K4thos

I've been looking at files with wrong TLK loaded in NI. It works correctly on vanilla BG:EE, so it's indeed conversion problem. This mod attaches whole CRE files into F_6666 and F_6661. I wasn't even aware that it's possible to attach CRE files directly into ARE (btw. anyone knows what's the point in doing so?). This will be fixed in future. Thanks for the report.

I assume it is something in the way these very old mods were constructed which is a bit different from what we do now...

nah, it's simply bug in the mod. Not related to EET. Same thing happens when the mod is installed on vanilla BG:EE.

- issue maybe caused by EET? - most enemy creatures have wrong stringref's in their names (some random dialogue lines from the game). Drizzt Saga is installed in BGEE and then translated by EET.

all creatures with F_ prefix have correct names in my game. Please check the problematic CRE filename and than see if the problem shows up in NI.

Hi, AWizardDidIt. Thank you for showing interest in the project. When it comes to coding it's not really necessary skill here as I can write the code myself. Although if you want to learn it yourself I highly recommend downloading Kuylok's Branwen for BG2, which is not only an NPC but a heavily commented and easily explained tutorial on how to code everything related to NPCs. When it comes to this project we would use almost exclusively CHAIN weidu command functionality, which is used for adding interjections into existing dialogues. From time to time maybe a short conversation initiated by the script could be implemented to (you know, something like Aerie few lines of dialogue when she see Underdark for the first time or Imoen after resting in Irenicus Dungeon), so APPEND command. Take a look at O#BBran.d and O#Bra25J.d for comments how exactly it works internally.

Glad to hear that you have knowledge about in-game characters and feel confident enough to write some of them. This is much more important than experience in coding.

What about your knowledge regarding Icewind Dale storyline? Would you need some direction in order to decide which dialogue lines would be fine for some additional interjections or you think you can handle it? Which NPCs you would like to work on?

As I mentioned in the opening post I don't have language skills or experience to coordinate stuff related to dialogues and to be honest I never gave much though when playing BG series about interjections that were present in vanilla BG2. So unless we find someone who would be interested in taking that role you are pretty much on your own when it comes to such decisions. All I can provide is coding up what you write, if you need such help.

I've written a message to Kuylok regarding it, so maybe she will provide some hints based on her experience on writing Icewind Dale NPCs mod here. If no than that mod itself may be a good reference which places of the game could take new line of dialogue or two. Of course not in such grand scope as in that mod. Due to amount of NPCs in game I think we should take minimalistic approach on this (which would be quite true to vanilla BG2 too that from what I remember didn't have that much interjections in the first place).

regarding Bioware:

I'm not really a fan of modern Bioware, so information that more veterans responsible for Baldur's Gate series ends up in a place not controlled by big publishers is a good news to me. After Dragon Age Inquisition disaster (opinion may be influenced by The Witcher 3 that I've played before latest DA) I think I'm done with Bioware once and for all.

thanks, I will check it out.

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New patch for Fading Promises v7 is available. This one adds not only EET compatibility but also vanilla BG2:EE. Consider it a beta since this mod hasn't been tested in EE engine yet. Following translation updates are needed: french, german, italian, russian, spanish. It's only 1 string, based on existing BG2 weapon.

There is also a chance for The Vault compatibility in future.

edit: 6 more patches for:

Keldorn Romance vbeta_jastey150114

Solaufein's Rescue: Jastey's Solaufein NPC for BGII vAlpha_160128

Banter Packs v14

de'Arnise Romance v4

Keto NPC v4

NPC Flirt Packs v1.03

And this mod can be installed without any changes:

Dungeon-Be-Gone v1.7

Now all PPG mods released for BG2:EE should be compatible with EET.

The journal entries had no issue, they were correctly moved from quest to solved at the times. Only observation here - the entry *Find Charles, the brother of Felicia* was added to solved section when I found him, but was never a quest before when I first talked to Felicia.

do you remeber what exactly you told her during first meeting? The UNSOLVED_JOURNAL is only used when you agree to help her brother. Than you should receive following line:

Thank you! You will see that he is actually a nice guy, I promise!

and journal update. If you said that you won't help him than no journal is set, which makes sense.

Here is untraified D file in case you don't remember the conversation:

must be some external mod. TGCe1 only have 3 portraits.

