Dimitrius's CM Patch Addendum

[dimitrius154 343]

Fellow players, I'd like to present the result of the endeavor of the last 2.5 years - the CM Patch 1.60 + S2EE 2.4 Addendum Beta. 

The Addendum Beta contains game changes, fixes and extra graphics content.  Gameplay stability in Multiplayer is not guaranteed. Playing wih legacy characters is highly inadvisable.  The Addendum Beta is is not compatible with either D2F, or Enhanced Edition variations out of the box. It also requires the Elite Textures to be switched on(the Trimmed Elite Textures are highly recommended). The available localizations are English and Russian.

Take note: Unlike the CM Patch 1.60, the Addendum has not been extensively tested by a dedicated team. Quirks and CTD's are technically possible. Please, report any such incidents.

 

Gameplay Changes:

1. One of the primary calculation functions, used in attack vs. defense, spell intensity vs. spell resistance, damage vs. armor calculations has been fixed.
2. Occurrences, where, upon changing locations via doors, or secondary teleports, various objects and NPC states at the new location were not updated in a timely manner, should no longer manifest.
3. It is now possible to traverse dungeons levels and enter-exit dungeons without dismounting. Previous technical limit have been successfully alleviated.
4. Ingame price inflation is decreased by a factor of 10. Minimum item full price is 4 gold now.
5. Appropriate equipment and character bonus-granted modifiers now have a chance(35% for single target attacks, 15% for Area of Effect attacks, 0% for temporary and permanent buffs) to apply to spell-based attacks.
6. A certain rare day-night transition CTD is fixed.
7. One bonus type(BONUS_REDUCE_ENEMYS_SPELL_REFLECTION) has been restored.
8. Two bonus types(BONUS_ALLSTATS, BONUS_ALLSTATS_REL) have been added.
9. The functionality of bonus type BONUS_NOFLEE has been expanded. If applied as a debuff, it compels an opponent to attack in melee.
10. The BONUS_LIFELEECH_REL bonus type now properly causes percentage-based leeching from the creature's current health.
11. Damage mitigation is now capped at 85%.
12. 'Combat Art Skills +' modifier behaves correctly now, improving 'Ancient Magic'(now called 'Spellcraft Lore'), 'Combat Discipline' and 'Concentration' skill instead of 'Shield Lore' and 'Warding Energy Lore'.
13. The BONUS_HURL_ENEMY bonus type mechanics has been reworked. The damage is no longer indiscriminately applied to non-hostile NPCs and mounts.
14. Drop tables have been revised. Potion drop rate has been severely reduced. Missing set items should now drop.
15. PhysX object behavior in the game world has been optimized.
16. Both ambient and combat music selection have been significantly expanded.
17. Some projectiles used to demonstrate strange physics quirks(ricochet off some surfaces, "falling leaf" behavior). Should no longer happen.
18. CA tokens "et_debuff_EAW", "et_debuff_EVW", "et_debuff_armor_phy" from the same source CA no longer stack on affected targets, and are longer attached to affected targets as offensive properties(CA's affected are marked with '*' in the description below).
19. The merchant stock replenishment formula has been altered, the growing character level now makes it somewhat easier to encounter better items in shops.
20. Bonus BONUS_INVISIBLE now works like a reasonable random chance of remaining undetected.
21. Occurrences of playable characters becoming perma-paralyzed upon being knocked back is resolved by making "host"(on local server) player immune to knockback.
22. Ambient sound volume has been adjusted for several temporary buffs.

General Playable Character Changes:

1. Characters can now have up to 13 skills and up to 6 combat art modifications per each combat art.
2. Characters can now possess a single mount, either a horse, or a special mount(now called 'class mount') at a givent time time. Any type of mount can be sold to any mount vendor. Buying special mounts requires visiting class mount vendors.
3. New characters now have the lore-appropriate deity preselected by default.
4. Various fixes to character animations have been introduced. Unused animations have been restored.
5. Character models have been reworked, fixing seams and improper weighting.
5. An extra slot has been introduced - the 'Mount Ward'. Necklace-like items can be bought from Blackmiths, their properties become active, if the character is utilizing a mount.
6. Characters now auto-ride their currently active mounts upon game loading.
7. Character animation blending speed has been adjusted.
8. Transformed characters can now open doors and chests.
9. Singleplayer characters can now longer start multiplayer campaigns.
10. Multiplayer characters can now longer start singleplayer campaigns.

