DS1 Legendary Mod for DS2 Beta Thread

I believe it's time to let everybody know where's the Legendary Mod is at now. As you know I've been quiet for a while but still been checking the site also daily and helping where I can.

This year my time been very restricted and I've also spent much of whatever time I've had playing other games (Final Fantasy XIII, Galactic Civilizations III, Lego Jurassic World and Grandia 2 anniversary edition). Heresy I hear you say but truth be said I've been a little burnt out by the scale of the project. Perhaps if it was limited to just a mere conversion as originally planned....instead KillerGremal and myself kept on expanding and enhancing the mod no end.

The good news is that I've gotten back my enthusiasm for the project but the bad news is that my time is more restricted than ever. So expect progress to be slow but it should progress. However the current betas are likely to be the last once they are finished except for bugfixes.

So here's the current build for the Utraean Peninsula, completed up to Meren.
http://www.siegetheday.org/~iryan/files/Betav32/DS1_Map_Utraean_Peninsula_Beta32a.ds2res
http://www.siegetheday.org/~iryan/files/Betav32/DS1_Mod_Logic_Beta32a.ds2res

I'm hoping that there will be some players interested in testing the map out and if you do I'll be very grateful. I would advise keeping a save available at Meren for future updates though theoretically the altered quest-line is completed up to Lang.

In this version I'm working on adding some variety to the encounters so KillerGremal's Model Scale Random mod is included but it's not global as his test version was but rather works for the majority of monsters except for humans and goblin mechanical constructs like the gobbots and hunters, etc. Maybe it would be better kept for the bandits, etc, let me know but for the goblin's mechanical constructs I think a standardized size is better.

The quest line has also been altered so that radar arrows are present for all main quests and also the associated secondary quests like go to Crystwind, etc. I think it makes progressing through the map much easier for new players. Also players are strongly encouraged to follow the quest line by restricting access to routes that bypass the main quest line and this is achieved by two methods. The first is simply locks and keys. The second is by using the local regional mode of the MonsterLevelAdjust Mod so that the monsters inhabiting regions easily accessed by new players, like the Great Northern Forest and Land Mire, are high enough levels that it's suicide trying to progress through there too early on. This also helps solve another criticism of the mod by eliminating the constant levelling of the monsters to the player's level (this can still be achieved by setting the Player's Stash to "all" mode). Plus the monsters at the start are nicely varied so they are a mixture of levels and not all the same level, i.e around Elddim the monsters are between level 4 and 7.

Unfortunately the current version of the MonsterLevelAdjust Mod (version beta5q) seems to distorts the effects of local regional levels so that by the time the player reaches level 20 or so, local mode is essentially the same as the "all" setting. For example at Meren (when I first notice this - remember I haven't been playing it much this year) my party is level 31. All the monsters are either level 31 or some at 32, when the level_adjustment_regional table sets Meren at level 26-30. I use the basilicas to travel back to Elddim and all the monsters are level 31 instead of 4 to 7. Worst the monsters inhabiting the Great Northern Forest are now level 34 instead of being between 48 and 52. So there's now no barrier to stop my party from entering the Great Northern Forest and potentially distorting the main quest.

So I would like feedback about this phenomenon from any testers of the map. I believe KillerGremal may have altered the behaviour of the local regional mode of the MonsterLevelAdjust mod so that advanced parties having levels higher than the map's default could still play the map more or less normally. However I believe the "all" setting of the MonsterLevelAdjust mod should be used (unless it was possible for the MLA mod to detect the player's level at the beginning and set the mode then) in that scenario and the local regional mode reserved for new parties to the map. That way there would still be a sense of "unlocking" regions as the player's party gained levels rather than being able to go everywhere from midway or earlier in the map.

Rather than fiddling about with the levers and the elevator, it would be simpler to code by making a portal open automatically at the top of the elevator when the player reached the bottom. That way any stragglers that missed the elevator could instantly get to the bottom by using the portal. Ditto if you saved the game at the bottom and then had to restart, etc, and reach Gom again. I've used this method as a shortcut a couple of times in the Utraean Peninsula map and I believe it works quite neatly.

