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Sacred 2 Age of Heroes [MOD]


unknowngst

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Curent released version: v0.9 Beta

Download

Anouncement Post

 

Change-log:

 

 

Sept 12, 2011

v0.2:

- First beta released

 

Sept 13 2011

v0.3

- Removed unnecessary scripts

- Improved spawn location and density

- Dryad is added

- WEARGROUP_DRYADIN is added

- Solved all known weird issues.

 

Sept 17, 2011

- All 7 playable races are added.

- Technical Data removed as separate download.

- True random armor and weapon, includes all possible armor and weapon variation .

 

Sept 25, 2011

- Major changes in God Spell: you get heroes as your controllable minions now!

- Major changes in CAs: any enemy killed by CA, will be thrown into the air for better ragdoll effect!

- Improved randomness of weapon generation.

- Added bonuses and skills to heroes as first step towards balance.

 

 

 

Intro-Screenshots

 

 

Alright, screenshots first. Here's some showing:

1) Some seraphims on-foot, some on mount (all 3 types).

2) Each seraphim spawns with random armor and weapon.

3) All of them can cast all kinds of seraphim CA.

4) In some of the tests, I intentionally removed Warding Energy and Cleansing Brilliance because they are annoying to the view.

5) I removed BeeEffGee because monster can't switch weapon set, so the casting move of BeeEffGee is a waste. I also removed Instill Belief, because it will sometime cause "Paradise" to happen (everyone is in-peace with everyone else).

6) All suitable heroes' skills (single target + Area of Effect) are added with "hurl enemy" effect. If enemy is killed with those skills, it will be thrown in the air and then the Ragdoll system will take over, for much more pleasing kill-moves. I dislike when monsters just "lumps and dies on spot" after patch 2.4.3.

 

All three types of seraphim mounts.

A seraphim on-foot at the right-side of screen, is wearing jester hat (Click to enlarge picture to see clearly).

big0023.jpg

 

At night, Me vs Seraphims vs Monsters.

big0012.jpg

 

Big battle. Each seraphim is identifiable due to the "halo" (Cleansing Brilliance) on their heads.

big0007.jpg

 

I killed a seraphim with Pelting Strike, it is thrown into the air, instead of just "lumps and dies on spot".

There's some blood near the red-potion-dropped-on-air, indicating the original position my light-saber hits it.

big0031.jpg

 

Fighting on a small hill at late evening. A dead seraphim rolling down-hill; another thrown in the air killed by pelting strike.

big0002m.jpg

 

That's all the screenies, for now. Let's get back to the wall-o'-text.

 

 

 

Preface

 

 

I haven't play Sacred 2 for about 2 years...when I came back, a lot of things changed...some good, other worse.

Luckily, we have the CM Patch, and I am very grateful for all fixes and additional content they have added. My deepest thanks to you guys, it is self-less people like you guys that makes other people life so much more enjoyable!

 

I did some minor modding 2 years ago, trying to change the color/model of my character. Here.

After I came back from Titan Quest, I can't get used to Sacred 2 without Ragdoll system. My lament here.

 

So, after "faking" the Ragdoll system with "et_hurl_enemy", here I am trying to make Sacred 2 more enjoyable.

I will layout my plans and the changes I wish to make, with progress indicator after each item.

Of course, all technical information will be shared. I learned a lot from this forum, and I claim no credit for any technical information that I write here (though many of them I found out on my own :P no lies!).

There will also be a "Brainstorm and Question" section, which you are welcome to comment or help-out!

 

That's all I wanted to say, let's get to the gist now!

 

 

 

Note

This is a work-in-progress. I am only able to "work" on weekends, so don't expect rocketing progress.

 

I make this mod on an important principle: PURE TEXT CHANGE. I will NOT modify any of those texture file, or includes more texture, or whatsoever. I intend of achieve all these by only modifying script files. If any of the desired effect REQUIRES editing anything more than script/text files, I'll kiss-it-a-goodbye.

 

For best compatibility, please install latest CM Patch (currently v130). I see no reason why you don't use CM Patch for a much better Sacred 2.

However, I intend to make these mods work regardless if CM Patch is installed. To achieve this purpose, this is what I am going to do:

1) Instead of releasing entire mod in one single patch, I will group them into separate modules.

2) Each modules will come with its own installation steps (mainly just cut-and-paste, and changing some IDs).

Scrapped, and only upon request...this game is 5-years-old, I doubt anyone will be interested.

