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News on version 4.0 release


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#1 Qwinn

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Posted 21 December 2009 - 08:26 PM

Okay, here's where we're at. I've been taking stock of everything scient and I got done when we were working on the mod full time. Since scient has disappeared (and here's hoping he's okay and well), not everything that was hoped for will be available in 4.0.

Here's what -did- make it in, and will be fixed in 4.0 assuming testing works out okay, but most of them were spot-tested previously by me as scient finished 'em and I don't expect problems:

1. Per 2nd edition D&D rules, constitution bonus to hit points should only apply when gaining a full hit die. In the vanilla game, a PC with 18 CON is still getting +4 hp/level at level 30+, even though it should have stopped at level 9/10, which really made the endgame far far easier than it should have been. (scient)
2. When pressing "Level Up" once to gain multiple levels, if any of those levels was a "new" level, you gained a full hit die for old levels too. (scient)
3. At very high constitution scores, a character should get a Minimum Roll when rolling hit dice for a new level. An engine bug made it possible to get a roll lower than this value. (scient)
4. Per its spell description and 2nd edition rules, Dak'kon's Power of One spell should be subject to race and class restrictions (normally 18 for non fighters, 18/00 for fighters). The Improved Strength spell is still capable of bypassing these restrictions. (scient)
5. A method of granting an attack damage bonus used by a few items (Glass Eye, Tattoo of Bloodletting, Tattoo of the Deceiver...) did not stack with itself. (scient)
6. One of Nordom's "Removed From Party" sounds restored. (Qwinn - yes really! I did an engine tweak all by meself! Woohoo!)
7. Fix to prevent Lore from ever possibly rolling below 0. (scient)
8. A bug prevented PC's from having their death variables set after the first time they were resurrected. (scient)
9. Creatures spawned via INI files, rather than through the area files, could never have their death variables set. Now they do. So, for example, the variable meant to track how many githzerai you've killed will now actually increment if you kill the Githzerai Townspeople in the Hive as was intended. (scient)
10. Having the numerical strref's from the dialog.tlk file display for every dialog line in-game, popular with BG2 modders, can now be made to work in PS:T via the proper setting in the torment.ini file. (scient)
11. The No Minimum Stats Tweak will be going in the Tweak Pack 4.0.
12. In UB, the Restored Bestiary component will now switch the bestiary pic for TO from the "vague", unlit version to the full version when you finally meet him. This did require an engine tweak. Note that the bestiary pic will switch when you see the brief movie that plays upon first meeting TO, before you start dialogue with him, so you actually will have a brief window where you can see it in the bestiary before starting the final dialogue and/or combat. (scient)
13. BG2-Style THACO display is going in.

Some things that were discussed as engine fixes that won't be fixed:

1. Fixes to the exceptional strength tree as discussed on the forums. Scient actually -did- complete the Maximized Strength Spell tweak, but the purpose of that was to offset the pain of making the issues with the exceptional strength tree consistent (items skipping the tree altogether, levelup and strength spells needing to traverse it but at totally inconsistent values, etc. etc., see the forum thread for details.) I'll keep the maximized strength tweak on ice until we can get the latter issues finished, someday, hopefully.
2. Fixes to the luck statistic. I think he actually -did- finish this, but it seriously does need a whole lot of testing that I can't do right now. It could potentially create really big imbalances - luck in the vanilla game is mostly non-functional but, when working, -really- really powerful. Probably overpowered.
3. The friends spell will still stack with itself, unfortunately.
4. There is an exploit where you can cast mage spells as a fighter or thief, by bringing up Dak'kon or Ignus's floating menu and then clicking Select All and then Cast Spell. It ain't getting fixed yet.
5. During the cutscenes from some long-casting spells, some creatures can still act. Examples are creatures affected by Litany of Curses, creatures with broken morale (fleeing), and Grace when her script orders her to heal party members.
6. The Aid spell cast on a fully healed character will still only increase maximum hp without increasing current hp.


Okay, that seems to be the status of engine fixes. I'll post the status of non-engine fixes as I go through them.

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 21 December 2009 - 08:27 PM.


#2 Qwinn

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Posted 21 December 2009 - 10:07 PM

Non-engine Fixes that are going in 4.0. Holy crap, I did a lot of work last summer.