I am downloading the files now and will start testing the changes just as soon as time allows. Thanks for the update Iryan.

goody :yahoo: just in time , now to get run over by a certain Elf :P

@ Iryan I see you have changed the name of the map again. No longer "Utraean Contingency" but "Utraean Peninsula SE" now what does the SE stand for Second Edition like in Windows 98 SE or something else? I also note that you are scaling the monsters. I will let you know what I think about this after moving farther into the Map. I also see that you have decided to keep the NPCs that are selective about joining your party. That is fine with me because once I find the characters I want I will just retrain them Have not traveled far yet, just passed through the crypts and off to the folly of Hovart.
@ Sigofmugmort worry not I am going really slowly do not want to reach Merin to soon, since that is as far as iryan have reached in his updating and it is hard to scrape Dwarf off my boots. Also I wish to find as much as I can so that iryan can know that the work up to this point is working correctly.

Eldim to Ma Kettle's House

Basement quest works correctly as in, you need the quest to enter the basement.

Why are the two recruitables in the Inn level2 while the other two are level 3? around a full level higher experience wise

an Orange level 6 Phrak with a few level 5 krug can be hazardous to a level 5 party :nervous:

@Iryan: The flickering mouse pointer effect I am getting now is annoying do you recall how to fix that?

Now to Begin The Hunt For BONE MINIONS :twisted:

While exploring hovart's folly I found a box that can not be opened.

I like the Crystwind Mine Gate and the fact you can not enter the mind without first holding the Eldim Stone. Thankfully you do not have to have it in your inventory as I always save the town stones in the Yellow Stash Trunk.

I know I have reported that one before. I think the area is too crowded.

Yes I noticed that the radar arrows are back. It is not only easier for the new players Iryan. I have been playing this mod and the game for a very long time and rely on the radar and always watch it out of the corner of my eye. It will not however prevent me from exploring areas like the Great Northern Forest and the Lang Mire. Really should not prevent people from going there right off. Maybe warning signs and the guards telling you not to go there would be okay. I can find ways to get anywhere on the map as there are so many back doors.

So Far so good I am almost to Meren.

Iryan I am very happy to find that the pirate's treasure quest has been restored. Have a save at Meren safely in a zip file so will continue around Meren then off to Lang. Everything looks good so far, well except for the few minor things noted in previous posts. Worry not to much about the levels of the monsters. If they are too strong run away or too weak giggle and squish them.

I still wish to know what the SE stands for in the Map title. because if I am correct maybe it should be TSE, giggle.

The SE can stand for anything, special edition, super edition, singleplayer edition, etc., etc. I'm just not happy with the previous name since the map is a conversion. I think the previous name/s I used were confusing. Just using Utraean Peninsula would confuse it with KillerGremal's original which is still available (both maps can be played as they have different internal names). So I think I'll stick with SE unless anyone has a better idea.

Iryan I think SE on the name of the map is great. It could also stand for Second Edition as Killer's Utraean Peninsula map was first. It is better as the other names you and I came up with are confusing. However you could also call it TSE for the 32nd Edition of the map I have made it to Lang and everything seems fine. Did the Pet Seller get new cages for his animals? I know I might have missed them before but I think they look super great!! I will make a save here and run through the map again this time starting with a new low lever character and not my amped test crew.

32a comments.
I do like the Vampire Bats, pity they do not fly like in Valley Peak but I'm not sure that would work underground.

The problem with Krug are they make a mess when you step on them :silly:

Have I been oblivious again or is there more color variety among the Rabbits?

Time to seek out Lord Hovarth, one party with Gavel of Convening, one without.