 

Overview

As the title suggested, this mod aims to fill Ancaria with heroes (the 7 playable races/classes)...you are not alone anymore!

This purpose is achieved by:

1) Spawning additional monsters throughout Ancaria, in disguise of heroes.

2) Heroes are summoned to fight alongside with you, as your minions, whenever Godspell is casted.

 

Spawned Heroes

Heroes will be spawned at chosen major locations throughout Ancaria.

They will be spawned with random equipments of random color and random models.

Those randomly spawned weapons and armors all have the same stats and do not form any set bonus.

They will be either spawned with mount, or on-foot.

 

As of this release, the random equipments cover ALL model and color variation exists in Sacred 2 + Expansion + CM Patch v130 (according to itemtypes.txt).

 

All heroes have skills that reduce dualwield penalty.

All heroes have skills that reduce mounted penalty.

All these heroes will have CHANCE to resurrect for ONCE. After all, they are heroes!

 

They are able to use majority of the CA, some are excluded for various reasons.

Example 1: Since AI can't switch weapons, BeeEffGee is removed because it is

just a waste of casting.

Example 2: Since AI can spam spell, those buffs that decrease regens are

removed.

Example 3: Some CA will cause bug (Instill Belief will make everyone at peace

with everyone else);

Example 4: Some CA uses up too much resources...

 

List of CA Available to Heroes (Each hero has 9 CAs):

 

 

Seraphim:

Pelting Strikes

Assailing Somersault

Dashing Alacrity

Baneful Smite

Radiant Pillar

Hallowed Restoration

Archangel's Wrath

Flaring Nova

Divine Protection

 

Shadow Warrior:

Demonic Blow

Scything Sweep

Ruinous Onslaught

Rousing Command

Frenzied Rampage

Belligerent Vault

Augmenting Guidon

Spectral Hand

Shadow Veil

 

Dryad:

Darting Assault

Forest Flight

Dust Devil

Ravaged Impact

Twisted Torment

Black Curse

Edaphic Lances

Tangled Vine

Goldenglade Touch

 

High Elf:

Ancestral Fireball

Blazing Tempest

Incendiary Shower

Frost Flare

Glacial Thorns

Raging Nimbus

Cascading Shroud

Cobalt Strike

Shadow Step

 

Inquisitor:

Callous Execution

Ruthless Mutilation

Frentic Fervor

Levin Array

Clustering Maelstorm

Raving Thrust

Dislodged Spirit

Inexorable Subjugation

Eruptive Desecration

 

Temple Guardian:

Dedicated Blow

Battle Extension

Deathly Spears

Amplifying Discharge

Furious Emblazer

Jolting Touch

Archimedes Beam

Propelled Levitation

Primal Mutation

 

Dragon Mage:

Dragon Strike

Eternal Fire

Destroyer

Gust of Wind

Magic Barrier

Tornado

Mind Strike

Energy Blaze

Maelstorm

 

 

 

Heroes have the following relationships:

"Good" Heroes: Seraphim, Temple Guardian, Dryad.

"Chaos" Hero: Dragon Mage.

"Evil" Heroes: Inquisitor, Shadow Warrior, High Elf.

 

Good heroes will attack wild monster, Evil Heroes, Chaos Hero, and Evil Player.

Chaos hero will attack everyone, except other Chaos hero.

Evil heroes will attack wild monster, Good Heroes, Chaos Hero, and Good Player.

 

It is *HIGHLY RECOMMENDED* that you try this mod out in BRONZE difficulty FIRST!

After you tried it out in BRONZE, slowly increase the difficulty level to the one you are able to handle.

Please, I insist...don't come crying if you lose your hardcore character! They spam spells like crazy.

 

God Spell Heroes

God Spell is one of the least used spell...

This mod will incur the following changes to God Spell:

- All God Spells are changed to have the same effects of God Spell: Nature.

- All God Spells' cooldown is reduced from 15mins to 5mins.

- Whenever you cast God Spell, three heroes will be summoned to your side as your minion. Seraphim + High Elf + Dyrad.

- You can control these minions by using Shift + Left Click on monsters.

- You can also change their behavior using "\" or "/" (default keys).

- They will stay with you until they are killed, or you exit game.

- They will spawn with random armors and weapons.

- They are on-foot only. (If you wish, you can make them mounted, but it requires changing Creature.txt)

- They spam spells like spawned heroes.

- Whenever 0 out of 3 is killed, casting God Spell will not add any minion.

