Altering my enemies myself!

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I really thought some battles were un-improved and crappy despite all of my heavy mods.

So I decided to use SK to edit monster files to make some of the encountered monsters/creatures tougher.

I decided to start with Copper Coronet slaver guards. Man, they were pathetic, with crap THAC0, HP and AC. So I used SK and buffed all of them, raised their levels 4-5, added the correct THAC0, HP and saving throws. Then for a little tweak, added one extra attack per round, and raised their stats to 18, 18/90 for STR. Then I deleted their mundane items and gave them nice +1-+2 armors and weapons. Finally, raised their XP value as now they were tougher.

The result was suprising. What was once easy slaughter was turned into a huge battle for survival. They were TOUGH and gave my low-level party trouble! They were really able to hit and cause damage after all! Then I realized they had killed poor Nally Nalia who was still waiting in CC. WTF? I love Nalia so I loaded and rushd to protect her from prisoner area.

Result was satisfactory, it was hard and fun, plus good XP. Oh then I sold all of their stuff for a little fortune! Selling 20 Composite Long Bow+1 at once earns you thousands!

This encouraged me. Next target was pirates. Pirates in Spellhold island and in Thumb's hideout.

Man they were absolutely weak, failing to a lousy Flesh to Stone/Disintegrate for a quick kill. Meh, I buffed them up, and gave them dangerous darts. 4 special darts to each which cast Creeping Doom upon hit. NASTY that! It was promising to be fun eh?

There was also a pathetic pirate mage in Thumb's hideout. I fancied him as a 'half-demonic abomination of great power' so he went through serious changes. First, changed his skin tone/clothes into dark and evil red. Then raised his pyschial stats to 19. HP to 120. Base AC to -2. Saving throws reduced to 3. Added %127 resistance to fire and acid, and hefty %75 MR. Also a good %70 all damage resistance! Finally, altered its movement rate so that he was 'flying' fast. Didn't forget to raise XP significantly.

Oh my, the simple battle proved to be deadly in Thumb's hideout! The pirates threw their darts of Creeping Doom, one did hit and it was a disaster, needles to say! I had FUN! Then their darts were gone they switched to their scimitars+1, and wearing their Splintmails+1 they charged in! I also had put extra healing potions, but they couldn'T use them as they lacked the script to do so. Oh well, I looted their corpses for healing.

Then the pirate mage came. Wow he looked really scary, demonic, and unnaturaly fast. He proved to be hard to kill! It took 10 minutes to kill him, and he was wreaking havoc with his spells! I also wanted to add some minor Demon Summoning abilities to him but alas, even if I put the spell to him, he won'T use it, for he needs the script to do so.

So, what do you think? I had immense fun doing these small alterations. Do you think they are harmful? Heck I don't toy with important creatures or bosses, only little and weak critters.

I always overwrote the CRE files, as I thought if I had created a new file the game would not put the correct creature to game.

What say you? Should I continue altering for fun? Will it cause bugs? Who knows, maybe one day I can create my own '(Slightly) Tougher Normal Creatures' mod! Ooo this sounds kewl!

 

Well, that sounds fun i say. By all means, keep editing if you want! Perhaps i should try it also...

 

Daaaamn Silver! That's an awesome idea! Seriously even without the proper scripts for spells and such you've basically started a mod! I'm liking what you've done alot here! hehe can you tell im excited!

Did each battle take a long time to process or is it relatively easy? Can you add alot of different changes to things or just a few? Ohhh I have sooOooO many questions!!!

You make it look easy but I bet it's hard ey, cause I've never used SK. Please teach me your pearls of wisdom Silver !

 

ya me too, where can you download sk

 

Well it is easy enough. Hardest thing is finding correct CRE files in SK. They each had shortened names, but with a little search I was able to find CC guards. There were 10+ types of guards. So I double-clicked each of them, a screen showing their stats came up. From here I changed their levels, HP, THAC0, # of attacks, and stats. Then entered the inventory screen, deleted their mundane items. Then double click on appropriate slots to put +1 or +2 gear in; for example I double clicked armor section, a list of available items popped up, then I selected Chainmail+1. Same for weapons, added Comp. Long Bows+1, and nasty arrows of piercing to their ammunition! I then added one extra healing potion to their quick slot but they never managed to use it anyway. Finally, changed their saving throws according to their new levels, based on my Player's Hand Book. I also added weapon proficiencies for the weapons they use; normally they didn'T have any proficiencies, so I was unsure if it would make any difference. Then I estimated their XP value based upon their level, gear and with the help of Dungeon Master's Guide. VOILA!

Did the same or similar alterations for all CC guard CRE files. And they all turned into dangerous and tough soldiers of highest caliber!

Same for pirates and pirate mage.

Alterations take little time, I just delete one thing and replace it with another. I can basically alter their appearence, colors, speed, AC, HP, THAC0, # of attacks, stats, treasure, incentory, XP value and all. Though I can'T add new spells or abilities as they need scripts for that which I don'T know how to do.

It was fun and harmless enough. But I know SK can be a dangerous tool. I don'T know if my alterings can bug the game. Oh and I think the alterations won'T come into effect if you already faced/saw the creature in the game.

So, mod and SK experts, what say you? Am I playing with fire? Or is it completely harmless? I have many other ideas as well but can'T do them as I am scared to screw my game...

