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Luizmods

Discussion in 'BG2: Throne of Bhaal (Classic)' started by Luiz, Dec 23, 2006.

  1. Luiz Gems: 5/31
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    [​IMG] UPDATE: My miscellaneous mod package, Luizmods, has now been finalized, and has a home here on Sorcerer's Place. Thanks SP!

    Details of the final version (v3):
    (NB: Each component of Luizmods can be separately installed.)

    * TWEAK: Move the Bag of Holding to the start of the game.
    Because it sucks to have to wait until Spellhold for a way to deal with all the junk you collect.

    * TWEAK: Beautified Robe of Vecna
    Gives six(!) options to make the uber-robe less hideous.

    * TOOL: Improved 'Standard Attack' AI script
    An AI script for your party's characters that gives basic attack instructions but does NOT interfere with ANY manually given commands.

    * KIT: the Blackguard fighter kit
    A pure melee fighter with a smattering of darkly appropriate innate abilities that bolster attacking power. Damned good (ie, evil) fun to play.

    * GRAPHICS: Blackguard Portraits
    Six sexy portraits. Suitable for Blackguards or other fighter types.

    Instructions:

    1. Download Luizmods from SP here.

    2. Unpack into your BG2 installation directory.

    3. Check the readme (which should open automatically). It helps, really.

    4. Run the setup program in your BG2 installation directory:
    Setup-LuizMods.exe

    5. Profit... err, I mean: play!

    [ September 12, 2007, 07:25: Message edited by: Luiz ]
     
  2. Felinoid

    Felinoid Who did the what now?

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    I do hope you're going to submit this to SP. :)
     
  3. Ziggyveld Gems: 5/31
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    I've taken a quick gander, and I believe I speak for everyone who's ever complained about the hoodlessness when I say, I love the new robes.

    On the other hand, the kit has the problem of most homemade class kits or adapted PrCs -- too much goodies and little to no disadvantages (limited to bladed weapons and two proficiency stars, can't dual-wield? That's hardly a setback for the Blood Tithe and the Blood Pact.) You might want to add vulnerabilities and perhaps add a "Fallen Blackguard" state if CHARNAME does too many good deeds or does not keep his reputation below a certain level.

    Otherwise, good job. This is definitely going on my mod-install shelf for my next runthrough.

    Merry Christmas. :)
     
  4. Mordokai Gems: 6/31
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    Actualy, from a class description, I find it quite balanced. Especialy blood pact, with it's breaking of hp's down by half. Sure, balancing could be done better(when couldn't it?), but as things stand, I find it pretty good. Definetly a kit for when I finaly decide to take an evil path in the game.

    Otherwise, nice work. Oh, and this little thing made me laught:

    Really, you're a funny guy :D Oh, and I'm telling your boss for lurking around the SP while you're suppose to work. Shame on you :D

    Keep up the good work :thumb:
     
  5. Luiz Gems: 5/31
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    EDIT: Due to staggering incompetence on my part - and possibly too much Christmas cheer - the initial upload of the mods included bugged versions of two of the Blackguard's special abilities. If you've already downloaded the package, please download it again using the link in the first post. The corrected version is 1.4b. Sorry 'bout that.
    :doh:

    ---

    Thanks for the responses.

    Felinoid, yes I'd be happy for luizmods to have a home here ... once it's really finished. I do consider it a "work in progress" at the moment - hence soliticing feedback.

    Ziggyveld, Mordokai - yeah, balance is very difficult. I've tested, tweaked, and tested again over the past couple of months, and I'm about 90% happy with the Blackguard as it currently stands. I definately want to hear how you find the kit measures up in actual play. From the last playthrough I felt that it:

    - was very roughly equal in power to a relatively min-maxed single-class Berserker (take Korgan as a baseline for this). In some cases less powerful, in others more, though the latter required very adept handling of the special abilities.
    - weaker (and more vulnerable) than a mid-to-high level Monk, but more versatile.
    - slightly weaker and certainly of less utility than an Inquisitor (but I consider the Inquisitor to be "almost broken" in terms of power, anyway).