The Grey Clan just received the initial quest and will follow it now.

please take a look at quest journal entries. From my brief tests there was some issue with one of journal entries staying in quest tabs after quest is finished. It's not really a problem with this update because the same issue must had been true for old BGT version too, but I can fix it if I know in which part this problem occurs. Unfortunately I overwritten my save by mistake and now can't find out where it happened.

Reference image updated with Fishing For Trouble areas.

Roxanne, thank you for testing.

agb1, nice. Are you planning to make it compatible with EET too? If yes than I've just prepared a patch for you with all EET related changes to the FFT code (also listed in Changes.txt): https://www.sendspace.com/file/yvpmpq

It's cross platform coding, so these changes won't break compatibility with BG2 and BG2:EE (once you add support for it).

What happened to the gear? The party's gear goes into the BP store inventories. You can buy it back... but whatever you *don't* buy back, is gone for good.

that's hilarious And actually can be done in EE engine thanks to the new AddStoreItem action. I think we could add it into EET Tweaks or a separate mod. Any other ideas?

Reference image updated with The Darkest Day areas. BG2:EE version of this mod will be available soon thanks to shadowlich. File uploaded on dropbox to make it more readable (no jpg compression). Click to enlarge.

Probably best way to decide is to do such an install and when performance issues appear do a biffing and see if it helps (like it always did in BGT for me).

I've tested it with all BG:EE and IWD:EE resources inside EET override directory, including uncompressed TIS files (you can force the installer to not biff sounds and graphic resources) which means several GB of data and didn't noticed any slowdawns or load times in the game (at least in Candlekeep and Lion's Way).

Anyway the first post has been updated with following entries:

• Alternatives
• Edwin Romance
• Generalized Biffing
• Haer'Dalis Romance v2.1
• Imoen Friendship (SoA & ToB)
• Item Randomiser v7 dev release dated 160110
• IWDification vBeta3
• Kivan and Deheriana Companions for BG2
• Mazzy Friendship (SoA & ToB)
• Sarevok Romance
• Song and Silence
• The Gibberlings Three Anniversary Mod
• Tyris Flare
• Viconia Friendship (SoA & ToB)
• W_PackMule
• Wheels of Prophecy

Patches for those new mods that need them are now available on GitHub. Unless I missed something every single BG2:EE Gibberlings 3 mod should now work with EET. We will focus on contacting authors now to try to get as many of them internalized as possible.

here is quote from readme:

Black Pits - start Black Pits II and choose new dialogue response during the first conversation in tavern: "You can tell a ballad with more subtleties and nuances if you have experienced something first hand. Listen to my story." (after finishing Black Pits portion you will again end up in Black Pits 2 tavern, so you can continue this adventure with the same party.)

So, like Jarno mentioned it's still a separate story, played with different party, selectable from main menu.

We've been thinking about implementing it right into Bhaalspawn storyline, but the idea has been scrapped for now. Here is what was planned (ok, maybe it's not a right word, I came with it after 5 minutes of thinking )

Black Pits:
Add a random rumour during any of Tavern visits during BG1 (you know, the text that shows up when you buy a drink) that would mention strange disappearance of the visitors. Than if you would go to sleep in that tavern (flag set during rumour, reset as soon as you leave the area, so you have control when to start this optional adventure) the party would be kidnapped and the BP1 story continue as you know it from vanilla game. It would end up with your party being teleported to the very same place you normally meet Baeloth during BG:EE.

Black Pits 2:

Amkethram tavern from ToB would be adopted to trigger the event. When you enter it and take a nap (also after hearing a rumour first to allow players to skip it) than the same cutscene would be triggered as in Black Pits 2. Late in game due to how ridiculously powerful enemies you fight there.

Some other things related to this (now scrapped) idea for integrating Black Pits into storyline:
- XP reward only for killing actual monsters instead of hundreds of thousands quest XP rewards after each fight.

- very small gold rewards.
- shops without ridiculous things that shouldn't be there in the first place. Only spells, potions and regular equipment. Also a little more powerful variants once the shops are updated after story progress (that's how it works in vanilla BP), but only with common magicial items, not unique artifacts. You fight mostly with items your party brings there.
- no way to fight the same battles again and again like in original BP
- maybe add some way to escape from Black Pits 2 without finishing it (it's harder than ToB at later part, so it's possible that some parties would get stack there forever)

As you can see it was a very lazy concept that didn't require Black Pits 1 and 2 story rewriting or combat rebalancing. Why it has been abandoned? Well, it didn't make much sense. Like what, first your party is kidnapped by Baeloth, than by Irenicus, next in the Underdark and than again by some dudes from Thay? Unlikelihood of all of this would break suspension of disbelief for the player (or Charname would experience Stockholm syndrome, as Tuldor84 from another forum noticed when he saw this idea ), even if you can actually fight back and win that last kidnap attempt.

