26 replies to this topic

[horred the plague]

Yes, folks--I did it, I did it, I did it!

I got a nice auto-biffer for those of you who went for the full package. It will reduce your override from 1.09GB down to <400KB (9 files remain, 4 of which should be deletable). If you have ALL FOUR of the above mods installed, on top of bp-bgt-nej (or bp-bgt, I suppose), you too can use this. Simply remove all weidu mods you put in afterwards, and run the proggie. As always, indicate your game path when prompted, and watch the magic!

I couldn't bear to see my override all clogged up again, after I worked so hard to clear it out. I bet many of you feel the same way. So, grab it and go! Add your weidu goodies back in, when you're done, and happy gaming! Cheers!!!

P.S: DAMN! This really suxx. FWP won't let me upload a rar or zip, and XP isn't letting me rename it as a .txt. So, thanks to this foolish ruling, you can't have it.

Can someone please give me a viable reason for this rule? I mean, a good reason...

Anybody want to host it? It's only 360-something KB in size .

Ahh,never mind--I still got a yahoo BP site:

http://games.groups....p/BigPictureMod

For those of you that are still members...if not, sign up--it's in the files section

P.S: If you got a message from this group recently, about not selling crap on this site, it's probably not for you. Some jackasses were trying to advertise on the site. Selling this and that; even selling Islam. Not that I discourage anyone from their beliefs...if you want to preach, start a preaching group! This is for gaming!!!

Still a couple gems from the MPrilla wars left over. None were my posts, however. They resemble something the MP himself would post. Not that I really care, just humorous...

Edited by horred the plague, 10 January 2005 - 09:22 AM.

[horred the plague]

Oh yeah...when you're done with this, before you add any weidu mods--delete your weidu.log. You can also get rid of those bulky folders as well, taking up 1GB+ of your HD space...

[igi]

Kudos Horred.

[Sir BillyBob]

Damn, now I have to toss out my DSotSC biff program. I hate it when someone creates something 100 times better than I do.

Thank you!!!

BTW, will it be able to know if I update anything in SOBH or DSOTSC? I have a new version of DSotSC uploading to the Wiz right now. There are a few new files in it.

[horred the plague]

Sir BillyBob, on Jan 10 2005, 12:18 PM, said:

Damn, now I have to toss out my DSotSC biff program.  I hate it when someone creates something 100 times better than I do.

Thank you!!!

BTW, will it be able to know if I update anything in SOBH or DSOTSC?  I have a new version of DSotSC uploading to the Wiz right now.  There are a few new files in it.

Don't toss out your auto biffer--- 1) some people might not use all 4 of these mods
2) if all 4 had biffing ability (CtB did for everything EXCEPT tis), there would be no need for this proggie

As long as tis files aren't involved (they made up the majority of the 1.09gb override), there won't be a problem. All other filesare infrequent enough to include "any and all" .

If you want the source code (for NSI) and bat files from this, just et me know and I'll email them to you. :thumb: You'd only have to pick out which files are yours from the .tis section, and the tis pack/unpack parts.

P.S. Wish I knew there was a new version coming out shortly; I would have waited a day to use it

Any chance of a patch version of this update?

Edited by horred the plague, 10 January 2005 - 08:47 PM.

[Sir BillyBob]

I thought about a patch but Ascension64 beat me up so badly on all the bugs that it was a patch the size of the mod anyway. The only files not effected are the graphics and sounds. Every item was reviewed and fixed, every dialog was reviewed as well. Most of the CRE files are fine so I didn't work on them this time around, nor the scripts. I did have to make some area changes to get the game ready for Northern Tales of the Sword Coast.

I also merged the CtB compatibility mod into DSotSC. So now version 1.5 of DSotSC has the three renamed areas in it and the batch file to get CtB to install on BGT. You will not need the compat mod at all. That should help in reducing some of the complexity out of this monster mod.

[horred the plague]

Sir BillyBob, on Jan 11 2005, 05:08 AM, said:

I thought about a patch but Ascension64 beat me up so badly on all the bugs that it was a patch the size of the mod anyway.  The only files not effected are the graphics and sounds.  Every item was reviewed and fixed, every dialog was reviewed as well.  Most of the CRE files are fine so I didn't work on them this time around, nor the scripts.  I did have to make some area changes to get the game ready for Northern Tales of the Sword Coast.

I also merged the CtB compatibility mod into DSotSC.  So now version 1.5 of DSotSC has the three renamed areas in it and the batch file to get CtB to install on BGT.  You will not need the compat mod at all.  That should help in reducing some of the complexity out of this monster mod.

Guess I'm just screwed then; thanks. If I had known it had "that many" problems in it, I never would have installed it in the first place. Too late now....Hope nothing was a game crasher; I'll just fix what I see wrong myself.

Edited by horred the plague, 11 January 2005 - 09:44 AM.

[Sir BillyBob]

I didn't think it had as many originally either. Most were incompatibilites when bringing a BG1 item over to BG2. Equipped effects didn't work or had a different name, damage amounts were wrong. I also didn't have all the right kits enabled for use on some items.

Nothing was a CTD problem. Some were also tweaks because new players weren't used to the hoops the rest of us jumped through to get some quests to work in the original version. You shouldn't need a detailed walkthrough to tell you how to play a mod but you really did with DSotSC. Hopefully, I made some of that simpler and therefore more enjoyable.

[horred the plague]

Sir BillyBob, on Jan 11 2005, 09:49 AM, said:

I didn't think it had as many originally either.  Most were incompatibilites when bringing a BG1 item over to BG2.  Equipped effects didn't work or had a different name, damage amounts were wrong.  I also didn't have all the right kits enabled for use on some items.

Nothing was a CTD problem.  Some were also tweaks because new players weren't used to the hoops the rest of us jumped through to get some quests to work in the original version.  You shouldn't need a detailed walkthrough to tell you how to play a mod but you really did with DSotSC.  Hopefully, I made some of that simpler and therefore more enjoyable.

That's good, because the only way I could fix this is to go out and buy the games again, download EVERYTHING, and do an entire reinstall from scratch. I've had a stable game for over a year now--it just got f@#@$#ed up in a single day. Good thing I know how to mod---damn this brings back some really sh^%%^#$y memories, of why I left this game behind so many months ago.

[horred the plague]

I've deleted the auto-biffer file, I don't want to screw anybody else's game up like mine is now.

[horred the plague]

horred the plague, on Jan 11 2005, 10:26 AM, said:

I've deleted the auto-biffer file, I don't want to screw anybody else's game up like mine is now.

Well, sorry if I seemed pissed--I am, because I asked about all this a day in advance, before I started installing the mods. But on top of this--there's an abcessed tooth in my mouth, and a whole lot of painkillers applied--that aren't killing the pain.

I did some toolset legerdemaine (thank goodness Avenger has perfected the weidu biff functions!--at least the extract worked fine). Now, only the tis files remain strictly in the biffs. Hope you didn't change any tis files at least....I also hope adding your new version on top of everything else doesn't screw up everything again. All I can pull out are Ease and Item Upgrade. The only mod that isn't yours is BG1NPCBGT

If somebody wants the tis functions I made, I can give these out independent of the rest of my auto-biffer. It's simply 3 .bat files. I can upload these as txt, and you can save them as .bat right from notepad. Here is how you do it:

Make a set of folders in your game directory, named:

TisMixer
NEW-TIS1
NEW-TIS2 (keep going up to TIS9, and then make an NEW-TISA, B, and C)

That makes 13 new folders in all.

Now, run your .bat files in this order:

NewTiz.bat
NewTis.bat
NewBiff.bat

And you'll have 12 new biffs. At this point, you can delete the tis from your override. Weidu doesn't mess with .Tis files on a backup install/uninstall. I noticed that yesterday, as I was doing all this.


Now, SirBillyBob--you mentioned that you didn't know how to biff the tis files. Basically, tis in the override have a header, while tis in the biffs don't. Take a look at the code for these bat files, they contain all your tis and also CBisson's. I've done 98% of the work for you already. All you gotta do is delete the lines (I put CB's in their own seperate folder, NEW-TIS9), as you need to. You can seperate BH and DSotSC using this procedure as well.



 NEWTiz.txt   14.24K   14 downloads

 NEWTis.txt   13.31K   10 downloads

 NEWBiff.txt   334bytes   9 downloads

[Sir BillyBob]

Cool! Thanks.

No modifications to tilesets. Your autobiffer should work on the new verson or the old of DSotSC unless you keyed in every single filename. Even then, there should only be 2 or 3 files left behind. I already downloaded it. I can test it on both if you would like.

By the way, as you may have noticed by now, CtB changes the start screens and buttons. Any chance of getting that swapped out for the original BP screens? I assume I just need to remove CB's MOS files but which ones?

[horred the plague]

Sir BillyBob, on Jan 11 2005, 12:36 PM, said:

Cool!  Thanks.

No modifications to tilesets.  Your autobiffer should work on the new verson or the old of DSotSC unless you keyed in every single filename.  Even then, there should only be 2 or 3 files left behind.  I already downloaded it.  I can test it on both if you would like.

By the way, as you may have noticed by now, CtB changes the start screens and buttons.  Any chance of getting that swapped out for the original BP screens?  I assume I just need to remove CB's MOS files but which ones?

No, I used the *.bam, *.are, etc. format. The only files you cannot do that for is .tis files. So it will be universal, until somebody adds another .tis.

*Switches keyfiles and overrides, and opens up NI*

STARTOLD.mos is the BP guy gazing into the crystal ball
START25.mos has the picture of kachiko in the circle
START.mos is the two people on horseback, looking at the castle

Remember, it's not just the mos file. You need the START.CHUI as well. Or the buttons will be in the wrong place.

EDIT: Oh, and one last bit of advice. Before you add the auto biff functioning to your proggies, you had better BE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that it is your FINAL version. After that, all you get is small patch updates, or some very unhappy fans.

Edited by horred the plague, 11 January 2005 - 01:43 PM.

[mr2131]

horred the plague, on Jan 11 2005, 10:26 AM, said:

I've deleted the auto-biffer file, I don't want to screw anybody else's game up like mine is now.

I take it that the new Auto-Biffer is toast and S/N/B used.

Mark

[horred the plague]

mr2131, on Jan 11 2005, 07:27 PM, said:

I take it that the new Auto-Biffer is toast and S/N/B used.

Mark

No, the auto-biffer works just fine. It's simply going to cause a nightmare because the mods involved are apparently not "final" versions, or even close. Not everybody can maneuver their way around the files to save their game as I can, nor should have to. Hopefully the individual modmakers will incorporate their respective pieces into their respective installs--when and ONLY when they aren't going to release any "new VERSIONS"-- and make the need of my proggie obsolete.

[hlidskialf]

Well, if the mods backup the chitin.key files and run an uninstallation .bat file that deletes the mod-specific biff files and returns the backup .key file to game use it should work fine even with updates. You'd just have to ensure that the mod's uninstall package was run before installing the new one. It would just take a bit of proactive coding on the modder's parts to make sure it was idiot-resistant as well as take into consideration other mods.

[King Diamond]

Sorry, may be this is not an exact place to ask about but I'll try to do this here.
About game's searching logic.

If, for example, I have original 111.tis file in num1.biff before any mod installed and then I install a mod that replaces 111.tis with new version and BIFFs it into mod's additional biff, which incarnation of 111.tis will be used in game?

It's obvious that chitin.key should contain a link to the last one but somehow I'm not sure about that.....

[hlidskialf]

King Diamond, on Jan 12 2005, 01:27 AM, said:

It's obvious that chitin.key should contain a link to the last one but somehow I'm not sure about that.....

The most recent is the one used. Some utilities like NI, have a "Clean up the Chitin.key" function. This removes all older, duplicate listings to improve game performance and satisfy the organizationally-addicted such as myself.

[horred the plague]

hlidskialf, on Jan 12 2005, 02:26 AM, said:

The most recent is the one used. Some utilities like NI, have a "Clean up the Chitin.key" function. This removes all older, duplicate listings to improve game performance and satisfy the organizationally-addicted such as myself.

I found that feature of NI to be haphhazard, at best--it was the cause of numerous reinstalls in the past. I believe the problem arose when a biff was completely deleted from the keyfile, but it's been a while and memory may not be serving me properly.

Anyways, I made a newer version, for my own benefit. It only biff's the .tis and .wav files. This should be safe, for any updates (or almost any). It also keeps the boards loading quickly (.tis files in the ovr tended to load slower, if I recall). It leaves a ovr size of roughly 50MB. Just played for about 3 hours, everything seems to run just fine. Not sure if I should share this with the public at-large; the modmakers might make this obsolete, and not everybody can adeptly juggle files.

[King Diamond]

hlidskialf, on Jan 12 2005, 01:26 PM, said:

King Diamond, on Jan 12 2005, 01:27 AM, said:

It's obvious that chitin.key should contain a link to the last one but somehow I'm not sure about that.....

The most recent is the one used. Some utilities like NI, have a "Clean up the Chitin.key" function. This removes all older, duplicate listings to improve game performance and satisfy the organizationally-addicted such as myself.

So I'm confused a little then.... Something is definately wrong there...

I'm just playing a little with a plain BGT install. It copies loads of files into \override\ and I want to clean it up. So, when I put 2 .tis's (ar0015 & ar0072) into a .biff those areas stop to load properly. Area is loading but background graphics is absolutely corrupted But if I put .tis's to \override\ again - everything is ok once again. So I can clean everything from \override\ to .biff except those 2 files.

Any clues what's this all about..?

Once again sorry for the offtopic....