110 replies to this topic

[Ascension64]

I've taken some time to re-script the transition from BGI to SoA. Anyone willing to try it? It should not affect any games. As usual, rename the attachment, to .zip extension, then extract. Readme:

UPDATE: Readme and attachment removed. Shorter-Better Transition for BP-BGT-NeJ released. See below.

Edited by Ascension64, 08 January 2005 - 02:49 AM.

[Ascension64]

it works fine but the only difference i see is that the speech is cut-scene style instead of normal dialogue. same agonisingly long wait and moments of blank screen. better but not what was hoped for.

All I intended at the moment was to fix up the dialogue error and the wierded black screens, as well as the annoying initialisation of dialogue that would stop the cut scene mode from working. do you have any suggestions as to what could make it 'even better'?

However, i encountered a strange bug when playing from a save just before completing totsc.

initally i ensured all npcs were gone, so i could go into duchal palace alone as reccomended, all went ok till the assasin died near to the pc's cage then.... Nothing happened, imoen never showed up and i was stuck.

i reloaded but this time kept imoen in my party when going to the palace then there she was to free the pc from his cage.

I am quite certain that has nothing to do with this, but does the same thing happen without Better Transition installed? All better transition does is to change the cutscene slightly.

[Ascension64]

OK, despite a lack of suggestions, I have endeavoured to make the transition from BG to SoA smoother AND heaps shorter. From that 5 minute cutscene to this <1.5 minute one. Readme:

REMOVED. New release below.

UPDATE: New release below

Edited by Ascension64, 14 January 2005 - 06:19 AM.

[horred the plague]

[quote name='Ascension64' date='Jan 8 2005, 02:43 AM']
- Many thanks to all those bug testers who have worked to make the game as smooth as possible[/quote]Rename the .txt file to .zip as usual
[right][/right]
[/quote]

I thank you for the credit, but it was Bardez who made BGT.

I had the transition worked out the last time I played, so it was virtually seamless--hopefully I didn't overwrite it by installing everything I just did. If I recall, at least some of the "black screen" part was needed, to keep things from showing up that should not in a supposedly seamless gig. There is a lot of script running in this section--most of it to delete the numerous BG1 quest/journal entries.


I'll be playing this mod again in a couple weeks; hopefully we can work it out then.
I'm interested in what you have done/have planned, at any rate.

[Ascension64]

I thank you for the credit, but it was Bardez who made BGT.

Noted thanks, I'll make a change if I am required to release another version of this (if at all). I tested my memory with that.

About the transition, basically some people have expressed frustration over the extremely long wait required for the cut scene to finish. When I went through the cutscene myself, I found it a little long but I also noticed a couple of jerky things and bugs, such as incorrect string references at the end of the cut scene, the cutscene terminating when dialogue is started and some black screenage that seemed somewhat unecessary. As I do, if I can I always try to fix bugs when I find them for myself. I felt that I could shorten this cutscene a fair bit, fix up the dialogues and tweak the cutscene a little so that it runs smoother and quicker. For your information, I've included a detailed list of changes:

- Tweak where the party faces at the start of the cutscene
- All the NPCs now walk to their positions before anyone starts dialogue and takes much shorter time
- Only Dynaheir speaks (with DisplayStringHead() ) but she speaks for the party (she only says three lines)
- Resting movie removed
- The Shadow Thieves now don't visibly incapacitate the NPCs and PCs but Mae'Var still says the lines (with DisplayStringHead() ) to take the group to Amn (fixed the dialogue)
- Two journal entries removed that was missed by the Irenicus dungeon area script
- Because PlayDead didn't work for me, introduced two spells SLEEP and DISPEL to imitate the party being incapacitated/still resting, and dispel to prevent these effects from transferring over to SoA start, respectively
- Made the script run 'slightly' quicker by adding Continue() to many script blocks
- Removed Mae'Var's script file so he doesn't start dialogue with the PC when spawned

[Ascension64]

I have been able to work out the source of all those people who are having problems with Imoen not appearing after the Shadow Thief dies at the end of the beginning SoA cutscene. This is to do with the situation that when Imoen leaves the party, her dialogue actions don't fully take place, or the player leaves the area before Imoen has a change to fully execute her dialogue actions. This results in Imoen not being transferred to Irenicus' dungeon, and thus she never appears because the cutscene script cannot actually find her in the area.

For those people using NI:

1. Open up LEAVEIMO.DLG
2. Record the area number and coordinates located in the actions box in the function MoveGlobal()
3. Open up BALDUR.GAM in the savegame directory that you will use to make the transition
4. Find *MOEN1 in the Non-player characters box, and select View/Edit
5. Go to the Edit tab and replace the three fields "Current Area", X and Y coordinates with those you recorded
6. For those slack people, this is exactly what you need to replace the fields with:
6a. Current Area - becomes AR0602.ARE
6b. X coordinate - becomes 3198
6c. Y coordinate - becomes 2837

UPDATE: Currently doesn't work. Below is the only fix, or you can try SBT, link below

For those using niether, just make sure Imoen is in your party when you make the transition and wait for a more official fix.

