In the new INI file when I upload the new Alpha rev:

; This is the number of frames (FPS) in between radar pings to find projectiles in the player's cell.
; This is not necessary for actors but it helps to find projectiles shot by activators.
; It can be turned off if seems to cause you frame rate slow down. Set it to low numbers above 2 to scan the cell extremely frequently.
; Set this to higher numbers like 30 to reduce possible frame rate slow down or set to 0 to turn it off completely.
; Default is 10
set aaDPCMMainQUEST.RadarFrequency to 10


30 works but 10 never seems to miss finding a projectile and I am not seeing any CPU slowdown on my system at all.
This is great because now it will work on magic missiles! :hehe:

oh wait I forgot that the Fearsome Magicka's "magic missiles" are not really game arrows or spells, so they still will not get stopped......rats...

Not used anymore in this mod

Wow I still don't understand the radar settings at all.

As for the OS and being overpowered - very much liking the grow with skills stats level option where until such and such stats or level only with the kit then afterward able to use independently.

Each time an actor fires a projectile like a spell or arrow the mod scans the cell to collect the references for the projectiles. The problem was that activators do not have casting and attacking animations so my mod did not know when they fired projectiles. This setting allows the mod to automatically scan the cell cyclically. Low numbers above 2 means less frames must pass before the next time the mod scans. High numbers mean more frames must pass. A setting of 3 would mean about 15 frames would pass before another scan occurred.

I did not want to scan every frame because that could be too CPU intensive. But the more frames you let pass before you scan again means a projectile could slip there the mod and hit you.

Not used anymore

Alpha 4.7 ready

Alpha 4.9 ready

This is the updated ESP only with the new INI file.

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=23541

You may need to do a clean install to prevent CTD.

That is it for now, I am goining to play fall out vegus for an hour and go to bed...

Rev 5 of the Alpha has been uploaded.
It has a new INI as well.

(time for bed now) :sleep2:

The rev 5 no longer has this in it:

; This is the number of frames (FPS) in between radar pings to find projectiles in the player's cell.
; This is not necessary for actors but it helps to find projectiles shot by activators.
; It can be turned off if seems to cause you frame rate slow down. Set it to low numbers above 2 to scan the cell extremely frequently.
; Set this to higher numbers like 30 to reduce possible frame rate slow down or set to 0 to turn it off completely.
; Default is 10
set aaDPCMMainQUEST.RadarFrequency to 10

I found a MUCH MUCH better way to detect the activators spells as well as all the other spells and arrows flying in the air. Basically each frame I check the cell to see if a new object has been placed in the cell or not. If so THEN the mod runs the scripts needed to grab the arrow and spell reference from the air. The old way checked each actor to see if they fired a spell or arrow first then told the mod to grab the references. This new way is more than 3 times faster and way more efficient than the old way I was doing it. :twirl:

Ok.... I think I can now start working on the quest part of this mod. I will also set it up so that the player cannot use the OS unless they have the Combat Magic Kit selected. Latter after a while when the PC gets more advanced in Combat Magic they mayl be able to use the OS outside of the Combat Magic Kit.

Hmm I might need to test more but I did notice a few things with 4.9 (haven't upgraded to 5 yet) regarding hotkey and other spells.

It seems that just even opening the inventory (not even to the spell book just where the weapons are) will make it so that the spell works and entering a new cells also seemed to kind them into activity.

I will test with new revision later tonight after work.

Rev 5.1 comming as soon as I can.

Do not use REV 5 as I introduced a Bug into the script last night that will crash the projectiles gathering script and will not allow Combat Magic and the OS to work anymore.

I know exactly where ans what the bug is I just need time to find a way to fix it.

Thanks to Scruggsywuggsy The Ferret and TheNiceOne the script stopping bug has been "squished-de-fied"!

Rev 5.1 will be uploaded some time tonight.

5.1 will have yet another try to overcome the issue with Hotkeys. I am going to keep trying many "things" until the issue is gone or I discover the reason for the issue.

Rev 5.1 is uploaded.

