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Planar Sphere Mod (VERY OLD POST Please use a newer one -Duality)


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#1 hlidskialf

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Posted 07 April 2004 - 09:46 PM

<span style='color:blue'>By Bob Tokyo:</span> (Original Post at TeamBG Here.)
Planar Sphere Mini-Mod Mini-Review

(some low-level spoilers)

I?ve liked this mod since Inferno first released it. Despite its flaws, it makes the Planar Sphere a far more interesting stronghold.

The Good:
1) A Living Stronghold: This is the mini-mods strongest point. Your Planar Sphere becomes a fully staffed academy of magic, filled with tutors and apprentices. They chat, practice casting, and occasionally blow themselves up. Some of the dialog is very well done, in a Bondari kind of way. Even after you finish the mod?s mini-quests, your Sphere will remain an interesting place to be.
2) The mini-quests. The mod features around five mini-quests triggered by conversations with the Sphere?s new inhabitants. These are quick and generally funny, though some typos slipped through here. The item rewards are interesting and not excessive by that stage of the game.
3) The encounters. Your Sphere will be invaded three times, or four if you count the mod?s main quest. All of these invasions are good fun, even if the need for a good proofreader shows through here and there.

The So-So:
1) New spells. Most of the new spells feel over or under powered, and typos abound. Still, this is true for most mods that add new spells, and BG2 was never that well balanced a game. Some of the new spell effects are quite nice.
2) New Items. The mod?s new items are not overpowered compared to many in BG2 and ToB, but most of them aren?t all that interesting either. A few very nice concepts (Eye of Vecna, a working Nether Scroll) fall flat, mainly because the profound changes they cause in the character would require a mod to themselves to implement (that mod being The Forgotten Children).
3) The mod?s main quest. The main quest features many very entertaining and over the top fights; trying it too early would be suicidal. It also features a villain so over the top that he could only work as a joke; unfortunately he isn?t written that way. Added to that, the writing is not well done in the main quest. As a side note, I have yet to get the main quest?s final battle to work correctly in a BP-BGT-NeJ install, but that may be an install problem rather than a problem with the mod.

Final thoughts:

The Planar Sphere mini-mod is worth installing if you?re playing a mage, and nicely answers the question of what you?re going to do with that huge empty sphere now that you have it. You?ll get a kick out of at least a few of the spells, items, and encounters. After having tried to run through it several times just to get it to work, I now skip the mod?s main quest. Proofread and with a few minor storyline changes, this would be a great little mod.

Edited by Duality, 30 June 2008 - 01:43 PM.

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#2 -Jazz-

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Posted 07 April 2004 - 11:24 PM

Is the Planar sphere mod compatible with the multi-stronghold component?

#3 jester

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Posted 08 April 2004 - 01:09 AM

Methusalix or whatshisname, the main bad guy here anyway, is not only kicking all asorted named character's ass in this, but even Jon in all his glory could not hold a candle to him. :( I always get stuck in the harpers and as I Clua out the plot and Mystra are stuck in a time loop. I have to do some testing on a naked game again, but the scope of the mod is nice.
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#4 BobTokyo

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Posted 08 April 2004 - 10:13 AM

Is the Planar sphere mod compatible with the multi-stronghold component?

It should be, as it gets started by a new creature after the old planar sphere quest is completed. If psq01.cre doesn't show up after the original quest is complete, you can use CLUA:CreateCreature("psq01") to create him anywhere on the first level of the sphere. A duplicate might show up later if you do this too early; just tell him to get lost.

#5 Valheru

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Posted 05 May 2004 - 02:26 PM

I was very impressed by the Planar Sphere MOD though the villain seemed like he should have come after Mellisan never mind before Jon!

