levelling scheme, gamelevel.mes, mesedit problem

OK, I've gone back through at least 5 old threads looking for the solution of modifying NPC levelling schemes but didn't see an answer to my problem. I practiced on Virgil; his is the easiest to check since you start the game with him.

I went back to try to pinpoint my problem, so here it is.

1) I can use mesedit to rename Virgil's schemes to "Virgil Start" and "Zen Virgil" in gamelevelname.mes (which is saved in Arcanum/data/mes folder) and they show up on his character sheet and he still allocates points.

2) If I copy and paste gamelevel.mes into the Arcanum/data/rules folder Virgil still allocates points.

3) If I open gamelevel.mes in mesedit and then save it into that directory without making any changes Virgil won't allocate points when he gets to level 2.

4) When I went to open some .mes files after undatting them, about a dozen or so are unreadable/unopenable by mesedit.

5) I went back to the zip for mesedit I'd downloaded and unzipped it again, but it still has the same problems.

WTF?

 

I haven't tried anything like that.

Sorry I'm posting without giving you a solution, but I didn't want you to think we were ignoring your issue. :/

 

Have you tried editing the .mes files directly? From the sounds of it, mesedit isn't doing that good of a job.

I have a manually modified gamelevel.mes in my Arcanum/data/rules folder and it works perfectly. (Magnus + Jayna full progression, Virgil - Lockpicks, Sebastian + Explosives, & full Electric tree, Vollinger + full Chemistry tree... all played from the start of the game to (as of now) 43rd level... not a hitch.)

 

How would you open .mes files without mesedit?

 

Wordpad or notepad works pretty good.
Right click on a mes file and choose whatever word processor you like best. You can also set it to always open with your choice using this method.

 

stupid [bang] stupid [bang] stupid [bang].

When I tried to open it ages ago, there wasn't an open with... option, so after finding I couldn't open .scr files with notepad, I just assumed you had to use mesedit since it was in the downloads list.

OK, I got it opened as well as ten .mes files that wouldn't open in mesedit. The error message said they had bad lines. Apparently the game can handle comments without //remark slashes but mesedit couldn't. With regard to the file we were discussing, I'd wondered why it cut off the first letter of half the levelling scheme names. The others were like "-Herbalist" and I think they weren't in brackets, either.

Finally I can do what I wanted to do ever since I saw my followers weren't levelling rationally: fix their schemes. I'm sure many of you would level like so: Get to DX12 (with points or bonuses) then add points to the skills you want, in Virgil's case it would be Melee, Dodge, and PickLock. You probably wouldn't go up to 12 put a point in Melee, and then start increasing your willpower. But that's what the schemes look like!

Also, I rarely put a point in maxHPS, though I did for maxfatigue when I was a mage. Instead I'd put a point in ST which I think adds to maxHPS as well. As someone mentioned, the penalty for using weapons too heavy for you is not that great, (unless you are way under, I discoverd). I thought it would be like the filament sword: Virgil would keep crippling his leg requiring loading. I don't think there's a way to see if your follower is scarred or injured. I'd be interested to know if there's a script line that you can use to give a character a scar or crippled limb! [EDIT:] Now there would be a character background: one arm good, one arm crippled. Try playing Arcanum with one arm tied behind your back. Ahem. [/EDIT]

As many of you may know there are other tricks to levelling your followers. For instance if the next code is melee 12, the character will have their net DX reach 12 (incl. rings) so they can put the point in straight. But if the next code is DX 19, it is gross 19, so they'll put the point in anyway. Same with the tech learning, e.g. smithy: you can give your follower an intelligence potion just before you upgrade unless the code says IN12. I did this with unchanged Jayna to make her level up quickly to make stuff.