Reflections - Let's Make a Mod for EET

[subtledoctor]

I have an idea for a smallish mod, changing and adding some content to (currently) the end of BG1. And as I have been planning it, it occurred to me, it might be nice to post about it in real-time, as I make it. Some of the things I want to do are things I have never done before. So maybe it can serve as a kind of tutorial for others, to see what my process is like to go from concept to completed mod, and to see some of the code to make mods in this game. I'll write about the concept, what the gameplay goal is, and I will post my Weidu code with explanations for what each bit does. Maybe that will be helpful for others. Maybe people will have advice, or criticism, or other feedback as we go, and maybe the evolution of the mod will take some turns this way or that. We'll see!

Content-wise, the idea is basically a "Skip Siege of Dragonspear" mod. Now, I know there are already one or two of these out there. But those are very straightforward, just jumping straight from BG1 to BG2 like the old games did. I want to use some of the SoD content to fill out the end of the BG1 campaign, and create more of a story-driven transition. Moreover, I have always been a bit dissatisfied by the way Charname is handled at the end of BG1. You are whipsawed every which way, in a very short time.

• After Candlekeep you are wanted for murder, the Flaming Fist is actively hunting you down.
• You contrive to sneak into Sarevok's coronation ceremony, you trigger a violent encounter without any explanation, and as soon as it is over, Belt and Liia turn on a dime and you have their complete trust.
• They send you immediately to where Sarevok is, with no support or backup, and the task of bringing him to justice falls solely on this shoulders of this neophyte adventurer, recently wanted for several murders.
• You kill Sarevok, and are proclaimed the Hero of Baldur's Gate!
• But then, off-screen, something goes wrong and you are said to have left the city in disgrace.

There is just too much going on there. I want to keep Charname on the knife-edge of being either a hero or a villain. The dukes should absolutely not trust you, even after you intervene at the coronation. You could be Sarevok's ally, trying to usurp him at the last minute. You could be the true architect of all the strife. You could even be a Bhaalspawn just like Sarevok...! The dukes should demand that you prove your loyalty. And as you try to do that, complications will arise... long story short, you will never fully clear your name, you will not be the Hero of Baldur's Gate, and the dukes' mistrust of you will dog you directly into the transition to BG2.

I think this will be a kind of proof-of-concept mod - a way for me to learn how to do some script- and dialogue-modding to see what can be done. The irony of it is, in my own games I don't WANT to skip SoD. The SoD content is largely very good, and the gameplay is excellent. I have some problems with the story as written, just like I have problems with the end of BG1. But still, SoD is generally good Infinity Engine gameplay. So my goal here is not to actually cut that campaign out of the game. Rather, this quicker transition will enable the bulk of the SoD content to be used differently: either still between BG1 and BG2, but rewritten a bit, or moved and used for a very large quest mod later on in the BG2 portion of the game. But that would be a different and much larger project. For now, I will focus on this little thing. I have planned out what needs to be done and currently there are nine distinct pieces. I pretty much have the first part done, so I will post about it soon.

Part One: The Abyss Gazes Also Into You

Part Two: Death on Feathered Wings

Part Three: Belt Tightening

Part Four: Fight the Future

Part Five: The Boy Who Lived

Part Six: Not the End of the World

Part Seven: Choose a Side

Part Eight: Man in the Mirror

Oddly enough, this idea came to me while playing through Durlag's Tower, and I was thinking about how cool it would be for the player to grab a piece of that broken Mirror of Opposition, and use it elsewhere in the game. And so, that is the first task here. The working title for the mod is "Reflections," for reasons which, if they are not already obvious, will be soon.

EDIT - this mod is now playable! Probably still in beta condition, but if you want to try it out, you can get it here! If anyone wants to kick the tires, it is still fresh in my mind and I should be pretty responsive with help if anyone needs adjusting.

Edited May 7 by subtledoctor

[Morgoth]

I'm very interested. Very very interested.

