A Few questions on modding

[regret]

Hi guys,

I am sort of interested in modding some stuff. I figured I will start with modding individual nations(units and equipment) first than later spells.

My main goal will be to eventually create Forgotten realms nations and also DnD type spells and magic items.

I have started some work on the nations and so far its been ok.

My main questions are

a: would it be possible to completely replace the magic items with self-created items or can i only mod them?

b: can i totally replace the spells ingame with my own spells?

c: can i change the name of the spell schools? Plan is to use traditional DnD spell schools. this is more for flavor and also to make it easier for me to organise where the spells are supposed to go.

Thanks for any answers in advance.

[Sombre]

So far magic item modding is very limited - just what you see in the modding manual.

You can make new spells and put the old ones out of the way by giving them impossible path requirements (like Holy 6), yes. So you can have all the spells in the game be your own.

You can't change the name of the spell schools, although you could head each of them up with a level 0 spell which had a name like EVOCATION or whatever all in caps and would make it clear what the school was at the top of the screen.

[regret]

assuming i place the spells out of the way, they would still appear in the spell list correct? just that the player would never be able to access them.

hmm, the spell school issue i can live with in the long run.
I guess i will just work on refining the heroes and units and nations first.

btw, anyone know if it would mess up the game spell AI if i were to replace the spells?

[Sombre]

You could put them all in the holy school, then they wouldn't be on the research lists, although when someone with holy magic tried to cast a ritual they might all be on that list, which wouldn't be ideal.

Or you could give them the school of -1 which is 'cannot be researched' - I think that removes them from the game, but it might not. Give it a try.

The game spell AI seems to cope with new spells,.. sort of. I have no idea what would happen if you replaced all the spells. My guess is it would be ok though.

[Gandalf Parker]

It sounds like a mod to turn the entire game into another game. Those usually dont show up until a game is older, but then again it sounds like this mod might take that long.

The AI has a list of spells to work thru with weighted values. I think that a new spell would end up at the end with the "everything else selected randomly". Im not sure if there is a small percentage chance to select "anything" further down on the list. Or maybe one of the modders might stumble on an undocumented value to assign a weight to a spell. Actually, with Johan they arent like they are secret. Its more of a "oh I forgot to tell you" value. Thats what makes hacking so much fun (pulling the text straight from the game and playing with undocmented variables)

[regret]

well, since i am starting from scratch and sort of balancing the units and nations against each other only, its not that bad. My intention is to only use the FR nations against each other and not the vanilla nations.

I figure i would just do the nations, gods and units first.

once i get that done, i can try to dabble with the spells and magic items, perhaps with the help of some of the people from this forum.

will update once i get more done, so far i am still sorting which nations i want to do first and what units to place in there.

[llamabeast]

In my small tests I've found the AI to be quite good at using new spells. At least, my Tomb Kings priests are making good use of their national holy spells to buff their troops.