- Whenever 1 or 2 out of 3 is killed, casting God Spell MAYBE/MAYBE NOT add 3 minions. So it is possible to have maximum of 5 minions at a time.

- Whenever 3 out of 3 is killed, casting God Spell will certainly add 3 minions.

 

These minions are designed to be:

- stronger than normal monsters, but weaker than elite monsters.

- slightly higher survivability, weak damage but spam spells.

 

Reasoning:

For normal/elite monsters, you alone should be strong enough already...

So, they are just there for some fun, not to help out too much. You can just use them to slaughter normal monsters, and maybe help out a little whenever there's some elite.

 

For boss battles, low survivability minions are useless, they die very quickly after you summon them.

So these minions are designed to be able to survive longer, and spam spells to help you debuff/disable the boss. They don't deal very high damage, so that you are still the main actor.

 

Changes to Spells

All spells which deal damage on enemy, will have an additional effect:

If an enemy is killed by a spell, it will be thrown into the air for a brief moment, for better ragdoll effect! (just like Titan Quest!)

 

Known Issues

A) Stubborn Inquisitor!

All heroes will cast CA whenever they can, except one class: Inquisitor.

I am unable to find an existing AI that will make it cast any CA. I need to create a custom AI to make it cast CA, which will be included in future release.

 

B) One time deal

Due to major changes and overwriting of "shared\spells.txt", the first time loading after this installation, will be slightly longer. Mileage might vary according to your computer spec.

 

Due to major changes and overwriting of "shared\spells.txt", MAYBE/MAYBE NOT you will encounter the following "weirdness":

After you log into game, none of the monsters/npcs/characters can move.

 

This is the solution:

After installation, DO NOT play the game using the same difficulty.

Example, if you are now in SILVER difficulty, just change it to BRONZE or anything else except SILVER.

You will be able to load successfully into game and everything will be fine.

After that, just "Save and Exit", and log back to your desired difficulty.

 

You only need to do this ONCE,

no matter how many different characters you have,

no matter how many difficulty you have unlocked,

no matter whatever...

only one time, and everything can be proceeded like normal.

 

That's all for the weirdness.

Please refer to "Feedback" section if you encounter anything more than this.

 

Current Research

If you already know how to solve, you are welcome to teach!

 

 

 

A) Makes enemy can "fly" further when being killed by skill.

Notes:

- I tried changing Weight in CreateInfo.txt (tried 1, 0, 100, 500), doesn't work.

- Can't find any other relevant parameter that affects this.

 

B) Spawn heroes with random skin and hairstyle, random color.

Notes: (None for now, haven't begin researching).

 

 

 

Progress

 

 

Legends:

[Done] Technical research completed. Tested in-game.

[Testing] Technical research in progress or testing in-game.

[New] At idea stage, have not yet research or started.

 

Items:

[Done] Spawn monster with hero model.

[New] Spawn heroes with random skin color, hair style and hair color.

[Done] Set heroes' equipments.

[Done] Spawn heroes with random equipments.

[Done] Spawn heroes with mounts.

[Done] Set heroes' relationship/faction.

[Done] Set heroes' model scale.

[Done] Set heroes' CA.

[Done] Set heroes' Skill.

[Done] Set heroes' AI.

[Done] Set heroes bonuses (example, +HP/Attack/Defense/SpellResist/AttackSpeed/etc)

[Testing] Set heroes equipment's bonus (the item's bonuses)

[Done] Spawn Heroes at desired region. Able to specify spawn density and number of heroes. Exact position of spawn is random within specified region.

[Done] Change CA into buff that summon companion.

[Done] Set companion's model and scale.

[Done] Set companion's CA.

[Done] Set companion's skill.

[Done] Set companion's equipments.

[Done] Spawn companion with random equipments.

[Done] Spawn companion with random skin color, hair style and hair color.

[Done] Set companion's AI.

[Done] Set companion's bonuses (example, +HP/Attack/Defense/SpellResist/AttackSpeed/etc)

[Testing] Set companion's equipment's bonus (the item's bonuses)

[New] Defines custom AI.

 

 

 

Technical and Data Sharing

(This section is on-hold. This game is 5-years-old and I doubt people will be interested anymore.)

 

 

Some random teachnical and data sharing.

 

A) A list of all WEARGROUP_DEFAULT items.

ID = ItemType ID as in ...\script\shared\itemtype.txt

MODEL = The model file that this item based on.

TYPE = subfamily parameter, indicates what type this item belongs to (helmet, sword, chest, throwing dagger, blah blah blah)

Attached is also a list of DISTINCT/UNIQUE model and type.

