Level1NPCs Alpha Testing

[cmorgan]

Dunno if we want to go into checking BAMs and other resources for platform versions; that probably is beyond the scope of a Creature Corrector. Other than that, it depends on how you want to set it up. If it is like Macready's Soundset Utility, the user modifies the tp2 to choose what .cres are input manually (COPY_EXISTING ~myCre.cre~ ~override/macdummy.cre~ B_O_I_I_C) . If you were looking for an all-in-one-fixer as a standalone product away from L1 NPCs, then I think as a modding tool I would ask for your (humorous) debug information, with a prompt for each .cre to fix. Most Modders are not going to distribute hundreds of .cres, and I am assuming that anything you find odd is making its way into the BG2 Fixpack anyways, so I would vote for humorous and verbose debugging info and either options to blanket skip repairs of a certain type or a Y/N for each .cre read in. My 2cp...

[Nythrun]

I've re-edited the creature checking/mangling thing: there's some option select at the beginning with the additions Miloch had suggested.

 

Also fixed one bug with the .eff conversion routine: the duration was being written to the wrong offset, creating instantly dissappearing effects. Sorry; I'm scatterbrained.

 

On the bright side, I didn't see anything else amiss, so with luck I won't have to edit it again other than to add additional features

[Azazello]

Should we redownload the package, or should we just use the files we have?

[Nythrun]

Latest build - let us tempt fate and call it alpha 1.0 - is obsolete, download link removed.

 

What's linked to in the other thread is just a modder's resource and not actually any fun

 

I'm out for a week or two now, so catch you all later!

[Miloch]

Kaboom! Ok, well it didn't exactly blow up my machine. I stuck some standard Tutu CREs (mostly gnolls) in 'your_treasures' and fired up the fj_cre_check with the custom option.

_GNOLL_D.cre's level has been altered from 2 to 1.
_GNOLL_D.cre's THAC0 corrected from 18 to 20.
ERROR: [fj_cre_check/your_treasures/_GNOLL_D.cre] -> [fj_cre_check/things_ive_ruined] Patching Failed (COPY) (Not_found)
Stopping installation because of error.
ERROR Installing [Ponderously slow creature correction], rolling back to previous state
ERROR: Not_found
PLEASE email the file SETUP-FJ_CRE_CHECK.DEBUG to ^_^

For some reason that e-mail address doesn't work... ()

 

This is probably my fault, since I asked for it, but I doubt I possess the expertise to mess with Nythrun's sooper code.

 

I reran it without the custom option and it didn't bomb. Opening up _GNOLL_D.log has a bunch of fields followed by a bunch of 'Revised fields'. But the revised fields are the same as the originals? Moreover, I opened both CREs in DLTCEP and eyeballed them - I can't find any differences.

 

So I fired up the full lvl1npcs mod and installed it. Nae problems there. I even changed Aerie to a Stalker without glitches. Well I did notice if you try to assign higher proficiencies than you should, you get a 'You fail at life. Try again.' message and it resets them all (rather than just disallowing the last choice). Knowing Nythrun though, this is probably intentional . Being as how I can't pick up Aerie in Tutu, I can't actually test her properly anyway, but I had no intention of doing so at this point . It passed the smoke test anyway... a real test would be to try to switch a mage or priest to another magic-using kit/class and see if the spells are non-fubared.

 

I will say I've never laughed so hard reading a TP2 file.

A new NPC appearing in Nythrun's "Lowest Common Denominator" mod, coming soon to a Commodore 64 near you!
Imoen: "OMG I gave you Teh Robe I was wearing and now I am nekkid!"

[Kulyok]

Okay, here's what I've found(TUTU):

 

- the mod works. Ajantis was turned to an Inquisitor, and Xan - to Fighter/Mage, without a glitch, and their proficiencies were fine, too.

 

- Ajantis' new item(a Full Plate in the very beginning of BG1, considering there are only three in the unmodded game) was a *little* overpowered.

 

- Both Ajantis' new items, a Full Plate and a helmet, used BG2 bams, not BG1 ones.

 

- Xan's avatar was still male elven mage, though fighters normally use male elven fighter.

 

- Xan had fifteen long swords in his inventory, and two more on person.

 

- Xan's moonblade became unusable by him, and remained a dagger instead of becoming a long sword.

 

That's it, since I didn't use the mod to its full extent.

