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#583072 [Research] The 'my transition is stuck' thread

Posted by waebbl on 26 November 2015 - 11:13 PM in BGT Archive

They could also have used some special value, like NAN, NIL or NULL or whatever.

 

Using wptfmcat instead of WTPCat in the above snippet worked for me. Cat's in Picture 1, I can save the game and play.




#583060 [Research] The 'my transition is stuck' thread

Posted by waebbl on 26 November 2015 - 05:34 PM in BGT Archive

The Global set to 0 is the default, it is not set but is equal to does not exist, ie in your case it IS 0 already.

This behaviour I didn't know. It's not very common for many programming languages to have an undefined variable equal (integer) 0. It's not noted in the IESDP either.

 

I had this idea too and tried it using the save from before I last spoke to Gorion, but this doesn't work. But I didn't realize, that Candlekeep Chores starts, when you are already in ar0602. I check again with the other save file too.

 

I already reported to the WTP modmaker two days ago, didn't check back there yet, just came home from a short trip.




#582897 [Research] The 'my transition is stuck' thread

Posted by waebbl on 24 November 2015 - 06:05 PM in BGT Archive

I found this in ar0602.bcs:
 

IF
	Global("MeetOldenFriends","GLOBAL",100)
	Global("IHaveFamiliar","GLOBAL",0)
	PartyHasItem("FAMCAT") // Vertrauter
THEN
	RESPONSE #100
		ActionOverride("Picture 1",TakePartyItem("FAMCAT")) // Vertrauter
		SetGlobal("IHaveFamiliar","GLOBAL",2)
		Continue()
END

SImiliar blocks are there for other familiars as well.

With WTPFamiliars installed, the familiars are called WTP* instead of FAM*, i.e. WTPCat for the cat familiar. And I don't have a variable IHaveFamiliar defined at all. I have no clue, where this gets set to 0, maybe when the original spell Find Familiar is cast, but the spell is modified by WTPFamiliars IIRC. I did all kind of searches with NI, but only found this variable set to 2 within ar0602.bcs. Looks like this could be the source, why the familiar doesn't appear in Picture 1.




#582891 [Research] The 'my transition is stuck' thread

Posted by waebbl on 24 November 2015 - 04:26 PM in BGT Archive

I found this interesting bit in the BGT documentation (related to transition stuck problem where the familiar blocked Imoen from opening PC's cage and start dialogue)

 

Familiar importation

If a familiar is out during the transition to Shadows of Amn, it will follow the player into Irenicus’ dungeon. However, if the familiar is in inventory, its importation occurs by script in AR0602.BCS. Since DropInventory() does not drop undroppable items (this is to preserve unique items of joinable NPCs, such as Minsc’s Boo), and the start of Shadows of Amn calls upon DestroyAllEquipment(), which removes all items regardless of their parameters, there is a gap where checks for a familiar in inventory can take place. Familiar checks check for familiar type, but also required the MeetOldenFriends global variable to be set to 100, exclusive to the importation process. This prevents characters directly imported into Shadows of Amn from erroneously keeping their familiar. The familiar, if found, is placed in Picture 1 of AR0602.ARE.

 

I never used familiars so I am not sure about the last point of finding the familiar again. The red 100 is misprinted as 10 in the BGT documentation, it is 100 in ar0602,bcs

In my savegame, the familiar is actually not in Picture 1. I made two saves before the transition, one with cat in my backpack, and another with it outside. The relevant variables of WTPFamiliar, as far as I have found them, (WTP* and #G*) are actually identical in both saves, and also with the autosave happening after newscene.bcs. The MeetOldenFriends variable is set to 100. The familiar might not be found by BGT, because WTPFamiliar uses different names for them, all starting with wtp.




#582833 Need help understanding github impact on mod releases

Posted by waebbl on 23 November 2015 - 05:39 AM in Mega Mod Help

To help with the question of "which version do I have?" the BWS now puts an install date in the WeiDU log. I am also investigating how to get the GitHub commit version automatically for each mod to include in the log also. This would make it even easier, but already it is not difficult.

 
https://developer.gi....com/libraries/ might help you with this. Althought there's no AutoIt3 API available, they have a JavaScript API (node.js), which is IMO usable from within AutoIt, where you can get an array of commits, for example, as well as other nifty information about a repository hosted at github.
 

