MM7 skill emphasis mod (#1)

[tnevolin]

Hello, fellow players!

This is my version of MM7 skill emphasis mod. Similar to what I did for MM6: https://www.celestialheavens.com/forum/topic/17131.

README: https://github.com/tnevolin/mm7-skill-e ... /README.md
INSTALLATION: https://github.com/tnevolin/mm7-skill-e ... llation.md

Enjoy and feedback!

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Still in balance testing phase but looks good so far.

[Tomsod]

From just browsing the readme: the Perception change is pretty clever! In my mod it just improves corpse looting for now, but I wanted to have more dungeon stuff that depends on this skill, so I might steal your idea. Although, did you encounter any secret doors which would completely block progress if the party cannot open them?

Also, a heads-up: you mentioned the shield spell regarding all your monsters shooting arrows, but it actually doesn't work in vanilla MM7 and the patch doesn't fix it either! All other sources of half missile damage do work, and can stack to great effect, just not the party-wide buff.

[tnevolin]

From just browsing the readme: the Perception change is pretty clever! In my mod it just improves corpse looting for now, but I wanted to have more dungeon stuff that depends on this skill, so I might steal your idea. Although, did you encounter any secret doors which would completely block progress if the party cannot open them?

Thanks. I like it too. Feel free to use.


Did not understand about blocking progress. You can pump perception as high as you need to open these doors and return back.

By my memory, the only door that can trap you is the one in tidewater caverns if you jump off the ship. Then there is no return.

Also, a heads-up: you mentioned the shield spell regarding all your monsters shooting arrows, but it actually doesn't work in vanilla MM7 and the patch doesn't fix it either! All other sources of half missile damage do work, and can stack to great effect, just not the party-wide buff.

Oh. Didn't know that. Let me fix it.

What other sources work? Just to understand where to look for the problem.

[Tomsod]

Did not understand about blocking progress. You can pump perception as high as you need to open these doors and return back.

As an extreme example, a party of 4 Paladins would be restricted to Novice Perception, and some areas require 40 skill IIRC. Even with Psychic and Scout hirelings that's a tall order! Granted, every class can at least learn Perception in vanilla, so it's never literally impossible.

By my memory, the only door that can trap you is the one in tidewater caverns if you jump off the ship. Then there is no return.

Yes, that one definitely should be an exception!

Oh. Didn't know that. Let me fix it.

What other sources work? Just to understand where to look for the problem.

Everything but the spell. The code that checks them begins at 0x43a4e9.

[tnevolin]

As an extreme example, a party of 4 Paladins would be restricted to Novice Perception, and some areas require 40 skill IIRC. Even with Psychic and Scout hirelings that's a tall order! Granted, every class can at least learn Perception in vanilla, so it's never literally impossible.

Ah, you mean this. There are plenty ways for people to hurt themselves.

By my memory, the only door that can trap you is the one in tidewater caverns if you jump off the ship. Then there is no return.

Yes, that one definitely should be an exception!

Why? A player should keep a backup save and learn to save before dungeon.

What other sources work? Just to understand where to look for the problem.

Everything but the spell. The code that checks them begins at 0x43a4e9.

Fixed it by recasting shield on each player.

[Tomsod]

Ah, you mean this. There are plenty ways for people to hurt themselves.

Yet one of my design guidelines is to avoid making such challenge parties impossible or unreasonably difficult (beyond what one can expect from playing four Knights, for example), so I care! I think the WIP version of my mod is in fact significantly more four-Knight-accessible than vanilla at this point, ha ha.

Why? A player should keep a backup save and learn to save before dungeon.

That's actually what the autosave already does, but I'd still rather not force anyone to reload. Depends on how much one is willing to babysit their players, I suppose.

Fixed it by recasting shield on each player.

This means it won't stack with the potion, which is probably for the best as MM7 has way too many half missile damage sources already.

[tnevolin]

Yet one of my design guidelines is to avoid making such challenge parties impossible or unreasonably difficult (beyond what one can expect from playing four Knights, for example), so I care! I think the WIP version of my mod is in fact significantly more four-Knight-accessible than vanilla at this point, ha ha.

Four Paladins can raise their perception to 10 each to combine to 40. Other option is to edit max perception required in game.
Which map requires 40?

That's actually what the autosave already does, but I'd still rather not force anyone to reload. Depends on how much one is willing to babysit their players, I suppose.

This is no different from wandering into dungeon unprepared and get slaughtered by monsters. We can make an exception, no biggie.

Fixed it by recasting shield on each player.

This means it won't stack with the potion, which is probably for the best as MM7 has way too many half missile damage sources already.

I believe most party-player spells behave this way: bless, heroism, ...

[Tomsod]

Four Paladins can raise their perception to 10 each to combine to 40. Other option is to edit max perception required in game.
Which map requires 40?

No, no, I was talking about vanilla and my mod, it's okay in yours precisely because of the combination feature.

The required perception per map is the 6th column of mapstats.txt, except you need to double it to get the required skill. Many endgame locations have 20 (= 40 skill), I just don't remember if they have notable secret doors.

I believe most party-player spells behave this way: bless, heroism, ...

In MM6, yes. In MM7, only Bless, Hammerhands, and Preservation mass-cast as four single-player buffs; many other party-wide spells have single-player duplicates, but those are only used for potions (and often stack with the spell version).

[cthscr]

Yet one of my design guidelines is to avoid making such challenge parties impossible or unreasonably difficult (beyond what one can expect from playing four Knights, for example), so I care! I think the WIP version of my mod is in fact significantly more four-Knight-accessible than vanilla at this point, ha ha.

Four Paladins can raise their perception to 10 each to combine to 40. Other option is to edit max perception required in game.
Which map requires 40?

[In vanilla MM7] There are checks in D17 and D35 (this one isn't a door but a timer) that requires GM 40 of Perception or DisarmTraps. Grep Grayface's decompiled scripts for 'CheckSkill'.

[Tomsod]

The first one requires GM 40 in Perception and Disarm Traps (on the same PC), so it's literally impossible to pass. Both of them only disable some trap damage, anyway.