sufflaminandus

Hello. For quite some time now I've been working on my NPC mode codenamed 'Ray'. It's my first time affair but I managed to grasp the concepts of writing dialogs with WeiDO and basic scripting. But when I started creating creatures for the quests I encountered a few problems that moved me to create this topic.

It is not only about the questions I will list below. I earnestly try to implement my mode in proper way and to achieve that I try to clearly understand my actions: what every line of code does, why is it needed here; what every field in various IE structures does. So, actually, I got lots question, even about well documented WeiDO. I managed to resolve some of them on my own, some I just skipped, but, still, it's a long road ahead and I can't (neither want to) avoid asking for help. So I hope that this topic could be my 'advice board'. Thanks!  (But, of course, I'm going to do my own research first, before troubling others.)

Anyway, currently I can't deal with following matters:

1. What is your favorite approach in creating creatures (specifically people)? Currently I see two ways: blank (or template) creature that you fully customize yourself, or copying the most similar to yours with modification of differing fields. I think the  second one is quicker and safer for newbie as me but the problem is that not all kits can be found in the game (I don't recall any skalds in BG2).

2. How do ability modifiers get applied and how are they displayed in the NI. Specifically:

a) Is strength bonus applied in NI (THAC0 field) or does it work as some runtime effect in the game? Example: fighter level 7 has THAC0 14; if I want to create level 7 fighter with strength 17 (+1 to hit), do I set THACO 14 or 13 in NI?

b) Same question for dexterity, specifically: what is natural and effective AC and what do I write in NI for character with dex 18, 6 AC or 10 AC (and in what field)?

c) Same for constitution. Through new game I created kensai with 16 CON. At level 12 he has 117 hp. When I convert save game to CRE, NI shows 99 hp. Which is actually bewildering because CON bonus should be 2 * 12 = 24...

3. Effects (or are they known as opcodes in IE modding community?). It's a whole separate topic because I'm completely clueless in this area and can't even formulate exact questions.  I think my condition can be improved by basic explanation of effect system. So in this paragraph I just ask: is there are some tutorial about effects?

But, actually, I do have some vague effect questions:

4. I created kensai lvl 12 and converted it to created to .CRE. When I open it I see a whole bunch of effects that (as I understand) emulate kit bonuses: x4 increase THAC0 (278), x4 increase damage(73), x4 increase speed factor(190). But there are some very confusing moments:

a) Why each THAC0 and damage effect increases corresponding stat by 1 ('value' field) but speed factor increases incrementally 1,2,3,4 ('amount' field)?

b) It's logical to assume that only last of the speed factor effect gets applied, but how is it implemented? As plausible explanation I discovered that only last of the effects has coordinates set to valid values but then why all of the THAC0 and damage effects works properly? I mean that both THAC0 and damage effect has coordinates set only in the last effect too so, consequently, I would expect to see +1 bonus in game and not + 4.

c) Some questions about "Target" field in effect structure. Specifically: when should I use "None (0)", why "Preset target (2)" is used for above effects and not "Self (1)" and what is "Self (1)" then.

d) Why MODIFYPROFICIENCY is "None (0)" and is it applied in runtime (its bonuses to THAC0, damage, etc)?

e) What is "Used internally" field?

5. Do I have to add all the memorization info (7 priest levels, 9 wizard, etc) even for non-casting creatures?

6. So in the end I need to create enemy kensai creature. Do I emulate kensai bonuses via effects or do I hardcode it into stats, if possible? Looking through game creatures I see that hardcoding is a go-for method but I still want to hear it from experienced people.

7. My Ray NPC is assassin so I based it upon Yoshimo creature file. When I studied yoshi10.cre I noticed that innate profession skills are not memorized but he still has them in the game. Why/How?