CamDawg

Heh, I knew I couldn't count.

April 8 - Cam Came back all nice and refreshed from vacation and was immediately ambushed with bug reports. I have a few more items to check off before I return in earnest to Delainy... CR needs a new point release, Idobek and I are close to releasing a combined tweak pack, and the website needs an overhaul. Never should've tried to follow Andyr's example of working on 184 mods at once. That being said, I'm very pleased with the progress so far. As she stands now, Delainy has upwards of 50-60 banters, a few hundred interjections, and three unique encounters.

As promised, part two of the ongoing BG2 kit creation series. This section is going to cover the various files involved with kit creation, what they do, and how to avoid common pitfalls. To view these files, use an editor such as Near Infinity, DLTCEP, or Infinity Explorer. Don't worry too much abot modifying these files--the next part of the tutorial will discuss how to use WeiDU to do this for you. Game Files 2da files are text files that contain tables of data used to define rules and parameters for the game. Kits rely on data specificaly in many of these tables: KITLIST.2da - The master list of kits in the game. The kits are referred to by their "internal name" in the first column. Most should be easy to recognize save the FERALAN--this was a ranger kit that was cut and replaced by the archer ranger kit. It's internal name was never changed though. The LOWER, MIXED, and HELP columns contain the string references from dialog.tlk that provide the name and description of the kit that you see in the game. [Dialog.tlk is a collection of every line of text in the game--be it dialogue, item descriptions, names, etc.--indexed by a number. Spells, items, creatures, etc. do not actually contain their description in the file itself, instead they carry a string reference (STRREF for short) that points to the correct entry in dialog.tlk.] The ABILITIES column points to a CLAB****.2da file that contains the abilities that are gained by the kit on leveling up. The PROFICIENCY column determines which column in WEAPPROF.2da is associated with the kit. UNUSABLE is a hex value that matches the kit to the proper unusable flag in item files. Item files have a series of flags that determine which classes and kits can use them. One value not listed is 0x00004000, which will give the kit the exact same restrictions as its parent class, i.e. a fighter kit will use the same restrictions as a vanilla fighter. One other note of interest is that these values can be added (use a hexadecimal calulator if you're not familiar with hex numbers) to combine restrictions. If you want a kit that has the item restrictions of a Cavalier and a Shapeshifter (lord knows why!) you would add their respective unusable values: 0x00000008 + 0x10000000 = 0x10000008. The final column, CLASS, refers to the parent class of the kit--i.e. Assassins, Bounty Hunters, and Swashbucklers would have the value for thief in this column. Valid values are 1 (Mage), 2 (Fighter), 3 (Cleric), 4 (Thief), 5 (Bard), 6 (Paladin), 11 (Druid), and 12 (Ranger). The missing values are for the various multi-class and unkittable single-class characters. ABCLASRQ.2da - This file controls the minimum stat scores or the various kits and classes. The first column lists the classes and kits and the other six correspond to the minimum allowed value in the six attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Inteligence, Wisdom, and Charisma. ABCLSMOD.2da - This file contains the modifiers to stat scores for the various classes and kits, i.e. bonus or penalty to strength. Of the default BG2 kits, only Beast Masters have an adustment to their stats. ABDCDSRQ.2da - This file contains the minimum stat requirements to dual-class TO the kit/class in question. This is rather pointless for kits, as they can not be the second class of a dual-classed charater, but this file does need to be updated. ABDCSCRQ.2da - This file contains the minimum stat requirements to dual-class FROM the kit/class in question. This is the 'must have 15 in prime requisite stats to dual-class' rule; allowed dual-classes are handled by another file. ALIGNMNT.2da - This file controls allowed alignments for a kit. A "1" indicates that the alignment is allowed for the kit while "0" indicates a disalowed alignment. CLABFI01.2da et al - This file controls what spells and bonuses are applied to te kit at level-up. Each kit and vanilla character class has a unique CLAB file, set by the KITLIST.2da file in the ABILITIES column. The columns correspond to the level at which the kit receives the ability and the rows list the