Game Head 1996 January/Game Head January 1996.iso/addons/shadcmdl/readme.txt

Text File | 1995-10-20 | 9.8 KB | 166 lines

Universal Game Editor Module For Origin's "Shadowcaster"
Work based on UGE version 1.0 from Hartman Utilities

        This is my fourth authored module for Jack Hartman's Universal
Game Editor.  Others you may (or may not) have seen are for:
Clouds Of Xeen (New World Computing), Dark Legions (SSI), and
Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession (SSI).  With this fourth module, I have
learned, through trial and error, (mostly error) that Origin seems to have
come up with a highly unusual format of keeping track of things.
        Originally, I had intended to make it possible to give yourself
practically any item in the game through editing your inventory slots.
Unfortunately, through (once again) trial and error, I seem to have found
that Origin designed the saved game format to require that certain
conditions be met to get most items (i.e. must be on a certain level, etc.)
Therefore, it is with an unfortunately heavy heart that I surrendered that
initial concept...the game just crashed far too many times when I tried
to modify inventory slots.
        What I HAVE managed to achieve is a way to give yourself ALL of
your character's metaforms instantly, modify character resistances to
attacks in all forms enough to make yourself practically invulnerable,
modify each metaform's "Experience Level," current Hit Points, current
Power Points, and a few other related things.

        How to use the module: Fire up UGE, and pick your saved game.  The
files you want to modify are the "game.sav" in the subdirectories <S1>, <S2>,
<S3>, and <S4> in your Shadowcaster directory.  Obviously, S1 is for saved
game #1, S2 for saved game #2, etc.
        Now for the tricky part.  Once again, Origin has come up with a
VERY strange method for keeping track of nearly everything in the game.  As
near as I can figure, it works out something like this:

        Each metaform has a specific number of health points it gains
upon being promoted a level.  Experienced Shadowcaster players who have
attained some of the higher forms (like the Opsis) will note that the
number of hit points you gain upon gaining a level is NOT equal to double
the number of hit points the form started off with.  To explain a bit more
easily, you'll note that the human starts with 25 health points, and, upon
gaining a level, gains 25 more.  Another level gains 25 more.  Same with
the Maorin (although they start off with a higher number).  But the Opsis
starts off with 45, yet only gains 15 health points upon gaining a level
(actually, it's been a long time since I played, so I'm not sure that's
even correct).  This is because, you'll note if you open up your saved
game file, the Opsis starts out on level 3, which would be (15x3)=45.
Sneaky, isn't it?
        Anyway, this of course, poses a real problem with experience.
You'll note I don't have a field for actual experience POINTS.  The reason
is simple: Actual points have nothing to do with how high a level you are!
The game keeps track of how many points you have actually EARNED before it
decides to promote you a level!  Worse yet, it doesn't ADD points to your
current and maximum health score, it recalculates them!  So if you use my
program to set your human's max health to 100, then go out and kill the
initial Boleth and 2 Floros, you'll note that the "Surge of Life And Power"
actually DROPS your health & power levels to 50 (human 2nd level)!  I found
this to be really annoying.  So, naturally, I found a way around it by
allowing you to modify your experience LEVEL.  Doing so does not modify
your Health & Life points automatically, only when you GAIN a level.  In
case I'm not making any sense, don't worry.  I'm not sure I understand it
either.  But, here's the official sneaky way to get up to full power
nearly immediately:

        Start the game.  Kill the Boleth, save the game.  Exit and run the
editor.  You'll note there are six fields for "Form Active," which should
all be set to 0 at this point.  Set them all to 1.  This will make each of
the six metaforms active for use.  Yes, you still have to touch the obelisks
to get past certain portions of the mazes, but that won't affect any
changes you make to the metaforms.  Now go to each individual metaform's
"Experience Level" field and set it to 19.  (I say 19 because I don't know
if there IS any level beyond 20 for any metaform).  Exit the editor.  Go
back to the game and waste two Floros as the human.  You'll notice that
suddenly your percentage of health drops monumentally when you get the
"surge of life and power" message.  Check the bar and you'll notice that
suddenly you've got a maximum health of 500! (Level 20x25 points/level=500!)
Okay, next up, save AGAIN.  Go back to the editor and modify current H.P.
(Life) for the human AND current Power for the Human to their maximum values.
Exit the editor and go back to playing.  Shift to the Maorin.  Go kill a few
Floros with it, and when it gains the "surge," you'll note ITS Life goes up
to 700 maximum!  Save again, modify current Maorin & human H.P. and repeat
this procedure with the other metaforms.
        Question: Why does the game drop your current Life and Power
percentage so much?  When it promotes, it merely ADDS the appropriate number
to the "current" Life and Power values, rather than doing the recalculation.
Otherwise, it wouldn't reflect any damage you were currently suffering from.
        Power is a constant between forms; its maximum is always that of the
human form.  I think you'll find 500 to be pretty effective for most
applications.  After a little self-deliberation, I did figure out how much
a character gains in terms of Life per level...

