Have their been any mods for CS or RW? [Final update]

[GiantFriendlyTalkingSpiderman]

I greatly enjoyed the Akhari Blaze's ReRemix mod for EftP, and when CS came out I didn't like the idea of going back to the vanilla version so I waited to see if any mods would come out. I could have updated them EftP mod myself, but I didn't want to risk being spoiled on any new items. A year went by and I became distracted with [real life issues] for a while.

 

Now my [real life issues] have cleared up and I have some free time to get back into the Avernum games. I wanted to know if I missed any neat mods that I should look at. If not I guess I'll just update Akahari Blaze's mod myself, spoilers be damned.

 

[UPDATE]

I've already started updating the mod myself. I found a few errors in it that I'm also correcting.

I'm trying to make it easier to copy the changes into RW so it wont be as much of a chore when the time comes.

 

While I'm doing this does anyone have any change requests? (Maybe I should start a new topic?)
I thought of some changes I'd like to make but I'm not sure if I could do them.

 

1. Bring back blunt weapons, (Based off the stick, they wont scale with any weapon skill, [?instead scale with Endurance?]. They will weigh at least twice as much as other weapons, good for paladins or tank builds). Not sure how to make it scale with endurance, I'd also have to replace existing items with hammers, any suggestions?

 

2. I heard slith and nephilm were underpowered. They get less traits right? I want to offset that with items that are somehow exclusive to those races (I would rather make them level the same as humans do but I'm pretty sure that's hard coded).

Edited May 15, 2018 by GiantFriendlyTalkingSpiderman

[lIlTheOnelIl]

On 14/4/2018 at 3:29 AM, GiantFriendlyTalkingSpiderman said:

I greatly enjoyed the Akhari Blaze's ReRemix mod for EftP, and when CS came out I didn't like the idea of going back to the vanilla version so I waited to see if any mods would come out. I could have updated them EftP mod myself, but I didn't want to risk being spoiled on any new items. A year went by and I became distracted with [real life issues] for a while.

 

Now my [real life issues] have cleared up and I have some free time to get back into the Avernum games. I wanted to know if I missed any neat mods that I should look at. If not I guess I'll just update Akahari Blaze's mod myself, spoilers be damned.

http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/topic/19120-aeftp-avernum-reremix-graphics-mod/?do=findComment&comment=287540

I havent played this mod at all so I dont even know if it's playable.

[GiantFriendlyTalkingSpiderman]

I'm pretty sure It didn't work, if you look I was the next comment after that post. Thanks anyway.

 

I've already started updating the mod myself. I found a few errors in it that I'm also correcting.

I'm trying to make it easier to copy the changes into RW so it wont be as much of a chore when the time comes.

 

[UPDATE]

While I'm doing this does anyone have any change requests? (Maybe I should start a new topic?)
I thought of some changes I'd like to make but I'm not sure if I could do them.

 

1. Bring back blunt weapons, (Based off the stick, they wont scale with any weapon skill, [?instead scale with Endurance?]. They will weigh at least twice as much as other weapons, good for paladins or tank builds). Not sure how to make it scale with endurance, I'd also have to replace existing items with hammers, any suggestions?

 

2. I heard slith and nephilm were underpowered. They get less traits right? I want to offset that with items that are somehow exclusive to those races (I would rather make them level the same as humans do but I'm pretty sure that's hard coded).

Edited April 24, 2018 by GiantFriendlyTalkingSpiderman

[lIlTheOnelIl]

On 4/23/2018 at 1:05 PM, GiantFriendlyTalkingSpiderman said:

I'm pretty sure It didn't work, if you look I was the next comment after that post. Thanks anyway.

 

I've already started updating the mod myself. I found a few errors in it that I'm also correcting.

I'm trying to make it easier to copy the changes into RW so it wont be as much of a chore when the time comes.

 

[UPDATE]

While I'm doing this does anyone have any change requests? (Maybe I should start a new topic?)
I thought of some changes I'd like to make but I'm not sure if I could do them.

 

1. Bring back blunt weapons, (Based off the stick, they wont scale with any weapon skill, [?instead scale with Endurance?]. They will weigh at least twice as much as other weapons, good for paladins or tank builds). Not sure how to make it scale with endurance, I'd also have to replace existing items with hammers, any suggestions?

 

2. I heard slith and nephilm were underpowered. They get less traits right? I want to offset that with items that are somehow exclusive to those races (I would rather make them level the same as humans do but I'm pretty sure that's hard coded).

