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Tips on Followers (Shrat, Dusty, Mud, Lester, etc.)
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RPGDot Forums > Gothic - Spoilers, Tips & Tricks

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imposteraz
Tempered Warlord
Tempered Warlord




Joined: 25 Jul 2003
Posts: 282
Location: Arizona, USA
   

Well, bad news from the front.

While most regular human NPCs can be converted into followers (both names and unnamed) by playing with their .zen files and changing overlays and routines. The girls are not set up that way. The programs that run them have no provisions for picking up objects and equiping items or armor. Therefore I really doubt if they would be capable of fighting at all. Essentially, G1 treats women as "objects" only and not like real people (NPCs).

The same holds for the Skeleton Mage. I was able to get him to follow me, but all he wants to do is attack me with Ice Bolts and Skeletons! When I posses him, I can't make him pick up objects or manage his inventory. I'll look into Skeletons and Skeleton Warriors next.

I was able to make the demon of Xardas' tower follow me, but he won't attack anything unless he is attacked first. If I want to model a demon as a follower, I'll need to base it on a demon from the Orc Temple. I'll try inserting one and exporting him.

I'm begining to think the only way to get close to what I want with "monster" followers is to get into real, heavy duty Mod'ing. I'll have to pick a regular NPC as the base and apply the texture of a monster over it. I don't know if I want to go quite that far. We'll see.
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imposterAZ

"OK, I've got the 'No Die' part."
Post Wed Mar 10, 2004 4:31 pm
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imposteraz
Tempered Warlord
Tempered Warlord




Joined: 25 Jul 2003
Posts: 282
Location: Arizona, USA
   

Good news and bad news.

Bad news first: Skeletons and Skeleton Warriors are much like Skeleton Mages (as you would expect) in that they will not pick up objects or manage an inventory while possessed. The same goes for Demons.

I'll be leaving Skeletons and Demons to just the scrolls to summon them when I need them, and not try to make them into followers.

Also, this is true of your standard Orc or Orc Shaman -- they will not pick up objects and cannot manage an inventory.

The good news, though: both Ur-Shak and Tarrok (slave in Free Mine who makes the Ulu Mulu) are full fledged NPCs. They make excellent followers, once you set their curRoutine to RTN_FOLLOW_1356.

Also, you can get them past all the Orcs in the Orc Town by giving each one an Ulu Mulu. The the Orcs ignore all three of us (Ur-Shak, Tarrok and Hero).

Once inside the Orc Temple (you'll have to "kill" your followers just outside and re-insert them once inside), they make excellent support -- Ur-Shak throwing Fireballs at everything and Tarrok (I bought him a Troll Fist from Sharky in the New Camp!) is quite happy to beat up on undead and crawlers.

I tried to get armor for my Orcs, but you can't pull the armor off generic Orcs since they have no inventory to manipulate. I did try putting human armor on the Orcs, but that just looked too weird! The armor doesn't resize to fit the Orcs, so you get skinny human bodies with huge Orc heads and hands -- just to strange for me.

Therefore, I just increased the generic protection level of the Orcs using "edit abilities" to that of good human armor and this works fine.
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imposterAZ

"OK, I've got the 'No Die' part."
Post Thu Mar 11, 2004 6:59 pm
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Wulf
The Shepherd
The Shepherd




Joined: 20 Sep 2003
Posts: 2312
Location: North/West.England
   

Hey there imposteraz,

I have been "absent" for nearly a week due to pc crash (i'll have to put an end to this "overclocking stuff) However now i have a new pc, i will have to start from scratch, all my save games Gothic & G2 are gone.

I have briefly looked at this thread and was amazed how much ground you have covered, i also was about to do similar things, but it wont take long to build up a new game/saves/set.

In the past i did much manipulating of ani files in Gothic and in particular the use of files from other Mod's (the hard work has been done by others, the trick is to find "suitable" like files. Zonk's Nude.mod uses the human overlays
to good advantage (its a woman with man-like shoulders) but they can be "swapped", so in Gothic you could have a few beauties following, hehe,

Its true that only the relative overlays will fit the original, e.g only the files beginning in HUM_ will latch to the human male e.g HUM_DRUNKARD etc'
so by studying the ani's you get the picture of what you CANNOT do.

You could for example, emulate the famous Gothic picture on the wall of the
blonde beauty with a couple of dragon followers, if i get that far i will do some screen-shots, that way there would be NO-WEAPON/MAGIC type followers?

You really have done much investigating, there is no doubt that while some of this can be done in G2, Gothic is the "true" modifier.
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Forever aches my wretched soul, for Chromanin locked in that dark hole, though crypted key i've yet to learn, he knows one day i will return.
Post Fri Mar 12, 2004 10:58 pm
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imposteraz
Tempered Warlord
Tempered Warlord




Joined: 25 Jul 2003
Posts: 282
Location: Arizona, USA
   

Wulf,

Very sorry to hear about your PC troubles! I was wondering what was keeping you off the boards for so long. I was beginning to think you had found a life beyond Gothic/Gothic2 (perish the thought! ).

