Hotfix Mod / Aranna Legacy Mod

Just started noticing this recently, but if the character I'm controlling is autocasting something, and I click on an item on the ground, the item will occasionally be collected without the character moving, regardless of range. Not sure if it's a Hotfix-related bug, error-handling, or just an odd behavior in the base game that I never noticed before.

Only a few fixes though...
 

Updates (links above):
• Bug fixed when picking up items (by clicking on them) while auto-casting (thanks to timeshifter:)).
• Bug fixed with *large* potions fixed (caused by mod release Beta 5k/L).
• Bug fixed (must recently have crept in too) with unselectalbe (quest) chests.
• Skeleton's mini-quest in the Azunite Desert of act 1 slightly expanded.
• Minor tunings (mainly for some quest NPCs or better compatibility with other resources).

Note: The former STEAM related post-fixes 'Mod-Hotfix-Beta5L-Fix.ds2res' or 'Mod-BrokenWorld-ArannaLegacy-Alpha3w-Fix.ds2res' are no longer required.
 

...but the matter with unselectable chest was really hard to fix. Initially I thought it was a quest problem with all these linked objects (e.g. property changers can bother sometimes so much...) but as it turned out after examining that area, there was not much to fix there at all - the fascinating/frightening(?) fix was restructuring some code parts in a related skrit component.
However, since I have turned upside down some many quest gizmos anyway, I thought I could expand this little quest a (tiny) bit - the Skeleton's note may give you a hint.

Hi, im trying out this mod and maybe some can explain me why my arrows are shooting all over place, just not where i point. Its like 0 accuracy. I used a trainer to boost nature magic/ranged skills so i can equip that buff on test char, that might be the reason ?

So 'Arrow Bane' is basically an area-of-damage/anti-group buff, low benefit against a single monster (unless it's a very big one) but quite effective against a monster horde - this is part of the balancing concept of this spell (some may call it restrictive but it's still generous compared to Diablo II and possibly too compared to other features in DS2).

Generally remind please, this mod tries to keep the things balanced, maintaining the developpers's (GPG's) approach as good as possible.

How it would turn out if all arrows would go to one and the same point? - Two arrows 2x damage, 10 arrows 10x damage...!? - If you remember how DS2 is (unmodded) then such an implementation would become a joke, far beyond anything people associate with an (halfway) elaborated addition for a well-thought-out RPG (as GPG released it).

You got me wrong, i know that all arrows shouldnt hit same spot, the point is my arrows are not even shooting where my pointer is. If i mark training dummy and shoot, arrows shoot to sides, even behind me, but not even at general direction where im aiming at.

Just curious, but are there any efforts being made to reconcile the mod conflicts between this great mod and Elys' Succubus modlet?

Both are (subjectively) essential mods for any playthrough, as they add so much great content and bug fixes, but they obviously conflict with each other (powers and passive skills differ, etc). I'd love to have a "compatibility mod" that marries the two into one cohesive, epic mod.

However this mod here can 'stand' that some portion of its content will be overwritten - it's not perfect though, and beyond a certain level it gets critical (e.g. a skill table provides also custom data another file/component is depending on).

As you probably became aware of meanwhile, mod files have modder-assigned priorities the game is looking for.
But as far as experienced, Elys' Succubus mod has a very high priority (already the highest!? possibly 'launcher-covered' too!?) and is also protected so you can't even look inside to get a guess of possible conflicts - finally not the best circumstances to make another mod compatible...

...and the basic matter described above widely remains - unless the mod with the highest priority would contain exactly the content you want. :o

I seem to be having difficulties using the Snowbrook training area......

I can see the training dummies, and I put loot in the center circle, and then I proceed to beat down on the dummy of choice. But nothing happens besides damage numbers. Is there a hidden xp prevention system in place if the character is too close to the level of the MC?

What am I doing wrong?

 
Probably this happened during the last revision of the Snowbrook Castle area. Quite many (little) things have changed there, perhaps with some unpleasant side-effects on the training area.

So thank you for your report, I have to examine this closer and fix it as soon as possible.
If you didn't yet, you could explore the Castle walls in the meantime. It's rather an easteregg after the Dragon is gone. But maybe fun to see once (so keep an eye on these touchable ladders that appear).

but I've tried googling (ha) as much as I can, and I'm out of options on my end. How do I get this mod working with the Steam version of the game, if I *don't* have Broken World? Or am I just completely out of luck? I've tried plugging in the Steam DS2 Framework pack by iryan, but I can't get it to recognize mods. I can't get any iteration of AllSaves to redirect to the right spot either. Maybe I'm just dumb, but I'm hoping that's not the case.

Or should I just give up and find a non-Steam version? Because gosh, they sure made this hard. >< I just wanted to use 6 party members on a base save, aaah.

(Also gosh x2, the captcha here is... oddly brutal, despite being so simple. It took me a good twenty tries to make an account. >>; )

@Elimyx: I'm sorry for your general matters, unfortunately I'm not sure if I can help you a lot because I don't have the Steam release (yet), but maybe this forum post can help.

However concretely about this mod here, when the addon is not installed you have to use the 'Hotfix mod' (basically the same, technically not really). As far as reported, this should work also with the Steam release.

