NEW Project: Sacred 2 Purist Fixpack

[idbeholdME 394]

On 2/27/2022 at 3:37 AM, Flix said:

By the way, I found the Slave Outcast elite whose bow is conflicting with his hard hit attack.  id = 758,  name = "HU_slaverobber_leader_elite",

You can try changing his spell entry in creatures.txt from "enemy_whit_harterschlag" to "enemy_mmissile_poison" to see how he will behave in PFP 1.3.

Following up on this, I think that the Moldered Skeleton Archer Elite in the Swamps might have the same problem.

Checking the creatures.txt, the most likely suspect is this:

Spoiler

mgr.createCreature {
    id = 1298,
    itemtype_id = 1105,
    name = "Dead_MA_skeleton_hunter_elite",
    behaviour = "Enemy_warrior_simple_artillery",
    dangerclass = 6,
    groupmaxcount = 1,
    elite_creature_id = 1298,
    probabilityforelite = 0.000000,
    rank = 30,
    tenergy_creature_id = 1298,
    template_creature_id = 1295,
    livesremaining = 2,
    unconscioustime = 20,
    palettebits = "1111111111111111",
    monstertype = 1,
    faction_id = 19,
    equipset_id = 128,
    modelscale = 1.100000,
    rise_from_ground = 1,
    has_corpse = 0,
    has_soul = 1,
    can_strafe = 0,
    spells = {
        entry0 = { "enemy_whit_harterschlag" },
    },
}

I assume that the MA means marsh or something in that sense.

Also has the Hard Hit (harterschlag) as the Elite Brigand did, which makes him first run up to you whenever they aggro. It is especially noticeable as they move pretty slow.

Is there an ice projectile similar to the poison one that was used to replace the Hard Hit on the Brigand Leader?

EDIT:

Found "enemy_mmissile_ice", which could be used as a substitute, the same way the poison one was used for the Brigand. He uses it and then proceeds to shoot at range.

It has a throwing animation but still better than if the archer just blindly runs at you upon spotting you.

I assume that the "harterschlag" is hardcoded to be performed at melee range?

Edited March 12, 2022 by idbeholdME

[Flix 5,116]

On 3/11/2022 at 3:10 PM, idbeholdME said:

Following up on this, I think that the Moldered Skeleton Archer Elite in the Swamps might have the same problem.

Checking the creatures.txt, the most likely suspect is this:

  Reveal hidden contents

mgr.createCreature {
    id = 1298,
    itemtype_id = 1105,
    name = "Dead_MA_skeleton_hunter_elite",
    behaviour = "Enemy_warrior_simple_artillery",
    dangerclass = 6,
    groupmaxcount = 1,
    elite_creature_id = 1298,
    probabilityforelite = 0.000000,
    rank = 30,
    tenergy_creature_id = 1298,
    template_creature_id = 1295,
    livesremaining = 2,
    unconscioustime = 20,
    palettebits = "1111111111111111",
    monstertype = 1,
    faction_id = 19,
    equipset_id = 128,
    modelscale = 1.100000,
    rise_from_ground = 1,
    has_corpse = 0,
    has_soul = 1,
    can_strafe = 0,
    spells = {
        entry0 = { "enemy_whit_harterschlag" },
    },
}

I assume that the MA means marsh or something in that sense.

Also has the Hard Hit (harterschlag) as the Elite Brigand did, which makes him first run up to you whenever they aggro. It is especially noticeable as they move pretty slow.

Is there an ice projectile similar to the poison one that was used to replace the Hard Hit on the Brigand Leader?

EDIT:

Found "enemy_mmissile_ice", which could be used as a substitute, the same way the poison one was used for the Brigand. He uses it and then proceeds to shoot at range.

It has a throwing animation but still better than if the archer just blindly runs at you upon spotting you.

I assume that the "harterschlag" is hardcoded to be performed at melee range?

Haha, I was just fixing the Moldered Skeleton Archer the other day.  Seems he has some broken/missing bow animations.  You might have noticed he prefers his big sword in spite of having a bow assigned as the primary weapon in equipsets.txt.  With the ice magic missile assigned and some borrowed bow animations from Undead Auxillars he seems to be doing better now.

