My latest super-modded EET game - with more IWD

[jmerry]

On 2/20/2024 at 1:47 PM, subtledoctor said:

Or maybe it is gated behind a druid class check, and my class is logged as fighter/druid because I am an incomplete dual-class? We'll see.

Regarding class checks, you can check for DRUID, FIGHTER_DRUID, or DRUID_ALL which is true for either of the previous two. On dual classes, this is what the IESDP has to say:

Quote

Dual-classed characters will detect only as their new class until their original class is re-activated, then they will detect as a multi-classed character.

So an incomplete F -> D dual will be detected by DRUID_ALL, but not FIGHTER_DRUID. And I'm not sure about DRUID; I'd have to test that.

On 2/20/2024 at 6:24 PM, subtledoctor said:

Meantime, slight hiccup: every time I kill Llyrk in the Black Pits, my game freezes up. I can’t tell why. There’s nothing odd about his .CRE file. No lingering effects or anything. Maybe it’s something in the arena area script? 

Are you still on game version 2.5? I'm not sure exactly what the bug was there, but it's fixed in patch 2.6. If you can't update the game ... my experience was that pausing a whole lot increased the chance of getting through without the crash. Also, don't repeat the fight, as the skeletons instantly die and the fight is trivialized if you repeat it in 2.5.

[subtledoctor]

On 2/22/2024 at 6:07 PM, jmerry said:

Regarding class checks, you can check for DRUID, FIGHTER_DRUID, or DRUID_ALL which is true for either of the previous two. On dual classes, this is what the IESDP has to say:

Yeah, I just forget what class check I used. As far as the IESDP, it’s been a long time since I looked into this but it is a bit more messy than that. How the internal game engine handles single-classes versus multiclasses versus incomplete duals versus complete duals, in different contexts (script triggers versus op177 versus etc.) is a bit chaotic. If you dig deep enough you can see that dual-classing was kind of shoehorned in. EDIT - now I remember: the intersection of dual classes with WEAPPROF and PROFSMAX is particularly weird. 

On 2/22/2024 at 6:07 PM, jmerry said:

Are you still on game version 2.5? I'm not sure exactly what the bug was there, but it's fixed in patch 2.6

Yes, I am still on v2.5, in 2024, because on iOS and Beamdog sucks  donkey balls.

Edited March 16 by subtledoctor

[subtledoctor]

I didn't expect Baeloth to succumb to this:

Good job, Neera!

Black Pits done, Eldoth dead, I picked up Imoen and returned to BG to follow up on some quests for Balduran's Sea Tower and Black Hearts. Unfortunately, Black Hearts is hitting a bug where a variable isn't advancing as it should be, and Nerys' dialogue is breaking and preventing me from continuing with the mod. Seems fixable.

EDIT - okay Nerys was an easy fix - C:SetGlobal("WINerysMet","GLOBAL",3) in the console and she correctly gives me the talk about Riezen. But then the projected image of Illasera appears and has odd dialogue, and tries to join my party (!) to the point where it actually softlocks the game in the party management screen. Sigh. I don't have high hopes for finishing this one...

EDIT 2 - yeah it is totally busted. WIILLIMG.DLG looks fine to me in Near Infinity, but when the projected image is talking to me it bugs out every time and tries to join my party. For the life of me I cannot see what the issue it. But I think I am going to give up on it.

Edited February 25 by subtledoctor

[subtledoctor]

Okay I realized that the projected image of Illasera is only there for conversation and then is never necessary again so… I just skipped it. Avdanced the WINerysMet variable to 4, advanced the BHBGQuest variable to… 8 I think, then met Illasera at the Elfsong and consoled in Nerys. Had the next conversation, went after Spider Man, then returned to Illasera. She told me to find Nerys at the Drakon Tavern. But, Nerys is not there. My global quiest variable is 11, but the next conversation with Nerys has a trigger requiring that variable to be at 13. I can’t tell if this is a bug, or just an inscrutable part of a mod with no direction and no journal entry. 

[Morgoth]

I don't remember. Or I would help with Nerys. Only thing I suggest is giving the diary to Illasera.

Edited February 27 by Morgoth

[Morgoth]

In your modlist, where would you install Ascension and
 

Bubb revert pathfinding
Bubb spell menu
EEex
Hidden gameplay options
LefreutUI

I would guess the last 5 mods I mentioned you would install them first. What about Ascension? Quest mods? Before npcs ? 

[subtledoctor]

On 2/29/2024 at 3:18 PM, Morgoth said:

In your modlist, where would you install Ascension and
 

Bubb revert pathfinding
Bubb spell menu
EEex
Hidden gameplay options
LefreutUI

UI first. Ascension early. I know nothing about EEex, it doesn't work on my platforms.

In other news: I just did a quick install of EET, IWD1_EET, IWD2_EET, and NWNforBG. And it turns out that, while the NWN mod is like 3 or 4 GB large, it only adds a about 12,000 files to /override. That would take my install from ~120,000 files to ~132,000 files. And the override folder from ~6.5 GB to 9.5 GB. On the mobile platform, I'm not sure which of those things hit performance hardest. If file count matters more, then adding the NWN campaign should be pretty much fine on my platfom. If total size of the override folder matters more, then a 40% increase will probably make the game unplayable. Hmmm,,,

Well, it's worth a try at least. I was thinking about making this install my "final BG2 install" and just leaving it on the iPad. But it looks like I've got one more try ahead of me in 2024...

Not til after this game is over though. Then maybe I'll make that connective mod bridging the IWD and NWN campaigns, and make that the next one I play.

