Oct 5, 2017

Chris Avellone may be teasing a new Fallout game

PC Gamer

Chris Avellone is an RPG machine. His credits stretch back two decades, to games including Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale, KOTOR 2, Neverwinter Nights 2, and—in 2017 alone—Torment: Tides of Numenera, Prey, and Divinity: Original Sin 2. He also had a hand in Fallout 2 and Fallout: New Vegas, which is why a recent bit of activity on his Facebook page has caused quite a stir among fans.

It might be nothing—it's probably nothing—but Avellone posted an image of three Vault Boys on his timeline on September 29, one of them with his hand on an RPG Bible, one reading a plot outline, and one apparently in love with his big brain, to mark the 20th anniversary of the release of the original Fallout. That in itself isn't necessarily a big deal: 20 years is a big number, and one worth celebrating, after all.

But a few days later he updated his profile picture to a hand-drawn image of what is presumably meant to be himself hugging the Vault Boy, under the words, "I missed you so much." That's a little more on the nose, and the reactions are about what you'd expect: Heavy breathing, "take my money," and at least one Daniel Bryan meme.

Avellone is a busy guy these days, with projects including Pathfinder: Kingmaker, the System Shock reboot, and Bard's Tale 4 on the go. And aside from this image, I'm not aware of anything he's done to indicate that he might be involved with the Fallout series again. But at the same time, I can't help thinking about what InXile boss Brian Fargo said a couple of years ago about its 2014 filing for a Van Buren trademark.

"There were some things, some ideas, that Chris Avellone had for doing something that made the post-apoc—a twist on the whole what-was-being-done that we really loved," Fargo said. "So we talked about it and we thought why not grab the rights so we can entertain this one of these days."

I've emailed Avellone to see if he's willing to wink or nod or otherwise give a sign that something (or nothing) is afoot. I'll update if he does.

Oct 5, 2017

Sledgehammer pledges to tackle cheaters in Call of Duty: WWII

Call of Duty®: WWII

I blew a full weekend's worth of gaming on the recent Call of Duty: WWII multiplayer beta, and I have to agree that it was "pretty damn fun." I also agree that cheaters are the worst, although that's mostly a matter of principle: Aside from one bonehead single-handedly holding the bridge in a War mode match, I didn't encounter substantial amounts of skulduggery.

Nonetheless, Sledgehammer said in a post-beta update that it's aware of problems with hackers, and has plans to deal with them.

"Sadly, there are always those who aim to spoil the fun, even in a beta," it wrote. "We have yet to deploy the suite of anti-cheat/hacking technology we will use when the full PC game is live. We take a level playing field extremely serious and will monitor and react to this as a top priority on an ongoing basis."

Sledgehammer also listed other additional changes it has in the works for the release version of the game:

Scroll bars on options that scroll.
Allow numerical entry to mouse and controller sensitivity options (in addition to slider).
Streamline the exit of the game.
Clearly indicate being in Party status in UI.
Making the resolution options more clear and consistent.
Video option video memory indicator.
Warnings about video memory over-commitment.
Option to bind lean left/right keys in multiplayer.
And a number of smaller issues that we’re tracking, which we’ll update in future patch notes.

"Streamline the exit" sounds like a very minor point to worry about, but in reality it's kind of a big and necessary change. As we pointed out in our after-action report, the "quit" button is buried deep within the options menu, which is both entirely senseless and a hassle to get to. I was actually hoping for a more comprehensive overhaul of the menu system: Maybe I wasn't sufficiently committed to learning it because all I wanted to do was dive in and shoot stuff (no time to think in beta!) but I never felt fully comfortable with what should have been simple tasks, like changing my lobby uniform or default loadout.

One thing at a time, I suppose, and if it's a choice between a simpler interface and shutting down the cheaters, I'll happily opt for showing cheaters the door. Call of Duty: WWII comes out on November 3.

Oct 5, 2017

Spec Ops: The Line writer 'would eat broken glass' before considering sequel

Spec Ops: The Line

Yager's Spec Ops: The Line was as brutal as it was brazen, but was ultimately a commercial failure. This fact alone is enough to rule out a sequel, however its lead writer has spelled out some other reasons the 2012 shooter won't be revisited.

In response to one Twitter user's query about why Spec Ops: The Line won't get a sequel, Walt Williams responded rather explicitly: "Because it was a brutal, painful development and everyone who worked on it would eat broken glass before making another. Also it didn't sell."

