Dragon's Breath not working

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OK I have a very heavily modded BG2 game, I have many mods such as IA, romance-quest mods, tweaks and Wild mage additions. (Sikret will never ever approve of my mod list so I have no right to ask him for help about my problem)

My party is back from Underdark and everything has been fine up to now:I had a totally bug free and fun game. Until my wild mage protagonist got his Dragon Breath HLA. So far I try to use it on different enemies and it does...nothing.

The initial spell animation works, the floating dragon head breathes fire from the sky, but it does not create an explosion. It does nothing. No damage is done to no enemy. Even the animation of a big bad fireball's explosion on the ground is not here.

When an enemy lich casts it on a party member, only the target party member suffers the damage and there is no explosion animation again. Then again IA enemies cast it via script so they may use a different file, I am not sure. When I cast it on an enemy nothing happens.

I checked via SK and its spell file is SPWI922. I checked my override and to my horror there is no such file! So I extracted the file into my override from my savegame and by Shadow Keeper. Now, this did not solve my problem DB still does nothing. I checked it with my IEEP but ofcourse, I don't understand all those unknown variables and all...

All other spells work including Comet but DB does nothing. This is annoying as it is a very powerful and useful spell.

Do you have any advice on how to fix the spell by using IEEP? Or how can I get an unbugged version of the spell file? (can you send me the file? wil it work?) Or any cause of the problem?

TIA

 

The simplest way to do so would be to make a backup of your overide folder and all the files in the root of the BGII folder (as I can't recall exactly which ones are important to preserving mods besides dialog.tlk and the .ini files). Then reinstall the game and run the patch. Don't install any mods other than Throne of Bhaal and the official patch. Now use NearInfinity to extract SPWI922.spl AS WELL AS the projectile file SPDRBRTH.PRO.

Once that's accomplished and you have those files saved, restore your backup and stick those two files back into your overide folder, overwriting anything already in there.

 

Thank you for the idea, but I am right in the middle of a game and I fear if I do what you describe I may cause my game to be unplayable thanks to mods and order and such. And that would be a tragedy!

If any kind soul can send me these two files from a game that's working correctly, that would be a life saver! Please, if you can email me the two files mentioned above, and if they are enough to make the spell work, I will be eternally grateful to you! You can send them to lunarsght ..at.. yahoo.com.

[Don't post your mail in the open like that unless you like spam. I've made it a bit harder for spambots to read. -Tal]

 

I've found SPDRBRTH.PRO with nearinfinity but not SPWI22.spl.
Instead there are files like spwi22x, x being anything from 1 to 9 and neither file is described as dragon breath.
If anyone could help me to find the right spl file I'd send them to silverstar.

I'm using fixpack + acsension mod though.

edit:
@Silverstar
ignore if anyone has sent them to you already ^^

 

@Taluntain

Thank you very much, you are always so wise and helpful, while I am always rash and careless, I am so glad we have you in these forums!

@hannibal555

Dear friend I appreciate your most gracious help! I downloaded the files you sent and put them to my override folder...

However the spell still does not work the Dragon animation is all nice and cool but it does not blast. It does not create the big fireball affect which kills all enemies in the vicinity.

So anyone has any idea why this is happening? Any other file required for this spell to work? What can I do?

EDIT:Kind Razfallow has also sent me the two files mentioned, still my problem continues. NO explosion after the dragon breathes fire. Nothing at all. Enemies are totally unaffected. I still think another file is broken and I need help.

 

I'm not all too familiar with the IA mod,
but once I read by curiosity the FAQ and I remember something about
Dragon Breath being nerfed in the mod.
Could that be the cause of its ineffectivity?

edit:
checked the FAQ and no mention of Dragon Breath being nerfed, though they mention
that they have altered/fixed it.

 

I have posted on IA forums and they have said they havent changed the spell. Weird When IA enemies cast it on a member only the member is affected and there is still no explosion. When I cast ON a target nothing happens.

 

No, you are mistaken, there are no changes to the Dragon's Breath spell from Improved Anvil. I suggest you reread the readme - the Fixes and Tweaks readme mentions problems with the breath weapons of dragons, it does not mention the wizard HLA Silverstar is referring to. I play with IA and there is no spwi922 in my override folder at all.

This problem has nothing to do with IA (as I said in the IA main forum).

EDIT: Also, Silverstar, the IA enemies are not using a different version of the spell, they use the same file as your party.

 

Yes, enemies in IA use the original DB spell's file, but perhaps Silverstar's mages use a different file (from a mod which alters the mage HLA table). It can also explain why replacing the spell's file with those he has received via e-mails has not solved his problem.

 

I have the patch and Baldurdash fixpack.

