Other things I've noticed Options

[horred the pl...]

I found a problem in player1.dlg. The variable VP_HrothgarInterjects is not being set from one to two in some NPC chained dialogs. I know for a fact it was not set in Dar's. This is a condition for one of your top-level blocks. What this does: with your dialog blocks as the top weight, the check never makes it past here, and none of the in-game blocks are firing. The whole scene with the Slayer change, for example. I manually set it to two and problems went away.

Also; is it really necessary to put a !Global("VP_InHlaruu","GLOBAL",1) check on the top of nearly every in-game script block inside of Baldur.bcs? I realize what this is doing for you--speeding up the execution of your additions, and to keep other events from firing in the past, while in Hlaruu(I know I'm butchering the spelling, I forget how it was )

But your (true) additions are mostly of the EXTEND_TOP variety. Why not just put a Global("VP_InHlaruu","G",1) check on your blocks? If you really don't want the rest of the BALDUR script to fire while there, you could add a single block at the end of yours:

CODE

IF
 Global("VP_InHlaruu","GLOBAL",1)
THEN
 RESPONSE #100
   NoAction()
END

Just be absolutely sure that this is set to something besides one, for any possible option, when leaving the Academy for good. Not only will this prove quicker in the long run (parsing-wise), it keeps all the in-game blocks from unnecessary adulteration. We both know what a dodgy file BALDUR.BCS is already, without any assistance.

[Vlad]

...you could add a single block at the end of yours:

CODE

IF
Global("VP_InHlaruu","GLOBAL",1)
THEN
RESPONSE #100
  NoAction()
END

This I don't understand. Do you mean to add this single block to BALDUR.BCS in order to quench it at all?

[horred the pl...]

Well, this is how I picture it.

{All your NeJ blocks}
--These all have condition: Global("VP_InHlaruu","GLOBAL",1) at the top of their block

{Here go any blocks you might want to execute during Hlarru as well, but could happen anywhere}
--These you leave as-is; no Hlaruu check

{Then, finally, a "catch block". This shuts down the entire remaining Baldur.bcs, while your Hlaruu Global is at 1}

CODE

IF
Global("VP_InHlaruu","GLOBAL",1)
THEN
RESPONSE #100
 NoAction()//Alternatively, you can use the infamous RESPONSE #100~END approach here as well
END

{And below all this is the rest of Baldur.bcs, as-is}


And there it is. Your script is all that is being dealt with while your mod is running, you don't have to add an extra condition to all the other blocks. Less file-editting, less in-game content messed with--always good on both accounts. BW's blocks run faster, yours run faster. Win vs. win...

Oh, BTW--I saw a strange bug with the Yeti Pelt Bag. It will not hold books (I suppose Snow Barbarians don't read much ---but they might come in handy for firestarting. ). But the weird one was: it would not store the skeletal torso from the kangaxx quest. The arms and legs stuffed in just fine. ???

This post has been edited by horred the plague: Jan 19 2006, 07:03 AM

[Vlad]

I found a problem in player1.dlg. The variable VP_HrothgarInterjects is not being set from one to two in some NPC chained dialogs. I know for a fact it was not set in Dar's.

Once again, please install 6.02 fix pack. It is there:

ADD_TRANS_ACTION DARJ
BEGIN 87 END
BEGIN /* empty = all transitions */ END
~SetGlobal("VP_Hrothgar_Interjects","GLOBAL",2)~

[Vlad]

There are many other dialogues besides BALDUR.BCS modified with the same block. Hence quitting only BALDUR.BCS won't help. I would prefer not to deal with this issue as everything works fine.

This post has been edited by Vlad: Jan 20 2006, 10:05 PM

[horred the pl...]

I only looked into it because I was experiencing some lag on a mid-high end PC. Yours is not the only mod on my list, granted. And on a second thread I will apologize for not installing a patch that I could've sworn I had installed.

I actually was having difficulties getting the slayer spell block (in BALDUR) to fire. That's when I opened BALDUR and saw what everybody was adding, and where.

There are other mods causing issues with this constant script, but those I have control over and can fix at will. I can only make suggestions over here, so suggest I do. My theory is sound, and my intentions good--the less REPLACE_BCS_BLOCK code used in an important in-game file, the better. But if it is in many files as you say it is, then I agree it is not worth it. It is a top-level condition check in all cases, at least. It was more the overwriting of most of the original blocks that concerned me.

[horred the pl...]

A question about Jaheira's priest(ess) of sylvannus kit. Seeing as I played BGT first, and this isn't fixed for NeJ2 (publically) yet--I had to add the kit by more nefarious means. Does she become just a druid with this kit, or is she a fighter/druid still?

[Vlad]

Fighter/Priestess of Sylvanus (Druid)

[horred the pl...]

Sorry....It was a baited question, Vlad...