Roxanne mentioned different idea for implementation:

The Black Pits - when those Mindflayers capture you in the Underdark they make you fight for their amusement. Why not integrate those pits here as an option - you can side with the Githyanki just in the vanilla game or take the hard road, i.e. go through the pits. Instead they hang their without connection to the game.

That would be nice but requires quite a lot of work in rebalancing all combat encounters from Black Pits 1 to fit high level BG2 parties, and adding a lot of new text to the game. Also potential for incompatibilities with mods. It's probably better to leave such project for modders to implement, if someone will be interested in it.

edit: newest design for implementation is here: http://gibberlings3.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=27786&do=findComment&comment=261176

You can patch both at the same time, that's why we're setting these variables beforehand. This example probably is more readable:

ACTION_FOR_EACH file IN ~IMOEN1~ ~IMOEN2~ ~IMOEN4~ ~%IMOEN6_var%~ ~IMOEN6~ ~IMOEN10~ ~IMOEN15~ ~IMOEN211~ ~IMOEN213~ BEGIN
  ACTION_IF FILE_EXISTS_IN_GAME ~%file%.cre~ BEGIN
    COPY_EXISTING ~%file%.cre~ ~override~
      //do your patching
    BUT_ONLY
  END
END

above example will return correct file names for both BGT and EET but only if you assigned that "IMOEN6_var" like I've mentioned in the first post. If you don't know which variables needs to be set than please consider downloading cpmvars for each platform here (notice that these files contains exactly the same variable names but different words evaluated in them) Now INCLUDE each of these files in the ALWAYS section of your mod depending on GAME_IS command. From now on you no longer need to worry about setting variables, you just need to remember which files are renamed and replace the names with variable names, using BG:EE file as a reference. Let me know if it's still confusing.

Putting the BG:EE WeiDU.log into the override folder is probably a bad idea though. Maybe it's just me, but after the installation process and the final biffing, I'm routinely cleaning the override folder from any "garbage" files.

good point. WeiDU-BGEE.log in main directory than.

 

Input for analysis

 

One of the important sources of information for analysis in the game is Weidu.log.

In EET there are now two such files one from BGEE and one from BG2EE starting with EET.

Would it not be helpful to copy the BGEE Weidu.log during EET install and append the succeeding installation to it?

You would always be able to determine in which part of the game a mod is by the reference to EET in the log, but only one log would provide you with the complete information about what is in the game at a glance.

I think you might need to comment out the part from BGEE so that WeiDU doesn't trip out if you ask it to uninstall everything in the log...

 

I've tried to add mods installed on BG:EE as weidu.log comments but weidu automatically deletes all junk from the file whenever you use it, so it's not possible.

Hmm, I think that's a problem, because weidu checks for the existing entries, everytime you install a mod and if the tp2 and the translation files aren't found the existing entrys would be changed to something like this:

~setup-modname.tp2~ #0 #0 // ??? -> : 

we could copy all tp2 files mentioned in BG:EE weidu.log and add these entries manually, just without weidu executables, so players wouldn't be able to uninstall mods present in the log before EET. Hell, we could even copy whole backup directories and rename files existing and mentioned there with EET conventions, so the --log command could report changes.

Although not sure if it's worth it considering whole installing on BG:EE might be not needed in future, if more modders decide to add native EET compatibility. With EET_modConverter tool you can print a detailed log of needed changes, automatically implement cpmvars if needed, and if mod already supports cross-platform coding (for example BG1 NPC Project and some of the NPCs), especially if implemented via standard cpmvars, than it's a matter of minutes to implement compatibility. The problematic thing were mods editing different games which needed a lot of time to manually check if a change is needed (mods like BG2 Tweaks, aTweaks, SCS, Rogue Rebalancing, Divine Remix etc.) but those already have patches ready. I hope that more modders will jump on board at some point, so maybe this whole weidu.log workarounds won't be needed in a long run. Or maybe it's just wishful thinking

Hmm, EET could log the entries away in another file, but the mods, which are installed after EET, wouldn't append this file...

if you mean a copy of BG:EE weidu.log than it already does it - check your override folder, it's there.

