How is in-game item randomization handled?

[Endarire]

Greetings, all!

Our family is expecting soon to start a heavily-modded EET game with randomized items, including from mods.  (No items will be lost due to randomization and each new game is a new randomization.)  Before finalizing characters, we'd like to know these:

-Are vendor inventories randomized?  If so, how?  For example, if vendor inventories are randomized, do scrolls only randomize with other scroll slots on vendors?  Do vendors potentially start with more or fewer items?

-Are creatures' equipped items and items in creature inventories randomized?  What about If so, how?

-Since mod items are randomized, how does randomization ensure these mods are completable, especially if they include new areas like Balduran's Sea Tower or Sandrah's Saga?

-How are plot items randomized, like keys or the Flail of Ages?

[Jarno Mikkola]

Keys randomized, not. FoA pieces are all independent items and are found in their own gathegory with several other items. So it could be that you find all the heads very early, in shops and other places... or very late in SoA.

New mod added items are not randomized. Old mod added items, are. As they have their own gathegories.

Scrolls have their own gathegory, so you can find them where you would usually find them, but each time you start they might be different.

Creature equipped items, have their own gathegory as well, and in so doing, provide the proper proficiency to the creature that have them. This doesn't mean that a hobgoblin could have a unique +5 weapon with a lot of proficiency ... it means that certain few creatures that had a powerful items in the original game, with a few mod included adventures(BG1 from EET for example), have their primary item(s) randomized.

[Endarire]

Thankee!

I think I know what you meant, but what is "gathegory?"  It seems like a combination of gather/gathering and category.

[Wisp]

Maybe this reply is too late to do you much good, but for posterity:

On 11/14/2019 at 7:13 AM, Endarire said:

-Are vendor inventories randomized?  If so, how?  For example, if vendor inventories are randomized, do scrolls only randomize with other scroll slots on vendors?  Do vendors potentially start with more or fewer items?

Mode 1 takes few items from vendor inventories, because the in-game scripting system can't add items back in. Randomisation is mostly limited to some of the more interesting items, but merchants are left with most of their inventory intact.

On 11/14/2019 at 7:13 AM, Endarire said:

-Are creatures' equipped items and items in creature inventories randomized?  What about If so, how?

Mode 1 does this to a very limited extent, again, due to limitations of the in-game scripts. It is mostly limited to items the creature does not have equipped and items that are randomised back to creatures are added unequipped. When an equipped item is randomised, it's typically replaced by a generic equivalent.

For most of the mod's whizz-bang features, creatures using their randomised items and such, mode 2 is required.

On 11/14/2019 at 7:13 AM, Endarire said:

-Since mod items are randomized, how does randomization ensure these mods are completable, especially if they include new areas like Balduran's Sea Tower or Sandrah's Saga?

Mod items are not really randomised. Some vanilla items are used by mods and Randomiser either skips these entirely (if moving them would cause problems) or leaves the choice to the player (if moving them would cause cosmetic-grade issues).

On 11/14/2019 at 7:13 AM, Endarire said:

-How are plot items randomized, like keys or the Flail of Ages?

Keys are not randomised, plot items are generally not randomised and the flail pieces can only show up in the de'Arnise Keep, just not necessarily in the vanilla places.