BG1 Globals Problem

[grogerson]

I've been going through BG1 (without Tales of the Sword Coast), and have entered the library. This is where things begin happening that cause problems.

 

If I don't have Koveras' ring when I fight the Iron Throne leaders, the game starts stuttering. The Gatewarden (top floor) will arrest me, but Ulraunt and Tethtoril will not give the proper dialog.

 

If I do have Koveras' ring, there is no stutter, but the Gatewarden won't arrest me.

 

Over the last few days I did some digging into the dialogs for variables, then checked the saves in NI.

 

Kovera dialog:

SetGlobal("TalkedToKoveras","GLOBAL",1)

SetGlobal("Criminal","GLOBAL",1) // also happens when meeting Reiltar in the library

SetGlobal("KillReiltar","GLOBAL",1)

 

After battle in library:

Sprite_is_DeadBruno

Sprite_is_DeadKestor

Sprite_is_DeadRieltar

Sprite_is_DeadTuth

 

Watch, Watch6, Gatewa2 dialog:

SetGlobal("Arrested","GLOBAL",1)

 

Tethto2 dialog:

SetGlobal("PartyCured","GLOBAL",1)

SetGlobal("Teth","GLOBAL",1)

 

The last global that sets is "TalkedToKoveras". "Criminal", "KillReiltar" (I took the ring), and "Sprite_is_Deadxxxx" all fail to set.

 

I have tried CLUAConsole:SetGlobal, even tried adding the variables through NI. Even though CLUAConsole acknowledges the commands, they do not appear after I save the game, nor do I get the game to advance. In NI the added lines simply vanish once the game is loaded.

 

Without the "Criminal" variable, the game won't advance.

 

I really need some help with getting these variables to set.

[devSin]

Try deleting some older variables first, or install the latest patch.

[grogerson]

Thanks. That worked. I wondered if variables could be deleted without hosing the game. Is there a limit to variables the savegames can hold?

[devSin]

Yes. Without the latest patch for TotSC, the limit is small enough that you can easily run out of room for variables, depending on how much you do and how many mods are installed.

 

All the games have a limit, but it wasn't a problem except with TotSC (the expansion added enough variables that if you did everything you could, you'd run out of space before the end of the game; hence, the patch). PST also had the small limit, but nobody cares.

 

You can delete some variables, but be careful (some would never matter, but others will cause stupid stuff to happen). You could probably delete most SPRITE_IS_DEAD vars in BG/TotSC without worry.

[cmorgan]

devSin, do you happen to remember the limit for BG2/ToB with patches? With Mega folks adding everything under the sun, will that be a problem in big installs?

[grogerson]

Thanks again, devSin. I presume SPRITE_IS_DEAD variables won't bring the CRE back to life.

 

I did remove other variables as well, but not in areas that should be of any consequence. All are from early in the game (Candlekeep quests, Nashkel and areas south of Beregost) were I should not be returning. If needed I can remove some of the BGQE variables.

 

It might be good to have the variable caps for the IE games stated in the IESDP for the very reason cmorgan just mentioned.

[devSin]

SPRITE_IS_DEAD is just a tracking variable (it's queried by Dead("scriptName") checks) for how many instances of "scriptName" you've killed. It doesn't control anything but Dead(), etc., checks (of which, there are very few of consequence in BG/TotSC, and probably nothing at all that would break if you just removed them all).

 

devSin, do you happen to remember the limit for BG2/ToB with patches? With Mega folks adding everything under the sun, will that be a problem in big installs?

I don't know offhand, no. It's probably just doubled again from the TotSC patch (so ~4,000). Or they may have left it because of the different scopes that they actually use (everything but 2 AI scripts were GLOBAL in BG/TotSC).

 

You can probably hack a GAM to add 5,000 vars (or more) to see how many it stores without having to look at the exe (it will only read in up to the limit so will only write back out that number; should be able to re-save to get the approximate limit).

[grogerson]

Found the reason for a problem I had with a playthrough some months ago -- a movie kept repeating. Answer -- no room for the variable.

 

Gee, I'm actually learning something from this.

 

Not yet to the end, and I may have deleted a variable somewhere that caused quite a problem. I had to CTRL+J to a sewer entrance when I left the Flaming Fist building because an actual army of enforcers spawned instead of just a few.

 

Definitely need to make a note to myself to play BG1 without TotSC with only BG1 Tweaks installed if I'm going to check the components out. This variable limit certainly has thrown me a curve ball...