Skill Changes:

1. 'Bargaining' skill mechanics has been modified: the skill is now a viable investment at higher levels, due to increasing chance to encounter Sets, Uniques and Legendaries in shop inventory selection.
2. 'Blacksmith'(now called 'Smithing') skill mechanics has been changed. Safe forging removal chance progression is much better now. The 'Blacksmith Arts' are now runic forge tokens carrying one(two at skill mastery level) random modifier.
3. Aspect lore skills now affect more combat art properties.
4. 'Fist Weapon Lore' has been restored as a Dragon Mage exclusive skill. It affects fist weapons and bare-handed combat, allows to dual-wield fist weapons.

Lore Changes:

1. Ker's lore has been rewritten. Her statues have been reworked.

Divine Gift changes:

1. Ker's gift has been reworked.
2. Lumen's Dazzle has been reworked. It now also deals extra magic damage to Demons.
3. Other Gifts have had their property values rebalanced.

Quest Changes:

1. A lot of quest texts have been modified, or rewritten.
2. Shirka Alana becomes a permanent companion on the current difficulty upon 'In the Badlands' quest completion.
3. In order to receive a privilege of buying elite mounts, a series of quests has to be completed.
4. Waton now gets killed during the Shadow-side Dragon Cult chain-quest.
5. Attribute and/or skill bonus rewards have been introduced for many quests.
6. Multiplayer Freeplay and Deathmatch modes are now devoid of quests.
7. All instances of "enemy_warrior_simple" and "enemy_warrior_brave" AI's have beeen replaced with "Enemy_warrior_brave_ex".
8. The "VIP of Ancaria"(now called "Paths of Fate") is now fully available as a chain-quest to both Alignments.
9. Demons in the "Wild Twine" and "Debts" quests have been replaced with demonesses. 
10. "Weakening the Abishai" quest now has the "Lost Crypt" chain-quest completion as a prerequisite.
11. Prospective Gladiators from the "New Shipment" quest now stay in Badawi upon the quest's completion.
12. Ophtanar's guards now longer should no longer keep respawning upon the appropriate quest completion. 
13. Smugglers from the "Smuggler's Courier" chain-quest no longer keep respawning upon the appropriate quest stage completion.
14. Ambul from the "Days Gone By" chain-quest should now properly transform into a ghost upon the appropriate quest stage completion. 
15. The Herder Gildor from "The Wolf Problem" quest should now properly transform before attacking.
16. Questscripts.txt has been altered to, hopefully, avoid any instances of erroneous quest companions upon save game loading.

NPC Changes:

