353 replies to this topic

[Jarno Mikkola]

Also is there some hard code reason why they should not go to THAC0 -20 etc ? from P+P point of view do not see why there should be a limit.

The general AC has a 'hard coded' limit of -20... making all the strikes to hit if the Thac0 is -18 except the critical miss.

That's somewhat standard 40 to 50 table...

does that mean the teamBG tables are the same as TDD and BP ?

I said somewhat... meaning that if we wish to, we can replace few of them without greatly advantaging/disadvantaging the others. Of course there are small differences, like the spell table maxes etc, but that's minor, compared to warriors with -29 to thac0 vs one with 0 on it.

Edited by Jarno Mikkola, 19 March 2010 - 02:12 AM.

[Miloch]

An being a perfectionist with scripting at the mo so big delays all round, am trying to bring BP AI to my monsters WITHOUT all the BP id mods etc, am about to give up.

Might want to just write your own stripped-down scripts. You might have to anyway for extraplanar creatures who have special abilities, though you may be able to pinch some of the code from SCS, aTweaks, maybe BP.

[jube]

An being a perfectionist with scripting at the mo so big delays all round, am trying to bring BP AI to my monsters WITHOUT all the BP id mods etc, am about to give up.

Might want to just write your own stripped-down scripts. You might have to anyway for extraplanar creatures who have special abilities, though you may be able to pinch some of the code from SCS, aTweaks, maybe BP.

About done, after much heartache i changed the way i compiled the scripts,and handled the tra files, that cleared up many issues.

I ended up using modified Tactics scripts for the base installation,that covered, demons liches beholders mu undead and dragons, priests thief etc come from the vanilla game. They give a good degree of intelligence without using detectable spells or variant of such.

I kept a few pure BP script which i have modified to work ( to a degree ).

Have not looked at aTweaks, but SCSII is based on detectable spell patch which did not want to get into.

Have a question, i would like to trigger a cutscene from a spell and have the cutscene id be the object of the spell, ( without the invisible creature trick ), Triggering via balder.bcs(balder25.bcs) and global variable within the spell is sraightforward but whats the script term for the spell target ?

[Miloch]

Have a question, i would like to trigger a cutscene from a spell and have the cutscene id be the object of the spell, ( without the invisible creature trick ), Triggering via balder.bcs(balder25.bcs) and global variable within the spell is sraightforward but whats the script term for the spell target ?

I really think you should use an invisible creature rather than bloating up baldur.bcs, which is pretty much universally regarded as a Bad Idea. There is no problem with making the CRE truly invisible, just give it a doom_guard animation and no weapons. You *might* also be able to use opcode #187 (store local variable) in a spell .eff file to trigger your cutscene. Or you could just add a script block to every one of your areas (possibly others too, though it may only be relevant to the outer planes).

[jube]

Have a question, i would like to trigger a cutscene from a spell and have the cutscene id be the object of the spell, ( without the invisible creature trick ), Triggering via balder.bcs(balder25.bcs) and global variable within the spell is sraightforward but whats the script term for the spell target ?

I really think you should use an invisible creature rather than bloating up baldur.bcs, which is pretty much universally regarded as a Bad Idea. There is no problem with making the CRE truly invisible, just give it a doom_guard animation and no weapons. You *might* also be able to use opcode #187 (store local variable) in a spell .eff file to trigger your cutscene. Or you could just add a script block to every one of your areas (possibly others too, though it may only be relevant to the outer planes).

Yep hear you on balder.bcs, will avoid that, think scripting the areas better idea.

Did i say almost finished with the scripts? well thats rubbish!
Was going along swimmingly when came to the mage scripts,spells and found no one had bothered extending anything past lv 20, which now i am doing, using the tactics mu script as a base, but its a long job with lots of cre spells to update.
Another week by the looks of it, but hope will be worth it, should be more like tackling other pcs.

A few new creatures but they are mostly re-hash of beholder,mindflayer scripts, afraid really pushed for time to add true originality

[jube]

Ok Done with the scripting, and added a further 75 creatures to give some medium ( for vecna that is ) powered creatures to kill.

