So, the idea occurred to me that it's probably worth updating this mod for BGEE and BG2EE v2.0.
Basically, I'm thinking about the spell packs. This mod was made years ago from the original IWD1 spells. But now, those spells have been given to Beamdog, given a professional working-over, and included in official EE shape as part of IWDEE. And IWDEE has some that are not included here, like Wall of Moonlight and Mordenkainen's Force Missiles.
Well, with the upcoming patch, all of the opcodes and other resources that are needed for the IWDEE spells will be included in the BGEE and BG2EE engines. So, it seems like the perfect time to bring those benefits to this mod.
Anyone wanna help?
(And, @CamDawg, please let me know if you are already doing/planning this, and I will back off and/or pitch in.)
So, the idea occurred to me that it's probably worth updating this mod for BGEE and BG2EE v2.0.
Basically, I'm thinking about the spell packs. This mod was made years ago from the original IWD1 spells. But now, those spells have been given to Beamdog, given a professional working-over, and included in official EE shape as part of IWDEE. And IWDEE has some that are not included here, like Wall of Moonlight and Mordenkainen's Force Missiles.
Well, with the upcoming patch, all of the opcodes and other resources that are needed for the IWDEE spells will be included in the BGEE and BG2EE engines. So, it seems like the perfect time to bring those benefits to this mod.
Anyone wanna help?
(And, @CamDawg, please let me know if you are already doing/planning this, and I will back off and/or pitch in.)
I still have lot of work to do. Every time i go back the project, I have revise the whole shebang. Working a more automated way to make spells play nice with each other...
Hey, I'm just looking in to this myself out of curiosity (making no promises on any kind of release). Something I feel would really speed things up, as moving over these spells to BG is basically just a lot of manual labor, would be some tool that could extract all spells AND any external resources referenced in the .spl (.bam, .wav, .pro, .vvc, .eff, other .spl). Maybe someone has already done something like this?
Hey, I'm just looking in to this myself out of curiosity (making no promises on any kind of release). Something I feel would really speed things up, as moving over these spells to BG is basically just a lot of manual labor, would be some tool that could extract all spells AND any external resources referenced in the .spl (.bam, .wav, .pro, .vvc, .eff, other .spl). Maybe someone has already done something like this?
And you would also need to read the strings, and then patch everything back together in the other. The tool doesn't exist AFAIK. You could do it with a multi-step process in Weidu... but the new mod is already halfway done (all divine spells plus a few arcane spells are ported over). At this point @Grammarsalad made for be close enough to being finished that it makes more sense to push on manually.
If you want to help get the spells completely ported over, I would coordinate with Grammarsalad, rather than reinvent the wheel.
Well, having all the resources in on hand would probably speed up the process even if you had to tack on the strings manually.
Well, what I had in mind was to take ALL IWDEE spells and port them over, meaning replacing any spells that already exist in BG with the IWD counterpart, as well. A clean conversion with no mechanical changes to the spells. Where it seems like Grammarsalad is planning on removing all alignment related mechanics.
If that was made an optional component I might be able help out, as long as I didn't have to make a big commitment. Maybe a crowd sourced effort could be a solution here? I would be fairly simple if you guys have checklist in google docs or something.
Hey, I'm just looking in to this myself out of curiosity (making no promises on any kind of release). Something I feel would really speed things up, as moving over these spells to BG is basically just a lot of manual labor, would be some tool that could extract all spells AND any external resources referenced in the .spl (.bam, .wav, .pro, .vvc, .eff, other .spl). Maybe someone has already done something like this?
And you would also need to read the strings, and then patch everything back together in the other. The tool doesn't exist AFAIK. You could do it with a multi-step process in Weidu... but the new mod is already halfway done (all divine spells plus a few arcane spells are ported over). At this point @Grammarsalad made for be close enough to being finished that it makes more sense to push on manually.
If you want to help get the spells completely ported over, I would coordinate with Grammarsalad, rather than reinvent the wheel.