I was worried it wouldn't, because the Steam version is v2.3 and the hotfix is v2.2, but it turned out fine! AllSaves even woke up and recognized the save I made for the Aranna Legacy version, too, though unfortunately no luck about my older save that was already to Aman'lu. Oh well, just an excuse to replay again I guess! Especially with all the things that I can (already) see got added since I last used any iteration of this mod - it's amazing to see that it's still being updated

Anyway, thank you again!

Does this mod do something to the enemy resistances, or at least to the damage they take from spells? My lightning combat mage seems to only do 1/3 of the damage listed on the tooltip (listed 1500-1900, only does 500-600), and that's against enemies inflicted with Drown and not lightning resistant. My ranged/melee characters seem to be doing closer to their tooltip damage per swing, but for whatever reason, spells do so much less than the shown damage. My nature mage sees similar damage reductions, but since I've spec'd her as a dedicated healer, I'm not as worried there.

I'm currently playing on Merc difficulty with a party of 6, and I do know there is some difficulty tuning in place for the larger parties. However, to test that it wasn't this tuning, I tried running around solo with my combat mage MC and didn't see any difference. Thoughts?

tregolani: The damage shown in the GUI refers to an unarmed/'nacked' monster, ignoring possible armor or resistances (since not known yet).

While armor values actually do not chance a lot in DS2 across all the different monsters, resistance values (and life points) can go over a wide range.
Many monsters have no resistances though, some however may already have up to 50% in mercenary mode. In veteran mode a minority of monsters you can't harm any longer with some type of spells, and in elite mode it gets extreme, some monsters even will be healed when you attack them with the 'wrong' spell.

That's how GPG designed the game. This mod doesn't change this concept basically, however there were some minor tunings since a bigger balancing problem in DS2 is the inflationary trend that resistance values can reach finally (on both sides) for those who can increase them - while other game subjects/objects permanently have (as good as) no resistances.

 
To tell something more specific I would need to know the monster's name, its level and caster level and the spell used. Then I can do a deeper check.

KillerGremal: Honestly, it seems to be any and all monsters. Enemies that are specifically resistant to lightning would take even less damage from lightning spells (namely, Lightning Blast, because it's too good not to use), but every monster I come across, even those that say they are weak to lightning still do not take anywhere near the tooltip damage.

Here's a screenshot from my game currently. As you can see in the attachment, my lightning blast SHOULD be doing between 1200 and 2000 on the two mobs, both of which are not resistant to lightning. Instead, it does 400.... 1/4 of the "average" damage the spell should be doing. That seems WAY low, even with a party of 6.

tregolani: As as pointed the displayed (average) damage in the GUI never matches the real damage due to the lack of information about the armor rating of the monsters you are going to face (even if you are directly in a battle already).

But it's quite a difference actually, and I can check some formulas of course to find a clue why for a level 42 mage the damage dealt is rather low compared to the rather high damage displayed in the GUI. It's a bit strange indeed.

Are you sure there are no mod conflicts perhaps?
I can state some Hotfix mod content though, but there seems to be other content too and also the GUI doesn't look like the one that usually comes with this mod.

KillerGremal: The only mod I can think that would potentially be affecting this is the Succubus modlet. Everything else I'm running is just small tidbit mods that either I've put together myself or found here on the site (see attached, only one missing is Succubus, which gets loaded by the Succubus DS2 Launcher). Your mod is at 3z due to me wanting more shiny loot, so I fudged the loot drop percentages and retanked it - hope you don't mind!

Hotfix mod changes the GUI? To my knowledge, the only GUI-changing mod I have is the massive stash mod. Everything else should be vanilla from a GUI standpoint. I know that the Hellbolt and Laser beam spells come from my extra hair mod, iirc. It could be that Succubus is overriding any and all GUI changes from hotfix, but I could be wrong.

I'd love to look into the Succubus modlet, but it's protected and thus impossible to figure out most of the conflicts. I do have the source code of that modlet that Elys personally posted a few years back, but it's of a much older version (v12 vs v20 currently), and thus might not be the same anymore. I could try retanking Hotfix as a much higher priority tank to "override" the Succubus modlet to see if that changes anything. If so, we can definitively say that it is due to the Succubus modlet.

Do you happen to know which .gas or .skrit files would affect this? If I find out that it is the Succubus modlet, I'd like to take at least these file from Hotfix, tank them separately and give them a Succubus modlet override priority.

@tregolani: Well, I didn't actually check all those mods you are using, and if you retank this mod just to tweak loot drops it's also a bit in your own responsability.
However based on that I have experienced in the past, there are some serious conflicts with the Aranna Legacy mod:

- Skill point cheats are usually incompatible, causing a total core replacement (rules.skrit). If so, it will be very critical, besides of the distorted balancing impact...

- NoBuff: Quite critical too concerning (auto-)casting and AI matters, better get familiar with corresponding effect options doing the same widely.

- Faster attacks by Succubus mod? No idea, but as such things may be implented, this may cause AI/brain conflicts.

