This version of the FAQ was created for the initial versions of Level Rewards and is deprecated. It continues to be made available for historical reasons. The current document can be found here.
FAQ
If I use the "in-progress" option, would it still work for new games?
- Yes, it does. It'll be level 60 before henchmen get any additional talent points though.
Why does the game re-calculate Shepard's talent points on every load? Why not do the same for the henchmen?
- I do not know. Though I would not be surprised if the fact that ME3 originally had a multiplayer component had something to do with it.
- Technically, the game re-calculates Shepard's spent talent points. If you start a game with this mod, use the console to get yourself to level 60, spend none of the talent points, save and then reload, you will still have 189 talent points. Once you spend them, save and reload, the game will reset your ranks and you'll have 181 talent points.
How many talent points does Shepard need to fill out power ranks?
- 189 talent points are required to fill out Shepard's ranks, including the bonus power. The vanilla game awards 181 talent points to Shepard.
How many talent points do henchmen require to fill out power ranks?
- 105 talent points are required to fill out the power ranks of henchmen. The vanilla game awards 90 talent points to henchmen.
I've used the mod for a while but want to uninstall it. Can I use the saves made while the mod was installed? What will happen if I do?
- The short answer is: Yes, you can continue to play the game using those saves but expect some side effects.
- Full Power Ranks for In-Progress Games
- Saves will be free of issues, unless you have reached level 60.
- If you have reached level 60 any henchmen you've used on missions after reaching level 60 will keep the additional talent points.
- If you use a save made while level 27 to 60 Shepard's talent points will be reset, and it will be like vanilla.
- Full Power Ranks for New Games Only
- If you use a save made while level 1-15 your henchmen will keep additional talent points earned. Depends on whether and when you used a henchman on a mission.
- If you use a save made while level 16-30 your henchmen will keep any additional talent points earned and at level 60 be able to fill all power ranks for a henchman. Additionally, henchmen will have up to 15 excess talent points upon reaching level 60. Depends on whether and when you used a henchman on a mission.
- Faster Level 60 for New Games Only
- Because this option changes the experience required to level there are more side-effects to be aware of.
- Keep in mind this option keeps the max level at 60 but sets the experience cap to 71,000. Level 46 in vanilla.
- The experience required to reach level 30 is the same. This means if you are level 30 or below the only side effects to be concerned with are the same as for Full Power Ranks for New Games Only.
- The game does not re-calculate level based on the experience required in the levelrewards data.
- Post level 31 your level will be higher than it normally would be for the experience you have gained. This means you have some experience to catch up on before obtaining your next level.
- For example, if you are level 58 when you uninstall the mod, it will be quite some time before you reach level 59.
- It appears Shepard keeps any unspent additional talent points earned.
- If any additional talent points have been spent on ranks the game will reset Shepard's ranks and any additional talent points will be lost.
- Henchmen will keep any additional talent points earned, unspent or otherwise. The number of talent points will depend on if and when you use the henchmen in missions. It is possible for a henchman to have many talent points in excess upon reaching level 60 or none if the henchmen were never used.
Introduction
This document is meant to catalog questions and answers from users as well as myself. It is also a repository of the lessons I've learned while working on this mod over the past few months. Some of the information here is going to be technical and may be useful to other mod developers. This document may and most likely will be updated. I will definitely get some things wrong through ignorance or misunderstanding, modding is a constant learning experience. Positive, constructive and informative feedback is welcomed.
I've been using variations of this mod for months and they all work but for a couple of gotcha's:
- Henchmen talent points are not re-calculated for levels already earned. Like. Ever.
- Using the Normandy's Reassign Powers feature does not force a re-calculation of henchman talent points!
- Changing from one revision of the mod to another, or back to the base game, results in side effects. This only applies to games saved with the mod installed. Saves made before the mod was installed are unaffected.
- This means that if a player uninstalls the mod and continues with game saves made prior to installing the mod everything will work as expected. This goes for the mod's default option as well, for the most part.
- However, if you uninstall the mod and continue to play the game with saves made after installing the mod, there are some interesting side effects to be aware of.
As an aside, the default option of the mod avoids most side effects. It does not change experience required for levels. Additional talent points for henchmen are all awarded at level 60. Making it safe to uninstall and continue using saves made while the mod was installed, even after hitting level 60 and obtaining all additional talent points. In that scenario Shepard's talent points will be re-calculated by the game and the player will need to re-spend all talent points. Henchman talent points that have been spent on ranks are kept permanently. Any additional talent points earned but not spent on ranks by henchmen may be lost. (Need to test what happens in New Game+)
An important note I should make. In all of the testing I performed, swapping several revisions of the mod and returning to vanilla, I was always able to complete the game and never experienced a crash. The main issue was that henchmen were not getting the talent points they should have been awarded from previous levels. This is what a player would experience.
