Unlocking NPC and Unused Items for the Player

[Flix 5,191]

This is sort of a sub-project of Community Items Mod. After Silver Fox suggested I check for a shield that appeared in the art book but not in the game, I went and combed through all the game files seeing if there were any other items that were created but not implemented for gameplay.

 

I found some cool things. I compared my findings with the Wiki and assembled a collection of items that aren't documented as common items or as unique/set/legendary. Along the way, I also pulled out several items that are used by NPC's. Everything here has an itemtype ID, but no blueprint or drop chance.

 

I'm going to present this stuff to you in chunks. Part 1 (this post) will be shields. Later will come 2H weapons and then 1H weapons.

 

I'll start with items I'm pretty sure are brand new, I.e., not only are they not available to the player, but even NPC's don't use them. AFAIK they don't appear in the game at all. Below that I'll list some cool NPC-only items that I've unlocked for the player.

 

Unused Shields

It's possible some of these are used by NPC's and I just didn't recognize them. Let me know if you recognize them or if they're part of the game and just not documented on the Wiki yet. The names are loosely adapted from the file names.

 

Approximately in increasing order of awesomeness:

 

"Round Shield" Itemype 7613

 

 

"Demon Shield" Itemtypes 1120, 1122, 1123, 1124, 1125

 

 

"Elf Shield" Itemtype 1153

 

 

"Elf Shield 2" Itemtype 1154

 

 

"Spike Shield" Itemtype 8188

 

 

"Spike Shield 2" Itemtype 11624

 

 

"Spike Shield 3" Itemtype 11626

 

 

NPC Shields

These are some of the unique shields used by various Elves, Humans, Dryads, Lizards, and Orcs.

 

Kite shield with Inquisition logo

 

 

Another Shield with Inquisition Logo

 

 

"Mascarell" shield. The good guys around Kufferath castle. Tree is upside down.

 

 

Mascarell Tower Shield

 

 

Shield of DeMordrey's Soldiers

 

 

Dark Army Shield

 

 

Scorpion shield used by desert guards

 

 

Oasis shield used by various soldiers around Khorum

 

 

Lizardman shield

 

 

Lizardman Shield 2 Only snapped one pic for some reason.

 

 

Lizardman Shield 3

 

 

Blood Dryad Shield (note that it's just an alternate skin of the Impenetrable Protector legendary shield)

 

 

Goblin Shield

 

 

Orc Shield

 

 

Orc Shield 2

 

 

Troll Shield (lol)

 

 

I'd like to implement as many of these as is feasible, so if anything shown here strikes you with an idea, please feel free to share it here or in the New Uniques and Legendaries thread.

Edited March 3, 2014 by Flix

[Silver_fox 399]

Amazing finds, Flix! It's astonishing how many itneresting-looking shields were quietly lying inside game archives, hidden from everybody. And what a waste to hide them like that, because many look more impressive than what was actually implemented in game.

 

As for ideas, I want to nominate Itemtype 11624 ("Spike Shield 2") for a name "Firebird's Wing" or "Firebird's Feather", because that's what its look reminds me of. For such idea Fire-related bonuses would be appropriate (both to defence: mitigation and/or DoT reduction and/or Opponent's chance to Burn reduction, and damage: Fire damage or all damage, + chance to Burn). Making it sort of anti-dragon shield, or shield for fire mages. Maybe making fire mitigation/ fire resistance scaleable with Shield Lore the way Fire Mitigation of Icingdeath scales with Dual Wield (can reach high value but is very skill-dependant).

 

And, as there was a cry for Sacred 1 items, why not to implement Dralkcib's Protection right as it was? Just swap "+Defence against Ranged" for Sacred 2 equivalent "Chance to Block: Ranged"(or maybe even Reflect) and swap "Parrying" for either "Shield Lore" or "+ Defensive Skills" and it's ready to go. Of course, you may prefer another idea, but that shield was good enough and makes a fine reference to Underworld.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Silver_fox

[Dragon Brother 620]

Spike shield 3 looks perfect for giving some damage too, that is one brutal looking spike.

[Flix 5,191]

Ah, that's a Sacred 1 shield! That explains how rough it looks. It's literally a "Daemon Shield" haha. People who want more S1 items imported be warned: this is probably the best it will look like, and that was done by pros (I'm assuming)!

