Author Topic: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters  (Read 14425 times)

Offline Echon

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Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« on: January 14, 2010, 04:37:14 PM »
Comparing two different versions of the same file and writing the WeiDU code to patch the differences does become a bit tedious. So I decided to have a bit of fun and add two new illusion spells, a school of magic which is underrepresented. Of course, many of them are difficult to implement because they work on an individual level in P&P while only the universal level is available in games like these. Still, I am satisfied with how these two spells have turned out. They will be added to FotD later but for now this is a standalone release and it does not require FotD.

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Shadow Monsters (Illusion/Phantasm)
Level: 4
Range: 30 yards
Duration: 1 round/level
Casting Time: 4
Area of Effect: 20-ft. cube
Saving Throw: Special

A wizard casting the Shadow Monsters spell uses material from the Demiplane of Shadow to shape semireal illusions of one or more monsters. The total Hit Dice of the shadow monster or monsters thus created cannot exceed the level of experience of the wizard. The actual hit point total for each monster is 20% of the hit point total it would normally have. The shadow monsters perform as the real monsters with respect to attack forms but Armor Class is reduced to half its normal value. Special attack forms such as petrification or stunning do not occur. Those who believe in the shadow monster suffer full damage from their attacks while those who roll successful saving throws only receive 20% of normal melee damage.

Quote
Demishadow Monsters (Illusion/Phantasm)
Level: 5
Range: 30 yards
Duration: 1 round/level
Casting Time: 5
Area of Effect: 20-ft. cube
Saving Throw: Special

This spell is similar to the 4th-level spell Shadow Monsters, except that the monsters created are effectively 40% of normal hit points. Armor Class is reduced by one third its normal value and if the saving throw is made, the damage potential is only 40%.

Screen Shot: Shadow Flesh Golem on the left, Demishadow Flesh Golem on the right.

Download BG: http://mods.pocketplane.net/Illusions.zip
Download Tutu: http://mods.pocketplane.net/IllusionsTutu.zip
« Last Edit: August 06, 2011, 01:34:52 PM by Echon »

Offline Miloch

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2010, 10:46:27 PM »
Cool. Wouldn't the IWD shadow animations be more fitting though? They are already slotted in the BG2 .exe (including Tutu) at MSH1/MSH2, so you'd just need to copy the content. No idea if it'd work in BG1 though - probably not.
Comparing two different versions of the same file and writing the WeiDU code to patch the differences does become a bit tedious.
Aye. Have you tried weidu --cmp-from oldfile --cmp-to newfile --out output.txt? It's not perfect because it only deals in bytes, but it can help. Also, igi's utilities can output text files of the resources (items, cres, spells,etc.) which you can then diff (using PSPad TextDiff or similar) to see what you need to patch. In theory, you could batch and automate the whole thing, at least somewhat, rather than eyeballing all those files in two editors, which can make one blind.

Offline Echon

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #2 on: January 15, 2010, 03:01:15 AM »
Cool. Wouldn't the IWD shadow animations be more fitting though? They are already slotted in the BG2 .exe (including Tutu) at MSH1/MSH2, so you'd just need to copy the content. No idea if it'd work in BG1 though - probably not.

Probably not. Besides, Flesh Golems are only one out of five different illusions that may be created with these spells.

Quote
Comparing two different versions of the same file and writing the WeiDU code to patch the differences does become a bit tedious.
Aye. Have you tried weidu --cmp-from oldfile --cmp-to newfile --out output.txt? It's not perfect because it only deals in bytes, but it can help. Also, igi's utilities can output text files of the resources (items, cres, spells,etc.) which you can then diff (using PSPad TextDiff or similar) to see what you need to patch. In theory, you could batch and automate the whole thing, at least somewhat, rather than eyeballing all those files in two editors, which can make one blind.

No, not yet, though I will give it a try to see if it can speed up the process. I did use automate for the first release but I do not recall how well it worked.

