[Mod Idea]Dwarven Defender - Help Required

mars0124

Lets be honest here, a Dwarven Defenders ability to block attacks at a reduced speed is NOT magical. It is training. That being said, should a Dwarven Defender not be able to STOP defending at his own whim? That's the idea behind this mod. It doesn't exist yet, I don't have the know how yet, but by George I'm going to make it happen.

So. Are there any here that could point me in the right direction? I imagine I need to edit the abilities of the Defensive Stance ability to add a temporary ability to 'dispell' Dwarven Stance....

Here I go! If you have ideas on HOW to do this, just throw them in. They could be better than the n00b level coding that is available to me.

mars0124

OK, so I tried referring to a few other spells. Polymorph self was number 1 as it added other abilities when cast.

So the problem is as follows. When I cast defensive stance, I immediately cast the remove defensive stance ability. Any ideas how I would turn the second effect of defensive stance into a ability waiting to be cast? Also, can I set that ability to expire after 1 turn (at the same time as defensive stance), given it was not previously cast?

mlnevese

I'm not a modder but I think you could look at skills such as hide in shadows to see how they're coded.

IchigoRXC

Imagine if all the UI was eventually softcoded and externalised, we could create block button much like turn undead or stealth.

mars0124

Would be nice. As is, I was planning an innate ability, but its not going to happen.

I've unfortunately discovered that this modding forum is more a plan to put down a modding idea and have it critiqued, and not a place to ask for help and learn. Maybe sometime I'll find such a forum.

But I absolutely agree IchigoRXC, it would be nice to have these things softcover.

mlnevese

Have you tried contacting Wisp? He can give you some hints or point you in the right direction.

horredtheplague

mars0124 said:

Would be nice. As is, I was planning an innate ability, but its not going to happen.

I've unfortunately discovered that this modding forum is more a plan to put down a modding idea and have it critiqued, and not a place to ask for help and learn. Maybe sometime I'll find such a forum.

Giving up on making the spell, or giving up on forum help? You have to understand--this is a game that never came with a toolset, and was never meant to be modded. It's always been a maverick-style modding, as we've been forced to "wing it". Experiment, try and see. This makes it more difficult, but it also gives one the joy and feeling of accomplishment associated with self-discovery.

It sometimes takes a couple days before someone with the know-how stumbles over your forum post. There's no full-time employee of any company I'm aware of tasked with helping forum users make their own mods, for any game. Patience is a virtue as they say. But a few of us do actually like to help others learn....


That said, you were on to the right idea with an innate ability. Best we got to work with. It will appear in the GUI this way, selectable. But you have to do a couple other things first.

1) The original spell needs some additions. It needs a custom Secondary School Type. These are added in MSECTYPE.2da
2) It needs a Learn Spell (Innate) effect (147). Perhaps Give Innate Ability (171) effect will do the job (try both, see which does the job better). The innate they learn when 'casting' is a custom, of course.
3) The Learn Spell effect should have a duration equal to the original. If this doesn't get rid of it at the end, try RemoveSpell with a duration type Delay set to same time.
4) The learned innate should cast the effect Remove Secondary Type (221) set to the number of your custom school in MSECTYPE.2da.

If you want a working example of at least parts of this, check out the Disease Fix part of the BPSeries scripts. Disease effects assigned a special secondary school, and taking a cure (Mummy's Tea in BG2 modding, the Cleric spell, et al) removes this school. You can be pretty broad-reaching and general with this approach, as opposed to other (more specific) ways of removing spells. Because I'm thinking: if a Dwarven Defender can do this, why can't a Blade? Or a fighter with HLA's? You could use the same sec school for all these types of "melee innates".

mars0124

@mlvenese I haven't reached out to Wisp, though i likely won't. I'm currently of the stubborn opinion that there is a big difference in a community where you have to chase people for help vs one where it is readily offered. This amounts to the overall lack of learning of the community, the hoarding of knowledge of the best, and unfortunately a slower growth for all of us. If this sounds like the opinion of someone who has given up, you are correct. The lack of responses on all of my pleas, and others that i have witnessed, up to this point is entirely underwhelming.

Admittedly though, for the times I have reached out I have been helped. Thank you for that @Archaic and @Tome, not to mention @nsr and @Wowo for readily helping me test my iPad script.

I appreciate all the information @horredtheplague. Given I feel better next week (which is likely considering the extraordinarily low amount of sleep that my children have allocated to me over the past week) I will take another stab at this. And as for your thoughts on the blade or fighter HLAs I would totally agree. "WHY CAN'T I STOP SWINGING THESE SWORDS!?!? RAAAAGH!!!"

Edit: And I know you are correct on the timeframe it takes for help. It's just that normally in a day or two help does not come. And I'd like to ask you honestly, as I am interested in psychology, if I had not posted my disappointment with this community would you have posted your thoughts above (and again, thank you for that).

horredtheplague

mars0124 said:

Edit: And I know you are correct on the timeframe it takes for help. It's just that normally in a day or two help does not come. And I'd like to ask you honestly, as I am interested in psychology, if I had not posted my disappointment with this community would you have posted your thoughts above (and again, thank you for that).

I'd have posted the 'help section', the how-to for the spells, sure. It wouldn't be the first time I've tried to offer modding advice in these forums, nor the last--whenever I see the need and think I might have the answers. I would not have gone into an explanation about the community, had it not been fitting.

smeagolheart

add a request to feature requests to dispel the stance. maybe devs will add it.

mars0124

Going forward, if you think that the help section is best for mod help, then I will try there. I thought that entailed help with the vanilla game, and the modding section was for all things modding related.

And I'm glad to know you are a person who would have helped regardless. Help is good.

And to the previous point of joy in self-discovery, I understand that. I was thrilled with being able to figure out and help someone with dialog in their mod. It's just a steep learning curve on your own is all. At least until you get your feet wet.

horredtheplague

@mars0124: You're actually about a dozen years too late for a forum of that degree. Back in 2001-2, when the original modding scene was just taking off, TeamBG had a Modding Academy, complete with Bronze/Silver/Gold awards. and a set of categories (item making, area making, etc). Assistance was easier to come by back then, because everybody was learning it for the first time at once. There also used to be a quite active TeamBG iRC channel, where you could usually get advice at the drop of a question. But such is the fate of older modding scenes, even resparked in a new age... *sighs deeply*

LiamEsler

@mars0124: If you're looking for modding how-to advice, generally posting on the actual modding communities (specifically: G3 or SHS, since they're most active) is a good bet.

mars0124

Thanks for the pointers @Kaeloree . Do you think it would be worth stickying/pinning something to direct people to this forum to position their ideas but go to G3 or SHS for modding help?

mars0124

@horredtheplague I know how you feel, missing the old days. I still check in on the forums for a MMORPG that I used to play, Tibia.

I guess that leaves me with two choices. Begrudge the lack of support as that comes from the 'old team'. Or start anew. It's been a rough week, as I previously said. Maybe next week or the week after ill be part of the new start that will help people learn.