Jump to content

Smoketest

Modders
  • Posts

    465
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About Smoketest

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Oregon State
  • Interests
    Friends, animals, nature, gaming, movies, books

Contact Methods

  • Website URL
    http://
  • ICQ
    0

Recent Profile Visitors

2,066 profile views

Smoketest's Achievements

  1. Smoketest

    ToB news

    Have to agree; take your time. I've been downloading updates as they happen, but I'm not going to play this mod until it includes ToB content. In the meantime I have much to keep me busy.
  2. Most of the arrow types have some reference to "magical", "enchanted", or words like those in their general "An arrow is..." descriptions. Given that just about everything in the game uses magic to attain a "better than normal" state, it's safe to assume that all non-normal arrows (and other missile ammunition) are magical. Arrows of Fire also allow a save to avoid the fire damage, which is silly because if the arrow hits you at all, you will be burned, unless you have 100% or better fire resistance. Kobold arrows of fire have +2 THAC0 and damage, the little cheaters. (They also use composite long bows which are too big for them, and so do goblins.)
  3. My two cents... I had to edit and parse the TP2 manually because I have roughly 40% of the fixes already in place through prior efforts and I didn't want the fixpack messing them up. The remaining fixes that I hadn't gotten around to yet were good catches and I had fun implementing them, though I did save the bigger blocks for WeiDU after I made sure they were 'safe' for my install. As to the fixpack's effect on the game, as you say it will either be noticed or not noticed depending on the player and their play style. I have a reputation for noticing minute details, and indeed I make a living from doing so, so with the combination of my fixes and the fixpack's fixes, the game is subtly improved. Quests that were erratic now work great, sounds that didn't exist can now be heard, animations are noticeably different in some places, most male/female magi and priests no longer sound like cross-dressers while casting*, and so on. The powergamer and person who likes to play through the entire game in an hour won't notice these fixes, but the role-player and people like me who appreciate the details will definitely notice improvements. As to what constitutes a fix, well, that can be subjective. Some try to go with what Bioware would have done, which works in many cases. Others prefer to tune the game according to the rules it's supposedly based on, which can be difficult because of shortcuts Bioware took in this regard. I'm sort of the third type; I definitely squash obvious errors, I bring the game more in line with the rules where possible, and I implement changes where I feel something could have been done better. All in the name of making the game a more enjoyable experience for myself. This fixpack is for the public, so it's going to rub some people the wrong way. If they haven't the skill or inclination to change the code themselves, then they're stuck with what's offered or they must decline to use it. This is nothing new; people always find something to complain about when an official patch is released, and it's no different, and may even be amplifiied, in the case of a fan-made unofficial patch. *some males still have female soundsets and vice-versa, but this is a separate issue that isn't specifically addressed by the fixpack. For example, one of the servants in the BG2 tutorial is obviously male from appearances, but has a female soundset, and his internal CRE data suggests he may originally have been female.
  4. Congrats on the progress Bri. I don't post much here, but I always check for updates. Was on my way to meet the original Delainy again, but got sidetracked with bugfixing. Hope you get your video card whipped into shape. I had similar issues a few months ago and ended up going back to the tried and true, at least until I can upgrade my core hardware.
  5. *gathers some sticks and bark and builds a fire under Bri* I'd lend you my muse but she flew the coop years ago. As for Cam, the "too many irons in the fire" saying applies here. This project is getting old, but not nearly as ancient as Return to Windspear. Maybe Cam prefers the stack method of First In, Last Out. Regardless, I haven't given up hope. Still waiting for a good reason to have a bard in the party. (hint hint)
  6. Thanks for the update Bri. I miss the snow. Let's hope your muse also gets those four weeks off.
  7. This time of year can be hectic, so I understand. I'll be breathing a big sigh of (stress) relief when January gets here.
  8. Yep, I'm still waiting too. Been keeping busy doing QA on the Yasraena mod to fill the time.
  9. Congratulations on the new computer. Believe it or not, I never use spell checkers. May your days be virus-free and Delainy-productive.
  10. It won't happen, but imagine her being modded into the game, with voice and everything. haha. I had an odd experience happen to me outside of Candlekeep. After I left Gorion to die at Sarevok's hands, I found myself standing alone on the road, with this panicked, naked fighter running around nearby. I couldn't talk to him, and he had my character's name, but I could kill him, as he only had one hitpoint. Imoen was nowhere to be found. The cause? I'd inadvertently changed what I thought to be an unused CRE to 'empty' status, with default values. In this case it turned out to be Imoen's initial joinable CRE, as specified in the default BALDUR.GAM savegame template file. The CRE had my character's name because any CRE that doesn't have a specified name will use Charname's name. The panic was caused by the morale failure level being the same as the breaking point. All of this, at night in the rain (in the game), with me being tired (in RL), was really a weird experience, and funny once I realized how it happened.
  11. And so another school year looms on the horizon, so perhaps Bri will be able to get more done, or not. I know how intruding RL can be at times. Indeed, my last few weekends have been entirely sacrificed for my new girlfriend. In the interest of making time pass faster, and thus 'speeding up' Delainy's release, I'm playing a new game of BG1, after a loooong hiatus. This way I'll get to visit her once again on the secluded isle and rekindle the love that existed once before. Weeee. I wish you many creative moments Bri, and you many moments of coding genius Cam. Since the time I have left for gaming is reduced, perhaps I'll say farewell to BG1 Delainy in time to meet BG2 Delainy. (Moved from the Werewolf snippet thread I accidentally posted it to.) BTW, I hope you get your computer troubles sorted out Bri, and that you have hardcopies of your work so far. It'd be a shame to lose any of your hard work on this mod, or on anything else.
  12. I browse dialogs because there are always misspellings, incorrect punctuation, and grammar errors to fix, not to mention unclear wording at times. Better to fix the errors than to pollute my TLK file with distracting text. Yes, it can ruin the surprise at times, but if quality control was better, I wouldn't have to bother. (Not to seem too hard on modders, I find lots of errors in Bioware's work too, including situations where spoken words don't match printed text. Ugh!) Usually I try playing the mod first, but if I see several errors in relatively quick succession, I'm off to rewrite the text. It's hard for me to play the game with such distractions.
  13. RE: latest diary update Hang in there. It may not look like it, but I'm still awaiting this mod, more so since I haven't been privileged to test any of it. In the meantime I've been working and playing other games so that BG2 will be fresh again. I haven't been able to think of any new ideas that you or someone else hasn't already considered, thus no recent posts here. I'm more or less just waiting.
  14. I'm in no hurry for a big download, which a full speech pack would likely be. Since the mod is likely to be released before speech is recorded, I think it'd be best to provide the speech as a seperate download, especially since, if it's done well, the speech rarely has to be changed, while the mod itself might go through a patch or two after release. It also eases the burden on us 56k folks, and those players who might prefer to play female PCs and don't care about the romance portion. Still, I'd rather download a large file for Delainy than I would for... certain other NPCs. Only 53,000 words eh? Heh, I'm spoiled on full-sized novels. Still, if I want copious reading in a computer game, I'll play PS:T. I'm sure Delainy will have plenty to say. It'd be nice to have someone in the party who could out-talk Jaheira, the NPC with the largest number of dialogs in the entire game.
×
×
  • Create New...