As I’ve been learning Usecode C a bit, I’ve been tinkering with smaller changes that would fit into SIfixes. As mentioned in other threads, the mod isn’t intended for plot restorations, but to fix things that were included but broken, or would otherwise enable code that is not triggered in the game.
The first step is to check what remains unfixed, and then check what would be worth fixing vs. the amount of work/code required. Due to the way Usecode works, sometimes seemingly-small items would be significant work to implement. For example, unless there is an existing check for a flag in an NPC’s conversation, you can’t simply add a new option to the existing code.
The prior threads for suggestions are the call for submissions and the prior SIfixes recompile. I quoted ideas below from the newer thread.
// Pending Testing or Approval //
Gwani Cloak Check – Malignant Manor created a fix that would allow at least one of the Gwani (or more?) to gaze upon you with hate if you are wearing or carrying the pelt of their race. If it works it might be nice to expand it to all of the talking Gwani.
Strange Objects – The Equipment Scroll is re-ordered to reflect the order the companions join the party. So the items are now in the order of the Avatar, Shamino, Dupre, and Iolo. The spacing is also changed so the authors listed don’t push the text down.
Conversations – Delin can be asked about Batlin if you asked Jendon about daemon artifacts. It’s humorous and also adds conversation about the Pikemen.
Conversations – Edrin’s responses about his dreams change after the dream crystal is destroyed. It contributes to the game’s somber mood.
Curing Neyobi – Once she is cured and woken up, she will follow a new schedule, since there wasn’t one set in the original game. Her conversation does not change but has been re-implemented.
Conversations - Marsten can be accused once you read the scroll signed by him as Lord of Monitor, as found in the Goblin King's treasure room.
Pomdirgun’s Death – If the Goblin King is dead when you read Marsten's scroll in the treasure room, flag 204 (0xCC) will be set to indicate the Goblin King is dead. Once set, it changes or adds conversation with Harnna, Shazzana, Standarr, Templar, Brendann, Caladin, and also looks to add a bark about it to Brendann. No one outside of Monitor checks this, so the dialog of Fawn’s folks won’t change.
Strange Objects - Kylista can be asked about the Breastplate of Beauty even if Jendon or Standarr already told you she owns it. Once she has it back flag 660 stays permanently set.
// New Open Issues //
Strange Objects – In SIfixes, which re-instates the Strange Coins dialog options, the conversation option is not “removed” when you ask Harnna about it. This is not an SIfixes bug, it only exposes an original Origin bug. Possible closed-wont-fix.
Pomdirgun’s Death – Similar to the original Origin bug with Harnna and the Strange Coins, if Flag 204 is set you can repeatedly ask Standarr about Pomdirgun. Possible closed-wont-fix.
Fawn Trial – Shouldn't the three spawned guards turn to face the Oracle when everyone else does? And shouldn't the gatekeeper guard always be facing the defendant?
Fawn Trial – It is still possible to enter with weapons in-hand. I only tested the second session.
Strange Objects – Where do Iolo’s torches go? What got exchanged for the ice wine? In the Beta, for the wine it was the map of Britannia.
NPCs – There’s a handful of NPCs that never get the Met flag set, including one of the Gwani.
NPCs – The automatons guarding Skullcrusher’s entry, exit, and golden doors have dialog, but are all stuck in Waiting. Changing them to Standing would require map edits, as well as potentially some new code to trigger when the Avatar approaches.
Strange Objects – It’d be nice if someone comments when Rudyom’s Wand is found in Skullcrusher. It might be bordering on an enhancement to have a quick conversation between party members about Erstam taking it as his own, the crazy old man that he is.
Fawn Tower – The junk cleanup does not touch the basement, so while the above-ground area is spotless, the jail below looks like a Goblin camp.
// Other Open Issues //
Did the fix by Malignant Manor get included in newer versions?Troughs can be emptied by buckets, but not filled back up. (Original SI problem)
This might require an egg and a map edit.Strange Objects - It'd be nice if someone from the party makes a comment on the original spellbook when discovered.
Julia’s code in Func0417_07C8 is missing a line to set the gflag. Flag 663 is set by Ernesto and Melina, with Ernesto even referring you to Julia, who confirms it was from the winery. Julia’s code is just under 600 lines long, but might be worth fixing as part of the Selenia / Fishnet Stockings subplot.Strange Objects - The entry for ice wine on the list is not updated even after I speak about it to Julia in Moonshade.