[Nythrun]

Okies, I'm at least mostly back - and yay, thanks for shortening the development cycle.

 

Miloch:

 

This is probably my fault, since I asked for it, but I doubt I possess the expertise to mess with Nythrun's sooper code

Did you perchance tell the mod to go calculating the lore for those gnolls? It's going to find that an unfulfillable request At the beginning of the lore section (sorry, don't recall line number) you'll find a line that reads PATCH_IF ("fj_mode4" = 0x1) THEN BEGIN which you'll want to mess with by thusly appending PATCH_IF4 (("fj_mode4" = 0x1) AND ("fj_c_cls" < 0x15)) THEN BEGIN so it'll ignore the lore stat for moster "classes" even though you told it not to If there's another way you'd prefer this handled, let me know.

 

But the revised fields are the same as the originals?

The default is not to mess with moster classes, as the general case solution is lacking. These fields are the same because they're never looked at for change unless you enable it: all you're getting is invalid resref removal, reordering, spell memorization and item table repair, and suchlike.

 

Well I did notice if you try to assign higher proficiencies than you should, you get a 'You fail at life. Try again.' message and it resets them all (rather than just disallowing the last choice).

If I don't check each user-input variable for validity, the whole component will crash out and you'll have to restart from the beginning (possibly including the creature regexp where you have to wait for me to go wading through all of your files). I'd thought this preferable, though the message can certainly be changed to something less fiesty

 

 

Kulyok:

 

Ajantis' new item(a Full Plate in the very beginning of BG1, considering there are only three in the unmodded game) was a *little* overpowered.

Ack, I'd thought there were more than that, and had restricted full plate to fighters, clerics, and paladins with 17+ strength. How about:

• Strength 4-8: Leather
  
• Strength 9-11: Studded Leather
  
• Strength 12-14: Chain
  
• Strength 15+ : Splint
  

for the next version?

 

Both Ajantis' new items, a Full Plate and a helmet, used BG2 bams, not BG1 ones.

Fixed; these are difficult to check locally but they should be the last such errors. (That popping sound, there? A pin pricking my inflating overconfidence!)

 

Xan's avatar was still male elven mage, though fighters normally use male elven fighter

This part is working okay locally. I'm not sure what happened there, unless I was sleep-modding or had an errant finger accident before uploading. I'll look a bit more thoroughly, however, as this has to be correct

 

Xan had fifteen long swords in his inventory, and two more on person

Ninny added at the last minute some support for dual-wielders to get an offhand weapon and for people with stars in sword and shield to get a shield - and then didn't keep the loop closed. Fixed, with dolorous self-recrimination

 

and remained a dagger instead of becoming a long sword

This was intentional, though I'd like some input on this subset of the mod. Signature items aren't changing type at all - it's not that writing code to morph items is difficult, it's that descriptions won't make sense (and they can't always be updated without adding twenty strings per item to each .tra ) and that Xan having the Moonflail when someone Cleric/Mages him is repellant. My own preference for him was just to make the Moonblade a longsword always and give him one star in longswords: in the BG2 engine this is no problem and won't give him the ability to equip any other longswords while he's a mage. Without knowing if that would be satisfactory, though, I didn't include it in the alpha. Other suggestions are most welcome

 

Thank you again, very much. Alpha two tonight!

[Miloch]

Did you perchance tell the mod to go calculating the lore for those gnolls? It's going to find that an unfulfillable request

No. Well I might've at first but I just reran it without that option and got the same message. I think it's getting hung up recalculating the THAC0 from its adjusted level. Oddly, it does the same thing when I assume its level is correct (just tries to correct THAC0 to 19 instead of 20, and fails).

At the beginning of the lore section (sorry, don't recall line number) you'll find a line that reads PATCH_IF ("fj_mode4" = 0x1) THEN BEGIN which you'll want to mess with by thusly appending PATCH_IF4 (("fj_mode4" = 0x1) AND ("fj_c_cls" < 0x15)) THEN BEGIN so it'll ignore the lore stat for moster "classes" even though you told it not to If there's another way you'd prefer this handled, let me know.

Er, sorry... I don't read Linear A. I didn't ask for the Lore feature, but it might be useful (maybe for store or joinable NPCs, but for this I was just looking at stuff like gnolls which I doubt would have much lore ).