1. Boss and miniboss AI discrepancies and faulty CAs have been corrected. Occurrences of bosses stopping in their tracks, or wandering aimlessly during combat should no longer happen.
2. Bosses are now subject to additional mitigation of all damage types and have an increased health pool.
3. Elite mounts have received improved models, textures and special effects.
4. The Garganthropod's shield visual has been replaced.
5. The elite mount trader now resides on the Island of Mounts(now called 'Isla Ancar').
6. Character-specific and Alignment-specific taunts from hostile NPCs have been restored.
7. A lot of unused town NPC dialogue has been restored.
8. Town activity AI has been modified.
9. NPCs can now be assigned hair via hair1Itemtype in creatureinfo.txt.
10. Carnach and Sakkara Demon models have been reworked.
11. Hellhound animations have been reworked.
12. Baron De Mordrey is now a Boss-level enemy.
13. Cobold Chieftain model has been replaced, his creature entry - reworked.
14. Haenir model has been replaced with the one used in S2DF.
15. Non-suicide attack flying eyes now have death animations and leave corpses.
16. The Evocator(now called "Evoker Malignus the Unhinged") model has been replaced, his creature entry - reworked.
17. The Sheik Yerbouti model has been replaced.
18. The Sorcerer Mankaul of the "Ancestral Chambers" quest is now a Boss-level enemy. His model has been replaced, the creature entry - reworked.
19. Desert Stone Warriors are now complemented by Cursed Priests.
20. King El Leigh is now a Boss-level enemy. His model has been replaced, the creature entry - reworked.
21. Flaming Horse enemies have been replaced with a new female demon type.
22. The Dream Vampire is now a Boss-level enemy. His model has been replaced, the creature entry - reworked.
23. Zihul the Lich from the Missing General quest is now a Boss-level enemy. His model has been replaced, the creature entry - reworked.
24. The "Lost Crypt" final enemy is now Boss-level. Her model has been replaced, the creature entry - reworked.
25. The Guardian(now called "Capsa the Procurer") model has been replaced, the creature entry - reworked. 
26. The Du'rach Commander Harrad'smit(now called "Du'rach Witch-King Harrad'smit") model has been replaced, the creature entry - reworked.
27. Mazzagon's Bodyguard is now an Elite-level enemy, the second bodyguard is still Boss-level, with model relpaced and creature entry reworked.
28. Forest Guardian(now called "Fangorn the Wild") boss no longer respawns.
29. The "Dark Rituals" demon has been renamed to Nagaya.
30. Eagles, Snakes and Parrots have been added as neutral animals.

Equipment Changes:

1. Item classification boni now spawn on Set, Unique and Legendary items.
2. All character armor sets have been reworked, multiple clipping issues have been resolved.
3. All unique and set weapons have unique models.
4. Due to 'Chance for Melee Double Hit' modifier not being checked for ranged and spell-based attacks, it has been replaced with 'Opponent's Health Threshold for Deathblow' on items 'Essence of Dark Matters' and 'Aarnum's Pathfinder'.
5. Damage converters now only convert Physical damage.
6. Various CA and skill bonus modifiers should no longer spawn on inappropriate class-specific equipment.
7. Item classification character-specific modifiers should now spawn correctly.
8. Horse saddle variety has been improved.
9. Metal shader brightness has been adjusted.
10. Forged set jewelry is now accounted for worn set pieces.
11. Fist weapons are now Dragon Mage class weapons.
12. Lightsaber beams are switched off while not in combat.
13. Throwing dagger animations have been reworked.
14. Lightsabers and fist weapons' positioning while riding has been adjusted.
15. Several glove, boot and arm models had no "laying-on-the-ground" animations. Corrected.
16. All relic slots are now active at all times.
17. Throwing stones can no longer be bought from merchants.
18. Throwing axe models have been replaced. 
19. Item rarity tiers have been compacted to: 0 - junk, 1 - normal, 5 - magic, 9 - rare, 13 - unique, 14 - set, 15 - legendary. Balance.txt rarity values have been adjusted.
20. Some weapon specular textures lacked the alpha channel, resulting in maximum glow effect. Those have been fixed.

Horses:

1. 'Rear Up' is now a weapon-based Area of Effect CA.
2. 'Charge' properties have been revised.
3. 'Leap' properties have been revised.

Seraphim Changes:

1. Hair animations have been disabled.
2. Belt skirts are now skeleton-animated.
3. 'BeeEffGee' weapon model has been replaced.
4. 'Flaring Nova' wave spread speed has been fixed. Initial nova damage is being dealt in sinchronicity with the spread, not with a 2.5 seconds delay.
6. 'Flaring Nova' 'Perplex' mod should now work correctly(*).
7. 'Divine Protection' no longer deactivates the 'Warding Energy' upon expiring.
8  'Divine Protection' properties have been rebalanced.
9. 'Pelting Strikes' opponent search radius has been reduced.
10. 'Pelting Strikes' 'Enfeeble' and 'Indentation' mods now work correctly(*).
11. 'Soul Hammer' 'Battering' mod should now work correctly(*).
12. 'Hallowed Restoration' duration is now fixed at 10 seconds, the cooldown is set to 10 seconds.
13. 'Baneful Smite' 'Confuse' mod should now work correctly(*).   
14. 'Radiant Pillar' 'Delude' mod should now work correctly(*).
15. 'Instill Belief' conversion chance has been reworked, the misleading conversion chance description - removed.
16. 'Cleansing Brilliance' is now able to make use of the boosting properties, including hitpoint regeneration.
17. 'Cleansing Brilliance' now also damages regular enemies, it's radius of effect is reduced.