Ducio says it was one of his first masterpieces, and that it belonged to Vasculio. Yet Erstam insists it was rightfully his, and takes it back. Though the equipment scroll indicates it was his, if you ask him about it without having it in the party, Erstam says “That item resembles one of my laboratory apparati -- but I don’t recall that anything is missing...” I lean towards this being Vasculio’s, and it should be solved by finding Rudyom's Wand. The equipment exchange at Erstam’s is the dagger being replaced by the severed hand.Strange Objects - Erstam still claims the lab apparatus belongs to him, even though Ducio says that it is Vasculio's and the hand is what was exchanged from Erstam. Also, while Ducio says it belongs to Vasculio, the list also says it is Erstam's.
In the Beta, Iolo has the map of Britannia and gets the ice wine in exchange rather than the Avatar. I’ve read that Julia is supposed to say the map disintegrated, but don’t see that in her release code, only in the Beta. What would probably make more sense would be to swap Iolo’s torches instead, but I don’t know how to change the storm around so he gets the wine.Strange Objects - By the way, have you considered adding the map of Britannia to be exchanged with the bottle of ice wine? I know the displayed map is hardcoded, but you could instead have one of the party members commenting that a map of Britannia will be of little use in Serpent Isle.
I’ve gotten half the code done but the number slider isn’t working for me. Each riddle is its own function, so shouldn’t be too difficult, 0x824. One of the riddles has an incorrect spelling for “correct”.Silver Seed - The answer to the last dragon's riddle in Silver Seed is wrong. It should be 13, but the game accepts only 14. This is the riddle about grabbing bundles of cloth with three different patterns while needing to make five identical dresses. Worst case is 4+4+5=13.
In the Beta this teleporter landed you back outside of Pothos' first floor, leaving you to find the Wall that opens to get back inside. Should be a simple thing to add. The Beta has better loot, including a breastplate, firedoom staff, lightning whip, fire sword, an infinity bow, along with magic leggings, boots, and gauntlets. The output location of the teleporter is 2265, 1919 or 0x8D9, 0x77F. At the very least adding a teleporter egg should be simple enough.Map Edit - The staircase to Pothos' apothecary conceals a secret door, and beyond that there is another secret door with a teleporter behind it. This leads to a gridiron football-themed secret area which has some goodies, enemies and a nonfunctional teleporter. I think making this teleport you back outside the apothecary would be the logical spot, since the teleporters in other secret areas also return you close to the well-hidden entrance teleporter.
Doesn’t SIfixes handle this?Strange Objects - A minor thing, but it would be nice if you could mention the fur cap to Frigidazzi once you find out it belongs to her.
I think this is now fixed.Would it be possible to prevent Vibrate spell from making magic users drop spells?
Map Edit - Get yourself into prison in Moonshade (either by getting arrested or casting Telekinesis on the secret door), then cast Fetch on the key on the desk, unlock the cell door with it and step into the teleporter. An easy fix for this would be to place the key inside the desk.
In the 2007-10-02 version (with the Serpent Isle Fixes), you can have the seance with Mortegro at noon. I thought you had to wait until Midnight for that?
Having the nocturnal encounter with Frigidazzi while Serpent Bond is active really messes up the game.No! Leave than on! That magnificent perversion cant be lost to younger generations. Making the MageLord and Frigidazzi comment on it would be nice.
This would require re-writing both of them to fix this, so a lot of work for not quite as much payoff.Mortegro and Bucia do not acknowledge Rotoluncia's death in their dialogues. This is especially glaring with Mortegro since he takes over her seat in the council.
List Field - The List Field still at times has problems. When training the NPC's, they will fight, but if the fight lasts for too long (not enough damage dealt to one of them), the person they were fighting, will wander off, and the NPC will continue to chase them, but the other person will not fight back, thus
the event will never end.
List Field - The List Field in Monitor has a couple of issues. First, one of the trainers may slip out the open door while your party member leaves the arena. After that the only way to get him/her back there is hack mover.
List Field - Second issue comes up if you go training when it's almost 12, 3 or 6 o'clock.
The trainer you picked can leave while the entering animation plays, and then
you're stuck.
Might be a little tricky since while he’s Windrunner in the conversation, his NPC Name is Sonar.NPCs - Would it be too hard to make Windrunner's name show up once you talk to Morghrim about him?It would be quite easy, yes, and quite in the spirit. I've added it to the list.
This would require some small code for a scroll and a map edit to place it, but would help any new players.Silver Seed - for the last part of Silver Seed, offer a better in-game clue to how to reach that sadistically tough-to-find basement. Perhaps a clue from Elyssia or a book in the library.
This would require some code to check if the party has the items along with some Barks, and an egg placed on the map.Also, a mention by the companions to keep the blackrock serpents and Ophidian sword with you for the last part of the game.