Yes, you can check the "fightdistance" parameter for each entry in spells.txt to see that all the "whit_" attacks expect melee execution range.  When a ranged enemy enters into melee range, their A.I. will typically trigger a switch to melee weapon (if they have multiple weapons to choose from).  Like the player, enemies can have multiple weapon sets.

[idbeholdME 394]

9 hours ago, Flix said:

Haha, I was just fixing the Moldered Skeleton Archer the other day.  Seems he has some broken/missing bow animations.  You might have noticed he prefers his big sword in spite of having a bow assigned as the primary weapon in equipsets.txt.  With the ice magic missile assigned and some borrowed bow animations from Undead Auxillars he seems to be doing better now.

IIRC, the Brigand also "threw" the poison bolt with the sword in his hand instead of using a bow.

Also, I noticed a decent amount of NPCs who are holding their weapon rotated the wrong way (180 degrees), when in their idle state (no animation playing). The weapon rotates to the proper position whenever the enemy or NPC performs any animation other than standing still or walking.

It seems to be mostly Orc Archers. For example, there are 2 Orc Archers shooting targets behind a building in Tharak.

I also saw a shield on a stationary NPC rotating the same way when doing the New Hope quest chain. There is a Militia Watch Fighter with shield standing near the Milita Captain where it's much more visible than with the bows. It very quickly visibly rotates whenever an animation starts/ends.

Edited March 13, 2022 by idbeholdME

[Vishanka 236]

Played the Temple Guardian for the first time and I keep having problems with Icy Evanescense.
It often does not activate, I just get the cast animation but no Ice Effect and no damage and then it's on cooldown.

[idbeholdME 394]

Quest bug report:

Djinn (Shadow Campaign, SE Desert)

Upon breaking the vase in Dar Al Badja, the Djinn does not spawn, rendering the quest impossible to complete. Quitting the game and reloading does not help.

Edited March 13, 2022 by idbeholdME

[Flix 5,116]

2 hours ago, idbeholdME said:

Quest bug report:

Djinn (Shadow Campaign, SE Desert)

Upon breaking the vase in Dar Al Badja, the Djinn does not spawn, rendering the quest impossible to complete. Quitting the game and reloading does not help.

Caused by the script pointing to a non-existent EE taskcreature.  Will be fixed in next release.  The Air Elemental in Dyr-Lain and the Friendly Water Elemental in Tyr Lysia may also be affected.

 

3 hours ago, Vishanka said:

Played the Temple Guardian for the first time and I keep having problems with Icy Evanescense.
It often does not activate, I just get the cast animation but no Ice Effect and no damage and then it's on cooldown.

I can't think of any reason this would happen.  This CA wasn't touched.  Mounted or on foot? What weapons equipped?

[Vishanka 236]

9 minutes ago, Flix said:

I can't think of any reason this would happen.  This CA wasn't touched.  Mounted or on foot? What weapons equipped?

Perhaps the problem always was in the game, I've never played the TG before.
I'm on foot and it happens with any weapon.

The problem is diminished greatly by putting it into a combo with "Fiery Ember".

[Flix 5,116]

5 hours ago, idbeholdME said:

IIRC, the Brigand also "threw" the poison bolt with the sword in his hand instead of using a bow.

Yes, I've noticed the same during the past few days when trying to correct the Moldered Skeletons and also the Troll/Yeti Archers.  They always like to switch back to their 1h weapon for the casting animation, even if an appropriate bow animation is in place.  I can remove the 1h weapon from their equipsets to correct it, which makes them always use the bow.  I'd rather not do this in PFP though.

Quote

Also, I noticed a decent amount of NPCs who are holding their weapon rotated the wrong way (180 degrees), when in their idle state (no animation playing). The weapon rotates to the proper position whenever the enemy or NPC performs any animation other than standing still or walking.

Some fault in the animation or the bone rotation.  Once I finally got the Moldered Archers using bows I realized they hold the bow backwards. 

  I'm not actively doing model work any more (lost my copy of 3DSMax) so I may not be able to do much.  Only script solution may be to replace the animation with a known good one, or else remove/replace the offending equipment.
 

