Karstedt

I must have been thinking of another game when I thought the perks were predetermined somewhere. I could find the table I thought I was referring to. But I made a script mod you can try out that will reset the desired unit. I have not tested it beyond verifying that it works though. So it may have unintended consequences during the campaign. You must use the command console, but the function eliminates the need for multiple commands and knowing unitID's. I will upload it to the files section, it's called ResetUnitMod_S2 and it's waiting for admin approval.

Upon closer examination, I think that my attempts to "extract" existing dialog may have been misguided by the "Export" option in the editor on the the dialog tab. I found the table that looks to have all of the dialog information, so there is no need for me to export it. BlunterII: Those instructions for importing are much better and more concise than the earlier post I found where you were asking exactly how to do that though. So good info. Thanks.

Does anyone remember how to extract and modify dialog files? The detailed instructions appear to have only been on the old Nival forum. When I try to extract, I get an error: "[Microsoft][ODBC Excel Driver] '(unknown)' is not a valid path. Make sure that the path name is spelled correctly and that you are connected to the server on which the file resides." The only info I've found in old posts is people having trouble when the ODBC driver is not correctly labeled "Excel Files". That is not my problem. Is it looking for an existing file somewhere that I have to make?

The game's DB is so vast, and IMHO poorly labeled. That, combined with the not so friendly editor and work required to actually get something in the game (with out using console commands to load things), send most people packing. It's a shame too, because with a better editing/mod system in place, I think there could have been a lot of content even though the community was never very big. If adding a random encounter map had been as easy as just making the map, we would probably have dozens more.

I'm wondering the same thing. I don't know if it's possible to get the editor to function with a newer version of SQL. I remember trying to get it working with a version of SQL other than the MSDE included on the disc, but with no success. UPDATE: I've got the editor up and running on Windows 7 using SQL 2005 Express SP4 (the 2008 version uses a different service name than MSSQLSERVER, which is what the editor looks for). I haven't actually done anything other than start it up the first time and it seems to have mounted the default game DB just fine. When installing SQL 2005, just make sure you select "default instance" when that option comes up, and when it asks about administration/security (or something like that) select the "SQL Server Authentication" and specify "sa" as the login and "simple" as the password (because that's what the editor will use). If it won't let you, and forces you to choose "Windows Authentication", then you'll have to grab the 2005 Management Studio Express as well so you can connect to the DB and change the authentication mode after installing. I'll probably dink around with it in a week or so to see if it actually "works" and update again.

I've said the same thing, each of the three times I've gone back to that gem over the years. I probably played it through 10 times total. The first Mass Effect game is the only comparable title for me. They are my all time favorites. I had such high hopes that ME2 would head a little more in DX direction with character development, but instead when the other way, just like DX2 deviated from DX. DX2 pales in comparison to DX BTW. If you like the world, it's alright to play through to get the story and such. But I never went back for seconds.

I was so glad when all those years ago when I heard Sergey retook control of Nival. But nothing much has come of it IMHO. They are caught in the HoMM franchise and various C titles, and have not seemed to put any effort back into A (or B) list turn-based strategy, which in my opinion was what they were great at (merely lacking the polish of a developer with more resources). I'm guessing the company got more or less gutted in American hands and there wasn't much left for him to "restore" when he regained control. It's always sad to see a great or promising developer squashed under the corporate boot. You must loathe Bioware then. They've been demanding $7-15 for their 15 minutes of DLC content.

Glad you figured out what was going on. But yeah, the damage constant multiplier is what you were looking for. Setting it to 8 would probably result in one shot kills from just about any weapon.

Well ,I know you can change their auto selections (can't remember which table those are in). I don't know if leaving those blank would work, or just leave them with no perks and no points. I too found that very annoying. I usually use the console to de-level then re-level those guys.

Possible how? Obviously, with coding changes, I believe the engine could handle it. As for modding it in... If you could work out a way to use "suppression" as a hit location, make that hit location do fractional or no damage, but have a really high instance of a critical that reduces AP temporarily, you might be able to make it work. It would probably look funny though, as the target would pelted but take no damage. I think it's time for a new engine though. Us turn based tactical gamers have been ignored for a long time now.

The English Nival forum has been down for me for over a year. I just get the database error message when trying to load it. The Russian one works fine, but I can't read Russian.

At some point, I modded the campaign to give all of the starting clues (3 for Allie, 4 for Axis) when you begin a new game (so you can do every mission), but have since forgotten how I did it. I ran through the EBase and GBase scripts thinking that was where they were doled out, but couldn't find it. They only seem to contain the triggers for displaying the clue you have been randomly assigned. Can anyone remember where exactly the random starting clues are triggered? Is it done via script, dialog, or is it hard coded? I may have just created a few clue objects and dumped them in the base... but I thought I modified a script somewhere.

Does anyone know where I can find S2Differ?

If memory serves, there are two way to accomplish that goal... one of which requires no combat. I can't remember for sure if there are enough uniforms to outfit all of your squad at that point in the game, you may have to leave one person behind... or don't have them brandish any weapons (some missions will leave you alone without a uniform as long as you have no weapon visible, I think).

