Arcanum Arcanum Multiverse Edition

[Drog Black Tooth]

Is it impossible to make turn-based combat begin when a party member first sights a red-circle hostile instead of waiting until the hostile closes to melee range? That simple change would improve the game immeasurably.

Yeah this was often requested and well, I've found the combat init function, but still not quite sure how the game does it, does it check for range in tiles or what. I guess I'll just have to read the code step by step and figure it out.

 

[SDeden]

Remember we're adding backgrounds for full blooded orcs and ogres. Ogres are a super mutant like lesser giant race and orcs are those green skinned dudes with pig snouts.

Would like more input on these two. The first one seems too simple and somewhat overpowered, since the only real downside is that your max CN and DX caps get reduced by 2, while you get 4 extra character points. And the second one is on the contrary too complicated maybe? It works in-game, I've tried it, but it's... I dunno, feels hamfisted somewhat.

Well the Cultured Ogre should have a penalty to willpower since he is used to taking orders.

 

[Delterius]

Shouldn't both take a hefty penalty to BE as well?

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Okay, so the new high resolution patch. I'm thinking of releasing it ahead of the UAP 2.0. It seems to work fine according to the testers, DDrawCompat helps a lot on Windows 10 as well. Will probably include that wrapper as an optional INI setting.

I've also added the borders from the Russian mod to the patch, they're full borders unlike my majestic pixel perfect topless variant, so they will be installed if you choose the classic (centered) menu position. I'll eventually get around to making my own full borders, since those ruskie borders have quite a few graphical artifacts and they didn't bother to remove the shading from the top part of many UI screens. But, good things take time, maybe another day.

I'm compiling new dialog and logbook fonts today. Original font in sizes 16 and 18.

Well, and that should be that, I guess. The fuck else is there to masturbate to. 'Course once my magnificent work is all out on the Internets I'm sure some retard will make use of my 4K backgrounds support to produce some new hideous glorious main menu/options backgrounds. That's something to not look forward to.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Here's the new size 18 dialog font. Fucking beautiful, eh?

 

[vortex]

Beautiful!

 

[SDeden]

Okay, so ...

...borders unlike my majestic ...

...But, good things take time, maybe another day.

I'm compiling new dialog and logbook fonts today...

Ect...

I was bored last night and edit some pictures into theoretical portraits for Dark Elves, Ogres (males), and Orcs (males). Would you have any interest in seeing them?

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

I was bored last night and edit some pictures into theoretical portraits for Dark Elves, Ogres (males), and Orcs (males). Would you have any interest in seeing them?

Eh, sure why not. Feel free to post 'em here or just PM me.

I'd love a new portrait for Orcs, because there's literally just one in the game, even including all the pre-release builds of Arcanum that I possess.

 

[Average Manatee]

Remember we're adding backgrounds for full blooded orcs and ogres. Ogres are a super mutant like lesser giant race and orcs are those green skinned dudes with pig snouts.

Would like more input on these two. The first one seems too simple and somewhat overpowered, since the only real downside is that your max CN and DX caps get reduced by 2, while you get 4 extra character points. And the second one is on the contrary too complicated maybe? It works in-game, I've tried it, but it's... I dunno, feels hamfisted somewhat.

Cultured Ogre

You're one of those few full blooded ogres employed by some of the gnomish elite. You grew up in the city with access to certain levels of education and grooming way beyond the standards of an average wild ogre. You spent your free time reading books and trying to mimic the etiquette of your master and his peers. As are the circumstances, your master dies on the blimp but you manage to survive. You receive +4 to Intelligence and Beauty, but lose 2 points of Constitution and Dexterity.
{in +4, be +4, cn -2, dx -2}

Is base Ogre beauty low enough that people regularly attack on sight? If not then Beauty is pretty much always the dump stat and you should consider it to be IN +4 vs. CN -2 DX -2. I'd say it's balanced. INT is good for tech, but you can use potions to bypass it anyway, and if you are using INT as a caster to maintain more buffs you're pretty much breaking even on your physical stats (since buffs can add +4 to CN or DX), but with the problem of Fatigue drain and the fact that -2 DX means you can't get the 20 DX bonus (same for CN but that bonus isn't too useful). The background looks OK to me.

In general a net stat bonus in the direction a race isn't suited for is alright, bonuses that make a race even better at what they already are good at (e.g. Ogres hitting things with other things) need to be a net loss or closely balanced.

