Discussion of tipun’s IWD mods and their integration in EET games

[subtledoctor]

11 hours ago, Graion Dilach said:

I've glimpsed through the chapter related UI code, but couldn't find out how the game assigns chapters/chapter backgrounds to events. Something tells me that's the step where everything goes haywire (note that Black Pits is chapter 0).

This is a good insight, and it may raise some problems when it comes to having different campaigns in one game. I wonder if BP2 also occurs in "chapter 0?" because EET of course weaves together BG1+SoD+BG2 into a unified game that advances through 22 chapters across all the campaigns that make it up. But of course, IWD1 and IWD2 will also each have their own chapter structure, independent of the EET chapter structure. I don't totally understand what the game does here (and typically, the IESDP is opaque to the point of being obtuse - when describing chtxtx.2da files, it notes "Later there are two columns that could be filled by strrefs from Dialog.tlk." Emphasis mine. Wtf is being explained here??)
@K4thos obviously understood how to manipulate the chapter structures, I see that EET has some distinctive code designed to build those .2da tables:

Spoiler

 

<<<<<<<< .../CHPTXT.2da
2DA V1.0
%data%
        0        1        2
SWITCH  DEFAULT  DEFAULT  DEFAULT
DEFAULT %data_1% %data_2% %data_3%
%data_4%
>>>>>>>>

<<<<<<<< .../CHPTXTb.2da
2DA V1.0
%data%
        0        1
SWITCH  DEFAULT  DEFAULT
DEFAULT %data_1% %data_3%
%data_4%
>>>>>>>>

ACTION_DEFINE_ASSOCIATIVE_ARRAY table_EET_CHPTXT BEGIN
	//BG1
	GUICHP2A , 216204 , 2000075 , 2000001 , "SONG 135" => CHPTXT2 //BG1 Chapter 2
	GUICHP3A , 216205 , 2000076 , 2000002 , "SONG 135" => CHPTXT3 //BG1 Chapter 3
	GUICHP4A , 216206 , 2000077 , 2000003 , "SONG 135" => CHPTXT4 //BG1 Chapter 4
	GUICHP5A , 216207 , 2000078 , 2000004 , "SONG 135" => CHPTXT5 //BG1 Chapter 5
	GUICHP6A , 216208 , 2000079 , 2000005 , "SONG 135" => CHPTXT6 //BG1 Chapter 6
	GUICHP7A , 216209 , 2000080 , 2000006 , "SONG 135" => CHPTXT7 //BG1 Chapter 7
	//SoD
	GUICHP1B , 256369 , 2000081 , 2000008 , "SONG 135" => CHPTXT8 //SoD Chapter 8
	GUICHP2B , 256370 , 2000082 , 2000009 , "SONG 135" => SODTXT9 //SoD Chapter 9
	GUICHP3B , 256372 , 2000083 , 2000010 , "SONG 135" => SODTXT10 //SoD Chapter 10
	GUICHP4B , 256374 , 2000084 , 2000011 , "SONG 135" => CHPTXT11 //SoD Chapter 11
	GUICHP5B , 256376 , 2000085 , 2000012 , "SONG 135" => CHPTXT12 //SoD Chapter 12
	GUICHP6B , 256975 , 2000086 , 2000013 , "SONG 135" => CHPTXT13 //SoD Chapter 13
	//SoA
	CH01AJON , "-1" , "-1" , 17698 , "" => SCENE01 //Textscreen
	CH02AGLN , 74412 , 2000087 , 48005 , "" => SCENE02 //BG2 Chapter 14
	CH03AMON , 74390 , 2000088 , 61359 , "" => SCENE03 //BG2 Chapter 15a
	CH03AMON , 74390 , 2000088 , 61360 , "" => SCENE04 //BG2 Chapter 15b
	CH04ASHP , 74407 , 2000089 , 55714 , "" => SCRTXT01 //BG2 Chapter 16a
	CH04ASHP , 74407 , 2000089 , 8633 , "" => SCRTXT02 //BG2 Chapter 16b
	CH04CSAH , "-1" , "-1" , 57350 , "" => SCRTXT03 //Textscreen
	CH04ASHP , "-1" , "-1" , 57351 , "" => SCRTXT04 //Textscreen
	CH04ASHP , "-1" , "-1" , 46003 , "" => SCRTXT05 //Textscreen
	CH05AUND , 74399 , 2000090 , 61361 , "" => SCRTXT07 //BG2 Chapter 17
	CH06ADRW , 74400 , 2000091 , 1389 , "" => SCRTXT06 //BG2 Chapter 18
	CH07ASUL , 74353 , 2000092 , 61362 , "" => SCRTXT08 //BG2 Chapter 19
	//ToB
	CHPTAMKE , 71021 , 2000094 , 71591 , "" => CHPTXT9 //ToB Chapter 21
	CHPTMANA , 71022 , 2000095 , 71592 , "" => CHPTXT10 //ToB Chapter 22
	CHPTODRE , "-1" , "-1" , 71593 , "" => SCRODRE //Textscreen
	CHPTSARA , "-1" , "-1" , 71590 , "" => SCRSARA //Textscreen
	//other
	GUICHP2A , "-1" , "-1" , 31809 , "SONG 81" => BPENDA //Textscreen
END
ACTION_PHP_EACH table_EET_CHPTXT AS data => file BEGIN
	ACTION_IF (data_2 > 2000000) BEGIN
		OUTER_SET data_2 = RESOLVE_STR_REF ((AT data_2))
	END
	ACTION_IF (data_3 > 2000000) BEGIN
		OUTER_SET data_3 = RESOLVE_STR_REF ((AT data_3))
	END
	ACTION_IF (data_1 > 0) BEGIN
		COPY ~.../CHPTXT.2da~ ~override/%file%.2DA~ EVALUATE_BUFFER
			PRETTY_PRINT_2DA
	END ELSE BEGIN
		COPY ~.../CHPTXTb.2da~ ~override/%file%.2DA~ EVALUATE_BUFFER
			PRETTY_PRINT_2DA
	END
END

