http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?showtopic=4884It appears this orwellish miscreant has once again resorted to "They stole my idea! I invented item randomization!!! ME! ME! ME!!!" :rolleyes: Time to inject this delusional, falstaffian blowhard with another dose of reality and put him in his place.
As you know, my idea of randomizing items via scripts was stolen and a mod was created out of that idea without sending any permission request to me and without even mentioning my name.
I'm not sure why you still keep demanding credit for an idea that was never yours to begin with. An idea which you clearly stole yourself. Simply insisting it's yours doesn't make it true, Sikky
Folks, whenever Sikret mentions he came up with the idea of "randomizing items via scripts," he is only telling you half the story, while deliberately leaving out the other half. First, there are
two things people should understand - the concept of item randomization, and the implementation (coding) of this concept - neither of which were conceived by Sikret.
The Concept of Item RandomizationAs you all know, the
concept of randomizing items had already manifested in the minds of several human beings LONG before Sikret came along. As a matter of fact, even before Weimer's mod for IWD2. This is an indisputable fact since we can check for ourselves in Icewind Dale 1. Here's a little quote from Dan Simpson's walkthrough of IWD1 (a game that was released SIX years before the first version of Improved Anvil):
To enhance replay value, most of the better treasures are "randomized." So one time you might get the "Armor of Goodness", the next time you might get "Potion of Not so Goodness."
.
.
.
QUEST: Kill the Goblins and Retrieve Damien's Fish
Note: We're coming up on the first RANDOM TREASURES in the game. Normally
when you open a chest, you will get the same items every time you
open that chest. If the first time through the game you find a
Hammer of Unholy Smiting, the next time you will find that.
However, some items are random. One time you will find the Hammer,
the next it could be the Armor of Unholy Protection. If ever you're
unsatisfied with the random item you got, simply reload to a
previous save (one that isn't in the same area), and try again.
Even Planescape Torment has randomized item drops. From Simpson's PST walkthrough, "Random item drops will occur here [UnderSigil], in particular the rare and highly coveted Bell's Shield and Ring Zero. These won't appear anywhere else in the game."
The Implementation of this ConceptSikret claims he randomizes items via scripts. What he doesn't tell you is that dialogs are nearly identical to scripts, in the sense that you can use just about every trigger and action that you'd normally see in a script (BCS) in a dialog (DLG) as well. (Why is this point worth saying? I'll get to this in a minute.) The actual item randomisation in Improved Anvil is done through heavy use of the RandomNum function in order to distribute items.
At this point I
have to go into a little more detail to get to the bottom of this instead of talking in generic/abstract terms. Let's look at ONE such example of randomization in Improved Anvil.
AR0602.BAF:IF
Global("Iavecnaplace","GLOBAL",0)
RandomNumLT(4,3)
THEN
RESPONSE #100
SetGlobal("Iavecnaplace","GLOBAL",3)
END
and
S!fsdrag.baf:IF
Detect([PC])
Global("Iatreasure","LOCALS",0)
Global("Iavecnaplace","GLOBAL",3)
THEN
RESPONSE #100
SetGlobal("Iavecnaplace","GLOBAL",5)
SetGlobal("Iatreasure","LOCALS",1)
GiveItemCreate("wa2robe",Myself,0,0,0) //
END
What does the above code mean, in layman's terms?
In plain English, the code in the first script, AR0602.BAF, means: "create a random number between 1 and 4. If the generated random number happens to be less than 3, then assign a value of 3 to the global variable 'Iavecnaplace' to ensure the item has been randomized."
In plain English, the code in the second script, S!fsdrag.baf (part of a creature script, to be precise), means: "if the global variable 'Iavecnaplace' is set to 3, then give myself (i.e. the creature who happens to use this script) the Robe of Vecna; {otherwise, the Robe of Vecna will be given to some other creature using the same process}"
----------------------------------------------
That is, in essence, Sikret's original, never-before-seen
idea of item randomization. [generate RandomNum + SetGlobal variable + check Global variable + GiveItemCreate] ...
If this approach was truly unique, as Sikret insists, then we should *not* be able to witness this type of randomization anywhere else prior to Improved Anvil, right?Except the fact is... we DO see an identical style of randomization even in the unmodded, vanilla game!
Two words:
Naljier SkalThe lunatic from the Spellhold Asylum who gives the PC random items when you ask him about his "pretties".
Here is a decompiled code snippet of his dialog file - PPNALJ.DLG (note the highlighted lines in bold):
SAY #53819 /* ~I used to have my pretties. Some are hidden... where only I can see. Want to see?~ [PPNALJ07] */
IF ~RandomNumGT(100,0)
RandomNumLT(100,36)
GlobalLT("Pretties","GLOBAL",5)~ THEN DO ~DialogueInterrupt(FALSE)
SetInterrupt(FALSE)
IncrementGlobal("Pretties","GLOBAL",1)
SetGlobal("CreatePretties","GLOBAL",1)
SetGlobal("GiveItem","LOCALS",1)
CreateVisualEffectObject("SPCRTWPN",Myself)
Wait(3)
DialogueInterrupt(TRUE)
SetInterrupt(TRUE)
StartDialogueNoSet([PC])
~
.
