DS1 Legendary Mod for DS2 Beta Thread
Submitted by iryan on Tue, 2012-04-24 23:39 | ||
This thread is devoted to comments, bug reports and fixes and discussion about the DS1 Legendary Mod for Dungeon Siege 2 and Dungeon Siege 2: Broken World. Full version Installer version DS2 Legendary Mod v1.01 at MODDB Split version Installer version Hotfix for fades issue in Kingdom of Ehb v1.01 Please note that the mod must be installed in the Dungeon Siege 2 resources folder even if you own Broken World. Unexpected glitches will occur if you don't. The installer version also includes a number of min-mods and a simple mod manager to enable them, which isn't available if you download the mod as separate modules below. Here's the links of all required files for the full version as separate modules; Please note that the DS1 Content Pack is included within the mod but for reference here's the separate download link; Mod Game Manual Current Readme for KillerGremal Mods This mod allows players the opportunity to play Kingdom of Ehb, Utraean Peninsula, Legends of Aranna and Yesterhaven from the original Dungeon Siege in Dungeon Siege 2 and it's expansion, with all the benefits that provides. Think of it as more of a remastered version of the original Dungeon Siege than a mere port to a newer engine. The mod is based on Killergremal's original work on the Utraean Peninsula, Kingdom of Ehb and Yesterhaven, found at this thread; https://siegetheday.org/?q=node/1330 Elys All*Saves or Elys' Succubus Manager is recommended to play the mod, which most users of this site probably already use. However either use v1 of All*Saves or turn off the seefar option in the launcher as the mod incorporates seefar moods directly in the maps for better balance without the glitches and distortions caused by using a too high a level of seefar in the launcher. Version 1 of Elys All*Saves is distributed in the installer version in original DS2 (v2.2), Broken World (v2.3) and Steam versions. Partial Language Translations Forum Threads for KillerGremal's Mods +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Please put any comments, suggestions, reports, etc. about user made maps into that thread rather than here. All maps should be fully playable from start to finish but please expect bugs as they are still only alpha versions. forums: |
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As bare_elf said there's no official faqs as such but the readme does explain a lot of potential questions. For the full release I certainly plan to implement a PDF manual explaining the changes to gameplay, etc. But until then it's a bit premature as not all features are set in stone. Over the years I tried quite a few features which were eventually cut due to either being too buggy or not of the expected quality, i.e. dynamic boss battle music.
Currently the mod fully supports Kingdom of Ehb, a singleplayer version of the Utraean Peninsula and Yesterhaven. If you own Legends of Aranna- the addon to the original DS1 and have it installed, the mod will add that map as well. KillerGremal has released two maps as well, Return to Arhok and Diabloish as well as the original Utraean Peninsula multiplayer map. There are also several third party maps that can be downloaded such as Loridan, Realms of Kings, Search for the Past and Training of the Hero that are at various stages of development that can be downloaded and played as well.
As for monsters, the LOA monsters will only show up on the Legends of Aranna map. This doesn't effect the other maps at all.
Multiplayer is theoretically supported but there have been reports of some issues with some maps which I've been unable to fix. I haven't enough time to track these issues down so they won't be fixed until after the full singleplayer release and only then if somebody who plays multiplayer is keen enough to help fix it.
Through the level adjustment mod, there are several tweaks that can be adjusted to make the gameplay harder if you wish and even change the levelling dynamics. This is a work in progress.
The mod should be fully compatible with 99% of available mods including the big mods like Aranna Legacy, Ancient Gifts and Succubus Mod. In fact I don't know of any mod that is incompatible with it as the Legendary Mod is an addon rather than a true mod or total conversion. Any problems that occur are generally caused to the base DS2 campaign due to the fact that many of the DS2 assets come from DS1. One that comes to mind is the infamous missing switches that occurred due to the way the DS2 engine renders the model used for the switches compared to DS1 or the animation bug that appeared due to the way animations are stored in DS2 compared to DS1. Both by the way should be fixed now.
