Game Editor Module For Interplay's STONEKEEP
Created by David Melanson w/Jack Hartman's UGE v.1.0
Stonekeep is a gorgeous first-person perspective RPG/puzzle game,
which Interplay claims is over "thirty man-years in the making." I, for
one, believe it. However, as most players have probably figured out
already, the game is not quite as easy as it first looks. Some of the
monsters have downright nasty timing (the green slimes come to mind) so
that it's really rough to hit them in battle. And your initial 60
hit points can get worn down REALLY fast. As it happens, the day after
I picked up the game, I decided to try out Jack Hartman's UGE on it.
What do you know...it works! So here, dear reader, is an official Stone-
keep editor utility.
For those of you unfamiliar with my previous UGE work, I have so
far created six other game modules, most (or all) of which you can find
links for on Jack Hartman's web site (he'll be moving it soon after I
send this to him, so I'm not going to include the address...Netscape.com
will probably be able to track it down w/Internet Search). These modules
are for Clouds Of Xeen, Dark Legions, Ravenloft: Strahd's Possession,
Shadowcaster, Menzoberranzen, and Realms Of Arkania II: Star Trail. I
consider the work I have done on these modules as freeware; distribute as
you please, and I charge no registration fee. I DO, however, request that
anyone who uses one of my modules register their copy of UGE-it's a very
nice program, and Jack's put a lot of work into it. Worth the investment.
Enough advertisement: on to the game!
HOW TO USE THIS MODULE:
First and foremost, fire up UGE. Once it's running, create a
new module for Stone Keep, using STONKEEP.MDL as the module name. The
file you want to modify with the module is the file GAMEINFO.SAV, which
appears in the directory (Drive Letter):(PATH TO MAIN GAME DIRECTORY)
SAVEGAMEGAME##, where ## is a number from 00 to 19 (20 saved game slots
are available). Then you can change any of the statistics listed in
the module.
I know I'll be discussing them out of order, but that's just
because I think they'll make more sense this way. First and most important,
we have the character stats. You'll note that I have a set of stats for
"Drake," and then another series of stats for "Char#02, 03, and 04." Since
Drake is a constant and the others may vary over time, I decided to leave
the names for slots 2, 3, and 4 unclaimed.
All four character slots have several skills and features in common.
First are the three primary skills: Strength, Agility, and Health. These
can be set to at least 9 (I haven't dared to set them higher yet). A
high level in each of these will make you a formidable warrior, even without
any weapon skill enhancements.
Next, and probably most important, are your Current and Maximum
Hit Points (or life points, or whatever you want to call 'em. I call them
Hit Points because I'm an old AD&D buff). WARNING: Although this is a
2-byte field (+/- 32,768), do NOT attempt to set either of these values
as 1000+. The game crashes if any character is set with more than 999
hit points. Since you occasionally gain a "level," and therefore more
hit points, I suggest 900 as a safe number (you'll never go up 100 h.p. in
a single level advancement).
Then you have your combat skills. These, I have also set to at
least 9 without incident, and have received stunning accuracy scores for
each as a result. These skills are: Missile (Arrows, thrown things),
Axe, Brawl, Dagger, Hammer, Pole Arm, Sword, Shield (Set high once you find
a good shield and you'll block a lot of incoming damage), Stealth (useful
for sneaking up behind monsters), and Magick (determines how well you can
slaughter monsters with magic runecaster spells).
I wondered about inventory for a while, but unfortunately, every
single item in Stonekeep is kept track of at all times by the saved game
file. If you attempt to get an item, it "must have come from somewhere."
Loosely translated, you can't create an item from thin air-you can give
yourself any item, but you also have to change four or five other bytes in
the saved game file to tell the game that the item is no longer there.
This proved to be way too much trouble considering the number of items
there are in this game (I'm currently carrying around 45 Shargas Swords),
so I abandoned chances of doing inventory.
Runecasters are slightly different. There are only five runecasters
in the game; each can hold different amounts of mana, and different spells.
