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[Kaldor Silverwand]

 This is a continuation of the threads in the Bioware legacy forums:
Input for MotB Makeover SoZ Edition (Part 1)
Input for MotB Makeover SoZ Edition (Part 2)

SPOILERS ALERT !!!

There are SPOILERS in this thread, so if you have not played MotB yet you may want to exit the thread now.

SPOILERS ALERT !!!

I am continuing to test my way slowly through act II and have recently acquired the Dream Dagger.  Overall I was disappointed in the weapon. First, it has a bug that once transformed to longsword it cannot be transformed again. Second, while it can be wielded by any party member it can only be transformed by the main PC and is limited in choices to his/her skills and feats. And third, far too limited weapon choices.

So I have decided to address each of these problems. In the Makeover the Dream Dagger can be transformed by any party member and the weapons that can be chosen - now including bastard sword, battleaxe, club, falchion, greatsword, handaxe, katana, kukri. light crossbow, longbow, longsword, mace, morningstar, quarterstaff, rapier, scimitar, scythe, short sword, spear, and warhammer - are based on the skills and feats of the person who is transforming it. There is a small oddity in the display in that when the conversation begins the inventory of the main PC will be opened rather than the person doing the transformation, but the new weapon form will be created in the correct party member's inventory.  This will work with both the included companions (Gann, Safiya, etc.) as well as any party members you create using the SoZ Party Editor.

I have also decided to leave the fate of a certain ranger as written. This is because there is already a mod that provides alternate endings for him for people who want that.

Regards

[puiwaihin]

Thanks for the update, Kaldor. Looking forward to when you finish everything.

[Kaldor Silverwand]

Me too As it is I've completed Act II up to the Coveya Kurg'annis area. So a few more areas to complete in Act II and then on to Act III.



Regards

[Kaldor Silverwand]

I'm looking into the bargaining with souls issue now. I have a fairly complex solution that will involve adding several areas to the campaign, but I think that for those playing good characters it makes no sense at all to be bargaining with souls.

[puiwaihin]

It doesn't even make sense to bargain with the devils at all. I look forward to seeing how you resolve the issue. Alternately, you could use an existing non-hostile red wizard or drop a new character into the mix who can help you resolve the situation. Startear from the OC comes to mind as a nice little deux ex machina. He could simply want that door open for his own unknowable reasons and offer to do so for you in exchange for a service similar to the one you perform for the demons, just not involving a soul.

[Kaldor Silverwand]

The solution I have in mind does involve the OC. A little bit of a Fed Ex quest, but should be enjoyable and have some decent combat and give you that deja vu feeling. I'm not going to remove the option of bargaining with the devils though, just provide an alternative more suitable for good aligned characters. I was planning on using a few of the OC characters as well, for at least background. Startear is a thought. I'll have to look into his OC conversations.

[puiwaihin]

Any progress on this?

[Kaldor Silverwand]

Still working on the new areas in support of AJ and providing an enjoyable alternative to swapping souls with demons. Got a little distracted by having to transfer my development over to a new machine but all is good now.



Sorry, I know you are anxious to kick the wheels.

[puiwaihin]

No need to apologize. When you get this done I'll be grateful as I already am for the work you already did on the OC. Just wanting to give a voice of support for those who will greatly enjoy your mod.

One thing I'd like to suggest once you get the MOTB makeover out of beta would be a combination of the two mods.  But first things first, of course!

Hope your new machine serves you well!

Modifié par puiwaihin, 25 septembre 2010 - 01:25 .

[puiwaihin]

Do you think you could make a beta release that would allow party play in MoTB and all the features you have finished while you continue to work on the more plot related improvements? Then you can have beta testers finding points where party transitioning doesn't work and other such problems while you continue to work on the new areas, etc.

[Kaldor Silverwand]

I'll consider a beta release if I cannot make enough progress during the holidays. I have concerns about releasing something that is unfinished though. For one I think people will give it low votes and they will not change them when the final version is released. And secondly it will get an incorrect reputation for being buggy that will not be resolved by releasing a final version.



So there is a temporary benefit and potentially permanent costs.



Regards

[Kaldor Silverwand]

I suppose I could avoid the downsides by not posting the beta to the vault though.



Brendan

[puiwaihin]

I understand those concerns. Honestly, I only posted that suggestion out of selfish greed wanting to get my hands on the full party control and other goodies earlier. The whole bug-finding idea was just a justification for it. Well, that and it was one of those those needy "gimme gimme gimme", "when's the release date?", "are we there yet?" kind of posts looking for an update.



Usually I let other people make those kinds of posts while I sit back and look mature. Unfortunately, this new forum is even more quiet than the last one had gotten. So, I was left to do my own dirty work.



But then, that basically describes all beta testers anyway, so if you would like some beta testers to go through what you've completed so far and it's not too much trouble to upload a beta release somewhere off of the vault, I'd be only too glad to take you up on that.

[Kaldor Silverwand]

puiwaihin wrote...
..., so if you would like some beta testers to go through what you've completed so far and it's not too much trouble to upload a beta release somewhere off of the vault, I'd be only too glad to take you up on that.

