247 replies to this topic

[horred the plague]

I'm in a massive overhaul stage of this mod. I figured I'd start at the bottom of the pile, and work my way up for a change. So, in that spirit, I have made.....

A TDD-weidu!!!!!

No, I did not mistype anything!

It's still in the final stages, but thing look very very promising! The package size has reduced to about 110MB! It installs about 5000 less strref's, the files were cleaned up during D-BAF conversion and the weidu DEBUG file process :online2long:, so it should be a better TDD than ever. Definitely wide open for somebody to patch now. No more excuses!

This package also comes with an uninstaller bat file, currently untested.

Note that this is not a simple dump version. The scripts, dialogs, and even 2da/ids are 'appended'. Automated files (ARE/CRE/SPL/STO) may overwrite still. Worldmap overwrites as well. NPC's are removed from the .gam file (yay). It meets and exceeds the purpose I needed it for--an improved BP!

Next to follow will be SoS weidu---and finally, BPv170 Weidu!
I also will add an auto-biffing function for TSv600 Weidu.

BP-PLUS will be the new way to install your mega. I plan to offer suport for bgt, nej2, ctb, dsotsc, and possibly sobh and ntotsc ---all from one proggie! It will look for pertinent setup files for any of these programs, and prompt you if you wish to install them. If you flub up, you can perhaps add them in later still (thanks to the convenience of weidu). Note that this is all going to take a while, but you guys have waited for a long time--and the #1 problem with bp+ currently is....installation! This will make it easier and better on all involved, and probably will eliminate a lot of bugs/junk/forum complaints in the process.

I'll send the TDD-weidu to the Wizard, as soon as it's polished up and I find an ftp address for him. Just a novelty for the moment, but in the "Big Picture" --the start of something good! :thumb:

[hlidskialf]

Sweet move Horred, I was thinking this was the way to go and here you've gone and gotten the ball rolling.
I'll give you a hand when I get my comp back, in the meantime... :thumb:

[PolarBear]

Well, if I could travel around the world in a day, and install this on everybody's machines for them--I WOULD be Santa Plague!!!

Now you really are!

Btw, you were pretty fast! TS weidu has been only available for 2 weeks or so. Or have you been working on it before TSv6? Anyways, you rock, Horred!! (or should I say, Santa? )

Edited by PolarBear, 25 January 2005 - 11:47 PM.

[Dennis]

Horred, I am amazed by your energy and output. While the final goal may still be a ways off, the speed with which you were able to do this is amazing. It gives me real hope that WeiDU'd installs of the whole, extended phenomena will be available at some point in the foreseeable future.

Thanks for your hard work!

[Chevalier]

I don't have the words!

[Gaias]

This is totally fantastic news!!!

Keep up the great work! :thumb:

I truely wonder when everything is said and done... if anyone will actually be able to finish the game, with so much added content...

[Yacomo]

My jaws literally dropped when I read this this morning... Then I wondered for a while how to put my appreciation for your hard work into words... But i can't...

Let's put it this way: I (and I guess we all) love you Horred

[Gaias]

But... but... this means I don't not get to read and laugh maniacally , at all the post of people failing miserably, installing this beast...

Seriously Horred... since you came back and given people hope, you have taken all the fun out of lurking... with your promises of "auto install" and "weidued".

Where is the fun in that....

[Stone Wolf]

Damn! Just.... Damn! Very nice!

[NiGHTMARE]

Great news!

One request: I (and I'm sure many others) would be even more eternally grateful if some TDD stuff could be made into optional components. The kits, for instance... .

Edited by NiGHTMARE, 26 January 2005 - 09:19 AM.

[Sir BillyBob]

Yeah, but if you make the kits optional and explain some of the quests better, the CoM team won't have anything to bitch about. Oh sorry, did I just write that?

[AnnabelleRose]

Horred, I think I love you.

Great news!

One request: I (and I'm sure many others) would be even more eternally grateful if some TDD stuff could be made into optional components.  The kits, for instance... .

Yes please.

Also if there was an optional componet on SoS for the ranger girl (forget her name right now) to not come with a zoo, I would probably send you my firstborn. Untill then, I will use the little patch Seanas made me.

[horred the plague]

SOS-Weidu is about half-done. Just D-files, baf's and debugging remain! Not bad for a few hour's work, if I say so meself...

