Chapter and Journal Continuity in EET

[Roxanne]

I have now tested my mod with a full playthrough of EET. I now have installed my after-ToB-extensions to test the further capabilities of EET as new modding platform.

 

I like to confirm that

a. my assumptions of the Chapter convention (+ Journal) are correct

b. my planned use of further chapters after ToB does not conflict with it.

 

Here is what I am using

 

EET Chapters

Chapter 1 Start in Candlekeep ----> Entering Nashkel
Chapter 2 Entering Nashkel -----> Nashkel Mine Finish
Chapter 3 Picking up documents in Nashkel Mines, Mulahey dead -----> Looting Tazok's chest in Bandit Camp
Chapter 4 Looting Tazok's chest in Bandit Camp -----> Killing Daevorn in Cloakwood Mine
Chapter 5 Killing Daevorn in Cloakwood Mine ------> Receiving Book from Duke Eltan
Chapter 6 Receiving Book from Duke Eltan -------> Coming out of Candlekeep Catacombs
Chapter 7a Coming out of Candlekeep Catacombs -------> Transition to SoD

 

Chapter 7b (SoD) Clearing Sarevok's remains + Start of SoD quest ------> Leaving Baldur's Gate
Chapter 8 (SoD) Leaving Baldur's Gate ------> Reaching Boareskyr Bridge
Chapter 9 (SoD) Reaching Boareskyr Bridge ------> Reaching Coalition Camp
Chapter 10 (SoD) Reaching Coalition Camp ------> Reaching Dragonspear Castle
Chapter 11 (SoD) Reaching Dragonspear Castle ------> Entering the Portal to Avernus
Chapter 12 (SoD) Entering the Portal ------> Arrested for murdering Skie
Chapter 13a (SoD) Escaping from Baldur's Gate + Being captured by Irenicus

Chapter 13b Starting Irenicus Dungeon ------> Having talked to Gaelan
Chapter 14 Having talked to Gaelan ------> Deciding for either Bodhi or Gaelan offer
Chapter 15 Decision on path to Spellhold made ---(running jobs for your ally)----> Starting the Journey
Chapter 16 Journey to Spellhold -------> Entering Underdark
Chapter 17 Entering Underdark ------> Back to Surface, Elhan's Camp
Chapter 18 Back on Surface after Underdark -----> Entering Suldanessalar
Chapter 19 Entering Suldanessalar -----> Transition to ToB

Chapter 20 Begin of ToB ------> Reaching Amkethran
Chapter 21 Reaching Amkethran ------> Entering ToB Final
Chapter 22 Final Fight at Throne of Bhaal

 

****************************************************************************************************************
Sandrah Return to Faerun (RtF)
Chapter 23 RtF The Hornswamp Intrigue
Chapter 24 RtF Cerameon's Seal
Chapter 25 RtF Journey to Thay

Chapter 26 RtF Alliances
Chapter 27 RtF The Spell Plague
Chapter 28 RtF The Citadel

Chapter 29 RtF A Revelation

 

Sandrah Time of Troubles Revisited (ToT)
Chapter 30 ToT Companions

Chapter 31 ToT Liriel's quest

Chapter 32 ToT Kelemvor Lyonsbane's curse

Chapter 33 ToT Myrkul's defeat

Chapter 34 ToT Adon's quest

Chapter 35 ToT Cyric's quest (Bhaal hunt)

Chapter 36 ToT Ascensions

[Roxanne]

Another question (hopefully more answers than above are available???)

 

How are joinable NPCs handled in EET that only appear in ToB (e.g. Irenicus from LR, Sarevok, Iliyos etc) ?

 

For one of my own I have this example

 

APPEND ~pdialog.2da~
~Loureed *** *** *** CVLou25P CVLou25J CVLou25D Loured25~
UNLESS ~Loureed~

APPEND ~interdia.2da~
~Loureed *** BLour25 ~
UNLESS ~Loureed~

 

Will this work in EET or do I need to fill the *** colums (with the 25 file names)??

[K4thos]

your chapters reference is unfortunately not correct anymore. That's how it was planned to be implemented based on Beamdog's initial public announcements regarding SoD amount of chapters. Here are the changes:
- SoD prologue which is quite lengthy extends chapter 7 without increasing the chapter number. I would prefer to move it by one but doing so would make EET incompatible with SoD mods, so it has to stay the way it has been implemented by Beamdog.
- without going into details (don't want to share story spoilers for now because the expansion has been just released) it's been decided to extended last SoD chapter for the Irenicus Dungeon escape too.

