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Nature's Beauty causes permanent THAC0 penalty - bug and quick fix.

jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,881
edited March 2022 in Troubleshooting
Prompted by a thread over at Gibberlings 3, I took a look at the level 7 druid spell Nature's Beauty. It's bugged, in a way that you'll only ever notice if it's used against the party. Since the only non-party druid that even has the spell is the immortal version of Faldorn, this doesn't happen unless you're using mods.

Specifically, the permanent blindness effect can't be cured properly. You can dispel the portrait icon, you can restore vision with a Cure Disease effect, but nothing undoes that 4-point THAC0 penalty. Not even death and resurrection.

This problem comes about because of the effect's timing mode (mode 1, instant/permanent until death). This decomposes the blindness effect into its underlying parts, leaving no ongoing effects for dispels and the like to work on.

A quick "drop in override" fix is attached below; I've switched the spell's blindness effect (and corresponding portrait icon) to a normal limited-duration effect with an extremely long duration. The blindness will technically wear off eventually just like Polymorph Other does, but I doubt you're willing to wait over 40 days in-game for it.

The fix is for BG2EE; text errors will result if you use it in BGEE. Not that you need it there, since level 7 druid spells shouldn't come into play.

This will be in the next version of my tweak mod as well.
Post edited by jmerry on

Comments

  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,881
    Update: this is now a component in my tweak mod. Improved to work on cloned versions of the spell (as some mods might create) rather than just the original.
  • OrlonKronsteenOrlonKronsteen Member Posts: 905
    Thank you so much for this. Now for a potentially dumb question: can you put this in override folder after SCS is installed, or do you have to do that at the beginning of the install order?
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,881
    edited March 2022
    ... Oh. Right, SCS changes the spell slightly in the way it does all offensive spells. This is based on the vanilla version of the spell, so it should go before. On the other hand, that's a purely cosmetic issue (revealing certain animations that were hidden while the caster was invisible) that should be resolved when the caster casts any other offensive spell. No big deal.

    If you're worried about incompatibilities, use the version in my tweak mod (linked in the second post). That one edits existing spells, and searches for all spells with the offending effect rather than just assuming the original Nature's Beauty is the only one. It should work in any order.
  • OrlonKronsteenOrlonKronsteen Member Posts: 905
    Thank you!
  • OrlonKronsteenOrlonKronsteen Member Posts: 905
    Okay, having thought about this for a minute, I'd like to make sure the following install order would be okay.

    1. Quest and NPC mods, etc.
    2. Your tweaks mod (including or only using the Nature's Beauty fix).
    3. Tweaks Anthology.
    4. SCS.

    And in this case, installing SCS last won't overwrite your version of Nature's Beauty? I'm wondering how SCS won't overwrite anything that already exists. Is that because it won't touch anything that's already in the override folder? Please forgive my silly questions - I'm not as computer savvy as most people on here, but I am genuinely curious about how these things work.
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,881
    The spell after SCS and then my tweak will be the exact same as after my tweak and then SCS, different from what it would be with either mod alone. Both SCS and my tweak edit what's already there (including any modifications that already exist) rather than simply picking up a new resource and overwriting any previous changes. My tweak changes the duration of a couple of effects on the main spell. SCS adds a couple of "when this is cast" effects. Those changes don't overlap, so it's good.

    Neither simply overwrites the spell with a new one.

    Also, I had a syntax error in version 2.1 - I rushed it out without testing. Updated to version 2.2 with the fix.
  • OrlonKronsteenOrlonKronsteen Member Posts: 905
    Interesting. Thanks again. Out of curiosity, how many SCS enemies actually use Nature's Beauty, other than Faldorn?
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,881
    Any sufficiently high-level druid has a chance of having the spell with SCS - offensive level 7 spells are randomly Creeping Doom (2/3) or Nature's Beauty (1/3). Druids you're likely to fight at level 14 and up:
    Faldorn (Level 14 druid)
    Nilthiri (Level 14 druid, in druid stronghold quest)
    Great Druid (Level 14 druid, in druid stronghold quest)
    Nyalee (Level 27 druid)
    Lizard Man Shaman #1 and #2 (Level 25/25 druid/mage, in Improved Abazigal's Lair)

    If there's anything else out there in the main campaign, it's added by some other mod.
  • OrlonKronsteenOrlonKronsteen Member Posts: 905
    Thanks. It's been so long since I played past the Underdark that I have no memory of fighting druids in the game.
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