[PSTEE] "Chapter saves" for PsTEE

[argent77]

Unlike in BGEE or IWDEE, there are no "chapter saves" created in PsTEE. The reason for that is obvious, as PsT doesn't use chapters to advance the plot.

However, I think that "chapter saves" are useful in situations where you screwed up and don't want to start the whole game or substantial portions anew - which can be the only choice if you only rely on autosave and quicksave. I propose to implement that feature in PsTEE as well. Afaik, the same was implemented by one of the later Beamdog patches for IWDEE.

PsTEE's SAVENAME.2DA contains 3 (or maybe 4) unused entries (slots 3 to 5/6) which could be used for story-progression purposes. Since there are no chapters, it is more difficult to decide when these saves should be created, and how they should be named.

My suggestions are:

Slot 3: At the beginning of the game, right after waking up in the Mortuary (and having completed your first talk with Morte).

Name suggestions:
    000000003-Mortuary
    000000003-Waking up in the Mortuary

There is no autosave created at all when you start a new game, so in the worst case you have to start all over again if you screw up.

Slot 4: Arriving at the Lower Ward from the Alley of Lingering Sighs.

Name suggestions:
    000000004-Lower Ward
    000000004-Arrival at the Lower Ward

In my opinion this is a logical point in the plot progress where another save would make sense. Arriving at the Lower Ward opens up access to all of Sigil and allows you to make use of the worldmap travel feature.

Slot 5: Right before teleporting to Ravel's Maze.

Name suggestions:
    000000005-To Ravel's Maze
    000000005-Departure to Ravel's Maze

The trip to Ravel's Maze is basically a "point of no-return", so a save at this point would be useful.

Slot 6: Original name of the save is "000000006-Start-Combat-Save". Slots of that name can also be found in all the other EE games, so it's possible that this slot is reserved by the game engine. Otherwise it could be repurposed as well.

There is also a "Final Save" slot defined but unused in PsTEE. I'd suggest to create it when TNO reaches the final boss map.

I'm unsure whether this proposal fits into EEFP or would be more suitable for Tweaks Anthology. It is an addition to PsTEE, but a consistency fix as well, since all the other EE games already provide chapter saves by now.

Thoughts?

Edited January 29 by argent77

[ptifab]

It's been a long time since i played PST, but i do think this is a great idea. I remember having to manually do some of those saves to do another gameplay without having to restart from scratch. So that could come in handy. 

[Endarire]

I agree with the idea, but am unsure about its implementation.

I'd also like a save before heading to the Negative Energy Plane and another just before Carceri.

Thankee.

[argent77]

Implementation is actually rather straightforward, since save slots can be customized in EE games. I've tested it on my local installation without apparent issues.

Theoretically it is possible to add more predefined save slots, but they will most likely interfere with manual saves from pre-EEFP'ed games.

[Guest RoyalProtector]

This doesn't sound to me like a fix, but a convenience tweak and thus it's outside the scope of this mod. Better to keep things organized. Just my two cents.