Can one remove certain spells from the game via a mod?

[tinkthank]

Sorry, I dont understand modding well yet -- can one remove some spells? I personally am sick of losing Celestial Masters to Breath of Winter, and would settle for having it removed from the game until spellcasting AI is fixed further. Would this be possible? And if so, could someone with time on his or her hands tell me how to do it? Thank you.

[Norfleet]

You can't entirely remove a spell, as far as I know, but you can modify it to require impossible path combinations, such as both holy and unholy.

Try the following:

code:

---

#selectspell "Breath of Winter"

#path 0 8

#path 1 9

#pathlevel 0 9

#pathlevel 1 9

#end

---

That'll make the spell require a unit that is simultaneously a level 9 holy and unholy priest. That ain't gonna happen...ever! As a result, this spell is uncastable.

[PDF]

Very good idea Norfleet ! I only thought of making spells so costly (1,000 gems or fatigue ) they wouldn't be used even by the stupidest AI, but your Holy 9/Unholy 9 trick in better

[Arryn]

Originally posted by Norfleet:
That'll make the spell require a unit that is simultaneously a level 9 holy and unholy priest. That ain't gonna happen...ever! As a result, this spell is uncastable.

It's a truly inspired idea, in theory. I suggest that it be checked out in an actual test game to be sure the folks at IW didn't include impossible-conditions checking in their code (something which all good programmers should allow for to make their apps bullet/idiot proof), which might cause the game to do something unfortunate like ignoring your directives.

[Wauthan]

Sure it makes sense. I just thought you were in a hurry to try it out. Just make a copy of the .dm file. Call it "Spell Edits" or such and make a new banner for that mod. I'm sure you'll know what commands that would need altering.

[Kristoffer O]

There is a 'normal' way to mod-remove a spell. It makes a spell impossible to research.

#school -1

It's in the modding manual.

[tinkthank]

Thank you.

Could you tell me please which document I must open to put in this order, and where I should enter it? (I open it with wordpad, right?) Must I find the order for "Breath of Winter" as it stands now and override it?
thanks

[Wauthan]

Just copy/paste the commands Norfleet posted into your own "Sacred Salamanders" mod. Just paste it in one line below the #end command of your salamander edit and it should work as intended. Mod commands are global so you can mix spell, nation and unit mods all into one mod document. It just gets a bit confusing after a while.

[tinkthank]

Ah hey thanks for that quick reply.
OK. Now I think I understand. Will do as you say.
But: wouldnt it make sense to keep these things separate? So that for example if this BoW mod screws something up, I dont screw up the Salamander mod? Or if I send someone the "sacred salamander" mod, he or she doesnt get the BoW-nerf automatically (in case he or she really wants to use that spell)?

[tinkthank]

Thank you.

Read Kris O's post too late -- and I know too little about modding to know when and where to insert a "#school -1" command, sorry (is this right after "select spell?")

But I tested (although not extensively) Norfleet's idea Last night, worked like a charm, thanks Norfleet. When you hit f5 and then enchantment, you see BoW with 18 little menorahs, heheh looks quite funny -- and so far no bugs and what's better: no more suiciding mages! I can highly recommend it to anyone not playing Caelum or Jotunheim or an undead nation.