Spell Visual Effects

[gedweyignasia]

I'd really like to see the spell effects overhauled, with some thought put into what should/shouldn't have a visual effect, and what those effects should be. This would be a pretty big undertaking (I'd be glad to help; I can script and can learn to change resources), so it'd be good to have a plan ahead of time.

Personally, I really liked the effects for things like Spell Mantle from NWN1, and it sounds like something we'd be able to import. The only issue I can think of is that outdoor terrain in NWN2 is not flat anymore, so it's going to clip through the floor a lot. Maybe there's something we can do to make it meet the terrain, if anyone else really wants that effect?

Adding/changing effects:
http://nwn2.wikia.com/wiki/Tutorial:_Vi ... cts_Editor

Effects that probably shouldn't have a visual component:
- Mental effects (dazed, confused)
- Sensory effects (blindness, deafness, true seeing, etc)

Effects I'd like to see:
- NWN1 spell mantles
- NWN1 dispelling/mords
- NWN1 magic missile

Someone's already submitted some changed visuals:
http://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn ... ll-visuals

[gedweyignasia]

I'm trying to go through the SRD and see what spells are definitely mis-represented. I'll keep a list.

Mage Armor - Should be invisible.
Protection from Alignment - Should be a silver circle.
Mirror Image - This is clearly wrong. There has to be a better way to do this.

Lots of other things have a visual effect, but it's not mentioned, so it's sort of ambiguous as to whether or not there should be one. For instance, protection from arrows probably doesn't need its visual effect (which should then be repurposed for protection from alignment).

[Atlas]

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[Tsidkenu]

Premonition shouldn't have any VFX in my opinion (how can one see someone else's momentary vision into the future?).

I find spell mantle fine as the are, and although the NWN1 versions were certainly more visually distinct its not even a PnP spell. They're just covering for some inability to follow BG2 and code in Spell Turning. No change required there I feel, unless you want to change them over to Spell Turning

[Synde]

Just to share a differing opinion...

I agree that some spell effects are over the top, or not super representative of the spell's description; however, I would be opposed to eliminated effects on spells completely, especially on defensive spells such as mage armor and shield. The icons next to the character portrait are not effective at portraying specific buffs, so I'd be concerned I'd miss the icon and not realize I am no longer shielded.

Additionally, I think it is important for others players to be able to visually see that a character is protected. I'm pretty sure all of my spell effects have deterred an orc from attacking me on several occasions, because they knew I would not be an easy kill. In the same vein seeing the effects surrounding an aggressor might change whether I fight or flee.

More specifically, in regards to mirror image, I have tried several effects in the single player campaign that I found on the vault, and to be honest, I have always returned to the original. I think it's really hard to do mirror image faithfully and not have it be crazy distracting. The little orbs are kind of silly, but they aren't overbearing and allow you to see how many images you have left. Maybe I might suggest that you post an image, if you have something in mind?

Is there a reason you feel that Protection from Alignment should be silver? It might help your argument if you explained the reasoning a bit more. When I first read it, I thought that seemed like an arbitrary decision you made.

I agree that realistically premonition shouldn't have an effect, but personally, I'm happy that it does, because I can easily tell when it has fallen. In the same reasoning, I like having an effect for protection from arrows.

No disrespect intended towards any of you. Just wanted it to be known that there are some people who support having effects.

[Blackman D]

its because protection from alignment and magic circle against alignment are made by powdered silver circles around the target or target area, the circles then either follow the target or remain in place

anyone immune to the circle (i.e. not of that alignment) can break the circle and end the spell, otherwise it cant be touched

but either way removing some completely is a bad idea because the buff row only goes out to 4 rows and you cast something like freedom of movement and that one spell is taking up like half the row

visuals for highly important spells like AC giving buffs are kinda needed

[Caleb]

Still waiting for these magic missiles:

Hidden: show

Something like this then? Very plain and simple. A particle trail can be added in as well, but this is close to the original BG anyway. But the spread of the orbs is of course very different than what was in the original game, but if you want that changed I think it needs to be done through scripting.

Here it is at closer range and also my how I did magic missile when I was messing around with it a while ago.

Apparently also less resource hungry VFX.

[gedweyignasia]

its because protection from alignment and magic circle against alignment are made by powdered silver circles around the target or target area, the circles then either follow the target or remain in place

anyone immune to the circle (i.e. not of that alignment) can break the circle and end the spell, otherwise it cant be touched

but either way removing some completely is a bad idea because the buff row only goes out to 4 rows and you cast something like freedom of movement and that one spell is taking up like half the row

visuals for highly important spells like AC giving buffs are kinda needed

I would propose a casting effect and a buff expiry effect instead. It seems like a cleaner way of handling it.


Very cool magic missile by the way, I would definitely prefer that to the present effects! (You'd also have to change the VFX for the on-cast and impact effects to match the new color, but that's very reasonable.)

[Lockonnow]

well there some i wish to see change well the first spell the wfx need to change is graeter resistance and the superior resistance from lvl 0 spell resistance wfx cool one i'll think the last one is teh Burst of galcial wrath wfx that one sould change to a ice trap wfx blue like the flash to stone spell just blue with the same wfx that hit from the pole ray wfx but it sould remen and will blow up after while

[niapet]

I wanted to start a thread like this so I searched and necroed this one. It is really not difficult to remove visual effects, they are usually applied at the end of the spell script and either commenting that line out or having it reference a null effect works well. I did this ion the server I used to run and it was real nice. It helps immersion not seeing walking Christmas trees everywhere and helps on the computer resources on big fights too.


If the development team would be open to this I would volunteer to do the work of changing the scripts. I did it once before, albeit like 8 years ago, but I'm sure I could figure it out again. I would especially like to get rid of the effect for spider skin.. it doesn't play well with custom clothes and armors.

[Valefort]

Sorry, not happening, christmas trees are cool and we toned down the VFX enormously compared to vanilla already. Let magic shine.

[Planehopper]

The argument for effects is one of necessity/convenience (depending on how you view it), in that the effects allow the player to see when certain spells complete their duration.

[Tsidkenu]

Most spells already have a 'fade' VFX when they expire. One merely needs to pay attention when they do

And you can always bring up the 'Dismiss Spell' listing to review what's faded and what hasn't.

I vaguely remember AoS was working on some Duration Timer UI, but it's prolly buried somewhere deep in the pile of things-to-do.

[niapet]

I get that its cool but some spells are not supposed to have visuals yet they do. Its kind of silly to have effects on spells that shouldn't. Could you at least remove the effect from the spider skill spell? It turns characters blank white and its heidious....


On the flip side should you allow us to use overrides so we don't have to look at the spells if we don't want to?

Or how about adding an option to turn off the spell visual in the character details menu? The menu is already there so why not let us use it and turn off the effects if we want? Maybe even make it a feat we need to take to do it?

PS: I should probably mention I have a seizure disorder and the effects make it so I just cant use character mode, Which I love to do when RPing. If we could have an option to turn off effects for spells in our menu it would be awesome. Everyone would get to decide if they want them or not on an individual basis.