    Yes; by all rights the Blackguard should definately have the potential to "fall". I touched upon the reasons I do not introduce a Fallen Blackguard aspect in the readme. Basically, (a) I don't feel the need to police other people's gameplay, and (b) as someone who likes mods but plays on a very low-specced machine (which means keeping scripts as trim as possible for performance reasons) I'm loath to add anything further to the game's core script (baldur.bcs) - which is what a Blackguard rep/align check would require - without such an addition being absolutely necessary. Really, I did not feel such an addition brought much to the kit. However if the general consensus is that the kit should have the "fallible" aspect incorporated, I will add it to later releases (it's a piece to cake to do :thumb: ).

    (Warning: Long-winded rambling about balance and how I came to make the decisions I did follows ...)

    The weapon proficiency restrictions are both colour and balance. If a cleric can only use blunt (so as not to "spill blood") then a Blackguard is definately going to go with bladed and piercing weapons -- so as to spill as much as possible. Some of the most powerful melee weapons are blunt, and I like that the Blackguard can't really make good use of the Flail of Ages, the Defender of Easthaven, Crom Faeyr, the Mace of Disruption, etc, nor is using the Crom as an off-hand weapon particularly optimal. Sure, the Blackguard can equip these items, but he's going to suck at actually swinging them. I liked that because of this the Blackguard was naturally slightly weak against golems and undead (which is where other classes, kits and many of the melee NPCs really shine). I also like that the kit promotes investigation into the use of other weapons like halberds, spears ... even bastard swords.

    The prohibition of Hardiness and Resist Magic are perhaps bigger deals than they may at first appear. Certainly these two HLAs are pretty crucial to the way I run non-magical tanks in my games. Without them the Blackguard has to take great care over building up resist equipment (the piddling innate Magic Resistance doesn't help that much) and/or using Blood Pact ... which is a high-risk/high-reward option.

    The four special abilities I designed around the notion that the Blackguard boosts his power but makes sacrificies in doing so:

    Blood Tithe is a very cool insta-heal, but you only get it once a day (max. twice in ToB) and it hurts your party. (Historically a "tithe" was a tax of (usually) 10%. This was too little so I bumped it to 25%, which seemed a fraction too painful for the party. I definately want to hear how people feel the current 20% works.)

    Flense and Ablate are colourful and useful little abilities, but rather short in duration so to really get the most out of them timing is important. It's also important to note (I should perhaps add this to the readme) that the sacrifice of Ablate - movement rate - also temporarily suspends any Haste effects ... so good positioning and timing are both necessary to make effective use of this debuffing attack.

    Blood Pact -- OK, this ability seems pretty sick ... in many meanings of the word. It *is* an uber-rage but the sacrifices are significant. Going toe-to-toe with the Imprisoned One with a *maximum* of 68 hitpoints (for example) and no access to Blood Tithe is quite ... exciting. :evil:
    Originally I had also planned to prohibit item use (including healing via potions) for the duration of the pact. Unfortunately, although it's no problem to deactivate quickslot buttons, healing using potions remains available via the Inventory Screen. The opcode to deny all potion use (#181: Disable Item Type Use) doesn't work ... and never has. I am investigating other means of banning potion use during the Pact, but the code is likely to be clunky. I am very interested to hear if players feel it is worth pursuing this change, or whether it would nerf the ability too hard.

    (--- end rambling.)

    Anyway, hope you enjoy trying out the kit. I do look forward to hearing the experiences of those crazy enough to give it a whirl. :)

    (Oh, Glad y'all like the robes. ;) )

    [ December 26, 2006, 13:45: Message edited by: Luiz ]
     
  6. Morthond Gems: 3/31
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    Hooded robes?

    *quintuple-clicks download link*
     
  7. Barmy Army

    Barmy Army Simple mind, simple pleasures... Adored Veteran

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    That looks a cool but useful mod (it's remarkable how often those 2 don't go hand in hand with BG mods).

    Thanks for posting it!
     
  8. omnigodly Gems: 17/31
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    It's only been a day since I beat the game through ToB, I think I'm going to try this out as a Blackguard... I was thinking I'd like to be evil :) .
     
