like you said with so many items most of the times you wont have it so you will not use the same item always

real problem is ai wont do any of this

These extra-affinity abilities could also possibly be developed by any hero that equips the item. So if I equip an Orb of Justice, I may have a choice of developing an affinity for the item at level-up.

I personally like the idea.

in general no( but some exception wouldnt hurt), this would be just a convoluted way to give a bonus to an item

but there are very interesting use of this now that you make me think about it

like cursed items you need to wear (with their maluses) in order to understand them and be  able to use them or unknown tomes that may teach you new spells etc

i also could model my stuff based on this

for example a plate proficiency might unlock only if you are actually wearing plate, archer skills only if you are using a bow etc

It's a way to promote constant use of items and give them a little bit of personality by allowing them to grow in power over time instead of being static in values. It wouldn't be done for every single one, just a few items where it fits.

yeah for few items could be cool for a change

Heavanfall how hard was it to make a new race/faction to that extent because I have been wanting to make a faction but what they have in the game just isn't enough for what I have in mind.

The XML is a lot of work but very simple to work with when you get some experience with it. They have a very logical and easy-to-use system behind the XML, so it is extremely easy to figure out what different things do. Start out by copy-pasting stuff to see what works and what doesn't.

The big issue is 3d models to use for the races. Since the game doesn't have very many interesting humanoid models, sometimes you'll need to make your own or edit existing ones (for example my Death Legion are edited Darklings, and Drota/Goblins are edited Wildings). Coming up with a working 3d model is a bit more difficult because you need to make sure that 1) textures work, 2) that it is bound well to the skeletons they use, 3) that it doesn't use too many polygons and 4) that the model doesn't clip with the various armorpieces available in the game. Which can really be summed up as "it should look good in-game without causing FPS drop".

The_Kezz,

I know you directed this comment to Heavenfall, but here is a list of XML files that can get you started:

CoreEyes

CoreUnits

CoreRaceTypes

CoreSkins

CoreClothes

CoreRaceConfig

AnimationPacks

With the exception of the last one, all those files can be found in the data/english directory. The animationpacks is found in the data/animations directory.

You can look at those files and copy and paste code into new xml files that you place into your my documents/my games/fallen enchantress/mods directory. This is assuming you are going to use existing models etc. You can also edit the files directly, but if you do, I would make a back up of my data directory first. 

Also, taking a look at Heavenfall's Stormworld mod should help quite a bit. I used it to learn what files need to be edited to make a completely new race/faction.

Thanks for the help, both of you, but my biggest issue is making the faction bonuses and weaknesses for them how would I go about that?

The modeling is easy because I am just using normal human models so that should be easy.

Just for starting out with a new faction, I would recommend you concern yourself with CoreRaceTypes.xml, CoreRaceConfigs.xml and CoreUnits.xml. A RaceType is the underlying "mold" for factions such as "Men" or "Trogs". Each UnitType in CoreUnits belongs to a RaceType. The RaceConfig is the final product of the mold - with additional information and tweaks about the faction (the RaceConfig is the final faction, "Altar" or "Pariden").

Making up bonuses and flaws is a hard part, because you need intricate knowledge of what can and cannot be done within the game engine.

Easy things that can be done:
Unlock special buildings
Unlock special items
Unlock special spells
Unlock special monster units
Provide specific bonuses to the entire faction, such as +20% Gildar income or +20% Accuracy

After that, it gets harder and you'll have to try your way around to find out what things really work and what doesn't.

Sounds like a great idea. I agree it shouldn't be for every +1 dagger you find, but it would be nice to get a little more service out of some of the more interesting items you find. It might also make level requirements obsolete (I really dislike that mechanic, though I understand why it is necessary)...

This sounds like something I am interested in doing. I want to have paths that prefer certain weapon types. For instance, a friar that has a greater "affinity" for a staff, a blademaster that prefers to use swords etc.

My plan was to attach special abilities to the weapon that depend on a hidden stat that the champion gets when they promote to that path. 

What did you have in mind as far as creating a perk for using the specific weapon?

Sounds like ddd888 had a similar idea, jshores.

