175 replies to this topic

[aVENGER]

Since the default Fiend summoning spell descriptions always refer to Demons, I had to change them to accommodate for aTweaks' alignment-based summoning system. Here's a sample:

Gate (Conjuration, Summoning)
Level: 9
Range: Visual sight of caster
Duration: 33 rounds
Casting Time: 9
Area of Effect: Special
Saving Throw: None

This spell will summon forth one of the most powerful denizens of the Lower Planes. The nature of the Fiend corresponds to the alignment of its summoner. A Pit Fiend appears if the caster is lawful aligned, while a Balor appears if the caster is chaotic aligned. If the caster is neither lawful nor chaotic aligned, either one of the aforementioned Fiends may appear (50% chance each). In any case, the spellcaster has no control over the actions of the summoned Fiend. Anyone not protected from evil, as per the spell, may be attacked by the creature, including innocent bystanders as well as the spellcaster and his party. Note that the spellcaster bears any reputation and alignment repercussions for the actions of the summoned Fiend.

Edited by aVENGER, 05 January 2010 - 12:29 PM.

[Miloch]

You should have the neutral caster gate in a Yugoloth . Though we'd have to find an appropriate animation I guess... there aren't any by default. Maybe something like the NWN Orcus or trolloc with horns.

[aVENGER]

You should have the neutral caster gate in a Yugoloth

I know, I have all the 2E Planescape books (that's where I'm grabbing the Fiends' stats).

However, I deliberately skipped on the Yugoloths for the initial release, mainly due to the reasons that you mentioned and the fact that the mod is already in RC1 phase at the moment. Perhaps they'll make it into some future version though.

Edited by aVENGER, 05 January 2010 - 11:54 PM.

[Shaitan]

Can you give a hint on the recommended place for aTweaks? I saw in the SR thread at G3 that you mentionen putting the fiend parts after SCSII. Does this also mean after Uniqe Containers also?

Cheers

[aVENGER]

Can you give a hint on the recommended place for aTweaks? I saw in the SR thread at G3 that you mentionen putting the fiend parts after SCSII. Does this also mean after Uniqe Containers also?

Unique containers shouldn't really interfere with the two Fiend components in any way.

Anyway, installing aTweaks as late as possible would probably be the best, as it patches everything (not even a single file is overwritten) and has dedicated ACTION_IF compatibility checks for several mods, including SCSII.

[Andrea C.]

Looks and sounds pretty impressive! I'm a sucker for more accurate implementation of PnP rules in the game, and this is a highly appreciated addition to the lot!

Do you plan on taking advantage of Erephine's Infinity Animations mod to add new avatars that would assist in differentiating demons and devils?

[aVENGER]

Looks and sounds pretty impressive! I'm a sucker for more accurate implementation of PnP rules in the game, and this is a highly appreciated addition to the lot!

Thanks! My primary goal was indeed to stay as close to the source material as the cRPG medium permits.

Do you plan on taking advantage of Erephine's Infinity Animations mod to add new avatars that would assist in differentiating demons and devils?

Eventually, yes. But for the moment, I'm using this.

[Andrea C.]

Eventually, yes.

I'm twitching in anticipation

Looking forward to try this new component out (as soon as its released AND I actually have time to play Baldur's Gate).

[aVENGER]

Here's an interesting situation which occurred during my test run:

A Spawn of Darkness

As you can see, if a Nabassu's Death Gaze runs its course on a humanoid opponent (like that unfortunate Orc in the screenshot above) the victim will eventually turn into a Ghast. This creature is then forevermore under the control of the Nabassu that had spawned it. The freshly created Ghast will follow the Fiend around and try to protect it to the best of its ability. Granted, this is a rare occurrence during normal gameplay, but it might happen more often with solo Mages who prefer to let the Fiends do their dirty work.

Edited by aVENGER, 09 January 2010 - 12:15 AM.

