Does opcode 189 prolong casting time?

[temnix]

Opcode 189 is Increase Casting Speed Factor. According to the guide, it's supposed to work both ways, for speeding up spells and for making the casting take longer. And if I put a negative value, like -10, spells are cast instantly. But no matter what I write in to extend casting times, it still has no effect. I have 20 there right now, had smaller values, and Chaos and Fireball still take the same 3-4 beats to cast. What gives? Are there any items in the game or spells that prolong casting times, so I can see if that even works?

[Ardanis]

That's really weird, because negative values should increase the casting time, and positives decrease it.

 

You can check IR, which has a component that adds casting speed penalty to armors, but really it should be as simple as flipping the value negative/positive.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Well the variable should be between (-/+)1 and (-/+)9, as the .spl file can only have those variables at the extended headers offset 0x0012, and as the 0 is instant, which the opcode can't change. So, it's actually from 247 aka -9, up to 9, which is +9
Set it to 20 like you have and you will make the spells take the full round to cast as 3+20 is maximum of 10 as it can't go anywhere up from that. I don't know if you can tell the difference from your ~2 seconds(fireballs casting timer 3/10, at lest if you run the game in 30 fps mode) to 6(10/10) seconds, but that's your issue.

[temnix]

It looks like I've done something to my characters in that saved game. Without any of this opcode they fire off spells too fast, by about 2, I think. Then again, 1st-level spells take the usual short time, and 2nd-level spells seem about right also. But 3rd-level spells go a little quicker than they should, I think. And Chaos and Summon Ghast should definitely take longer for the casting time of 5. It usually takes Tiax quite a while, now he gets that ghast in about as quickly as a fireball is cast. When I apply 189 over this, the positive seems to have no effect, and any amount of negative, even -1, results in instant casting. Even Armor is instant.

 

And this applies even if I use the opcode in a new saved game.

 

Can somebody test this opcode, please? Just try it with a positive and a negative, see if it does anything.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Can somebody test this opcode, please? Just try it with a positive and a negative, see if it does anything.

Well, the vanilla game has a few items that already do use the opcode, there's no need to test it. For example the the Robe of Vecna has -3(wa2robe.itm), while the Amulet of Power has -1(amul21.itm) ...aka they speed up the casting speed.

[Fiann of the Silver Hand]

Something interesting to try with timing testing is to set the AI update to 1 (normally 30). Slows the game down enough you might be able to detect where the error occurs.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Something interesting to try with timing testing is to set the AI update to 1 (normally 30). Slows the game down enough you might be able to detect where the error occurs.

Aka:

In the non EE game, open the baldur.ini -file, in the game folder and find the line: Maximum Frame Rate=30

And in the EE games, open the baldur.lua -file, in the gamer user profile folder, find the line: SetPrivateProfileString('Program Options','Maximum Frame Rate','30')

...and set one of them to 1.

[temnix]

The Robe of Vecna and the Amulet are not in BGEE. (I wish people would learn the difference between "amulet" and "talisman," too...) No items that speed up casting in BGEE or SoD?

[Jarno Mikkola]

Well in that case you have the The Ghostdreamers' Robe. That does this in SoD.

 

Or install any number of mods ... like the Item Revision, and the casting time penalty -component in it... make a fighter/mage and start casting if armor, well not elf armor as those are skipped, but plate armor, scale and leather armors have different penalties... and see what the effect does, and how it's configured. The components includes the penalty option for arcane or arcane-and-divine casters etc ... so you have options to see it even in the regular BG1EE.

[temnix]

I wonder if the speed is really a percentage. Longer spells don't seem as affected as low-level ones.

[Jarno Mikkola]

I wonder if the speed is really a percentage. Longer spells don't seem as affected as low-level ones.

It's definitely not, as were you to use a defined spells... you would see that.

For example:

Take Blur spell, it's casting time is 2, and take a fireball spell which casting timer is 3... and make two mages, equip the fireball one with the Ghostdreamers' Robe... and press the SPACE to pause the game, and set the mages to cast their spells. And the spells should finish exactly simultaneously... or take Monster Summoning I(casting timer 4) and Hold Person(casting timer 5) with the robe(-1). And so on...