New Hireling - Shaman

[Myhrginoc]

I tried this out the other day and found a couple of problems. The idea is fun but the code doesn't support it yet.

When I first got my Shaman hireling from Kashya, it was a standard rogue that threw fireballs. With the MercMod plugin, I had a full inventory, and I equipped her with rogue-type gear. The fireballs didn't start at the character, they were out a short distance. Everything else followed the usual pattern just fine.

Then I started a new game and that is where the fun started. I now had a Fallen Shaman instead of a rogue. But the real trouble was inventory: every item I equipped her with had disappeared! I tried putting new items on and got more surprises. First, trying a bow caused a male voice to say "I can't use that". Then, when I tried a generic armor, the piece I had used before came back in my cursor. So the items really are there but can't be displayed, and presumably the bow I had was not usable by the hireling. Not a problem in the long run, I replaced the weapon with a quiver of arrows and got my gemmed bow back.

Anybody who is caught with disappearing inventory on the Shaman, you can get junk inventory and replace the hidden items to recover what you had, and use quivers to recover bows.

Technical notes: there is a d2common function (11067) that returns a hireling type when compared against the hcIdx value for the hireling. So rogues (hcIdx 271) return a 1, desert guards (hcIdx 338) return a 2, iron wolves (hcIdx 359) return a 3, and barbarians (hcIdx 560 and 561) return a 4. All others return a 0. I suspect TrueMage cloned the Shaman line in monstats.txt, added a line in hirelings.txt, and used my MercDesc plugin to make it a distinct type for Kashya's list. That means the hireling behavior is incomplete, since the cloned shaman will not have a non-zero hireling type. It can be fixed by modifying the function to include user-defined types, but right now that is a little more code editing than I have time for. I may be able to do this for BfE v1.3 or thereabouts. For now, TrueMage should use hcIdx 271 for any rogue hireling, but they can be more than two types of 271's in hirelings.txt using my plugin.

[TrueMage]

Thank You very much for this feedback, Myhrginoc. I'm practically had no chances to notice it by myself because I never use mercenaries.
Unfortunately, I don't understood Your last phraze :

For now, TrueMage should use hcIdx 271 for any rogue hireling, but they can be more than two types of 271's in hirelings.txt using my plugin.

May You to write it more clear for me?

[Xcolibri]

I experienced the same as Myhrginoc with the shaman.
Note that with his mentioned trick you can 'rescue' the old merc's equipment but that no equipment gives its bonuses to the shaman. So it doesn't matter what you give him...

He's kind of weak compared to the archer mercs, too. His fireball flies way slower than the arrows and he is more into close-up action, where he is not really good in

[TrueMage]

Are You updated BFE to 1.22 version? There is no shaman merc in 1.22.

[Xcolibri]

Oh, I see

Phew, good that you tell me now. Yesterday, I finished act 2 and wanted to tell some other 'bugs' and feedback...
(Like 'there is no display for luck'...well, obviously, since it has not been introduced yet ^^)

I download the new version and will be back when I'll have beaten Baal