First, I mean Second, try at a big(ish) EET install

[Oloriniel]

Thanks for the link, @Graion Dilach!  Pretty sure that's the thread I was thinking of, too.

Not sure what to do with what you posted, though.  Does one copy/paste it into a file via NI?

[subtledoctor]

3 hours ago, Oloriniel said:

Wasn't [klatu's manual of War] supposed to be in the Ulcaster dungeon?  If so, I didn't find it.

Sounds like either 1) I have a more recent version than you? or 2) something else you installed interfered with its placement. Notably, you have more stuff installed, including more stuff that alters Ulcaster. (E.g. I didn't install the SCS/Tactics Ulcaster component.)

EDIT - my copy of Klatu's mod is version "1.6_SD" so it seems that at some point in the past, I hacked it myself to make it work. (And notably, my version looks rather different from Graion's... I assume his is better so in my next install I'll probably use that altered version of v1.7.)

Edited August 12, 2022 by subtledoctor

[Graion Dilach]

I didn't tested the manual's functionality tbh, only the placement. Not too fond of that item myself. I'm not sure what other differences there could be (prolly the 1.6 vs 1.7 update). Note that the diff is a Git diff.

[Quester]

On 8/8/2022 at 5:42 PM, subtledoctor said:

Sorry, I ran by this question. For the record:

You don't want to  use my fork of Spell Revisions. My fork only exists so that I can supply fixes to the main branch. For Spell Revisions, you should use the latest master commit of the main branch (click the green button labeled "code" and choose "Download ZIP").

By contrast, Item Revisions has not been active in applying updates. For that mod, you are best off using my personal bug-fix fork.

It's maybe a bit Off topic, but how does your bug-fix fork of IR relate to Barty's IRR? If I want to use IRR, should I first install that and then overwrite with your bug-fix fork?

[subtledoctor]

3 hours ago, Quester said:

It's maybe a bit Off topic, but how does your bug-fix fork of IR relate to Barty's IRR? If I want to use IRR, should I first install that and then overwrite with your bug-fix fork?

I think if you want to use IRR, you can/should use the regular IR branch as a base. IRR probably contains all the same fixes on its own. But it would probably be harmless either way. 

[subtledoctor]

I have to say, this run has made me a bit dissatisfied with the state of divine kits, and paladin kits specifically. I'm using Faiths & Powers which 1) adds lots and lots of kits, for many dozens of deities. For most NPCs, there is a lot of flexibility for each playthrough: Coran can be an Archer thief one game, a ranger the next game, etc.; I've played Imoen as a  thief, a mage, a bard, a sorcerer, and various multiclass combinations of those classes. But Anomen  can only really ever be a cleric of Helm - he just talks about it so much. Likewise Ajantis with the BG1NPCProject really must be a paladin of Helm, and Sirene must be a paladin of Ilmater, etc.

But, especially for paladins, this  isn't working so well. In this game I didn't love the  special abilities for Sirene's paladin of Ilmater kit, and I wanted her to have the Protection from Evil abilities from the paladin of Torm kit. But making her a paladin of Torm doesn't just change he functional abilities, it kind of changes her characterization as well. 

With clerics I'm not as concerned about this - having the spell selection and special abilities be tied to one's deity seems fine. (And I've played around a bit there, e.g. once making Finch a cleric of Oghma instead of Deneir when I wanted to try out the Oghma kit abilities.) But for whatever reason, with paladins it seems like more of a straitjacket. So maybe it's worth revisiting the idea of distinguishing between the kit and the deity. Maybe set up handful of paladin archetypes, (something like Champion, Zealot,* Defender, Inquisitor, etc.) and once you are in the game, after you  have chosen your deity as your kit, then you  could choose which kind of paladin you want to be. Each deity might allow certain archetypes but not others - a paladin of Talos would not allow defenders, and a paladin of Sune might not allow Inquisitors, etc. Could add some more badass archetypes for neutral/evil dieties, if it comes to that.

* Could even fold in the current idea of Zealots, which are in the Ranger class but are devoted to a deity and get cleric spells... we already have several kits that can seamlessly shunt you from the paladin menu to the ranger class, so this could simply be a particular paladin archetype rather than its own class category...

Anyway just thinking out loud. I think that would make paladins a bit more flexible and improve replayability. It would be slightly complicated to implement - though, nothing FnP couldn't handle with a bit of effort.