I would strongly recommend every modder to use a master/devel setup or something similar. That way you can publish releases in a controlled manner and it is easier to manage as to keep all commits locally until you decide to publish a new release.

 

I fully agree to this, the branch concept with git is a very powerful feature! Even if your changes are commited only locally in the first place, and only get updated on github, if you push them.

If you introduce bigger changes to your mod, you're better bet if you develop them within a new branch. You can easily switch between different branches, i.e. to fix simple bugs on your master branch and publish them, without disturbing your current progress in other branches. This way, you keep your master or release branch clean from any development related errors. Once you're happy with your new development, you merge the branch back into the master branch for your next release.




#582809 [Research] The 'my transition is stuck' thread

Posted by waebbl on 22 November 2015 - 04:45 PM in BGT Archive

Looks like the Bioware devs just didn't meant GLOBALs to be undefined. Doing a hex pattern matching on a saved file would mean you have to call an external script or application, which, AFAIK isn't possible form within the IE. And at the time, when the transition mechanics is embedded within the IE, aka installation, there's no apropriate savegame present to work with.

 

Anyway, it was just an idea, that came up, seemingly a silly idea :ROFL:




#582805 [closed]

Posted by waebbl on 22 November 2015 - 03:03 PM in BGT Archive

I'm not sure, whether this belongs here. Today, while looking at some of the CtB code, I stumbled upon the following code, which I believe, belongs to SandrahNPC:
 

IF
    Global("CVAR0510","GLOBAL",0) 
THEN
    RESPONSE #100
         SetGlobal("CVR0510","GLOBAL",1)
         Continue() 
END 
 

 
There's an error in the SetGlobal statement, the variable reads "CVR0510" instead of "CVAR0510".




#582788 [Research] The 'my transition is stuck' thread

Posted by waebbl on 22 November 2015 - 11:13 AM in BGT Archive

Wouldn't it be nice, to have no longer needed GLOBALs deleted during the transition? My first save after the start of BG2 has way more than 1000 global variables in it... I guess, this slows loading, and processing and even gameplay down in some way. Or does it not affect the gameplay at all?
 
If there's a way that is... I checked the IESDP and didn't find a function to perform such an action. Well there would alway be a way of hex pattern matching and replacing using WeiDU or even sed, if WeiDU can't handle such (but IIRC it can do pattern matching)

1. There is no way to remove globals - they are in all the saves as well - and nobody will be able to tell which ones are no longer needed except for the one who initially set them (and I would doubt even that).
2. One of the features e.g. of Sandrah to be a continuous character is that she uses a number of Globals throughout the game - her reaction to some event in ToB will depend on whether she has encountered some person in a BG1 quest before (one of very many examples just from this mod).
3. There is no evidence I have ever heard of that the amount of Globals slows the game. On older PCs something like searching the inventory including bags of holding etc in search for items caused some slowdown. If you set a Global to tell the engine that you possess an item then this lag goes away - some kind of evidence for my argument,
4. What is done is the journal clean-up. Setting globals to 0 will not remove them, they stay at value 0 in the game.
5. The longer the game and the more data is stored affects the loading of the game but once the necessary stuff is restored the game runs as normal - I have been through the game with a maximum of mods on the way and then went through all of my RtF sequel as well - no slowdown in game, loading the game initially is longer, loading and saving on area transition takes slightly longer but no performanceissues while playing - at least not with my equipment (I also used a not too powerful notebook at times).

 

There would be an easy way of telling whether a variable is needed any longer. Just set them to an unused value once you no longer need them, like -MAX_INT or something, I believe negative values are rarely used for globals. Then you can easily check and do a clean-up. Could even be done with a time trigger on a regular base. Of course, this would require the mod devs to code more carefully :whistling:  something not everyone will be happy with

 

I'm aware of the fact, that setting globals to 0, will not remove them and also of the usefulness of them to track progress. But thanks for pointing this out anyway!

