SpellPack Beta 4 Released! Options

[Galactygon]

After more than 3 years of waiting, I am welcoming this new year with a released Version 0.4 (or Beta 4) of SpellPack. The entire structure of the mod has been revamped; the stuff you see here will be identical to that of the full unfinished mod. SpellPack has grown both in components (21) and size (76.6 MB).

Some of the changes and new features include but is not limited to:

- Spells present in previous versions of SpellPack have been fixed.
- A smarter version of Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, which allows the caster to cast the spell onto himself or his allies without worrying about saving throws or magic resistance.
- The AD&D version of chain lightning, which strikes one creature, then arcs to several other creatures, with the bolt getting weaker with each strike.
- The AD&D version of Shadow Door, which not only permits the wizard to disappear, but the door "hangs" there for a period of time. Creatures pursuing the wizard will enter the "door" as well, and disappear into an empty room, searching for the wizard.
- Graphics for Fireball projectile (but not the explosion) now uses the BGI version.
- Several IWD I/II spells, such as Moon Motes and Shroud of Flame are introduced.
- A cutscenized Planescape Torment spell, deathbolt. This is something new in the BG series, and it is still experimental, so it is an optional component.

Download B4 [76.6 MB]
Readme

-Galactygon

[Tervadh]

Hi Galactygon,

It looks like in SpellPackB4 you've replaced the Disintegration spell with a bunch of secondary spells, one of which uses a Knock (Unlock) effect on the target. What effect exactly does this have on creatures? Then there's a lot of jumping around with other spells and effects to the point where I can't quite tell what does the actual Disintegration. Is it lcdist16.spl? This looks like it will kill but not disintegrate the target, then jump (yet again) to remvnitm which removes a bunch of specific items. The reason I'm asking is because I'm recoding a tweak that drops all items on disintegration and I want to make sure it's compatible for those who've installed this. Cheers.

[Galactygon]

It looks like in SpellPackB4 you've replaced the Disintegration spell with a bunch of secondary spells, one of which uses a Knock (Unlock) effect on the target. What effect exactly does this have on creatures?

None. This simply permits the spell to be cast on doors to unlock them. Something I like to do is give more than one purpose for one spell. Because there are shortcomings of the IE (the game crashes if you use effect #146 on inanimate objects), I had to split disintegrate (and a bazillion other spells) into several subspells that all start with "SPWI616" and end with some letter of the alphabet.

Then there's a lot of jumping around with other spells and effects to the point where I can't quite tell what does the actual Disintegration.

To make it easier for me, I embed chains and systems of subspells for the effects, that are auto-cast rather than copying and pasting extension headers. It is very compact, and when I want to make some changes to the effects, I don't have to go back and change each and every spell that uses this effect.

These subspells/"effects" are not used by ingame spells, and are installed under the "core fixes and files" component. All of these subspells bypass resistances and immunities; resistances and such are checked when the subspell is cast on the creature from the actual spell.

So you might have to navigate through tricky chains/branches of subspells in order to figure things out. It took me years before figuring them out, and this is what the mod is built on. Not on single spells, but systems of spells.

Is it lcdist16.spl? This looks like it will kill but not disintegrate the target, then jump (yet again) to remvnitm which removes a bunch of specific items. The reason I'm asking is because I'm recoding a tweak that drops all items on disintegration and I want to make sure it's compatible for those who've installed this. Cheers.

LCDIST16.spl is the last of several subspells that are cast in succession, that ultimately kills the target (but I really don't remember). Rather than applying the disintegrate effect, I mimicked the effect with several subspells by fiddling with the avatar transparency, removing all nonmagical items (remvnitm.spl), normally killing the target, and setting the target immune to raise dead/harper's call (but not resurrection!). I think there is an invisible summoned creature, but its sole purpose is for the flashy IWD "fade out" effect.

This way, (the wizard spell) disintegrate does not remove the character portrait of a party member, or destroy useful items of an opponent.

I can't explain this any shorter.

-Galactygon