I'd love to see the balance between magic and weapon back as magic is heavily overpowered in CS, and if you can please give some more non physical-based weapons such as fire spear or magic bows. I'm really looking forward to CS mods all this time cuz I'm tired of 4 spellcasters party but the misses are just too much for me to handle otherwise. 

[GiantFriendlyTalkingSpiderman]

The ReRemix mod already did most of what you asked, it has 2 magic staffs, (replacing the Chaotic Halberd and Spear of Fens), that scale with int and I believe do energy damage.

You can find the details here: http://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/topic/19120-aeftp-avernum-reremix-graphics-mod/?tab=comments&_fromLogin=1

 

I wouldn't mind adding a magic halberd, but a ranged magic weapon feels a tad redundant. Currently I'm planning on adding blunt weapons, just deciding what I should replace (probably a sword). The chaos halberd was replaced because it was a very late game missable item that was underwhelming for it's cost. I don't know if it more accessible in CS (no spoilers please). I may bring it and spear of fens back, and try to replace other rare items instead.

Is wand of Carrunos just as rare as it was before? I'd gladly replace those, but not if you find them just laying around. If there are any useless items exclusively dropped by bosses, let me know, (don't tell me how they are found, I just want the item name, I still haven't beaten Crystal Souls and want to avoid spoilers).

Back in my youth I got stuck early in the game, so I skipped CS and went straight to ruined world and completely forgot that I skipped it until this re-release.

 

I am buffing weapons a bit differently than the previous rendition of the ReRemix mod. I'm combining the buffs made in CS with the buffs made in the previous ReRemix mod.

The end result being:

 

Spears are 1-handed weapons, with a -10 dual wielding modifier, to discourage it (unfortunately the penalty won't be less than the normal 20%, but it will counter the benfits from training the skill). They are also too heavy to be wielded in the off-hand. This is to allow spear users to carry a shield. Some enchanted spears have a new ability. All spears have also -5% parry (similar to shortswords).

 

- Two-handed swords (waveblades, iron claymore and Greatsword of the Depths): similar to halberds in damage output, but smaller cleave chance but can impale for double damage(15% chance); also have a 5% parry bonus.

 

- Quarterstaves (Mage Staff and Staff of Arcana): 5% parry bonus, CtH and energy damage that scales with intelligence, not strength, but they need investment in pole weapons (2 for 50 flat damage, 6 for scaled damage, 10 for more damage and cleave chance). They give also a passive bonus useful for mages, though.

 

- Halberds no longer impale, but instead have a MUCH higher cleave chance (I wanted to make them different from spears, and most of the halberds depicted in spiderweb games look more like long axes, having no massive point on the top, so this change made more sense to me).

 

- Shortswords, and light weapons that can be wielded off-hand carry a -5% parry penalty (but not daggers). Broadswords have a chance to impale for double damage (15%).

 

- !New! Blunt Weapons, Single-handed weapons that tend to be as heavy as two handed weapons. Do not scale with any weapon skills but instead scale with endurance (lightly) as well as strength. Ideal for tank or paladin builds. I could be wrong, but I think making weapons scale with with endurance will only increase their damage, not accuracy. Could be a problem down the line. I'm also considering adding a magic hammer.

Sorry, there is no new PC graphic for blunt weapons.

 

I'm also looking at buffing weapon disciplines further, but it is difficult to do. I want less discipline that rely on debuffs that get resisted most of the time.

Edited April 25, 2018 by GiantFriendlyTalkingSpiderman

[GiantFriendlyTalkingSpiderman]

So blunt weapons are working, going to start a playthrough to test out my changes. I'll post the mod soon if anyone else wants to try it before it' fully tested.

 

Some other thoughts: 

 

Is it just me or are Mages are a bit dull to build? You kind of just put all of your points into Int, unless your making a sword mage, which just means putting some points into endurance. Compared to priests that have spells which don't scale with stats and one spell that scales with Dex, you have a lot of priest builds available, but mages just kinda mage. I'm considering mixing up some of the mage spells to promote off-builds. What if Fire spells scaled with Strength? And lightning spells with Dex? To do this I would have to remove skill leveling, which would be weird to say the least. Just food for thought, not considering this change until after my test playthough.

[Randomizer]

Mages do the most damage with the most types of damage for the least spell energy. They start off weak in armor, but eventually get as good as fighters. Since they have plenty of area effect spells they can kill several monsters with one attack.

 

The main problems with specialized damage is when you face monsters that are immune or extremely high resistance to that damage type. Fire is really common for immune and past the middle game you see 90% armor to physical damage.