 

But... as there's no evidence, the amount of globals are slowing down the game, there'd be no need of removing them either.




#582779 [Research] The 'my transition is stuck' thread

Posted by waebbl on 22 November 2015 - 09:49 AM in BGT Archive

My approach to the issue would be to create a dedicated mini-mod for this.

The mod would be based on a stripped down version of Vlad's script (stripping all the NEJ specifics and retaining the generic parts) no copyright issue here as Vlad has offered his work for such a purpose.

This *basic script* would

- transit the apppropriate vanilla NPCs (Imoen,Minsc, Jaheira to BG2)

- it would remove all other NPCs from the party and the game

- it would move some vanilla items to Irenicus Dungeon

- it would contain a check for a NEJ specific Global and only fire if that one is zero

 

This mod goes into the install sequence just after BGT and prior to NEJ

(Option A to either overwrite original ARAM00,bcs - in this particular case I really advocate overwriting instead of appending, otherwise we replace one mess by another Option B trigger a new scene by Belt weighted dialogue to let everything happen in ARAM01)

 

If NEJ is installed it would EXTEND_TOP *basic script* and set a specific global such that it fires its extended script instead of basic

 

No other NPC or other mod would be required to add to this script unless

- they want a transition for their PC to SoA (in this case EXTEND_TOP *new script* such that the selected PC is moved into Amn before the big cleanup starts

- a mod that has the BGT transition AND a BG2 version of their NPC must also take care to avoid double spawning in the BG2 areas of their NPC (this is not necessarily ar0602, so it is for the modmaker to assure that - just simply set a global if NPC is in transition party, only spawn in BG2 if said global is zero)

- as for cheating items from BG1 to BG2, I think this is outdated and must not be part of the transition - use packmule, use the rod of refuge area, use Sandrah's feature to recover lost valuables, or simply make use of all the new merchants in Amn and pay with merchant legue checks...take it as a good chance to get rid of all the garbage you have accumulated.

 

Wouldn't it be nice, to have no longer needed GLOBALs deleted during the transition? My first save after the start of BG2 has way more than 1000 global variables in it... I guess, this slows loading, and processing and even gameplay down in some way. Or does it not affect the gameplay at all?

 

If there's a way that is... I checked the IESDP and didn't find a function to perform such an action. Well there would alway be a way of hex pattern matching and replacing using WeiDU or even sed, if WeiDU can't handle such (but IIRC it can do pattern matching)




#582778 [Research] The 'my transition is stuck' thread

Posted by waebbl on 22 November 2015 - 09:36 AM in BGT Archive

Well, you are modifying a licenced game, and your purchase licence doesn't actually allow you to do modifications to the game. Aka you are doing something that you could be sued on... by ATARI today, as you do not have a development licence(or what ever the legal term actually is). If they have a legimite claim on you doing something that damages their product, or other reasons.... which usually is not the case, but you can be sued still.

 
Hmm, yes, I forgot they didn't pack a "Construction Set" or some other approach to legally extend their IE games with them... :crying:
 

Just give credit where credit is due and respect people's work - nothing wrong with taking an old mod and improving on it's coding - and if you do want to change the original mod just make sure you call it "waebbl's version of XYZ mod" :P
 

 
This is something, I am very well used to from the OSS community.
 

The code block is the very last part of Newgame.bcs which is the complete long cutscene when you are in the dungeon showing the Irenicus experiments on the PC and then the shadow thief attack and finally Imoen coming to free you.

The loss of familiar in backpack is a known issue, and several mods have tried their hand in providing solutions.
So - welcome to Amn!!

 
Thanks for the hint to newgame.bcs, both to Roxanne and The Imp :new_thumbs:
 
The cbct3500.bcs file (which is, for my installation the last cutscene with Gorian, which itself calls the newgame cutscene) has a call to DestroyAllEquipment(), which is supposedly removing my familiar from the inventory.
 
