Improving the in-game Help

sirchet,

You are absolutely correct! Sorry if I didn't make that very clear. :sadblinky
I hope everyone enjoys this, because the help.tab file is sometimes a pain to work with! (Mostly getting the text columns to line up!)
Does anyone has any suggestions for improvement?

Later!

 

Awesome work. I was also trying to find a link to any of the other fixes you have done - are they all stored in one place?

 

Great job, Murlynd!

I am really looking forward to the 8.0.2 patch including all your nice contributions and more!

 

Greetings everyone,

Time is fleeting, but there is always time for another update for the ToEE help! :blegh:

I was looking at adding improvements to the Rolls History screen and I found a new file that needed some work. The file is damage.mes and it is only in the dll files (located in \data\mes). The file determines the damage types and links to the help.tab file. If you look at the Rolls History screen after a battle, you can click on any damage and see the damage descriptions from damage.mes.

I made a few changes to damage.mes file and they are as follows:

changed text:
"Holy" to "Good"
"Unholy" to "Evil"
"Adamantium" to "Adamantine"
"Damage Resistance" to "Resistance to Energy"
"Item:" to "Enhancement"

changed tag in:
"Saving Throw [with Evasion]" from Monk's Evasion to Evasion
"Saving Throw [with Improved Evasion]" from Monk's Improved Evasion to Improved Evasion
"Enhancement" from Craft Magic Arms and Armor to Enhancement Bonus

added tag for:
"Weapon" of Weapons
"Saving Throw" of Saving Throw
"Spell [Chill Shield]" of Fire Shield spell
"Spell [Warm Shield]" of Fire Shield spell
"Extraordinary Ability" of Creature Special Abilities
"Silver" of Silver
"Adamantine" of Adamantine
"Mithril" of Mithril

I didn't forget about the other files for the Rolls History screen. I made a few changes to the bonus.mes file and they are as follows:

changed "Firing at Opponent Engaged in Melee" and "Firing into Melee Penalty" to "Shooting or Throwing into a Melee"
changed Monk's Ki Strike from "Adamantium" to "Adamantine" and added Adamantine tag
changed Caster Level tag from "Experience and Levels" to "Caster Level"
changed "Item" to "Item or Tool" with tags of "Magic Items" and "Tools"
added Intelligence tag to "Target has Animal Intelligence"
added Deflection Bonus tag to "Deflection"
changed tag of "Enhancement" to Enhancement Bonus
changed tag of "Armor" to Armor Bonus
changed tag of "Shield" to Shield Bonus

And, of course, I made some changes to the BIG boy, help.tab file, and they are as follows:

added descriptions to all Armor aper:

added to the Tools: Antitoxin, Armour Oil, Bottles of Acid, Eyeglasses, Flask of Oil, Healer's Kit, Holy Water, Lockslip Grease, Merchant's Scale, Scholar's Kit, Smokestick, Spyglass, and Unholy Water aper:
added Holy Water tag to Bless Water spell
added Unholy Water tag to Curse Water spell

added to Weapons: "Reach Weapons"
added weapon: Military Fork
modified description of weapons: Orc Double Axe, Greataxe, Spiked Gauntlet, Sickle, Short Sword, Trident, Iolo's Joy, Fragarach, Scather, and The Swords of Answering
added Sickle to Druid Weapon and Armor Proficiency (Missed that one!)

added Armor Bonus, Deflection Bonus, Enhancement Bonus, and Caster Level and all tags to all

added the Character Conditions of Shaken, Frightened, Panicked, and Fear
added tags for Shaken, Frightened, and Panicked to Cause Fear, Chill Touch, Doom, Eyebite, Fear, and Scare spells
fixed tags for Fear in Halflings, Inspire Courage, Aura of Courage, and Cowering screens and Aid, Bane, Bless, Calm Emotions, Eyebite, Heroes' Feast, Greater Heroism, Phantasmal Killer, and Remove Fear spells

added Unarmed Damage table to Monk's Unarmed Strike (see attached picture) unch:

created creature lists and condensed some monsters in Celestial Creatures, Fiendish Creatures, Dire Animals, Salamanders, and Viper Snakes aper:
fixed Galeb Duhr creature stat

