Replacing blank entries in the casting graphics field with custom animations

[Andyr]

Yeh, I remembered that since posting, cheers.

 

I plan to test a couple of more some point soon and update the post.

 

Any ideas on adding animations to some of the blanks?

[Smoketest]

Any ideas on adding animations to some of the blanks?

That could be taken two ways...

 

If you mean adding animations to the dropdown list in NI, then outside of downloading the Java JDK and fiddling with NI's source code, the only way is to e-mail your findings to Jon Olav when you're done testing and wait for an update to NI.

 

If you mean adding animations to the unassigned values for use in the game, well, you'd need to hack the EXE somehow.

 

In IWD2 this was removed from the EXE and placed into SPELLANI.SRC (numbers added by me; there aren't any numbers in the file)

0 None
1 Fire Aqua
2 Fire Blue
3 Fire Gold
4 Fire Green
5 Fire Magenta
6 Fire Purple
7 Fire Red
8 Fire White
9 Glow Necromancy
10 Glow Alteration
11 Glow Enchantment
12 Glow Abjuration
13 Glow Illusion
14 Glow Conjuration
15 Glow Invocation
16 Glow Divination
17 Sparkles Fountain Aqua
18 Sparkles Fountain Black
19 Sparkles Fountain Blue
20 Sparkles Fountain Gold
21 Sparkles Fountain Green
22 Sparkles Fountain Magenta
23 Sparkles Fountain Purple
24 Sparkles Fountain Red
25 Sparkles Fountain White
26 Sparkles Swirl Aqua
27 Sparkles Swirl Black
28 Sparkles Swirl Blue
29 Sparkles Swirl Gold
30 Sparkles Swirl Green
31 Sparkles Swirl Magenta
32 Sparkles Swirl Purple
33 Sparkles Swirl Red
34 Sparkles Swirl White

Notice the specialist schools use the same values as in BG1/2. The rest are modified or added, it seems.

[Andyr]

Yeh, I meant the latter. So I take it the code fro IWD2 is the result of you hacking the EXE and inserting your own BAMs?

 

I'm not a programmer, so how hard would something like this to do for BGII? Ideally what I want is a couple of new animations I can use for psionic abilities, rather than them using the spell animation graphics.

[Smoketest]

So I take it the code for IWD2 is the result of you hacking the EXE and inserting your own BAMs?

No, in IWD2 that information is in the text file SPELLANI.SRC, as I noted. Even then, it seems to be merely a descriptive list (I added the numbers for comparison; they aren't in the file) and not something you could modify in order to change game graphics. In BG2 and earlier games, it also seems to be hardcoded in the EXE.

 

That is, the values for that variable and their associations with animation files seems to be hardcoded, but the files themselves should be accessible. If you can locate the BAM files used for casting animations, you might be able to make a substitution in order to replace one of them with your own animation. Just use the same name as the one you're replacing so the engine can find it in its hardcoded (internal) list.

 

Failing that, your best bet is to find a decent casting animation and stick with it, for better or worse. What about the one mindflayers use for their psychic 'stun' attack?

 

After a short inspection, the BAMs for the specialist schools' casting graphics are:

Abjuration = CGABJURA.BAM
Alteration = CGALTERA.BAM
Conjuration = CGCONJUR.BAM
Divination = CGDIVINA.BAM
Enchantment = CGENCHAN.BAM
Illusion = CGILLUSI.BAM
Invocation = CGINVOCA.BAM
Necromancy = CGNECROM.BAM

I've no idea what files the other settings use.

[Idobek]

Opening bgmain.exe in a hex editor and search for CGABJURA (or another casting graphic filename). A quick look tells me that FIRENC01 might be something to play with. Also, are shair.bam, shearth.bam and shwater.bam the other sparks and whirls you found?

[Andyr]

Smoketest: I mean replacing the blank animations with non - blanks, I already know about the CGBLAH files and used them in the tweak packs.

 

Ido: FIRENC01.VVC refers to SPFIRSDI.BAM which is used by Melf's Minute Meteors. And no, those BAMs aren't the ones I'm referring to as the sparks... Can't find the filenames for them, but the White Sparks are used by the Githyanki when you're in the Underdark in BGII. After being captured by Illithid, and the Githyanki use their abilities to open the door.

[Smoketest]

Also, are shair.bam, shearth.bam and shwater.bam the other sparks and whirls you found?

Those are used by effects opcode 141, Lighting Effects.

 

Andyr: I wasn't sure what you meant, so sorry for repeating things you already were aware of.

[Andyr]

That's fine, any help is appreciated!

 

Am going to split this thread a little now since I've not actually updated my first post yet, and we're having a modding discussion.

[Avenger]

What about adding stuff to the cfb?

[igi]

To add new casting animations, you will almost certainly need to hack the .exe. This will be hard.

 

The easiest way to accomplish your aim to, as Avenger says, add an effect to the spl "casting features" section - this gets fired as soon as the spl is begun casting, so you can play a casting animation in it.

[Andyr]

I hadn't thought of that, may look into it. Cheers.

[Galactygon]

What about adding stuff to the cfb?

I remember making new casting graphics for the wish spell way back using CFB and a few .vvc files. So it's possible, with some work.

 

-Galactygon