Changing spell duration's

Necromanx2

I am trying to see where spell duration's can be changed with NearInfinity. Can someone help me understand what drives spell duration and what I need to change to have a spell last 1 turn/level?

argent77

Spell duration is applied on a per effect basis. The relevant effects can be found inside Ability structures. In NI look for the effect field "Timing mode" set to "Instant/Limited (1). In this case you will see the duration in the "Duration" field, two fields further below. (Audio-)visual or message-related effects don't usually have a duration. However, they can be triggered at a specified delay (e.g. via Timing mode "Delay/Permanent (4)") which should be adjusted as well if you want to change duration of a spell.

Duration of timing mode 1 (Instant/Limited) is defined in seconds. One turn is 10 round, one round is 6 seconds, so duration for one turn is 60 seconds. There are also timing modes using ticks instead (1/15th seconds), but they are rarely used by spells.

In the worst case you have to adjust dozens or hundreds of effects manually (e.g. for spells with level-dependent durations). Afaik, DLTCEP provides some kind of automatism to help set up level-dependent values quickly. But I haven't used it yet, so I can't say how useful it might be in your case.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Necromanx2

I am not seeing the "Timing Mode".

I am trying to change the duration of the Water elemental summons from FnP. So I used NI to open spell file B_PR602.SPL to try to change the spell duration to 1 turn/level. I just don't see anything that seems to show what you @argent77 and @subtledoctor note above?

I am totally new to this modding stuff, so I am sorry that I am ignorant of even basic things.

argent77

The procedure in screenshots:

1. Select your spell
2. Select ability structure and open it with double-click or "View/Edit" button


3. Select the effect to adjust (double-click or "View/Edit" button to open substructure)


4. Look for "Timing mode" and Duration fields
5. Select "Duration" and enter the desired value


Rinse and repeat for all effects with duration or delay. This will add up quickly if you have to do it for multiple ability structures.

Necromanx2

I found the screen you generously hand held me too.

I am not sure what I need to set to make the summon last 1 turn / level?

EDIT: I think I see the light. Let me play a bit.

EDIT2: I see how to do it. Thanks!

Necromanx2

@argent77, it worked!

Can I ask your help on something else. How would I turn the summoned elemental AI off?

EDIT: I figured it out. Thanks again for the help on changing duration!

RahonaOstrimo

Thanks for the insight. It is great to have this in-depth discussion of the spells contents. I have been using it to extend the duration of bard spells in Icewind Dale 2, In this way I dont have to constantly press the sing button again..
It works excellently on all but one aspect. For the recurrent effects such as HP regeneration by the why are only made once, and not repeated every ~7 second as intended. I have looked into the way Melf's Acid Arrow works to se how it repeats the effect depending on caster level, but here the effect is created by creating new effect, which is rather extensive.
Is there another way to make an effect repetitive by itself?

Thanks a lot for the advice.
-