpack address the munchkiness of the mirror image spell?
For some reason, in -all- of the IE games, area effect spells are -absorbed- by the images, only causing you to lose 1 image (unless you take constant damage), unless the die roll causes the spell to hit the mage, instead of the image.
And of course this applies to traps, too. This makes mirror image so powerful, that it's on par with 7th level mage spells... A mage with mirror image, stoneskin, some magic reflecting/absorbing spells (Like globe of invulnerability) and protection from weapons is literally untouchable by anything. (will a BREACH even work on a mirror imaged mage, or will it just cancel one of the images?

MI doesn't absorb fireballs (at the mere cost of an image) in P&P


Also, does your spellpack change prayer and chant so it actually affects the to-hit rolls (shown by a - to hit, if you have roll details turned on) of the *monsters*, instead of just the party? (and the TDD Prayer is WORSE Than chant or bless, because all it does is give you +1 saves and damage, -nothing- more).

I actaully got so sick of TDD's prayer that I modded it myself, so it performs with a "chant" effect (so I get the +1 to hit), and I added a -1 to hit for Globaltargetexcludingparty, so my ugly dirty version of prayer gives party +1 to hit, +1 save bonus, and monsters -1 to hit, -1 save penalty, though no damage bonus or penalty (as i don't know how to add that without trashing the entire spell), and since it's a "chant" effect spell, its not culumative with chant

Posted by: Galactygon Feb 10 2005, 06:49 PM

I didn't have that planned in spellpack yet, since it (obviously) requires me to modify dozens of area effect spells to dispel the images and apply the damage. Lost Crossroads will indeed have it when released; I have planned that tweak eons ago.



You couldn't have found a better place to ask that question. Yes, SpellPack addresses both prayer and chant, and recitation is added too.

At the moment, I still haven't reuploaded the mod, but I won't bother with uploading v2 anymore; v3 will come this weekend, I promise.



I already got that one fixed; it now works exactly like the prayer spell in PnP, not to mention it is cumulative with chant (but not with itself).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Mar 27 2005, 08:43 PM

3-27-05

I didn't mention any updates for quite a while now, but that didn't mean there wasn't work going on with the mod.

Countless spells have been done recently. This includes Chaos, Confusion, Firestaff, Decastave, and many other low-level wizard spells.

Implosion has been done also, and I will have a screenshot up by the next time I have a screenshot update. I have been able to implement the constitution check with some scripting, so it works exectly the way it does in PnP.

Dimension Door is also fully done and working (except I have to wait for Mindflayer to finish the animation). Although you can travel to places outside the line of sight, it will not work through solid objects such as walls and statues (for balancing reasons). So, in a dungeon, you have more limitations than using it outdoors. Works wonderfully and perfectly (without compiling any BAF files).

Translocation Trick also works nicely; you simply switch places with the target creature. It's an interesting spell you can use in odd situations (such as your wounded fighter being swapped by a wizard with magical protections). This one works through barriers.

If you have any balancing thoughts, don't hesitate to provide them. There is a relatively high chance of your idea influencing several aspects of the mod.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Sir-Kill Mar 27 2005, 09:54 PM

yay I can't wait to see it

Posted by: Galactygon Apr 8 2005, 11:44 PM

4-8-05

PnP Fire Aura, Otiluke's Dispelling Screen, Friends, and Enervation is done. The way the creatures are ignited by the Fire Aura with green fire looks quite nice, really.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Caedwyr Apr 11 2005, 06:05 AM

Screenshots PLZ!

Posted by: Galactygon Apr 21 2005, 05:01 PM

4-21-05

I have worked on rewriting the IDS files (GENERAL, RACE, SPECIFIC) for Bestial Animations, as well as starting to code a "commoner sense" mod by reworking some of the guard system in Athkatla (they are level 2 rather than level 8, etc).

I have also re-worked some of the polymorph spells so you can use them via disguises (e.g. polymorph into a gnoll and walk unnoticed into a pack of them), as well as I have finished all the Monster Summoning (1-7) spells. I decided to go back to second edition rather than third edition (where you have Summon Monster 1-9) since it was so much harder to code the latter. Some of the Summoned Monsters include Chimerae, Hook Horrors, Basilisks, Wyverns, Will 'o Wisps, and even Giants.

And yes, they use animations from "Bestial Animations", so in case I release those spells, they would require the newest release of "Bestial Animations".

I will have some screenshots by this weekend, as well as the "Bestial Animation" patch released in a day or two (I have found a new way to upload my files via FTP).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Nerik Apr 21 2005, 09:42 PM

Have you considered the possibility of adding the disguise spells into the game using the same method? For instance Change self (a 1st level illusionary disquise), Alter Self (a 2nd level weak polymorph self), and Seeming (a 5th level illusionary disguise , like change self but lasts 12 hours and affects 1 person per 2 levels of caster - Adalon probably used a version with some refinements of this to disquise the party as Drow).



That's good on a somewhat related note, what is the feasability of adding the Shadow Monsters/Demi-Shadow Monsters/Shades quasi-real illusion spells? I know that these are in Icewind Dale, but IWD uses a special IWD-only (AFAIK) opcode for them.

Charles

Posted by: Galactygon Apr 22 2005, 03:44 PM

See the Dopplegangers; they will trick you by coming up with a wide-variety of disguises rather than attack head-first. They will be a bit more common in civilized areas, where they can employ their disguise with success. This means you will not see a lone nobleman (or, even Elminster) in the middle of the dungeon as you did in BG1, since it is a huge give-away. Rather, you will see their natural forms.

I will not add them to the player as a spell, since given the limited amount of roleplayability, I will have to rewrite half of the plot to make the spell realistic and useful rather than tweaking a few AI scripts.



It's quite easily done, and is planned already (there is a giant list of spells in the workroom with what I have planned). All I have to do is adjust the hitpoints, transulency, and the colouring of the summoned creatures.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Nerik Apr 22 2005, 05:47 PM

Thats a shame but I see your point, I had considered doing these spells as a cosmetic avatar change combined with a normal invisibility effect without the normal armour-class bonus to represent the disquised characters being ignored by other characters until they either did something aggressive (ending the invisibility) or the spell wore off, but this runs into all kinds of problems with special cases, and the fact that disquised characters cannot speak.


Just to check, are you allowing for the fact that if the illusionart part (of shadow monsters, demi-shadow monsters & shades) is not disbelieved/dispelled (pretty much the same for Infinity Engine games), then the creatures have their full stats?

-that's the bit I'm not sure how to implement.

On a related note, any plans to do the classic low-level illusion spells (phantasmal force, improved phantasmal force & spectral force)?

Charles

Posted by: Galactygon Apr 22 2005, 08:21 PM

In a way, yes. I plan on having those monsters ignore creatures that successfully disbelieve them (you have to make a check each round rather than once due to engine limitations), which require a saving throw. Creatures that disbelieve the shades will also ignore them.



Yes, but within engine limitations (creatures only).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Nerik Apr 23 2005, 07:51 PM

Ahh.. I was trying to come up with a way in that totally real seeming monsters could be polymorphed into shadowy 20%/40%/60% forms by the illusion detecting spells (and the thief ability).

You might want to consider giving them attacks where 80%/60%/40% (or approximately so, depending on the spell) has a saving throw vs. spells to negate and is of secondary type illusion, while the remainder is real - if this could be done without too much trouble.


One idea I was considering for the low level illusions (e.g.phantasmal force) was to have the spell bring up a 'spell immunity' like menu with a list of options - either common spells (that could be reasonable mimiced by the illusion - i.e. visable) or monsters.

The spells would be illusionary (do non-lethal damage, save vs. spells negates whole spell, type is illusion), likewise the creatures would be gender: illusion, and would inflict non-lethal damage (maybe with a save to ignore).

There are a couple of problems I could see:

1) I couldn't decide whether to include the PnP restriction of the spells requiring concentration to maintain (I'm not sure if there is a feasable way of doing this anyway) or simply give the spell a short duration. Related to this was how tough to make the illusionary creatures, in PnP they dissapear after a single hit unless the caster produces the illusion of them responding appropriatly - now how do we impliment that?

2) There are issues with using the spell-immunit menu opcode on combat spells - in that, if you're not careful, you can easily waste the spell.

Charles

Posted by: Galactygon Apr 30 2005, 08:50 PM

4-30-05

Done Prismatic Eye, Trollish Fortitude, Invisible Stalker, and Dead Man's Eyes.

Trollish Fortitude is an interesting spell gives you the powers of the troll. That includes regeneration and that you fall unconscious if your hit points reach 1. And, like the troll, you can only be killed by fire, acid, death magic, disease, poison, and level drain when unconscious.

Prismatic Eye is simply a better version of wizard eye, where the eye may shoot forth a ray of colour spray once every 4 rounds, or emit a light spell.

Nerik:

1.) It's not too hard to implement a "maintain concentration" spell; I have done that with Summon Swarm and Wizard Eye already (and some others).

2.) If you mean you couldn't cast and select the spells in the menu during the game-pause, then it is already fixed. Think of combining contingency and spell immunity.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon May 1 2005, 09:13 PM

5-1-05

Lich Touch, Improved Blink, and Mordenkainen's Sword has been finished.

Mordenkainen's Sword now works exactly like in IWD; you couldn't exploit enemies anymore by sending in a few swords as fodder. Rather, it acts as a normal sword the caster wields, but could hit enemies from afar.

Since I have coded Lich Touch, I decided to alter the Liches' immunities and special attacks themselves along with it. Although they can be affected by level 1 spells as of now, they now emit an aura of fear and their cold touch permanently inflicts paralysis until dispelled or negated by appropriate magic.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon May 11 2005, 04:17 PM

5-11-05

I have now made several differences between stunned and held characters.

1.) Stunned and held characters cannot be hit automatically, but their dexterity is set to 1, incurring severe armour-class penalties.
2.) Held characters are fully aware of the surrounding events, and they can use spells that are cast automatically, and don't require both verbal and somatic components. Held characters may also be talked to (although not vice versa).
3.) Stunned characters aren't held anymore; rather they act as if feebleminded (e.g. they stand there doing nothing), and since they aren't aware of the surrounding events, their line of sight is reduced to near nothingness.

Unconscious characters remain as they were (due to engine limitations).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon May 12 2005, 04:40 PM

5-12-05

Vocalize may now be cast under the effects of silencing spells, but not under power word: silence. No longer will it be considered unfair to see enemies cast vocalize onto themselves if you silenced them.

Also, sleeping characters will awaken if they get slapped by melee attacks.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Rabain May 13 2005, 11:43 PM

Unconciousness is when you are affected by something like Stinking Cloud right? Are there other, new spells, that cause unconciousness?

Is there a spell (or will there be) that negates unconciousness? Maybe negates isn't the right word, is there something that aids recovery from unconciousness...like a bucket of water or whatever?

Posted by: Galactygon May 14 2005, 02:33 PM

Well, I haven't been too clear on that matter yet.

There are now 2 types of unconsciousness: sleep, and unconsciousness.

I have described Sleep in the above post, but not unconsciousness. Unconsciousness remains the same, except it can only be negated by the level 3 priest spell, Exaltation.

Stinking Cloud will not cause unconsciousness anymore (there will be different effects tied to it), but a wingbuffet of a dragon might (or some other causes that don't come into my mind).

The sleep effect will be caused by sleep spells. The only exception is Phezult's Sleep of the Ages, where you cannot be awakened unless you cast Dispel magic/Exaltation (which negates the effect for 1 round, allowing the character to be safely brought out of the area of effect), or the reverse, Phezult's Awakening (which ends the spell for all of the creatures in the area of effect.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon May 15 2005, 04:28 PM

5-15-05

Bone Blade, and Iron Body have been completed.

I have also finished Symbol, and I merged all of them into a single spell (like Spell Immunity). Another main difference I have made in symbol is that it doesn't last until triggered; it has a permanent duration, unless a number of total hit points are affected.

So for example, a Kobold with 5 HP left approaches a symbol of death that kills 80 total hit points. The kobold has to make a saving throw vs. spells at a -4 penalty (all symbol spells use that penalty) or die. The symbol now has 75 hit points left, and even if the Kobold makes its saving throw with success or is protected by a death ward, or has Magic Resistance (all of them very unlikely), the symbol still has 75 hit points left (so only a creature with 75 or less hit points may be affected by the effects of the symbol). If the Symbol reaches 0 hit points, the faint runes disperse.

Note that many powerful spellcasters will take measures to prevent tresspassing by casting a symbol in doorways, chests, or passages. A thief may not disarm tham, but a (successful) dispel magic will.

There are now 8 types of symbols you may cast: Death, Discord, Fear, Hopelessness, Insanity, Pain, Sleep, Stun

For Priests, I am setting the duration to 1 turn/level and only these three types of symbols may be cast: Hopelessness, Pain, Persuation.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Echon May 15 2005, 07:16 PM

I like that you have added Iron Body, it is a great spell.

-Echon

Posted by: Galactygon May 16 2005, 11:21 PM

Yes, it does make you quite invulnerable to many forms of attack.