...but I don't quite understand how that actually works, or how one would add things.

Off the top of my head, I'm guessing it might be necessary to keep the IWD chapters out of the EET range? So IWD could have chapters 31-40 maybe, and IWD2 could have chapters 41-50? And then the various chapter transitions in IWD/IWD2 might have to be edited to account for this. Maybe?

I'm completely out of my depth here, maybe I need to sleep on it and let my brain passively work out whatever EET is doing there.

Edited February 22, 2023 by subtledoctor

[subtledoctor]

Hm, I did a search though all the scripts, and it seems that tipun has abstracted these games away from using real game chapters and instead uses custom global variables to track progress.

This is from AR2100.BCS in IWDEE v2.6:

IF
	Global("#chapter_1_text","GLOBAL",0)
THEN
    RESPONSE #100
	SetGlobal("Chapter","GLOBAL",0)
	IncrementChapter("CHPTXT1")
	SetGlobal("Chapter","GLOBAL",1)
	SetGlobal("#chapter_1_text","GLOBAL",1)
	Continue()
END

And this is the equivalent block in ID2100.BCS in EET+IWD1_EET:

IF
	Global("IWD_CHAPTER","GLOBAL",0)
THEN
    RESPONSE #100
	IncrementGlobal("IWD_CHAPTER","GLOBAL",1)
	TextScreen("IWD1TXT1")
	AddJournalEntry(330301,INFO)  // Icewind Dale: Chapter 1 Fighting their way through the goblin-infested valley of the pass, [etc.]
	Continue()
END

So, maybe it's fine to keep the IWD games in "chapter 0" of EET the way BP1 and BP2 are.

Of course, I still need to figure out how to make that work... still, at least it seems like a much smaller project!

Edited February 22, 2023 by subtledoctor

[subtledoctor]

I think I have it working! Turns out tipun's mod actually includes a lot of what is necessary, but some of it is in the supplemental icewind_eet add-on mod. And I was mistakenly sending the initial parties to the first game areas, instead of to the extra areas added by tipun to set variables etc.

Testing now on BG2EE v2.5 with my chopped-up version of EET v12 and my chopped-up version of tipun's mods that have no biffing. If this works... then I'm gonna play IWD2 on my iPad.

!!! 

This is quite exciting. It's like a whole new Infinity Engine game for me!

