12 replies to this topic

[Sir BillyBob]

After some debating with SimDing0 about BGT and Tutu, I decided to look at one of his points about the character Belt. In the Belt.dlg file, Belt defends you against Sarevok when you try to prove he killed the duke. So he seems like a nicer noble than most of them.

In the Beltbrd.dlg file however, Belt is a jerk and he wants to get rid of you because the other nobles are restless about you ability to kill a Bhaalspawn. It makes them nervous. This is the only version of Belt that I really remember, I always thought Liia did the talking during the Sarevok coronation. Anyway, the two Belts don't seem to be the same person.

So, I rewrote the Beltbrd.dlg file so that you have a few more options. Belt now tells you about problems with Athlatka and Amn. They still want to go to war with Baldur's Gate. He is trying to explain to them what happened but no one will listen to him.

So, he has two problems now. He has a person that can kill Bhaalspawns and he needs some to go to Athlatka to setup a special meeting for him. Enter the PC.

He will now explain the situation to you and tell you that he is going to teleport you to a forest just outside of Athlatka. There, you will meet his contact, someone who even requested you (hehe). Once you agree to teleport, you will begin the normal transition cutscene that kinda/sorta works.

This is just his dialog, I didn't mess with the scripts, transition area or any other files. But I think this may be a little better solution than the dialog Belt gave you in the past. You still will not be able to start SOA until you accept the teleport from Belt, but at least now, you can continue with NTotSC or whatever else you need to finish before transferring.

By the way, you still need to go solve the TotSC quests. NTotSC requires it anyway but even if you don't have that mod, I haven't editted Belt's check on completing that quest. If you can't stand the TotSC quests and want to skip them, I can add the one global setting to this dialog to skip that quest (or you can do it yourself).

Since this is a D file, you need to use DLTCEP or Weidu to import this into your game and overwrite the current file. Please take a look at it (it is just a text file) and see if this storyline sounds better to you. Unless the Transition Mod that Ascension64 has done also modifies Belt's dialog, I would assume this will work with that version but I don't know. Ascension??

Attached Files

•  BELTBRD.D   10.21K   19 downloads

[Ghreyfain]

In BG2, isn't it sort of a mystery as to your location? I know you can ask Yoshimo about it, and I remember asking commoners where I was when I escaped Chateau Irenicus.

[Sir BillyBob]

Yes it is. Just because you wake up in a dungeon, you can't assume that you are under Athlatka. For all you know, you are somewhere else.

I see your point though about the fact that you know you should be there to deliver the letter (which by the way, I didn't bother to give you since it gets taken away before you can even read it).

The transition may be a good place to explain that. The "contact" you are to meet could explain it while you are laying down. Maybe something like:

"Good, he/she even has the letter from Belt. What a fool to fall for this trap. Guess you won't be needing that anymore boy/girl."

[Ascension64]

No I didn't change the dialogue in BELTBRD.DLG. In fact, SBT didn't want to change any dialogue to overwrite writing a new dialog.tlk or modifying it in any way. Nevertheless, this would be good to put in to BGT-WeiDU. I'll modify this further to allow you to end TotSC before finishing the TotSC quests.

[Yacomo]

Sir BillyBob, Ascension64,

After all the transition quabbles of the last few weeks, I guess some positive feedback is in order here, so let me say this: :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

[Sir BillyBob]

Well, I didn't plan on going into that rathole with SimDing0 but he did point out that the worst part of BGT was the method used in the transition. You are forced to solved TotSC and the dialogs just don't match up with the character. The cutscene doesn't make much sense. The transition is (to me) the part that makes BGT a better game than Tutu but it is so broken that Tutu becomes the better solution. I would like to fix it and make BGT the better option.

[Alratan]

Well, I didn't plan on going into that rathole with SimDing0 but he did point out that the worst part of BGT was the method used in the transition.  You are forced to solved TotSC and the dialogs just don't match up with the character.  The cutscene doesn't make much sense.  The transition is (to me) the part that makes BGT a better game than Tutu but it is so broken that Tutu becomes the better solution.  I would like to fix it and make BGT the better option.

