When will SCS2 be ready for BG2EE?

Ygramul

With gratitude again to the developer of SCS2, could we hear when BG2EE and SCS2 should be expected to be compatible post-release?

I will just say that I will buy BG2EE *after* SCS2 is declared safe and compatible: BG is intolerable without the SCS AI once you are experienced.

Lord_Tansheron

I seem to recall a statement that it will practically be available from day 1, thanks to beta access. I might be wrong, of course... but given how popular SCS is, I wouldn't think that there is going to be a long delay between releases even if there is one.

10thLich

According to @DavidW there won't be a separate SCS II, as everything's been rolled into SCS. I assume that it's "only" a matter of updating it for BG2:EE.

DavidW

I *expect* to release a Bg2EE- compatible SCS in advance of BG2EE release. (I *promise* nothing!)

10thlich is right that I have combined both mods. SCS v22-24 is a beta release that combines both. I anticipate that v25 will be non-beta (though inevitably it'll be beta for BG2EE as I won't have done third party testing).

Shin

@DavidW Any chance of Improved Irenicus in Hell being included as an ini file toggle?

Eudaemonium

I haven't really used SCS with EE since I was waiting for the NPC Project as well (always waiting), but I remember hearing that there were issues with the mod not affecting the EE content, so that Dorn, Neera and Rasaad's encounters were much, much easier than the rest of the game. Is this still the case, and more to the point, will this happen in 2EE, or is the updated mod going to also affect the new content?

DavidW

Shin said:

@DavidW Any chance of Improved Irenicus in Hell being included as an ini file toggle?

Possibly; not certainly. It's on my to-do list.

Eudaemonium said:

I haven't really used SCS with EE since I was waiting for the NPC Project as well (always waiting), but I remember hearing that there were issues with the mod not affecting the EE content, so that Dorn, Neera and Rasaad's encounters were much, much easier than the rest of the game. Is this still the case, and more to the point, will this happen in 2EE, or is the updated mod going to also affect the new content?

It depends whether the new content uses standard scripts or its own bespoke scripts. If the former, SCS will just scoop it up. If the latter, SCS won't touch it. Doing so would require me to dig into the coding structure of the new content, and I'd prefer to experience it properly myself first; also, insofar as the BG2EE writers have made an effort to do interesting AI (this probably applies to TBP more than the Dorn et al material) I'd rather let it have a chance to shine.

Ygramul

DavidW said:

I *expect* to release a Bg2EE- compatible SCS in advance of BG2EE release. (I *promise* nothing!)

Awesome. Thanks, David. Really appreciate the efforts.


A pedestrian question, if I may:
- I remember that in the old days there was some bother involving TobEX(?) or some such, and that it made it difficult to handle, for example, invisible mage vs. anti-magic spells, properly -- especially, if you were not playing on PC. (I have a Mac; I have been doing Tutu on Wine earlier; now I have BGEE for Mac.)

Will the revised spell rules of SCS work properly on Mac?

(I'm sorry for the diffuse question, but it is a game killer if one is OCD about no-reload gaming (which I am) and mage battles have insurmountable problems, such as having no option to Spell Thrust an Improved Invisible mage under Globes of Invulnerability or Spell Immunity:Divination etc.)

DavidW

The short answer is you're fine.

The long answer is a little complicated. In vanilla BG2 there is no way to allow a spell to target an improved-invisible creature, which makes Spell Immunity:Divination+II a bit insurmountable. Early versions of SCS worked around this by giving antimagic spells a small area effect.

Around two or three years ago I found a better workaround (basically the spell summons an invisible creature which then force-casts the spell's payload on the nearest appropriate victim) - but it never really saw the light of day because ToBEx came along and actually introduced a flag for spells to properly bypass II.

At present, BGEE doesn't have that ToBEx functionality. I'm hoping that it'll make it in at some point, but until then I'm falling back on my workaround. It basically works okay.

Ygramul

Many thanks!

The game is on then...

syllog

@DavidW
So ToBEx just not compatible with BG:EE OR BG2:EE?
Any idea on when it may be or if there's away to manually install any changes? (realize a lot involve hacking the executable?

If not I might just wait a year or so before playing - I'm kind of SCS dependent for interest. And some of the bugs (interruption when damage <=0, not waking when slept) kind ruin things...

Also not sure how much it messes with enemy targeting...

DavidW

ToBEx definitely not compatible, but it's not a major constraint on SCS. Interruption when damage <=0 is probably the biggest but I doubt it makes much difference to SCS-specific scripting. (Sleep interruption has never been part of SCS.)

syllog

Thanks for the comment. I'll soldier on.
I don't suppose there's a simple way for me to manually manipulate the game with near infinity to fix the spell interruption when immune bug is there? Would make for fun builds.

DavidW

"Bug" is the wrong word; it's just functionality available on one version of the game and not another.

And regarding your question: no. If there was I'd have done it in the mod.