EDIT - and... no go. Apparently BG2EE v2.5 + my hacked EET do not create the same environment for adding things to the campaign picker screen.

Back to the beginning, then. But this is just doing something I've already done, so hopefully it shouldn't be too hard!

EDIT 2 - it is working... excellent. Rather than changing the integration mod, which I would like to still work for people with BG2EE 2.6 and EET v13, I updated my version of EET v12 to support the v13 code for adding the campaigns. Which means I'm not able to add this to my install-in-progress - I have to uninstall (counts...) 345 mod components, then reinstall this new version of EET, then reinstall those 345 components, and then I'll be ready to install IWD1, IWD2, and my little integration mod. (And then 300 more components afterward.)

So, it will be a while before I have this ready to actually play. Maybe long enough to finish SoA in my current game! But then... soon... it's on.

EDIT - for reference, the requirements for making this work are:

• BG2EE v2.6
• EET (v13.4)
• IWD1_EET
• IWD2_EET (if desired - though this one is not necessary)
• the Icewind_EET connective mod *
• d5_IWD_EET_integration
• EET_End

* This is tipun's mod that adds NPCs who can send you to IWD in the EET game. This is unfortunate - the point of my integration mod is specifically to play the IWD games without doing that - but the Icewind_EET add-on has some bit of magic that is necessary to make the IWD campaigns functional from the EET main menu. I haven't yet reverse-engineered what that is. Not the end of the world, though. For the moment I'll simply ignore those connections when playing EET. Once I'm more familiar with the environment - probably after a full playthrough - I can add some options in my integration mod to remove those connections.

Anyone wanting to play this on an iPad will have to do some extra steps, and use specially-adapted versions of EET and tipun's mods. I haven't yet made my modified versions of tipun's mods available yet, but once I've confirmed it's working I will provide those, as well as some detailed instructions for getting it set up. (And maybe even a bit of a Readme here! )

Edited February 24, 2023 by subtledoctor

[Guest megrimlock]

I wonder if, assuming this all works ok, Lava del'Vortel would be happy with including his quest mods in the IWD1 build. Apparently he was resistant to that when tipun's mod was in development because he thought people could play IWD separately if they wanted to use his mods, and he didn't want to have his mod versions set in stone by tying them to a particular build, but having IWD1 available to play as a separate campaign in EET might be different.

[subtledoctor]

That would be lovely, since this is the only way to actually play IWD with mods on the iOS platform. But I doubt it’s worth it for lava to put in the effort of making them compatible, and testing, etc. 

[Guest Graion@Work]

There already was a public statement: 

Please respect it.

[subtledoctor]

Who's not respecting it?? Lava said "I like to play my games separately" and the entire point of the mod being discussed here is to enable the IWD campaigns to be played separately. Just as Lava prefers. (And I agree with him.)

And even though my effort is going toward setting things up as Lava prefers, I still said he is unlikely to support this configuration. Even though I am missing out mods that I would love to use, I said that's reasonable because the effort probably isn't worth it. (The sum total of people who are missing out on Lava's mods by playing IWD on iOS is probably... just me. ) Notice, please, that throughout this discussion, nobody has actually tagged Lava in one of these posts, because I only wanted to mention the possibility, not pester.

Everyone is respecting everyone, here.

Edited February 23, 2023 by subtledoctor

[Guest megrimlock]

Yeah, sorry Graion, not sure what you thought was disrespectful? The post you linked was the one I was referring to (along with how the person who made the request reported back to the arcanecoast thread). And since subtledoctor's mod changes the landscape in exactly the direction Lava seemed to prefer, I raised the question of whether that might make a difference. And I'm not looking to pester Lava about it either (not a "pweath" or "thankee" to be found in my post!) Subtledoctor is probably right that Lava won't consider it worth the effort to convert his mods, but it's not as if he has never allowed others to help with EET conversion - as you well know Graion!

[Endarire]

Thankee for the update!  Alleluia!

[Graion Dilach]

14 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

Lava said "I like to play my games separately" and the entire point of the mod being discussed here is to enable the IWD campaigns to be played separately. Just as Lava prefers. (And I agree with him.)

His second post was that the mods should be for IWDEE because IWDEE is underutilized. That opne still applies to this even.