modified descriptions for Dead, Grapple, Tools, Two Weapon Fighting, Shooting or Throwing into a Melee, Hit Points, and Craft Magic Arms and Armor
modified description for Wizard's Spellbook
added Wizard's Spellbook tag to Spellcraft skill

added Adamantine tags to Stoneskin spell and Monk's Ki Strike ability
added Silver tag to creature descriptions: Avoral, Bearded Devil (Barbazu), Chain Devil (Kyton), Leonal, and Yeth Hound
added Base Save Bonus tag to Saving Throw (main), Fortitude, Reflex, and Will save screens
added Energy Drained tag to Fortitude save screen
modified Charmed tags for Charm Person and Control Plants spells

fixed second popup screen in Tutorial ("Select Character" screen)

NOTE: As the file size of the help.tab file approached 1050 kb, I experienced a BIG error in the help screen!! The help file list only had ONE link, to the Co8 screen! The file appears to work properly now and I noticed that more additions to help.tab file had no problems. But PLEASE check to verify that the help screen works for you!
If you have problems or I made some errors in this posting, please let me know! :scratchhe

The changes to help.tab, bonus.mes, and damage.mes are included in the Murlynd's Help - help.tab v1.5.zip. The combat.mes, feat_enum.mes, and spell_enum.mes files are included, but are unchanged from v1.4. The zip file needs to be extracted into '...\Temple of Elemental Evil\'. Please, do NOT forget to first backup your ORIGINAL files! All the ORIGINAL files, except for feat_enum.mes and damage.mes, should be backed up! If there are any problems, comments, or suggestions, please just let me know.

BTW: BenWH, if you check this link, it has my list of MODS! :rock:

ENJOY! :coffee:

 

Greetings everyone,

Sorry to be a little slow, but I have the help updates for v8.1.0 NC. :doublethuu

help.tab
-----------
added Lesser Planar Ally, Planar Ally, and Greater Planar Ally spells; see Cleric Lv 4, 6, and 8 spells (Thanks, Gaear!)
minor changes to Atonement, Banishment, Control Undead, Dictum, Fire Storm, Meteor Swarm, Wail of the Banshee, and Word of Chaos spells
fixed Stoneskin spell and Adamantine text for weapons; see Monk's Ki Strike and Stoneskin spell (Thanks, ShiningTed!)

spell_enum.mes
---------------------
added links to Lesser Planar Ally, Planar Ally, and Greater Planar Ally; check Rolls History Screen after casting

I believe I have the correct help texts for the 3 Planar Ally spells, as they are in ToEE, but if I have made any mistakes, please let me know! :doh:

The changes to help.tab and spell_enum.mes are included in the Murlynd's Help - help.tab v2.0.zip. The zip file needs to be extracted into '...\Temple of Elemental Evil\'. Please, do NOT forget to first backup your ORIGINAL files! All the ORIGINAL files should be backed up! If there are any problems, comments, or suggestions, you know what to do.

ENJOY! :dance:

 

The updates to the help text is downright outstanding!

Thank you and nice job Merl ...... I mean Murlynd.

 

Time again for another update to the in-game help and this one has quite a few changes. mg:

I made some changes to the help.tab file, of course, and I found a new file, history.mes, that will have some improvements made to it. The history.mes file appears only to affect messages on the Rolls History screen.

First, the changes to help.tab are as follows:

GENERAL
- added Caster Level tags to all Magic Items and Weapons (if needed)
- added Flaming, Frost, and Shock tags in Flaming Burst, Icy Burst, and Shocking Burst
- modified Brew Potion (modified potions and list appearance)
- modified Prone (added line for standing up)

CLASSES
- modified Monk's Unarmed Strike (removed three tags in table)
- modified Monk's Weapon and Armor Proficiency (added Tonfa proficiency and removed six tags)
- modified Ranger's Favored Enemy (removed "Beast", it is not a 3.5e creature type!)