[yarpen]

aVenger, can you rebuild the whole game? Your mods have only one drawback that you're enhancing in awesome way only very limited parts of game.

[aVENGER]

aVenger, can you rebuild the whole game?

Heh, I actually prefer to take things slowly and work on one component at a time. This approach gives me a stronger focus on the task and enables me to make most of the changes optional rather than forcing them upon the players. Also, having a bunch of small, specialized components tends to make QA and testing much easier.

Your mods have only one drawback that you're enhancing in awesome way only very limited parts of game.

Well, if one installs all of RR + aTweaks components, I think the game does become slightly different.

[Andrea C.]

I second what yarpen said. You can never have enough aVENGER's mods

[aVENGER]

I second what yarpen said. You can never have enough aVENGER's mods

Heh, say that again after you've seen the amount of new strings that I've added to the TRA for aTweaks v3.

[yarpen]

Heh, say that again after you've seen the amount of new strings that I've added to the TRA for aTweaks v3.
I

think that both of us are ready for them. ;] After translating whole Refinements in one day nothing is like in ol' days.

[aVENGER]

I just noticed that Mariliths don't have a unique soundset in BG2. Instead, they use a mixture of snake sounds and some sort of ghostly female voices.

Since I've been playing Icewind Dale recently, I recalled that Yxunomei had her own soundset in that game, so I borrowed her WAV files and created a "Give Mariliths their Icewind Dale soundset" component for the "Cosmetic Tweaks" group. IMO, this soundset is much more fitting, especially the multi-weapon attack sounds.

[Daulmakan]

Since I've been playing Icewind Dale recently, I recalled that Yxunomei had her own soundset in that game, so I borrowed her WAV files and created a "Give Mariliths their Icewind Dale soundset" component for the "Cosmetic Tweaks" group. IMO, this soundset is much more fitting, especially the multi-weapon attack sounds.

Cool. On a slightly related note, is there a way we could get the generic thief & bard scripts adapted for IWD? Would they work in their current form?

[aVENGER]

Cool. On a slightly related note, is there a way we could get the generic thief & bard scripts adapted for IWD? Would they work in their current form?

IWD uses a different scripting style, but I think the Thief script might work there too. The Bard script definitively won't work though, it needs to be completely recoded in order to fit IWD's different song types.

I might look into this a bit more after v3 is out.

[Miloch]

I just noticed that Mariliths don't have a unique soundset in BG2. Instead, they use a mixture of snake sounds and some sort of ghostly female voices.

Since I've been playing Icewind Dale recently, I recalled that Yxunomei had her own soundset in that game, so I borrowed her WAV files and created a "Give Mariliths their Icewind Dale soundset" component for the "Cosmetic Tweaks" group. IMO, this soundset is much more fitting, especially the multi-weapon attack sounds.

The attack sounds probably won't work as you intend (and as you noted on G3) though you can get at least 2 of them if you use a 2da. However, it's not a great idea to do this for the default marilith, since it shares an animation prefix (and therefore a 2da) with the balor tanar'ri, both at MTAN. Also, I don't think Yxunomei has "her own soundset" but rather uses the IWD marilith definition in sounds.ini.

We have 3 different marilith variants in Infinity Animations and therefore 3 slightly different soundsets, so I suppose I should look at your code again to make sure it doesn't do something wacky if both are installed.

[aVENGER]

We have 3 different marilith variants in Infinity Animations and therefore 3 slightly different soundsets, so I suppose I should look at your code again to make sure it doesn't do something wacky if both are installed.

