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The LoB + SCS Solo Challenge vs Bhaal´s Cataclysm

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  • Mr_SaltyMr_Salty Member Posts: 188
    edited March 2019
    u guys should realy put out a video on how u progress ^^ all this text is making it look easy and all but a no reload for me is gonna be impossible lol, im wandering arround cluelessly trying to find what quest/things to do for easy exp i am still in Chapter 2 doing all the sidequests cause i feel like if i go chapter 3 things will get harder super fast and that i dont have the proper levels yet, also gear that i need i have no idea (btw im doing the companion quests aswell but not using the companions is that allowed lol ? )

    @histamiini Edit: how do u charm without getting attacked when u failed the charm??
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @Mr_Salty: Algernon's Cloak and the Nymph Cloak don't turn the target hostile if they fail. I believe all other charm effects will turn the target hostile if they fail, or after they wear off.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    I've considered recording my runs, but Bandicam won't work when BG is in full-screen mode (the entire screen is just black) and when BG is in window mode, I can't scroll using the mouse; I have to use the directional keys to scroll across the map, which is immensely inconvenient.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    Now I've got it. You just press the game recording button, load the game, and then use F12 to start the recording in-game; you don't pick the window before starting up the game.
  • Mr_SaltyMr_Salty Member Posts: 188
    edited March 2019
    semiticgod wrote: »
    Now I've got it. You just press the game recording button, load the game, and then use F12 to start the recording in-game; you don't pick the window before starting up the game.

    what u using to do that im interested aswell, in logging my runs ^^ or is it still the same Bandicam ?

    Edit i got it working now too @semiticgod thnx for naming that program in your post haha snatched it^^
    Post edited by Mr_Salty on
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @histamiini: I remember a mention of an infinite XP trick for clerics, in which you could use Turn Undead under invisibility to kill the shadows summoned by the Shadow Altar. How high-level would you have to be to make that work?
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @subtledoctor: Simple question. Currently enemies in LoB mode are bugged to not get the intended +5 bonus to all saving throws. Couldn't a simple WeiDU mod patch all critters besides party members to have a +5 bonus to saves tacked onto their .cre files, to imitate the effect? It would also apply to normal mode, but the player could uninstall it for non-LoB runs.

    I've been thinking about trying the updated LoB mode with the +11 AC and the save bug fixed. I'm trying to decide between a Cleric of Lathander(21)->Mage(23), a single-classed Archer, an unkitted fighter or Barbarian, or a Fighter/Mage/Cleric. I've just completed a solo Archer run of normal mode, and I thought it might be nice to give a shot at doing it in LoB mode.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited March 2019
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  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    It works! It adds a bunch of .cre files to the override folder, but I notice no impact on load times and the memory space is nothing to worry about. I checked to make sure it was working by making the Blindness spell cast itself infinitely, then casting Blindness on Abela the Nymph after modifying her base save vs. spell to 5. The mod set her effective save vs. spell to 0, and so the Blindness spell was never able to affect her.

    gp6buuq678y9.jpg

    I might try a run with this mod installed, but I don't think this mod should be considered "required" for the purposes of this challenge. The save bug is only one of numerous bugs we exploit in this challenge, and we already have completed challenges from the less difficult pre-v2.5 update in which LoB mode did not grant +11 to AC.

    @subtledoctor: This is worth posting somewhere as a formal mod or at least a hotfix until the next update fixes the save bug. The mod might be simple, but the impact is very meaningful for LoB runs.
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,440
    edited March 2019
    semiticgod wrote: »
    @Mr_Salty: Algernon's Cloak and the Nymph Cloak don't turn the target hostile if they fail. I believe all other charm effects will turn the target hostile if they fail, or after they wear off.
    Generally speaking item based charms don't agro if failed. This also includes The Ring of Human Influence, Staff of Command (no save) and Control Circlet (no save, no MR), and probably some others?

    @Mr_Salty I've recorded some end battles, but maybe could do some interesting ones as well, recording whole playthrough without narration, not many are going to bother watching that I don't think.
    semiticgod wrote: »
    @histamiini: I remember a mention of an infinite XP trick for clerics, in which you could use Turn Undead under invisibility to kill the shadows summoned by the Shadow Altar. How high-level would you have to be to make that work?
    I believe it was level 21 Turn Undead. I actually could test that with current run, because I haven't done that part yet, although I'm couple levels over.

    EDIT: Tested it out, Shadows explode nicely, but Shadow Altar don't spawn Shadows anymore if it doesn't see you. So the easy xp-loop doesn't really work. Don't remember if this was the case with previous SCS, I'm using the newest one 32v10.