Dryad Changes:

1. Character model now has a mild visual effect.
2. 'Ancient Bark' visual effect has been fixed.
3. 'Ancient Bark' property values have been rebalanced.
4. 'Dust Devil' 'Obscure' and 'Spell Shield' mods now work correctly(used to stop working, if the Dryad exited the Dust Devil and entered back again).
5. 'Viperish Disease' now affects all creature types, it's damage mechanics has been rebalanced.
6. 'Black Curse' 'Porous' mod should now work correctly(*).
7. 'Goldenglade Touch' property values have been rebalanced.
8. 'Acute Mind' property values have been rebalanced.

Shadow Warrior Changes:

1. Character model now has a visual effect.
2. Character can no longer use bows, one-handed magic staves, energy weapons.
3. 'Scything Sweep' now releases six projectiles in ranged weapon mode.
4. 'Frenzied Rampage' opponent search radius has been reduced.
5. 'Ruinous Onslaught' has been reworked.
6. 'Belligerent Vault' has been reworked.
7. 'Belligerent Vault' 'Unaware' mod should now work correctly(*).
8. 'Spectral Hand' visual effect has been replaced. The fifth modification has been replaced.
9. 'Grim Resilience' visual effect has been replaced. Willpower bonus progression has been reduced.
10. 'Reflective Emanation'(now called 'Deflecting Efflux') visual effect has been replaced.
11. 'Skeletal Fortification'(now called 'Bleak Sentinel') textures have been reworked.
12. 'Bleak Sentinel' 'Perforate' mod(piercing projectiles) changed to 'Blast' mod(chance to deal area damage).
13. 'Shadow Veil' improves much slower and cannot be turned into a Buff.
14. 'Shadow Veil' detection conditions now include normal attacks.
15. 'Fear' modification of the 'Augmenting Guidon' has been replaced.
16. An extra class mount called 'Cerberides' has been introduced.

Inquisitor Changes:

1. Character model now has extra elements and a visual effect.
2. Character animations now make used of animation blending.
2. All robe elements are now skeleton-animated.
3. All shoulder armor pieces have been reworked.
4. Character can no longer use one-handed magic staves
5. 'Ruthless Mutilation' now releases six projectiles in ranged weapon mode.
6. 'Ruthless Mutilation' duration is fixed at 5 seconds.
7. 'Mortyfying Pillory'(now called 'Mortifying Stigma') 'Disgrace' and 'Mortify' mods should now work correctly(*).
8. 'Levin Array' duration is fixed at 5 seconds.
9. 'Raving Thrust'(now called 'Force Disturbance') now affects ghosts and energy creatures.
10. 'Force Disturbance' push distance values are rebalanced.
11. 'Reverse Polarity' visual effect has been altered.
12. 'Zealous Doppelganger'(now called 'Essence Projection') now reincarnates the Inquisitor into his similar without the death event being called: the Survival Bonus does not reset, reincarnation works on Hardcore. It's no longer possible to turn 'Essence Projection' into a buff.
13. Doppeganger(now called 'Similar') now makes uses of the entire arsenal of Inquisitor CA's.
14. 'Essence Projection' Similar level progression level has been revised.
15. 'Paralyzing Dread' 'Confidence' mod has been replaced.
16. 'Paralyzing Dread' fear mechanics is now identical to the one from the fear-inducing item property.
17. 'Paralyzing Dread' debuffs now actually work(used to only provide the fx).
18. 'Dislodged Spirit' 'Wildfire' mod has been renamed to 'Reaping', it's mechanics has been reworked.
19. 'Soul Reaver' properties have been rebalanced.
20. An extra set called 'Pride of the Dark Mechanists' has been introduced. A weapon of unique design is part of the set.
21. An extra class mount called 'Arachnotron' has been introduced.

