SpellPack 9-14-04-BETA Released!, with a week's delay Options

[Galactygon]

To keep the interest in this mod here, I put together a spellpack of 12 altered/new priest spells in a nice WeiDU-format. They are either new spells brought from other games (and converted to their proper PnP incarnations, if possible), spells modified to fit their PnP incarnations, or new PnP spells.

http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/SpellPack_9-14-04.zip (13MB download)

To install, simply unzip the .zip file, and run the Setup-SpellPack.exe. Make sure when you run it, you have the following three files/folders in your BG2 directory:

- SpellPack_9-14-04_Files
- Setup-SpellPack.exe
- Setup-SpellPack.tp2

Here is a list of components:
- Required Files (this component is required to be installed to install the other ones)
- Entropy Shield (new lvl 6 spell; overrides TDD version)
- Entangle (modified lvl 1 spell)
- Alicorn Lance (new lvl 2 spell; overrides TDD heat metal)
- Chant (new lvl 6 spell; overrides TDD version)
- Call Lightning (modified lvl 3 spell)
- Static Charge (new lvl 4 spell; overrides TDD version)
- Storm Shell (new lvl 3 spell; overrides TDD version)
- Thorn Spray (new lvl 6 spell; overrides TDD air pocket)
- Prayer (new lvl 3 spell; overrides TDD version)
- Flamestrike (modified lvl 5 spell)
- Elysium's Tears (new lvl 3 spell available to good-aligned priests)
- Sunscorch (new lvl 1 spell; overrides TDD version)

NOTE: You must install this *before* Refinements, or else you will have several Refinements HLAs that go awry...

NOTE #2: It is important to have brightening enabled. This will make spell effects blend in nicely with the background. To enable mid/high-level brighten, go to BGConfig.exe, go to 'Gameplay -> Visual', and enable the appropriate checkboxes.

Otherwise, the spells will not let you down if you compare them with the screenshots I posted.

The only disclaimers I know of is the new spells' icons will not match the old ones. They are full 256-coloured ones, while the old ones are red/white/blue. Also, I am the only person who tested these spells, so there might be an occasional bug or two I didn't catch (but then again, my mods never have any bugs; they are just random, undocumented features).

-Galactygon

This post has been edited by Galactygon: Sep 25 2004, 11:37 PM

[T.G.Maestro]

but then again, my mods never have any bugs; they are just random, undocumented features

Hah, pretty much confident, I like it!

BTW, I'm really looking forward seeing some of these in play, I'll definitely give them a try as soon as I can buy some extra time besides working on Refinements and a few other mods...

Keep up the good work Gal.

[Galactygon]

There was a minor typo in the .tp file, so Sunscorch had a buggy description. Attatched is a newer version of the Setuo-SpellPack.tp2, which should replace the older version.

Simply replace the older version in your BG2 directory by this newer version, and you may re-install the components on top of the old version.

-Galactygon

Attached File(s)

 Setup_SpellPack_tp.zip ( 1.6k ) Number of downloads: 113

 

[NiGHTMARE]

For people who find the new spell icons not fitting in with the old ones to be annoying, install the contents of this .zip to your override. It doesn't change the new icons, it changes the old ones .

They're all from IWD2, so any BG2 priest spells not also in IWD2 (about 16, including Detect Evil, Farsight, True Seeing and the Quest level spells) won't be changed

Attached File(s)

 impprspl.ZIP ( 889.1k ) Number of downloads: 64

 

[CamDawg]

This was a first pass, not rigorous testing. First, the big must-fix problems:

• Please clean out your backup folder before distributing a mod. It will, at best, prevent a clean uninstall or, at worst, fubar someone's game.
• Many game files are being overwritten unnecessarily--use APPEND, SET_2DA_ENTRY, or READ_2DA_ENTRY as appropriate. Overwriting STATE.2da will make this incompatible with multiple mods, including just about any content mod I've made. Overwriting TRIGGER.ids is a poor idea.

And the minor ones:

• ReadMes are nice. You may want to mention somewhere that ToB is required, for example.
• Sunscorch has the wrong strings assigned.
• Elysium's Tears has no spellbook BAMs.
• Chant does not hinder the spellcaster in any fashion, contrary to the description.
• The various spells that grant weapon or missile immunities have no feedback (i.e. ineffective weapon).
• Call Lightning says it will affect all creatures but ignores neutrals.
• The sphere of Alicorn Lance's animation makes it difficult to see the lance at all. The glow effect of the target only lasts for one round and the armor penalty stacks.
• A quick NI resource check shows that the Entropy Shield spell file is referring to LCF_P03.wav, which is not present.

edit: Wav files comprise over 5 MB of the mod. Compressing them to ogg format would likely result in less than 1 MB of audio files. Eliminating the backup folder should also save about half the size of the present download.

This post has been edited by CamDawg: Sep 29 2004, 12:53 PM

[Galactygon]

Thank you for the feedback and bug reports.

Please clean out your backup folder before distributing a mod. It will, at best, prevent a clean uninstall or, at worst, fubar someone's game.

I forgot to clean it after several installs/uninstalls/re-installs. Cleared.

Many game files are being overwritten unnecessarily--use APPEND, SET_2DA_ENTRY, or READ_2DA_ENTRY as appropriate. Overwriting STATE.2da will make this incompatible with multiple mods, including just about any content mod I've made. Overwriting TRIGGER.ids is a poor idea.

In many cases, it causes me headaches and extra weeks of work, especially the projectl.ids and the missile.ids. I already have dozens of spells booked/implemented for a single projectile. However, I am always open to new ideas or open to someone who would do parts of it for me. I am still a WeiDU novice, so I haven't gotten everything figured out.

Sunscorch has the wrong strings assigned.

There was a @## typo, and it was fixed in an above post. However, I'll include it in the new version.

Call Lightning says it will affect all creatures but ignores neutrals.

It works against neutrals; what I believe happed is that the projectile 'missed' when you tested it against a neutral. It is a hardcoded issue where the projectile doesn't explode on the spot designated, but somewhere else (a few feet perhaps), UNLESS the target is the caster himself.

The reason it is so evident right now, and not earlier is because the fireball projectile, as an example had a large radius, so this issue went by, unnoticed.

Try to test it against all types of creatures, and you will see this issue appearing sometimes.

I think I have talked to Chevar about this, so he can correct this issue. If not, I will talk with him about this.

The sphere of Alicorn Lance's animation makes it difficult to see the lance at all. The glow effect of the target only lasts for one round and the armor penalty stacks.

A graphical Glitch that looks well in IWD, but not in BG2. A graphical fix is under the way! See the casting graphics comparison on differences (e.g. sides are darker, so they blend better).

edit: Wav files comprise over 5 MB of the mod. Compressing them to ogg format would likely result in less than 1 MB of audio files. Eliminating the backup folder should also save about half the size of the present download.

I was aware of that, and I was a bit lazy about this. Now that this has been brought up...

*runs off to read Seifer's tutorial*

Otherwise, all other bugs have been fixed and ready. Expect a new release within the next few days (perhaps Saturday night for GMT).

-Galactygon