    Temple ruins were trivial with MoD, PfU, Turn Undead, Invisibility and WoW. Only survivors were the Bone Golems. Also got another level.

    b9y7i3hwd9bn.png
    wm6qbx7mjpq1.png
    Post edited by histamiini on
  • Mr_SaltyMr_Salty Member Posts: 188
    @histamiini i would watch it completely ^^ since i dont want to miss anything, where did u posted your videos ? if u already made a couple ?^^
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,440
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,320
    histamiini wrote: »
    semiticgod wrote: »
    @histamiini: I remember a mention of an infinite XP trick for clerics, in which you could use Turn Undead under invisibility to kill the shadows summoned by the Shadow Altar. How high-level would you have to be to make that work?
    I believe it was level 21 Turn Undead. I actually could test that with current run, because I haven't done that part yet, although I'm couple levels over.

    EDIT: Tested it out, Shadows explode nicely, but Shadow Altar don't spawn Shadows anymore if it doesn't see you. So the easy xp-loop doesn't really work. Don't remember if this was the case with previous SCS, I'm using the newest one 32v10.

    I'm not sure what the problem is? If shadows are exploding almost as soon as they're created - and you have regeneration and they need a critical to hit - why is it not possible to stay visible and just leave the game active for an hour or two while you do something else?
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,440
    edited March 2019
    @Grond0 Now that I tested it again, you're correct it doesn't really matter. I got confused because there's actually two types of Shadows in the dungeon, SDSHADOW which are level 12 and can't be exploded at level 21 Turn Undead, and which also quickly kill you with STR drain. But Shadow Altar Shadows are level 4 SHADOWSU which are pretty harmless. So you can just forget it and get max level risk free doing nothing. :)
  • Mr_SaltyMr_Salty Member Posts: 188
    @histamiini yes i already seen those ^^ didnt know it was from u good stuff, but would off liked it more to see the preparations, the gear that u use etc to understand the picture better on how people do these things
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,440
    edited March 2019
    @Mr_Salty Yeah that's something that video would be good for. Still it's additional chore to the write ups, but something to consider.

    And as I write this, Shadows explode nicely in the backround, 15 minutes of test in and no problems. Shadow Altar spawns Shadows every 4 seconds (2 with Improved Haste), and with 420 xp a pop, you get 378k xp in a hour. By doing nothing.

    EDIT: bad news, after having shadows exploding about a hour, the game has become more sluggish at time, and now it's taking about 8 seconds to spawn a Shadow. It might eventually crash the game, like was the case with extensive amount of Skull Traps in single area, which had a limit of about 1500.
    Post edited by histamiini on
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,320
    I imagine the game is keeping track of the number of dead bodies, even if those don't leave a visible residue. If you save and reload that would probably help.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @histamiini: How are you spawning the shadows safely while still visible? Does the fight not end if you kill the Shade Lord and Shadow Patrick but let the Shadow Altar live?

    Now that I think about it, the exploit might not be all that meaningful if you have to already be at cleric level 21 to do it. Dual-classing from cleric to mage, as I considered, would make it useless since you can't use Turn Undead during the recovery period. Dual-classing into a cleric would also make it pretty narrow, since an Archer(21)->Cleric would already have 7 million XP by the time the Shadow Altar XP trick was doable. Or can you explode the lower-level summoned Shadows at a lower level than the regular ones?
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,440
    @semiticgod They've pretty low Thac0 so they aren't doing that much damage. And Turn Undead explodes them almost every round, or very least gets them running away. Had to stop the test on hour mark though, so don't know how it goes from there.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    I calculate Belhifet would deal 98 base damage to Caelar per round given his THAC0, APR, and damage per hit, or 196 if you had bonus damage enabled. With her 135 base HP, Caelar could only survive on Greater Restoration scrolls if you disabled bonus damage, or if I designed a mod that allowed her to fight alongside the party instead of acting as a party member herself. If you did, she would be able to tank Belhifet for as many rounds as you had Greater Restoration, as long as you kept her safe from other demons.

    But it looks like her THAC0 would be -3, which means she'd have to roll critical hits on Belhifet when he was under Improved Invisibility, or 17 before then. She can't solo Belhifet; you still have to deal damage yourself.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    Okay, Bandicam works, but only for 10 minutes, and you have to pay $40 to get any more. I'm not willing to do that.