SPELLS
- modified Dominate Monster (The tagged spell will appear correctly in the Rolls History screen.)
- modified Gaseous Form (added one tag for Armor Bonus)
- modified Grease and Sleet Storm (added "prone" with tag)
- modified Expeditious Retreat (changed "enchantment" to "enhancement" and added tag)
- modified Lesser Planar Ally (added one tag for Deity, removed descriptor note)
- modified Negative Energy Protection (added two tags)
- modified Raise Dead (added "non-native outsiders" to description)

EQUIPMENT - WEAPONS
- removed Great Mace from Simple Weapons and from Light or Heavy Mace (BTW: It is not for sale and not looted ANYWHERE!)
- added Javelin of Lightning, Jaer's Spheres of Fire, and Lareth's Club of Striking under Magic Weapons
- fixed Naginata to hit (BTW: There is only a Masterwork Naginata sold at Ah Fong's.)
- renamed Mace of Smiting to Light Mace of Smiting, modified its description, and modified Craft Rod feat
- modified Reach Weapon (removed two tags)
- modified the weapon's description to match the 3.5e description (if one exists) in the following: Arrows, Bolts, Butterfly Sword, Composite Longbow, Composite Shortbow, Cutlass, Dagger, Greataxe, Greathammer, Heavy Flail, Javelin, Katar, Maul, Rake, Rapier, Scimitar, Short Sword, Sling Bullets, Spiked Gauntlet, Throwing Dagger, War Fan

EQUIPMENT - ARMOR
- removed Mithral Garb from Armor (BTW: Darlia, the Maroon Moon's manager, has the only one in the game!)
- added Clothing with Black Dress and Tattoos
- modified the armor's description to match the 3.5e description (if one exists) in the following: Bondleaf Wrap, Buckler, Druid Hide, Dwarven Stone Armor, Lamellar Armor, Light or Heavy Shield, Tower Shield

EQUIPMENT - TOOLS
- added Alchemical Capsules
- modified the tool's description to match the 3.5e description (if one exists) in the following: Armour Oil, Bottles of Acid, Eyeglasses, Flask of Oil, Healer's Kit, Holy Water, Lockslip Grease, Merchant's Scale, Smokestick, Unholy Water

EQUIPMENT - MAGIC ITEMS
- added Circlet of Discernment, Keoghtom's Ointment, Ring of Spell Storing, Major (with 10 rings), and the Golden Skull
- fixed Ring of Chameleon Power stat
- condensed Rings of Protection (+1 to +5) and modified Forge Ring feat

MONSTERS
- all Monsters - added tags for Resistance to Energy (if needed)
- all Air Elementals and all Fire Elementals - corrected feats
- Average Salamander - fixed Reach description
- Avoral - added True Seeing description
- Bearded Devil (Barbazu) - corrected weapon and Damage Reduction stats, modified Infernal Wound and Beard descriptions
- Bebilith and all Monstrous Spiders - modified Poison descriptions
- Black Bear, Celestial Black Bear, and Panda Bear - fixed Base Attack/Grapple Bonuses
- Bralani - fixed typos in weapon damages
- Celestial Dire Bear and Dire Bear - added Weapon Focus feat
- Celestial Dog - fixed Size and Armor Class descriptions
- Chain Devil (Kyton) - corrected weapon and Damage Reduction stats
- Chicken, Giant Tick, and Jackal - corrected all to stats in protos.tab
- Dire Boar, Fiendish Boar, and Fiendish Dire Boar - fixed Armor Class description, added Ferocity description
- Dire Rat, Fiendish Dire Rat, and Night Hag - added Disease to Special Attacks
- Familiars - modified all to stats in protos.tab, modified Familiar main screen
- Fiendish Raven - fixed Hit Dice, Armor Class, weapon damage, feats
- all Fiendish Vipers and all Vipers - added Poison descriptions
- Flamebrother Salamander - corrected weapon stats
- Hound Archon - fixed Armor Class description, corrected weapon stats, fixed typo in Dex stat
- Invisible Stalker - added Natural Invisibility description
- Janni - fixed typos in weapon damages, modified Change Size description, added link to Chainmail
- Lantern Archon - fixed Armor Class description, corrected weapon stats
- Leonal - removed Rake from description
- Nixie and Pixie - corrected weapon stats and feats
- Noble Salamander - fixed Tail Slap to hit
- Vrock - fixed missing tag for Cleave

