19 replies to this topic

[Ascension64]

Instead of shamefully wasting my 2500th post in the Rec Room, I have decided to dedicate it to the mods that I have been working on as well as all the users that have played through and enjoyed/hated those mods. Yes, I'd like to thank everyone who has been highly supportive/dismissive of my work, especially for the feedback that they have given. Mods wouldn't be mods if no one played and provided comment, so I must shout you all a beer for that (I'll shout OJ to those people who don't drink are under-age)

Baldur's Gate Trilogy-WeiDU
13 Feb 2005 saw the first dodgy release of BGT-WeiDU, dodgy because it had so many problems with it and still depended on ostensibly copyright-infringed repacks of Baldur's Gate and Tales of the Sword Coast tilesets. I shall acknowledge the heated debates and am grateful that we have moved on, even though I feel that some people have extrapolated personal impressions of my character and all my other mods. But I'm not here talk about that, and I hope you abstain from projecting any negative feeling clawing their way to the ends of your fingertips and into a post, because this is just my history.

So, two-and-a-half years later, we are at a point where BGT-WeiDU has come a very long way; after painstaking manual resource checking, StrRef checking, even manual tp2 coding. Not forgetting to mention my RL commitments, which have been extraordinarily busy all the way through. We are at a point where BGT-WeiDU has fit well in parallel with the updating of the other mega-modification mods; this includes Vlad's interest in extra content and integration with his ongoing Tortured Souls and Never Ending Journey development. The person with very big hands I must thank is King Diamond, who really made the whole track possible due to the creation of the BG1->BG2 tileset converter tis2bg2. Cookie for you!

As development progressed, the idea of a Tutu-BGT merger came to fiery controversy as well. And yet, even after I tried to get things running at the end of 2006, there were difficulties getting the interested parties together due to RL and other matters. Unfortunately, having been thinking about it on-and-off ever since that time, the more I moved towards simply adding transition support to EasyTutu. We are in a situation where two platforms continue to be development, and without blaming anybody for ignorance, both BGT-WeiDU and EasyTutu appear to re-inventing things each other has already realised. Also given slightly different ethos for both modifications, meshing them together is no longer making much sense. Combining these factors of RL and other business and the divergent ways of the two platforms of BG1->BG2 conversion, merger of any larger scale than 'Transition for Tutu' is probably going to be extremely unlikely.

What is happening with BGT-WeiDU now? To cut the whole story short, BGT-WeiDU is going back into beta - hence, the next version will be BGT-WeiDU v1.05b. Currently, I am implementing something that I should have done back in the 0.9 days. That is, items in BGT-WeiDU currently use the BG2 versions, and in a few exceptions of bugs use BG1 versions. BGT-WeiDU v1.05b will use BG1 versions of items where there is a difference. Since I completely overlooked this issue for more than 8 versions of BGT-WeiDU, I will not be prefixing every BGT-WeiDU item with anything. That would throw compatibility with all current BGT-WeiDU-compatible BG1 addon mods into the rubbish truck. Instead, BGT-WeiDU will be default patch BG2 items used in BG1 to their respective BG1 versions, and will provide a separate restoration component that will need to be used before transition to BG2 (there will likely be a reminder in-game). The BGT Tweak component, "Restore experience of locks, traps, and scrolls", will likely move into this restoration segment as well. As this is really considered an 'item overhaul', the beta tag is required to allow thorough testing of new and changed code. Additionally, I will be checking spell behaviour after I complete the item changes, and implementing changes as necessary in a similar manner to the items.

What else is new/has changed? Well, you should know by now when to look for that.

When can you expect BGT-WeiDU v1.05b? Before the end of the year is all I can say for certain. I can also say with some certainty that RL issues will not permit me to finish this version before the start of August. Who knows though, you might be surprised.

And what is the future for BGT-WeiDU? This is pretty much it. Bug support, bug fixing, and new translation incorporation will still be provided, but otherwise, the end of BGT-WeiDU is nigh.

Will BGT-WeiDU cater for BG1 Fixpack? This is probably a question that some people are still wondering about. At the installation level, no. BGT-WeiDU will not support the installation of BG1 Fixpack before or after it, due to an already incorporated fixpack (Please remember this when you come to this forum in X years Y months Z days time and start reporting spurious errors when your WeiDU.log has both BG1 Fixpack and BGT-WeiDU). BGT-WeiDU might 'nick' the text corrections from BG1 Fixpack at some stage when the corrections are completed, but that is about all. Note that a number of BGT-WeiDU fixes are those that will be, or are already included in, the BG1 Fixpack. Also note that a number of BGT-WeiDU fixes might not appear in BG1 Fixpack, and vice versa. Generally, while the most complete batch of fixes would certainly generate the impression of a 'clean' game, not all fixes are necessary for a smooth, consistent game. This is a general load of rubbish, I know, but it stands as is.