Initially I thought this mod was going to be yet another fairly easy coalesced mod. I wanted to add 8 talent points to Shepard's levelrewards and add 15 talent points to the henchmen's levelrewards. Additionally, I wanted to front load the henchmen talent points changing acquisition from:
- 1 talent point per level from level 1 to level 30 and 2 talent points per level from level 31 to level 60
- 2 talent points per level from level 1 to level 45 and 1 talent point per level from level 46 to level 60
This is what the second option, Full Power Ranks for New Games Only, provides. The game does treat level 1 for henchmen as already earned and does not apply any updated values for talent points in the levelrewards values. I needed to start with level 1 awarding 1 talent point and level 2 awarding 3 talent points.
I also wanted to create one or more options that either reduced the experienced required to hit level 60 or reduce the maximum level. I have a revision with a max level of 35 which slots in really well with new games using an ME2 import. I had to limit those options because of the potential support issues I expected.
Testing
First, I'd like to point out this awesome guide on ME3Tweaks website: Using The In-Game Profiler. Testing, understanding and validating the effects a mod in development is having would be impossible without the profiler. Much of the information in the guide also applies to ME2.
To date this is the only mod I have developed that has an effect on game saves. As such it has gone through more testing and revisions than any of my other mods.
The mod's development was complicated by swapping revisions of the mod while using game saves made with previous mod revisions and then complicated more by continuing the process. This led to side effects I was initially ignorant of. I assumed the game was re-calculating talent points and levels on every load based on the numbers in the levelrewards. This is not the case. Apparently, henchmen talent points and ranks are never re-calculated except for a few narrow exceptions. Level is not recalculated until you level up and apparently only increases are applied.
Ignorance of these side effects was costly in that I wasted a lot of time going down rabbit holes trying to understand what was happening. While technically the saves were not corrupted, in behavior they were. So seriously, do not swap between the mod's options.
Testing was further complicated by how the game manages talent points for henchmen. Talent points spent on ranks by henchmen are never re-calculated and in certain situations unspent talent points are not either. Basically, once a level has been achieved and the talent points spent, they're persisted forever even if the mod is uninstalled. Henchmen that were with Shepard at the time a level was earned but did not spend any additional talent points the mod provides, get to keep the unspent talent points if the mod is uninstalled. As far as the game engine is concerned the other henchmen never acquired the talent points so they don't get the same benefit if the mod is uninstalled. This was another point of confusion, while swapping between revisions of the mod, henchmen talent point totals could get out of sync.
This is why I note that players:
- Backup saves before installing
- Do not change the mod option once you have saved the game with the mod installed.
- Provide a specific option for games that are in progress and for new games.
Terminology
henchman - This is the term used by the game for squad mates.
levelrewards - The collection of values the game uses to determine experience required for a level and the talent rewards for Shepard and for henchmen. This is what it looks like for levels one and two:
<Section name="sfxgame.sfxgameconfig">
<Property name="levelrewards">
<Value type="2">(Level=1,ExperienceRequired=0,TalentReward=3,HenchmanTalentReward=1)</Value>
<Value type="2">(Level=2,ExperienceRequired=1000,TalentReward=2,HenchmanTalentReward=1)</Value>
<Property name="levelrewards">
<Section name="sfxgame.sfxgameconfig">
Ramblings … err Technical Notes
This mod indirectly affects the player's save game. The game persists the player's acquired experience, level, spent and unspent talent points in the game's saves. This means saves made after installing this mod contain experience, level and talent point values specific to this mod's levelrewards values.
This goes both ways and can be exploited:
- If the player's henchmen spend additional talent points provided by the mod and the mod is uninstalled, the henchmen keep the additional ranks purchased by those talent points and in some cases unspent additional talent points.
- This is possible with the Full Power Ranks for New Games Only and Faster Level 60 for New Games Only options.
- This is possible because for these two options the additional talent points are front loaded on levels 1-15.
- This kind of exploit makes it possible for henchmen to earn more talent points then can be spent on ranks.
- This is accomplished if the player installs the mod, plays to level 15, saves and then uninstalls the mod but continues to play starting with that save.
- This only applies to henchmen the player has acquired and done missions with.
However, if the player uses the Full Power Ranks for New Games Only and Faster Level 60 for New Games Only options for a game in-progress:
- Keep in mind the game does not re-calculate henchman talent points for previously earned levels.
- The player's henchmen will earn less total talent points because the above two options front load the talent points.
- The more levels gained from level 15 to 30; the less talent points the henchmen can possibly earn.
- This is why the above two options should never be used for an in-progress game. It is detrimental to do so.
Neither of the scenarios above affect Shepard. Shepard's spent total talent point count is re-calculated for all levels on every game load or level up.
If Shepard has spent additional talent points provided by this mod and uninstalls this mod. Upon loading the save Shepard's ranks will be reset and the player will be forced to re-spend all talent points. Basically, if the game determines that more talent points have been spent on ranks then are allowed by the currently loaded levelrewards values, it resets the ranks and forces the user to re-spend their talent points.
There is some evidence to suggest that using the console to manually add talent points with the GiveTalentPoints command will provide a way to get 'missing' talent points provided to henchmen. Since the levelrewards values allow for the higher number of talent points, they just haven't been assigned, the additional talent points added through the console may not get reset. This needs testing.
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