Here you go:

COPY    ~aTweaks/WAV/RR#MAR01.WAV~ ~override~                                      // IWD Marilith Initial Meeting and Battle Cry 1
COPY    ~aTweaks/WAV/RR#MAR02.WAV~ ~override~                                      // IWD Marilith Battle Cry 2
COPY    ~aTweaks/WAV/RR#MAR03.WAV~ ~override~                                      // IWD Marilith Attack 1
COPY    ~aTweaks/WAV/RR#MAR04.WAV~ ~override~                                      // IWD Marilith Attack 2
COPY    ~aTweaks/WAV/RR#MAR05.WAV~ ~override~                                      // IWD Marilith Attack 3
COPY    ~aTweaks/WAV/RR#MAR06.WAV~ ~override~                                      // IWD Marilith Attack 4
COPY    ~aTweaks/WAV/RR#MAR07.WAV~ ~override~                                      // IWD Marilith Damage
COPY    ~aTweaks/WAV/RR#MAR08.WAV~ ~override~                                      // IWD Marilith Dying
COPY    ~aTweaks/WAV/RR#MAR09.WAV~ ~override~                                      // IWD Marilith Hurt
COPY    ~aTweaks/WAV/RR#MAR10.WAV~ ~override~                                      // IWD Marilith Select Common 1

ACTION_FOR_EACH ~file~ IN                                                          // for each of the following files
              ~DEMOSUM1~                                                           // Marilith (Demogorgon summon)
              ~ICMARILI~                                                           // Marilith (unused?)
              ~MELSUM05~                                                           // Marilith (Mellisan summon)
              ~GORWOM03~                                                           // Y'tossi (Watcher's Keep final seal Huntress' party)
BEGIN                                                                              // execute the following
ACTION_IF FILE_EXISTS_IN_GAME ~%file%.cre~ BEGIN                                   // if the file exists
COPY_EXISTING ~%file%.cre~ ~override~
PATCH_INCLUDE ~aTweaks/lib/fj_cre_validity.tpp~                                    // Nythrun's CRE validity macro (detects corrupt and invalid CREs)
PATCH_IF valid BEGIN
  PATCH_INCLUDE ~aTweaks/lib/fj_cre_reindex.tpp~                                   // Nythrun's CRE reindex macro (this also calls the EFF macro if needed)
// =============================================================================== // the actual work starts from here
  SAY INITIAL_MEETING @431 SAY BATTLE_CRY1 @431 SAY BATTLE_CRY2 @432 SAY ATTACK1 @433 SAY ATTACK2 @434 SAY ATTACK3 @435 SAY ATTACK4 @436 SAY DAMAGE @437 SAY DYING @438 SAY HURT @439 SAY SELECT_COMMON1 @440 SAY SELECT_COMMON2 @431 SAY SELECT_COMMON3 @432
// =============================================================================== // the actual work ends here
END                                                                                // ends file validity check
BUT_ONLY_IF_IT_CHANGES
END                                                                                // ends ACTION_IF FILE_EXISTS_IN_GAME block
END                                                                                // ends ACTION_FOR_EACH block

For reference, aTweaks sets the new sounds at the CRE level. The 2DAs remain untouched.

[aVENGER]

Area effect spells are still able to harm ethereal creatures, but only at half strength (50% resistance to all elements) except for force attacks (magical damage) which deal full damage.

I've changed my mind about this and decided to make Etherealness work pretty much exactly as per 2E AD&D, rather than borrowing elements from D&D 3.5. New description:

Etherealness

This ability allows a Fiend to temporarily enter the Ethereal Plane, which has several side effects. Firstly, the Fiend effectively becomes invisible to observers on the Prime Material Plane, though its presence may be revealed by Detect Invisibility, True Seeing and similar spells. Secondly, while ethereal, a Fiend cannot be harmed by physical nor magical attacks, however, it cannot interact with objects and creatures on the Prime Material Plane either. Thirdly, Fiends who possess innate regeneration regain lost hit points at a faster rate while ethereal, due to the different flow of time on the Ethereal Plane. Lastly, a Fiend may remain ethereal up to 1 hour/level, though it can exit the Ethereal Plane at any time before that, if it desires to.

In this version, my only addition to the PnP spell behavior is the increased regeneration rate, and that only applies to creatures who already possess innate regeneration (i.e. a Nabassu).

Edited by aVENGER, 16 January 2010 - 08:41 PM.