· Mod Info

Mod name: Chargeable Spells
Version: Pre-Final v0.361
Author: grmblf
Requirements: OBSE v0018b4 or greater.
Source: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=27746
Thread at TESNexus: forums: http://thenexusforums.com/index.php?showtopic=155243
Thread at Bethesda forums: http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1051429



· Table of Content

1 - Summary
2 - Features
3 - Playing this mod
3.1 - Getting started
3.2 - How do I get the spells I'm missing?
3.3 - Charging spells
3.4 - Perks and movement limitation
3.5 - Spells and alternative casting
3.6 - Penalties system with reward
4 - Installation / Uninstallation
5 - Requirements
6 - Compatibility
7 - Known Issues, Bugs and Limitations
8 - Changelog
9 - WIP / Future Plans
10- Credits
11- Disclaimer / Legal
12- Contact



--------------------------------------------------

1 - SUMMARY

--------------------------------------------------

This mod revamps completely how magic is used in Oblivion into a more tactical and believable fashion, allowing you to regulate the power of the spells you cast by charging them, simply holding down the cast key just for a while, and then releasing to actualy cast the spell.
This process takes into account your magicka spent, the time charging, the skill corresponding to that spell and it's governing attribute, and the result is calculated using default game's formulas but taking the values from your overhaul / magic mods.
A lot of lines of code and so many speepless hours has been put here to achieve this effect and to make it smooth and fair, but also to add a lot of other small features that could improve gameplay and immersion. Read the full list of features here below:



--------------------------------------------------

2 - FEATURES

--------------------------------------------------

* A completely new spell-charging system, complex in it's ends but easy and intuitive in it's usage:

- Charging process visualy noticeable: your magicka pool depletes at a constant rate as long as you're charging, and it plays on yourself the visual effect for the spell you're charging.
- Accurate cost / magnitude calculation according to spell's cost default formula with a decent boost for charging longer.
- Every calc is proportional and non-scaled, therefor every single magicka point, every millisecond spent charging and every skill level achieved are taken into account for the final result.
- Several sounds complement the charging process.


* A full set of chargeable spells, few but versatile, to not clutter the spells list:

- More than 80 Chargeable Spells covering almost every default magic effect. All they available to charge and cast!
- Chargeable Spells don't have a pre-set level, what determines they power is the amount of magicka you put in them and your current skill level, so the same spell becomes useful at every skill level.
- There's only one spell per magical effect. Dynamic settings like making ranged spells becoming "on touch" automaticaly when under water plus the "alternative cast" feature allow for just a few spells dealing with several uses.
- Holding block when the cast key is released will activate an "alternative casting mode" for that spell. Basicaly this will make ranged spells increase their AoE at some magnitude cost, and it will make "on self" spells become ranged, to cast them on companions or friendly NPCs.


* Dynamic chargeable spells' purchase system and chargeable spells updater:

- Chargeable spells are available to purchase from every spells merchant. When you talk to them they will have the appropiate chargeable spells corresponding to the ones he/she actualy has. This is made by script, so there's no spell or merchant altered or replaced. When you end your conversation they recover their original spells (AI isn't smart enought for chargeable spells).
- Due to this, NPCs from other mods now might sell chargeable spells too.
- When you first load Chargeable Spells you might choose to obtain the chargeable spells corresponding to the ones you already have, replacing default spells that aren't modified by other mods.


* A full perks system and a penalties system for charging:

- It includes a dynamic perks system that limits your mobility while charging at lower levels as well as your fatigue loss and the possibility to loose the charge if you run out of magicka or fatigue, or if you are injuried.
- Optional feature (enabled by default) that adds a small chance for your spell to drain from you some extra fatigue or health, or even hit your attributes. This is progressive and the chances are increasing for as long as you're charging, so you can stop charging and cast the spell once you see it starts to hurt you. If you decide to charge longer, all your stats drained this way are added to the spell's power. This feature is complemented with blurred vision effect (optional) and a sound and the "damage attribute" visuals that warns you when this happens.