In other words your reference should be changed from "Chapters 8 - 14 Siege of Dragonspear" to "Chapters 7 - 13 Siege of Dragonspear" and the Irenicus Dungeon escape is still chapter 13.

 

In case of mods that uses the chapter implementation suggested in this topic it's a matter of changing:

OUTER_SET bg2_chapter = 14

into:

OUTER_SET bg2_chapter = 12

But for your mod Roxanne manual changes will be needed, so if it's something that would be problematic for you to do I can write a code that will modify your BAF and D files automatically to adopt this change. Sorry for the confusion.

 

Another question (hopefully more answers than above are available???)

 

How are joinable NPCs handled in EET that only appear in ToB (e.g. Irenicus from LR, Sarevok, Iliyos etc) ?

 

For one of my own I have this example

 

APPEND ~pdialog.2da~
~Loureed *** *** *** CVLou25P CVLou25J CVLou25D Loured25~
UNLESS ~Loureed~

APPEND ~interdia.2da~
~Loureed *** BLour25 ~
UNLESS ~Loureed~

 

Will this work in EET or do I need to fill the *** colums (with the 25 file names)??

For now it will work, but I can't answear this question until we finish experimating with new MoveToCampaign patch 2.0 feature.

[Roxanne]

your chapters reference is unfortunately not correct anymore. That's how it was planned to be implemented based on Beamdog's initial public announcements regarding SoD amount of chapters. Here are the changes:

- SoD prologue which is quite lengthy extends chapter 7 without increasing the chapter number. I would prefer to move it by one but doing so would make EET incompatible with SoD mods, so it has to stay the way it has been implemented by Beamdog.

- without going into details (don't want to share story spoilers for now because the expansion has been just released) it's been decided to extended last SoD chapter for the Irenicus Dungeon escape too.

 

In other words your reference should be changed from "Chapters 8 - 14 Siege of Dragonspear" to "Chapters 7 - 13 Siege of Dragonspear" and the Irenicus Dungeon escape is still chapter 13.

 

In case of mods that uses the chapter implementation suggested in this topic it's a matter of changing:

OUTER_SET bg2_chapter = 14

into:

OUTER_SET bg2_chapter = 12

But for your mod Roxanne manual changes will be needed, so if it's something that would be problematic for you to do I can write a code that will modify your BAF and D files automatically to adopt this change. Sorry for the confusion.

 

Another question (hopefully more answers than above are available???)

 

How are joinable NPCs handled in EET that only appear in ToB (e.g. Irenicus from LR, Sarevok, Iliyos etc) ?

 

For one of my own I have this example

 

APPEND ~pdialog.2da~

~Loureed *** *** *** CVLou25P CVLou25J CVLou25D Loured25~

UNLESS ~Loureed~

 

APPEND ~interdia.2da~

~Loureed *** BLour25 ~

UNLESS ~Loureed~

 

Will this work in EET or do I need to fill the *** colums (with the 25 file names)??

For now it will work, but I can't answear this question until we finish experimating with new MoveToCampaign patch 2.0 feature.

Thanks for the feedback

I have already prepared my own changes for the chapter system guessing that it was preliminary until now - so no big issue.

 

Just in case you do not consider it spoiler

 

From BG1 to BG2 transition is no longer at Sarevok death, sure.

But does it involve reporting back to the Dukes or otherwise leaving Undercity to get to the extension? (Reason I ask is that I still have my BG1 final mod events in that period that was between EndOfBG1 =1 and EndofBG1=2. They can of course be moved, but currently they happen when you make your way back to the Dukes after Sarevok. In my recent test I simply for testing purpose moved your transition from Sarevok to meeting Belt again.

