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[MOD] The Power of Belief

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  • GeckopewpewGeckopewpew Member Posts: 1
    Can't wait for the new spells and items! :'(
  • AquadrizztAquadrizzt Member Posts: 1,065
    @Geckopewpew , yeah sorry it's taking so long. Coding spells in PST is a nightmare, and my focus has been on a new modding functionality for one of my other mods that I'll publish soon.
    JuliusBorisov
  • NicolBluetoothNicolBluetooth Member Posts: 48
    edited July 2017
    I just had an interesting experience with this mod. I just installed The Power of Belief after installing a bunch of other mods, then loaded one of my old saves from before I installed them, right before becoming a Disciple of Aoskar. Aola made me a Lv 1 Priest with no Priest spells, I got mazed, I grabbed the Sledgehammer at the campsite, and I was attacked in the maze by a Shadow. My fists and Fist Irons were useless against it, and I thought I'd have no way to kill the damn thing. But then, in desperation, I tried equipping my unidentified Brimstone Sledgehammer, and it worked! I was able to murder two shadows with its glowing red might, and escaped. I guess this is a bug in this mod or one of the other ones I installed, or perhaps simply a result of installing it mid-game, but I'm glad it was unjustly equippable. Still, anyone who Aola makes into a Priest is pretty screwed if they're attacked by Shadows before switching back, unless they exploit a bug like I did.
  • PokotaPokota Member Posts: 858
    Hammers are traditionally cleric weapons in D&D, so I don't see an issue with that?
  • NicolBluetoothNicolBluetooth Member Posts: 48
    Pokota said:

    Hammers are traditionally cleric weapons in D&D, so I don't see an issue with that?

    Well, the Brimstone Sledgehammer is labeled as a Fighter-only weapon. I'm guessing maybe the way the mod is implemented makes it difficult for the game to differentiate Fighters from Clerics. I'm not complaining, though.
  • AquadrizztAquadrizzt Member Posts: 1,065
    @NickBluetooth, what do you mean you got no spells after leveling up? The whole level 0 thing is to make sure you receive priest spells propery.

    Also, from the top post

    ...changes to a handful of Maces and Warhammers to make them usable by Priest Nameless Ones...


    I'll work on item description patching at some point, but it is super tedious and annoying so I didn't bother with it yet.
  • NicolBluetoothNicolBluetooth Member Posts: 48

    @NickBluetooth, what do you mean you got no spells after leveling up? The whole level 0 thing is to make sure you receive priest spells propery.

    Also, from the top post

    ...changes to a handful of Maces and Warhammers to make them usable by Priest Nameless Ones...


    I'll work on item description patching at some point, but it is super tedious and annoying so I didn't bother with it yet.
    I just tried switching back to Priest with Mourns-For-Trees, and though the switch cutscene took about 25 seconds that time, I've got six Lv 1 Priest Spells now. I then reloaded a previous save from before I ever tried to become a Priest and retried Priest training with Aola. That time, it was about six seconds, but after I leveled up, I got the spells again. Maybe that one save was a fluke, or maybe I had the spells and didn't notice them.
  • AquadrizztAquadrizzt Member Posts: 1,065
    The time delay is unfortunately unavoidable because I'm asking the engine to do a binary search for your current experience so that it can recreate it when you switch. The reason it is so time consuming is because whenever it checks and finds that it needs to remember a value, it has to restart the entire script. I've taken steps to optimize the parts of the code that are run repeatedly, but I think its going to be like that for awhile.
  • NicolBluetoothNicolBluetooth Member Posts: 48

    The time delay is unfortunately unavoidable because I'm asking the engine to do a binary search for your current experience so that it can recreate it when you switch. The reason it is so time consuming is because whenever it checks and finds that it needs to remember a value, it has to restart the entire script. I've taken steps to optimize the parts of the code that are run repeatedly, but I think its going to be like that for awhile.

