821 replies to this topic

[Ascension64]

Do you mean suppress the StrRefs only, or actually allow the familiars to transition areas, enter stores, and pick up items?

[Argent77]

I mean the StrRefs only.

 

I'd like to use the EA status FAMILIAR for a character which acts as an additional companion, because the status provides additional control about what the character can do. It looks odd when the game refers to the person as familiar.

I think a great solution would be a 2da file which defines the StrRefs for each hardcoded string. If that's not possible, I'd be glad if the messages could be disabled somehow. At the moment I'm patching the BGMain.exe to remove the messages, but that's not a solution when I want to publish my mod.

Edited by Argent77, 27 January 2013 - 02:35 PM.

[Ascension64]

It seems a bit haphazard, because if you use your additional companion with a familiar, the familiar loses all the StrRefs as well.

[Argent77]

How about a single 2da file where you can add the creatures and their associated replacement strings?

 

Something like, familiar.2da (or another name which is unlikely to collide with existing 2da files):

2DA V1.0
-1
            TRANS   STORE   PICKUP
MYCHAR1     7488    7489    7546
MYCHAR2     9997    9998    9999

[Ascension64]

That's a possibility. People who make mods for familiars would have to adjust for that as well though, wouldn't be good for backwards compatibility.

Is there another way you can do companions?

[Jarno Mikkola]

Is there no another way you can do companions?

Well, I bet no, without breaking this:

Oh, and there will never be a party of > 6 characters enabled by TobEx.

[Argent77]

People who make mods for familiars would have to adjust for that as well though, wouldn't be good for backwards compatibility.

Not necessarily. Creatures not listed in the 2da file or people using older TobEx versions would have the hardcoded strings displayed as usual.
 

 Is there another way you can do companions?

I've used the CONTROLLED status for some time, but it has too many limitations.
A familiar feels much more like a regular party member. It's possible to start conversations, use map transitions and restore spells after resting without extensive use of scripts.
A familiar is difficult to set up without messing up, but I think I understand the procedure now.
 

[Argent77]

There is another, although a very small issue concerning familiars which is bugging me in the vanilla BG2 game. Although a savegame can mark a familiar as selected, it isn't when you load the game. This is annoying, for example if you forget to re-select it and want to leave an area, and you see or listen to the dreaded line 'You must gather your party before venturing forth'.
 

[The Cow King]

Don't know if this is possible or already mentioned (didn't find anything through search), but would it be possible to remove the (un)pause delay in multiplayer?

[Ascension64]

There is another, although a very small issue concerning familiars which is bugging me in the vanilla BG2 game. Although a savegame can mark a familiar as selected, it isn't when you load the game. This is annoying, for example if you forget to re-select it and want to leave an area, and you see or listen to the dreaded line 'You must gather your party before venturing forth'.
 

 

The saved game would need to save the selected state of the familiar, which I don't think there currently is a field for that.

 

Don't know if this is possible or already mentioned (didn't find anything through search), but would it be possible to remove the (un)pause delay in multiplayer?

 

That sounds like trying to understand the weather. Bit too hard, I think.

[Argent77]

The saved game would need to save the selected state of the familiar, which I don't think there currently is a field for that.

The saved game already stores the selected state of the familiar, because familiars are handled just like NPCs. The problem is that the selected state is ignored when loading the saved game. I guess it has something to do with the fact that familiars aren't marked as party members.

[Ascension64]

Is it really causing you that much nuisance? We can make a mod that shoots the guy that makes the warning.

[Argent77]

It's not a real nuisance, more like a slight annoyance.

 

We can make a mod that shoots the guy that makes the warning.

Hey, don't shoot the messenger.

[Jarno Mikkola]

We can make a mod that shoots the guy that makes the warning.

Hey, don't shoot the messenger.

Yeah, let's be merciful, just cut off his feet, hands and tongue.

[10th]

Don't know if I never posted it, but would it be possible to remove the 24 HLA limit (which means scrollable HLA menu, and if required more rows recognised by the game in all those HLA 2das)?

 

10th

[Ascension64]

Yep, has been requested and is on my list. Too many potatoes in the list for my weight, at the moment...

[Kyoma]

I've got a small request that goes well with the other fixes to launchers. Normally you can only equip one launcher per type, yet you can equip any number of swords, even the same ones multiple times. After some digging I found how to remove this limitation for launchers.

change byte 0x0069C535 to 0xEB (jge -> jmp)
change byte 0x0069F107 to 0xEB (jge -> jmp)

From basic testing there don't appear to be any problems with changing it, ofcourse it can be released as a seperate mod but like I said, it fits with existing fixes IMHO.

 

Oh wait, I can use a patch, right? And it works!

Edited by Kyoma, 14 May 2013 - 06:02 AM.

[Ascension64]

Yeah, you can easily just code a .patch file, chuck it in the ./TobEx/patch folder, and off you go.

Note there may be issues with calculating bonuses from launchers, as a bunch of functions will try to detect the launcher of ammo type, which would only ever return the first launcher of that type.

Edited by Ascension64, 15 May 2013 - 04:39 AM.

[Kyoma]

Yeah, you can easily just code a .patch file, chuck it in the ./TobEx/patch folder, and off you go.

Note there may be issues with calculating bonuses from launchers, as a bunch of functions will try to detect the launcher of ammo type, which would only ever return the first launcher of that type.

Good point, will dig some more, though I think I already came across it.

Edited by Kyoma, 15 May 2013 - 07:08 AM.

[Kyoma]

It would indeed require more work to properly allow multiple launchers. More than what a patch can do. Which brings me to my next question: have you considered adding plugin support? Or alternatively: would you be interested in plugin support?