[subtledoctor]

I investigated the Iron Throne and now I'm in Chapter 6. Duke Eltan has given me a special book to get me into Candlekeep and  has asked me to go there to spy on Rieltar & co. However there are a number of small quests that I'm having trouble closing out:

• Immediately after leaving the Iron Throne building I was approached told to talk to Scar...  but I cannot find Scar anywhere.
• I've been looking for a missing monk from Balduran's Seatower, I need to find a beggar named Blurt but cannot find Blurt anywhere.
• Apparently a dwarf wants me to find his missing halfling friend who was in eastern  BG, but I have seen no such halfling (maybe it's one of the many (many!) bodies down in the sewers?)
• A gnome  named Gheldehar wants me to retrieve some boots from someone named Pilar at the FAI. But I cannot find anyone named Pilar at the FAI.
• A paladin of Helm in BG was tricked by a demon into killing a little girl... that's all I have. An unresolved quest that says the paladin was tricked.
• A jailed lady at the Flaming Fist HQ wants me to investigate a house "in East Baldur's Gate [with a] grey roof." But I cannot find any such house.
• A skeletal captain of a ghost ship in the harbor wants me to find the bones of his dead sons. Two were pirates and one was a bandit. I picked up two sets of bones many days ago, but I don't remember where from. So I have no clue where the third may be. In general the player is likely to find these bones well before actually getting the quest that involves them, which is not the best design. Perhaps the quest should start when you find the first set (it can be vague, just needs to start the process of having quest entries), and perhaps the description of each set of bones should include mention of where it was found. As it is I'm likely to have to search  every nook and cranny of every wilderness are in BG1, even though I've already been to all of them... and honestly I'm just not up for that. EDIT - okay I looked again and these items do contain mention of where they were found. Great job! So I guess I need to find the bones of a bandit. Which... could be almost anywhere...
• Shilo Chen wants me to confront some ogres in the "southwest corner" of the Wood of Sharp Teeth. It's been a long time since I last played BGEE, and notably, EET seems to have moved some things around on the map. Directions and distances don't quite me sense for all of the map areas in relation to each other. And even setting aside EET, BGEE already moved  some areas around compared to BG1. SO I no long know what the "southwest corner" of the forest means. Doesn't this refer  to those invisible ogre mages that appear alongside Black Talon Elite in Larswood? I've already dispatched them, if so. Is this just a dangling quest log?  A BGEE bug?
• I still need some golden teeth for the Ormyrrs down by the Gnoll Stronghold. Should I have found them by now? This quest started a very  long time ago...

Incidentally, I have altered the Robe of the Weave to cast Contingency and Minor Spell Sequencer once per day. This is super useful for a mage, and moreso for a cleric/mage. Finch has been wearing it. Contingency is amazingly useful at low levels, but it is not actually overpowered because it has natural limits as far as which spells you can use with it. And casting Spell Sequencers from an item is so great, it removes the friction/trade-off from having to keep it memorized and using up a spell slot. I think this kind of metamagic is way more interesting than bonus spell slots... I might create an item tweak to change the Rings of Wizardry to give you sequencers instead of bonus slots:

• Evermemory: Minor Spell Sequencer once per day (or maybe even 2x or 3x a day)
• Ring of Acuity: Spell Sequencer once per day
• Reaching Ring: Spell Trigger once per day

The current plan is:

• Go remove a fire elemental from the Seatower kitchen
• Get the Vampire's Revenge sword from the Ghost of Ulcaster and bring it to the cavern east of Beregost
• Bring "A History of Shadowdale Part XIII"  to Thalantyr's bookshelf
• Bring Ordolath his candle (he's been camping in the woods waiting for me for about 75 days)
• Get some perfume from the merchant near the FAI to bring to a ghost in  the cave below Ulgoth's Beard
• Check in on the kobold Zee and his new store
• Investigate smugglers near Nashkel
• Back to BG for more Seatower stuff
• Go to Candlekeep

We've been through some tough fights, I think Skie might be a bit out of her element. So she will stay in Baldur's Gate. Now we are going back to Candlekeep, so I think it's time to let Imoen rejoin the party. She's been learning to control her magic with Firebead for about two months now, let's see how she has advanced.

Edited August 18, 2022 by subtledoctor

[StummvonBordwehr]

I believe the Paladin of Helm is in a temple NW of the Duchal Palace. If I am correct there is a small mob outside the temple and you can resolve the quest by talking to the paladin inside.

[jastey]

I assume you looked for Scar in front of the FF HQ or inside? That's where he would be in the original game. My mods do not change that.