 

LeaveAreaLUA("AR0602","",[3190.3300],2)         
MoveViewPoint([3744.2799],INSTANT)         
TakePartyGold(2147483647)         
DestroyAllEquipment()         
SmallWait(5)
JumpToPoint([3744.2799])
Face(2)
MoveViewPoint([3744.2799],INSTANT)
Wait(1)
FadeFromColor([30.0],0)
Wait(1)
SetGlobal("KD_ChoresDone","GLOBAL",1)
StartCutScene("NEWGAME")



#582753 [Research] The 'my transition is stuck' thread

Posted by waebbl on 22 November 2015 - 04:41 AM in BGT Archive

How's the licensing of those mods? I haven't looked at many, but a lot of what I've seen have a very liberal license. So, what about importing the code of those mods, whose devs are gone or don't longer care about their mods, into github? They don't need to be changed much, just so, that they work for the transition or for fixing bugs. We only need one or a couple of people willing to maintain the repositories. :devil:
Well, considering that none of the BG mods are actually legistlatively protected by any kind of law, or instance(with the exacption of ALL the BG2 mod forums)... we are deep on the gray zone. You can lie to your users and put a users prefered copyright to your readme, but like said, it's a lie.
As modifying a file doesn't make it yours.
Weidu.exe can't actually make a BG2 files, so that their entire content would be considerable to be yours.

It's mostly honor bound system. Just like it's an honor bound to not to destroy the users game files, computer etc if you install a random mod. That kind of thing.
And also using others files can be called bad practice, but doing so is a guestion of worth. Usually it's not worth to cause a lot of mess by intentionally causing bad things.

I thought I've seen some BSD style or GPL licenses hanging around in some of the mods folders, but I might be wrong.

 

Isn't it so, that every mod dev could just pack a license with his code and so protect it legislatively? I suppose it's like every other software in this case. How's you come to the conclusion, none of the mods is protected by any law?




#582752 [Research] The 'my transition is stuck' thread

Posted by waebbl on 22 November 2015 - 04:33 AM in BGT Archive

 
By that point actually the transition has finished - it is more being stuck at BG2 start (I mention this just in case you may want to search for all those forum entries that talk about the case "Imoen walks up to my cage and has nothing to say" - there are loads of them.)


From a technical view, the transition might be finished. From a players view, I'm as long in the transition (interrupted by the Candlekeep Chores, if I chose to play them), as I don't have control of my character.
 

If I understand correctly you are hung in cutscene mode? So you are not able to talk to Imoen yourself.??
This is what happens
Wait(3)
        ActionOverride("Imoen2",OpenDoor("DOOR11"))
        ActionOverride("Imoen2",MoveToPoint([3405.2924]))
        ActionOverride("Imoen2",Face(0))
        ActionOverride("Imoen2",SmallWait(5))
        ActionOverride("Imoen2",MultiPlayerSync())
        ActionOverride("Imoen2",MoveToObject(Player1))
        ActionOverride("Imoen2",Unlock("Cell03"))     >>>>This is where you maybe are stuck
        ActionOverride("Imoen2",OpenDoor("Cell03"))
        ActionOverride("Imoen2",MultiPlayerSync())
        ActionOverride("Imoen2",UnhideGUI())     >>> Here you get your controls back again
        ActionOverride("Imoen2",Dialogue(Player1))
        DestroySelf()
 
And if that is true, this is original code unaffected by the transition that fails. If you can confirm my analysis we could probably provide a quick solution for it in a minute.

 
Not only, can I talk to her, but I can do nothing, not even open the console. Your analysis is right, this is exactly the location where I was stuck.
Would you tell me, in which file this code you posted here is in? I tried to find it, without success...
 
 

I finally found the issue blocking Imoen from your cage - it is your familiar (a Cat, green circled so this is why I think it is the familiar, she was also sitting next to your PC in Gorion's scene) she is sitting right in front of the cage door and Imoen cannot reach the door.
I have never used familiars myself and know not how they are handled - Can you tell her to go somewhere prior to starting the final talk with Gorion?
And maybe with this - it has become again a transition issue in the wider sense = transition with a familiar case.