Next, the changes to history.mes are as follows:

Code:

{0}{[ACTOR] out of ammo.}
changed to:
{0}{[ACTOR] is out of ammo.}

{2}{[ACTOR] reloads.}
changed to:
{2}{[ACTOR] ~reloads~[TAG_RADIAL_MENU_RELOAD].}

{11}{[ACTOR] misses [TARGET] due to concealment!}
changed to:
{11}{[ACTOR] misses [TARGET] due to ~concealment~[TAG_CONCEALMENT]!}

{12}{[ACTOR] ~deflects arrows~[TAG_DEFLECT_ARROWS]!}
changed to:
{12}{[ACTOR] uses ~Deflect Arrows~[TAG_DEFLECT_ARROWS]!}

{26}{[ACTOR] ~sneak attacks~[TAG_CLASS_FEATURES_ROGUE_SNEAK_ATTACK] [TARGET]!}
changed to:
{26}{[ACTOR] deals a ~Sneak Attack~[TAG_CLASS_FEATURES_ROGUE_SNEAK_ATTACK] on [TARGET]!}

{27}{[ACTOR] ~lays hands on~[TAG_CLASS_FEATURES_PALADIN_LAY_ON_HANDS] [TARGET]!}
changed to:
{27}{[ACTOR] uses ~Lay on Hands~[TAG_CLASS_FEATURES_PALADIN_LAY_ON_HANDS] on [TARGET]!}

{31}{[ACTOR] is immune to ~sleep~[TAG_SPELLS_SLEEP].}
changed to:
{31}{[ACTOR] is immune to ~sleep~[TAG_SLEEPING].}

{33}{[ACTOR] ~stunned~[TAG_STUNNED].}
changed to:
{33}{[ACTOR] is ~stunned~[TAG_STUNNED].}

{34}{[ACTOR] ~held~[TAG_HELD].}
changed to:
{34}{[ACTOR] is ~held~[TAG_HELD].}

{35}{[ACTOR] miscasts spell due to ~deafness~[TAG_SPELLS_DEAFNESS].}
changed to:
{35}{[ACTOR] miscasts spell due to being ~deafened~[TAG_DEAFENED].}

{37}{[ACTOR] miscasts spell due to ~entanglement~[TAG_SPELLS_ENTANGLEMENT].}
changed to:
{37}{[ACTOR] miscasts spell due to being ~entangled~[TAG_ENTANGLED].}

{40}{[ACTOR] immune to ~Death Touch~[TAG_DEATH_D].}
changed to:
{40}{[ACTOR] is immune to ~Death Touch~[TAG_DEATH_D].}

{44}{[ACTOR] trips [TARGET].}
changed to:
{44}{[ACTOR] ~trips~[TAG_TRIP] [TARGET].}

{46}{[ACTOR] ~diseased~[TAG_DISEASED]!}
changed to:
{46}{[ACTOR] is ~diseased~[TAG_DISEASED]!}

These changes to history.mes are just my suggestions. You can ignore using the file, because it is an internal file.

The changes to help.tab and history.mes are included in the Murlynd's Help - help.tab v2.1.zip. The spell_enum.mes file is included, but is unchanged from v2.0. The zip file needs to be extracted into '...\Temple of Elemental Evil\'. Please, do NOT forget to first backup your ORIGINAL files! All the ORIGINAL files, except for history.mes, should be backed up! If there are any problems, comments, or suggestions, please just let me know.

ENJOY! :icon_chuc

 

Gaear,

The changes to the monk's help description were mostly cosmetic, the removal of tags is just for appearance and not having duplicates. The proficiencies I believe are correct.

All the text descriptions for weapons, armor, tools, and such are taken from the 3.5 Players Handbooks and other official books. The text descriptions are to the same and I added or removed the functions that ToEE has or doesn't have.

 

Greetings Murlynd,
I read only now you appreciated my new spell list, Thanks!
I like most your rework though, and I would be happy if you decide to merge it in your helpfile.
I see it is not in 2.1 yet.

Regards