44 replies to this topic

[The Amazing Maurice]

I'm looking for a coder.

If you register I can pm you the details to see if you are interested.

[Ellderon]

Hmmm...never really tried coding for BG2 yet.

Did some for other games
(I MOD a LOT -> Freespace 2, NWN, Freelancer, C&C Generals, Morrowind, ST:Armada 2, Bridge Commander, Starfleet Command 3, BOTF, etc...)

I'm currely good at making items, creatures nad balncing things...
I'm just getting started on NPC addition, KITS (only spells and abilities to go) and scripting/coding...

[Andyr]

Welcome to Forgotten Wars, Elderon.

Ghreyfain's actually made a mod called Ashes of Embers which allows all classes to use all weapons, you can find it at http://www.pocketplane.net if you're interested.

Have a read around the various modding communities and see what interests you, if you want to help I know most people would probably be pretty receptive to any offers...

[Erephine]

Freespace2? I believe someone told me it was open source now, or something.

There's a community dedicated to it over at [dead link removed! - whee, it's fun to go cleaning up old posts!]

That said, there's reasons for the restrictions being there - changing them might not be a wise idea. But yes, I'm sure theres plenty of MODs around that could use help

Edited by Erephine, 24 October 2005 - 07:29 AM.

[SConrad]

Yes, someone willing to help is always appreciated.

You can always check out Khadion if it's an NPC-mod you want to contribute to.

[Ellderon]

@ Lightspeed - If you are the Lightspeed form HLP (the one how makes cool effects and all), then I am TrashMan (the one who is making the SDF-1 and other stuff).
Of course I make use of the SCP! Who in their right mind doesn't!?


@Andyr - I allready changed 80% of the weapons myself and allso part of the armour...

B.t.w:

I never liked the way D&D dealt with armour. Insted of soaking part of the damage (which it should) it increses your AC, thus making you harder to hit???
There might be a way to go around that by using the Damage Reduction Bonus insted of AC bonus

DR (Damage Reduction)
CSP (Casting Speed Penalty)

LEATHER => no damage reduction, AC bonus +2, no casting speed penalty

SUDDED LEATHER => 1 slashing & piercing DR, AC bonus +1, no casting speed penalty

SCALE MAIL => 2 slashing & piercing DR, 1 blunt DR, -2 CSP

SPLINT MAIL => 2 slashing & piercing DR, 2 blunt DR, -2 CSP

CHAIN MAIL => 2 slashing, 4 piercing, 1 blunt DR, -2 CSP

PLATE MAIL => slashing, piercing, blunt DR, -5 CSP (reqirements: 15 str, 12 const)

FULL PLATE MAIL => 4 slashing, piercing, blunt DR, -6 CSP (requirements: 16 srt, 12 const)

What do you think? (B.t.w. - this will probably still need a bit of balancing...)

Edited by Ellderon, 18 July 2004 - 08:08 AM.

[Erephine]

@ Lightspeed - If you are the Lightspeed form HLP (the one how makes cool effects and all), then I am TrashMan (the one who is making the SDF-1 and other stuff).
Of course I make use of the SCP! Who in their right mind doesn't!?

Err.... no? And yes, they had a link to that site as well, I believe.

[edit: here we go again, whoo-hoo!]

I never liked the way D&D dealt with armour. Insted of soaking part of the damage (which it should) it increses your AC, thus making you harder to hit???
There might be a way to go around that by using the Damage Reduction Bonus insted of AC bonus

Well, see... This makes perfect sense for me. When you get hit, you lose hit points. Now, when you've got a thick metal armour around you, you won't get hit - the blows will hit the armour but NOT the character. --> You will get NO damage at all.

The better the armour is, the less likely it is for an attacker to hit bare skin (either by thrusting through the armour, or hitting uncovered parts) - so the chance to hit you will be lower if you have a good armour class.

Mages not being able to cast while wearing armour is also justified.

The only thing that's wrong about the way BG implements the AD&D rules is, that you CANNOT use more than one magical protection items (i.e. two protection rings, one necklace and a protection ring, etc, etc.).

If you're applying to the AD&D rules, they're pretty much perfect except one main fault: The healing (cure light wounds, etc.) should have been in actual HP percentages, not fix values. That's something about AD&D that's pretty stupid, as practically all heal spells except "Heal" become useless at higher levels.

Edited by Erephine, 24 October 2005 - 07:31 AM.

[Rastor]

I never liked the way D&D dealt with armour. Insted of soaking part of the damage (which it should) it increses your AC, thus making you harder to hit???
There might be a way to go around that by using the Damage Reduction Bonus insted of AC bonus

DR (Damage Reduction)
CSP (Casting Speed Penalty)

LEATHER => no damage reduction, AC bonus +2, no casting speed penalty

SUDDED LEATHER => 1 slashing & piercing DR, AC bonus +1, no casting speed penalty

SCALE MAIL => 2 slashing & piercing DR, 1 blunt DR, -2 CSP

SPLINT MAIL => 2 slashing & piercing DR, 2 blunt DR, -2 CSP

CHAIN MAIL => 2 slashing, 4 piercing, 1 blunt DR, -2 CSP

PLATE MAIL => slashing, piercing, blunt DR, -5 CSP (reqirements: 15 str, 12 const)

FULL PLATE MAIL => 4 slashing, piercing, blunt DR, -6 CSP (requirements: 16 srt, 12 const)

What do you think? (B.t.w. - this will probably still need a bit of balancing...)

Something similar was suggested about a week ago over at the RPG Dungeon forums.

[igi]

The AC/damage system has been suggested many times before, no-ones ever been bothered to implement it though, not even using weidu's spiffy mass editing capabilites.

And while stock bg2 doesnt allow multiple use of bonus equipment, you can edit the itemexcl.2da file, to allow it.
Or, for more fine-grain control, use scripting.

[Erephine]

I know you can tweak it, but it breaks BGII's playability.

[Ellderon]

@Lightspeed - why are you surprised? You know I mod every game I like to some extent nad that I'm the member of half the modding comunities out there:D

But you are wrong about one thing - armour can't negate damage (delect it from your body), it can only absorb part of it (in some cases, allmost all of it).
I know what I'm talking about - medival weapons and armour is one of my hobbbies and I've read lot's of material about them.

For instance - the classic chainmail - it was excellent against arrows, since their broad heads got stuck between the rings/chains. During the First Crusade, the Turks actually held those europeans with chainmail as some demons, since they fought with buch of arrows sticking from them.

Of course, once they made arrows with slim tips, SOME actually made it trough the rings. But chainmail and Plate mail were practicly invulnerable to arrows...untill the composite longbow arrived. Mind you, full plate mail still preformed well against it.

But blunt damage was the bane of armour. Leather, scale, chain - offered little to no defence against it, while plate/full plate prevented your ribs from beeing smashed.

in any case - SOME damage allways got trough - it was mostly bruises, but still...
Oh...and wearing heavy armour makes it kinda harder to dodge, now doesn't it?
(But not too much..I've seen a guy doing forward rols in one of those...)

And I WILL edit all armour to follow those specs.I just have to..

* Jusr one question...

I want to make the Stronghold quest available for a paldin allso...how to do it?

[Rastor]

I want to make the Stronghold quest available for a paldin allso...how to do it?

Editing a dialogue or two should do it. Which stronghold do you want a paladin to get?

[Ellderon]

Nalia's Keep

[Erephine]

Well, a RPG is a simplified version of Real Life TM, i'm afraid.

So ideally, an armour does either absorb the damage, or not.

The different 'proficiencies' of weaponry (chainmail being good against projectiles etc) is even supported by the AD&D rules, by applying AC boni against different weapon types. Example:

A platemail has a standard armour class of 3. Additionally to that, it has -3 to blade weapons.

A chainmail has a standard armour class of 5. Additionally to that, it has a -2 bonus to blade weapons, but a +2 penalty on blunt weapons.

A studded leather armour has a standard armour class of 6. Additionally to that, is has a bonus of -2 to blade, and -1 to spike weapons.

Each piece of armour has individual AC modifications to different weapon types. Something that makes sense and plays good, while not confusing everything like a realistic 'realistic' system would.

IMHO you just have to draw the line somewhere. And if I might add, I think AD&D is VERY accurate, as it is.

[Rastor]

Nalia's Keep

WeiDU could do it. Simply remove the trigger text ~Class(FIGHTER_ALL)~ from the triggers of Nalia's dialog file that gives you the "take over the keep" line.

Edited by Rastor, 18 July 2004 - 04:55 PM.

[Ellderon]

ERm...I figured that alone, but what I don't know is how to exactly edit it?

where are thoe files located? Do I need some extractor or special program?

I allready have IEEP, Kit Maker, Item Checker and a few more...

EDIT: Darn..I sound like a complete n00b for someone who's mdding everything he can get his hands on for years:D

EDIT2: Anyone know where I can find a CLASS/KIT EDITOR?
I wanna remove some race restrictions (like adding non-human paladins and similar stuff)

EDIT3: I downloaded Near Infinity, but there is no exe file I can find????

EDIT4: @Lightspeed - true, but it can be made even better and more realistic than it is. All it takes is a little patience and work.

Edited by Ellderon, 19 July 2004 - 05:42 AM.

[seanas]

Infinity Explorer is good for browsing all the game files.

you execute Near Infinity from the jave.exe (sorry, dont know what it's called as i dont have it installed) which needs to be installed separately.

you can use DLTCEP for all yr modding requirements - usually you can get DLTCEP from www.teambg.net (and all IE tools, actually), but it's down at the moment. there might be a version kicking round somewhere on another forum or a mirror, if necessary i could email you a version (it's too large to post on this forum).

[EDIT] Better yet, you can grab it from the Dragonlance conversion project.

Edited by seanas, 19 July 2004 - 06:23 AM.

[Ellderon]

Well I did it...changed some armors and tested it.

the Spellcasting Speed Factor effect works like a charm.
It took my mage with a plate mail (50% damage reduction to all and -4 CSP...REQUIRES 15 STR) 4-5 seconds to cast a Mirror Image.

On the other hand I'm not so sure if damage reduction works properly.
I'm not so sure I understand the modifiers.

if Modifier Type is 00 it's a flat stat modifier. So what does a Statistic Modifier of 5 do? reduce any damage recived by 5?


I use Modifier Type 02 wiht percentages. Now I'm not sure how this works either.
If I set the SM to 70, does that mean that 70% of recived damage is negated?
Or that 30% of the damage is negated?

Maby I shoulld use a flat stat? Anyone?

[seanas]

and at this point i can safely say 'you've got no fear about looking like a newb, mate'...

i'll try and help, as much as i can, although i'd suggest if yr pulling the game engine apart, you a: go to teambg, cos they specialise in that sort of thing; b: got to the dragonlance conversion project, cos that's where most of the teambgers seem to be hanging out; c: get yrself a copy of IESDP, as it's the essential reference guide to the IE engine. AFAIK, there's a copy of IESDP at the dragonlance conversion forum, as well. otherwise, as before, i can email you one if google fails to find one.

having said that, my copy of IESDP indicates there are three separate opcodes for damage reduction:

#86 (0x56) Stat: Slashing Resistance Modifier [86]
#87 (0x57) Stat: Crushing Resistance Modifier [87]
#88 (0x58) Stat: Piercing Resistance Modifier [88]

but they all obey the same rules:

    Parameter #1: Statistic Modifier
    Parameter #2: Type
    Description:
    Applies the modifier value specified by the 'Statistic Modifier'
    field in the style specified by the 'Type' field.
   
    Known values for 'Type' are:
    0   Cumulative Modifier -> Damage = Damage + 'Statistic Modifier'
    value
    1   Flat Value Modifier -> Damage = 'Statistic Modifier' value
    2   Percentage Modifier -> Damage = (Damage * 'Statistic Modifier'
    value) / 100

so a percentage modifier of 70 should mean that the wearer takes 70% of the received damage, if type is 2. but you'll need all three opcodes for it to work with all forms of pysical damage.

[EDIT] IESDP can be temporarily found at Gibberlings3

Edited by seanas, 19 July 2004 - 02:10 PM.