And IWD1-in-EET is already shaky in this context because last I checked, Auril's Bane is already bundled into it. How can you promise or how can you ensure that this doesn't get repeated? You don't control the environment.

[subtledoctor]

I honestly don't know what we're arguing about. The IWD campaign inside a BG2EE app doesn't deserve to have things like NPC mods or added quests, because you think the IWDEE app is "underutilized?" Wtf does that matter? It's IWD. Why shouldn't an NPC be used in any version of the game?

The jerks at Beamdog took people's money for that app, and have since left several versions of it in a crippled and unmoddable state - and I'll never be able to stress this part enough - even though they received it for free from modders. If you think an app is "underutilized," maybe appeal to the people who actually have some control over it, to stop possessively holding it so close to the vest.

And no I don't control the environment of tipun's mod but it's all I have to work with. Are there better approaches? Would it be better to pull resources directly from IWDEE and IWD2, the way EET pulls resources from SoD? Yes, 100%. (And yes, I purchased a legit copy of IWD2 in order to work on this integration mod, so I'm not scheming to play a game I haven't payed for.) Unfortunately the only project I'm aware of that imports resources in this way is, again, vaporware, and the person who started it would rather let the code rot and have people use tipun's mod, than allow anyone else to see it and maybe take up the reins. I have feelings about that decision, as you might surmise... but it's not my decision to make. And so here we are.

So, again, wtf is the point of arguing here? If you think that tipun's mod is bad, that he has stolen people's work or something like that (is that what you were implying?), then be direct. Make a thread and tell people to stay away from the bad mod.

Not to mention, Lava is already not going to lift a blessed finger to help anyone playing IWD this way. So to the extent you have anything to argue about, you've won before you even started. So what's the point of coming in here and crowing?

If you want to advocate or moralize, maybe do it at the people who actually have some control over these things. Not at some poor guy making a wistful "wouldn't it be nice..." post. Christ. This makes me almost annoyed enough to put in the effort myself to adapt Lava's NPCs to this version.

Edited April 10, 2023 by subtledoctor

[Graion Dilach]

2 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

I honestly don't know what we're arguing about.

We're arguing about how you dismiss Lava's statement about his IWD mods.

On 2/23/2023 at 3:53 PM, subtledoctor said:

Lava said "I like to play my games separately" and the entire point of the mod being discussed here is to enable the IWD campaigns to be played separately. Just as Lava prefers.

No. That's not what he prefers. He actually had a statement which you overlooked despite I've already pointed to it:

On 7/16/2022 at 10:00 AM, Lava said:

Sooooo very true. I never was into EET, I like to play my games separately... Now, imagine that it's not this thread, but I also got PM if I would be interested into working with tipun to make my mods work on Arane Coast's IWD-in-EET. Because public threads are clearly not enough. Now, when I see EET (especially when I get a PM from some specific user) I am feeling that I already want to close the tab and just never reply to it.

I said that already in the PM and at the Discord channel: I think tipun has interesting ideas and I am glad he's part of these boards. It has nothing to do with him. However, I always hated the ideas of IWD being part of BG. IWD is set in 1281 DR, soooo many years before BG. Plus, now there is SoD that makes the event order between these games even more important. I do not think any time travel stuff works well, I do not think making it a tale-like "retrospection" works either. Why would I need that while I can have a stable version of IWD?

Furthermore, I believe IWD EE is a really cool game and it has unique feel and if it wasn't as linear and had companions, it would be just as good as BG2. I know some people like the fact you may have a team of your own or that is more like a chain of dungeon crawling, but I wanted something else. Thus I created my IWD EE mod. But it was all to make IWD EE - again, in my opinion - richer and closer to what I would enjoy. I did that because IWD can be cool. I believe that if you want to give a certain game some exposure, you create stuff for that game rather than make it a part of a different game. So my answer is: no. While - again - I appreciate tipun, his mods, translations, the dedication he has to all these thing, but the direction of that project is nowhere near to what I want to offer. Aim of my mods is quite different. So... no, I am not interested in making my IWD mods compatible with this idea, I made them to support IWD, not another mod that turns IWD into... well... a mod.

