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Horrible mod experience


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#1 Enforcer

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Posted 30 April 2018 - 03:04 PM

Hi All!
I'm not sure if this forum is still alive, but still...
I can't take it anymore.
All internet guides, near infinity, EE keeper nothing can help me finish part 2.
I'm sick of this mod.
Author obviously doesn't know nothing about game design. "no valid replies", no dialogue at all, npc appearing where they shouldn't - it's only bugs.
No magic items/scrolls worth wasted time on this mod.
Author takes us for diviners knowing what next step exactly to take. Or maybe hackers that fond of reverse engineering of the mod via near infinity.
There are 3 major approaches to game/mod design:
1. Linear. Story progresses linearly, there is a strict sequence of events (talk, kill, goto etc). PC can't move on if he/she didn't do required actions. This is done by several methods: do not reveal area, close the door, do not show entrance, etc.
2. Open world. Story may have several branches each developing on their own. PC able to do everything. Game must be ready to react to ANY player action sequence,
if there are some side effect in wrong sequence, warn PC like "are you sure you want to goto hell, you won't be able to complete other things here" - "yes, I'm sure"/"No, I have unfinished business here".
"you sure you want to confront main villain, you sure you talked to this guy and that guy? You sure you've collected all evidence?"
3. Mixed. Combinations of 2 above. Like BG 1/2 main story. E.g. you can't go to BG until you finished mines, but you can do lots of side quests in any order. You don't see bandit camp location on the map until you need to go there.
General mechanics:
1. Journal entries contain short summary of all interactions (do you expect me to remember who what when said?). Contain hints what to do next, what should and what shouldn't do. Which quests complete before/after.
Distinctive signalling that quest is done.
This mod doesn't have any of it, just some lousy journal notes. You have no idea if you finished this part or not. what should you do next?
2. Map has distinctive marks "house of X", "inn Y", etc.
This mod only have question marks which are not shown on map obviously. Hopefully you can find some map with markers in some walkthrough if you're lucky.

I understand the idea of the mod writer for this mod to be a bit harder than usual quests. Player must think, analyse. I'm ok with that. If you dare to write "investigation" mod, don't you think it should be more stable?

This mod is written as Linear but acts lile Open world. You must code ALL possible PC actions in dialogues (2nd approach) or prohibit PC advance to next area until he spoken to key NPC (1st approach).
I tried to finish 1st mod part myself. Received "no valid replies" from key NPC.
Then I tried using walkthrough. This time I managed to complete 1st part.
Same for second part. No luck doing on my own. Pelltar refused to send me back although I've done all I could.
No luck strictly following guide. It seems author modified this mod a bit so guide not working anymore. Studying dialogues and scripts via near infinity only raised more questions.
Example: BHArrness.dlg "<CHARNAME>, you have returned. Did you discover anything about the lake monster?" state trigger:
Global("BHMayorGivesWaterQuest","GLOBAL",1)
and "Actually we need to talk about something else..." response trigger:
Global("BHMayorGivesWaterQuest","GLOBAL",3)
wot?
And this was the last straw for me. I decided to never ever deal with this mod, return to old save and tell SoBH NPC to f* off with his buggy island problems.

Readme of this mod should have on the first row:
"I'm a beginner lazy mod developer, If you try to finish my mod not by walkthrough (all of which are outdated), you are screwed. I'm too lazy/inexperienced to design this mod that way that prevents PC to reach a dead end"

Edited by Enforcer, 30 April 2018 - 03:17 PM.


#2 Creepin

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Posted 01 May 2018 - 01:36 AM

Not arguing with your personal experience I want to notice for the greater picture that I was able to finish the mod several times: apart for a nagging feeling there should been some other way to finish part 2 than by slaughtering all of duchess palace the mod was doable with the help of walkthrough.


The Old Gold - v0.2 WIP (mod for BGT/BWP/BWS)


#3 Greenhorn

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Posted 01 May 2018 - 03:23 AM

Although you make few very valid points about this mod ( several bugs, somewhat confusing progress path ), you must bear in mind that this is very old mod, made in time when modding skills and knowledge were very far from it's current standard. About magic items/spells there are plenty of them if you know where to look for.  :) Overall I find this mod entertaining and fun to play enough to include it in  all my installations so far ( where it is compatible ) but I share your sentiment that it is far from polished or perfect.