Awachi

I don't know about the premise. My first crpg was Ultima IV in '85 or so, and besides the regularly occurring random encounters while wandering the wilderness, every "settlement" had lots of non-essential NPCs that did nothing more than add a lived-in feeling. Bard's Tale 3 (' 90? Crap, I'm old and forgetful) didn't need NPCs because an encounter happened every 4 to 8 steps. 

I feel certain that the "space" you're describing is entirely due to technological limitations, and had Blizzard or Looking Glass or Microverse been able to populate the environment with more, they surely would have. 

Snicker-snack.

Does "vorpal" still indicate beheading, or is has it just devolved to another form of insta-kill?

Reasons to mod:

1. You want to improve/change the mechanics.

2. You want to add content.

3. You like coding.

4. You like appreciation for your work.

5. You want others to enjoy the game further than without.

I think any one of those is sufficient, but it really leads to better quality the more reasons you have.  There's probably more I haven't thought of.

If it weren't nearly 3 am, I'd shout for joy.  Just "fixed" something that has bugged me for the 45 seconds it occupies (approximately 0.0002% of total gameplay), namely the absurdly long travel time going from the Cloakwood mines back to anywhere else not-Cloakwood, so I added an exit on the east edge that connects to the ankheg farmland.  I haven't added a new entrance point, so I just used the existing one. I am well pleased.

COPY_EXISTING worldmap.wmp override
	LPF ADD_WORLDMAP_LINKS
		INT_VAR distance_scale = 2 default_entry = 8 encounter_probability = 0
		STR_VAR from_area = ~ar1800~ from_node = ~east~ to_area = ~ar1400~ entry = ~cdsouthexit~
	END
BUT_ONLY

All blessings to weidu workers and documenters.

I really admire the dedication of most modders, even going so far as to modify and document the exe. Back in my day <creaky GenXer noises> all we had were mostly no-cd cracks. 

I was reading the whole "no potion stacking" drama. One person's SOP is another's exploit. Bug/feature. Hobby/job. Etc. 

How do I reference an existing string number? I only know how to introduce my own. 

Ah, MI kills it.

Isn't the problem that the Luck part of the formula is inverted? -19 luck = no interrupt, +19 luck = guaranteed interrupt 

According to the Beamdog thread 

Would it be worthwhile to sacrifice all Luck uses to get it mostly working? 

One of the worst parts of modding is having to test on a vanilla install. It's not quite Bethesda levels, but unmodded seems most unnatural, and I want no part of it. 

True, he mentions he's from Beregost, but I never presumed that what was displayed on a map was the entireity of the area.  Baldur's Gate certainly isn't.  Either way, the map note wasn't part of the original BG experience, and adding it adds nothing besides pointless hand-holding.

I agree. I grew up on Ultima IV and the Wizardry series, so discovering through break-ins exploration that Firebead had a house in Beregost was a neat moment. With the ability to add your own notes, I find 99% of them to be unnecessary at best, spoiler-y clutter at worst. 

Ideally using the same method, like recoloring just one part to a "quest item" color, so you'd know it's involved in a quest even if it hasn't triggered yet. 

My browser hates SHS, I think. I get unsecure connection warnings, too. Don't even ask about trying to register. 

Weird. I only get this:

Link seems to be broken. New one? 

http://www.shsforums.net/topic/60986-bg2-improved-gui/

Yay.  Learned how to "erase" all extant automaps by setting the x,y to 0,0 and making the text a blank space.  Ideally I would remove them altogether, but this was a good first step. I should probably see what it looks like in-game.

COPY_EXISTING_REGEXP "^.*\.are$" override
	READ_LONG 0x00c4 mapoff									//	automap offset
	READ_LONG 0x00c8 mapnum									//	automap quantity
	PATCH_IF mapoff > 0x00	BEGIN
		FOR (index = 0 ; index < mapnum ; ++index) BEGIN	//	go through each mapnote
			WRITE_SHORT (mapoff + (0x34 * index)) 0				//	x
			WRITE_SHORT (mapoff + 0x02 + (0x34 * index)) 0		//	y
			SAY (mapoff + 0x04 + (0x34 * index)) ~ ~	//	text
		END
	END
BUT_ONLY

edit:  Looks fine.  The markers don't even show up on the worldmap. May not need to bother with removal after all.

With druids kits backported into BG, I'm wondering how fun it might be to have Aldeth and his ilk be an actual faction hunting the Shadow Druids.  Kondar would be the reward either for opposing them and taking it from his corpse, or allying with them against the druids.

5 hours ago, CamDawg said:

you'd still end up with odd portraits as the game would hold space for the missing icons.

Yup, that kills it. 

Is it possible to detach the string and the icon?  It would need a new icon spot, one that is the icon with the normal string associated, and another that is the string but attached to a null bam.

vanilla:  normal icon, normal string

mod: blank icon, normal string

Other than <weapon damage type> vs the <AC vs damage type>, there's no meaningful interaction between armors and weapons.  I wanted, for examples, a flail to ignore any AC bonus from a shield, or plate mail to ignore darts (I know that can possibly be done with immunity to projectile).

I mean where even the normal physical damage is relegated to an effect.

Anyone done this?  I'm reading all kinds of mods' threads here and SHS back to the early 00s, and haven't come across this.  Just wondering if there's a discussion or even consensus extant.

So many places we congregate, it's easy to miss out on things, especially old or niche. This is from reddit. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/baldursgate/comments/t6ov70/putting_baldurs_gate_portraits_through_faceapp