[OS X] Why is Imoen missing her lines?

[ericp07]

Hello,

 

After the problem with the fire giants was solved, the only unwanted behavior I was getting with BGII - SoA/ToB was the seemingly random CTD, and the CTD specific to choosing kittable classes when creating a new character (meaning I can't create any new characters with classes that allow for kits). I accepted that as the result of a bloated override folder, and of a known issue with apparently no solution, and carried on. I installed Xan, as I noticed that I'd forgotten to install the mod when I should have, then reinstalled Crossmod Banter Pack. Tried some new test games, and they appeared to work with no new issues. OK.

 

Then I installed A Thousand Words, one of the newest Iron Modder offerings. I can't blame any one specific thing, but now, when I cruise a party through Chateau Irenicus, Imoen "forgets" to deliver her dialog. The first time I rest the party, she doesn't comment that the protagonist is brave to sleep in the place. When we talk to Rielev, then leave his room, she doesn't comment on his condition...or she comments on it when we're in the room with all the glass containers, but there she doesn't mention that she knows the room, that she's been there before, like she's supposed to.

 

I'm concerned that I'm forever solving one problem only to encounter another, but I don't want to scale back much further on the mods I'm trying to include in my game. Maybe it's a Mac-specific thing, maybe just bad luck with me, or maybe there's something lurking somewhere that's causing the troubles.

 

If anyone has any insights, clues, etc. to share, please don't hesitate! I've had this game for over half the year now, and I have yet to get it to function properly with more than one or two mods installed. I'd really rather play using several mods together than using just one at a time, swapping one for another each time through. I suppose the upside to these adventures is that I'll have a good idea of what to look out for when creating my own mod(s) in the future

 

I'll post the latest WeiDU Log if that would help.

 

Happy holidays,

Eric

 

(Also posted at Spellhold Studios)

[Fyorl]

Well I manage with about 700 mods at once so it must be possible. If you've only got a couple of mods installed then it might be worth rolling back to a clean state and then installing with a careful install order. Rather than re-installing and uninstalling, you should try to get it right the first time (it shouldn't make any difference but I get bad vibes from re-installing).

[Lysan Lurraxol]

I have the same problem with Imoen not speaking her lines on my Windows XP PC.

Interestingly, the problem occurred after I installed the latest version of Crossmod (although i installed Chloe, which I know has Imoen content).

 

I don't suppose there's a link?

 

ETA I've just realized that I was using Crossmod 5.2, I think. (I hadn't realized there was a new version ) I'll install V7 and see what happens.

[ericp07]

Well I manage with about 700 mods at once so it must be possible. If you've only got a couple of mods installed then it might be worth rolling back to a clean state and then installing with a careful install order. Rather than re-installing and uninstalling, you should try to get it right the first time (it shouldn't make any difference but I get bad vibes from re-installing).

 

Yikes!!! Yes, I can do that (I have a back-up folder inside the main BGII folder that contains the pristine copies of critical files), but I've already done it that way more than ten times, and am sick to death of starting over and over again I'll do it if I have to, though.

 

I'm wondering if uninstalling some of the mods to replace them with updated versions has somehow messed things up. Also forgot to mention that I've installed Virtue, and that, since doing so, I've noticed a huge slow-down in game speed, even though I've cranked it up to 50 frames per second. The characters don't "stutter" when moving, they just move in slow-motion, and the pendulum at the bottom left corner of the screen also swings much more slowly than it should at that frame rate.

 

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K...

 

Thanks,

Eric

[ericp07]

I have the same problem with Imoen not speaking her lines on my Windows XP PC.

Interestingly, the problem occurred after I installed the latest version of Crossmod (although i installed Chloe, which I know has Imoen content).

 

I don't suppose there's a link?

 

ETA I've just realized that I was using Crossmod 5.2, I think. (I hadn't realized there was a new version ) I'll install V7 and see what happens.

 

Interesting you should mention Chloe, as I had many problems getting her mod to work properly...and even now, there are times when it takes longer than it should for her to banter, with either Imoen or the protagonist. Whenever her mod appears to be broken, I simply reinstall it, and all is well.

 

Perhaps we should bring this to the attention of the creator of Crossmod...meanwhile, I look forward to reading the results of your update and testing.

 

Thanks,

Eric

[berelinde]

It isn't Crossmod. It doesn't touch BioWare NPC dialogue files.

 

EricP, my heart goes out to you, but I don't know what to tell you. Why don't you try posting your WeiDU log. Maybe there's something in the install order that can be improved.

[Fyorl]

Also forgot to mention that I've installed Virtue, and that, since doing so, I've noticed a huge slow-down in game speed, even though I've cranked it up to 50 frames per second. The characters don't "stutter" when moving, they just move in slow-motion, and the pendulum at the bottom left corner of the screen also swings much more slowly than it should at that frame rate.

I had this problem when I moved to running BG2 through Wine rather than Cedega. It wasn't down to any of my mods though, just some settings. I can't remember how I fixed it though, I seem to remember just putting my framerate back to 30 after it had been dropped to 20. It didn't make much sense to me back then but I don't want to touch anything in case it breaks again.

 

If there's no stuttering then it's probably not a mod's fault and the answer will lie in BGConfig...

[ericp07]

Also forgot to mention that I've installed Virtue, and that, since doing so, I've noticed a huge slow-down in game speed, even though I've cranked it up to 50 frames per second. The characters don't "stutter" when moving, they just move in slow-motion, and the pendulum at the bottom left corner of the screen also swings much more slowly than it should at that frame rate.