    No no, that's totally fine. As long as it switches the classes accurately in less than a minute, I really don't mind the wait too much. The modified hammers and maces will need their class descriptions changed eventually, but I suppose until then I can just guess and check to see which ones I can equip as a Priest.
  • AquadrizztAquadrizzt Member Posts: 1,065
    @NickBluetooth , the hammers/clubs that I updated are: Blind Terror, Death of Desire, Severed Arm, Club of Piercing, and Reason. Having checked the game files, the Brimstone Hammer can be used by Priests by default, but it isn't usable by Grace; that's not on me but I'll try to update its description when I do the description changes.
  • NicolBluetoothNicolBluetooth Member Posts: 48
    edited July 2017

    @NickBluetooth , the hammers/clubs that I updated are: Blind Terror, Death of Desire, Severed Arm, Club of Piercing, and Reason. Having checked the game files, the Brimstone Hammer can be used by Priests by default, but it isn't usable by Grace; that's not on me but I'll try to update its description when I do the description changes.

    Sounds good. I also tried the Enchanted Hammer, the Baatezu Mace, and the standard Mace on Priest TNO and he could equip all three of them.
  • AquadrizztAquadrizzt Member Posts: 1,065
    @NickBluetooth , I'd classify that as "working as intended", but if you come across any weapons that you think shouldn't be Priest compatible, please let me know.
  • NicolBluetoothNicolBluetooth Member Posts: 48
    This isn't really a bug since it probably won't show up in-game, but I was going over some of the mod's files in NearInfinity, and the general descriptions for the Priest tattoos are that of the Tattoo of the Bonesinger. Their identified descriptions are as expected, but the other tattoos' identified and general descriptions are the same, so you might want to update them at some point just for accuracy's sake. I suppose that would entail adding two "SAY UNIDENTIFIED_DESC @" statements to the installer.
    JuliusBorisov
  • AquadrizztAquadrizzt Member Posts: 1,065
    @NickBluetooth , noted but I don't think you should ever see the unidentified descriptions of the items. The tattoos can only come from Fell, and all of his tattoo's are identified by default. I'll add in a bit of code to fix this the next time I get a chance.
    JuliusBorisov
  • lujolujo Member Posts: 236
    edited January 2018
    Whatever you do, don't start classess at lvl 0. Wanted to make a start-from-zero mod for the regular game start, but ended up having to settle for start at 1. I think I eneded up tweaking snags out of it, but I couldn't get rid of extra profficiency points you get at lvl 1 if you start at 0.
  • fkirenicusfkirenicus Member Posts: 331
    Sorry, maybe I've missed something obvious here, but will the new priest spells be available for Grace as well TNO? I probably won't be using this to get TNO to become a priest (Rule of Three and all that...), but new spells for our favorite succubus priestess would be MOST cool... :-)
  • AquadrizztAquadrizzt Member Posts: 1,065
    @fkirenicus , no new spells yet unfortunately. Grad school has a way of interfering with these things.
    fkirenicus
  • fkirenicusfkirenicus Member Posts: 331
    No prob, take your time. :-)
  • GrejuvaGrejuva Member Posts: 3

  • AquadrizztAquadrizzt Member Posts: 1,065
    @Grejuva, perhaps, although given that the engine's creature file format can't handle tracking levels/xp for more than three independent classses, I suspect that it was much more a mechanical limitation that inspired an ideological argument rather than the reverse.

    If you don't want TNO to be a Priest, or you feel like it compromises the narrative too much, then that's up to you. I made this because it was one of the things I remember seeing requested in the "what mods do people want for PSTEE?" thread.
  • GrejuvaGrejuva Member Posts: 3
    @Aquadrizzt Oh i didn't mean any offense.
    I mean there are some different dialogues based on your class.Just saying that it wouldn't worth the time you're gonna spend on this mod.

    Like when Many-as-One brings some of your memories back
  • AquadrizztAquadrizzt Member Posts: 1,065
    edited March 2018
    @Grejuva, I actually went through and patched all the class-dependent dialog. There are actually very few times where the game supports different dialog for each class; the only major class check I haven't patched (where every class has an option) is Nordom's class upgrade.

    To clarify, this mod is 100% functional as is (to my knowledge). Future updates would include more Priest items and spells.
    Post edited by Aquadrizzt on
    Gubo
  • jaklumenjaklumen Member Posts: 16
    edited May 2018
    Pardon a daft question, but I can't seem to get this mod to work. Quick glance tells me it's running WeiDU 24001, while the other mods I'm using run WeiDU 24300.

    I'm running PST:EE on Linux Mint 18.3, and installing the mod executables through WINE.

