Adding new NPC mods after EET install

[Holden]

Looks like I have a decision to make then.  I didn't give this mod much of a look initially, but I've grown attached to the BG1 companions, especially since their personalities were fleshed out by the banter pack.  I don't care about new items or areas much since I haven't modded much in that regard anyways, and at least the banters will remain intact.

Thanks so much for the assistance everyone.  I am surprised the community support is so robust for such an old game.

[jastey]

Just in case you are not aware, there is also stand-alone mods for BG1 NPCs to bring them to BGII. Some are more flashed out than in BG1NPCs for SoA&ToB, and some have a little other characterization. BG1NPCs for SoA&ToB yields to them if you install it after, so if you want to see BG1NPCs for SoA&ToB's version, do not install the stand alone BG1 NPC mods.

The standalone mods might be interesting if you liked the NPCs characterization in BG1NPC Project, since some are written by the BG1NPC Project authors (e.g. Ajantis, Branwen, Coran, Kivan, Xan).

[Graion Dilach]

Water Gardens will appear on the EET Worldmap, it won't appear on the BP-BGT Worldmap though. That work is stuck on awaiting the next version of BP-BGT Worldmap.

[jastey]

19 minutes ago, Graion Dilach said:

Water Gardens will appear on the EET Worldmap

Yes, but still only for a new game.

Still, thanks for the heads up.

20 minutes ago, Graion Dilach said:

That work is stuck on awaiting the next version of BP-BGT Worldmap.

What is the problem? If it's just tagging a new release, I could do that.

[Graion Dilach]

I dont think you should, @Weigo and @Roberciiik seems to be working a lot of stuff these days (although at this point I'm also considering to just PR the definition to Worldmap instead of BGNPCSoA to ignore the dependency issue).

[Austin]

16 hours ago, jastey said:

@Austin does BG1NPCs in SoA&ToB add areas to the EET worldmap?

Starting from version 14 (and in the current version 14.2), the Water Gardens location has been added to the world map (except for cases when the mod map also uses the "BGT-BP Worldmap" mod - in this case the compatibility problem remains, as Graion Dilach wrote above). So the game must be started again after installing the mod, otherwise it will not appear on the map. I actually forgot to mention this, sorry!  

Regarding the new items added - in fact, many new spells and items are added in only two components of the mod - "Water Gardens" and "Kagain". The remaining components add almost no new items.

Edited September 25, 2023 by Austin

[Austin]

15 hours ago, Holden said:

I didn't give this mod much of a look initially, but I've grown attached to the BG1 companions, especially since their personalities were fleshed out by the banter pack.  I don't care about new items or areas much since I haven't modded much in that regard anyways, and at least the banters will remain intact.

In this case, I would recommend simply not installing the "Water Gardens" component, installing only those components that add your favorite NPCs - for example, Xzar and Montaron, Shar-Teel, Garrick, Coran and Safana, Tiax (I especially recommend him!). The listed NPCs contain a lot of content and do not add new worldmap areas or a lot of items, so there should be no problems even in the case of a large build of the game.. 

But be sure to install the mod after other (separate) mods of these NPCs to avoid “duplicating” these NPCs. The "BG1 NPC in SoA&ToB" mod will check if there is already another mod for the same NPC in the game and, in case of a conflict, will skip its installation. For example, if you are using Lava's "Quayle in BG2" mod, the "Tiax and Quayle" component will only install Tiax.

Edited September 25, 2023 by Austin

[Roberciiik]

5 hours ago, jastey said:

What is the problem? If it's just tagging a new release, I could do that.

Thanks for your offer, I will handle that. We finished the current work for the future release, so I will bump a new version shortly (I hope this week). Sorry @Graion Dilach for a delay and inconvenience. 

[Holden]

Okay so last night I uninstalled everything up to my npc mods, installed the BG1 npc mod, and then reinstalled all my mods after.  I used the weidu log to input the exact same components and choices for SCS and all tweaks, etc.  

I just reloaded my save and was delighted that everything seems to be working normally.

Unfortunately, this happened before I saw all these recent replies.  So now I have the Water Gardens installed at the same time I have the BGT-BP world map mod installed....argh.

I don't care about having a world map icon for convenience sake, but does not having the icon show up mean I can't go there to that location all?  No way to go there manually from the game world?  And, most importantly, will it cause some sort of conflict that might crash my game?