High Elf Changes:

1. Character model now has a visual effect.
2. Hair animations have been disabled.
3. Character can now dual-wield one-handed weapons and has access to 'Dual Wield' skill.
4. 'Combat Reflexes' and 'Toughness' skills are now available as secondary. "Damnification Lore" moved to primary.
5. 'Scorching Wave' is now 20% faster, the DOT damage is increased by 20%.
6. 'Frost Flare' 'Constraint' mod should now work correctly(*).
7. 'Raging Nimbus' 'Roar' mod should now work correctly(*).
8. 'Expulse Magic' properties have been revised.
9. Dragon class mount model has been fixed.

Temple Guardian Changes:

1. Character model now has a visual effect.
2. Left arm models have been reworked.
3. Equipped batteries are now visible on the character model.
4. Some CA's have been renamed to keep in theme with sci-fi and steam-punk motifs.
6. 'Combat Alert' properties have been revised, its base attack bonus now affects ranged weaponry.
7. 'Icy Evanescence'(now called 'Cryonic Terraforming') effect now follows the Temple Guardian.
8. 'Fiery Ember'(now called 'Magmatic Terraforming') effect now follows the Temple Guardian.
9. 'Amplifying Discharge'(now called 'Cryonic Discharge') has been reworked, it's visual effect - replaced.
10. 'Furious Emblazer'(now called 'Pyroclastic Emission') has been improved.
11. 'Archimedes Beam' has been reworked.
12. 'Primal Mutation'(now called 'T-Energy Exposure') has been improved.
13. An extra set called 'Terminator Honours' has been introduced. A weapon of unique design is part of the set.

Dragon Mage Changes:

1. Character model now has a visual effect.
2. Character weapon selection is now restricted to fist weapons and two-handed staves. 
3. 'Dragon Berserk'(now called 'Balor Form') has been reworked, the transformed creature model - replaced.
4. 'Dragon Form'(now called 'Afrit Form') has been reworked, the transformed creature model - replaced.
5. 'Afrit Form' 'Hardened Scales' mod has been nerfed.
6. The Dragon Mage maintains his skills and equipment boni while transformed.
7. The Dragon Mage makes use of fist weapons while transformed.
8. The Dragon Mage does no longer lose his active buffs during Balor, or Afrit Form transformations. However, he can not manage his buffs(switch them on/off) while transformed.
9. 'Eternal Fire' properties have been revised.
10. 'Dragon Strike'(now called 'Scorching Dive') attack decrease property and the 'Blind' mod should now work correctly(*).
11. 'Energy Blaze' wave spread speed has been fixed. Initial nova damage is being dealt in sinchronicity with the spread, not with a 2.5 seconds delay.
12. 'Energy Blaze' 'Blind' mod should now work correctly(*).
13. 'Dragon Familiar'(now called 'Elfin Adjuvant') summon model and visual effect have been replaced. Intelligence and Willpower bonus progression has been reduced.
14. 'Elfin Adjuvant' property values have been rebalanced.
15. 'Whirlwind'(now called 'Guided Tornado') AI has been fixed.
16. 'Psychic Maelstrom' properties have been revised, the missile slowdown effect has been halved.
17. 'Protector'(now called ''Earthen Guard') property values have been rebalanced.
18. Runes' of Protection properties have been revised.
19. An extra set called 'Mark of the Dragon' has been introduced.
20. The Dragon Mage can wear up to 2 amulets and 4 rings.

Visual Changes:

1. Metal shader brightness level has been adjusted.
2. Ice weapon enchantment shader has been deactivated, due to inerference with various extra special effects.
3. Certain weapon and spell projectiles were missing their on-hit visual effects. The issue has been addressed.

