Announcing Love Conquers All (LCA) – Corwin Romance Mod for EET

[InKal]

On 8/27/2023 at 5:38 PM, Lava said:

There are many reasons why some (including myself) may prefer to keep BG games separate:

1. There are fewer mods that work on EET, because a grand majority of mods are developed as expansions for a specific game (BGEE, BG2EE, SoD, ToB...)
2. It's easier for me to maintain a properly working installation of BG(2)EE (rather than EET), because there are still new mods developed, and it's normal for bugs to happen. When you play EET and there is a really serious bug, it kinda dooms not just your BG1EE or BG2EE run. It dooms the trilogy run what may be discouraging at best.
3. Some people simply prefer one game to another: I prefer BG2 to BG1. I always did. There is a huge portion of BG1EE I simply dislike. But I wrote SotSC, right? Because I find it hard to like the BG1 portion the way it is and I wanted it to be at least... acceptable, I guess? I know there are people who love how BG1EE gives freedom etc, but... to me, it means I am free to roam a boring world with wilderness areas that have no real quests, no interesting encounters, or places to loot, no characters to talk to. Important parts like Ulcaster Ruins do not offer much to me. So, as I play 1 BG1EE run per 4 BG2EE runs (more or less), then who should I install EET? To skip BG1EE portion most of the time? And yes, I know there are people who love BG1EE more than they do BG2EE. But there is also no reason why they should play EET. But that doesn't mean I dislike characters the first part of the game or Siege introduce: like Skie. Or Glint. Or many others. It's just... I would rather see new content for them in BG2 rather than see the same talks in BG1EE / SoD.
4. And finally, there are just some who don't want to spend more time on installing EET, because they never needed "continuous NPCs" or stuff like that. 

I think it's quite obvious that to me point 3 is most important. So yeah, once I see a mod is EET-only, that means I simply won't play it. And I am not saying I "EET is bad". It's just not the way some players (me included, as I am not only a modder, but I do play the game, too) want to experience the trilogy. I am sure there are also other reasons, not just those I mentioned.

That's because you asked. Cool to see new mods that introduce SoD characters into SoD, but due to requirements, I suppose this one will be mostly enjoyed by EET fans rahter than those like me.

Applies only for a new player. My opinion was exactly the same at first but after I did all quests and dialogs in BG2 for a zillion times I started to see that BG1 actually has maybe less epic but more sensible and simply better main story, main villain and better writing, BG2 has better meaningfull personal quests like Anomen, Jan, Keldorn and fun cheesy HLA and thats it. Classic blunder: BG2 is better than BG1 but not really.

BG1 with its "empty" stuff and walking walking walking walking............ actually has devilishly clever, ingenious main story and a perfect villain (your own alter ego!) with his party being somewhat like a mirror image (oh, the puns) of your own party.

Oh, yeah Corwin for the win!!

[Lava]

Yeah, I'm totally a new player... Zero experience. And it has *nothing* to do with what you want to get from a games and what you enjoy and what you find boring... Seriously.

[InKal]

No, please dont take my horrible english personally!

Well, there are specific mods, very good mods, that are only really enjoyable (at least for me) when played for the first time. I mean Assasinations and G3 anniversary mod are the most accurate examples but there are more, much more like Jan extended quest, not to mention actually classic bludner Improved Iilych (I played it only two times and then never installed it again). Ofcourse all these mods are AMAZING and if you can play them zillion times enjoying them every time - more powah to ya. I prefer to walking walking walking in BG1 instead, which is not even that boring anymore thanks to some great modder who speds a lot of time making mods for a "boring" game. ;pppppp

[megrimlock]

So running the series of incompatible mods I mentioned earlier in the thread, I've hit my first problem.

When I am captured by Irenicus in Spellhold, Corwin has a shouting match with Jon from her cell immediately after me berating Yoshimo for his betrayal, ending with something like Jon saying to her "enjoy your last moments of autonomy, child". Then the game hangs and I can't move on. I loaded an autosave from outside the Asylum and sent Corwin back to Athkatla, thankfully she was still there waiting after I fast-tracked through the Underdark and she rejoined me to fight Bodhi.

No problems until then, other than the cognitive dissonance of having two Soultaker daggers when exiting Chateau Irenicus...

Edited September 3, 2023 by megrimlock

[LCAMod]

3 hours ago, megrimlock said:

So running the series of incompatible mods I mentioned earlier in the thread, I've hit my first problem.

