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#1 Vlad

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Posted 24 December 2005 - 12:48 PM

There is a problem of broken link in BHZAHR.DLG:

IF ~~ THEN BEGIN 8
SAY ~Price!? How about I give you some worms! Go get those damn rats!~
IF ~GlobalLT("BHGuardQuest","GLOBAL",1)
~ THEN DO ~SetGlobal("BHGuardQuest","GLOBAL",1)
~ UNSOLVED_JOURNAL ~Clear out Abandoned Guardhouse

Zahrdahl, the local fishing bait merchant, asked us to clear out some rats. Seems there must be a nest of them in the abandoned guardhouse just south of his home.~ EXIT
END

GlobalLT("BHGuardQuest","GLOBAL",1) is a wrong condition because it comes from the previous state where it has been already set to 1 that leads to *NO VALID REPLIES OR LINKS* error.

The screenshot is attached.

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  • screen3.jpg

Edited by Vlad, 24 December 2005 - 12:53 PM.


#2 Vlad

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Posted 24 December 2005 - 03:43 PM

Well, SBB, like it's said "nothing personal" but I quit playing your mod when entered De'Arnise Castle. I have already cleaned the previous area from 50-100 gnolls, and when I saw about the same amount of hobgoblins invading poor De'Arnise Castle I decided to leave it for trolls. I really liked your area work, mixing of various present and custom areas is really nice, and looks very impressive. Actually that's all what I've seen positive in BH so far. A lot of already present in SoA and ToB items spead over the areas is not a good idea. Why do I need two bronze horns of Valgala, and who would need two pairs of the same Elvenkind boots? Also high level spells added to the mod and offered by the same Lasarus (and copy of his shop) which appear in ToB is not a good idea for BG1 players. Copying the areas from the same game you're making a mod for is not also a good idea. I have already visited Ramazith's tower why should I visit it twice as well as other areas. You even didn't replace the same items apppeared in the same containers. As you have made a tremendous work on this mod I would suggest a general improvement to it such as new ballanced items taking into account that PC is of about 4-6 level visiting BH, reworking areas, decreasing number of low-level enemies like hordes of rats, hobgoblins and gnolls which just a waste of time believe me. It doesn't bring any enjoyment to clean huge areas from them. The density of them was so high that I just left my PC and Shar-Teel cut them in pieces and went drinking tea. Sorry, SBB, for this kind of critisim but I really hope you'll find it usefull. Also I want to add that it's my very own opinion, someone likes TDD but I also was not able to play it. This is a matter of taste.

Edited by Vlad, 24 December 2005 - 07:13 PM.


#3 Chevalier

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Posted 24 December 2005 - 04:38 PM

Hey Vlad,

Did you blow the Bronze Horn of Valhalla? It is dented. :) Did you get to the lower levels of the De'Arnise castle? I agree that it is the same keep and a poorly laid out one. There is a good plot line with L1 and L2 moduls which make up for the reuse of areas.

I Ride for the King!


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#4 Sir BillyBob

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Posted 26 December 2005 - 11:15 AM

Vlad,

It sounds like your party was either at a higher than normal level, or you play it at a more difficult level than Easy or Basic. Several areas of BoneHill use Horred's extra enemies scripts. So, based on your XP level or difficultly level, you can have more and more hobgoblins, gnolls, etc. I usually only play at Basic level so I see some additional monsters but not the number that you have experienced.

As for items and your post about Fabio, there is a newer version of this mod, 2.01 which fixes several of these problems. Fabio had the "Musician" kit from BGT-BP. That should have been fixed earlier but somehow I brought it back into the game. His kit is fixed in the latest version.

Most of the higher-end scrolls are gone also. As for the scrolls that are left, you only get 1 or 2 of them. If you memorize them, you can't use the spell until high enough level anyway. With the XP tweaks for scroll learning, you get no real benefit of learning them, so purchasing these scrolls is just a way of disposing of your extra gold.