GUI Changes:

1. Combat Values / Inventory Screen has received additional reworking. It's context tooltip windows no longer contain erroneous, or confusing info. The 'Mounts' tab has been removed due to complete lack of function.
2. The GUI readings, stating battery-slotted damage converters having effect on the damage output of spell-based attacks have been corrected.
3. All font and background colors have been changed to conform to the 'black-glass' interface style.
4. Multiple changes in skill, aspect, combat art and bonus modifier names and descriptions.
5. The catalogue of books read has been reorganized. Some book texts have been changed, or corrected. Two missing books have been restored, one extra book has been added. 
6. Some gameworld locations have been renamed. Nameless gameworld locations have received names.
7. Activated portals and miniportals do no longer have their names constantly displayed on the worldmap.
8. Attribute and skill poins rewards, if present, are now displayed along with the the gold reward in both the quest giver text and the quest journal.
9. Quest difficulty level is now displayed for main and class-specific quests.
10. Game loading background images have been replaced.
11. Background images for Inquisitor and Shadow Warrior aspects have been replaced.
12. A vast amount of quest items have been improperly displayed as book pages in the quest journal. That has been addressed.

Installation:

Either through GME, or directly on top of the stock CM Patch 1.60.

Links:

Trimmed Elite Textures (Size: 2,7GB):  https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5yMxfzmPZ4_R2J2eFZxc2wzeGc

CM Patch 1.60 Addendum (Size: 2,2 GB, password: 12345): https://drive.google.com/open?id=11ui11HhWPCcpA8N5vAdqk-0SNyfHBOMT

Credits:

Flix - his work on the S2EE has served as a founddation of this mod.

Pesmontis - creator of the essential tools for Sacred 2 modding and some of the models, reworked for use in the Addendum.

Norbyte - creator of an essential GR2Converter tool.

Charon117 for his very useful script parsing utilities.

Multiple folks at Sketchfab.com and Cadnav.com whose models and textures have been used as templates.

Authors of the respective musical tracks reworked for use in the Addendum.

Edited December 4, 2020 by dimitrius154

[Flix 4,409]

I wish we could have found a way to develop these changes (or some of them, anyway) into an official CM Patch 1.70 release.  Alas.

Congratulations on the release of this impressive endeavor. 

[jordan0422 38]

42 minutes ago, Flix said:

I wish we could have found a way to develop these changes (or some of them, anyway) into an official CM Patch 1.70 release.  Alas.

Congratulations on the release of this impressive endeavor. 

Hi Flix, do you plan to include all/some of these changes into D2F and Enhanced Edition?

[Hooyaah 2,135]

It would be helpful to add some installation instructions. Is it necessary to start from scratch from the Sacred 2 Gold edition and install the addendum? Will there be additional patches that will necessitate starting yet another new character? If I understand correctly the character that I created for the CM Patch 160 will not play with stability any longer after the addendum.

[dimitrius154 343]

32 minutes ago, Hooyaah said:

It would be helpful to add some installation instructions.

Yeah, forgot about those. Unfortunately, I'm unable to edit my posts after a time.

 

The Addendum is installed on top of the fresh CM Patch 1.60 installation. No other updates are expected in the foreseeable future, if ever(I'm out of fixes, to be honest).

 

About starting with fresh chars: I've included the recommendation to play safe. In fact, chars created after the CM Patch 1.60 will play fine, mostly. Since I did't remove any item modifiers, all items should be valid. The possible unpleasantness is immersion-side(the char gold stash, the fullness of the difficulty completion). 

[dimitrius154 343]

1 hour ago, Flix said:

Congratulations on the release of this impressive endeavor.

Thank you, Ben. 

 

It would be interesting to see the reception of the Addendum, especially, whether that particular item, we've had such a heated discussion about, matters in the long run. 

It would also be nice to gather some folks willing to expand the localizations present.

[Flix 4,409]

3 hours ago, jordan0422 said:

Hi Flix, do you plan to include all/some of these changes into D2F and Enhanced Edition?

For now you will have to consider this as an alternative to my mods. In many respects they are mutually exclusive right out of the box.

I would need to rebuild my mods using this Addendum as a base, or else just pull over the script changes, which may be few - a lot of the magic here is happening in the code.

It will take time for me to examine all the features of this mod.

[gogoblender 2,361]

3 hours ago, dimitrius154 said:

Yeah, forgot about those. Unfortunately, I'm unable to edit my posts after a time.