Personally, I think that SoD should be cannibalized in both BG1 and Throne of Bhaal, by removing Caelar's arch altogether and even the descent into the avernus.

I think SoD was made more palatable by the various mods released for the other games (such as Hephernaan for BG2).

I'm left wondering if Artisan will ever come out with "The fallen light". 

 

[megrimlock]

Re "Fallen Light" , Love Conquers All already adds Caelar to TOB, I understand (though I didn't get that far in the beta).

So does Roxanne's mod, but that's another issue.

I am also interested in this, particularly if doc and/or morpheus are going to cannibalize other SoD assets into ToB thereafter.

Edited March 22 by megrimlock

[subtledoctor]

2 hours ago, Morgoth said:

Personally, I think that SoD should be cannibalized in both BG1 and Throne of Bhaal, by removing Caelar's arch altogether and even the descent into the avernus.

My first idea was to simply rewrite SoD. Caelar Argent causing untold death and strife just to rescue her uncle is just not believable enough. I get the themes the writers were trying to tap into, but it is simply too ham-fisted. (That is constructive criticism! The expansion on the whole is very well done.)

So I was like, just rewrite it a bit. Caelar is a charismatic, well-meaning, aasimar military leader. Her very blood pulls her to do justice. And she just heard that a Bhaalspawn has become the most powerful Duke of Baldur's Gate, and intends to start a war, and she has read the prophecies of Alaundo... so, set Caelar's army to march against Baldur's Gate itself. You know, to "save" the city from its own duke, and to prevent Bhaal being reborn in Sarevok. Charname is tasked with proving his loyalty by negotiating a truce... but someone contrives to make the negotiation happen at Boareskyr Bridge, and Charname is outed as a Bhaalspawn, and Caelar thinks it is all a big plot, and after her army is pushed back to her base at Dragonspear Castle, maybe she is tricked into resorting to desperate measures... etc. When you return to Baldur's Gate you are castigated for failing to stop the war - for in fact making it worse - and you are disgraced, and forced to leave the city. Bing, bang, boom, job done and the Skie/Soultaker plot can be removed in its entirety. Keep the cut scenes with her but just play it for comic relief. I think that is a simpler, more sensible story.

However, a lot of work, and so on the back burner. And then I was convinced that maybe the SoD content would in fact integrate better into the ToB section of the game. Which would be even more work. But even if we wanted to do that,. what to do about the BG1-BG2 transition...? And hey, I happen to have this idea kicking around, which is much more bite-sized. So, as I say, let's put it together as a proof-of-concept, and then someday if I want to work on shifting SoD to ToB, the first part will already have been handled.

And here we are.

I should say: as I have been reflecting on this (heh), I realized that a some of this covers similar ground to EndlessBG1 and Transitions. Specifically, pulling Korlasz's crypt forward from SoD to BG1, and then triggering the transition from BG1 to the next campaign through dialogue with the dukes. This is a common, sensible method. I very much don't want to step on other mods' toes or create competition or something like that. That's not my intent. As I say, I just want to write a little story-driven justification for it. It's not like Jastey is about to let me start writing content for EBG1; I could make a mod the requires that other mod to already be installed, but that gets really fiddly and annoying for players. So the only alternative is to cover a bit of the same ground.

[subtledoctor]

Part 1: "The Abyss Gazes Also Into You"

The first part is closest to the kinds of mods I have already made: make a new spell, and a cool new item, and place it in the game, with a few extra bells and whistles.

First I create a new text file and save it as (working title) "Reflections.tp2." Put the basic stuff at the top:

BACKUP ~weidu_external/backup/Reflections~
AUTHOR ~SubtleD~

BEGIN ~Reflections of Destiny Part 1: the Mirror Shard~
REQUIRE_PREDICATE (GAME_IS ~eet~) OR (GAME_INCLUDES ~sod~) ~ ~
DESIGNATED 100

I will do each of the nine parts as its own mod component, just for the sake of clarity and to allow working on one part without necessarily uninstalling/reinstalling earlier ones. May merge them all at the end, if appropriate. Also I am not going to bother traifying it, yet. That might have to happen in part 2, but here in part 1 there are only a handful of strings.