Will BGT-WeiDU feature any further compatibility support? Again, most likely no. Not even for some imaginary new Fixpack that pops up, or a new component of some existing fixpack (like BG2 Fixpack), or new updates of mega-modification mods or GUI component. I am saying this will apply after the 'end' of BGT-WeiDU, whatever and whenever that is. In its current state, people who want to make me change compatibility are going to have a provide extremely convincing reasons for the change, and 'It's only a really small change' is not one of them.

Overall, I am saying all this in light of wrapping up development of BGT-WeiDU. But as you'll see at the bottom of this humungus post, I'll spoil now that I am intending of wrapping up tweak/fix mod development and moving over to new content instead.

Modifications converted to BGT-WeiDU compatibility
Ever since BGT-WeiDU neared v1.00, people have asked for conversions of both BG1- and Tutu-only modifications to be made BGT-compatible. It first took much PMing, begging, and grovelling to get permission for these conversions, but as you can see today, BGT-WeiDU has a whole bunch of these mods available, including, in the order that they came up in my mind, Indira NPC, Lure of the Sirine's Call, Mulgore and Xavia NPCs, Mur'Neth NPC, BG1NPC Project, Jonathan NPC, The Grey Clan Episode I, Sword Coast Stratagems, Dark Side of the Sword Coast, Northern Tales of the Sword Coast, and BG1 Unfinished Business. Even reading through that long list astonishes me -- that's a lot of mods made compatible with BGT-WeiDU. It is a testament to the support and popularity that BGT-WeiDU has received since the time even before I entered the scene.

Not all of these mods are managed by me, but instrumental to the conversion of a number of these was Platform Conversion Utility (PCU), this mysterious WeiDU program that even sparked a few people's ire over at G3. Let me say that it has certainly simplified the tedious effort of manually eyeballing and changing resource references. These days, we see the dawn of dynamic variables replacing filenames so that one .tp2 allows cross-platform compatibility. It certainly is an intriguing concept that will probably overtake the existing meta-programming in WeiDU where cross-platform compatibility is required. Regardless, PCU can still can still convert hard-coded resources such as ITM and ARE files.

Again cutting long stories short, PCU will be released in the near future to facilitate these smaller-scale conversion processes. I am, however, releasing it with the proviso that I will not be held responsible for the conversion and public release of mods where the authors have declined permission to convert. For example, I specifically implore that Finch NPC never be converted and released as a BGT-compatible mod, unless Bons has changed her mind about the matter. No doubt the concept of providing the means as condoning the ends is going to incite some new anger in a few people. If you are one of these people, please PM me so that we may communicate individually.

What is the future for the modifications made BGT-compatible that I own? Again, nominal support and translations where required. As you might see later, updates to the corresponding Tutu- and BG1-compatible versions of the mods will likely not filter into the BGT-compatible version. I'm saying this in a completely present state of course, so take it with a grain of salt.

BG1UB is a completely different story of course, as it is still nascent. Apart from bug-fixing, you might see a merged cross-platform version in the future, but I am rather apathetic about that at the moment.

BGT Tweak
BGT Tweak was a spinoff of BGT-WeiDU, as some 'fixes' in BGT-WeiDU appeared not to fit in the 'fix' category all that well. There are quite a few components in the current version. There will be a few new components in the next version, but I'm afraid that will also be it in terms of a new stuff for BGT Tweak. I am desperately trying to find some time to even incorporate all the requests that I have. Hence, if I end up being overwhelmed by requests, I will have to start heavily scrutinizing the applicability, usability, and popularity of particular requests and substantiate only the ones that will have more widespread use than others.

What's new/changed in BGT Tweak v7? So far:
-Summons/NPCs set off traps (if possible)
-Restoration of lock, trap, and scroll XP gain to standard BG2 versions
-Choice of which individual NPCs will import into BG2, regardless of being in party or not
-Changes to the way protagonist's biography is handled
-Deprecation of components featuring in BG1UB
-Some more compatibility checks

Well yeah, if you want to see something else new/changed, I am still open to things.

Me
No, Me is not a mod. It refers to what I am doing in general. It appears very likely that RL will consume me very soon. I'm that tasty. Currently a University student in my Honours year of medical sciences, things are extremely hectic and last-minute. Furthermore (some of you may not even believe this, but it is true), a First Class Honours is required for me to graduate from my current degree. Scared yet? Following this, I am hopefully entering postgraduate Medicine next year, which would salivate even more -- possibly to the point that prevents me from modding altogether. Besides that, I am a classical pianist, have a rather old and frail grandmother to take care of, and parents to assist here-and-there. So (think grains of salt again, things might change for strange others), I may end up completely incapacitated of my modding ability as of next year.