[Isewein]

Quote

• I moved aTweaks Scroll Scribing waaaay early, when I saw that Brandock has some particular coding that only kicks in of he is installed after aTweaks. But it is crazy to install an NPC after the usual aTweaks spot (after SCS, after EET_end), so I moved the aTweaks component earlier. I'm not sure that's a good idea - that means it is installed before any spell mods? Does aTweaks Scroll Scribing need to know about all spell mods at install-time? I don't know, I haven't looked at the code. But, in gameplay I rarely use that ability anyway. So if it is screwy it's not a huge deal. This can be an experiment.

Just a note on this, since I'm also trying to figure out aTweaks compatibilities: It looks to me that since Brandock's aTweaks compatibility patch is its own subcomponent, it would be safer to move this one subcomponent to the end of the install list rather than move aTweaks this early.

[jastey]

57 minutes ago, Isewein said:

It looks to me that since Brandock's aTweaks compatibility patch is its own subcomponent, it would be safer to move this one subcomponent to the end of the install list rather than move aTweaks this early.

Yes. That's why I put the aTweaks compatibility into an own component, not the general crossmod component. So it can be installed after aTweaks, which is a tweak mod, which should come late.

[subtledoctor]

Good points about that extra Brandock component, I will install it later in my next game. In the meantime, there does not (yet?) seem to be any harm done. Brandock can properly create scrolls at Firehose Elvenknuckles' house, everything seems to be working fine.

On 2/26/2024 at 11:53 PM, subtledoctor said:

Okay I realized that the projected image of Illasera is only there for conversation and then is never necessary again so… I just skipped it. Avdanced the WINerysMet variable to 4, advanced the BHBGQuest variable to… 8 I think, then met Illasera at the Elfsong and consoled in Nerys. Had the next conversation, went after Spider Man, then returned to Illasera. She told me to find Nerys at the Drakon Tavern. But, Nerys is not there. My global quiest variable is 11, but the next conversation with Nerys has a trigger requiring that variable to be at 13. I can’t tell if this is a bug, or just an inscrutable part of a mod with no direction and no journal entry. 

Update: I think the issue here is, you will only run into the bad guys at night. I went to the Drakon Tavern during the day and there was no sign of anyone, making me think there was a bug. I happened to go later and it all progressed properly. So no bugs there, just maybe wants a better journal entry.

I flew through Candlekeep, didn't bother fighting Rieltar, then veered to Durlag's Tower on the way out. Seems like a good time.

As usual, while passing through Ulgoth's Beard I thought about going to Balduran's Dog Run Island, but then I was like heck no, not doing that.

I was pleased to see Brandock still has some content happening at this late stage. Breagar left some things in a dramatic state - his rival was moving to complete the task he had failed at, and steal his beloved! But I have not see anything progress. Dunno if that is something that gets resolved in BG1, or is setting up the SoD/BG2 content.

I have half a mind to bring Jaheira and Khalid back on board for the end of BG1 and the final confrontation with Sarevok, just for story reasons. But I'm not sure who they would replace. Sirene and... Breagar? Neera? I kind of want to see all of Breagar and Neera's content. So maybe not - figure, J&K are off doing their own investigating, and I will see them later on in SoD.

So, on to confront the many, many figurative and literal ghosts of Durlag Trollkiller. Then I'll wrap up BG1 pretty quick (barring intervention by Illasera - I expect there are one or two more things to be done for Black Hearts)

Edited March 8 by subtledoctor

[Isewein]

Breagar's story only gets resolved in BG2, iirc, which would make it somewhat anticlimactic in a game that includes SoD, even though he has got some small comments here and there in between. It's not much though, so I suggest replacing him with Jaheira for SoD. Just make sure he's back in your party upon transition, or otherwise he won't show up in Chateau Irenicus (or at least that was the case in BGT).

Edited March 8 by Isewein

[subtledoctor]

Finished Durlag’s - was fine. As I mentioned elsewhere, some mods really add a crap-ton of OP equipment. Between that, and my added caster flexibility of 5E spellcasting and unlimited 1st-level spells, I could do the entire dungeon without resting. Sigh. I wish it was easier to get the experience of modders’ wonderful creativity, while somehow preserving the scarcity of magical artifacts that originally helped make BG1 fun. 

I find it is mostly quest modders who introduce these bad items. Just an example of meddling in areas that are not where their strengths lie. Maybe I’ll make a meta-mod specifically revising the item from certain mods… (Actually, I’ve already started that, it is in my personal end-of-order “finish up the install” mod… I just haven’t published it.)

I also finished Black Hearts, and it is So. Damn. Good. The work on the astral fortress is fantastic, the writing is great, the fights are very good. I love it. I think it has overtaken BST to become my single favorite BG1 mod. Normally I hate the conceit of “you are a bounty hunter/assassin, go fight things for money” but Black Hearts minimizes this to the point that I didn’t mind it. And, shockingly, I quite like the magic items added by the mod. The only issue is all the Thayans who carry droppable Rings of Protection, magical armor, and magical weapons. I would remove the rings, tone down the armor, and just make them higher-level or give them some interesting abilities. 

That, and fix the buggy scene with Nerys and phantom Illasera… aside from those things, I have no notes. It is damn near perfect.

[morpheus562]

I have heard a lot about Black Hearts recently, and I think I'm going to include it in my next playthrough.

[megrimlock]

Unbelievably, the author of Black Hearts disappeared for a long time after release because he convinced himself he was a hack and the mod was no good!

[Connelly]

Believably, impostor syndrome is sadly a thing. He seems to be back to finish the job though.