EDIT:Finding SK is easy enough and it is really easy to learn, even one who is as ignorant as me was able to learn its secrets afterall.
http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/index_editors.php

But I have to warn you, if you are going to use alterations on creature files, do so on your own risk. I don'T know if they can be harmful or not...Maybe I was lucky.

 

Yeh, what with the huuuge complication I hear from people about Shadowkeeper AND all the bugs it could cause I'm a little weary to use it but you've done a great job Silver! That sounds like a devilish thing to do but it sounds fun! I hope that mage was given some Gooood weapons and such!

 

^Eh, the demonic mage did not need weapons, as I still have smarter mages component, he was already swinging MMMeteors here and there and was buffed up to the max! Imagine the terror! FUN!

Seriously though, we need some expert's approval before continue this little and evil alterations on enemies!

 

Umm, I'm pretty sure Fel or Maggie could help us out here. If not im sure that Aldeth, Mr. Mod Reviewer would certainly know a few things yeh?

 

The alterations you made are minor, especially considering that these aren't plot-specific NPCs. I've done a bit of it myself on the important ones, and I've never had any problems. So go nuts, it won't hurt anything.

 

Only things that you should avoid are tose that engine forbids, dual-wielding 2-handed weapons and such or shield in weapon slot. But othing else should be problematic, i sometimes change papedolls just for fun (it was fun, watching fuzzy rabbit killing enemy hordes ).

 

I decided to test it myself, though I'm no wiz with SK. I tried to open CRE-file, though there are about 20 files there... Can someone be more specific on how to do it? (I'm on my old computer for the moment, so I don't have Mic. Word, hence I can't open the SK-readme...

 

I'm just guessing here but... For safety sake, wouldn't it be better to place the new CRE files in the override folder? As I have understood it those files will replace the standard ones in the game. Or is it more complex than that?

 

Shouldn't be a problem, although if you're worried about overwriting stuff that's already been affected by mods, I'd back up your override directory before putting new stuff in there.

NI is probably more suited to this sort of thing than SK; you could've assigned those pirates the proper item-using script, for example. But I think screwing around with behavioural scripts is way more fun than just basic CRE modification. Learn some scripting if you can, it's not too hard; take a look at other scripts and IDS files, use google for anything that's unclear. I'd try my hand at some smarter scripts if I had the time/skill, sadly I don't.

 

So I can continue my little alterations without worries. Thank you guys!

I don'T think I really want to deal with scripting things for now.

But kind and friendly Olimikrig PMed me and offered his help, he said he could write new scripts for my alterations! I trust his abilities as a modder, ever since I fought Taluntain the pink dragon! If only I had more free time, maybe we could even make a total new mod together with Olim!

Sigh...

 

heh, sil... We'll see how things fare . Unfortunately I haven't been able to begin yet (but will today) as my computer has been screwing around with me , but everything is up and running now!

I'll begin on the enemies you pointed out, and then move on. Some question, though:

• Do you want enemy mages to "break the rules" in terms of using (Really)ForceSpell actions, and as thus becoming un-interuptable, or do you want them to throw regularly?
• Do you want to apply the "tactics" modules "Go for Gorions ward" ideologi?
• Do you want the improved enemies to gulp more than 1 healing potion (or to try to)? And other potions too?

More questions will come, I'd bet.

 

1-YES by all means but player should not notice this.
2-Sounds like fun!
3-Yes, they should also gulp oil of speeds. Maybe regeneration too as soon as they see enemy?

 

The player is pretty much always going to notice the difference if ForceSpell() is used. But I guess it's fine if aren't going for legitimacy.

You can use SpellNoDec() in conjunction with local variables to replace normal spellcasting if you like. Same effect, but you don't have to mess with creature spellbooks and memorisation slots. Quest Pack's Mae'Var is scripted very well, I think.

[ March 08, 2006, 15:00: Message edited by: Prine ]

 

Yes, a ForceSpell action is going to be noticed... but maybe we could do a combination... make some illegal contigencies and the likes?

 

Illegal contingencies, you mean, level 9 spells in Chains? Hmm it was fun in Irakoud'neg battle.

I want that pirate mage in Thumb's hieout to summon a demon (as per 7th level spell though, or shall we make it a Pit Fiend?) once per 5 or 10 rounds?

And about that thugs/thieves who attack you ,n the nights. They are horibly weak. I have random encounters from tactics and those guys are deadly and smart. It is depended on my party's level, and once I hit level 15 or so they become conjurers (triple flame arrow sequencer!), shadow druids (insect plague anyone?), bounty hunters (who actually sets traps when he can'T see enemies), and wizard slayers(with dispelling arrows, apply casting penalty to ranged attacks as well, aim for buffed casters) See, there is a whole gap in power with those guys and occasional thugs, who attack with crossbows, and normal shortswords and the like. Pathetic.

So you can buff them up? Increase their level so they can hit something, and give better equipment, and AI maybe? What say you?

Another battle. The bitch queen in the pirate island, was her name Galwena? SHe was soo pathetic I can hardly remember her name. And her pet wizard was still easy even with my smarter mages component. So can you buff them too? And addsome helpers perhaps? I want the mage to be able to cast one 9th level spell at least, possibly time stop; then let him bombard the area with ABDHWs. Old strategy, but still better than he does normally. Add a sequencer with GMalison+Slow+Chaos, this combo will really hurt! Once enemies are GMed, start sending in Finger of Deaths! Hehe!

What say you? Can you code all of this?