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Weird PST item/label/description/rule questions

lujolujo Member Posts: 236
I'm doing this great big item templating thing and I've so far run into a number of things worth reporting as bugs or as things in need of tweaking. And then there's things that just stump me and which I don't know the answer to... But someone probably does!

1) What does "intoxicates wearer" mean, exactly? Are some rules implemented for Beer Goggles or is it in the description just for laughs?

2) "Induces blindness" in Lens of the Bat? On top of the effects listed, or are the effects listed an explanation of the effects of this blindness?

3) Do Ignus' Terror and Horror actually work in an AoE around the casting point (like the description says) or are they just single target (like they seem to be)?

4) If you put junk into a container, it won't necessarily stack, but if you take it into your inventory it does. What gives?

5) When exactly did Lothar stop buying skulls? I seem to remember him buying them, the Planescape materials say he'll give at least a copper piece for them, but no. Did some modder mess this up and it ended up implemented in EE by accident?

6) Are the blue screen flashes from Axe of Torment and the brown ones from Swarm Curse on purpose? Anyone have any idea how to prevent them?

7) Did anyone ever hear of a mod which would make "cool spell animation time freeze effects" actualy freeze time instead of letting DoT spells work on effectively paralyzed enemies?

8) If Cloudkill kills many enemies, the floating text on the screen displays the reward only for one. Does it actually give only that much XP? (I could check but maybe someone knows)

9) Why are a lot of the cutscenes involving character models in EE in very low res? Has anyone else noticed this?

10) Anyone else have the dreambuilder sequences displayed strangely and to the side of the screen?

11) Why are there 2 seemingly identical charcoal charms in the game?

12) Why are there 2 seemingly identical false contracts in the game files?

13) How, exactly, does the Negative Token work? So that I can put it on it's actual description.

How about your questions? :)
Hi9987

Comments

  • argent77argent77 Member Posts: 3,431
    1) Intoxication is a status effect that can be triggered by drinking too much at a tavern. Afaik, intoxication is a numeric value. If the value exceeds a threshold you are showing intoxication effects. The threshold depends on constitution (at least in BG/IWD). The goggles add a +50 bonus to intoxication.

    2) The item applies the "Blindness" status effect as well as a -4 penalty to damage and THAC0 to the wearer. Blindness would automatically result in a hefty THAC0 penalty in BG/IWD. I don't know if this also applies to PST.

    4) Junk is a stackable item (up to 99 per stack). I don't know why it isn't auto-stacked in containers. If you refer to original container content, this is probably intended.

    5) I don't think Lothar will buy any skulls except as a replacement for Morte. However, he provides a store where you can purchase some items and make use of his healing service.

    8) There may be a limit how many messages are buffered by the game before they are displayed. I don't think that you'll miss XP because of it.

    9) This is a technical restriction. For a number of cutscenes the visible map background region is limited (e.g. see map AR3017). This is a limitation from classic PST, which had a fixed screen resolution. They could probably save some storage space or loading time that way, since the regions are usually scattered across a single map.

    10) It worked for me. It could be a zooming issue, or maybe it depends on the screen resolution.

    11) One of the many puzzles of the IE games. ;) There are also identical scrolls for a number of spells in BG/BG2.

    12) See 11).

    13) There is nothing in the item file that indicates it could be used as a ward against shadows. Maybe it's hardcoded, there is a mention of the token file in the game executable. I can't say what it is for though. The charged effect (Hold Shadows) appears to be correctly implemented, however.
    lujoJuliusBorisovProont
  • lujolujo Member Posts: 236
    edited January 2018
    Thank a ton!

    X) Blindness/Intoxication - TNO can't get drunk in-game, you can actually discover this by drinking at the Smoldering Corpse and talking to the bartender, Barkis. Which just adds to the confusion about these "status effect inducing items" - what status effects exist and work in PST?

    The thing which induces blindness also lists it's status effects as... the effects you get from the spell "Blind" and "Vilquar's Eye" (also a "blind" variant). I I'm confused about whether the efects listed are just an explanation of what "blind" means, or do they stack on top?