Let this be my official statement, because I would really want to avoid furthere PMs asking about this or moving my IWD mods to BG(2). No.

Emphasis mine. Incase, you'd still ignore it, let me spell it out for you - Lava would not approve your method either.

And yes, I am itchy about this, because this was something which already came up in the IWD1-in-EET Arcanecoast thread and I don't like how it was looking.

On 2/23/2023 at 6:19 PM, Guest megrimlock said:

it's not as if he has never allowed others to help with EET conversion - as you well know Graion!

Yeah, I know it well. It's not that others helped - others did it. And the main reason why Lava allows it is because of the EET_modconverter code K4thos wrote tailored for SotSC in EET 14, which is also used by Walahnan by now, put together by yours truly. This situation is different compared to the BG mods on EET, and it is actually much more in line with the SotSC on BGT request which was denied outright.

2 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

Are there better approaches? [...]Unfortunately the only project I'm aware of that imports resources in this way is, again, vaporware, and the person who started it would rather let the code rot and have people use tipun's mod, than allow anyone else to see it and maybe take up the reins. I have feelings about that decision, as you might surmise... but it's not my decision to make. And so here we are.

Last I heard, Neverending Journey was offered up freely for the community to be ported to the EEs, as long as the port breaks compatibility with the classic. I've already implied this as an aalternative take - I always did -, but you said you never were interested. Okay, understandable.

2 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

This makes me almost annoyed enough to put in the effort myself to adapt Lava's NPCs to this version.

I already suspected you were a self-serving bastard under a masquerade, so I'm not surprised on your threat nor your entitled tone to run mods on your platform (I don't want to imagine the tirades you'd throw if you'd play on a console!). I mean, you have already trashtalked my debugging skills on Reddit before, yet that didn't stopped you from pinging me to look into stuff thenafter. You're only nice as long as you don't get criticized and/or get what you want.

For the record, the only reason I'm following this venture  and was willing to look into your struggles is because this can come handy for someone who would attempt porting Classic Adventures over to BG2EE. No other reason.

And yes, I was. You keep proving you don't deserve my time.

However, to end this on a high note - I will acknowledge that you buying IWD2 for this is recommendable, because the mod doesn't check for it nor require it. That's cool.

Edited February 24, 2023 by Graion Dilach

[Lava]

I got some damn flu, so I will keep it as brief as I can: what Graion put in bold still stands. My opinion about integration of IWD games (and mods) with BG(2)EE/EET still stands and I'm not interested in such projects. If Beamdog did not deliver something properly, then poke them, rather than expect I may change the way I think and feel. And I am not saying that directly to anyone specific here: if, however, a developer does not deliver something that was promissed... then fight for it. In the same time remember that is between customers and the developer and I would rather stay out of this, and stick to what I feel is right for my mods and my aims.

I am super glad there are still new initiatives and ideas that are being considered, that there are new mods, reviews, texts, tutorials, tools (et cetera), but I won't always support everything and each single initiative.

As for "This makes me almost annoyed enough to put in the effort myself to adapt Lava's NPCs to this version." -- I'll just hope it's just some not too tasteful joke, considering last few years with alts, mods being modified without authors' knowledge or approval, and so on.

I'll just say one more thing (before I'll get totally dulled by the medicine): since it's rather clear now, let's move on.

That will be my only answer here. Cheers, everyone!

[subtledoctor]

On 2/24/2023 at 12:47 PM, Graion Dilach said:

We're arguing about how you dismiss Lava's statement

Nobody has dismissed anything, except inside your own mind. 

On 2/24/2023 at 12:47 PM, Graion Dilach said:

Neverending Journey was offered up freely for the community

My understanding of NEJ is that it uses IWD assets to create an adventure within the BG2 game. What possibly could be the use of that in a thread discussing severing links between IWD and BG2, and enabling IWD to be played in its pure state (just as Lava prefers)? 

On 2/24/2023 at 12:47 PM, Graion Dilach said:

you have already trashtalked my debugging skills on Reddit before

You mean I pointed out that you were wrong?

Sorry, not sorry. 

On 2/24/2023 at 12:47 PM, Graion Dilach said:

You're only nice as long as you don't get criticized and/or get what you want

If you read closely, you will see that I actually stop being nice when I see you being shitty to other people.

