Glam Vrock

I haven't played these mods myself, but I assume the problem is that they use the idol of Kozah for quest content. However, at the end of Dave's quest, the idol gets replaced in your inventory, which would prevent other mods from recognising it. It's not a bug, just a compatibility issue. To work around it, you could just wait to finish Dave's quest until you've done whatever else you need to do with the idol. Unless those quests also remove or replace it, in which case you'd have to cheat in another copy. I didn't realise so many other people were using the thing!

Note that all issues reported are being worked on. I'm hoping to release the new version with a heaping helping of crossmod content, so please excuse the delay.

Fanboy coming back atcha! My roommate who won't eat vegetables says that I do not and will never know shit about Baldur's Gate, that I am a weapons-grade plutonium scrub emitting harmful beta-male radiation, that I should go back to Animal Crossing with all the other eunuchs, and that my girlfriend is a lying whore who's probably getting railed by that black guy from two doors over. Anyone want to release some quick fixes to help me out?

13 hours ago, Kilivitz said:

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).

It's not about eliminating save scumming. If that were true, they'd remove the RNG altogether and have you automatically succeed if your Pick Pocket is high enough. It's about encouraging an investment. There’s already incentive to raise your intelligence beyond the RNG mechanic of spell scribing. Lore bonus, maximum spell level, number of spells known per level.

Successful pickpocketing, with low skill, is nothing but an exercise of rolling the dice over and over until you succeed. There's no strategy. There's no challenge. Only at high levels does it become reliable…which is also when you start passing Beamdog’s skill barriers. If I dump a load of points in Pick Pockets, only to find that any thief can steal anything given enough attempts, I’m gonna feel pretty cheated and wish I’d spent those points on more essential skills like locks and traps. Bigger rewards for bigger investments is a good incentive, and makes the skill more worthwhile.

You say you want a “best of both worlds” situation, but is the pure RNG pickpocketing really the best of the original games? Or is it just what you’re used to?

13 hours ago, Kilivitz said:

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.

The caricature is of temnix, not everyone who dislikes the EEs. If you prefer old style pickpocketing, that’s fine. I maintain that what we have now is better, but personal preference doesn’t have to be objective. It’s a change that you have no choice but to play along with. That’s a valid reason to want a mod.

However, when you start demanding rollbacks for things that can be ignored or even disabled in the options menu, or claiming that these relatively minor changes are somehow ruining the experience for new players, or accusing everyone who likes (or isn’t bothered by) The New Stuff of being a fanboy, then yeah, I’d say you’re pretty irrational, neckbeard or no neckbeard.

2 hours ago, Kilivitz said:

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.

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.

Also:

2 hours ago, Kilivitz said:

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 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.

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!

Fanboy here again! I've just reached Chapter 4, and I've come across this +2 scimitar that I found on some dead guy. My roommate who doesn't pay rent is a long-time expert in these games (shout out to all you veterans!) and he tells me this sword wasn't in the originals and only exists to handhold casual scrubs? Is this true?? Will the scimitar make the game super easy? I already have a bunch of +2 weapons by now, and nobody in my party uses scimitars anyway...not sure how to proceed. Can I just not pick it up? Is that a thing you can do in these games??

15 hours ago, temnix said:

Because EE's technology is better, there are many more things possible with EE. But Beamdog's improvements, where I have encountered them, are mostly irrelevant and never vital. And they throw off the pace. In the name of balance so many things got nerfed, too. New players don't even know what they are missing. Even such trivial things as having sprite outlines and fat selection circles on by default is a mistake - it makes the experience cartoonish, yet half of players, I bet, play with those defaults.

Fanboy here! A fresh, bright-eyed newbie to the beloved Baldur's Gate series, and let me tell you, while I would never choose to simply disable sprite outlines in the options menu, I'd definitely be prepared to seek out and install a mod that turns them off for me! That sounds much easier and more convenient for my purposes, as a brand new player who wants to make the Enhanced Edition more faithful to the original games, which I have also never played.

21 hours ago, Ardanis said:

Is Roxanne even aware of the original project, to begin with? Or has she been informed of its existence, in case there were doubts? The only reason I even know about it, is because I remember a decade old thread on SHS, so if you weren't around there back then and don't check on every recently active thread now, you'd be forgiven for being ignorant.

15 hours ago, Jarno Mikkola said:

So the simple answer to your question Ardanis is: no.

Seems like the issue came up pretty unambiguously around page 7 of that topic you posted. Roxanne is definitely aware of the original project, which is why they made it very clear that this Seatower mod, on their website, has nothing to do with that other one, and that they "refuse to take on anything from that failed mod."

Mm. This would take a fair bit of rewriting. The fact that the "temple" of Talos is a poky little cabin in the woods comes up a lot in the dialogue, and it's a big part of the misfit identity of Dave's church. Unfortunately I didn't know the place was in use by another mod at the time, and I also don't know of any other unused houses in forest areas that would fit the bill.

Oh, absolutely. I've taken great pains to portray Sandrah as accurately as Roxanne did everyone else's characters. I think the results speak for themselves.

Version 3.1 prevents Vynd, Dave, Flara and Moidre from leaving due to reputation in BG:EE, as intended from the very beginning. Also took the liberty of writing some crossmod banters for Roxanne's Sandrah Saga mod. Hope she doesn't mind!