5-16-05

Black Blade of Disaster and Power Word: Blind have both been completed. I decided to go with 3rd edition for Power Word: Blind (so it affects up to one creature with less than 150 hit points rather than 100 hit points worth many creatures).

Black Blade of Disaster could attack enemies at a range and dispel/bypass every single magical protection (including Invulnerability to Magical Weapons and Invulnerability to Weapons, but not Barrier of Toth). It could only be found in the underdark among the drow.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon May 19 2005, 04:40 PM

5-19-05

Malek Keth's Flaming Fist has been completed, and Mordenkainen's Sword is now identical to the AD&D IWD1 version.

Also, I have found a nice way in scripting to prevent intelligent mages from casting area of effect spells, where only 1-2 creatures are affected, unless they are reasonably powerful.

For example, a mage will cast wail of the banshee if he is surrounded by 20 goblins (unless he has death spell memorized), or if he is surrounded by at least 4 party members or 8 chimerae. He will not cast wail of the banshee if he is sourrounded by 8 kobolds; or a single Chimera, or a single party member. Rather, he will finish them off with a Mordenkainen's Sword or a Black Blade of Disaster, or a one-target spell (depending on how powerful the creature is and how badly injured the creature is).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon May 21 2005, 04:22 PM

5-21-05

Chant has been completed, and gives bonuses to saving throws. The duration is now infinite until the caster stops chanting (ie until he moves away, casts a spell, attacks, etc.). If you have played Fields of the Dead, it works in a similar method. It is cumulative with Prayer, Bless, and Recitation, but not with itself.

Temporal Stasis, Imprisonment, and their reverses have also been completed. As with all touch attacks, Imprisonment now requires a touch attack from any melee weapon the caster is holding.

Timestop's duration has been set to 1D2+1 rounds rather than what was in PnP (1D3 rounds), because there is little point in casting timestop that has a chance of lasting only 1 round.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon May 29 2005, 04:23 PM

5-29-05

I decided to switch back to PnP, so Skulltrap works similarly to what is present in Fields of the Dead with a few slight differences.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon May 31 2005, 04:19 PM

5-31-05

I have some interesting news today. I found a nice method of changing the characters' avatars when they equip a robe or armour so they actually look like they are wearing one. So for example, a mage/thief equips a robe of the archmagi and they actually look like they are wearing the robe with the elegant sleeves and hood. Then, the mage/thief equips a leather armour and looks like he/she is a thief with high boots and such.

-Galactygon

Posted by: T.G.Maestro May 31 2005, 06:03 PM

?

Posted by: Baronius May 31 2005, 06:09 PM

The avatars of mage/thieves are fixed, they don't look like single-class mages neither as single-class thieves.
Normally, when a mage/thief equips a Robe, (s)he will still look as without it (but his major and other colours change a bit according to the robe's colour attributes.). Everything is similar in case of leather armours.
I suppose Galactygon now can make mage/thieves look in their Robe as if they were single-class mages (and in their Leather Armour as if they were single-class thieves).

Posted by: Galactygon May 31 2005, 06:13 PM

Yes, what Baronius said. Apologies for any confusion I might have caused among the readers.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Jun 2 2005, 07:40 PM

6-2-05

I have tested my method in BG1; it works there as well.

Since I am not a WeiDU ninja, I have sent those files to Cam, so he could incorporate it into the G3 tweak Pack.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Jun 3 2005, 04:56 PM

6-3-05

Blacksphere has been completed.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Jun 5 2005, 12:27 AM

6-4-05

The following spells have been completed: Battlefate, Chaotic Combat, Animal Rage, Blood Rage, Blessed Warmth, Call Upon Faith, Champion's Strength.

Using an old trick of mine, I am able to implement saving throws against particular effects. For example, Protection from Fire will grant immunity to non-magical fire, grant 50% damage reduction from magical fire, and a +3 saving throw bonus against magical fire.

I have also seperated the magical/non-magical fire and cold damage effects. A burning oil or a flaming torch might inflict normal fire damage, but a spell that deals with fire will inflict magical fire damage (with the exception of Produce Fire). As for cold, I don't really know what inflicts normal cold damage rather than magical (except for Produce Ice), since the setting isn't Icewind Dale.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Caedwyr Jun 5 2005, 01:34 AM

For normal cold, I'd say it would be a spell that affects the environment, rather than directly inflicting the cold damage. So if the spell lowers the temperature of the surroundings (and will remain until it warms up after the spell duration ends). For example, a spell that causes a freezing blizzard to descend on the area would be a normal cold, whereas a spell that causes a freezing orb to strike the target would be a magical cold. The blizzard can remain after the spell ends, but the orb only lasts as long as the spell does.

That's the way I'd make the distinction anyways.

Posted by: igi Jun 5 2005, 09:05 AM

Doesn't the game crash if a creature is killed with the magic fire/magic cold damage type?

Posted by: T.G.Maestro Jun 5 2005, 03:56 PM

It does.

Posted by: Galactygon Jun 5 2005, 04:03 PM

And I took care of it.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Jun 5 2005, 09:38 PM

6-5-05

The spells of Adamantite Mace, Animate Dead (both the wizard and the clerical versions), Charm Person or Mammal, Circle of Bones, Cloud of Pestilence, Cloak of Bravery, Cloudburst, Command, Confusion (clerical version), Conjure Air or Water Elemental, Conjure Earth Elemental, and Conjure Fire Elemental have been finished.

-Galactygon

Posted by: T.G.Maestro Jun 6 2005, 06:45 AM

Sounds good!
May I ask how?

Posted by: Galactygon Jun 6 2005, 04:53 PM

You don't allow the creature to get killed by the fire damage; you have a MINHP1 effect set for an extremely short duration (0). It *has* to come before the damage effects are fired, or else you will run into the problems igi described above.

After the MINNP1 and damage effects, you cast a spell (with a timing mode of Delayed and a timing value of zero) on the targets that kills them if they have 1 hit point. Since you don't have an effect that does this, you may use the Power Word Kill opcode and increase the hit points of the creature by 58 right before the Power Word Kill effect is fired (but with a duration of 0). This way, a creature with 2 hit points will not get killed, but a creature with 1 hit point will get killed (since 1 HP + 58 HP is 59 HP, and that's the maxmimum number of hitpoints PWK may affect).

That's how I did it. As a player, I haven't noticed anything different if I had applied regular fire damage instead, without any tricks, since the trick I described above happens in a much quicker succession that what the human mind may follow.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Jun 18 2005, 12:19 AM

6-17-05

Movement modifiers of the various player races have been altered in addition to bonuses/penalties derived from strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma. Gnomes, halflings, and dwarves have a movement rate that is considerably slower than humans, while half-elves are faster than humans, with elves even faster than half-elves. I shall post in general of what I have modified regarding stats:

Strength:
- The weight the characters may carry have been reduced according to AD&D, as well as bashing doors/opening chests

Constitution:
- Non-warriors with 17 or above constitution also recieve some bonuses to their hit points for every experience level attained; it goes up to as high as +4 rather than the original +2; for warriors it remains up to +7 max. I have done this to mimick that characters with high constitution may not get 1s, 2s, 3s, and 4s when rolling the Hit Die. It does have its flaws, but it is still better than the status quo.
- Saving throw penalties vs. death/poison are attained if your constitution is too low. The penalties turn to bonuses as your constitution gets higher.
- Characters with godly constitution scores (19 and above) regenerate their hit points at an alarming rate; characters with a constitution of 25 don't need the ring of Gaxx.

Intelligence:
- Wizards and Bards (not sorcerers) may learn spells of a particular level only if their intelligence allows it. Having an intelligence of less than 9 means you may not cast wizard spells at all; you have to have an int of 10 to cast 5th levels spells, an int of 12 to cast 6th level spells, an int of 14 to cast 7th level spells, an int of 16 to cast 8th level spells, and an int of 18 to cast 9th level spells.
- Characters with godly intelligence scores (19 and above) automatically dispel illusions; the higher the intelligence of your character is, the more powerful illusions your character may dispel. A character of 25 INT acts as a permanent true sight (only 8th and 9th level illusions remain intact)!

Wisdom:
- Characters with high/low wisdom scores gain a bonus/penalty to saving throws made against certain spells that affect the mind of the character.
- For priests, you have to have a WIS of 17 or more to learn level 6 priest spells, and a WIS of 18 or more to learn level 7 priest spells.
- Spell failure for priests with low wisdom scores have been implemented. So Anomen, with his WIS of 12 will have a 5% spell failure.
- Characters with godly wisdom scores (19 and above) gain immunities to certain spells and effects. For example, a character with a wisdom of 25 is impossible to charm (domination works, however), confuse, or even kill them by a death spell (unlikely, since such characters are above level 8).

While some of these may seem dismal to many characters (ie only Edwin may cast level 9 spells, etc.), there is a new Planescape: Torment feature I am planning on implementing: you have a chance to increase any of your stats on every 4th level-up (for the Bhaalspawn, it will be every third level-up). This is why low-level characters have realistic stats, and high-level characters have heroic or godly stats (hence they ARE [anti]heroes and gods).

-Galactygon

Posted by: fallen demon Jun 18 2005, 09:51 PM

Sounds cool. Are you going to lower the starting stats of any npcs to somewhat balance this out? Also, will Imoen, as another bhaalspawn, also gain stats faster?

Posted by: Galactygon Jun 19 2005, 05:37 PM

Yes, in addition to making them more consistent with their character. I have always had the impression that Bioware gave Aerie a WIS of 16 rather than an 8 so that she gains extra priest spells. I also thought Minsc's word choices are more fit for a character with an INT of 11 rather than an INT of 8. Another example would be Edwin's wisdom that should be raised and his intelligence reduced.


No.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Caedwyr Jun 19 2005, 08:24 PM

Err, Edwin doesn't strike me as being very wise. He does a fair bit of rather foolish messing around with the Nether scroll, and also does a bunch of verbal baiting on individuals he really shouldn't be pissing off if he knows what is good for him. High Int, low wisdom fits nicely

Posted by: Galactygon Jun 19 2005, 11:38 PM

While messing around with an unknown scroll is foolish or insulting the lessers; most wouldn't resist those actions in Edwin's shoes; even the somewhat wiser than average person. You could also take the background of Edwin into consideration .Edwin isn't wise, but he is better than average.

-Galactygon

Posted by: fallen demon Jun 21 2005, 06:28 AM

I agree with you on Aerie, but you sure Minsc should have above average intelligence (I know it's barely above average, but still, why not below?
Why not?

Posted by: Galactygon Jun 22 2005, 12:47 AM

Bioware couldn't resist the attempt to produce Shakespeare-level (well, not that level, but a quite a high level) dialogue for all characters; that includes Minsc and Korgan. Minsc's stats are appropriate for BG1, but not BG2.



She shouldn't steal <CHARNAME>'s thunder.

-Galactygon

Posted by: NiGHTMARE Jun 22 2005, 02:32 PM

I remember having this discussion some time last year . I found some useful info on the subject in the 3.5 Edition Player's Handbook:

Posted by: Galactygon Jun 22 2005, 04:40 PM

6-22-05

Mislead, Project Image, Simulacrum, Shooting Stars, and Robe of Healing have been completed.

Mislead will now teleport the caster 10 yards in a random direction, with a duplicate of the caster being created exectly where the caster stood. In fact, casting the spell appears as if the caster were still standing there. Even players will be fooled when opponents are Misled; the Misled Image will cast the same spells as the spellcaster (albeit they are always illusionary), but from a different direction than the actual spell-caster.

Project Image is a similar spell, except the caster is not turned invisible, but the Image is impervious to everything and may cast spells from the caster's memory (I still haven't gotten this part to play perfectly).

Simulacrum is now permanent and may be cast on others, but the image only has 30-50% of the levels the actual creature has. The casting time has been set to 2 rounds.

Shooting stars conjures a large mass of small stars within a 50 yard radius sphere, inflicting 6D10 points of damage. In addition, 6 larger stars are called, with the points randomly determined. Anyone caught within one of the larger stars' area effect (15-foot radius) recieve 24 points of damage, with anyone within 5 feet of the point of impact will recieve 48 points of damage. I have used the decutscenized-PS:T spell, Elysium's Fires as the animation.

Robe of healing conjures a white robe that radiates an aura of healing, curing 1D4+4 points of damage to all who approach the wearer within 10 feet. A creature remaining next to the wearer as well as the wearer himself is cured the same amount of damage per round. Note that the caster may give the robe to someone else to wear.

-Galactygon

Posted by: icelus Jul 5 2005, 07:17 PM

What's the URL to your site now, Galactygon? The links in your profile don't work, and neither does http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net

The same applies for the download links of the Romance-Friendly Imprisonment and the Fixed Creatures mods...

Posted by: Galactygon Jul 5 2005, 07:42 PM

Yes, I took the old site down. Most of the pages were ridiculously outdated and were even misleading; it is better to have no information than false information. I do plan on moving in to BlackWyrm, but I need some time for that.