Offline aVENGER

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #3 on: January 15, 2010, 10:27:53 AM »
Screen Shot: Shadow Flesh Golem on the left, Demishadow Flesh Golem on the right.

Very nice.

BTW, have you considered using a combination of effects #66 (Transparency Fade) and #9 (Colour: Glow Pulse) for the shadow effect? I'm using that + blur to create the Etherealness effect in aTweaks, but with some modifications, I bet it could be used for creating a cool looking shadow effect as well.

Offline Echon

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2010, 10:58:48 AM »
I am using #66, and #51 for the colours, for the Shadow Monsters, except the ones where the colours are controlled by the CRE. Demishadow Monsters only have #66. I am not 100% satisfied with how they look but things did not seem to improve.

Offline aVENGER

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #5 on: January 15, 2010, 11:20:01 AM »
I am not 100% satisfied with how they look but things did not seem to improve.

Hmm, it may be a BG1 thing.

Perhaps 3D Acceleration is needed to produce some of the fancier transparency effects which are available in BG2.

Offline Shadowblade

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #6 on: July 27, 2011, 11:59:16 AM »
Thank you, Echon, for these spells!


Shadowblade

Offline Echon

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #7 on: July 27, 2011, 12:13:20 PM »
I am glad you like them. They will become part of FotD, probably the next release. And there are more, similar, illusion spells on the way.

Offline Shadowblade

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #8 on: August 03, 2011, 11:39:50 AM »
I have a problem with these spells. I have BG1 Tutu, are they not compatible?

I can't install them into the BG2 directory as it can't find the High Hedge store and aborts, but they go into the BG1 directory just fine. However, the spell scrolls are invisible, although the description is correct when I right click and they turn into rolled scrolls when I pick them up. But when I buy them I can't write them into my spell book. If I copy the files from the BG1 override into the BG 2 override, I CAN learn them and I get an icon in the spell book but the text is something weird about lying in filth, so it looks like dialog/tlk or something didn't patch properly.

What have I done wrong? Are they incompatible or should I install them in a different order?

I have BG1-TSC, patch 5512, Baldurdash, BG2-SoA-ToB, ToB patch, Baldurdash and Tutu v4 with Tutufix18. And BG1UB.

I was so excited about these as I remember talking about them a while back and I'm so glad you made them. We need a few more low level ones as well! Tutu should be able to make Project Image work, too, and other BG2 spells.


Cheers

Offline Echon

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #9 on: August 03, 2011, 12:01:30 PM »
These spells, like the current version of FotD, are not compatible with Tutu. I forgot about you using that when you originally posted here.

However, if you open ILLUSIONS.TP2 in your text editor of choice and replace "HIGHHEDG.STO" and "STO0703.STO" with "_IGHHEGD.STO" and "_STO0703.STO" (found at the bottom), it should install on Tutu.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2011, 12:05:25 PM by Echon »

Offline Shadowblade

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #10 on: August 04, 2011, 03:42:53 AM »
Excellent! I've played FotD several times, but this is the first time I've used Tutu. I should have RTFM.

Will I have to start a new game? I just got to BG City to pick up Quayle and Alora as I'm trying a party of "The Little People".

The next spell we need is Shades!

Keep it up!

~

« Last Edit: August 04, 2011, 03:45:07 AM by Shadowblade »

Offline Echon

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #11 on: August 04, 2011, 04:02:30 AM »
If you have already visited those stores the scrolls will not appear but installing the mod (instead of just copying everything) is necessary to get the right string references and you can still give yourself the scrolls using the console.

Offline Shadowblade

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #12 on: August 04, 2011, 05:23:36 AM »
I've visited High Hedge and can buy the invisible scrolls already, so will this fix that?

Which is the other store?


