Lurker

The mod is pretty much on rails, and also ensures that you'll not (re-)enter the train before the main plot has progressed far enough.

@Granger77, please excuse my late reply. I honestly cannot tell what's the deal with the diary. Since I mostly figured things out by try-and-error, and neither had a strict test regime nor the nerve to dig all too deep, my conclusions may not be absolutely accurate. I wasn't really invested in the story of this mod, but more into "just getting things done". So I'm not even sure if the diary offered any in game reasons that might influence later events depending on who it was given to. The section which I replayed after handing the diary over to Nerys instead of Illasera was identical in its outcome, including the double Cherise bug that occurs somewhat randomly. So I continued from a previous save, where - quoting myself - the following conditions where met: One "reason" to give the diary to Illasera instead of Nerys could be that, since it's her show, she's less likely to bug out in her own story... Also, if it isn't obvious by the slow down of progress reports here, my playthrough is on hold for the time being.

Glad to be of service, M'Lady. Although I guess you deserve most of the credit here, since you pieced these puzzle parts together. Well, it's the theme song of that particular movie...

The quest "Dradeel's Spellbook" isn't very murder friendly. Meaning Dradeel is dead, but I've his spellbook and an open quest that I cannot complete (without consoling a clone of his in). Unfortunately, I didn't pay attention for when I got the quest log entry, and cannot tell if the quest triggers by talking to him or when picking up the spellbook. Is this a vanilla content issue, or something to report... where? Speaking of murder, attacking a single commoner on Werewolf Island in an isolated hut abbreviates this quest very abruptly. And I've a toddler in my bag of holding... Too bad I've changed Cernd to a Totemic Druid. Daddy of the century could've adopted Peladan in SoA. Mod idea open for adoption.

All good, no harm done. Btw, I didn't realize until now that BGQE is actually one of your mods; I was somehow under the impression that you adopted it. And I've to admit that I'm a bit disappointed that the mage didn't wave with a Goldfinger at me, threw a Thunderball around, or that the hatched spider didn't scare The Living Daylights out of my party. Indeed, my game lacks the SpiderTimer variable, and I cannot remember having either met or murdered that gentleman in red during my travels. Where's he supposed to be met?

@Morgoth and @Delior - thank you for your responses. Wall of text incoming; structure might be a bit of a mess I'm hesitant to take on BST for the reason(s) mentioned above, and also due to the fact that I simply don't want to taint the experience of a, from what I can tell, widely regarded as high quality mod with the feelings I associate with this current game, for various reasons. (One might have also noticed that I can be somewhat... grumpy at times. ) The itch to run as a CE charname also doesn't really help and might not have been the best choice in hindsight. And my party is already severely overleveled, as a side note. Also, please don't ask what kind of charname I'm running this game with... (or do, and risk causing another rant if you dare). I've a Cavalier on standby... I didn't encounter any major bugs with NTotSC and DSotSC, but as I mentioned in my opening statement, I didn't bother to report issues for mods that I don't care for inclusion in future installs. Kudos to the maintainers for doing a good job to bring those dinosaurs to the modern age, but the nicest thing I can say about those two mods is "once is enough; aged like fine wine they did not (where's the Yoda emoji when you need it?)". Semi-random shoutout to @Sergio for his reviews provided both here and the recently resurrected SHSforums. Back to BST, I'll definitely include it in a new installation if I don't take it on here. And since The Cowled Menace should allow to re-enter Baldur's Gate in SoA, I'm a bit curious if BST can be played this way when my party is even more severely overleveled. A major reason to think about reinstalling or at least partially updating is actually the recent update of Shadows over Soubar. The changelog looks rather impressive. Perhaps either @AL|EN, @Roberciiik or @Weigo could offer a quick line about if it's safe to do an in-place update, like there were no additional entries added to dialog.tlk? (Sorry if tagging all of you was considered impolite, no offense meant.) On a more personal note, I'm neurodivergent and suffering from depression as a side effect. To know people are actually interested in the stuff I write here really helps to rekindle my motivation from time to time. As a firmly non-believer in the virtues of "social media", it pains me to admit that this forum lacks something resembling "likes". I guess users are more prone to simply hit a button, than dropping a line of text. As someone who's more on the critical side of thinking (no, this wasn't an understatement at all), I assume to understand that the modus operandi in a forum like this is less "user to user", and more like "modder to modder" or "user asking modder". Then there's my current realization that doing funny shitposts like this nets more upvotes in a single day compared to actually trying to post useful stuff (well, more or less) over the course of months. So, what gives? My mood has shifted to actually continuing with this game (yay feedback!), but I still would like to incorporate updated mods, both for my own sanity (or what's left of it ) and to honor the work of modders maintaining their work. I'm still undecided about what to do with my reserved space on the top of this page. Perhaps I'll use it for mini reviews for quest mods I'll consider for keeping in future installations.