 

 

I think this is a setting I can change from admin settings...Ill get on that 

Thanks for your huge work update

 

 

gogo

[mewkang 13]

Can I just unzip the Addendum to Sacred base folder and unzip the Trimmed Elite Textures to pak folder?

I have done just that, and I think the Addendum has been installed, but whenever I open the combat art screen using "E" button, and then try to mod a combat art, it crashes.

What's weird is that when I press "E," no combat art icon is visible in the screen. Could you look into this matter? Or is there something that I'm doing wrong?

[dimitrius154 343]

5 hours ago, mewkang said:

Can I just unzip the Addendum to Sacred base folder and unzip the Trimmed Elite Textures to pak folder?

I have done just that, and I think the Addendum has been installed, but whenever I open the combat art screen using "E" button, and then try to mod a combat art, it crashes.

What's weird is that when I press "E," no combat art icon is visible in the screen. Could you look into this matter? Or is there something that I'm doing wrong?

That is a symptom of an incorrect syntax somewhere within "spells.txt"(a missing comma, or inverted comma). Issue has been remedied. Main archive has been updated. The hotfix is available at https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iHyv8ty1YCJAtoMDMJ12IdGzORAseHgs

[mewkang 13]

Thank you for the hotfix. I'll give the Addendum a try again.

Edit: I've just given the Addendum a try and it seems to be working really well now. Thank you for the quick response, dimitrius154!

Edit 2: Is Agility the same as Dexterity in the Addendum? I think it is, but I'm not completely sure, so...

Edited April 2, 2018 by mewkang

[dimitrius154 343]

1 hour ago, mewkang said:

Is Agility the same as Dexterity in the Addendum?

No, it's the former "Speed Lore".

[mewkang 13]

Ah, I see. Thank you for your answer.

[mewkang 13]

Is this intentional? I mean, that message is displayed for every portal, so I thought it was kind of weird even though I have no problem using portals or resurrection obelisks.

[dimitrius154 343]

16 minutes ago, mewkang said:

I mean, that message is displayed for every portal, so I thought it was kind of weird even though I have no problem using portals or resurrection obelisks

This message normally displays, when a "doctored" character is playing on a difficulty, not reached by legit means(finishing the previous one's main quest).

[mewkang 13]

But I'm playing Single Player on Silver difficulty after having created a new character, so I'm not so sure what's going on. 

Edit: I just checked the portals with one of my pre-Addendum characters (also in Silver), and they are displayed ok somehow. I wonder what the problem with my Addendum character is...

Edit 2: I think I may know how the problem was caused. My Inquisitor was one of the characters that got kicked out of the game when the game crashed due to missing combat arts.

After restarting the game, I assumed that this Inquisitor would be ok to play with, but it seems I may have been wrong. Still, I suppose it's no big deal.

Edited April 2, 2018 by mewkang
adding new content

[Androdion 783]

20 hours ago, Flix said:

I wish we could have found a way to develop these changes (or some of them, anyway) into an official CM Patch 1.70 release.  Alas.

Congratulations on the release of this impressive endeavor. 

Ditto.

Some of the changes listed in the changelog have been agreed to be CM Patch material and some haven't. But if I may do a direct question, much of it is your own personal view of the game isn't it Dmitriy? Nothing wrong with that, everyone mods games to their own liking anyway. My question being then if this Addendum is in fact your mod?

[dimitrius154 343]

3 hours ago, Androdion said:

But if I may do a direct question, much of it is your own personal view of the game isn't it Dmitriy? Nothing wrong with that, everyone mods games to their own liking anyway. My question being then if this Addendum is in fact your mod?

Much of it is personal preference, text and description-wise.  Still, there's no extravagance present. GUI, code and script changes fall in line with the CM Patch general direction, IMHO. My mod proper resides in the "Extra" folder of the archive. 

[Androdion 783]

Oki doki, thanks for replying.

[Flix 4,409]

On 4/1/2018 at 0:43 AM, dimitrius154 said:

1. Incorrect "Tactics Lore" skill dependency for several combat arts has ben corrected. "Dust Devil", "Killing Spree", "T-Energy Shroud", "Deathly Spears" now depend on "Spellcraft Lore".
2. "Spectral Hand" now depends on "Tactics Lore", due to it being a weapon-based CA.

