BG2 Fixpack Docs: Area Fixes

This documentation is complete as of Version 12 and will contain game spoilers. Fixes included in the BETA Core Fixes are listed in red.

Area Fixes

Area Scripts

Every area has a script to drive events and encounters in the area. Several errors are addressed:

  • Copper Coronet: If the party works for Bodhi and Yoshimo is not in the party, he's supposed to disappear from the Copper Coronet. However, because of the way the script is written, under these conditions the block was preventing the rest of the scripted events from occurring. This could block the resolution of the Mazzy-Gorf encounter, the player's fight with Amalas, or the reappearance of Nalia if she went alone to her father's funeral. (ar0406.bcs)
  • Graveyard: One of the scripting blocks related to the Garrick-Cyrando-Irlana love triangle vignette is in the area script for the Graveyard area. The block, under certain conditions, can prevent other parts of the script from running--specifically, it can prevent the appearance of Bodhi when meeting her at Valen's invitation. (ar0800.bcs)
  • Slums: If the party engages in Korgan's quest and tries to locate Shagbag, a poorly constructed block in the area script will prevent half of the area script from running. This would prevent, for example, the Mazzy-Gorf encounter from starting. (ar0400.bcs)
  • Council Chamber (Government District): The script for the Council Chamber is supposed to remove the copy of Tolgerias there if you've already killed him. Previously it did this indefinitely many times, potentially blocking later blocks in the script from firing. (ar1002.bcs)
  • Temple of Talos: The Temple of Talos starts looping if Ada gets killed. (ar0904.bcs)
  • The Spellhold Asylum Exterior: This area gets stuck in a loop trying to unlock and open the front door after the Irenicus confrontation (ar1500.bcs)
  • Waukeen's Promenade: The script gets stuck in a loop when trying to clear out the rubble-gawkers (ar0700.bcs)
  • Unassigned Scripts: Several areas had scripts but they weren't assigned to the area (ar0321.are, ar0323.are, ar0324.are, ar0327.are, ar0401.are, ar1005.are, ar1009.are, ar1904.are, ar5004.are)
  • Leftover BG Scripts: Three areas--the Helm temple in the bridge district, North Forest, and Small Teeth Pass--were using leftover area scripts from BG. The scripts remain assigned to the areas for compatibility concerns, but have been blanked as there was no BG2-specific scripting present. (ar0512.bcs, ar1700.bcs, ar1800.bcs)

Areas Types Flagged Incorrectly

Areas can be flagged as different types--city, outdoors, dungeon, etc.--and these flags are used as trigger for banters and AI scripts as well as environmental sound effects. In several areas, they were being flagged incorrectly.

  • Should be outdoor areas: four random encounter areas, Saemon's boat, Tree of Life (ar0041.are, ar0042.are, ar0044.are, ar0045.are, ar1607.are, ar2806.are)
  • Should not be outdoor areas: three floors of Mae'Var's Guild (after PC has taken over) and the Circus Tent initial area (ar0321.are, ar0322.are, ar0323.are, ar0600.are)
  • Should not be city areas: Mae'Var's Guild; Shadow Thief building (entrance, Aran's hideout); Harper HQ; home in the docks, homes of Rayic Gethras, Saerk, Acton Balthis, and Elgea's kidnappers; Copper Coronet; Tanner's Hideout; Calbor's Inn; fletcher's shop in the Promenade; Temples of Lathander, Helm and Talos; Pimlico's Estate; Guarded Compound; empty home in Amketheran (ar0303.are, ar0305.are, ar0307.are, ar0308.are, ar0309.are, ar0311.are, ar0312.are, ar0315.are, ar0316.are, ar0317.are, ar0406.are, ar0501.are, ar0504.are, ar0505.are, ar0506.are, ar0507.are, ar0508.are, ar0513.are, ar0514.are, ar0515.are, ar0706.are, ar0901.are, ar0902.are, ar0904.are, ar0905.are, ar0906.are, ar0907.are, ar5507.are)
  • Should be dungeon areas: Temple of the Forgotten God, cave in Sea's Bounty, Kangaxx's cellar, myconid room under Copper Coronet, cell in Planar Prison, bridge lich room, air plane in opening dungeon, circus tent opening and third floor, Pai'Na's area, cave at Umar Hills, Firkraag's lair, shadow dragon's lair, cave in Spellhold tests, Brynnlaw brothel cellar and prison, hell trials (ar0203.are, ar0310.are, ar0331.are, ar0418.are, ar0521.are, ar0526.are, ar0600.are, ar0601.are, ar0606.are, ar0804.are, ar1106.are, ar1203.are, ar1402.are, ar1501.are, ar1608.are, ar1610.are, ar2901.are, ar2902.are, ar2903.are, ar2905.are)
  • Should not be dungeon areas: Valygar's cabin, Coran's cabin (ar1101.are, ar2603.are)
  • Should be able to rest: Five Flagons Inn (stronghold), Pimlico's Estate, Guarded Compound (ar0522.are, ar0905.are, ar0906.are, ar0907.are)

