Hey,

still checkng in every 6 months or so, looking for updates. Will the Spell Tweaks be released any time soon?


Thx

Hi Marvin,

Thanks for checking every now and then!

I've moved to Sweden, and life right now is hard to adjust, so I cannot make any guarantees or promises on dates! But I haven't left the modding scene nor do I plan to do so in the near future. So a release is imminent. Once I do release Tweaks (as well as a new version of SpellPack), they will be made compatible with BG:EE from the start.

-Galactygon

Great news!

Have fun in Sweden


Greetings,
Marvin

Just out of curiosity, is there any way to get the graphics and sound tweaks implemented without changing the actuals spells? What would happen if I just copied all the .bam and all the sound files into the override folder? If that does not work, what would I have to do to make it work?

Thx,
Marvin

You could copy the .bam files to your override folder, and you will see some changes. Many of the changes are done with mass patching, so you will not enjoy those benefits. I can't tell for certain what changes you will see, you will have to experiment them yourself.

As for sounds, you will have to convert them from .ogg to .wav or .wavc before placing them in the override folder for them to work.

-Galactygon

Yeah, I tried that once, but some of the most beautiful effects don't work that way. Will I have better chances if I edit the .tp2?
Let's just say I wanted to cross out any spell-changes other than graphics and sound from this entry:

//\\ //\\
//\\ Fireball //\\
//\\ //\\

BEGIN @23040 DESIGNATED 2304 GROUP @20001
REQUIRE_FILE ~Data/25Dialog.bif~ @2 // ToB check

OUTER_SPRINT add_spell_ids "WIZARD_FIREBALL"
OUTER_SPRINT add_spell_res "SPWI304"
OUTER_SPRINT add_spell_scroll "*"
LAUNCH_ACTION_MACRO ~APPEND_LCLIST_SPELLS~

COPY ~SpellPackB6/SpellsAndEffects/Wizard/Level03/Spell_Fireball~ ~override~
ACTION_IF !(FILE_EXISTS ~override/SPRDRASI.bam~) BEGIN
COPY ~SpellPackB6/SpellsAndEffects/CommonEffects/Fireball~ ~override~
END

COPY_EXISTING ~SPWI304.spl~ ~override~
SAY NAME1 @23040 SAY UNIDENTIFIED_DESC @23041 // Fireball description change
// Miloch's code that restores BGI fireball
PATCH_IF (SOURCE_SIZE > 0x71) BEGIN //Protects against invalid files
READ_LONG 0x64 oa //Abilities offset
READ_SHORT 0x68 na //Abilities count
FOR ( lp = (oa + ((na -1) * 0x28)); lp > (oa - 1); lp -= 0x28) BEGIN
READ_SHORT (lp + 0x26) pj //Projectile
PATCH_IF (pj = 234) BEGIN //If projectile set to new fireball
WRITE_SHORT (lp + 0x26) 38 //Set projectile to old fireball
END
END
END
BUT_ONLY_IF_IT_CHANGES

// Changing old BG Fireball to 20-foot radius explosion with BG1 sounds, changing fireball's explosion graphics to
// dragonfire (which in turn is overriden by the old graphic, but is denser), and setting the explosion .vvc
COPY_EXISTING ~FIREBALL.pro~ ~override~
REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~TRA_06~ ~LCT_06~ // BG1 launch sound
REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~EFF_M21~ ~LCE_M21~ // BG1 explosion sound
READ_SHORT 0x8 pro_type
PATCH_IF (SOURCE_SIZE > 0x200 AND pro_type = 3) BEGIN // If area of effect
// Area of effect is smaller
WRITE_SHORT 0x204 171
WRITE_SHORT 0x206 171

WRITE_BYTE 0x217 15 // Change the explosion animation to dragonfire
READ_SHORT 0x200 pro_flags
WRITE_SHORT 0x200 (pro_flags BOR 0b0000010000000000) // Enable .vvc to be played
WRITE_ASCII_TERMINATE 0x21c "SPFIREPI" // Change the explosion animation to dragonfire
WRITE_SHORT 0x21a 79 // Explosion should be dodgeable
END
BUT_ONLY_IF_IT_CHANGES

