(Re)creating BG1 unique items in BG2

[Jarno Mikkola]

This would be funny, if it wasn't ridiculously so.

BG1 item codes:

PLAT08 -- Plate Mail +3, "The Practical Defense" (worth it just for that cool pulsing glow effect!)

AX1H03 -- Battle Axe +2, "Battleaxe of Mauletar"

STAF08 -- Quarter Staff +3, "Aule's Staff"

 

Also, it seems that SW1H18 (Sword of Balduran) is in SoA, but for some reason the "+4 vs. Shapeshifters" part seems to have been removed, making it just a regular bastard sword. I'm not looking at it in-game, of course; possibly the person who compiled the text list I'm looking at made a goof.

You do understand that the first 3 of those items are the exact same as the once in BG2, they have just been given unique description. I'll give them them too, but know that you have to cheat... codes:

IJ#plat8 --> Plate Mail +3, "The Practical Defense"

IJ#axe3 --> Battle Axe +2, "Battleaxe of Mauletar"

IJ#staf8 --> Quarter Staff +3, "Aule's Staff"

IJ#balsw --> Sword of Balduran, with the +4 vs. Shapeshifters, just know that this item may affect other things on the shapshifters, like target choice...

Download the v1 from here. More items? Other suggestions...

[Lochlann]

Hmm...no, actually I didn't know that. What I did was search through the SoA item list for the unique names--i.e., "Mauletar," "Aule," etc.--to see if the items were there. I guess if I had stopped to think about it, it would have been obvious that there would be, for instance, Plate Armor +3, just without the unique item description.

 

The fact that I didn't stop to think that betrays my true interest here, that of a collector: to have the unique items, with name and description and whatnot, not to have the benefits of a suit of Plate +3. Heh. I couldn't care less about these items actually helping my character, in the starting dungeon or anywhere else; I just want to be able to "collect" them later on. That's why the whole ridiculousness of having such powerful items in the starter dungeon doesn't faze me, and why I don't really care where, if anywhere, they appear; it's the collecting of the items that I'm after, not their use.

 

Thanks for the added items! I'll post again when I assemble that bigger list.

[cmorgan]

Do not worry - you are not alone in your collecting mania. Sometimes, the most immersive, fun stuff is actually silly single use stuff, like keeping the wardstones as memory objetcs... hey, gamers like to collect screenshots, so why wouldn't a PC keep some random knicknacks even if they have no "functional use"? And unique is what makes it cool.

[Lochlann]

Couldn't have said it better myself. There's a reason my character always goes around with a sprig of belladonna flowers in his inventory. Where would he be in SoA without that? (Yep, that's already in SoA.)

 

Naturally I don't expect someone to want to code in every wardstone, bounty hunter's notice, personal letter, etc. I'm happy to do that. But more advanced items, such as with spell effects and sprite glows and what have you...well, the less chance I have to foul something up, the better.

 

Got another "general interest" item (likely already in existence as a generic object, as with the others, but minus the uniqueness):

CLCK02 -- Cloak of Protection +2, "The Spirit's Shield"

[Lochlann]

Okay, I've compiled a list of all magic/unique/cool items in BG1 that didn't make it into SoA. (Well, all items that I encountered in my most recent playthrough BG1, that is.) This includes items that had a unique lore description in BG1 but that were converted into generic items in SoA, without any special lore references. I have not listed items that made the transfer with small changes, as these changes usually served to add more to the lore or name (as with "Karajah's Life and Death" (previously with special lore but no special name) and "Rashad's Talon" (spelling correction and updated lore).)

 

I have also not listed the numerous "personal effect" items, stuff that very few people would probably be interested in, like various letters and scrolls and whatnot. I'll do what I can to take care of those myself, unless someone else is feeling especially bored.

 

AX1H03 <Battleaxe +2: "Battleaxe of Mauletar"> [generic item in SoA]

--> added in Jarno's mod v1

 

BLUN11 <Mace +2: "Krotan's Skullcrusher"> [generic item in SoA]

--> added in Jarno's mod v0.99, and placed within starter dungeon

 

LEAT07 <Studded Leather Armor +2> [generic item in SoA]

(this item has a generic name in BG1, but the BG1 lore is unique, "property of Telbar," etc. Not so in SoA.)

 

MISC2P <Greagan's Harp: "The Captive Audience"> [can't find this in SoA at all]

 

MISC98 <Durlag's Goblet> [exists, but is named "Blood of Quallo's Friend"]

It'd be nice to have a duplicate copy of this with the Durlag reference/name. Again, for collecting neurosis purposes.

 

PLAT02 <Plate Mail +1: Fallorain's Plate> [generic item in SoA]

 

PLAT08 <Plate Mail +3: "The Practical Defense"> [a different unique Plate +3 exists in SoA]

--> added in Jarno's mod v1

 

RING08 <Ring of Wizardry: "Evermemory"> [there are several new, more powerful, Rings of Wizardry in SoA, but they appear to have done away with the original one]

 

STAF08 <Staff +3: "Aule's Staff"> [generic item in SoA]

--> added in Jarno's mod v1

 

SW1H09 <Short Sword +2: "The Whistling Sword"> [generic item in SoA]

 

SW1H18 <Sword of Balduran> [the SoA version lacks the bonuses vs. lycanthropes]

--> added in Jarno's mod v1

 

SW2H07 <Two Handed Sword +3: "The World's Edge"> [a different unique 2H Sword +3 exists in SoA]

--> added in Jarno's mod v0.99, and placed within starter dungeon

 

Jarno, or anyone, want to take a crack at adding the six items you haven't already taken care of? Maybe mod version 1.1? Again, just getting the code in there would be great; I'm not looking for item placement as loot anywhere. If not, I'll see about doing it myself, if I can.

 

Either way, thanks much!

 

(Edit: btw, I was wrong earlier about the "Spirit's Shield" cloak. That already exists.)

[Lochlann]

Got a quick IEEI question for y'all. Figured I'd post it in this thread, since it's part of my efforts here, rather than post a new thread.

 

Everything is going smoothly, no problem at all, and I'm rather embarrassed to have made such a fuss about this. It's pretty easy. I'm just taking the necessary item files from the BG1 override folder, resaving them to a new name as is, and then dumping those items into the override folder for SoA (after checking consistency for various picture files referenced by the code). Hell, I guess I could just copy/paste the files themselves and bypass IEEI altogether.

 

There is one problem I'm encountering, though. I cannot seem to edit anything at all in the description tab in IEEI. Whenever I do so, I encounter the "Path/File Error at Dialog_Write.12" error. Changing values for anything else is fine: item effects, attributes, headers, what have you. The item saves fine. But changing even a single character in the item descriptions produces this error. It is the same for both the "unidentified" and "identified" descriptions, and for the item names too. This happens for text additions, deletions, or changes.

 

I understand that this error typically occurs when another program that accesses the Dialog.tlk file is open. That isn't the case here. IEEI is most assuredly the only program open. I've even restarted the computer and launched only that program to make sure. The "conflicting program access" explanation is the only one I've seen cited as an explanation for this error, so I'm at a loss here.

 

This isn't such a crippling thing right now. Most of the items I'm looking to port over already exist in the Override folder of BG1, so I can just do what I said above: load them up and resave them without actually needing to enter or change any data. But in the future, I'd like to (re)try my hand at making new items, and this problem will be...well, problematic. (It is also an issue for the few BG1 items that are not located in the Override folder, such as the Ring of Wizardry (RING08).)

 

Anyone got an explanation for this error? Something not involving competing program access? Thanks!