I believe TheWizard has mirrored my mini-mods (and perhaps even Dragon's Hoard), so you can always download those mini-mods there while I get reorganized.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Jul 21 2005, 04:15 PM

7-21-05

Lycanthropy has been introduced to the game.

-Galactygon

Posted by: T.G.Maestro Jul 21 2005, 06:11 PM

Please specify (I'm sure you just knew I'd ask this.. ).

Posted by: Galactygon Jul 21 2005, 07:23 PM

I will not give any details this time. The most I will say is players that have fought against werewolves, wererats and the like will expect some of their party members to act a little strange.

-Galactygon

Posted by: T.G.Maestro Jul 22 2005, 08:01 AM

I only asked some info on this because of this idea has seen many implmentation attempts in the past, yet each and every one of them failed at one point. I was merely curious how you managed to solve these problematic points.

Posted by: SimDing0 Jul 22 2005, 10:51 AM

It has?

Posted by: Galactygon Jul 26 2005, 06:17 PM

7-26-05

The following priest spells have been completed: Courage, Creeping Doom, Cure Blindness and Deafness, Cure Disease, Defensive Harmony, Dictate, and Dimensional Folding.

Some interesting things about these spells are:
* Creeping Doom summons a swarm of insects (as in IWD), which can instantly kill any creature it attacks without any saving throws, etc. It may seem unbalancing at first glance, but the following should be taken into consideration:
1. The creeping doom may not affect creatures protected from normal weapons or from normal insects
2. The movement rate of the creeping doom is extremely slow, and almost all of the creatures may outrun it (it will be included with the AI)
* The reverse of Cure Blindness and Deafness requires a successful touch attack within 1 round of the casting. If the caster succeeds, the victim has to roll 2 seperate saving thows against both blindness and deafness.
* A caster that has reached the 12th level may cure Lycanthropy from party members.
* Defensive Harmony grants a +1 bonus to the AC of all creatures within the area of effect based on the number of creatures affected. For example, if Defensive Harmony were to affect 6 characters, the AC bonus would become +6 for the duration or until dispelled. Fortunately, I didn't have to touch a single .bcs file to implement this one.
* Dictate is an area effect "Command" spell. Since I thought 1 round/level is a bit too powerful, I decided to lower the duration to 2 rounds.
* Dimensional Folding is an exact copy of the 4th level wizard spell, Dimension Door. You cannot teleport through walls or any solid obstacles.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Kalindor Jul 27 2005, 02:34 AM

I'm sure you anticipate someone complaining about the Creeping Doom spell, so I'll not disappoint. I offer the following words of caution:

I have some problems with the spells "Death Spell" and "Cloudkill" in the original BGII due to the fact that they basically created a plateau for the enemies that would still be a challenge for the caster. Once a mage learned Cloudkill, for instance, all creatures with less than the given number of hit dice would be eradicated immediately. Translated, those creatures will from now on pose next to no threat to the caster. While the hit dice limit on these spells may be designed to kill enemies the relatively high-level caster could have easily killed already, your version of Creeping Doom sounds as if it might go a step beyond that. In Throne of Bhaal, there are foes encountered who are not immune to regular weapons who are challenging to the party nonetheless. Would Creeping Doom effectively make these still-somewhat-difficult battles a walk in the park? Hopefully the A.I. adjustments will react in an intelligent manner to the Creeping Doom and yet not so much as to make it a worthless cast.

Obviously, I have not used the new spell and am going only on your description of it.

Posted by: T.G.Maestro Jul 27 2005, 06:28 AM

How about a new spell: Protection from Normal Insects?

Yes, I remember at least two attempts at old FWS (not FW!). One of them died in it's planning state, the other was abandoned later on.

Posted by: Galactygon Jul 27 2005, 03:49 PM

I would be surprised if no one would complain.


Yes, intelligent creatures will run away if they see a swarm of hundreds of insects creeping towards them. Held and unconscious creatures are hopeless against the swarm.

Oh and I forgot to mention the swarm is extremely vulnerable to area effect spells such as gust of wind, fireball, etc. Although the insect swarm has (1D6+4) * 100 hit points, area effect spells destroy a swarm, since every insect (1hp) is affected.



*Checks his list* Yes there will one.

-Galactygon

Posted by: SirLancelot Jul 27 2005, 06:46 PM

Then i could summon five gnolls to get an incredible +11 bonus to AC. What do you think about it? Maybe spellcasters should be discarded, involved in the count of creatures to determine the amount of bonus but not receiving it.

Posted by: Galactygon Jul 27 2005, 07:23 PM

Yes. There is a maximum bonus of +5 in AD&D, but due to engine restrictions it didn't make it. The spell only lasts 6 rounds.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Echon Jul 28 2005, 06:04 PM

Mine is capped at +5.

-Echon

Posted by: Galactygon Jul 28 2005, 08:49 PM

I will take a look...I am trying to avoid scripting however.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 6 2005, 10:03 PM

8-6-05

I have encountered yet a another OMG HRADDISK FAILURE!!, but it coincidently happened 2 days after I backed up all my files, so very little work has been lost.

Apart from that, I have been working more on the GuI than anything else in the mod. I am estimating that 3/4 of the GuI work has been finished.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Kalindor Aug 8 2005, 12:21 AM

Is the new fantabulous GUI going to be an optional component? I am just curious because mods like BGT-WeiDU and BP that add their own GUI cofigurations would be incompatible I'm assuming.

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 8 2005, 02:35 AM

Yes, and once I finish the GuI, there will be a seperate early release in addition to what will come with the full mod.


Those mods might alter the main menu, but it will be overriden by my GuI once you install it on top. Other than the main menu mentioning "Lost Crossroads" instead of BP-whatnot, there will be no compatiblity issues.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 14 2005, 05:32 PM

8-14-05

The reverse of Knock ~ Wizard Lock has been completed. Since creatures will open internal doors quite often (and even make lockpicking/bashing attempts), this might prove quite useful.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 18 2005, 09:26 PM

8-18-05

The reason I haven't done much work in terms of new spells these days is because I have been fine-tuning some of the secondary spell effects to add more realism.

A couple examples are:
* Held, stunned, and unconscious creatures automatically fail their saving throws against something that could be dodged (such as a fireball, disintegrate, sphere of annihilation, etc.)
* Seven Eyes absorbs the first effect that would affect the caster. So for example, if the caster is protected from poison (either via a spell, potion, magic resistance, or even innate resistance) or succeeds in a saving throw against poison, the eye that would normally absorb a single poison attack still remains.
* Dispel Magic destroys potions as if they were created by a wizard of 12th level

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 27 2005, 03:41 PM

8-27-05

Strength of one has been completed with the following changes from the PnP version of the spell:
1.) It affects non-lawful creatures
2.) The spell may not bestow more than 20 strength.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Sep 5 2005, 04:47 PM

9-5-05

As I have posted in the workroom, I have completed around 40 priest spells these past few 2 weeks, which is quite impressive. I will not mention every single one of them, with the exception of 2 spells I found particularly interesting.

The 6th level priest spell, Skip Day transports the party 24 hours into the future. To outside observers, it seems the party disappeared (and then reappeared 24 hours later if they remain at the same location for 24 hours), so most creatures will be gone. Spells and timers will also expire for the party, so you could speed up romances. It is important to note that this spell is not an automatic guarantee of success in every battle, because the party still needs to rest and creatures make use of those 24 hours by resting. It is useful if you decide to pick enemies one by one and cast this spell after a few creatures have died.

Another 6th level priest spell, Seclusion, allows the priest to hide a creature in an extradimensional space that moves with the caster, and release the creature at will. Unwilling creatures recieve a saving throw to prevent being hidden. Only one creature may be hidden in the space at a time, and the creature may not affect or see the outside world, which in turn does not affect or see the creature. If the priest dies or the spell ends, the creature is automatically expelled from the space. This spell is quite useful for hide-and-transport tactics.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Sep 13 2005, 06:08 PM

9-13-05

Desert Hell has been finished. The spell transforms the surrounding landscape into a scorching wasteland, causing damage to all (allies included) within twice the line of sight of the caster. I think I made good work of this cutscenized spell, which looks similar to the one in PS:T).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Sep 17 2005, 09:21 PM

9-17-05

Sphere of Security (a quest-level spell that conjures an immobile sphere of protection very similar to PST globe of invulnerability), Spike Growth, Spike Stones, Strength of Stone, and Storm Shell (now remodified to grant +3 bonuses to saving throws against fire, cold, and electricity) have been completed.

-Galactyon

Posted by: Galactygon Sep 25 2005, 07:18 PM

9-25-05

Summon Insects, Sunray, Thief's Lament, Thornwack, Timelessness, Transport Via Plants, Wall of Fire, Wall of Moonlight, Watery Fist, and a re-modified Whirlwind have been completed.

I only have 10-20 priest spells left, which accounts for 95% of the priest spells. Once I finish those, I have a couple dozen of wizard and bard spells I need to complete.

Judging from what I have done so far, I am estimating that 70% of the mod has been completed so far. And work is speeding up, since I have completed some of my hardest years in my academics.

While several of my previous release guesses ended up in embarassing situations, I am quite positive I can complete this mod within a year-and-a-half, if not a single year unless something major occours in my real life.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Nov 18 2005, 03:40 AM

11-18-05 (a middle-of-the night update)

Almost all of the spells (wizard and priest) have been finished since the last update.

I only need to do a handful of True Dweomers, Quest Spells, Bard Spells, Specialty Wizard Spells, and a few alterations here and there, and I will be fully finished in terms of spells. I will probabbly have them done by the January of 2006. That would mean that two-thirds/three-fourths of the mod is already completed, with work speeding up (I have an easier year than the last two in terms of studies and such).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Nov 21 2005, 12:08 AM

11-20-05

I have introduced a new poison system into the game that works exactly like the system in PnP (all of my test results yielded success). Generally, there will be onset times before the poison starts working, and when the poison starts to affect the character, the damage is only applied once rather than multiple times over a limited duration.

For example, the weakest type of poison (labeled type A) inflicts 15 points of damage if the character fails his/her saving throw. However, this 15 points of damage is applied to the character 10-30 rounds after being injected (this is the onset time). The character will know if he/she is poisoned, because during the onset time, a poison icon will appear on the portrait, signifying the character is poisoned. Some poisons can only be negated partially by a saving throw. For example, a failed saving throw against the most dangerous type of poison (type E) would mean the character is killed outright, and a successful saving throw means the character suffers 20 points of damage. There is no onset time for poison types E and F: the effects happen instantaneously although it could be delayed if Slow Poison is cast before the poison is injected (see more details about Slow Poison below). Until the Lost Crossroads site is not finished, you could read more about the types of poison in greater detail (and how they work) in the AD&D Dungeon Master's Handbook.

If cast during the onset time, Neutralize Poison will negate any current poisons acting on the character. Slow Poison will simply delay the onset time by 24 hours (rather than 1 hour/level as in PnP due to engine restrictions and simplicity). Slow poison also delays any types of poison injected/ingested by the character during that 24 hours by another 24 hours. Thus, if a character is poisoned, a Slow Poison can be quickly cast unto the character to allow time for the poison to be neutralized by an antidote or a Neutralize Poison spell.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Caedwyr Nov 22 2005, 04:17 AM

The screenshots look great, and the concept and implementation of a variety of the subtle rules are impressive. I look forward to seeing this finished one day.

Posted by: Magnus_025 Nov 22 2005, 11:51 AM

Galactygon, I think your Mod will be one of the "always installed" mod. One of the best, of course and the real way that the game should have been from the begining. In a game where magic is so important, the spell graphics were in some points awful, you are correcting this and you have to be congratulated for all of BG players. Thank you very much for your dedication and your work.

Posted by: Galactygon Nov 22 2005, 07:06 PM

Thank you for the compliments, and yes, the many small details make a large mod good. The mod is still unreleased (meaning there is no proof I have done all of this with success), so the compliments would mean more if they are based on a released piece of work. Nevertheless, they are still welcome.

11-22-05

Silence 15-foot radius has been completed. Rather than casting the spell at an area, you do so at a creature, where the area effect moves with it. However, if the creature succeeds at a saving throw, the spell is centered on an area 1 foot behind the creature. In that case, the spell effect is stationary. There is no saving throw for entering a silenced area, although you may now cast vocalize even if you are silenced.

I have also started packaging the entire mod in a WeiDU installer as I go, so I don't have to worry about packaging everything all at once.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Nov 26 2005, 11:59 PM

11-26-05

Besides the WeiDU packaging work I have done over the past few days, Bolt of Glory, (Un)Holy Word, and Whirlwind have been completed (or re-modified). Rather than simple wing-buffeting, Whirlwind picks up creatures and carries them around if they fail their saving throws (one must be made for each round spent within the area of effect). A successful saving throw capitulates the creature out of the area of effect.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 1 2005, 10:48 PM

1-3-05

Yet another rule has been implemented (I didn't anticipate this to work, but the Infinity Engine lives up to its name).

Dead party members' corpses don't disappear when they die - they remain lying on the ground until all of the party members leave the area. Spells that raise the dead will "wake" the dead character rather than make them appear beside the protagonist. Due to hardcoded issues, the range for any type of magic that raises the dead is unlimited.

