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Help with BiG World Project v18.1


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#1 tomkaz

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Posted 14 May 2019 - 11:14 AM

Hi All:

 

Do to my age, I am having some memory problems.  So I would appreciate some forgiveness when I repeat something or make dumb mistakes.

 

With BWP v18.1, I have no luck with a megamod game.  So far I have tried over 40 megamods this year and had very little luck with the mega modgame.  You name it, I have tried it.  I few times, I have gotten Baldur's Gate work to where I kill Sarevok, but I always crash where Mae Var captures me or in  Irenicus' stronghold in Athkatla.  Right now, I am starting with the mods in Corrections and Improvements and in BG1 sections.  I will try a megamod game with them,  If a game works, I will add each section untill I eliminate any problems.

 

I am having trouble with using SPOILERS.  I find the spoiler BB Code.  Open the box and type in the message, then save the spoiler.  This is what I get.

 

Spoiler
     Damn, this time it worked!

 

Please tell me how to correct the mistake (s) I make when I go ti save the spoiler.

 

Another problem I have is fixing atweaks v4.53.  I found this on Beamdog.  ",,,copy and rename a WeiDU executable from another mod."  My problem is I do not know what "a WeiDU executable" is.  Spent a log time trying to find that one,  Found lots of pages about WeiDU but nothing about executable.  Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

Another wish.  I need to check out me computers.  What I could use is a BWP megamod that worked on another computer.  I would need a list of mods used, a copy of individual.bat if it was modified and the selections use for the game.  If anyone can provide that information, I really would appreciate that.

 

Thanks to all who can help,

TOM


Edited by tomkaz, 14 May 2019 - 11:15 AM.


#2 semaj577

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Posted 17 May 2019 - 05:16 AM

Hello. Maybe that needs a "little" more explanation. Every file .exe in any of the mods IS actually a weidu file. Weidu is the program that allow to install multiple mods in a single game (before weidu, it was very difficult to install more than 1 mod, the most knowed try to install a megamod was big picture; today big picture is not anymore that, is a difficulty and ia mod, like scs).

Every .exe file is a weidu file, just renamed like the folder´s mod name, with the words "setup-" at the beginning. For example, is the mod folder name is "atweaks", then you have to rename a weidu.exe file to "setup-atweaks.exe". Why is so simple? Because the instruccions to install the mod and all its features are inside the .tp2 mod file. If there´s no .tp2 file in the mod, then something is wrong (or, to be more accurate, missing). You are correct, many modders starts to release theirs mods without the .exe file (the weidu file). I think this is because since version 245 of weidu (today is 246, and bwp v18.1.2 use 245 version 32 bits if i remember correctly), you can choose if you want install the 32 bits version or the 64 bits version of weidu. I honestly dont know what is the real diference between them, but since i have baldurs gate 2+tob, not the EE versions, and always the instalation of mods was in 32 bits, i use the 32 bits version of weidu 246 IN BWP v18.1.2 (there´s a trick to do that).

Just to clarify a little more: versions 242 and 243 of weidu were very polemic. Why? Because those versions lost compatibility with older mods. I won´t explain the why, is to much and you can find the discution if you google it, i just going to say that was "fixed" in version 244 of weidu (the "stable" release). Warning with that, is not accurate than you have to rename any .exe of weidu, you have to download the lastest stable release, and today is 246 (and select the version, 32 bits or 64 bits, i choose the 32 bits). Then rename the .exe with the mods folders name with the words "setup-" in the beginning.

Weidu has and autoupdate ability when you run any .exe file -this is very critized by some modders, again google it, is too much to put in an answer-, the autoupdate will "update" any weidu "older". You can check this, manually: go to every .exe file and check for the weight: if all are the same, the only difference is the name, that´s is a proof than all are the same version. So, is innacurate to rename any .exe file: if you are going to put and .exe file to an updated mod, like atweaks, scs v32 or tweaks anthologies v8 (like i have done in my bwp v18.1.2), YOU NEED THE MOST RECENT STABLE VERSION OF WEIDU, and that´s is 246. Why? because modders use the latest version of weidu, and if that versionhas new instructions (described in the changelogs of weidu, 245 has many and 246 is a fix to 245), and modders use those new instructions, then weidu won´t install the mod because you have and older version of it (it just dont recognize the instructions).

Well, i dont know if this clarify something to you or the opposite. Just read carefully what i said and many questions are solved, to you or anyone with the same question. Installing a megamod, and try to works well can be very frustating until you found the answers (read a lot is the trick)(and copy the anwers in the hard drive).


Edited by semaj577, 17 May 2019 - 05:31 AM.


#3 tomkaz

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Posted 17 May 2019 - 04:29 PM

Hi semaj577:

 

Thanks for the reply.  Your explanation is great.  It covers all of the details.  On of the best I have seen.  I had some minor surgery and need anther days rest.  I will read it now and then use the information to fix aTweaks v4.53.  BWPv18.1 uses WeiDU 244.  I already deleted v246 so I do not expect to have any trouble.

 

Thanks again,

TOM



#4 tomkaz

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Posted 06 June 2019 - 11:59 AM

Hi All:

 

I spent a lot of time creating a megamod game.  Started with BWP.PDF Section 1 and added Sections as each was played and tested.  I think I have a working game.

 

Found some bugs, but I was able to work around them.  They did not cause the game to crash.  The bugs were expected.

 

I have two similar computer setups.  One worked well but the other crashed when I played the same exact game.  Tried to reinstall my version, but could not.  Called Microsoft for help.  Found out my version of Windows 7 PRO 64 bit was an older version.  Microsoft emailed me the latest version (for free) which worked with my key.  Fixed many problems.  That service is good as long Windows 7 is supported.

 

A few problems that I cannot fix.  In The Bigg Tweak Pack v2.61, I cannot get the dropped spellbooks to work.  May be a bug.  I would appreciate it if someone would post instructions on how to use the spellbooks.  The other is that I would like to get Fishing for  Trouble to install.  I have several versions, but not install.  I would appreciate the name of the version (not the entire mod) that works and/or where to find it.

 

Finally, I believe I was editing "individual.bat" incorrectly.  For example:

 

findstr /I /M "ASCENSION.TP2~.*#.*#0./ " %ELOG%>nul

if not errorlevel 1 (
          call %EINST% astScriptPatcher "0"
)
 
If I wanted to delete astScriptPatcher, I would do the following:
 
GOTO SKIP0022
findstr /I /M "ASCENSION.TP2~.*#.*#0./ " %ELOG%>nul
if not errorlevel 1 (
          call %EINST% astScriptPatcher "0"
)

:SKIP0022

 

Now I tried the following:

 

findstr /I /M "ASCENSION.TP2~.*#.*#0./ " %ELOG%>nul

if not errorlevel 1 (
          REM call %EINST% astScriptPatcher "0"
)
 
This seems to work much better and without crashes.
 
Finally, the current megamod game game has about 215 mods.  The seem to be working OK together.  I have yet to get to BG2 which frequently was my crash point.  This game include some mods which I could not include with my older method of editing "individual.bat".
 
Tom
 
 
 

Edited by tomkaz, 07 June 2019 - 04:08 AM.


#5 semaj577

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Posted 07 June 2019 - 02:50 PM

Hello again. You are doing some things wrong, but let´s start from the begining. The component from "the bigg tweak pack", i cannot help you because i never try it. But the part where you edit the individual.bat: what program you are using for that? If you are using notepad or any "plain" editor program, you are very, very wrong. You need use "notepad++". Why? Because notepad++ respect the lines and notepad, no. That´s a source of problems than you want avoid, for example, the installation will stop, because it won´t undestand what´s the instruccion is. I say this because the "rem" command goes a the beggining of every line, not next to the instruction. If more organized that way. In the example that you gave, my "edit" would be:

 

REM findstr /I /M "ASCENSION.TP2~.*#.*#0./ " %ELOG%>nul

REM if not errorlevel 1 (
REM          call %EINST% astScriptPatcher "0"
REM)
 
