skellytz

Yeah, it's not the first engine bug that carried over to BG2 that seemingly nobody had noticed for 15 years. The area files clearly dictate these actors (creatures) should only appear at a specific time of the day.

OK, I think I know what's going on. Looks like an engine bug... both in the classic BG1 and BG2. For example: In BG1, you're in Coast Way (AR2800) and you leave the area at 3:00 PM in-game time. You get waylaid; it took you 4 hours to get there, so now it's 7:00 PM. At this time of the day you're supposed to encounter only bandits; however, you get attacked by both bandits and half-ogres. The half-ogres are supposed to spawn around 2:00-4:00 PM according to the ARE file. So, it looks like the spawns appear before (and after) the game properly adjusts the time. You get the 3:00 PM spawns, increment time, and the 7:00 PM spawns. Here's the proof. You were right, chuft -- thanks for going through the trouble (again). Let's try to figure out what to do with the waylaid areas.

AR4801. Here's a reference chart.

From vanilla BG1 TotSC: https://imgur.com/a/Po7pTnt

The waylaid encounters are different. They're fixed spawns appearing only at a certain time of the day, e.g. if you're in the Canyon2 waylaid encounter (AR4801) at ~6:30-8:30 an ogre mage spawns at coordinates 404.340, ~8:30-10:30 two ogrillons spawn at 76.184 and 363.186 respectively. BGT doesn't change such encounters and they aren't affected by the spawn point issues.

Aren't they different rings? BG1: BG2: BGT already restores the Evermemory version (double 1st lvl spells).

Just to clarify: Snow works in the classic BG2. So does rain and lightning storm. However, setting the probability to 100% in the area file or using the Weather() action with 100 weight doesn't mean the effect will kick in instantly. The engine runs a weather check sporadically after entering an area or resting and only then accounts for the probability/weight. This usually means you'll have to wait 1-3 minutes before the area slowly starts darkening and first drops or flakes fall.

Gorion loses the voiceover for "Let's hurry child! The night can only get worse (...)" (GORIN11.wav) The GTU removes a trailing apostrophe from StrRef #4446, but forgets to include the audio file: @1004446 = ~ Let's hurry child! The night can only get worse so we must find shelter soon. Don't worry, I will explain everything as soon as there is time.~ Should be: @1004446 = ~ Let's hurry child! The night can only get worse so we must find shelter soon. Don't worry, I will explain everything as soon as there is time.~ [GORIN11]

Creatures using scripts with Help() and IF Help() combo get stuck in AttackReevaluate loop. They keep acquiring a target which causes them to stutter while moving. For example, GIBBER.bcs: IF HitBy([ANYONE],CRUSHING) THEN RESPONSE #50 Help() Attack(NearestEnemyOf(Myself)) RESPONSE #50 RunAwayFrom(NearestEnemyOf(Myself),75) END IF Help([0.0.GIBBERLING]) THEN RESPONSE #100 Attack(NearestEnemyOf(LastHelp(Myself))) END IF See(NearestEnemyOf(Myself)) THEN RESPONSE #100 Help() AttackReevaluate(NearestEnemyOf(Myself),30) END This script works fine in the classic BG1, but apparently BG2 treats Help() differently and the above code makes the affected creature constantly keep trying to help... itself. The same happens to, e.g., Wild Dogs using WILDDOG.bcs: IF Help([ANYONE]) THEN RESPONSE #100 Attack(NearestEnemyOf(LastHelp(Myself))) END IF See(NearestEnemyOf(Myself)) THEN RESPONSE #100 Help() AttackReevaluate(NearestEnemyOf(Myself),30) END

4. Some spells lose casting sounds because of casting speed tweaks. BG2 Fixpack sets the casting speed of certain spells to 0. This prevents these spells from playing their casting sound, e.g., Minsc's berserk (SPIN117) won't play the famous MINSC02.wav.

A small update regarding SNDCHANN.2da: - AREA_AMB modifies the volume of main ambients in the ARE songs section (BG1 main ambients), as well as ambients in the ARE ambients section with both looping and ignore radius flags (BG2 main ambients). - AMBIENTL modifies the volume of ambients in the ARE ambients section with the looping flag. - AMBIENTN modifies the volume of all other ambients in the ARE ambients section.

My assumptions: Main ambient 1 was supposed to be the low settings variant in BG1, but never got implemented. Many main ambient audio files were cut for this purpose and some even end with an "L" (which stands for "low"). Main ambient 2 is the normal settings variant. Since the low audio settings were never coded in BG1, it is the only variant played by default. Some ambient files intended for this variant end with an "N" ("normal"). These sounds are affected by the ambient volume slider in the game options. The volume is also modified by the values set in the songs section and AREA_AMB in SNDCHANN.2da. In BG2, instead of further improving the songs section playback method, the devs decided to move main ambients from songs to ambients section, which then got working flags for other kinds of settings. That's why main ambients from the songs section aren't affected by "No High Memory Ambient Sounds" or "Disable All Ambient Sounds" -- only sounds from the ambients section support these settings.