I am currently working on a quick fix. Watch this space.

Edited by Ascension64, 14 January 2005 - 08:07 PM.

[Ascension64]

Imoen not appearing bug now fixed with release 02 of SBT. You can still use NI if you don't want to use this micro-mod. Currently, the fix utilises the creation of a duplicate Imoen character during the cutscene and makes her a joinable NPC using the MakeGlobal() command. Of course, what this means if that a second Imoen appears in BALDUR.GAM. Does anyone know whether this would cause any problems? The original Imoen entry is *MOEN1 while the new one is *MOEN211. Theoretically it shouldn't unless you find some way of getting the Imoen you left behind in BG1 into BG2.

[King Diamond]

May be this is the right place to try to switch (at least Imoen) from BG1 version to BG2 (I mean sound scheme etc.)...

And IMHO the transition of all party NPCs to Irenicus dungeon breaks game's plot at all as well as just a common logic. Not stripping them (and PC) from their possesion does the same - to be imprisoned but to keep all inventory stuff.... I'd say this is STRANGE....

And just imagine how it'll affect BG2 game if at the end of BG1 Viconia and Edwin are in the party....

Personally I'd left everything as it is in SoA beginning except to keeping exact PC stats and several major items kept somewhere in the lockers. And may be to do the same with Imoen taking in account that she can use a Charming Rogue kit...
So I'd kick everybody from the party in the transition script....

Edited by King Diamond, 12 January 2005 - 01:25 AM.

[Ascension64]

May be this is the right place to try to switch (at least  Imoen) from BG1 version to BG2 (I mean sound scheme etc.)...

I know that Imoen's sound scheme, portrait and scripts definitely are changed before Irenicus comes in at the start of SoA. I guess sometimes it may not happen because one of the global variables is not set properly, namely 'ImoenPartyBG1'. You can see why in a post above this one. If Imoen is in the party when the transition takes place, then this variable is not set (not even in my release here). The point is that Imoen (and for that matter, all your party members) should leave before the transition happens, but she doesn't if you don't finish TotSC or you decided to MoveToArea().

And IMHO the transition of all party NPCs to Irenicus dungeon breaks game's plot at all as well as just a common logic. Not stripping them (and PC) from their possesion does the same - to be imprisoned but to keep all inventory stuff.... I'd say this is STRANGE....

What I gathered through browsing through scripts and dialogues is that CtB prevents everyone from losing all their items (which I have noted on the CtB forum). Otherwise, everyone 'should' lose their items, unless there is a bug.

And may be to do the same with Imoen taking in account that she can use a Charming Rogue kit...

Well, she does keep the Charming Rogue kit, for your information.

So I'd kick everybody from the party in the transition script....

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the accommodation of other party members making the transition is supposed to be designed for multiplayer only. I am aware that Sir BillyBob has 'fixed' the leaving of DSotSC NPCs, but one must remember that mod incompabilities are usually not supported.

Currently I am aware that there are LEAVE*.DLG files for each NPC in BGI, but they don't seem to be implemented into baldur.bcs yet (which is quite big already!).

Edited by Ascension64, 12 January 2005 - 07:27 AM.

[Sir BillyBob]

Currently I am aware that there are LEAVE*.DLG files for each NPC in BGI, but they don't seem to be implemented into baldur.bcs yet (which is quite big already!).

The leave dialog setttings are not in Baldur.BCS, they are in AR7208 which is the room that Belt is standing in. The area script checks to see if each NPC is there, if so, it has them initdlg("leavexxx") which is their leaving dialog. They dump their gear on you and leave the room. Once all the NPCs in the script are done, the script sets the "Byebye" global and you start the transition process. Right now, I think only Xan, Imoen, and Branwen are missing from the list. Therefore, they are the only ones that would move with you.

[Ascension64]

The leave dialog setttings are not in Baldur.BCS, they are in AR7208 which is the room that Belt is standing in.  The area script checks to see if each NPC is there, if so, it has them initdlg("leavexxx") which is their leaving dialog.  They dump their gear on you and leave the room.  Once all the NPCs in the script are done, the script sets the "Byebye" global and you start the transition process.  Right now, I think only Xan, Imoen, and Branwen are missing from the list.  Therefore, they are the only ones that would move with you.

Sorry to say, but at the moment none of that works.

[Ascension64]

Sorry to say, but at the moment none of that works.

And now I see why none of that works.

Firstly, BELTBRD.BCS causes Belt to initiate dialogue as soon as the party enters the area when he should only initiate dialogue when he sees the party.

Secondly, looking at AR7208.BCS, there are some of unneccesary and some missing things:

1. Unneccesary wait time before the members initiate dialogue
2. No Continue() at the end of each ByeBye block. This will cause the script to restart itself each time a party member leaves
3. Doesn't allow for dead party members in the party
4. A little unrelated, but the DSotSC blocks appear AFTER PartyGoByeByeNow is set to 2, which means the DSotSC NPCs will not leave

Finally, in relation to BALDUR.BCS, it contains the blocks for the departure of Imoen, Minsc, Dynaheir, Jaheira, and Khalid.

So, all in all, it is a little bit messy.

One way to fix SOME of this is to just have one PartyGoByeByeNow block and a RESPONSE #100 section of ActionOverride(<Some NPC>,LeaveParty()) and ActionOverride(StartDialog("LEAVE***",Player1)) for every joinable NPC. If the NPC is not in the party, then that doesn't matter, nothing will happen. At the end, set PartyGoByeByeNow to 2, then force Belt to move to the player and talk. This would attempt to stop the player from leaving the area and screwing things up unless they tried hard to do so.

Edited by Ascension64, 12 January 2005 - 08:37 PM.

[Sir BillyBob]

Yes and no. First off, you probably don't want the script blocks to use continue() because you would then have multiple NPCs trying to talk to you at the same time about leaving. The current method gives some time for the NPC to walk over to you and talk before leaving. Also, a script block that doesn't apply would be ignored anyway.

Second, the DSotSC scripts are after the ByeBye block because you can't extend a script at any point inside the script that you like. You can only extend the top or bottom.

Third, the ByeBye block will not trigger until all of those NPCs are gone, including the DSotSC ones. Look at the IF statement, Jetlaya, Conch, and the rest are all part of the !InParty condition. Therefore, as long as they are in the party, that block shouldn't trigger.

Dead party members is a problem. You are right that we need a way of removing them.

Also, initiating dialogs should be done when Belt can see you, so that needs changing also.

[Sir BillyBob]

I assume the Baldur.BCS script has the leaving scripts for those NPCs so that they will leave after the transition. Remember that you have to have them with you at that cutscene but they leave you when you get captured.

[horred the plague]

Dead party members is a problem.  You are right that we need a way of removing them.

Also, initiating dialogs should be done when Belt can see you, so that needs changing also.

Perhaps a MassRaiseDead spell should be applied on this condition

IF
// (Add the other conditions that make this script work--don't have the script open right now)

Global("CheckedDead","AR7208",0)
OR(5)
HPLT(Player2,1)
HPLT(Player3,1)
HPLT(Player4,1)
HPLT(Player5,1)
HPLT(Player6,1)
THEN
RESPONSE #100
SpellNoDec(Player1, CLERIC_MASS_RAISE_DEAD)
SetGlobal("CheckedDead","AR7208",1)
END

And to Belt's block:

IF
//(yada yada)
See(Player1)
Range(Player1, 10)
THEN
RESPONSE #100
//(yada yada)
END

[Ascension64]

I did a little mucking around with AR7208.BCS yesterday and found these as well:

IF
	Global("FinishedToTSC","GLOBAL",1)
THEN
	RESPONSE #100
  ActionOverride("beardboy",DestroySelf())
END

Will always return true when TotSC is finished, so the script never gets to the party leaving. Needs Continue() I believe.

IF
	Global("ENDOFBG1","GLOBAL",1)
	Global("FINISHEDTOTSC","GLOBAL",1)
	!AreaCheckObject("BELTBRD","AR7208") // Belt
THEN
	RESPONSE #100
  CreateCreature("BELTBRD",[735.371],7) // Belt
END

Ouch! The AreaCheckObject() Identifier should have area first and object second! Should read !AreaCheckObject("AR7208","BELTBRD"). Fancy seeing a millions Belts in the room and more being created by the second!

These fixes plus the change to BELTBRD.BCS to See() and Range() before initiating dialoge will allow the party leaving blocks to kick in on AR7208.

I did end up adding huge changes to SBT to accommodate everyone leaving, but I'm not sure whether the dialogue references of BP-BGT-NeJ dialogue files will be different on another person's install. Theoretically, it shouldn't because the base install of BP-BGT-NeJ (no patches or mods) should install the same away for everyone. Still, I am a little reluctant to release Release 04 of SBT because I might be wrong.

[Ascension64]

I assume the Baldur.BCS script has the leaving scripts for those NPCs so that they will leave after the transition. Remember that you have to have them with you at that cutscene but they leave you when you get captured.

Only if they are dead. Currently, they leave you as soon as you finish TotSC, i.e. as soon as the TextScreen for the end of TotSC comes up, which is at Ulgoth's Beard.

[Sir BillyBob]

I assume the Baldur.BCS script has the leaving scripts for those NPCs so that they will leave after the transition. Remember that you have to have them with you at that cutscene but they leave you when you get captured.

Only if they are dead. Currently, they leave you as soon as you finish TotSC, i.e. as soon as the TextScreen for the end of TotSC comes up, which is at Ulgoth's Beard.

I thought that was fixed in one of the S&H patches. Or was that fix only for AR7208?

[Ascension64]

I thought that was fixed in one of the S&H patches.  Or was that fix only for AR7208?

Probably for AR7208, because Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, Minsc, and Dynaheir do not have a leaving block on that area script.

When seanas eventually gets back to me with my fixes to include for patch 5, I'll see if I can get a fixed AR7208.bcs for him.