Well, having all the resources in on hand would probably speed up the process even if you had to tack on the strings manually.
Well, what I had in mind was to take ALL IWDEE spells and port them over, meaning replacing any spells that already exist in BG with the IWD counterpart, as well. A clean conversion with no mechanical changes to the spells. Where it seems like Grammarsalad is planning on removing all alignment related mechanics.
If that was made an optional component I might be able help out, as long as I didn't have to make a big commitment. Maybe a crowd sourced effort could be a solution here? I would be fairly simple if you guys have checklist in google docs or something.
As a matter of fact, I'm panning on reverting back to any and all alignment restrictions as iwdee standard (and then removing them as an optional component).
And i do prefer how spells are implemented in iwdee, for the most part. I prefer how it uses 318, 321, 324 and 326, for example. As for visual effects, I'm fairly certain that there is a component in tweaks that imports iwd(ee?) visual effects.
I'd only be interested in replacing shared spells through some automated process ( out2through some kind of crowd source effort). The manual method I'm using in b_spells is just too tedious for that. (btw, i have wizard spells up to 4th level, all with placed scrolls--the placement is not very imaginative--in addition to the wiz spells I've already converted-- also now with placed scrolls).
Kathros(sp) and kjeron have showed me how to extract text in a more or less automated way (which i will use to release the primary component in multiple languages). But this is not a thing where one takes the resources from one game and adds to the other during installation. For something like that, one would have to look at eet.
Well, what I had in mind was to take ALL IWDEE spells and port them over, meaning replacing any spells that already exist in BG with the IWD counterpart, as well. A clean conversion with no mechanical changes to the spells.
Well, not making any mechanical changes doesn't really matter much because either way you have to pull them apart into their constituent resources, and then put them back together. Plus, you would be committing the sin of adding mod resources to the game without using a modder prefix. Theoretically they are official vanilla resources; but now you are changing vanilla resources that other mods might also try to change... since it's hard to predict what other modders might do, it is therefore hard to predict what conflicts might arise. Whereas, if you tack a modder prefix onto the imported spells, you guarantee that there will be no conflicts.
Finally, it's not clear to me (without some basic investigation) that some of the resources you bring over with a spell might not also be used by other spells/abilities/items, and thus change things in unpredictable ways.
Pardon my playing devil's advocate. I don't mean to be all Negative Nancy about it. Basically you could semi-automate the process, but it would be a fair amount t of effort in itself and would then require a lot of after-the-fact error-checking. So the question boils down to, is it worth making that effort, vs. just plugging away with a manual solution and getting the thing done.
If that was made an optional component I might be able help out, as long as I didn't have to make a big commitment. Maybe a crowd sourced effort could be a solution here? I would be fairly simple if you guys have checklist in google docs or something.
I tried to do just that, and then @Grammarsalad went and did it all himself. at least, he did all of the divine spells, and then we got absorbed with making them work in the Faiths & Powers sphere system.
Lol. Yeah, i like making spells.
Edit2: I've been learning as i go, but i have something of a template for adding spells (it's not efficient as it adds the same resources multiple times). Feel free to take a gander if you like (there is a lot of embarrassing code in there. As I said, I'm learning as i go):
Here’re 20 changes (not mentioned in the OP) I've found quite important so far:
1. (EDITED) Animal Summoning I now can bring up to 6 animals instead of 2 or 3 animals in BG1&2EE.
Animal Summoning II now can bring up to 6 animals instead of 1, 2 or 3 animals in BG1&2EE.
Animal Summoning III ow can bring up to 4 animals instead of 2 or 3 animals in BG1&2EE.
2. Magic Stone deals more damage now: 3d4 points instead of 1d4 points of crushing damage. Also in IWDEE it deals 6d4 points of crushing damage to instead.
3. (EDITED) Protection from Evil, among other effects, gives immunity to charm-based spells or effects (e.g. Charm Person, Charm Person or Mammal, Domination, and so on) while in BG1&2EE it’s not the case.