 

[K4thos]

Just in case you do not consider it spoiler

it's the prologue of the game, so not much of a spoiler

 

SoD already handles the transition from BG1 to SoD. Right after killing Sarevok chapter 7 goes on, after opening movie you are transported to Korlasz's Family Tomb with your current party, where you deal with what is left from Sarevok's followers (a full fledge dungeon with tons of neat stuff and a place where most of the NPCs will give their reasons what they are up to and why they are leaving the party once Sarevok's plot is fully resolved). After that you are automatically moved to SoD version of Baldur's Gate City where you are already treated as a hero of the city and can talk with many citizens including Duke Belt (it's a much smaller area than original one, you have access just to few crucial places in the city, the goal here is to introduce player to the SoD mysterious crusade plotline that goes on to the north of Baldur's Gate city. You can recruit some old party members here as well). After leaving BG (cutscene) chapter 8 starts.

 

[Roxanne]

 

Just in case you do not consider it spoiler

it's the prologue of the game, so not much of a spoiler

 

SoD already handles the transition from BG1 to SoD. Right after killing Sarevok chapter 7 goes on, after opening movie you are transported to Korlasz's Family Tomb with your current party, where you deal with what is left from Sarevok's followers (a full fledge dungeon with tons of neat stuff and a place where most of the NPCs will give their reasons what they are up to and why they are leaving the party once Sarevok's plot is fully resolved). After that you are automatically moved to SoD version of Baldur's Gate City where you are already treated as a hero of the city and can talk with many citizens including some Dukes (it's a much smaller area than original one, you have access just to few crucial places in the city, the goal here is to introduce player to the SoD mysterious crusade plotline that goes on to the north of Baldur's Gate city. You can recruit some old party members here as well). After leaving BG (cutscene) chapter 8 starts.

 

 

Good - there will be no problem to fit my mod's stuff into this context - even better, it fits quite well into this *NPCs will give their reasons what they are up to* scenario. Simply move triggers to a suitable new area and done...

Just one more small question, this second *you are automatically moved to SoD version of Baldur's Gate City where you are already treated as a hero* - is that with or without your party (unless some left you already earlier)?

[K4thos]

Just one more small question, this second *you are automatically moved to SoD version of Baldur's Gate City where you are already treated as a hero* - is that with or without your party (unless some left you already earlier)?

 

That's the moment they leave the party. You wake up in Baldur's Gate city solo (although if modders won't adopt their NPCs to SoD's implementation than mod added NPCs will stay with you). Some of the vanilla NPCs can be recruited again during your journey of course.

 

[Roxanne]

 

Just one more small question, this second *you are automatically moved to SoD version of Baldur's Gate City where you are already treated as a hero* - is that with or without your party (unless some left you already earlier)?

 

That's the moment they leave the party. You wake up in Baldur's Gate city solo (although if modders won't adopt their NPCs to SoD's implementation than mod added NPCs will stay with you). Some of the vanilla NPCs can be recruited again during your journey of course.

 

 

Thanks again. Looks like my mod will fit into this just like it was made for it from the beginning. Good news.

 

Just this *Irenicus Dungeon escape is still chapter 13* ----when does it go to 14? After talking to Gaelan (like old chapter 1 to 2)?

[K4thos]

Just this *Irenicus Dungeon escape is still chapter 13* ----when does it go to 14? After talking to Gaelan (like old chapter 1 to 2)?

yes

[Roxanne]

Another question for EET continuity now that SoD is released

Global("EndofBG1","Global") when exactly is it set/incremented

1 = Sarevok dead ?

2 = transition to BG2 part ?

 

In other words, SoD would have Global("EndofBG1","Global",1) and could thus be easily identified by mods as trigger/condition. It would also be in line with former BGT and all mods that used it would work as before.

[K4thos]

correct. It's not used anywhere in the new unreleased EET update (chapter variable checks seems to be more comprehensible choice) but the EndofBG1 variable is still set the way you've mentioned it.

[Roxanne]

correct. It's not used anywhere in the new unreleased EET update (chapter variable checks seems to be more comprehensible choice) but the EndofBG1 variable is still set the way you've mentioned it.

Thanks.

For me it is pretty convenient as I had coded my mod this way already for the interim between Sarevok and transition to Amn. So no change needed. Also I found that it is quite useful even with SoD as it sums up all chapters in SoD with one check. I am also using chapter references where needed.

[K4thos]

Another question for EET continuity now that SoD is released

Global("EndofBG1","Global") when exactly is it set/incremented

1 = Sarevok dead ?

2 = transition to BG2 part ?