    EDIT: Hmm... I seem to have it working, now... must be that I'm not doing things by the book. Somehow got it working unpacking the cdtweaks Linux package from a tarball into my game directory, and that somehow got WeiDU to update for the mod properly. *shrug*
    Post edited by jaklumen on
  • AquadrizztAquadrizzt Member Posts: 1,065
    Weidu has an automatic updater where it will scan for the most recent version of the various Weidu executable. Glad that seemed to resolve your issue.
  • jaklumenjaklumen Member Posts: 16
    Thank you for your very timely reply, Aquadrizzt.

    So I have some observations/questions, having played the game to the Clerk's Ward content (enough to have Grace in the party).

    First of all, although the Mage spellbook is blurred out, I seem to have access to Mage spells through the spell interface, and what little I've checked, they do seem to be castable. Was this intentional, or is it a bug? I realize it might be a part of the existing code, as I remember pre-EE that there was a rather similar exploit where you could cast Mage spells from the old radial menu, as a Fighter.

    The other observation was that I could equip Siphon Knuckles on priest TNO- which seems like a rather unpriestly weapon to me. But if I understood @NickBluetooth correctly, knuckle fist weapons are allowed? I welcome your rationale; I've played pen and paper/tabletop D&D 2nd-4th editions (no Planescape settings, though). Clubs make sense to me, hammers make sense to me, but maybe that's because I haven't encountered knuckle weapons anywhere but PST.
  • NicolBluetoothNicolBluetooth Member Posts: 48
    edited May 2018
    If I understood what @Aquadrizzt said correctly, the game's code for many of the weapons never explicitly specified that Priests couldn't wield them in the first place. Fall-From-Grace is the only playable Priest in the unmodified game, and she can't use weapons, so there was no reason for the developers to program Priest restrictions into the weapons. Consequently, there are several weapons that can be wielded by Priest TNO that you wouldn't think could be, like the Brimstone Hammer, which says Fighters Only. Aquadrizzt changed a few weapons' class restrictions, but many can be used by Priests by default. So largely all Aqua has to do now is change their text descriptions to reflect that.
    As for the Siphon Knuckles, they literally say that all non-Mage characters can wield them, so it would make sense that a Priest could wield them, because a Priest is not a Mage.
    Post edited by NicolBluetooth on
  • jaklumenjaklumen Member Posts: 16
    @NickBluetooth I think I was headed toward that conclusion, but you articulated things much better than my screwy divergent brain could manage. Thank you.

    Yes, you're correct about the Siphon Knuckles- the text descrip does indeed say that only Mages are excluded. This is Planescape, after all; no gods to peer down and forbid blood sucking weapons. (Plus Chris Avellone's sly decision to steer away from swords was already appealing to me.)

    Despite the current text setting on the Brimstone Hammer, I did take the liberty of reading all the comments. I usually head to the Player's Maze by way of the Disciple of Aoskar anyways, and everything checked out as others said they would.
  • jaklumenjaklumen Member Posts: 16
    Okay so what I was saying about spells: I've played further to the Curst in Carceri content- and finally decided to switch to Mage. Well, well, well: somehow, I had access to some of the Priest spells.

    More specifically, it seems that Priest spells are ALWAYS listed first, and there is access to maybe 5 slots. If my TNO is a Priest, from the Spells tab then, from left to right, the whole list of memorized Priest spells is given, and then about 5 from the Mage book, and then the rest of the Mage book is listed, with the icon for the 5th useable spell for everything else, but those spells were inaccessible. Conversely, when my TNO was a Mage, from left to it showed 5 Priest spells via the Spells tab, which were accessible, and then it listed the Mage memorized spells.
  • nullsetnullset Member Posts: 38
    @Aquadrizzt I swiped some of your techniques for my BG2EE mod Rjali, in order to use the contents of a LOCAL variable in a GLOBAL context. I found that the BitSet action replaced the entire variable instead of doing a bitwise operation: eg 15 came back as 8, having overwritten the 4, 2, and 1. The BitCheck worked just fine, so I used IncrementGlobal instead of BitSet.
  • EzrahEzrah Member Posts: 1
    Got the same issue as Jaklumen, I just started a playthrough though, so I only know 3 priest spells, however, having priest in my repitoir seems to grant access to priest spells as mage. [can cast blessing as a mage, the other priest spells are greyed out.
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