Modding TES Arena (and Battlespire?)

[Moonrise]

I've restored the lost level of Stonekeep... to the best of my ability. This mod may be a bit buggy, so please let me know if you encounter any problems.

Update: now that I know how to edit map triggers, I've incorporated that into the mod.

 

[Moonrise]

Big, big find today. Maps are still compressed and a mystery, but there are a few things preceding them that aren't. Short story: it's possible to add any number of triggers (text popups, riddles, sounds, keys), and locks. Long story: it requires the kind of calculations Bester was talking about. That is, in the MIF file, the two characters after LEVL describe how many characters follow until the next LEVL, if there is one. And it's the same thing after TRIG, and so forth. It's nested, so if you increase the number of triggers, you have to increase two values--TRIG, and LEVL. I can't believe I got this working. From there you can add stuff to the INF. You could fill a level with a god damned novel's worth of descriptive text, if you wanted.

 

[Moonrise]

Here's a vid of an Arena speedrunner doing a blind run of the Stonekeep mod. Spoilers, obviously. So don't watch if you plan on playing.

 

[Moonrise]

This is a wild discovery, and I'm pretty sure I'm crazy for having unraveled it.

Essentially... there are 8 possible variations on any of the 18 classes. The ability to use magic, crit, or do both, is in there twice. Changes to spell points or crit multiplier appears baked into the class. So a Mage will always be at x2 INT (if he's a spellcaster), whereas someone who ordinarily doesn't use magic, if you give them the ability, it will be 1.75. Clones are possible, but unfortunately they share proficiencies, and there would be no way to distinguish between them in the selection screen.

Point is, I can redo the roster. A Ranger with spellcasting? Easy peasy.

 

[eric__s]

Can you create classes from whole cloth, or are they hard-coded?

 

[Moonrise]

Can you create classes from whole cloth, or are they hard-coded?

Not whole cloth, but close. I can edit class names (which can be of an arbitrary length), XP requirements, hit die, weapon and armor proficiencies, lockpicking skill, spellcasting, and the ability to crit. What I can't do is change advantages/disadvantages, and this includes slight changes to spell points and critical multipliers.

If you mean to ask if I can add or subtract from the number of classes, no. Modding Arena is too heavy handed to even consider something like custom classes as they exist in the later Elder Scrolls games. In fact, when I finish this class mod, I'm going to strongly suggest that it be used only on a separate install.

 

[deuxhero]

Is Nightblade really as good as it appears to be relative to other classes?

 

[Moonrise]

Is Nightblade really as good as it appears to be relative to other classes?

They have a very limited selection of weapons. Worse, they can only wear leather, which has no upgrades and can't be enchanted. So they're squishy, relying probably on the illusion spells they cast at half cost.

 

[eric__s]

Is Nightblade really as good as it appears to be relative to other classes?

I'm late to the party, but the nightblade class' biggest advantage is that illusion spells cost half as much. If you plan on using a lot of illusion spells, I guess I'd go with them, but bards are very, very similar but get a larger selection of equipment, more hit points and have the same level of thieving abilities and critical hit rates. Then there are spellswords, who are even better casters and have even more hit points, but drop the thief stuff. Nightblades are pretty specialized, I don't think they're that good unless you really intend on using a lot of illusion spells. I bet they're good for speed runs.

 

[Moonrise]

After many unexpected issues, bugs beyond belief, the class mod is done. All new classes. I hope you'll enjoy it.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I've never played the game but your work on this is fascinating to watch, so props to you.

 

[Moonrise]

A friend of mine, who bug tested the class mod for me, discovered something astonishing. The game saves a decompressed copy of the current map your character is in. This can be replaced independently of the rest of your saved game, but more importantly, directly edited. It'll take time to figure out what everything means and does. And as of now we know of no way to convert those to MIF files. At the very least, however, this method could be used to create one-off dungeons, challenges, and things like that.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Have you looked into adapting the tools used by the Daggerfall Unity project?
I'd imagine some of the asset formats used by Arena aren't that much different.

 

[Moonrise]

The OpenTESArena project has more relevant information, and some of the mods I put together were made possible by the things they uncovered. Unfortunately, the MIF files are still a mystery, even to them. Pretty sure I'm the only person in the world who has created custom events in Arena. There's just much less interest, and fewer people able or willing to unravel the game's inner workings.

 

[Luzur]

Well, nice, been some 20 odd years since i played Arena last.

 

[Moonrise]

No new mods yet, but I did crack the random encounter tables and associated enemy values. This makes it possible to change all the random encounters in the game. Something, somewhere is pointing to these, for faction quests for example, but I don't know where. As for how the game determines what's level appropriate, maybe it's just linear.

 

[Moonrise]

I haven't been very active on account of being deathly ill for the past two months, but I do have some Arena modding news. The guy who helped me test the class mod cracked the problem of teleporting the player, and he also figured out how to directly edit the decompressed temporarily saved map. This culminated in a mod that functions similar to the Divine Intervention spell. It's not as simple as casting a spell, but it can save your character, if for example you have a disease and you can't make it to town without dying, or maybe you're just stuck in the depths of a dungeon and can't find your way out. Not only does it serve to alleviate these problems, the mod also contains the very first custom Arena map, made fully from scratch. You can grab it here.

Preliminary work on the SAVEENGN file has been productive. This file contains your character's information, including their inventory. So far I've learned to adjust race, class, and character level. There is an old editor called ARENAED that allows for limited changes, but a more robust editor is possible. ARENAED only allows you to increase your level to 100, but actually it caps out at 256. I'll keep you updated as we uncover more of the game's secrets.

 

[Moonrise]

Okay, so the holy grail of Arena modding has always been custom mapping. Thanks to the efforts and collaboration of several people, that is now possible. Not easy or straightforward, but possible. A script for compressing and decompressing the map data in MIF files is now available, thanks to alxbl. Anyone reading this who wants to brave the unknown, you can find it here. I expect the situation to move forward quickly now.

 

[Abys]

i had to make an account just to say that you are amazing for doing this and i am thankful that someone is making mods for such an old game, thank you. i dont know how any of this works i just like to use mods

 

[Elwro]

Welcome to the forum, Abys !

 

[Moonrise]

Some folks at the Elder Scrolls wiki asked me to produce a blank-out mod that would allow them to take clean shots of things like equipment, which are contained in proprietary image formats that can't be opened. This led to an idea I had to remove the paper dolls to make space for unnecessarily detailed character portraits. Due to Nexus rules and the tedium, I'm not going to contact dozens of artists to get permission to distribute their work, but I am going to release all the necessary workflow components to import your own pictures. I have some examples for you. These are in-game screenshots.

 

[A horse of course]

You need serious professional help

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

You need serious professional help

Yeah, I wish professionals jumped in on this and helped the guy to make even greater mods, no shit.

 

[Moonrise]

You need serious professional help

​

Okay, mod's up. Enjoy!
https://www.nexusmods.com/tesarena/mods/26

 

[Jack]

It breaks the character creation screen though, t4ngr4m, that part that isn't supposed to be visible takes up the entire screen.