- Probable skill table issue: Pets mods often include an own skill table, Aranna Legacy has a tuned one, and as reported Succubus mod seems to have its own one too - it's not that critical, some things may just not work as intended. Finally however only one of these 3-4 tables will be effective finally (Succubus dominates?).

- Conversation Freedom (keeping an conversation open while being attacked?): Minor conflict possible, overwritting tunings for proper character facing. Note maybe, the Aranna Legacy mod itself tries to delay a conversation/banter as long monsters are around.

 
What is replacing the character GUI (or the functions to display additional information) I can't say. There should be percentages to show you where the exp went, also the resistance window has been expanded with eg. the magic-find rate.
The stash vault you are using is compbatible however (usually my mods can work with each without conflicts).

@KillerGremal: Lemme give a quick explanation, since that would've made more sense in my previous post, but had run out of time due to AFK things.

Extra Skill Points: Literally just a mod for the companions to make sure they had the double skill points when they are auto-leveled upon recruiting. Didn't touch anything regarding hero leveling. Just affects "ds2_world_pm_hero_based.gas" (world/contentdb/templates/actors/good). Personal little mod I made due to using the AL mod option for "half_as_skilled = inverse"
NoBuff: Safer to just remove. Annoyed by the buff spell effects, but it seems I can just use the mod effects option .ini line. Thanks for the info!
Faster Attacks: Again, another tiny personal mod to modify the values of the passive skills which increase casting/attacking speed. Just modifies world/global/skills/passive_skills.gas. Working on an updated version that uses AL's passive_skills.gas but with the numbers modification for 25 points per passive skill that Succubus has (resulting in a max boosted skill of 35 instead of 30). Just personal preference.
Pet mods: Going to remove these - haven't used a pet at all outside of the summons (ghostly spirit for my CM, Harpy/other summons for NM for Aether Blast )
Conversation Freedom: Again, just an annoyance remover. Can probably remove this as well.

Going to fine-tune my mods and see if I can't find a solution. However, I did retank AL as a succubus-overwriting priority (for testing), and the enemy damage reduction was still in effect, so it doesn't seem to be a succubus thing unless its a separate file. Are the enemy resistances/damage reductions controlled individually per monster, or are they controlled by some master file? The only mod I have that I know has a replacing rules.skrit is Succubus, and that's one of the main files I plan to make a compatibility "patch" for, if needed. I'm basically just using succubus for the extra skill points in passives, the level 4 powers, the raised level cap (100-125), and the new MC races. Everything else I don't really care about, so retanking AL as a higher priority shouldn't be an issue.

EDIT: I actually loaded up my game without the Succubus modlet (just unchecked the option in the launcher), and I'm still seeing the massive damage reduction on all spells. I'm honestly clueless at this point.

Extra skill points to your characters are monitored by Hotfix/Aranna Legacy, which in turn gradually increases the enemies difficult (including armor rating and probably damage resistances).
So having double skill points may be one of the reasons enemies are harder to kill than expected.

Hi, any ETA for the next version? I am starting a new game soon and i would like to have that working Snowbrook training area. Thanks for the answers and happy holidays.

Nope its not too late. It would be great to get an update. This mod is really fantastic btw, so i just want to say thank you for making it. Its great to see that there are still people who care about Dungeon Siege.

The Alpha 3x version of the 2.3 mod for Broken World says the large potion issue was fixed, does it not? However, I'm having the problem where, on loading a save, all my large potions drop to 30 health or mana (whether in inventories or storage). They're fine while I'm in the same play session, so I've been working around it by just selling them before I quit, but that's really unhelpful when I need to use potions.

Did you remove/delete any older version of this mod file from the 'resources' folder?
If not, then please remove the older mod file now.

 
That would be the easiest explanation, and the read-me file doesn't emphasize this as it probably should be.

It's fixed now. I think my computer was on the fritz or something. Whenever I update the mod, I always move the old version to the desktop (I literally drag-drop it so I don't end up with copies) and place the new one in the resources folder (just in case I don't like the new one or it doesn't work or something, I can just switch back). I went back into the folder a day or two after posting that just to check, and there was a faded-out copy (like it was a "hidden" file or something) of the old mod version in there with the new one. But it was also on the desktop, so how I got an extra copy of it, I don't understand. Anyway, you were right, and now I feel like an idiot. But it's fixed, so thanks anyway.

Hey KillerGremal! I finally got retail DS2 on my PC again and I'm playing with the Legendary Mod and Aranna Legacy. So it seems that the Bent Druid Staff causes the whole game to crash when equipped in the DS1 maps and works fine in the DS2 maps. Very odd that it does this but after disabling the mod it seemed to work fine again as normal.
The only other thing I noticed with Aranna Legacy is that after disabling it I was able to hit the PowerUp Pedestal like normal again with magic attacks, whereas when I had Aranna Legacy enabled I would attack with Lesser Icebolt or Lesser Firebolt and it would fly off upward somewhere in a different direction.
Anyway, everything else with this mod looks pretty perfect. I'm loving the improvements you've made

@DrakeLyon: Thanks for your feedback! The Bent Druid Staff from the tutorial 'only' has another model. Also that it depends on the maps looks quite strange to me...