Determing the Length of a Spell Effect

[JediMindTrix]

This is just the duration, correct? I came across a spell that claims it works for 1 turn - however, all the damage effects have their duration set to zero. So I think I came across a bug, unless I am missing something. Can anyone confirm or debunk my assessment?

 

EDIT: when setting value's for things like THAC0 on items, or 'savebonus' in an ALTER_EFFECT, are the values expressed as they would be in game? That is, if a spell has -2 to save, would you express that in Weidu as (0 - 2)?

[Mike1072]

This is just the duration, correct? I came across a spell that claims it works for 1 turn - however, all the damage effects have their duration set to zero. So I think I came across a bug, unless I am missing something. Can anyone confirm or debunk my assessment?

Duration in combination with timing mode determines when and how long an effect triggers. A damage effect generally happens instantaneously. What spell are you looking at that seems strange?

 

EDIT: when setting value's for things like THAC0 on items, or 'savebonus' in an ALTER_EFFECT, are the values expressed as they would be in game? That is, if a spell has -2 to save, would you express that in Weidu as (0 - 2)?

Yes, generally. You might need to tread carefully with THAC0/AC bonuses. For these effects, a positive number is usually a good thing, where it has the effect of reducing your THAC0/AC by that amount. Check the IESDP effects page and similar spells as a guideline. P.S. 2nd Edition is stupid.

[Jarno Mikkola]

P.S. 2nd Edition is stupid.

Well, it actually kinda depends on what expressions habits you have, saying things like "reducing/penalty/bonus/'noun' of -2" will get you always in to trouble. But you have the option to not to ever use that gramatical expression.

Also note that the -2 can also be expressed as 4294967294(the reason being that as the save throws have a dword (or 2^32) bits number determinent, the base number is 4294967296 to which the -2 sets it back to 4294967294). :silent whistle:

[lynx]

dword = 32 bits (4 bytes), not 12, so your underflow is way off.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Fixed...

[subtledoctor]

2E stuff aside, I've had problems using negative values in the various xxx_EFFECT functions. For example, if I want to hit a creature with an AC penalty, I might try:

COPY_EXISTING ~me.cre~
LPF ADD_CRE_EFFECT INT_VAR opcode=0 parameter1=-1 END

That doesn't work, even though I've confirmed that the opcode can take negative values in the parameter1 field. What's the correct syntax there?

[argent77]

WeiDU expects quotes around negative numbers, e.g. parameter1 = "-1".