Area Entrance/Exit Errors

  • Several areas in the game can only be accessed with the full party in tow. However, in many of these cases the flags only worked one way, or multiple entrances to areas were flagged differently from one another. (An example: a single party member could enter Coran's cabin in the woods, but only the full party could leave.) The flags were reviewed and adjusted to be consistent. (ar0300.are, ar0400.are, ar0415.are, ar0500.are, ar0504.are, ar0505.are, ar2000.are, ar2207.are, ar2600.are, ar2603.are, ar2902.are)
  • When entering areas, the party faces a certain direction based on the entrance point into the area. The party faces away from the door they just entered, so that the party formation is correct, i.e. the weaker members in the back line don't get exposed. In several cases, the orientation was incorrect. (ar0011.are, ar0012.are, ar0013.are, ar0014.are, ar0028.are, ar0071.are, ar0083.are, ar0084.are, ar0201.are, ar0202.are, ar0204.are, ar0205.are, ar0300.are, ar0302.are, ar0304.are, ar0312.are, ar0313.are, ar0322.are, ar0324.are, ar0326.are, ar0400.are, ar0402.are, ar0404.are, ar0405.are, ar0406.are, ar0409.are, ar0413.are, ar0415.are, ar0500.are, ar0508.are, ar0509.are, ar0513.are, ar0516.are, ar0531.are, ar0602.are, ar0700.are, ar0703.are, ar0707.are, ar0709.are, ar0801.are, ar0903.are, ar0905.are, ar1001.are, ar1003.are, ar1004.are, ar1005.are, ar1009.are, ar1200.are, ar1300.are, ar1304.are, ar1500.are, ar1513.are, ar1514.are, ar1515.are, ar1516.are, ar1600.are, ar1601.are, ar1606.are, ar2100.are, ar2101.are, ar2102.are, ar2401.are, ar2402.are, ar2801.are, ar5000.are, ar5009.are, ar5013.are, ar5200.are, ar5500.are, ar6101.are, ar6105.are, ar6111.are, ar6400.are)
  • The North Forest, Small Teeth Pass, Underdark Exit, and Forest of Tethyr all lack a defined entrance point from the world map. When traveling to these areas, the party would get dumped randomly somewhere in the area, sometimes in the midst of a group of hostile monsters. (ar1700.are, ar1800.are, ar2500.are, ar2600.are)
  • As the player descends through the levels of Watcher's Keep, doors from each level to the outside become active to allow the player to go back and forth directly from the levels to the outside. However, the animations that play over the transitions from the outside (and thus prevent entrance) were off by a few pixels, allowing players to enter levels directly to which they should not have access. (ar3000.are)
  • Saerk's Estate in the Bridge district is accessible because the scripts that lock and unlock the doors are not affecting the upstairs entrance. The estate is only supposed to be accessible during the course of Anomen's romance. The scripts now lock and unlock both doors in tandem. One of the doors is unlocked to start with. (ar0500.are, ar0500.bcs)
  • Some doors to the Shadow Thief HQ required the Shadow Thief key to be opened. However, they actually were not checking the key as they lacked a flag for it. (ar0329.are)
  • Some NPCs could escape through areas which they shouldn't be able to pass through. A common example is Rimli in the Crooked Crane--after delivering his spiel about Aulava and Tiiro, he then tries to leave through the secret door to the lich guarding Daystar. These areas are altered so that special areas, such as the Harper HQ, Kangaxx's area, and similar are no longer valid 'escapes' for NPCs that are leaving. As part of the Harper HQ not being passable, Rylock's scripting is altered slightly so that he can still pass through the door anyway. (ar0015.are, ar0021.are, ar0022.are, ar0082.are, ar0300.are, ar0305.are, ar0306.are, ar0307.are, ar0308.are, ar0400.are, ar0407.are, ar0410.are, ar0413.are, ar0414.are, ar0415.are, ar0601.are, ar0605.are, ar0800.are, ar0801.are, ar1100.are, ar1106.are, ar1200.are, ar1202.are, ar1300.are, ar1302.are, ar1400.are, ar1512.are, ar1514.are, ar1515.are, ar1900.are, ar2000.are, ar2008.cre, ar2200.are, ar2206.are, ar2207.are, ar2210.are, ar2600.are, ar2800.are, ar5000.are, ar5001.are, ar5007.are, ar5013.are, ar5015.are, ar5200.are, ar5503.are, ar5504.are, ar5507.are, ar6101.are, ar6107.are, rylock.dlg)