abilities gained. Rows can be added indefinitely. There are three types of entries for the abilities: **** (nothing), AP_spellname (applied) or GA_spellname (gained). Spells that are applied are for permanent abilities such as a Wizard Slayer's inherent magic resistance or a barbarian's speed increase. Gained abilities are for once (or more) per day abilities, such as a Kensai's kai or snares for thieves. The CLAB file will probably be the most important file for creating your kit. CLASWEAP.2da - This file controls the type of allowed weapons by general class. The kit names run down the first column and the various columns refer to the weapon types. An entry of "1" indicates the weapon type is usable and a "0" indicates unusable. DUALCLAS.2da - This file controls the allowed dual-class possibilities for a kit. A "1" indicates a valid dual-class, while a "0" indicates the dual-class is not possible. Due to hard-coded limitations, kits of classes that can not dual-class (such as bard and paladin kits) will crash the game if dual-classed, regardless of the settings in this file. K_C_H.2da et al - These files controls what kits are available to the player on character creation. The secod and third entry correspond to the class and race of the character--K_C_H determines what files are available to a cleric who is human. KITTABLE.2da has a full table that can help you in determining which K_*_*.2da file corresponds to which race and class. In the file itself is a column of descending numbers on the left and a column of numbers on the right that correspond to entries in KITLIST.2da. Please note that the K_*_* files do not override hardcoded limitations--listing a druid kit in K_D_E (druid kits for elves) will not allow elves to become druids, as there is a hardcoded race limitation to the druid class. LUABBR.2da (ToB only) - This file is an index that matches kits to a table of High Level Abilities (HLAs). The left column lists the kits and classes and the right column corresponds to the HLA index. The index name must be 3 charactes in length; the file for the HLA table is always LUXXX.2da where XXX is the entry in this table. LUFI0.2da et al (ToB only) - The LUXXX files contain a table of HLAs for a given kit or class. The spell files are listed in the ABILITIES column with the same style GA_ and AP_ prefixes from the CLAB file. The ICON and STRREF columns appear to be unusued, MIN_LEVEL is the first level where the ability becomes available to the player (note that the player must still gain 3 million XP before HLAs are available), MAX_LEVEL is presumably the level at which the ability is no longer offered, NUM_ALLOWED is the number of times the player can select a given HLA before it becomes unavailable, PREREQUISITE determines if another HLA is required before the current one can be selected (greater whirlwind has whirlwind as a prerequisite for example), EXCLUDED_BY is used to make HLAs mutually exclusive (think of Deva/Fallen Deva) and ALIGNMENT_RESTRICT determines if certain alignments can select an ability. WEAPPROF.2da - This file determines the maximum number of stars that a kit or class can put in a specific weapon proficiency. Note that allowing a kit to place stars in a certain weapon will not grant them the ability to use the weapon--i.e. allowing a cleric kit a proficiency in spears--will not allow the kit to use them. The first column lists the weapons and the various columns match the clases and kits in the game. The CLUB proficiency in spells and items is also referred to as EXTRA1. The other EXTRA proficiencies do not have any function in game. Keep in mind that any spells that are going to be gained or applied also need to be created and added. How to create spells is beyond the scope of this tutorial; there are many tutorials and tools that cover spell creation. It is a fairly long set of files to modify and not easily digested at first glance. However, the next tutorial will show how WeiDU's ADD_KIT command will do all the work for you. Please post discussion and comments to the kit creation series discussion thread here at The Gibberlings Three and we will do our best to answer your questions. Complete Series Part One: Limitations of the Engine Part Two: Game Files Involved Part Three: Installing with WeiDU Part Four: Additional WeiDU Functions

This means that these classes cannot be kitted for a PC, correct? NPC only kits for these classes can be made, can't they? (Good to know before I start trying to tinker about) Err, no. These four really are hardcoded and unkittable. With a custom NPC though, you can grant extra abilities and such with a script that grants extra abilities at level-up.

