TheKian

All creatures in Geneforge are orthographic views of 3D models. With the drayk especially, you can look closely at the blown up image in the graphics files and see the stitching between parts (see: legs).

The Drayk has had the same graphics since Geneforge was first released about 16 years ago. Jeff might still have the 3D model, but it's somewhat doubtful. 

Well, I mean, I did say "(The same directory as the Geneforge 5 executable)".

1. That is an intended future feature, but is less important than certain other features.

2. I may add a minimap later. Perhaps.

3. Zonelab text files won't be necessary when zonelab works properly in the program itself.

4. Now that I think about it, I may have changed the code calling it so that any creature/object tiles would not function correctly.

5. Saves aren't yet implemented. You will also eventually be able to import Geneforge 5 zone hex files.

I added a mediafire download.

Oh, and by the way, the program includes Zonelab, so you can still easily import an image for a zone.

Hello, all. Due to the present difficulty of modifying zones in Geneforge, I have been working on the wonderous Geneforge 5 Modding Suite program. At present, being a demo, it lacks full functionality, but it can be used to create a fully functional zone and can export data to a text file for use with the Blades of Geneforge spreadsheet document.

Feel free to give feedback, but remember that it's only a demo version (all versions will be free, of course).

This is the final demo version of the Geneforge 5 Modding Suite. Sometime in the future I will be releasing the full (still free) Shaper Edition 1.0.

Latest version. - Trakovite Edition v1.1c

Older Versions:

Download.

Other download.

Development photo album.

The GUI is fairly intuitive, but feel free to reply with any questions you have.

(On an aside, in their respective modes, you can right click on a tile to remove terrain, items, objects, and creatures)

Updates:

Trakovite Edition v1.1c: Updated save file format. Previous save files will not be compatible with this version, but all future save files will be backwards-compatible. Also added all other pieces of zone information, including world position, linked zones, world symbol, etc.

Trakovite Edition v1.1b: Added proper wall functionality. The two kinds of walls can be set to one of 11 options in the 'Edit Zone Data' panel. Tileset information now exports with custom data instead of preset biome-specific data.

As you need to find canisters to improve your creation varieties, you can look at the list of canisters in Matt P.'s Geneforge Walkthrough. It will tell you which canisters are located where. For the specific creations you want, if you already have the Create Artila canisters from the Ruined School and Pentil Woods, you can either sacrifice skill points to Syros for some canisters (not recommended) or find the canister of Create Artila in the Tribal Woods (northeast of Kazg). The easiest place I can think of to find a canister of Create Vlish is Kazg, in a building on the east side filled with mines. If you follow some of the advice in this thread, you can easily bypass those mines, though. Best of luck.

5 hours ago, Triumph said:

What I want to know is whether, after you fail the Shapers in Illya and Aziraph, you are locked out of the Shaper endgame. Will all the Shapers in Burwood and beyond automatically be hostile to you?

If I recall correctly, the Shaper infiltrators will be hostile if you do not enter Burwood via the Shaper passage, and the Shapers in Poryphra will automatically attack you if you enter the city and did not either restore Moseh or give Miranda the papers. I think that Shaper soldiers are hostile to you no matter which faction you are aside from those specific locations (so they'll attack you in the western parts of Burwood regardless, I believe).

The rebels don't trust you if you give the Shapers the papers, but they let you through. Greta (should) let you through regardless (there's no reputation check, though the dialogue changes if you killed Moseh before). However, as I was saying, if you are fence sitting you should help one faction with each. Strictly speaking, you don't NEED to help the rebels, but it'll make your reputation with them problematically low.

By the way, if you want to play both sides until the very end, the two key moments are giving someone Monarch's papers in the Fens of Azirpah and, of course, Moseh. If you restored Moseh, you need to give the rebels the papers. If you killed Moseh (and lied your way out of getting in trouble with Alwan), you need to give the Shapers the papers. Also, if you do keep sitting on the fence, make sure that you go into Burwood via the Shaper route, or the Shaper infiltrators will be hostile.

13 minutes ago, Kelandon said:

Only moderators, apparently? I'll dig into this and see if I can fix it.

 

I think I fixed it. Can a non-moderator try it and see if you can download the files now?

I was able to download the files from the links you quoted.

You can brutally slaughter him and his companions to the last, trodding over their lifeless, charred corpses in victory. This, of course, gets you a bit of XP, which is always nice.