I will be taking a break from modding and playing Black Ops the rest of the night, but I have the next few days off from work so I will be back working on this mod.
Let me know how REV 5.1 is doing in your game as I will now be working on the quest. (finally)

Fighting barbarians in the sewers of Windfall ... Character died when charging the plasma ball and hitting a barbarian that was close to me - kinda panicking because the stealth arrow did not take them down. ... was it from being too close to the blast? Is there a danger to charging too long?

He didn't lay a hand on me. We both died actually.

Still haven't figured out if the Atronach birthsign power is allowing absorption of damage from the plasma. Character is only level 2 so he can't take much damage as it is.

Right, the Combat Magic Plasma ball is NOT a close in attack, use that spell like you would use a rocket launcher! It is a very powerful attack but extremely slow and range is extremely important! You will notice that the NPC will not throw them if you get to close to them or one of their allies is to close to you or in the way.

errrrr...well... most of the time anyway, they can make the rare mistake and try to toss one as a friend runs in front of them or they "panic" and throw one forgetting to allow a safe distance first.

So are you using 5.1 now? Do you still have the issue with The NiceOne's Hotkeys? I need to know when what I tried before doesn't work so I can try something else.

YES!!

It seems to be working - later after I dive into some serious play I will test all eventualities I can think of. Hurray :celebrate:

Did not have to open the spell book to activate swapped to spell.

@ TheNiceOne

If you happen to be reading this thread, please take a look at the following and see if anything jumps out at you as to WHY the following fixed the Hot-Keys issue ?

scn aaDPCMFastQuestfloat FQuestDelayTimeshort switchBegin gamemodeset FQuestDelayTime to .001if GetPlayerSpell != aadpCombatMagicSpl && GetPlayerSpell != aadpPlasmaBall && GetPlayerSpell != aadpPlasmabolt && GetPlayerSpell != aadpPlasmaTouchif aaDPCMMainQUEST.CMActiveSwitch == 1set aaDPCMMainQUEST.CMActiveSwitch to 0enableControl 7set aaDPCMMainQUEST.CMControlMute to 0endifif aaDPCMMainQUEST.CMControlMute == 1set aaDPCMMainQUEST.CMActiveSwitch to 0enableControl 7set aaDPCMMainQUEST.CMControlMute to 0endifendifend

The following was the old way that DID NOT WORK:

set fquestdelaytime to .001

;;;;;Disable and enable controls

if GetPlayerSpell == aadpCombatMagicSpl || GetPlayerSpell == aadpPlasmaBall || GetPlayerSpell == aadpPlasmabolt || GetPlayerSpell == aadpPlasmaTouch

if CMControlMute == 1
enableControl 7
set CMControlMute to 0
endif

endif


I think some how CMControlMute was getting set to 0 but the command to enable Control 7 was not engaging in the player's token script that only ran at .005. So then when this quest script that ran at .001 was running it saw that CMControlMute == 0 and did nothing to correct the disabled control.

If so, I wonder why the command to enable Control 7 was not engaging in the slower token script when the player used your Hot key mod?

Well anyway the issue seems to be fixed now and I can move on... :hehe:

And BTW I need to talk to you sometime about how players can use your HUD mod to show body temperature and ambient temp for my Hypothermia mod as long as it can be done with out any dependency on the HUD mod. Unless there is a way for me to do it in my mod all by itself with out it conflicting with any of your mods?

As I said before I am now making it so that the player cannot use the OS outside of the Combat Magic Kit at first.
You must wait until you are able to upgrade via the amount of usage you have clocked in with the OS.

But what should it be?

1000 times you turn the OS on and off then you get to upgrade?
1000 times you successful block spells or other projectiles?
Anyone know what it is for physical Shields to upgrade th blocking skill?

Edit: ok I looked here:

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Increasing_Skills

And based on that info it will be 4000 times you successfully block spells or arrows or Melee attacks with the OS you then upgrade to OS Master level and can use it even if you do not have the Combat Magic Kit selected in your active spell slot.

But one thing worries me, if you unload this mod and reload it you would loose the skill point count. I am not sure what to do about that.