I would like the MOD to be powered down a bit though the activities in the sphere are cool and amused me greatly. I also like the animation for the lady of pain though I don't know where its from.
Thanks for picture Immy :)

#6 jester

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Posted 06 May 2004 - 10:11 AM

Lady of Pain? Must be PST.:D
"It's 106 miles to Arroyo, we got a full fusion cell, half a pack of RadAway, it's midnight, and I'm wearing a 50-year old Vault 13 Jumpsuit. Let's hit it!" -The Chosen One

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#7 -Larrythearch-

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Posted 30 May 2004 - 09:57 AM

its funny, cuz evertime i download it, it comes out with corrupted headers. Can anyone give me a clean working version, like maybe a zip file?

#8 hlidskialf

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Posted 30 May 2004 - 11:34 AM

There's nothing wrong with the .rar file. Perhaps you're using something like WinAce to extract it? WinAce is buggy and useless when it comes to .rar files.

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#9 Valheru

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Posted 06 June 2004 - 05:48 AM

Does anyone have proper installation instructions for the your fixed version I can't remember how to do it or it is buggy cause when I extract the files it comes out with the "press enter for more options" thing.
Thanks for picture Immy :)

#10 Alandrea

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Posted 19 June 2004 - 10:32 AM

I've downloaded this Mod but haven't installed it. The readme says that there are issues with the harper quest. Will you please tell me what these issues are and if there are any other problems that I should know about?

Thank you,
~*kitty*~

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#11 hlidskialf

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Posted 19 June 2004 - 11:55 AM

To be honest I don't know what issues were with the harper quest. (Hell, they may have been fixed by now as Inferno made a bunch of bugfixes that came after the readme.) I haven't heard any reported nor experienced any myself. *shrugs* Give 'er a try and if you find a bug, let me know. heheheh

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#12 Cirocco

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Posted 19 June 2004 - 01:13 PM

Theres no conflict with the harper quest if you do all parts of Harper Quest that involve going to hall before doing main quest of Planar Sphere Mod.

#13 Alandrea

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Posted 19 June 2004 - 09:52 PM

Alrighty then, thank you :D
~*kitty*~

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#14 Eclipse

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Posted 11 August 2004 - 09:35 PM

its funny, cuz evertime i download it, it comes out with corrupted headers. Can anyone give me a clean working version, like maybe a zip file?

I used to get the same problem with all rar's. Fixed it by downloaded winRAR trail version.

I'm guessing the RAR's i were downloading were made with a newer version that the old winrar i had just didn't know how to open.

#15 -Guest-

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Posted 10 September 2004 - 11:30 AM

This mod sounds very interesting to me and I would love to try it out but when I try to install it, I get lots of error messages everytime. This is version 1.9 (the latest as far as I can tell) that I am using and I have ToB installed with the official patch and the Baldurdash fixpack. These are all the errors I have copied and pasted from the PlanarSphere debug file below:

[ANIMATE.IDS] parsed
WARNING: cannot verify action ~SetGlobal("PsqRcAmul","GLOBAL",2)

DestroySelf()
~: Failure("lexing: empty token")

EndCutSceneMode()
~: Failure("lexing: empty token")

[PlanarSphereMod/dlg/PSQ53.D] PARSE WARNING at line 67 column 99-101
Near Text: ~~
Empty Action (may confuse some utilities, like NI)

[PlanarSphereMod/dlg/PSQ53.D] PARSE WARNING at line 68 column 108-110
Near Text: ~~
Empty Action (may confuse some utilities, like NI)

[PlanarSphereMod/dlg/PSQ53.D] PARSE WARNING at line 69 column 88-90
Near Text: ~~
Empty Action (may confuse some utilities, like NI)

[PlanarSphereMod/dlg/PSQ53.D] PARSE WARNING at line 75 column 40-42
Near Text: ~~
Empty Action (may confuse some utilities, like NI)

WARNING: cannot verify action ~StartCutSceneMode()

[PlanarSphereMod/baf/psq05.baf] PARSE ERROR at line 14 column 63-63
Near Text: )
[ForceSpellPoint] argument [WIZARD_REMOVE_MAGIC] not found in [Spell.IDS]
[PlanarSphereMod/baf/psq05.baf] parsed