The 9 selectable kits I chalk up to very poor GUI design. Just adding a simple scrollbar would mean as many selectable kits as you could possibly want.

That's a very interesting question. My guess would be yes, simply because I can't see any reason why it would not.

AFAIK, yes. The "hardcoded limitation" on maximum kits to which you always hear folks refer is a limitation of kits available to the PC on the character creation screen. So a mage kit for an NPC should be possible. With a custom kit, you would be able to alter the spell progression and all that other fun stuff with the CLAB files. Are you referring to a kit that would simulate a multiclass, or a multiclass kit? The former is very difficult (the buttons and spellbook limitations specifically) and the latter is worse.

Along with NPCs, kits seem to be one of the more popular ideas that folks have for mods. The other day I realized that, despite rarely playing kitted characters, I've become involved with a lot of kit mods and kit-making is becoming more or less second nature. This is part one in a series that will hopefully cover kit creation, from A to Z. Part One: Engine Limitations I've seen a lot of ideas for kits across the forums I visit. Every so often, someone has taken a lot of care and thought and come up with a really great idea for a kit. My interest is piqued and I browse through the advantages/disadvantages and I see "Can not use [insert item]" or "Requires 17 Dexterity" and I get that sinking feeling. Unfortunately, the IE was never designed as a modder-friendly engine and we have to deal with many hardcoded limitations and engine quirks. As a result, seemingly innocuous requirements such as these can kill a kit by making it near-impossible to implement or balance. I'll try and cover the broadest limitations. Item restrictions suck - One of the more common balancing techniques I see in kit proposals are "Can Not Use X" in a kit disadvantages section. Unfortunately item restrictions run into many, many problems. Item files themselves only have 32 available usability "flags" that restrict them to a particular kit, and these are all used by the existing kits. This means there is no way to implement a unique set of restrictions for a new kit without restructuring usability for other kits. Even re-using another kit's item usability flags can run into troubles. Using a fighter kit usability flag for a cleric kit could mean that your kit loses access to some cleric items. Some flags also have hardcoded features attached--for example, creating a thief kit that uses Bounty Hunter usability restrictions will also mean your kit will receive fewer thieving points at level-up, just like a Bounty Hunter. High minimums are an advantage, not a disadvantage - This is another aspect of the engine that tends to surprise folks. In Pen and Paper, a kit with high requirements is difficult to attain since you need to actually roll dice and get the numbers. With the IE, the game will cheat on the rolls and always guarantee that you meet those requirements. A kit that requires 18 in every stat will mean you'll always roll straight 18s. If you're going to use stat minimums as a balancing aspect of your kit, keep this in mind. Interface buttons are hardcoded - The buttons available to a character (turn undead, stealth, bard song, spellcasting, etc) are set by their class, not their kit. So if you wanted a paladin with a bard song, you can't do it--the bard song button is not available to paladins and there is no way to add it. On the flipside, though, disabling buttons are generally pretty easy--a cleric that can't turn undead or a ranger with no stealth are both pretty easy. Spellbooks are available only to spellcasters - Any kit can use innate abilities. However, the spellbooks are tied directly to the spellcasting classes so there is no way to allow a thief kit to memorize spells and cast them using the spellbook interface. The spellbooks are also not interchangeable, meaning tht cleric kits can not access the mage spellbook and vice-versa. Some classes can not be kitted - Sorcerers, monks, barbarians, and wild mages can not be kitted. Only nine kits for a given class will be shown at character creation - When the player is creating their character, only nine kits can be displayed on the screen. Mages already have nine kits, so to create a mage kit that is selectable by the player you'll need to replace or disable one of the existing kits. This does not mean that you can not create a mage kit for an NPC; this is a restriction purely for PC-selectable kits. Some of the above limitations have workarounds, but they are either non-intuitive for the player, introduce compatibility problems, are difficult to code, or a combination thereof. Part Two will cover the files used by kits, what they do, and what you need to modify. Please post discussion and comments to the kit creation series discussion thread here at The Gibberlings Three and we will do our best to answer your questions. Complete Series Part One: Limitations of the Engine Part Two: Game Files Involved Part Three: Installing with WeiDU Part Four: Additional WeiDU Functions

Don't let Andyr fool you! You'll find an endless array of projects on which you wish to work and you'll play BG2 F0R3V4RR!!!!1111!!!!!.