Doesn’t the scroll on Gustacio’s body tell you to use the Flux Analyzer on the Sword?If you use flux analyser on the Black Sword or maybe the other way around, you get a mysterious sound effect... okay, a better way to state the problem: flux analyser + sword = weirdness, no matter if you do it *right* or *wrong*. I can never remember what effect I'm supposed to see when the sword is properly fixed, and if I spend 10 minutes hacking at the Banes, the thought slowly creeps in my mind that *maybe* I didn't fix the sword properly after all.
// Closed Issues //
Tested okay.Strange Objects - Mortegro does not acknowledge that I have the severed hand in my inventory when I speak to him about it.
// Enhancement Ideas – Outside of Scope of SIfixes //
Strange Objects – There is an unused subplot to find Shmed’s co-conspirator, the author of the scroll found on his body. Flag 123 allows asking Harnna, Jendon, Bucia, and then Alyssand and Julia about them. Since Julia’s code is buggy you can’t then ask Frigidazzi about her former friend Selenia. I have a working mod for finding the stockings and setting the flag. The subplot is kind of a let-down because you only learn the truth once you’re in Moonshade, and can never confront Selina about them, though you can mention them to her if Flag 122 is set. Also, existing conversation leads to asking Flindo but he doesn’t have any related code.
NPC Difficulty – In the Beta Shmed has armor similar to plain Pikemen, making him more challenging. It’s also a convenient way to re-arm your party early in the game.
I agree, she’s weak and summoning magic gremlins is pretty sad for a Mage who wishes to control daemons.NPC Difficulty - Rotoluncia's such a wimp that I can't imagine how she managed to kidnap one of the companions. Beef her up a little so she'd put up a bit more of a fight. Give her a couple of automaton lackeys, too.
Changing their conversations would require re-implementing them, as we can’t just append conversation options.Silver Seed - This last point goes a bit beyond bug fix. In Silver Seed Surok the healer asks you to bring back the body of Ardiniss, if you happen to find it. Tsandar also laments on his body being lost. Adding a small sidequest to recover the body would be nice. I would be content with just a few lines of additional dialogue and perhaps a couple hundred experience points as a reward.
Post-Banes - How about having Tsander or maybe even butthead Wilfred being able to train Dexterity + Combat in addition to training str + combat? I hated the fact that you can't train Dex anymore after the Banes massacre. Having a mage in Moonglow (Fedabiblio perhaps) train int + magic would be nice too.
That would be a monstrous project because Flag 4 is the single most important flag in the game. A more reasonable change would be to fix the remaining living NPCs to change their conversation to reflect the events.Post-Banes - How about not having everybody die off after the banes are released, adding new dialog to reflect the madness that is going on, gradually restoring order in the cities after the banes are defeated, and… Well, that should be enough for now. Wouldn't want to ask for too much or anything.
I’ve not seen this issue.Some plaques in fawn are unreadable even when I click (it doesn't show)
Or maybe join the party to return to Monitor?It always bothered me that after you restored Cantra to lucidity, you could never (really) talk to her afterwards. I suggest that she lets you train Dexterity afterwards, as. After all, she seems to be a swift little cat, dodging Batlin left and right.
It should have a conversation about Cantra Madness because, it's not evident to know which water to use on her. And, if we can take her back to Monitor and change Harnna's conversation.
Remove the ability to use the ritual blooding device on undead. It might be a better idea to disallow the use of that kind of thing (poison & sleep potions for example) on non-party members while there is a gump open, and treat it as an attack to see if it succeeds in combat.As far as the blood-letting device goes, I'd guess that it would be reasonable to require that it can be used only on the person holding it (or someone paralyzed or asleep) -- it is a *ritual* blood-letting device, after all. The idea of requiring it to be an attack while in combat is feasible too.
The town guards, pikemen etc, get kinda piled up in little knots telling each other to "stand aside!" Maybe that's an exult thing though.
Did Malignant Manor’s code ever get included or converted to Usecode C? Shmed, the three Banes, Hazard, Rotoluncia’s Messenger, the Goblin King, the Fawn Tower Goblins, Lydia, Pibb the Invisible Pikeman, Selina, Kalen, Furnace automaton gladiators, the Death Knight, more.Some npcs with the tournament flag don't give xp when logically they should. The usecode for the npc or shape kills it and says not to award xp. This probably happens with more npcs (or all killed that have the tournament flag).
A number of these are missing or incomplete from the BG form, such as blacksmithing does not use tongs or sword blanks?Business Activities - I'd really enjoy if some of the minor things were able to be fixed, such as npc activities like eating at inn/waitering, reliably turning on and off light sources, and fixing spent light sources.
Thank you to Dominus for updating this.There's a bug in the original usecode where only one jawbone is recognized. This happens with the the iris door and the gates (function 0x7df).