I had this problem when I moved to running BG2 through Wine rather than Cedega. It wasn't down to any of my mods though, just some settings. I can't remember how I fixed it though, I seem to remember just putting my framerate back to 30 after it had been dropped to 20. It didn't make much sense to me back then but I don't want to touch anything in case it breaks again.

 

If there's no stuttering then it's probably not a mod's fault and the answer will lie in BGConfig...

 

That's possible. I'm using a PPC G4 Mac, running OS X 10.4.11. I have the most recent ToB patch installed. In the BGConfig area where we can specify the rate at which various elements don't animate, etc., I've set all of them up to 100. The maximum frame rate I can set is 60, and I used to keep it there, but something told me to back it off a bit, due to strange things happening during the game's opening scene (each line Irenicus spoke would cut off the last one before he was finished speaking it). I have game difficulty set to normal (just below core), and system/sound/graphics set to maximum. Screen shake and duplicate text are disabled. I'm not sure what other settings I should change that would improve performance. Perhaps I'll experiment with the frame rate some more.

 

Thanks,

Eric

[ericp07]

It isn't Crossmod. It doesn't touch BioWare NPC dialogue files.

 

EricP, my heart goes out to you, but I don't know what to tell you. Why don't you try posting your WeiDU log. Maybe there's something in the install order that can be improved.

 

Well, shoot! I should have gone ahead and posted that, but now it's too late, as I've restored a clean install, and have proceeded to install mods as though for the first time. I've done joinable NPCs, a couple kit mods (I go very sparing on those!), Divine Remix, and attempted to install Crossmod v.7, but got errors, so that mod won't install to my machine I've e-mailed the .DEBUG file to the appropriate parties, though so far I've never gotten any response after e-mailing such a file to anyone.

 

Whether or not I can successfully install Crossmod (the previous version worked perfectly), my plan is to install 1PP remedy, Moinesse Avatars, tbtweaks, BG2 Tweaks, and Refinements, all in that order, as I've been attempting to do for...how long has it been now? *L* Also want to install a couple quest mods and item mods, and that will be that.

 

Thanks,

Eric

[berelinde]

I'll get your Crossmod debug, if you sent it to me, and then we'll see what we can do about it.

[Fyorl]

That's possible. I'm using a PPC G4 Mac, running OS X 10.4.11. I have the most recent ToB patch installed. In the BGConfig area where we can specify the rate at which various elements don't animate, etc., I've set all of them up to 100. The maximum frame rate I can set is 60, and I used to keep it there, but something told me to back it off a bit, due to strange things happening during the game's opening scene (each line Irenicus spoke would cut off the last one before he was finished speaking it). I have game difficulty set to normal (just below core), and system/sound/graphics set to maximum. Screen shake and duplicate text are disabled. I'm not sure what other settings I should change that would improve performance. Perhaps I'll experiment with the frame rate some more.

If you want to improve performance you should put all those sliders down rather than up...

 

I don't think your problem is with performance because then you'd probably get stuttering and stuff (what are battles like?). It definitely seems like a framerate issue as that would be the only thing I can think of that would slow things down smoothly.

[ericp07]

That's possible. I'm using a PPC G4 Mac, running OS X 10.4.11. I have the most recent ToB patch installed. In the BGConfig area where we can specify the rate at which various elements don't animate, etc., I've set all of them up to 100. The maximum frame rate I can set is 60, and I used to keep it there, but something told me to back it off a bit, due to strange things happening during the game's opening scene (each line Irenicus spoke would cut off the last one before he was finished speaking it). I have game difficulty set to normal (just below core), and system/sound/graphics set to maximum. Screen shake and duplicate text are disabled. I'm not sure what other settings I should change that would improve performance. Perhaps I'll experiment with the frame rate some more.

If you want to improve performance you should put all those sliders down rather than up...

 

I don't think your problem is with performance because then you'd probably get stuttering and stuff (what are battles like?). It definitely seems like a framerate issue as that would be the only thing I can think of that would slow things down smoothly.

 

Which sliders are you referring to, that I should adjust down rather than up? I don't want to disable any of the visual elements, if I don't have to.

 

I agree about performance. The game is installed on a G4 Quicksilver with a 1.47GHz CPU and 1.25GB of RAM. Graphics card is an ATI RADEON 7200 (the system reads it as a 7500). So, the computer well exceeds the game's requirements. Game resolution is set to 800x600, but if I can get a stable game running, I'd rather use 1024x768.

 

Thanks,

Eric

[Fyorl]

Other than the difficulty slider, there are no other sliders... I don't think you have to turn those sliders down because as I said before I don't think your problem has much to do with poor performance. I was just saying that if you wanted better performance you should be turning those sliders down rather than up.

[devSin]

Leave framerate alone. This is the AI update rate (you'll screw up timing for everything by changing it); the default value is 30, and you shouldn't ever have a reason to change it.

 

What you're describing sounds more like one of the mods screwed up Imoen's script than something messing with her dialogue... jiggering around with the settings isn't likely going to help anything.

[ericp07]

Leave framerate alone. This is the AI update rate (you'll screw up timing for everything by changing it); the default value is 30, and you shouldn't ever have a reason to change it.

 

What you're describing sounds more like one of the mods screwed up Imoen's script than something messing with her dialogue... jiggering around with the settings isn't likely going to help anything.

 

Which leads me to wonder why they built in the ability to change the frame rate in the first place. Increasing that setting is probably what was messing up the cutscenes. OK, I haven't gone into BGConfig since today's restoring and reinstalling, so I'll leave frame rate at 30. What about the individual settings associated with frame rate? Leave them all at default values as well?

 

Thanks,

Eric