    Does anyone know of any decent free recording software that won't have a short time limit?
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    Testing has found that the basilisk XP loop is still doable and practical with save bonuses implemented properly, but it takes a lot more work. I've been using stealth and auto-pause on the end of the round to make sure I can run away immediately after using Algernon's Cloak or a Stone to Flesh scroll. The basic problem is that the save bonuses mean you need a Greater Basilisk as your pet instead of a Lesser Basilisk so you have better APR on your pet basilisk, which means using Korax to isolate the southern Greater Basilisk so you can charm it and use it against Mutamin and therefore isolate the northern Greater Basilisk, who will be your target. Landing the charm is tough, though; you have about a 20% chance of success, since the Greater Basilisk's save vs. breath is a base 8, or 3 with LoB bonuses, or 4 when factoring in the -1 save penalty from the cloak.

    Then I assume you use the cloak to kill Mulahey, then use Silke and/or Tiax and his ghast to eat Tranzig, run from Tazok, burgle the bandit camp, use a charmed Teyngan as a decoy to kill Drizzt and then... Davaeorn is a problem for me.

    1. If you burn 24 charges from the Necklace of Missiles, can you really get rid of all those guards for good, or will more of them spawn indefinitely? Davaeorn will only lose 58 HP out of his maximum 215, and his AC will be -10, or -11 against missiles, so even the post-guard portion is gonna be nasty.

    2. How do you skip the Seven Suns?

    3. Bad news: Dushai will be immune to Algernon's Cloak with LoB save bonuses. So are some other critters, but none that seem like important targets for the cloak.

    4. How do you deal with Love, Avarice, Greed, and Pride or whatever their names are in Durlag's Tower? How do you deal with all of the hideous traps in that area, for that matter, or all the enemies? If I played an Archer, I would have access to no summons, everything is immune to charm, and the new LoB will impose an additional -11 AC burden. Love in particular is going to be hideous for an Archer due to Physical Mirror. Would Potions of Firebreath work, or be sufficient? I get the feeling that Durlag's Goblet will be very important even if we do gain access to a bunch of Greater Restoration scrolls in SoD.

    A single-classed Archer seems doable, but that AC bonus will make things much tougher than my old Archer/Mage run. @histamiini, do you have any advice for my run, since I'd basically be attempting to replicate the BG1 and SoD parts of your Archer/Cleric run?
  • Mr_SaltyMr_Salty Member Posts: 188
    @histamiini
    @semiticgod

    do u guys know what i am doing wrong here ?
    https://youtu.be/kTpHsJY_2eY

    ive been trying different spell setups etc but i cannot kill this guy and i want his ring realy badly ..
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @Mr_Salty: Definitely a bug. Kangaxx only regenerates 2 HP per round from his ring. The instantaneous regeneration looks like an old bug that used to apply to Greater Wolfweres, whose regeneration used to be re-applied every time the game was loaded, so they would heal dozens of HP per second and be impossible to kill without instant death effects. Another possibility is that there's some bizarre error in his script where he thinks it's been 8 hours and so he heals himself as if the player had fled the fight, rested, and come back--but he's doing it every second or something.

    Kangaxx has an item that prevents him from dropping below 1 HP, which will make him immune to instant death effects and so forth, but it wouldn't instantly heal him. Look up his creature file in Near Infinity (the file name should be HLKANG.cre) and see if he has any passive effects or items that grant him regeneration. If he doesn't, check his script and find the part where it mentions healing after 8 hours. There might be something wrong with that, too.

    Was there anything unusual about how you started this fight? I notice that he's already spawned and already hostile when you approach him, and he's away from his normal starting position in the middle of the chamber, so I assume you fought him, left the area, and then came back to re-start the fight. You may have to reload from a previous save and start over from the beginning to overcome the bug.
  • Mr_SaltyMr_Salty Member Posts: 188
    edited March 2019
    semiticgod wrote: »
    @Mr_Salty: Definitely a bug. Kangaxx only regenerates 2 HP per round from his ring. The instantaneous regeneration looks like an old bug that used to apply to Greater Wolfweres, whose regeneration used to be re-applied every time the game was loaded, so they would heal dozens of HP per second and be impossible to kill without instant death effects. Another possibility is that there's some bizarre error in his script where he thinks it's been 8 hours and so he heals himself as if the player had fled the fight, rested, and come back--but he's doing it every second or something.

    Kangaxx has an item that prevents him from dropping below 1 HP, which will make him immune to instant death effects and so forth, but it wouldn't instantly heal him. Look up his creature file in Near Infinity (the file name should be HLKANG.cre) and see if he has any passive effects or items that grant him regeneration. If he doesn't, check his script and find the part where it mentions healing after 8 hours. There might be something wrong with that, too.