I'm willing to go back and update my install, but I'd rather not if there is no threat of a crash.  Also, this will not be a problem for new games I'm guessing?

[Holden]

9 hours ago, jastey said:

Just in case you are not aware, there is also stand-alone mods for BG1 NPCs to bring them to BGII. Some are more flashed out than in BG1NPCs for SoA&ToB, and some have a little other characterization. BG1NPCs for SoA&ToB yields to them if you install it after, so if you want to see BG1NPCs for SoA&ToB's version, do not install the stand alone BG1 NPC mods.

The standalone mods might be interesting if you liked the NPCs characterization in BG1NPC Project, since some are written by the BG1NPC Project authors (e.g. Ajantis, Branwen, Coran, Kivan, Xan).

Yes I actually had the NPC mod for Kivan that puts him in BG2 along with his wife.  I didn't see many others of note, or I had errors installing them.  Mostly I want Kagain, Monty and Xzar, and Branwen preserved, which the BG1 to BG2 NPC mod covers.  Thanks for the suggestions though!

[megrimlock]

24 minutes ago, Holden said:

I don't care about having a world map icon for convenience sake, but does not having the icon show up mean I can't go there to that location all?  No way to go there manually from the game world?  And, most importantly, will it cause some sort of conflict that might crash my game?

I'm willing to go back and update my install, but I'd rather not if there is no threat of a crash.  Also, this will not be a problem for new games I'm guessing?

You should be able to simply use the console command C:MoveToArea("ARBGX2")

I'm pretty sure I did that on the install where it didn't show up on the map (I must have been using bp-bgt-worldmap in that install).

[Holden]

I'm fine with doing that as a workaround, especially since the issue won't pop up on any new playthroughs.  Thanks for updating the coordinates--will give it a try when I get to that point in the game.

[Holden]

Ok, so it actually looks like my save game was not preserved at all.  The journal is completely wiped clean, and new quests do not show up in the journal either.  

I had prepared myself mentally for having to start a fresh new game (lol), and so I did.  But now the install has new problems.  Conversations do not trigger properly, resulting in conversations that "end" whenever I am prompted for a reply.  For instance, the traveler you meet upon exiting Candlekeep, when he steps up to you and asks you a question, the dialog box just disappears.  If I talk to him again, then my dialog choices appear.  It seems like triggers are not activating all over the place...sometimes adding a new party member does not actually add them until I engage them in conversation again.  

Is this a common problem?  I can't think of what it would be aside from the BG1 to BG2 npc mod, since everything else after that mod installed pretty much without incident.  I've posted my Weidu again in case anybody cares to see it.

WeiDU.log

[Austin]

On 9/26/2023 at 1:42 AM, Holden said:

Ok, so it actually looks like my save game was not preserved at all.  The journal is completely wiped clean, and new quests do not show up in the journal either.  

I had prepared myself mentally for having to start a fresh new game (lol), and so I did.  But now the install has new problems.  Conversations do not trigger properly, resulting in conversations that "end" whenever I am prompted for a reply.  For instance, the traveler you meet upon exiting Candlekeep, when he steps up to you and asks you a question, the dialog box just disappears.  If I talk to him again, then my dialog choices appear.  It seems like triggers are not activating all over the place...sometimes adding a new party member does not actually add them until I engage them in conversation again.  

Is this a common problem?  I can't think of what it would be aside from the BG1 to BG2 npc mod, since everything else after that mod installed pretty much without incident.  I've posted my Weidu again in case anybody cares to see it.

WeiDU.log 24.12 kB · 3 downloads

"BG1 NPC in SoA&ToB" mod does not affect the BG1 game and cannot affect the dialogues in BG1. I can’t say exactly what the reason is, but during the reinstallation process, perhaps one of the mods was not completely removed before reinstallation, which resulted in errors. Have you removed mods manually using the installer in each mod's setup file? I recommend doing exactly this, otherwise automatic reinstallation may create such errors.

[Holden]

Actually, it was not that mod that was conflicting that was the error.  I peeled back each mod using the installation exe for each, but I could never isolate the error.  I think you're correct, and there was some previous adjustment I had made in the mod order which corrupted the entire thing.  

I just did a fresh install all over again and this time it seems like everything's working.  It's funny--I swear I get different results every time I run through this, and I can't explain what I did differently this time.  If it works it works though!