Various modding questions

Discussion in 'General Modification' started by oudeis, Aug 12, 2018.

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  1. oudeis

    oudeis Member

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    I have a lot of ideas I'd like to implement in the game, but I haven't been able to figure out or find the solutions I need. Any help would be gratefully accepted:
    • Is there any way to make Goodberries stack? I've tried changing Object Type, Material, Category and anything else I could think of to make them group up like potions or scrolls and haven't been successful yet.
    • While we're on the topic, Is it possible to make knives and other throwing weapons stack? I like the idea of an axe-crazy barbarian who refuses to use bows or other projectile weapons, but it quickly becomes an inventory issue.
    • What about returning/respawning weapons? I'd love to add something like a Hammer of Thunderbolts to a vendor's inventory.
    • Is Javelin of Lightning broken, and if so is it fixable? I was playing around in the Shop screen and I couldn't get it to function as anything other than a normal thrown weapon.
    • How would I change throwing weapons so I could pick them off/out of dead enemies? Failing that, can I increase the quantities available at various vendors?
    • Can you alter descriptions/long descriptions so they change the item name in-game? For example, it would be cool to see something like a 'Verbobonc Guardsman's Sword' or 'Furyondian Warblade' instead of the more generic 'longsword' or 'greatsword' when shopping or looting.
    • Has anybody imported voice audio files from other games to replace the default PC vocalizations? Some of them are pretty bad :( .
    • Is there any way to make new PCs you recruit from Ostler's book show up with armor and equipment, or at least clothing? I'm still working on finishing the game, so roleplaying still has some value to me and having your 'friend from Verbonoc' show up in his underwear really breaks immersion.
    • I'd like to make composite bows work more like high-draw weight bows should. Rather than adding strength damage, I'd like to simply increase the base damage of the bow as follows:
      • 12 Str longbow: 1-9
      • 14 Str longbow: 1-11
      • 16 Str longbow: 1-13
      • 18 Str longBow: 1-15
    This obviously increases the maximum damage but the reduction in minimum damage brings the average down .5 points below what composite bows currently do. Changing the rolled die is easy, but I'd like to keep the strength requirement in the Composite Bow property without adding the accompanying strength bonus. Can this be done?


    Thanks in advance for any help you can give. I'll be adding to this list as more ideas come to me. :)
     
  2. oudeis

    oudeis Member

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    Can I change animal characteristics so they flee when wounded? I hate having to kill wolves or bears when I encounter them, and reloading to avoid random encounters can be a pain. I have no problem killing any reptiles, amphibians, or giant ararchnids that are insolent enough to block my path, however. In fact, is there any way I could turn them into items of clothing? ;)
     
  3. Allyx

    Allyx Master Crafter Global Moderator Supporter

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    1, There must be a way to make potions and weapons stackable, I would suggest you download ToEEWB (World Builder) and install it as per the included instructions, then compare the differences between Cure Light Wounds Potions (stackable) and Poison (not stackable) and apply the same difference to Goodberries.
    2. Likewise with Shuriken (stackable) and Daggers (not stackable). Bare in mind though that enchanting a stack of masterwork weapons adds the enchantment to ALL weapons in the stack, and using one of those weapons removes the enchantment for the used wespon once thrown.
    3. Adding the property NO_DROP on a thrown weapon effectively makes it a returning weapon but doesn't count towards enchantment price scaling.
    4. The Lightning Bolt function can be used from the radial menu when the weapon is identified, it only has 1 charge.
    5. Thrown weapons that hit are added to the targets inventory, you just loot them back after combat. Missed thrown weapons drop on the floor.
    6. Check out description.mes and long_description.mes - you'll need those to make ToEEWB work anyway. Assuming the weapons in question are only used by troops of a certain type (item number) it should work, otherwise you'll be finding random Verbobonc Guard Longswords all over the Temple of Elemental Evil.
    7. Yes, there were Portrait and Voice packs from Baldur's Gate 1 and Icewind Dale, I think you can still find them on our sister site at www.sorcerers.net
    8. Nope.
    9. You could change the damage dice from d8 to d9, d11, d13, d15, d17... ToEE Doesn't care that those dice don't exist in the real world, you will also need to remove Composite Weapon from those entries in the protos for those items.
    10. It is possible, but not easilly. Lareth for example has a script that will break combat when he is low on HP, initiate a dialogue, and (depending on PC responses) will continue fighting or agree to join the PC's. You could do something similar with animals.
     
  4. oudeis

    oudeis Member

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    Thanks for the fast reply. I'll respond to your points in detail later, but I wanted to ask this question before I forgot it:
    • Would the game engine freak out if I created weapons with decimal damage multipliers? I was looking at the longsword models and started thinking it might make things more interesting to give each different damage depending on how they looked, i.e., a long, narrow blade might only do a d7 for damage but crit on an 18-20 instead 0f 19-20. I played with some calculators online that compute weapon damage and was struck by the idea that while tabletop games largely go with whole numbers to make gameplay easier, a computer game shoud be able to handle decimals as well. Being able to use crit multipliers such as 2.5, etc would open up vast possiblities for creating weapon variations. I know two-handed weapons increase your strength damage by a factor of 1.5, so decimal crit multipliers should be a non-issue, right?
     