* Aditional features:

- Optional feature (enabled by default) that makes every chargeable spell able to be casted at Novice skill level. Spells will still show their real mastery level but you will be able to cast them. If using the feature above and considering that at novice skill level spells power won't be really great it's fair to make them all available and it shouldn't be considered a cheat.
- Increased experience (XP) proportional to the time charged for every cast.
- Spell casting responds to magical effectiveness, magical resistance and spell absorption/reflection.
- Being staggered, knocked or silenced renders the PC unable to charge.
- While a spell is being charged, a light effect shows on the player, and it's radius grows exponentially each second. It's meant to make you easier to detect if charging a huge spell.
- Spells values are updated after each casting, so you can see how much powerful it’s been. An optional message may be enabled to show spell’s info in-game after each casting.
- Optional features can be enabled / disabled editing the .ini file provided.



--------------------------------------------------

3 - PLAYING THIS MOD

--------------------------------------------------

* 3.1 - Getting started:

Chargeable Spells will work either on new games and on saved games.
Once in-game, a message box will prompt asking you to replace your default spells by a chargeable version of each one. Choosing so will give you the chargeable version corresponding to the spells you have, and then it will remove from your spells list those spells that only have an effect wich is not scripted, so it won't replace spells from other mods, unless they only alter cost/magnitude.
If you're not sure about replacing your spells, a lesser power will be added to you. Casting it will open the menu again so you can choose to "update" your spells list.


* 3.2 - How do I get the spells I'm missing?

Every spells vendor will sell now chargeable spells for a nice price, even NPCs from mods.
Following the same procedure as avobe, they will have the chargeable version of the spells they had, so default spells won't be available to purchase as long as any other mod modifies them.
Notice that NPCs still have their original spells, they are only temporary replaced for them as long as you speak with them.


* 3.3 - Charging spells:

It's not necessary for you to know exactly how calcs are done but this things might be important:
- What determines a spell's power is the amount of magicka you put in the spell and your skill level, but there's also a bonus for charging long.
- When charging a spell it always drains 1/4 of your total magicka pool per second, proportionaly. So a big magicka pool means you put more magicka per second, and therefor it allows for more powerful spells being cast in less time.
- Even draining 1/4 of your magicka each second you can charge for longer than 4 seconds, because you regenerate some magicka also while charging. This means that a higher magicka regeneration rate (high INT+WIL) will allow you to charge for longer, and therefor put in there more magicka and obtain a bigger time bonus. Using restore magicka potions works as well.
- The "time bonus" for charging longer multiplies the final result by 1+(time/10). ie, charging for 3.25 seconds will multiply the result by 1.325, ie a 32.5% more, up to a x2 multiplier at 10 seconds of charge.
- By default every spell can be cast at novice level eventhought they still show it's original mastery level.
- Charging for long might hurt you. If your health drains so quickly or if you hear your character's gasp better release it and cast the spell.


* 3.4 - Perks and movement limitation:

As it's been commented, this mod also features a perks system that limits player's movement at lower levels and unlock them as your character progress in each magic school. This perks are associated with your current skill level and they are re-calculated every time you select a spell. Fortify / Drain skill effects may un/lock pertinent perks temporaly.

Novice
- can't run or walk while charging.
- can't stand in sneak mode charging (your PC will stand up automatically when charging).
- can't charge or cast under water.
- can't jump or attack, but stills can block.
- if runs out of magicka while charging, spell and magicka are lost.

Apprentice
- can charge under water.
- can walk while charging or simply stand in sneaking mode.
- if gets exhausted while charging (zero fatigue), the spell is automaticaly casted. This will work even if a fatigue mod knocks you out for being exhausted.

Journeyman
- can run while charging.
- can walk in sneak mode while charging.
- if runs out of magicka while charging the spell is automaticaly casted.

Expert
- can run in sneak mode while charging.
- can jump while charging.