I use this list to generate the list of random weapon and armor, so that each distinct model has equal chance of appearing.

 

B) A list of all WEARGROUP_SERAPHIM items.

Same as A), just different WEARGROUP.

 

(more to come...I intended to compile a full list of all WEARGROUP)

Work done, but I will only release upon request. This game is already 5-years-old, I doubt there will be anyone interested.

 

C) Best AI found: BlindGuardian (for monsters), Hireling_Mage_No_Defense (for minions)

Yup, these AI keep spamming CA, all types of CA...

Did you find a better one? Please share!

 

 

 

Mod Modules

(This section is on-hold. This game is 5-years-old and I doubt people will be interested anymore.)

 

 

Here you can find a list of mod modules and instructions to use them.

Instructions are included in the README.TXT of each installation as well.

 

A) Making enemy "flies" when killed by skills.

 

B) Create and configure your own heroes!

B.1) Create Heroes.

B.2) Create Equipset and WeaponPool.

B.3) Create Item Blueprint.

B.4) Configure Heroes' CA and Skills.

B.5) Create Heroes' Spawn.

B.6) Configure Heroes' faction and relationships.

 

 

 

Scrapped Ideas (Recycle Bin)

 

 

Stage Two

A new class named Valkyrie, a summoner of fallen heroes.

For now, it will replace seraphim class. BUT, only player is affected. What I mean is, player created seraphim -> use new Valkyrie skill set; seraphim spawned by this mod Stage 1 -> use original seraphim skill set.

 

Everything is the same as a seraphim, except several CA changes.

CA will be changed to reflect these objectives:

1) Out of total 15 CA, 7 will be buff that spawns a companion, corresponding to 7 race (Seraphim, Inquisitor, Dryad, blah blah blah). Since the maximum amount of buff is 3, player can only have max 3 companion at a time. I have not yet decide if I should make them mounted or not...

2) These companions are not exactly the same as the heroes spawn in Stage 1. They will have slightly different CA and skill sets so that each companion will have certain pros and cons. Some will be better at single-target damage; some for Area of Effect; some for debuffs; some for buff/heals; etc.

3) These companions will spawn with random armors and weapons too, but those will not affect their defense or damage output. Purely for aesthetic purpose. If you don't like the current spawned weapon/armor, just deactivate the buff and activate it again to spawn a different one.

5) These 7 companion can be modded, just like normal CA. I haven't decide on the mods yet...most likely just stat-increasing mods.

4) The rest of the 8 CAs, here's the tentative distribution plan:

1 CA to jump/hide self.

1 CA to heal self/ally.

1 CA for Divine Shield.

1 CA to buff self/ally (move speed, attack speed, cast speed, CA range, damage, defense, chance to crit).

1 CA for Area of Effect debuff + minor damage (possible effects: chance to slow, chance to stun, chance to fear, chance to pull enemy to center, chance to poison, chance to burn, etc) for normal encounters.

1 CA for single target debuff + minor damage (reduce defense, reduce spell resist, slow, chance to stun, chance to pushback, reduce attack speed, reduce cast speed, etc) for boss encounter.

1 CA for physical attack that works with both melee and range weapon (something like Pelting Strike).

1 CA for magical attack that works with both melee and range weapon (something like ArchAngel Wrath, Fireball, Dedicated Blow or Baneful Smite).

 

Should be fun :)

 

A) Valkyrie or not?

Initially, I didn't want to make a new class...because I hate to change all those text (especially skill description...).

What I originally planned is:

1) Make 7 quests (npc for these quests are at the starting location of each race), corresponding to 7 races.

2) At the begining of these quests, you will get a companion.

3) Make it a bugged quest, so that you can't complete it. Since you cannot complete the quest, the companion will stuck with you :D so you have a companion that follows you forever!

 

Sounds nice, right?

Well, the problems/drawbacks are:

1) I have to make that companion invincible, or else once you failed it, forever gone! But there's no fun knowing that your companion won't die...

2) Since you can only accept the quest one time, you are stuck with a fixed set of weapon and armor. Unable to make it spawn randomly like monster or buff-companion.

3) I haven't learn how to edit/add quests.

 

So...what do you think? Quest way? or the Buff way?

If you suggest Quest way, do you know of anyway to circumvent those drawbacks? Please share!

 

 

 

Version Plan

1.0

Heroes should be balanced with proper CA/Skills/Bonuses.