    Last edited: Aug 13, 2018
  5. Allyx

    Allyx Master Crafter Global Moderator Supporter

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    I don't know for certain, but I highly doubt the game's engine is programmed to handle decimals in the critical damage multiplier, most likely the game will either not load up successfully if you make those alterations, not take the decimal portion into account at all, or it will CTD as soon as the weapon is aquired or used. You are of course welcome to try it out yourself and see what actually happens.
     
  6. oudeis

    oudeis Member

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    To answer the points you raised above:

    Stacking items
    • I first tried to change Goodberry last year, using WB to compare it with various scrolls and potions and effecting the changes in Protos.tab. Unfortunately nothing I tried work , per my first post, and I got so frustrated I put the whole game on hold. Here's the relevant metadata for Goodberry, a scroll of cure minor wounds, and a potion of Cure Light Wounds (since there is no entry for a CMW potion):
      • Goodberry
        • Object Type | obj_t_food
        • Object Size | size_ diminuitive
        • Material | mat_plant
        • Category | 1 (per Category.mes)
        • Item Flags | OIF_IS_MAGICAL OIF_EXPIRES_AFTER_USE OIF_NO_NPC_PICKUP
        • Property 1 Type | UseableItem
        • Property 1 Param . 1 | 0
        • Property 2 Param. 2 | 0
        • Spell | 'Cure Minor Wounds' domain_special 0
      • Scroll of Cure Minor Wounds
        • Object Type | obj_t_scroll
        • Object Size | size_tiny
        • Material | mat_paper
        • Category | 1 (per Category.mes)
        • Item Flags | OIF_IS_MAGICAL OIF_EXPIRES_AFTER_USE OIF_NO_NPC_PICKUP
        • Property 1 Type | UseableItem
        • Property 1 Param . 1 | 0Property 2 Param. 2 | 0
        • Spell | 'Cure Minor Wounds' domain_special 0
      • Potion of Cure Light Wounds
      • Object Type | obj_t_food
      • Object Size | size_tiny
      • Material | mat_glass
      • Category | 4 (per Category.mes)
      • Item Flags | OIF_IS_MAGICAL OIF_EXPIRES_AFTER_USE OIF_NO_NPC_PICKUP
      • Property 1 Type | UseableItem
      • Property 1 Param . 1 | 0
      • Property 2 Param. 2 | 1
      • Spell | 'Cure Light Wounds' domain_special 1
    I tried changing Goodberry's Object Type, Material, Category and even Size to get them to stack without avail. Is it possible there's something hard-coded in the engine that's preventing this? As for thrown weapons, when I created an atlatl last year nothing I tried would allow me to group javelins. I forgot to save my work, but if I remember correctly I ended up using light crossbow ammunition with a javelin inventory icon.

    NO_DROP
    • Innnnnteresting... I'll have to play with this. Can you think of any examples the community has come up with?
    Javelin of Lightning
    • I tried the entry in the radial menu without success, several times. I'll try again but I'm wondering if anyone else has had any problems with this.
    Descriptions
    • Awesome, thanks! I'm looking forward to looting Miltia, Infantry, Elven, etc weapons from the forces of evil. I just have to work out the damage differences for each model.
    Voices
    • D'oh! I'd completely forgotten about these.
    Composite Bows
    • I've already experimented with custom damage ranges. Is there a way to restrict weapons to certain minimum characteristic values?
    • While we're on the topic: Aren't composite bows unusable unless you have at least the minimum strength? I would swear that this was the case when I was playing last year, but when I was testing this out the bows seemed to work just fine for weaker characters. Or, at least there wasn't a red flag on it in the inventory screen, which I seem to remember from before. Am I wrong or just missing something? I was pretty tired when I was doing this so it's entirely possible my recollection is borked.
    Wildlife
    • What would happen if I removed NO_FLEE from the animal entry in Protos.tab? For that matter, can enemies flee combat? What would happen if they run away and escape?
    Non-integer Critical Multipliers
    • I will test this and report back
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2018
  7. Allyx

    Allyx Master Crafter Global Moderator Supporter

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    Stacking: it could be an item number range issue, ammo, scrolls and potions stack, if the Goodberry spell could be altered to instead create a number of "Goodberry" items in the scroll range (copy scroll of cure light wounds to a new number, change icon and name) it should stack.

    NO_DROP: Troika themselves gave us the idea Fruella's clever is no_drop she can throw it as a ranged attack but it doesn't leave her inventory.

    Javelin of Lightning: the wielder might have to have lightning bolt on thier class spell list to use the spell... ToEE is weird that way sometimes.

    Composite Bows: low strength characters can use them if they lack the strength, but they suffer -2 to hit and don't get the full strength damage bonus.

    NO_FLEE: attack a chicken, watch it run.
     
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