Master
- never looses the charge due to being injuried, but still loosing the charge if knocked out/down.
- can attack while charging.

All this movement limitations are performed in a smooth fashion, giving the player a one-second transition between each mode. For instance, a novice running will automatically start to walk when charging and one second after will be stuck until the spell is released. Right after casting the spell the player will be running or sneaking again, however he/she was before.


* 3.5 - Spells and alternative casting:

The spells this mod adds have been built upon the basis of just very few patterns for ease of usage, and it all has been carefuly designed to be as logical and intuitive as possible. Here are some considerations that may help understanding better this new spells.
To activate the "alternative casting mode" the block button must be held down the moment the cast key is released.

- If a spell can do all it's effect at once, it does. Only spells that really require time to be effective will last (ie charm, silence, weakness to, etc).
- If a spell can be 'on target' instead than 'on touch' then it is, so there's no 'fire damage on touch' spell.
- Spells that last for a while and have a magnitude (ie, shield, but not night eye), have double duration than magnitude. For instance, a spell that charms 32 pts will lasts 64 seconds, and therefor it will cost according to that. In fact time has been doubled, so half of time is for free.
- Ranged spells have a small Area of Effect (AoE) rangnig from 2 to 7 or 8, depending on your skill and governing attribute.
- The alternative cast for ranged spells makes them less powerful but increases their area of effect. It's power will be between 50% to 80% from it's original magnitude, depending on your skill and attribute, and it's radius depends on this but also on the percentage of your total magicka you've spent, up to a hard to reach maximum of 150 feet.
- "Benefical" spells that are cast on self (restore health, resist poison, etc) can be cast on target using the alternative cast, either to heal a companion, to give water walking to a slaughterfish or to cast light on fleeing enemy. Some doesn't have an alternative casting, like bound stuff, summoning, night-eye and detect life.
- The alt. mode for Absorb health/fatigue/magicka spells will make them lasting for long and absorbing the proper stats slowly.
- Only those magical effects related to some percent check (like reflect spell, shield, resist/weakness, etc) are restrained to a max of 100. In this case, the extra magicka spent makes it lasts for longer.
- Those effects that rely on an absolute value have no maximum and can effectively exceed 100 (for instance, feather, detect life, light, etc).


* 3.6 - Penalties system with reward:

After one second charging a spell a random check is performed, depending on your skill and will (higher stats are better), to determine if you're affected by it, kinda you start to loose control over the spell.
Charging for less than one second has no risks at all, but after one second this check is performed continuosly, twice per second, until the spell is cast. Chances of failure are increasing each time, so charging really long may become dangerous.

Penalties you might suffer from charging a spell are set in a few severity levels, so you won't suddenly loose the spell, if this has to happen first your fatigue will be hit, then your health, after that your attributes will suffer and then you might loose the spell, being 0.5 seconds between each step, so you can react if things go wrong.
If you suffer once from a "penalty" it doesn't mean you'll be suffering it continuously until you release the spell or that you will get automaticaly next "penatly", all this is randomized each check, but chances to fail increase quickly with time, so the normal thing is that once you start to loose fatigue you'll be loosing fatigue each second, and maybe with health will happen so, but that's very random.
Each "penalty" has it's own chance to apply, smaller as the more severe they are. Once it hits your attributes it will hit one point at each attribute, you'll hear your character gasps and a red visual effect will play on the PC.

Penalties come in form of 1 fatigue point loss per check failed, 1 health point, 1 pt on attributes and finally a chance to loose the spell.

The reward is that every stats point drained is added to the spell's power, just like extra magicka spent. Each fatigue point adds 1 to magicka, a health point adds 2 and each time your attributes are damaged it counts like spending 50 magicka points more.
This makes long charges far more exciting and dangerous, but also rewarding, mostly for novices and apprentices. In higher skill levels things are getting more stable, but there's always a small chance to fail.



