Modding Planescape?

Dark_Ansem

What can the community expect from the modding of this game?

argent77

Without going into detail I can say that PST:EE is as easily moddable as BG(2)EE or IWDEE since they all share basically the same game engine.

Dark_Ansem

argent77 said:

Without going into detail I can say that PST:EE is as easily moddable as BG(2)EE or IWDEE since they all share basically the same game engine.

Yay thanks!

Grammarsalad

argent77 said:

Without going into detail I can say that PST:EE is as easily moddable as BG(2)EE or IWDEE since they all share basically the same game engine.

@argent77

That's good news!

Again, without going into detail, will it be, in any way, easier to mod?

argent77

I can tell you more on April 11th.

Pecca

The very first mod idea that came to my mind is to make Nordom a familiar, thus (somewhat) effectively have 7 party members.

taclane

Pecca said:

The very first mod idea that came to my mind is to make Nordom a familiar, thus (somewhat) effectively have 7 party members.

This Rock Paper Shotgun article was obviously in good fun... but wouldn't this be a super-awesome mod idea?

RPS said:

* Feature: Nordom can be turned into a battlesuit for Morte.

Dark_Ansem

Were it up to me, it would be Companion Trias...

JuliusBorisov

I created a new subforum - https://forums.beamdog.com/categories/pst:ee-mods

Kamigoroshi

That's a very strange looking T within PST:EE Mods. If I didn't know better I'd say the letter is part of the Dustmen faction. :V

Grammarsalad

argent77 said:

I can tell you more on April 11th.

@argent77

It's April 11th.

argent77

Certainly. Ask away!

taclane

For what it's worth, limited iOS modding appears possible. Lacking access to the dialog.tlk file, you're generally restricted to cosmetic changes.

Uninstalling mods on iOS is also not very straightforward. Think very, very, very, carefully if you're considering the Easter Egg Morte mod that is offered for download. You might just get permanently stuck with that nightmare creature in your party if you don't know what you're getting into.

Grammarsalad

argent77 said:

Certainly. Ask away!

Okay, are there any additional opcodes? If so, I'd love to get a sense of what they can do.

Looking at the iesdp, I see one, #211, called "Spell Effect: Induce Hiccups". Any idea what that is? There is no description.

Also, one that looks really interesting: #186 (0x186) Set Status Effect(s)

There is a description, but I'm just not sure exactly what it means. It looks really interesting, though. Really interesting.

Also, I take it that wisxpbon.2da will allow xp bonuses for high wisdom(?)

Any other interesting 2da's?

I have to get the game, of course, but it's not worth it to me until nearinfinity is updated, so now i just have to wait and wonder...

Galactygon

A couple of things worth mentioning when it comes to spells. As AlexT mentioned in the interview spells were the most difficult to port over and lot of the functionality has been hardcoded.

- The cutsceneized projectiles are all hardcoded and cannot be changed except for modifying the .bam files.
- Many of the spells use hardcoded projectiles just like the original PS:T. You might be wondering why some spells such as "Strength" or "Power of One" do not have any non-graphical effects in their extended headers. That's because the projectile calculates durations and stat changes just like the original game. Many other projectiles calculate level-based duration (i.e. Tasha's Unbearable Derisive Laughter) where it appears information is missing in the extended header compared to BG(2)(EE). The code has been simply ported over from the original PS:T.
- While timing mode duration uses seconds (just like the other IE games), the timing mode delay and delayed-duration uses ticks which allow you to fine-tune when graphics/sound effects play.
- PS:T has its own series of "play 3d effect" opcodes that permit a lot of variation that do not look for .vvcs, just like the original PS:T (i.e. tint .bam, fade out speed, etc.). Vvcs are not used at all in PS:T:EE.

Dark_Ansem

Galactygon said:

A couple of things worth mentioning when it comes to spells. As AlexT mentioned in the interview spells were the most difficult to port over and lot of the functionality has been hardcoded.

- The cutsceneized projectiles are all hardcoded and cannot be changed except for modifying the .bam files.
- Many of the spells use hardcoded projectiles just like the original PS:T. You might be wondering why some spells such as "Strength" or "Power of One" do not have any non-graphical effects in their extended headers. That's because the projectile calculates durations and stat changes just like the original game. Many other projectiles calculate level-based duration (i.e. Tasha's Unbearable Derisive Laughter) where it appears information is missing in the extended header compared to BG(2)(EE). The code has been simply ported over from the original PS:T.
- While timing mode duration uses seconds (just like the other IE games), the timing mode delay and delayed-duration uses ticks which allow you to fine-tune when graphics/sound effects play.
- PS:T has its own series of "play 3d effect" opcodes that permit a lot of variation that do not look for .vvcs, just like the original PS:T (i.e. tint .bam, fade out speed, etc.). Vvcs are not used at all in PS:T:EE.

That's really disappointing. I wonder why the spells had to actually be hardcoded.

AlexT

Dark_Ansem said:

I wonder why the spells had to actually be hardcoded.

The complexity of the spells that Planescape Torment uses far exceeds the functionality of spells seen in any other version of the Infinity Engine.

Black Isle chose to hardcode the spells in order to make them more unique and varied. We had no choice but to retain their approach. Externalizing the spell functionality would have meant rebuilding the engine from scratch which, among other things, would have made it incompatible with existing modding tools.

Dark_Ansem

AlexT said:

Dark_Ansem said:

I wonder why the spells had to actually be hardcoded.

The complexity of the spells that Planescape Torment uses far exceeds the functionality of spells seen in any other version of the Infinity Engine.

Black Isle chose to hardcode the spells in order to make them more unique and varied. We had no choice but to retain their approach. Externalizing the spell functionality would have meant rebuilding the engine from scratch which, among other things, would have made it incompatible with existing modding tools.

Are they? I didn't really understand that, for some reason Baldur's gate always appeared to be more unique spell-wise. Apparently not then! Thanks for the explanation!

AlexT

Take a look at yesterday's twitch stream around the 24:20 mark.

In the stream Mark Ramsden (the PST:EE QA Lead) and Scott Brooks (the Lead Programmer) talk about the Planescape Torment spells in a bit more detail. For example, Mark points out how the travel arc of the Chromatic Orb spell is based on TNOs strength score. There are many more instances of spell behavior similar to that, which are completely unique to PST.

Dark_Ansem

AlexT said:

Take a look at yesterday's twitch stream around the 24:20 mark.

In the stream Mark Ramsden (the PST:EE QA Lead) and Scott Brooks (the Lead Programmer) talk about the Planescape Torment spells in a bit more detail. For example, Mark points out how the travel arc of the Chromatic Orb spell is based on TNOs strength score. There are many more instances of spell behavior similar to that, which are completely unique to PST.

I kind of understand now. It is truly a custom experience for TNO.

argent77

Grammarsalad said:

Looking at the iesdp, I see one, #211, called "Spell Effect: Induce Hiccups". Any idea what that is? There is no description.

This is related to a very specific curse the Nameless One can catch in his adventures.

I haven't really tested the new opcodes yet, so I don't know if they have been expanded compared to original PST.

Grammarsalad said:

Also, I take it that wisxpbon.2da will allow xp bonuses for high wisdom(?)

Yes. This table defines a simple relation between WIS value and XP bonus (in percent).

Grammarsalad said:

Any other interesting 2da's?

There are some, but nothing really outstanding. For example, MAPNAME.2DA defines area names which are displayed whenever you enter a new area. Or NOCHARGE.2DA, which has probably something to do witch charged items.