1. Charm spells (opcode #5) have inconsistent target-hit sounds. Some spells carry over EFF_M16 from BG1 as an effect, some use SPNWCHRM.vvc (with EFF_P73), and others use both playback methods stacking the two sounds. - EFF_M16 is different in BG2 and matches confusion-based spells only (SPCONFUS.vvc). - For consistency, all charm spells should play SPNWCHRM.vvc and, if present, have the redundant target-hit sound effects removed. - Most of these spells have missing expiration sounds. Should be EFF_E05 (enchantment expiration sound). - BG2 Fixpack is a bit inconsistent in putting the VVC in EFFs, e.g., BEGUILE.spl (Beguiling Gaze). I'm not listing spells, because it'll probably be easier to filter through them in Near Infinity using your preferred approach. Charm items affected by the same issues: - REGISAMU (Ruby Pendant) - RING03 (Ring of Animal Friendship) - RING30 (Ring of Human Influence) - STAF09 (Staff of Command) Charm items with both SPNWCHRM.vvc and expiration sound (EFF_E05) missing: - CLCK07 (Nymph Cloak) - MISC9X (Control Circlet) 2. Some confusion spells (opcode #128) play redundant and stacking target-hit sounds. EFF_M05 got carried over from BG1 as an effect, but the devs forgot to remove it after adding SPCONFUS.vvc (with EFF_M16). Confusion spells playing double target-hit sounds: - SPIN674 (MIST_CHAOS) - SPIN704 (NYMPH_CONFUSION) - SPIN839 (HULK_CONFUSION) - SPPR983 (TRAP_CONFUSION) Confusion items with missing expiration sound (EFF_E05): - WAS2H.ITM (Joril's Dagger +3) 3. Some invisibility spells (opcode #20) have missing or mismatched expiration sounds. EFF_M10 is reserved for Dispel Magic. EFF_E01 is the proper illusion expiration sound. Invisibility spells with mismatched expiration sound (EFF_M10, should be EFF_E01): - SPDR401 (Improved Invisibility) - SPIN544 (PSIONIC_SUPERIOR_INVISIBLITY) - SPIN687 (Create Shadows) - SPWI307 (Invisibility 10' Radius) - SPWI405 (Improved Invisibility) - SPWI721 (Mass Invisibility) Invisibility spells with missing expiration sound (EFF_E01): - SPIN118 (Invisibility) - SPPR516 (Pixie Dust) - SPWI206 (Invisibility) - SPWI607 (Mislead) Invisibility items with missing expiration sound (EFF_E01): - POTN10 (Potion of Invisibility) Invisibility items with missing on-use sound (CAS_M01) and expiration sound (EFF_E01): - DAGG21 (Dagger of the Star +4) - DAGG22 (Dagger of the Star +5) - RING39 (Ring of Gaxx) - RING42 (Ring of Improved Invisibility) - ROSSLAND (Ring of Invisibility)

Cam, are you interested in reports like the ones in the previous post at all? I could probably have more, but I'm not sure if you consider them fixes. For example: Psionic Domination (SPIN975) has a wrong expiration sound (EFF_M16 -- duplicates the target-hit sound); should be EFF_E05 (enchantment expiration sound).

The individual component descriptions could be entirely optional. If present in the metadata, they would show up in the description window when you click on a component in the mod tree. If not present, the general mod description would be displayed instead. In most cases, the description would be pretty much the same as in the readme; no need for modders to create different sets. For example, I want to install Tweaks Anthology, but I'm not sure what component "Weapon Animation Tweaks" does. I could go through the readme or simply click on the component in the mod tree for convenience:

Planning on adding metadata for individual component descriptions? Might save time switching between PI and mod readme to decide what to install.