--------------------------------------------------

4 - INSTALLATION / UNINSTALLATION

--------------------------------------------------

To install this mod extract the .esp file and the _grmblf folder with the .ini file inside to your Oblivion\Data folder, and then enable the mod either from the game or with OBMM.
To uninstall it simply remove the .esp file from your Data folder, preferably when Oblivion isn't running and the mod isn't loaded, otherwise a paralyzing spell may backfire on your computer.



--------------------------------------------------

5 - REQUIREMENTS

--------------------------------------------------

This mod requires Oblivion Script Extender version 0018 beta 4 or greater - OBSE v0018b4
Get OBSE at http://obse.silverlock.org.



--------------------------------------------------

6 - COMPATIBILITY

--------------------------------------------------

I've taken special care to make this mods as much compatible as possible, and indeed it's technicaly compatible with every other mod because it adds it's own stuff and it doesn't alter default content at all, BUT there might be real issues with mods that enables/disables the cast key, or mods that let your stats be far too much greater than what was intended in Oblivion.
Mods that drastically increase your magicka and/or magicka regeneration rate also will mostly make chargeable spells too much powerful.



--------------------------------------------------

7 - KNOWN ISSUES, BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

--------------------------------------------------

- NEVER save/load a game while in a dialogue with a NPC that could have spells. If you do so all his spells will be forever lost and he/she only will have chargeable spells, wich are hard to handle for the AI.
- Avoid saving/loading or entering places when charging a spell. It's untested but the script might not respond properly. If it looks like being screwed and draining magicka so fast, simply select a non-chargeable spell, exit the inventory so you are in game mode with that spell selected, and then select again a chargeable spell. This sould fix it.
- To charge a spell you have to have it selected. Casting from hotkeys is not supported by now.
- The spell cost is updated a second after you release the cast key (and about half second after you actualy cast the spell) and remains so until you cast it again. Updating it before would require the player to actualy spend that amount again.
- Due to this, the spell icon may appear faded out like if you were unable to cast it if in it's last use you spent more magicka than the remaining magicka you have. It may show as well the "I don't have enought magicka" message in the inventory but that doesn't affect at all when casting the spell as it's cost is re-calculated then.
- The cost shown in the inventory right after casting a spell may not correspond to the amount of magicka spent. I guess the game engine shows how much it would cost you to cast it according to your skill level. If you want to know how many magicka you've spent check it on the console or enable the cast message by typin': "set grmCSQ.castingMessage to 1" or enabling it from the ini file.
- Untested behaviour when used against a target with 'spell absorption'. Probably it will give him the right amount of magicka if absorbed half second after the spell is cast.



--------------------------------------------------

8 - CHANGELOG

--------------------------------------------------

* Dates are in DD/MM/YY

FIX v0.361 30/11/09
- Fixed: it fixes a bug from v0.36 that could screw up your all spells when talking to a NPC.

Beta v0.36 - 28/11/09
- Added: several customizable settings from ini file.
- Changed: dynamic spell replacer for NPCs and spell list updater for player both have been re-written, improved and optimized using OBSE arrays.
- Changed: some values changed by default.
- Fixed: now player can't charge spells while sitting down

Beta v0.35 - 23/11/09
- Added: spells available to purchase.
- Added: spells list auto-updater feature.
- Added: a whole new penalties system.
- Added: so many missing spells (absorb/drain/damage/fortify attributes and stats).
- Added: a few default sounds.
- Added: an .ini file with a few customizable options.
- Changed: chargeable spells now can be cast at novice level (this feature may be disabled).
- Changed: lasting spells with magnitude last double.
- Changed: visuals now correspond to the spell you're charging.
- Changed: casting failure sounds correspond to the element or school of the spell you're charging.
- Fixed: being staggered, knocked or silenced renders the PC unable to charge.
- Fixed: increased AoE for the alt. mode has now a cap and it's related to the percentage of magicka spent and not directly to the amount magicka as an absolute value.
- Fixed: fatigue loss now ranges in a smaller interval, being it now smaller than it was for novices, and bigger than it was for highly skilled mages.