If she is a fighter/druid, you probably already know that weapon proficiencies are hardcoded to straight ftr/druid for any "side kits". (No crossbow prof's, let alone grand mastery). If this is the case, I devised a workaround for the TDD kit Bladesinger (a fighter/mage combo). It's not 100% foolproof--if somebody slams on the buttons a bunch at levelup, they could possibly screw it. But in other cases, it works fine. Basically--it's set up as a CLAB spell gained at prof lvls (3,6,9,etc)--the spell sets a script on the pc/npc (override slot) temporarily, erasing itself at the end of the script. They temporarily switch to just the kit, with a corresponding (temporary) drop in XP. They get their proper proficiency choices during levelup. After levelup, they revert to their former values and multi-class. Sounds complex, but it actually works!

On other news, I'll be making an NeJ biffing batch file later today. I reinstalled, now is the time. Would you like it set up as a replacement for your current one (if user chooses to use it, it overwrites your current batch) or as an optional component you could integrate into your package?

Oh, BTW--I figured out why your patch wasn't installed last time. All the REQUIRE_FILE ~override/{blahblah.file} bits caught me, as my NeJ was biffed. I used TS-BP, so the TS fixes were not needed. And I didn't want the Imoen piece--so, no record of patch in weidu.log.

If you choose to actually include the biffer in NeJ, a simple OR FILE_EXISTS ~data/NEJ-MISC.bif~ type of check is all that will be needed.

[Vlad]

Thanks. Jaheira does have three stars in crossbows so I don't see any problem. You can do this through .CRE file, just add modified proficiencies and you're set. Also you can do this through .2DA, again I don't see any problem here.

I asked Ascension not to biff my files because I lost control over them. You know that when all your files are in override it's much easier to follow their modifications and just differentiate between them and those installed by other mods. Also it prevents many errors during installation, so I would refrain from biffing my files in future. However as you work out your installation for BP so you can do what you like.

This post has been edited by Vlad: Feb 6 2006, 11:42 AM

[King Diamond]

Another problem. Horred found it and I revealed its source.

Your SPCL221 and SPCL242 SPL versions are broken and can cause a CTD in game.

The problem is following. Both of them have 1 ability record. That ability record has some effects (19 and 11) but "Effect index" field values are invalid in both cases. They're both =1 instead of correct 0. There're only 19 and 11 effects and the starting index must not point to the actual second effect record.

NI doesn't rely on proper indexing and shows no error there, DLTCEP does the same but restores the correct 0 when SPL is re-saved.
But I believe IE tries to resolve everything as it was designed and throws an exception trying to access non-existing memory block for the last effect (20th and 12th)

This post has been edited by King Diamond: Feb 6 2006, 01:08 PM

[horred the pl...]

Well, adding stars to a CRE file is nice--but I'm talking about letting a player choose them for him/her self. Building their NPC from player1 on up, same as they do their fighter or mage (et.al) Which 2DA? A custom? Please explain, I'm curious. WEAPPROF reads FIGHTER/DRUID column, not SYLVANNUS. But anyways...

One of the biggest issues I saw with biffing was the way that Ascension was doing it. I had a biff from BGT that was >800MB in size! I'm talking about breaking the files up neatly into 100MB-200MB slices. Placement bif's (with 1 file) for Leina and Melora WAV's (if these options are chosen, more files follow). About having NeJ files (& a few stragglers from ToB patched) in NEJ biffs. Easy to find this way, and know they came from NeJ.

For your own modding needs (not your 10001 players), not having your files in biffs is better. For the rest of the world, biffs are better. Prevents a bad case of override soup, NTM lag for 1/2 the pc's in the world. How big does NeJ plus TS make the override? 1.5GB? All the biffs in BG2 and ToB data folder are only 1.11GB--you basically have a complete IE game's worth sitting in the override.

[Vlad]

KD, thanks but this problem has been already reported and fixed - please take a look into other related posts. By the way these spells are not mine but of BioWare's kitchen - I didn't touch them, just resaved occasionally into override.

Bill, I totally agree with you that biffing is nice, saving 1.5 GB on 80-160-250 GB modern hard discs is also nice and really benefits our gaming community. Once I finish making NeJ2 then I'll gladly biff all my files, then compress them, and eventually archive them all. Meanwhile biffing music and graphic files is also a great idea.

[King Diamond]

Ok. Sorry.
But still they're different from the original ToB spells. Don't know where did you take them....

[horred the pl...]

Found a small typo in NeJAreasSounds.bat

oggdec hrot503a.ogg
oggdec hrot503b.ogg

should be:

oggdec hrot_503a.ogg
oggdec hrot_503b.ogg

To be honest, biffing doesn't really save much HD space. It merely saves override space, and improves game engine performance. Plus, it is better organized. I 100% agree that you do not want to biff your files until completed version is reached. We, the gamers, have different needs however.