    Was there anything unusual about how you started this fight? I notice that he's already spawned and already hostile when you approach him, and he's away from his normal starting position in the middle of the chamber, so I assume you fought him, left the area, and then came back to re-start the fight. You may have to reload from a previous save and start over from the beginning to overcome the bug.

    i had too flee a couple of times and change spells first try was going in with Deva and see if he gets insta crushed he imprisoned the deva, went out and rested and went back in this time i did PFE with imp haste and run towards his place > dropped a gate and run away waited for pit fiend to disapear and now he had not so much spells left to shoot at me dropped deva again got him towards the 2nd phase and thats where he killed me with his new abilities (at this point i remembered i had PFU scrolls ^^) and thats where he regend that fast after posting this video here i tried 1 more thing and that was using the PFU PFE drop a gate waited a little bit then dropped a deva PFE PFU and IMP Hasted it and let it fight kangax while he was attacking the pitfiend got again to his 2nd phase but this time my deva and pit fiend ran out of time so i tried attacking him myself while still under PFU and like after 2 mins attacking he got insta killed lol!

    so in the end i still got him!

    no idea why he was regenerating so fast, and about the lich already beeing there is because i am trying not to reload the game as best as i can cause i want a 100% no reload run next time ^^ hahaha so i went back out and slept outside and went back in a couple of times.

    but i need more info on all the battles before i can do that thats why i wanted u guys to make some videos ^^ :smile: so i can learn from it haha

  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,320
    edited March 2019
    semiticgod wrote: »
    Testing has found that the basilisk XP loop is still doable and practical with save bonuses implemented properly, but it takes a lot more work. I've been using stealth and auto-pause on the end of the round to make sure I can run away immediately after using Algernon's Cloak or a Stone to Flesh scroll. The basic problem is that the save bonuses mean you need a Greater Basilisk as your pet instead of a Lesser Basilisk so you have better APR on your pet basilisk, which means using Korax to isolate the southern Greater Basilisk so you can charm it and use it against Mutamin and therefore isolate the northern Greater Basilisk, who will be your target. Landing the charm is tough, though; you have about a 20% chance of success, since the Greater Basilisk's save vs. breath is a base 8, or 3 with LoB bonuses, or 4 when factoring in the -1 save penalty from the cloak.

    Then I assume you use the cloak to kill Mulahey, then use Silke and/or Tiax and his ghast to eat Tranzig, run from Tazok, burgle the bandit camp, use a charmed Teyngan as a decoy to kill Drizzt and then... Davaeorn is a problem for me.

    1. If you burn 24 charges from the Necklace of Missiles, can you really get rid of all those guards for good, or will more of them spawn indefinitely? Davaeorn will only lose 58 HP out of his maximum 215, and his AC will be -10, or -11 against missiles, so even the post-guard portion is gonna be nasty.

    2. How do you skip the Seven Suns?

    3. Bad news: Dushai will be immune to Algernon's Cloak with LoB save bonuses. So are some other critters, but none that seem like important targets for the cloak.

    4. How do you deal with Love, Avarice, Greed, and Pride or whatever their names are in Durlag's Tower? How do you deal with all of the hideous traps in that area, for that matter, or all the enemies? If I played an Archer, I would have access to no summons, everything is immune to charm, and the new LoB will impose an additional -11 AC burden. Love in particular is going to be hideous for an Archer due to Physical Mirror. Would Potions of Firebreath work, or be sufficient? I get the feeling that Durlag's Goblet will be very important even if we do gain access to a bunch of Greater Restoration scrolls in SoD.

    A single-classed Archer seems doable, but that AC bonus will make things much tougher than my old Archer/Mage run. @histamiini, do you have any advice for my run, since I'd basically be attempting to replicate the BG1 and SoD parts of your Archer/Cleric run?

    Davaeorn's guards don't keep spawning. I can't remember off-hand how many groups arrive, but it's only something like 6 or 7. A far easier solution for him though is to charm his guard and use that to kill him.

    In the dialogue when you first cross the bridge there's an option to turn down the Seven Suns quest - I use that in speed runs so that Scar will start outside the Flaming Fist HQ. Even if he's inside you can talk to him there and tell him you don't want to do the quest any more.

    I don't allow the use of Durlag's Goblet in my runs, so have limited experience of trying that fight with the warders. I wouldn't have thought though that Love would be particularly hard on his own - the problem would be getting him on his own. Personally I wouldn't use the scarce firebreath potions there - if you want a direct damage source then the Ring of Energy should work and can be recharged. Alternatively it may still be possible to use the nearby traps to kill all of them, though it's a long time since I've done that (you can use excess fire and lightning resistance to heal damage from the other traps if you're short of healing potions).