However, you get a few problems as a result of doing that. The main one is that Greta leaves you immediately, instead of on the third island (Alwan or Greta will always leave after you finish the third island, depending on your alignment). Secondly, as you might expect, the Shaper (Diwaniya, I think) is horrified by you and tells you to get the heck out, though I don't know whether it prevents you from getting additional training.

First of all, to dear Alhoon, remaking Geneforge 1 IS HERESY.

The original Geneforge is the best game of the series. Remaking it would be like remaking a SUITABLE SIMILE!

Really though, if you just install the graphics mod, there's nothing to complain about. In regards to the story, the later games should be more compatible with the original, not the other way around.

Also...

(Spoiler alert)

If you go with a Sholai alliance route, you discover that many of the Sholai have been succumbing to canister addiction, growing mad with power in the same way that people in the later games do. I'd disagree, then, about Triumph's point about it being a later idea in the series. However, those of greater mental fortitude, like a Shaper apprentice and Trajkov, don't suffer those effects as much. I'd agree with Triumph, though, about the original canisters being of higher quality. Keep in mind that, even though Barzahl was highly skilled, and was the one primarily responsible for the survival of canisters, he was using stolen information about the technology after the Shaper purge of Sucia, and even if he managed to get his hands on an actual canister, the new canisters would likely be less well-made.

Lately I've been replaying the older Geneforge games, and it occurred to me to assess what exactly the canon G1 PC was like. So let's begin.

In canon, though we have no direct proof of this, it seems likely that the PC used all the canisters he could. He'd need them to survive the dangers of the island, and he never suffered the control issues that others did as a result of canister usage. Assuming he did those quests which improve your primary stats, and not counting items, he'd have a minimum of:

Strength: (2 minimum base) + 4 (canisters and quests) = 6

Dexterity: (2 minimum base) + 4 (canisters and quests) = 6

Intelligence: (2 minimum base) + 3 (canisters and quests) = 5
Endurance: (1 minimum base) + 5 (canisters and quests) = 6

From the hints given by the Awakened in Geneforge 2, it seems likely that the PC was Awakened, which, combined with the canisters, gives combat ability bonuses of

+5 melee weapons

+2 missile weapons

+3 quick action

+2 anatomy (tombs)

+4 battle magic

+3 blessing magic
+3 mental magic

+5 spellcraft

These bonuses alone account for some decent melee and ranged combat ability for any PC. There is a fairly balanced set of magic abilities, though not quite as powerful as melee. The PC clearly had some fighting skill, at least, as the Awakened mention that there was fighting between Trajkov and the PC, so he didn't go with a full stealth route. However, obviously, the PC also didn't go for a full omnicide run of the place.

As both Akkat and Rakkhus are alive in Geneforge 2, it is safe to assume that they were not engaged in combat by the player, as would likely happen if the player fought through the quarters area or if Rakkhus sicced his cryodrayks on you (Send your creations against me? You have valuable items? Prepare to die, jerk!). To bypass the quarters area, they player would have to go through the holding cells, and likely the vats as well, which implies that the PC had a decent mechanics ability. To pay his way past Rakkhus, the PC would need at least some leadership, so that's likely as well.

The Shaper, based on the good reviews offered by the Awakened in Geneforge 2 and that one really old Taker from Geneforge 4, was pro-Servile rights, and having not joined with the Takers (which would entail killing Ellhrah and helping Trajkov), was most likely part of the Awakened. Given his unpopular opinions, and having been heavily Shaped, the PC would have likely been happily sent far away on the diplomatic missions with the Sholai that the ambiguously canon epilogue mentions, which would explain his lack of involvement in later games. After all, characters as powerful as Geneforge PC's change the entire course of wars, which makes their involvement with later games less than fully likely.

Given the PC's power yet lack of ultimate notability, as a result of his extensive canister usage, he is also a likely candidate for the position of the Geneforge 5 PC. However, as there's no reason for Alwan to recognize him, there are some more likely choices.

Feel free to leave your thoughts.

Never use a trainer with something that's your primary stat. You NEED melee and strength (unless you're doing some kind of cheesy ranged build) as a Guardian. Otherwise, it makes you way too weak for far, far too long.

