Screwy dialog involving Mae'var's last mission..

[Elurin]

Hi again..

 

I seem to be having more troubles but i really don't know whether it has anything to do with Amber.

 

 

When i return to Mae'var after dealing with the "traitor", Embarl and give his dagger to Mae'var, he (mae'var) accepts it and dismisses me as he is supposed to -except that after telling me "he's not really listening to me" and to go and see Edwin, he goes into this crazy tangent about Saerileth:

 

Mae'var: "Saerileth, your precocious insight reminds me of my great-aunt on my mother's side..

 

response 1: She was much older than you of course, but even so you're very much alike.

 

response 2: i am..

 

 

If i choose response 1, the conversation ends and i can continue without any other issues (that i know of yet) but if i choose 2 the conversation continues going on about turnips.. (Jan?)

 

 

I *have* had Saerileth installed at one time, but it's uninstalled currently..

 

I'm planning to uninstall Amber again and try a much earlier save and go through the Mae'var quests again and see if this crazy dialog error happens again, but i thought i'd post this in the meantime in case somebody here has some insights into this problem.

 

I'll be back to update this after i see what kind what happens.

[Meira]

I think the weird talk you're getting is a banter between Saerileth and Jan. Since strings can't be removed from the dialog.tlk safely WeiDU will leave the strings there even when you uninstall the mod. That's why Saerileth's material is there too.

 

Mixed up mod-dialog generally suggests that you had the BG2 game (or game editors) running when installing a mod. That, combined with a mod that adds states to Mae'var's dialogue could produce the problem you described.

 

Amber adds nothing to Mae'var's dialogue, scripts or anything concerning the thief stronghold (though, as thief she probably should). So, I'm fairly sure that it's not Amber causing the issue.

[Elurin]

I think the weird talk you're getting is a banter between Saerileth and Jan. Since strings can't be removed from the dialog.tlk safely WeiDU will leave the strings there even when you uninstall the mod. That's why Saerileth's material is there too.

 

 

Ohh.. I didn't know that about Weidu. The only reason i'd considered Amber as a possible cause of the problem was that she's the only NPC i've got installed.

 

Anyway, to back that up - i just ran into the same problem without Amber installed..

 

So to fix the problem, i imagine i would have to do a complete re-install of BGII -making sure that the dialog tlk is deleted?

 

I'm thinking about just letting it go for now.. hopefully it's the only glitch i'll see.

 

sorry for bugging you with an un-Amber related problem!

[Meira]

I think that just installing the mod that extends Mae'var's dialog again should fix the issue. Of course you would have to first identify the mod affecting Mae'var's dialogue and then uninstall everything installed after the said mod and the reinstall the whole bunch.

 

The process might leave Amber's name and soundset strings mixed up, but that nothing the string-fixer (SHIFT-K) couldn't correct.

[Elurin]

The process might leave Amber's name and soundset strings mixed up, but that nothing the string-fixer (SHIFT-K) couldn't correct.

 

 

Ok, i'm to the point where i've got the Mae'var dialog issues fixed, but as you described Amber's name is no longer displayed.

 

So one more dummy question.. (maybe two)

 

How do i initiate the String-fixer?... when and where do i hit shift-k?

 

also regarding Weidu-- Do i need to have the updated version of Weidu installed or that irrelevant to the installing of weidu mods?

 

What i mean is i've got the actual Weidu program on my computer but it's not the current version (i think it's 1.54) .. Whereas when i click on the Amber-setup and install Amber, i notice that it lists the weidu version it was packed with as 1.94.

 

 

Thanks again for the help

[Meira]

During gameplay, you select Amber and then press SHIFT-K. This will launch a very short cut scene and Amber's name and soundset should appear as they should afterwards.

 

Many mod-NPCs have similar function, though the are different methods for launching it. Kelsey and Keto use SHIFT-K as well, but Fade has a different key combination and I think for Chloe you have to click-talk her and tell her that she looks funny.

 

You don't need to have an actual WeiDU on your computer unless you want to start making mods. WeiDU.exe is included in every WeiDU mod. It's just renamed Setup-MyMod.exe However, WeiDU has an auto update function which will automatically update the WeiDU version of SetUp-MyMod.exe when you double-click it, if newer version is detected.

[Elurin]

Thanks again for the Info.

 

I have yet another question..

 

I've been having troubles with various Weidu mods for a long time now.. (including Amber) and aside from the occasional minor glitch - like the one you found recently- it's usually something that other people don't seem to experience. With Amber, i'm actually noticing errors being reported during the installation after clicking the amber set-up.