 

Spikeshields 2 and 3 also have unfortunately low quality textures, and they still look pretty eye-popping. I'm sure they would be stunning with hq textures, but judging by the scripts they were implemented with Ice and Blood so there were no hq textures for them. The present ones are small even by mq standards. But they're definitely going in the mod regardless, they're too nice not to include.

 

I've seen a few wing-like shields in the game but that one takes the cake. It makes you want to put one on each arm. And then maybe climb up on the Griffinborough castle walls, jump off and just start flapping.

[Dragon Brother 620]

Are there any wings like the ones below? I had a quick look and couldn't see anything, but you may spot something I've missed.

 

 

[Flix 5,191]

I know that's Sacred 2 art and an Sacred 2 video still, but to me it looks distinctly like the style of wings from S1. I haven't checked armor folders, and didn't intend to, because it all seems fully utilized. However, I can double check.

[Silver_fox 399]

Maybe there is a chance to refine a low-quality textures. Resourse textures for leather, metal and enamel can be found on the Internet without much trouble. Carefully layering them with the original textures would take time though. But these shields are interesting even in their current state. I did not noticed poor texture quality of spiked shields on these pictuers, and I don't think that in game somebody would move the camera closer than you did for this showcase.

I've seen a few wing-like shields in the game but that one takes the cake. It makes you want to put one on each arm. And then maybe climb up on the Griffinborough castle walls, jump off and just start flapping.

That just made my day, really.

[SX255 630]

Have the easter cult bunny robes been unlocked for the Inquisitor?

[Flix 5,191]

Not that I know of. I can take a peek. By the looks of it, it may be one of the few NPC outfits that can be transferred over without requiring any work on the meshes.

 

I'm going to present some of the weapons I found now. I only found 4 truly unused models, and one is buggy. But more on that later. First, I'm going to post items I "discovered." By that I mean they're not documented on the Wiki, but from what I can tell they're fully implemented and should drop in-game (as rares). It may just be that the Wiki contributors just missed them. Or maybe something is preventing them from dropping, though I don't know why that could be.

 

1H Hammer

 

 

1H Hammer #2

 

 

2H Hammer

 

 

2H Hammer #2

 

 

2H Axe

 

 

Energy Weapon

 

 

Blowpipe

 

 

Scythes

These were implemented by the CM Patch. They're missing from the Wiki like the other new item types (Throwing Potions, Recurve Bows, Fist Weapons). I plan on adding them all soon. However I can't ever remember seeing these Scythes in-game. They seem very memorable.

 

 

 

So that's all for now. More coming soon.

 

BTW the golden Inquisitor armor is my old design for a new set "Disgraced Gods".

Edited March 3, 2014 by Flix

[Gilberticus 374]

I have all 3 of these scythes, but they rarely drop. For me, the one in the first picture only seems to drop around Bluestone Lake, the second one seems to only drop on Christmas Island, the third seems to drop only in the Blood Forest.

[Silver_fox 399]

And here we have some more interesting items that can be modded into the game.

 

The wooden 1-handed hammer looks a bit familiar, but I certainly haven't seen its like since the first versions of Fallen Angel. It can be that they should be shopped by characters with high bargaining, or some change in droplists removed them from drops or restricted to a specific area. The second 1-handed hammer (silver one) certainly drops and is even pictured on a wiki pic for High Elf's aspectless mount (yes, that's not the most logical place to look for a weapon image, but it's still there), it just seems that for some reason Knuckles missed it when he was doing his weapon pages.

 

Never saw the two-handers before, though I admit that I haven't spent much time playing SW or shopping his items, so maybe I just missed them.

 

These scythes definitely look memorable, and condidering that there are no unique or legendary items of that type yet, maybe they can be made into some, even though they are confirmed to drop as rares.

 

And that Inquisitor's armor does not look half-bad. If that's a rejected version, I wonder what the final would be - must be very good. As I understand, you are going for something darker with this set to match the skull-helmet, and that's a good idea. But I have to admit that seeing a light and golden Inquisitor is refreshing (finally something that is not dark of toxic green). After all, evil characters, especially evil priests, are sometimes portrayed wearing white or light-colored clothes.