I would be intersted in some info on manipulating ani files and pointers to some good mod work. So far I've been working without any mods or special tools. Getting into moding and ani stuff would be a whole new level for me. I'd have to do a lot of reading to catch up on the tools and concepts.

Maybe I'll focus on G2 for a while and see about collecting followers there. I can think of many characters that might have in-game reasons to follow the Hero around (for a while at least): Bartok, Mika, Brian, Lares, Jorgen, and possibly Dyrion (the novice in the process of being kicked out of the monastary), plus the followers normally in the game: Ulf, Bilgot, Biff, Rosi, Till and Angar.

I might even come up with a recommended list of followers depending on which type of character you run. It would be very helpful to have a mage follower if you are playing a Merc, for example.

I'll kick this around for a bit.
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imposterAZ

"OK, I've got the 'No Die' part."
Post Sun Mar 14, 2004 6:22 am
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imposteraz
Tempered Warlord
Tempered Warlord




Joined: 25 Jul 2003
Posts: 282
Location: Arizona, USA
   

I almost forgot about Betsy the Wonder Sheep!

I might be cool to transform her into wolf (or even a warg!) and have her follow you around attacking your enemies.
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imposterAZ

"OK, I've got the 'No Die' part."
Post Sun Mar 14, 2004 6:57 am
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Wulf
The Shepherd
The Shepherd




Joined: 20 Sep 2003
Posts: 2312
Location: North/West.England
   

Hey there iposteraz,

Even as we speak i can see your one step in front, Gothic does/did? have the modify-potential but the way forward (learning from Gothic) is G2, this is obviously because of the greater "scope" of G2.

In earlier days (before G2) i used "Goman" by Pyrox, it was made for Gothic but because of its great ability to import/export graphic files, it is most useful
also in G2, so it follows from this that say Rosi (she's the one) could easily "follow" then using Goman "she" could be a "he" with whatever stats because the males/females are the same body mesh/anim. The potential is endless, the secret is to find the trigger where the "latch" in the game takes place, this would be the "Rosi & Till" saga, then compare stats of the "two"
Rosi's, it could well turn out to be the same as Gothic (using the zen file)
but would the "follow" latch work then at the start of the game?

The GothicVDFS.exe tool by Nico Bendlin would also be useful, this can expand
the vdfs volumes (then manipulate - ?! ) then use the "builder" section
to rebuild a modified volume, then put the original volume "safe" and insert the new modified volume into the original G2 folder, if there is a "crash" at some point (which does not happen) you can always "swap-back" the original.

My pc, is now beginning to overheat, so i will come back in a "staccato" style until i have a new super-cooler for the cpu.
_________________
Forever aches my wretched soul, for Chromanin locked in that dark hole, though crypted key i've yet to learn, he knows one day i will return.
Post Sun Mar 14, 2004 11:12 am
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vangstaa0
Village Dweller
Village Dweller




Joined: 22 Mar 2004
Posts: 11
level change
   

how do i edit another person's level and abilites?
Post Thu Mar 25, 2004 5:32 am
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imposteraz
Tempered Warlord
Tempered Warlord




Joined: 25 Jul 2003
Posts: 282
Location: Arizona, USA
   

Hi there, vangstaa0!

To get the full info, look up all the cheat code stuff you can get from the various Gothic online resources.

For a quick start, go into your status screen. From there type 'marvin' (without the quotes) and exit the status screen. This will place you in Marvin mode.

The focus on the character you want to change and hit the F2 key. This will place you into the Console. There you type 'edit focus' and you will see a screen of the various settings for that character.

Most can be changed by just typing the 'attribute = value' you want it to be and then hit return.

If it's an attribute with parens around it, it's a list with sub entries. Just type the name of the attribute and hit return. This will bring up the sublist you can work with.

What all the values do cannot be easily explained. You will have to experiment and research through this forum a bit.

Hope this helps out some.
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imposterAZ

"OK, I've got the 'No Die' part."
Post Thu Mar 25, 2004 8:38 am
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vangstaa0
Village Dweller
Village Dweller




Joined: 22 Mar 2004
Posts: 11
thanks man
   

thank a lot
Post Fri Mar 26, 2004 6:36 am
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MageofFire
Griller of Molerats




Joined: 03 Oct 2003
Posts: 1594
Location: Monastery of Innos
   

Holy crap you guys do a LOT with followers! I'm just curious though, how do I export followers and import them into other locations?
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OMG! WTF?! MONKEYS!!!!
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Post Mon Mar 29, 2004 6:10 pm
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Wulf
The Shepherd
The Shepherd




Joined: 20 Sep 2003
Posts: 2312
Location: North/West.England
   

Hey there MageofFire,

quote:
Holy crap you guys do a LOT with followers!


You can blame Imposteraz, he started it

Just to start in an easy kind of way i would insert shrat then possess him and tweek his stats to your liking, then let him do the hard work, it is possible once you get the hang of it to go through the game and not fight an opponent, i went a few levels like this one time just to prove it can be done, but to be honest, as a dynamic duo, its amazing to watch.