Yager has made clear its thoughts on returning to Spec Ops: The Line in the past, but never with such conviction as Williams, whose recent book about the games industry, Significant Zero, explores the development of Spec-Ops and other games in raw detail.

Which is a shame, because Spec Ops: The Line is a good game for reasons I don't want to spoil. Instead, here's an excerpt from Samuel's Why I Love column last year:

Spec Ops is essentially an adaptation of Heart of Darkness, as the name John Konrad suggests. Heavier inspiration comes from Apocalypse Now, itself an adaptation of the same work. In all versions of this story, the protagonist is sent to track down a colleague who has gone off the reservation.

That journey takes them through a strange land, where the circumstances and environment become stranger the closer the hero gets to their target, a process represented perfectly by the river in both the book and Apocalypse Now. The quarry in each story is found to be playing god over their new domain, succumbed to a form of madness created by the circumstances of their surroundings.

Cheers, Videogamer.

Update: For the sake of clarity, Williams underscores the above is him being hyperbolic, and that more about the development of big budget games can be gleaned from his book Significant Zero.

Oct 5, 2017

Middle-earth: Shadow of War review

PC Gamer

The orcs are the real stars of Shadow of War. Decorated with skulls, piercings, and plates of battered iron armour, these grotesque, toothy brutes sneer, jeer, and brag like rowdy drunks. And before you fight them they delight in detailing all the ways they’re going to kill you, gut you like a fish, and present your head to Sauron. It’s almost endearing how much they obviously love being orcs and serving their Dark Lord, which is more than can be said for the game’s dreary human characters—and that includes hero Talion, an undead Gondorian ranger with all the joie-de-vivre of a concrete bollard.

The lauded nemesis system, first introduced in Shadow of Mordor, is back and expanded. So if an orc captain or warchief kills you, they’ll gleefully taunt you about it next time they see you. And if you defeat them, but they manage to escape, they’ll remember and reassure you that this time you won’t be so lucky. Forging bitter feuds with these expressive, unique enemies is the heart of the game, and easily the best thing in it. They’re the only characters who seem to be having any fun in this cursed world, and the vast array of positive and negative traits they have make them infinitely interesting and entertaining to fight.

The game’s fun, crunchy combat is in the Arkham mould, with timing-based counters and an ever-increasing pool of moves and powers that increase its complexity. But before you wade into combat it’s worth interrogating weak-minded orcs to discover intel about their superiors: things they’re scared of, weapons they’re weak against, and so on. There’s something gratifying about making a scarred, snarling orc called Lûga Skull-Cracker flee in terror because one of his underlings revealed he has a secret fear of morgai flies. Waging psychological war on orcs like this is often more fun than fighting them.

There s something gratifying about making an orc called L ga Skull-Cracker flee in terror because one of his underlings revealed he has a secret fear of flies

But it’s not all about rivalries: you can make a few friends too. Thanks to the power of the ring crafted by surly elven wraith Celebrimbor in the first game, it’s possible to weaken orcs, bend them to your will, and recruit them as allies. The brilliantly named Az-Grels Mountain-Eater, a hulking great lump of ugly muscle wielding a six-foot club, was my personal bodyguard for a while. Summoning him in battle and watching him charge in with his enormous club swinging was hugely satisfying. You can also call upon a handful of Gondorian soldiers to fight by your side, but they’re ultimately little more than squishy, expendable orc fodder.

I love the new tribes system, which dramatically increases the variety of the orcs you encounter—both visually and in how they behave in battle. Orcs belonging to the stealthy Dark Tribe are fond of ambushes and trickery. Machine Tribe orcs are clad in thick metal armour. And the Mystic Tribe uses dark magic and cursed weapons. There are more, but I’ll let you discover them for yourself. The important thing is that, because of this added variety, almost every orc you meet feels like a distinct, original character, which makes the friendships and rivalries you form with them seem somehow more personal.

In Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Frodo, Sam, and Gollum briefly stop at Minas Morgul, home of the Witch-king of Angmar and the Nazgûl. In Shadow of War you get to visit this place before they claimed it as their fortress, back when it was the city of Minas Ithil in Gondor. The game ties into Peter Jackson’s films like this often, and in some clever ways, but equally has no qualms about hammering its own ideas into the established lore. Talion forms an uneasy alliance with the giant spider Shelob, who appears to him as a beautiful woman; a pouting goth Galadriel who slinks about in black silk speaking in riddles, but never once gets hopelessly stuck in a bathtub.

