[released] Sir Ajantis for BGII mod

[hederahelix]

First of all, let me tell you how much I appreciate your Ajantis mod. I've been playing various roleplaying games for years and among all the fan modifications I've seen, this is one is by far the best, hands down. I love how real the character is with all his tiny faults and his rigidness and annoying vigilance. The amount of work and love put into this is really astonishing and I applaud you so f***** much.

I've enjoyed the BG1 part immensely and carried over to BGII, but I just can't get into it knowing that there is no ToB content. That being said, I wanted to ask WHEN WILL WE GET AJANTIS TOB OMG OMG OMG GURL PLOX ;__;

 

Seriously, though. Annoying prodding (and bugfix updates) aside - is the mod actually a work in progress or is it the creative part on hold? Sorry if you get that a lot, but I just really want to know as there's never been a game modification that I've waited this impatiently for. Maybe it's time to stop checking this topic every few days xD

 

PS: thanks again for being awesome!

Edited November 24, 2013 by hederahelix

[jastey]

Thank you very much for the words of praise!

 

ToB part is ~90% done BUT as a mix of English-German. It is not on hold but I tend to mod in cycles for my (much too) many projects and currently I was hoping to get BGQE new version out soon (and also the new BG1 Romantic Encounters mod... teasing teasing teasing).

 

The huge problem with ToB is (beside RL, of course) that I changed and adapted my dialogue path outlines at least two times because of the rigidness of the plot. I had wonderfully designed dialogue paths featuring Ajantis' dealings with his godly-powerful wife - only to see in the game that there is absolutely NO TIME to get all the dialogues in there when they should. This lead to hilarious moments where Ajantis wanted to talk about one of Solar's tests - and the PC's mother - and Saradush's fall - all at once because there was no time in between. I definitely have to play the whole ToB part with the mod again to see whether what I scripted now makes any sense at all. I do have the dialogues now coded in a way I hope they will work, though.

Missing is:

 

-epilogues (I don't know why they are so hard to write, but it's a fact)

-most of the Ajantis-NPC banters (they will be written while I playtest, once I start thinking about it it tends to flow quite easily)

-upgrade of the custom items (shield and sword) so they make any sense in ToB

-PIDs have to be spiffed up

-most interjections, but the will come when I playtest.

-Last but not least: purification of the translations - and that is really tideous, although the texts are not as much as for the SoA part, thank God.

 

Thank you very much for your interest! I am not happy about how long it takes me to finish this but I sincerely hope the result will be worth the wait.

[jastey]

And I forgot to put here: Mod Updated to v5, now BGII:EE compatible!

The alternate portraits are now in a separate mod package (different mods for original / BGII:EE versions) and can be found at the Downloads page at Kerzenburgforum

 

There is a separate BG(II):EE download section at Kerzenburgforum, but for this mod it's the same package as the original BGII-mod (even though the archive is called xxx-EE.zip - that is due to techincal reasons.) Link to the BG(II):EE download section at Kerzenburg Forum

 

Changes:

 

-BGII:EE compatibility,

-RE reactions (some, for a start: Bjornin, Solaufein, Talak, Laran)

-Anomen Tweaks deactivated (didn't belong here, anyway)

-corrected Imoen's DV for BGT version (Irenicus' Dungeon, one interjection into a mod introduced dialogue of Minsc)

-minor tp2 code updates

-update to WeiDU v236

-change of mod name to "ajantisbg2"

-The alternate portraits are now a separate modification

[Desrathaus]

I've really been enjoying your mod, and I have to say, I think the two romance tracks you included for BGII -- the established, and the new beginnings -- are both compelling in their own ways.

 

(Spoilers for the Romance Tracks)

 

For most romances that carry over from BGI to BGII, I prefer the established path. In Ajantis' case, I really like that he and the PC have gone through so much together in each others' company: PC's heritage reveal, PC's kidnapping, Firkraag's illusion, Ajantis' disownment, PC's loss of her soul and Ajantis' loss of his god's favor... I mean, if staying together through all that isn't love, then I don't know what love is.