In Geneforge 2 (and maaaybe 3), training (after a manner) counted as additional points you invested, raising the price; same thing goes for canister augmentations and bonuses (like from a certain demon...) the game gives you directly. Anything that raises your stats (canisters, events, manually increasing them) reduces the amount of training you can do. In later games, it worked differently, and you were able to get training if a spellbook or canister had raised the stat you're training, but not if you had invested skill points into it. (If you got, say, a canister that increased your spellcraft by 3 in Geneforge 4, you could train twice with Burke; however, if you had put skill points into it, you couldn't train more)

So you know, if you'd like to check out the data on these kinds of things yourself, you can look at the scripts folder in the game data folder. gforscen.txt, in Geneforge 1 and 2, and gf[3,4,5]objsmisc.txt, in the later games, have the data on all the spells. You can check spells, based on what you know (the ab_damage_type value determines what kind of damage an attack does, so you can compare it to ice spray to see if it's cold damage, acid attacks, etc.), to figure out what they do.

For things like reputation, you can look in the zone dialog files (for example, this one would be z11smarshdlg.txt) and examine the exact conversation. If it affects your reputation, you'll find a code entry along the lines of "inc_flag(100,0,3)". An increase (the 3 at the end) is pro-Shaper; a negative value is pro-servile (the reputation value ranges from 0 to 200, with 100 being neutral).

In regards to your questions about damage, shades typically do cold damage in close combat and magical (energy) damage with spells. In the later games, mines often do magical damage (but some, if I recall correctly, do fire damage as well), but I am not entirely certain about it in the earlier games. In Geneforge 1, as a side note, I believe that there is no cold damage, and all damage that would be cold (e.g. cryora attack) does energy damage.

5 minutes ago, The fly in Keoghtom's ointment said:

 

I'm not sure what makes you think this.  There actually is an internal marker as to whether each PC/NPC is a creation or not.  Creations have it, humans don't.

22 minutes ago, TheKian said:

Alwan and Greta count toward the creation type cap, for example

On 7/4/2017 at 9:14 AM, alhoon said:

Well, Greta and Alwan don't have a cost.

On 7/4/2017 at 9:57 AM, The fly in Keoghtom's ointment said:

Greta and Alwan are not creations.

Technically, the game considers all your party members to be creations - Alwan and Greta count toward the creation type cap, for example. All creatures added to your party take no essence to upgrade (at least in G3/4; I've never bothered with the ones in Geneforge 2); this includes creations you recruit, like Greenfang in the first chapter of G4, or Mehken in G5's first chapter. If you have one for long enough, actually, you should be able to max out its stat investments (it gets 2 skill points on each level up), which is probably the only reason to ever take along creatures.

Of course, skill point investment usually isn't worth it in normal creations, which is the main point of this all.

On 7/3/2017 at 4:18 PM, Samagai said:

Ok so I am looking for the ur Drakon skin. When I checked the shrine after the battle I got a perfect drakon skin, not ur drakon skin. Help?

They are the same item. Synergy was probably thinking of Geneforge 5 when he wrote that.

Also... please just don't post in threads that have been dead for nine years. Just PM somebody.

A couple things to consider.

In the earlier games (Geneforge 1 & 2, and possibly 3) there is a "soft cap" on bonuses you gain from stat increases. After 10, you start getting diminishing returns. After level 20 in a stat, the bonuses you gain from upgrading it are almost useless. It's usually a good idea to select a few stats to boost a great deal (for example, a Shaping class may want to buff intelligence, magic Shaping, and mechanics up to high levels, while a melee class will find it worth his while to buff up parry and quick action). Level 20 in a skill is usually a good ending point for the game. I say magic Shaping in particular because it generally has the best creations (Vlish... just... yeah...).

At the top of the "Geneforge Series" forum board, there are "strategy central" posts for each Geneforge game. I believe that all of them include links to posts on optimizing builds, which will help you decide in which skills to invest. However, here's a breakdown of the stats.

Attributes: 

Strength: A very useful stat for melee classes, as it greatly increases your hitting power and your chance to hit. However, you shouldn't invest into it for carrying capacity. In general, you'll find enough strength items (like the talisman of might) that if you are a class who suffers from low strength, you'll be able to shore it up without point investment.

Dexterity: The dump stat for everyone. It increases your dodge chance, initiative, and skill with missile weapons, but...

A. Basically everyone who plays unmodded Geneforge doesn't use missile weapons enough that it'd matter, and it's more expensive than the actual skill,

B. Other, cheaper skills give you initiative, and

C. In the later games especially, the dodge chance really doesn't help.

Intelligence: A very important skill. All classes, pretty much, will want to invest a couple points into this, at the very least. The essence it provides is necessary for both Shaping classes and magic heavy classes (who often depend on mental magic) and lets warrior classes shore up their combat with some meat shields or fire support.

Endurance: Overall, less important than most. If you have low endurance, you'll probably die a lot, but unless you tend to do a lot of solo combat (as a warrior or agent class, for example), you won't need to invest much.