Insert NOV_1356_SHRAT then talk to him (as you know) and he will follow and fight for you, and you can dismiss him at any time. Then to stop him running away, you need to up his level, in marvin type e ab (edit abilities)
then as a rough start easy guide, type attributes, then change each one to say 200, then type protection, same again all 200, damage, all 200, leave all skills to zero as the computer controls his general fighting, later on using Imposteraz,s system you can learn more refinements.

Still in edit abilities, type LP= then say 20000, then type exp = 30000, (watch the spaces and equal sign). Then give him suitable armor and weapons, give him only the weapon you wish him to use as he is liable to change when he feels. (use the insert lists in the Gothic forum)

You will of course have to possess Shrat to pick-up items "dropped" for him,
As you may progress, you can insert other characters say Mud (who is the only natural latcher who can go to the end of the game with no complications) but his nagging will drive you "nuts"

Give it a "go" and come back on this thread for info' and ideas.
_________________
Forever aches my wretched soul, for Chromanin locked in that dark hole, though crypted key i've yet to learn, he knows one day i will return.
Post Mon Mar 29, 2004 10:46 pm
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MageofFire
Griller of Molerats




Joined: 03 Oct 2003
Posts: 1594
Location: Monastery of Innos
   

Thanks Wulf! I deal with Mud by just asking him to "please be quiet for a moment," and he does. For a while. Then I have to tell him again. I wonder if there's a file you can modify to do away with Mud's dialogue.
_________________
OMG! WTF?! MONKEYS!!!!
=Member of numerous usergroups=
=Active in none of them=

Mediocreties, I absolve you!
Post Tue Mar 30, 2004 3:10 am
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Wulf
The Shepherd
The Shepherd




Joined: 20 Sep 2003
Posts: 2312
Location: North/West.England
   

Hey there MageofFire,

It would seem that there is not a lot can be done to cut Mud's chit-chat, not only does a play wav files enable but also a "linked" animation sequence as well as a "set camera" sequence, a serious programmer could do it i suppose.

I left out a few bits of info's in the previous post, forget the LP bit, leave it at zero (computer controlled) instead you will find your follower will run away when the opponent's level is about twice that of your follower, so type in the edit ab's screen, LEVEL = 50 or similar, thats level/space/equall/space/50.

If you've chosen Mud he will tax your patience! - Shrat is the easiest to learn with and you get the xp.

A good exercise for learning at this point, is to go up the path towards the
troll canyon, you will be trying to hold back a bit as you near an enemy? so
report back and we may be able to ajust the followers "senses". You will find your follower will have no problem with beasts, be carefull passing by the bandits camp, your follower will slay the lot. When you kill all the goblins by waiting slightly to come towards you, your next enemy is the troll, at this point
Mud or Shrat should "do him" no problem.

P.S. Mud can go all the way, Shrat will attack you when you come to "Cor-Boba"
and dont forget to KILL (in marvin focus) any "spare/excess" follower of the same character, i once got back to the sect camp to find 20 Shrats waiting for me then they all tagged on! - - next when you wish, go for the hero import/export bit etc'
_________________
Forever aches my wretched soul, for Chromanin locked in that dark hole, though crypted key i've yet to learn, he knows one day i will return.
Post Tue Mar 30, 2004 7:41 pm
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imposteraz
Tempered Warlord
Tempered Warlord




Joined: 25 Jul 2003
Posts: 282
Location: Arizona, USA
   

MageofFire, welcome to the Follower obsession, er ... I mean discussion.

One very nice aspect of the 'hero export <name>' and 'hero import <name>' commands is that you create a <name>.zen file that can be edited with any text editor. You can more easily handle any changes to stats, equipment and routines in there.

I've found it useful to make a backup .zen file of NPCs before I turn them into a follower, so I can switch them back to their original state when I want to dismiss them. Most then just walk off back to their normal post in the game and I can find them there again later.
_________________
imposterAZ

"OK, I've got the 'No Die' part."
Post Wed Mar 31, 2004 4:29 pm
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Wulf
The Shepherd
The Shepherd




Joined: 20 Sep 2003
Posts: 2312
Location: North/West.England
   

Hey there ya'all,

There can be no doubt that the save/edit/modify of the zen file of the hero-export, is the most usefull "advance" in the way of the followers. thanks imposteraz, - - i think it would be wise if MageofFire to do this now, to choose his "desired" character, than to stick with second-best Mud or Shrat, these are o.k to start with but why not "dive-in" straight away, for example a warrior/mage would be good all the way to the end?

I am still "manipulating" the Zonk's nude mod, trying to swap the anims, if it works then i can have the 2 beauties (with Velaya's head) then the zen edit - -
as followers, female followers with xardas type leotards, using magical flame arrows, this uses Zonks ITROX_02_GUN with ITMI_MONAR_05 Flame pellets.

Maybe a screen-shot all being well.
_________________
Forever aches my wretched soul, for Chromanin locked in that dark hole, though crypted key i've yet to learn, he knows one day i will return.
Post Wed Mar 31, 2004 7:09 pm
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