  • One of the areas in the soldier barracks in the Docks has reversed entry and exit points. You leave the first barracks area by a northeastern exit, but appear on the northeastern side of the second. If you try to leave the second area by the southwestern doorway, you'll end up outside. Swapping the transition and entry points results in the more sensible (and optically correct) entrance on the southwest edge of the area. (ar0333.are)
  • The engine will regularly activate and deactivate entrances to other areas, depending on quests, allies, etc. In the Docks, miscellaneous transitions to other areas (notably the second floor of Mae'Var's guild and the 'hostile' Shadow Thief Guild Hall area with Aran Linvail) were not being properly referenced, meaning they were not being enabled and disabled appropriately. There are many entrances to both, and the issue did not affect all of them. (ar0300.bcs)
  • If the PC acquires Nalia's Keep, the interior areas all change area files. In the stronghold version of the ground floor, the secret entrance that the party originally used to enter the Keep has an error--the travel trigger is actually over a solid wall, rather than over the door itself. The travel trigger is now properly over the door, as it is in the non-stronghold version of the area. (ar1306.are)
  • In the militia headquarters in Saradush, the area re-uses a generic tavern area (same as the Crooked Crane and the Brynnlaw brothel's lobby). The area has a door hidden in the wall, and when used elsewhere this is indeed a secret door. However, it's a normal door in the militia headquarters--it's opened and used in the cut scene that triggers when you first enter the area--but still flagged as secret. This means you'll still hear the sound for detecting secret doors when you approach it, despite it being open. (ar5015.are)
  • Several doors that required keys were not consuming them. In general, doors that required keys would take them from inventory when opened so that the player had a way to realize which key was used and to prevent keeping unnecessary keys in inventory. (ar0202.are, ar0701.are,ar1608.are, ar1611.are, ar2000.are)
  • In Firkraag's dungeon, the door leading to Semia is supposed to be unlocked by the Chapel Key. However, the door could have its lock picked, leading to a great deal of confusion as to the purpose of the Chapel Key. The door can now only be opened via the Chapel Key. (ar1202.are)
  • The player can click and activate the exit to the Promenade from the opening dungeon's furnace room. (tele0700.bcs)
  • In the Temple of the Forgotten God, the exit back to the sewers uses a stair icon rather than the icon for a normal area transition. (ar0204.are)
  • The secret door in the entrance area of the Shadow Thief guild was flagged as already detected, so you didn't get the normal audio and visual clues for a detected secret door. (ar0305.are)
  • Both Temples of Ilmater have a entrance coordinates outside of the accessible area, meaning the party typically got shoved into a corner when entering. (ar0408.are, ar0703.are)

