Just weird...

[Guest Guest_Malik_*]

First of all, I wanted to tell you that I really enjoy the Amber-Mod, it's one of the best additional NPCs I've tried so far and that's quite a lot. She stays in-character all the time, and the romance as well as the friendship development are understandable and just really well done.

That being said, to the point of this thread. Yesterday I encountered some rather strange bug - or at least that's what I think it is... I come out of the Underdark, and Amber says something about being happy to feel the sunlight on her face. I go back to Athkatla, meet Drizzt on the way, so far everything's fine. As I arrive in Athkatla, Amber asks me if I'm afraid of the upcoming fight with Bodhi. I answer her that I am a little, but that she shouldn't tell anyone. But then the strange part happens. When the talk is over, it's as if she wants to say something again. Her music starts again, she turns towards Malik, he turns towards her, but she doesn't say anything. At first I thought nothing of it, but whenever I try to walk in formation, Amber stays behind after a few seconds, then goes up to Malik as she always does when starting a lovetalk, but still... nothing. I can't force talk her either, because 'she appears busy'. And when I try to walk her away from the others, she just turns, comes back and does the same thing. While walking from the entrance of Waukeen's Promenade to the Adventurer's market it happened five times, and it won't stop all over Athkatla. I doesn't happen outside of Athkatla like in the Umar Hills or in Trademeet. The whole thing wouldn't be that big a deal, if Amber wouldn't refuse reacting to Bodhi. When I enter the Graveyard District, Bodhi says something like 'be careful that you don't get burned', then the coversation stops, and Amber and Malik do the thing again with Bodhi standing right next to them... The scence is kinda funny actually, but since I don't seem to be able to fix it, it's getting annoying also.

I already tried going to the Graveyard District first thing after escaping the Underdark, Amber reacted to Bodhi, she was abducted and I saved her, then I got the talk where she apologizes for not having said thank you. But when I went back to Athkatla she asked about the 'upcoming fight with Bodhi' nevertheless, and there we were again. So... I just wanted to ask if you have any idea what's causing this. Any help would be highly appreciated.

[Darios]

It seems like there's a missing trigger either in the script or in the dialogue (I'm at work and cannot really check anything now). We will look it up this evening (in about 6-8 hours) and see if something can be done before v2.

[Meira]

If you send a savegame to amber@welho.net I can look up what variable is causing the stutter.

[Guest Guest]

Alright, I sent it. Thanks a lot for the fast reply

[Meira]

Got it, thanks. I'll take a closer look at it tomorrow.

[Meira]

First strnage thing I noticed wast that while M#AmberRomanceAcitive is set to 2 (=serious romance) the M#AmberFriend is set to 1 (=friendship path). M#AmberTalk is set to 78 (=end of lovetaks), which means that it's not any of the normal friendship path talks that's causing trouble. Maybe her script tryig to start a floating friendship talk, but the dialogue file checks that the M#AmberRomanceActive is 3 (which it's not).

 

I'll try to investigate further for both the cause of the stutter and why on earth the friendship cheking variable is set during the romance path.

[Meira]

It's strage how Amber asks about the Bodhi fight after you've killed her. She should have a subtitute line if you have already killed bodhi when that chapter talk triggers. Maybe I'm cheking the wrong Bodhi's death variable (bodhiamb). I think she has several cre-files with different death variables.

 

That said I don't think it's a jammed chapter talk that's causing the stutter. Apart from asking about already dead Bodhi everything looks to be fine in that department. Though since the stutter is starting after that CT talk...

[Meira]

Okay, I loaded your game and set M#AmberFriend GLOBAL to 0 (=no friendship path) and she immidietly triggered a floating romance talk about PC's soul. Incitently a modified version of the same talk is also the first friendship talk after Underdark. Both paths use the same variable (M#SoulTalk) for triggering the talk in the script, but in the dialog file M#AmberRomanceActive and M#AmberFriend being set at the same time for both romance and friendship prevented the talk from showing up.

 

Now I just have to figure out how the M#AmberFriend variable got set in the first place.

[Guest Guest_Malik_*]

Wow, thanks. That explains quite a lot. I remember getting on the friendship path unintentionally when I got the decision-talk because my intelligence was too low. I had no recent savegame, so I set the talk variable in ShadowKeeper back, and increased my intelligence. That's probably why both the friendship and the romance were active. That's a good thing in real life, but apparently it confused the game. I played through the friendship before so I now realise that Amber got confused whenever the paths overlapped. Like after we had the fight, we hugged and the romance got stuck. I had to reload a few times to get the kiss... And as you said there is a modified version of the soul talk also. Wow, that's a real romance there, not knowing where we are.

Thanks again for your help, you made my day. And sorry for confusing you and Amber and myself...

[Meira]

Ah.. I'm kind of relieved that it was not my doing that you got variables set both paths set at the same time. Though, since you were on the friendship path in the begin with and didn't change the variables till the you've probably missed a bunch of player initiated flirts (first set becomes available after the Candlekeep talk).

[Guest Guest_Malik_*]

That's alright. Maybe I'll reload an early savegame, and just play it all over again. I wouldn't mind, actually. What was the Candelkeep talk about exactly? Is it possible that I even missed quite a lot more than I thought?

So much the even more impressive work on your part, 'cause the development still seemed really well thought-out.

Oh, btw. before I forget to ask about it again... Since Adalon transformed us back from drow to human or whatever original form, Amber can't use some of her items anymore. She can't use the spear + 2, the shield she was carrying from the beginning, she can't use anything for protection(no rings, belts, armour...), and Gillian's bracelet is red in the inventory, too. I think the only reason why she's still wearing the bracelet is that she can't take it off. I can just move the items into the right slots with ShadowKeeper, but still I wanted to ask if you have a resolution for that, too.

Thanks again

[Meira]

Err... I don't know.

 

Only time I've seen that happen when I don't have Amber installed and I load a save with Amber in the party.

 

The talks about Candlekeep is the one that begins: "You said that you lived your childhood in Candlekeep. That's the place where old, grumpy sages sit with their noses in the books, isn't it?" It's same for both romance and friendship for player1, but in the player2 romance there's an alternative talk.

[Meira]

What does your kit.ids look like? Can I have a copy of it?

[Guest Guest_Malik_*]

Sure, but... What is that, and where do I find it?

[Meira]

Oh, sorry.

 

You should be able to find a file called 'kit.ids' from the 'override' folder in your main BG2 folder. You can send a copy of kit.ids to amber@welho.net