When I am captured by Irenicus in Spellhold, Corwin has a shouting match with Jon from her cell immediately after me berating Yoshimo for his betrayal, ending with something like Jon saying to her "enjoy your last moments of autonomy, child". Then the game hangs and I can't move on. I loaded an autosave from outside the Asylum and sent Corwin back to Athkatla, thankfully she was still there waiting after I fast-tracked through the Underdark and she rejoined me to fight Bodhi.

No problems until then, other than the cognitive dissonance of having two Soultaker daggers when exiting Chateau Irenicus...

Thanks! I'll see if it's something I can reproduce on my end. If so I should be able to fix it. 

[LCAMod]

19 hours ago, megrimlock said:

So running the series of incompatible mods I mentioned earlier in the thread, I've hit my first problem.

When I am captured by Irenicus in Spellhold, Corwin has a shouting match with Jon from her cell immediately after me berating Yoshimo for his betrayal, ending with something like Jon saying to her "enjoy your last moments of autonomy, child". Then the game hangs and I can't move on. I loaded an autosave from outside the Asylum and sent Corwin back to Athkatla, thankfully she was still there waiting after I fast-tracked through the Underdark and she rejoined me to fight Bodhi.

No problems until then, other than the cognitive dissonance of having two Soultaker daggers when exiting Chateau Irenicus...

The bug you described has been fixed. It helped when you explained how Corwin was in a cell. She's supposed to be in the main chamber, with Irenicus, Bodhi and the player. A video showing how the encounter is supposed to progress is here: Spellhold Encounter - Corwin in Party - YouTube

Thanks again for reporting the issue. I'm a little over halfway through playtesting. I'll get to the compatibility issue you described before the v1 release.

[megrimlock]

To be clear, it appears only to be a thematic incompatibility at this point, not mechanical. Having a second dagger didn't impact me in any way in this run. Though I did not attempt to progress the Skie mod beyond picking the dagger up.

[megrimlock]

This time I returned to Baldur's Gate as intended. I did the Elfsong quest (and also checked that I could do the Cowled Menace quest in this section of the city - I could), however Corwin then said she needed to get back to her family. If I say "not yet", she just repeats it. But when I gave in and said "lead the way", I teleported to her house, and yet she kept saying it over and over, reloading the house and stalling the game from progressing.

I got round this by loading an older save and going straight to her house and dropping her off with her family to allow me to continue from here.

[LCAMod]

2 hours ago, megrimlock said:

This time I returned to Baldur's Gate as intended. I did the Elfsong quest (and also checked that I could do the Cowled Menace quest in this section of the city - I could), however Corwin then said she needed to get back to her family. If I say "not yet", she just repeats it. But when I gave in and said "lead the way", I teleported to her house, and yet she kept saying it over and over, reloading the house and stalling the game from progressing.

I got round this by loading an older save and going straight to her house and dropping her off with her family to allow me to continue from here.

Thanks, I'll fix that on the next release. She's supposed to prompt to return to her family four times (waiting an hour between prompts), afterwards she will return on her own. I have a feeling I forgot to reset the timer upon declining to return.

[LCAMod]

6 hours ago, megrimlock said:

This time I returned to Baldur's Gate as intended. I did the Elfsong quest (and also checked that I could do the Cowled Menace quest in this section of the city - I could), however Corwin then said she needed to get back to her family. If I say "not yet", she just repeats it. But when I gave in and said "lead the way", I teleported to her house, and yet she kept saying it over and over, reloading the house and stalling the game from progressing.

I got round this by loading an older save and going straight to her house and dropping her off with her family to allow me to continue from here.

This has been fixed in the current release. The bug you encountered was due to a scripting error regarding the timers associated with the Return to Baldur's Gate quest. There's an outstanding issue with the transition from the end of the Return to Baldur's Gate quest to Saradush. I'll fix it tomorrow. Thanks again for your help.

[megrimlock]

Some further issues:

- I went to the Low Lantern and spoke to Tianna, but she didn't appear to have any problem (contrary to the quest name listed)

- I went to the Iron Throne building. I am directed to Virgil who has nothing of note to say. I guess that might be tied up with something else, but there is a small error - the merchant I speak to immediately on entering tells me (correctly) that Virgil is on the fourth floor. A guard then approaches me and says Virgil is on the third floor. Doesn't seem to be any point to the guard lying or being wrong, so it justs looks like an error.

- The front door of Seven Suns is lying open, but there is no cursor icon when I try to click on it to go inside.

- The user guide suggested I check out the Hall of Wonders. I didn't find anything new there.

- The Helm and Cloak inn has two identical barkeeps. I didn't go in all the other inns to check them.