    What also doesn't help is that PST doesn't display status effects on character portraits, which I can tell you is a big PITA, because Embalm (and other "Aid" variants) don't stack and extra copies get wasted if you cast them while one is in effect. And you can't easily tell if one is in efect.

    There's an idea for a mod - displaying status effects, buffs and debuffs on portraits a-la BG. It'd make a very good official feature request, too. I'd pay money for it.
    argent77 said:

    4) Junk is a stackable item (up to 99 per stack). I don't know why it isn't auto-stacked in containers. If you refer to original container content, this is probably intended.

    Yeah, I figure it was intended in original containers, I just didn't figure it'll not stack when you put it in other ones. Just a random bit of weirdness.
    argent77 said:

    5) I don't think Lothar will buy any skulls except as a replacement for Morte. However, he provides a store where you can purchase some items and make use of his healing service.

    I know about his store, but the thing is that he used to buy skulls - I remember reading forum discussions where people were discussing how he pays rather decent money for wererat skulls. EDIT: But then again, I read discussion about how it was insane on the dev's part to not implement Lothar buying skulls in the game, as he does this in the sourcebooks.
    argent77 said:

    9) This is a technical restriction. For a number of cutscenes the visible map background region is limited (e.g. see map AR3017). This is a limitation from classic PST, which had a fixed screen resolution. They could probably save some storage space or loading time that way, since the regions are usually scattered across a single map.

    Ah, this is good to know! It looks quite like ass, and it might be a rather good idea to change it.
    argent77 said:

    11) One of the many puzzles of the IE games. ;) There are also identical scrolls for a number of spells in BG/BG2.

    12) See 11).

    Could you teach me your gamefile searching prowess to help me make formal complaints about this sort of nonsense? :D The problem is that duplicate non-stacking crap appearing around the game causes inventory clogging and confuses potential new players, adds random baggage to translations / modding etc. etc.
    argent77 said:

    13) There is nothing in the item file that indicates it could be used as a ward against shadows. Maybe it's hardcoded, there is a mention of the token file in the game executable. I can't say what it is for though. The charged effect (Hold Shadows) appears to be correctly implemented, however.

    I read wildly differing accounts about what the damned thing even does. Some say the armor effect is party wide if anyone has it equipped. Some said it's enough if anyone has it in their inventory. I do know what the "hold shadows" effect looks like, and is it ever handy, but not how it works, etc.

    Also - thanks for the insight and the answers!
  • lujolujo Member Posts: 236
    edited January 2018
    More questions for the experts:

    1) Did 2nd Edition rules assume that an Enchanted +1 weapon automatically has +1 to hit?

    Or did THAC0 notation cause things to be messy so that you have to put both Enchanted +1 AND THAC0 +1 on items?

    What does Enchated +1 actually do in-game in PST, under the hood? And does an "Enchanted +1, THAC0 +1" translate to "+1 damage, +1 to hit" or "+1 damage, +2 to hit"?

    Very important question for templating reasons. (It's also really hard to tell whether weapons are giving proper bonuses for some reason).

    ---

    2) There seems to be 2 sets of non-dropable invisibe monster items in the game. There's a set which uses the notation:

    IDAG1D10.ITM (means: Invisible Dagger 1-10 dmg)

    and then there's the set which uses this notation:

    INVDAGM1.ITM (means: Dagger for Medium Enemy type 1)

    What's up with all that? Is the game for some reason using 2X as many monster items than it needs? Or is one set unused completely?

    ---

    Oh and 3) If there are about 50-ish or a 100 unused, outdated copies of exisiting items, how exactly would one go about safely deleting them?
  • kjeronkjeron Member Posts: 2,367
    1)
    - It is the most common for enchantment = +THAC0 & Damage, but not mandatory.
    - Enchantment level = It can hit creatures not immune to that enchantment level.
    - Any THAC0/Damage bonus it has for any reason should still be listed separately from it's enchantment level.
    2) and 3)
    - Some variants from both sets don't appear to be used, but too much of PSTEE is hardcoded to give you a real answer to that.
    lujoProont
  • lujolujo Member Posts: 236
    edited January 2018
    Does PROFICIENCYBASTARDSWORD - 89 actually mean anything in PST or is an item with it misflagged?