A hearty congratulation here - I think it is much improved.

Some thoughts - in the Realms, there are way of diverting teleportation - (as we know from ToTSC). Perhaps having Belt summon a mage to teleport you, beginning the normal teleport effect, and then create another "dangerous" spell-effect, have the mage shout something about a powerful force wresting control of the spell from him - and then fading to black.

Another idea, if you go back to Belt in between the ToTSC quests, have him talk to you about the continuing crisis with Amn - you and your party can chip in with suggestions - if evil you can lead him towards suggesting that he pay you to do a scry teleport attack on the Amnian forward positions and supply routes, and if good you can suggest he sends you as a peace emmisary - if neutral, you can do either, or make no suggestions, in which case he could teleport you to somewhere like Waterdeep to carry messages to allies.

Whatever happens, the teleportation will be intercepted, and you will wake up in Chateau Irenicus.

Edited by Alratan, 21 March 2005 - 01:26 PM.

[Ascension64]

Whatever happens, the teleportation will be intercepted, and you will wake up in Chateau Irenicus.

...except that you are supposed to be 'ambushed', right? 'Spell ambush'? Hmm...

[Yacomo]

Whatever happens, the teleportation will be intercepted, and you will wake up in Chateau Irenicus.

...except that you are supposed to be 'ambushed', right? 'Spell ambush'? Hmm...

Hmm, that's right it is supposed to be an ambush. There were plenty of complaints (especially by Sim) about actually showing the ambush however. But does it need to be shown? One idea would be to have the character just walk through a wilderness area, let him hear some strange noise, let him say something like 'What the hell is happening here...', then just fade to black and leave the rest to the player's imagination.

Edited by Yacomo, 22 March 2005 - 01:05 AM.

[Ascension64]

Whatever happens, the teleportation will be intercepted, and you will wake up in Chateau Irenicus.

...except that you are supposed to be 'ambushed', right? 'Spell ambush'? Hmm...

Hmm, that's right it is supposed to be an ambush. There were plenty of complaints (especially by Sim) about actually showing the ambush however. But does it need to be shown? One idea would be to have the character just walk through a wilderness area, let him hear some strange noise, let him say something like 'What the hell is happening here...', then just fade to black and leave the rest to the player's imagination.

Like a movie where you are walking through great scenery and then you hear rustles in the trees like you are surrounded by a pack of wolves...sorry, I'm so for this transition MOVIE idea.

Edited by Ascension64, 22 March 2005 - 03:37 AM.

[Yacomo]

Like a movie where you are walking through great scenery and then you hear rustles in the trees like you are surrounded by a pack of wolves...sorry, I'm so for this transition MOVIE idea.

That movie idea is nice, but I can tell from experience, it will be a lot of work. Depends on the style of movie of course, IWD-style obviously much easier.

But before even considering something like this, we would need to have the proper tools. So are there any tools available that can convert a normal avi or even a gif animation into Interplay's format?

[Sir BillyBob]

Ghrey mentioned the problem with knowing you are going to Athlaka. What if I had Belt talk about Cormyr or some other neighbor that is willing to negotiate a peace with Amn. His "contact" in Amn tells him to send the PC to that location to setup the final meeting between Belt and the Council. In the Promenade, the PC is baffled about going to Athlaka so I do see a point in relocating his teleport (I have not bothered to read those Promenade dialogs in soo long, I totally forgot this).

I want to reduce the number of dialog changes as needed so there will be less conflict with any potential SOA mods (though I can't think of any that effect commoners in the Promenade).

As for the teleport, I have Belt mention that his mages wrote the teleport spell for him to use on you. That way, I didn't have to place anyone else on the screen.

We can still use the forest for a cutscene or you all can work out a movie. Either way, what I may need to do is start the SOA journal with an entry about the PC remembering he was ambushed and that the whole "meet with the negotiating country" was a trick to capture him.

One other problem with the cutscene is the leader of the thieves, Mae'Var. Since you meet him later, why doesn't he remember you and you don't remember him? The character's name should be something else. Also, maybe he should mention that the "master" will be pleased with the successful capture of the player.