I do apologise if anyone has been waiting for a full release but it is a very big project and much of it is very tedious work, modifying hundreds if not thousands of files. I also had some time off due to the birth of my young son but have started part time work again on the mod with fixing the dwarf skins when using the converted DS1 armor skins. This is quite tedious indeed and involves over 400 textures that need to be copied from the original DS1 bitmap textures, resized and copied into a new image that then needs to be converted to a DDS texture. There's 4 parts to each armor texture that needs to be handled this way so there's a fair bit of graphic manipulation involved.
I've never made any predictions about when a full release may occur as there's always things been added or removed but I wouldn't expect anything before the end of this year. So if you want a fully completed version to play, I'm afraid there's still a long wait but if you want to help beta test the maps, then they all are quite playable now.
Thank you all three nice guys for taking the time answering my questions and thinking about the FAQ.
I know the readme contains much useful information, but still it is a bit hard to understand everything if you did not follow up the development of this mod. So I guess there realyl should be a FAQ when the mod gets fully released (or at least a feature list). I understand making this mod is a big and time consuming process, so I'm far from the position to demand anything from you guys. Please see my posts just as proposals, not requests. I know you've got more important things to do atm.
For the texture work you guys have to do (refitting / exporting / converting), I hope you know that you can create your own batch process in Photoshop, which saves your actions and repeats them. I hope you don't do all the textures adjustment by hand! O_O
See:
https://marckean.wordpress.com/2011/12/18/use-photoshop-batch-to-process-all-photos-in-a-folder/
For conversion work I use batch processes to speed things up, otherwise it would never get done.
However for the dwarf armor skins, I have to do everything by hand as the textures are simply too dissimilar. This picture is an example of what I mean.
The DS1 texture is on the left and converted DS2 on the right. The layout is also different for each armor type and there's 9 extra armor types in the mod compared to just 5 base armor types for DS2.
So I have to copy by freehand the appropriate pattern from the DS1 texture, resize it to match the corresponding pattern for the DS2 texture and paste it. There's the front, back, arms and legs for each texture. The back texture has to be flipped 180 degrees to match, arms and legs rotated 90 degrees to match. It takes me about 10 minutes per armor skin and there has to be 3 variations for each skin tone.
Luckily the male and female DS2 models support the old DS1 armor mesh so no conversion is necessary for Male/Female Humans, Male/Female Elves, Dryads or Half Giants. The Broken World Dwarf is a brand new model and has no equivalent in DS1. That's why the current DS1 armor textures look weird on him.
Gosh that's truely a huge amount of work! :o
But you seem to be an experienced artist and hopefully it gets done faster and faster if you got the work flow once. Huge work though!!
Iryan I know at the present time The Pit of Despair quest is to just find the Pit which is not a problem, However even though Rhod Emell (the vendor in Redwood Gap) has a question mark over his head, his conversation is such that if you where not aware of the Pit of Despair from DS1 you might not even take his hint and look for the pit. Since the Skeleton's comments are really no longer relevant I think I might just eliminate it as it really adds nothing to the story.
Things have been going nicely with the quests and characters.
Found a misplaced save point or is it an old local teleport. In any case it is not necessary.
When you get to Hiroth you may wish to remove it.
While my Dwarven Mayhem Brigade was rampaging in Castle Ehb I noticed that while the search for survivors quest log did get each part checked off. When you talked to a survivor The Icon over their head went away and the Log itself updated their was no quest completion sound and the Logbook icon on the main page did not flash, even upon completion
:wacko:
Did the quest finish properly in the Quest Log? Or are you commenting that the associated sounds and cues didn't play?
This quest was an experiment with a multiple part quest like found in DS2. I remember at the time I had a fair bit of trouble getting all parts of it working as intended.
Yes, the Quest Log completed correctly. There was just no main-screen indicators.
That's good that the quest log updated properly but why there's no indication on-screen I have no idea. I will compare that quest structure with the others in case there's some obscure line that's preventing it from happening.
In general the way secondary quests are handled in DS2 is a little underwhelming. Especially compared to other games.
Hello there!
