Current btSeries version: 1.0
NOTE: This applies to both the BGTuTu-specific btSeries scripts and also the SoA sgSeries. The only difference is that the btSeries will use the BGTuTu-corrected items and of course, are directed at Baldur's Gate NPCs.
Introduction
These scripts do not contain any support for BG2:ToB. For the updated eSeries for BG2:ToB go to Cirerrek's site here. Although in the main the newer eSeries are backwardly compatible with BG2:SoA, I have had problems with them when playing with a lot of additional mods. The symptoms are a crash to desktop without warning; if you experience this problem then using these scripts for BG2:SoA should solve it. Cirerrek also notes that the eSeries can object to other addons but he has not been able yet to discover why.
These scripts will not fight your battles for you. There will still be many times when your character is attacking/defending in one style and you wish to make him/her do something else. What they will allow you to do is to 'take your eye off the ball' and attend to another problem on another part of the screen without you coming back to find most of your party has been slaughtered. One of my favourite BG2 moments with these scripts was working on one side of an area with Imoen, being aware that there was fight going on somewhere and getting back to CHARNAME and Chloe to find them completely surrounded by hobgoblin, ogre and wolf corpses. I could have sworn that both of them looked at me smugly!
Some scripts are aimed at very specific NPCs e.g. Chloe and Mazzy because of Innate abilities or specialised Kits.
Features
* Co-operative healing out of combat
* Healing assessment
* Immediate poison healing
* Potion passing in combat
* Threatlevel assessment
* Co-operative targeting
* Priority targeting
* Wand use
* Backstab for all thief classes
* Auto-hide'n'detect for all thief classes
* Raise Dead when out of combat
* A certain amount of self-preservation by the characters when badly hurt!
* Party-summoned monster threatlevel assessment and co-operative targeting
Pause Game
The game will auto-pause if a character is poisoned or is near-death. If the GUI bars are hidden then they will be automatically recalled.
Druidic Shapeshifting
Pure-class Druids such as Jaheira (okay, so she's a Fighter-Druid!) will now only shapeshift under the following circumstances:
* Their strength is less than 18
* Hitpoints are less than 30 percent
* They are being attacked in melee
* They will only shapeshift to black or brown bears
Shapeshifting to wolf form is reserved for running away when combat gets too hot. Druidic Avengers will check for enemy resistances before shapeshifting e.g. they will not shapeshift to Wyvern form if the enemy is resistant to poison. Druidic Shapeshifters will also use their shapeshifting ability as a form of healing if no other healing is available; they will wait one minute after combat and if HP are less than 30 percent, they will then shift to Giant Troll or Wolfwere form, depending on what is available. Once they have regenerated, they will shift back. If combat starts while they are in these forms then they will attack in shapeshifted form. From a role-playing point-of-view, I think this makes more sense.
Raise Dead
Clerics are smart enough to register when a party member is killed. When combat is over, any surviving cleric will tag any dead clerics or druids for revival first. Resurrection is the spell of choice; otherwise Raise Dead will be used. Jaheira's Harper Call is also scripted here. If the dead cleric is an elf or half-elf and Resurrection is not available then they will be ignored. Once any dead clerics and druids have been revived, any other dead party members will be revived in the order Player2 - Player 6. Apart from Resurrection, no character is ever deliberately completely healed (although it does happen depending on how the calls are registered) as this is considered to be wasteful of healing spells. Potion use is restricted to combat only as they are considered too precious to use otherwise. Healers will heal themselves first and then concentrate on the most injured.
Hide and Hide'n'Detect
All thief and ranger classes will make use of Hide(). In addition, thieves will also make use of the hide'n'detect trick whereby they will go into shadows and immediately begin searching. Just before they finally leave shadows, they will hide again. With v2.0.1 of these scripts, rangers and thieves will no longer Hide or Hide'n'Detect continously. They will hide only under the following circumstances:
* The areatype is a dungeon
* The areatype is a forest
* It is night time in any area
Again, from a role-playing point-of-view, this makes more sense. I'd like to stop them hiding in shadows when entering a lit building at night but there is no flag or sequence of flags that will allow me to detect inside a building. During daylight hours when not in a forest or a dungeon thieves will continously detect traps. In addition, pressing the H HotKey will cause the intelligent Ranger or Thief to come out of shadows without stopping the rest of the AI script. This gives healers a chance to get to them if, for example, they have been level-drained. However, if nothing is done within ninety seconds, the thief or ranger will automatically go back to hiding, displaying the message "Usin' me 'ead" as they do so. The same message will be displayed if you force them back into shadows early by use of the HotKey.
The old 'dumb' always-on hide'n'detect thief is still available too. To fall back to this method of working, you need to select the H key first which will generate the DisplayString "Stopped hiding" and then use the T HotKey. This will display the message "Hide'n'Detect". Once the 'dumb' thief is enabled, pressing the T key again will force them out of shadows but they will not automatically return. You need to do that.
You still have the option to force a hide from the toolbar for both types. This will be useful for the intelligent thief when you need a period of hiding in a non-shadows area. All hide-enabled classes will use potions of invisibility (if they have them) when the threatlevel is 3 or above. Note that the default type is Intelligent, so if you want the original always-on type, you will need to set it each time you load a game. I accept that this is a PITA but there is no way of storing a state between games.
Mages
Mages will automatically go after downed trolls to kill them, first with Melf's Minute Meteors, then with Flame Arrow or Melf's Acid Arrow. If they have neither of these two spells then they will revert to the far-less party-friendly Burning Hands and Aganazzar's Scorcher.
Rangers and Paladins
The ranger/paladin scripts also includes cleric spell support up to level 4 as per the game.
Minions
Party-summoned monsters ('minions') will switch to threatlevel assessment and co-operative targeting to support the party. Spellcasters (such as nymphs and simulacrums) will use all the spells at their disposal in accordance with normal threatlevel processing.
Edited by Yovaneth, 13 April 2007 - 12:37 PM.