42 minutes ago, subtledoctor said:

I've been looking for a missing monk from Balduran's Seatower, I need to find a beggar named Blurt but cannot find Blurt anywhere.

It's either the beggar in front of the Temple of Ilmater in NE BG or in front of the palace.

43 minutes ago, subtledoctor said:

A paladin of Helm in BG was tricked by a demon into killing a little girl... that's all I have. An unresolved quest that says the paladin was tricked.

Walk alongside the Carnival (BG0700; [2065.838]) and you'll meet another quest character after which there will be more dialogue options. Have you talked to the mother in one of the nearby houses so you know the story of what happened?

49 minutes ago, subtledoctor said:

A jailed lady at the Flaming Fist HQ wants me to investigate a house "in East Baldur's Gate [with a] grey roof." But I cannot find any such house.

That's Grey's quest. The house is in E BG (BG0800) at [746.3147].

Pilar from NTotSC is at [2015.2233.] in FAI area (BG2300).

The Ogres from bg1ub Shilo Chen are in [910.3025.] of Larswood (BG2900).

 

The ghost ship is from SotSC?

[subtledoctor]

27 minutes ago, StummvonBordwehr said:

I believe the Paladin of Helm is in a temple NW of the Duchal Palace. If I am correct there is a small mob outside the temple and you can resolve the quest by talking to the paladin inside.

I spoke to the paladin about it before anyone else... which is why it seems like an  unresolved non-sequitur to me. I guess I'll talk to the other people. EDIT - I don't see any crowds, nor a mother to speak to. There does not seem to be anyone to speak to about this near the carnival. Perhaps I broke the quest by speaking to the paladin first...

6 minutes ago, jastey said:

It's either the beggar in front of the Temple of Ilmater in NE BG or in front of the palace.

I've spoken to the one in front of the temple (Lime), and he  no longer has anything relevant to say to me. The next one (Blurt?) is nowhere to be found, in either the north or northeast sections of the city.

7 minutes ago, jastey said:

I assume you looked for Scar in front of the FF HQ or inside?

Yeah. No Scar to be seen. I went straight to Eltan instead.

7 minutes ago, jastey said:

That's Grey's quest. The house is in E BG (BG0800) at [746.3147].

Ah. That roof looks blue to me (or is the dress black and gold???) and I was given a key but that house door is not locked, so it threw me off the scent (so to speak, ha ha).

9 minutes ago, jastey said:

Pilar from NTotSC is at [2015.2233.] in FAI area (BG2300).

Ah, I didn't think to look for her outside the FAI... will do now.

9 minutes ago, jastey said:

The Ogres from bg1ub Shilo Chen are in [910.3025.] of Larswood (BG2900).

See I went looking for them in Larswood, but I guess I didn't walk by that particular spot in Larswood. I feel like this quest frustrates me every time I do it. The whole time I'm walking around thinking to myself "did he really mean Peldvale? Didn't I already see ogre mages in Peldvale? Maybe I should go to Peldvale." And then I look at the map, and there is the "Sharp Teeth Plain," which is not technically a wood but it's the only area that actually matches the "Sharp Teeth" description and there are already a bunch of ogres there... Plus on the EET map Larswood is not really "southwest" in a meaningful way (but neither is Peldvale, and neither is Sharp Teeth Plain.) In short, I think the text for this quest may have once been satisfactorily precise, but in 2022 it no longer is.

[jastey]

22 minutes ago, subtledoctor said:

Perhaps I broke the quest by speaking to the paladin first...

Maybe the quest broke so you were able to talk to the paladin first. There should be a crowd in front when you reach the temple the first time and someone should shout something about the apaldin. That didn't happen for you?

29 minutes ago, subtledoctor said:

I was given a key but that house door is not locked, so it threw me off the scent (so to speak, ha ha).

Heh. It's not a real door, it's just a travel trigger that gets activated if the group has the key.