COPY_EXISTING ~SCRL1G.itm~ ~override~
~SCRL5Z.itm~ ~override~ SAY NAME2 @23040 SAY DESC @23041 // Scroll of Fireball

// Fire-based creatures are immune to fireball.
OUTER_SPRINT race_immunity_table "RACESENSITIVE_FIREBALL"
LAUNCH_ACTION_MACRO ~ADD_RACE_SENSITIVE_EFFECTS~

// List of sounds we are going to use
ACTION_CLEAR_ARRAY ~sounds~
ACTION_DEFINE_ARRAY ~sounds~ BEGIN
~LCE_M21~
~LCT_06~
END
LAUNCH_ACTION_MACRO ~AUDIO_SETUP~


What do I need to cancel to acheive this? Or is such an approach useless? What if I replace the .spl files from your mod with the standard spells from bg2? Would that work?
Thx for your great help!

Here the area of effect of the fireball is changed by patching the .pro file, so you will have to go into the .tp2 file and comment out those lines that change the area of effect. I'm being as transparent as possible in my code, and label what things do, so you could go in and disable that part of the code without breaking anything else.

You simply need to place a "//" at the beginning of the lines you wish to disable. In this case, it's this part of the code you would need to change:


-Galactygon

Hey Galactygon!

As promised, I'm checkin in again So, about that TweakPack... Any chance we'll see a release anytime soon =D? Don't wanna push you, but I'm really looking forward to playing it.


Regards,
Marvin

Hi Marvin thanks for checking in again! That being said, I cannot give you a release date estimate at the moment; I am living through difficult times.

I still check back from time to time and answer any questions.

-Galactygon

Like Marvin, I am also checking from time to time
I wanna try the new version in BGEE to see if I still have performance problem (not due to my high-end PC for sure).
Along with Spell Revisions, this game really needs those mods because vanilla spells are so imba.

Hi,

as always, I just wanna ask about any progess. Can we hope for a release?

No progress yet unfortunately, I can't make any promises now!

-Galactygon

Wow, it's almost been another year. Any updates Mr. G?

I was able to recover all of my old files just over a month ago so I plan to be back in full swing sometime soon - cannot promise when, but sooner than anytime during the past 5 years.

Great news man. Keep it up!

Hey, does anybody know where the B5 or B6 version can be downloaded these days? Google comes up with nada except BlackWyrm, but the download link here is broken. Cheers!

EDIT: For anyone looking for a working link, here is the one I used http://galactygon.blackwyrmlair.net/SpellP...SpellPackB6.exe

Yes, that above link works.

Link still working - Thank you for this release.

Hope you enjoy playing it!

It's been another year to the day! My last post was on Feb 12, 2015

So are there any exciting news on Feb 12, 2016?


Best wishes,
Marvin

I have rewritten one-half of the mod and updated the components to use the most modern EE technology. The other half is still waiting for me, but should go faster as I now have a standard to fall back to. However now I'm occupied by a large project IRL and won't be able to do much until May.

Otherwise, I do want to see some sort of a release this summer.

Awesome! Great to hear that. Keep up the good work.

See you this summer.


Best wishes,
Marv

Hi Galactygon,

This mod is really something !

However, as there were no updates since a long time ago, is this mod lost, or there is a chance for a v7?

Anyway, great mod, thanks a lot.

Hi TotoR and sorry for the late reply.

I've been incredibly busy with other aspects of the IE (you will have to look in some of the other communities to find out ). A large amount of spell changes/refinements are actually part of the official releases of the EE games. I've been also doing some work on other aspects of the IE which I'm not ready to disclose yet until I'm 100% finished.

So a lot of these changes are popping up in other places, just not here. I will need to rethink how I do SpellPack and/or SpellTweaks. I'm not quite abandoning them just yet.

Best, Galactygon