Quick Buffing in Infinity Engine Games
Jebble
Member Posts: 27
Buffing is an essential and fun part of all D&D games. They give strategical choices on whether to use a spell slot on a long term effect or one that deals with an encounter more efficiently. They are also enables for some fun builds like the cleric/fighter or the mage/fighter.
In the infinity engine games some buffs last such a long time that you want to cast them after every rest, like armor, stone-skin and contingencies. Doing this after every rest quickly gets tedious, however. For example, in my current IWD2 game I cast 13 spells in total after each rest. That is a lot of time wasted just pressing buttons.
I have searched far and wide for scripts or mods that automates this process or makes it quicker both for BG2:EE, ICD:EE and ICD2, but have so far had no luck.
Therefore I come to you for advice. First of all, does any scripts for these game already exist?
If none exist, I would like to get into the modding action, to make a simple script or mod that can do this. I have never modded before, but have experience programming. If one were to create this, how should you go about it? Should it be a hotkey script, an AI script or a full fledged mod?
In the infinity engine games some buffs last such a long time that you want to cast them after every rest, like armor, stone-skin and contingencies. Doing this after every rest quickly gets tedious, however. For example, in my current IWD2 game I cast 13 spells in total after each rest. That is a lot of time wasted just pressing buttons.
I have searched far and wide for scripts or mods that automates this process or makes it quicker both for BG2:EE, ICD:EE and ICD2, but have so far had no luck.
Therefore I come to you for advice. First of all, does any scripts for these game already exist?
If none exist, I would like to get into the modding action, to make a simple script or mod that can do this. I have never modded before, but have experience programming. If one were to create this, how should you go about it? Should it be a hotkey script, an AI script or a full fledged mod?
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It might be possible to do from an UI point as well, I believe the UI can use console commands.
In my current playthrough, I only cast Stoneskin and I bound it to a hotkey so it's quick. You can do it for most spells I believe.
I use two spells. The first rests the party and grants Improved Alacrity and +20 to casting speed. This means you can just click each buffing spell manually and cast it instantly without any pauses.
The second spell casts spells from a list. All of them cast simultaneously, but you have to tweak the spell in Near Infinity to make sure the caster is getting the right spells.
Attached are both spells. You can assign them with EEKeeper, and they will appear in your Innate Abilities spell list (if the character in question has no innates, it won't show up; the icon will be black). Use "Lay on Hands" to allow instant casting of any spell for 6 seconds, for the whole party. That's the simpler option; it requires no modding.
Use "Spell Shield" to allow an individual party member to cast all their buffs at once. That's the faster option; it requires customization.
To customize "Spell Shield," open "AURA002" in Near Infinity. It should have a list of "Cast Spell" effects, each of which has a spell name in the "Resource" line. Go to "Resource" and replace what's there with the buffs you want. All of them will cast instantly when you use it in-game. You can create extra copies of the spell if you want different buffs for each party member.
If you don't use Near Infinity, you can just use "Lay on Hands" instead. It's almost as quick, and also eliminates the need for resting and healing between battles.
This looks awesome @semiticgod. Thank you for your response. I've got both AURA001 and AURA002 to work. Took me some time before I realized I just had to put them in the override folder. I just got acquainted with near infinity and can edit both spells. AURA001 was edited to have a bit longer duration, as it was too short to cast all the spells. I also removed the resting portion of the spell, so it can be used when applying short term buffs before a battle. Only problem with it, is the fact that you have to click the innate ability button. Do you know of any way to assign the ability to a hotkey? That would be super sweet.
AURA002 I haven't gotten too work well. I have a couple of question regarding that spell.
1. Does the spell only work on characters who has the ability given? So if each character should have a buff, should I apply AURA002 ability to each character independently and then activate the ability for each party member?
2. Can the spell somehow subtract spell slots from characters, or should I just prepare one less spell for each buff spell used?
3. Does party wide spells work on the whole party? When trying, it seems that they don't? Do I do something wrong?
As the last question, I would like to know if you have and experience with trying to convert these spells into IWD2? Dale Keeper can't detect them when putting them into the overwrite folder, even when tweaking them a bit in Near Infinity. Maybe I should just convert some other useless spell to have the quick casting effects.
Even If I can't edit AURA002 to be useful, AURA001 is still very nice. Thanks!
Or you could rename AURA001 as SPWI111, in which case it would completely replace the Infravision spell (or whatever spell you named it to), allowing you to cast it via hotkey. Just make sure you don't replace a spell you might want.
1. AURA001 should be party-wide. It rests and grants Improved Alacrity to speed up manual buffing. I think you can make AURA002 party-wide as well (you would need to change the "Target" field in Near Infinity, but I prefer to create multiple different copies of AURA002 for each party member. That is, a fighter will have a buffing spell that casts Chaotic Commands and Death Ward, as if the party cleric was casting it on them, while a mage will have a buffing spell that casts Stoneskin and Shield.
2. You could rig it to subtract spell slots, but unless you're a sorcerer, they might delete spells besides the ones you want to vanish. I keep all spell slots filled, in case I get caught by surprise and it wouldn't be fair for me to buff instantly. I just remember not to re-cast spells I've already cast using the buffing spell.
3. Party-wide spells usually affect the party by using a special invisible projectile, which has roughly the range of a Fireball spell. If one of your party members is too far away, or is around a corner, they won't get affected.
4. I've never been able to create or edit spells in IWD2. A lot of stuff is hard-coded, and almost nothing will translate if copied over from the other games; IWD2's 3rd edition engine works a lot differently. That said, I've been able to create custom buffing items that grant improved alacrity and +20 to casting speed while equipped.
Changing AURA001 to a useless spell (like Infravision), might not be a bad idea. This is a really great suggestion, and should be easy to do with Near Infinity. This is actually what I did in IWD2, where i put the effects of AURA001 into Armor of faith. It works perfectly and without any problems. I gave my cleric extra level one spell slots, so he could memorize an ample amount of Armor of Faith.
1. It is probably the best to have a unique ability for each party member when it works this way.
2. Too bad. Shouldn't be too much of a problem keeping track of it yourself, however.
3. Ahh, I see. I'm new to Near-Infinity, so I missed which value that defined the AoE.
4. Doesn't work with custom spells, but adjusting already existent spells work, as explained above.
AURA001 works really well, but AURA002 seems like a lot of work if each party member only needs two buff spells on average. With AURA002 you also need to keep track of the level of the caster, it seems, and you to level it up every-time your party raise in level.