[GiantFriendlyTalkingSpiderman]

1 hour ago, Randomizer said:

Mages do the most damage with the most types of damage for the least spell energy. They start off weak in armor, but eventually get as good as fighters. Since they have plenty of area effect spells they can kill several monsters with one attack.

 

The main problems with specialized damage is when you face monsters that are immune or extremely high resistance to that damage type. Fire is really common for immune and past the middle game you see 90% armor to physical damage.

Duly noted. This isn't as much an issue for the lightning-Dex interaction, so I think the quickest solution is to also associate Strength with ice rain.

 

I didn't think about this idea too much yet. My current playthrough is just testing general balance(and bug hunting), I'll think about hammers and specialty mage builds after.

[GiantFriendlyTalkingSpiderman]

Update: It would appear that the way Battle Disciplines check for your equipment has been updated in CS. As a result Akhari Blaze's method of implementing magic staffs seems to have bugged the ranged Battle Disciplines when you have Javelins equipped. I'm tempted to resolve this by replacing all quarter staffs with hammers and being done with it.

When I have this resolved I will post a beta build for the mod.

 

Edit: I have also noticed something odd. Akhari Blaze combined daggers and shortswords to make room for two-handed swords. This I knew, but I did not notice that they scaled at the rate of daggers rather than short swords, (a 25% damage nerf to all shortswords). I assume this was meant to be nerf to dual-wielding, that I don't agree with on many levels. I don't think this combination was even necessary to begin with... I'm still deciding how best to fix this since some monsters use these values as well.

 

Edit 2: So I checked and the only monster that used daggers was basic goblins, so look out, those little buggers will be doing 25% more damage now.

This might sound weird, but I'm deciding to leave daggers buffed, since it's less work for me and nobody attacks with them seriously anyway. I like daggers personally, so I'm considering giving them bonus dual-wielding for some silly mid-game builds.

Edited May 3, 2018 by GiantFriendlyTalkingSpiderman

[GiantFriendlyTalkingSpiderman]

This will be my final update before I make a new thread and post the mod files.

 

I was about ready to post this mod until I noticed a few things that held me back. The most significant thing I noticed is that even more so than EftP, in CS longbows kick the crap out of "bows". I did some research on bows and tried to determine if there was a logical reason for this, and I only found the contrary. I feel like this significantly reduces variety in archer builds and I want to make some heavy changes to bows before releasing this mod. The early game of CS only seems to have crude bows available so I shouldn't have to worry about restarting my play-through to test balance.

 

- History lesson, (skip this paragraph if you just want to see the in-game changes and not the reasoning behind them) -

First off I want to point out that the graphic for longbows depicts a composite recurve bow, and the standard bow graphic depicts a single-piece recurve bow. All Longbows bend in a single curve. Longbows are bigger heavier, but considerably easier to use. The string bends more making drawing easier and faster, but releasing significantly less power in your shot (complete opposite of the longbows in Avernum). Recurve bows bows bend the wood much more(which can effect accuracy for the inexperienced), and composite bows are made from multiple parts that help the bow bend. Power is stored in the wood itself in addition to the string, allowing for much more powerful shots that demand more effort and precision. Composite bows are however MUCH more difficult to make, and have a much shorter life span.

 

So what I want to do in this mod is:

- Rename longbow to composite bow.

- Increase the scaling on bows to be the same as composite bows. (I suspect that some magical bows are viable in standard CS, but I cannot see how their damage works currently, so I might be making archers broken until I get those bows in my playthrough). Note: I am reducing the level of archer enemies to compensate

- Increase the weight of all bow types. (to account the weight of using a bow rather than just carrying one)

- Give Compostie bows a flat -10% accuracy penalty, but increase their crit chance bonus to 25% (this will not effect other equipped weapons).

- Currently all normal bows are also a lower level than the composite bows, I will look into weather I need to change this or now, as I progress through the game.

 

The idea is that this will make composite bows better for dedicated archers, being an overall buff. While off-builds such as the popular priest-archer, will likely stick to using common bows.

 

I also have some beefs with throwables; namely that you can find powerful razordiscs WAY more more easily than you could in EftP. You can also find 1 steel javelin very early, and making that re-usable is pretty strong for early game. I think I will make throwables scale better late game, (the scaling ratio will improve as you hit certain milestones in throwable weapon skill).

 

My favorite thing about missile weapons in the old exile games was their variety. Since the early levels of throwables become obsolete almost instantly when you make throwables re-usable, I think I will replace Iron Javelins with a new throwable with different effects. But I haven't decided what yet...