I've been following this mod for several years as it's progress, and it really, truly excites me. I want nothing more than to experience the Utraean Peninsula in the DS2 engine! Honestly, this mod has gotten me exceptionally excited. However, if I am honest about it, I have continually found the level-scaling feature to be disappointing at best, and crippling to my enjoyment at worst.
The scaling effect has been continually frustrating. It seems that the scaling actually favors the monsters, such that they will get more powerful faster than you do, meaning that you can never really make progress. Even then, even if the scaling formulas perfectly balanced with the player (extremely unlikely to ever be truly perfect), it would continue to be aggravating that one cannot actually get more powerful than the monsters of an area.
It seems to me that the only way to properly recreate the Utraean Peninsula is to have custom-defined monsters, as the original game (and DS II) did. The campaign is more than just a map, after all, but a carefully-designed, paced experience. I keep hoping that, at some point in the future, this feature will be added, and that the level-scaling system is just a temporary kludge to hold us over until the real deal can be completed. With the way you speak of the continually-updated scaling algorithms, however, you make it sound as though it is actually preferred by the developers. If so, I'm sure you have your reasons, but I cannot agree with it.
I really do not enjoy the level-scaling system, and I don't think any amount of adjustment will make it work, as the very concept is fundamentally flawed. Is there any chance that a more faithful, carefully-designed system of enemy power will be used in the future?
Beta 31P
Although the rescue survivors quests completes and the main quest block is checked "2. search the dungeons" does not get checked off.
Are you referring to the Monster Level Adjustment Mod? If you are then just turn it off or remove it. I play all the maps with and without the MLA mod and have no trouble completing any of the maps because of over powering monsters. However the game is easier if you play with the level adjustment mod until you have a character of say level 25 then turn the mod off. That way your character will be level 25 and most of the Krug will be around level 17.
Is this true? I was under the impression that the Level Adjustment mod was a requirement of the Utraean Peninsula mod, as the monsters had not been balanced for use without it. If they actually have, then that would change everything!
I'm a little confused. All of the Krug seem to be level 17 all the time now, meaning I would have to do as you suggest and pre-level a character (or cheat) to make this work. Even then, if all Krug in the world are level 17 forever, that still seems to kind of defeat the point in my opinion. What I'm looking for is an enemy power curve similar to the original, where it gradually increased based on area, as opposed to automatically or not at all. I don't feel like a game like this really makes a lot of sense without that kind of enemy progression that pulls you through the adventure.
I can understand wanting enemy progression without level scaling. The scaling does fit this kind of game and is rather nice when you have multiple maps. Diablo 3 switched to a level scaling system and it's the same genre. With that said, I think it would be great to have region specific enemy progression as an option. The old mobs (different/new spells, ai behavior etc.) are also dated. I wouldn't mind re-designing mobs to make them more interesting (something I find rather fun). Iryan and others, would you embrace this sort of thing for your mod? This would take a lot of testing to get the exp, drops, and difficulty right, but I think it'd be well worth it.
Edit: adding triggers, possibly tuning regions, and altering placement for mobs would be nice too.
Edit again: I also want to create new sets/uniques that are balanced for DS2. I'd much rather contribute to a large project than release alone. Let me know what you think. I wouldn't mind getting each item approved by the authors of this popular mod. It'd be slow development, because I want to go for quality and a lot of testing.
I am glad that you understand my interest in the original system. I am unable to reciprocate feelings of understanding, though, as I don't really see the appeal of level-scaling. Does it not remove the feeling of progress? To me, the Diablo-style genre has always been about grinding your level higher while simultaneously moving forward on through the map, and the power curve makes these two goals synergize. The enemy power controls the pace, forcing you to either slow down or speed up as you move down the linear path of the adventure. And there's definitely something to be said about being able to wipe the floor with previous enemies after you've gotten stronger than them. If enemies are always the same strength no matter where you go, then it sort of makes you wonder what the point is, right? You can just sort of sit in the first town and level, or you can run to the last town without leveling. It seems to me that you leveling and exploring the map need to happen at a very specific, calculated pace in order for it to be an adventure of sorts.