[Oloriniel]

3 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

• Apparently a dwarf wants me to find his missing halfling friend who was in eastern  BG, but I have seen no such halfling (maybe it's one of the many (many!) bodies down in the sewers?)
• A skeletal captain of a ghost ship in the harbor wants me to find the bones of his dead sons. Two were pirates and one was a bandit. I picked up two sets of bones many days ago, but I don't remember where from. So I have no clue where the third may be. In general the player is likely to find these bones well before actually getting the quest that involves them, which is not the best design. Perhaps the quest should start when you find the first set (it can be vague, just needs to start the process of having quest entries), and perhaps the description of each set of bones should include mention of where it was found. As it is I'm likely to have to search  every nook and cranny of every wilderness are in BG1, even though I've already been to all of them... and honestly I'm just not up for that. EDIT - okay I looked again and these items do contain mention of where they were found. Great job! So I guess I need to find the bones of a bandit. Which... could be almost anywhere...
• I still need some golden teeth for the Ormyrrs down by the Gnoll Stronghold. Should I have found them by now? This quest started a very  long time ago...

 

In one of the sewer zones, you'll find a new hidden door (it's in the top center of the map, but I don't remember which map) that leads to the lair of the halfling's killer.

I don't remember where I found the bones, but they're all in my inventory, so I picked them up somewhere.

The Teeth, I think, were at the nearby cemetery; if not they were dropped in the zone with the Ormyrrs themselves; I know I found them after being asked.  The only unique item I got before, and didn't realize I'd found so it drove me nuts for a bit, was the crown.
 

[subtledoctor]

Okay I CLUA's myself a copy of the golden teeth and  the last set of bones, because I didn't want to search every map  in the game. I went to the ormyrrs and gave them their bling, and they were like "okay the special treasure is right over there by the cemetery." And I was like, huh?? What cemetery? I'm looking all around and I can't see any cemetery. They said it is up on the mountain, or something, but none of the area maps near the southern mountains have a cemetery in them. I was going crazy trying to  figure out what they were talking about, and finally realized... there is another area in addition to the ormyrrs' area! It had never occurred to me to try using the other travel trigger there, I assumed it was  just to take me to the overmap! @Lava You might want to put a map note there, or somehow indicate or hint that there is more content beyond the ormyrrs' map. Or maybe I'm the only idiot who didn't find it?

Anyway I finally found it, and what do you know? There are the golden teeth! And there is the 3rd set of bones for the ghost ship! Duh. My mistake all along.

So then I went to Nashkel and did the business for Shuck's brother in the Seatower mod. Closed out some other things on the way back north - Ordolath's candle, Thalantyr's bookshelf, the ghosts east of Beregost, Zee's shop at FAI, Shilo Chen's ogres, picked up Imoen, swapped out Ajantis for Yeslick because Ajantis was honestly getting on my nerves, got rid of the ghost ship in the harbor, and then back to Balduran's Seatower. There I handled the rest of the Seatower quests.

And honestly, right here I have to say, this stuff is amazingly good work. I expected Balduran's Seatower, in beta, to be a kind of barebones map, a proof-of-concept. But it is so dense with characters, personalities, and interconnected quests that miraculously don't trip over each other... honestly this area is better content, better-conceived and more cohesive, than any of the other districts in Baldur's Gate City.

Balduran's Seatower and Shades of the Sword Coast are, by a country mile, the best mod content I have ever seen for these games. As additions to the game, I think they are on par with Siege of Dragonspear. If these modders had been paid a salary and the content was sold commercially as DLC, I don't think it could be any better. Just utterly first-rate stuff that really makes the game richer. And unlike a lot of earlier content mods, they achieve this without constantly throwing BG2-level fights at you. (I loved how the ormyrrs joked about that!  )

Great stuff, guys.

Now off to Candlekeep to face the perennial BG question: do I have the willpower to stop myself from straight-up murdering Rieltar? (Yeslick is in my party now, so... not sure I'm going to have a choice...)

[jastey]

37 minutes ago, subtledoctor said:

And honestly, right here I have to say, this stuff is amazingly good work. I expected Balduran's Seatower, in beta, to be a kind of barebones map, a proof-of-concept. But it is so dense with characters, personalities, and interconnected quests that miraculously don't trip over each other... honestly this area is better content, better-conceived and more cohesive, than any of the other districts in Baldur's Gate City.

Balduran's Seatower and Shades of the Sword Coast are, by a country mile, the best mod content I have ever seen for these games. As additions to the game, I think they are on par with Siege of Dragonspear. If these modders had been paid a salary and the content was sold commercially as DLC, I don't think it could be any better. Just utterly first-rate stuff that really makes the game richer. And unlike a lot of earlier content mods, they achieve this without constantly throwing BG2-level fights at you. (I loved how the ormyrrs joked about that!  )

Great stuff, guys.

Thank you!

[mickabouille]

2 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

Or maybe I'm the only idiot who didn't find it?

Well... no you're not.