[BWS/BWP] Crashing on entering Tazok's Tent

I had this same problem. I tried reinstalling without BG Graphics Overhaul and it now works (The reason I tried removing this mod was that I found it was affecting ar8701 by looking through the big world debug files and from all the reports it does not seem to be a creature-related problem, so a graphics-related problem seemed plausible).

I get the same crash, my TobEx log gives a different error message:

-----TobEx: Throne of Bhaal Extender build 0.26.3.25 (Sun 13 Apr 2014 23:41:26)
[Mon 14 Apr 2014 00:15:24] ASSERTION FAILED! Return Address: 0x9997ED File: ChDimm.cpp Line: 7641 Expression: pBiffHeader->dwFileType != mmioFOURCC('B', 'I', 'F', 'C') Message: c:\gog games\baldur's gate 2\data\DATA\AREA0500.BIF: attempted to use compressed BIF from CD, check free hard drive space

There are two different issues being reported here. The last one ("attempted to use compressed BIF") is due to a resource in one biff (or unbiffed) trying to call data in another biff that's compressed. Uncompressing it manually should solve the issue, as described here.

Sometimes, the referenced BIF will exist, but the game expects it to be in your main \data folder or in \cache\data. Copying it from the cd# folder (or the CD itself) will sometimes work. Other times, you may need to use DLTCEP to decompress the BIF. To do this, go to Extraction > Uncompress BIF. The decompressed BIF should end up in your main \data folder. Relaunch the game and see if this resolves the issue.

The first issue seems to be due to invalid creature data. Try running the Area CRE Checker on ar8701 and then CLUAConsole:MoveToArea("t-test"). It will spawn each CRE in the area; if it hangs on one, you've found the culprit. You can also post the resulting arealog.txt file contents for further analysis.

Hi everyone, I'm new here and just a player. I know next to nothing about programming and all this technical stuff you talk about when trying to fix a bug and I just barely managed to install the BW recommended setup. (with a couple of mods not being downloaded due to missing files or something) Having said that, I'm having the same problem of the game crashing upon entering the tent. Reading through all of this, I can't figure out if an adequate solution has been found or how to implement the solution. Can someone please explain it in layman terms? sorry for the inconvenience.

If you want all loot (I also found Kivan's Bow that may be related to a quest, I don't know) and the dialogue wtih Ender Sai, you can do as I did. Download NearInfinity, select game directories, open AR8701.ARE (ARE files on the left), change to 'edit' tab, select WedResource (3rd line) and change it to AR8801.WED, then click 'update value' and save (it will save in override folder). The room will look as a spider nest, you'll have to press TAB to see where the containers are, the exit isn't at the border of the room, it's near the centre, anyway you can do everything you could do in Tazok's tent.

Edited by Vlar, 01 May 2014 - 01:31 AM.

Can you please tell us what the original WED resource for AR8701.ARE was?

Also please search for all AR8701.WEDs in your BG2 folder. You might find some in the backup folders of some mods. Can you put them one by one into your override and check whether AR9701.ARE loads using that WED?

The resource used is AR8701.WED, that uses AR8701.TIS and WTLAKE.TIS. The ARE and WED file is only modified by BGT, that doesn't make a backup. Out of curiosity I extracted the files from the bif of the original BG1 and put them in the BG2 override, to see if restoring the original files solved the problem, but it didn't, it still crashed. That was yesterday, and I don't have a save without preloaded AR8701.ARE anymore (I could still delete it from the savegame, if it's the same). After all this I'm thinking that ToBEX does something wrong in that area. One thing that stroke me is that the area gradually fades from black, it's not displayed at once as usual, so if there's a way to disable this 'fade in' effect it could load the original resource, if this effect has something to do with it.

Since Joel said that without BG Graphics Overhaul it works, it should be its fault, but I can't find any backup there, I'm leaving it as it is.

If somebody has a clean BGT install (without BG Graphics Overhaul) or a clean BG2 install, could upload the WED/TIS files that are affected by this (AR8701.WED, AR8701.TIS, WTLAKE.TIS for BGT, I don't know for BG2).

Edited by Vlar, 01 May 2014 - 08:29 AM.

