190 replies to this topic

[The Imp]

Here are the CRE files, straight outta vanilla BG1:

And what of their BGT-weidu & BGTutu names, after all, we might not want to forget the other while we are at it.

[Andrea C.]

And what of their BGT-weidu & BGTutu names, after all, we might not want to forget the other while we are at it.

Don't BGT and BGTutu only change the name of BG1 resources if BG2 also has a resource by the same name?

 

No point in renaming a resource that is unique.

[Andrea C.]

Two more issues with BG1 sprites, because we didn't have enough of those already.

 

Smaller issue: The BG2 engine is hard-coded to assign a BG2 sprite to newly created characters, which means regardless of whether you installed the BG1 sprite component of IA, you're getting a BG2 sprite after character creation.

 

Possible solutions:

 

• Easy for coder, bummer for player: Add a note to the readme that informs the player of this behavior and says that if they want a BG1 sprite for CHARNAME, they need to either use ShadowKeeper or run IA again and patch their saved game (the former being the suggested route.)
• Bummer for coder, easy for player: Include a script with the BG1 sprite component of IA that flips newly created characters' sprites to their BG1 equivalent upon starting the game.

 

More significant issue: Dual-classing.

 

As we have previously established, the engine determines the animation type based on the second digit of the animation slot.

 

0 = Cleric

1 = Fighter

2 = Mage

3 = Thief

 

When you dual-class, the engine changes your character's animation slot to one whose second digit matches the following list (which I got from Beamdog's former programmer Scott Brooks):

 

Druid/Cleric/Cleric_mage/Cleric_thief: X = 0

 

Ranger/Fighter/Paladin/Fighter_Mage/Fighter_Thief/Fighter_Druid/Fighter_Cleric/Cleric_Ranger/Fighter_Mage_Thief/Fighter_Mage_Cleric: X =1

 

Mage/Sorcerer: X = 2

 

Bard/Thief/Mage_Thief: X = 3

 

 

Now you see the problem: All BG1 sprites occupy slots in the 0x64xx series, which means dual-classing always invariably results in the character acquiring a BG2 sprite, potentially of the wrong race and gender (gender and race are determined by the other two digits in the animation slot, though I can't recall which is which; if the gender-to-digit and race-to-digit relationships were not upheld when assigning slots to BG1 sprites, then dual-classing can lead to acquiring sprites of the wrong race and/or gender.)

 

Possible solutions:

 

• Easy for coder, bummer for player: Add a note to the readme that informs the player of this behavior and says that if they dual-class a character that is using a BG1 sprite, they'll need to re-assign the correct sprite using ShadowKeeper afterward.
• Bummer for coder, easy for player: Include a script with the BG1 sprite component of IA that flips newly dual-classed characters to the appropriate BG1 sprite.

 

Or some other alternative solution I didn't think of...?

Edited by Andrea C., 24 May 2021 - 10:53 AM.

[The Imp]

Bummer for coder, easy for player: Include a script ...

You should name the script to be "Sprite switcher" or the like, in the custom script menu. So it's effect is only restricted to the characters that runs it at least 1 time(so it's effect is done). Same solution for both problems.

And if you want, you could make it so that the switcher runs on a loop, keeping the correct race, but alters between first fighter, then cleric, then mage, then rogue, a monk, and again a fighter.... Or you could make it so that you add a race into these( as then there a multiple)... so your mindflayer player looks like a dwarf if he likes.

[Gwendolyne]

Gwendolyne,

 

Could you add VAI.CRE to the list of Flaming Fist characters that can be optioned to retain their Cleric sprite?

 

Here are the CRE files, straight outta vanilla BG1:

And what of their BGT-weidu & BGTutu names, after all, we might not want to forget the other while we are at it.

Done and done

 

IA already uses tutu and eet variables...

Edited by Gwendolyne, 26 May 2021 - 06:33 AM.

[Andrea C.]

Thank you, Gwendolyne

[Andrea C.]

I mentioned this before, but for the sake of visibility:

 

These CREs are all death tyrants, yet it appears that v5 of Infinity Animations does not assign the death tyrant sprite to them upon restoring it:

 

BEHUND01.CRE

MELSUM03.CRE

RNGBEH01.CRE

Perhaps something to add to v6.