It’s a shame about the story, where the writers have focused squarely on the mystical, doomy side of Lord of the Rings. People solemnly discussing Sauron’s growing power, lamenting the war ahead. But where’s the warmth? The heart? People love this series because it mixes its grand fantasy with humour, humanity. Legolas and Gimli’s unlikely friendship. Anything involving the hobbits. In comparison, Shadow of War is almost entirely self-serious and in love with its own sense of grandeur. Its only really funny character, an Aussie orc called Brûz the Chopper, is wasted as a walking tutorial.

And Talion is one of the least likeable heroes I’ve ever encountered in a game. He's a morose charisma vacuum who spends most of the game bickering with the equally humourless Celebrimbor, his spectral tag team partner. The game tries to paint him as a stoic, heroic force for good who’d rather not be fighting this war at all. But then, on the battlefield, he gleefully pops heads and elaborately executes people, clearly loving every second of it. It’s telling that any of the game’s randomly-generated orcs has more personality than this bearded bore. A new character called Eltariel, an elf chosen by Galadriel to hunt the Nazgûl, would have made for a much more interesting protagonist.

As the title suggests, war looms large in this sequel. When you arrive at Minas Ithil you find the streets filled with battle-hungry orcs, siege machines, and Gondorian soldiers defending their home. The sense of scale is impressive, and you can climb to the top of the immense tower that gives the city its name. Monolith has brilliantly captured the grand, epic feel of the films, but the world has a sludgy, muted look that, while appropriate for a place like Mordor, makes for some bleak, uninspiring environments. Núrnen is an exception, however, with its green forests offering a welcome burst of colour and vibrancy.

Continuing the war theme, conquering enemy strongholds—or nemesis fortresses as the game describes them—is one of Shadow of War’s most elaborate new features. Once you’ve built an army using Celebrimbor’s ring and weakened the enemy’s defences through killing warchiefs and destroying monuments, you can attempt to capture the fortress for yourself. These battles are wonderfully chaotic and you can join the fray, making use of siege machines and helping your soldiers gain territory by capturing victory points. Capture them all and you get the chance to enter the fort and challenge its overlord.

After the siege you can promote one of your captains to be overlord. This grants you certain bonuses depending on which tribe he’s in, but you do have to invest in defences—and level up your captains—to maintain your control over the region. There’s fun to be had in conquering fortresses, but it does also feel a little like managing a small business. Shadow of War’s biggest problem is being overloaded with systems that don’t feel integrated into the game in an organic way. And it’s constantly screaming at you to do things, which makes it feel like a fantasy to-do list. "Purify the Haedir towers! Reveal Shelob's memories! Open the Ithildin doors! Collect the Gondorian artifacts!" They might sound exciting, but involve little more than finding a thing then interacting with it.

There’s just too much going on. Too many menus, too much clutter on the screen, too many half-baked features. I would have preferred a smaller set of lean, refined systems to all this bloat. I had no interest in half the icons littering the map, and I found it difficult to get immersed in the story because of how unashamedly videogamey it all is. “Our greatest asset is stealth!” Celebrimbor says as he teaches me how to dominate orcs with the ring, which would sound insane if someone said it in the films or books. I never felt like I was in Middle-earth, and I rarely have trouble suspending my disbelief in games.

Other new features include a fashionable tiered loot system, which sees you picking up armour, swords, daggers, and other gear from fallen warchiefs and captains. While this did tap into my collecting instinct and I was, at first, eager to see what loot would drop, I soon grew tired of endlessly finding near-identical items with only minor stat upgrades. This is one of many examples in Shadow of War that bigger is not always better, and if you removed it from the game completely it would barely feel any different. And Talion’s clothes and weapons reset back to their default look in cutscenes which is kinda annoying.

But it all comes back to the orcs. They’re the reason I kept playing, even when I was losing interest in everything else. A motley, gruesome, ill-mannered crew of swines that are a constant joy to fight and befriend. And the increased variety and depth of the nemesis system makes for a much richer experience overall. I just wish the game wasn’t quite so overfed. A lot of developers think sequels need to be bigger and offer more to get people interested, but I’d prefer it if they were just better. Shadow of War is a great action game that feels like it’s yearning to break free from a prison of open world busywork.

Got questions about the game's loot boxes? Andy wrote a follow-up piece on them here.

Oct 5, 2017

PC Gamer goes to war in Fire Pro Wrestling World

Fire Pro Wrestling World

This article was originally published in PC Gamer issue 309. For more quality articles about all things PC gaming, you can subscribe now in the UK and the US.