Combat skills: 
Parry is useful for all classes if you can obtain it from, say, a trainer. Same with quick action. Melee weapons is probably the only skill that warrior classes should invest in here, since melee weapons tend to eclipse ranged weapons except in certain minmaxed torment builds.

Shaping skills:

Battle Shaping is consistently bad in most games. Even with rotghroths, some of the most solid creations in the series, it performs poorly next to its neighbors. Its one redeeming feature is war tralls, which are solid ranged combatants. I would argue, though, that they are only worth it in Geneforge 5, where you can get one very early on in the game. Magic Shaping tends to sweep the floor, especially in Geneforge 1-3. You ask why? Vlish. As our dear Slarty put it, Vlish would, if story reflected gameplay, overrun the Ashen Isles. In Geneforge 4, wingbolts are introduced, which are exceptionally powerful creations that also have a melee attack which parallels that of Vlish. Fire creations are also a solid choice, but fire Shaping is more expensive to invest in, and it doesn't have very good second or fourth tier creations; drakons also, unfortunately, tend to be far too late-game to be of much use.

Summary: Magic Shaping is usually your best choice here.

Miscellaneous Skills:

Leadership: Useful in special encounters, and in persuading trainers in opposing factions to help you (reputation checks add or subtract your leadership from reputation for Shapers and rebels, respectively). A useful example is with Mayor Kirk in Geneforge 4; a small amount of leadership nets you a free point in luck. Leadership encounters also almost always give you XP in later games, making it useful for maximizing your level. You should never need more than 12 leadership.

Mechanics: Very useful after Geneforge 1. Being able to get XP from disarming huge fields of mines and the likes is extremely useful. Again, more than 12 should never be needed, unless you REALLY REALLY need to save living tools or something.

Luck: Useful in a number of ways. Increases several resistances, initiative, dodge chance, and influences item drop luck. It also helps you out in special encounters. Since you can typically get a few points (you can purchase your way to level 30 in luck in Geneforge 1 especially) for free, investing just a couple levels in it will help you out a decent amount later in the game, but it's not something to heavily invest in. In special encounters, I don't believe anything needs more than 4, although the ones I can remember only need level 2.

2 hours ago, alhoon said:

That's a very good question... 

Nah. Not yet at least. 

If you want to check on ending needs, look at Matt P's walkthrough. If you aren't careful, it'll spoil particular quests, but it doesn't spoil any endings.

Gazak-Uss is retroactively plot-important, as I found it was confirmed as becoming Gazaki-Uss by, I believe, Ghaldring himself (or some other important rebel).

Outsiders usually DO use normal tools. Living tools are essentially Swiss army knives on steroids. Using them probably does need a great deal of training. Vendors that sell living tools probably typically sell them to experienced adventurers and Shapers.

It is covered nowhere in the Geneforge games how living tools specifically work in the 'fluff'. I suspect, however, that they work by moving their tentacles in response to pressure on their 'stems'. Being fragile, this would, along with waking one, likely result in its death (something actually from the game dialogue). It IS known, however, that they can be awake and survive, and that they are mostly animal (they are confirmed to be part plant, though). Living tools can breed, and in one instance a living tool is noted as trying to crawl away after being put down when it was being worked on (hence, its death is more a result of the stress of use than anything else).

I must wonder whether your gf5floorster.txt might be different than other versions. Perhaps you could ask alhoon to send you all of his scripts, to make sure that nothing in the scripts folder is the problem.

You get 'strange looks' at 6 canisters, but you don't get any ending modifications from having used them. As long as you don't use any more, you're fine; you suffer no canister addict symptoms.

Conduit shards are faction quest objects. I believe that the Barzites, Takers, and Awakened all want one if you join them. There are two in the game, one in the pit of the bound (said Barzite demon stupidity) and the one in Phariton's place.

You ask who is to judge what is an oversight and what is a retcon? Verily, I say unto you...

hisnamejeff

Also, consider this. The Shapers would likely have decided to just shut down -most- outsider training in magic as a result of the nonsense that happened in the Drypeak mountains, after someonewhowasn'tLitalia destroyed everything. Chances are, the guy with a spellbook had to obtain it FROM the Shapers (since all trained mages are Shaper-ordained), and so had the permission of the Shapers to study it. Furthermore, it's not unrealistic to think that the town's servile keeper (an actually respectably important position) would be given training by a Shaper in basic healing magic, so long as healing magic isn't actual Shaping.