4. The duration of Remove Fear is changed from 1 hour to 1 turn.
5. The duration of Sanctuary is also changed: instead of 1 turn it lasts only 2 rounds + 1 round/level, i.e. very shortly in the beginning of the game.
6. Chant in IWDEE, among other effects, reduces damage dice for all effects outside a weapon’s base damage by 1 (so that a 6d6 fireball will do 6d5 damage, and a flaming long sword that deals 1d8+2 slashing plus 1d3 fire damage will deal 1d8+2 slashing plus 1d2 fire damage instead). The priest’s enemies suffer from the opposite effects.
Also, this spell now has a downside: the priest cannot cast any spells for the chant’s duration, and her movement is slowed by half.
7. Charm Person/Mammal doesn’t have a +3 penalty to a Saving Throw now.
8. Hold Person now has the duration of 2 rounds/level instead of 1 turn.
9. Know Alignment (if someone is interested) now is not Instant, it lasts for 1 turn.
10. Silence in IWDEE is less effective: the spell no longer has a -5 bonus to a Saving Throw.
11. Slow Poison now not only cures poison but also cures intoxication.
Also, this spell is not available to druids now (but the druids get Poison immunity at the 9th level).
12. Call Lightning now has the duration of 1 round/level (capped at 11 rounds) instead of 1 turn/level.
13. Cure Disease now additionally restores 5 HPs.
14. Dispel Magic now removes magically created items. The description no longer states the spell doesn’t affect spell protections such as Spell Turning and Spell Deflection.
Also, the description no longer states the chance of the dispel succeeding is determined by the level of the caster and the level of the magic being dispelled.
15. Glyph of Warding in IWDEE is more effective because a successful Saving Throw vs. Spell doesn’t let to escape the effects of the glyph – instead, it halves the damage.
16. Holy Smite and Unholy Blight, instead, are less effective: now they give 1d6 magic damage for every 2 levels of the caster, and not for every level, also they’re capped at a maximum of 5d6 at level 10.
17. Protection from Fire now lasts 1 turn/level instead of 3 rounds + 1 round/level.
18. Animate Dead now summons not one skeleton that improves with levels, but 1d6 skeletons or zombie.
Also, I would like to mention that the overall summoning limit in IWDEE is 6, not 5, creatures simultaneously.
19. Rigid Thinking now has the duration of 1 round/level instead of 1 turn.
20. Strength of One now lasts 7 rounds instead of 1 turn.
Chromatic Orb cannot turn to stone or instantly kill a target in IWDEE: starting at the caster's 7th level and up it can only paralyze the victim for 13 rounds. Also, Chromatic Orb doesn't have the +6 save anymore and doesn't give an acid damage. Moreover, a successful save vs spell negates all its effects including its damage.
Abi Dalizims Horrid Wilting and Chain Lightning are no longer are party friendly.
10 changes (not mentioned in the OP) I've found quite important:
1. The duration of Stoneskin in IWDEE is 8, not 12, hours. So no pre-rest casting in order to be protected by it after the rest.
BTW, the duration of Ironskins is the same as in BGEE i.e.12 hours.
2. Web doesn't have -2 penalty to enemies' saving throws and thus stick less often.
In IWDEE Web has no effect on large creatures i.e. those whose circles are bigger than characters' ones.
3. Protection from Evil now grants immunity to charmbased spells or effects (e.g. Charm Person, Charm Person or Mammal, Domination, and so on). This spell, taking into account it's from the first spell level, becomes even better.
4. Shocking Grasp always hits, thus making this spell all more useful in IWDEE.
5. Blindness is now a level 2 spell. While blinded, the creatures are now immune to gaze attacks.
Protection from Petrification is now a level 2 spell as well.
6. Animate Dead now summons not one skeleton that improves with levels, but 1d6 skeletons or zombie.
Also, I would like to mention that the overall summoning limit in IWDEE is 6, not 5, creatures simultaneously.