If I read correctly, you gain XP for Block each time you absorb a hit with your shield or weapon. In that case the latter option would be preferred, as the former could fall victim to a grind exploit, allowing the player de-restricted access to a tool he still doesn't fully understand the use of (a recipe for disaster).

And a quick muse: why not make the OS upgrades dependent on the player's Block skill? It would help to eliminate some potential questions, but at the same time it might not make much sense because the OS is obviously a very different method for blocking attacks that draws on both the characters skills in blocking AND in magic.... I don't know, this thing resists normal classification. This is the kind of mod that really begs for the ability to add new skills into this game, something that is currently nigh impossible, or at least difficult and finicky enough that someone still has yet to attempt to do so.

EDIT: :ninja:

Yeah I'd vote for avoiding the exploit too.

So building on what Thomas wrote - why not have a check for skills levels in block and a magic skill ... since most shield type spells fall under alteration I'd say that one. That way a clean save would have the script run and determine if it can be used separate.

But master level - isn't that like over 75? I play with Progress at much slower skill acquisition - that would take a while.

And I'm ok without a quest myself ... You will get people asking how to get the spells anyway because they don't want to join the mages guild.

Yeah I cannot base it on the players existing skills because the idea is that the player needs to use the OS as intended with the other combat magic tools first no matter what their PC skills are when they first get my mod and load it in their game. If they find my mod on TesAlliance, load it and they happen to already have high skills in magic and block they would automaticly get the perk and sidestep my intended game mechanic POC presentation.

The combination of the other Combat Magic Spells used with the OS is what balance the OS. Using the OS outside of the combat magic kit feels overpowered. So I want the player to use it as intended for good amount of play time to experience my combat magic concept it as intended.

Then later when the player does get the perk of using the OS outside of the Combat Magic Kit they will have the option in the INI to have it available all the time or only as part of the combat magic kit as I originally intend it to be. But if they choose to do so they will understand that they cannot complain about it being over powered as it was their choice to do it that way instead of as per my game mechanic design.

Do not worry, I will give you guys a back door do get it right way as you have already been using it (your play tester fringe benefit)

Edit:
Your Omni Shield blocking skill level will be in the same pop up message that shows you the Combat Magic Spell cost and damage.

This message will play once only when you reach 100% OS skill level:
"Diligent practice has made you a Master of Omni Shield blocking. You can now use the Omni Shield even if you do not have the Combat Magic Kit selected as your equipped spell."

But that message will only show if you select the OS perk option in the INI file.

The only thing I can think of is that CMControlMute somewhere in your code was set to 0 without the accompanying EnableControl command. I store all my scripts as .txt files and edit them in Notepad++ and paste changes into the CS. That way it is easy to search all the scripts for use of the CMControlMute to see whether it get set to 0 somewhere without EnableControl.

But I cannot give you any better explanation withiout anolyzing your scripts...

No dependency either way. It is all handled in the HUD Status Bars ini file. Just to take a dumb example from the code you posted here: To make a yellow HUD Status bar displaying empty when CMControlMute is 0, and full when CMControlMute is 1, the following is added to HSB's ini file:

set tnoHSB.hud_color to sv_construct "HUDcolorYellow"set tnoHSB.hud_max to sv_construct "1"set tnoHSB.hud_val to sv_construct "aaDPCMMainQUEST.CMControlMute"setstage tnoHSB 10

That's all (except that one can control the position and size of the bar, control when it is visible, add text etc.). In this dummy example, max is 1 (and min is 0), but max/min limits for the bar can be read from the mod in question just like the value is. So I only need the full name of all the relevant variables, with an explanation of what they mean.

Holy psychic programmer Batman...

What ever your RL network programmer job pays you they do not pay you enough!

I think you may have hit it on the nose. I think I found a stray "set CMControlMute to 0" amongst a bunch of "set timers to zero" lines after the player lifts their finger off the cast button.

I must have cut and pasted it in by mistake from another part of the script when I was grabbing the timer variables.
I guess...

It did not hurt my mod workings because I do a redundant reset this going into the script (at the top of my script) but then it would not be set right going out of the script. Which then leads to the issue with the hotkeys....