@jastey D'oh. Oooooh. I simply never would have thought that I had to actively initiate dialog for this. Which I can actually explain - it's something that I very much dislike. I call it "Dragon Age: Origins" syndrome. It's one thing to experience (...endure...) BG2 style romances ("Okay, since you actually approached me, I'll listen to you about your problems. No really, I'm totally interested!"), but in DA:O, you also have to put in active effort ("Please, I beg you, I simply cannot live without hearing about your totally interesting issues in my f*cking story".). Call me a lazy, narcissistic cynic - I won't object... More seriously, since this is also my first game with BG1NPC installed which I also actually play for once, I had a talk with all party members way back, and just deleted this from my mental to-do list. So, talking with Imoen after ~200 days of mostly ignoring her - wait, isn't this a role playing game...? - she doesn't have anything new to say, unfortunately. Is there a reason that you mentioned talking to Imoen specifically? I mean, the reason she's wearing the egg instead of somebody else, is just for the crazy immunities (see below) which the egg provides for my walking jukebox lil' sis. Or did you per chance mix this up with Imoen's Artifact, the book which gives a temporary +1 to DEX? If you can point me to the respective variable(s), I'll gladly have a look at them. From AutoDescription: C#Q04001 (Egg) Equipped abilities: - Immunity to Cloudkill and Flesh to Stone spells - Immunity to slowness, confusion, entanglement, webs, disease, paralysis and poison

I'm near the end of the BG1 part of this game. There's just Doggy Island to tackle before Sarevok's covidination. I think I'll skip BST, because BG1 has overstayed its welcome in this game (mostly due to NTotSC and DSotSC), and - I can't believe I'm really writing this - I want to progress to SoD, mostly thanks to being curious about @jastey's mods for SoD. There have been many updates to various mods since I installed this game. I'm wondering if I should do an update-reinstall for content dealing with later chapters, but again I want to continue with my current save. I guess I'd just keep the current dialog.tlk before reinstalling, like last time. Would right before the first final battle with Sarevok be a good point for such a "transition"? Otoh, I'm not completely opposed to dump this game altogether. I already encountered so many bugs, and checking with NI (Tools > Check > stuff) almost brings tears to my eyes. For my next game, I plan to strip down the number of tweak mods from "Oh, this also sounds so cool! And this! And perhaps also this...?" to be more like "Less complexity, less annoyances." And - or but? - it's finally time to also include EEex. I'd then just start a new game at chapter 8; perhaps after at least doing Korlasz's Tomb with the current setup, just to experience the EBG1 transition for once. But I'll miss the opportunity to see how well EET deals with my CE murder hobo charname dealing with a lot of (ex-)companions... Then again, restraining my completionitis, just rushing through BG1 for once is also an option. I'll also gladly take any "just wait another few days before reinstalling, because mod XYZ will get updated soon." Curiously awaiting comments and opinions on all of this - thanks in advance.

Dumped some info regarding "The Unknown Egg".

I'm in chapter 7 (day 220). The quest log for "The Unknown Egg" is from chapter 4 (day 91) and mentions "the mage who was supposed to get it might be still on his way to Baldur's Gate. Maybe I should return it to him." I can't remember if I actually met this mage. The unhatched, warm egg is still firmly attached to Imoen's head. The only disadvantage it provides is that I've to drop it to the ground any time I want to shop at Sorcerous Sundries. I somewhat doubt that it'll hatch in this game.

I was able to finish Black Hearts without any more major issues. Some notes for the final section: There was a neutral Shambling Mound without dialog; it just followed me around, or attacked while still "blue". I finally killed it, which doesn't net XP. There was a goblin named "Yujehli"; it had some dialog, but I don't know what its purpose was. Also killed it in the end. When approaching the Sanctum Portal with the Astral Gemstones, dialog option 2 was just "@3131"; the following dialog option 2 had actual text ("*Enter the Portal*") Illasera was GOODBUTBLUE instead of NEUTRAL (just from the observation of her being shown as "Uninjured"; didn't actually check the details) The quest log entries (yes, plural) get marked as "Finished", but stay scattered over the chapters and don't get their previous entries removed.

I want it. Release yesterday!

If you have access to a BG game where it's available, perhaps take a look at how the Staff of Striking is implemented? Although I really don't know how well this would translate to PST:C.