7. Strength works differently: instead of always setting STR to 18 and adding a 18/ bonus to even non-warriors, it gives 1d8 points of STR to warriors, 1d6 points of STR to rogues and priests, 1d4 points of STR to wizards and can't give a 18/ bonus to non-warriors.
8. Haste now gives proper fatigue penalties after its effect (the fatigue penalties are overall implemented correctly now) thus making this spell much less frequent in using. The penalties hit hard.
9. There's no Wraithform in IWDEE. If there was,it would break the balance too seriously. An immunity to non-enchanted weapons would protect from 90% of enemies in IWDEE.
10. Emotion: Hopelessness is a different spell now. It lasts only 1 turn and this duration is set (in BGEE it lasts 2 rounds + 1 round/level). The enemies, effected by the spell, don't lie down, they just stand doing nothing.
Also, the spell doesn't give the caster an immunity to fear nor it takes away the panic effect.
I will explore spells further to find other changes.
Here’re 20 changes (not mentioned in the OP) I've found quite important so far:
1. (EDITED) Animal Summoning I now can bring up to 6 animals instead of 2 or 3 animals in BG1&2EE.
Animal Summoning II now can bring up to 6 animals instead of 1, 2 or 3 animals in BG1&2EE.
Animal Summoning III ow can bring up to 4 animals instead of 2 or 3 animals in BG1&2EE.
2. Magic Stone deals more damage now: 3d4 points instead of 1d4 points of crushing damage. Also in IWDEE it deals 6d4 points of crushing damage to instead.
3. (EDITED) Protection from Evil, among other effects, gives immunity to charm-based spells or effects (e.g. Charm Person, Charm Person or Mammal, Domination, and so on) while in BG1&2EE it’s not the case.
4. The duration of Remove Fear is changed from 1 hour to 1 turn.
5. The duration of Sanctuary is also changed: instead of 1 turn it lasts only 2 rounds + 1 round/level, i.e. very shortly in the beginning of the game.
6. Chant in IWDEE, among other effects, reduces damage dice for all effects outside a weapon’s base damage by 1 (so that a 6d6 fireball will do 6d5 damage, and a flaming long sword that deals 1d8+2 slashing plus 1d3 fire damage will deal 1d8+2 slashing plus 1d2 fire damage instead). The priest’s enemies suffer from the opposite effects.
Also, this spell now has a downside: the priest cannot cast any spells for the chant’s duration, and her movement is slowed by half.
7. Charm Person/Mammal doesn’t have a +3 penalty to a Saving Throw now.
8. Hold Person now has the duration of 2 rounds/level instead of 1 turn.
9. Know Alignment (if someone is interested) now is not Instant, it lasts for 1 turn.
10. Silence in IWDEE is less effective: the spell no longer has a -5 bonus to a Saving Throw.
11. Slow Poison now not only cures poison but also cures intoxication.
Also, this spell is not available to druids now (but the druids get Poison immunity at the 9th level).
12. Call Lightning now has the duration of 1 round/level (capped at 11 rounds) instead of 1 turn/level.
13. Cure Disease now additionally restores 5 HPs.
14. Dispel Magic now removes magically created items. The description no longer states the spell doesn’t affect spell protections such as Spell Turning and Spell Deflection.
Also, the description no longer states the chance of the dispel succeeding is determined by the level of the caster and the level of the magic being dispelled.
15. Glyph of Warding in IWDEE is more effective because a successful Saving Throw vs. Spell doesn’t let to escape the effects of the glyph – instead, it halves the damage.
16. Holy Smite and Unholy Blight, instead, are less effective: now they give 1d6 magic damage for every 2 levels of the caster, and not for every level, also they’re capped at a maximum of 5d6 at level 10.
17. Protection from Fire now lasts 1 turn/level instead of 3 rounds + 1 round/level.
18. Animate Dead now summons not one skeleton that improves with levels, but 1d6 skeletons or zombie.
Also, I would like to mention that the overall summoning limit in IWDEE is 6, not 5, creatures simultaneously.
