105 replies to this topic

[Kamui2040]

i know a planescape mod would be a lot of work, thus me suggesting to do it at a point where you are done with the rest, furthermore there are enough modders out there that would probably help you.
and i didn't mean involving pst as a whole just the areas and the general atmosphere since the pst plot is near to impossible to adapt to the bhallspawn saga since it has it's own main character and the whole plot resolves arround him and his special being.
and that said getting the planar sphere to work shouldn't be that hard since you get a lot of researchers with this mod that are always fiddling about. it would be something like "charname, we found out how the sphere works, it was quite complicated but we got it now. our magelings are trying to get rid of the last bugs right now." then some bzzttt's and explosions and ooopppss your in sigil or something.
anyway i'll be looking forward to this mod.

[Duality]

A little progress update:
I keep finding things that need to be fixed or that I feel need to be added.
This seems to be taking a little longer then I thought
The latest was, "oh crap, I forgot that half the spells don't work right"
Hopefully, most of those problems at least have been fixed.
I still have to finish fleshing out the PS itself and due to a schedule change, I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to work on this. But fear not! I'm still plugging along.

As a side note, someone helpfully converted all the Placescape:Torment areas to .bmps, so it's not as hard as I originally feared to add new areas. Next version perhaps

-Duality

[Kamui2040]

gonna die with anticipation, this mod will be another reason to restart rom the beginning

[Duality]

Well, good news, I'm not dead and I didn't drop off the face of the earth.
I did however get a new computer and suddenly I could play all those games I've been wanting to play for quite some time....
Suffice to say I did absolutely squat on the mod for three weeks or so.

But then I got bored playing Quake 4 and started working on PS again. It *looks* like that by the end of the week, (roughly) it will be relatively ready and I will need a few people to test the mod. I've tried to test it as much as I can, but since I'm on play-through #462, the prospect of testing it the required 538 more times is seriously unpallatable.

So, if any kind souls would be willing to do a little beta testing, just post here or send me a PM, it will be much appreciated.

Oh yes, and those without a bizarre, warped sense of humor need not apply.

[Azazello]

Yeah, count me in for testing. I'll run it thru a clean BG2-ToB build first, then put on the mods I usually use (see sig).

PM me when ready.

[Duality]

No one else wants to be helpful?

Speak now of forever be stuck with a slightly buggy mod!
Well, maybe not forever, but you are going to have to wait longer, since I'm not going to release this till I'm satisfied.

[wellunhappy]

No one else wants to be helpful?

Speak now of forever be stuck with a slightly buggy mod!
Well, maybe not forever, but you are going to have to wait longer, since I'm not going to release this till I'm satisfied.

Hmmm, I have to say i'm with seanas on this don't try re-inventing it to be something its never gonna be, it's a lot of hard work and who really gives a stuff anyway.
I admire your attempt at tackling this so why don't you take the excellent advice that's been given by seanas and fix the bugs and sort out the end scene, first. This by itself will be a massive project and i'm sure many will be pleased by your contribution, because lets be honest it has more bugs that first TDD which really was bug ridden.

main areas that need sorting.

1. the final battle. Again seanas points out that the big M cheats and thats quite correct. spells and items which are supposed to block attacks don't, incidentally, **** Spoiler**** for anyone who does not know pause before cutscene (you gotta be fast) and drop the cloak that reflects magic before he steals it, it works and gives no real chance of winning but at least you tried

2. sort out the items that are all screwed up and delete some items and and change the monty haul of encouters especially bounty hunters which is nuts and and the thay wizards with 4 or 5 powerful red wizards rings.

3. Lose some of the spells there is one that kills everything and sucks them into hell or something no save etc, also there are some really stupid ones like the one that creates a bunch of flowers ahh cute thats really sweet now what I do with it to protect myself aginst that lich.

4. Vecna encouter, has anybody read about this guy, this encouter should be made more difficult he's a pussy cat and I never had a problem whacking his bones before he starts with the lich dance thing.

5. the globes i'm not even gonna start on this just do something, anything.

there that should keep you busy for a few months and if you've done all that and you still want to improve the mod then go for it. I'm sorry to sound quite negative but I have retired and become bored by the whole BP thing but this was always the worst mod for me, but saying that i always installed it. weird

[Duality]

hehe.
Perhaps I should have been clearer.
I'm asking for help testing the new version. My version.
I wouldn't want to inflict testing the original PS mod on ANYONE. It's just to painful.

I really should do some more testing before I have other people run through it, but I am good and sick of the entire normal PS quest and the begining of the PS mod. Really really really sick of it.

The end encounter has already been re-written, with the added bonus of vairable difficulty (although, the rewards scale to the difficulty setting). He no longer cheats, he just beats the crap out of you.
And if you still want to pause/drop you can. It wont make a bit of difference. But you can no longer pick up 2 cloaks by killing him BEFORE you get the one that is in the game normally.