Mike

Offline Echon

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #13 on: August 04, 2011, 05:36:46 AM »
Did you just copy the SPLs to the override folder? You also need the BAF, ITMs, CREs, and BAMs to make these spells work. And if you want the correct names and descriptions, you have to install it with the changes I mentioned earlier.

The other store is Sorcerous Sundries.

Offline Shadowblade

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #14 on: August 04, 2011, 06:09:02 AM »
OK, I've not been there yet.

I copied all the files in the illusions folder after I unzipped it. As I say, I could learn them and cast them but the text was screwed when I just copied them into BG2 overrides. When I just installed into BG1 they were still invisible but I couldn't learn them. But then I'm running Tutu, so no wonder.

I'll try tonight as I want to go back to Highhedge to get the Robe of the Neutral Archmagi for Quayle (I'm already thinking Branwen was the better Cleric, so he'll need some Strength scrolls).


Cheers

Offline Echon

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #15 on: August 05, 2011, 03:08:16 AM »
When I just installed into BG1 they were still invisible but I couldn't learn them. But then I'm running Tutu, so no wonder.

Did you install it on BG or Tutu? Because in this context Tutu counts as BG2. I do not know why the scrolls are invisible. I tried installing it on BG and everything worked as intended.

Offline Echon

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #16 on: August 06, 2011, 01:34:30 PM »
Finally the long wait is over. You can now enjoy these two fine illusion spells... on Tutu! The crowd goes wild!

http://mods.pocketplane.net/IllusionsTutu.zip

Offline Shadowblade

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #17 on: August 08, 2011, 04:59:38 AM »
I edited like you suggested and I had both versions, visible and invisible, but they worked.

So I uninstalled and redid everything from scratch and used Easytutu and installed the spells with the changes you said and they work perfectly (well, the scrolls are visible and they write into the spell books. I'm still not high enough to cast them yet).

So, is this chage to the tp2 all that needs to done to make FotD compatible with Tutu?



Cheers

~



Offline Echon

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #18 on: August 08, 2011, 05:16:40 AM »
No. I want to make it compatible with both Tutu and BGT and for a lot of filenames I have to use variables, using either the Tutu version or the BGT version. This applies to areas, for instance, while spells should be the same. Weapon proficiencies have also changed between the two games so I need to update those accordingly and EFFs are different in BG2, as well.

Offline Shadowblade

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #19 on: August 09, 2011, 10:44:34 AM »
I thought it would be complex as there are so many files, but if different mods have duplicate file names, that's a huge job.

BioWare weren't even consistent at first - spells were pretty sequential, rather than something like:

SPLWIZ10 to SPLWIZ1Z and SPLWIZ20 to SPLWIZ2Z etc allowing 36 spells of each level where the first digit is the spell level.

Hope to see FotD for Tutu some day.

The G3 tweak pack contains armour thieving penalties, as in PnP and FotD. Where you involved in that?

Would you consider doing the spell spheres and schools for Tutu as part of the tweak pack? It would be a large step towards making all of FotD Tutu compatible. I'd love to see FotD with the Tutu graphics etc.


Cheesr

Offline Echon

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #20 on: August 09, 2011, 03:16:39 PM »
The G3 tweak pack contains armour thieving penalties, as in PnP and FotD. Where you involved in that?

No. FotD is the only mod I have worked on so far.

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Would you consider doing the spell spheres and schools for Tutu as part of the tweak pack? It would be a large step towards making all of FotD Tutu compatible. I'd love to see FotD with the Tutu graphics etc.

I see no reason to make a seperate release in addition to FotD. I do not expect it to that much time to make the mod install on Tutu and BGT. I have got the code written, I just need to point it at some different files. Yes, there are some things to take care of in addition to that but not a huge amount of work.

Offline Shadowblade

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Re: Shadow Monsters & Demishadow Monsters
« Reply #21 on: August 10, 2011, 04:39:44 AM »
OK, it's just that I could enjoy the original BG-TSC with more of the real PnP rules, as well as the changes in story etc of FotD.

 

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