Metaform:       Starts At Level:        Life Gain/Level:        Life at 20th:
Human           1                       25                      500
Maorin          1                       35                      700
Caun            2                       10                      200
Opsis           3                       15                      300
Kapha           4                       20                      400
Ssair           5                       40                      800
Grost           6                       50                      1000 (OW!)

        Okay, now that I've gotten through that, doubtless you're ready
to go through and waste everything in sight, right?  Not quite yet.  You've
STILL got to worry about that little thing called damage taken.  Sure, you
can now save any time and modify your current Hit Points to protect you
from a lot of attacks, but that's even more annoying than the level
promotion process.  So I went through and mapped out all of the Resistances.
There are 11 categories, one of which I found near the character level
details, and the other 10 secluded by themselves later in the file.  These
are:

        1.> Physical (most common attack method)
        2.> Cold
        3.> Fire
        4.> Electricity (Elec)
        5.> Death
        6.> Slow
        7.> Magic
        8.> Fear
        9.> Paralysis (Para)
        10.> Sonic
        11.> Other

        Sorry, I don't know what "Other" is, really.  All I know is there is
such a resistance, and therefore you can modify it.  Resistance in this game
is pretty simple: the number in each field is directly subtracted from any
damage of the particular type you take from each attack!  So, let's say you
run into a Floro.  Floros do about 4-8 points of Physical Damage.  So the
human, who has a Physical Resistance of 3, would take 1-5 points of damage
from a successful Floro hit.
        Each Form has its own set of resistances naturally, right up to
the Grost, who has 15 for everything.  Guess what.  That's minor resistance
with this module.  You can set EVERY resistance WAY over that and take NO
damage from practically ANY sort of attack!  Here's a hint: I set every
resistance to 40 as an experiment, and proceeded to wade through every
monster in the game without taking a single bit of damage.  Even Veste can
only do somewhere around 24 points of Magic damage in his true form.
In other words, since this game is obviously at least in part based upon
the DOOM concept, this is the equivalent of IDDQD (well, with the exception
that swimming through an acid pit or something will probably still kill you).
        Still not enough?  Want to waste everything in sight with just one
shot?  Okay.  You'll note I have listed under each character a "Weapon
Bonus" field.  Each character adds a certain amount of damage to every
hand-held weapon attack (sword, trident, whatever).  These numbers are
naturally as follows:

        1.> Human....+2
        2.> Maorin...+4
        3.> Caun.....+1
        4.> Opsis....+0
        5.> Kapha....+2
        6.> Ssair....+6
        7.> Grost...+12

        With these fields, you can modify these amounts to much greater
levels!  You can set this limit over 100...I've tested it.  Do so, and
practically anything will fall with but a few swipes of your sword (or
Trident).  Unfortunately, this does NOT affect missile weapon damage, nor
the damage caused by the attacks of magic items.  So heavy shuriken users
are out of luck.  Sorry, them's the breaks.
        Anyway, despite the shortcomings in the inventory department, I
think you'll find this module to be extremely helpful in your exploration of
the worlds of Shadowcaster.  Please send any comments, complaints, flames,
or whatever to [e-mail].  But, once again, please...no requests.
Not every game is editable, and I don't have every game that's out there.
        Future plans: My next target (assuming it works) will most likely
be SSI's "Menzoberranzen." (Try pronouncing THAT five times fast!)  Until
then, good luck, and good hunting!

                                -Dave Melanson ([e-mail])