Quote

Perhaps the problem always was in the game, I've never played the TG before.
I'm on foot and it happens with any weapon.

The problem is diminished greatly by putting it into a combo with "Fiery Ember".

That's bizarre to hear, because Fiery Ember and Icy Evanescence cancel each other out.  You should only be able to have one active at a time.

[Vishanka 236]

17 minutes ago, Flix said:

That's bizarre to hear, because Fiery Ember and Icy Evanescence cancel each other out.  You should only be able to have one active at a time.

I can have both active and they both deal huge amounts of damage. I had the feeling that something wasn't alright
Edit: Could it be that some kind of "Burn" effect is applied? Icy Evanescense stays active and I don't get the "fire on the ground" animation but I have a burn effect on the enemies as soon as it activates

Edited March 13, 2022 by Vishanka

[idbeholdME 394]

16 hours ago, Flix said:

Haha, I was just fixing the Moldered Skeleton Archer the other day.  Seems he has some broken/missing bow animations.  You might have noticed he prefers his big sword in spite of having a bow assigned as the primary weapon in equipsets.txt.  With the ice magic missile assigned and some borrowed bow animations from Undead Auxillars he seems to be doing better now.

One more enemy for the list. Elite Ranged Stone Guard in the desert. There are a lot of versions of these stone golems. Elite Stone Guard can spawn either melee only or ranged+melee (somewhat rare). I think it's this one in creatures.txt, although I'm not 100% sure as there are quite a lot of creatures with stone in it:

Spoiler

mgr.createCreature {
    id = 1198,
    itemtype_id = 9526,
    name = "Barb_stonearmy_archer_elite",
    behaviour = "Enemy_warrior_simple_artillery",
    dangerclass = 6,
    groupmaxcount = 1,
    elite_creature_id = 1198,
    probabilityforelite = 0.000000,
    rank = 60,
    tenergy_creature_id = 1198,
    template_creature_id = 1304,
    livesremaining = 0,
    unconscioustime = 20,
    palettebits = "1111111111111111",
    monstertype = 1,
    faction_id = 27,
    equipset_id = 327,
    modelscale = 1.100000,
    rise_from_ground = 0,
    has_corpse = 1,
    has_soul = 1,
    can_strafe = 0,
    spells = {
        entry0 = { "enemy_whit_verlangsamen" },
    },
}

Does not have "harterschlag" but "verlengsamen". Seems like some sort of double hit when they use it. However, behavior is the same. Always runs into melee range to use it, meaning they pretty much never shoot (the thing happening on the screenshot is quite rare and took a lot of running around).

Not sure what could be a proper substitute here though. All of the Stone Guards deal only physical damage, so an elemental bolt is probably not viable.

 

EDIT:

1 hour ago, Flix said:

Yes, I've noticed the same during the past few days when trying to correct the Moldered Skeletons and also the Troll/Yeti Archers.  They always like to switch back to their 1h weapon for the casting animation, even if an appropriate bow animation is in place.  I can remove the 1h weapon from their equipsets to correct it, which makes them always use the bow.  I'd rather not do this in PFP though.

Yeah, I noticed it pretty much only with bows on some enemies (mostly Orcs) and that one shield guy. It's just a minor visual thing that doesn't affect anything mechanically. Definitely keep their weapons.

 

1 hour ago, Flix said:

Some fault in the animation or the bone rotation.  Once I finally got the Moldered Archers using bows I realized they hold the bow backwards. 

  I'm not actively doing model work any more (lost my copy of 3DSMax) so I may not be able to do much.  Only script solution may be to replace the animation with a known good one, or else remove/replace the offending equipment.

Again, just a minor visual thing without any mechanical impact. If it's not possible to fix easily and without affecting anything else, I say leave it as is.

Edited March 13, 2022 by idbeholdME

[idbeholdME 394]

Just finished the Dark Invocation chain and the reward was a grey Essence of Dark Matters. The item is probably not defined as it comes from the CM Patch, but is still the reward from this quest:

[idbeholdME 394]

Leaping Plants.

I can't remember whether they are supposed to move and attack you normally. Currently, they only use their ranged spell and Leap but otherwise just stand in place, doing nothing.

