Vox

Thanks! I want to finish off Citadel, it's got a lot of unique ideas I've wanted to show off for awhile.. errr years in fact haha

I noticed the link for the Mac version of the 3D editor isn't working anymore. I wanted to pickup some old scenarios dust em off and hopefully get them finished before another hiatus. Does anyone have a working version of the Mac BoA 3D editor?

I've searched for hours trying to find a call that can change character skill levels. e.g Mage skill from 5 to 6. I would assume it would look something like change_char_skill_level(which_char, num_of_skill, amt_to_change). I cannot recall any other scenarios that have done this, only with the change_spell_level call, but never with actual skills. Does anyone knows how to do this? (if it's possible)

I missed that post. Congrats on your new scenario! I'll check it out. (And try and finish my own *sigh*)

I've been meaning to find time to dust off some of my scenarios and get them released. If people actually still played BoA I would be more inclined to.

Alright! I've stuck mostly on GF1 - 3 and I've been testing out how valuable 'luck' is. I haven't found any other topics that fully cover this but I'm interested to know what people have figured out. In Blades if Avernum for example, luck gives almost 5% extra resistance to just about everything per level. In GF1 I found that it just wasted skill points. GF2 I felt like it reduced a lot of damage (but may have just been the implemented parry skill) in GF3 I gave up on it and decided it has almost nothing to do with combat. Has anyone truly figured it out? I'd really like to know!

I'm using Mac. Sometimes when I use Alint it crashes! I'm guessing in the thousands of lines of code, somewhere there is a call that it doesn't like. I'm yet to figure it out. So lately I've just been copying and pasting the lines of code I need checked and not the entire script. (I think it's something in the INIT state or START state of scripts that clashes with certain calls. I'm thinking it may be my cutscenes. My scenario works fine, just not Alint)

BoA actually comes with a manual (mine came with the digital copy in PDF format) that gives you a good debrief of the history and different races. It helps to clue in with some of the culture and events... I would recommend BoA to start with. But I would definitely not recommend missing A1 - 3. Too good to miss out on in my opinion

Agreed! Finding the right calls can be a nuisance if you're trying to do something for the first time... I would just like to mention, Avernum 1 would make a nice blades. I'm a pretty big fan of the original Avernum history. But it would also be easier and more appealing for designers that have already been hardened by BoA to make scenarios. Blades of Geneforge may prove difficult, and take some time before anyone starts producing quality scenarios. Either way, I'm doubtful anymore blades will come out. But it's fun to dream a little. (And who here isn't a nostalgia junky like me?)

you guys are doing an incredible job, keep it up!

I like to pride myself in graphics The only scenario i've officially released doesn't reflect that. But go ahead and have a look at my site. You can see some of the graphics i've uploaded from scenarios that i'm currently working on, nearing completion by the way. my site is: http://voxgraphics.webs.com If you want help with making graphics, i'd be more than willing to help.

Alright, i'll have to have another look a that. Each time I put a SDF call in the START_STATE it would come up with an error. And if i cut and pasted the exact same thing into the INIT_STATE it would suddenly work. EDIT: Ok I realise now that in the START_STATE it only recognises get_sdf rather than get_flag. Thanks for that guys.

Technically yes, but I would need to have it in every town, and it wouldn't work for outdoor encounters.

For all the great scripting minds out there, or anyone who has any clue about creature scripts. I'm struggling lately with creating a creature script that corresponds with a potion or even a wand for that matter, that can change the attitude of the creature. Currently I've tried creating a scen state that sets a flag, once the flag is set, I created a call in the creature script to change the attitude. Everything works, up until the creature script. This is what it looks like: beginstate INIT_STATE; if (get_flag(50,1) == 1) set_attitude(ME,3); break; For some reason, START_STATE doesn't recognise the get_flag call. So it wont work in there. This seems to work in the INIT_STATE, but only before entering a town with that creature. But if I enter a town, and then use the supposed item which changes the flag, it won't have an effect on the creature's attitude until i leave and come back. Does anyone have a work around? or solution to this matter? perhaps an alternative method? or even a cookie?

Well if you are about to begin the Za-khazi run scenario, at the beginning you can find someone who teaches mage spells, and someone who teaches priest spells, just before you start the quest. Also, you will find that increasing your intelligence will make spells stronger, and gives you more mana to cast them. I usually make 1 warrior, 2 archers, and 1 mage/priest. When the mage/priest has high enough mage and priest skill level to cast the spells I want, I just increase intelligence and it makes both mage and priest spells stronger. quite handy to have.

Hmm I just had a thought. Could it be possible to have a creature script that would have something like: if (get_flag(0,1) == 1) set_attitude(); and when you drink the a potion: set_flag(0,1,1); Would that technically work? The only problem remaining is that I would need to set a timer that would reset the flag to 0 after a certain number of ticks.

I understand, but Scripting is not my strong point. Have a look at my site and you might get a slight idea with what i'm trying to do for my new scenario. Let me give you an actual example that I plan on using: for example, I have a blue fungus monster, and a red fungus monster. Supposedly when you drink a red potion, made from red fungus spores, you will emit an odour that acts like a pheromone and the red fungus decide to be friendly. So I use set_attitude(), but how can I somehow make it known that only the red potion will affect the red fungus, and not the blue also? since they might occur in the same town in the same battle. Is it possible that when a potion is drunk and a state is called, it will know to only affect a creature with a specific script? and not the other creatures who will also get affected by an alternative method?

