Is it still is developpement ? Options

[aigleborgne]

Hello,

I'm quite interested in your mod and I wonder if it is still in developpement?
I've read some posts about v7 but looking at last activity's date, I think it might be halted ?

Previously, I was sticking with Spell Revisions, but I'm getting interested in Lost Crossroads because it adds many interesting spells.
I'm convinced that vanilla spells are broken and a mod focus on spells is almost mandatory. In my case, I'm making all spellcaster's spellbooks in BG1.
I have chosen Spell Revisions because I didn't know Lost Crossroads, but now, I'm not sure which one to use.

[aigleborgne]

I will start soon.
Each spell will be tested on both sides : party and enemies.
It is very important that enemies can use most spells efficiently. If not, party will get a big advantage and/or enemies will get less variety in their spells selection.

2 questions:
- I read SpellPack, but it seems to be called Lost Crossroads. Is SpellPack only a part of this mod ?
- Documentation : is there any better document that readme ? Readme doesn't contain many details. For example:

Call Upon Faith �“ Installs the new spell, Call Upon Faith. The spell grants extremely powerful bonuses for but one round. It may be cast only once per day.

We still don't know what bonuses it does grant, and I guess ingame description is better. If not, I will have to check SPL to see what it does. I know that writting documentation takes time, but it helps a lot, especially for modders that use SpellPack as a required mod If ingame description is good, I could generate a full documentation very quickly.

I have read the entire readme and there are several spells that might be difficult to script. There are all clerical spells that create a stationary effect. It is quite difficult to detect and efficiently use them with scripts.
Hopefully, I didn't see any of them (or very few) in wizard's section.

Globally, there are many interesting spells and I really like overlapping effects for haste/slow.
A few things that bug me:
- there are still many spells untouched and potentially bad. For example, many summoning spells.
- something I don't like in vanilla game is resist fear effect. At level 3, one spell is enough to make party immuned to any fear effect, rendering useless many fear spells. Of course, there are dispel spells but... I was wondering if a resist fear effect should not be weakened or cancelled by a fear spell (or effect) ?
- saving throws : one thing I like in SR is harder saving throws. Many spells are easy to resist in vanilla game... I mean, would you prefer to try a disintegrate spell at -2 or chain lightning spell that will surely do (good) damage ?


This post has been edited by aigleborgne: Feb 7 2012, 01:01 PM

[Galactygon]

It is very important that enemies can use most spells efficiently. If not, party will get a big advantage and/or enemies will get less variety in their spells selection.

Certainly. That's a major criteria I use when making design decisions.

- I read SpellPack, but it seems to be called Lost Crossroads. Is SpellPack only a part of this mod ?

Originally I had planned for SpellPack to be pre-release, or a small taste of a much larger mod, Lost Crossroads. However, Lost Crossroads is far too ambitious of a concept to be realized.

I've stopped working on Lost Crossroads and decided to opt to specialize in smaller mods. I would then talk to mod authors of other mods (SCS, aTweaks, PnP [insert creature name here], and Divine Remix) to integrate SpellPack with those mods.

I am now using Lost Crossroads as an umbrella term for any works I (plan to) release: Lost Crossroads SpellPack, Lost Crossroads TweakPack, etc.

- Documentation : is there any better document that readme ? Readme doesn't contain many details. For example:

Call Upon Faith “ Installs the new spell, Call Upon Faith. The spell grants extremely powerful bonuses for but one round. It may be cast only once per day.

We still don't know what bonuses it does grant, and I guess ingame description is better. If not, I will have to check SPL to see what it does. I know that writting documentation takes time, but it helps a lot, especially for modders that use SpellPack as a required mod If ingame description is good, I could generate a full documentation very quickly.

I've originally had the complete spell descriptions in the readme, but as the number of spells grew I figured it would be better to be concise in the readme. The complete spell descriptions can be read in SpellPackB6/Languages/English/setup.tra.

I have read the entire readme and there are several spells that might be difficult to script. There are all clerical spells that create a stationary effect. It is quite difficult to detect and efficiently use them with scripts.
Hopefully, I didn't see any of them (or very few) in wizard's section.

Thanks for taking the time to do this. Scriptability is an important aspect when making design decisions. The most important scripting perks (ie invisibility purge sets a local variable) are in the readme. The less important ones, like how to detect a Cloud of Pestilence are not, and I am aware I should make these known.

- there are still many spells untouched and potentially bad. For example, many summoning spells.

I am taking it one spell at a time, there are many planned changes yet to be implemented.

- something I don't like in vanilla game is resist fear effect. At level 3, one spell is enough to make party immuned to any fear effect, rendering useless many fear spells. Of course, there are dispel spells but... I was wondering if a resist fear effect should not be weakened or cancelled by a fear spell (or effect) ?

I can't comment on this for now, I do not have a concept regarding fear effects. If I do come to dealing with fear concepts, I will

- saving throws : one thing I like in SR is harder saving throws. Many spells are easy to resist in vanilla game... I mean, would you prefer to try a disintegrate spell at -2 or chain lightning spell that will surely do (good) damage ?

I do not, or rarely scale saving throw penalties based on level. A concept to change all spells to have scaleable saving throw penalties is outside of SpellPack, which deals primarily in changing individual spells. Although this concept does not come from AD&D, it can always have room as an optional component in a tweak pack. For now, my answer is: I don't know whether or not I will get to this.

btw: In SpellPack I go as far to deviate from the AD&D rules to impose a saving throw penalty against dodging disintegrate's green orb for large/very large creatures. I feel comfortable doing this because it enhances the realism of the game.

-Galactygon