1. Based on player input, some of the changes made to some of the various Dakkon's Blades' were reversed (other changes still apply). For example, the Kinstealer versions of the blade now have higher base damage than all of the other versions.
2. When Annah, Grace, Ignus and Nordom died while in your party, you took chaotic and evil alignment hits and your "murder" count went up. You could even potentially get mazed if Annah or Grace died enough times by your side. Fixed.
3. Per an old forum post by Chris Avellone, Nordom's alignment should be Lawful Neutral.
4. Many creatures that should logically have affected your alignment (usually negatively) when you killed them did not do so. Examples: everyone in the SW Hive, everyone in Clerk's Ward (except the bartenders, who did give hits, everyone in Foundry, etc.) Effort was taken to only fix the most uncontroversial and obvious omissions.
5. You will no longer suffer alignment hits and become a "murderer" when some Carceri citizens are murdered by other creatures.
6. If you tried to sell Annah to Vrischika, Vrischika and Standish would attack you due to a bug in the scripting. Fixed.
7. Seeing Blackrose in the Alley of Dangerous Angles will no longer create a bestiary entry for Curst Townie, Male.
8. Xanthia, Vrischika and various female Sensates that use the Female Aasimar sprite will no longer generate a bestiary entry for an Aasimar.
9. Killing Vorten will no longer add the quest to do so to your accepted quest list even if you've never been given the quest.
10. Vorten quest will now close after you report the plot.
11. The dagger Porphyras Blade was missing the "Enchantment +3" attribute cited in its description. Many creatures are immune to weapons below a certain enchantment level.
12. Berrog and Torvus in Carceri can no longer become bugged using fear spells.
13. Trias can no longer be pickpocketed for his sword.
14. Ingress's Teeth To Hit bonus wasn't working properly. Now it is.
15. Agril and Tek in Carceri had dialogue that couldn't be seen because they were both hostile. Now, when one dies, the other will go neutral and can be talked to, at least briefly.
16. Two voiced lines by Fhjull as you left his house were spoken in reverse order. They are fixed and make sense now.
17. Removed obnoxious casty sounds when Morte uses Litany of Curses, which made it very hard to actually hear the curses. Casty sounds are inappropriate anyway, as it is a non-magical ability.
18. One of the voiced lines when attempting to remove Annah's vest, silent due to a bug, has been restored.
19. FFG "Target immune to weapon" sound inappropriate ("There is nothing I can do."), a more appropriate sound is available ("I cannot wound it.")
20. One of Morte's taunts is inaudible, another isn't a taunt. Replacing them with more appropriate available taunts that were previously unavailable.
21. On map of Mortuary 2nd floor, "Embalming Room" is mislabelled "Northeast Preparation Room". Fixed.
22. FFG and Vhailor both had sounds they were supposed to sometimes play when they died, but they didn't work. Now they do.
23. The exit cutscene that was supposed to play after purchasing something from Vlask was always aborting. Fixed.
24. Githzerai Townsperson walking script in one of the Hive areas was bugged. Fixed.
25. A prostitute and a bar patron that weren't appearing in the Clerk's Ward due to a bug are restored. Also, two bar patrons south of Aelwyn were incorrectly duplicated.
26. A customer and bartender on the east side of the Clerk's Ward had floating text lines that weren't working, and were reversed. Fixed.
27. Several fixes to quest entries closing prematurely or inappropriately: when gaining evidence against Pikit, when looking for a handkerchief, and when looking for permission to grant someone access to a sensory stone.
28. Killing Trash Warrens thugs could incorrectly let TNO claim he'd killed the thugs related to Porphyron's quest.
29. Ebb Creakknees will no longer keep respawning in the Carceri warehouse after he leaves.
30. Non-functional check in Splinter's dialogue for Death Advocate's status fixed.
31. Curst guards and other NPC's will no longer aggro based on your defending Jasilya, which they definitely explicitly were not meant to.
32. A Collector in Ragpicker Square did not have his walking script attached correctly.
33. Talking animations synchronized with floating text for the two johns of a prostitute in NW section of the Hive. Also, they will now defend the harlot if she is attacked as was intended.
34. A walking creature in Curst North area is restored.
35. Being a Dustman reduces the number of shadows you encounter in the Fortress. But this also works if you're an anarchist who infiltrated them. Changing it to be based on the Dead Truce.
36. Killing Dhall and Baen the Sender decremented rather than incremented your MURDER count.
37. Corrected insanely low stats for several NPC's and creatures. See documentation in QwinnFix.tph for specifics. Most notably, larval worms and trelons are no longer marked as level 1 and thus can no longer be insta-killed via the Cloudkill spell. Other improved CRE's include Mantuok, Qui-Sai, sohmiens, and warehouse anarchists.
38. Backing out of taking the Godsman oath, then talking to Keldor again, it was possible to become a Godsman without taking the oath or passing the appropriate checks against belonging to another faction.
39. Fixed dialogue error asking Nordom about Mechanus when Morte is not around.
40. Bug in Raimon's dialogue fixed.
41. Duplicated response in Vivian's dialogue if you were evil to her fixed.
