What's New?

[CoM_Solaufein]

What's new in the modding scene since 2021? Tools, updates to the EE games, other things?

[InKal]

Everybody and their dog is waiting for SCS 35, I guess. 

 

Near Infinity is reguraly updated by Argent77. Updates to ee games? beamdog moved on to make some stupid games nobody gives a shit about so only unofficial like eefixpack is in development but I wll spare you my personal opinion about that. I will also keep my personal opinion about EET for myself.

Mods are really great, like Lava mods and many others like Tidings recently and two quest mods for BG1EE, Black Hearts and Thiefs Guild for BG1. 

There are two special mods, for me personaly. One is Expanded Classes and the other Skills and Abilities. Both are amazing mods I can not play without. but there is a trap, hhaha. Both mods especially S&A can make your game extremely easy. Legacy of Bhalls is too stupid and Improved Anvil too hard (you really must try it to understand, this mod is an anomaly hahah). Only hope is Tactics reboot (it is just too small and also too easy) and maybe Angel's mod but he completely stopped updating it looks like. 

So there is really no hope. Boldur's Gate modding scene is dead, bro.

[Lurker]

1 hour ago, InKal said:

especially S&A can make your game extremely easy.

True, but it's up to each individual to find the right balance in combining mods.

A dwarven paladin (cdtweaks) or kit combined with S&A components gets +1 APR while wielding a two-hander, +bonus damage for high strength (always), +bonus damage for high charisma (innate ability), +2 magical damage that bypasses many defenses (HLA), has shorty saves for high CON, paladin bonus saves and more bonus saves from the proficiency that you need for part of the APR increase anyway. Plus ways to get another 20% physical DR, combined.

I was grinning like a madman when my charname melee'd a demilich in 1 round.

[lynx]

Tooling is still regularly updated and perhaps you saw that recently a weidu GUI was released.

Beamdog got acquired and downsized, so the chances of further updates are even slimmer.

[Lurker]

Just now, lynx said:

Beamdog got acquired and downsized, so the chances of further updates are even slimmer.

Which also applies to the probability of a half-hearted update breaking more than it solves, does it not?

[Graion Dilach]

Guys, could you actually not assume things about Beamdog's state on the IE games literally within the 24 hours they fixed up Android?

Sure, I have my doubts on the 64 bit PSTEE conversion promised there as well (although it would be cool if that Modron Maze issue would get a fix), but eh, if they only concentrate to the engine issues, that would be enough.

Edited November 1, 2023 by Graion Dilach

[subtledoctor]

Feh. iOS is still on 2.5 since… 2018? Five years now without a basic parity patch? Six years since IWDEE gas been unmoddable, and Beamdog - supposedly former modders and mod-friendly developers - don’t care? Even the base-model iPad and iPad Mini use full-size screens, but the BG games are still in 4x3 big black bars on the screen, designed for the 2010 ipad. Meanwhile according to some recent example numbers, lately 87% of teens are using iOS. Beamdog is skating to where puck is not, and making a horrible first impression on a massive potential market. (What must kids think when they fire up a game and it doesn’t even fit the screen? A screen for which reference hardware has been available for almost seven years? What a way to put your worst foot forward.)

Oh right they have been focused on Myth Force. Because, you know, mechanically-shallow roguelite with a hokey retro aesthetic will really make you stand out from the crowd. None of those crowding the market already… 

GenX’s kids are growing into the age where they will play long-form games. Dungeons & Dragons is more popular and socially acceptable than it was at any time in history. There is, by some miracle, a chance for these games to continue to sell, even 20 years after being developed. If you have a cow that gives the best milk around, you milk the damn cow! But Beamdog is butchering it instead, by a thousand small cuts. 

Edited November 1, 2023 by subtledoctor

[Thacobell]

There's also the issue of Beamdog's launcher, required by them, just doesn't work on Linux because it used libs so old, they are flagged as security risks. No modern OS can run it.

