Mod Order/Feedback request

[MikeX]

4 hours ago, Austin said:

Good afternoon! This "messy hackjob" was made by me, and I am very surprised to read such rude words about my work.
My goal was to make the "Aurora Shoes" mod compatible with the EE version of BG2, since no one else has done this for many years. I spent a lot of time on this and I did this not for myself, but in order to give people the opportunity to play this mod. And, as you can see, all NPCs, quests, dialogues and animations now work on BG2EE, and installation of Infinity Animations is no longer required. So, the version of "Aurora Shoes" 5.3 is fully compatible with BG2EE and has been personally tested by me.

But with EET-compatibility is somewhat more complicated. I made sure the mod installed on EET without error and our testers said it works on EET. I did not have the opportunity to go through both parts of the game myself, and my experience is not enough to take into account all the possible nuances - so I trusted the words of the testers.

At the same time, I am always open to constructive criticism and am ready to make changes and improvements to the Aurora mod. And earlier I expressed the hope that Gwendolyne or someone else will check this version and improve it if necessary. As I wrote on the SHS,

You are critical of my work, not appreciating the fact that the mod has become fully compatible with the BG2EE version and the problem is only on the EET, while you have done nothing to help solve the problem. You write that you fixed the mod on EET, but do not attach the corrected files so that I or the SHS admins can update the mod.
I am always glad of any help, but if it is aimed at improving the mod, and not insulting someone else's work. I consider your attitude to be wrong.

P.S. I apologize for my English - I do not speak this language and I write through an online translator.

I'm not an English speaking native myself but I think with 'messy hackjob' he described his own work to get it working... And because of that, he did not publish anything and also adviced others not to follow his work. So I think, he did not mean to be rude towards your work...

Edited August 8, 2022 by MikeX
grammar;-)

[Austin]

49 minutes ago, MikeX said:

I'm not an English speaking native myself but I think with 'messy hackjob' he described his own work to get it working... And because of that, he did not publish anything and also adviced others not to follow his work. So I think, he did not mean to be rude towards your work...

Oh. Perhaps I misunderstood that sentence. If it didn't really refer to me, then I apologize for my answer.

In any case, I will be glad if someone helps me improve my version 5.3 of Aurora Shoes mod, since it turned out that it does not work well on EET, and tell me what exactly needs to be fixed. For now, I've done everything I can...

Edited August 8, 2022 by Austin

[Oloriniel]

5 hours ago, jastey said:

If you say three entries for Brandock's scroll scribing quest, do you mean they are not listed under the same (one) title but all separately?

And, this quest would only close in BGII. I should change the solved/unsolved entries if it's not an EET game.

Jastey,

I have a Chapter 3 entry: "Elvenhair offered Brandock to scribe scrolls in his home.  He is welcome to use Elvenhair's desk whenever he wants."
A second, separate entry with the same date/time stamp, noting that Brandock can create scrolls, and the cost of each spell per spell level.

In Chapter 5, there's a 3rd entry, "Brandock wants us to keep and cursed scrolls we find so we can use the magic in them for something useful."

So yeah, I presume these are supposed to append rather than show up separately, but when the quest is eventually completed they'll all go away.

Oh, and I'm delighted to hear that there's BG2 content for Brandock!  I thought that wasn't implemented yet.
 

[Oloriniel]

Welp.  Sarevok's dead.  

But getting to him...oh, man.  Lots o' vampires--not just Valen and her coven.  And speaking of Valen, there was a beholder that spawned right there!

Now for some odds and ends.  It occurs to me that I could go to Durlag's Tower with, aside from Charname, all dwarves--Yeslick, Breagar, Moidre, Kagain, and Helga.

I had to turn the difficulty ALL the way down, to keep Liia Jannath from popping two cloudkills and a sunfire trigger, which turned them hostile.  Guess she doesn't quite get that the fight's over, she won, Sarevok's gone.

Was looking forward to having Coran dual-wield with the Thalantyr upgraded short sword of backstabbing and dagger of venom.  I'd do it on CHARNAME, but I put all my proficiencies into bows and archery!  F/M/T's not particularly durable at low levels, don'tchaknow.  But Kristyn and Slythe didn't drop it, and I haven't seen it anywhere else...maybe it's in Durlag's tower somewhere.

And I'm gonna have to spawn a Tazok, seeing that Belt wants me to bring him in dead or alive, but facing Sarevok I killed him and then killed him again as a skeleton warrior.  Still, I didn't have Kivan with me, so this can give him closure.

[jastey]

10 hours ago, Oloriniel said:

Jastey,

I have a Chapter 3 entry: "Elvenhair offered Brandock to scribe scrolls in his home.  He is welcome to use Elvenhair's desk whenever he wants."
A second, separate entry with the same date/time stamp, noting that Brandock can create scrolls, and the cost of each spell per spell level.