So, to make life a little easier (especially when recharging), I found the
Current and Maximum Mana amounts for each of the five runecasters. You
can adjust each amount up to 100 at least (I didn't go beyond, and I'm not
sure you can). Therefore, free recharge of your magic whenever you want it!
Finding the runecasters and the appropriate runes is still your own problem,
though (hey, can't take ALL the challenge away, can I?) The first one is
in a secret room on Level 2...look for a lock without a door. Find that,
and you'll know you're close!
Finally, (even though the info appears first in the module) we have
the ultimate cheat method. Can't find the blasted key to open the door to
the secret treasure room? Does the magic orb tell you there's a secret
room there, but you have no idea at all how to get to it? Look no further
than your location coordinates. Since Stone Keep is set up on a square-
based grid system, every possible position in the game is governed by
four individual pieces of information.
These pieces are: X-Coordinate, Y-Coordinate, Direction Faced, and
Castle Level (actually, several levels are NOT in the castle, but you get
the idea). By changing any of these, you actually alter where your party
of adventurers currently IS in the game! In other words, you can teleport
literally anywhere in the game...although I do NOT recommend teleporting
into an entirely new level, as you may wind up in a wall or something,
which has a notorious tendency to be bad for your health.
Direction faced is based on a simple set of four possibilities:
0=North, 1=West, 2=South, 3=East. If you want to adjust X- and Y-
coordinates, keep this in mind: Adjusting X positively moves you East.
Adjusting X negatively moves you West. Adjusting Y positively moves you
South, and Adjusting Y negatively moves you North. So, to move two squares
North and three squares East, subtract two from the current Y-coordinate
number and add three to the current X-coordinate number.
This is also a pretty useful tool for "warping" back to specific
locations. For example, let's say you decide not to use the Hit Point
modifications, for some reason. You know there is a magic fountain, a.k.a.
The Fountain Of Thera, on the second level of Stonekeep, that can heal your
wounds just by drinking from it (and it never runs out of water). Sounds
like a great healing spot, but you're on level 5 and can't possibly get
back. No problem. Save the game. Run UGE. Since you don't want to
use the hit-point restoral code, write down your CURRENT X-, Y-, Level, and
Direction coordinates. Now change the ones in UGE to the location of the
fountain on level 2 (FREE HINT: That location is: X=25, Y=19, Level=2,
Direction=2 to be facing it). Exit UGE and run Stone Keep. You'll be
standing in front of the fountain. Drink up! Then save again, and change
the coordinates BACK the way they were before (you DID write them down,
didn't you?) When you go back into Stone Keep, you're back on level 5
again, right where you were before.
Another great use for the teleport codes is locked doors. If you
get frustrated with a locked door or secret room you KNOW has something
in it (use the Saturn-shaped Orb to find secret rooms), just save right
outside the door, and then move yourself one square in the appropriate
direction, right through the door! Sometimes, you may have to reverse the
process to get out again (the door may be locked from both sides).
You may also want to memorize locations of mana circles if you
aren't going to use the Runecaster Mana Charge cheats in the module.
Well, that's about it for the Stone Keep module. Hopefully, with
the help this module can give, you'll have Thera free and the Shadowking
obliterated in no time! (Although you'll still have to puzzle your way
through a few problems, no doubt). Another free bit of advice: I don't
care how high you set your hit points or Shield skill. DO NOT MAKE
VERMATRIX GOLDENHIDE ANGRY!!! (Otherwise, as the Stonekeep calendar says,
you might as well just break out the marshmallows and get ready for a BBQ.)
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, feel free to
e-mail me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. However, I do ask...please, no requests for
other games. Not every game is editable with UGE, and I certainly don't
have every game that's out there. Other than that, good luck and good
hunting!
-Dave Melanson
(This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Files : 3, NeW:NONE, oLD:NONE
uL Node : 1, NFo:NONE, D?Z:NONE