[lynx]

While bad, since they could've just shipped it like all the other libraries, you just have to install that specific old OpenSSL and it then runs. Not trivial, but doable.

Graion: cool, I'm happy on behalf of others. But a minor Android API bump is likely a trivial patch and rebuild away, not something substantial. Could make modding harder though, if the previous versions were still on the API that allowed external storage.

[Graion Dilach]

14 minutes ago, Thacobell said:

There's also the issue of Beamdog's launcher, required by them, just doesn't work on Linux because it used libs so old, they are flagged as security risks. No modern OS can run it.

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1202594/#Comment_1202594

6 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

Meanwhile according to some recent example numbers, lately 87% of teens are using iOS.

Sauce? According to my example numbers derived from my social connections, iOS is 5% and that's already artifically boosted due to one of my prior workplaces enforcing iPhones as company phones. Besides, we're in a recession, so 87% of the households couldn't afford it anyway. It just doesn't add up.

[lynx]

Oh, so there's two things. Let me qualify my previous comment for the base game itself. It just doesn't work out of the box.

Edited November 1, 2023 by lynx

[subtledoctor]

4 hours ago, Graion Dilach said:

According to my example numbers derived from my social connections

Here is a recent survey of US teens. 

That’s kids, mind you, but kids are the population I was discussing.

Overall, here is an article from last year noting iOS overtaking Android in overall US marketshare.

I’m sure there are locations on the globe where you could demarcate a population in which only 5% use iOS. And maybe your friend group is one of them! (Congratulations…?) But my point was about tweens and teens currently getting into RPGs. iOS seems to dominate that crowd. Or at least be a notable enough platform that the game should not be ignored and left to fester for six years. 

Edited November 1, 2023 by subtledoctor

[Graion Dilach]

I can't drive, so I'm relying on public transport to commute. I see more than enough tweens on the bus, so my experience is as appropriate as what, extrapolating three cities worth of kids to the whole country. (No, seriously, Hungary's population is 9M and even here I can't take a representative survey involved less than 20,000 people serious, let alone for a country which has 35 times the population). In fact, my own view of ~450 kids on the public transport is closely equal to the percentage of population your survey works with.

Your other link is paywalled, so I can't comment on that.

[subtledoctor]

Dude. You claim to see about 450 kids on the bus? And never particularly looked at their phones (because, that would be a bit creepy), and now you think it over in your head and you want to pin it to a number? Which you came up with after having heard something you want to challenge. 

Versus a professionally managed survey of n=10,000 by people with no horse in this race. Are you actually arguing your “ride the bus, think about it later” methodology invalidates that? That’s not how statistics work. 

The paywalled headline is visible, and clear, and what I said: overall U.S. iOS marketshare is higher than Android. Published last year. Does your Hungarian bus method provide you data to controvert that one?  Which do you think is more important for Beamdog’s business decisions. 

Which, now I think about it… maybe the Beamdog devs ride the Hungarian bus as well? And they do base their business decisions on anecdotal observations? That would explain some things… 

Edited November 2, 2023 by subtledoctor

[Guest Graion|Work]

You want actual data? Have some!

Mobile Operating System Market Share Worldwide | Statcounter Global Stats

Yes, this site also confirms US and the NA geography has iOS beating Android and having a bigger userbase, which correlates with your data. However, according to this, only Australia and the North America geopgraphies are where iOS is leading, all the other regions report 30% market share at best.

Also, I've learnt statistics and I am fully aware how they work - aggregating from a small source will lead to inaccuracies (I required statistics for my first thesis, because my topic necessitated gathering a large enough sample for reproduciability!). And despite the fact that I acknowledge I was apparently more dismissive on your sources than I should have, I will stick to my initial assessment that the sample size on your study is still too small.

Regardless, my own eyes support the data I've found. For the record, that site reports 20% for Hungary, and I can imagine that valid with it mostly coming from the snobbish upper mid-class, which I don't interact with. I always thought the Apple promotions in Hollywood was necessary expenses to maintain brand strength and paid advertisements, instead of being reality over there.