My mods:

NPC flirt pack, EoU, Rogues Rebalancing, G3 anniversary, UB, ToD, Wild Mage Additions, Song and Silence, Romantic Encounters, Herbs&Potions, Jerry Zinger Show, Tactics, Improved Battles, (only few parts not about IA), IA, the four, 1PP, BG2 tweaks, Xan NPC, NPC damage mod, Ascension ( only final fight, I know it is incompatible with IA but I wanted to try my luck) Turnabout, IEP banters.

Only mod that adds new spells is Wild Mage Additions. It adds wild magic spells and does not touch HLAs at all. I also have Ascension against Sikret's reccomendedmod order (and after IA, no less, sorry!) but those are two I suspect but I still dont think these can cause my problem.

Any help or input would be welcome if you can help me solve this mystery.

@Sikret

What is the file name of the spell IA casters use when they cast DB? I think they cast it from scripts as they dont have it in their CRE files so I can not know and am at a loss.

 

I am extremely surprised that you actually manage to play the game without it crashing all the time I mean, that in my Improved Anvil modded games, I've encountered quite a few bugs, and yet my install is what Sikret recommended. However, yours obviously includes many mods conflicting with IA, each of which IMHO may be the cause of this and eventual future problems you might encounter...

 

Yes being the official mod freak, I know it is all my fault and I have no right to pester no one about my problem, but so far there has been no game breaking bugs and I have done a fair amount of SoA and two levels of WK (only to be squashed by Cromatic Doom, I will come back later)

If this bug can not be fixed I will continue with my game but I would rather be able to use DB. I think fixing a spell should be easy but I don't know what to do or why, I would understand if a quest is bugged or enemies behave stupidly or game is not loaded, I would call it quits, but those never happen, just this bug is annoying and makes no sense to me. I just wish a mod maker or some one with technical info can help me a little I would be grateful.

 

Well, as long as Dragon Breath HLA is your only problem, I am most happy to assure you that you don't need it at all to complete an IA modded game - almost all tough enemies are either immune to its effect or highly resistant/immune to fire damage. That's all the help I can provide.

 

Argh! Then, please don't say anywhere that you are playing IA at all, because with that installation you have completely broken IA's scripts and content (for example, you won't see EDE in your game at all). The battles in your game are a lot easier than the battles in other IA players' games. You have left no room for any luck.

It's the original BD spell (the file Raven mentioned in his post above).

 

OK I won't. Sorry! Sorry for all the trouble, I know you have given so much effort in creating such a wonderful mod, my modded game, it is just for my personal free time fun. I have no wish to be called a great IA player/tactician and I have deep respect for those who have that title.

I haven't realised if the battles were easier though, they surely are very tough for me, I never realised any irrational or stupid behaviour in IA enemy's part and I have reloaded countless times in some fights. (WK, Undead city, drow ambush, Boz's party, mage stronghold fights especially the last one really was too much until I had a lucky streak with Wishes thanks to Immy)

I don't know if I will see the EDE or not. I guess I will have to find out.

Is it spwi922? There was no such file in my override and Raven says he does not have it either so I am kinda confused. Is having spwi922 and its .pro file in my override enough for the DB to work? If so what can be wrong? Any little bit of info or help about this would be extremely helpful!

 

At least, do yourself a favor and delete the file STATS.IDS from your override folder. By doing this, you may restore some difficulty to the battles in your game.

I told you what I guess. Some mod has probably added a second version of DB to your game. Use Shadow Keeper to seach the spells and see how many Dragon's Breath spells you have in your game.

 

Thank you very much for offering assistance!

Done. I took it to a safe place if I need it again I can restore easily.

Checking via SK, I only have one and only Dragon's Breath spell, it is SPWI922 which my protagonist has in his spell book. Problem is I did not have the spwi922 file in my override folder when I checked and Raven says he doesn't either but his DB works. This is what got me confused. I exported the spwi922 file to override to check if it will fix. It didn't. I also put the spwi922 and .pro files hannibal555 and Razfallow sent to me to my override but nothing, nope, still no DB explosion. That's why I am at a loss. Maybe an effect file other than these is affected? I just don't know.

 

I just read the word dragon breath in the readme and thus thought it being somehow altered.
Thanks for the correction.
Anyway, the experts have answered already as I see .

 

Still no help or suggestions?

 

If I were you, I'd take this incident as a valuable and instructive lesson for future. Installing a myriad of incompatible mods with each other is not a good idea and may lead to all sorts of incomprehensible problems. Of course, you should have already known this as this is not the first time you are warned against doing such installations.

All I can suggest is to do a clean installation of the game and to follow the mods' installation instructions accurately. The particular problem you have with DB spell has nothing to do with IA; so, what I say here should be taken as a general advice.