Trap Fix Roundup

  • One of the traps in the Prebek's House didn't do anything if sprung due to a missing script. (ar0407.are)
  • Two containers in Deirex's tower had issues with being trapped. One container had all the characteristics of being trapped (appropriate detection and disarm numbers and a trap scripts assigned) but was not flagged as such. A second trap could always be detected (0% difficulty) but never removed (100% difficulty). It's adjusted to have a nonzero difficulty for detection, and can be removed. (ar2207.are)
  • Some areas have traps that are flagged as already detected, despite the party having never been in the area before. (ar0062.are, ar0063.are, ar0064.are, ar0065.are, ar0328.are, ar0406.are, ar0413.are, ar0801.are, ar0803.are, ar0808.are, ar1006.are)
  • A trapped painting in Neb's home could not be disarmed; the trap is altered so that it can be disarmed. Most traps in the game which are not intended to be disarmed can't be detected. (ar0529.are)
  • In the first area of the Asylum maze (the area where Imoen can re-join the party) there is a large crushing trap. The trap is designed to kill anyone who sets it off, but it would occasionally kill other characters due to its odd script and the fluidity of its targeting object. The script is simplified a great deal to make these actions more robust. (ppcrus1.bcs)
  • Three traps that use magic against the party ignored magic resistance, unlike other magic traps. (spwi001.spl, spwi002.spl, spwi003.spl)
  • A handful of floor traps in Firkraag's dungeon, Riejek's cellar, and the Fire Giant Keep were failing to fire because they were using a container trigger (ar0502.are, ar1202.are, ar5201.are)
  • Some container traps in Rejiek Hidesman's home, Yaga-Shura's keep, and the Saradush Tavern were failing to fire because they were using a ground trigger (ar0503.are, ar5204.are, gtspike.bcs)
  • Three containers--one in the hostile version of the Shadow Thief guild entrance, one on the stronghold version of the de'Arnise Keep second floor, and one in a Saradush home--were flagged as trapped, though they had no scripts or any other hallmarks of being trapped. The flags are removed. (ar0327.are, ar1307.are, ar5012.are)
  • One of the floor traps in the Tanner's home had some bad vertices that made it shade areas outside of the actual trap zone. (ar0502.are)

Container Fix Roundup

  • In the Brynnlaw shop, the overlay (what changes the cursor to the container icon and provides the light blue outline in ToB) is not quite over the container. The overlay is adjusted to be over the item. (ar1603.are)
  • Two chests were giving the "The mechanism that operates this does not have a conventional lock, and may be warded against simple spells." message erroneously. Neither required a special key, their lockpicking difficulty was simply set too high. (ar0327.are, ar1006.are)
  • In a few areas, containers are marked as trapped with impossible-to-disarm traps. However, they do not have a script assigned so they wouldn't actually do anything if the trap was sprung. The containers are no longer flagged as trapped. (ar0016.are, ar2002.are)
  • Several containers were inaccessible, either due to impassable terrain or static characters standing directly in the way. In general, this caused the party member trying to open the container to stutter around a bit trying to reach the area, then the engine giving up after a few seconds and opening the container from a distance. Containers with this issue have been moved slightly. (ar0202.are, ar0204.are, ar0400.are, ar0513.are, ar0700.are)
  • When accessing a container, the 'exchange inventory' screen appears at the bottom of the game screen. The player inventory is on the right and the container is on the left, along with an icon. In several cases, the icon was incorrect (i.e. the icon would be of a chest when accessing a shelf). (ar0201.are, ar0202.are, ar0204.are, ar0206.are, ar0312.are, ar0319.are, ar0400.are, ar0406.are, ar0411.are, ar0501.are, ar0506.are, ar0529.are, ar0705.are, ar0900.are, ar0902.are)
  • In some containers, magical items were flagged as identified erroneously. (ar0405.are, ar0602.are, ar1101.are)
  • In the shade lord's dungeon, the party interacts with a stone head to acquire one of the pieces of the Symbol of Amaunator. The eye of the statue is actually a container, but it's very difficult to get the contents as it is inside the blue circle of the talking head. Fixpack alters this so that the container will only be available after speaking with the statue at the conclusion of the Shade Lord quests. (ar1401.bcs, shaava01.dlg)
  • When you burgle certain locked containers, an invisible creature is created to determine whether or not you've been caught (i.e. 'you've been noticed, you hear someone summoning the guards'). Due to how the creature's script is structured, guards can be summoned if you leave the area and come back later, even if no one noticed the original crime. The script is now tightened to only behave as originally intended. At Tyrianna's home in the docks, an old script was being used that was trying to summon Flaming Fist guards from the city of Baldur's Gate instead of Amnish guards. (ar0415.are, enforam.bcs, tempv01.bcs)
  • In the upper story of the de'Arnise Keep, one of the containers has a missing item reference. Being as it was supposed to be a stack of 20 items, the missing reference is now a stack of fire arrows. (ar1303.are)
  • The throne container in the opening dungeon had a wonky set of vertices that ended up shading areas outside of the container. (ar0603.are)
  • In two locations, containers overlapped one another. In one case the duplicate container was empty and therefore removed; in the other case the container was shifted so as to not overlap. (ar1507.are, ar2400.are)
  • In the chromatic demon level of Watcher's Keep, one of the bookshelves contained a special quest-related book that's used by the contact in Imnesvale. It's swapped for a generic lore book. (ar3016.are)