1. Incorrect?  I think for the sake of consistency they wanted all combat arts in a given aspect to have the same Aspect skills.  Chopping up the aspects like that kind of undermines the whole idea of aspects in the first place.  How do modification points work now?  This also seems kind of a nerf since before these spells could pull damage % from their Aspect Lore as well as Ancient Magic.  Now they only have one skill for that.

2. Why not Archangel's Wrath or Magic Coup?

[dimitrius154 343]

1 hour ago, Flix said:

Incorrect?  I think for the sake of consistency they wanted all combat arts in a given aspect to have the same Aspect skills. 

It's clearly stated in the Tactics Lore description, that it governs all non-spell based combat arts. Adding it as an aspect lore skill for spell-based CAs was a... strange idea. Same for the reverse. Spell-based CA controlling Aspect Lore skills should not be able to control the weapon-based CAs of Aspects. 

1 hour ago, Flix said:

How do modification points work now? 

Same as before, I believe.

1 hour ago, Flix said:

This also seems kind of a nerf since before these spells could pull damage % from their Aspect Lore as well as Ancient Magic.

Damage boost calculations for an Aspect Lore skill and the Spellcraft Lore are separate additives in the equation. Spellcraft Lore is counted twice now for the aforementioned CAs - as an Aspect Lore skill and as a general spell-attack CA improvement skill. There's no nerf here.

1 hour ago, Flix said:

Why not Archangel's Wrath or Magic Coup?

I've missed those. dang. Should update the hotfix, as well as the main archive. I'm still unable to edit the head post of the thread, unfortunately. 

Edited April 3, 2018 by dimitrius154

[Flix 4,409]

10 minutes ago, dimitrius154 said:

Modification points add up by boosting "Spellcraft Lore"(former "Ancient Magic"), instead of "Tactics Lore" as in the previous.

So those CA's are partly divorced from their companion CA's in their aspect.

12 minutes ago, dimitrius154 said:

Damage boost calculations for an Aspect Lore skill and the Spellcraft Lore are separate additives in the equation. Spellcraft Lore is counted twice now for the aforementioned CAs - as an Aspect Lore skill and as a general spell-attack CA improvement skill. There's no nerf here.

Ah, so really it's more like a boost.  Spell casters would be able to take advantage of those CA's without having to take Tactics Lore.  And the get the benefits of two skills for the price of one.

17 minutes ago, dimitrius154 said:

I've missed those. dang. Should update the hotfix, as well as the main archive.

Now this is a nerf, because the player will have to take two skills where once they only needed the Aspect Lore skill.  Now they'll need Tactics Lore for damage% and a weapon lore for the Attack Speed%.  One of the perks of hybrid combat arts was that a weapon lore wasn't needed.

[dimitrius154 343]

15 minutes ago, Flix said:

So those CA's are partly divorced from their companion CA's in their aspect.

Right, but that way all weapon-based CA and all spell based CAs conform to the same enhancing skill selection basic logic.

15 minutes ago, Flix said:

One of the perks of hybrid combat arts was that a weapon lore wasn't needed.

Are you certain of that? I mean, whether the animation is considered attack speed(needs weapon lore), or cast speed(needs aspect lore) is controlled by the causesSpellDamage flag, if I'm not mistaken.  

 

P.S. Updated the hotfix and the main archive.

Edited April 3, 2018 by dimitrius154

[dimitrius154 343]

1 hour ago, Flix said:

Modification points add up by boosting "Spellcraft Lore"(former "Ancient Magic"), instead of "Tactics Lore" as in the previous.

That statement of mine is false. From what I see, modification point addition is completely independent from governing skill assignments in spells.txt. Just skill ID comparison.  [EDIT] Had that cross-checked again, and the dependency is there. Aspect Focus and Aspect Lore skill entries in spells.txt ARE checked.

Edited April 3, 2018 by dimitrius154

[Flix 4,409]

So a spellcaster can't modify those combat arts without investing in a skill which gives no other benefit?