  9. Luiz Gems: 5/31
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    UPDATE: v1.4c now available - See first post.

    What's changed?
    - Added Blackguard portrait pack component.
    - Updated the readme, fixing many minor typographical errors, clarifying details, and adding compatibility and usage notes.
    - Fixed one small timing error in Blood Pact.
    - Altered the Reputation range of the Neutral NPCs Bugfix component; it should now match the documentation.
     
  10. Luiz Gems: 5/31
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    Happy New Year everyone!

    UPDATE: Luizmods v1.5 now available - See first post for link.

    What's changed?
    - Luizmods packaging upgraded to a self-extracting archive. Huzzah! No more messing about with WinRAR.
    - The Improved 'Standard Attack' AI component is now 47.2% more useful: this script will no longer interfere with or override Turn Undead, Bardsong, Hide/Move Silently or Detect Traps/Illusions.
    - The Blackguard was immune to Stun but the 'Stunned' Icon could still appear over the character portrait; this appalling oversight has been corrected.

    NB: There is no urgent need to upgrade from v1.4c unless you are using the "Improved 'Standard Attack' AI Script" component and you want it to work even better ... or unless the erroneous "Stunned" icon appearing on your Blackguard really annoys you.

    ;)

    If you do wish to upgrade to v1.5 from 1.4, but don't want to go through a (potentially) lengthy WeiDU uninstall/reinstall process, then simply do the following:

    1. Download luizmods(v1.5).exe
    2. Run it and unpack it into your BG2 installation directory.
    3. Manually copy over the following two files, overwriting any existing version of each file:

    LZGEN.BS
    From: (Your BG2 Folder)/luizmods
    To: (Your BG2 Folder)/scripts

    LZ#BGIMM.SPL
    From: (Your BG2 Folder)/luizmods/blackguard
    To: (Your BG2 Folder)/override

    Cheers,
    Luiz.

    [ January 17, 2007, 07:13: Message edited by: Luiz ]
     
  11. OTG Gems: 3/31
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    I actually prefer zipped or RARed files to self-extracting exe files due to my massive distrust of the virus-infested cess-pool that the internet has become, but that's personal. Any chance of having a RAR file as well?
     
  12. Luiz Gems: 5/31
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    Done.

    RAR version of v1.5 is available here.
     
  13. OTG Gems: 3/31
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    Top one, nice one, sorted :) [/1990's rave speak]
     
  14. Hethan the Skald Gems: 5/31
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    I like those fixes and will definitely give them a try. Good thing I happen to be starting a new BG2 game right now.

    Thanks for posting this, Luiz! Much appreciated.
     
  15. OTG Gems: 3/31
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    The only element I've installed that I'm using is the Thayvian Robe of Vecna - my solo F/M/T looks the business wielding dual longswords whilst under the influence of Greater Whirlwind... RAGH!
     
  16. omnigodly Gems: 17/31
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    Chose to try out Blackguard and... I've never been attacked by the city guard so much in my life. All I could do at the start is run away and find a temple outside of athkatla to donate money to.
     
  17. Luiz Gems: 5/31
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    What on earth did you do? (The mod doesn't change the PC's starting Reputation.)
     
  18. omnigodly Gems: 17/31
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    Well, I RP'd a rather evil blackguard with a taste for blood. Pretty much everything that makes your rep go down barring flat out killing someone I did it (and then I flat out killed some orphan slaves).

    :)
     
  19. Luiz Gems: 5/31
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    Oh dear. :cool:
    :banana:
     
  20. Luiz Gems: 5/31
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    Righto. This minimod has been up for a few months. I'm looking at making a final, polished release that can have a permanent home here on SP, so...

    Please, if you have any feedback to offer, then do so.

    All your thoughts are welcome: criticism, any (potential) mod conflicts you may have spotted, text/abilities errors, things that should be improved for the installation or readme, the balance of the Blackguard kit in actual play and whether or not adding the possibility to become a "Fallen Blackguard" should be incorporated ... anything at all, let me know.

    Cheers,
    Luiz - who wants to put his mod to bed to start work on sexier stuff.
     
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