Edited February 27, 2014 by Silver_fox

[Flix 5,191]

Ok good, I was pretty sure everything pictured there actually dropped, just wasn't certain as I don't shop much. Some of those blueprints were in a droplist called something like "droplist_rare_UNFINISHED" which made me think that was preventing drops, but then many other blueprints that are confirmed to drop were also in that list, so I don't think it's meaningful. I happen to like that Energy Weapon and Blowpipe a lot too. Those and the Scythes are good candidates to make some new uniques.

 

That Inquisitor armor...well pious gold and white was my original intent. I think it actually enhances the effect of evil, when the evil-doer is garbed in the pure and glorious vestements of a holy man. The Inquisition (both real and in-game) embody the idea of "horror in the guise of piety." The Grand Inquisitor says something like, "There are no other gods than Ker, and even if there are, they are insignificant before her."

 

The idea came from the version of Satan's origin that portrays him as Lucifer, "Light-bringer", the most glorious and beautiful of all angels, who fell and became lord of evil. I quickly realized there were plenty of examples of similar deities who fell, screwed up, failed, and basically just became disgraced. I wanted a "perfect" looking set for the Inquisitor, one that would say to citizens "the Inquisition is salvation, it is holy, it is supreme." And each set piece would be named to "dishonor" one of the many disgraced gods that failed, crushed under Ker's pitiless foot.

 

When Pesmontis got me working on the skull (he also did 99% of the work to get it in implemented), it threw things off. At first I thought I'd use it for another Inquisitor set I had going called "Creeping Death" based on the biblical plagues of Egypt. It was, well, dark and toxic and green. The skull helmet seemed to match that set better, so I thought I'd use that set design, but use the Disgraced Gods set names (and just abandon Creeping Death). Because the skull helmet is so graphic (the helmet was to be named "Kingu's Bleeding Wound" and there is literally a bloody mess on the back of the head), I thought it might be most striking to try to visually represent (where possible) the various physical features of the gods the set pieces are named after. E.g., the boots "Hephaestus's Limp" could have one boot malformed, etc.

 

So I don't know really. I haven't given in much thought lately, but the set will be coming up on my to-do list fairly soon.

[Dragon Brother 620]

Interesting to get some insight into the thought process there flix.

 

As to those items, other than the scythes, they seem familiar, but that doesn't mean much, been a while since I played the game.

[SX255 630]

You put so much logic behind that armor. In our part of the world we have a simpler "rocking evil in white" and it looks like this. Sorry for the politics, but in a way you could build an Easter egg by switching from gold to Ker red.

[Flix 5,191]

Ok time for the smallest but still interesting weapons post: new weapons that were hidden away and unused and never-before-seen (I believe). These all have models, textures and/or itemtype ID's, but no blueprints or drop chance. I only found 3, so it seems weapons models were more thoroughly used than shields (CM Patch team probably deserves most of the credit for that).

 

Seraphim Sword Itemtype 53

This one was a bit of a dud unfortunately. Low-res textures and a model that displays sideways. The character doesn't grip the sword, it just sticks to the top of the hand.

 

 

Blowpipe Itemtype 11617

This was a neat find. Looks a bit like a radioactive cigar.

 

 

2H Axe Itemtype 11615

Definitely my favorite find. Seeing this wicked design made the whole search worth it.

Edited March 3, 2014 by Flix

[Silver_fox 399]

Interesting association, SX, did not expect this one. Though I think it would be better to refrain from using references to modern politics in game, if only because of the fact that real-life people and events are too complex to undoubtedly fit into Black and White morality. Real people are never ultimate angel-like good or grotesque supreme evil. And considering that nowadays politics always involves a lot of propaganda, you can never know beforehand how people of different countries and cultures would react to allusions you make to figures and events in history. I'm not commenting on your particular example, just generally cautioning against using political views even as Easter Eggs.

 

That being said, I really like the fact that Flix uses mythological references in his sets and items. That helps to add meaning and depth to item names without having to come up with in-universe lore books and explanations. When you see such names in game they have more meaning than just some unknown foreign sounding names that strike no chord because they have no story behind them. Besides, nowadays references, allusions and parables are the main application of ancient myths anyway.