On 2/24/2023 at 12:47 PM, Graion Dilach said:

the only reason I'm following this venture  and was willing to look into your struggles is because this can come handy

Right. You are self-serving by your own admission! And then project that onto others.

Note, we were having a perfectly civil conversation, without disrespecting anyone, before you came along.

On 2/24/2023 at 12:47 PM, Graion Dilach said:

I'm not surprised on your threat nor your entitled tone to run mods

Threat? I’m sorry, every Weidu mod has its ‘source code’ visible for everyone to see. Apart from one or two truly bad actors like Roxanne, this has generally been to the great benefit if the community. Now you want to reach into my computer and tell me how I should or shouldn't use a mod? You, whose github account is rife with forked versions of other people’s projects, including several of mine? I don’t recall being asked permission to have my projects copied and altered… but then again I don’t care either, as long as no one outright steals it like Roxanne, because I’m reasonable. 

You think it’s reasonable to make a BG2 NPC, and expect players won't use it in an EET game? I adapted the Rose mod to work on EET so that I could have another bard option in the BG1 portion - have I committed some sin in doing so? Someone put a lot of effort into that mod, and distributed it for use when playing the BG1 campaign, and all the code is right there on my computer… but you think because the mod says “…for BGT,” playing the mod in an EET game is out of bounds? I submit, that’s a pretty bold stance. And honestly a weird one. 

On 2/24/2023 at 2:56 PM, Lava said:

considering last few years with alts, mods being modified without authors' knowledge or approval, and so on

Nobody is talking about changing anything without knowledge or approval. Don't let Graion convince you to twist my words. I am very comfortable suggesting you can look at the history of everything I’ve ever said or done in this context, to determine whether you should feel threatened. I think you will sleep soundly.  (Well, except for that flu. Feel better!)

On 2/24/2023 at 2:56 PM, Lava said:

My opinion about integration of IWD games (and mods) with BG(2)EE/EET still stands and I'm not interested in such projects. …

I am super glad there are still new initiatives and ideas that are being considered, that there are new mods, reviews, texts, tutorials, tools (et cetera), but I won't always support everything and each single initiative

Yeah the tl;dr: of the thread above is, if IWD was not integrated into the BG(2) game, and was playable on its own (though it happened in this case to live inside a different game executable), wouldn’t it be nice to play with Lava’s NPCs? And my response was 1) yes it would be nice but don’t expect Lava to support that, and 2) even if Lava liked the idea, it probably wouldn’t be worth the effort.

So don’t worry, nobody expects differently of you than what you have already stated. I think you and I are on the same page here. I honestly don’t know what Graion is on about. 

Edited April 10, 2023 by subtledoctor

[subtledoctor]

Just want to remark on the state of this project. I am in the process of putting this all together in a big install to do some playtesting.

-- tipun's IWD1_EET mod has different XP awards than the real IWD game, because his mod is designed to be played within an EET game and not give too much XP.

• One of the things I need to do in this mod is edit the XP rewards to be larger again, so that you can play through IWD as its own game. NOTE: this means it will very much an either/or proposition, as far as playing IWD on its own or playing it inside EET. Trying to keep both options in one game install will make one way or the other a rather frustrating experience.

-- The tipun IWD1_EET mod includes Heart of Winter. I don't know whether tipun puts Hjollder somewhere on the Sword Coast or keeps him in Kuldahar, but in any event my integration mod adds a copy of Hjollder to Athkatla. If I've done it correctly, if you skip going to IWD1 via tipun's link, and play all the way through BG1-SoD and into BG2, then Hjollder should teleport you to Lonelywood and after HoW is finished you will go back to Athkatla.

• One issue still to be resolved is, if you go to IWD earlier in an EET game, then you will already have been to Kuldhar and probably already have met Hjollder and played through HoW content. In this case Hjollder should be removed from Athkatla. I haven't implemented this yet but it should be easy.
• A second issue is that, if you set up IWD to be played as its own campaign and increase the XP rewards, but still play the HoW portion within EET, then you will get WAY too much XP from HoW. For this portion of the IWD content, I need to alter the scripts to condition XP rewards to be large or small, depending on how you got to Lonelywood. This will take a bit of work, but should be possible, it will be similar to what I did in the BP-in-BG project.