42. If Dak'kon tells you he'll talk to you later about something after he translates for you in a conversation with Fell, you will now always have the option to ask him to do so.
43. The Puzzled Skeleton in the Dead Nations will no longer stop talking to you if you deal with Adozyel harshly during the Restored Pendant of Yemeth quest (bug due to a recycled variable).
44. Weapon workers in Foundry would think Bedai was arrested for murder which actually isn't possible.
45. Several deaths via dialogue (Jolmi, Yi'minn, Death's Advocate) weren't incrementing your total death count, which does have an impact on the endgame.
46. Removed several XP exploits via restarting dialogue with Ravel prior to her attack.
47. A number of fixed to Barkis's dialogue, including a bug that could prevent gaining some insight into TNO's resistance to poisons.
48. If you make Nordom or Ignus hostile via dialogue, they will now be removed from the party. Not removing them was causing several severe bugs.
49. A variable related to restarting dialogue with Fhjull wasn't being set. This effectively restores an unused sound file, too.
50. When Vlask sold you a second bead, you weren't actually getting it.
51. Bad state weight made it so you never got to see Drusilla's opening "obsessed" dialogue state.
52. Zombie 1201 in the Mortuary had a clearly inappropriate chaotic alignment hit. Removed.
53. If you have either Annah or FFG in your party when you sleep with a Hive harlot, they will react, but neither reacts if you have them both. Now Annah's reaction will override FFG's, just as happens in Ucho's dialogue in the Clerk's Ward.
54. If you killed Mar after getting his axe via dialogue, you'd get a second axe. Fixed.
55. Fixes to Kuu-Yin's dialogue, specifically moved a journal entry, and fixed bug where he'd say he was exiting the area but didn't.
56. Noroch wasn't giving the copper and bandage rewards indicated by the text if you took care of the pickpocket before being given the quest.
57. Morale hits for having Dak'kon kill Ana'zi painfully were inconsistent.
58. FFG's first line in her first banter with Morte was inappropriate and used a second time elsewhere, whereas a more appropriate line never used at all. Replaced. This restores an unused sound file.
59.Duplicate XP reward in Soego's dialogue removed.
60. Intelligence check when claiming to be Adahn in Dustman dialogue fixed.
61. Female dustmen lacked the Adahn and chaotic alignment hits that are present in the otherwise identical male dustman dialogue.
62. Blackrose will now leave the area when he's supposed to.
63. The number of times you can resurrect in the Fortress was being added to, rather than subtracted from, whenever a companion died. This has been confirmed as a bug and is fixed.
64. Scofflaw Penn would kick you out, and you'd get a journal entry that the door was locked, but it would remain open until you entered again.
65. Missing line in Vhailor's altercation with Grace and Annah restored.
66. Removed infinite morale loop in Kesai's dialogue.
67. Fixed several journal entry issues in Aelwyn's dialogue.
68. Talking to weapons workers, you get a reply option about Kellera talking to Dak'kon after you already have, which comes across as extremely odd. Fixed.
69. One specific dialogue path among many identical ones in Sere's dialogue was failing to open up a dialogue option with Hamrys as was intended.
70. Talking to Jasilya could unnecessarily set a variable that would badly screw up Tainted Barse and Marquez's quest states.
71. Floating rhebuses over dabus's heads synchronized with dialogue cues as much as possible.
72. The Red Abishai wouldn't actually aggro if you attacked them via dialogue until you landed a hit. Fixed.
73. Female zombie 1148 now has her proper walking script attached.
74. If you make the Mortuary hostile, leaving and reentering is supposed to turn off the alarm and make all denizens non-hostile. Due to a script error, though, some select denizens on the first and third floor (including Xachariah) were staying hostile. Fixed.
75. If you make the Lim Lim run away via dialogue, you can now go back to the merchant and demand compensation. Everything was there except the variable set when the Lim Lim runs away.
76. The Rubikon Wizard's dialogue would reset to the beginning each time you reset the maze. This would reset variables that would allow you to get Nordom's bonus repeatedly. This is due to the same issue that made Curst Citizens forget that they'd met you before. You will now only get Rubikon's full dialogue the first time you meet him.
77. Loop in Soego's dialog that could yield infinite Adahn and Chaotic points removed.
78. Lore bonus for 15 INT/WIS fixed (was 5, should be 3)
79. Thieving penalties for low DEX would disappear if DEX was brought below 9. (Could happen via Chromatic Orb, Jester's Axe, Sarossa's curses.) Fixed.
80. The Party Separation fix (where party would reassemble automatically after forced separations) could allow you to reacquire Morte from Lothar prematurely. Fixed.
81. Exploit that allowed you to reacquire a slave sold to Vrischika fixed.
82. Exploit that allowed you to reacquire Morte from the Pillar painlessly fixed.
83. Damage bonus for 4 proficiencies in a weapon fixed. (was +5, should be +4)
84. Missing reference to Sigil in Dhall's dialogue added, to resolve your inexplicably being able to ask him about it.
85. Discrepancies between male and female Dustmen and Dustmen mourners resolved (the female dialogues clearly didn't get some late development fixes that the male versions did)
86. Rarely, defending yourself from 3 thugs in the Buried village would cause Bish and his thugs in the Trash Warrens to aggro. Fixed.