In Chapter 5, there's a 3rd entry, "Brandock wants us to keep and cursed scrolls we find so we can use the magic in them for something useful."

So yeah, I presume these are supposed to append rather than show up separately, but when the quest is eventually completed they'll all go away.

Thanks! I checked and they get assigned correctly to the same title on my workversion so I guess it's fixed locally.

10 hours ago, Oloriniel said:

I'm delighted to hear that there's BG2 content for Brandock!  I thought that wasn't implemented yet.

BGII content is not finished: basically you can recruit him and he can restore his book and some more scroll scribing options, and he will react to the sphere and take it over if the PC isn't a mage (compatibility with NPC Stronghold mod should be given if Brandock is installed after).

[Oloriniel]

Day 295
Cleared: 
Investigating the Iron Throne, Afoul of the Law, Duke Eltan's Illness, On the Trail of Sarevok, Tamoko, the Rise of Sarevok, Kivan's Bandit Hunt, Tandem In Extremis, Grothir Wants the Contracts

Open or New:
Increase Brandock's Lore Wisdom (Ch1; what finishes this?  His lore is up to 103!), Ice and Ore (Ch2), Kivan and Tazok (Ch3 - looks like I missed my chance to close this one), A NOTICE (Ch3-I went back to the Belching Dragon with Flara and nothing happened, so not sure how this one closes either), Brandock Wants to Restore His Book (Ch3, part 1), Brandock's Scroll Scribing Skills (Ch3, parts 1 & 2), the Locked Altar of Helm (Ch5), the Tanar'ri in the Cloudpeaks (Ch5), Rescue Magnad and Winorma's Children (Ch5), Ingredients for the Seatower Mage (Ch5), Liqueur for the Tanner (Ch5), Notifying of Kin (Ch5, can't complete, the Harmons don't recognize Recorder's presence in the group), Brandock and his Half-Ogre Twin (Ch5), Brandock's Half-Ogre Troubles, (Ch5), Brandock's Scroll Scribing Skills (Ch5, part 3), Sarevok's Minions, Scar's Body, Brandock Wants to Restore His Book (part 2), Brandock's Scroll Scribing Skills (part 4)

Now, with Sarevok at long last dead, I was going to take a nice long vacation and get away from it all; perhaps a trip to Icewind Dale?  But I see that I've not recovered Scar's body yet, and if I go away for months the decomposition would be pretty fierce by the time I got back.  Plus, Magnad and Winorma have been waiting for their kids forever.  So, before I take that well-deserved vacation, I think I'll close out some miscellaneous business.  No Durlag's Tower, though!  I'm saving that, and the "Driz'zt Saga immediately after, for my pre-SoD finale).

Note to self--remember to set the difficulty to Basic every time you enter the palace; remember to set it back to Hardcore every time you leave.  Unless you want to have to fight Liia and Belt.


XP: 256,834/class (10/9/10)
Body Count: 4233 (81%) - Okay, this is a percentage of the CURRENT PARTY's kills, not of the total kills of Charname's party.  Releasing long-time companion Moidre (since before Nashkel!) and bringing in Garrick who's logged all of 9 days in the party, made a big difference.  So I'm not sure what the 'real' body count is, but with over 4000 deaths to her, er, 'credit?'  It's safe to say that, whatever her alignment, she's cutting a bloody swath through the Sword Coast that would make Daddy Bhaal proud.
Gold: 106,912

[jastey]

1 hour ago, Oloriniel said:

Increase Brandock's Lore Wisdom (Ch1; what finishes this?  His lore is up to 103!)

It closes in BGII when he notices that he can't learn from dropped spell books from enemy mages any more. I'm interested in feeddback to this one. it's not my intention to OP my NPCs.

 

1 hour ago, Oloriniel said:

Brandock Wants to Restore His Book

Will close in BGII.

 

1 hour ago, Oloriniel said:

Brandock's Scroll Scribing Skills

Will close in BG1 chapter 6 or later.

 

1 hour ago, Oloriniel said:

Brandock's Half-Ogre Troubles

Will close in chapter 6. (Not compatible with Framed mod yet.)

 

1 hour ago, Oloriniel said:

Note to self--remember to set the difficulty to Basic every time you enter the palace; remember to set it back to Hardcore every time you leave.  Unless you want to have to fight Liia and Belt.

Any idea what causes this?

[Oloriniel]

38 minutes ago, jastey said:

Will close in BG1 chapter 6 or later.

It did, after he scribed his first scroll without the crutch of Elvenhair's desk.  However, two of the entries (1 in Chapter 3, detailing the cost per scroll spell level, and the one in Chapter 5, asking me to hold on to cursed scrolls) were not erased.

 

40 minutes ago, jastey said:

Any idea what causes this?