I think there's place in the fixpack for these two as well: 1. Priest variants of hold spells should use EFF_P11.wav instead of EFF_M15.wav. EFF_M15.wav is only the wizard variant. This is how hold spells were originally designed in BG1; however, the sound was moved from SPL effects to a single VVC in BG2. They simply never created a separate VVC for the priest variant. // create separate priest vvc based on wizard variant COPY_EXISTING ~spmindat.vvc~ ~override/cdmindap.vvc~ WRITE_ASCII 0x78 ~eff_p11~ #8 // starting sound BUT_ONLY // create separate priest eff based on wizard variant COPY_EXISTING ~cdhdb60.eff~ ~override/cdhpb60.eff~ WRITE_ASCII 0x30 ~cdmindap~ #8 // vvc BUT_ONLY COPY_EXISTING ~sppr208.spl~ ~override~ // Hold Person (priest) ~sppr305.spl~ ~override~ // Hold Animal (priest) LPF ALTER_EFFECT INT_VAR silent = 1 STR_VAR match_resource = ~cdhdb60~ resource = ~cdhpb60~ END BUT_ONLY // remove duplicate sound from wild magic variant COPY_EXISTING ~spwm122.spl~ ~override~ // Hold Person (wild) LPF DELETE_EFFECT STR_VAR match_resource = ~eff_p11~ END BUT_ONLY The same applies to BGEE. (The EFF filename is different: cdhd60b.eff) 2. Web should have a disentanglement sound. There's no sound when the target untangles. EFF_M22A.wav should be played -- just like Entangle. // Web: add disentanglement sound COPY_EXISTING ~spdr201.spl~ ~override~ // Web (druid) ~spin566.spl~ ~override~ // Mimic Web ~spin683.spl~ ~override~ // Web Tangle ~spwi215.spl~ ~override~ // Web (wizard) ~wand14.itm~ ~override~ // Web Sack LPF CLONE_EFFECT INT_VAR silent = 1 match_opcode = 157 opcode = 174 timing = 4 STR_VAR resource = ~eff_m22a~ END BUT_ONLY Thanks. Edit: added Mimic Web, Web Tangle and Web Sack to the disentanglement sound patch.

Congrats on your first release

The override was empty. I think what's going on is that the manual incremental update only patches BGEE v2.3 content, doesn't warn against making SoD v2.3 incompatible, and then the in-game menu confusingly reports SoD to be updated to v2.5. If you use GOG Galaxy, it probably automatically downloads the full SoD v2.5 installer. I'm not sure if including the missing files is necessary with all this in mind. Lesson learned: just download the full updated installers to be on the safe side.

OK, Otacon, now I see what's what. Everything works fine with the full v2.5 GOG installers; however, if you use the v2.3 GOG installers and the smaller v2.5 GOG update, your check prints this: CButt.bam exists in game BPENDA.2DA DOESN'T exists in game And the missing.txt output: BDALLDIE.SPL BDBARD20.BCS BDCLER20.BCS BDCLER21.BCS BDCLER22.BCS BDCLER23.BCS BDCLER24.BCS BDCLER25.BCS BDCLER26.BCS BDCLER27.BCS BDCLER28.BCS BDCLER29.BCS BDCLER30.BCS BDCLER31.BCS BDCLER32.BCS BDCLER33.BCS BDCLER34.BCS BDCLER35.BCS BDCLER36.BCS BDCLER37.BCS BDCLER38.BCS BDCLER39.BCS BDCLER40.BCS BDCLMA20.BCS BDCLMA21.BCS BDCLMA22.BCS BDDRUI20.BCS BDEFREET.CRE BDELFIRG.CRE BDELFIRM.CRE BDFCLE20.BCS BDFF1248.BCS BDFF1248.CRE BDFF1248.DLG BDFIGH10.BCS BDFIGH11.BCS BDFIGH20.BCS BDFIGH21.BCS BDFIGH22.BCS BDFIGH23.BCS BDFIGH24.BCS BDFIGH25.BCS BDFIGH26.BCS BDFIGH27.BCS BDFIGH28.BCS BDFIGH29.BCS BDFIGH30.BCS BDFIGH31.BCS BDFIGH32.BCS BDFIGH33.BCS BDFIGH34.BCS BDFIGH35.BCS BDFIGH36.BCS BDFIGH37.BCS BDFIGH38.BCS BDFIGH39.BCS BDFIGH40.BCS BDFIGH41.BCS BDFIGH42.BCS BDFIGH43.BCS BDFIGH44.BCS BDFMAG20.BCS BDFMAG21.BCS BDFMAG22.BCS BDFMAG23.BCS BDFTHI20.BCS BDKEGX.BCS BDKEGX.CRE BDMAGE20.BCS BDMAGE21.BCS BDMAGE22.BCS BDMAGE23.BCS BDMAGE24.BCS BDMAGE25.BCS BDMAGE26.BCS BDMAGE27.BCS BDMAGE28.BCS BDMAGE29.BCS BDMAGE30.BCS BDMAGE31.BCS BDMAGE32.BCS BDMAGE33.BCS BDMAGE34.BCS BDMAGE35.BCS BDMAGE36.BCS BDMAGE37.BCS BDMAGE38.BCS BDMAGE39.BCS BDMAGE40.BCS BDMAGE41.BCS BDMAGE42.BCS BDMISC68.ITM BDPAL20.BCS BDPFIRAI.BAM BDPFIRRI.BAM BDPFIRXI.BAM BDPFIRXI.VVC BDPRIS01.CRE BDPRIS02.CRE BDPRIS03.CRE BDPRISD1.BCS BDPRISD1.CRE BDPRISD2.CRE BDPRISGU.CRE BDPRISON.BCS BDPRISON.DLG BDRAT2.CRE BDREP.SPL BDREP1.SPL BDSUMFIR.SPL BDTHIE10.BCS BDUROLD.BCS BDUROLD.CRE BDUROLD.DLG BPENDA.2DA DNDLOGO.BAM SLDRBACK.BAM SPFIRIMP.VVC SPSHKIMP.VVC Funnily enough, the in-game menu reports the version numbers as v2.5.17.0 for both BGEE and SoD. Either I'm using the GOG update in a wrong way, or it's updating the game in a wrong way.