Beta v0.26 - 29/10/09
- Changed: spells base cost is now get from magical effects (no longer set by script), therefor magic overhaul mods affect now chargeable spells' cost/magnitude rate
- Changed: spell's school are get via command, so if a magic overhaul you have loaded moves some spells from a school to another this will also affect chargeable spells
- Changed: benefical spells are cast on target using the alternative casting, instead than on touch. Cost/effect rate stills the same as if it were on self/on touch
- Added: changelog and a credits section in this readme
- Added: magicka cost is added to spells once they're cast, so now it's visible for the player the amount of magicka spent, and it should allow magicka regain if the spell is absorbed by it's target
- Fixed: running out of stamina renders you unable to cast spells
- Fixed: auto cast perk when out of stamina is now working (it's achieved at Apprentice level)
- Fixed: spells beyond your skill mastery can't be charged. A casting failure sound warns you if you try to cast one of them
- Fixed: dispel effects costs like being cast on target, regardless if they're used on self and regardless it's actual cost due to other magic mods. As documn pointed, the default spells magnitude were acting as a cap for the max spell points that could be dispelled at each level, and charging them was like an easy bypass for that. Keeping on the line of not scalling spells, I've made them more expensive in hope that this will make them more balanced

Beta v0.24 - 24/10/09
- Changed: Spells maths functions re-written
- Added: full perks system with movement limitations
- Added: stamina loss while charging
- Added: health check to loose the charge if injuried
- Added: casting failure sound when charge is lost
- Fixed: added a max value cap for skill and stats to calculate spell's magnitude
- Fixed: spell magnitude included in the calcs for increased AoE when using the alternative casting, so now the spell radius is proportional to it's power, as well as to your stats
- Fixed: ranged spells cast under water become 'on touch'
- Fixed: adjusted exponential factor to calc spell's magnitude
- Fixed: mouse button not disabled while in Menu Mode (inventory, message box)

Beta v0.1 - 18/10/09
- First release



--------------------------------------------------

9 - WIP / FUTURE PLANS

--------------------------------------------------

This mod is in constant development. I named current version "pre-final" because it obviously needs some wide testing before being a "final" version, but I won't make major changes for the first "final" release, I rather want to simply adjust what needs to be adjusted, and leave all major changes and additions for further releases.
If nothing is wrong with this new version then I'll simply re-tag it as "final". The .esp file name won't change, and ID's, quests, scripts and spells also will remain the same, so there's no reason to not play it now and wait until the final version!

Here's my 'future plans' regarding this mod:
- add multiple creatures summons, and make them leveled with the PC.
- add force/push spell and some other popular spells (suggestions are welcome!).
- make optional plugins to alter magic effects: rework magic schools, adjust cost/magnitude rate, spell-making cost, etc.
- add chargeable spells with several effects and perhaps with some drawbacks or bad effects that could reduce cost.
- add small quests to obtain special spells.



--------------------------------------------------

10 - CREDITS

--------------------------------------------------

Bethesda for the game.
The whole Oblivion community for being awesome.
OBSE team for their amazing work expanding scripting capabilities and for creating user-made functions, withouth them my scripts would have doubled the max characters limit allowed by the CS.
Documn, PaladicPrince, ForgerOfSouls and all the people on the forums that have beta-tested it and have given insighful reports and suggestions.
All of you who download this mod and take a minute to endorse the file and write a line to share your thoughts about it.



--------------------------------------------------

11 - DISCLAIMER / LEGAL

--------------------------------------------------

Use it at your own risk.

Ask permission before using this work for your own mods, I'm 99% sure I'll agree, but I'm curious to know how people (wants to) use it, and simply because it's polite, wich is alway nice.




--------------------------------------------------

12 - CONTACT

--------------------------------------------------

Please PM me for bug reports, feedback, suggestions, etc at TESnexus or Bethesda forums or post in their respectives threads. You'll find me as grmblf on both sites.



grmblf