I'm guessing it's a SCS addition to her script, given that it changes with difficulty level.  Leftover perhaps from the fight with Sarevok's doppelgangers.  If she just casts Teleport Field, it's relatively harmless, but if it's something like Cloudkill that causes damage, she and Belt turn red.
 

41 minutes ago, jastey said:

Will close in chapter 6. (Not compatible with Framed mod yet.)

Ah well, since I played 'Framed" this time around, probably no resolution this time around.

[jastey]

1 hour ago, Oloriniel said:

since I played 'Framed" this time around, probably no resolution this time around.

If the group does not get kicked out of Candlekeep, I have a hard time to find another instance ingame where the quest could continue. (There is just nothing that would traumatize him enough.) I'm still keeping my eyes open.

Thanks for the note, I'll have a look at the journal entries. The cost per spell level should remain somehow though, but maybe not as an open quest.

[Oloriniel]

Speaking of your NPC's, I seem to have not included Brage in my group at any time.  Does he have any quests, once you've successfully cleared his name?

Also, Grey is *sooo slow!*  He's regularly out of sight, which sometimes becomes a problem as he gets attacked by critters that didn't see the party pass by.   I'm regularly either stopping and waiting, or using "CTRL-J" to catch him up.

Still so much pathfinding-pesky and death-prone than Haiass!

I've got something installed that boosts the out-of-combat walking speed of the party, and while it includes Brandock in 7th member status, it does not include Grey.  And that's before anyone gets Boots of Speed or other movement enhancing items.  Any chance there's a pair of doggie booties of speed out there somewhere?

[jastey]

9 minutes ago, Oloriniel said:

Any chance there's a pair of doggie booties of speed out there somewhere?

It's a BGII item. c#grbrac.ITM ~War Dog's Gauntlets of Speed~ It should work if you just copy the file over into the override.

The walking speed needs much more work. It's also different for classic and EE engine.

I also noticed that having more than one "familiar" 7th party member is a PITA, in the old engine, they aren't placed near the group but god-knows-where, and if they lose sight of a real party member they just stop walking altogether and while still green, can't be grabbed by ctrl j either so I need to go searching for them. Funnily enough, that's Brandock for me. I guess he gets disctracted easily with his curiosity. (That's for classic engine so I was hoping it's better in EE, but appearently not). The next thing will be a script that makes them catch up to the PC unless told not to.

[argent77]

23 minutes ago, Oloriniel said:

I've got something installed that boosts the out-of-combat walking speed of the party, and while it includes Brandock in 7th member status, it does not include Grey.  And that's before anyone gets Boots of Speed or other movement enhancing items.  Any chance there's a pair of doggie booties of speed out there somewhere?

The "Increased Movement Speed Outside of Combat" component from Tweaks Anthology supports several mod companions, including Grey. However, mod order is important. They have to be installed before the Tweaks Anthology component to be considered for the speed boost.

[Oloriniel]

29 minutes ago, argent77 said:

The "Increased Movement Speed Outside of Combat" component from Tweaks Anthology supports several mod companions, including Grey. However, mod order is important. They have to be installed before the Tweaks Anthology component to be considered for the speed boost.

That's the one I've got.  And it's several hundred lines further down in my WEIDU log, so it should affect both Grey and Brandock (and Solaufein and Afaaq, if my game gets that far).

Thanks for confirming!

[jastey]

27 minutes ago, argent77 said:

The "Increased Movement Speed Outside of Combat" component from Tweaks Anthology supports several mod companions, including Grey. However, mod order is important. They have to be installed before the Tweaks Anthology component to be considered for the speed boost.

Oh, cool! @argent77 there is more relevant cre files for Brandock and Solaufein, though:

Brandock:

~c#bran01~ => ~c#brandock~
~c#bran02~ => ~c#brandock~
~c#bran03~ => ~c#brandock~

Solaufein:

~c#sola12~ => ~c#solaufein~
~c#soltob~ => ~c#solaufein~

Which would not explain why Grey is so overly slow.

[argent77]

3 minutes ago, jastey said:

Oh, cool! @argent77 there is more relevant cre files for Brandock and Solaufein, though:

Brandock:

~c#bran01~ => ~c#brandock~
~c#bran02~ => ~c#brandock~
~c#bran03~ => ~c#brandock~

Solaufein:

~c#sola12~ => ~c#solaufein~
~c#soltob~ => ~c#solaufein~

Which would not explain why Grey is so overly slow.

The cre resref is only used for an existence check at install-time. A single entry per companion is enough, as long as the script names are identical.

Gray being slow could be caused by unrelated effects, such as encumbrance or some lingering spell effect. @Oloriniel If cheats are enabled you could try the Ctrl-R shortcut on the dog, or turn Auto-Haste off and on again (from the abilities menu of the protagonist.)