Area Graphical Fixes

  • Throughout areas, various animations play: fires burn in fireplaces, the machinery spins in the Lathander temple, etc. The animations are laid on top of the static image of the area and, in some cases, they're positioned slightly incorrectly. (ar0414.are, ar0510.are)
  • At the Helm Temple in the bridge district, the two bowls where water is supposed to be were showing lime green holes due to errors in the area graphics. This glitch would only manifest with 3d acceleration enabled. The Fixpack Screenshot Gallery has before-and-after shots of this graphical glitch. (ar0512.mos, ar0512.tis, ar0512.wed, ar0512ht.bmp, ar0512lm.bmp, ar0512sr.bmp)
  • Before the shade lord is defeated, the temple ruins near the Umar Hills are always in night mode. However, the mini-map of the area has a daytime version that gets displayed. The mini-map is corrected to always be in night mode to match the area itself. (ar1404.mos)
  • The druid grove and the black dragon area in Suldanesselar both have custom, night graphics for the area that weren't being used. These custom night maps have been restored. A before-and-after comparison is available. (ar1900.are, ar1900n.wed, ar2807.are)
  • The entrance to the Guarded Compound from the Temple Disctrict was offset from its actual door. (ar0900.are)
  • Many animations in areas had bad perspective or were displayed over background tiles despite being behind them. This was typically due to a bad layer order; the most common errors were ovens not displaying their internal fire or forges/stoves displaying their flames on top of their hoods. The Fixpack Screenshot Gallery has before-and-after shots of these graphical glitches. Some of these glitches are only encountered with certain graphical settings. (ar0307.are, ar0312.are, ar0313.are, ar0334.are, ar0335.are, ar0406.are, ar0529.are, ar0706.are, ar0713.are, ar1601.are, ar1603.are, ar2001.are, ar2300.are, ar3001.are)
  • One of the candles in Countess Santele's home had coordinates outside the visible area. (ar5010.are)
  • The portal that appears in Sendai's enclave had some lighting issues cleaned up. (ar6108.are)

Multiple Unique Creatures

In some areas, unique characters are duplicated:

  • Stanet, a unique commoner, was duplicated in the bridge district. The duplicate has been replaced with a generic commoner. (ar0500.are)
  • There is a unique guard that stands near the rubble in Waukeen's Promenade and has specific dialogue about the events leading up to it. The guard is duplicated in both Waukeen's Promenade and the government district; in both cases the dialogue was clearly inappropriate and the guards have been changed to the generic Amnish guards. (ar0700.are, ar1000.are)
  • A unique commoner (used to be Anomen's governess) in the government district is duplicated. The duplicate is replaced with a generic female commoner. (ar1000.are)
  • Sir Donalus appears in both the Helm temple and the Noble Order of the Radiant Heart. In this case, the creature files were different and only the name was shared. As the NORH version refers to himself as Sir Donalus in his dialogue, the name of the duplicate in the Helm temple is changed. (helmpr.cre)
  • Khollynnus Paac is the mage that helps send the Solamnic Knights home in one of the mage stronghold quests. However, Paac is also one of the powerful Cowled Wizards that appears when you use magic without a license around Athkatla too much. Like Sir Donalus, the name of the latter occurrence is altered, as Paac is referred to by name in the mage stronghold quest. (mage16c.cre)
  • The temple of Ilmater in Waukeen's Promenade was re-using the priest of Ilmater character from the Ilmater temple in the Slums. The original priest had dialogue for events and creatures that were not appropriate for the Waukeen's Promenade temple; the originally intended character there was a priestess. The area has been updated to use the intended priestess instead of the priest. (ar0703.are, wilmat.dlg)

Area Sound Fixes

  • Due to some errors in the lookup table, echo effects were being applied to sounds while in the Promenade. (sndresrf.2da)
  • The music for the Underdark was referencing the incorrect music file (it was using Trademeet's theme) for night-time music. (ar2100.are)
  • Some areas have background sounds that play while in the area, such as the sounds of merchants and commerce in Waukeen's Promenade. In some cases the sounds were not playing due to bad scheduling or incorrect sound file references. (ar1000.are, ar2000.are, ar3001.are)
  • After dueling in the Ust Natha tavern the background combat music would never end. This was due to an error in the script of an invisible creature that controls the music during duels. (ucounter.bcs, ucounter.cre)
  • Area music could loop incorrectly in several areas due to incorrect music files. (bc1.mus, bc2.mus, bd1.mus, bd2.mus, bd3.mus, bd3zg2.acm (new), bf1.mus, bf2.mus, bjr.mus, bm1.mus, bm2.mus, bp1.mus, bp2.mus, brd.mus, bsd.mus, bst.mus, dream2.mus, harp_v2.mus, harp_v6.mus, mb.mus, mxkalah.mus, mxkhali.mus, mxthief.mus, vb.mus)
  • There was no combat music assigned to Adratha's cabin at the druid grove. (ar1902.are)
  • In one of the rooms at Abazigal's lair, the ground produces metallic-sounding footsteps in swampy water. (ar6011sr.bmp)

Creatures Can Not Move

  • One of the trolls inside the troll mound at the druid grove was unable to move as it had been placed on impassable ground. (ar1904.are)
  • In the Spellhold maze, the party encounters a group of kobolds and imps around a large crystal. One of the imps is placed in a wall. (ar1513.are)

Corrupted Data in Rest Spawn Block of Mind Flayer Underdark Lair

Each area contains information about what, if any, creatures may appear if the party rests in the area. In the rest spawn block of the Illithid Lair in the Underdark, garbage characters were present in many of the fields and are now removed. The string that appears when creatures are spawned was also incorrect in one of the blocks. (ar2400.are)

Demons Spawned from Resting in Watcher's Keep Had Errors

When resting on various levels of Watcher's Keep, sometimes a creature should be spawned to prevent it. In two cases, the creature reference was invalid due to typos. (ar3004.are, ar3010.are)

Map Note Corrections

The map note for the western tunnels in the Underdark map was positioned incorrectly. The Crooked Crane at the City Gates had no note. (ar0020.are, ar2100.are)

Low-Reputation Parties Face NORH Paladins Too Often

When the party is at a low reputation, it can be attacked by paladins from the Noble Order of the Radiant Heart. Once encountered, the paladins set a one day timer before they can possibly appear again. However, the variable name of the timer is the same as another variable used by the knights, meaning they respawn faster than originally intended (four hours instead of the intended 24). The variable name is changed so that the knights now operate on a 24-hour timer. (alex.cre, amntrp01.bcs, amntrp02.bcs, amntrp03.bcs, knight.dlg)