I'll try and make a releasable beta by the end of the weekend. It will only cover Act I and Act II prior to the Academy.

Regards

[puiwaihin]

Awesome. When you get that up somewhere I'll play through to the point you've gotten to and report back anything unusual.

[Kaldor Silverwand]

I have a test release of the MotB Makeover that I am willing to distribute to individuals who are willing to test and provide feedback. Testers will need to be willing to uninstall any other mods and will have to understand that future releases may not be completely compatible with their saved games, so restarting might be needed. Testers will need to have both MotB and SoZ installed. Also this release is not complete. It includes Act I and part of Act II.



If anyone is interested please message me privately. If you only have mild curiosity then please wait for the general release. I am hoping for a general release before the end of December.



Regards

[Kaldor Silverwand]

I haven't received any additional requests for the test version, so I am not sure there really is much interest in this Makeover, but I am still developing it. I had hoped to complete it over the holidays, but that didn't happen. I did make enough progress though that I thought a status update was warranted.



First, I have completed the development needed to allow the warlock's soul to be recovered without the need for bartering with the Pit Fiends. This is an alternative path and does not eliminate the ability to choose the soul bartering method. The alternative path adds some additional quests, allows for some additional unique items to be found, and allows revisiting a few of the OC areas with new combat, new puzzles, and new treasures. It is also possible to meet up with some old but not forgotten friends and fiends, four of whom can become party companions. I'd say who, but I don't want to give away the surprise.



Most of the mystery surrounding the fates of the OC companions is cleared up through alterations to some of the existing conversations and adding additional conversations. These alterations are either completely compatible with accepted canon or, where liberties have been taken, at the least consistent with it. They are also consistent with SoZ.



Also the Makeover will make full use of the editable 2da method of controlling rest, crafting, and death preferences introduced with the most recent update to the OC Makeover. This should allow the Makeover to be more easily configured to meet individual preferences and removes the dependency on the toolset.



I'm spending every spare moment on trying to get to a release. I think it will be worth the wait.



Regards

[Kaldor Silverwand]

I've decided that the warlock should be a full-fledged companion rather than a henchman and that he should be able to be leveled up appropriately. This has meant rewriting most of his conversations, however I was able to recover some conversation lines from the OC.



The primary benefit of his being a companion is that he won't be forced out of the party when you transition between modules the way he was as a henchman. I think this will be an improvement over he joins, leaves, and then maybe returns later and you will have more options with him because of full control.



This has meant though that I have removed the option of him acting as a henchman. I try not to remove options, but in this case it was necessary. This will mean that if you choose to kick him out of your party then he will not automatically show up later.



Regards

[manageri]

Could you make the alignment shift on Eternal Rest an option in the 2da? I read the stuff about it in the old thread you linked and since there's a legitimate non-altruistic use for it (good spirit energy return without increasing craving) I wouldn't consider it a good action.

[Kaldor Silverwand]

manageri wrote...

Could you make the alignment shift on Eternal Rest an option in the 2da? I read the stuff about it in the old thread you linked and since there's a legitimate non-altruistic use for it (good spirit energy return without increasing craving) I wouldn't consider it a good action.

I'm not sure.  There is the action itself, the end, and the intent. The action of Eternal Rest does not torture those affected, so it is not evil. The end is that they are released from undeath which is seemingly a good thing. The intention may be to either help them or to help yourself.  Selfishness may not be good, but it also may not be evil, since the act you are doing is still good.

So overall, my reasoning is that Eternal Rest is a good action even if you are doing it for selfish reasons.

I suppose this could be an option though.  I'll look into it.

Regards

[Kaldor Silverwand]

I've been playing around with allowing Safiya's appearance to be changed.I had hoped to be able to allow her to change appearance at will to look like a few other NPC's. The closest I can get is to make her look like a giant Sylph. Interesting, but not really what I am going for. There doesn't seem to be functions to change hair or head on the fly. If anyone is aware of any, I'll consider using them.



Regards

[puiwaihin]

For me the biggest thing I would suggest would be additional recipes that will perform the MoTB crafting functions. The base item crafting from SoZ is fine, but pretty much the entire enchantment book is worthless in MoTB. Perhaps add in one additional book: epic enchantments, which would automate the MoTB enchantments in the same way.

[Kaldor Silverwand]

Why is the enchantment book worthless in MotB? There seems to be no lack of essences and the MotB recipes are all available online or in game. What do you feel is missing?

[I_Raps]

Kaldor Silverwand wrote...

Why is the enchantment book worthless in MotB? There seems to be no lack of essences and the MotB recipes are all available online or in game. What do you feel is missing?

Gems.

[Kaldor Silverwand]

I_Raps wrote...

Kaldor Silverwand wrote...

Why is the enchantment book worthless in MotB? There seems to be no lack of essences and the MotB recipes are all available online or in game. What do you feel is missing?

Gems.

Do you mean that there is a scarcity of certain gems that limits enchanting? Or do you mean they mistakenly left some gems out that are required for enchanting?

Regards