Patching Base Game Class Errors

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Consequence of Grace
Posts: 112
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 4:06 am

Patching Base Game Class Errors

Post by Consequence of Grace »

Hi,

I just signed up as I was looking for some info and assistance.

When creating a character and answering the 12 questions, there are several errors and inconsistencies that give incorrect bonuses and items unsuitable for the class.

EG,
a class that is forbidden to wear Plate and Chain gets iron armour pieces,
Archers can get arrows but no bow,
a class with no short blade skill (EG Rogue and Barbarian) can get the ebony dagger,

These I can fix easily by editing the BIOGxxT0.TXT files for the Questionnaires and giving suitable, balanced items.

But is it possible to make changes to the actual classes themselves?

EG,
The Thief is Forbidden Blunt weapons, so cannot use a club, cosh, mace or staff? I find that offends my CRPG sensibilities! :lol: How do I change this?

The Burglar is forbidden Leather and Chain, but can wear full Plate armour? I'd like to change this to Forbidden Plate and Chain, and allow Leather armour. It's interesting to be in plain clothes while burgling but fighting in full Plate mail, but really...


Many Thanks!

:)

R.D.
Posts: 379
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2016 10:41 am

Re: Patching Base Game Class Errors

Post by R.D. »

Just one note:
Archers can get arrows but no bow,
That shouldn't be happening. In both the original game and in Daggerfall Unity now the Archer is supposed to be given a long bow, regardless of how the questions are answered. Have you not gotten one sometimes?

Consequence of Grace
Posts: 112
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 4:06 am

Re: Patching Base Game Class Errors

Post by Consequence of Grace »

Earlier today I made a custom class that used the Ranger questionnaire and I got a bow at the start, but I think not when it used the Archer questionnaire.

I love the look of Daggerfall Unity, but have not tried it yet. I just came across it today when trying to find tools for a mod of my own. I used to follow DaggerXL, but that seems to have been abandoned and their site taken over by porn bots :(

But I do seem to have discovered how to edit the Daggerfall Standard Classes, but I cannot get DAGCLASS.exe by Andy Polis to work in Windows 7. It's meant to edit the standard class CLASSxx.CFG.

The version I have is dated 04/05/2001 and will not run under Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. All I get is a very fast DOS window that closes immediately.

Apparently, it runs under XP but needs files I do not have:

user32.dll
comdlg.dll
winspool.drv
advapi.dll
gdi32.dll
kernel32.dll

Any ideas how to get these without running a Virtual XP machine?

Better yet, is there anyone here with the skills to update this utility for Windows 7?


Cheers!

R.D.
Posts: 379
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2016 10:41 am

Re: Patching Base Game Class Errors

Post by R.D. »

Earlier today I made a custom class that used the Ranger questionnaire and I got a bow at the start, but I think not when it used the Archer questionnaire.
OK, so you were talking about a custom class using the Archer questionnaire. I'm not sure how the original game or Daggerfall Unity handles the questionnaire with custom classes. The "always gets a long bow" I was talking about is if you actually choose the Archer class. Each of the pre-defined classes has a weapon that they always start with, and this is unrelated to whatever the questionnaire might be or how it is answered.

As for your other questions, I kind of doubt it will help but you could try right-clicking the program and running it in compatibility mode for an older version of Windows.

Consequence of Grace
Posts: 112
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 4:06 am

Re: Editing Standard Classes

Post by Consequence of Grace »

Yes, the actual point of the post is how to edit the standard classes. I should have picked a better title. The examples I gave of what I consider to be errors aren't really relevant. EG, as well as allowing Leather to the Burglar and forbidding Chain and Plate, I'd like to change the Ranger to a lightly-armoured class by forbidding Plate as well as Tower shield.

I would have though such a utility would be available, but the only one I could find was DAGCLASS.exe by Andy Polis, and it won't run on Windows 7. There are many, many saved game editors available, and all sorts of tools for other file types, but none for changing the Standard Classes.

I already tried compatibility mode, of course, but nothing helps.


Cheers!

:)

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Interkarma
Posts: 7236
Joined: Sun Mar 22, 2015 1:51 am

Re: Patching Base Game Class Errors

Post by Interkarma »

This is an old DOS tool, so ideally you'll run it under DOS emulation. I'm assuming you have DOSBox ready to play Daggerfall, that would be the best way to the run the tool.

Failing that, the BIOG files are just plain text. You can edit them with any decent text editor like Notepad++. You'll just need to understand the format to work on them. This UESP article is a good primer.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:BIO ... .TXT_Files

There's also a very deep series of fixes to BIOG files by Deepfighter. He covers them in detail in his post on the forums here. These could fix some of the problems you're having out of the box.

https://forums.dfworkshop.net/viewtopic.php?t=121

Good luck! :)

Consequence of Grace
Posts: 112
Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2018 4:06 am

Re: Editing Standard Classes

Post by Consequence of Grace »

Thanks for the help,

Sadly, dagclass.exe is meant to work under XP and in DOSBox an error message says it requires Windows.

I am familiar with the BIOGxxT0.TXT files and went through them all in detail a few years ago. I got Daggerfall on CD when it was first released in Britain, but still get obsessed with it for a few weeks or so every now and then when I am bored with MMOs etc. I came across Deepfighter's fixes a few days ago! :)

Sadly, the only problem I am having is that I want to edit the Standard Classes, but I can't.

As far as I can tell, this data for Primary, Major, Minor and Misc skills, special bonuses, forbidden armour/shields, number of Magick points etc is stored in the CLASSxx.CFG files, which are very small. Maybe there's more data stored elsewhere?

Most people seem to think there's not much point in such a tool when you can roll a Custom class, but I want to play the standard classes after I have edited them to fix them.


Cheers!

:)

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