I’m going to make a new stable in Fire Pro Wrestling World. My goal is loftier than simple recreations of famous wrestlers, though. I’ve set myself an objective of Promethean arrogance: I’m going to create a compelling sports entertainment story using members of the PC Gamer team.

I’m going to limit myself to members of the team I know, because the only thing stranger than meticulously creating a colleague is doing it to someone you’ve only met once. I’m also going to be realistically unrealistic about stats. PC Gamer might be the most physically imposing team in the games industry, but they’re not wrestlers. To represent this, I’m giving them stats that are good, but not great. Fire Pro is as much about the quality of the match as it is about who wins and loses, which is handy, because I’m expecting a few failures.

I start with Phil. I could have saved time by downloading Damien Sandow from the Workshop, because he and Phil have the actual same face, but the rules dictate I must make him myself. This is my first ever creation in a Fire Pro game and I strive for perfection. I get the height about right—Phil’s a solid six foot three inches, which is wrestler-big anyway—but I exaggerate the weight. I’m struck by how creepy this idea is around the same time I’m checking Facebook to get all the birthdays right. I can’t stop now, though, because details are important and I’ve already been commissioned. Thus, Big Daddy Savage is born.

Making his model is more complicated. The character creator in Fire Pro Wrestling World is a lovely paradox—it looks basic, but everything slots together to allow a staggering degree of creativity. I get stuck early on—there’s a blank space where a human ass should be—but I get the hang of it. I subconsciously cast Phil in the image of Decker from a long-forgotten Taito coin-op called Champion Wrestler, a game that was almost certainly terrible, then move on to tweaking stats. I decide to give him insanely high defence because fighting Big Daddy Savage should be like punching a multistorey car park, but again, the rules dictate that I’m not allowed to max him out. His finisher is a chokeslam I call ‘Savatage’.

Samuel Roberts is next, and he’s relatively easy—I call him Slamuel (because why wouldn’t I?), give him massive arms, then spend 20 minutes trying to find the right face. I give up when I realise there are over 300, and just go back to my first choice. He’s a monster: if you say ‘suplex’ three times in the mirror at midnight, Slamuel will appear and drop you on your neck. My favourite creation, however, is Tom Senior. Because his Twitter name is PCGLudo, Tom becomes The Ludodor—the world’s only videogame-based lucha libre wrestler, complete with a PC Gamer-themed colour scheme. You can add another layer of authenticity to his character by producing Tom’s surname in the style of Speedy Gonzales (don’t do that). I’m tempted to keep going—art editor John Strike has a name that screams ‘spin kicks’ and Drew Sleep already sounds like a finishing move—but it takes ages to make each one, and I’m keen to get my slam on. The only thing left is a name for my new stable. After discarding some dogshit ideas (The Beta Males, The 4K Horseman, and The Roguealikes), I settle on The Noob Day. Yes, that was honestly the best one.

I set up a three-on-three tag match between The Noob Day and a team of NPC wrestlers. I was aiming for a boisterous tornado match, but I miss the option to change it from a normal tag team bout. It’s not bad for a debut, but the chemistry isn’t there—that’s another way of saying it takes me ages to find the tag button, and that The Ludodor refuses to tag out even though he’s getting pulverised. He reaches Big Daddy Savage, who charges in and chokeslams Bobby Bobby (yes, that’s really his name) for a muscular win. The match gets 82%. Not bad.

It’s then I realise I’m doing Fire Pro all wrong. Not the fighting itself—the match was a slobberknocker—but the structure. Why the hell am I using cabbagey default wrestlers when I could download a superstar? The game’s only been in Early Access a week and there are already over 150 pages of custom creations featuring every notable wrestler that is, was, or ever will be. I open up the Workshop to find pristine versions of the biggest names in sports entertainment. I think about pitting The Noob Day against Shinsuke Nakamura, Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada, but then something changes my mind.

It’s Bob Ross. Someone has actually made Bob Ross, and he’s perfect. The clothes, the beard, the trademark sunrise of curls. Even the height is correct (a surprising six foot two inches, not including permed Afro). I decide that pitting The Noob Day against niche wrestlers will only entertain 50% of readers, so I cast my net wider. I scroll past Solid Snake, Chris Redfield and A Bear (description: ‘IT’S A BEAR’), but they’re not good enough. No, I need to pick cultural touchstones that every PC Gamer reader will understand and adore. I chose Gabe Newell, Geralt of Rivia (complete with three different clothing options) and, erm… Bob Ross. I was always going to pick Bob. I’m not apologising.