The faction stuff (meaning, several bugs and making it so anarchists can only infiltrate one at a time) is done too, sorta, but parts are commented out that I can't remember why, and I want to review it some more.

Anyways, that's the plan. If anyone spots anything I said would be fixed that's missing, or has an objection, now's the time to say something.

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 10 January 2010 - 06:11 AM.


#3 Qwinn

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Posted 22 December 2009 - 06:31 AM

Oh, yes, the fixes to the Vhailor/Trias altercation are going in in 4.0. Colin McComb unfortunately can't find time at the moment to fill in the missing dialogue, so I'll do my best, and if he ever decides to improve on what I do I'll be happy to replace it.

At any rate, there are slight alterations to what I was planning to do. See the "Trias/Vhailor: The Good Option" thread that I just bumped for the details.

Qwinn

#4 -spiff-

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Posted 22 December 2009 - 02:28 PM

Very nice! Can't wait to test this all out!

One thing though. All those unused sound files related to party members you made a thread about, are they included in 4.0? Those that you were able to find a place for, anyway. I remember there were a lot more than mentioned in your list here.

#5 -i30817-

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Posted 22 December 2009 - 03:34 PM

3. Per an old forum post by Chris Avellone, Nordom's alignment should be Lawful Neutral.

Aren't dialog files talking about Nordom as chaotic?

#6 -i30817-

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Posted 22 December 2009 - 03:36 PM

13. Trias can no longer be pickpocketed for his sword.

Shit! Why not?

#7 -Guest-

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Posted 22 December 2009 - 03:44 PM

13. Trias can no longer be pickpocketed for his sword.

Shit! Why not?

Because he is holding it? :P

#8 Qwinn

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Posted 22 December 2009 - 04:03 PM

One thing though. All those unused sound files related to party members you made a thread about, are they included in 4.0? Those that you were able to find a place for, anyway. I remember there were a lot more than mentioned in your list here.


Yep. The ones in this list are legitimate fixes. The rest are going into UB's Restored Sounds and Banters component.

Aren't dialog files talking about Nordom as chaotic?


-For a modron-, yes. But compared to pretty much anything else in the universe, he's still extremely lawful.

For the record, people argued that Ignus wasn't chaotic neutral, but rather chaotic evil. CA stuck to his guns on that. He's CN.

13. Trias can no longer be pickpocketed for his sword.

Shit! Why not?


Because he is holding it? tongue.gif


Yep, pretty much, not to mention he still has a copy of it and he beats you with it during the fight even if you pickpocket it.

Qwinn

#9 Hannibal

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Posted 22 December 2009 - 08:53 PM

Just a reminder, please make the Pain Mirror spell available for purchase at some vendors.

#10 rtr86

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Posted 23 December 2009 - 03:41 AM

Sounds great. looking forward to this. With ghostdog saying his new UI mod is almost complete it will make a PS:T replay even more enjoyable!

#11 Tolknaz

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Posted 24 December 2009 - 03:33 AM

Nice! I was just thinking of replaying the game in the near future.

#12 Qwinn

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Posted 24 December 2009 - 12:19 PM

Merry Christmas, forum readers :)

Off to the family festivities myself, I'll return tomorrow afternoon sometime.

Qwinn

#13 Qwinn

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Posted 27 December 2009 - 03:00 AM

Went through the bug report thread and found another issue I said I'd fix but hadn't gotten to yet: Rubikon Wizard dialogue will no longer reset by resetting the maze. Added it to the list above. Also added the Mortuary alarm reset stuff.