I've updated my previous comment a bit. @Granger77 Thank you for your kind words. Such feedback really means a lot to me. Especially since I'm constantly criticizing the volunteer work of other people while doing this... One personal learning experience for me so far: Don't (try to) include everything and the kitchen sink in the next "serious" installation. Lucky me, I'm not into NPC mods, this current setup is borked enough already... EDIT: Also, try to build a game via tweaks and quest mods that fit an intended concept for charname. My current alter ego is CE. At least the "chaotic" part is an involuntary success, regarding how arbitrarily I have to switch between grumpy, psychotic murder hobo and "Sure, I'll gladly help you! (Why else do I have this installed, anyways?)"

I've slept several times already in Chapter 6, but so far got no new dream sequence and additional Bhaalspawn power. Just met Koveras in Candlekeep, chose to receive his ring, but got nothing, only two journal updates. I was expecting to get a cursed ring, that could later be uncursed and upgraded by Thalantyr. EDIT/UPDATE: I got the dream for Chapter 6 almost immediately before ending the chapter, not to say "almost by accident". Then again, sleeping outside of Candlekeep (Chapter 7) didn't trigger the next/final dream sequence. I'm still under the impression that dream sequences occur on first rest in the respective chapter; is this wrong?

EET, unresolved JEs, previous chapters, Quests: Chapter 3, top entry: "A Hidden Base?" still open (white), with two entries of the same date and content: "Tazok plans to visit the site of a mine, where he might be reporting to the real bandit leader." Chapter 4, top entry: "Important Events" still open (white), one entry, titled: "Crippling Cloakwood", content: "I must find a way to stop or at least temporarily disable the mining operation here in Cloakwood. Searching the mine [...] bloody affair."

EET, transition from Chapter 5 to Chapter 6 no named save is created ("Chapter 6 Start") the named save is instead created when leaving Baldur's Gate (or perhaps any area) for Candlekeep this is vaguely familiar and might be related to the Ogre Mage encounter (from another mod) that takes place on arrival at Candlekeep EDIT: nope, it's MIH_EQ, component #21 // Prevent chapter 6 cutscene from moving party to Candlekeep Chapter 6 introductory JE is added to Chapter 5 instead Quests -> Important Events -> Return to Candlekeep is added to Chapter 5 both Quests and Journal for Chapter 6 are completely empty EDIT: All of the above might really be caused by MIH_EQ instead (see edit above). I don't recall this to happen in a previous setup, where MIH_EQ wasn't present.

Minor issue/nitpick with Ascalon's Questpack: Breeding Gibberlings in Baldur's Gate.

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Minor issue/nitpick with Ascalon's Questpack: Breeding Gibberlings in Baldur's Gate. From the first journal entry (JE): I don't remember any more if/how many of the little beasts I'd killed before taking on the quest (in game, around 55 days have passed until now) where I was running around with 18 furs for quite some time, and wanted to get rid of the quest. So I used the console to get 2 additional furs, because I was mentally locked on the number 20 from the first JE. Having more than 18 furs in the party's inventory causes a when trying to turn in the furs. At first, I thought that I'd encountered my first broken DLG due to my reinstall, but checking by running this save against my previous install ended up the same. By turning in the 18 furs, I also got the bonus reward, so I somewhat fooled myself. Nonetheless, I'd find it helpful, for preventing misunderstandings like this, to instead of (or additionally to) mentioning the "20" in the first JE, (also) explicitly inform the player in the 2nd JE that there aren't more than 18 gibberlings to locate altogether make the evaluation/check for number of furs not fail due to invalid user data input (# of furs > 18) (reported)

Disclaimer of the day: I'm in a bad mood, I'm annoyed by my current game and setup, and by Black Hearts. tl;dr: If you don't tolerate bugs, don't use Black Hearts for EET. The mod's content falls apart at the later stages. I have 3(!) thieves in my party; charname has effective 105 in Find Traps, but it takes an annoying amount of time to detect some traps in this mod's content. Good saves + Evasion (not the HLA) are much more convenient, because traps in this case are just ineffective after being triggered. If they trigger, because of haste and/or Boots of Speed messing with this; else, the stragglers (without Evasion) get hit. So annoying. The Elfsong is repeatedly called "Eversong" in various journal entries. "Progress" report for anyone interested: Went back to an older save, rescued Nerys and gave her the diary, instead of Illasera it's hard to tell after some days of not playing; the journal entries don't give a clue with regards to some (or any?) of the player's choices, so I think I've continued a game where I gave Nerys the journal I was expecting to have to fight Cherise in the Red Wizard enclave, but still got the encounter where she leaves due to "someone" (=Illasera) attacking "elsewhere" after multiple reloads, I got the "double" encounter, where one of the Cherises leaves, I kill the double amount of her goons, then talk to the other Cherise, who calmly waits for me to engage in dialog. Then I kill her. Back at the not Eversong, Illasera is there (Nerys is not), and gives a dialog like I'd just defeated Cherise in a later stage of the game (Astral Demesne), which ends by her teleporting us to the Undercellar, and (I guess) preventing access to the "climax" area and content, so again a progress breaking bug. Then I reload a previous save, where I gave the diary to Illasera Cherise leaves the Red Wizard enclave Illasera admits to attacking the extradimensional domain, and leaves with the Strange Gemstone supposedly to be continued later and I pretend everything is as it should be and nothing out of the ordinary has happened. EDIT: For clarification, I don't really know if the choice whom to hand over the diary has any outcome on the Cherise situation. It might be just a misguided assumption on my part. EDIT: Seems like this isn't specific to EET, @Delior