I set up a mighty Battle Royale and pick the teams, forgetting that a Battle Royale, by its very definition, is all-against-all. I decide there’s a very good wrestling reason why Samuel, Tom and Phil are enemies now—fast friendships strained to destruction by arguments over the positioning of Dragon Age 2 in the Top 100. Perhaps it doesn’t matter. Whatever the cause, as soon as the bell goes they’re kicking the hot takes out of each other.

I’m playing as Big Daddy Savage (BDS for short, which is an ‘M’ away from being a far more sinister gimmick). Phil locks up with Gaben first—two mastodons of the squared circle, smashing into each other like angry ice cream trucks. The match breaks up, and Savage hits a monstrous double powerbomb on Bob Ross, helped by Geralt of Rivia. A high spot early in the match? This is going to be good.

I notice a red stain in the corner of the ring—Gaben has been busted open. He staggers across the ring wearing a crimson mask that matches his shirt. On the other side, Bob Ross has mounted Slamuel and is headbutting the devil out of him, blows apparently not softened by Bob’s fuzzy hair. The referee checks to see if he submits. Roberts is made of sterner stuff, but the damage is done.

The trauma of being brutalised by the man famous for popularising the wet-on-wet oil painting technique has left Samuel physically and mentally wrecked. He stumbles around the centre of the ring like a child lost at a car boot sale, and the canny Geralt sees an opportunity. He wraps Roberts up in a La Magistral cradle, pins his shoulders to the canvas, and we have our first elimination. Sam leaves the ring, disgusted with himself, but maybe, just maybe, relieved to be a safe distance from Bob Ross.

Phil forgets the probably-betrayal of his former colleague, picks up Geralt and hits the Savatage. It’s enough to keep Geralt down for three, but the match doesn’t let up. Gabe takes a superkick from Tom Senior and Phil capitalises, snapping Newell into a figure four leglock. There is no escape. Perhaps this is revenge for those bankrupting Steam summer sales. Or perhaps Phil was trying to hurt Tom and got confused. Whatever, Gaben taps and we’re down to three competitors. Phil, Tom, and softly-spoken submission machine Bob Ross.

But there are no friends here. Tom and Phil go at it, and Bob Ross lurks in the corner, like a panther in double denim, darting in to apply cruel submission holds to anyone unlucky enough to fall. Tom is next. Bob locks him in a modified kabel naria—a type of surfboard stretch with a facelock, which I’ll rename to The Happy Little Tree if I ever remember. Phil could save his former colleague, but this has become more than just a wrestling match: this is war. Battle war. The pain of betrayal and actual pain is too much for Tom, who submits, and we’re down to the final two.

Big Daddy Savage isn’t underestimating Ross. He might be a pacifist with a fondness for waterfalls, but he’s dangerous. He locks Phil in yet another horrible submission move, but Savage powers free and takes his chance. He draws a deep breath, grabs Bob Ross and hammers him into the mat with a chokeslam. He falls on top of him and the referee counts. The unholy bloodbath ends. The dance of slams is over. The lights in the nightclub are on, and Violence and Spectacle are leaving together. Phil has done it. The Noob Day have splintered after just two matches, but a long and illustrious singles career awaits the one they call Big Daddy Savage.

Oct 4, 2017

How to set up Divinity: Original Sin 2's mod tools

Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition

Divinity: Original Sin 2 includes a brilliant GM mode, and it's great for storytellers who want a tabletop RPG experience sans the tabletop. It's plenty powerful, and pretty easy to use. If you want to, though, you can dig much deeper.

Every copy of Original Sin 2 includes a graphical development environment which you can use to mod the main campaign—say, by adding a new weapon or spell—or to make your own original campaign, with custom levels, characters, or anything you want. You can also use the engine to make levels for GM mode, if you want more than the included templates. Essentially, everything used to make the base campaign, which we loved, is available to you for your own mods and adventures.

If you want to jump in without my help, Larian has already documented the basics on its wiki. Below, I've collected the most vital information from Larian's documents (and my experience) to help anyone get started making a mod for the main campaign, or an entirely new story.

How to set up the mod tools

Larian has put together a simple guide to getting the tools working—it's not hard, but it's understandable if you missed them while focusing on, you know, playing the game.

1. Download the game data

If you own Divinity: Original Sin 2 on Steam, you'll first need to find the game in your Steam library. Right-click it to open the Properties menu. In the DLC tab, check the box next to "Divinity Engine 2 Data." The game should begin updating.