You need to put "rem" -"ignore this" is the command in msdos- in every line when you have this macro-orders (findstring, if, call). It shoul work in your second example (the first one i don´t ever try it, but i find is wrong, the .pdf of individual.bat recomend use the command "rem"), "should", but the correct way is like i said (put "rem" in every line of the macro order of the component you want not install) and i haven´t any problems editing the individual.bat, not at least for this (be carefull editing macro orders, they are there for a reason, if you are sure that you don´t need the component astScriptPatcher "0" in the example, is ok how i edited the file, but some others macro orders are more complex, that´s a merit of Leonardo Watson).
 
Remember: use notepad++ -or similar, i use notepad++-. The only you have to do is change the extension of the file, temporaly, from .bat to .txt . Then when you finish the edits, do the same in reverse: change the extension from .txt to .bat. It doesn´t matter if you use "REM" or "rem", i use "REM" because is more easy to locate my edits. And make backups, that´s another good practice.
 
 
 
 
And finally, you have to use the version of the mod than the specific version of bwp supports. If you are using bwp v18.1.2, that´s "fishing for trouble v3.1.2". BUT if you want the lastest version 3.2.2 installed (new versions, normally, are best than older ones because have some bugfixes, and in fact the last version of fishing is a bugfix), you can try install,it, but AT YOUR OWN RISK (because, obviously, bwp don´t support it, yet). You only need to know the numbers of the components of the new version of the mod (normally, will be the same, specially if the new version only fix bugs and don´t add new components). How to know the components of a mod? Here: http://www.shsforums...ts-of-the-mods/
 
The last version of fishing for trouble is here: https://github.com/I...uble/releases  v3.2.2, fix "-Dialogue freezes game due to missing lines"
 

I hope this information has served you well.

 

Edited by semaj577, 07 June 2019 - 03:06 PM.


#6 The Imp

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Posted 07 June 2019 - 03:55 PM

 You are doing some things wrong...  But the part where you edit the individual.bat: what program you are using for that? If you are using notepad or any "plain" editor program, you are very, very wrong. You need use "notepad++". Why? Because notepad++ respect the lines and notepad, no. That´s a source of problems than you want avoid...

Notepad respects the line endings... it's just that you can't see them in the Notepad text, that the Notepad++ makes plainly viewable. And the line endings ... if they were originally coded in Notepad, that would surfice... but they were NOT. So, it's NOT.


Yep, Jarno Mikkola. my Mega Mod FAQ. Use of the BWS, and how to use it(scroll down that post a bit). 
OK, desert dweller, welcome to the sanity, you are free to search for the limit, it's out there, we drew it in the sand. Ouh, actually it was still snow then.. but anyways.


#7 semaj577

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Posted 07 June 2019 - 04:42 PM

Notepad respects the line endings... it's just that you can't see them in the Notepad text, that the Notepad++ makes plainly viewable. And the line endings ... if they were originally coded in Notepad, that would surfice... but they were NOT. So, it's NOT.

 

Not if you use the "word wrap" feature, for example, to read a document in txt and you do not wan´t edit the file. Every time you save a file in .txt with notepad, if you are using word wrap, it will do a mess if you edit extra large lines, and the individual.bat has many of them. For that reason i prefer notepad++ to edit files (yes, notepad++ HAS the same feature, but of course i have deactivate) and notepad (simple) with the "word wrap" option active to read files. Besides, notepad++ "counts" the lines of a file, so is more trustworthy than notepad when you are editing a file.

Yeah, sorry if some sentences are not accurate, english is not my first language, pretty obvious, although I try to correct the best i can.


Edited by semaj577, 07 June 2019 - 04:45 PM.


#8 The Imp

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Posted 07 June 2019 - 09:15 PM

Not if you use the "word wrap" feature, for example, to read a document in txt and you do not wan´t edit the file. Every time you save a file in .txt with notepad, if you are using word wrap, it will do a mess if you edit extra large lines, and the individual.bat has many of them.  