Orc Sociopath

You're scum, there's no other word to describe your nature. You exemplify everyone's stereotypes about orcs being savages. Murder and plunder is how you see your life, or to be more precise, your survival. You receive an extra -20 reaction penalty, your alignment score can never go above -40 and you cannot invest into any of the social skills. However, the irony is that you're devilishly smart and capable, you receive +3 to Intelligence and Perception and +4 ranks in all thieving skills.
{in +3, pe +3, backstab +4, pickpocket +4, prowling +4, spottrap +4, reaction -20, alignment max -400, gambling max 0, haggle max 0, heal max 0, persuasion max 0)

I assume this basically makes the game into a "kill everything if it spots you" scenario? Ehh, not my type but it makes sense that there should be a sort of "feral" option for Ogres.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Speaking of portraits, Dark Elves are currently set to pre-release Half-Elf portraits (yes, a lot of portraits got cut during the development). And yes, there's no race description yet beyond the stats. I'll probably copy paste paraphrase something from in-game books eventually. I'm still not sure if I should make them playable.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Is base Ogre beauty low enough that people regularly attack on sight?

Beauty based reaction modifier will never cause attacks on sight. Even if it goes below zero. Their base beauty is 2, so you get a lot of remarks like "they should stone you filthy ogres", etc. You get absolutely shite prices and constantly have to reassure everybody that you're not a total scum. This is what the Gentle Giant background is for, it makes the beauty reaction modifier never go negative, no matter the BE score.

Just for the record, here's the current stats of these new backgrounds (3 for ogres, 3 for orcs), I do tweak 'em constantly, still not completely happy with 'em.

Mountain Ogre

You spent your whole life in the mountains as a solitary ogre. You weren't even on the blimp, it just happened to crash near the cave you lived in. Your Beauty, Intelligence and Charisma can never go above 1, but you receive +4 to Strength, Constitution, Dexterity and one full rank in every combat skill. You start with absolutely no money and rags for clothes.
{st +4, cn +4, dx +4, be max 1, in max 1, ch max 1, bow +4, dodge +4, melee +4, throwing +4}

Cultured Ogre

You're one of those few full blooded ogres employed by some of the gnomish elite. You grew up in the city with access to certain levels of education and grooming way beyond the standards of an average wild ogre. You spent your free time reading books and trying to mimic the etiquette of your master and his peers. As are the circumstances, your master dies on the blimp but you manage to survive. You receive +4 to Intelligence and +2 tp Beauty and Charisma, but lose 4 points of Constitution and Dexterity because of your sedentary lifestyle.
{in +4, be +2, ch +2, cn -4, dx -4}

Gentle Giant

While strong as an oaf and dumb as a rock, you're also very kindhearted (Alignment +50) and people see that in your eyes. People look past your outer ugliness (Beauty based reaction modifier will never be negative) and on top of that you get +10 reaction from everyone. However, everyone will have very high expectations for you, so any reaction penalty will be multiplied five times, essentially ruining your social standing.
{alignment +500, beautyreaction min 0, reaction +10, badreactionadj *5}

Orc Sociopath

You're scum, there's no other word to describe your nature. You exemplify everyone's stereotypes about orcs being savages. Murder and plunder is how you see your life, or to be more precise, your survival. You receive an extra -20 reaction penalty, your alignment score can never go above -40 and you cannot invest into any of the social skills. However, the irony is that you're devilishly smart and capable, you receive +3 to Intelligence and Perception and +4 ranks in all thieving skills.
{in +3, pe +3, backstab +4, pickpocket +4, prowling +4, spottrap +4, reaction -20, alignment max -400, gambling max 0, haggle max 0, heal max 0, persuasion max 0)

Orc Humanist

You always were the black sheep of your tribe. You've actually read books instead of just using them to kindle bonfires. You always hoped and dreamed that orcs could be something more than what they are. And this is precisely the reason you got exiled from your own tribe. You receive +2 to Intelligence and Charisma, but -2 to Strength and Constitution and receive no combat skill bonuses like the other orcs.
{in +2, cn +2, st -2, cn -2, dodge -2, melee -2}

Orc Shaman

You were your tribe's shaman and spiritual leader before it got wiped out in a turf war and you barely managed to survive with the help of your arcane arts. You're a superstitious sorcerer who's close to nature and its mysterious way, and as such you receive +20% to magickal aptitude and +2 to Willpower, but -2 to Strength and no combat skill bonuses like the other orcs.
{magicpts +4, wp +2, st -2, dodge -2, melee -2}

And here are the base stats for these races:

Ogres: +6 ST, +20% DR, -6 IN, -6 BE (this is the only race in the game that can reach ST 26 and thus can deal the absolutely highest melee damage, for comparison Half-Ogres only get +4 ST (but -4 IN and no BE penalty) and their DR bonus is only +10%)
Orcs: +2 ST, +2 CN, -1 IN, -4 BE, -4 CN, +2 points (i.e. half rank) to each of combat skills (basically the same bonuses and penalties as Half-Orcs except doubled plus -1 to IN)

Obviously, race based and background based stat modifiers DO stack.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

And one more thing.