Add/Adjust spawn points.

 

1.1 to 1.9

Solves minor annoyances, add/adjusts spawn, fine-tuning balance.

 

2.0f

Final release.

After which, ancient lurker (that's me) will creep back into its abyss once

again...

 

- End of Post -

Edited by unknowngst
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Hmm...tried to upload Excel Sheet, but not allowed.

 

I'll upload as .txt, then ask the users to rename it to .xls instead after download. I hope this circumvention is not against the rule :P

 

EDIT: Changed my mind...since .zip is allowed, I should compress all the files first before I upload them, it will save a lot of network traffic.

Edited by unknowngst
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hmm, I know that Schot had added some file type limitations, but we'll review that tonight and see about making your upload process as easy as possible ^^

 

I'll post back, thanks for your time, being so patient with us on this.

 

:)

 

gogo

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hmm, I know that Schot had added some file type limitations, but we'll review that tonight and see about making your upload process as easy as possible ^^

 

I'll post back, thanks for your time, being so patient with us on this.

 

:)

 

gogo

 

It's fine, don't worry about it, I'll be using .zip to save network traffic :)

 

Anyway, it will take me another weekend to finish with:

1) extracting all the WEARGROUP_[RACE] from itemtypes

2) create blueprints

3) create weaponpool

4) create equipsets

5) create hero creatures with appropriate mounts and CAs

6) create appropriate factions

7) create spawns at appropriate places

 

Item 1) to 6) is easy, but 7) is a major pain...there's just too many places!

Currently, I'll need to hop on a mount, travel to the desired place, and then use Console -> PRINT MOUNTINFO to know where I am standing...then I'll need to figure out the appropriate layermap_id value to set in spawn.txt. It seems that the layermap_id is important, because a value too high or too low = no monster spawn.

 

Would be nice if anyone can suggest a faster/better way to add spawn?

Does anyone know exactly what layermap_id means?

 

It seems that >= 4 is some atmosphere spawns, such as rabbit/ribbit/crow/those small harmless animals.

Never seen <1, but 1-3 is common.

 

 

I have also started looking into spawning monsters with random skin color, random hairstyles and color...but no luck so far :(

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What an incredible idea! I just love it! Fighting other heores will make the game much more exciting and pacifism skill will be more useful as well lol. It seems like a lot of work, hope you find help soon and thank you very much for this contribution :)

 

I like the companion issue, specially the quest one because you don't lose any buff slot. It would be very cool (but I don't know if it could be possible, just a suggestion) if you could "control" your companion somehow. I mean, enhancing the CAs, choosing the skills, distributing the points and managing the gear. If that were possible, then you'd have an answer for your first question:

 

1) I have to make that companion invincible, or else once you failed it, forever gone! But there's no fun knowing that your companion won't die...

 

Your companion can lose the equipment. He/She won't be gone forever, but a bit ruined.

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Blimey Unknowngst! Set yourself a small task to do, why don't you? :D Anyway, awesome work, mate! Hope to see the finished version soon. It has always annoyed me that there isn't a real way of knowing how good your character is - maybe meeting their own kind will remedy that? (Although part of me is dreading getting out pelting striked by a seraphim!).

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I decided to release the first beta version, Here

mainly for testing purpose, and to show some proof-of-concept.

This beta release ONLY includes Seraphim and High Elf.

This beta release *DOES NOT* includes spell changes that will make enemy "fly" in air when killed by skills. I will make this a separate release later, after this first beta release is stable.

 

I don't think there will be any bug/error, because it's all just script, nothing fancy.

BUT, if you encounter any problem, please let me know!

 

Again, please remember that:

1) This mod is intended for Sacred 2 Original + Expansion + CM Patch v130.

2) Backup your character save file and scripts as instructed!

Refer to the map for the spawn location.

Every essential info is included in the README.TXT.

 

Random Details

Seraphim belongs to good faction; High Elf belongs to evil faction.

Seraphim will fight evil/wild monsters, including High Elf.

High Elf will fight good/wild monsters, including Seraphim.

So, to see them fighting each other, you can try to scout around the spawn point at north of Clearview. They spawn literally right-on-top of each other there.

 

They all spawn with random weapons and armors, and can cast all CAs player casts.

Some seraphim CAs are intentionally removed, due to several reasons as I mentioned in main thread.

They all have a chance to resurrect ONCE (afterall, they are HEROES).

There's a mix of mounted and unmounted heroes.

