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Beginners' Guide to Savegame Editing with Near Infinity


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I've mentioned several times recently that I find Near Infinity (or "NI") to be more reliable than EEKeeper for savegame editing.  Near Infinity has several benefits, including 1) it only changes what you intentionally change - no hidden and unexplained "features" - and 2) it is cross-platform and available for use by everybody.

However, Near Infinity was not purpose built for this, and the interface is slightly clunky.  In this post I'll walk you through how to do it. 

First, download and install Java and Near Infinity.  Instructions for that are beyond the scope of this post; I'll go on the assumption that if you can install one program on the web, like EEKeeper, than you can install another one like NI.  When you open the program, I advise you to turn on the option to "show hex offsets."  This may not be immediately useful, but if you end up using NI more, the ability to spot the offset of a field at a glance will be very useful.

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Now let's get down to business.  On the left side of the app is the window with the game's various file types.  For our purposes today, you want to choose the category "save." Now comes the first mildly confusing part: you might think (as I once did) that you should click the .SAV file.  But no - you actually want to edit the .GAM file within a savegame:

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In the .GAM file, you will see the following window to the right.  It shows "player characters" (i.e. current party members), "non-player characters," and "variables."  Generally, for replicating what most people do with EEKeeper, you want to double-click someone in the "player characters" window.  These are the party members, with the first character of their name replaced by an asterisk.  So *MOEN, *AFANA, *AHEIRA, et cetera.  Charname is called *HARBASE. 

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Double-click one and it will open that character file.

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This just displays info; now you need to click the "Edit" button at the top of the window.  Then you will see this:

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We're getting closer, but this is still not what we need.  Scroll to the bottom of this window, and you will see the "CRE resource" entry.  THAT is what we want to edit.  Double-click it and we get to the good stuff:

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This window has everything you might want to edit about your creature: stats, hit points, XP, proficiencies, known and memorized spells, equipment, everything.  Editing things is fairly straightforward, in most cases.  (Adding items is a bit of a hassle... but honestly you're way better off doing that with console commands in-game, so no big deal anyway.)  When you are done editing things, simply close every window one by one, and save when it prompts you to save.  Done!

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(EDIT - I don't know why the forum keeps putting this picture at the bottom of the post... I'll try to move it a bit lower so it is out of the way...)

 

 

 

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Edited by subtledoctor
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Guest Guest

One interesting thing you can do with Near Infinity is change multi-class characters to dual class characters by using the "original class" flag of the characters Cre file. For example if you take a regular multi-class Fighter/Mage and add in the flag "original class" =fighter. The character will now be a dual class fighter/mage. You can also remove the "original class" flag from a dual class character and then they will be a multi-class character. Don't do it to characters with more than two classes though!

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Try as I might, I'm not able to add spells.  I need to do this as I'm testing various things.  Can't do that from the console, at least I've never successfully pulled it off, so I'm once again unable to use your Psionics mod.  :(  Well, not until I'm done fooling around with my mod, at least

Edited by Lauriel
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8 minutes ago, Lauriel said:

Try as I might, I'm not able to add spells.  I need to do this as I'm testing various things.  Can't do that from the console, at least I've never successfully pulled it off, so I'm once again unable to use your Psionics mod.  :(  Well, not until I'm done fooling around with my mod, at least

U tried

C:AddSpell("SPWI308")

?  Should add Lightning Bolt.  Can't double check ATM, but pretty sure this should work...

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1 minute ago, Sam. said:

U tried


C:AddSpell("SPWI308")

?  Should add Lightning Bolt.  Can't double check ATM, but pretty sure this should work...

I'm sorry - I mean innate.  Or would that work the same with those?  I'll try.

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5 minutes ago, Lauriel said:

I'm sorry - I mean innate.  Or would that work the same with those?  I'll try.

Okay, how about

C:Eval('AddSpecialAbility("ResRef")')

 

Edited by Sam.
Updated Quotes
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1 hour ago, Lauriel said:

That is what I can't get to work.  I have tried, though. :)

Double check my previous post.  I corrected the use of Single/Double quotes.  Also, the mouse pointer has to be over your character's foot circle or portrait when you submit the command in the console.  I just tried the following and it worked for me:

C:Eval('AddSpecialAbility("spin101")')

 

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19 minutes ago, Sam. said:

Double check my previous post.  I corrected the use of Single/Double quotes.  Also, the mouse pointer has to be over your character's foot circle or portrait when you submit the command in the console.  I just tried the following and it worked for me:


C:Eval('AddSpecialAbility("spin101")')

 

It was the mouse thingie that was throwing me.  Thank you so much!!! 

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22 hours ago, Guest Guest said:

One interesting thing you can do with Near Infinity is change multi-class characters to dual class characters by using the "original class" flag of the characters Cre file. For example if you take a regular multi-class Fighter/Mage and add in the flag "original class" =fighter. The character will now be a dual class fighter/mage. You can also remove the "original class" flag from a dual class character and then they will be a multi-class character. Don't do it to characters with more than two classes though!

Yeah, this is cool.  I did this a bit a long time ago, before the EEs existed.  I have been begging Beamdog for like eight years to add a spell effect or script action to do this in-game.  Then you could do all sorts of interesting things with multi/duals.  I have had a "demi-human level limits" mod planned for years.  But alas, they have never added it.  :(

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Those are the BG1 proficiencies.  BG2 proficiencies are handled via effects using opcode 233.

If you scroll down to the bottom of the CRE resource, you should find all of the effects attached to that creature.  The existing proficiency effects are labelled "Modify proficiencies (233)".  You can edit those and add or remove effects as needed.  If you need to add more, I recommend right-clicking an existing 233 effect, copying it, then right-clicking again and pasting it, then editing that copy.

The fields you should be changing are "# stars" and "Proficiency".  It's important that the other fields remain as they have been set (especially Type, Timing mode, and Probability 1).

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