For items, remember that everything you have will be taken away from you at the beginning of SoA. I don't see 2 pairs of Elven boots as a problem. I prefer Boots of Speed, myself. :D

As Chev pointed out, the horn isn't what you think.

For areas, I have never claimed to know how to do graphics. The areas that I have built are crap as far as I am concerned. KD fixed several problems with them for me but I still don't like them. If you know someone willing to make new area graphics that all of us can use, great. Otherwise, don't be surprised if you see repeated castles, towns, etc. There are only so many pre-built graphics out there.

Thanks for finding the bug in Zahrdahl. It has been mentioned before but I just couldn't find the snag. Now I know what to fix.

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#5 horred the plague

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Posted 26 December 2005 - 08:56 PM

I haven't made the temple grounds yet, but I'm enjoying my second runthrough much better than my first, many months ago. The worldmap additions are no small part of it yet. Looking forward to L2, it wasn't in existence my last run.

I found the scrolls more balanced than before. Only a couple seventh lvl scrolls, no 9th any more. But SirBillyBob is still too fruitful of a pickpocket'ing! :whistling: Perhaps some undroppable flags on that ring of gaxx, amulet of power and magi staff. Or, equip them. Maybe a +2 ring of protection, a staff of striking, and an amulet of gaseous protection for us lighter-fingered participants. :D

I'll keep lifting about town and point out any other huge hauls I find. Hey; why play a bard, with the highest PP %'age in the game, if you don't ever use it? The fancy harp songs, perhaps? :lol:

#6 Sir BillyBob

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Posted 27 December 2005 - 06:41 AM

Back when I first made BoneHill, I didn't know you could flag items on people to not be picked. I never thought about going back and blocking this. I will have to do so now. Thanks.

Of course, if Imoen is your only thief, you would never know these things. B)

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#7 horred the plague

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Posted 27 December 2005 - 10:10 AM

I ran into a problem with the Hand quest, and figured out what is causing it.

When I came out of the sewers, in the graveyard, Reylard's grave was activated. Curious cat that I am, I clicked on it. The grave gave its message, GraveClose set to 2 (grave eternally opened), and BHHandGrave was set to 5 prematurely. Ravella's dialog in the graveyard set this to 4, and it could never get to 5 again. :crying:

After investigating, it turns out the area script (BH0600) is responsible. Check out this excerpt:

IF
  Global("BHHandSewerOpen","GLOBAL",0)
THEN
  RESPONSE #100
	TriggerActivation("Tran0700",FALSE)
	TriggerActivation("CaveInfo1",FALSE)
END

IF
  Global("BHHandSewerOpen","GLOBAL",1)
THEN
  RESPONSE #100
	TriggerActivation("Tran0700",TRUE)
	TriggerActivation("CaveInfo1",TRUE)
END

IF
  Global("BHHandGraveOpen","GLOBAL",0)
THEN
  RESPONSE #100
	TriggerActivation("NewGrave2",FALSE)
END

IF
  Global("BHHandGraveOpen","GLOBAL",1)
THEN
  RESPONSE #100
	TriggerActivation("NewGrave2",TRUE)
END

Now, the top two blocks are causing the bottom two to never fire. BHHandSewerOpen is set to 1 in my .GAM file. Thus, block two above is eternally satisfied. Unless this variable is needed later, you should set it to 2 in this block as well. If it is used, set a second variable to act as a catch-global. You should definitely use a catch-global with the very first block of this excerpt.

Don't worry about the BHHandGraveOpen variable (these blocks are the bottom of the script), unless you choose to add more code below in the future. ;)

Edited by horred the plague, 27 December 2005 - 10:11 AM.


#8 Sir BillyBob

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Posted 27 December 2005 - 12:09 PM

Horred,

The issue that I tested was similar to what you found, but I tried a different approach. Did you check out the BHGRAVE.BCS file? I added this to the top of it.