There's a lot to unpack here... See, the word wrap is a feature... as in, itself does nothig to the document, during save. What it does is add a non existing line start to the wrapped content, during your viewing of it. But only during a view, so it won't effect the actual code that the file has.
Aka, if you copy paste from a start of a line... that probably did not prevously end at the same point in the real code, the copy paste action is what will mess up the file.
The saving action between .txt and .bat does nothing to this either... and today, if you use Windows 10, you don't need to resave the file content as a different format (.txt) to associate the file with Notepad for example. And you can right click the files and use Open File... any program you want to associate it with said content, or use an extra step to actually locate a new format to open the file with, that sets a new preference.

Yeah, I undestand the English is not my first language, thing... as it's not mine either. Truthfully, everyone has their own language they use to communicate with. It's just that -most ignore the most subble changes that could mean worlds of difference to others- for the purpose that it's used to communicate with. Just like the extra line endings. :P  Am I crazy, näh, it's just the the rest of the world is insane. :devil: -ly complex.


Edited by The Imp, 07 June 2019 - 09:46 PM.

Yep, Jarno Mikkola. my Mega Mod FAQ. Use of the BWS, and how to use it(scroll down that post a bit). 
OK, desert dweller, welcome to the sanity, you are free to search for the limit, it's out there, we drew it in the sand. Ouh, actually it was still snow then.. but anyways.


#9 tomkaz

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Posted 09 June 2019 - 09:05 AM

Hi semaj577:  Hi The Imp:

 

Interesting comments.  I never used Notepad++ so I down loaded Notepad++ v7.7.  I installed my copy of individual.bat to Notepad  and Notepad++ and compared the files.  Notepad++ has some very nice features, but I am not sure the final result is better.  Notepad++ has nice color and '>nul' and the end of the 'findstr' lines.  With a little more work, you can get color and text with Microsoft Word and WordPerfect. Also the spacing and functions with Notepad++ was nicer than with Notepad.  But my final assessment is to use the one you are more familiar with.  For me, today I would use Notepad because I am not familiar with the commands of Notepad++.  As I learn Notepad++, I may switch to using it.

 

The only lines in Notepad++ that had a comment at the end of a line was the >nul at the end of the 'findstr' line.  I did not know what to expect at the end ot the other lines.  Maybe there was another code to turn on.  As I said, I am new to Notepad++ (only 15 minutes) so I do not know what each key does and there are a lot of keys. I also was confused about the word wrap comments.  (Notice, I am confused about lots of things.) Here again, Notepad++ has a nice way to display the line continuation.  It changes the color of the first word of the continuation line.

 

So the color features are a nice addition.  But, coloring words takes extra code.  Does this code go away when the file is saved.  Do the same colors come back when you reopen the file?  I will leave that to the designers of Notepad++.

 

Leonardo does a great job with BWP.  He recommends using Notepad for editing files.  The only thing I would like to see is how to edit inside 'findstr' sections.  Frequently, the lines in the findstr sections have other instructions.  So now I only use a REM in from of the findste sections that are CALL statements or have CALL statements in them. This seams to work for me.

 

I have run about 25 games in the past few weeks.  Starting with the necessary mods and mods from BWP.pdf v8.1.2 in Section 1.  Then adding the mods I want from each section until it works or fails.  Sometimes when they fail, I try a other version of the same mod.  Well this time, using my method to edit individual.bat, I do have a working game of about 220 mods. I am still in BG1.

 

Thanks for the comments. I am sure they help a lot of us megamod players.

 

Tom


Edited by tomkaz, 09 June 2019 - 09:09 AM.


#10 The Imp

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Posted 09 June 2019 - 10:29 AM

But, coloring words takes extra code.  Does this code go away when the file is saved.  Do the same colors come back when you reopen the file? 

The colors are program wide, so yes they go away and come back, there's no added code to do that for a specific .txt file... as they are programwide, like said. Or you use an addon to the program... which makes it thus a program wide too.


