Progress

[oraclex]

dont see IWD2 being enhanced with the source code behing lost and all...

[AL|EN]

10 hours ago, oraclex said:

dont see IWD2 being enhanced with the source code behing lost and all...

IWD2 will be available to play using EE engine. That's definitely is an 'enhanced' version of the game and I'm looking forward to it.

[oraclex]

well i kind of ment the official EE release from Beamdog, but yes, I agree with you

 

[The_Rock]

Any way we can donate so this effort unfolds a little faster?

[K4thos]

On 7/2/2019 at 12:30 PM, The_Rock said:

Any way we can donate so this effort unfolds a little faster?

nope. Accepting donations is not a thing in IE modding community. Also there are more people working on this mod (AWizardDidIt and Grimo write NPC dialogue content, Bubb indirectly makes it all possible with EEex, Ulb contributed worldmap icons, bob_veng helped with unifying IWD2 item names to follow BG convention).  So who is the money for, on what base it should be split, etc.? On top of it the project is created as a hobby and (like any other mod) is meant to be treated as a fair use/transformative work (or whatever the right term is), so I think no money should be involved by default.

In other words it's just not worth opening this can of worms, imo.

[The_Rock]

2 hours ago, K4thos said:

nope. Accepting donations is not a thing in IE modding community. Also there are more people working on this mod (AWizardDidIt and Grimo write NPC dialogue content, Bubb indirectly makes it all possible with EEex, Ulb contributed worldmap icons, bob_veng helped with unifying IWD2 item names to follow BG convention).  So who is the money for, on what base it should be split, etc.? On top of it the project is created as a hobby and (like any other mod) is meant to be treated as a fair use/transformative work (or whatever the right term is), so I think no money should be involved by default.

In other words it's just not worth opening this can of worms, imo.

Forgive me if I sounded overbearing. You seem to have a list of everyone who's involved in the project and as far as who should get what cut of the dough I'm sure you could work it out. It's a bit beside the point though. Let me explain. Beamdog are a company with an attitude who have admitted they could not care less about the community and that IWD2 would not be getting an enhanced edition because it would be too much work (in other words, not economically feasible). While you cannot (for obvious reasons) charge money for a mod, I fail to see how modders are precluded from accepting donations if they have a bank account set up. I just think it extremely unfair for you guys to be doing Beamdog's work for them and get very little recognition for it in return. I hope you can see things from my point of view. Cheers to you and everyone else for all your hard work.

[AL|EN]

On 7/5/2019 at 11:05 AM, K4thos said:

Accepting donations is not a thing in IE modding community.

That's odd statement when you consider that all major community sites accepted donations from the community members. If it allows you to breathe a bit so the mod could be released earlier, it's a good thing.

[Cahir]

49 minutes ago, AL|EN said:

That's odd statement when you consider that all major community sites accepted donations from the community members. If it allows you to breathe a bit so the mod could be released earlier, it's a good thing.

For paying for server, yeah maybe. For mod financing, I can't remember any example. 

[Jarno Mikkola]

1 hour ago, Cahir said:

.... For mod financing, I can't remember any example. 

You must either not have been around... or you are getting senile.

Cause I can remember... bad ones. As in, people were upset. Communities were in uproar, and all that. And we didn't even cume up with Horse Armor. Yes, that site has a bad implementation of cookie policy, sorry about that.

Edited July 6, 2019 by Jarno Mikkola

[The_Rock]

9 hours ago, AL|EN said:

That's odd statement when you consider that all major community sites accepted donations from the community members. If it allows you to breathe a bit so the mod could be released earlier, it's a good thing.

If K4thos & Co. ever agree to such a thing I think it would be wise to come up with a trailer that shows off some gameplay and dialogue. A little hype would go a long way towards raking in some money. I would not underestimate the number of fans who are upset over not getting IWD2:EE. Also, having dealt with Beamdog's esteemed employees myself I must admit I have an axe to grind with their policies and business savvy (or lack thereof). 

[AWizardDidIt]

Just speaking for myself but when I wrote for this I did it out of a sense of love for the game and not for any expectation of payment. I'm kind of with Kathos on this, it would be weird to accept donations at this point. I cant imagine a few dollars is going to move the project along any faster anyway.

Edited July 8, 2019 by AWizardDidIt

[The_Rock]

19 hours ago, AWizardDidIt said:

Just speaking for myself but when I wrote for this I did it out of a sense of love for the game and not for any expectation of payment. I'm kind of with Kathos on this, it would be weird to accept donations at this point. I cant imagine a few dollars is going to move the project along any faster anyway.

While I disagree with the notion that love and money are mutually exclusive (even AAA games can be labors of love, can't they?), I cannot force anyone to take the money I throw at them. Especially when I'm mistaken for a penniless peasant *cough* (no offense taken). Looking at the thread dates I'm very glad to have only discovered this project about a week ago since the long wait would have worn me out by now for certain. Could you guys give us a few screenshots or some footage of the mod please? Something to tide us over until a release candidate is available to download. 

