Endless Nights IV v1.23

Note: Visit http://p089.ezboard.com/bendlessnights53660 for questions or to report bugs.

INSTALLATION NOTES

The zip file should contain two module files.  One is the normal version of the game, and the other is the PRC version of the game.   Obviously, the PRC version is the one with PRC in the title.   One need not do anything special to run the normal version besides having the right expansion and version of NWN installed.  For the PRC version, I have included the needed .hak and .tlk files that must be placed in their respective folder.  Please note that installed PRC onto the normal version will garner a module that does not work.   

PRC NOTES

The game uses the 2.2b release of PRC and should function well with it except for the Lolth's Meat feat, which has been disabled due to issues with the PRC and custom experience scripts.  

DESCRIPTION

Endless Nights IV is a dynamic world with random monster spawns, random quests, and random magic item generation to create a very replayable game experience.   The game also features monster-races, such as orcs, goblins and bandits, that come in a variety of classes and levels.   The module also includes a death and ranking system, a magic item creation system, a magic item modification system, and the ability to play on both the good and evil as well as neutral.

Built on the same engine that powered Endless Nights III, this new version in the series offers many new exciting changes.  In an effort not to redo what has already been done, the focus for Endless Nights IV is different from that of its predecessor.  While Endless Nights III was focused on a very challenging environement and an endless supply of quests, Endless Nights IV is focused on exploration.   To obtain this goal, each adventure zone has a set difficulty level range, encouraging players to play 'through' the module, moving on to the next area when their current one becomes easy.   As such, players are able to choose how difficult the module is by choosing when to move on to the next area.

Other changes include:

An Overall Quest.  Not that Endless Nights III did not have a overall quest, but it's inclusion was completely random and it was entirely possible to get to the highest levels without ever seeing the initital stages of the quest.  At the end of each of the first three sections, a portion of the quest to resolve the trouble in Hightop city is given to the player.  The last section of the game completes this quest.  

Brand New Quest Engine.  The quest engine for Endless Nights IV has been completely revamped.  To establish a more exploritory feel to the game, the npc's that give quests will only give one quest per character/party.  From one to four quest givers will spawn in each adventure zone giving the player quests to participate in during their exploration.  The quests, completely random, will usually state what monsters should be killed and give basic directions as to where to find them.  The quest journal should contain this information as well.  And, as an added bonus for those players that were frustrated when they had to run around a zone killing every mob hoping it was the quest mob, the journal now updates after you have completed the slaying portion of the quest and even tells the player if an item is needed.

Advanced Camps.  The camps of monsters are no longer stationary and just waiting for some adventurer to come along and slay them.   Some monsters in the camp will be set to wander (how much they wander or how often is random) and some will even scout out around the camp.   For camps full of racial creatures, like orcs or goblins, they might even send out assassins to hunt down the pc, scouts to establish a foothold in other parts of the zone, or even launch an attack on other camps.

Special treasure chests.  There are treasure chests littered though the zones as prizes for taking out a particularly tough camp of mobs, but to ensure that even the unluckiest adventurer gets a chance at some decent loot, one chest within each adventure area -- which may be located in a dungeon in that area -- is flagged to ensure some type of magic item be found.   In lower level areas this might just be a minor randomly generated item, in higher areas the chance at a powerful magic item increases.  All other chests are set on a random script that can still generate powerful magic items or a couple of copper coins depending on the luck of the roll, with higher level areas more likely to give better loot.  For parties of adventurers, the special chests will generate one item for each member of the group.

Lairs.  There are three special lairs, one in each of the first three 'sections' of the game.  These lairs, not required for any quests, offer a substantial reward for those brave enough to seek them out.  

Custom Experience Script.  The game uses a very simple custom experience script set for approximately 30% experience for monsters.  The script will give experience to any party member in the area and does not apply any penelty for summoned creatures.  