Do modmerge and DLC-Merger have to be updated to support GOG-edition v2.5? I'm getting the pbenda.2da error mentioned on the github and Roxanne's website. This is with BGEE v2.5.17.0 and BG2EE v2.5.16.6, both from GOG.

Thank you for including the fixes in Beta 3/4! I've gone through them in NI and it seems Lesser Restoration (SPPR417) still has wrong casting animation (should be Necro).

Yeah, but it looks like SPWM101 really isn't used in-game due to a bug. If you take a look inside the exe, the hardcoded wild surge table lists SPWM102 twice in a row: SPWM102 SPWM102 SPWM103 SPWM104 SPWM105 (...) This initially even carried over to the externalized table in BGEE: SPELL STRREF 1 SPWM102 31718 2 SPWM102 31718 3 SPWM103 31719 4 SPWM104 31720 5 SPWM105 31721 You know, when it comes to Nahal's Reckless Dweomer, Chaos Shield, Improved Chaos Shield along with all the Wild Surges, the intention might have been to mess up the casting animation and sound effect on purpose. It's wild magic after all. It's hard to tell, what with all the other spells that have incorrect schools. Still, I'd go for consistency here, even if it only applies to what Near Infinity displays in the fields.

Hi! I've found a bunch of minor issues that have probably never been addressed by any of the available community fixpacks. These typically involve incorrect casting animations, schools and effect parameters. I don't think it would be a good idea to spread these fixes across multiple mods; BG2 Fixpack is their right place. I've double-checked everything to make sure the issues haven't already been covered by the new version of the fixpack, but naturally I may have missed something. Apologies for any false alarms and your wasted time. Here we go. 1. Incorrect spell casting animation & associated hardcoded sound effect - Holy Power (SPPR412) should be Invocation. - Farsight (SPPR415) should be Divination. - Lesser Restoration (SPPR417) should be Necromancy. - Repulse Undead (SPPR515) should be Abjuration. - Insect Plague (SPPR517) should be Conjuration. - Creeping Doom (SPPR717) should be Conjuration. - NPC Symbol, Death (SPWI897) should be Conjuration. - NPC Symbol, Stun (SPWI898) should be Conjuration. - NPC Symbol, Fear (SPWI899) should be Conjuration. - Wild Surge Repulse Undead (SPWM101) should be Abjuration. - Wild Surge Symbol, Fear (SPWM123) should be Conjuration. 2. Incorrect spell primary casting school - Restore Full Health (SPIN746) should be Necromancer. - Cutscene Flesh to Stone (SPIN950) should be Transmuter. - Cutscene Power Word, Kill (SPIN951) should be Conjurer. - Negative Plane Protection (SPPR413) should be Abjurer. - Lesser Restoration (SPPR417) should be Necromancer. - Conjure Animals (SPPR604) should be Conjurer. 3. Incorrect spell sound effect parameters - Innate Larloch's Minor Drain (SPIN104) plays EFF_M07 with wrong target type (should be 2), timing mode (should be 1) and duration (should be 0). Compare with the Mage variant (SPWI119). - Innate Horror (SPIN105) plays EFF_E05 with wrong duration (should be 18) or horror effect duration should be 60 like in the fixed Mage variant (SPWI205). There also seems to be a morale break effect which isn't present in the Mage variant; its parameters should be adjusted accordingly. - Innate Protection from Evil (SPIN121) plays EFF_E04 with wrong target type (should be 2), timing mode (should be 4) and duration (should be 60). - Grease (SPWI101) shouldn't have the hostile flag on. This causes the unfortunate battle music loop. No other AoE-stopping spells have this flag on. - Mage Remove Curse (SPWI410) plays wrong visual effect (should be SPRMCURS). Compare with the Priest variant (SPPR307). - Time Stop (SPWI909, SPWISH17) plays EFF_M91 with wrong duration (should be set to half of the Time Stop effect duration due to the quirks of opcode 231). And that's it! (That is, at least when it comes to the non-arbitrary stuff.) Thanks

I just wanted to say thank you. It's been a long time -- welcome back!