[PlanarSphereMod/baf/psq06.baf] PARSE ERROR at line 14 column 63-63
Near Text: )
[ForceSpellPoint] argument [WIZARD_REMOVE_MAGIC] not found in [Spell.IDS]

[PlanarSphereMod/baf/Psq49.baf] PARSE ERROR at line 92 column 75-75
Near Text: )
[ForceSpell] argument [WIZARD_REMOVE_MAGIC] not found in [Spell.IDS]
[PlanarSphereMod/baf/Psq49.baf] parsed

[PlanarSphereMod/baf/Psq50.baf] PARSE ERROR at line 51 column 67-67
Near Text: )
[SetGlobalTimer] argument [TWO_ROUNDS] not found in [GTimes.IDS]


[PlanarSphereMod/baf/Psq57.baf] PARSE ERROR at line 73 column 71-71
Near Text: )
[ReallyForceSpell] argument [WIZARD_REMOVE_MAGIC] not found in [Spell.IDS]
[PlanarSphereMod/baf/Psq57.baf] parsed

[PlanarSphereMod/baf/Psq58.baf] PARSE ERROR at line 9 column 63-63
Near Text: )
[SetGlobalTimer] argument [FIVE_ROUNDS] not found in [GTimes.IDS]

[PlanarSphereMod/baf/Psq58.baf] PARSE ERROR at line 22 column 63-63
Near Text: )
[SetGlobalTimer] argument [FIVE_ROUNDS] not found in [GTimes.IDS]

[PlanarSphereMod/baf/Psq58.baf] PARSE ERROR at line 53 column 63-63
Near Text: )
[SetGlobalTimer] argument [TEN_ROUNDS] not found in [GTimes.IDS]

[PlanarSphereMod/baf/Psq58.baf] PARSE ERROR at line 216 column 72-72
Near Text: )
[SetGlobalTimer] argument [FIVE_ROUNDS] not found in [GTimes.IDS]

[PlanarSphereMod/baf/Psq58.baf] PARSE ERROR at line 223 column 51-51
Near Text: )
[StateCheck] argument [STATE_NORMAL] not found in [State.IDS]

[PlanarSphereMod/baf/Psq58.baf] PARSE ERROR at line 240 column 51-51
Near Text: )
[StateCheck] argument [STATE_NORMAL] not found in [State.IDS]

[PlanarSphereMod/baf/Psq58.baf] PARSE ERROR at line 252 column 51-51
Near Text: )
[StateCheck] argument [STATE_NORMAL] not found in [State.IDS]

[PlanarSphereMod/baf/Psq58.baf] PARSE ERROR at line 264 column 65-65
Near Text: )
[ForceSpell] argument [WIZARD_REMOVE_MAGIC] not found in [Spell.IDS]

[PlanarSphereMod/baf/Psq58.baf] PARSE ERROR at line 270 column 51-51
Near Text: )
[StateCheck] argument [STATE_NORMAL] not found in [State.IDS]

[PlanarSphereMod/baf/Psq58.baf] PARSE ERROR at line 281 column 51-51
Near Text: )
[StateCheck] argument [STATE_NORMAL] not found in [State.IDS]

[PlanarSphereMod/baf/Psq58.baf] PARSE ERROR at line 294 column 51-51
Near Text: )
[StateCheck] argument [STATE_NORMAL] not found in [State.IDS]


I don't understand why I am getting all these errors with all .IDS files. It seems to me that these actions and spells that are missing in these .IDS files need to be added to these files for the mod to work correctly so I am scared to install the mod with all these errors even though WeIDU says that the mod installed successfully at the very end. Does anyone know what all these errors mean?

#16 Antius

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Posted 09 January 2005 - 06:29 AM

Well, I must say I like the planar sphere mod very much... but!