Mar 24 - Cam I'm leaving for the airport in a few hours and just released one more Delainy build before I go. Slowly working through the interjections. Once they're done I can start coding the lovetalks and main quest.

I had no idea my naps would cause rejoicing.

Mar 17 S'more code optimization. Fixed a few bugs. Took a nap.

Our first round of playtesting has gone very well. However, many of the playtesters are starting to finsih their round and move on to bigger and better things. Long story short: we're opening a new round of playtesting for anyone who's interested. Much progress has been made since the original playtest, so you'll be looking at a lot more content and other fun stuff. You'll probably also start to see the LTs towards the end of the playtest, as well as some of the music and other fun stuff. Please PM either Bri or myself if you're interested.

I know, it's just my curse to be horribly anal retentive and use four SAYs on everything.

Mar 4 - Cam Poor Bri is having some trouble with her ISP, so she'll likely only be online sporadically over the next few days. Luckily I have more than enough to keep me busy. Most of the changes in the latest build (v0.2.2) have been 'under the hood' changes; mainly more efficient coding from the Cleric Remix builds and a few other tricks. While not nearly as sexy as content, it'll make the mod more likely to be backward and forward-compatible with other mods, as well as trimming down the download package. The randomization has been implemented. Delainy will randomly spawn at one of the Athkatla inns (and have unique dialogue/poetry depending on where she is) and a lot of her content has been randomized so players can play with Delainy through a few different games with less repeating content.

Nice work Barren.

Right on! Thanks Idobek. I'll update the tutorial--and my code! Your tutorials were what got me started with my love affair using WeiDU as a hex editor.

My ideal world is one in which all mods play together nicely. OK, so I really did it because it save me a lot of time in spell editing.

Particularly in kit making, there is a need to quickly and easily change spells from wizard or priest to innate abilities. One way to accomplish this is to open your spell editor of choice, copy the spell, change the spell type to innate, change the spell icon to the innate version, and also change each one of the spell effect headers to display icons as innate abilities. Then you would need to include and copy this file with your installation package. In the course of the Cleric Remix mod, this issue is coming up repeatedly, and frankly, I got tired of making the same changes over and over. Another potential issue is that if another mod wants to alter the spell you're modifying, you could end up with an innate and mage version of a spell that do different damage, save penalties, etc. since the innate version is based on the modder's install, while the player's version is based off another mod. The ideal solution is to use a COPY_EXISTING command and patch as you go along. The following example is one I used to change the mage spell Chain Lightning SPWI615.spl into an innate ability named C!TLCHNL.spl for the Cleric Remix mod. This could also be used in reverse, or to change wizard to priest spells, etc. by altering the number 4 (in bold) in the two WRITE_SHORT commands. If you wanted to alter the name and description of the spell, all of the normal SAY commands can be used with the COPY_EXISTING command. The SAY commands in this example are in gray and are entirely optional as you would only need them if you wanted to change the name and/or description of the spell. The section in green is the meat of the routine. First, you read in the number of abilities and where they begin in the file. Then, you create a loop using WHILE that goes through and patches every ability with the icon location of innate (4). You need the number of abilities and their offset to determine how many times WHILE will loop and the exact offset to patch. The section in purple is used to change the BAM of the spell icon and is also an optional component. By convention, every spell has three icons, named xxxxA.bam, xxxxB.bam, and xxxxC.bam. The A version is used on scrolls, the B version is what shows up in your spellbook, and the C version is displayed on the bottom bar of the game screen when selecting your spell from the "Cast Spell" or "Special Abilities" button. In this example, we're using the fact that the 'Abilities' headers of spells always use the B version of the icon, and copying the name over to the general spell. Please not that this section is specific to changing spells into innates; do not use this block if you're changing a spell into a wizard or priest spell. edit: Thanks for the cleaner code, Idobek!