IF
	Clicked([ANYONE])
	Range(LastTrigger,9)
	Global("GraveClose","BH0600",0)
	Global("BHHandGrave","GLOBAL",0)
THEN
	RESPONSE #100
		DisplayString(Myself,92036) // This looks like a new grave.
END

This should now keep you from opening the grave too soon. The overall code for the graves comes from the vampire lair (AR0800) in SoA. I used that code to help me turn on and off the entrance and the grave.

As for the area script, would it be better to just use a Continue() command in each block so the script doesn't loop? When you get to the second part of BH, you will see this code again used in the castle. I grabbed it from IWD/HOW which seems to run scripts slightly different than BG2. I had to add some Continues() in that code when they didn't have to for IWD.

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#9 Vlad

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Posted 27 December 2005 - 03:49 PM

When I entered BH my party was of 8-9 level. I just cleaned all the maps in BG1 and finished almost all quests in Baldur's Gate. Taking into account that Xan gets XP for learning spells, and Imoen - for disarming traps and picking chests, XP increases considerably faster than in original BG1.

I didn't installed DToSC or NToSC so I cannot comment on this.

Probably it would be worthwhile to re-work the areas' actors, it's always better to introduce one or two mighty opponents than hordes of gnolls. Alternatively, you may enhance those gnolls like I did with goblins in NeJ2. You may consider to increase their stats including THAC0 and a number of attacks per round, add some undropable halberds +2. The same is about hobgoblins, give them arrows of cold or fire, put a couple of mighty shamans in each group, then introduce two-three such groups per area... If you wish to homogeneously cover the areas with enemies it's also can be very challenging - just put them strategically in some narrow passes, behind corners, or make a circle of archers, and please remove all those unnecessary spawns which reproduce low-level monsters every minute of the game.

I don't think that your area work, at least with respect to outside areas, is a "crap". As I've already said the areas that you made look very nice. You succeeded to masterfully *mix and match* many elements of IE graphics with different areas and add new custom objects and textures. However one should be cautious to recycle areas from the same game we're currently playing. Since we play BGT that means you're limited to areas from IWD saga, PST, Arcanum, Fallout and (may be) Diablo. I saw an area from TS (originally from HoW) - it's okay taking into account that not all players play BGT+TS.

Edited by Vlad, 27 December 2005 - 03:53 PM.


#10 horred the plague

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Posted 28 December 2005 - 05:03 AM

As for the area script, would it be better to just use a Continue() command in each block so the script doesn't loop? When you get to the second part of BH, you will see this code again used in the castle. I grabbed it from IWD/HOW which seems to run scripts slightly different than BG2. I had to add some Continues() in that code when they didn't have to for IWD.


There is more than one right answer to this problem. Continue() might work in this case. It does have an occasional use... I've always tried to avoid Continue() when possible, as the engine will parse more script before it reevaluates a variable. Like in the example (below):

IF Global("NotInTime","GLOBAL",0)
THEN
RESPONSE#100
SetGlobal("NotInTime","GLOBAL",1)
Continue()
END

IF
Global("NotInTime","GLOBAL",1)
THEN
RESPONSE #100
DisplayStringHead(Myself,~Hey, it worked!~)
SetGlobal("NotInTime","GLOBAL",2)
END

I predict a one-second delay on this script, from the DisplayStringHead making the message. You may as well skip the Continue(), for all the good it is doing. The first parsing of this script will NOT trigger the second block, as "NotInTime" will still be at zero on the first parsing. Only when the script runs a second time (one second later), will this block trigger. Not a big deal in our little example, but potentially catastrophic in a larger script. ;)

#11 Sir BillyBob

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Posted 28 December 2005 - 07:59 AM

I saw an area from TS (originally from HoW) - it's okay taking into account that not all players play BGT+TS.

Thanks, Vlad.