More Options.  I've always been fond of providing different ways to play the game.  As such, I've included three options that might prove of interest to some.  First, is the Hardcore setting.  Under this setting, the 'score' for the character is doubled, but upon his first death he will find himself in the abyss.  Next, the PnP Hardcore setting.  Again, the first death takes the character to the abyss, and this time he is scored normally, but under this setting the experience is set at 100%.  This is for those wishing to play like old-fashioned DnD where if you die, you are dead.  There is also the option to play for the evil side, which makes the townfolks quite upset at you.  And there are several guilds available in the city in case you prefer to base yourself more out of the city.

Being Mean to PRC Races.  For those playing the PRC version, the custom races included with the 2.2b release have been ranked and the more powerful ones given a 'penelty' to bring them a little bit more in balance with regular races.  The penelty depends on which race is chosen, but can range from 1-3 lives being taken away from the character as well as the character being treated as a higher level character for the purpose of gaining experience.    This penelty is only applied to those races whose power is far greater than the 'normal' races, thus a tallfellow halfling can play just like any other halfling, but a rakasha is going to find his lives limited.   For monstrous races, well, lets just say people don't like you so don't step foot in the city unless you've gotten on their good side.

More Window Dressing.  While I have focused mostly on substance in the module, I have dressed up the game a little bit so as to not be as bland as Endless Nights III.  In this regard, fires should come complete with a blazing sound, waterfalls should be heard, and monsters should be assigned the correct voice set.  I won't call it pretty or immersive, but it is an improvement over its predecesor.  

Patch Notes:

v1.24
*Fixed some issues with guild quests in multiplayer mode.
*Monsters with names have an increased chance to drop an interesting item.
*Characters who are “lucky” have an increased chance to proc a weapon’s onhitcast property.
*Melee items that can cast a spell should have less chance to run afoul of the proc system unless they also have an onhitcastspell property.
*Quest Givers should no longer appear on the unreachable ridge next to the entrance to Hightop City in the Rolling Plains.
*A few new random merchants added to the game including new dynamic merchants.
*The Hightop City stablemaster will no longer lend out horses unless the player has been to the destination.
*Magic items now have a chance to have skill bonuses
*Added a couple of new quests to the rotation.

v1.23
*Fixed issue with healers not removing curses.
*Added spell merchant to evil side.  Merchant is only available for characters over level six that have at least one level in wizard.  This should help some of the PrC characters obtain spells.

v1.22
*Fixed issue with guild quests being unable to correctly send the character to the Seering Sands resulting in an invalid quest location.
*Modified CODI AI to hopefully give vampire priests a little bit more awareness of their undead status.

v1.21

*Modified Henchman Conversations to add new functionality (tactics/actions) coded and provided by Commche.
*Fixed the exit into the Mountainous Passage from the Hightop Caverns to take the PC to the right location.
*Fixed Arena to clear out gladiators before each new bout and for gladiators not to drop items.
*Fixed healer in Hightop Caverns to take the correct amount of mula.
*Fixed the stash crates and barrel to actually give out keys.  

v1.20

*Added Random Adventure Areas to provide a more dynamic environment.
*Added Guilds to Hightop City.  More information on the various guilds is available on the game’s message board at http://p089.ezboard.com/fendlessnights53660frm7
*Added henchmen.  Henchmen are available inside of their respective guild halls.  A player is only allowed one hired henchman at once and henchman will take 1/3rd of that player’s experience.  Henchmen do not effect party member’s experience.   Players are allowed to have hirelings and friendly spirits as well as having a henchman.  Henchman use the CODI AI to guide their behavior.  Dead henchmen can be raised by the various priests scattered throughout the land.
*Added a priest to the Hightop Caverns for evil characters.
*Added some cleanup routines that will clean up lower level areas as the player progresses to improve performance.
*Added two crates and a barrel to Hightop City right behind the market for players to store items in.  The crates and barrel will provide keys to the player to keep their items safe.   (The code for the containers was provided by Commche.)
*Modified camp and quest spawns to spawn fewer enemies for Hardcore PnP players.  The smaller camps will only be used when all players are flagged as Hardcore PnP.  
*Modified the CODI AI to use substantially less ambient movement to increase performance.
*Modified export/import routine to better reset the overall quest line if the character is in the middle of a particular portion.  It is still suggested to end the portion of the quest before exporting just to make sure the integrity of the quest remains intact.
*Fixed and modified various issues for the monstrous races included in the PRC including fixing a bug where some of the more powerful races got too much experience per kill.  More powerful races will also get fewer quest points and fewer dark power options.
*Fixed various minor bugs.

