Skipping past the bit about the dispel magic opcode, it's important to note that "originally" Carsomyr's behavior was basically "choose randomly whether to be flat 50% or to stack" -- even in the "original" game it is entirely possible to get more than 50% MR with Carsomyr, depending on the order in which you equip your items. This is non-intuitive and annoying to many players. The fix makes it consistent. Note that because the infinity engine is buggy in its implementation of "flat bonuses" here, there is no way to make it consistently "flat 50%". The only consistent solution was "always add 50%", which is in fact no more powerful than what was present in the "original" game.

By way of useless trivia, the IWD2 engine has a slightly better handling of stacking bonuses.

Some of the mods might not have to match--I've played multiplayer with people who use custom portraits and the game has not crashed. With those, the problem was that only those who had the portraits installed could see them--everyone else saw the question mark portrait for that character. You could probably get a game going without having exactly the same mods (as long as the version #'s match). I would be careful about most mods though--if they change how the game works, it may wreak havoc on a mplayer game.

My two cents is to have everyone reinstall the game before starting, get the latest official patch, get the fixpack, and possibly add in a few mods (if you want the Anti-Paladin kit, then make sure everyone gets it--and for component mods, make sure everyone installs the same set of components). Also remember that the mods were created and tested for single player games--don't assume they will work flawlessly in mplayer. I would recommend using the smallest number of mods you can.

Unlikely.

2) The tactics mod has an anti-paladin kit? Can this component be installed seperately?

Yes. Yes.

4) is the item upgrade mod ToB only? can I fix carsomyr (in the method mentioned in the above link) even if I only have BG2?

No. Yes.

5) If I fix Carsomyr in this method, do I need it in my inventory, or can it be fixed before I start the game?

No; yes. It will just work. Don't worry about where Carso is.

According to my understanding, Carsomyr's original implementation was anything but random: If you want to maximize your item potential, you equip the items that set your base resistance first, and those that boost your resistance afterward. Whether you go Dragon Scale Shield + Helm of Defense for elemental resistances, or Carsomyr + Amulet of 5% Magic Resistance for MR, it has always been my experience that reading the Item Descriptions and learning in which order to equip the items will provide the correct, optimal result--it needs no "fix to make it consistent."

Secondly, I am aware that Carsomyr bucks this trend, since the IE engine treats every swing of the weapon as re-equipping the weapon, thus overlapping any additional MR items. But if you know about this game quirk, you can still make good use of it: My first Tactics game showed how a Cavalier with 85% Magic Resistance can be one hell of a formidable obstacle for a Lich, even if all he's doing is <u>standing there</u> and not attacking. But of course, the flip side of that is all of the people who don't know about this game quirk, and therefore can't understand why Carsomyr isn't stacking with their other MR items when they're trying to kill Beholders. Having a bunch of frustrated gamers is always a problem, and I see three solutions to it:</font>

• Change Carsomyr's MR from =50% to +50%. This is a valid solution and I understand why you did it: It saves confusion, both for the people who have trouble distinguishing "base" from "additional" and for those who don't know that the game engine resets weapons after every swing. It does, however, have the disadvantage of overbalancing a weapon that was already extremely powerful.</font>
• Update Carsomyr's Description with an in-character explanation of why Carsomyr's MR will not stack with other items when being used to attack: Instead of breaking the roleplay by launching into an invective on the weaknesses of the IE engine in the middle of the game, it would be much better to describe why the gods chose to set Carsomyr's MR at 50%: When confronted with danger, a pacifist Paladin can use the holy weapon as a shield to help protect innocents and comrades from witchcraft. But should he or she then use the weapon in combat, its magical protection would diminish, because the gods had decreed that to be immune to might and sorcery alike was too much power for a mortal to wield--it led to arrogance, impiety, and a false sense of invincibility that could easily tempt a Paladin from the righteous path of honor. When the gods created this artifact, they must have been thinking, "Justice first....but Humility second."</font>
• Same as the first one, but at least make it an optional component of Item Upgrades.</font>

Oh really.

[ 09-22-2003, 09:00 PM: Message edited by: SixOfSpades ]