As for the TS areas, they are actually from HoW. In the second part of the mod, I even fixed doorways that seemed to be broken in HoW. I use some Diablo areas in my new TC project. I don't know how to grab areas from Arcanium. I have the item graphics that someone created. I would love to be able to grab the areas as well. Same with Fallout, I have it but never played it so I don't know about grabbing those tilesets. If you have any suggestions on these two games I would appreciate it.

Pelltar's tower can easily be changed out to something else. I will have to dig around and see if another set of tower graphics are in any games.

The hobgoblins could use some toughening. For the gnolls, didn't you get any Veteran or Gnoll Captains? The script is random but if your party was level 9, I can see this area being incredibly easy. The party should only be at level 4-5.

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#12 Vlad

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Posted 28 December 2005 - 01:34 PM

Same with Fallout, I have it but never played it...


Never? :o You really should! This is the first and the best IE game, at least in my humble opinion. Try to get IE editors (including tileset extractors) from TeamX.

#13 horred the plague

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Posted 29 December 2005 - 10:04 PM

I'm deep in part two, and I saw some issues. The castle shouts are all whacked, guards stand around while others die, etc. It is likely my fault, for writing scripts that changed the whole shout system. So, in return--I wrote you a custom shout script for your mod: BHSHOUT2. Based on the BP shout system (with all the heals, protection/assistance, and so on), but customized. The main call-to-arms is based on your ALERT (shoutids. 125)--you use this in all the dialogs I've checked. I added this script to all I know are involved in the scenario. Leaders (Arrness, orc lieutenants) were given the specific PERSON_4, so they can be identified easily in the script. You can assign specifics to others, in other scenarios, to give them a unique ID in scripting. As in--you could use this script in other areas, if they cause trouble. I also gave it to your lizardmen, in BH2201

Using the custom shout script will insure compatability with other mods. This is probably just a BP-SoBH issue, not every mod-SoBH issue. Probably not the last I'll face.

NOTE: In BP shouts, Shout(79) is the universal call-to-arms. Bioware uses a variety of codes. That's why I made a universal one, to handle generic situations. Custom situations call for custom shouts.

I haven't tested this all out yet in-game, but I will. The principle is sound, it should work wonderfully.

Other issues:

1) could not leave BH2100 without CLUA. All Destinations Unreachable.
2) encounter with the goons in town triggered twice (once upon leaving temple, once after inn)
the time I left the temple, the goon said his spiel when I was cross-screen.
3) in the castle, one guard warned me the area was off-limits. i walked to the other side, and a different guard said "I warned you" and attacked. I checked your proximity trigger script out, and it might be the cause. You step on the staircase, it sets to 2; the setting to 2 causes his dialog to set to 3, and become enemy. Maybe have the trigger set to 1, with a "warning shot"? Or, perhaps BHASCUE.BCS is the cause. Your use of LastTrigger will check some funky things, it is meant for trap (trigger) scripts. It also works with the last spellcaster, if I recall from my notes years ago. This is the block I'm talking about:

IF
  GlobalLT("BHGuardWarning","BH2101",3)
  See([GOODCUTOFF])
  !StateCheck(LastTrigger,STATE_INVISIBLE)
  !StateCheck(LastTrigger,STATE_IMPROVEDINVISIBILITY)
THEN
  RESPONSE #100
	SetGlobal("BHGuardWarning","BH2101",2)
	StartDialogue("bhascue",[PC])
END

Other blocks in the script use LastTrigger as well, but this is the one that matters in this instance. And why the invisible checks, the condition right before it requires a sight check? :P

It also looks to me, from the logic of this script, that anyone will be deemed guilty if this guy even sees them.
Setting the global to 2 causes him to become enemy in the DLG file.