 

As for the white Inquisitor, I just recently looked into a TV Tropes page about usage of color in Character Design for games and other media (not the most serious writeup, but the tendencies are shown correctly). One of the meanings of White robes on a character is listed as:

white - A hint of madness, religious zealotry, or a church that oversteps its bounds.

Which is quite fitting for the Inquisitor. As such usage of this color is known and to some extent expected, chances are that the players would get just correct associations seeing "holy man" styled garb on the Inquisitor.

 

Flix, on 28 Feb 2014 - 05:32, said:
Ok time for the smallest but still interesting weapons post: new weapons that were hidden away and unused and never-before-seen (I believe). These all have models, textures and/or itemtype ID's, but no blueprints or drop chance. I only found 3, so it seems weapons models were more thoroughly used than shields (CM Patch team probably deserves most of the credit for that).

These new weapons are a good find, all of them. I agree with you that the axe has a wicked design, and it is also unusual and well-detailed. It's one of the items that just have to be implemented just because they are too cool to collect dust in some forgotten archive of the game. Blowpipe looks interesting too - its cigar-like look gives the phrase about "smoking the enemies out" a whole new meaning. Not to mention the fact that unique and legendary blowpipes are not exactly multuple (3 uniques, 3 legendaries, 1 set - now compare to the number of swords...)

 

The sword, from what I can see, is the Sereish Steel of Thunder. So, as you still list an attempt to bring Sacred 1 items to Sacred 2 as a sheduled project, maybe it is worth-while to look what can be done about its animations (such things are not impossible to fix, throwpotions initially had messed-up animations but were eventually corrected).

Edited February 28, 2014 by Silver_fox

[Dragon Brother 620]

That axe!!! *Drools*

[Flix 5,191]

Ah, another S1 item popped up. Well, in that case I guess I could try to see what could be done with it. I wonder how and why those ended up in there.

 

Speaking of messed up animations, I tried out the two "Lashes" in the game files. Czevak reported a few years back that they needed a lot more work because the animation was all wrong. And...yep, they were. They are ball-and-chain but they just stand out straight like a stick, which means the player stabs themself in the face when they block. The attack animation is a little strange but at least it's actually present. They also make the character lay down flat on the back of their mount.

 

Anyway, these are the NPC weapons I thought were cool enough to try unlocking for the player. I went through 30+, but many are just slight variations on existing player weapons, and most are very plain and dull. So these are those that actually look unique and interesting:

 

2H Ogre Swords

Actually 1-handed for the Ogres, these make fine 2 handers for the players that can wield such weapons.

 

 

 

Ogre Hammer

Ogres use this hammer one-handed, and it looks as though the player has to as well (right pic), because when wielded as a 2 Hander, it's upside down (left pic).

 

 

1H Ogre Staff

 

 

2H Ogre Staff

 

 

1H Orc Axe

 

 

2H Orc Axe

The Shadow Warrior gives himself brain surgery with it when using it as a 2-hander (middle pic). It could also be used as an oversized 1-Hander (right pic).

 

 

2H Orc Hammer

 

 

2H Orc Staff

Right now this only works when wielded as a 1H Staff. As a 2H weapon the player grips it by the wrong part (the top), so the butt clips into the ground.

 

 

2H Blood Dryad Staff

It could also be wielded as a 1H staff (not pictured).

 

 

2H Lizard Man Cobra Staff

 

 

1H Lizardman Bone Club

 

 

1H Goblin Staff

 

 

NPC Long Bow

I can't recall which Npc's wield this weapon but it's a very fine bow, worthy of a unique.

 

 

Dragon Cultist Halberd

 

 

Snickernsee

I've never heard that word before but apparently it's a term for a fighing knife. These daggers are used by the Garema and some other NPC's.

 

 

 

 

Troll Weapons

These are just more for amusement. Their huge size caused all kinds of clipping and many are wielded backwards or upside down. Those that don't have those issues are just chunks of wood.

 

 

 

 

 

One thing that remains is trying out the Crossbows. I don't know whether the characters will be able to wield them properly but I'm giving it a try. Pictures of success (or failure) coming at some point.

Edited March 3, 2014 by Flix

[SX255 630]

Dam! That 2H Lizard Man Cobra Staff would have looked awesome on a TG.