All of the items have been fixed (I hope)... But now that you mention it, I forgot to remove the red wiz rings from all but the leader.. Add to the to-do list. Errr... Done list.
The various drops have been reduced or removed, no more multiple belts of giant strength from one encounter (That used to irritate the hell out of me)

Most of the spells actually do what they say they do now (i.e. they have a save), but I left the brilliant boquet in. I think it's funny, even if it is totally useless.
And the spell your refering to, power word burn, has been weakened. No more 40 no save damage, with a -2 save or die.

Don't get me started on those stupid globes. I STILL haven't figured out a way to get them to do what I want without being absurd. At the moment I think all that they do is cast confuse five or six times on your party. Blah.
EDIT: I think they actually do what I want them to do now. Plus you can kill them for some loot if you are quick enough.

Anyone else have trouble with Vecna? I never had trouble with him as long as I pounded him into dust before he could do much, but if I took to long, ouch. So I left him mostly the same. Maybe I'll give him some better allies.
EDIT: Your suggestion prompted me to finally do what I had been thinking about doing; now Vecna's script scales to the diff you have selected, and once again, the rewards do as well. Plus, the higher the diff, the better the allies he gets. Should make the battle far more difficult. I also made it so you can't fake-talk him.

Plus I added a some new content. Including the longest cut scene ever. Why? Because I could. And because I like cutscenes. (Is it a bad sign that after watching the same cut twenty or so times, I still laugh at it?)

And yes, this did take me months.

Edited by Duality, 12 June 2006 - 12:50 PM.

[Azazello]

My first PSQ mod report:

Your setup-planarspheremod.exe is 1.51 MB.

When I ran another version of weidu, it queried your exe and got a (pid= -1) and stopped. Had to kill that run. Replaced your exe with another version of weidu.

[Duality]

My first PSQ mod report:

Your setup-planarspheremod.exe is 1.51 MB.

When I ran another version of weidu, it queried your exe and got a (pid= -1) and stopped. Had to kill that run. Replaced your exe with another version of weidu.

Actually, that's the mac version of weidu v192. I have no idea why it's 1.5 megs as compared to 292k, guess I'll have to ask TheBigg. Not that it matters anyway, the file size difference once it's compressed is less then 100k.

Part of the problem is that I have no way of testing whether or not this will install under windows, since I only use OS X.
I pm'd you an updated link (which also has some updated spells in it, but it's not necessary to dl it)

[XCIX]

No one else wants to be helpful?  

Speak now of forever be stuck with a slightly buggy mod!
Well, maybe not forever, but you are going to have to wait longer, since I'm not going to release this till I'm satisfied.  

Here to test when you need it.  Thanks again for your work on the original mod. Just upgraded the hard drive and actually have some room to load up the BG games again.  I am also willing to aid in testing your expanded PSQ mod when it is complete.  Before it is complete, I can write passably well and could help with some dialogs.  I am just clueless on coding so I would be less than useful there.

I have a question/request: Is it possible to make an install option that would make the quest available to non-arcane types so a player could have the planar sphere stronghold + their own stronghold?  I know that the "all stronghold patch" makes this universally possible but it does not add content justifying the fact that the non-class types get the stronghold and the dialogs are therefore out of alignment with that fact, ie they assume you are, respectively, a cleric, a ranger, a thief, etc.

Edited by XCIX, 24 June 2006 - 04:38 PM.

[Duality]

I have a question/request: Is it possible to make an install option that would make the quest available to non-arcane types so a player could have the planar sphere stronghold + their own stronghold? I know that the "all stronghold patch" makes this universally possible but it does not add content justifying the fact that the non-class types get the stronghold and the dialogs are therefore out of alignment with that fact, ie they assume you are, respectively, a cleric, a ranger, a thief, etc.

I could release a small stand-alone patch that would allow this. It would be very easy, so if you want it, sure.
I'll pm you the download link.

[Gregor]

I'd certainly be willing to help test, D. I kinda like the mod the way it is; that is to say, the cheese is fine, but the bugs must be fixed.

I'm encountering a new one right now: the cutscene leading into the battle with the big M doesn't end: he never initiates dialogue. I've played through the mod about a dozen times before, and never run into this problem. Anyone know how I can fix it? I hate to think I went to all that trouble and missed out on the last big battle.

Suggestions for improvements (don't know if you were already planning to implement these or not):

• Can we get the new spells to appear as legitimate spell scrolls instead of "notes"? This really bugs me.
  
• The mage robes worn by the various incarnations of magic in the Council of Six building are invisible. Could we maybe see them?
  
• The Cowled Wizard badge you get is so off-center it's just a little blot of imagery to the top left of the icon screen.
  
• The final battle between Lord Ao and M occurs in total darkness. Would be nice to see it.
  
• The Pain Shard sword icon is also off-center. Looks like you've already addressed the issue of the sword itself crashing the game (I'm very proud of the fact that even with my non-existent modding skills, I was able to fix this in my own game!)
  
• The magic items forge crashes while making a wand...I was able to get it to make a few other things, though. Looks like you've already addressed this a well.

I'm available for testing whenever you want to shoot me a download link! And thanks for working on this mod (and, hopefully, for helping me solve my current problem).

[Duality]

1. What do you mean by scrolls instead of notes? Their inventory images?

2. The mage robes worn by the 7 schools were never supposed to drop, I have no idea why they did, but there are no longer invisible "things" on the ground when you kill them.

