Guidelines for uninstalling mid-game

[tomtomtom]

Hadn't played the game in years and got a nostalgia bug so dusted off my old CDs and installed it. While looking for all the old Baldurdash fixes I found this site and decided to install SCSII (along with Fixes, Tweaks, and Spell Revisions).

 

Unfortunately some of the components are a bit much for me and now I'm wondering which (if any) I can uninstall mid-game without scrambling the game.

 

What prompts this question is my experience in the Planar Sphere: The cannibal halfling priests and mages were simply too much for my party so I uninstalled Smarter Mages and Smarter Priests (I had previously uninstalled Smarter General AI after being slaughtered by inviso-backstab-inviso Night Knives.).

 

After uninstall, though, the halfling priests and mages simply stood around and did nothing. I assume the game was looking for a script that was no longer there. Unfortunately I didn't have a clean save from before ever entering the Sphere (in a stroke of bad luck I entered and then re-entered so my AutoSave wasn't clean) so I couldn't test to see if that made a difference.

 

So I'm wondering

 

1) at what point is it too late to uninstall a component without affecting the game? I assume it's different for different components but a basic explanation would be great.

 

2) is there anyway to "reset" an area/creature to its original state after uninstall?

 

This is an amazing piece of work and if I have to restart the game so be it but ideally I would like to be able to experiment with a component and then back out if it's too hard or just not to my taste.

 

P.S. I left a comment yesterday about my experience with inviso-backstab-inviso thieves. For what it's worth I think part of the problem is a flaw in the game: it's not realistic that in the midst of close combat a character would be able to rummage around in a pack, find a glass bottle, uncork it and drink it. In general BG is way too forgiving with what you can do while pausing in the middle of combat. Maybe you could look at that in a future release ;-)

[phordicus]

...so I uninstalled Smarter Mages and Smarter Priests (I had previously uninstalled Smarter General AI after being slaughtered by inviso-backstab-inviso Night Knives.).

During install, GenAI is required for SM/SP, I believe. If GenAI was somehow uninstalled before SM/SP, I feel safe in saying that your scripts are, indeed, screwed without (simple) recourse.

 

In your position, I would delete all SCS2 lines from weidu.log and re-install the mod as desired, assuming SCS2 was the last mod installed.

[tomtomtom]

...so I uninstalled Smarter Mages and Smarter Priests (I had previously uninstalled Smarter General AI after being slaughtered by inviso-backstab-inviso Night Knives.).

During install, GenAI is required for SM/SP, I believe. If GenAI was somehow uninstalled before SM/SP, I feel safe in saying that your scripts are, indeed, screwed without (simple) recourse.

 

In your position, I would delete all SCS2 lines from weidu.log and re-install the mod as desired, assuming SCS2 was the last mod installed.

 

Thanks very much for they prompt reply.

 

Do I need to actually uninstall the mod? Or just delete the lines in the .log file? Is there a difference?

 

And I'm taking it the mod just doesn't support the kind of experimentation I was trying: playing with a component and, if it's too hard or just not stylistically appealing, uninstalling it.

[phordicus]

Thanks very much for they prompt reply.

 

Do I need to actually uninstall the mod? Or just delete the lines in the .log file? Is there a difference?

 

And I'm taking it the mod just doesn't support the kind of experimentation I was trying: playing with a component and, if it's too hard or just not stylistically appealing, uninstalling it.

Deleting the lines in the log tricks weidu into thinking the mod isn't installed at all while leaving it... installed. I should also have added you need a clean SCS2 folder as well (don't try doing this manually; just put in a new folder fresh from the download or zip or whatever virgin archive version you have).

 

What you did should have been supported. I have no idea how a component higher up in SCS2's internal heirarchy got uninstalled while a subcomponent was left in. If that truly is the case, the only two solutions are a complete wipe of BG2 and reinstall everything, or doing the weidu trick and hoping the borked scripts get overwritten by a new install of SCS2.

[Ardanis]

When you have encountered creatures, they will be stored into savegame, along with all script etc. references. Since you're uninstalled Mage AI, it's scripts are nullified, but those halflings still try to use SCS scripts, not vanilla ones.

 

1) at what point is it too late to uninstall a component without affecting the game? I assume it's different for different components but a basic explanation would be great.

Once you run into creatures/areas you want to be downgraded back to vanilla state. Since most every SCS component you may probably want to remove, the rule is basically the same - uninstall before heading into new location. Some items may work fine even afterwards, but due to mod's complexity it's safer to assume otherwise.

 

2) is there anyway to "reset" an area/creature to its original state after uninstall?

In theory - yes, savegames can be patched to restore old scripts and such. In practice - barely possible without a fair chance to introduce another bug.

 

In other words, I would advise either to struggle through SCS until Sphere is done, or live with a couple of too easy encounters. If you haven't yet reached another level in Sphere, then halflings are the only real problem.

 

During install, GenAI is required for SM/SP, I believe. If GenAI was somehow uninstalled before SM/SP, I feel safe in saying that your scripts are, indeed, screwed without (simple) recourse.

No, GenAI and SM are independant of each other. It's Detectable Spells that is required for them both.