Heya.

All right, before diving into it, a bit of history is somewhat necessary. DarthRevanRLZ, a good friend of mine, got me hooked on these games before taking the semester off and leaving for Europe. I won't get into it, but let's just say he won't be in the mood for playing ANY game for the next few months. He did come back from Europe a few weeks ago and gave me all his modded KOTOR files and explicit blessing to continue where he left off.

That being said, while we do agree on a lot of things regarding modding TSL, I figured I'd rather start a new thread since I don't plan on using most of the FP content he worked on and I tweaked most of his files anyway. *shrugs*

Oh well, here goes.

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***IMPORTANT NOTE***

The mod's objective isn't to make the game more difficult or easier. Use the hardcore mod or *godly items* mods for that. The point is merely to make the class choices more consequential, not make all pre-mod items utterly obsolete and finally give the npcs more, huh... personality. GOGO dual-wielding flurry/rapid shot madness! *rolls eyes*

That being said, all these changes are made with the use of the hardcore mode in mind. The boost they give to characters isn't that important, but considering how the game already is easy as it is... I'd personnaly advice for a setting between normal and difficul of the hardcore mode...

***COMPATIBILITY ISSUES***

MUST start new game for full effect.

Well, I'm using the patcher. But since I'm using a bunch of .2da files like featgain, skills, classes... you'll have to make a choice for some of them. Files like upgrade and itemcreate are not a problem, of course.

Am also making rather extensive use of the scripts k_oei_userdef and k_oei_spawn. Mostly used for feats/powers granted to chracters rather than classes. Eh.

Finally, ALL NPCs uti files have been redone from scratch. It WILL conflict with USM, but all you have to do is use GFFEditor and add/change *one* line from the inventory... *shrugs*

Anyway, so here's an outline of the new changes: suggestions are welcome.


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1 - .2da/uti editing (85-90% complete)

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1a) The Ebon Hawk's motley crue Redux

Rather than just go over all the changes for each /uti.2da files, I'm just outlining the most important facts for each class/character based on uti and 2da files modifications.

***They all start at lvl 5 except Atton/Kreia/T3 who start at lvl 3.

***Knowing all about Feats/skills/saves/ac modifications isn't *that* vital, but I suppose I should cover the BAB angle... At lvl 30, Low gets 24, Average gets 27 and High gets 30. So, yeah, no dual-wielding for wimpy consulars and sentinels really shouldn't dual-wield and use the uber Power Attack.

***Also, consulars/Lord/Mstr get FP bonus every 3 lvl, sentinels/assassins/wtchmn gets bonus FP each 5 lvl, and guardians/wpnmstr/mrdr get one every 10.

ATTON - Scoundrel: low BAB/feats/hp, average saves/starting stats, high def/skills
BAO -Tech: average BAB/feats/hp/starting stats, low def/saves, highest skills, slight melee emphasis
DISCIPLE - Scout: average BAB/feats/hp/skills, low def/saves/starting stats, second best gunner in the game
HANDMAIDEN - Soldier: high BAB/feats/hp, average def, low skills/starting stats, melee emphasis, staff can now be upgraded.
MIRA - Bounty Hunter (new class): low hp/saves/def/starting stats, average BAB/feats, high skills, best gunner in the game
HANHARR - Wookie Warrior (new class): highest starting stats/saves, high BAB/hp, average feats, lowest skills/def, melee emphasis, no dodge feats, starts with two modded ryyk blades
MANDALORE - Warlord (new class): highest feats, high BAB/hp, average saves/def/starting stats, low skills, no emphasis, starts with heavy mandalorian repeater (huh huh, he becomes a WARLORD of all things and gets a SMALLER gun than in KOTOR? Rotflmao)
HK - Combat Droid: highest def, high BAB/hp/starting stats, average feats/saves, low skills, best droid gunner (although not as good as scout/bntyhntr)
GO-TO - Infiltrator droid: high def, average feats/BAB/hp/starting stats, saves/low skills
T3 - Expert Droid: average def/feats/BAB/hp, low skills/saves/starting stats

***Might tweak T3/Goto a little

***Kreia gets high starting stats and Visas gets average ones***


Guardian/Wpnmstr/Mrdr: highest def, high BAB/HP/feats/saves, low FP/skills
Sentinel: highest saves, high def/skills, average FP/BAB/HP/feats, gets lvl 1 Force Jump (lvl 5) and Focus (lvl 10)
Consular/SithLord/JdMstr: high def/FP, average saves/skills, low HP/BAB/feats
Watchman: same than sentinel except for Jump/Focus
Assassin: high def/skills, average FP/BAB/HP/saves, low feats, no Jump/Focus

Kreia gets a prestige class (SithLord if DS, Master if LS or neutral) at lvl 15 and Visas gets one at lvl 20 (assassin if DS, watchman if LS).