The resource used is AR8701.WED, that uses AR8701.TIS and WTLAKE.TIS. The ARE and WED file is only modified by BGT, that doesn't make a backup. Out of curiosity I extracted the files from the bif of the original BG1 and put them in the BG2 override, to see if restoring the original files solved the problem, but it didn't, it still crashed. That was yesterday, and I don't have a save without preloaded AR8701.ARE anymore (I could still delete it from the savegame, if it's the same). After all this I'm thinking that ToBEX does something wrong in that area. One thing that stroke me is that the area gradually fades from black, it's not displayed at once as usual, so if there's a way to disable this 'fade in' effect it could load the original resource, if this effect has something to do with it.

If you have installed the Widescreen mod, it might edit the files... especially if the area is small like the tents inside.

If you want all loot (I also found Kivan's Bow that may be related to a quest, I don't know) and the dialogue wtih Ender Sai, you can do as I did. Download NearInfinity, select game directories, open AR8701.ARE (ARE files on the left), change to 'edit' tab, select WedResource (3rd line) and change it to AR8801.WED, then click 'update value' and save (it will save in override folder). The room will look as a spider nest, you'll have to press TAB to see where the containers are, the exit isn't at the border of the room, it's near the centre, anyway you can do everything you could do in Tazok's tent.

Thanks for this, it worked perfectly

Exporting the original BG1 files to the current override worked well in my case:

• exporting the original AR1901.WED from BG1 and renaming it to AR8701.WED
• exporting the original AR1901.TIS from BG1 and of course NOT(!) renaming it

This stopped the game from crashing.

I also am having problems with th game crashing on entering Tazok's tent.  By the way, the game does save before it crashes.

Notes about the crash from Baldur.err

Session---------------------

ASSERTION FAILED!
File: ChDimm.cpp
Line: 1246

Exp: FALSE

Msg: ChDimm.cpp CDimm::Demand(): CRes pointer invalid (Check Baldur.log for missing resource)
Run Debugger?

Notes about the crash from Baldur.log

---------------------Start Logging Session---------------------

CVisibilityMap::AddCharacter : ( 4088, 942 ) #:13435085 R:14
CVisibilityMap::AddCharacter : ( 4040, 1014 ) #:13500622 R:14
CVisibilityMap::AddCharacter : ( 4040, 966 ) #:13566159 R:14
CVisibilityMap::AddCharacter : ( 4072, 990 ) #:13631696 R:14
CVisibilityMap::AddCharacter : ( 4024, 1062 ) #:13697233 R:14
CVisibilityMap::AddCharacter : ( 3800, 1134 ) #:13762770 R:14
CVisibilityMap::AddCharacter : ( 600, 474 ) #:13435085 R:14
CVisibilityMap::AddCharacter : ( 600, 498 ) #:13566159 R:14
CVisibilityMap::AddCharacter : ( 648, 498 ) #:13631696 R:14
CVisibilityMap::AddCharacter : ( 648, 522 ) #:13500622 R:14
CVisibilityMap::AddCharacter : ( 696, 522 ) #:13762770 R:14
CVisibilityMap::AddCharacter : ( 664, 546 ) #:13697233 R:14

From Shuv-Oohl

Exporting the original BG1 files to the current override worked well in my case:

exporting the original AR1901.WED from BG1 and renaming it to AR8701.WED
exporting the original AR1901.TIS from BG1 and of course NOT(!) renaming it

This stopped the game from crashing.

I only found AR190X.bif and AR1900.bif in my Baldur's Gate game.  Would you please add the files AR1901.WED and AR1901.TIS to your post so I can try your fix?

OR:

Can someone explain how you extract the files from a biffed file?

I will also try leaving out BGT Graphics Overhaul and see what happens.

Thanks for any help and/or comments:

Tom

The export works via NEAR INFINITY.

You have to install that program, open your BG1 installation with NI, click (in the left part of the window) on the files mentioned and choose (in the right part) "export".

Attached are the two files in a 7z archive. Just extract it to the override.

...NEAR INFINITY.

You have to install that program, open your BG1 installation with NI,

Erhm, you just download the .jar file into the BG1 folder(or move it there) and then just run the file... there's no installing. Yep you need to take the Setup step, but that's usual program procedure. Still, there's no installing.

Thanks Shuv-Ooh and The Imp for the information about NI and the files.

Joel (post above) has the solution.  I repeated the installation of my mega-mod game where the game crashed on entering Tazok's tent.  This time I did not install BG Graphics Overhaul.  There was no problem entering Tazok's tent and continuing the game.  So I assume there is a problem with BG Graphics Overhaul.

Tom