I was indeed the cat. I can ask her to climb into my backpack. When I do this, right before the last talk with Gorion, the cutscene finishes without issues, the dialog with Imoen starts and I regain control. Only thing, my familiar's gone from the inventory once I regain control. That's not a big issue, as I simply can recast a new familiar. It is just a slight cheat, because I didn't loose a point of CON and gain HP points from my new familiar.
 

Edit I saw WTPFamiliars mod in your Weidu log - worth to investigate if that mod does something to the transition of familiars??

 

I haven't looked into that yet.




#582697 [Research] The 'my transition is stuck' thread

Posted by waebbl on 21 November 2015 - 01:15 PM in BGT Archive

Sorry for disturbing your interesting discussion about resolving this issue in general. I come back to this at the end of my post.
 
I got an actual stuck transition in my current installation.
 
The cutscene hangs, when Imoen comes up to <CHARNAME>'s cell and opens the door. She never opens it, but keeps repeating an animation where she tries to start some action, supposedly open the cell. It looks, as if she stands in the way for herself, or is not at the desired coordinates for opening the cell door.
 
Because I played the Candlekeep Chores, theres only my protagonist in the party at the end of the last scene. At the end of BG1, when speaking to Belt there were: Marina (protagonist), Sandrah, Minsc, Gavin, Imoen and Dynaheir in the party. Additionally there's my cat familiar, Haiass, Pelligram and the pack mule. I'm not sure whether and how those are affected by the transition. During Candlekeep Chores the familiar and the pack mule were present and accessible. The items in the mules bags were there too. I checked my ARAM00.BCS and found, that Gavin is not in there. I was thinking, he might be the source of this problem. On the other side, he's stated as a BGT char, so the mod might take care of him itself, I haven't checked this yet. In the zone Minsc and Jaheira are visible in their cells, all other cells are empty, in one is a corpse.
 
Save files: The QuickSave is just before talking the last time to Gorion, with only my protagonist, the other file is just before entering the palace in Baldur's Gate, just before the transition begins, with my full party.
 
My WeiDU.log

Spoiler

 
 
 
For the issue in general...
 

For all of them my approach would be to re-write a clean version taking into account the mods we know today rather than having them tweaked time and time again during a BGT-installation until mods start to block each other out (see Ellesime etc) or being non-compatible. Next establish a guideline for new mods that want to append to the new *standard*,
How to achieve that?

 
What about extracting the transition code from BGT (this is where it's currently in, if I understand it correctly) into a separate mod project to keep it more manageable. BGT already is quite a big project, with all the copying and modifying of all the BG1 files. Separating this piece of code makes it cleaner and easier for mod devs to get into the standard way of handling this.
 

Yes, all other mods should non-destructively add their NPCs to this script of course.

 

They *should*, I agree with you, but...
 

And that's bad. With several dozens of NPC mods being there for years, I believe it's safe to assume that 3/4 of their authors are gone and their mods won't change any longer. So while I understand that making these mods compatible is BWSs folks job, not BGTs, I wholeheartedly hope that BGT won't try to make their lives harder, because when a single mod don't play nice with that fifty mods over there it just gets beaten with rocks, thrown out and forgotten, and justly so.

How's the licensing of those mods? I haven't looked at many, but a lot of what I've seen have a very liberal license. So, what about importing the code of those mods, whose devs are gone or don't longer care about their mods, into github? They don't need to be changed much, just so, that they work for the transition or for fixing bugs. We only need one or a couple of people willing to maintain the repositories. :devil:

Attached Files




#582657 Drizzt Saga bombing

Posted by waebbl on 21 November 2015 - 09:26 AM in Mega Mod Help

Drizzt acutally could dual wield weapons. I gave him the Water Edge+3 and the Belm+2 weapons and it worked fine. They even showed in the paperdoll. Only his very own main hand weapon didn't show up in the paperdoll, and I didn't try to actually play with it and another weapon letting dual wield.