 

Feedback

If you successfully loaded and saw those heroes in action, you are welcome to post a screenshot or two!

Press "P" to pause, turn your camera around for the best shot! Or keep tapping "P" to see all of them in slow-mo!

 

Please let me know if you encounter any bug/error!

 

In this release, I didn't consider balance issue at all.

So probably they are overpowered, or maybe they are underpowered...not sure.

Those randomly spawned weapons and armors are nothing special, their stats are low and I didn't give any special bonus to the heroes or monsters.

Heck, I didn't even give them any skills or bonus yet, JUST CAs!

But then...they can spam CA as if there's no cooldown...so maybe they are still overpowered.

Let me know what you think, I hope to achieve fine balance around version 1.0 (out of beta).

 

Please also let me know if you encounter the following weird bugs as I do:

- Seraphim and High Elf near Clearview portal (far north of Thylisium) does not spawn immediately upon loading. I need to teleport to somewhere else, or move away far enough, THEN ONLY travel back to the spawn location, otherwise they won't spawn. No such problem for those spawns at Northwest of Monastery of Light.

- SOMETIMES, not always, whenever I did some major scripting changes, I need to switch to a different difficulty level first, otherwise my character can't move. I only need to switch difficulty once, after that everything will be back to normal.

 

Progress Plan

The next release will includes all seven races of hero. I plan to release such a version this weekend.

But before that, I wish to review player's feedback and see if there's any major bug/error/balance issue.

After this release is stablized, I'll release the major version with all seven races of hero.

The future "future plan", is to release the spell changes which will knock enemy off in the air if they are killed by skills. It is MUCH COOLER than just "lumps and dies on spot".

 

So please provide me with as many feedback as possible, so that I can solve them as soon as possible.

 

That's all. Thank you, and hope you are able to enjoy this mod!

Edited by unknowngst
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It might be a good idea to include a few of these (or all of them) releveant points in the info section for the download you've created. That way people will have the info regarding how to apply your mod and what it does and any warnings/caveats all with the download.

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~~~~~

@Dragon Brother:

Thanks for the suggestion, I already did as you suggested.