If memory serves, yes. You have to kill the pilot though, and since he regenerates you need a "death" critical or use a weapon that will hurt him a lot, but the suit only a little. Translation: You need to keep shooting him in the head and hope for a kill shot (try using a ray weapon), or use a mine or grenade with very high penetration so it will kill him without destroying the suit.

I recently tried re-installing and ran into this problem as well. After much frustration I finally tried running the setup.exe from the cd in windows 2000 compatibility mode, and viola... it installed. Strange because I have 2 very similarly configured computers and only one of them had this problem.

I too would be interested in figuring out how some of the mods work. Particularly because I'd like to fix the proximity grenades in the ET mod, and also strip out the video stuff so I can use D3DWindower with it. What/where is Mok's exe? I don't think I've seen that one yet. Bomb Bloke, do you think you could add the ability to compare exe's and report (IE list what offsets are different) the changes? A decent hex editor would probably do that for me, but I don't have one.

Ok, here is what I'm trying to do. I'm creating a perk panel for the ninja class (IE Shade) and I want to basicaly make it a copy of the scout panel with just a few modifications. So I've created the interface, but it's blank and I don't want to have to manually figure out how to reproduce the darn thing. I would much rather just make it a duplicate of the scout panel and edit from there. Does anyone know how to do this? I read a post in the nival forum where someon said they did it my manual reproduction, but nothing on making a copy. I imagine it's just a matter of figuring out where the actual data for the layout is stored and linking to it... Anyway, If I figure it out I'll post the solution. Edit: Got it. here's how it's done 1) Create a new perk panel - This is easily accomplished by copying the entry for the panel you wish to start with in the UIContainers table. In this case, I copied entry 367 (the scout panel) to my new entry (defaults to 1000001 for most). 2) Copy the layout to the new panel - This was what I had a little snag on. But I found that the actual layout data is in the UIControls table. So I filtered by UIContainerID 367 (the scout panel ID) and copied all of the entiries. Then change the UIContainerID to your new panel (in this case 1000001). Now you basically have a duplicate perk panel ready to be modified. 3) Create the tree structure for the panel - This defines the perk progression. You can filter the RPGPerkTreeNodes for the PerkTreeID that corrosponds to the perk table you are copying (in this case 6 for the scout progression). After copying every entry just change the PerkTreeID to a new value (I used 7). 4) Link the appropriate class to the new panel - In the RPGClasses table change the value for PerkTreeID to the new progression table value, 7. Then change the PerksPanel value to your new panel, 1000001. Now there should be an exact duplicate of a perk panel linked to the class, and you can change it however you want. I haven't covered the details on how to customize the panel as that is availible in a few other posts. This just covers how to create a new panel to play with by copying an existing one, thus eliminating the chorse of trying to create one from scratch.

Anyone know what exactly causes the Colt 45 clip to get filed on the rifle tab? I think it may have something to do with the DeLisle using the same clip, and somehow the default status links it to that weapon. If I re-load the ammo into the Colt 45 and then place the new ammo in the safe, it will go under pistol though. Basically, I'm wondering is anyone has found a fix for this, or do I just need to create a seperate clip for the DeLisle to keep this from happening.

I've bumped into several table that look like they will do something cool, but seem to have no effect. Like "RPGDmgToArmors" looks as if it effects how much damage certain weapon types do to armors, or how much damage the armor absorbe from certain weapons.... or something along those line. But I've fiddled with the values, even pushing them to extremes with no results. Lowering VP's is pretty tough, I think I've head of a way to do it but don't remeber. An easier thing to do is to just increase damage. In S2 there is a value in the "DifficulyConstants" tablle called something like DamMod, or FoeDamMod.... it scales with level being at 1 at impossible. if you set it to 3, weapons would effectively do 3 times as much damage (IE a backwards approach at lowering VP's. In S3 I know there is an "RPGHLs" table, I'm pretty sure that the cross value between "Any" and DmgMod" is the equivilant value. Haven't tested that though

I was wondering if anyone else has had trouble with getting the bad guys to drop the right clip with thier weapon? More specifically, I added a 10-round pistol clip for the Mauser 1926. Everything work fine, but the bad guys (at least in random encounters) equipped with M.712's are dropping my new 1926 clip instead of their original M.712 clip. I'm beggining to think this is a scripted scaling issue: IE those mobs normally carry the 1926 model, but get upgraded to the M.712 in higher level encounters. If anyone knows where the problem lies, plese let me know so I can fix it. Thanks. EDIT: Funny how writing out a problem can inspire the solution. Anyway, I'll leave this up in case anyone has a similar problem. Solution: Mobs in S3 use "LootInstances" in some cases for thier equipment. So I dug through the "LootInstances" and found a couple entries where the 1926 clip was paired with the M.712, and viola... problem solved. For anyone interested, the entry is in the "Perss" table under the "WeaponInHand" and "WeaponInBackpack" columns. The values represent a "ChestID" which is in turn linked to a "LootInstances".