BG2 Fixpack Documentation: Unfixable Issues

There are bugs we've encountered that we are unable to fix, either because the engine itself (something we can not change) is to blame or because the fixes would introduce more severe bugs.

Multiclass Cleric-Rangers Receive HLAs at Incorrect Levels

Cleric-rangers begin receiving HLAs at 2.25 million total XP, well before other classes. Cleric-rangers have this progression for HLAs:

1. At 2.25 million XP (cleric level up to 13), he gets a HLA (only ranger HLA are available, cleric HLA are disabled)
2. When he gets 2.4 million XP (ranger level up to 12), he does not get a HLA
3. When he gets 2.7 million XP (cleric level up to 14), he gets a HLA (all HLAs are available, since he can cast level 7 spells)
4. When he gets 3 million XP (ranger level up to 13), he still does not get a HLA
5. When he gets 3.15 million XP (cleric level up to 15), he gets a HLA
6. When he gets 3.6 million XP (ranger level up to 14 AND cleric level up to 16), he gets only one HLA
7. When he gets 4.05 million XP (cleric level up to 17), he gets a HLA
8. When he gets 4.2 million XP (ranger level up to 15), he gets a HLA
9. When he gets 4.5 million XP (cleric level up to 18), he gets a HLA
10. When he gets 4.8 million XP (ranger level up to 16), he gets a HLA

Cleric-rangers should not be receiving HLAs at points #1 and #3, and should be receiving one more at #4 and #6. lunumab.2da is the file that controls which classes get HLAs at what level. There are also entries for multiclass characters, such as MULTI2FIGHTER, which indicates at which level the fighter levels of a X-fighter multiclass begin receiving HLAs.

The bad news is that the entries for MULTI2RANGER (13) and MULTI2CLERIC (15) are correct--the engine is simply swapping the values when applying these to cleric-ranger classes. If you swap the values in lunumab.2da, then cleric-rangers work beautifully--but since the MULTI2CLERIC value is now 13, cleric-mages, cleric-thieves, and cleric-fighters now all start accumulating HLAs at 2.25 million XP for their level 13 cleric levelup. This would be a substantially larger bug than the existing issue. Cleric-rangers do receive the correct number of HLAs, they're just receiving them too early.

Fake-Talk Exploit

One of the better known and fairly universal exploits, players can click on blue-circled creatures from a distance to initiate dialogue. The player can then cancel their action while their character is approaching the target creature and begin hostile actions. The target creature, still waiting for dialogue, will waste its round and not go hostile or perform any actions. This is controlled by the engine, and is not something that can be corrected by the Fixpack.

Game Ends if Solo Player is Mazed/Imprisoned

The game ends if the main character is mazed or imprisoned and there are no other party members. This is hardcoded and can not be changed.

Kit Abilities Restored When Character Rejoins the Party

A character's kit is re-applied every time they join the party, resulting in many (if not all) of their kit abilities being restored. For example, you can use all of Yoshimo's traps, kick him out and have him re-join, and have all of his traps back. This is hardcoded and can not be changed.

Weapon Specialization Does Not Provide Extra Attacks for Non-Fighters

Putting more than one star in a weapon proficiency does not provide any extra attacks for classes other than fighters (including multi- and dual-classes), rangers (including multi- and dual-classes), paladins, or barbarians. So while a swashbuckler can place two stars in, say, long swords and receive the +1 THAC0 and +2 to damage bonuses, they do not receive the extra 1/2 attack per round.

Attribute Drains Can Cause Scores to 'Wrap Around' To Max Values

This is another fairly well-known exploit, typically abused with the Rod of Terror and the Ring of Human Influence. The Rod of Terror will occasionally drain charisma from its wielder, eventually taking charisma to zero and killing the character. However, while wearing the Ring of Human Influence, the actual charisma will continue to decline to zero but will not kill the character as the ring keeps their working charisma at 18. If the Rod drains more charisma, the actual score will 'wrap around' from 0 to 25. The Ring can then be removed, leaving the character with an artificially inflated, god-like charisma score. This is hardcoded and can not be fixed.

Ioun Stones Protect Against Critical Hits

Any item in the helmet slot protects creatures from critical hits, including ioun stones. This is a hardcoded limitation of the engine and can not be changed.

Bags of Holding Recharge Items

Bags of Holding are essentially portable stores in the engine. Like stores, they recharge any item instantly--this is a function of stores themselves and can not be fixed.

Spell Effects and Scripts Remain Active During Time Stop

When a mage casts Time Stop, all creatures (except those immune to the spell) are frozen in time, allowing the spell caster to perform some interrupted actions. However, because of how the engine actually accomplishes this--Time Stop essentially grays out the screen and freezes everyone except for the caster--effects and scripts remain active during this period. So if one of the time-stopped creatures has been hit with poison or acid that damages over time, damage will continue to damage the creature even though their time is supposed to be stopped. The same is true for spell durations, regeneration, etc. This is a hardcoded effect of how the spell is handled and can not be fixed.

Launchers That Do Not Require Ammo Damage Exploit

Weapons that do not require ammunition (such as Tansheron's Bow and the Sling of Everard) can be exploited for additional damage when equipped with ammunition. For example, Tansheron's Bow equipped with normal arrows will do base damage of 2d6--1d6 from the arrows and 1d6 from the bow itself. There is no way to correct this without eliminating the ammo-less capabilities of the weapons or without very bad hacks.