BTW, in the first release, all the information is actually included in a README.TXT file inside the .zip file. I just didn't copy-and-paste them out :)

~~~~~

 

Anyway, my main purpose is to make the following announcement:

 

I decided to release version 0.3 (HERE) for several reasons:

 

Change-log:

Sept 13 2011

v0.3

- Removed unnecessary scripts

- Improved spawn location and density

- Dryad is added

- WEARGROUP_DRYADIN is added

- Solved all known weird issues.

 

Yup, Dryads are included (which means, all the uber ladies of Sacred 2 are done with :P).

Dryads are in the same faction as Seraphim.

 

Removed some unnecessary/annoying CAs, in order to save your gaming resources. I'll include instructions to enable them back when all 7 heroes are added or when the beta versions are stablized.

 

Improved the spawn loaction and density, also figured out most of the entire syntax of spawn.txt files (except 3 digits). Details will be included in the "Technical and Data Sharing" section later.

 

Solved the two mysterious issues, after much trial-and-error:

 

A) Need to change difficulty level when major script changed. [solved]

This only happen if there's any change in the "script\shared" folder. Since this mod only changes those in "script\server", this will not happen.

After version 0.7 beta stablized, I'll release a module that makes enemy "fly" when killed by CAs, which can be benefited by those "heroes" as well! Yup, you are not the only one who can "throw" monsters into the air! The spawned heroes can also benefited by this module.

However, since this module requires changing the Spell.txt inside "script\shared" folder, this weird "bug" can happen, BUT there's already a perfectly fine work-around for it.

Just load into a different difficulty -> save and load back to the previous difficulty level -> viola! everything is back to normal.

You only need to perform this work-around ONCE everytime you change something in "script\shared" folder.

 

B) Those Seraphim/Dryads at north of Clearview won't spawn sometimes. Need to teleport away and come back to get them spawn. [solved]

This is due to my wrong understanding of spawn.txt, but in version 0.3, I already figured it out so this will not happen anymore.

 

 

Thus, for now, I will remove these two known issue from the main post.

 

 

 

Well, that's all!

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An update on idea and progress:

 

1) All heroes are already added into game, they will be released in next update: v0.8 beta. Same spawn location, will include more later (planned in v0.9 beta).

Currently, all heroes spawned are with CA but without any skills/bonuses and their weapons and armors are weak ones. I hope to achieve good balance in v1.0.

 

2) Up to v0.3 beta, all heroes spawn with random weapon and armor. However, the list of random weapon and armors only includes unique model, but the color always the same.

In the next release: v0.8 beta, random weapon and armors will not only differ in model, but also colors and all variations (means, both color and model will be completely random).

 

3) I was troubled by wether creating a new class Valkyrie, or use "bugged quest" method to spawn heroes companion...Now, I have decided on this new method:

Whenever you cast your God's Spell,

- you will also receive 7 heroes companion (1 from each race),

- they will all spawn with random weapon and armors,

- they can cast all CA (maybe will remove some CA...not sure yet),

- they will remain at your side until they are killed.

 

There are several benefits in this method:

I. I think very few players use God Spell...this will make God spell more useful, and make people will actually want to use it and level the Divine Spell skill :)

ii. Unlike the "bugged quest way", you will be able to see heroes in different weapon and armors every time you use God Spell!

But, here's the drawbacks:

I. Since you can't spam god spells, if you get a random hero with weapon/armor you don't like, you need to wait a long time before you can try to get new one.

ii. Unlike Valkyrie class idea (where heroes are actually buffs), you cannot mod God Spell, and you cannot unsummon them at will.

 

Please let me know what you think: Which is better and why?

A) New class Valkyrie?

B) "Bugged quest" method as described in first post?

C) God Spell?

 

Anyway, this feature will be release in v1.5 beta TOGETHER with skills that can throw enemy into the air when enemy is killed by skill. Expect another week or so.

 

 

Version plan:

0.8b = All heroes included, with true-random armor and weapon (both model and color variation).

0.9b = More spawn points, covers all major area in Ancaria.

1.0 = Heroes should be balanced with proper CA/Skills/Bonuses. Armor and weapons will remain for aesthetic value only, forever. Only CA/Skills/Bonuses matter.

1.1 to 1.4 = solves minor annoyances, adjusts spawn, fine-tuning balance.

1.5 = Make a decision on one method, among Valkryie/"Bugged Quest"/God-Spell. Release it with spell modification that can throw enemy into air when killed by skills. Yes, you will see the same effect on your spawned/summoned heroes when they kill anything.

1.6 - 1.9 = fine-tuning balances.

2.0f = Final release :) After which, ancient lurker (that's me) will creep back into its abyss once again...

 

If everything goes well, v0.8 beta will be released in another 24 hours.

 

 

EDIT: Imageshack.us seems to be a bad choice...anyone know a better place to upload my screenshots?

Edited by unknowngst
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EDIT: Imageshack.us seems to be a bad choice...anyone know a better place to upload my screenshots?

 

Thanks for update. Have you tried uploading the images with the attachment tool on the posts here at DarkMatters, would that work?

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Version Update: v0.8 released. Here

 

Sept 17, 2011

- All 7 playable races are added.

- Technical Data is removed as separate download.

- True random armor and weapon, includes all possible armor and weapon variation .

 

Since there's only silence :P I have decided on the God Spell way as the method to spawn companion heroes at player's side. This feature will be released as v1.5 later (much, much later...expect at least 2 or 3 weeks). Version plan unchanged, v0.9 will includes more spawn spot, and v1.0 will aim for skill/bonus balance of spawned heroes...it should be released within a week.

 

I'll take my time, slowly update the first post, to includes more updated information, future plans, and progress status, along with detailed list of CA which is removed or added to spawned heroes.

