Kilivitz

So 2.6 is out and I've no excuse to keep avoiding this project.

So far, the new build seems much less clunky than 2.5. I haven't noticed any changes in the UI except for a few changes in how the World Map behaves.

I'm going to start the project over (takes less time than sorting out the mess my previous attempts have left behind). When I do so, I'm going to open a new topic to keep anyone interested updated and also to make sure I keep focused - basically, the more noise you guys make, the bigger the chances this thing gets released.

He's already helped me immensely back at the BD forums. I intend to pay him back by pestering him some more with my questions in the near future.

I've got some stuff to do regarding the new version of TutuGUI for the original BG2 but after that, I'm going to look into getting the BG1 UI for EE back on track.

Hi Guest Ront!

Not yet, unfortunately. Life and an ever-growing disappointment at the EEs got in the way.

I have to say, though, that every time someone asks about it, I get an itch to restart the project.

I think I have fixed the problem.

There were some wrongly positioned elements in a file that is only used when the resolution is set to 1024x768.

If you can download and place the attached file in your override folder, that'd be great!

Of course, please do so after installing the patch (or else the installation will overwrite the fixed file).

guiw10.chu

The problem might be an incompatibility with the font patch you're using. Would it be possible for you to test removing it without screwing up your installation?  (perhaps it's right at the end of your mod install order)

Thanks for trying out the patch!

2 hours ago, Glam Vrock said:

This is an improvement. In the original games, there was no reason to invest in Pick Pockets because you could just reload until you succeeded. If you really want to change it back so that this becomes an option again, that's fine, but at that point you might as well just give yourself 250 in Pick Pockets. Save some time.

In other words, the new mechanic prevents players from just reloading until they succeed (A.K.A. save scumming), therefore it's an improvement.

But is it, really? Consider this: the ability to save scum is an inevitable side effect of an integral aspect of BG's gameplay (you can save/load whenever, except when in combat). There's no way to prevent it altogether unless through a radical design change such as replacing the save-whenever system with a checkpoint or auto-save-only system. 

Granted, it doesn't have to be a slippery slope. Perhaps only partially eliminating save scumming is already an improvement. Hell, maybe they should take it further - no more rolling to learn a spell from a scroll, since you can just reload and try again (or save time and give yourself a 25 in INT).

I don't agree with that, however. I come from the point of view that BD shouldn't fix that which isn't broken, and I wouldn't say a mechanic is broken just because it allows for save scumming, which harkens back to the beginning of my argument.

2 hours ago, Glam Vrock said:

The point isn't "just go play the originals." The point is, does it really matter? This thread is temnix asking "Heh, why don't you losers go mod out this Beamdog garbage, if you care about the community so much?" Everyone has their own answers. My answer is that Beamdog's changes aren't a big deal, and can largely be ignored if you don't like them.

Far from me to deny that the way he put his argument is at best, obnoxious and at worst, incoherent.

My answer, however, is different from yours - I wish Beamdog had been a lot more conservative and focused on preserving rather than changing the BG games, and I would love if there were more ways to bring the EEs closer to the originals while maintaining certain technical improvements. As I said earlier, a best-of-both-worlds version.

Of course, I'm not saying that my opinion is worth more than yours. The only thing I had a problem with was your caricature of EE-naysayers as irrational neckbeards, something I see as reductionist on a topic that has a lot of nuance and room for discussion.

19 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

How are the pickpocketing mechanics changed in the EEs? Tried to do a quick search, nothing relevant seemed to come up.

If I'm not mistaken, in the original a character would roll against its own pick pocket score. In the EEs, each item slot has a set required score that is compared to the character's pick pocket skill. If it's lower, you get a message saying the target has no items that can be stolen by a cutpurse of your skill.

On 5/14/2020 at 9:54 AM, Glam Vrock said:

Fanboy back for some more tips! My roommate who only showers on Tuesdays says the Enhanced Editions added some kind of "Story Mode" that makes all your characters invincible? He's pretty mad about it! I promised him I wouldn't ever use it, but he says it's polluting the purity of the game just by being there. Does anyone know how to disable or remove the button? I keep having to tape a piece of paper over the screen so I don't look at it by accident. Very annoying!

Not so much replying to this individual post as picking it as an example of the few replies here dismissing the whole thread as a nonsensical exercise in grognardism.

I find it disingenuous to treat "rolling back Beamdog's changes" as an all-or-nothing proposition that defeats its own purpose as long as one can go play the originals.

The EEs are a mixed bag of objective improvements (mostly on the technical side) with changes and additions to gameplay, some of which very much blur the line between enhancement and change for the sake of change. So much that some of the most egregious stuff already has mods that revert them: the new NPCs, the hack job UI and the new cinematics.

There are three other changes I wish a mod would revert: the pickpocket mechanics (a prime example of unnecessary change), the behavior of item icons (currently mangled) and the sneakily-added changes and dialogue additions to Bioware NPCs.

I understand, though, that all of those may be far from deal breakers to most players. What I'm getting at is that between the originals and the current state of the EEs lies a best-of-both-worlds version of BG in the vein of PST:EE (which was, IMHO, handled the way BG should have been handled, rather than going the Ecce Homo way).

16 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

"OH" is an Overhaul file prefix, so this spell was added specifically for the EE game.  Presumably to fix what was presumed to be a bug in the original, or in the original after being ported to the BG2 engine.  (I wonder what this script looks like in Tutu/BGT.)  That bug report must have come from somewhere...

Might be just something like, "I gave Tiber his brother's body, then I killed him before he could walk away, but he wasn't carrying the body!"

You know, solving issues that weren't issues to begin with sounds pretty spot on for Beamdog, IMHO.

@Arthas at the moment, you can disable cosmetic attacks using TobEX - it's the optional component "make all attack animations genuine attacks" or something like it.

I would be very much interested in a way of automating upscaling for item, spell icon and paperdoll BAMs.

The EEs have increased the size of most GUI elements to 125% of their original counterparts. This made all item slots (both in the inventory and action bar) 25% larger as well. This is not a bad thing - playing the game in modern resolutions (1366x768 and up) makes the slots uncomfortably small.

However, a side effect of that is that the EEs also eschew the default behavior of item BAMs - in the originals, they had two different frames: a "close-up" one used in the slots, and a "zoomed out" one used when you pick an item up in the inventory. Now, items only use the zoomed out BAM since it fits the larger icon slot a bit better.

For years, I've been working on-and-off in restoring the original UIs to the EEs. Part of that effort involves restoring the original behavior of item BAMs. However, this means the close-up icons are too small, so upscaling them would be in order. However, it's just not feasible to do it unless the process could be automated somehow.

This is a great idea for a mod. Letting the player finish up BG1 and confront Sarevok *before* engaging with the TotSC quests was always one of the best things about BGT. It's really nice that you have brought this functionality to EET.

I have a couple of questions about the "Sarevok's Unique Items" component:

Is this compatible with the BGT Tweaks component that has Sarevok drop his sword? Right now I imagine that if one installs that along with your component, there would actually be two swords. I'm also curious as to why you've decided to make his sword a quest item instead of the actual usable sword that we get for good in SoA.

I think everyone should give this mod a chance - even if you like the current GUI as it is.