Arcanum actually has a racism mechanic hidden under the hood.

Basically, NPCs will have different reaction modifiers depending on what race is the PC and what race is the NPC themselves.

I've made a handy table for this:

So for example, a PC Gnome will get -10 reaction from an NPC Half Orc.

Now you might ask, what about PC Dark Elves, Ogres and Orcs? Well, since they weren't supposed to be playable originally, there's no NPC race based reaction modifiers for them. At first I just redirected their reaction modifiers to Elves, Half Ogres and Half Orcs, but that was boring. So I made the effort to expand this curious function in the code and here's their current modifiers, all my work:

Dark Elves: 5, -10, -10, 0, 0, 20, -15, -15, 20, -20, -40
Ogres: -10, -25, -15, -10, 5, -10, -5, -5, -40, 0, 0
Orcs: -10, -15, -15, -10, -10, -10, 15, 0, -40, 10, 20

Basically I took inspiration from their brethren races reaction modifiers and also from lore (like Dwarves having immense hate for Ogres, since both live in the mountains and tend to have turf wars). Orcs and (Dark) Elves are also known to hate each other.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Why is there a different reaction for dark elves? DE are just racist evil elvish supremacists, its a big plot point that they look the same.

Troika decided to include them as a separate race, for whatever reason.

In my mod they p much have the same reactions as normal Elves, with two exceptions: normal Elves hate them and other Dark Elves like them, since I believe that elves can probably tell each other apart.

 

[Average Manatee]

Mountain Ogre

You spent your whole life in the mountains as a solitary ogre. You weren't even on the blimp, it just happened to crash near the cave you lived in. Your Beauty, Intelligence and Charisma can never go above 1, but you receive +4 to Strength, Constitution, Dexterity and one full rank in every combat skill. You start with absolutely no money and rags for clothes.
{st +4, cn +4, dx +4, be max 1, in max 1, ch max 1, bow +4, dodge +4, melee +4, throwing +4}

Well a possible 30 strength is pretty insane and looks OP. That's +40 damage a hit? Throw in 24 Dex and a haste potion and I'm not sure how enemies are expected to survive. Your bare-handed attacks would be close to end-game equipped fighters of other races.

That said Arcanum isn't exactly a game about balanced combat encounter anyway, so I think there's some leeway.

Speaking of portraits, Dark Elves are currently set to pre-release Half-Elf portraits (yes, a lot of portraits got cut during the development). And yes, there's no race description yet beyond the stats. I'll probably copy paste paraphrase something from in-game books eventually. I'm still not sure if I should make them playable.

To me it makes sense to make Dark Elves the same as normal Elves w/ the Dark Elf Follower background. Of course they'll be able to take their own background if they wish. Give some of those extra relation penalties to balance out the fact that you're basically an Elf that gets two backgrounds.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Well a possible 30 strength is pretty insane and looks OP. That's +40 damage a hit? Throw in 24 Dex and a haste potion and I'm not sure how enemies are expected to survive. Your bare-handed attacks would be close to end-game equipped fighters of other races.

It's impossible to go over race based stat caps. So it's still max ST 26, DX 20.

To me it makes sense to make Dark Elves the same as normal Elves w/ the Dark Elf Follower background. Of course they'll be able to take their own background if they wish. Give some of those extra relation penalties to balance out the fact that you're basically an Elf that gets two backgrounds.

I really don't want to touch their base stats, since it will retroactively affect all NPCs in the game, including Z'an Alurin, M'in Gorad, K'an Hua, etc. But I suppose we could give them more reaction penalties and maybe an alignment cap? Like they can never be "good'? How about that?

 

[Average Manatee]

Well a possible 30 strength is pretty insane and looks OP. That's +40 damage a hit? Throw in 24 Dex and a haste potion and I'm not sure how enemies are expected to survive. Your bare-handed attacks would be close to end-game equipped fighters of other races.

It's impossible to go over race based stat caps. So it's still max ST 26, DX 20.

Ahh, k. In that case it looks alright. So backgrounds can lower your race caps but not raise them? Haven't played in a while so this kind of thing slips my mind.