First let's make something fun: a spell that casts Simulacrum on a hostile target, creating a friendly clone to help you fight that target. This is basically what is done to you in Durlag's Tower... and by Irenicus in Spellhold... and by the Spirit Temple witch in ToB... and in the pocket plane... jeez, this trope might be a bit overdone in these games. At any rate, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, right? How fun to be able to do this to Irenicus??   (I should note, I have already made something like this before, so it came together pretty easily. That may not be the case in later sections, as I will have to learn whole new sections of Weidu dealing with dialogues.) I will use the basic Simulacrum spell for this, but it needs to do a bit more than the basic spell, so I need to add some conditions so that, when the game see Simulacrum being cast in this way, it works a bit differently.

Happily, this is possible. Every time you cast Simulacrum, the game engine automatically casts SIMULACR.SPL on the clone that gets created. Also, any permanent effects on the caster get applied to the clone. So the technique here is, apply a permanent effect on the caster when creating the clone, and then immediately remove it from the caster afterward. The effect will be a marker - I will apply a proficiency value in a part of the proficiency stats that the game doesn't use - and SIMULACR.SPL will apply conditional effects only to clones that have that proficiency value. The conditional effects will be to make sure the clone is created with a green circle, under the player's control. So you can use this on Firkraag and you will get a 60% strength clone of Firkraag fighting for you. But if Firkraag casts Simulacrum on himself the resulting clone will not go to your side, it will still keep a red circle and you will be fighting two Firkraags.

I will try to build spells in the Weidu code itself, so you can see exactly what goes into each spell. The alternative is to build the spell by hand in Near Infinity, and then ust use Weidu to COPY it into the game. The latter method is easier for beginners, but worse for tutorials. The way I will do this, i think, will be to copy SPIN101.SPL, the Bhaalspawn Cure Light Wounds innate ability, and delete all its effects and replace them with new ones. So here is the basic code for a "clone your enemy" spell:

Spoiler

APPEND ~SPLPROT.2DA~ ~D5_109_BIT=n%TAB%109%TAB%-1%TAB%8~ UNLESS ~D5_109_BIT=n~

COPY_EXISTING ~SPLPROT.2DA~ ~override~
    COUNT_2DA_COLS cols
    READ_2DA_ENTRIES_NOW rows cols
    FOR (row = 1; row < rows; ++row) BEGIN
      READ_2DA_ENTRY_FORMER rows row 0 ~stat~
      PATCH_IF (~%stat%~ STRING_EQUAL_CASE ~D5_109_BIT=n~) BEGIN
        SET 109_bit_equal = %row%
      END
    END
BUT_ONLY

COPY_EXISTING ~SPIN101.SPL~ ~override/D5SI8049.SPL~
    SAY NAME1 ~~
    SAY UNIDENTIFIED_DESC ~~
    LPF ALTER_SPELL_HEADER INT_VAR target = 1 END
    LPF DELETE_EFFECT END
    LPF ADD_SPELL_EFFECT INT_VAR insert_point = 0 target = 2 opcode = 233 parameter1 = (8 << 8) parameter2 = (109 + (0x10000 * 1)) timing = 9 END
    LPF ADD_SPELL_EFFECT INT_VAR opcode = 236 target = 2 parameter2 = 3 timing = 0 duration = 60 END
    LPF ADD_SPELL_EFFECT INT_VAR opcode = 215 target = 2 parameter2 = 3 timing = 1 duration = 0 STR_VAR resource = ~SPPROIMG~ END
    LPF ADD_SPELL_EFFECT INT_VAR opcode = 321 target = 2 timing = 4 duration = 2 STR_VAR resource = ~d5si8049~ END
BUT_ONLY