For example, it is possible to be in the Adventurer's mart and raise a party member who has died in the main area of the Waukeen's Promenade. The dead party member will simply rise in main area without any choppy teleportation and such. If there are no party members in the outside area, then the corpse will reappear beside the protagonist.

I am thinking of somehow implementing the requirement of carrying corpses of dead party members between areas, but I don't know if it's possible or is worth the effort.

-Galactygon

Posted by: fallen demon Dec 4 2005, 04:52 AM

I don't suppose there's anyway to have the raised party members keep their equipment, is there?

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 4 2005, 09:50 PM

No, you have to pick them up with living party members.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 5 2005, 11:39 PM

12-5-05

Even veterans hardly noticed that repeatedly casting blindness/deafness/etc. on a creature would nullify their saving throws, because they are all cumulative per casting. I somehow managed to make the saving throw/THAC0/AC penalties incurred via blindness, paralysis, unconsciousness, silence, and deafness non-cumulative. With the exception of spellcasting, I am treating saving throw/THAC0/AC penalties incurred via silence and deafness exactly the same (isn't the silenced state a form of deafness except you can't make any noise?). Oh, and silenced thieves recieve a significant boost to their "move silently" stat.

Also, I have redone the paperdoll and inventory icons/paperdoll colours for amulets and mage robes (they actually look pretty good now). So, for example, a robe of the good archmagi is light grey with golden stripes on the sides (english?). The newly implemented Robe of Scintillating Colours looks awesome ~ it will be shown when I update the screenshots again.

And lastly, I am still in the slow and arduous process of WeiDU packaging.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 13 2005, 07:06 PM

Trollish Fortitude has been finished - not only do you regenerate at the same rate as the trolls do, but you are also knocked unconscious the way the trolls are if your hit points drop to 1 (in that case, you may only be killed by fire or acid).

Demishadow Magic and Shadow Magic have also been finished. Shadow Magic (a level 5 spell) may duplicate the effects of a level 3 or lower invocation spell, while Demishadow Magic (a level 6 spell) may duplicate the effects of a level 5 or lower invocation spell.

Disintegrated characters may now be raised by a wish or a resurrection spell but not with a raise dead spell. Also, I have handled the frozen deaths in that a character who dies of cold/fire damage may also be resurrected/raised in any way. I haven't implemented anything for the other damage types regarding character death yet.

I am estimating that all of the spells will be completed by the January of 2006, including ones restricted to bards and specialist wizards (yes, there will be those also).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 23 2005, 08:45 PM

12-23-05

My WeiDU work is now updated with what I have completed in the mod; in fact, it is in releasable/installable form but with many unfinished spells. It took me a few months to organize everything, and it was worth the trouble; rather than thousands of disorganized files in a single override folder, all of the files are organized in a clean and logical manner.

Now I can easily make changes and keep track what I have left and what has already been done. I am also relieved from those woes of reorganizing everything at once and overlooking a few files that haven't been packed in the mod.

Most people don't realize this, but the lack of proper organization and documentation is a major factor that prevents large mods being released. It also makes progress go a great deal faster.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 25 2005, 07:41 PM

12-25-05

I did a bit of refining here and there for a few spells - some of them (like disintegrating an Otiluke's Resilient Sphere via the 6th level Disintegrate spell) needed fixing. Otherwise, I still have a few spells left that I should finish. I have moved on to the items (which should be much easier than the spells), and I will hopefully finish them by March.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Andyr Dec 25 2005, 10:39 PM

Nice to hear about progress. The page linked by your signature's banner, though, is not found.

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 26 2005, 12:23 AM

Yes, I still have to make sure the site (which will be hosted at BlackWyrm rather than geocities) is updated with the amount of work I have finished.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Sorrow Dec 26 2005, 08:41 PM

Hmm...
Could you tell something more about your methods of organisation, please?
I'm having a lot of trouble with organising the work on my mod and I could use a tip or two on organisation.

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 27 2005, 04:50 PM

Sure. This is what I use:

1.) Knowing when to stop (I sometimes get carried away with stuff I haven't planned).
2.) Knowing how much you want to do and how much you did (use a checklist).
3.) Knowing when to stop.
4.) Organize all the files in an easy-to-locate logical manner. The same applies to your WeiDU code. It doesn't hurt to make comments every few lines in your .tp2 file, since when (this is not an "if") you forget some of your code, you can easily reread everything and remember what the code is supposed to do.
5.) Knowing when to stop.
6.) Update your WeiDU installer with new files during regular periods of time. Make it a habit, so you don't have to work on remembering it.
7.) Knowing when to stop.
8.) Estimating how much time it will take to finish the entire mod and considering whether or not you will still be working on it by the time your enthusiasm is over. Alternatively, you could find ways to refresh you enthusiasm.
9.) Knowing when to stop.
10.) I don't know anything for #10.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Sorrow Dec 27 2005, 05:21 PM

Thanks .
Looks like I made some major errors during working on my mod .

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 28 2005, 05:08 PM

12-28-05

All of the in-game wands have been re-modified to their AD&D counterparts. I will give a short listing.

* Wand of fire lets you cast burning hands (1 charge), fireball (2 charges), or firewall (2 charges).
* The wand of frost may cast either Cone of Cold (2 charges) or Ice Storm (1 charge).
* The duration for wand of paralyzation is now random (5D4 rounds).
* The wand of the heavens acts as a flamestrike cast by a priest of 9th level. Note that the spell flamestrike (as well as many other priest spells such as Cure X Wounds) has been modified so that it gets better for higher level priests. The damage/hit points cured does not increase, but the chances of getting a better roll does.
* The wand of monster summoning may cast Monster Summoning I, II, or III, and up to 6 HD of monsters may be conjured per use.
* The wand of magic missiles launches 2 missiles rather than 1 missile.
I still have a few wands and rods left before I move on.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Echon Dec 29 2005, 07:33 PM

These two statements contradict each other.

-Echon

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 29 2005, 09:07 PM

I don't agree 100% with all AD&D rules, and I express some of my disagreements through subtle (or not so subtle) changes.

It is also important to note that it is impossible to re-create a perfect AD&D ruleset in the BGII engine. In an AD&D game, there are several additional factors that are brought into play that render a spell useful in certain situations such as fog, ignition of combustible materials, a tunnel collapsing, etc.). These many factors may not be implemented due to engine limitations, lack of time, etc. I compensate many of these factors with rules that I create and may be implemented without much hassle.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Echon Dec 29 2005, 10:50 PM

I am not talking about engine limitations. Altering healing spells has got nothing to do with that. What struck me is that given the D&D 3E elements and the house rules you have made, this mod is more than just AD&D, and as such I find that term to be inadequate as well as imprecise.

-Echon

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 30 2005, 12:31 AM

I see. I have dropped a great deal of 3E rules that I haven't posted in the "Mod/Web updates" thread (either because I forgot to do so or I was lazy to post them publically). For example, I decided to set the Flamestrike damage back 8D6 points a few days ago. Note that not all of them were dropped; I liked some of them.

So in conclusion, the mod looks far more AD&D from my perspective than from someone who has read many of my posts/threads simply because I know much more about it than anyone else. This is not anyone's fault except my own; I have done a bad job on keeping the outside world updated. I do intend to restore the site in February once my exams are over.

-Galactygon

Posted by: SirLancelot Jan 4 2006, 02:25 PM

C'mon, Galc, you are doing a fantastic work! Keep it up

Posted by: Galactygon Jan 6 2006, 06:36 PM

1-6-06

All of the rods have been finished, and I introduced 3 new rods into the game: Rod of Flailing, Rod of Rulership, and Rod of Splendor. Due to engine limitations, I made a few changes to those rods from the AD&D versions.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Jan 14 2006, 01:43 AM

1-13-06

Potions may now be drunk by somebody other than the one who has the item, since realistically you could pour the contents into someone else's mouth. That means you could drink as many potions per round as you have party members in your party. That also means that a potion can be used to help characters that are unable to pour the contents into their own mouths (ie curing a paralyzed character of wounds, poison, etc).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Kalindor Jan 14 2006, 10:27 PM

Thank heavens! I was often annoyed at the fact that I could not dispel a party-member's affliction if I had an appropriate potion handy on a different character.

Posted by: Galactygon Jan 29 2006, 07:21 PM

1-29-06

I am finished with the amulets ~ many of them are deleted, while more have been redone (some amulets are repetitive), and still more introduced. They may not be more powerful, but they certainly have interesting abilities. Such amulets could range from a Gem of Insight to the well-sought Gem of Seeing.

EDIT#1: Before I forget, I have done all the potions too (with the exception of the Potion of Polymorphing, which acts as Polymorph Self).

EDIT#2: Apparently, I still live in the year 2005, since I forgot to change some of my update dates to 2006.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Feb 3 2006, 06:37 PM

2-3-06

I have done some work on the rings. A few of the changes I made were:
* Multiple rings (and cloaks) of protection can be worn at the same time, but their AC bonuses overlap rather than stack (as in AD&D). That will also I apply to magical armour (I haven't done those yet, hence the will).
* Because I discovered that you are not limited to 3 abilities in the TOOLTIP.2da, some rings (mainly those of Elemental Control) have more than 3 abilities.
* Many other rings have been balanced out and were given abilities similar to their AD&D counterparts.
* Rings that are not included in the AD&D manuals are given certain interesting abilities that I invented (such as a ring that gives all the bonuses and immunities of an elf).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Mar 10 2006, 07:16 PM

4-10-06

While I have been doing GuI work here and there, my most notable achievement is the implementation of the AD&D Chain Lighting spell. Of all the spells I have done, this one was by far the trickiest to implement; I had to use 131 subspells until Chain Lightning worked the way it does in AD&D.

Despite this, there are a few minor errors that I couldn't really fix due to engine limitations. Unlike the AD&D spell, Chain Lightning can strike a creature more than once, but it doesn't happen very often, and it happens with bolts with a large damage difference (so a creature might be struck by a 2D6 and 11D6 bolt, but not a 10D6 and 12D6 bolt).

For those that don't know how the spell works in AD&D, it is radically different than the way it works in BGII. In AD&D, the spell begins as a single stroke of lightning that causes 12D6 points of damage to a single creature. After causing damage, the stroke continues to strike the nearest creature to the former one, causing 11D6 points of damage. The stroke continues on, striking 12 different creatures, with each creature weakening the stroke by D6. The last (fortunate) creature only suffers 1D6 points of damage. Magic resistance/Spell Turning/Anti-magic Shell doesn't stop the bolt, but negates (or turns in the case of spell turning) the damage itself. Thus, it is a bad idea to cast a Chain Lightning in the midst of 4 mages protected by Spell Turning, since every time the bolt strikes, the damage it turned back to the caster.

Also, Charm Person has been changed so that:
A.) It could be could be cast on neutral creatures.
B.) When it expires, affected creatures revert to their default allegiance rather than ENEMY.
C.) You may initiate dialogue with charmed creatures as in BGI. This might be of interest to SimDing0/Cam/Ghrey/whatever. For those that are interested, drop me a line and we can discuss.
D.) You can't control the actions of the creatures as you would with Domination spells. Creatures use their own scripts to act accordingly.
E.) The charmed individual may attempt to shake off the spell every turn by attempting a new saving throw versus spells.

And lastly, I have finally implemented light and vision (and THAC0/saving throw penalties that come with less light) into the game.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Kalindor Mar 15 2006, 11:39 AM

This sounds interesting. Could you elaborate on the specifics of this a little?

Posted by: Galactygon Mar 16 2006, 07:22 PM

Light and Vision is measured on a scale, from 1-15. 1 represents total darkness, while 15 represents full daylight vision. In the game, if you are blinded, your vision would be 1, and normally it is set to 15. So 2-4 would be light from a single candle, 5-7 would be light from many candles, 8-11 would be light from a torch/many torches (as well as light from the stars during the night), 11-12 would be normal indoor lighting, and 13-15 would be daylight (13 or 14, depending on the number of trees affecting the sunlight).

As for penalties to AC, THAC0, and saving throws, there would be a penalty ranging from 1 to 4 depending on the lighting. Total darkness, the equivalent of blindness, would inflict penalties of 4 to those stats. Such penalties are non-cumulative if you are blinded (since it doesn't matter how dark it is when you are blind). Infravision allows the character to see farther in darkness and negate some of the penalties to them stats. There will be varying degrees of infravision, from 20 feet, to full vision (60-feet). That depends mostly on race (some creatures have a larger range of infravision than elves/half-elves, for example).

Enemies will have a big advantage over you in dungeons, because the ones that are found underground will use infravision or their sense of smell (I will mimick it with infravision and Detect() and Range() triggers).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Kalindor Mar 16 2006, 09:25 PM

I see that the AC penalty will affect everyone. Will the offensive hindering effect serve only to weaken physical attackers or will there be some sort of spellcasting impediment as well?