Because I took my main level 100 test crew through the map to Lang and we are waiting for additional updates beyond that point, I decided to take a new level 0 party through the map. Now because I like the high level armor and weapons that I have made I made a special version of Weapons_Pack_Alpha_1 called Weapons_Pack_Alpha_1_special and DS2 Girl Armor Beta 3a called DS2 Girl Armor beta 3a special. Reducing the levels at which the weapons and armor can be acquired and reducing the protections of the armor and power and range of the weapons and spells to more closely approximate the lower monster levels and monster weapons. It only took about 30 minutes to do so. I have finished all the primary quests around Eldim and will go to the Crystwind Mines later today since it is 12:13 AM and I need some sleep. Things are going nicely and without major issues.

@ Sigofmugmort when you reached this point in the game can you tell me what your average party level was, Mine is level 25 and I think for some reason that might be to high.

Level 12 at the Crypt, after completing the scythe, basement, and DC quests. Level 15 now at entrance to Hovarth's. A lot depends on how much clearing around Eldim you do before recruiting

:silly:

My party of low level characters has reached Fallraen. I discovered a minor problem, nothing that causes a problem with playing the game, just a minor problem with a character's icon appearing different in the radar map and the actual seller of reagents icon. In the radar map she has the icon of an enchanter. I include a screen shot.

I am not sure why I did not notice this before, might have been that when using a level 98 test party that is equipped exactly like I want it I rarely use reagent sales people or enchanters.

I think in some of KillerGremal's maps he has npcs that have dual responses depending on various cues and triggers. I think this npc is the same. The radar is displaying the icon from one of these npc templates.

Maybe KillerGremal might give us some insight into this npc and how she is suppose to work. Quite possibly her original function has either been broken through the numerous changes I've made to Fallraen, been superseded in subsequent changes to her template in KillerGremal's content pack or we just don't know how to trigger the changes in her from a reagent seller to an enchanter. I'll wait to here from KillerGremal before doing anything.

There was indeed a problem with the two hireables in the Inn as their default level was 1 level below all the other hireables found in all maps. How and when that happened I don't know but it's probably obvious now because there's other hireables in Elddim and also you start at level 3. Incidentally the reason for that is for balancing the area around Elddim when using the local regional setting. Otherwise you would quickly start seeing blue and even green colour coded monsters if you spent time exploring around Elddim.

With the flickering mouse pointer effect, what version of Windows are you using? I've upgraded to Win 10 on both of my pcs (desktop and laptop) and have no problem with the game at all. With Win 8.1 I had to disable the NVidia graphic card and use the Intel on-board graphic card. Luckily DS2 runs very well even with Intel graphics card as its more CPU intensive than graphic intensive.

There's no obvious reason for the box in Hovart's Folly to not open. It's not too near the wall and has an use point connected to it. Therefore because there's already plenty of junk to open or smash in that part of the dungeon, I fixed the problem by removing it. I don't think you'll notice its missing.

So thanks to clever coding by KillerGremal there's now 3 ways of playing the map. Playing with the MLA mod set to full auto-leveling (the "All" setting), using "local" regional levelling so monsters are set to a range of levels depending on what region they are located and disabling the MLA mod so monsters are set to a specific level depending on the monster. What game or mod gives you that amount of choice on how to play it?

There's no real effort in balancing required for the "All" setting apart from ensuring that there's a nice mixture of monster strengths, etc. The other two are a bit different and I would like feedback on what level your party is compared to the monsters. The "local" setting is easy enough to tweak as all the settings are found in one file, world\maps\utraean_peninsula\info\level_adjustment_regional.gas. You can tweak the levels yourself if you using the "local" setting and want to fine-tune things. The adduct setting modifies the level range depending on the player's level. The "local" setting is the default setting for a map using the MLA mod.

Disabling the MLA mod so that the levels of the monsters depend on what's defined in their template is the most difficult of all to balance. I'm gradually tweaking them but without a lot of feedback I never expect to be able to finish the process, let alone balance all the chests, containers, doors, etc.

So there's a lot to test and tweak if you're so inclined.