    EDIT: It seems to be what fist weapons are flagged as, but does that then mean you could actually use a random unused proficiency and have it called "Teeth" so Morte would be actually profficient with Teeth, and Teeth would belong to the "Teeth" category?

    Would be rather cool if it was the case :) Even for just a mod.
  • lujolujo Member Posts: 236
    edited January 2018
    kjeron said:

    1)
    - It is the most common for enchantment = +THAC0 & Damage, but not mandatory.

    This seems to be wrong. The Enchanted +X is supposed to always give +1 THAC0 and +1 DMG. The ones which behave differently are just bugged / misimplemented. The description for the Spell "Spiritual Hammer", while wrong on the lvl progression math, is right about how enchantment lvl. works.
  • bob_vengbob_veng Member Posts: 2,308
    edited January 2018
    +1 thaco is mandatory, but damage may vary

    for example +1th/+1dm is normal, +1/+1, +1 fire damage is also normal; +1/+0, +1d3 fire damage would also be acceptable i'd say, but something in the description would have to confirm that it's not such an effective slashing weapon

    however +0th/+1dm could never be a "sword +1"

    also, +2th/+1dm could never be a "sword +1"

    however +0th/+1dm, +1AC could, maybe, be a "sword +1" / on the other hand +1th/+0dm, +1AC is normal and conventional, i'm pretty certain

    also +1th/+2dm (+1 from enchantment and +1 from base weapon form, i.e. some exotic weapon) is normal
    Proont
  • lujolujo Member Posts: 236
    Very important question if anyone knows:

    What exactly determines how many HD creatures have, and what exactly does the spell Cloudkill take into account? I know HD mostly means "levels", but is this how that is determined by the engine?

    When looking at a .CRE file - which numbers mean "Cloudkill proofing" when it comes to HD?

    And also - does anyone know whether giving a .CRE extra levels does anything, like give it extra health, make it capable or incapable of spellcasting and such?
  • lujolujo Member Posts: 236
    edited January 2018
    Here's a weird bunch o' them:

    1) Is the Mirror of Imaging supposed to have charges? Or are they supposed to be one-use items? I just had one not get spent after using it, but it might be related to 4 or 5.

    2) How about Ashes of the Pabulum, the Trelon summoning jar? It's not displaying any charges and seems to go on for ever...

    3) Anyone try the heart of the Fosterer? Whats it's deal?

    4) Has anyone tried the anti-magic shell thingy which is in the game files and can be restored to the game, except for me? Anyone know exactly what it does? Because I just tried it and it seemed to go on for ever (that is until I rested).

    5) Anyone know spells or items with charges to behave weirdly in the Modron Maze?
  • kjeronkjeron Member Posts: 2,367
    The Mirror is coded for one item with charges, not a quantity of multiple items. It should disappear once all charges are expended.

    Items like the Ashes of the Pabulum and Heart of the Fosterer store global variables, once it reaches a certain value the item is destroyed upon use. Both have 3 uses. I'm guessing this was done to prevent you from recharging them by selling them to stores.

    Ant-Magic shell applies a variety of effects to every creature within a pulsing radius around the caster:
    Casting Failure (Wizard): 100%
    Casting Failure (Priest): 100%
    Immunity to Spell Level: 1
    Immunity to Spell Level: 2
    Immunity to Spell Level: 3
    Immunity to Spell Level: 4
    Immunity to Spell Level: 5
    Immunity to Spell Level: 6
    Immunity to Spell Level: 7
    Immunity to Spell Level: 8
    Immunity to Spell Level: 9
    Magic Damage Resistance: 100%
    Set Spell State: 134 (ANTIMAGIC)
    The caster has 2 other effects (one for the visual radius indicator, another to pulse the effects and display the globe animation)
    It lasts one hour of in-game time (300 seconds).
    lujoProont
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