It will be done within 1 or 2 days.

 

 

If you guys know of a better site/host to upload and share images directly on forum, please do share, thank you!

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Well, I changed my mind about v0.9b.

 

Previously:

More spawn points, covers all major area in Ancaria.

 

Now:

A) Better weapon randomness!

In v0.8b, all weapon/armor model with all color variation will appear...working great for the armor, but not so perfect for weapon. Because there's much more 1-hander and shields than 2-handers, and much more melee weapons than ranged weapons. They are all grouped together into one weapon pool.

In v0.9b, weapons will be separated into different groups: 1h Melee, 1h Ranged, 2h Melee, 2h Ranged and Shield. Each group will now have equal chance of appearing :) They are now able to dualwield too.

 

B) God Spells -> Summon hero companions spell!

All God Spells will have the following changes:

- Instead of doing what it originally does, it will now have all the effects of God Spell: Nature.

- At the same time, you will get 3 heroes as your companion (Seraphim + Dryad + High Elf).

- They will stay with you, until they are killed, or you left the game.

- They will follow you around, and you can control them by doing SHIFT + Left Click (on monster = attack, on ground = move to). They act like your minions, so you can use (default keys) "/" and "\" to control their behavior.

- The god spell cooldown time is reduced from 15mins to 5mins.

- Whenever 1 or more of them died, you can cast the god spell again to summon all 3 of them again. So, it is possible to have maximum 5 companion at the same time.

This is how it works:

When all 3 are alive, casting God Spell again = nothing happens.

When one or 2 out of the 3 died, casting God Spell again = sometimes you get +3 companions, sometimes nothing happen.

When all 3 of them died, casting God Spell again = you will surely get 3 companions.

- These companions are spawned with all weapon/armor/dualwield randomness like spawned heroes.

- They are built for good survival rather than high damaging. Why?

Because for normal monsters, your char should be able to handle them alone without any trouble, so there's no point adding any help to that. It's only in boss battle, that you need some help.

So, in boss battle, they will serve as your mini-helper: distracting/debuffing/disabling and survive the battle, while you dish out damage. In boss battle, squishy companions will die in mere seconds, so it's just a waste...that's why I make them with high survivability, lower damage, but very frequent spell casting.

 

 

So...that's for 0.9b, instead of more spawn points. I'll add more spawn points later. Who needs spawn points when you can summon your own hero companions anyway? :P

 

I need to do some minor touch-up:

1) balacing stats of companion and spawned heroes.

2) adding proper skills and bonus to heroes and equipments.

After I am done with these within a day or two (weekdays...not very free), I'll release v0.9b.

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Ugh...fallen sick during hectic schedule...

 

Anyway, v0.9 is released. The download can be found Here

 

Contents as promised:

1) God spells now summons 3 minions to your side! Read the readme.txt about how to control them.

2) Major changes to spells.txt, which is originally planned to be released as v1.5. Whenever your CA kills an enemy, it will be thrown into the air, for more enjoyable kill-strikes, and all sorts of funny thing you can see when they land on barrels/stone/graves or other objects!

3) Improved weapon randomness!

Previously, all weapons are under the same weapon pool. Since 1h weapons and melee weapons are the majority, you will rarely see ranged and other weapons.

Now, weapons are grouped as:

- 1h melee

- 1h ranged

- 2h melee

- 2h ranged

- shields

- blowpipes (dryads only)

- shadow-warripr special weapons (shadow warrior only)

This list + dualwield will all have equal chance of appearing :)

 

Additionally, as my first step towards balancing:

- skills and stat bonuses are given to all heroes

- dualwield skill and riding skill are given to all heroes to offset the penalty

- All heroes have the same amount of CA now (9 each) for easier future balancing. A list of all CA the heroes will be spamming, is included in Readme.txt. I'll include it in the main post too.

 

 

With all the aforementioned changes, I am strayed from my original plan of mod.

Here's the changes, and why:

 

A) No more dilemma!

The God Spell method is quite satisfying for me, personally, so I decided to drop the Valkyrie/"Bugged Quest" method.

 

B) No more v1.5

Since the God Spell method requires changing the spells.txt, I decided to tag it along with the "better ragdoll" skills changes in spells.txt, which is originally planned for v1.5 release.

 

 

So, the only thing left for this mod is, in the order of priority:

1) Balancing spawned heroes and minions. Find a solution to Inquisitor AI.

2) Add more spawn points.

3) Try to spawn heroes in different skin/hairstyle and colors.

 

For 1), I definitely need your feedback and help.

I need your feedback if the heroes are underpowered or overpowered.

I still can't understand why Inquisitor doesn't follow proper AI...it won't cast any spell no matter what AI I assign it to. I wish to avoid creating custom AI...but if there's no other option, then...oh well...

 

For 2), I'll slowly add more spawn points as I progress in my Sacred 2 gameplay.

 

For 3), it's not a top priority for me, but it can definitely spice things up even more! I haven't start looking into it, nor have I try anything...but if you know anything, please share!

 

 

That's all for this time, enjoy!

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  • 3 years later...

I would say no. Given that it is suggested to install the CM patch before installing this, the mod will require the Ice and Blood expansion. Like I mentioned in another thread though, you should patch the game to the latest version (2.43), there are new items/bosses/quests/bug fixes that you will benefit from.

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Possibly because you have been modding the game. The later patches checked to make sure certain files hadn't been edited before installing the patch, I'm not sure which one's exactly, but perhaps if you restore everything to default you would clear up the issue. Of course you also need the correct patch for your region.

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