I've updated the Utraean Peninsula SE map to Beta32b with progress completed to Lang plus experimental/untested progress to Quillrabe.
http://www.siegetheday.org/~iryan/files/Betav32/DS1_Map_Utraean_Peninsula_Beta32b.ds2res
http://www.siegetheday.org/~iryan/files/Betav32/DS1_Mod_Logic_Beta32b.ds2res

So I suggest making a backup save at Lang and testing out the progress to Quillrabe if you wish. There should be 9 tasks to complete, all with quest pointers right to Quillrabe where a modified NIS should play. It will probably take me some time to test out the Lang to Quillrabe section myself as it's quite long.

As I mentioned in a previous post, please let me know what levels you are if you're using the "local" setting so I can tweak the level_adjustment_regional table if required. The aim is to give a range of monsters to fight with some a higher level than you and some lower. This makes encounters more interesting as an expected difficult encounter could prove to be easier than anticipated while a normally easy encounter could proved to be more difficult than anticipated because most of the monsters are a slightly higher level than your party.

Still the aim is to avoid having monsters appearing green or red coded for regions that should be at the player's expected level for that part of the game. That's fine for high level areas like the Great Northern Forest (where the aim is to stop the player going there too early) or areas that the player has cleared out long ago (this gives a sense of accomplishment and progress which a lot of players desire).

At Crystwind with first group at lvl 20. Like how you added requirements to get in and out of Hovarth's like you wanted as well as the Blood Armor. Balanced party set at all as standerd for first run.

A per my S.O.P, I will now begin another party set on local and less balanced.

And if I remember rightly, in KillerGremals peninsula there where multi-tasking NPC's is several towns with their function based on how the conversation went.

As per your instructions Iryan. Playing with 32A version of the map my party is in Fallraen. Average Level is 33.5, three are level 34 and three are level 33. Using MLA version Beta 5R. MLA is set to All. Hold this party at Fallraen. Install the 32B update, Start a new party in Eldim. Set the MLA mod to local and catch up to my original party in Fallraen, then advance both to Quillrabe, Making sure to report the party level at each save point, and is the party playing MLA in local or all.

Notes on Beta 32B
As always I am using the Broken World AllSaves start. I have DS1 Selected Attack automation and DS1 Selected Defend automation both set to ON. I am using the adjusted versions of DS2 Girl Armor and Weapons Pack Alpha as noted in a previous post. I made a slight adjustment in the amount of money my primary character has at the start of the game so that she can buy four character slots, without picking up money off the ground. I have MLA set to local mode. Here are the stats of my characters Prior to killing anything.
Mandy (Primary Character)
Level 3 Mercenary with Class Stats of Combat Magic 3, Melee 2, Ranged 2.
Tiahna Level 4 Bowyer with Class Stats of Ranged 4.
Arisu Level 3 Apprentice with Class Stats of Nature Magic 3.
Ivlisar Level 3 Savant with Class Stats of Combat Magic 3. Was surprised that I could hire him this time since we are both combat mages.
Magentus Level 3 Squire with Class Stats of Melee 3

Now it is off to mash some Krugs and Do some quests.

Hi Iryan,
Same conditions as my previous post -- BW Allsaves start, MLA set to local. Now up to this point I have not left a monster standing and the ones that tend to reappear around Orchard House I kept killing them till they got tired of respawning and stopped popping up.
I am currently at the save point outside the Acient Crypts and my party has the following stats. I have completed the following quests around Eldim -- Farmers Scythe (followed the trail past the scythe to the back door to the Lang Swamp and then back into town), Orchard Celler (Killing things in the orchard around the house over and over again) and New Way to Travel.
Character Stats
Mandy
Level 16 Marksman
Class Stats -- Melee 2, Ranged 16, Nature Magic 3, Combat Magic 4
Tiahna
Level 16 Marksman
Class Stats -- Melee 0, Ranged 16, Nature Magic 3, Combat Magic 4
Magentus
Level 16 Marksman (converting him to a ranger as I play most games with three rangers and three mages)
Class Stats -- Melee 3, Ranged 15, Nature Magic 3, Combat Magic 4
Arisu
Level 16 Magician
Class Stats -- Nature Magic 16, Combat Magic 4
Ivlisar
Level 16 Wizard
Class Stats -- Nature Magic 7, Combat Magic 15
So far I have seen very little difference between MLA running in All Mode or Local Mode. There is a vast difference with it off since all the monsters are a walkover.