What was wrong with the BGT convention?

1. It's not consistent. Using exmples from previous post:

QUAYLE => BGQUAYLE - this one is fine

IMOEN6 => IMOEN61 - this is odd one

2. Due to 2 characters prefix there are instances where 7 character filenames had to be changed to fit in 8 characters limit (no common convention, dropping 1 or 2 letters, usually at the end but not always).

3. Area renaming have no bearing on the original BG1 area numbers. You are always forced to use external site for reference

4. It changes much more than it should (for example every single EXIT and DOOR name in area files)

5. BGT appends dialogues for continuous NPCs, so common convention with EET wouldn't be reliable either way

And so forth. Ascension64 (author of BGT-weidu) actually agrees with the opinion that it's not a good convention.

When modding EET you pretty much only need to know about 2 rules regarding BG1 resources:

- area resources = changed prefix from AR to BG

- other resources = "_" suffix at the end of few conflicting files

As for EET, I'll get around to adding those variants when i can. Bad timing though, as RL is preventing me from doing much more than the occasoinal bug-fix and some forum posts. Until SoD comes out, EET is not going to be a very high priority...

Thanks. You may also consider using cross-platform coding implementation via community standard cpmvars btw. These files contains all vatiables that you will need in your mods to make it work with all platforms.

------------

Some bug reports:

1. npc_ee/npcs/coran/bard.tpa

EXTEND_BOTTOM ~imoen.bcs~ ~npc_ee/npcs/coran/coran_bard.baf~

=>

EXTEND_BOTTOM ~coran.bcs~ ~npc_ee/npcs/coran/coran_bard.baf~

2. Pretty much every EXTEND_TOP like the one above for BG2 NPCs is not compatible with a game started in ToB because you only modify non-ToB variants of Override scripts.

The only tweak I consider is your EET - Tweak, but no information where would be the right point in sequence to install that one?

always worth reading the readme file compatibility section

This mod should be installed at the end, after any mod that alters CRE, BCS, DLG, ITM, SPL, EFF files. You can safely keep it as the last mod in your load order (even after Widescreen and BP-BGT Worldmap), which will allow you to install/uninstall/re-install components during play through, without risking breaking other mods.

You don't need to worry about components installation order - weidu is smart enough to reinstall previous components if needed. For example you can install 'Party XP for quests distributed individually' before or after installing 'Adjust XP for quests' component. The outcome will be the same.

If you are going to use XP related components than you should avoid installing Ding0 Experience Fixer (DEF JAM), as it does the same thing, but compared to this mod is less precise, flexible and doesn't cover mod related SPL, ITM, EFF files and new ChangeStat action added by EE engine (at least the version v6 that was the most recent one when I was writing this readme).

Don't forget to read compatibility section in the description of each component you want to install. If it is mentioned that the same functionality is available elsewhere and you have conflicting mod installed already than installer will skip these components.

 

that late install order suggestion refers mostly to these components (most of them work globally on files in game, including those from mods):

- Adjust XP for Traps, Spells and Lockpicking

- Adjust XP for killing creatures

- Adjust XP for quests

- Party XP for quests distributed individually

- Adjust FPS and fix audio skipping in cutscenes

- Protagonist can die

- Disable hostile reaction after charm

- Remove junk from global scripts (this one checks if the script block looks exactly the same as in vanilla - otherwise skips patching)

Other doesn't matter. And of course it doesn't need to be the very LAST mod in install order. That part is just to let you easily uninstall if you change your mind during game. In other words install it like any other tweak mod - after mods that adds content. And becouse EET Tweaks can detect BG2 Tweaks changes it should be installed after it.

Roxanne, could you please upload your BG:EE weidu.log? Also please check which weidu was used in BG:EE directory. White Agnus mentioned that he had some problems with installation receiving "Out of memory" message, so we need to find out if this is problem with the newest weidu beta or maybe EET installation can't handle conversion of so many files at once.

edit: never mind, I see that you've posted the log in one of previous posts. And you had both BG1NPC and AJANTISBG1 which triggered the error for WN when installed together. Strange thing. I will try to run an installation with all mods from compatibility list at once and see if weidu will be able to handle it.

I've been looking forward for this one. One of the best mods out there. Thank you very much for this effort.

The installation of this mod could take 30 minutes until 2 or more hours (regarding your hardware)

if this is the case than why not just use PVRZ instead of TBC? They have comparable sizes and PVRZ can be used in EE engine as it is, no unpacking involved. TIS can be compressed to PVRZ with tile2ee tool.

