Use with BWS

[Iecerint]

Hi everyone --

 

So, I'm about to start a BWS (Big World Setup) playthrough with lots of mods including this one, but the "Mod and NPC" option wasn't listed as part of BWS. Does anyone know whether:

 

a) this is a glitch

b) this is because it's risky to change kits or something

c) the player is expected to do this manually after BWS has installed all the mods*

d) kit-changing is something that takes place after the game has started (e.g. by running a script in-game)

d) etc.?

 

BWS itself emphasizes that Level 1 NPCs is the best mod ever and should be used in place of other mods that change NPC's classes or give them kits, so I'm pretty sure they're compatible, but I can't quite figure out how it's done.

 

If you don't know the details of BWS and just know how Level 1 NPCs ordinarily works, that would still be helpful information.

 

Thanks --

Iec

[Mike1072]

So, I'm about to start a BWS (Big World Setup) playthrough with lots of mods including this one, but the "Mod and NPC" option wasn't listed as part of BWS. Does anyone know whether:

 

a) this is a glitch

b) this is because it's risky to change kits or something

c) the player is expected to do this manually after BWS has installed all the mods*

d) kit-changing is something that takes place after the game has started (e.g. by running a script in-game)

d) etc.?

I'd guess there are two reasons:

• changing an NPC to a different class or kit is a personal choice
  
• the process would be difficult to automate
  

So, it's easier to let the player manually install the mod after everything else is done.

 

Class and kit changes are done at install time, not in the game.

[Iecerint]

K. Well, then, I hope it doesn't make anything explode if I fix it on top of everything. O_O

[Iecerint]

Ah, it looks like there might be a glitch. Trying to do it manually (ask about uninstalled bits, skip installed ones) leads to an error loading override/pdialog.2da and an error parsing LEVEL1NPCS.TP2 on that basis. So. That's no good.

 

It also takes like 20 seconds for the Weidu log to start up, which is a little odd, but I guess that's just because I have a gillion mods installed.

 

I'll try reinstalling the old bits instead of skipping them, I guess. Can't hurt. My installation has really funky graphical glitches, anyway.

 

Side question so long as this forum is active -- if Magic Missile looks like a funny black square (or a bunch of them, I guess), that's bad, right? That's not a "fix" designed to emulate BG1 graphics via One Pixel Productions or something? Is it known what could cause that kind of graphical error?

[Iecerint]

Related question --

 

True or false: "BWS is worth it at this stage"

 

This was my fourth install, and I'm starting to lose patience. Will everything still be awful even if I do this by hand?

[Mike1072]

Ah, it looks like there might be a glitch. Trying to do it manually (ask about uninstalled bits, skip installed ones) leads to an error loading override/pdialog.2da and an error parsing LEVEL1NPCS.TP2 on that basis. So. That's no good.

This can easily be fixed by extracting pdialog.2da from your game and putting it in the override folder. Near Infinity can do this.

 

Side question so long as this forum is active -- if Magic Missile looks like a funny black square (or a bunch of them, I guess), that's bad, right? That's not a "fix" designed to emulate BG1 graphics via One Pixel Productions or something? Is it known what could cause that kind of graphical error?

I haven't heard of any mods that do that. Have you experienced any other graphical glitches? Black squares around the fog of war?

[cmorgan]

Mike1072 may get this before I do, because I type teh slow, but the graphical glitches are new videocards and drivers not playing nicely with old directdraw... the bigg has a good thread at SHS that gives solutions.

 

The not being able to find that file error may be a result of the BWP biffing/cleanup- I remember reading this on the BWP stuff at SHS too.

 

As for "is it worth it", I respect the work and bugfixes that project has completed for the community, but my question is "what do you want in your game?". They have made installing almost everything possible, but you don't have to install it all - they even made it possible to modifyand choose what to install. If you are running into troubles, my suggestion is to leverage the BWP strength to create an install that only has a few mods that you really want to explore, then run out a new install with a different set, etc. It may solve some of the frustration. Don't worry, though - there are a number of folks around that will gladly help troubleshoot, if you ask about.

[Iecerint]

Thanks for your advice. I'll check out that SHS thread, then. I should add that I never had these problems with my old Tutu install, though; I decided to switch to BGT and add lots of the content-heavy mods for my second playthrough. It's possible that I'm being too ambitious, though. That's what I meant by whether it was worth it; the project itself is of course really neat.