[Silver_fox 399]

These two-handed swords look brutal, in a good way. It's a bit funny how these somewhat rusted simply shaped weapons look just as impressive as the most elaborate designs for this weapon type. Maybe that's because they look effective and obviously used in practice - these are the swords for real fighting, not just dress weapons to attend military parades with. Very fitting for the Shadow Warrior, who looks capable and dangerous when armed like this.

 

Staves are another good find, I especially like the Cobra staff - never noticed that Lizardmen have such amazing weapon design. This design looks somewhat ancient egyptian, sadly it's too big for the game's honorary Anubis. I always felt that the game needs more interesting two handed staves. It's a classical weapon for a mage, but in Sacred 2 casters are so much better off with one-handed something and a shield that characters with the most "magical" weapon are quite rare. Blood Dryads' staff is interesting too, though maybe this one is better wielded one-handed as it is a bit shorter than two-handed staves usually are (some fighting animations might end up hitting the air in front of an enemy).

 

New models for daggers/short swords might be useful too. As of now, we have much more strength-based swords than dexterity-based. Strength-based uniques are better ones, too. So if you biuld a sword-fighter the odds are in favor of choosing Strength as the main attribute. Maybe better variety of dex-based weapons would make appropriate builds more interesting to play and experiment with.

[Dragon Brother 620]

The cobra staff actually reminds me of the staff Jafar (bad guy) uses in Aladdin. Perhaps it could be made into a unique representing this idea?

 

[Flix 5,191]

I think I found an Unlock Item that isn't documented on the Wiki, and wasn't made to drop freely with the CM Patch. It's called "unlock_shield_tower_gruni" in blueprint.txt, and it's only present in one droplist (shields) in drop.txt, so it won't drop freely. It's called "Grunwalds_Schutz" there. So, I think what I'll do is try to add it to all the proper droplists so it will drop like other shields and unlock items currently do.

 

By the way, it looks like it uses the same model and textures as this normal shield:

 

Also, if you go back and look at the very first post in this thread with the shields, what I've done is add that first Round Shield and the 2 "Elf Shields" to the blueprints for normal, magic, and rare shields. So they should drop and be sold as random items now. I wasn't inspired enough to make uniques from them.

[Pesmontis 168]

It's a bit of a late reply, but I think these are all incredible finds.

I wonder why unused items were never researched before.. the idea to do so doesn't seem farfetched.

Flix, (how) are you going to implement them all into the mod?

 

Plus I guess with all these finds, the 'New Weapons and Shields' section in the Brainstorming thread has become redundant..

Edited March 2, 2014 by Pesmontis

[Silver_fox 399]

It's a good thing that you've fixed this shield. I'm currently working on renewing the wiki pages for unlock items (started in the middle of the last week, but real life and server instability got in the way of wiki work, so the first results would be visible only tomorrow) and I'm going to add the missing ones. The wiki lists only 35 of them, while the Unlock items thread on DarkMatters clearly talks about 37. Besides the shield, there is one more item that is missed from the wiki list. It's a two-handed sword, blueprint 2462 "unlock_sword_2h_krollslaw". Not sure if it can drop normally with CM, or has the same trouble as the shield.

 

Adding simpler looking unused items to regular droplists is another good idea. You've found many items that aren't showing in game, and making uniques out of all of them might be troublesome, besides some aren't really inspiring. But letting them go to waste when the game can always use more diversity is quite sad, so adding these things to random items pool for better variety of drops is a nice solution.

[Flix 5,191]

Pesmontis it's not late at all, it's right on time, as I just finished up searching through all the files. Now, I get to decide what should be implemented and how.

 

If you recall, this was my original intent for the next step of the mod, to add various single unique and legendary items. I was going to draw upon the more exotic models already present in-game, but finding these unused models is even better. I have a big folder full of planned weapons and shields, so over the next couple weeks they should start pouring in as I create them.

 

In a couple instances, I may just implement some of these unused or NPC item models as normal/magic/rare items instead of uniques. In some other instances, I may just ignore them other than noting them in this thread.

 

And unused items definitely were researched...the CM Patch team implemented Fist Weapons, Recurve Bows, Throwing Potions and Scythes, and looked into adding the Lashes. I guess these individual items slipped past their notice.

Edited March 2, 2014 by Flix