- And the timer for the debrief doesn't appear to work, because after 24 hours nothing happens and if I go in the Ducal Palace, nothing is going on. Same after 48 hours. So I used the debug assistant to play the debrief cutscene, which it does, but I don't advance beyond that, because the "Defender of Baldur's Gate" scrawl after it just keeps looping. Not sure what to do from here.

[LCAMod]

9 minutes ago, megrimlock said:

Some further issues:

- I went to the Low Lantern and spoke to Tianna, but she didn't appear to have any problem (contrary to the quest name listed)

- I went to the Iron Throne building. I am directed to Virgil who has nothing of note to say. I guess that might be tied up with something else, but there is a small error - the merchant I speak to immediately on entering tells me (correctly) that Virgil is on the fourth floor. A guard then approaches me and says Virgil is on the third floor. Doesn't seem to be any point to the guard lying or being wrong, so it justs looks like an error.

- The front door of Seven Suns is lying open, but there is no cursor icon when I try to click on it to go inside.

- The user guide suggested I check out the Hall of Wonders. I didn't find anything new there.

- The Helm and Cloak inn has two identical barkeeps. I didn't go in all the other inns to check them.

- And the timer for the debrief doesn't appear to work, because after 24 hours nothing happens and if I go in the Ducal Palace, nothing is going on. Same after 48 hours. So I used the debug assistant to play the debrief cutscene, which it does, but I don't advance beyond that, because the "Defender of Baldur's Gate" scrawl after it just keeps looping. Not sure what to do from here.

1. For the Tianna's Problem quest, Corwin needs to be in your party.

2. If memory serves, the Slaver Conspiracy quest is only available if you rescue the slave girl from the stockade in Athkatla, while Corwin is in your party. The slave girl, when rescued, tells the party that she was a refugee from Caelar's crusade, and she was sent initially to Baldur's Gate, then sold to someone in Amn. I'll double check the conditions that trigger the quest, but I'm pretty sure my memory is correct (in this rare instance)

3. Odd, I'll check it out.

4. Corwin needs to be in your party for the Hall of Wonders cutscene.

5. Will check on that.

6. The debrief timer was fixed in the most recent build. I tested it yesterday by just resting three times and it worked. Are you running v0.2.8 (posted early this morning), or an earlier version? The update also fixes the Defender of Baldur's Gate scrawl, so that you can progress further. There's a separate issue in the transition from Baldur's Gate to Saradush that I will fix tonight.

 

Edited September 5, 2023 by LCAMod

[megrimlock]

Re 2, I was able to speak to the Marshall about the slave girl even though I didn't do the quest in SoA. He sent me to the Harbormaster.

I am not confident I can install the newest build without breaking my EET install. But nothing ventured nothing gained, right? Kinda reluctant to start the whole saga over a third time from the beginning. But I do like this mod, especially the feel of BG city having moved on from the crusade.

[LCAMod]

6 minutes ago, megrimlock said:

Re 2, I was able to speak to the Marshall about the slave girl even though I didn't do the quest in SoA. He sent me to the Harbormaster.

I am not confident I can install the newest build without breaking my EET install. But nothing ventured nothing gained, right? Kinda reluctant to start the whole saga over a third time from the beginning. But I do like this mod, especially the feel of BG city having moved on from the crusade.

Oh, I see what you mean. I'll double check the conditions on that quest, in any case. Thanks! If at some point you do run the mod again, I suggest trying it while in a romance with Corwin. It's a romance mod after all, and there's a lot of content that you won't see otherwise.

[LCAMod]

5 hours ago, megrimlock said:

Some further issues:

- I went to the Low Lantern and spoke to Tianna, but she didn't appear to have any problem (contrary to the quest name listed)

- I went to the Iron Throne building. I am directed to Virgil who has nothing of note to say. I guess that might be tied up with something else, but there is a small error - the merchant I speak to immediately on entering tells me (correctly) that Virgil is on the fourth floor. A guard then approaches me and says Virgil is on the third floor. Doesn't seem to be any point to the guard lying or being wrong, so it justs looks like an error.

- The front door of Seven Suns is lying open, but there is no cursor icon when I try to click on it to go inside.

- The user guide suggested I check out the Hall of Wonders. I didn't find anything new there.

- The Helm and Cloak inn has two identical barkeeps. I didn't go in all the other inns to check them.

- And the timer for the debrief doesn't appear to work, because after 24 hours nothing happens and if I go in the Ducal Palace, nothing is going on. Same after 48 hours. So I used the debug assistant to play the debrief cutscene, which it does, but I don't advance beyond that, because the "Defender of Baldur's Gate" scrawl after it just keeps looping. Not sure what to do from here.

All of these issues have now been fixed. I also updated the user guide to make it a bit more clear what triggers certain things to happen. Thanks!