Sorry to phrase it this way, but stepping away from being needing treatment like an "idiot" would help you better in the long run. I'd be a real idiot if I would assume to know every possibility of how another human might be able to mess up their environment by blindly following instructions that they don't understand. No sane person would or should take on this responsibility. I'm sure I'm not an idiot by assuming you don't know how to compile software from source. If you're willing to change that and invest the learning effort, @mickabouille offered some directions. Alternatively, you could stick within what options the environment on the steam deck provides to you without the need to use the AUR. I have no experience with neither the device nor the particularities of its Arch environment, but there's some common ground that can be reasonably expected for various Linux distributions. This is intended as pointers for a "teach a man how to fish" approach. Learn how to create a filesystem inside a regular file, how to mount and how to use it. Use the search engine of your preference to learn about how to make a backup of your device (neither users nor developers are idiot proof) search hint: no backup, no mercy how to use pacman to install (ready to use, precompiled) software packages on Arch Linux based environments how to create a sparse (empty at first, but grows with usage) file search hints: dd, fallocate how to setup a loop device to "connect" your file with a device id available as/under /dev/loop* search hint: losetup how to create a filesystem which supports to be used case-insensitively; search hints: ext4 + case folding support (very unlikely to not be available by default) jfs with option -O (may also need package "jfsutils") xfs with version=ci (may also need package "xfsprogs") how to mount your new filesystem search hint: mount how to auto-mount your filesystem on every boot search hint: editing /etc/fstab Understanding and doing this yourself will help you in the long run, compared to blindly following a detailed guide, where you never can be sure if it's correct or (unintentionally) harmful. Basic low level Linux admin skills are valuable and can be surprisingly resistant against becoming obsolete all too soon. EDIT: The above is intended as an alternative to that horrible ciopfs crutch. Also got ninja'd and missed this:

Comments like this one really help to keep this going, albeit slowly. My motivation is at a somewhat critical, negative threshold, so a comment like this brightens things up. Thank you. Up to the first issue with Black Hearts, I can't recall any issues whatsoever - the experience was flawless. So I'm a bit surprised that technical quality took a nose dive after that. The first issue is EET specific, from what I can tell. For that later parts, just compare your experience with mine, and provide feedback. Then we all know for sure. If a bug also affects your setup, I'd enjoy feedback if my provided workarounds were useful to save your progress.

The bugs with Black Hearts continue. This time when confronting Cherise Silthur. I guess one's supposed to experience two different versions of this encounter, depending on whether if Riezen's diary was handed over to Illasera or not. On first attempt, I got the version were Cherise leaves due to a secondary attack elsewhere. After reloading and entering the area again, I got both versions of the encounter simultaneously, but not always.

Stuck with Black Hearts, again. Nerys doesn't show up outside of the Drakon Tavern, and consoling her in doesn't help this time. She just offers her "What can I do for you?" dialog. EDIT: There's also a copy of Nerys present in BG0167 (Pheirkas's Home). She's supposed to be kidnapped... C:CreateCreature("WINIKN03") ...gets the plot back on track. This can be done immediately after talking to Illasera at the Elfsong Tavern regarding the Riezen Darkeyes plot conclusion (what's the difference between either handing over the Coded Diary or lying to Illasera?); no need to even leave the tavern. (Also, this Quest Guide is helpful, combined with NI). Illasera then points out to either talk to Alatos or talk to Scar or C:MoveToArea("WI0005") Since I'm at a stage in Chapter 5 where neither Alatos nor Scar aren't (currently) available (any more), the shortcut isn't really optional. But at least the area transition from BG1200 --> WI0005 (which replaces BG1208) works, so walking would still be an option...