I'm about 1/2 way done with the initial batch file. I'll send you/post the code when I'm done & tested. I think you'll see that this should be universal for any NeJ2 you produce. Unless you 1) combine NeJ and NeJ2 folders (unlikely), 2) add or remove tilesets (tiz files, actually--tis okay to add) from your package, 3) add or remove ogg files, or 4) add a HUUUUGE amount of any one type file to your package. #4 won't necessarily break my batch file, it will just produce a biff much larger than the others. I try to keep the size of each biff at 100MB, 150MB maximum. That's roughly the size that bioware used originally. The other three can be easily taken care of, as needed.

It also works 100% from the files that NeJ package already contains (tisunpack, oggdec). If anything, I would want to add tispack, for those two small tilesets you didn't package. And yes, I agree---that is being "over-particular" (I'll save you the American slang that describes this better, for me at least).

[horred the pl...]

Back from the attack!

The biffing agent is working wonderfully! I think it's my best version yet, of the auto-biffer.

You run a Setup-NeJ2Biffer.exe, instead of Setup-NeJ2.exe. It makes a couple folders, backs up override, key, and tlk, plus the real NeJ batch files. Then, it overwrites your batches with mine. Then, it runs Setup-NeJ2.exe.

I automatically copy one of the leina and melora oggs into the override, so that even if these components are not installed, you don't end up with any (detrimental) empty biff files.

My batch deletes your override tiz files and tisunpack. I repackage headerless tis right from NeJ(&2)/tiz, into folders I made for biffing. I leave TT1004 and TT1013 tis files alone and in place, even after biffing. Why add tispack just for two small files?

I use your oggs in the override--why not, they are already there? Oh, FYI--for your own batch file.

del override\*.ogg ((backslash is crucial here))
del override\*.tiz

will save you a lot of typing in the future.

At uninstall (done from Setup-NeJ2), I delete the biffs, delete the override, and restore the old override, tlk, key, and batch files. Very smooth, IMHO.

Drawbacks: Uninstall is ALL or NOTHING, or FUBAR. Once biffed, the files are locked in place. You "should" be able to add more components (NT--warning label in-ReadME). Sometimes weidu does some funny things when adding new components, like installing/uninstalling old ones. I don't want to be responsible for this!

Oh, you'll like this. From the readme:

Oh, one more thing...also *****VERY IMPORTANT!!!!*****

DO NOT, under any circumstances, bother Vlad if something goes wrong with
this package!!! He was kind enough to let me make this, to make life easier
for all of you--don't make his life any more difficult in return of favor!

Bug me instead, I'm used to the abuse...

I leave this long message with a question:

I wish to set up your mod for the GUI interface as well, with this package. What I need to know is exactly what files make up your GUI. I have collected the following, but need your verification. Too many files, missing some, etc.

GUILOAD.CHU
GUIOPT.CHU
GUISAVE.CHU
START.CHU
Thumbs.db (???)
106x32.bam
guierr1b.bam
guierr2b.bam
guimplgv.bam
guisrsvb.bam
guiwsbr.bam
normal.bam
stbsbbar.bam
stonesml.bam
guierr0b.mos
guierr1b.mos
guierr2b.mos
guisrrqb.mos
guisrsvb.mos
guiverb.mos
guiwrsp.mos
start.mos
start25.mos
startm.mos
startold.mos
stoneopt.mos

Maybe King Diamond will also have some input on this, since the GUI.exe is his package, and he knows its workings moreso than I.

With this knowledge I can finallize the package. Note that the GUI will also be handy for NeJ-BGT-weidu compatability (if you want your GUI seen instead of BGT, or vice versa for a change of pace). All the other "Big Mods" (including TS-BP) are using this, so we 1) don't overwrite each other's hard work 2) give the player the option to choose what they want to see.

I'll gladly share or donate any part or whole of this package to NeJ, at your desire. Me casa et su casa.

[Vlad]

Bill, thanks a lot. You made a great work! Unfortunately, the amount of added files inlcuding tiz and oggs in the next version NeJ2 v7.0 (which will include the third part of the mod) is huuuge. With respect to minor issues of those 503 series ogg files this have been fixed already. The BAT file is correct. Changing back to what you've suggested will just make those oggs unavailable.

Thumbs.db as you probably know is a *frelling* WindowsXP file which appears invisible in every directory you have image files there. With respect to other files I should check.

[King Diamond]

Can't say anything special. Just collect all GUI stuff separately and drop it to the next available GUI slot directory as every other big mods do.

Then, when you choose it to activate, GUI mod script will copy it to the override.

This post has been edited by King Diamond: Feb 7 2006, 03:07 PM

[horred the pl...]

Okay, so as long as I add Setup-GUI.tp2 to my package, I should be fine.

EDIT: And a small GUI-weidu package to execute from the batch file.

This post has been edited by horred the plague: Feb 7 2006, 08:32 PM