 

On the graphical side of things -- I get a kind of stutter whenever I move the map around (e.g. with the arrow keys -- this is something I would ge used to after 20 minutes or so if I sat down and played, though I didn't have it before); the borders of the Fog of War look ODD, but it's more like an ugly fuzz than black boxes, unless you mean really small black boxes around the Fog of War; and all the magic effects are weird (examples follow). (I'm a poor judge of what "weird" is, though, because I had the IWD spell animations installed on my first playthrough, so SOME of the weirdness could just be the "restored" BG1 effects.)

 

For example, mages who use magic make cool-looking white-and-black vortexes in front of them instead of something green. That much is fine. But I'm like 99.999% sure that Magic Missiles aren't supposed to look like geometric squares with white middles, so I think.

 

Gorion's (or Tomoko's?) flame arrow spells looks fine, oddly enough. It's just Magic Missiles that's all funky, plus the "casting" animation (but that one is kinda cool-looking messed-up so).

 

Is there no chance that One Pixel Productions or Infinity Animations is to blame for the graphical stuff? That's where I was leaning, since I didn't use those with Tutu. The replaced paperdolls are awfully pretty, though.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Thanks for your advice. I'll check out that SHS thread, then.

Which thread, this one ?

 

a) this is a glitch

Well, the mod has ~100 000 000 000 options in the normal game, and if you add mods to it... you cannot just automate that so you have freedom of choice, as the BWS is made so you can have it installed and you can then start game, normally... if you wish to modify the behavior, you can, you just choose the "Further customization of your mod settings", and remove the mods after the L1NPCs, and put the list to memory;

 

If you don't know the details of BWS and just know how Level 1 NPCs ordinarily works, that would still be helpful information.

Well, you just run the setup-level1npcs.exe, usually you skip the already installed components, then you are given choice if you wish to install the components that aren't already installed, you answer that with either Y or was it with A, as that's "ask each component", then you skip the components that you don't wish, and for example install the Minsc component, it first ask what class you wish to make him... I would choose the mage, it then asks what kit you wish to make him( or no kit as optio zero), I would choose the conjurer, then you are given the weapon proficiency points according to what the kit can have, mages are given 1 at level 1, so you can choose, my choice would be the quarterstaff, so I would reply with the number "102". Then you are given choice to pick the 2 starting spells as you are a mage subkit, and so on and so on...

 

True or false: "BWS is worth it at this stage"

This was my fourth install, and I'm starting to lose patience. Will everything still be awful even if I do this by hand?

Well, I have done the install about 30 times and I still am waiting for somethings... worth it, definitely. And if you would do it by hand, you might have a lot of unexplained cashes and no one to help you.

[Iecerint]

Oh - re: that thread.

 

I have an ATI RADEON 3xxx card, so I don't think that thread can explain my graphical glitches situation. Playing with .ini may still fix it somehow, though, maybe.

 

New install before that, I think! Slightly more minimalism this time. I installed Ps:T while I was waiting and had some fun, but now I have my second wind. ^^

[Miloch]

It also takes like 20 seconds for the Weidu log to start up, which is a little odd, but I guess that's just because I have a gillion mods installed.

Yes, though it should load faster with a decent computer and text editor (EditPad, PSPad, etc., instead of Notepad).

My installation has really funky graphical glitches, anyway.

 

Side question so long as this forum is active -- if Magic Missile looks like a funny black square (or a bunch of them, I guess), that's bad, right? That's not a "fix" designed to emulate BG1 graphics via One Pixel Productions or something? Is it known what could cause that kind of graphical error?

Neither 1PP nor Infinity Animations do aught with spells - you should look to stuff like SpellPack for that. But it does sound like a video driver issue.

 

As to BWS, I just used the latest (beta) version and it worked pretty smoothly. Just install whatever you want from the advanced component selection. You can even pick the kits you want there. Make sure to pick ToB Extender too if you want to see more than 9 kits. Leave of Biffing and the L1NPCs subcomponents though. Then install L1NPCs manually to make your selections and then install biffing once you're happy with everything. Or you could install biffing first if you think you'll be making changes - L1NPCs probably doesn't do enough "unbiffing" to make it matter much.