Examples using AR1500 from BG:EE (BG1500 in EET):

PVRZ - 6,08 MB

PVRZ converted to TIS with tile2ee tool (format supported by BGT too btw.) - 33,6 MB

above TIS compressed to TBC with tileconv.exe (file dragged and dropped into exe) - 7.94 MB

So overall smaller file size and instant installation time? Sounds better to me.

-----------

the mod is still installing to me but in biff folder I've noticed that there are not only N TIS files there but also regular ones. Is this normal? What exactly is changed in vanilla TIS files?

-----------

btw. the archive doesn't have weidu included.

- fix some minimaps (some of them looks not as good)

you are aware that Near Infinity can now export TIS images to PNG with WED data loaded? This feature has been added few versions ago: http://i.imgur.com/2nsFrjY.png

PS Maybe it was my using the new Weidu version required for EET already in BGEE as well?

no idea, but we can change the code to accept both back and forward slash. Wasn't aware that weidu could print it differently.

As for the previous post:

???This is what I would have guessed BUT what about mods like Grey Clan or DSotSC?

It would be best to install both of them in the order suggested by BWP, but I doubt it will matter if you install those 2 after EET (so after most of those BG:EE mods) like you did the last time. They won't conflict with anything in BG2 (neither will those mods installed on BG:EE). The only thing that may cause a problem here would be a situation in which some other BG:EE mod have conflict with one of them when installed earlier. And since you didn't notice problems with DSotSC in your last play through with huge selection of BG1 mods installed before it, than the chance that such conflicts exist is small. Let's hope that in future more BG:EE mods will be updated to have native EET support, so they won't have to be installed on BG:EE (which slows down conversion significantly btw.).

But of course always try to follow BWP suggestions regarding mods install order to minimize chance for conflicts. Also avoid installing components that conflicts with each other (BWS usually warns about them). Example from the first post:

Compatibility with EET doesn't mean that mods are fully compatible with each other - refer to BWP PDF files, original readme files and forum discussions for compatibility details. For example Garrick : tales of a troubadour readme file states that it conflicts with Garrick's Infatuation and Tenya NPC and it is not recommended to install them together. Same readme file also mentions that the mod requires BG1 NPC Project installed before it.

The 2. Mods that can be installed after EET on BG2:EE are just in alphabetical order - does the sequence not matter for them?

To not confuse people I will sort BG:EE mods in alphabetical order. Of course installation order does matter. It's even mentioned in the first post.

I will check that Valerie mod, wait a sec.

Is anyone aware of work done for Northern Tales of the Swordcoast and if - yes - will it be part of the BGEE or BG2EE part of an EET installation?

Like I've mentioned on SHS I'm working on updating NTotSC to work with both EET and BGT at the same time, so a version that hopefully will replace the one currently hosted on SHS. Native support, so installed after EET on BG2:EE or after BGT on BG2. Similar treatment as DSotSC, so modernized tp2 coding, EE engine related changes, cross-platform coding, internalization of all known bugfixes and major item and XP balancing overhaul. Although it's uncertain if this particular update will be even released because author of the original mod (Aurelinus) was not very happy with Sir Billy Bob's conversion to BGT (IIRC he once said that if he would get another chance at the time he would forbid the release of BGT version because it's not faithful enough to his work), so maybe he will be also against this one. I will try to contact him and check his stance.

When it comes to DSotSC the problem didn't exist because I've received a blessing from the original author - CuChoinneach.

Is it possible/recommended to use BWS already now to install a test-EET version? Will BWS identify and download the correct mod versions required for EET?

unfortunately no. You can do some hacking to enable it but it will work correctly only on mods installed on BG:EE. BG2 ones needs to be installed manually for now. BWS would install incorrect versions (for example you had wrong version of Tower of Deception in your last weidu.log that you posted on SHS - the newest one is 4.0), and it can't implement patches mentioned in this topic for now. Before requesting help from BWS guys regarding patches implementation in similar fashion to Big World Fixpack let's find out if mod authors are actually interested in internalizing these patches themselves or if some of them are against EET support altogether. I also need to check if Big World Fixpack itself conflicts with current patches because I used original releases to prepare them rather than mods patched with BWF.

So yeah, installing many mods with beta EET is a nightmare. But when EET will be released officially it will be fully supported by Big World Setup.