[Gwendolyne]

tbh, I don't know how Erephine decided to change some creatures' animations, and keep others. Maybe to keep diversity...

[Andrea C.]

Me neither, but it seems counterintuitive to restore the death tyrant animation and just leave it there unused when there are CREs in the game that clearly should be making use of it. Perhaps a setting in the mods INI?

EDIT: to clarify, those three are the only CREs in the game whose name is death tyrant, so its not like some death tyrants got the animation and others didnt. None did.

Edited by Andrea C., 27 May 2021 - 05:12 AM.

[Gwendolyne]

Here are the creatures affected by the death tyrant animation (more IWD2 animations component).

The reason why they are modified in the IWD2 animations component may be because they were added in the IA_BG2_IWD2 content which gathers BG2 and IWD2 animations.

 

I don't think a new option setting should be appropriate in this case. I will add them to the list this evening. If players don't want them, they can comment these references in gw_ia_more_iwd2_anim_arrays.tph.

Edited by Gwendolyne, 27 May 2021 - 01:00 PM.

[Andrea C.]

So you're saying v5 already assigned those? Or is it new to v6?

 

In my current BGT run with v5 I had to assign the death tyrant animations manually.

[Gwendolyne]

I did not modify the code. The link above is nothing more than the externalized original array used by IA "More IWD2 animations" component.

[TotoR]

Not to interfere... but, from what I see, "RNGBEH01.CRE" is not in the list of creatures affected by the death tyrant animation for IA v5 or v6 and is a death tyrant...

Edited by TotoR, 27 May 2021 - 11:08 AM.

[Gwendolyne]

TotoR, if you did not DL and extract IA_BG2_IWD2 content in /content folder before installing IA, you could not install the "More IWD2 animations" component. What is confusing is the fact that Erephine gathered BG2 and IWD2 animations in the same package.

Reverting BG2 animations patching (like Death Tyrant) into "More Basic animations" component is still in my todo list. If it sounds appropriate for all of you, I could do it very quickly.

[Andrea C.]

Reverting BG2 animations patching (like Death Tyrant) into "More Basic animations" component is still in my todo list. If it sounds appropriate for all of you, I could do it very quickly.

 

I agree.

 

Restored BG2 animations should be kept separate from animations added from other IE games.

 

I also agree with TotoR that RNGBEH01.CRE should be added to the list of creatures from vanilla BG2 that should get the death tyrant animation.

 

 

Tangentially, and assuming skellytz follows this thread: How do animations ported from other IE titles into BG2/BGT via IA fare in terms of sound sets? So far I've avoided installing the bulk of IA because I didn't want to have animations around that were unaffected by IS.
 

[Gwendolyne]

Done.

As for moving all bg2 animations from bg2_iwd2 content to basic_anim content, I need to modify a lot of control checking, but it will be done.

[The Imp]

What is confusing is the fact that Erephine gathered BG2 and IWD2 animations in the same package.

There's a simple explanation for the devision. It's the primary packaging of the mods content. You only need to download a single content file to each conten, while the mod is still on the move... which if you check is still true to all to this day.

This should tell you that Erephine was never really happy with the mods installer, it's still a beta after all.

Edited by The Imp, 31 May 2021 - 06:02 PM.

[Gwendolyne]

For consistency, BG2 content (Fire Giants, Ellesime white haired and Death Tyrants) has been moved from "More IWD2 Animations" component to "More Base Animations" component.

Edited by Gwendolyne, 04 June 2021 - 03:30 PM.

[Andrea C.]

It seems that Doom Guards and Battle Horrors do not receive the BG1 male human fighter animation when using the relative IA component.

 

They are not dual-wielding CREs so it seems like an oversight rather than a wilful omission. Any chance you could look into it, Gwendolyne?

[Andrea C.]

Gwendolyne,

 

Could you add LAOLA.CRE, FERGUS.CRE, and FLAM13.CRE to the list of Flaming Fist CRE files that could optionally retain their cleric sprite?

 

(Speaking of—would this make them retain their cleric sprite also while using the BG1 animations component?)

Edited by Andrea C., 21 June 2021 - 04:55 AM.