Edited March 15, 2022 by idbeholdME

[Hooyaah 2,823]

After eliminating a pesky boss monster. my High Elf was rewarded am the mutation set chest armor. Here, in the wiki, it shows that in addition to the regeneration bonus and the armor designated by the level, there should be damage mitigation as well. The chest piece I received has only the regeneration time bonus and the numerical value of the armor. It does, however, have the identical slots for forging runes and jewelry.

[Flix 5,116]

2 hours ago, idbeholdME said:

Leaping Plants.

I can't remember whether they are supposed to move and attack you normally. Currently, they only use their ranged spell and Leap but otherwise just stand in place, doing nothing.

Leaping Spit Plants can only leap and spit. They possess no other animations.

[Flix 5,116]

1 hour ago, Hooyaah said:

After eliminating a pesky boss monster. my High Elf was rewarded am the mutation set chest armor. Here, in the wiki, it shows that in addition to the regeneration bonus and the armor designated by the level, there should be damage mitigation as well. The chest piece I received has only the regeneration time bonus and the numerical value of the armor. It does, however, have the identical slots for forging runes and jewelry.

This is because the Wiki documents the CM Patch versions of these sets.  As I explained in a previous post addressed to you, the Purist Fixpack drops (for the first time) the true Ascaron-designed mutation sets, which are sockets-only. They don't have any bonuses aside from set bonuses.

[idbeholdME 394]

Noticed one peculiarity about Skeletal Fortification:

It is a thing specific only to enemies that don't leave a corpse (explode after dying). Noticed it in the Crystal Plane because most enemies there explode and don't leave a corpse.

If you directly target the enemy with the Skeletal Fortification, the SF will disappear instantly the moment the enemy that was targeted and does not leave a corpse dies.

I was wondering for a while, why did my SFs start to sometimes disappear so quickly once I started the expansion area and pinpointed it to this being the cause. You can work around it and never target corpseless enemies directly, but direct targeting is useful as when the SF spawns directly on top of somebody, both arrows from the gold mod hit that one target, which is useful for focusing a specific enemy down. So it does have a gameplay impact. The enemy also does not have to stay in the same spot. They can move away from the SF and it will still disappear once they die.

Would be great if this could be investigated and potentially fixed.

Edited March 17, 2022 by idbeholdME

[Flix 5,116]

On 3/13/2022 at 8:15 PM, idbeholdME said:

Just finished the Dark Invocation chain and the reward was a grey Essence of Dark Matters. The item is probably not defined as it comes from the CM Patch, but is still the reward from this quest:

I left this placeholder in until I could decide whether to delete the blueprint entirely or allow myself one single solitary easter egg.  Looks like I forgot to make a decision. 

 

1 hour ago, idbeholdME said:

I was wondering for a while, why did my SFs start to sometimes disappear so quickly once I started the expansion area and pinpointed it to this being the cause. You can work around it and never target corpseless enemies directly, but direct targeting is useful as when the SF spawns directly on top of somebody, both arrows from the gold mod hit that one target, which is useful for focusing a specific enemy down. So it does have a gameplay impact. The enemy also does not have to stay in the same spot. They can move away from the SF and it will still disappear once they die.

Would be great if this could be investigated and potentially fixed.

Nothing comes to mind except for assigning the has_corpse flag to every enemy.  The spellcontroltype is already "eCAtype_a_effect_location_start" which doesn't require an enemy target, as it should be.

Perhaps the spellclass could be changed to spellClass = "cSpellDrVoodoototem", since that spell has the same mechanics - assuming it doesn't suffer the same problem. I feel like I've heard reports of that CA launching opponents into the air.

[idbeholdME 394]

2 hours ago, Flix said:

Perhaps the spellclass could be changed to spellClass = "cSpellDrVoodoototem", since that spell has the same mechanics - assuming it doesn't suffer the same problem. I feel like I've heard reports of that CA launching opponents into the air.

The launching into the air happens only if you cast it directly at the enemy and they don't move at all. Their model is clipping the sentry so the moment they die and the physics kick in, it overcompensates it a little. Same as when you kill zombies from coffins or graves before they have the time to rise up from the ground. They get launched the same way.