3. Sadly enough, fixing the various offcenter images was the first thing I did, it used to drive me nuts.

4. You can now see the final battle. It's not that exciting, though I may improve it at some point.

5. See #3

6. *Hopefully* all of the forge items work now (famous last words)

As for your current problem.... Well, this sort of weirdness is why I wanted to fix this mod in the first place. Looking over the code, there is no obvious reason for what is happening.
Check the globals:
MelPsq29 - Should be set to 1
MelPsq35 - Most likely wont exist, if it does, set it to 0

If you don't know the CLUA syntax, it is:
GetGlobal("MelPsq29", "GLOBAL") and
SetGlobal("MelPsq29", "GLOBAL", 1)

If both of those are set correctly, check to make sure psq48.d exists.
If that still doesn't work, I'll try to find a way around it for you.

-Duality

[Gregor]

1. What do you mean by scrolls instead of notes? Their inventory images?

Yes...they look like "handwritten notes" as opposed to spell scrolls. Bugs me.

Check the globals:
MelPsq29 - Should be set to 1
MelPsq35 - Most likely wont exist, if it does, set it to 0

If you don't know the CLUA syntax, it is:
GetGlobal("MelPsq29", "GLOBAL") and
SetGlobal("MelPsq29", "GLOBAL", 1)

If both of those are set correctly, check to make sure psq48.d exists.
If that still doesn't work, I'll try to find a way around it for you.

Checked the globals: MelPsq35 DID exist, and was set to 1. I changed it to 0, but unfortunately, the problem persists. Psq48.d (I'm assuming the .d is short for .dlg file?) DOES exist, but I think you mean psq58.d. 48 is the dialogue in the area when you're traveling to the slums (where the Radiant Heart goons attack M); 58 is the dialogue in the prison area when he takes your Cloak of Mirroring. But yes, both exist (or, at least, they do in the override folder according to Near Infinity.)

Downloaded your new and improved mod; I'll run through it as soon as I'm finished my current game (which won't be long). Looking forward to it! In the meantime, any further insight on my current problem would be appreciated!

Thanks,

G

[Duality]

See, this is why I renamed everything, how the hell are you supposed to find a file when it's called psq58?

And you're right, I was looking at the wrong file, those globals have no effect on your current situation.

Where exactly does it falter? Does the viewpoint center on him? Does it fade from black? Does he fall to the ground like he's dead? Does he stand up while a bunch of visual effects (in this case beholder rays) stream towards him?

[Gregor]

Here's what happens:

I step into the portal in the room where you meet Tolgerias, and go the prison area. As usual, the screen goes black, and then the cutscene triggers. M is on the ground with the pentagram of fire things shooting all around him. Various spell effects (that take forever, I might add - you might want to winnow that down a bit). When the spell effects stop, he's supposed to start talking (about the Cloak of Mirroring). But he doesn't. He and the PC just stand there until I die of boredom.

I just ran a save through a previous game up to the same point (it was sorta fun whipping through the Sphere and ctrl-ying everything in sight!). As when I'd previously played that game, the prison cutscene ended normally and M began speaking. The only difference I noticed was there were LOTS more spell-effects in the cutscene that worked properly. And in the failed one, the last spell effect was a bolt of lightning hitting M; in the one that worked, it was the effect I've seen Devas use.

I did a SK comparison of all the MelPsq Globals between the two saves, there was no difference - EXCEPT that Global MelPsq35 was 1 in the successful run, and 0 in the failed run (of course, it was 1 in the failed run before I changed it, too.) Not sure where else to look for discrepancies, but given that both these saves are running off the same script, it must be a Global variable causing the problem, no?

The only other difference is that I had a full six-person party during the successful run, and I'm soloing a F/T/M in the failed one. Not sure why that would make a difference, though...

[Duality]

It's not a global that's causing the problem, but I'm not totallly sure what is. Looking at the cutscene, it seems like it just randomly decided to stop in the middle. I've had this happen to me before with this mod, but reloading the last save usually made it go away. Did you try starting from the autosave right before you entered the lower chambers?

[Gregor]

Did you try starting from the autosave right before you entered the lower chambers?

Oh, many times.

I've found it's normal for this cutscene to freeze up frequently, but it usually starts up again eventually. But when it freezes, it FREEZES: no motion whatsoever. In this case, after the spell effects stop, the characters do the usual "standing around shifting postions staring off into space" movements, but the game frames don't come back, and the dialogue doesn't kick in.

[Duality]

I've found it's normal for this cutscene to freeze up frequently, but it usually starts up again eventually.

That's not normal.
That's weird.
Because it's freezing right in the middle of the cutscene.
Make sure to tell me if the current version does this, because if it does I'm going to have to change the cutscene more then I already have.

-Duality


EDIT:
I am having some serious doubts about my mental capacity. Somehow I managed to overwrite the most current .tp2 file when I uploaded the compressed version, meaning that if anyone downloaded the mod, it wont install.

Edited by Duality, 27 June 2006 - 01:26 PM.