Are we winning?

@TheWelshGath, I tried to make the guide easy to follow (Includes pictures and built in Windows applications, so you won't need to download anything special.)

@Shepherd Sean, I appreciate it! Deathfuse and I have some ideas and we're brainstorming. 1.6 could add some great stuff for what we want to do too.

Here is a link to my new discord.
https://discord.gg/bbw2qH2ehc

I'll get a write up for what to fix to make the mod work in 1.5 in my discord under the Illithid Mod (WIP) Category. We can't really test with the Unstable Branch of 1.6 because Vanilla Expanded Framework needs to be updated first. But hey, we may get lucky and it works in 1.6 without more changes. I updated all of the mods I've published, but I don't have many, so I do not envy the VE Team.

@Atlas I would be very interested to know to get this to work for 1.5, I'd really like to give this a go. I have 0 knowledge of modding so if it's something I won't really get, then I completely understand.

@Atlas That would be super cool! I personally, like many others are more than fine to wait for 1.6, if your still interested at that point.

@ShadwDrgn, I am also concerned about the Cerebral Fluid tbh. I think it's hard to balance the Psyfocus as a metric for survival when the Psyfocus system isn't set up for that. However, I don't know if I want it to be a weird secondary psychic system. Even though I've already done that coding, I am debating if I am keeping it in a final product.

I will say that with the new expansion coming out, I am not looking to actively develop this for 1.5. There's a lot of great changes that I have seen in 1.6 so far, so I would prefer code with 1.6, and maybe even integrating some Odyssey features into it.

If you all just want it working for 1.5, I can provide instructions. It isn't a super difficult update (No C# assembly changes needed). I was thinking about getting a modding discord set up, since Steam isn't the best way to get quick and effective communication.

@ShadwDrgn That is a good point, sort of slipped me by.

100% It's just down Atlas if he's interested on taking that sort of project, especially since modding is free and time consuming. Best of luck to him and others if they show interest!

@shepherd the thing is he doesn't need permission to make his own version of the mod with assets provided by deathfase for example, and 1.6 is available on unstable branch for modders to use. It's just a matter of hoping they have time, motivation, and ability. :)

@Tiohzi It's definitely tempting for him to update the mod, I'd imagine.

But two big things get in the way, permission of course, and probably the 1.6 update coming soon with the new DLC.

Of course, the permission thing is paramount. I've reached out to one of the Mod Developers myself, but sadly they never got back to me, I'm assuming the mod is "sort" of abandoned, for the time being.

@Atlas update pls

@atlas Not sure how i feel about the brain fluid thing. It's my understanding that the flayers of fr feed on the psychic energy. Perhaps there could be some way to have their brain eating fill their psy focus with a nerf to their meditation or no focus through meditation at all and they could in exchange be nurished by psy focus (drains slowly and they starve if it hits 0)? Hopefully you figure something cool out cuz it does sound like you have some good ideas. Hopefully you have the C# knowledge to get it done. :D looking forward to w/e you create.

@ShadwDrgn I'm hoping to add in rituals that allow you to create some kind of illithid metal from steel. Then you can make the Tadpole Pool and other illithid objects.

I'm still figuring out the exact role and game play loop for the mod, but I think it will involve the Ulitharid sacrificing themselves in order to create the brain. As to the extend of the brains powers, that is yet to be determined. They are really strong though!

I also do love Vanilla Psycast Exapnded, so I think it would be cool to have one dedicated to Mindflayers. We could also go the route of adding Brain Fluid based powers as well.

I'm curious as to what 1.6 will bring/change. I'll be keeping an eye on it.

@atlas hopefully you can make the tadpole pool actually craftable somehow. It'd be cool to have an elderbrain too. Like an ability to have 3 of your squiddies sacrifice themselves in a ritual to make an elder brain building. It could provide a boost to psy sensitivity of everyone in the colony or something. This kind of mod would also go great with a vanilla psycast extended mod that has a tree exclusive to squiddies. maybe mind blast could be on it as a conical attack that has a good stun duration. dominate could be way at the top of the tree for balance.

@atlas yes, feel free to reach out. im more than happy to help where i can.

Cheer for you

@神说万岁 - I don't have the permission of the current mod authors to do that. I would have to make my own mod, which I'm fine with. However, I just don't have great art assets for the Illithid/Ulitharid Pawns.