It has no effect on gameplay, besides a little comedic value  No connection with the disappearing issue whatsoever.

But yes, it is a very strange behavior. Why the Sentry would despawn is beyond me. It's as if it's bound to a target if you click on an enemy and as the entity completely disappears from the game when it doesn't leave the corpse, the Sentry loses track and just goes away.

 

Also, as I'm just going through the Blood Forest for the first time ever, I just did the Lost Crypt quest chain. I have entered and explored the Crypt itself before even accepting the quest. But from the quest dialogue, it seems that entrance to the Crypt should have been blocked until doing the "Break the Spell of Protection" part of the quest chain. Was it always possible to enter the Crypt even before accepting the quest? I have no idea as this is my first time doing the expansion areas (they are incredible by the way).

And in the Crystal Plains, the final snowy areas you enter after the underground tunnel don't seem to have any music playing.

Edited March 17, 2022 by idbeholdME

[gogoblender 3,070]

9 hours ago, Flix said:

I left this placeholder in until I could decide whether to delete the blueprint entirely or allow myself one single solitary easter egg.  Looks like I forgot to make a decision. 

 

 

ahaha , Flix ye choice

feels like a Marvel Movie ending moment

😄

gogo

[Flix 5,116]

9 hours ago, idbeholdME said:

And in the Crystal Plains, the final snowy areas you enter after the underground tunnel don't seem to have any music playing.

Christmas Patch - installed or no?

For the Lost Crypt, might be the trigger for the door locking isn't until the quest begins. I've never done it out of order so I'd have to test.

[idbeholdME 394]

44 minutes ago, Flix said:

Christmas Patch - installed or no?

Playing without. Did the Northland Expedition.

44 minutes ago, Flix said:

For the Lost Crypt, might be the trigger for the door locking isn't until the quest begins. I've never done it out of order so I'd have to test.

Yeah, I always explore first by hugging the edges with Visibility Range gear, so stumbled upon the entrance before the zombies that give the quest.
 

I even unlocked the exit that you are supposed to explore in the Scouts part of the quest. Went there, clicked on it from the outside and as I had already went through it from the inside, it opened but the quest log said that the main door is locked.

 

EDIT:

One more Blood Forest related thing. Just did the part with Diaanja and from her chest, I got a... "Diaanja's Study Book". A book that I got as a random drop somewhere back in act 1.

Could this book be blocked from spawning like other books and drop only from the chest it's supposed to?

Edited March 17, 2022 by idbeholdME

[Flix 5,116]

8 hours ago, idbeholdME said:

Could this book be blocked from spawning like other books and drop only from the chest it's supposed to?

I made many quest-related books situational drops in EE but I believe this is outside the scope of PFP.  The devs took the time to add and comment in all of the new Ice and Blood books into the vanilla drop lists - this does not seem accidental.

[dimitrius154 612]

3 hours ago, Flix said:

The devs took the time to add and comment in all of the new Ice and Blood books into the vanilla drop lists - this does not seem accidental

IMHO, they simply slapped those to the existing book drop list. That assumption is based on the state of, hmm, 40 - 50% of the expansion content prior to the CM fixes. One has to keep in mind, that Ascaron was going through an insolvency process at the time.

3 hours ago, Flix said:

Could this book be blocked from spawning like other books and drop only from the chest it's supposed to?

The logical solution would be to create 2 new drop lists for I&B books, and to make those lists available to hostiles spawning in either the Crystal Planes, ot the Blood Forest respectively.

[Flix 5,116]

I prefer the static drops personally for I&B books. Almost all of them are associated with quests so it's easy to find logical points for them drop.

How would you link droppatterns to specific mobs? Dangerclass or inittype?  Can you tell me how the inittypes are associated to certain mobs?

[idbeholdME 394]

As far as the books go, I'd honestly just make the Diaanja's Study Book not drop besides the quest where you you are supposed to receive it. The other books are mostly for background flavor and doesn't really matter where they drop, but the Study Book is a key element of the main Blood Forest quest chain.

 

And one additional minor report:

Normal Terror Boars seem to give anomalously high experience. They're currently giving me about 3.8K XP and Elite Terror Boar about 4.5K.