Make Party Size Moddable

ThacoBell

Would it be possible to unhardcode party size? Allowing players/mods decrease/increase party size?

DJKajuru

That would be amazing .

PaulaMigrate

There have been attempts in the past to make that possible. All those I know of have failed.
It's not simply the menues or other GUI aspects, it's also thousands of cutscenes and other features that would need to be changed. Many things in the game use the Player1...Player6 definitions and will fail on additional NPCs who are party members.
Look for example http://gibberlings3.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=28991&hl=gemrb#entry256476

There are a number of mods to increase your party with special NPCs, e.g. Afaaq the djinn or some familiars or Haiass the wolf who can accompany you. Some of those companions can be handled like NPCs through dialogues rather than their screen portrait (they have none), especially Afaaq almost works like a full NPC with banters and dialogue interjections.

My own experience with increased parties is that they work most of the time but add a number of issues to the game as well, like managing them in dungeons and narrow areas - or having constant interuptions because all the time someone has to say something.

And then, a large party (*an army*) can signifiantly imbalance the game.

ThacoBell

As long as two npcs can fit side by pathing shouldn't be an issue with the rectangle formation. In the cases where a slightly longer formation would still be hampered, it would be so also with a team of six (shakes fist at firewine). The imbalance wouldn't be that bad either, as your splitting exp more ways. 6 level 7s would have an easier time than say, 8 level 5s. As for all the engine difficulties, yeah, that would have to be done on the developer level.

zelurker

Actually it has been done by gemrb, the free port of the infinity engine. They have 1st removed the hardcoded limit in the source, allowing to change it from a configuration file, and then added a special mod, 10pp : https://github.com/lynxlynxlynx/gemrb-mods/tree/master/10pp
It is to be installed last, and uses some perl magic to extend everything installed to the new party size.
It works well but sadly gemrb interface is outdated compared to the ee version, so it would be great to see some similar feature in the ee version...

sarevok57

another thing that needs to be remembered is that the formation selections aren't coded for a party size over 6 ( hence the reason why you summon animals/monsters they never match your formation ) so that will also have to be taken into consideration

to me, it sounds like a huge can of worms the size of the sun to implement this, although in NWN 2, it is easy-peasy lemon- squeezy, i remember watching my friend play NWN2 with like 10+ people on his team, it was actually halarious to be honest

zelurker

Yeah right the formations are not handled by gemrb 10pp mod and it's mentioned in the readme. But it's not such a big deal for most people. The more crucial part is the portraits on the right, resize/rearrange them so they remain clickable. It doesn't seem like an impossible task like that, and it would still be a great feature !

ThacoBell

@sarevok57 That's why this would need to be implemented by the devs, its more work than just modding a few opcodes.

@zelurker But don't the EEs break gemrb?

zelurker

@ThacoBell What do you mean the EEs break gemrb ?

ThacoBell

Last I checked the website, gemrb doesn't work with the EEs.

zelurker

Errr... gemrb is a creation from scratch of the infinity engine, even compared to the classic baldur's gate 2 there are still things which are not perfect.
If you are asking if you can run an ee game using gemrb now, the answer is no, I am not even sure they'll try to add that, maybe later, but development seems to have slowed lately. Anyway they still have good ideas related to the infinity engine, like this one !

ThacoBell

If it doesn't work, then gemrb really isn't a viable alternative.