    For Belhifet, are there any options that can be used to improve Caelar's ability to keep going as a distraction? I'm pretty sure there are pfe 10' scrolls available, but am not sure if Caelar already has that effect. Are there defensive harmony scrolls? Chant would be an option, but I don't think there are scrolls for that.
  • histamiinihistamiini Member Posts: 1,440
    semiticgod wrote: »
    4. How do you deal with Love, Avarice, Greed, and Pride or whatever their names are in Durlag's Tower? How do you deal with all of the hideous traps in that area, for that matter, or all the enemies? If I played an Archer, I would have access to no summons, everything is immune to charm, and the new LoB will impose an additional -11 AC burden. Love in particular is going to be hideous for an Archer due to Physical Mirror. Would Potions of Firebreath work, or be sufficient? I get the feeling that Durlag's Goblet will be very important even if we do gain access to a bunch of Greater Restoration scrolls in SoD.

    A single-classed Archer seems doable, but that AC bonus will make things much tougher than my old Archer/Mage run. @histamiini, do you have any advice for my run, since I'd basically be attempting to replicate the BG1 and SoD parts of your Archer/Cleric run?
    For Love I think the best way is to lure Fear and Avarice to previous level and leave them there, because they are pretty much unkillable. Last run I activated Love with Greenstone Amulet without invisibility, started running to exit, and because Fear and Avarice are closest to exit, they follow. Transition may take some tries, especially with Fear because he's using ranged attack first. Also watch out Avarice because he will do massive damage from backstabs. Once Fear and Avarice are out of picture, Love is easily lured away from Pride and then can be attacked. As Archer I used 9 Potions of Firebreath which got him to half health, and then non proficiency scimitars, fully buffed and 10 Extra Healing potions killed him. But I think the best way is to get 100 Fire Resistance and kite with OGL. Potion of Absorbtion and Greenstone Amulet for traps, and invisibility for the other enemies, no need to kill them.

    I pretty much charmed BG1, except Love and Sarevok I think. Charming of course will be tougher for you with the saving throw fix. For Sarevok I collected all OGL's, Potions of Explosions, Oil of Fiery Burnings, and he was pretty easily kited with Piercing Arrows. From SoD I don't remember any trouble, other than Belhifet, but I think if you're willing to take slings he should be repeatable. Maybe with scimitars too.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    No slings for me (I want a pure, unmodded Archer kit), but we'll have scimitars and GM in longbows should buy us a lot. Unlike my Archer/Mage run, we'll have much better THAC0 due to Champion's Strength stacking and better base THAC0, as well as an extra +4 to damage from the racial enemy bonus, and I'll be making use of the Stone Ally, Myconid Bloom-Sac, and the ankheg amulet as decoys.

    @Grond0: Are any of the traps in that area repeating? Love's constant GOI would block all of the Lightning Bolts and Fireballs, but none of the others have any immunities or particularly strong resistances, so a haste effect would let us run around while the traps wrecked them. That could isolate Love rather easily.

    I calculate 225 damage from 24 charges from OGL on Love, out of 440 total HP. Two OGL necklaces would just barely take her down. Nine Potions of Firebreath would deal 297 damage. Avarice's max backstab damage is 35, or 70 with bonus damage enabled, or 140 for characters who can't wear a helmet. Fear's paralysis attack is a save vs. spell at no penalty that does not bypass MR. If Love is the only one that needs to die, though, that should be more doable.

    I guess I won't have to deal with them until the end of the game, so by then I'll be level 8 and have plenty of resources.

    Drizzt will be a huge pain. He'll have -24 AC, so I won't be able to hit on less than a 20 until very late in the game, when I won't want to suffer the reputation hit. Maybe I'll just do it really early to save money. The good news, if nothing else, is that Teyngan will last longer and be less likely to die midway through.

    I've installed Streamlabs OBS and it lets me record my games without a time limit or a watermark. I used the tutorial here. It's designed for streaming, but it's fine for simple recording.
  • Grond0Grond0 Member Posts: 7,320
    @semiticgod there are lots of repeating traps in that area. It's quite a few years since I used them, but I have in the past killed all the warders using the traps in the central passage. There are definitely fire and lightning among those that could heal you, but I think there may also be a cloudkill trap that could potentially get Love.

    For Drizzt, why not just be patient and either get the gnolls to kill him or knock him unconscious for the XP (ensuring your reputation is at least 11 so you don't fall)?

    I started an archer run this morning with the intention of seeing how that did with @subtledoctor's fix. I found progress was too easy though and was coming up to level 7 when I finally realized why the mod didn't seem to have worked - I'd installed that in BGEE, but used the SoD engine to play the game ;). I think with the availability of stealth progress should be possible anyway, though it will probably be rather more troublesome - I'll restart and see how I get on ...
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