Edit: I find it odd how little of the mod has been exhibited thus far. Are you guys bound by non-disclosure agreements or something? If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say you keep in touch with Oster & Co. but don't mind my blabbering, I must have picked up quite a few bad habits since working as a journalist on-and-off. 

Edited July 9, 2019 by The_Rock

[subtledoctor]

Time is money but money is not time. A small donation would not afford any contributors the ability to take time away from their day jobs, so it would not get the mod made any faster. And taking time away from *making the mod* in order to put together a trailer or gameplay preview is not a great idea either. 

There's no rule against accepting donations, but almost every modder has declined them when offered, IMHO for good reason. 

Edited July 13, 2019 by subtledoctor

[The_Rock]

55 minutes ago, subtledoctor said:

Time is money but money is not time. A small donation would not afford any contributors the ability to take time away from their day jobs, so it would not get the mod made any faster. And taking time away from *making the mod* in order to put together a trailer or gameplay preview is not a great idea either. 

There's no rule against accepting donations, but almost every modder has declined them when offered, IMHO for good reason. 

Fair enough although you're not telling me a screenshot or two would take days to upload, are you? Don't want to come off as an ingrate but this mod could get a lot more exposure that way. Just so you fellas know that all your hard work is not going by unnoticed.

[K4thos]

Progress:

Item conversion code and item description generation code is finished (well, you know, first iteration, further adjustments and bug fixes are likely). Here are some examples:

IWD2:

Quote

STATISTICS:

Damage:  1d6 + 1
Attack Bonus: +1 
Enchantment:  +1
Damage Type:  Piercing
Special:
  Spell Power: Can cast the spell Sanctuary 1/day
  Stunning: 25% chance target is stunned for 1/2 round (Fortitude save to resist)
Weight:  3 lb.
Feat Requirement:  Simple Weapon, Small Blade
Type:  One-handed

EE style automatically generated description (based on automatically converted item)

Quote

STATISTICS:

Combat abilities:
– 25% chance hit target is stunned for 3 seconds (Save vs. Paralysis at -8 negates)

Charge abilities:
– Sanctuary once per day
  Duration: 1 turn
  Area of Effect: The user

THAC0: +1
Damage: 1d6+1 (piercing)
Speed Factor: 2
Proficiency Type: Short Sword
Type: One-handed
Requires:
 5 Strength

Weight: 3

----------------

Now an example that showcases how base parameters are automatically handled to follow AD&D/BG stats of the items.

IWD2:

Quote

STATISTICS:

Medium Armor
Armor Bonus: +4
Max Dex Bonus:  +4
Armor Check Penalty:  -2
Arcane Spell Failure:  20%
Special:
  Damage reduction 10/+2
Regeneration: User Regenerates 1 hit point ever 10 combat rounds
Weight: 15 lb.

EE (notice additional Hide Armor theif skill penalties and AD&D AC armor bonuses on top of base AC.

Quote

STATISTICS:

Equipped abilities:
– Regenerate 1 Hit Point per turn
– Physical Damage Resistance: +10%
– Open Locks: -10%
– Find Traps: -10%
– Pick Pockets: -10%
– Move Silently: -20%

Armor Class: 5 (7 vs. piercing and missile)
Requires:
 6 Strength

Weight: 24

----------------

In order to find flaws in the item conversion and descripion generation code I will probably prepare comparision in HTML format between all IWD2 items descriptions on the left side and EE style on the right for easier reviewing and upload it here. I'm going to also explain rules used for item conversion in a separate topic to gather some feedback on it.

----------------

edit: btw. this was the last task when it comes to vanilla IWD2 resources conversion. All that is left are tasks related to Lua code and EEex features. And of course lots of internal testing before I feel the mod is ready for public testing. @Grimo is also writing vanilla NPC interjections for IWD2 content, so that's another work in progress.

While waiting for further EEex development (there are some features still missing in it, that are needed for this mod - Bubb is aware about them) I will most likely convert IWD2 GUI to work on EE in the meantime. IWD2 GUI will be handy for showcasing 3rd style feats, multi-class support, subraces, new skills, class based spell selection etc. (implementing these features in existing EE GUIs would require some new art, so it's something that will need external help in future since I'm not an artist)

----------------

edit2: automatic item description generation code has been designed to support English and Polish languages (thanks to @Cahir's efforts to make Polish BG:EE and BG2:EE item descriptions follow closely English formatting). Other languages likely won't be generated automtically (or will be only partially) since there are too many differences in them compared to English descriptions formatting (in most cases lack of separation between Combat, Equipped, Charge abilities and other style differences).

Edited July 22, 2019 by K4thos