#582530 Drizzt Saga bombing

Posted by waebbl on 19 November 2015 - 09:35 AM in Mega Mod Help

I had the same problem and was able to fix it using the patch mentionend here, but only when I remove the weapon with the save file. Removing it from the CRE file didn't work for me. Does this mean, Drizzt can not go dual wielding weapons?




#582506 [closed]

Posted by waebbl on 18 November 2015 - 02:47 PM in BGT Archive

@waebbl: I edited the post above ... to add a message to you, could you re-read it ? Thanks.
Thanks for this post, I was not aware of this development!

Wha ?!? You must have lived in the jungle the last 100 years. Let's just take any Television program... it's not sold by the dozens of episodes by what has already happened in it in repeats... most of the time at least. Ouh, yeah, a TV program couldn't be compared into a computer program, except perfectly in this scope, and the word program. Yeah, must have been my insanity creeping back. Sorry. :devil: Back to the actual topic.

Hehe almost :) Have been living in a hospital (for work, not as a patient) and completely got software development out of my mind :whistling: And just for the protocol... I'm totally abstinent of watching any TV for ~25 years by now :crazy: Just watching documentaries, which are usually streamable on the net.




#582505 [closed]

Posted by waebbl on 18 November 2015 - 02:41 PM in BGT Archive

And the results ? The end result, that is the change-log folder in the game folder after you have ran these .bat command lines with the faulty items edited into the code:
mkdir change-log
WeiDU.exe --log nul --change-log item1.itm >change-log/change-log.txt --out change-log
WeiDU.exe --log nul --change-log item2.itm >change-log/change-log.txt --out change-log
Where you just replace the "item1", "item2" and so forth with the actual files identities.
Backage it into a .zip folder and uploaded to a website for us to download. Yes, that's what Roxanne is asking ... The change-log is far shorter for each item, and the folder will also give us access to both the change-log.txt and the backup files the game has ... so we can see where the fault actually lies. Which is why Roxanne asked for this.

I've done this without redirecting. Wasn't seeing it as a request for sending the output, as this error clearly does not belong to the mod. But here it is...

Attached Files




#582503 [closed]

Posted by waebbl on 18 November 2015 - 02:14 PM in BGT Archive

Why stop adding features? Bugs can be fixed over time and users help with that by reporting. Even major bugs can be patched in a game-in-progress, and the consequence of even a major bug is just that a user might have to wait for a fix before continuing the game. So if roxanne wants to add new features also, I say go ahead.

Sure she can add new features whenever she likes. It's just a common way how software releases work. At some point you have a feature freeze and publish the software as beta state, which is then used to find and fix as many bugs as possible before the release. After the release a new cycle starts, where new features will be added.

 

Adding new features into a piece of software always adds new bugs too, that's imho something to keep in mind when talking about extending software.

This is how software once was classified - but things have changed a bit over time.

Just a quote from Syneticworld published March 2015

 

"“beta” refers to the final stage of software development just before the product is launched to the marketplace. In this stage, the product is typically highly functional and is being used by a community of “beta users” to test it out and provide feedback before the product is finalized. In recent years, because of the ease of distribution that the Internet provides, the line between beta and final product has blurred.

Today, products like Gmail exist in beta for years in widespread use by millions of customers, with the development team making constant tweaks to functionality and appearance based on how they see the users interact with the product."

And just another quote

*Perpetual beta (or ‘banana principle’) is the keeping of software or a system at the beta development stage for an extended or indefinite period of time. It is often used by developers when they continue to release new features that might not be fully tested. Perpetual beta software is not recommended for mission critical machines. However, many operational systems find this to be a much more rapid and agile approach to development, staging, and deployment.*

 

Having to move to Github after the SHS download system's decay has let me explore those features a bit and I found it supports this approach very well. Whenever someone downloads the mod, it will be the latest alpha tested version of it, so not every new player has to go through all the already known issues and bugs once again but has everything found before fixed already. Same of course goes for new contents.

I think it takes quite a bit of time to play once through the whole trilogy and it takes even longer with Sandrah installed, Thus reports about issues are very unevenly spread since not all parts of the game are examined at the same time. I can see no issue to sequentially improving the mod starting at the initial part while still receiving reports about issues in later parts that have not yet been touched. In this particular case we talk about a story that is evolving. (A special issue are those features that are more permanent, like the personal items or general scripts of the NPCs - but again, why let every new player experience defiencenciesthat are already solved.)