19. Rigid Thinking now has the duration of 1 round/level instead of 1 turn.
20. Strength of One now lasts 7 rounds instead of 1 turn.
Chromatic Orb cannot turn to stone or instantly kill a target in IWDEE: starting at the caster's 7th level and up it can only paralyze the victim for 13 rounds. Also, Chromatic Orb doesn't have the +6 save anymore and doesn't give an acid damage. Moreover, a successful save vs spell negates all its effects including its damage.
Abi Dalizims Horrid Wilting and Chain Lightning are no longer are party friendly.
10 changes (not mentioned in the OP) I've found quite important:
1. The duration of Stoneskin in IWDEE is 8, not 12, hours. So no pre-rest casting in order to be protected by it after the rest.
BTW, the duration of Ironskins is the same as in BGEE i.e.12 hours.
2. Web doesn't have -2 penalty to enemies' saving throws and thus stick less often.
In IWDEE Web has no effect on large creatures i.e. those whose circles are bigger than characters' ones.
3. Protection from Evil now grants immunity to charmbased spells or effects (e.g. Charm Person, Charm Person or Mammal, Domination, and so on). This spell, taking into account it's from the first spell level, becomes even better.
4. Shocking Grasp always hits, thus making this spell all more useful in IWDEE.
5. Blindness is now a level 2 spell. While blinded, the creatures are now immune to gaze attacks.
Protection from Petrification is now a level 2 spell as well.
6. Animate Dead now summons not one skeleton that improves with levels, but 1d6 skeletons or zombie.
Also, I would like to mention that the overall summoning limit in IWDEE is 6, not 5, creatures simultaneously.
7. Strength works differently: instead of always setting STR to 18 and adding a 18/ bonus to even non-warriors, it gives 1d8 points of STR to warriors, 1d6 points of STR to rogues and priests, 1d4 points of STR to wizards and can't give a 18/ bonus to non-warriors.
8. Haste now gives proper fatigue penalties after its effect (the fatigue penalties are overall implemented correctly now) thus making this spell much less frequent in using. The penalties hit hard.
9. There's no Wraithform in IWDEE. If there was,it would break the balance too seriously. An immunity to non-enchanted weapons would protect from 90% of enemies in IWDEE.
10. Emotion: Hopelessness is a different spell now. It lasts only 1 turn and this duration is set (in BGEE it lasts 2 rounds + 1 round/level). The enemies, effected by the spell, don't lie down, they just stand doing nothing.
Also, the spell doesn't give the caster an immunity to fear nor it takes away the panic effect.
I will explore spells further to find other changes.
[/spoiler]
Oh, great find!
Yeah, i have to do it now!
(i.e. as another optional component)
Seriously, I have no choice now...there is a list and everything!
So, the idea occurred to me that it's probably worth updating this mod for BGEE and BG2EE v2.0.
Basically, I'm thinking about the spell packs. This mod was made years ago from the original IWD1 spells. But now, those spells have been given to Beamdog, given a professional working-over, and included in official EE shape as part of IWDEE. And IWDEE has some that are not included here, like Wall of Moonlight and Mordenkainen's Force Missiles.
Well, with the upcoming patch, all of the opcodes and other resources that are needed for the IWDEE spells will be included in the BGEE and BG2EE engines. So, it seems like the perfect time to bring those benefits to this mod.
Anyone wanna help?
(And, @CamDawg, please let me know if you are already doing/planning this, and I will back off and/or pitch in.)
I still have lot of work to do. Every time i go back the project, I have revise the whole shebang. Working a more automated way to make spells play nice with each other...
I hated BWS for installing IWDification instead of @Grammarsalad mod.
So, the idea occurred to me that it's probably worth updating this mod for BGEE and BG2EE v2.0.
Basically, I'm thinking about the spell packs. This mod was made years ago from the original IWD1 spells. But now, those spells have been given to Beamdog, given a professional working-over, and included in official EE shape as part of IWDEE. And IWDEE has some that are not included here, like Wall of Moonlight and Mordenkainen's Force Missiles.