COPY_EXISTING ~SIMULACR.SPL~ ~override~
    LPF ADD_SPELL_EFFECT INT_VAR target = 2 opcode = 326 parameter1 = (8 << 8) parameter2 = %109_bit_equal% timing = 1 STR_VAR resource = ~d5simul9~ END
IF_EXISTS BUT_ONLY

COPY_EXISTING ~SPIN101.SPL~ ~override/D5SIMUL9.spl~
    SAY NAME1 ~~
    SAY UNIDENTIFIED_DESC ~~
    LPF DELETE_EFFECT END
    LPF ADD_SPELL_EFFECT INT_VAR opcode = 72 target = 2 parameter1 = 4 parameter2 = 0 timing = 1 END
    LPF ADD_SPELL_EFFECT INT_VAR opcode = 241 target = 2 parameter1 = 4 parameter2 = 1002 timing = 0 Duration = 1 END
BUT_ONLY

We set up SPLPROT.2DA to allow detection of the value of proficiency #109, which is an unused proficiency in the base game. We create D5SI8049.SPL (the naming is to make it compatible with my other mod) which 1) applies the permanent op233 proficiency effect to the target so that the clone will inherit it, then 2) creates the simulacrum clone and does a visual effect, then 3) uses op321 to remove itself so that the permanent op233 effect disappears from the target. In this case, even though proficiency 109 is unused in the base game, we will use proficiency value (8<<8) i.e. the 12th bit out of its 32 bits. Actual proficiencies only use the first 3 bits, so if another mod comes along and want to use this as a real proficiency, the two mods will work together.

We patch SIMULACR.SPL so that, only if the clone has the 12th bit of proficiency 109 set, it will cast D5SIMUL9.SPL on that clone. And we create D5SIMUL9.SPL to set the clone's AI type to a ALLY and then apply a Domination effect to make sure it is controllable. And Bob's your uncle! Now we have D5SI8049.SPL, which is a targetable version of Simulacrum!

Now, we want this spell to be usable from an item. In this case I created the item by hand in NI, since items are a bit more complicated than spells. I want this to work like a wand, so I took the Wand of Polymorphing as the basis for it, and changed the icon, and deleted the normal effects and replaced them with a simple op146 effect which casts D5SI8049.SPL on the target. No saving throw... though, I am open to feedback on that point. I am also unsure of who should be able to use this shard: should any dumb fighter be able to just pick it up and reflect their enemy? Or should it actually function like a wand, i.e. only wizards and those with the Use Magical Device feat can use its magic?

I saved a copy of this item with three charges as D5SHARD3.ITM, and another copy with only one charge as D5SHARD1.ITM. The Weidu code simply copies these items into the game and gives them names and descriptions:

Spoiler

COPY ~%MOD_FOLDER%/data/D5MSHARD.BAM~ ~override~

COPY ~%MOD_FOLDER%/data/D5SHARD3.ITM~ ~override~
	SAY NAME1 ~Mirror Shard~
	SAY UNIDENTIFIED_DESC ~Mirror Shard

This shard is a piece of an immensely powerful Mirror of Opposition, now broken. Even this small shard still carries some of the item's magic. If it is brandished at a creature and it captures their likeness, it can create a copy of that creature which is loyal to the holder of the Shard. The shard is quite fragile, however, and seems likely to break if used more than once or twice.~

COPY ~%MOD_FOLDER%/data/D5SHARD1.ITM~ ~override~
	SAY NAME1 ~Mirror Shard~
	SAY UNIDENTIFIED_DESC ~Mirror Shard

This shard is a piece of an immensely powerful Mirror of Opposition, now broken. Even this small shard still carries some of the item's magic. If it is brandished at a creature and it captures their likeness, it can create a copy of that creature which is loyal to the holder of the Shard. The shard is quite fragile, however, and seems likely to break if used more than once or twice.~

I was a bit unsure of what to use for the icon... I don't do Photoshop and I and not great with .BAM files. So for now, I have settled on a washed-out version of the icon for Black Blade of disaster, which actually kind of looks like some silvery-blue shards of glass with a bigger shard in the center:

It looks better when it is not so large and pixellated.