v1.14

*Fixed the Abyss to allow characters to properly leave by paying the price.
*Fixed issues with CODI AI.
*Fixed issues with friendly spirits and Evil Faction characters.
*Added ability for DM’s to turn on/off module options.

v1.13

*Implemented the CODI AI scripts for racial creatures.
*Fixed various issues with Evil Faction.  

v1.12

*Fixed bug with evil side’s ending.

v1.11

*Fixed Merchant in Mountainous Passage
*Fixed Crypt of Tendle Silver-Magic – it shouldn’t spawn ‘good’ creatures now.

v1.10

*Modified OnHitCastSpell to no longer cast the spell with every hit.  The effect now acts much like a ‘proc’ in other games.  Slightly increased the likelihood of OnHitCastSpell’s to be added to dynamic weapons.  Drastically lowered quest point cost of adding effect to special weapon.
*Modified Rugnar’s Conversation.  You will now be able to choose what components to apply and know the rough cost of applying them.
*Modified special initial events that alter the race of the character to work well with the PrC.  Focus rings are no longer given out for special initial events.
*Modified Endless Nights Information conversation.  Added ability to default to hardcore/hardcorepnp/normal/special modes.  Added the ability to save settings/rankings to multiplayer or singleplayer so that players can keep them separate.  
*Modified how mobs are equipped which should help with too many lines of code executing causing an error during quest setup.
*Completely revamped the evil side.  Those choosing to play on the evil side will no longer be able to enter the city without severe risk (i.e. you will probably die) and can no longer run ‘normal’ quests.   Instead, they have their own quest system and rewards.  Note: Evil characters are not required to play on the ‘evil’ side, but to play the evil side the character is required to be evil. 
*Modified initial events that gave a negative effect to also include a positive effect to balance them out.
*Tweaked Hardcore/HardcorePNP code as follows: Mob/Camp spawns will no longer take number of ‘lives’ into effect which was making harder mobs/camps spawn.  Magical item rewards for quests will be a little more frequent.  Quests will give more experience for HardcorePNP characters and Quest Points given out for higher levels in lower level areas to compensate for leveling faster.  
*Added a special mode that is a hybrid of normal mode and hardcorePnP.  This mode gives additional lives once every ten levels starting at level five and grants the character double normal experience.
*Added new quest npc’s to add more variety to adventures.  
*Added new random npc’s to zones some of which may be merchants or hirelings.
*Added a few new initial events.
*Added export functionality so that players can export their characters and start a new campaign with them. 
*Enabled the code for duel-wielding opponents to be equipped with two weapons.
*Fixed chests to correctly target different party members when dropping multiple items.
*Fixed bug keeping enchanted shields to drop.  Enchanted and magical shields should drop more frequently now.
*Fixed a few miscellaneous bugs.
*Added a few extra surprises and mob encounters.

v1.04

*Rearranged code in overall quest line so that too many instruction errors won’t cause quest to become unsolvable.

v1.03

*Modified mob behavior on death to help fix friendly/neutral mobs from attacking pc after they killed another mob.

v1.02

*Modified starting location to Respawning zone which then zones to either city or cave under city. This is mainly a PRC monstrous race fix.

v1.01

*Minor Bug Fixes