Have spent a hell of a lot of time and effort in the scripting, how can i ensure no other mod appends rubbish to my monster scripts? All the scripts have the AA prefix so are individual, have also tried to ensure all variables global or local are also AA, is that enough to isolate them from SCSII for example?

V13 is looking very good to release this weekend.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Have spent a hell of a lot of time and effort in the scripting, how can i ensure no other mod appends rubbish to my monster scripts? All the scripts have the AA prefix so are individual, have also tried to ensure all variables global or local are also AA, is that enough to isolate them from SCSII for example?

If it's installed after the SCS2 yes, but not before IF my assumption is correct... cause the mage scripting at least should work so that SCS2 rewrites the whole spellbook/cre file according to the max .cre level, and so the scripting goes in the same show...

Were I you, I would ask DavidW in here on how to go around the feature.

[Miloch]

I think you should be fine if you use only your *own* scripts, not generic ones like wtasight, mage10, etc. SCS rewrites those, though I don't know what all SCS2 does, so it could be as Jarno says.

P5 Tweaks will still append blocks to your CREs, but only to have them drop their (droppable) goods if they get disintegrated or the like. Aurora will also do it to give them a very small chance to spawn some fairly rare stuff for components etc. If you don't want that, the easiest solution is to require your mod be installed after those mods. But either way, it shouldn't actually interfere with your scripting (as would happen if you use generic scripts with an AI mod).

[jube]

hmm yes think demanding an install AFTER SCSII is the way to go, in fact it fits since the IA code demands a very late install anyway. That should avoid some other mods which are not so forgiving as Auroa, P5 has a terrible history but seems better now that Miloch is cleaning it up ( better you than me ).
As for spell books looks like everyone ( including BP ) stops at the 25th lv barrier. For example BPs Lloth is 30,30 Mu Priest, but has 4 ninth lv spells, when i was 30th odd i had 6 , and thats the same all the way through the wizard and priest spells. I have extended all my Mus and Liches and Priests to their full potential including the 10th lv spells such as Summon dark planatar ( which for a pc is a no brainer ), and tailored the scripts accordingly.
Also have added all the innates to high lv fighters ( whirlwind attack , death blow etc..) and assassins which they should have.
Finally tried to do a really good FI,MU,CL launching the deadly timestop,greater whirlwind,staff of the magi attack but not going well, doubt will be seen till v14.
All my files including every script has the AA prefix, i use no standard named ( generic ) scripts.

[Chevalier]

Keep up the good work jube! I am really looking forward to playing this mod!

[new(Mike)]

I've installed BWP9.0 with Vecna V12,and i'm playing in the BG1 part.
after Vecna V13 or V14 released and reinstalled, in order to play Vecna, i must begin a new game,or i can use my saved file to continue.

[jube]

Hi all, been quiet recently working like a B***ch on various projects but managed to get to V13 of vecna,
10 new areas and the twisted rune complex totally re-written, lots and lots of new scripts and hopefully a lot less linear, have just uploaded it and waiting for the dl page to update itself.

As mentioned before we are now at V13 which is a full alpha, the twisted rune complex is now finished bar adding text and or dialog and since 8 of the 10 new areas are in the TR complex thats about half the mod fixed.

Saved game compatibility.............

From V13 saved games will be compatible with future Vecna updates ( V14, V14ud1..), pre V13 saved games will NOT be compatible with post V13 Vecna versions ( sorry )

Playtesting........................

Since the first part of the mod is about complete i am eagerly awaiting people to DL the mod and try the first part out, mainly for difficulty assessment, i am very worried i have made some of the battles way too difficult, and really need tactics players to have a good bash

[jube]

Hints for play testers.....................................