To me it makes sense to make Dark Elves the same as normal Elves w/ the Dark Elf Follower background. Of course they'll be able to take their own background if they wish. Give some of those extra relation penalties to balance out the fact that you're basically an Elf that gets two backgrounds.

I really don't want to touch their base stats, since it will retroactively affect all NPCs in the game, including Z'an Alurin, M'in Gorad, K'an Hua, etc. But I suppose we could give them more reaction penalties and maybe an alignment cap? Like they can never be "good'? How about that?

Is it too much trouble to alter the stats of Dark Elf NPCs to counteract the base race stat changes and leaves them effectively the same? If so then I guess your plan works. It just feels weird thematically that they can be elves without a CN/ST penalty, since they are effectively Elves with more emphasis on magic over technology, not some martial race of elves that are geared for physical exertion. Maybe throw them some extra tech skill penalties? I don't think that matters at all for the Dark Elf NPCs in-game.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Ahh, k. In that case it looks alright. So backgrounds can lower your race caps but not raise them? Haven't played in a while so this kind of thing slips my mind.

The stat caps are quite complicated, since there's several checks at work here. Basically:
-- Normally, a stat starts at 8 and maxes out at 20.
-- Race based caps can go over 20, there are special checks for these "over 20" stat caps in the engine, fine tailored to each of the races. This is the absolute limit that can never be broken.
-- Now, here's the confusing thing. If a stat gets lowered because of race/background/curse/what have you, you can still reach the max cap with spells/blessings/potions/what have you, the only difference is that you won't be able to actually invest any more character points beyond that point and will have to rely on other means.

Is it too much trouble to alter the stats of Dark Elf NPCs to counteract the base race stat changes and leaves them effectively the same? If so then I guess your plan works. It just feels weird thematically that they can be elves without a CN/ST penalty, since they are effectively Elves with more emphasis on magic over technology, not some martial race of elves that are geared for physical exertion. Maybe throw them some extra tech skill penalties? I don't think that matters at all for the Dark Elf NPCs in-game.

Yeah, that's a good idea, more tech penalties would work, and sounds good lore wise. I could even lower their bonuses when buying tech degrees.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Didn't want to spoil this, but eh, fuck it.

I found out how to add more pre-generated characters.

Look at this lad here. He's technically an Orc, but the monster flag hides his race. He's obviously using a unique sprite and soundbank. He can use swords, bows and staves and also does custom claw damage if unarmed. Currently it's ST based normal damage and level based poison damage. He can't wear body armor but has innate resistances.

Paging DraQ.

 

[Average Manatee]

Ahh, k. In that case it looks alright. So backgrounds can lower your race caps but not raise them? Haven't played in a while so this kind of thing slips my mind.

The stat caps are quite complicated, since there's several checks at work here. Basically:
-- Normally, a stat starts at 8 and maxes out at 20.
-- Race based caps can go over 20, there are special checks for these "over 20" stat caps in the engine, fine tailored to each of the races. This is the absolute limit that can never be broken.
-- Now, here's the confusing thing. If a stat gets lowered because of race/background/curse/what have you, you can still reach the max cap with spells/blessings/potions/what have you, the only difference is that you won't be able to actually invest any more character points beyond that point and will have to rely on other means.

This actually makes some sense. Realistically if you are disfigured or injured or something you'll be unable to attain your racial maximum through nature effortl, but some sort of magic of blessings could compensate for your deficiencies and catch up to the theoretical best. Though it still doesn't make much sense that you can naturally become so strong that magic literally can't help you become stronger. If I were to remake Arcanum's mechanics I'd have it so stats start at 8, naturally cap at +10 and supernaturally cap at +12 or something.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

This actually makes some sense. Realistically if you are disfigured or injured or something you'll be unable to attain your racial maximum through nature effortl, but some sort of magic of blessings could compensate for your deficiencies and catch up to the theoretical best. Though it still doesn't make much sense that you can naturally become so strong that magic literally can't help you become stronger. If I were to remake Arcanum's mechanics I'd have it so stats start at 8, naturally cap at +10 and supernaturally cap at +12 or something.

Well, they do cap at +12. Under the hood, any character starts at 8 in everything. Races/backgrounds/curses/etc is just another layer (called "effects" in the engine, but that's unimportant). So yeah, you get to invest 12 CPs in a stat, after that you reach a cap where you can't invest any more. So technically speaking, a ST 26 ogre still has the strength of 20, it's just his race effect offsets it by +6 and his race cap special check allows for ST 26. Naturally, if he gets a stat penalty all he can do is just invest 12 CPs, so e.g. his IN is offset by -6, so he starts with IN 2 and can increase it to 14 (20 - 6) max. Past that, he has to rely on potions. And of course he can pick a background with an IN bonus to reach a higher cap.