 

But in the new beginnings track, I feel less guilty when Ajantis finds out his parents' opinion on the matter of marrying a Bhaalspawn. After his parents threatened to disown him in the established romance, I thought that, because Ajantis is such a creature of duty and obligation, he may be liable to follow through on his vow to marry the PC simply because it was his responsibility to, and not because he wanted to. For the new beginnings track he is able to make the decision on his own without any previous commitments or promises, and that makes me feel less like I've basically tricked him into marrying me. He's able to decide on his own how important the PC really is to him.

 

You've made both tracks unique and convincing, and I think that's a difficult task.

 

 

Overall, I think you've made a very compelling and believable character out of Ajantis, and I'm looking forward to the TOB portion!

[jastey]

Thank you very much for the praise! It makes me happy to hear this.

[MissBehave]

Sooo.. I broke him. After the Bjornin encounter he has been reprimanding me non stop. I actually forgot I'd even enabled the RE reactions, but there it was. Over and over again. I've tried advancing the timer and new dialogues will still trigger, but it doesn't fix it. We've moved to a new location, rested, and I've reformed my party. I haven't tried if the same thing happens with other encounters as I haven't taken him to the Underdark yet.

 

Edit: I suspect something similar will happen with the other reactions as I just tested Laran. Initially I didn't get a reaction at all. Then he started to 'hang'. The group would move to a new location, while Ajantis stood there in the 'I have something to say' position. When I went back and spoke to him the Laran reaction would trigger, but it wouldn't resolve the 'hanging'. If I spoke to him again he would repeat the same conversation again.

Edited January 3, 2014 by MissBehave

[jastey]

Argh. Thank you very much for this bug report. [Did I really code that? ...] The script blocks are always firing and I can't even give you a cheat variable to shut them down.

 

If you don't have the possibility to reinstall the mod (not recommendable for a running game), here is the corrected c#ajan.bcs: Download c#ajan.bcs.zip. It is for classic BGII but it should work for BGII:EE and BGT, too. Open the archive and put the c#ajan.bcs into your override folder (replacing the old one). This does the trick, hopefully. Or you dump him..

 

The download is also updated to v6.

Edited January 4, 2014 by jastey

[MissBehave]

Don't worry about me. I'll just skip the encounters. I always quicksave before that kind of thing.

[jastey]

Thank you for playing the mod, and for reporting!

[MissBehave]

Hardly! Thank YOU for all your time and effort and continued dedication to modding. As great as BG2 is, it would have lost its charm some time ago if it wasn't for people like you adding wonderful new content. Happy to do my little part by testing and reporting back.

[jastey]

It's very nice to hear this, thank you! But I do insist that modding wouldn't be any (well, not much) fun if there weren't people playing the mods!

[jastey]

ToB progress update: Content is finished unless I notice something while testing. The alpha version installs without warnings. (In the game, Ajantis didn't talk to me, though. ..)

Language is still the German-English mix. After a first round of alpha testing, I will finish the two language versions (experience tells this will take a while).

 

In case someone wants to alpha test and has no problems with partially German text, let me know!

[Kulyok]

How nice! Best of luck with the translation part! Ajantis is really one of my BG1 faves. (And Kivan. And Xan. No wonder those three got such extensive mods!)

[Ankhesenpaaten]

I'm so glad that Ajantis is nearly finished! Of course I need English...but I've waited all this time and I can wait a tad longer.

 

Jastey, thank you so much for your continued work! You made me fall in love with a paladin and if you knew me you would know that that is no mean feat!

 

I'm utterly terrified of BG2EE. I have serious doubts that I'll be able to figure out how to add mods to it. I have long since found that I can no longer enjoy BG1 or BG2 (and ToB) without them. Gah...my husband just told me he will not order BG2EE for me until I am sure I can install the compatible mods! Okay...may soon be time for me to Google like crazy, and then end up back here pleading for help on understanding the procedure. I'm PC-challenged, and at first had a hell of a time with even installing mods on the regular games... *takes deep breath to relax*

 

Kulyok...you ROCK! I mean you in general, your modding, your helpful nature (you've saved my butt MANY times) and your taste in mods.

 

I can't wait to fall in love with Ajantis, Xan, and Gavin all over again.

[jastey]

Thank you!

Modding BG(II):EE is only a little bit more frightening because you have to chose the language you want to play teh mod in, first - and then remember that every official game update wipes your install clean (of any mods). It's not too far from modding the classic games, though!