 

I'm wondering if i'm missing something..

 

When i install BG2, i start with SoA -> then ToB -> then the tob Patch.. Is there some other patch of some kind that i'm missing?

 

like the baldurdash fix-pack for instance?

[Meira]

Note that this is purely my way of using IE mods, other might have different strategies.

 

After installing the official patch I always take a backup copy of the dialog.tlk and the override folder. With them I can avoid doing a complete re-install if I want to revert back to the clean install.

 

Easiest way of avoiding trouble is to actually read the readme of the mod that interests you.

 

I don't in general install non-WeiDU mods. Not so much because I could not have more than one of them, but because they tend to be rather old. All the quirks and oddities of IE were not necessarily known when they were created and they usually lack the needed support as well. Even older WeiDU mods can't always be trusted; WeiDU has developed a lot since the early days.

 

I also don't try to install as many mods as possible, but keep to those few that I intend to use in the current game. It's also worthwhile to avoid uninstalling mods in the middle of your campaigning (see the problem with Saerileth dialogue above). If you need to uninstall a mod make sure that you uninstall the other mods installed after it first. If you're uncertain of the order in which you installed the mods, you can open weidu.log (found in the main BG2 folder) in any text editor.

 

I don't manually change variables of a mod unless I'm absolutely sure that I know what I'm doing.

 

I'm a little suspicious of any larger mods, because the more moving parts you have the bigger the chance for errors. Amber is a good example of this, if she had a simple one way talk track and couple straightforward NPC-NPC banters I wouldn't have had half of the errors reported here and the remaining half would be mostly user related issues.

 

If you see an error during Amber's installation, please send a copy of setup-amber.debug, which can be found in the main BG2 folder to amber@mbnet.fi.

 

BG2 Fixpack is a more up-to-date substitute to baldurdash:

http://www.gibberlings3.net/bg2fixpack/

[Elurin]

Note that this is purely my way of using IE mods, other might have different strategies.

 

After installing the official patch I always take a backup copy of the dialog.tlk and the override folder. With them I can avoid doing a complete re-install if I want to revert back to the clean install.

 

Easiest way of avoiding trouble is to actually read the readme of the mod that interests you.

 

I don't in general install non-WeiDU mods. Not so much because I could not have more than one of them, but because they tend to be rather old. All the quirks and oddities of IE were not necessarily known when they were created and they usually lack the needed support as well. Even older WeiDU mods can't always be trusted; WeiDU has developed a lot since the early days.

 

I also don't try to install as many mods as possible, but keep to those few that I intend to use in the current game. It's also worthwhile to avoid uninstalling mods in the middle of your campaigning (see the problem with Saerileth dialogue above). If you need to uninstall a mod make sure that you uninstall the other mods installed after it first. If you're uncertain of the order in which you installed the mods, you can open weidu.log (found in the main BG2 folder) in any text editor.

 

I don't manually change variables of a mod unless I'm absolutely sure that I know what I'm doing.

 

I'm a little suspicious of any larger mods, because the more moving parts you have the bigger the chance for errors. Amber is a good example of this, if she had a simple one way talk track and couple straightforward NPC-NPC banters I wouldn't have had half of the errors reported here and the remaining half would be mostly user related issues.

 

If you see an error during Amber's installation, please send a copy of setup-amber.debug, which can be found in the main BG2 folder to amber@mbnet.fi.

 

BG2 Fixpack is a more up-to-date substitute to baldurdash:

http://www.gibberlings3.net/bg2fixpack/

 

 

 

Thanks for the info

 

 

Actually, i am pretty good about checking the readme's of any mod i plan on installing whether it's Weidu or not..

 

At this point, i've been through many, many different combination of mods installed - having multiple installed together, and also just one at a time. For some reason there's almost always an issue of some kind that comes up that i don't see being adressed by anyone else..

 

It's frustrating.. I was asking about the fixpack (which for some reason i've never used) because i'm kinda grasping at straws looking for an answer when all obvious (and less obvious but documented) solutions have tried and failed.

 

Note that i'm not necessarily talking about the Amber mod here and i'm certainly not trying to single her out it's more about the fact that almost any mod i've installed, i've had problems with. I'm starting to think that maybe my computer is just not cutting it any more.. it's starting to show it's age

 

 

As far as Amber is concerned, i'd completely re-installed BG2 again and started a new save and have been taking notes where find issues.. i plan on sending you guys that debug file soon. I'll post when i get my act together

 

Elurin