That being said, maybe I will get the permission to make a continuation, or maybe I'll get some help with art assets and I can release my own version! Stay tuned!

@Atlas Bro, can you release playable version 1.5 now?

@Aracoa Thank you! I am really enjoying the process and I would love to put something out. I am happy to hear that you are excited for this and I hope to do you and everyone else proud with what gets put out! If you have any wish list items, let me know!

@DeathFase It would absolutely be amazing if I could have some help on some art assets for the mod! Let me take a look at One with Death and see what it is about. I was thinking about having some Cerebral Fluid based combat attacks that do things like down a pawn for easier capture, convert a pawn into a slave (and either tie in the enthrall to that, or just make the enthrall also enslave the target. That may be OP, but Illithids in lore dominate creatures all the time.) Do you mind if I DM you to discuss the art and other ideas?

I have been reading though this and @Atlas i think you are on to something amazing! I'm no modder either and have no understanding of the complexity of how features work but one mod i think is pretty dope and new that sorta parallels illithids is the "One with Death" necromancer mod. I would love to see the ability to down pawns with some kind of physic blast to make the starting game a little simpler (even if it on a percentage basis). I'm no master artist but have been doing graphic design for the past 15 years so I'm willing to help with art if you need it. I would love to see this fleshed out into a playable xeno in rimworld!

Dude! I just saw the new comments and Im genuinely about to cry! I love this mod so much, and was so sad when it didnt update. I cant wait to see what you bring to the table Atlas, and PLEASE keep us updated :D

@Shepherd Sean, Thank you for replying! I appreciate it! What other issues did you think made it tough to balance? I want to make sure it isn't too overpowered.

I have some interesting ideas for the Ulitharid, but I want to get the rest of the stuff I mentioned fleshed out too. I think the Ideology one is my next challenge, also maybe looking at creating some custom classes to allow the person you bring along with you in the scenario to be a slave automatically. (You can't just XML that as far as I know)

I'll keep what you said in mind though! Trying to bring the Elder Brain to life needs to be worth Sacrificing a, potentially, tremendously strong pawn. The Ulitharid basically cuts their own brain out with an extractor staff to make the elder brain! Maybe the elder brain speeds up the Tadpole production and has some area affects.

Appreciate it!

@Atlas Apologizes for the 2nd post, just wanted to mention the other ideas you had sound rad as well! Consuming The Brain could give a random effect/Help with Psychic Sensitivity, not a mod author myself so take everything I say with that grain of salt.

The Extraction sounds perfect for long term colonies, The Ulitharid chance would be neato! Especially if the Elder Brain could be a natural evolution of this type of Xeno, allowing for more buffs to Illithids and Cons for Humans. Or a Research only project that lets you build an Elder Brain similar to the Antennas for Biotech, giving you more Thrall Capacity.

@Atlas Yo! That Fluid sounds amazing and super creative, honestly the mod's biggest "Issue", with me was the balancing act for the Illithids.

I'm not sure you'll get a reply, but fingers crossed ya do!

I do have more plans, like adding random buffs when an illithid consumes a brain (think Research Speed, Mining Yield, Global Workspeed, etc.,) an ideology similar to bloodfeeders for Illithids, maybe a pipe system integration to allow stockpiling Extracted Cerebral Fluid (illithid won’t get the buffs, but will at least be full of fluid.) Maybe adding random chance to spawn an Ulitharid Xenotype instead of an Illithid from Ceramorphosis. I’ve been thinking about removing hunger from them, since they’ll need to consume brains/fluid for sustenance and psychic energy. Maybe have brains also refill psyfocus?

Just spitballing. There’s a lot of lore about Illithids to pull from and tie it into the rim.

No problem. I’ve been working on a continued version of this for myself. Tweaked some genes, made enthrall only usable on slaves, added a fluid system (like Hemogen) called Cerebral Fluid that Illithids must refill my consuming a target’s brain (killing the pawn), enthrall now uses the Cerebral Fluid, so you can’t just spam it, having the xenotype remove the pawns childhood and adulthood memories (you get more gene points that go into Intellectual, Social, Crafting, and Medical though!) and if they lose the gene then they get their memories back.