For those who wondered; I started TDD on monday, and SoS today.
Yes, I be quick when I wanna be!

I "suppose" I could make the kits optional in TDD, but I'd have to find some 'catch file' to leave in the override so that SOS would recognize the kits being there. Right now, I'm using my new TDD-biff's to detect a TDD install. Snafu's, grrrrr.... :bash:

It would be all or nothing, on the kits:

1) we don't need 78 yes/no questions in the installer
2) it would be a coding "beeeeitch" to set this up--esp for KIT.IDS.
I use KIT checks in existing BP scripts!
3) a few kits, instead of all or nothing, would REALLY throw off my SoS install.
(SOS will follow TDD in install sequence)


THE NEW SEQUENCE (of installation)
1) TDD-weidu
2) SOS-weidu
3) TS-weidu (plus a biffmaker by yours truly)
4) BPv170

5) etc. etc. etc. (probably still bgt next)
--Haven't worked out specifics on the post-BP installer yet. One fish in the pan at a time!

What this has given me a chance to do, is correct the conflicting creature animations in both mods. They now will correspond to the BP standards. This, in turn, allows me to leave the repeat BAM's out of BPv170, thus reducing the size of it as well.

Speaking of size: the new SoS weidu weighs in at ~100MB, before .rar (raw). Lots of .ogg and .tiz! Probably wiil reach ~60-70MB packaged! A lot of extraneous files were removed from both mods, as well. If I had to guess, each modmaker had Ascension installed when they made these, originally.

[AnnabelleRose]

It would be all or nothing, on the kits:

1) we don't need 78 yes/no questions in the installer
2) it would be a coding "beeeeitch" to set this up--esp for KIT.IDS.
I use KIT checks in existing BP scripts!
3) a few kits, instead of all or nothing, would REALLY throw off my SoS install.
(SOS will follow TDD in install sequence)

Meh, if it is all that work, we can just use the TDD kit uninstaller. Sounds like waaaaaaaaaaaay too much of a headache. It would be nice to be optional, but why do all that work.

I think Hlid said it best:

I for one much rather work on NEW projects, maybe even finish a couple burning a hole in my creative pocket. I would be content to see a rebuild of the autoinstaller and maybe even a final BP version, but to pull it apart and then reintegrate it's components for "tidyness" is just slightly lower on my list of things to do than go get a root canal without anesthetic.

Personally, I would rather see a finished version of e weidu installers for these (so my puny 56k can start downloading them), and you new mod rather then a bunch of optionals that are a ton of work.

***EDIT*** If you are rebuilding the installer, why not work with Vlad's new weidu version of TS? Might be less work, maybe?

Edited by MajorTomSawyer, 26 January 2005 - 01:35 PM.

[mr2131]

Cool beans. Even if I have to download everything all over again, this is still amazing. Finding a way to ease the installation hurdles for BP-PLUS would be phenomenal especialy for duffers like me. Hell, I might actually be able to play my way through the "expanded" BG cycle. What about a WEIDU of BGT?

May the light always be in the eyes of your enemies and may your feet always find the correct path. Happy Trails . . .

Mark

[Sir BillyBob]

What about a WEIDU of BGT?

Technically, BGT is a Weidu mod. At least it uses it for biffing the files, just not the actual install. Maybe it wouldn't be that hard to build it as a full Weidu mod. However, right now, I guess that would still need to wait until after Horred gets the rest of the package done.

Leaving the kits into the TDD mod isn't a bad thing now that there is a mod that allows you to remove them again. What we really need is someone crazy enough to build a program (not a mod) to install and remove kits from a game. Any C++ programmers out there looking for a good class project?

[russ]

I'm in a massive overhaul stage of this mod. I figured I'd start at the bottom of the pile, and work my way up for a change. So, in that spirit, I have made.....

A TDD-weidu!!!!!     

No, I did not mistype anything!

:thumb:



You can't tell with this message but I have spent the last five minutes absolutely speechless. If this actually works BP will pretty much be easily available to the entire BG community. Many don't play BP because it isn't Weidu.
Now that I'm slowly gathering my wits about me I want to ask (in the hope of making Horred's life easier) is it necessary to Weidu SoS? Isn't it now possible to install SoS first and then install the Weidu versions of TDD (when it comes out), TS, NEJ2 and Ascension? At that point wouldn't you have 90% of BP-NEJ? Just a thought.

And again :thumb: :thumb: