Difficulty Mod

agris

What would it take to make a mod that set all the difficulty-dependent spawn variables (monster spawn #s and type) to the INSANE setting, without the damage increase that comes with jacking up the difficulty slider? If I remember correctly, the_bigg had such a mod for BG2 and it was handled through a scripted dialog, not by adjusting the slider.

junk11

BG difficulty setting has nothing to do with spawn rate,
the rate is the same across all difficulties,
if you are looking for new spawn rate system, then non for BGEE at the moment.
there is,however, one member trying to tweak BGspawn into BGEE compatible.

agris

@junk11 That may have been true for vanilla BG, but its not true for the EE. One of Trent's posts about the patch that fixed/improved the spawn system stated their formula for spawns: difficulty setting and average party level. That's why I made this post!

junk11

He wrote....

TrentOster said:

The current monster spawn solution is based on # of party members and level of those characters. If effectively adds them up and spawns creatures accordingly. If you are solo and low level the spawns will be light. As well, in original BG some of the creatures were placed in the area and do not use the spawn system, so they will be unchanged.

hmm....?

agris

Right, and...

TrentOster said:

The fewer monsters is likely due to the difficulty setting. I'd suggest a higher setting.

So there you go.

junk11

the one you post is before they fix the spawn system.
I don't think it's the case anymore or if it ever is.

agris

It definitely was, based on that quote from Trent. Not sure why you would think its different now, unless you've got some sort of link that says otherwise.

But anyway, this is a digression because I'm not trying to convince you of anything. I'm looking for how I would go about setting the monster spawn settings to be convinced that the game is at INSANE difficulty.

junk11

you should read the response below Trent's comment from the one you post. (and maybe the spawn complain thread)
the spawn algorithm changed in version 2010 after we complained about it.
and the new system followed with the rules like Trent said... level and party size,
if you don't believe me, you can try for yourself by changing the difficulty.

and to your original answer, I have told you.. the answer is no,
there isn't a mod or a simple override file to alter spawn algorithm yet.
It's hardcoded.

Abel

I guess junk11 is right.
Otherwise, the only workaround I see is that you play Insane and found a way to divide all damage taken by two. Maybe it's doable by script.

agris

The trouble I have with @junk11's response is that we have no dev comments to the effect of "We have divorced difficulty from spawns", and actually have the opposite statement. True, there are bugs with how the system is working, but the only concrete words we have from devs are that spawns are, at least partially, tied to the difficulty. It looks like junk11 is convinced of something, but I don't see any evidence to support it, only the contrary.

Maybe I missed the comment where a dev says "As of Patch 1.XX we have removed difficulty-adjusted spawns", but acting as if you have the answer without being able to show anything other than saying "I have told you..." is not convincing.

@Abel the way the difficulty system works, as I understand it, is that depending on the slider position a global game variable (GVAR) is set. That game variable is referenced in some hard coded functions, like damage application, and some soft coded scripts, like the scripted spawn points. This is why I'm asking about a mod, because the relevant scripts that modify spawns based on that GVAR could be modified to spawn the max number at, say, GVAR == NORMAL instead of INSANE. Or maybe I'm stuck thinking in the BGT mindset, and all of this is hard coded in BG:EE.

Abel

Well, if it is done in BGT I guess it can be done in BGEE. Maybe @CamDawg can help you on this.