Iryan's Regional monster level mod sets monster level by region tho the Mod is currently in a very rough format
Interesting. Where can I find this?
I am trying to balance the maps so they can be completed with or without the Level Adjustment Mod present.
For KillerGremal and myself, the attraction of the level adjustment mod was that the monsters and loot will scale with the player so that the player can play whatever map he wishes and it will be playable.
The alternative is that you would continually have to restart a new character for each map or be forced into an arbitrary progression through maps. For example if you start off playing Kingdom of Ehb, you will be approximately level 40 or so by the end. What then? Without the level adjustment mod, every map you try will have you starting off against level 0-3 monsters. Or alternatively a map would be locked into a starting range, say level 40 for the Utraean Peninsula. So a player would be forced to play the Kingdom of Ehb map (or the DS2 campaign) so that their party would be strong enough to play on the map. What starting level would we assign Legends of Aranna or Yesterhaven, not to mention the third party maps such as Realms of Kings?
It's interesting that a much longed for feature for DS1 was to be able to use the same party to play all the maps in singleplayer mode, without the need to continually start a new game. Now that this is possible in DS2, there's demand for reverting to the old system. Remember in DS2 you are locked to being a certain level before you can play Broken World (or veteran or elite modes). Playing extra maps will disrupt the level locking, so even if your party is strong enough it will have to play veteran mode before unlocking elite mode. I know as I've tried it and its very boring fighting "green" level monsters all the time.
Since there's been so much demand for it, I'm trying to balance each map so they are playable with a new party without the level adjustment mod being active, which is relatively easy to do since I start a new party for each map.
Unfortunately in my current playthrough, it appears the regional locking mentioned by sigofmugmort is broken. KillerGremal has made it possible to have three modes of play with the level adjustment mod. Turned on generally, turned off or turned on in a regional level. The regional level doesn't seem to be working at the moment. I'm not sure why.
Unfortunately it will be some time before a new version of the Utraean Peninsula will be available. I would love a more randomized system of generating monsters within a level range of the player, as well as different sizes and attributes such as speed, etc. It's an unfortunately side effect of the level adjustment mod as used at the moment that all monsters have the exact same level and attributes.
SouthpawHare Hello
What iryan is saying is that the leveling he is working on is not a separate mod but integrated into each of the maps. So you can not add or subtract it like you can with the monster level adjustment mod (referred to by most as MLA) Now if you want to take a party through all of the maps the MLA mod is really important or by the end you would have a level 60 plus party fighting level 3 monsters. Really no fun there. However if you play each map with its own unique party then the MLA mod is really unnecessary. I play the maps both ways, however I prefer playing a different party on each map. Sometimes I play with MLA sometimes I do not. It is really up to the individual player as to how they play and how they balance their characters with the monsters.
Hello,
I do believe I understand what is offered here. What I am looking for, however, I think is something different still that isn't offered currently, which is basically the way the original game was, in which the monster levels do not scale automatically but are manually set to a variety of levels that force you to progress through the areas linearly. The Level Adjustment Mod seems to try to sort of simulate this, but it's not really the same, and of course the current setup without the Level Adjustment Mod is definitely not the same.
The current 'exp farming' support as implemented in the Level Adjustment mod is not that transparent due to the delayed impact on monster levels.
An enhanced version is possible, but its realisation is even trickier.
Why (it seems that) the manual level assignments for a region don't work I can't say - more information about the map (if supported at all) the party level would be helpful.
However that manual level assignments continiously loose their influence, for example if you enter a map with level 30 while the manual assignments on cover level 1-20.
That's prossibly appropriate for monsters of the same type!(?)
But basically the monster types like 'trivial' or 'weak' remain weak monsters, 'strong' monsters are still stronger than the 'normal' ones, bosses remain bosses (and there also custom/modder-founded types beteween).
Even the size of the monster may have some influence on the stats (incl. movement speed) - unfortunately the monsters must be placed on the map already with different/random sizes (which is rarely the case, and only v2.3/BW is technically able to change the size in-game).