The default is not to mess with moster classes, as the general case solution is lacking. These fields are the same because they're never looked at for change unless you enable it: all you're getting is invalid resref removal, reordering, spell memorization and item table repair, and suchlike.

Huh. Well the 'Revised fields' section seems to imply all those fields were changed, but the only one changed I think was 'effect version' (from 0 to 1). I guess it'd be more useful (for my shallow purposes anyway) to have a section that shows only the fields actually changed.

I'd thought this preferable, though the message can certainly be changed to something less fiesty

Don't bother. Feisty is good.

Xan having the Moonflail when someone Cleric/Mages him is repellant.

Yeah, that would be kind of silly I guess. Well it might be kind of cool also, at least to provide that option, but you'd have to much about with alternate BAMs and whatnot... probably not worth it.

[Nythrun]

I guess it'd be more useful (for my shallow purposes anyway) to have a section that shows only the fields actually changed.

 

Will do, though it'll take a moment.

 

/edit

 

Updated.

 

/edit

 

Going to hold off for a little bit longer pending feedback before uploading alpha 2. Just a little bit though.

[cmorgan]

Wicked incredibly wonderful cool awesome AWESOME!!!!!!

And please don't change the commentary or in-code commenting... for Nythrun's Creature Corrector, the target audience is modders who are checking work for stability or testing in-game creatures - they will probably enjoy a tool with "attitude". (I certainly do). For Nythrun's Level1 NPCs, the target audience is folks who have played the game enough that they are looking to change the groundrules completely. If they don't have a sense of humor and a willingness to accept a verbal slap on the fingers for slip-ups, they should stop adding mods to their games and go play PS3 titles, leaving the serious gamers alone (sorry, no coffee yet this morning, and parent conferences day to boot )

 

 

I really like the approach to special items. I "vote" with Kulyok.

[Miloch]

Well, since Kulyok didn't comment on this part, I'll take a stab at it.

How about:

• Strength 4-8: Leather
  
• Strength 9-11: Studded Leather
  
• Strength 12-14: Chain
  
• Strength 15+ : Splint
  

for the next version?

That seems fairly reasonable if you're also keeping class/kit restrictions in mind (some kits can't have any metal). Maybe make it 4-9 Leather, 10-13 Studded, 14-16 Chain, 17+ Splint. Also I dunno if you want to take level into account. An NPC you get at a higher level would have more chances to have obtained better armour - so a 4th or 6th level Ajantis could certainly have plate mail, if not full plate. But if that makes it overly complex, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

If you want me to look at anything in particular, let me know. Are you comfortable with the spells being assigned/memorised correctly?

 

Edit:

AWESOME!!!!!! ... sorry, no coffee yet this morning...

So... what would it be *with* the coffee?

[Nythrun]

Yes, kit unusability flags are being observed (no armor for kensai!).

 

That proposed table looks even less generous that the default for BG1, I dunno (Ajantis and Shar-Teel do come with plate armor if you pick them up at level six)

 

Some NPCs in BG1 did get a bit of level scaling to their equpiment, but I'm not including that at present - if they were out adventuring that'd be one thing, but they just stand around waiting for Godot you to show up and busy their dull lives, so I've been less than interested in adhering to that meta-powergamey standard. I'll think about it some more

 

Unanimous vote on the Moonblade, so I'll go code that up now

[Miloch]

That proposed table looks even less generous that the default for BG1, I dunno (Ajantis and Shar-Teel do come with plate armor if you pick them up at level six)

Yeah, Ajantis gets chain at 2, splint at 4 and plate at 6 (according to Dudley anyway). Imoen gets nothing, unless you manage to pick her up at level 6, then she gets studded. Khalid gets splint no matter what. Yeslick gets nothing on account of being imprisoned, ditto with Branwen on account of being stoned. So I dunno if there are any hard and fast rules, maybe just stick with your original table if that makes sense to you. I only nerfed it because I have an uncontrollable nerfing trigger finger . Plus you don't really have a problem with money in BG so you can always buy better armour for them if you want.

[Nythrun]

Obsolete alpha two link removed.

[Nythrun]

For the next version (Beta1 ?), added some junk to skip the legion of duplicate kits added by Refinements. Still need to figure out why Refinements is trying to set Barbarians to 0x401f in kit.ids with a patch that won't work on modded installs, and what I need to do about that.

 

/edit

 

Added code to remove SCS level zero NPC weapons if they're present.