 

In other words, SoD would have Global("EndofBG1","Global",1) and could thus be easily identified by mods as trigger/condition. It would also be in line with former BGT and all mods that used it would work as before.

I've just noticed that SoD sets EndofBG1 variable to 2 during BG1 -> SOD transition, so in order to make EET compatible with future SoD mods that may use this variable I think it's better to keep it this way. So the end of campaign variables will look like this in v1.0:

 

edit: changed to BGT implementation as explained in this post.

ENDOFBG1 = 1 right after moving to SoD (or after starting new campaign from SoD)
ENDOFBG1 = 2 right after moving to SoA (or after starting new campaign from SoA, ToB)
ENDOFBG2 = 2 right after moving to ToB (or after starting new campaign from ToB)

Other than this there are few variables that can be used to detect where the campaign started (usually useless considering you can't go back to areas that you haven't visited already due to skipping large part of the story via new game campaign button, but added just in case some mods will need them):

NEWGAME_BG1 = 1 when new game was started in BG1
NEWGAME_SOD = 1 when new game was started in SOD
NEWGAME_SOA = 1 when new game was started in SOA
NEWGAME_TOB = 1 when new game was started in TOB

The most reliable way to filter content in EET is using the CHAPTER variable (Global, GlobalLT, GlobalGT) following your chapter reference guide: http://gibberlings3.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=27913&do=findComment&comment=242897

[Roxanne]

 

Another question for EET continuity now that SoD is released

Global("EndofBG1","Global") when exactly is it set/incremented

1 = Sarevok dead ?

2 = transition to BG2 part ?

 

In other words, SoD would have Global("EndofBG1","Global",1) and could thus be easily identified by mods as trigger/condition. It would also be in line with former BGT and all mods that used it would work as before.

I've just noticed that SoD sets EndofBG1 variable to 2 during BG1 -> SOD transition, so in order to make EET compatible with future SoD mods that may use this variable I think it's better to keep it this way. So the end of campaign variables will look like this in v1.0:

ENDOFBG1 = 2 right after moving to SoD (or after starting new campaign from SoD, SoA, ToB)
ENDOFSOD = 2 right after moving to SoA (or after starting new campaign from SoA and ToB)
ENDOFBG2 = 2 right after moving to ToB (or after starting new campaign from ToB)

Other than this there are few variables that can be used to detect where the campaign started (usually useless considering you can't go back to areas that you haven't visited already due to skipping large part of the story via new game campaign button, but added just in case some mods will need them):

NEWGAME_BG1 = 1 when new game was started in BG1
NEWGAME_SOD = 1 when new game was started in SOD
NEWGAME_SOA = 1 when new game was started in SOA
NEWGAME_TOB = 1 when new game was started in TOB

The most reliable way to filter content in EET is using the CHAPTER variable (Global, GlobalLT, GlobalGT) following your chapter reference guide: http://gibberlings3.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=27913&do=findComment&comment=242897

 

Thank you for the hint - in our civilized world we no longer behead the messenger for the news he brings...

 

THERE IS EXACTLY ONE INSTANCE OF THIS GLOBAL IN EET SerGlobal("EndofBG1","Global",2) when you transit to SoD.

So they make this change to the game without EVER making use of it themself - another sign of how much the bean dogs love the modders.

Every single mod that used this global to detect that you are now in BG2 is affected, they all will take SoD now as part of BG2, nobody has ever used EndofSod or EndofTob - it is another bad, bad joke.

[K4thos]

THERE IS EXACTLY ONE INSTANCE OF THIS GLOBAL IN EET SerGlobal("EndofBG1","Global",2) when you transit to SoD.

So they make this change to the game without EVER making use of it themself - another sign of how much the bean dogs love the modders.

Every single mod that used this global to detect that you are now in BG2 is affected, they all will take SoD now as part of BG2, nobody has ever used EndofSod or EndofTob - it is another bad, bad joke.

hmm, not sure how often the variable is used in mods created with BGT in mind, but if ENDOFBG1 = 2 in such mods will trigger BG2 content during SoD in EET than maybe keeping it as it worked in BGT (variable set to 2 at the beginning of BG2 and 1 after killing Sarevok) would be a better approach compatibility wise. This could create possible future conflicts with SoD mods that follows Beamdog implementation though, so not sure which solution is better. If any modder has feedback regarding it please post here.