-- Scales of Balance has a component that adjusts some IWDEE items. As of right now this does not work with tipun's IWD1_EET.

• It should be a simple matter to adapt that component to work either way. The RNDTRES.2da adjustments, however, will take a bit of effort.

-- the tipun IWD2_EET mod has different XP awards than the actual IWD2 game... and complicating things, the IWD2 game itself has very different XP awards than what we expect in BG/BG2/IWD1, because IWD2 uses the 3E ruleset which has a very different XP progression table. In order to play IWD2 as its own campaign - and I assume it should basically go from level 1 to level 20 - I need to increase the XP awards.

• I see how to do that - for scripted XP at least - but I have no guidance as to what values to use. I'm going to make educated guesses, and then play through the game and see if my guesses were reasonable or need adjustment.

-- I have heard some interesting ideas for adding BG content to IWD, which should be fairly easy with this setup:

• I can put Shandalar somewhere, maybe Kuldahar or Lonelywood or Dorn's Deep, and you could play the TotSC 'Ice Island' adventure within an IWD game. This would involve giving him similar treatment to what I do with Hjollder, should be fairly easy.
• Just as I implemented BP-in-BG, I could add Baeloth somewhere and then we could have 'BP-in-IWD.' Lore-wise, it wouldn't be a big deal.
• I'm not sure what else would work... taking weeks or months to sail to Werewolf Island wouldn't make much sense. (Not to mention how you would even get to a boat, and why you wouldn't run screaming to more pleasant adventuring in warmer climes.) Durlag's Tower wouldn't make much sense without teleportation. Watcher's Keep is tuned for a ToB game and the lore about it would not really work in 1280 DR in IWD.
• (What about Lava's mods?? Eh, see above, if you have patience and a strong stomach. The long and short of it is, while Lava makes amazing stuff and I would dearly love to play his IWD content, I can tell from looking at the file structures with tipun's mod installed that Lava's mods would not work, are not even close to being able to work, and even if Lava were interested in this, the effort involved would probably be ridiculous. And Lava's not interested in doing it anyway, and I'm not capable of it even if he wanted to work with me or something like that. So it's not going to happen, and let's please put this to bed.)

-- Maybe tipun's IWD1_EET mod includes mod content without authorization? Specifically, content from Auril's Bane? I guess Graion may have been hinting at that, though in fine fashion he did not submit any actual usable information. I'm actually not familiar with Auril's Bane, I'm not sure what it is ow what it does. I know it has some FixPack-y qualities and some UB-y qualities. But is it also a quest? Are there NPCs involved? The top search hit I found is a forum thread full of people hilariously refusing to answer these questions. And now the Chosen of Mystra forums are gone so the prime source for info on it has disappeared.

• If Auril's Bane has quest content that should not properly be in this game, then I would like to make a component that disables it. I can only guess that, like most mod quests, such would likely be funneled through some NPC(s). In which case the easiest path would be to simply disable the critical NPC(s). I suppose I'll just play through IWD and look out for content I haven't seen before, it should be fairly simple

So, I think that's the meat of it. This post is largely for me to organize my own thoughts, but also for anyone thinking about using this to have a sense of what to expect. Distilling all that down to a rough 'to-do' list would be something like this:

1. Add static XP adjustments to the integration mod when moving the IWD games out to separate items in the campaign choice screen
2. Disable any in-game links from EET to the IWD campaigns, when moving the IWD games out to separate items in the campaign choice screen
3. Add dynamic XP adjustments to HoW scripts, when putting Hjollder in Athkatla
4. If necessary, disable access to Auril's Bane content
5. Adapt the Scales of Balance RNDTRES.2da adjustments to work with tipun's IWD1_EET
6. Add a component putting Shandalar somewhere in IWD
7. Add a component putting Baeloth somewhere for BP-in-IWD

I'm setting up a big EET game right now (Just installed EET_End; about to embark on SCS installation) and I'm going to manually implement #1, #2, #3, and #4 manually. Once I see that it's working, I can backport those changes to the integration mod itself. I may or may not ever actually get to #5, #6, and #7.

Edited February 25, 2023 by subtledoctor