Help me make simple magic overhaul?

[FireFlickerFlak]

I'm new and want to learn to mod just so I can make this one modification. I don't really like the current magic system and all the overhauls I have seen seem to make some fun new stuff but leave the old stuff a little messy. There might be a reason for that, I hope what I want is doable though.

 

Basically, I want to get rid off all the generic spells in the game, both in use and sold by npc casters, and replace them with simple generic spells that have variable strength based on the caster's skill (and maybe some other variables if possible). Instead of having fifty different burden spells for sale, there would be just one spell called burden that grows with the caster. Some spells with fun unique characteristics might still be for sale, but for the most part I want there to be just simple spell effects for sale that scale themselves automatically for both npc casters and for me. Ideally the scaling would be based on skills rather than levels.

 

After doing that, spell making altars would be useless, so I'd like to change those as well so they instead can be used to improve a caster's proficiency at a specific spell effect. Maybe it could change the spell from the default touch to target, or it could increase the area or decrease manacost etc. With scripting I think some cool adjustments might be possible, but I really want the base generic effects to be well done before I move onto the altars so the mod doesn't get messy.

 

If anyone knows of a source that has the info I'd need to get this started please let me know, I'd really appreciate it. If anyone would like to help make the mod i'd also really appreciate that! My email is [email protected].

[monkybuttface]

and this is simple.... how?

[TheWatchman]

I'm gonna have agree with monkeybuttface, that's not simple, at least not in a modding standpoint. I'm not an experienced modder or anything but you're what suggesting sounds more complicated to implement than existing magic overhauls.

 

As for spellmaking altars, i wouldn't save they would become as some people like making spells with multiple effects

[SaintAnon]

You might have more luck if you were to post in the right section to begin with... :wallbash: This is more Requests/Suggestions than General Mod Talk... :turned:

 

Other than that the best advice I can give you is to start reading up on modding yourself, you can only get so far with requests... the best way to get something exactly how you want it to be is to do it yourself. :thumbsup:

 

Plus big projects like overhauls as requests are destined to fail about 90% of the time because unless something really catches the modders eye there far to busy with there own projects than to spend time making your dreams come true. Do not mean to be a downer but facts are facts... download the cs and start reading up, besides once you start modding it's as fun/funner than playing the game itself. :biggrin:

[FireFlickerFlak]

By simple I did not mean molding wise, since I'm new I couldn't tell what is simple to make. I was just hoping it would be simple because once I figure out how to do it for one effect, all the others would work the same. I guess "tidy" would be a better word than simple, since there would be far fewer spells but just as much room for customization.

 

I have read some mod stuff, I saw how to make custom spells and effects but not how to replace existing spells. I thought it was probably unrealistic to request someone to make it, which is why I'm asking for more in depth sources on scripting or whatever it is I'd need to know. I'm guessing from SaintAnon's comment that most people learn just by playing with the cs, so I guess I'll try that out.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

[monkybuttface]

first you would have to remove all the spells from EVERY npc in the game, and the player, then add the new spell in, and to make it switch to a higher lvl spell you would have to have a script that removes the old and adds a new at certain skill intervals, and this would have to be done repeatedly for EVERY SINGLE SPELL EFFECT IN THE GAME to prevent ice spell from being swapped out with a disintegrate armor spell or something. I may be wrong, but thats what i figure it would take.

 

VERY time consuming with a lot of room for error

[FireFlickerFlak]

first you would have to remove all the spells from EVERY npc in the game, and the player, then add the new spell in, and to make it switch to a higher lvl spell you would have to have a script that removes the old and adds a new at certain skill intervals, and this would have to be done repeatedly for EVERY SINGLE SPELL EFFECT IN THE GAME to prevent ice spell from being swapped out with a disintegrate armor spell or something. I may be wrong, but thats what i figure it would take.

 

VERY time consuming with a lot of room for error

 

Hmmm... I looked at the script for custom spells and it seems that it is split into three parts, the first of which is starting the spell. My hope was that, instead of having multiple spells for each effect there would be one spell with no specific magnitude, but a formula intstead. As a simple example, if burden always had a magnitude of 2x the casters alteration skill and always had a duration of 30 seconds the spell would not need to be replaced ever. These calculation seem simple enough to be run while starting a spell. Also, I would combine some of the repetitive effects into fewer spells to save time. For example, I'm thinking fortify would check for the caster's 2 class specific attributes and then only fortify those, rather than having a bunch of different fortify spells. Cure would include all the cures with variable effectiveness based on caster skill, etc.

 

I'm not sure if an adjusting altar would require replacement, I'm hoping added variables could handle it instead. but like I said before, the set of spell effect spells are most important to me. Worst case scenario is that I just leave spell making altars in the game or remove the options that I find kinda game ruining in spell making or I could just try to forget the option is in my game.

 

As for removing the spells, for some reason Im hoping that there would be a way to remove specific spells from the game period without needing to go from npc to npc. As for adding the replacement spells to npc, I'm hoping there will be a script that could do that and not be a messy one, but if not I'd be willing to do it by hand after figuring out how to do it. Many other mods seem to have added spells to npcs without much trouble.

[FireFlickerFlak]

One more thing, I'm currently shopping for an oblivion compatible pc, last one broke, so I'm using a Mac and can't dl the cs until I get the pc, so if anyone has an alternative source as a guide that might be the type of scripting I need, maybe a site with a list of functions available or an example of using custom variable or anything like that it would help. Thanks.

[documn]

You might want to take a look at grmblf's Chargeable Spells mod. It does some of the things you want. For example, it has a script that replaces the player's spells with chargeable versions of those spells, and it has a script that makes it impossible for the player to buy normal spells from NPC spell vendors (when the player talks to the NPC, the script replaces the NPC's spells with chargeable versions, and then restores the old spells when they stop talking). In this way, the player only gets one spell per spell effect.

 

Regarding the current spells on NPCs: why exactly do you want to replace them? They should already have spells that are appropriate for their skill level, so it seems like replacing them with your new spells will be unnecessary. However, you could set up a script that searches for NPCs and removes their spells and adds new ones instead.

[FireFlickerFlak]

Cool, I had always assumed that mod just added additional fancy spells, didn't realizes it was an overhaul. It is pretty close to what I want and if modding turns out to be too hard I might just try using that for a while.

 

I guess the reason I want to replace npc spells is just for realism. I like my npcs to be able to do most of the same things I can, but it is true that the effect of replacing their spells would be hard to notice in the early stages of this mod. I guess tweaking npcs would come after tweaking the spell making altars in my priority list.

 

If possible, I'll see if the chargeable spells modder will let me learn from his script, maybe in a format I can view on my Mac

 

Edit: Got hold of grlbmf, he was very friendly and helpful but has taken a break from modding. I am currently trying to make it so spells all get updated while sleeping to reduce cpu demands. So far I have found AddSpellNS, RemoveSpellNS, SetSpellMagickaCost, SetSpellType, SetNthEffectItemMagnitude. From these I might be able to pull this off, but still playing around.