Another special case is the "max" commands I'm using in some of these backgrounds. They just ignore everything past the new cap. So e.g. "in max 1" means that you can actually keep investing in IN but it will still be 1, you'll just waste your CPs, is all.

 

[Average Manatee]

This actually makes some sense. Realistically if you are disfigured or injured or something you'll be unable to attain your racial maximum through nature effortl, but some sort of magic of blessings could compensate for your deficiencies and catch up to the theoretical best. Though it still doesn't make much sense that you can naturally become so strong that magic literally can't help you become stronger. If I were to remake Arcanum's mechanics I'd have it so stats start at 8, naturally cap at +10 and supernaturally cap at +12 or something.

Well, they do cap at +12. Under the hood, any character starts at 8 in everything. Races/backgrounds/curses/etc is just another layer (called "effects" in the engine, but that's unimportant). So yeah, you get to invest 12 CPs in a stat, after that you reach a cap where you can't invest any more. So technically speaking, a ST 26 ogre still has the strength of 20, it's just his race effect offsets it by +6 and his race cap special check allows for ST 26. Naturally, if he gets a stat penalty all he can do is just invest 12 CPs, so e.g. his IN is offset by -6, so he starts with IN 2 and can increase it to 14 (20 - 6) max. Past that, he has to rely on potions. And of course he can pick a background with an IN bonus to reach a higher cap.

Right, but I'm saying I'd make two separate caps. Humans would naturally only be able to get up to +10 (i.e. 18 total) through hard stat point investment and would be able to get up to +12 (20) only with at least +2 bonus from magic/blessings/tech/etc. Since it makes no sense that the average human can literally become so strong that magic can't make them stronger, or so hardy that a blessing from the gods couldn't make them more resilient. Similarly an Ogre would naturally cap at 24 Strength but be boostable through supernatural means up to 26.

Of course this would just make everything even more confusing so it might be a bad idea in that sense.

Another special case is the "max" commands I'm using in some of these backgrounds. They just ignore everything past the new cap. So e.g. "in max 1" means that you can actually keep investing in IN but it will still be 1, you'll just waste your CPs, is all.

Does that include supernatural assistance?

Also can this command work in reverse to increase the cap? This would be an interesting way to get more sub-races in, since you could replicate a variant of a race through a background. Like say your Mountain Ogre actually was a different breed of Ogre and could get a slightly higher Strength cap (maybe 27)? Or you could make a Quarter-Orc background for Human that gave -1 Charisma -1 Beauty but raised the stat cap for Strength and Constitution by 1?

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Does that include supernatural assistance?

Yes, this command ignores absolutely everything. Pretty harsh, but allows for some unconventional characters.

Also can this command work in reverse to increase the cap? This would be an interesting way to get more sub-races in, since you could replicate a variant of a race through a background. Like say your Mountain Ogre actually was a different breed of Ogre and could get a slightly higher Strength cap (maybe 27)?

That command is part of the "effects" layer, it can't increase the under the hood max cap, only lower it.

But I could just uncap the stats and disable the race stat cap special check function. I've done it before, just for fun. E.g. a good way to go about it would be:
-- Set the stat caps to something unreachable, like 99.
-- Remove the race based max cap special check.
-- Use the "max" command in effects to set your own stat caps for races, backgrounds, etc.

The advantage is the game will function essentially the same, you won't be able to surpass the caps set by the "max" command, but you'll be able to set whatever caps in scripts, no need to fuck with Arcanum.exe anymore. Basically, useful for low level modders.

I'm not terribly interested in switching to such a system though, it complicates things without any tangible benefits to the end user. But I can post the engine patches if somebody else wants to go down this road.

 

[SDeden]

Eh, sure why not. Feel free to post 'em here or just PM me.

I'd love a new portrait for Orcs, because there's literally just one in the game, even including all the pre-release builds of Arcanum that I possess.

Dark Elf Females:




Dark Elf Males



Ogre (male)



Orc (male)




Just pics other people made I grabbed off the internet and did some minor editing with gimp, so just to clarify that I didn't draw any of these.

 

[agris]

Have you ever heard of aspect ratio and a concept known as "consistent art style"?

Drog, please don't use those.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Ehhhhhhh