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Hi there! I'm glad you enjoyed Flara so much. While I'm not opposed to bringing the whole gang over to BG2, Vynd is going to be the first priority. He's what I've been promising, and I've already got a decent bit of work done on him. Perhaps Flara will come after that, or maybe one of the others; I think they all have stories still to tell. We've yet to meet Littlun's tribe, Moidre's got her quest in the Underdark, and who knows how Dave will feel about the Talos temple in Amn? Keep an eye out!

Damn it. I knew there had to be some kind of catch to that. Passback lines it is, then.

Gibberlings Three

Remember Vynd, the lovable drow assassin NPC for Baldur's Gate 1? He made some friends. We don't know how it happened either, but they're ready to set aside at least a few of their differences and join your party.

Glam's NPC Pack adds five colourful new characters to Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, Tutu, BGT, and EET. Use them standalone with your favourites from the original BG cast, or recruit them all at once; the choice is yours!

Visit the project page, download page, and forums today!

Changes:

Hey, thanks for the advice. I always felt like the coding for that interjection was kind of ramshackle; good to know there's a more elegant way of doing it.

Version 3 fixes Tutu errors with Dave being sent to the Friendly Arm and Jeff being asked for healing services, some issues with interjections, and a bug causing Moidre to disappear when dismissed. It also makes some edits for compatibility and consistency.

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Hey folks. Apologies for my silence; I've been dealing with some stuff lately. I've uploaded a new version that hopefully addresses all the issues mentioned so far. Thanks for the feedback, folks!

Hey, sorry it took so long to get back to you. Flara does not have SoD content at the moment; she does take off after the first dungeon, I hope?

The pathfinding thing is a problem, yeah. I did try to test it in cramped and crowded areas to make sure it worked, but obviously I can't account for every location the player might rest in, and it's hard to tell if it's an engine issue or not; the only other way I can think to do it would be to have the characters spawn right next to you, which kind of ruins the effect. I dunno, maybe I can handwave it as invisibility or something.

As for Flara's alignment, I was torn on how to handle it. Yes, she's evil, but as mentioned in the readme, she's not supposed to care about reputation. Unfortunately, BGEE doesn't let me implement that feature. Chaotic neutral is the closest thing to her actual personality while still giving players the most leeway, and guaranteeing she won't leave at high reputation, which is kinda what the game pushes you towards anyway. Honestly, the only reason I didn't make Dave CN as well is because it would affect his Turn Undead.

Other issues you mentioned have been noted. Thanks!

Was it bugging anyone else that Littlun uses a player soundset? It was bugging me. What if someone wanted that voice for their main character?

The problem is solved! Littlun now has a brand new, totally unique soundset, courtesy of professional voice actress Haley Jay. Now she won't be calling anyone "guv" anymore, thank god.

Version 2 also fixes some compatibility issues with Tutu/BGT installs, and a bug that prevented Tenya from becoming neutral again after Charname agrees to help her.

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Download him here.

Though the standalone Vynd mod is now deprecated on G3, I will still be supporting it, and any changes made to him in the NPC Pack will also be made to this one.

As soon as I can get the issue with the combat scripts sorted out, I'll throw a new version up. Shouldn't take more than a day or two. I'll upload the fixed Vynd mod along with it.

I don't think installing it after all the tweaks and stuff will break anything; it just means the tweaks won't be applied to it. So if you have the Identify All Items cheat, for instance, you'll still have to identify the stuff from the mod.

Found the problem! Rather than compiling each dialogue file individually, I was just compiling the entire folder, which the BImoen files were in, so they ended up getting rebuilt even if another mod already did it. Just had to move them to their own folder and now everything looks good. Also fixed the Tenya issue.

Regarding Vynd v2; I didn't actually make that version, and I also disappeared for like five years, so I had no idea it wasn't working with Tutu. Easy fix, though; turns out it was set to check for tutu but not tutu_totsc. Kind of surprised it went unnoticed for that long, but hey, at least it's done now.

On 8/4/2019 at 9:06 AM, Jarno Mikkola said:

This just requires adding this code to the .tp2 file...

APPEND ~trigger.ids~ ~0x40e2 CheckSpellState(O:Object*,I:State*splstate)~ UNLESS ~0x40e2~

...if I am not entirely wrong.

So I did try this, but all that happened was I got the same error message for a different trigger. I have no idea how many appends I'd have to add to make these work, and at some point I have to ask if it's even a good idea to try. It sucks, but I might just have to give everyone more basic combat scripts for Tutu/BGT.

The Imoen issue is also kind of confusing me. The original Vynd doesn't have this problem, and the only difference is that that one uses FILE_EXISTS_IN_GAME to check the game version for Imoen's dialogue stuff, whereas this one just uses GAME_IS. Would that even matter? I can't think of anything else that would affect Imoen and no other character.

Yeah, Moidre and Flara are just a vanilla Fighter and Sorcerer if you're not using EE, although Flara does retain some fire resistance for flavour.

That's weird. I had to do some tweaking with that interjection, so I tested it pretty extensively. Thought I had it working fine. Are you on BGT, Tutu or EE?

EDIT:

On 7/25/2019 at 7:56 PM, Greenhorn said:

Great, I will just pull it from override until I finish installation of those two components, then I will return it back. But thought just crossed my mind, I will probably need to repeat that process for all scripts in that folder, maybe it wouldn't be bad idea to skip them for installation on classic games in the future. If it is too much of a hassle, I guess it isn't that much important, now that I know workaround.  

Unfortunately, if I skip them then none of the quest characters will have combat scripts. I could replace them with ones from the classic games, but a lot of the characters have kits and special items and stuff, and I like that they'll actually make use of those assets with the SoD scripts. Did it happen with all of them, or just the Bard one?