Go and see the cowled figure in the council building, accept the quest.
If you have not beaten up the Rune already, go to bridge district and do that, on one of the bodies is a ring of recall that will take you to the TR complex.
If you have already done the rune in the bridge district, use the Planeshift ring to travell to hell, kill everything on the first lv, get to the next area, amidst a bunch of death knights you will find a TR meeting, clever dialog will save you a fight and gain you a Recall ring, otherwise kill everything and get the ring off the bodies.
( not Ring of recall will not work off world )

Recall to the TR complex, kill the dragon etc, head north, kill everything, to get to the next area you need to find a leaver near the exit door, pull the leaver, kill the dragon that turns up, go to throne area.
Kill everything in throne, thetre is a sarcophagus east and west, click on info point on either, kill monsters that turn up, bag key part, do same on other sarcophagus, you now have key to get to final throne.

Get to final sarcophagus ( north ) , click on info, kill everything, get Twisted rune master key, go back through areas looting all treasure that you can now access with master key, get to area you first Recalled to, go south



........ more later

[jube]

Just about to release V13u1 , and since there have been no comments posted i have kept the difficulty level at bloody hard, i have worked through it ( ctrl Y ing the monsters ) so know that it functions technically. Thats the whole quest complete except for some music, dialog etc, atmospherics in general, v14 is not far away and that will be complete, then im retiring

[Shaitan]

Cool (not the retiring part though). It is exciting with such a highlevelmod. And it seems huge.

[jube]

Cool (not the retiring part though). It is exciting with such a highlevelmod. And it seems huge.

Thank you very much , when you get round to playing it please post comments on difficulty and any suggestions etc, and yes is pretty damn big ! ( there are now 50 areas exactly, of which 38 are being used on this quest, the rest are offworld areas which if there is enough demand will contain sub quests and the start of the " Rod of seven parts " quest )
The whole thing started as a way of folding the real hand and eye of vecna into the vanilla game, now contains Tonns of new graphics not seen in BG2 yet, lots of tasty IA animations, new spells and has become a beast ! And if you actually get to the hand and eye i think given what one has to go through is enough to balance out the uber power of the items.

[Lollorian]

If you ask me, this is almost a megamod (if it isn't already ) It's really great to see how you started and what you ended up with! (not that it's ended yet though )

I'll eventually get around to try this out, but probably after a few months

PS: For playtesters, you might wanna try out the Boards o' Magick forums

[jube]

If you ask me, this is almost a megamod (if it isn't already ) It's really great to see how you started and what you ended up with! (not that it's ended yet though )

I'll eventually get around to try this out, but probably after a few months

PS: For playtesters, you might wanna try out the Boards o' Magick forums

damn though one has to register to post on that, if your already registered can you put the word out for me please

[jube]

Ok VecnaV13u1 is there for download, now the quest is 99% complete, to all players GOOD LUCK !! , its ridiculously difficult in its finished form.

Since V14 is not far away, should i include code to check for Aurora Shoes ? ( to stop a BW install failing due to a bg main being already patched ) is the Aurora IA patch a complete subset of the IA Beta 4, and would it be enough to host Vecnas anims ( I currently check for IA and if present only copy over Vecnas BAMs , can i simply include AS in this check ? )

[Miloch]

Since V14 is not far away, should i include code to check for Aurora Shoes ? ( to stop a BW install failing due to a bg main being already patched ) is the Aurora IA patch a complete subset of the IA Beta 4, and would it be enough to host Vecnas anims ( I currently check for IA and if present only copy over Vecnas BAMs , can i simply include AS in this check ? )

The code that checks and patches the .exe is the same in Aurora and IA (in theory). You shouldn't need to check whether either is installed, since it checks the actual .exe to see if it needs to be patched. Though there will be an update to the patch in the next IA coming out in the next couple days (hopefully). But you don't necessarily need to worry about it as long as IA is installed later - it is mainly relevant for BG1 character animations. You might, however, want to use some of the new PS:T animations for extraplanar creatures such as githzerai etc., if you feel like adding more creatures.

Someone reported a bug with one of your translations though (somewhere in this monster thread). Also it looks like you're using the GeN1e/Aurora prefix (AG) for some of your files - any reason for that? Might want to use your own instead to avoid conflicts.