2. Download and set up the tools

Once the data has downloaded, switch to the 'Tools' section of your Steam library. You should have a copy of The Divinity Engine 2. Install it and run it, and it will prompt you for a path to the game data. This is the "Data" folder in your Divinity: Original Sin 2 installation folder, typically C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Divinity Original Sin 2\Data.

If you set this incorrectly, you will not get a warning—the engine will just crash when you try to load a level. It's no big deal, though, as you can fix the setting without causing a crash so long as it's the first thing you do in the engine.

Alternatively: Setting up the tools through GOG

If you bought Divinity: Original Sin 2 on GOG, you just need to download the tools (listed as "Editor" under "Game Goodies"). Extract the "Editor" folder to Divinity: Original Sin 2's 'Data' folder. Run DivinityEngine2.exe, and set the game data path to the Data folder.

How to make a level from scratch

Unless you turned yourself into a fly and lived on the walls of Larian's office for a few months, the mod tools will likely to be a bit daunting at first—it's a system for people who already understand the inner workings of Divinity's engine. But it's actually not too hard to get started, and though documentation is a little lacking at the moment, Larian has a few guides that helped me a lot.

In the video above, you'll learn how to make a level from scratch and use it in GM mode. I suggest watching the whole thing, as it cleared a lot up for me.

How to add a skill to the campaign

Consider this a basic primer for adding a skill and skillbook, but not a comprehensive guide to everything you can or should do when making skills and items. There's a lot of data to explore to make sure your objects work with every system in Original Sin 2, but this will at least get you from launching the mod tools for the first time to testing a new skill in the game quickly.

1. Create a new Add-On

Make a new project, and choose 'Add-on' as the type. Also tell it to load data from Story, and to target Story. This will load all the levels, characters, items, and so on from the campaign, and set your mod to modify the story campaign with your changes.

2. Load a level

After creating your project, you'll be prompted to load a level. Click the 'Show Inherited Levels' button in the top right to see levels from the main campaign. I loaded Fort Joy. (You don't have to load a level to start editing skills, but you'll need one open later.)

3. Create your skill

In the upper-right hand side of the menu bar, you'll see a bunch of different icons for opening editors. We want the Stats Editor. Here, you can see (but not directly modify) all of Divinity: Original Sin 2's items and skills. You'll also see a dropdown for your mod with nothing in it. Anything you add there will be added to the game (or modify something that already exists) if your mod is active.

Under your mod's dropdown, hit the + symbol next to 'Skill Data' and select the type of skill you want to add. I chose to add a new Rain spell. This will create a big blank spreadsheet, which is a bit daunting. Since I was just creating a test skill, I opened up Divinity: Original Sin 2's Rain spreadsheet, and copied all the data from the basic Water spell into my Rain spreadsheet. I then changed the name and display name, and set it to create Lava surfaces instead of Water surfaces because I'm a bad person. Make sure you hit the save icon after you're done, and then close the Stats menu.

4. Create a new Root Template for your skillbook

Root Templates define the base version of all the items (and everything else) you see in the game. In the Root Templates window (by default it's below the level view) search for 'BOOK_SKILL' and you'll find all the skillbooks in the game. Right click on one and choose 'Create new from selected...' This will make a copy of the skillbook that you can use for your new skill.

You'll be prompted to modify your new Root Template after you create it. At the least, you need to change its name before saving it, otherwise it will conflict with the template you're copying from. Do that, and change the display name. Now scroll to the 'Item State' section and click on 'Use Action.' Hit the little '...' prompt to open a new window: this is where you'll tell your skillbook what spell to teach. Open the SkillBookID dropdown and select your new skill. If you don't see it, you may have to go back into the Stats Editor and resave it—make sure you've given it a new name, as well.

5. Put your skillbook into the world

There are lots of ways to populate the game with your new item, whether through enemy drops or as rewards in chests, but for the purposes of testing and this basic guide, I just dragged an instance of my new book onto the ground in the middle of Fort Joy. When you're done, save everything and publish your mod locally from the Project menu. In-game, select it from the mods menu and then load a save or start a new game (you could drop your item in the very first room, if you wanted to test it with a new character). As you can see above, it worked, horrifically.

Where to get help with modding

You may also want to create an Object entry for your skillbook, or change your skill's icon, or add a new effect to the game—there's a ton you can do, so this is just the first step. I'm learning as I go, mainly by referencing Larian's guides and references on the wiki, and that's where you'll want to start.

If you have questions that aren't answered there, however, check out the mod troubleshooting forum. I've found everyone to be very helpful so far, and your question may already be answered in a thread.