Qwinn

#14 Qwinn

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Posted 27 December 2009 - 11:03 PM

Taking a day or so to deal with what could eventually become a fairly serious problem for PS:T modding.

It appears that there is a hard limit to the number of global (possibly -any-, but definitely at least global) variables that the game can read from the VAR.VAR file. Version 4.0 as I was going to release it rides the limit pretty close... I found that if I added a few more, then ones at the end of the list simply dropped off, which would cause my save games to crash.

So, I went through the variables I add and made them local variables where I can. But that may not be enough, it may be that there's a limit on the *total* number of variables, local or global, but the missing local variables don't crash when loading a save game that has them unless you're in that specific area.

I came up with a new macro that, instead of adding variables, deletes them. I'm adding this to the Fixpack, which will mean that v4.0 will NOT be compatible with any save games that came before. As far as actually applying this idea, so far I've found two variables that are written but never read: Await_Death_Answer and Await_Life_Answer. The variables are written when you tell Awaiting-Death *why* you want to live or die (depending on what you told him), but the variable is never referred to again, so there's no point in keeping them.

If someone later wants to do a mod where they actually make use of such stored information (on the assumption that if they wrote the variables, that demonstrates at least some intent to do something with it eventually that was just never implemented), knock yourselves out, just let me know and I'll stop deleting them. No longer deleting the variables wouldn't cause any save game compatibility issues going forward. But, for now, if the variables serve no purpose whatsoever, better to make room for variables that would be useful. And hell, the list of "written but never read" variables could serve to point people to mod-worthy content.

There are *tons* of "written but never read" variables in PS:T. I know I've noticed a great many in my fixing stuff. So if you're planning on modding, don't let "I don't want to deal with running out of variables" dissuade you, there'll be plenty of useless variables we can delete for almost anything (within reason) that you want to do, just let me know how many you need and I'll hunt 'em down.

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 27 December 2009 - 11:06 PM.


#15 Qwinn

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Posted 27 December 2009 - 11:46 PM

Actually, the bit with variable deletion deserves permanent documentation. I'm going to make a sticky tracking all variables I delete so other prospective modders can look into them if they wish.

Qwinn

#16 Qwinn

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Posted 28 December 2009 - 01:14 AM

New fix: Removing infinite loop in Soego's dialogue for infinite Adahn and Chaotic points.

Qwinn

Edited by Qwinn, 28 December 2009 - 01:14 AM.


#17 -Ian-

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Posted 28 December 2009 - 01:57 AM

Qwinn, one very minor request.

In the Lower Ward, looking the gate in the SE corner of the map reads "to the Upper Ward" or something along those lines. As there is no "Upper Ward," this should probably be changed to the more accurate "Clerk's Ward."

#18 Qwinn

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Posted 28 December 2009 - 03:08 AM

"Upper Ward" is just another name for "Clerk's Ward". Synonyms. Well, actually, the term "Upper Ward" can probably also apply to a few other wards in the larger Planescape universe, but as the Clerk's Ward is the only Upper Ward featured in PS:T, it's not really incorrect to refer to it that way.

There are several other references in dialogue to the Clerk's Ward as "Upper Ward". For instance: asking Soego about Deionarra, he responds: ~"I do not know, but she has been here for quite some time. Her father might know what befell her... he visits here from his offices in the Upper Ward frequently. It was his wish that she be placed in the memorial hall here."~

Qwinn

#19 -Ian-

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Posted 28 December 2009 - 10:46 AM

"Upper Ward" is just another name for "Clerk's Ward". Synonyms. Well, actually, the term "Upper Ward" can probably also apply to a few other wards in the larger Planescape universe, but as the Clerk's Ward is the only Upper Ward featured in PS:T, it's not really incorrect to refer to it that way.

There are several other references in dialogue to the Clerk's Ward as "Upper Ward". For instance: asking Soego about Deionarra, he responds: ~"I do not know, but she has been here for quite some time. Her father might know what befell her... he visits here from his offices in the Upper Ward frequently. It was his wish that she be placed in the memorial hall here."~

Qwinn


Fair enough. Given that of the Clerk's, Lady's, Market, and Guildhall Wards, only the Clerk's Ward is available in the game, I thought it might be more relevant to have the gate be a bit more explicit. Like I said, it's very minor.

#20 -Guest-

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Posted 30 December 2009 - 08:27 AM

Could we get on ETA or some kind of progress report on version 4.0?

I need to know if it is too early to spam F5 every 10 minutes anxiously awaiting the release ;)