I commented it out for now to check that it has no bad effect on my mod. I am mostly sure it will not.
If after a while I see no bad effects I will deleted it entirely.

As for the HUD bars stuff if it is really that easy I may download your HUD mod tomorrow and give it a spin. Then I will send you the data you are asking about for the Hypothermia mod.
It should only be a few variables, right?

The primary concern is only the ambient temp and the body temp. I just have not been able to get to it until now because of Halloween.

In the INI file for the next REV of the alpha

;Psymon set this to 1 if your hot-key issue returns and let me know, thanks!
; setting this to 0 stops the extra quest script that may now not be needed. This is to see if TheNiceOne fix worked instead.
set aadpFastQuest.DebugHotKeyIssue to 0

and as to the "back door" :

Do the following to set the OS skill level to 100%

Either do this in the console or type it into the ini file:

set aadpGiveCMToNPC.OSSkillLevel to 4000

Given that they pay me for both my previous and current posts here, maybe they do


Yes, it is. As a real example, Deadly Reflex 6 uses HUD Status Bar to display the Momentum bar, and here's the complete ini settings for it, provided by Skycaptain:

	set tnoHSB.hud_color to sv_Construct	"HUDcolorOrange"	; 10, orange	set tnoHSB.hud_val to sv_Construct	"DrMomemtum"		; DR′s momemtum global	set tnoHSB.hud_max to sv_Construct	"100"			; Max is 100%	set tnoHSB.hud_x to			0			; Same x pos as standard bars	set tnoHSB.hud_y to			70			; A bit above standard bars so it stands out	set tnoHSB.hud_min to			1			; for technical reasons the momentum is min 1									; Size not given = HUDdefault = standard bar size	SetStage tnoHSB 10 ; Init status bar 0

As you see, the important variable there is "DrMomentum". It is a global, and not a quest variable, which is why it has no part, but HUD Status Bars works equally well with both. He has also added some postion settings for the bar. Without, the bar is automatically placed above the health bar.

Then I will send you the data you are asking about for the Hypothermia mod.
It should only be a few variables, right?

I assume so. It depends on how many variables you may want bars (or just text/number values) for, and whether the min/max values are constants (which I need), or variable (in which case I need those variables too). The bars can be hidden when certain conditions are met, and also change color based on the various conditions, so if you have any idea of how the default look should be I would appreciate some comments about that too.

I plan to install and use the Hypothermia when I get around to actually play again, but new mod projects come in the way all the time.

Alpha rev 5.2 is now on TesNexus.

Edit: in the next rev (5.3) I have removed the shock shader from the caster of the plasma blot. That shader snuck into the mod at some point and I just noticed it now. It was an easy fix I just had not noticed before now. The shock shader should not play on the one that CASTS the bolt!

This will have the tweaks I worked on tonight. No quest stuff yet as I have been busy with the tweaks.

So one vote for no quest?

Man I would like to just kick this out this weekend "As Is" with no quest because I am not feeling very creative right now, but...but.. but
that seems so "sterile" and 'cold" and lazy to just say to the public:

"here you go, new magic game mechanics"
"hope you can appreciate my work and POC fully without working to earn the new stuff"..



Time for bed...

Phitt came up with a clever way to keep the OS skill level in your save-game even if you unload the mod. I will add it to the INI as an option so you can decide if you want to do this or not.


; Set this to 0 if you do not want the mod to save your Omni Shield Skill level in your save game.
; If you do not set this to 1 your skill level will be lost if you unload the mod and reload it latter.
; Any mod that changes the persistent object called TestKurtMarker will conflict with this feature.
; In this case you will need to set this to 0 or unload the conflicting mod.
; Default is 1
set aadpGiveCMToNPC.UseSaveGame to 1

Hey, I vote for a quest!

I spent 2 hours looking on line and steping thru the CS dialog trying to track done more information about the two scholars youl hear talk about "a discovery has led to a different way of looking at a certain magic" and an excited reply of "if it's right".

Can anyone give me the names of scholars or any more info about this? Combat Magic will be this "different way of looking at a certain magic" but I need to gather as much lore data on this as I can before I just "make up" the rest.