I suggest the following value system for the global:
0: Never been near the stinkin stairs
1: Walked into Ascue's 'little space'. I'd suggest giving it a range, as small as you can get away with--just make sure it does the job. He gave me his warning.(Use a ClearAllActions command in BHASCUE.BCS as well, so the party doesn't mindlessly keep drifting into the bad space after the warning. Boots of speed are hard to put the brakes on in 10 feet gamespace!)
2: Set off the staircase trigger. I'd move it back right onto the stairs, a clumbsy NPC in auto-pilot could walk over it while heading for the kitchen. It happened to me, now that I think of it. Only set it off if you got the warning from Ascue (GLOBAL=1).
3: Ascus is pissed off, calls his cronies, starts a brawl. Cronies are using the BHSHOUT2 script, so they turn into enemies. So will the nearby human and orc guards. We'll have to keep an eye on the mayor, or make an "exception" condition for her in BHSHOUT2 call-to-arms block--she is pretty close to the battlefield, after all...or do you want her to join in?) If you want her to fight, she'll need a MAGExxx script (or a custom job) to cast her spells; all she has now is SHOUT and WTASIGHT. If you want a custom job, I can easily paste one together from the BP set. Even if I leave the detectable stats intact; the worst case should be it counts as a dead line, if BP is not installed. And much more, if BP is installed. ;)

P.S: You did see the code for an SoBH biffing bat? If not, check my last post in the pinned topics section.

Edited by horred the plague, 29 December 2005 - 10:06 PM.


#14 Sir BillyBob

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Posted 30 December 2005 - 07:37 AM

I got your biffing code. Right now I will assume that if someone wants it, they will copy and paste it to a BAT file for now. I will include it into a patch that it sounds like I need to make.

The area BH2100 problem has happened before. I though Yacomo and I fixed this months ago in his version 4 of the Worldmap. Sounds like it is back again. The issue is that I set the travel region as East off the BH2000 map but it is really North. The WMP file seems to be smart enough to realize that you are leaving off the North side of the area, so you can't return to BH2000 on the East side.

Shout has been a major problem. All of this worked fine under BP but with Tutu having the most limiting IDS files I have ever seen (spoiled by your changes I guess), I was having a hard time cramming all the needed shouts into just 4 possible options.

By the way, I assume that when we get the animation issues solved, I will have to make some changes? Is the lizardman king animation going to stay or will I have to change it to something else?

Last thing, I will have to work on creating some bosses for areas in case your party is too high a level (like Vlad's). Fighting gnolls when you are level 9 is a waste of time and energy.

Tired of Bhaal? Try some classics mods instead:
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#15 horred the plague

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Posted 30 December 2005 - 08:23 AM

I got your biffing code. Right now I will assume that if someone wants it, they will copy and paste it to a BAT file for now. I will include it into a patch that it sounds like I need to make.

The area BH2100 problem has happened before. I though Yacomo and I fixed this months ago in his version 4 of the Worldmap. Sounds like it is back again. The issue is that I set the travel region as East off the BH2000 map but it is really North. The WMP file seems to be smart enough to realize that you are leaving off the North side of the area, so you can't return to BH2000 on the East side.

Shout has been a major problem. All of this worked fine under BP but with Tutu having the most limiting IDS files I have ever seen (spoiled by your changes I guess), I was having a hard time cramming all the needed shouts into just 4 possible options.

By the way, I assume that when we get the animation issues solved, I will have to make some changes? Is the lizardman king animation going to stay or will I have to change it to something else?

Last thing, I will have to work on creating some bosses for areas in case your party is too high a level (like Vlad's). Fighting gnolls when you are level 9 is a waste of time and energy.