Well, with the upcoming patch, all of the opcodes and other resources that are needed for the IWDEE spells will be included in the BGEE and BG2EE engines. So, it seems like the perfect time to bring those benefits to this mod.
Anyone wanna help?
(And, @CamDawg, please let me know if you are already doing/planning this, and I will back off and/or pitch in.)
I still have lot of work to do. Every time i go back the project, I have revise the whole shebang. Working a more automated way to make spells play nice with each other...
I hated BWS for installing IWDification instead of @Grammarsalad mod.
IWDification is probably better for bws right now if only for the mage and language support. (and probably other things that are beyond me or That I'm not thinking of atm). Also, i haven't officially released anything on github as the project is unfinished, and i think that bws draws from github*. Also, IWDification will always be the go to for non-ee games. (Not to mention, b_spells is something of a hack-job I'm trying to make it into a functional hack-job)
*which is one of the reasons that i haven't released it on github yet. I still have to organize the whole thing, and github gets finicky if you change the components around. Heh, I've literally just decided to include another component, which would have been bad if this was included in bws. ------
And now, because i have a list of differences between iwdee and bg(2)ee spells, it occurs to me that i should give an option where iwdee spells are implemented the 'bg way'. I was already thinking of doing that anyway, with the removal of alignment restrictions.
I just can't ignore a good list Okay. I'll stop hijacking this thread now...
Comments
I still have lot of work to do. Every time i go back the project, I have revise the whole shebang. Working a more automated way to make spells play nice with each other...
Well, what I had in mind was to take ALL IWDEE spells and port them over, meaning replacing any spells that already exist in BG with the IWD counterpart, as well. A clean conversion with no mechanical changes to the spells. Where it seems like Grammarsalad is planning on removing all alignment related mechanics.
If that was made an optional component I might be able help out, as long as I didn't have to make a big commitment. Maybe a crowd sourced effort could be a solution here? I would be fairly simple if you guys have checklist in google docs or something.
And i do prefer how spells are implemented in iwdee, for the most part. I prefer how it uses 318, 321, 324 and 326, for example. As for visual effects, I'm fairly certain that there is a component in tweaks that imports iwd(ee?) visual effects.
I'd only be interested in replacing shared spells through some automated process ( out2through some kind of crowd source effort). The manual method I'm using in b_spells is just too tedious for that. (btw, i have wizard spells up to 4th level, all with placed scrolls--the placement is not very imaginative--in addition to the wiz spells I've already converted-- also now with placed scrolls).
Kathros(sp) and kjeron have showed me how to extract text in a more or less automated way (which i will use to release the primary component in multiple languages). But this is not a thing where one takes the resources from one game and adds to the other during installation. For something like that, one would have to look at eet.
Edit Lol. Yeah, i like making spells.
Edit2: I've been learning as i go, but i have something of a template for adding spells (it's not efficient as it adds the same resources multiple times). Feel free to take a gander if you like (there is a lot of embarrassing code in there. As I said, I'm learning as i go):
https://github.com/UnearthedArcana/B_Spells/blob/master/spells/data/components/Setup_IWD_Spells.tpa
[spoiler] [/spoiler]
And this one for arcane spells (https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/36159/the-list-of-new-arcane-spells-in-iwdee-if-compared-to-bgee-bg2ee-and-some-changes-to-other-spells):
[spoiler] [/spoiler]
Yeah, i have to do it now!
(i.e. as another optional component)
Seriously, I have no choice now...there is a list and everything!
*which is one of the reasons that i haven't released it on github yet. I still have to organize the whole thing, and github gets finicky if you change the components around. Heh, I've literally just decided to include another component, which would have been bad if this was included in bws.
------
And now, because i have a list of differences between iwdee and bg(2)ee spells, it occurs to me that i should give an option where iwdee spells are implemented the 'bg way'. I was already thinking of doing that anyway, with the removal of alignment restrictions.
I just can't ignore a good list
Okay. I'll stop hijacking this thread now...