The Main Plot... how should I put it?... Dosn't fit in...
It pretty much ruins the rest of the game.
When I finally found the solution to beating the bad guy, I was stuck in his prison thingy.
So I Clua'ed myself out, and found everything was a mess. A lot of quest characters has been killed, and several of the most powerfull creatures on Faerūn.

And that takes me to my question:
Did I miss some kind of ending here? I thought Lord Ao or someone like him, was going to fix all the damage (Not to mention, get you out of that prison thingy).

#17 seanas

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Posted 09 January 2005 - 06:40 AM

if you kill the bad guy, rather than cheese him (admittedly, killing him is stupidly hard, in as much as it involves staying alive long enough for his buffs to stop being auto-cast) then the world gets returned to the way it is supposed to be - so yes, you did miss something, after a fashion.

*SPOILERS*





killing him gets you an exit, several super-powered magic items, everyone gets 1.5 mill (!) XP, a cutscene where Lord Ao fixes the damage, and another cutscene where Mystra returns and explains things.

[EDIT] if you want to see the end of the PSR mod whilst using the cheese option, and want to get *some* reward for yr troubles (and get an exit, as well), download this file, drop it in yr override folder and play the final battle again.

Attached Files


Edited by seanas, 09 January 2005 - 06:52 AM.

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#18 mitchmc

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Posted 16 January 2005 - 10:01 AM

I loved the mod.

Some very very funny parts and a battle royal that wiemer could put in
Tactics.

possile low level spoilers











While the final/big battle it is over the top it is the only battle I know of in the game, or in any of the mods where the secret to winning is just staying alive until the boss runs out of steam. (The best offence in this case is a good defense)

I CLUAed exp till I had (what I thought was) a god like monster character (F 28/M 23/T 32) even with several items that reduced casting speed by Ten in total (yes I said ten) even using a ring that gives an extra 5-6t,h 5-7th 5-8th and 5-9th level spells I could not touch him (even with the image/time stop/acuity cheese ploy)

Went back and just outlasted him with a 2.5 million exp F/M/T Given the story line it probably would be the only way to beat him. Yes it was over the top but very different from most of the insane battle mods I have tried. At the end of the battle some great swag! (Even if you permanently lose a party member 4\5 times you fight him) I think the only way you can kill him is outlast his spell throwing as no matter how much damage you do to him he will not die till his spells run out.

I also enjoyed the fact that the sequence of battles leading up to the final confrontation
Got more and more intense (the red wizard battle in the bar was great fun and lots of carnage, just as one would expect)

In terms of other comments made in this thread

I got the same errors as guest listed but it did not seem to effect the mod to my knowledge.

Yes the battle make jonnie boy look easy, but un modded jonnie is easy and after all these year kind of lame. Install improved hell trials and this one is not that difficult. Although I do know what you mean finished of the final battle and went wow, the underdark is going to be so tame???.

The only bug I had was when I told the lady of pain that I did not have the sphere thing and she replied ?all is lost, witness the end of all things? or words to that effect, and then we all just sat there and nothing happened had to ctrl/alt/delete the game and reboot, kind of funny and appropriate in an ironic sort of way (also fitting for and adventurer so stupid as to return with out the item or have it and lie to the lady)

Cheers
MitchMc


.

#19 SirLancelot

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Posted 10 February 2005 - 11:21 AM

Sorry if i bother someone, but for me, this is one of the best mods ever made for BG2-TOB. I love it.

Of course it has some overpowered spells *and* items, but my overall score for this mod would be a 8/10. You can always rebalance or delete some spells/items with a very little knowledge of modding, and the final quest can be perfectly avoided until you are ready for it.

So no excuses :P, Bob Tokyo explain most of the features and i add that even the main quest is cool if you have the proper level to face it, both the readme and the key trigger artefact description warns players from the last part of the mod

And yes, the mod works with Multistronghold, definitely
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#20 Jeremy

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Posted 20 September 2006 - 09:10 PM

Very cool Idea, and will have to check out:)