How much is left from the random level bandwidth as originally implemented I can't say at the moment because of the different level assignment modes there are meanwhile. It's still available basically, and re-increasing its importance shouldn't be a problem.
Visiting the Legends of Aranna beta 31 map again. Everything seems to be working nicely. Just two minor character problems. The first concerning Lyssa's hair (she is a dryad) and there are large sections of her head that are not covered by leaves. Looks odd so for now I have put a helmet on her head. The second concerning Jharmaya's face there is something strange here. The face is off center nose almost on the side of her head. Her eyes are very tiny green dots. Her mouth is very large. And the Tattoos are just overpowering. iryan I will look into this and see if I can fix the problem and then PM the changes to you.
Here are a few screen shots explaining what is wrong with Jharmaya and Lyssa's heads
I used playable Utraens to correct an image of what Jharmaya should look like and I picked from the start menu the hair style that Lyssa should look like.
UPDATE -- Looking at the Playable Utraens for Broken World mod the Utraens use a human head. For the Utraen Female it is:
1 = m_c_gah_amr_hlmt_hf_head-01;
2 = m_c_gah_amr_hlmt_hf_head-02;
3 = m_c_gah_amr_hlmt_hf_head-03;
4 = m_c_gah_amr_hlmt_hf_head-04;
I expect that if I where to find in what mod Jharmaya is located in I would find one of the following head types
Female Elf
1 = m_c_gah_amr_hlmt_ef_head-01;
2 = m_c_gah_amr_hlmt_ef_head-02;
3 = m_c_gah_amr_hlmt_ef_head-03;
4 = m_c_gah_amr_hlmt_ef_head-04;
I do not believe Jharmaya is using a Dryad Head because Dryad ears are smaller than Elf Ears and Jharmaya's ears look like wings.
I actually REALLY like the Utraean with elf ears thingy. Do you think one 'special' Utrae can have elf ears? Like... I forget exactly whom the Utrae follower(s) is/are, but maybe one of them can have ears and we can imagine they're the only hybrid of them to ever exist or something. Gremal, would this be acceptable~?
Maybe, since the problem is already there, it could be just be Jharmaya, just after fixing the hair/face problem. Of course her exact face texture would have to be re-written and I wouldn't know if that means every NPC with her face texture is overwritten, or if texture paths for individual characters like her are unique...
@Ryamus: You should ask Iryan. aces to play with/as - besides of many other things he has added (like this marvelous arnmor).
On NPCs perhaps elven ears are possibe by an attachment - an elf head with widely transparent texture, execpt of the ears.
I found Lyssa and Jharmaya right where you said they would be. You where also correct that because they where both recruited I would have to start a new game do to the type of changes I was going to make. Therefore I decided to work on Lyssa first as she is the second hero that can be recruited. She uses model = m_c_gah_amr_suit_fa_a1; and custom_head = m_c_gah_amr_hlmt_dd_head-XX; where XX can be 01 02 03 04. I tried all 4 different heads (starting a new game each time) in each case she is missing some of the leaves in the hair styles. All other dryads do not have these problems. So I decided to turn her back into a human as the remainder of her family is human and not dryad. I will let you know how that works.
Hi Iryan,
I changed the race of Lyssa back to human. Her body looks correct however her head is now black and yellow stripes! it does not matter if I use any of the heads listed below.
custom_head = m_c_gah_amr_hlmt_hf_head-01;
custom_head = m_c_gah_amr_hlmt_hf_head-02;
custom_head = m_c_gah_amr_hlmt_hf_head-03;
custom_head = m_c_gah_amr_hlmt_hf_head-04;
What am I doing wrong!
@bare_elf: Hm, how did you change the race? ...everywhere?
Actually I'm not involved in the details here now, but for NPCs I often use elf bases for humans or vice-versa (since their native animations speeds are different).
Assumed once you only changed actor:race that won't be sufficient (probably noticed), so did you also update body:helmet_race to 'hf' ?
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