Shouts should be solved. I wrote a BHSHOUT2.baf, custom made for bonehill. I also made a boss script for arness--BHARNSPL.baf. And, for your thieving crew: BHTHIEF.baf. They are based off of the BP series scripts. All three compile without error on a clean ToB-patched install, but will be fully functional in a BP install as well. That should cover your TuTu woes! (little secret: use numbers instead of the long names: e.g, WIZARD_FIRE_SHIELD (from STATS.IDS) = 125 ;) ). To make life easier, I took out the trap-setting code from the thief script. Saves adding a dozen custom spells... The rest is there (hiding, backstabbing, item use, etc etc etc). BHARNSPL handles all of her spells, her wand of sleep, and no extra baggage. Both scripts handle combat; you can eliminate WTASIGHT from their roster. I'm getting ready to storm the castle right now; I'll give them a good "money run". Providing all works well, I'll post these for you on the ftp server (the new server, I guess--the old works fine for me of course). Check them out, I think you'll like ... :cheers:


EDIT: Almost forgot--all boss types (lieutenants, captain o' guard, arness, and a few others) were given Specific PERSON_4 (106). This keeps them from falling in rank with the troops from other boss shouts. Also, a short BHBOSS script, to activate the RALLY_TO_ME call.

Consider doing some semi-bosses as well (lieutenants, sergeants, etc). Or elite troops. In addition to bosses. It allows for a lot clearer levelled encounters. If only encounters worked like they do in NWN *sigh*.
If you need more custom scripts, just ask. It's mostly just copy/paste work for me, these days.

P.S: Your lizardman animations should be just fine. The only conflicting BAM's are currently between NeJ2 and CtB. Three of them, total. This includes the BPv170(++) package(s). I took care of all this before ever releasing TDD,SoS, and BP-weidu. ;)

UPDATE: I just made another general fighting script, BHBRAWL.baf. Very similar to BP's WTASIGHT; custom-fit for the BH item usage. This will eliminate the need for BW's FIGHTER4.BCS (junk!), just as BHTHIEF eliminates need for BW's THIEF14A (also junk!). Leave any undead with WTASIGHT (BP's WTASIGHT is customed for undead (et.al.)).

Now, for the payoff! Castle-storming time! :D

Edited by horred the plague, 30 December 2005 - 10:50 AM.


#16 horred the plague

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Posted 30 December 2005 - 11:04 PM

Well, they still fell like twigs... :lol: But like smart twigs!
And everybody went down fighting (in the red).

I've uploaded them to the "new" BP ftp site, I'm sure you know the way there. ;)

Look in your resurrected mods folder, for a package called SoBH_Scripts.rar. Tell me how it goes, or pass them along to a trusted beta-tester (besides me!) to check out. I'm more curious about how they work without BP--I know they work fine with it.

#17 Sir BillyBob

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Posted 31 December 2005 - 11:07 AM

Cool! Thanks, Horred. Happy New Year everyone! I still have a few hours to go but I may not get back on here before then.

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#18 iopden

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Posted 10 January 2006 - 02:18 AM

Megainstall of all BGT-BP mods (including all for BGT-WeiDu especially).
CTD on area of BoneHill (BH2000), even with MoveToArea.
Help? :(

#19 King Diamond

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Posted 10 January 2006 - 05:17 AM

Since we play BGT that means you're limited to areas from IWD saga, PST, Arcanum, Fallout and (may be) Diablo. I saw an area from TS (originally from HoW) - it's okay taking into account that not all players play BGT+TS.

How it's possible to extract the WHOLE area graphics from Arcanum? I mean - in one piece image. (that can be really huge)

Edited by King Diamond, 10 January 2006 - 05:19 AM.

(last update: 02-12-2008)
----------------------------------------------
SoS, v1.13
TDD, v1.12
TS-BP, v6.10
CtB, v1.11
RoT, v2.1
----------------------------------------------
BP Animations Scheme


#20 Sir BillyBob

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Posted 10 January 2006 - 02:42 PM

Megainstall of all BGT-BP mods (including all for BGT-WeiDu especially).
CTD on area of BoneHill (BH2000), even with MoveToArea.
Help? :(

Don't know what to tell you. All the files are there that this area needs for loading. Others have problems with the Worldmap in getting back to this area from the castle, but not with this area itself.

Tired of Bhaal? Try some classics mods instead:
Classic Adventures
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