Now, we need to actually place these cool new items in the game. The first, easiest part is to simply put one on the Demon Knight at the bottom of Durlag's Tower. It will appear on the floor and seem as if it might be a piece broken off from the Mirror of Opposition beside him.

Spoiler

ACTION_IF (FILE_EXISTS_IN_GAME ~deathk.cre~) BEGIN
  COPY_EXISTING ~deathk.cre~ ~override~
	ADD_CRE_ITEM ~d5shard3~ #3 #0 #0 ~IDENTIFIED~ ~INV~
END

For reasons that will become clearer later, I also want to put one of these in Chateau Irenicus at the beginning of BG2, and I only want this one to have one charge. And by coincidence (?), Irenicus has been researching cloning techniques and there is a creature trapped there that is the spitting image of the Durlag's demon knight. In the unmodded game you turn a wheel and the 'cambion' is freed and attacks you. It is pretty boring - I don't even think there is any loot when you defeat it. Well, we can fix that! I will add one of these shards to the cambion... but let's add some drama. Let's say, when you turn the wheel something malfunctions, and the Mirror of Opposition effect works on the cambion! So you get a little reenactment/callback to Durlag's tower. Which, if you played through the rest of this mod, will give you a strong hint as to what Irenicus has been up to in the course of kidnapping you.

Spoiler

ACTION_IF (FILE_EXISTS_IN_GAME ~idemon02.cre~) BEGIN

<<<<<<<< d5/d5irecam.baf
IF
	See("D5MICAMB")
THEN
	RESPONSE #100
		Attack("D5MICAMB")
END
>>>>>>>>
COPY ~d5/d5irecam.baf~ ~weidu_external/reflections/compile/d5irecam.baf~
COMPILE ~weidu_external/reflections/compile/d5irecam.baf~

<<<<<<<< d5/d5mircam.baf
IF
	Die()
THEN
	RESPONSE #100
		ReallyForceSpellDead(Myself,FIREBALL_DEATH)
END

IF
	Dead("D5CAMBIO")
THEN
	RESPONSE #100
		DestroySelf()
END

IF
	See("D5CAMBIO") 
THEN
	RESPONSE #100
		Attack("D5CAMBIO")
END
>>>>>>>>
COPY ~d5/d5mircam.baf~ ~weidu_external/reflections/compile/d5mircam.baf~
COMPILE ~weidu_external/reflections/compile/d5mircam.baf~

COPY_EXISTING ~idemon02.cre~ ~override/d5idem01.cre~
	WRITE_ASCII 0x248 ~D5MIRCAM~ #8
	WRITE_ASCII 0x280 ~D5MICAMB~ #20

COPY_EXISTING ~idemon02.cre~ ~override~
	WRITE_ASCII 0x248 ~D5IRECAM~ #8
	WRITE_ASCII 0x280 ~D5CAMBIO~ #20
	ADD_CRE_ITEM ~d5shard1~ #1 #0 #0 ~IDENTIFIED~ ~INV~

END	//	end if idemon02

IDEMON02.CRE is the freed cambion. This creature actually has no override script. So we write a little script (D5IRECAM.BAF) that says "if you see a mirror cambion ("D5MICAMB"), attack it."

Next we write a script for the mirror cambion, which is a bit longer and was basically copied wholesale from the mirror demon knight in Durlag's Tower in BGEE. This script says "if I die, do a fireball; and if the normal cambion ("D5CAMBIO") dies, destroy myself; and if I see the normal cambion, attack it."