Finally, I'll just mention that most non-Jedi classes have a pretty good excuse (aka *GO FOR IT!!!!!*) to lvl up to lvl 8-10 before promotion.

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1b) Feat.2da redux

Lots of stuff in here. Added some dummy feats and modded existing ones. Since feats are hardcoded, all new feats' bonuses are enforced via either stims or armbands (both are a pain for one's inventory, so i figured players might at least get a choice).

Highlights are

1 - Superior Focus for Melee weapons. Regular focus is the prereq and all classes get access to the first 2 levels. Lvl 3 only available to combat classes and adds dmg in addition to the +1 atk. Lightsaber focus now follows same pattern (all Jedi classes get first 2). Didn't add such feats for ranged weapons, since, well... Precise Shot.

2 - Unarmed Combat: lvl 2, 4, 6 and 8 get an additional +1 atk and +2 dmg. All non-Jedi characters get feats via scripting (slightly different progression) and only combat classes get the 8th lvl. Also buffed up Bao's and Handmaiden's bonus via scripting to reflect the dmg increase. Am seriously considering addiing a def bonus

3 - Added dmg for dueling feats. Either 2/3/5 or 2/4/6 for each lvl respectively. Still undecided on that one. *shrugs*

4 - Added a +1 atk bonus to lvl 1, 3 and 5 of precise Shot. Only scouts/warlord/bntyhntr and grdn/wpnmstr/mrdr get access to lvl 5. Others can get up to lvl 4 while there's a lvl 3 cap for T3/GOTO.

5 - Seriously nerfed targetting. It's capped at lvl 5. So there. Oh, and Hanharr doesn't get those (the hell was that anyway)

6 - T3 and Goto get access via leveling to lvl 2 PB/RS/SS and Close Cmbt feats.

7 - Brought back HEAVY WEAPONS and the feats required to use them.

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1c) Weapons discharge

- sniper shot and power blast can now be used with speed
- heavy weapons (the three of them, lol) ALWAYS get an extra attack.

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1d) Base Items

1 - Defense: The BaseAC and DexBonus now adds up to 12 rather than 9. Jedi armors (JalShey itemclass) add up to 9 rather than 7.

2 - Dmg. Modded dmg of most weapons. Only blasters are mostly unchanged (the whole dual-wielding slash ranged thing deal, eh). Double-bladed sabers have an additional 1-10 dmg (3-30 total), double-vibroblades an additional 1-8 (3-24 total) and heavy weapons have an additional 1-6 compared to second best rifle (3-24) total.

3 - Critical range/threat: ALL one-handed melee weapons get 2. All double-bladed melee get 1. ALL blasters get 1. All rifles get 2. All heavy rifles get 1. All disruptor weapons keep the 3. Somewhat harsh for blaster maniacs, I know. Still, they can now get FOUR sniper shots. Does an adequate job at offsetting a crappy threat range imo.

4 - Armors allowing the use of FPs: NO. Just... NOOOOOOOOO. Look for the few nice mods covering that angle. I just don't believe in EVERY armor allowing such a thing.

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2 - Force Powers (80-85% complete)

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2a) Existing Force Powers

1 - As was mentioned above, I'm not adding any, but I did mod a bunch of them. Most important changes are the *type of defense* issue for buffs, tweaks to barrier/energy resist, some damage upgrades, adding a minor leech/buff functionallity to drain/fpdrain and I'm seriously considering separating push/whirlwind/wave and adding a lvl 2 upgrade for each. Didn't change the original k_inc_force script. I'm just changing the impactscript line in spells.2da.


2 - Extra attacks for non-Jedis. (90% complete)

Created droid shields which give them extra attacks at lvl 12 & 18 and a boost to attack and dmg to match those of battle meditation.

Mandalore also gets a *fp* giving him extra attacks (lvl 12-18 like droids) and other small bonuses. Basically enforces via stim/armband dummy feats which he gets for free.

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3 - ITEMS (75-80% complete)
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3a - Basic clothing PWNZ.

I just like how NPCs regular clothing look compared to some of the armors (*eye twitching uncontrollably*). So what I did was to give small bonuses to NPCs starting clothes. They ALL get a little def, +2 charisma, either +2 dex/str and another unique bonus. They also all can be fitted with lvl 1 upgrades.

As for Visas and Kreia, they get special robes. A more powerful upgrade can be created at lvl 20. (Yes, I modded the npc.2da so that their lvl 20 equals yours)

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3b - Robes SHOULD PWNZ.

- Robes shouldn't be that rare, lol.

Most of them can now be built with the workbench.