Thanks for this post, I was not aware of this development!




#582502 [closed]

Posted by waebbl on 18 November 2015 - 02:10 PM in BGT Archive

Although your beta test has started back in April, it is, as I view it, strictly speaking not a beta test. In the past months, you have added new features into the mod, whereas a feature freeze is one of the defining rules of a beta test, so I would say, we're still in an alpha test phase ;-)

Even Software developpers are not following standard definitions about this anymore, so whatever we call it, it is work-in-progress.

I've not actively developed software for quite some time now, and I'm not aware of current techniques of a software release cycle. Software always has been a work-in-progress, it's just about how you organise the progress. I'm pretty sure, you have your way of how to develop, enhance and fix the code. I've made the experience that it's been questionable to always add new features, while you are trying to fix bugs at the same time. It's likely you never come to and end, i.e. a release this way. That's basically what I wanted to say about a temporary feature freeze, even if the term feature freeze isn't used anymore.
 

I have lost any hope that Sandrah will ever be anything else but expert for some dedicated players.
If you follow the other threads and discussion on SHS and any other Baldur Gate forum, you will have noticed the trend of having a large wide-open game platform with loosely coupled events and the opportunity to go into BGT, IWD, IWD2 and whatever with thousands of kits to select - the contents becomes irrelevant. Sandrah tries to do the opposite, she creates a kind of very long road through the game - but still a road - from Candlekeep to Throne of Bhaal and tries to tell a story here. Sounds to me like a dinosaur approach now,

I've just been coming back to BG a few months ago, after several years of absence and am not following the forums very closely. In fact beside this forum, I only read the kerzenburg forum, but both of them not every day. My time does not allow for this. I haven't noticed the trend you speak of. NEJ has been around for a long time already, so adding the content of other IE based games is nothing new or trendy. I personally come from a pnp rpg background and love narrative mods which contain some depth, as such, Sandrah is absolutely right for me, but then, it's just me and my opinion.




#582498 [closed]

Posted by waebbl on 18 November 2015 - 01:38 PM in BGT Archive

My WeiDU.log

 

Spoiler

 

Sorry, my fault. I just saw some line of code spawning valen in the area script, just below code which is definitely added by SandrahNPC and assumed the spawning of valen is too related to it :-(

You have an awful lot of the spell/tweak/item mods installed and I am sure the reported problem is somewhere there. If you really want to get to the source of the issue you would need to grab a tool named *change-log*, run it for each of the items and spells involved in your issue and you will see the mods that have changed those files.

I already did this. Valen is added by DrizztSaga and the item she's wearing and the spell are modified by several mods.




#582497 [closed]

Posted by waebbl on 18 November 2015 - 01:28 PM in BGT Archive

Why stop adding features? Bugs can be fixed over time and users help with that by reporting. Even major bugs can be patched in a game-in-progress, and the consequence of even a major bug is just that a user might have to wait for a fix before continuing the game. So if roxanne wants to add new features also, I say go ahead.

Sure she can add new features whenever she likes. It's just a common way how software releases work. At some point you have a feature freeze and publish the software as beta state, which is then used to find and fix as many bugs as possible before the release. After the release a new cycle starts, where new features will be added.

 

Adding new features into a piece of software always adds new bugs too, that's imho something to keep in mind when talking about extending software.




#582470 [closed]

Posted by waebbl on 18 November 2015 - 07:05 AM in BGT Archive

My WeiDU.log

 

Spoiler

 

Sorry, my fault. I just saw some line of code spawning valen in the area script, just below code which is definitely added by SandrahNPC and assumed the spawning of valen is too related to it :-(

 

Did some more research, Valen and also her weapon has been added by DrizztSaga. Sorry for bothering you about this.




#582468 [closed]

Posted by waebbl on 18 November 2015 - 06:58 AM in BGT Archive

Thanks for your list on mod interactions. I think, this will be quite useful.