For the items that are going to have an Affinity (I like that term, I'm sticking with it), this is what I'm going to do:

1) Put a hidden unitstat on the item.

2) An abilitybonusoption that appears at level-up if a champion has that unitstat (very low chance)

3) The abilitybonusoption has additional modifiers that only function as long as that hidden unitstat is maintained

I need to do a bit of trickery to keep it modular since I am in a situation where a player may use one part of my mod and not the other. But that's the gist of it.

That sounds excellent. I like that a lot better than than the weapon providing the special perks. I am going to steal your idea may restructure my idea like this :

Path of ***** provides access to the level up traits for that path focused on the certain weapon. Equipping the proper weapon makes the traits usable. 

Well the item is providing the special perks, you need it to get the affinity and you need to have it equipped to maintain the bonus.

I want to do it like this:

Path is the prerequisite for the traits.

The traits use the stat provided by the weapon for calculations.

That should work, correct?

Yes.

Excellent,

I am done hijacking your thread Thanks for the information and the great mod 

Why do so many items cause hexed on the weared (at 1% per hit taken per combat)?

Personally I would never use such an item (and its not like those items are ridiculously awesome to being with, just "nice")

The bonus for using those items is stronger than others. Therefore, they have a chance to suffer a penalty for using a cursed item. It's a way to let the player choose a high-risk high-reward tactic.

Its not a high risk high reward its a small reward its guaranteed (its only a matter of time while wielding such an item) medium penalty (at least I think, I have yet to discover all the bad things hexed does to you).

Also the issue is that it seems like half the items have that same exact trait (hexed)... very much reused.

Note: The reliquary does contain AWESOMELY powerful items, its just that THOSE items are not hexed. (read only 2/3rd of the reliquary so far)

The Hexed trait chance is on 7 Reliquary items, which is less than 10% of the items in the mod.

The fact that it's the same trait prevents you from suffering multiple "curses" for using different items over time. If you do get the trait it isn't the end of the world, it can even be lifted (get the Grail at sovereign creation if you want to depend on those types of items).

Edit: Looks like the Grail isn't available at custom sov creation, I'll put it in next version.

Keep in mind that the list you are reading doesn't contain information about how and when you get the items. If the item is considered strong for when you get it, it has a chance to give you a hex trait. Some of the very strong items you are seeing are end-game items. If those had a chance to be hexed, they'd be even stronger.

Good point about the timing. An item can be very strong in early game yet near worthless in late game.

How do you control which items are awarded at what stage of play though?

Also, it seems to me that while the hexed penalty is not the end of the world, it provides more penalties then the items that give it seem to confer. And it is a practical guarantee that you will eventually acquire it since its a chance every time you are hit not when you are killed or taking damage above a certain threshold.

However, if there was a researchable spell to remove it that arrived in mid-late game then this would be a much safer risk-reward calculation. You get the reward at early game, mid game you take the penalty, late game you remove the penalty. (unless you get unlucky, or lucky of course)

There are different ways to do that.

First, as you see, some items are available at start through custom sovs. That's the first "level".

All items also have a tag called <RarityDisplay> which sorts them into categories (vanilla items also have those). Different values of RarityDisplay are used by the game to decide when you get items - goodiehuts and quests can have stuff like "give a random Uncommon item". So the Reliquary items have Uncommon (fairly early game, but not instantly from the first monsters) or Rare (quite strong items that will carry you through act 1).

The vanilla game also has UltraRare and Unique weapons. Ultrarare are only from quests, and Unique weapons are mostly from quests but also from Wildland bosses (at least they used to be). I don't use either UltraRare or Unique, because I don't want to write a quest for every item. Instead, I use a separate category called Reliquary. Reliquary items only drop from the events in the mod, such as the ghost dragon Dstaurmim or the Burning Man.

I approach a game like FE as if it's a simulation rather than a game. It is important not to give the player an easy way out when running a simulation. It makes for a better world because it feels believable, but the downside is not every item is balanced with the "game" in mind.

That said, I agree that there should be some way to get rid of hexes that is a bit more dependable. I have been working on a mid-game quest called Path to Eden that will have something which will make it easier to remove, but it's not finished.