You're on the right track. Sometimes it pays off to pull out a dusty calculator and punch the numbers through. For example, 2 - 14 + (1 - 7 per lvl str/dmg), using strength as a factor, it would progress as such: (Keep in mind, having 30 Str or 30 Melee, is the same, that's why it's good to balance them.) Str = 10 dmg = 2 - 14 + 10 - 70 = 12 - 84 Str = 20 dmg = 2 - 14 + 20 - 140 = 22 - 154 Str = 30 dmg = 2 - 14 + 30 - 210 = 32 - 324 this is what i've always assumed. Then you just compare it with another weapon: Str = 10 dmg = 5 - 30 + 10 - 60 = 15 - 90 Str = 20 dmg = 5 - 30 + 20 - 120 = 25 - 150 Str = 30 dmg = 5 - 30 + 30 - 180 = 35 - 210 So there you have it! It tends to be better to have the great sword for damage sake. Although! You should know that a shield has the highest chance of blocking damage other than your armour. In the documentation you can read that Armour has a 90% chance of blocking some damage. So if it says 1 - 10, I assume it means it will block 1 - 10 damage 90% of the time. Shields however have a 80% chance to block damage. So with a shield you end up blocking a lot of damage. The rest are: pants = 25% helm = 35% gloves = 30% boots = 30% cloak = 40% So keep in mind, especially as a melee unit, you tend to receive more hits than you give out, so it pays off to be covered head to toe with as much armour as possible. As a side note, I did calculate that you could do 32 - 324 dmg, but I think because of the way it's done (rolling a bunch of dice) you may find that the dmg will average somewhere from 120 - 230 or close to. Even though in theory you could hit a low 32, I think because of how the chance thingo works, you have a 0.01% chance of getting 32, as much as you have a 0.01% chance of getting 324. But the big % hits in the middle somewhere. Not entirely sure how it works, someone might have it figured out though. Hope I was of some help, good luck!

Just emailed you

Thanks, I might have to go with that then.

Hmm, thanks, but that wasn't what I was hoping for. Perhaps I'll just need to give up on the colour changing idea, and work on the actual effect. Is there something similar to it_special_class but for creatures? For example, I'm trying to create a customised potion, that when drunk, it will hypothetically produce an effect (like a pheromone or something) that makes these big bad ugly Fungus decide to be your friend instead of your enemy. I know it's possible to do it with at least one specific type of creature by giving it a creature script, perhaps make the player get an enlightened status, and that has an effect on how the creature script acts. But I couldn't do this for more than one type of creature. I was hoping to have one type of potion for one species, and another for a different species. Do you think this could be achieved?

I was planning on making a potion that has a rather interesting scen script state. But I was wondering if anyone has figured out a clever way to change the colour of the player or NPC for that matter? Such as: (Drinks radioactive potion) "Oh look! I'm glowing green!" Has anyone conquered such a feat?

Ah thank you very much. And yes Ishad, I noticed that after I posted it, but I did look at the documentation, many, many, many, many times. Edit: Thanks Nikki, I've now realised that all of the other terrain numbers that I tried to swap them with, all happened to be OTHER terrain numbers that also had the same problem. I guess I got extremely unlucky with that... Edit: checked out that link you gave. It was so very helpful, thank you!

I've been creating a lot of graphics lately, testing them out and using most for my new scenario. Unfortunately i've come across a bizarre bug. I'm certain it's a bug because I spent a rather long (too long) amount of time trying to solve it. Whenever you press the 'look at' button (Or 'L' key), a letter will appear on every type of this one terrain. Sometimes multiple types of terrain. It only happens to THAT type of terrain. I tried to solve this, thinking "Hmm, I must of used import incorrectly" so I tried a different import. After that failed, I proceeded with the next obvious maneuver - I added te_can_look_at = -1; to the defined terrain. This also didn't seem to work. At this point I felt rather frustrated, and continued to feel this way for the next three hours. I began to try some of my debugging tricks, such as changing the terrain number, see if that works. (nope) Then I delete every property and made it as simple as: begindefineterrain 412; clear; te_which_sheet = 500; te_which_icon = 0; This also didn't work. I eventually got so frustrated I completed deleted the terrain type and recreated it, using a new sheet, a new icon, a new terrain number, and the only thing it had in common was that it was in the same data file. It still survived, I do not know how or why. Eventually after ripping the data file to shreds and completely rewriting it, it finally abated. But I have no idea why, it was as though it got sick of me. Now the problem has reappeared elsewhere on several other terrain types. It went and got it's friends and came back to haunt me some more. The problem still persists, it's like a horrible nightmare, it knows my thoughts! It wont let me kill it! Has anyone ever experienced this problem, if so, did you fix it? and how? Please tell me! it's driving me insane!

Sounds like a good idea. I'm not all that familiar with SCP-087 or the original game for that matter. But google is a close companion of mine. Sounds rather good, if you do make it, I would definitely be interested in playing it. Try making the shorter version first, it sounds like something you could always expand on later.