Feb 21 - Cam Random has been the buzzword of late. Delainy now randomly appears in one of six different Athkatla taverns, and will randomly return to one if she leaves the party. We're also randomizing a lot (but not all) of content, so the player can have a different playing experience with Delainy through multiple games. Took off some time to work on some side projects: I coded a few builds of the Cleric Remix mod and my tweak pack as well as some other fun stuff. Time to start running with wolves again.

*casts Polymorph: Gibberling on Tameon*

This just made my day.

All completed mods can be found at the Gibberlings Three download page. Please use this forum for bug reports, suggestions, and feedback. Thanks all! The mods currently covered in this forum are: Amaurea's BG Portraits This mod offers alternative portraits for each of the Baldur's Gate NPCs and works for Tutu or BGT. These portraits can also be used by the PC. A preview of the portraits is available on the Portraits page. Amaurea's BG2 Portraits This mod offers alternative portraits for each of the Baldur's Gate II NPCs. These portraits can also be used by the PC. A preview of the portraits is available on the Portraits page. Anishai One Day NPC This is Barren's small contributin to JCompton's one-day NPC project. It makes Anishai, the monk from Mae'Var's guildhouse, a joinable NPC. berelinde's Keldorn Romance This mod introduces a romance for the original BioWare NPC Keldorn. It is compatible with all BGII games: original BGII, BGII:EE, BGT, and EET. Blonde Imoen This WeiDU mod will replace all Imoen's portrait and avatar with a new version that has long blonde hair. Corthala Romantique - Valygar Romance Tender love and care for one silent, brooding type - The Mod Corthala Romantique adds a romance for (some) female PCs, friendship talks, and a quest for the well-known stalker Valygar. Dragon Age Portraits This mod offers Dragon Age: Origins style portraits for the PC, for all BG and BG2 NPCs, and for a selection of mod NPCs. A preview of the portraits is offered on the mod project page. Geomantic Sorcerer The Geomantic Sorcerer Kit is strongly based on the Druidic Sorcerer Kit by Constant Gaw, and resurrected by hlidskialf and loosely based on the Geomancer presitige class from the AD&D 3rd Edition Masters of the Wild manual. The kit combines the sorcerer's spellcasting methods and spells with additional druidic spells and abilities and features its own unique tiered HLA progression and custom spells. Haldamir This mod adds the NPC Haldamir to Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn games. Haldamir can be found in the Den of the Seven Vales in Waukeen's Promenade. Haldamir is an unkitted elven fighter. He has two banters with each of the BioWare NPCs, a short friendship track, and numerous interjections. Imoen Is Stone The mod lets Imoen be turned to stone in the fight with Irenicus at the Promenade. She will still be taken by the Cowled Wizards, and Irenicus will have depetrified her and do his soul-experiments until the PC reaches Spellhold so the overall game flow is not altered. But overall it all happens a bit later than in the original, and gives the PC a bit more freedom to explore before going after her. Improved BAMs This is a mod for Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale created by NiGHTMARE and Andyr that I have repackaged with a WeiDU installer. A large number of the Baldur's Gate inventory graphics (BAMs) were improved for the sequel, so I decided to create this small pack that puts them back into the original. It will also work with Icewind Dale, as that re-uses many BG1 items. Improved Horns of Valhalla This is a minor modification to Baldur's Gate II that improves the berserkers summoned by the three Horns of Valhalla. Only the creatures and their items are modified. The horns themselves are left unchanged. The berserkers have improved weaponry, proficiencies, and are constantly in a state of enrage (per the Berserker kit). JPS' Portrait Pack A series of portraits for the Baldur's Gate II NPCs by JPS packaged with WeiDU. The portrait pack includes two alternate Jaheira portraits and one for Aerie, Imoen, Nalia and Viconia. For previews, visit JPS' section of the Portraits page Mod Kit Remover The Mod Kit Remover