 

Some feedback on your view of the status of the project.

 

the feedback and experience with the mod so far is consistently negative

You seem to have a rather pessimistic view of its current state. According to this whole thread, you have received not only negative feedback, but also a lot of positive, motivational one. I, personally, would not speak of a consistent negative feedback and experience, but your mileage may vary, of course.

 

Although your beta test has started back in April, it is, as I view it, strictly speaking not a beta test. In the past months, you have added new features into the mod, whereas a feature freeze is one of the defining rules of a beta test, so I would say, we're still in an alpha test phase ;-)

 

You are writing a big and awful peace of software. I really like the idea and the design of a mod spanning all parts of the saga and even extending it past the original end. I think, this is doable, although it will be not an easy path to go.

I'm sure you know, that in itself your mod has to contain lots of bugs, due to the shear amount of code. On top of that, it depends on a whole lot of additional mods, where you don't necessarily have source code access to, and which contain their own bugs and oddities, you have to deal with. Last but not least it runs on an engine which is buggy and has its limitations. All of this makes the development as well as bug hunting of the mod so much more difficult to deal with, compared to a standalone piece of software.

 

I want to encourage you, to not only continue the mod, but also to further go for the goal of having it included with a standard BWP/BWS install, not only something, experts will have their fun with. I can understand, if you are tired after 8 months of beta testing and want to come to an end and release it. But stay ahead and go for it. My advice would be to stop adding features and solely go for bug fixing, extend the beta period for another quarter and then decide again about the state of the project. I hope to still see this mod in a couple of years. Many thanks for this great awsome mod!

 




#582465 [closed]

Posted by waebbl on 18 November 2015 - 06:25 AM in BGT Archive

I have a glitch with Valen and her vampires at the old city beneath Baldur's Gate. I have Sandrah equip the Maze from Otho (dsmaze03.itm) which gives her negative plane protection. Additionally she cast a protection from undead (scroll) and an additional negative plane protection (spell) on herself. But she still gets attribute points reduced (con and dex) partly from the spell to draw life energy (spwi928.spl, SUCCUBUS_ENERGY_DRAIN) partly from Valens weapon (f_vamp1.itm, GHOUL_TOUCH). The decreases from the spell wears off by (Lesser) Restoration (either scroll, Sandrahs innate or at a temple) or sleeping, but the decreases from the item doesn't wear off by any of those measures. I even tried to go to a temple and buying the lesser restoration spell several times and slept each time between, her constitution stays reduced. I also tried Heal and Mass Heal additionally with no success. Is this intended or am I stumbled above some bug?




#582228 [closed]

Posted by waebbl on 11 November 2015 - 06:55 AM in BGT Archive

Thank you very much for the report.

I am looking at which mod(s) could be the source for these issues

 

for 1) - do you have rogue revision installed? It may be best to assign my own script to them instead of using a custom one (pirate.bcs) which can be tweaked by another mod.

and

 

for 2) it may be the combination of those two mods acting on each other to create such an effect

00003: ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ 0 6101 // Potions for NPCs -> One third of the potions dropped by slain enemies break and are lost: v30

00006: ~SETUP-LOLFIXER.TP2~ 0 4 // Creature Stuff - Inventory Overhauler (moves invalid but equippable items to inventory and equips anything in the inventory to a free slot): 21102015

Do you have these mods installed (your Weidu.log will tell you)?

 

for 3) I noticed this transition once, it seems to be an issue with the area's search area file but it is random depending on the installation, however I was never able to reach it with my party actually. Anyway, using it would spoil the rest of the quest.

 

Edit

I found solutions for all 3 issues and updated the mod with them already.

Thanks again for reporting.

Sorry for the delay. Although you already have fixed it, I want to give a reply on this.

1) I do have RR installed

2) I have lolfixer installed, but not the stratagems component you listed (although other components of this mod)

3) Glad I didn't use it then :) I was almost up to it, but then decided to try the ship again, as I was thinking there has to be another way to leave this island...

 

Thanks for this mod! I really enjoy having so much new stories and content.