- Also, robes suck BADLY in this game. It's not even funny. So what I did was mod the uti files of pretty much all of them. For starters, they all can be fitted with lvl 1 upgrades and they all get bonus to Force-enhancing attributes.

For example, the current prototype (most likely will add another property) version of Jedi Knight robes get +2 dex/wiz/cha while Dark Jedi Knight robes get +2 str/wiz/cha.

Also, I put alignment restrictions for the Knights/Master robes. BUUUT, since dark robes look just so damn cool, I created dark robes with the LS bonuses :D

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3c - Upgrades.

1 - As was mentioned above, NPCs' defaut gear and robes now can use lvl 1 upgrades. I thus created some. Just so we're clear, we're talking slight AC/saves/con/DmgRed bonuses here. They're not as good as the ones for armors simply because they *shouldn't*, but they *do* help making default gear and robes somewhat competitive.

2 - Also tweaked a bit of the lvl 2-4 upgrades to make regular armors more competitive. Just for the record, I'm thinking of JalShey or other armors allowing the use of FPS (segan wyndh and that spiffy Jedi/Sith armor mod come to mind). While they don't get the wiz/cha bonuses of the modded robes, those should still be the way to go for best str/dex/con.

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Oh well, hope it wasn't too painful of a read.

Will most likely eventually add stuff like LS/DS crystals, class-specific gear and new weapons sprinkled throughout the game l, but all that was found above should cover the 1.0 version which focuses on balance and should be completed in the next two weeks, eh.

Heya!

Wooohooo. Pre-finals mini-exams madness is now officially over. Should have a break for a glorious 2 weeks. :D

Haven't had that much time working on the mod, but I did get a few things done.

Anyway, here goes...

I'll sum up the update in two word: ALMOST FINISHED. :D

Tested the modifications (.2da & uti files along with the 200+ entries from append.tlk) with the TSLPatcher and so far, so good. :D


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SECTION 1 : about 99% complete.

.2da and uti file editing is completed and the feats' descriptions will change in-game.

The last bit left is about weither give Kreia/Visas the Prestige class or give them a few forms/feats associated to the appropriate prestige classes. But since I'm using scripts to do that, it litteraly takes a minute to change. Guess I'll have an epiphany in the next 48 hours while driving or something... :D


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SECTION 1 : about 99% complete too, eh.

ALL FPs with non-hardcoded effects have been isolated in custom scripts. They all work like they're supposed to and the in-game descriptions are updated.

Might tweak one or two FPs here and there, but it's pretty much all done.

Most buffs' durations and effects have been slightly (being the keyword here!!), the Wave tree has been divided and its damage has been buffed along with the Scream tree.

All prestige classes now get lvl 2 of inspire/crushOpp (Lords/Masters alone get the higher levels). Also tweaked CrushOpp so that opponents get at least half the attribute penalty. (1/0, 2/1, 3/1, 4/2, etc)

Another thing worthy of mention is that I scripted for all Prestige Classes to gain battle precognition (female PCs may rejoice). Thus my dilemma over giving such classes to Kreia/Visas, but that's another story...

Also, about the dummy feats, I decided to just stick with armbands. Since you don't have to wear it for the effects to work and I did put insane durations for most of them, I figured this was better than having 10 new stims. Would be a nightmare to browse through, eh. :D

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I changed my position on FPs and armors. All of them can now be used with armor except the speed/armor trees and force enlightenment. To offset the lack of extra attacks, I created armbands granting 1/2 extra attacks when wearing armors. Bonuses disappear if armor is removed and since Speed/armor can't be used with armors, the character won't get insane defense bonuses. Gotta love loopholes. Seriously.

Figured I might try to give an incentive to NOT break ALL armors into components or sell them simply because they're of ABSOLUTELY NO FREAKIN' USE to jedis. *cough*


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SECTION 3: The only part I just didn't work on that much. Not much change there since last time, alas.

Armbands enforcing dummy feats work and the spell lines are updated just fine with the TSLPatcher. Custom NPCs starting gear is completed too.

Basically have to go more (gaaah) of the existing (not base, individual) items and tweak (mostly refering to armors and sickly underpowered weapons) them.

Oh yeah, and finally add it all to itemcreate/itemcreatemira.2da. Which ironically enough won't take nearly as long, but I just didn't work on it yet.


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Oh well, that's it for now :D

Should drop a line before the weekend.

Cheers,

DarthCyclopsRLZ

Quick update since I'm about to leave for in about five mins.

Finally managed with Stoffe's help (well, she did the work, I did the noticing, lol) to mod the original FPs' families with the Patcher.

Meaning I'll add modded FPs and a few new ones with the mod, thus pushing back the release date a bit.

Cheers,

DC