Same conditions as my previous post -- BW Allsaves start, MLA set to local. All quests seem to be working just fine.
I am currently at the save point at the exit of Acient Crypts. I have completed the following quests.
Primary Quests -- Eldim Town Stone.
Secondary Quests -- Farmers Scythe, Orchard Celler, New Way to Travel.
Character Stats
Mandy
Level 17 Marksman
Class Stats -- Melee 2, Ranged 17, Nature Magic 3, Combat Magic 4
Tiahna
Level 17 Marksman
Class Stats -- Melee 0, Ranged 17, Nature Magic 3, Combat Magic 4
Magentus
Level 17
Class Stats -- Melee 3, Ranged 16, Nature Magic 3, Combat Magic 4
Arisu
Level 17 Wizard
Class Stats -- Melee 4, Nature Magic 7, Combat Magic 7
Ivlisar
Level 17 Wizard
Class Stats -- Melee 7, Nature Magic 6, Combat Magic 15

I am a little confused about the class stats of my mages. At the last save Arisu had a Nature Magic stat level of 16 it seems to have gone down by 9 after switching to combat magic. Ivlisar's Nature Magic Stat level is 1 less than at the last save. I checked the stats and what was in my last post was correct. (I went back to a save before the crypts).

Same conditions as my previous post -- BW Allsaves start, MLA set to local.
I am currently at the exit of Hovarts Folly North (Elddim Glade). I have completed the following quests.
Primary Quests -- Eldim Town Stone.
Secondary Quests -- Farmers Scythe, Orchard Celler, New Way to Travel, Hovart's Folly.

Character Stats
Mandy
Level 23 Sharpshooter
Class Stats -- Melee 2, Ranged 22, Nature Magic 3, Combat Magic 4
Tiahna
Level 23 Sharpshooter
Class Stats -- Melee 0, Ranged 22, Nature Magic 3, Combat Magic 4
Magentus
Level 23 Sharpshooter
Class Stats -- Melee 3, Ranged 22, Nature Magic 3, Combat Magic 4
Arisu
Level 23 Sorceress
Class Stats -- Melee 4, Nature Magic 7, Combat Magic 22
Ivlisar
Level 23 Sorcerer
Class Stats -- Melee 7, Nature Magic 6, Combat Magic 22

All the quests and the advancement of quests not completed seem to be working correctly. Parking my party for the Night in Eldim

I hope to be able to continue testing tonight and I'll keep an eye on the stats of my party members.

I quickly found that Beta32b is a bit quirky beyond Lang. No bugs as such but the radar arrow doesn't always display. I believe its because the Goblin Warrens is so big and consists of two very large regions, so the radar has problems getting the information in order to display the radar?

So I added two extra tasks (steps rather) in the Goblin Warrens in order to try to get the radar arrow to behave itself. This will mess up the quest progression a little if you're using beta32b and since I'll possibly/probably have to tinker a bit more with things before Quillrabe, I suggest not playing pass Lang with beta32b.

One thing I noticed in Lang with the current MLA beta5r mod is that some debugging messages are reappearing. It keeps mentioning info about environmental hazards whenever the party approaches a gas hazard.

MLA: Local vs all.

As I said, level 12 at Crypt, Now at level 21 at Crystwind.

Set on all I ran around a bit and was able to Immediately venture into the Great Northern Forest so on all the monsters are leveled based on party level.

On Local if party is = or > monster base it levels the monsters to around party level staying in yellow for the most part

With starting party if you go south you hit red level 11-13 when you leave town_center and enter path_to_mines suggest raising to 15-17.

going West toward Lang at Farmland_and_chapel you get level 8-10 orange, suggest 28-30 to REALLY discourage adventurism that way

Now, with 2 Dwarves in party am ready to clear the mines.

:silly: :dance3:

The Crypt's Radar map is still out of sinc for me