.
.
IF WEIGHT #1 ~Global("CreatePretties","GLOBAL",1)
Global("GiveItem","LOCALS",1)
~ THEN BEGIN 8 // from:
SAY #57873 /* ~Many many pretties... piled high beyond the sky. (sigh) ~ [PPNALJ09] */
IF ~~ THEN DO ~GiveItemCreate("Amul13",LastTalkedToBy,0,0,0)
SetGlobal("GiveItem","LOCALS",0)
~
Notice it follows the same [generate RandomNum + SetGlobal variable + check Global variable + GiveItemCreate] principle. And this is just one example. To see more similar cases of randomization, check out the behavior of:
- The Deck of Many Things
- the Genie from the spell Wish
- Morul, the mage apprentice, who gives you random potions once you gain control of the Planar Sphere
- Dradeel - another mage in the Spellhold Ayslum who gives you a bunch of random recipes
- Machine of Lum The Mad
As a matter of fact, this RandomNum function is used in hundreds of AI scripts in the unmodded game. And I haven't even looked at the randomization techniques used in other games yet (PST, IWD1, IWD2, etC)
Based on this overwhelming evidence, how this simp could insist he was the first to come up with the idea is just mind boggling.
Does one car company ask another for permission before making a car, when the first ever car was already invented by someone unrelated to the entire automobile industry some CENTURIES back?
You wanna see a real act of thievery?
Take a look at how the
very first version of Improved Anvil was promoted:
Improved Anvil -- the new item upgrade
Quoting the author:
Quote:For a long time, Weimer's "Item Upgrade" mod was a fixed installatin choice for many BG2 players. It was almost the time to bring a change and to blow some fresh air to BG2.
Improved Anvil is (hopefully) a brilliant substitute for "Item Upgrade" mod and surpasses the quality of that already well-designed mod in all respects. Improved Anvil adds many new items and item upgrades to the game and will provide Cromwell and Cespenar with numerous new recipes to make those items for you. Furthermore, the mod improves and fixes several buggy or badly designed encounters and battles of the original game. All of the changes, however, will be removable by uninstalling the mod. That is to say, when you uninstall Improved Anvil, no permanent trace will remain and everything will change back to what they were (though I cannot even imagine why someone may want to uninstall this mod ). Despite the numerous and important changes and fixes this mod applies to the game, its download size is reasonable. The mod is entitrely bug-free and is successfully tested and approved in a non-modded and clean installation of the game.
If you encounter any bugs while playing this mod, it is more than 99% probable that something is wrong with one of the other mods you have installed. In such a case, I will be grateful if you report the issue so that we can find the source of the problem together.
Improved anvil is a progressive project. I am looking forward to receiving suggestions from people who have played the mod in practice in order to expand the mod in its future versions and releases. All good suggestions will be applied to future versions with the name of people who made those suggestions. The mod belongs to everyone who loves it and wants it to improve.
I'm confident that this mod will turn to be a fixed installation choice for all BG2 players versy soon, but for now, you are the ones who should try it and send me your feedbacks and opinions. Needless to add that I am the first one to admit that this mod can improve even further and I surely need your help and your suggestions.
Notice the way Sikret introduces Improved Anvil by taking advantage of the name and popularity of Weimer's mods. Not only does he not credit Weimer for inspiring him to make IA, but he actually diminishes Weimer's work by saying how much it sucks and how much superior his own mod is.
Someone later tells Sikky to look at Weimer's Solaufein to get a few ideas for improving enemy AI; Sikky
admits that he's already looked at Weimer's scripts from that mod. In the same breath, he downplays Weimer by saying the AI appears powerful only because of their "immunities and special abilities." Yet, THIS IS EXACTLY HOW THE VAST MAJORITY OF ENEMIES IN IMPROVED ANVIL ARE DESIGNED - by way of boosting their resistances, immunities, special abilities, regeneration rates, and other stats...
Pathetic, lying, classless fraud.
This clown has spent his entire modding "career" competing with Weimer's stool samples, while riding on his coattails at the same time.
Weimer makes an enemy improvement mod (Tactics), Sikky follows suit.
Weimer makes an item randomization mod, Sikky follows suit.
Weimer makes an item-upgrading mod, Sikky does the same.
Weimer makes an NPC mod (Solaufein), Sikky made plans to create his own (Mansur NPC).
Weimer makes a kit mod (Anti-paladin), Sikky follows up with his Riskbreaker/Auramaster/Vagrant.
...
Sikky, where did you get all the code for making these things? How come I never saw you explain this part before?
Did the ideas and code just magically appear in your head?
Or did you just... "borrow" them from elsewhere?