is a WeiDU mod that will remove all mod kits from the character creation screen. The mod was primarily made because The Darkest Day fills all available kit slots, but players wished to use kits from other mods when playing it. There are options to remove either just mod kits or BioWare and mod kits. All kits will remain installed for use by NPCs and previously created PCs. Any changes made by other mods to BioWare's kits will remain intact, and kits from other WeiDU mods can be installed and be selectable at character creation. Moinesse's Avatars This WeiDU mod contains a series of new avatars and paperdolls for BG2 or IWD2. Avatars are the graphics of your characters as they walk around the game world and paperdolls are the graphics that show on the inventory screen. NPC Beautification These portraits were done by NiGHTMARE and packaged in WeiDU by Icelus. They provide a series of alternative portraits for many of the Bioware NPCs. A preview of the portraits can be found in NiGHTMARE's section of the Portraits page. P&P Celestials Mod Something that bothered me from the first time I played Baldur's Gate II, was the weakness of many of the creatures. Among these were the elemental princes, the devas and planetars, and the various demons and devils. What I have done in this WeiDU mod is to modify the Devas and Planetars that are summoned by the player so they gain most of their Monster Manual abilities and stats. Plasmocat's Portrait Pack This mod provides a wide variety of ethnic portraits for the Baldur's Gate II protagonist and also alternative portraits for 13 of the joinable NPCs. Plasmocat's "BG NPC Portraits in BG2 Style" "I hope you enjoy using these portraits as much as I enjoyed making them and playing them myself. Thanks to everyone who has provided constructive feedback, both challenging and inspiring me to do better work. I appreciate your support. This mod started as a personal project because I wanted to use Tutu to improve the BG interface but at the same time really don't like the BG style of portraits. Rather than continue to use pics of completely different characters to hedge the problem, I decided to do a revamp of the whole works. Plasmocat's "Picks of the Litter" Portrait Pack These are some of my favorite portraits, many of which were commissioned for various mods and others which are just portraits I wanted to make from the photos of models I thought were interesting. Sharpshooter Thief Kit (deprecated) The Sharpshooter Thief Kit has been rolled into the Song and Silence mod and is no longer available or supported as a standalone mod. Shards of Ice icelus: "Everyone has their crap mod--Goo, Alassa, The Circle, The Darkest Day--and this is mine. The two quests really aren't all that bad. Not really. Well, not too much. If you install the Summon Cow spell restoration component, however, you should be ashamed of yourself. Really." Sorcerer's Place Collection This is a collection of kits and an item pack from Sorcerer's Place. The mods were originally in an older, harder-to-install format and have been converted to use a WeiDU installer. Item restrictions are also applied dynamically, meaning that the item restrictions for the Arcane Fist and Archer of Sylvanus kits will be implemented across all items in the game, including those added or altered by other mods. The original content was written by Polar Bear, Drizzt1180, and Creslyn. Totemic Cernd Totemic Cernd is a minor modification to Baldur's Gate II that changes Cernd's druid kit from that of a Shapeshifter to a Totemic Druid. In the process, I also decided to increase Cernd's physical statistics somewhat to make him a reasonably attractive alternative to other clerics or druids, such as Jaheira or Anomen.

Feb 6 - CamDawg Bri has written ~270 interjections, and I'm through ~110 of them. I hope to have the interjections done by the end of the month (cross my fingers) so I can begin working on quest and romance dialogues. Scrapped making Del compliant with Weimer's shapeshifter rebalancing after feedback from the playtesters, though Del is now fully compatible with the changes in aVENGER's Rogue Rebalancing.

Hey Grumblepunk, I think we have enough testers for now. I'll keep you on the list for when we get closer to a beta test. Thanks for the kind offer.