Yep, Jarno Mikkola. my Mega Mod FAQ. Use of the BWS, and how to use it(scroll down that post a bit). 
OK, desert dweller, welcome to the sanity, you are free to search for the limit, it's out there, we drew it in the sand. Ouh, actually it was still snow then.. but anyways.


#11 tomkaz

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Posted 09 June 2019 - 11:54 AM

Hi The Imp:

 

Thanks for the comments.  My game is almost going well.  Last night an area named Lighthouse crashed.  Tried several times and from several ways, but it crashes about 10 seconds after you enter the area.  Locks up the computer.  Since it is a original Baldur's Gate area, either my disc is bad or some mod altered the game improperly.  Tried reinstalling Baldur's Gate, but does not fix the area.  Easy to skip.  It is not required for the game.

 

Tom 



#12 Greenhorn

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Posted 09 June 2019 - 12:27 PM

Hi The Imp:

 

Thanks for the comments.  My game is almost going well.  Last night an area named Lighthouse crashed.  Tried several times and from several ways, but it crashes about 10 seconds after you enter the area.  Locks up the computer.  Since it is a original Baldur's Gate area, either my disc is bad or some mod altered the game improperly.  Tried reinstalling Baldur's Gate, but does not fix the area.  Easy to skip.  It is not required for the game.

 

Tom 

Hi Tom,

 

did you perchance installed "enhanced, improved " or whatnot Lighthouse area from " Lure of the siren call " mod? It seems that component cause some trouble in the old BGT play. 


Edited by Greenhorn, 09 June 2019 - 12:28 PM.


#13 tomkaz

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Posted 10 June 2019 - 08:34 AM

Hi Greenhorn:

 

Thanks for the information.  I used "Sirines Call_v14.zip" which is the recommended mod in BiG World Project v18.1.  Component #2 is Extended Lighthouse Area which was installed.  It is now removed for the next game.

 

I should have read the read_me for version 15. The "Sirines Call_v15.zip" in the readme.html file states "fixed crashing Lighthouse Area in BG:EE and EET for installed component "Extended Lighthouse Area" ".  I wonder if it was fixed for the BGT game?

 

Thanks again for your help,

 

Tom

 

OOPS!  I just checked the WeiDU.log in BiG World Project v18.1.  Leonardo used "Sirines Call_v15.zip" in that game.

 

Tom


Edited by tomkaz, 10 June 2019 - 08:38 AM.


#14 Greenhorn

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Posted 10 June 2019 - 02:45 PM

You are welcome Tom, this component is obviously incompatible with BGT for some reason although it works in old vanilla  BG:TotSC. Don't know for TuTu. Hope that Leonardo see this and fix it somehow for new version. 



#15 tomkaz

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Posted 05 July 2019 - 04:16 PM

Spoiler


Edited by tomkaz, 05 July 2019 - 04:20 PM.


#16 semaj577

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Posted 05 July 2019 - 05:14 PM

Wow. That´s a lot of rem-s. I´m not saying is wrong, but for example if you don´t want a particular mod, one option is just don´t copy the files of the mod to the game folder or the bwp´s mod folder. If you are going to put a rem for every mod than you won´t install, that is a lot of work. If the individual.bat (actually, the bwp installation) don´t find a mod, it will skip that mod. For that reason i put my downloaded mods than i´m not going to install in other folder than those two ones (better than actually modify the entire individual.bat for every mod than i don´t want to install). It´s only a suggestion to not make things more difficult.



#17 tomkaz

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Posted 05 July 2019 - 05:15 PM

Hi All:

 

I have a spoiler in #15 above.  I got messed up trying to explain what it is.  So hear is the explanation.

 

The spoiler is a copy of my modified individual.bat that I made for my current game.  Up until now, all my megamod games were mess up and crashed so I could I could not play a megamod game.  Then I tried what is in the Spoiler above, and the megamod game works fine.  I started with 220 files.  Most of the mods installed including Auroras Shoes and Boots, atweaks, and some others.  In a test version where I skipped lots and killed tough characters with CTRL-Y, I was able to finish Baldur's Gate and start Shadows of Amn. At the present time I have finished Nashkel Mines and lots of almost all the areas around Beregost.  Some very minor problems which got corrected by restarting the game.  A major area with Lighthouse (The Lure of the Sirine's Call) because I forgot to leave out component #2 from version 15.