We COPY the normal cambion to create an identical mirror cambion, set its override script to the mirror script with WRITE_ASCII 0x248 ~D5MIRCAM~. This creature has no script name by which to identify it, so we will give it the identifier used in the normal cambion's script above, with WRITE_ASCII 0x280 ~D5MICAMB~.

Then we patch the regular cambion, giving it the override script above with WRITE_ASCII 0x248 ~D5IRECAM~, and give it its own identifiable script name (the one from the mirror cambion's script) with WRITE_ASCII 0x280 ~D5CAMBIO~. Finally, we use ADD_CRE_ITEM to give the cambion a shard with only one charge. Figure, Irenicus may have used it and maybe a charge was used up in the scripted fight we just set up, so now there is only one charge left.

Finally, we need to make sure that the cambion's mirror clone actually appears when he is released. Operating the machine to free him sets the "DemonWheel" global variable to 2, so I will add a block to the area script creating the clone when that condition is detected. The first area in Chateau Irenicus is AR0602.ARE, and that area sensibly uses AR0602.BCS as its area script. So we will check for the existence of that file (this mod may be installed on a basic BGEE+SOD game, and we don't want the install to fail if the BG2 area is not there), and then patch it:

Spoiler

ACTION_IF (FILE_EXISTS_IN_GAME ~ar0602.bcs~) BEGIN

<<<<<<<< d5/d5ar602+.baf
IF
	Global("DemonWheel","AR0602",2)
THEN
	RESPONSE #100
		Wait(2)
		CreateCreature("D5IDEM01",[2525.1100],9)  // Mirror Fiend
		SetGlobal("DemonWheel","AR0602",3)
		Continue()
END
>>>>>>>>
EXTEND_TOP ~ar0602.bcs~ ~d5/d5ar602+.baf~

END	//	end ar0602

And, that's it! Even at this early stage, we have created a fully-functioning mod that creates a cool new item, adds it to two creatures so the player can find it, and scripts a dramatic little fight sequence in an otherwise-uninteresting area at the beginning of BG2. (And what sweet, cathartic revenge to be able to make Frennedan fight a doppelganger of himself!)

EDIT - for anyone who wants to install it, kick tires, give feedback/suggestions/assistance, etc., I have put it up on Github here.

For the little it does, this is installable and playable on an EET game now. But we are not finished! Let's give this item a bit more importance, tie it into the main game's story a bit more. What could help harness the power of an artifact like the Mirror of Opposition? The game already includes an answer to that question... but to get it, we're going to have to kill someone. We'll do that in Part 2.

Edited April 3 by subtledoctor

[DavidW]

5 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

First let's make something fun: a spell that casts Simulacrum on a hostile target, creating a friendly clone to help you fight that target. This is basically what is done to you in Durlag's Tower... and by Irenicus in Spellhold... and by the Spirit Temple witch in ToB... and in the pocket plane... jeez, this trope might be a bit overdone in these games.

Mostly this is SCS, not the unmodded game. The Durlag's Tower encounter, Irenicus-in-Spellhold encounter, and pocket-plane challenge three, all use a fixed CRE file that's cosmetically disguised as the party, using PolymorphCopy or CreateCreatureObjectCopy. (In vanilla BG there's not even a disguise; that's added by BGEE). SCS replaces the first two with actual copies of the PC using a Simulacrum copy. The Spirit Temple witch battle copying is added by SCS, it's not in the vanilla game at all. (I ration myself to one use of this trick per game.)

[InKal]

holy shit, you messed him up!

[jastey]

On 3/22/2024 at 1:45 PM, subtledoctor said:

It's not like Jastey is about to let me start writing content for EBG1; I could make a mod the requires that other mod to already be installed, but that gets really fiddly and annoying for players. So the only alternative is to cover a bit of the same ground.

As much as I'd like mods to be compatible (and think it would be doable here), just a reminder that EndlessBG1's license allows to use any parts of the mod in your mod. (Same for Transitions afaik).

[Morgoth]

2 hours ago, jastey said:

[...] just a reminder that EndlessBG1's license allows to use any parts of the mod in your mod. (Same for Transitions afaik).

That's a really cool thing to do. Congrats.

@subtledoctor Thanks for this topic. Really informative and useful.

Edited March 24 by Morgoth

[subtledoctor]

On 3/22/2024 at 3:41 PM, DavidW said:

Mostly this is SCS, not the unmodded game. The Durlag's Tower encounter, Irenicus-in-Spellhold encounter, and pocket-plane challenge three, all use a fixed CRE file that's cosmetically disguised as the party, using PolymorphCopy or CreateCreatureObjectCopy. (In vanilla BG there's not even a disguise; that's added by BGEE). SCS replaces the first two with actual copies of the PC using a Simulacrum copy. The Spirit Temple witch battle copying is added by SCS, it's not in the vanilla game at all. (I ration myself to one use of this trick per game.)

No complaints here. It's good fun, in each instance.

4 hours ago, jastey said:

As much as I'd like mods to be compatible (and think it would be doable here), just a reminder that EndlessBG1's license allows to use any parts of the mod in your mod.

That's very interesting. I quite like the way EndlessBG1 handles Korlasz' crypt; so maybe I can mimic or tie into that, rather than come up with a third way. (That will be step 4 in this mod.) Looking at my nine-step plan... in step 7 there will be a break point where you can choose to move on to SoD or jump to BG2. It is similar in broad terms to how Endless BG1 handles it - two alternative dialogue options when talking to Belt. It will differ in that the "straight to BG2" option will continue the content of this mod. But if the player chooses to go to SoD it can match the EndlessBG1 method for handling party members, the campaign transition to Imoen being attacked, etc.

Out of curiosity: does EndlessBG1 affect Entar Silvershield at all? I just played through this in my EET game, but it is not obvious to me (and take that as praise) whether the content involving Entar has been touched by EndlessBG1 or is straight from SoD. Spoilers: Entar has an important part to play in this mod - his resurrection will be made a bit more explicit, and will complicate things for Charname.

In fact... this gives me an idea for how to make this mod work with SoD, rather than only instead of it.

Looking ahead: step 2 and step 3 are really small and simple components. I need to find a spare hour or two to get them done.

[megrimlock]

Will it be possible for your step 7 to override Endless BG1's way of handling the transition without wiping out all Endless' other neat content?

[Guest jastey_]

EndlessBg1 does almost nothing in the SoD game (except stealing Korlasz' Crypt to put it into BG1), so it doesn't touch Entar Silvershield (who is just not there at the end of BG1). (I think adding a crypt entrance is the only thing EndlessBG1 does in SoD).

If you are interested in making this compatible with EndlessBG1 at all, give me a shout, it shouldn't be too hard to change the transition from EndlessBG1's "move to BGII" to your mod's content instead, if your mod is installed later. (EndlessBG1 itself changes this depending on which components you install, i.e. without the "Korlasz' Crypt in BG1" component, the transition in the dialogue with Belt plays differently than with it.)

[subtledoctor]

3 hours ago, megrimlock said:

Will it be possible for your step 7 to override Endless BG1's way of handling the transition without wiping out all Endless' other neat content?

I dunno. First I need to make the thing. Making it compatible with other things will come after that. But, so I can keep it in mind, what EndlessBG1 content are you talking about?

[Granger77]

3 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

In fact... this gives me an idea for how to make this mod work with SoD, rather than only instead of it.

Yay!! While I really like the ideas you've put forth here, I also really enjoy SoD, so to have the option to still get to play through it would be amazing. Really excited to see how this progresses!

I think BG1 has a lot of storytelling potential, and your motif of mirrors/reflections is very fitting.

[megrimlock]

Yeah it was more a request really. And I don't have a specific component in mind, it's just that EBG has a lot of pieces (all of which I always install) and while some are separated out, several are bundled together in the main component.