I’d love to do my own, but honestly I suck at art and I like the existing art from this mod. I haven’t heard anything from the mod authors, so I’m guessing it’s a no from them to take it over (or Steam notifications kind of suck…I don’t want to pester someone with a DM though.)

It’s been a fun project so far and I would love to have their blessing to post a continued mod!

@Atlas Thank you for your efforts and dedication

I did some more digging and found that instead of it being part of the GeneExtension class, the VEF team made it a stat. I found that information here [github.com]. It isn't exactly the same as before, but it's something!

So, I was able to update the GS_Uncanny Gene to use those statFactors (I settled on 1.11, but you can make them huge if you want) and removed the modExtensions bit.

With that resolved and the about updated to support 1.5, it runs fine so far.

@Shepherd Sean, It would be great if it could be working for everyone! It isn't that much to fix. I'll go over what I did below in my response to Durandal.

@Durandal, So, the GeneDef for GS_Uncanny was throwing errors for <bodyScaleFactor> and <headScaleFactor>. Here is the code:
<bodyScaleFactor>(1.16,1.16)</bodyScaleFactor>
<headScaleFactor>(1.14,1.14)</headScaleFactor>

Looking up the information for Gene Extension in Vanilla Expanded Framework, It looks like the VEF team removed this vector between May and August of last year.

Current Class as of 08/18/2024 [github.com]

Class as of 05/20/2024 [github.com]

So, this Body and head scale factor don't exist anymore, thus the errors.

(I have to add another post due to character limits)

@Atlas You fixed the XML issue how?

@Atlas Oh! That's amazing dude! Hopefully you get the chance too, this mod remains my personal favorite by the community.

Any chance you all would want someone else to pick up the modding reins? I was able to fix the XML issue for myself and I tested the scenario and Ceremorphosis and it seems to work fine. It spawns the Amniotic fluid fine, and the pawn is inheriting the Ililithid Xenotype fine (I thought it would overwrite it based on DnD Lore, but it's cool it keeps the original host's too.)

I don't think it would take too much to get it 1.5-able.

Also, I was thinking some cool changes could be to wipe the users traits and add a new Illithid trait/background. Something to maybe give the Illithid the 5 in medical it needs to administer the tadpole, or maybe change the tadpole surgery reqs. Most sources say that Illithids don't remember their former lives, so I thought it may be cool to have them sort of lose their initial self.

Anyway, here if you want help, otherwise I'll just play with the 1.5 version I got working!

@Durandal Yeah, sadly that seems to be the case. Course it's up to the creators if they still want to continue, but it's a shame since it really did seem to make great progress. Also with the final update to BG3 I've been itching for more Flayer Content.

To everyone asking, the last time this mod was updated was 2 years ago, unless someone does a fork or unofficial update, you are not getting one, it's not happening, radio silence from the creators

what about brain eating?

1.5 please!

Espero lo actualices a la versión 1.5, saludos

1.5?

@MadArtillery Yep yep xD IRL's been rough for some of the devs from what's been mentioned, but it's being slowly worked on

Dang only recently realized this was 1.4 only! was planning to do a run as this after my current one. Oh well, hope it gets some love eventually.

please 1.5

1.5 update

Any news on a 1.5 update? Is it still in the works?

1.5 update?

Love this mod. Please 1.5 :*

@Sovereign. Definitely depends on the individual I think, but at the least, I don't mind it! Though that's probably just influence from the Goblin Lord of Twitch

@Sovereign - I'm curious. How does that work when specifying dependencies? The reason I ask is that a user can subscribe to only the modules they need from EBSG or subscribe to the entire framework. Is there a way to specify a "this or that" as a dependency (logical OR) in the about file or do you plan on just specifying the entire framework.

From my standpoint - a lot of people who use several Xenotypes (non-HAR) would more than likely already have EBSG installed already. I don't think too many people would mind.

I mean it has been quite long on ice till this point but other things had priority.
I hope folks wont be too salty about the new dependency

That's great to hear!

Thanks for keeping this mod in mind/working on it. Psyched to give it a shot!

Yeah it is on 1.5 but the needed functions are not in yet.
Alite is still working on it.

Isnt EBSG already on 1.5? Or am I mussing something?