Posted by: Galactygon Mar 17 2006, 06:43 PM

Everyone at varying degrees. Creatures who see perfectly in hindered lighting conditions/total darkness as well as though who rely on a sense other than sight (smell, hearing, psionics, etc.) don't suffer those penalties; they enjoy an advantage over those impaired by limited light. The AC/THAC0/SR penalty only works against such creatures; the penalties balance out to 0 between two creatures who are equally affected by lighting.



Not directly. It will be really easy to score a hit and disrupt spell casting in darkness, however. I was thinking of temporarily giving light from the casting graphics, and I might implement that if the engine allows.

What I dislike about my implementation of light and vision is that in certain areas, the game slows down too much. I might restrict it to certain areas.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Kalindor Mar 18 2006, 09:22 PM

Maybe I'll actually use the spell "Infravision" now.... maybe.

Posted by: Galactygon Mar 22 2006, 04:26 PM

3-22-06

I have decided to set hp-draining spells/items non-cumulative rather than not allowing the caster to recieve extra hit points.

I can explain this better with an example. Consider Kangaxx, the Lich. He first casts Larloch's Minor drain, and drains 6 hit points from a party character, and thus gaining the same amount to his current (and maximum) hit point total. Sometime later on, he casts Vampiric Touch, and drains 21 hit points. Since Kangaxx already has 6 extra hit points to his maximum total, he recieves only 15 hit points from the spell, and the other 6 points are lost (the victim still suffers 21 points of damage).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Mar 26 2006, 03:47 PM

3-26-06

I decided to implement Reincarnation as a 6th level necromancy spell. Reincarnation works exactly like Raise Dead, except for the following exceptions:
1.) Elves could be restored
2.) There is no constitution loss (I might remove this from the list) from the recipient's part.
3.) Rather than restoring the character into his/her old body, a new one is created from a random race (races the player can pick) the raised character inhabits.

Because there are no reactions from the NPCs being reincarnated as a different race, I might decide to drop this spell. For the time being, I will keep it. If someone would like to create some dialogue options for characters' reactions of being changed to a different race, then I am open to it. I do not plan on creating them myself, due to time constraints, and lack of writing skills.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Apr 20 2006, 06:20 PM

4-20-06

Although I haven't posted any updates for almost a month, I have done a fair amount of work. Some spells still need to be finished, but I have finished 95% of the spells that are restricted to bards and specialty wizards (e.g. only necromancers and bards may learn Skull Trap, etc.). This could easily be done by adding up the appropriate values of the kits restricted from learning that particular spell. I have also started working on the spells and abilities only creatures may cast (mind flayer psionics, Umber Hulk confusion).

And lastly, I have replaced the BGII graphics (if you call them graphics) with better-looking IWDII ones for the following items: Axes, Clubs, Hammers, Fails, Morning Stars, Armour (all types), Bows, Daggers, Darts, Arrows, Slings, Bullets, Halberds, Keys, and Shields.

I will do spears and swords tomorrow.

So far, I haven't made any non-cosmetic changes to the items themselves, but I will do so after I am finished with the cosmetic changes. I will strive to make +4 items an extreme rarity.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Kalindor Apr 21 2006, 07:29 PM

I appreciate this. I must say that it is tiring having to weed through items in some mods and nerf them before playing a multiplayer game.

Posted by: Galactygon Apr 22 2006, 02:31 PM

4-22-06

Swords (of all types), spears, and crossbow icons have been replaced.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Daeva May 3 2006, 07:59 PM

Sorry, I'm new here and to be honest, this mod sounds great, I can't wait 'til it's released. One question though - you mentioned toning-down weapons so that +4 weapons were a rarity - is that just for mod weapons or, if it's for the built-in weapons as well, do you then change some of the immunities for various creatures like the marilith that can only be hurt by +5?

Posted by: Galactygon May 5 2006, 03:06 PM

Yes, and yes. Built-in weapons will be affected, and creatures will recieve immunities based on AD&D sources rather than what Bioware invented. Still, some creatures can only be harmed by +5 weapons (such as Demiliches), so I might place a +5 weapon somewhere in the game.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon May 6 2006, 06:01 PM

5-6-06

Axes of all types have been re-modified:

* I have downgraded/changed some of their abilities. Most of the abilities that occour randomly (ie effects that have a % chance tied to them) have been replaced with similar and weaker abilities that always happen.
* Throwing axes inflict 1D6 points of slashing damage instead of 1D6+1 missile damage. Magical adjustments are added to the total.
* If your throwing axe scores a hit, then it can be retrieved from the creature's inventory once they are dead (this feature is still under experimentation and might be deleted/revised). If it misses, the axe is lost forever (this is due to engine limitations).
* 2-handed axes have been introduced, appearing like Halberds in all areas except they use points from the "axe" proficiency slot rather than the "halberd" one.

I plan on introducing a few new axes with interesting (not necessarily powerful) abilities. An example might be an axe that charms low-level summoned creatures within a 10-foot radius. Just a thought.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon May 8 2006, 05:50 PM

5-8-06

Arrows, bolts, clubs, maces, and morning stars have been changed/remodified. Most importantly, the base damages of some of the above are different depending on the size of the victim:

* Maces inflict 1D6+1 points of damage against man-sized creatures or less, while only inflicting 1D6 points of damage against larger creatures (in this case, they are monsters).
* Clubs inflict 1D6 points of damage against man-sized creatures or less, while only inflicting 1D3 points of damage against larger creatures (in this case, they are monsters).
* Morning stars inflict 2D4 points of damage against man-sized creatures or less, while only inflicting 1D6+1 points of damage against larger creatures (in this case, they are monsters).

I will do damage adjustments vs. creature sizes for all types of weapons, where one is applicable (at least, according to the Player's Handbook).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Baronius May 8 2006, 06:53 PM

Are monsters always larger creatures? It is true in case of Giant Humanoids, Dragons and several other creatures that blunt weapons don't do as much damage, but I think there are creatures which are considered to be monsters and does not have too big weight. Or is this a solution issue/would make detection too complex? (I might be wrong and all Monsters are larger creatures. Are you referring to monsters based on the CRE file value, by the way?)

Posted by: Galactygon May 8 2006, 07:16 PM

At the moment, I use the "Damage bonus vs. Creature Type" opcode, with bonuses/penalties based on the general.ids. I have not refined the system as of yet (so Sword Spiders and Cave Bears are still considered medium-sized because their general type is "2 ANIMAL", while ettercaps are considered to be large because their general type is "255 MONSTER").

I will might refine this to the race.ids, but it will be painstakingly long. For now I am using the general.ids as a placeholder.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon May 17 2006, 06:51 PM

5-17-06

I worked on a variety of miscellenea for the past few weeks - cloaks, boots, bracers, etc. I have also taken interest into modifying the graphics for the ground piles of the items themselves. There will be more variations of the same types of piles. For example, cloaks of different colours will not only appear different in the inventory screen, but also if they are dropped onto the ground.

I have also reworked the inventory graphics of the cloaks themselves, but in the direction of BGI rather than IWDII. The cloaks look as if they actually made out of cloth rather than some sort of metal or plastic.

Otherwise, I have revised all of the bracers, chain mail armour, leather armour, cloaks/robes, ammo, and boots. This includes resetting the money and lore values of those items to something more appropriate.

And lastly, Cloaks and Rings of protection work exactly as in AD&D, meaning that:
1.) They can be equipped with magic armour, but don't always work. In that case, rings of protection still grant bonus to saving throws, but not bonuses to AC. Cloaks do not function at all if you have magical armour equipped or any type of nonleather, but may be worn to free up that extra inventory slot.
2.) Rings and Cloaks of protection are not cumulative, but both may be worn at the same time. In fact, 2 such rings could be worn at the same time. For example, if you have a pair of +1 rings and a single +2 cloak, you recieve the most powerful bonuses - in this case, the +2 cloak. Equipping non-magical leather renders the cloak useless, so you still recieve +1 bonuses to AC and saving throws from the rings.

I am considering on placing elven chain under the category of nonmagical leather or simply nonmagical armour. I am not sure about this at the moment, so input would be welcome.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon May 20 2006, 05:49 PM

5-20-06

Daggers, Darts, Halberds, and Warhammers have been revamped. Of all of these items, the Hammer of Thunderbolts is the most interesting one: with every hit a deafening noise deafens creatures within 30 feet of the wielder for a (random) short period of time. A .wav file is attatched to the item

It is important to know that I haven't touched cursed items as of yet. I will do that after I am done with the rest.

EDIT: Hammer of Thunderbolts does not emit lightning bolts, but can be thrown instead.

EDIT#2: I just realized this is my 666th post at blackwyrm.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Jun 4 2006, 05:06 PM

(Please note the 2 edits I made above)

6-4-06

Lightning bolt spells, abilities, and items now hit all creatures who cross the path of the bolt, rather than creatures who cross the path of the bolt after the bolt hits the target.

This was a minor oversight in the original game, where if you cast lightning bolt at someone at your line-of-sight, creatures are not affected who stand between you (the caster) and the target. Creatures were only affected after either the first rebound of the bolt (due to a solid object), or after the bolt hit your intended target. I have changed that to affect all creatures.

Of course, as in all area effect spells, Mirror Image is completely useless; the spell not only disperses all the images, but affects the caster of the images as well.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Daeva Jun 4 2006, 05:27 PM

Hmm always wondered about that concerning lightning bolts . . .

One question though - why should a lightning bolt dispell ALL images, I can understand that it wouldn't be affected by them but I do not understand why it should cause all of them to disappear (unless that's the only way it can ignore all of them).

Posted by: Galactygon Jun 4 2006, 05:39 PM

The images are supposed to vanish once they are hit, since area effect spells hit all images and the caster of the images at once.

For example, someone protected by mirror image stands in the center of a fireball blast. Because the images are supposed to be illusions that disperse once they are hit, they all vanish because the blast hits all of them at once. Because that someone physically stands in the center of the blast, (s)he takes damage from the fireball.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Daeva Jun 4 2006, 07:06 PM

Right, sorry but I understand that, what I'm asking is why lightning bolt should be considered an area affect spell - I know it is technically (in BGII at least) but it does not affect everyone in the area at once, merely those in it's path so surely it should not dispel *all* the images, since it doesn't hit them all at once?

Posted by: Galactygon Jun 4 2006, 07:33 PM

The area of the lightning bolt is considered to be wide enough to affect all images at once.

Due to engine limitations, I cannot have a creature be partially in the path of the bolt - it is either fully in or fully out of the path.

For example, if graphically, the bolt crosses 2 images but not the creature, then it (and all the images) is safe from all harm.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Kalindor Jun 4 2006, 11:20 PM

Happy 666th.

It seems that the spell system for BG2 will be a lot more interesting with all of the updates you are implementing. How is the mod shaping up in terms of mechanics vs. quests and story? Is this mod going to be mainly an improvement of the game's mechanics or will there also be a questing addition to the game?

Posted by: Galactygon Jun 5 2006, 04:51 PM

I don't intend to add any quests or change how they work. It is mainly mechanics and the most I will do is adjust quest-related items/battles to work with LC.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Jul 22 2006, 02:26 PM

7-22-06

I spent some time vacationing in Istanbul, so mod progress was stalled for awhile. Nevertheless, I have done more item editing/creation, with staves being nearly finished. I find the hardcoded number of item abilities quite aggravating, and will have to use many dirty work-arounds.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 30 2006, 07:11 PM

This topic has been viewed 6666 times. I managed to make a screenshot before it turned 6667. I have to admit the viewcount was shy of two views when I checked this topic, so I made those up by refreshing the topic once.

http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/RandomStuff/6666views.jpg

Aside from that I have just finished all of the staves, with "Staff of the Magi" and "Staff of Power" being the hardest ones to implement (even in this state, they don't work the same way they do in AD&D, absorbing spells to recharge them). The most I was able to do was creating spell immunity-type menus for expending charges.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Sep 8 2006, 11:56 PM

9-8-06

I have been struggling as of late with engine limitations. Contrarily to what is stated in the IESDP, EquipItem() seems to be broken, so I had to spend a long time figuring ways to workaround this "feature" of the IE. So far, I have succeeded, but it is quite dirty.

I will not go into a deeper explanation on what exactly I have done other than the above and mentioning that spears have been finished, due to spoiler content.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Kalindor Sep 13 2006, 09:45 PM

IIRC, I attempted to use EquipItem() in a script system I was tinkering with a couple years ago and gave up because I got frustrated. Good work in finding a workaround, however dirty!

Posted by: Galactygon Sep 18 2006, 04:56 PM

9-18-06

I have been dealing mostly with new ground icons, minor tweaks to existing items (such as allowing to use miscellaneous items like telescopes in some sort of useful way), and a few minor changes to certain weapons.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Nov 3 2006, 10:26 PM

11-03-06

The lack of activity here for the past 1,5 months doesn't explain the lack of progress. I have made a great deal of notes on what to patch in the .tp2 file, meaning that all I have to do is replace the notes with actual code (ie replace WRITE_BYTE, etc). I have made notes item by item, and covered well over 300 items (that's my estimate) since I last posted. Also, many of these items now have their own ground icon rather than the sack you see right now. So, you will see a pile of bones on the ground if you drop "Amaunator's remains" rather than the sack used for all misc/quest items.