 

There are lots of NPCs I have skipped as I am saving that for another day.  I give no guarantees, but nafter over 25 tries to make a megamod game this is the first success I have had. Perhaps the instructions meant to do this and I misread them.

 

Now for some problems not related to how individual.bat was edited, but missing components.

 

I use ITEM_REV, #12 [Items of Protection Can Be Worn with Magical Armor]?.  I still get limited to one magic item.  Maybe I should use CDTWEAKS,  ”Wear Multiple Protection Items” 2151 #2] No Restrictions.  If anyone know how to fix it so I can use multiple magical protection items at the same time. I would appreciate that information.

 

I skipped Big Picture because I read comments that said not to mix Big Picture and Stratagems.  If you have mixed these two, please tell me the secret to doing that.

 

Right now I am running the same megamod game on two computers.  I found I can swap a game from one computer to another by just moving the BGII - SoA file.  This way a can continue to play the game while I am trying out new new mods and components or fixing my mistakes.

 

I apologise for the way I mess the Spoiler by putting it on top above.  You can find all the mods and components I used in that Spoiler.

 

Hope this information helps someone,

 

Tom



#18 tomkaz

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Posted 05 July 2019 - 05:23 PM

Hi semaj577, thanks for the comment.

 

I tried all ways to control the mods I did not want.  The REMs was the only way that worked for me.  I probably will go back and try that not using all the REMs again some time in the future.  But for now I will stick with the REMs.  I still am exploring that it could be something in my main computer that is my problem.

 

Tom



#19 semaj577

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Posted 06 July 2019 - 10:17 AM

It´s ok, don´t worry. It doesn´t mean is wrong. Let me explain: REM is a command of ms-dos, when you put a REM (rem or REM, is the same) in the beginning of a line, the program (in this case, the bwp install) will ignore that line where you put the rem. If you don´t want to install a mod, you can: 1) put a rem on the line of that mod in individual.bat, or 2) don´t copy-paste the mod in the folder´s game or the bwpinstallmod´s folder (i don´t remember the correct name of the last one, i always use the game folder).

 

The utility of using the rem command is when a mod has multiple lines in individual.bat, because is a big mod, or even more common, has interaction with other mods. When this is the case, then you can put a rem in those lines where are the components than you don´t want to install. It´s just a strategy to save time: if a mod you don´t want to install has only one line in individual.bat, don´t copy that mod on the folder/s and save your time editing the individual.bat. Or, if a mod has multiple lines, and some components you want to install and some not, then yes is necessary to put a rem on those lines.



#20 tomkaz

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Posted 19 September 2019 - 06:18 PM

Hi everyone:

 

Good to see Spellhold Studios back.

 

I finished Baldur's Gate in my megamod game.  Lots of harder enemies and challenges.  Two monsters could not be killed, bone golems  in Ulcaster.

 

But with luck I killed Sarevok.  Belt sends me to Athkatla.  The game freezes at that point and even after a long time, stays black.

 

Started a Shadows of Amn game from scratch and added Giggs (me), Imoen, Jaheira and Minsc from Baldur's Gate.  Lots of problems caused by a very difficult monsters and game game.  I search for original easy game sections to build up characters.  Found a few. Biggest problem is that Nalia dies when I enter The Copper Coronet.  I cannot pick up her body and it shortly disappears.  I am going to search the Grave Yard next.

 

Any suggestions for for where to fined super armor and supper weapons would be appreciated.  Got the best I found in Athkatla, but I still take a terrific beating and cannot finish the quest.  In some places, running away to get fewer enemies works.

 

Thanks for any suggestions as I would play this mod again if I found out how to play from Baldur's Gate to Shadow of Amn.

 

TOM