I have also replaced almost all of the inventory icons with better ones (the ToB ones looked especially horrible). Here are 16 of the completely new icons I created: http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/iconpreviews/icons01.jpg The icons themselves look better in-game than in the .jpg preview.
Most of them recieved icons from IWDI/II and PS:T; I created icons only for those that had no icons from the other games, or were just far too helplessly ugly.

Most of these items are books, quest-oriented, and miscellenia (anything except wands, scrolls, weapons, and armour). So basically, items that have no use aside from completing quests and finding information. I did however, give certain functions to items that had none (telescopes for example).

There are still a few items left, but all I have to do is finish the remaining few miscellenaus items, and the swords as well (I haven't started that). Then I can move on to creatures/kits.

I intend to update the screenshots thread soon.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Sir-Kill Nov 4 2006, 12:18 PM

good to see progress G
awaits screenshots

Posted by: Daeva Nov 4 2006, 01:14 PM

Nice - I especially like the tear of bhaal and the golden torso...

Keep up the great work!!

EDIT: one question though - what actually *is* the icon below the dragon egg?

Posted by: Galactygon Nov 4 2006, 04:59 PM

That one is a seashell.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Nov 24 2006, 04:54 AM

11-24-06

Nothing new happened, aside from more items getting done since the last update.

[EDIT] Corrected the date to November 24 rather than April 24.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Nov 29 2006, 09:44 PM

11-29-06

I found out a way to mass-produce ground icons for potions, armour, and weapons. Every single item in the game will have a seperate ground icon that actually looks like they way they are supposed to. So far, all of the quest/miscellaneous items have been done except for one or two.

So you could see whether the enemy dropped a potion of healing or a potion of giant strength by simply looking on the map (and recognizing the items on the ground). Beware that some items are not what they appear to be...

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Feb 10 2007, 07:45 PM

2-10-07

My prolonged absence is due to area work for Elai, in addition to exterminating bugs/flaws I found in my own work.

Unfortunately, I might have to drop vision and lighting from the game because it slows down the game to an incredible degree. The files will still be there (in case someone will wish to play around with them after the release), but they won't be activated in any of the in-game areas.

On the other hand, I did fix a few things: Chain Lightning now works properly (meaning, it will always hit the nearest unhit creature and each creature could be hit only once). Fire and Ice also recieved a fix so it "looks better". Some other specialist and bard -only spells haven't been appearing ingame that should have. Guardian Mantle, Pacify, Lysander's Bladestorm, Howl of Pandemonium, Howling Chain are such spells.

I have done some more work on fixing some of the Rods and Wands I was supposed to fix months ago.

There were many, many more minor fixes that I made in the past month that I haven't mentioned; the list is too long.

I am hoping for a virtually bug-free release when I finally release the full mod.

I will continue working on revising/adding items (most items are finished excluding weapons and armour), and then I intend to finish the GuI and release a seperate GuI mod.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Magnus_025 Feb 11 2007, 03:08 PM

It's been a long time since you post any update, but as always, it's worth the effort. Continue with your great work Galactygon, we will wait all the time needed to enjoy your faboulous mod! Good luck!

Posted by: Midwinter Feb 11 2007, 03:14 PM

Good to hear there is progress. I check these forums almost daily, and I refuse to play BG before the release of this mod.

It's sad to see vision go, it sounded like a great modification. Then again I'd rather not go back to the experience of playing BG on a Pentium... I hope someone will figure this feature out.

Looking forward to the completion of this mod!

Posted by: Galactygon May 31 2007, 05:52 PM

5-31-07

I have broken the diabolic number of posts (which was exactly 666) the Lost Crossroads subforum had by informing you about an update and slight change in plans. I am busy with real life (university), so work went really slowly these past few months. Work will speed up over the summer, however.

I still have not tried out whether disguises will work or not (although I am fully confident it will), because much of that will be dealt with changing the AI, which I have barely started.

In the event the disguise system will not work, I will still guarantee you could shapeshift to any creature of the game, except for incredibly powerful creatures (such as Dragons, Demogorgons, and Devas).

Now for what I did do these past few months: I have finished the [animal] shapes you could polymorph into if you cast the 4th level spell of Polymorph. I still have to do low level monsters (such as ogres and gibberlings).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Sep 16 2007, 03:23 PM

9-16-07

Summer is almost over, and I made less progress than I anticipated.

Besides finishing polymorph (except for the icons and the disguise system, which will be one of the last things I will implement), 2 items have been giving me a great deal of trouble: Arrows of Slaying and Book of Infinite Spells.

Rather than creating many types of Arrows of Slaying, I decided the item would kill a random type of creature. In other words, you would never know what it would be effective against. They are practically +3 arrows more than anything else, so I intend to make them occour more commonly.

As for Book of Infinite Spells, which gave me the most trouble so far, I have randomized the number of pages as well as what spells occour where. This will be determined at the start of the game by setting globals, so reloading would be no use if you are not content with the spells you have.

Other than that, I have spent most of my time revamping some inventory/spell/ground icons. What I intend to do in the near future is give quest items certain practical uses other than completing quests. For example, having the Rynn Lanthorn in your party would dispel all illusions from enemies.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Sep 23 2007, 06:23 AM

09-23-07

I have been continuing work on items, and am finally assembling a proper to-do list with complete details. Having such a list would speed up progress at least threefold, and I regret of not coming up with a proper plan (on paper) earlier.

Also, I came up with a bleeding system, where a character suffers 1 point of damage per round unless his/her wound is treated, which can be done by: resting, healing spells, potions, certain items (not fully implemented), or remaining idle for a certain period of time (not implemented yet). Certain powerful creatures and weapons will inflict bleeding wounds.

About items, here are some interesting items I came up with:
- A helmet that has a 50% chance of preventing death through damage (but not through other means!).
- A short sword +1 that grants thieves a bonus to backstab damage, and enables non-thieves to backstab if conditions are met.
- A certain cloak that frightens werewolves and other lycanthropes

Occasionally I return to fix up a few spells, and yesterday it was Power Word Kill. Because spell immunity-like selections are hard to work with, I have decided to alter Power Word Kill so that the player does not choose whether to kill one creature below 60HP, or multiple creatures below 10HP (the 120hp total limit is hardcoded). Instead, the choice is automatic, depending on how many hit points the target creature has. If the target creature has 10-59 hit points, the spell simply affects that one creature. If the target creature has less than 10 hit points, the spell automatically becomes an area effect spell, killing all surrounding creatures with less than 10 hit points. If the target creature has 60 or more hit points, nothing happens.

Something else worth mentioning is the system about draining hit points has been revamped. In my earlier implementation, when draining hit points with Vampiric Touch or Larloch's Minor Drain, the hit points gained were not cumulative. I have changed this so that hit points gained above the normal total are not cumulative. But hit points gained as healing are now cumulative.

More importantly, I have decided to scrap my earlier version of Prismatic Sphere (this is the third time for that spell). This time, I will not touch a single .baf file or .cre file, and will resort purely to .spl files (not even .effs!). In other words, scripting is dirty and I do not like it. Because of this and engine restrictions, the sphere will follow the caster around, and will only affect him/her. That means, I will have to weaken the offensive and protective effects of each layer. An example I am thinking of is allowing more than one spell to bring down a layer, in addition to weakening the protectice effects themselves. But even then, how am I to weaken the spell so that it could compete with seemingly less useful spells, like, Energy Drain?

I have tried my hand at 3DS Max, and created some animations for Prismatic Sphere (again, this is something I had many gos in), but they still look worse than everything else in-game.

The original AD&D description of Prismatic Sphere can be found http://hjem.get2net.dk/adad/wizards/players/195-197.htm (scroll down).

If you have some interesting ideas on weakening Prismatic Sphere, and they are better than mine (I have been lazy so far), please share them!

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Oct 14 2007, 09:35 PM

10-14-07

Again, most of my work these days dealt with minor alterations, like, fixing a few bugs and inconsistencies, making items work, and expanding the to-do list to more details. Most of what I did were slight tweaks to items worn by creatures (items the player can use are nearly finished, but constitute only 10% of the total number of items existing in the .dat file). Some changes I could highlight:

- Revised (Demi)Liches' immunities to vulnerabilities. If you know the AD&D rules, you probabbly know what they are.

- Rings of Invisibility recieved another remake. A character having the ring equipped becomes invisible except the round following a successful attack roll, or when a spell is attempted. I have not yet extended that to activating items, but I intend to do so. The Ring of Improved Invisibility does the same thing, except the character remains invisible while the ring is equipped. This might seem slightly overpowered, but I intend to alter the creatures' behaviour against improved invisible characters.

- Protection scrolls have all been revised to their AD&D counterparts. I still have to invent curses for cursed scrolls, and ways they would be triggered without the player knowing it.

- Characters who are smaller than average sized (dwarves, gnomes, etc) recieve a higher defense rating when equipping small shields and bucklers. And they are restricted from wearing shields too large for them.

- And I am still thinking on what to do for Prismatic Sphere. The story never ends, you see.

I would say 60-70% of my work so far had to do with making the details consistent. Had I skipped the details, I would have released the mod over a year ago.

-Galactygon

Posted by: melkor_morgoth75 Oct 15 2007, 08:05 AM

So is a new spellpack available to download?

tx,

mm75

Posted by: Galactygon Oct 22 2007, 10:59 PM

I found it easier for me not to worry about it, so not for another while.

-Galactygon

Posted by: quinlan Oct 31 2007, 10:29 PM

Aug 8 2004, 05:27 PM --> Oct 22 2007, 10:59 PM

I have stumbled by chance upon the first page of this thread... That was a couple of hours ago. Right now i have just finished with the last post - before mine. I read non-stop. I am excited by all the info i found out about your changes to the game. "Keep up the good work" is meaningless for someone like you, who has already kept this project alive and kicking for more than 3 years! What percentage of your mod as a whole have you completed up to now?

Congratulations!

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 22 2007, 05:47 PM

10-22-07

I am finishing up the items: I still have to worry about swords and ground icons for other weapons and armour. Other than that, I went back and fixed some bugs, and made 2 complete spell revisions: death spell and cloudkill. Death spell now works exactly the way it does in AD&D (with conversion factors et all) with the exception that partial numbers could kill an extra creature. And the beauty of that, is I have not touched a single .baf file in the process. As for cloudkill, it is now a traveling spell, lasting 1 round/level, and slowly moving away (even through areas) from the caster - ideal if you cast it in narrow hallways.

What is really taking away my time is I am now updating/creating string entries for each individual spell and item - something I should have done months ago.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 27 2007, 06:27 PM

10-27-07

Some of the fixes that I have made these past few days include:

- Simulacrum is a 7th level spell, the effects are permanent, and there may be any number of simulacrums for one character. But, the level of the Simulacrum is 20% to 50% of the original creature, the simulacrum is made out of snow and ice (more vulnerable to fire-based attacks, and can only be healed by a regeneration), and most importantly, the simulacrum remains inert until a reincarnation is cast on to bestow a life force.

- Death Fog properly reduces movement to one-tenth. While the damage might seem insignificant (dependant on how much time is spent in the cloud, with a maximum of 8) compared to the 12D6 of Chain Lightning, creatures are bound to be stuck in there for a *long* time, so damage would easily accumulate.

- Improved Slow is not cumulative with Slow anymore.

- Major domination and exalted eye work as they should.

- And of course, more strings. [I owe Caedwyr for reminding me]

Meanwhile, I am in the process of assembling SpellPack B4, and I am definate of making a release sometime soon.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Apr 15 2008, 08:21 PM

4-15-08

I was gone for the last ~2-4 months, because I was at a difficult point in my studies (high-level physics, calculus, and economics combined!) plus part-time work.

Right now I am at an easier point in my studies, so I will be around more often, and I might even manage to do a few more fixes. Starting in July, I will return to modding as I did before. But I have a degree to earn first.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 13 2008, 05:58 AM

8-13-08

I am on my way to becoming part of the WeiDU club, and there are some tricks I have learned on the way. I am in the process of updating the mod so it patches all existing items rather than overrides them. I have already reduced the size of the mod to half by compressing pretty much every single .bam and .wav there is, and deleting some of the junk; some of them included spurious 4 Mb .bam files that I only have for reference.

My hope is, once I get to the AI, I will base much of it on SCSII's AI. I have to admit I am very attracted to SSL.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 15 2008, 10:15 AM

8-15-08

I am pleased to tell you that Lost Crossroads no longer overrides the projectl, missile, and fireball ids files as it used to.

A total of 1069 spells, items, and projectiles use 342 new projectiles. It would have been a nightmare to change all of them to use patched projectiles. Had I done it manually as I originally anticipated, it would have taken me at least 2 months of drudgery counting all the bugs it would have generated in the process.

With my (newfound) WeiDU skills, I was able to construct a master table that tells what spells and items use what projectiles. It is very easy to use and update, and everything is taken care of macros. So instead of the 2 months of manual labour, it turned out to be 2 days. And so far, it hasn't generated a single bug.

Expect things to speed up.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 21 2008, 08:10 AM

8-21-08

I have been updating and cleaning up the way effects exclude creature types. Vanilla BGII handles it by adding a whole bunch of undroppable rings that protect from various opcodes without . I think this is rather crude, and it is easy to lose track of what creature is immune to what. Not to mention the inconsistencies it can cause when mod creatures do not have the same invulnerable rings equipped as the vanilla ones.

Earlier, I did it manually by adding effects to extended headers. Now when we are dealing with subtelities such as large creatures cannot squeeze through a shadow door or a bigby's hand does not crush incorporeal creatures, that can be overwhelming to update and change. Not to mention all the assumptions and mistakes and inconsistencies it can generate if I manually add thousands of effects to hundreds of headers.

But I do not have to worry about this anymore. Using several macros and a few tables, I can dynamically alter and update what effect can be used on what creature, and maximize mod compatibility. The only thing I am assuming right now is that the GENERAL.IDS is not radically altered. Other than that, all I have to do in the event of mods is add a few lines to a few tables.

I have already updated half of the effects so they are patched this way, and I hope to finish the rest this week, so I can move on to the good stuff.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Sep 7 2008, 08:50 PM

9-7-08

I am pretty much finished with cleaning up all of the effects, making sure there are no inconsistencies. I do not have much to say, and it might not seem like much from someone else's point-of-view. But what we are talking here are thousands and thousands of effects. This would be impossible to maintain without mass patching.

I still have a few more macros to write before I can start making sure items are not overwritten. Even though this mod is a rules conversion mod, I would still like it to be compatible with as many mods as possible.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 14 2008, 05:29 PM

12-14-08

I've been away for a long time because of uni, but I haven't left FOREVAR. I will do a lot of catching up the next few weeks.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Jan 29 2009, 03:25 PM

1-29-09

I did some macro work, I am still setting myself up for items. If anyone is interested, I wrote a macro that functions like a search function inside .spl or .itm files, finding effects much like a search function inside a text editor.

This way, I could do massive changes with little effort and time involved.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 26 2009, 06:33 PM

12-26-09

Since I only have a free week, I am postponing a SpellPack update to July, when I have the time to tackle bugs, compatibility problems, etc. So now I am working on LC instead.

Before I delve into items, I decided to tie up some lose ends with spells first. I have been putting this off for a long time, I have finished coding the 6th level wizard spell, "Reincarnation".

It works almost exactly like Raise Dead, except you do not need a corpse - you can raise disintegrated characters. So far so good - but there are consequences with raising a character in a different body, and there are limits. The spell randomly redistributes the character's strength, dexterity, and constitution values by doing this:

1. The spell adds up the character's former strength, dexterity, and constitution values, and ends up with a number.
2. If this number is larger than 50, then it becomes 50. This spell cannot create exceptional bodies. Even a total of 50 is exceptional (i.e. STR 18, DEX 16, CON 16)
3. The character's new STR, DEX, and CON scores are then rerolled as if you started a new game, keeping in mind race and class restrictions. This means there will be no scores of 20, and scores of 19 happen very rarely (and only due to race, i.e. 19 DEX for an elf)
4. The character's INT, WIS, and CHR scores are untouched, since this spell does not make characters smarter or wiser.

For example, if I reincarnate Vicona (STR 10, CON 8, DEX 19, total 37), she might end up with STR 12, DEX 13, CON 12 (a total of 37). It's probably not worth reincarnating characters that are really good in something, and bad in something else, because high scores will be diluted into medicore scores.

This spell is a gamble. I'm interested in what people have to say.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Dec 29 2009, 08:04 PM

12-29-09

Fixed Fog Cloud, Pyrotechnics, Improved Strength, and a few others.

Just a statistic: My total spell count is 509. These include changes from the original game, so my estimate is the new spell count is around 200. I have 45 spells left to bugfix, did 20 or so these past 4 days, and I hope to do at least 30 by thursday, so I could upload an alpha in the workroom. These bugs were mostly oversights from previous years, or things that I have been putting off.

I intend to randomize the spells available in the game, and restrict certain spells to certain kits and specialist mages. An illusionist will be very different from a sorcerer.

I have 89 more spell ideas with a rough implementation sketched out for specialist mages, and I am very tempted to do all of them, but I will save those for later and concentrate on a playable release instead.

My to-do list right now looks like this:
- Fix the rest of the spells
- Do a few spells for specialists (Illusionists, Enchanters, Diviners lack good low-level spells)
- Go in and change the CLAB files for specialist wizards. I haven't tested it yet, but with Taimon's .exe fix, I can distribute extra spells for specialists the same fashion as HLA's
- Implement the sphere system, and kits for druids and clerics. I intend to adopt and radically change DR.
- Do the item changes in a cool non-overriding way. This will take some time.
- Do some item rule tweaks (this would deserve to be a seperate mod, called "Lost Crossroads Item Tweaks")
- Change the AI behaviour of creatures and characters. I am going to do this in a low-key way, mainly because there are mods that do a much finer job at this. What I really should be doing (and eventually will do) is working with the mod authors for compatibility.

I will be rolling back some content such as items and kits for non-spellcasting classes, since other mods do a fine job covering them, and my efforts should be spent elsewhere.

Which still leaves me with a lot of work, but a manageable amount. I have grown and matured, and now that I think back to the previous years, I put up unrealistic goals and tasks for myself, hard to do with WeiDU, unmanageable without it.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Jul 28 2010, 07:44 PM

07-28-10

I have good news for those awaiting SpellPack B6. With the generous help of Mike1072, I was finally able to get a race immunity macro working. It is one of the big plans I had for the next version of SpellPack, along with a cleanup of existing macros, and breaking down the components into smaller more compatibility-friendly components. With this race immunity macro, I could make sweeping changes in 10 seconds that would have originally taken me (literally) a day of hard work of copying and pasting effects and extended headers. Assuming there are no human errors in the process. It's even better than simple patching, because I don't have to remember which race to exclude for which spell. Instead, I have a few parameters set for each creature (with single characters denoting a parameter)... for example, a scepter's parameters would be RACESIZE = [ M ]arge, RACEMAKE = [ I ] ncorporeal, RACEFLY = [ Y ] es, and so on.

Here is an example application for Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting:

The first column in the first row means it's going to use the spell file SPWI812, the second column means it's going to patch extended headers 1 through 50 (or lower if there are less extended headers). Ignore the third column for now (that will be a later feature). The fourth column means it's going to place effects at the beginning of the spell before all the other effects happen. The fifth and sixth column means what type of parameter the effects will discriminate based on, and which of the parameters they are. In this case, the first row will apply effects for all creatures made of [ B ]one, [ N ]onliving Flesh, [ I ]ncorporeal creatures, and creatures made of [ M ] inerals. An earth elemental would fall into the last category, so the effects would also apply to earth elementals. The next column gives details on what exactly the new effects will be. There are default settings, so I only have to specify the important stuff. The effects always use opcode 177, they would be calling in an external effect "PRSPLVL8". That external effect protects against ADHW. So this means, all creatures made of bones, non-living flesh, minerals, and incorporeal creatures would be immune to ADHW!

I'll let you figure out how the next row works, it's pretty simple.

That being said, I also have some other good news to share. I am 100% done decentralizing the ADD_PROJECTILE functions from the required first component into those components that really need them. 95% of the new cloud projectiles have been appended to CLEARAIR.2da, so your deadly Death Fog can easily be countered by some Sweet Air.

Sectypes will no longer override your old sectypes, the components append the MSECTYPE.2da only when necessary. I still have to mass patch spells to take the new sectypes into account, which I will do in a week when I get back from vacation.

Also, I've changed some of the spells to be party friendly (prismatic spray, will do whirlwind), and others are now more interesting. Here are the two most interesting changes:
- Earthquake now lasts for an instant, but affects creatures even if they are standing on the other side of the wall - the damage is not high, but the exploitation possibilities make this spell a 7th level spell. When cast indoors, it causes debris to rain on the creatures for 5D12 points of damage.
- A fireball or a fireshield not only clears away patches of webs, but starts a fire inside the web that spreads to interconnecting webs, damaging creatures within.

Here is my to-do list, and my estimate to how much time each will take: finish race sensitive effects (1 day), sectypes (1-2 days), clearair.2da (1 day), cleanup of some of the old macros (2-3 days), breaking down the components (2-3 days), and whatever new spells I can bring over from Lost Crossroads (much of it is copying and pasting, I don't have an estimate for this).

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 9 2010, 11:02 AM

08-09-10

I'm finished with racesensitive effects - it took me 2.5 days instead of 1, but that includes testing. The results are very good, subtelities include: Death Fog conceals and slows small and medium creatures but giant sized creatures can easily pass through, . I'm also finished with CLEARAIR.2da - this one took 10 minutes instead of 1 day. So that leaves me half a day behind.

This my to-do list for this week: make sure the new sectypes interact regardless of what components the user installs, break down the components (which will now be pretty easy), and fine-tune Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, Blade Barrier, Thorn Spray, and Circle of Bones.

I'm pretty sure SpellPack B6 will be in a releasable format by the end of this week, and by the next week I will be into porting spells from Lost Crossroads, and looking into supporting DR's sphere system.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 17 2010, 08:50 PM

08-17-10

I'm done writing all the patch macros for SpellPack B6.

My to-do list looks like this:
- Break down the components (they are already technically independant, I just have to write the BEGIN @COMPONENT_NUMBER). I will announce my decisions for http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?showtopic=4873 tomorrow, when I have finished breaking down the components. This will take a few hours at most.
- Convert the .ogg sounds on a component by component basis.
- Split the Tweaks into a new mod
- Add new spells

SpellPack B6 will be in a releasable format tomorrow. Because I have work to do next week in RL, I will guarantee a release sometime next week. All of the bugs have been fixed, so only new content will be compromised if I run out of time.

SpellPack B6 is completely different from it's predecessors mostly due to my attitude. For the previous versions, my vision for SpellPack was a "taste of Lost Crossroads" at most, a fooling-around mod at least. SpellPack was a satellite mod of Lost Crossroads, and I figured "Lost Crossroads will be released anyway".

After some hardships in RL, I figured Lost Crossroads is never going to be finished if I keep working on it like I did in the past few years with ambitious dreams. So now I've given up working on Lost Crossroads; all of my planned content will be broken down into a series of smaller mods. Many, smaller releases motivate to produce content at a more efficient pace.

As for the bugs, there were some. I do not consider SpellPack B5 to be exceptionally buggy, but a few painful ones - Web, HorridWilting, installer bailing out on corrupt files - and some components overriding existing old spells with new ones caused people to shy away from earlier versions of SpellPack. All of this is gone from SpellPack B6; you should be safe to play every single component with the standard repertoire of mods. Every single file that is not patched in the game will be documented in the readme under each component.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 27 2010, 08:20 PM

08-27-10

SpellPack B6 has been uploaded to the BW server.

Some of the features include:
* 130 components - almost all spells have their seperate component
* No core component that forces you to make changes to install the spells.
* The new cloud spells in SpellPack are now dispellable by Zone of Sweet Air.
* The patching done by SpellPack is more robust and systematic: all components use the same handful of macros when patching items and spells in the game, and the installer will no longer bail out when finding corrupt items.
http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/spellpack/README_B6.html

However, I am refraining from a public release. SpellPack B6 is much more stable than any of its predecessors, but it has a few flaws I'd like to rectify first.

*One of the most important ones are spell icons. Many of the spells in SpellPack use IWDII and PS:T icons, which look out of place in BGII spellbook. Kwait_W generously created icons for 30 or so spells, but at least 30 more spells need icons.
* [EDIT] There are compatibility issues that need to be resolved, I'm in contact with the authors of aTweaks and Item Randomizer, and am attempting to contact the maintainer of Divine Remix
* [EDIT] Some of the macros need optimization, and have disabled the code that fixes the crash when ingame traps launch spells modified by SpellPack.

If you want access to the download link or help me with the icons, feel free to PM me.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Hellcommander Aug 28 2010, 03:55 AM

Can I have a link to the mod please?

Posted by: Hellcommander Aug 29 2010, 08:56 AM

Can I have link to LCTweaks please?

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 29 2010, 01:36 PM

LCTweaks isn't finished yet; I've sent the SpellPack link via e-mail.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Hellcommander Aug 30 2010, 01:25 AM

What icons need do you still need created maybe I can draw some by hand for you.

Posted by: Galactygon Aug 30 2010, 07:02 AM

Go under the directory SpellPackB6/SpellsAndEffects/Wizard/Priest/Level0x/Spell_Spellname and open any SPWIxxxA/B/C.bam files. Those are 32x32 .bam icons. Any .bam files that look out of place in a BGII spellbook plus Whirlwind are appropriate candidates.

You can check http://modlist.pocketplane.net/index.php?ax=list&cat_id=94 for tools to view/edit .bam files. I'm assuming you already have Photoshop/Gimp/other graphical editing tools around; it's pretty difficult to draw icons by hand in .bam workshop.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Hellcommander Aug 30 2010, 03:37 PM

I'm going to created icons on paper and take the picture of it with either of my web cams.

Posted by: Galactygon Sep 12 2010, 12:19 PM

9-12-10

What started out as a thread in the G3 workroom for cross compatibility between SpellPack and Divine Remix turned into a push to standardize the installation of all spell mods in the community - and it looks like we reached a consensus.

The main source of incompatibility between spell mods has to do with different versions of a single spell being installed as different filenames. For example, installing SpellPack's sunscorch component on top of SpellRevisions would introduce another copy of sunscorch. Other examples I can think of are different spells from different mods overwriting each other instead of having the spell from spell mod a overwriting the same spell from spell mod b.

SpellPack will be the first spell mod to adhere to this new standard - it's now up to The_Bigg to release WeiDU v221.

p.s. Can anyone send galactygon@baraban.com the Dimension Door spells and scrolls that TuTu/BGT introduce?

p.p.s. If someone has a BWP list of stores where SpellPack scrolls could be added (with a list of what spell levels would be appropriate), that would be great.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Marvin Sep 15 2010, 04:38 PM

Hey, I'd like to try installing the new version as well, so if you could send me a dl link this would be great!

Marvin

Posted by: Galactygon Sep 15 2010, 04:48 PM

You will have to give me your e-mail because I'm forbidden to send messages to certain member groups.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Marvin Sep 15 2010, 05:32 PM

Yes, that was my problem as well. I am not able to send u any PMs due to my member status... which suxx .
Well, I don't wonna post my e-mail adress here in the forum, so if there is no other solution, maybe I'll just wait for the public release.

Thx anyway,
Marvin

Posted by: Galactygon Sep 15 2010, 05:35 PM

PM me at any other community; I always check them.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Baronius Sep 15 2010, 08:28 PM

Galactygon has an email address here (too) on his http://www.blackwyrmlair.net/MemberPages/galactygon.php. It is in encrypted form, so you need to click it to decode it (this protects against crawlers that collect email addresses for spamming).

Posted by: melkor_morgoth75 Nov 4 2010, 03:22 PM

Hi there Galactygon,

i've sent an email to u to access the new release, i'd be pleased to test and use it

Thanks,
mm75

Posted by: Hellcommander Nov 19 2010, 10:29 AM

I just downloaded the latest version of spellpack from the link you gave me before. For some reason the ".tp2" file for mod is missing in the exe file. Can you please update the link with a package that contains the latest ".tp2" file for spellpack or email me the ".tp2" file. Thanks

Posted by: Galactygon Nov 20 2010, 04:00 PM

That was intentional, but I don't exactly remember why.

Link updated. It's the same version that was available on 4shared for many weeks.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Hellcommander Nov 21 2010, 04:01 AM

Thanks

Posted by: Galactygon Feb 9 2011, 09:11 PM

2-9-11

After a few months since I promised(!) to release SpellPack B6, I've decided to make a semi-public release. There are two reasons that's keeping me back from making a full-fledged public release:
1.) Although SpellPack now uses WeiDU's new ADD_SPELL command to ensure compatibility with other spell mods, there is no community standard to which I can adhere to. http://www.shsforums.net/topic/46717-add-spell-in-spell-mods/
2.) As of right now compatibility talks with the maintainer of Divine Remix are going very slow.

http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/SpellPack/SpellPackB6.exe
http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/SpellPack/README.html

All I have to do is finalize the format of the necessary marker file that Divine Remix will detect, and make sure the IDS names used by ADD_SPELL adhere to a community standard. These changes are invisible to the casual player. I'm also going to include bugfixes.

For those who already have a copy of SpellPack B6, I've finished the 5 components that were cut in September:

• Blink
• Haste and Slow
• Minor Malison and Greater Malison
• Improved Slow (requires component "Haste and Slow")
• Otto's Irresistible Dance

As far as content is concerned, SpellPack B6 is finished.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Marvin Feb 11 2011, 04:59 PM

Hey, great news!

Will the LCTweaks mod also be finished soon? I'm dying to give it a try!


Marvin

Posted by: Galactygon Feb 13 2011, 12:51 PM

LCTweaks B1 is mostly finished, except it I haven't phased it in to handle the new spells introduced by SpellPack. Because I plan to do this in the future, I'm distributing the new/modified spells of SpellPack with as few IWD graphics as possible. In other words, I've rolled back much of the IWD graphics for B6 with respect to earlier versions.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Marvin Feb 13 2011, 04:32 PM

This sounds awesome!

If I get it right, the graphics and sounds will be added only by the tweaks, while the spellpack itself just alters/adds spells.
I think this is great especially when it comes to talking about compatibilty.


Marvin

Posted by: Galactygon Feb 13 2011, 05:12 PM

Yes, SpellPack alters/adds spells without touching anything else - the exact features and overwritten files are covered in the readme per component. Changes to graphics and sounds to existing spells are mostly covered by tweaks. Some changes (where the spell itself is revamped enough to require new graphics) are covered by 'Pack instead of 'Tweaks. Examples are: Web, Flame Strike, Incendiary Cloud, Meteor Swarm.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Maanape Mar 2 2011, 04:30 AM

Hi, it's great to see a new release of this mod. I have some suggestions, though. I think that would be better having water spells spread through levels, as the fire spells are, instead of stacking Produce Ice and Smashing Wave at level 5. Since there isn't a spell called smashing wave in Priest Spell Compendium, I think it should be carried to level 4, as a resembling spell called Striking Wave. Another suggestion is about Undead Ward - as per Priest Spell Compendium, it's not required that a priest can repulse undead to acess this spell. It's only required that (s)he can acess the ward sphere, and then the spell will work as if cast by a priest 2 levels lower.
Well, great job, hope that your conversation with the people of Divine Remix improve, it will be great to add more color and diversity to the priests, especially the druids, which are havilly nerfed by the sphere system (the vanilla spells left are too few for them). Cheers!

Posted by: Maanape Mar 2 2011, 04:36 AM

What I meant with Undead Ward is: you should keep the druids able to cast it, since the Forgotten Realms druids get the wards sphere and the Priest Spell Compendium says nothing opposing to this.

Posted by: Galactygon Mar 2 2011, 02:24 PM

I modeled Smashing Wave after Striking Wave, with the difference being that you are standing on dry ground and you create the wave from nothing. Truth be told, IWD2 inspired me to use this as a level 5 spell. I am planning to carry over Ice Storm to Druids as a level 4 spell.

But I will consider what you said, and ask for more input: Should Smashing Wave be renamed and ported to level 4 and Ice Storm to level 5, or should Smashing Wave remain a level 5 spell, and Ice Storm be ported to level 4?


I'll consider this too.


Thanks for your comments and encouragement.


You are right. But I've decided to be consistent with vanilla's sphere system instead of being faithful to the FR's system (the sphere is wards is barred from druids in vanilla). I'm leaving this aspect up to Divine Remix; in the future new spells added by spell mods should be redistributed to the classes as per AD&D.

The problem is, talks are going really slow, we haven't agreed on a common format yet. So I'll ask you to nag Mike1072.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Maanape Mar 2 2011, 03:28 PM

Oh, about the Smashing Wave spell, I noticed IWD Heart of Winter placed it as a 4th level spell as well! Maybe IWD2 moved it up just to grant some water spell due to the lack of Produce Ice... By the way, if you put Ice Storm as a level 5 spell, this may cause the player to make a choice between two ice spells, levaing one of then unused. Well, maybe it should be moved to level 6, as area spells tend to be higher leveled as the single targeted ones, and there's lack of water spells at level 6. But then I don't know if there's some spell like that at any PnP Book.
I refer to the books because I feel that as modders keep increasing the spell list, there must be a reference to all. I did saw some mods intended to implement 3e rules like Domain spells, and I think this would only totally mess the feel of the game, with few or none gains at all. And fortunetely, I sense you think like that too. Thanks for the reply!

Posted by: Maanape Mar 3 2011, 08:21 PM

Hi! I was wondering, as you told you're trying to make Spellpack compatible with DR's sphere system, maybe you should aim to common and generalist spells, instead of specialty priest spells. As per sphere system, currently only a Silverstar of Selune can cast Numbers' spells. Many spells like Strom Shell, (Greater) Shield of Lathander, Elysium's Tears, are restricted and should only be granted to specialty priests of certain Deity. Instead of making deity special spells available to everyone (Striking Wave is an Umberlee's priest spell), wouldn't make more sense to have more generalist ones? I know you have your own preferences, but since the goal is to have an unique spell list working under a sphere system, having every generalist priest cast Spacewarp makes its uniqueness turned trivial. On the other hand, restricting the new spells to the specialists they belong may unbalance and maybe nerf the majority of priests, since almost everyone is a dual/multiclassed priest. That's why I'm begging for more generic priest spells.

Posted by: Galactygon Mar 6 2011, 03:47 PM

I'm designing the new priest spells with DR's sphere system and BGII's gameplay in mind. The problem is, many of the generic AD&D spells are suited for non-combat (like Speak with the Dead, for example). This leaves me with less AD&D spells to work with.

DR's biggest problem with its specialty priest kits is that with so many sphere restrictions, they can accommodate very few spells. This and the fact that the number of AD&D inspired spells are limited has convinced me to grab some deity-restricted spells in favour for more balanced and playable classes. Note that IWD is guilty of this as well (Alicorn Lance, Smashing Wave, etc.) I'm not going to give away all deity-restricted spells; I'd like to reserve some for specialty priest xyz. And allow them to use selected wizard spells.

I respect and remain consistent with vanilla's sphere restriction - SpellPack is not about changing the magic system of the game. If I restrict Spacewarp to a non-existant Specialty Priest of Selune kit, I'd have to restrict Physical Mirror too (which will get an overhaul in B7). I'm intentionally leaving this to a mod that deals with redistributing spheres - Divine Remix.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon May 22 2011, 06:35 PM

A silent update of SpellPack B6 has been uploaded. This fixes several typos and inconsistencies in the readme, and fixes an obscure bug where the Dimension Door component fails to install if HIDESPL.2da has been biffed.

Relevant links:

• http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/SpellPack/SpellPackB6.exe
• http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/SpellPack/README.html

-Galactygon

Posted by: Marvin Jul 7 2011, 11:36 AM

Any news on the Tweakpack that is suposed to be released separately?

thx,
Marvin

Posted by: Galactygon Jul 10 2011, 09:27 PM

RL has been preventing me from finishing B1 by making it automatically handle SpellPack. Otherwise, in terms of modding, this is my highest priority.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Maanape Jul 22 2011, 09:04 PM

Hello! I saw this new update for SP6. Does it have more changes to the contents besides the ones regarding Dimension Door, as stated at Spellhold Studios? And if I upgrade the TobEx to version 21, will it fix the Dimension Door behavior?

By the way, I want to report that Spider's Bane two-handed sword can't protect the wielder from being webbed. I don't know yet if that applies to free action sword/ring/spell/effects too, but then I'm not sure if free action should grant immunity to web as well.

Posted by: Marvin Jul 23 2011, 10:34 PM

Nice to hear!

Don't let RL stress you out too much

Posted by: Galactygon Jul 25 2011, 07:38 PM

There are no content changes. This silent update fixed an obscure bug, where if the user biffed the override folder beforehand, the component would fail to install. This normally doesn't happen, as users would typically biff everything after the last mod was installed. If everything is running fine on your install, don't worry about this.


Caught, thanks. Will be fixed for the next version.

-Galactygon

Posted by: Galactygon Feb 16 2017, 10:50 PM

It has been many years since my last post in this thread and a year since the last post in this board.

But that doesn't mean nothing was done in the meantime. I have been tight-lipped but have actually been very busy with SpellPack B7 and a lot has been done. I am for the most part done except for lots bugfixing, spell icons, and writing the readme. I will also squeeze in a couple of extra PnP spells. With the help of EE's enhanced modding capabilities there will be lots and lots to look forward to!

For a taste of what is to come, see the description of http://compagnons.crepuscul.free.fr/TSR/LivresTSR/TOM/tom00117.htm which allows the caster to split his/her mind so that he/she temporarily gains the ability to simultaneously cast multiple spells per round!

Posted by: The Imp Nov 10 2017, 11:42 AM

Instead of this, could you please make a new thread in the forum, that has a version attached to the very first post, name the mod as SpellPack, the archive can retain the SpellPackB*.exe name convention, but not the mod itself, and add a version flag to the .tp2 file...
VERSION ~Beta *~
... and possibly add https://github.com/BiGWorldProject/BiG-World-Fixpack/blob/master/BiG%20World%20Fixpack/SpellPackB6/Setup-SpellPackB6.TP2.patch the BW(S) Fixpack has for the mod, if it's still needed and you haven't dealt with the issue yet.

Posted by: Galactygon Nov 11 2017, 04:53 PM

I am in the process of updating this mod and will start a separate thread for releases from B7 on. Thanks for the link; I will double-check whether those issues occur.

I still need to do a final round of bugchecking/fixing, new icons, and an improved readme.

Posted by: Salk Nov 22 2017, 04:12 PM

I am sure B7 will be a milestone!