If we assume that hasn't happened, we can talk about my modding interests as things have gone. It isn't difficult to work out that pretty much all mods I have worked on are other people's projects. Some things have been coded de novo. Another common feature is that many are tweak/fix mods. BGT-WeiDU is really a tweak that makes the BG1 story work in BG2. BGT Tweak, um...duh! BG1UB, Restored Textscreen Music, and so on. However, what the feature that completely overrides all of these are that none of them were conceptualised by me that delivers original content. Frankly, I am starting to move on from this 'flavour' of modding, and am more inspired by completely original content. That is one of the main reasons why I suddenly got interested in wrapping things up (this post) --- the taste is getting bland.

What is the future then? Provided I don't completely lose my modding license to RL, the Mequel project will most likely be the mod I will be working. However, since that is a rather large project (I'll ask for help later), I may do some other small things in the meantime. No, I'm not going to tell you what they are (no, there won't be a Me mod...cough cough...confused you yet?).

Summary
I probably contradicted myself more times than one, since this has taken ages to write, and I end up rather tentative sometimes. But, if you are rushed and don't want to read my incessant babbling, the following summary is probably more correct than what I have written above...

• BGT-WeiDU: Will re-enter BETA with v1.05b due to item overhaul and possible spell overhaul. No massive ITM or SPL re-renaming will occur. Obviously, there are some other changes/bugfixes, and so on. You know where to look for them. Won't be ready anytime soon, but probably near end of the year. Most likely no further compatibility support (definitely not BG1 Fixpack)
  
• Merger: Probably none, but if so would be limited to a 'Transition for EasyTutu'
  
• Other mods by me: Nominal bug support and translations. Most likely won't be updated even if corresponding BG1- and/or Tutu-only versions are updated with new content.
  
• Platform Conversion Utility: Likely to be released. Please don't convert and release a BGT-compatible Finch unless Bons has changed her mind. PM me if you have any issues with this.
  
• BGT Tweak: Also wrapping up. New components in next version, but won't really be taking any more afterwards.
  
• Me: Me is not a mod. Possibly overcome by RL starting next year, preventing me from modding at all (but possibly not as well). Starting to move from doing stuff with other people's mods to completely new content, like Mequel, and maybe some other smaller stuff

OK folks, I'd better have my modest nap.

So that is that State of the Mod.

Happy 2500th Post!

P.S. There is this really weird feeling; a buzz, that predicts that this topic is going to get flamed, just like the original BGT one and the PCU one. Fingers crossed XX| |XX

[cmorgan]

I, for one, am impressed with the solid work and support for so many different mods and so many different ideas taking place in such a tight timeframe in your work. I appreciate the extent of your work and quality of the materials you produce. Speaking as one who has had a much shorter timeframe in which to discover the difference between working as a support person for others and as a person who wants to add personal ideas and content to the game, all I can say is "jump in, the water is warm and the pool is still pretty deep". Thank you for devoting thousands of hours to assisting others in enjoying these I.E. games, and being patient with those of us learning modding.

Edited by cmorgan, 30 June 2007 - 07:41 AM.

[Salk]

Thank you very much for updating us fans about your projects! I personally have appreciated and read avidly every line of your message.

I am not sure I understood perfectly what you meant with the items and possible spells overhaul. My idea is that items and spells should be consistent throughout the whole Trilogy and that's what - among other things - makes me favour BGT over TuTu. Incorporating changes aimed to make the Baldur's Gate/TotSC and the Shadow of Amn/ToB portions of the game acquire a stronger identity/independency thus making the Trilogy be less seamless in its global unicity is not really something that I, as player, would desire. But perhaps I have understood nothing (very likely).

I want to take the opportunity also to thank you for taking a look at the "Summons/NPCs activate traps" component for the BGT Tweaks. I do hope it will be feasible.

I realize that the Merger's idea is fading away. I am sorry about that because it probably means the community has not grown enough to catch this opportunity that was offered but on the other hand, it was a very ambitious idea that had met unexpected (for me) resistances.

We all wish you a bright future, Ascensiont64!

Thanks again for everything!

[SimDing0]

-Summons/NPCs set off traps (if possible)

D0Tweak's does not work with BGT? (Or does not work at all?)

[erebusant]

-Summons/NPCs set off traps (if possible)

D0Tweak's does not work with BGT? (Or does not work at all?)

Oh it works alright. The guardians in the Sirene cave at the Lighthouse set them all off for me,,,

[Ascension64]

-Summons/NPCs set off traps (if possible)

D0Tweak's does not work with BGT? (Or does not work at all?)

No idea. Salk just requested it. Perhaps he would know more. Obviously, the first step is to see if your original component works.

My idea is that items and spells should be consistent throughout the whole Trilogy and that's what - among other things - makes me favour BGT over TuTu. Incorporating changes aimed to make the Baldur's Gate/TotSC and the Shadow of Amn/ToB portions of the game acquire a stronger identity/independency thus making the Trilogy be less seamless in its global unicity is not really something that I, as player, would desire. But perhaps I have understood nothing (very likely).

You somewhat have it right. But remember that you lose all your items when you transition to BG2, so really there isn't any point in keeping consistent items throughout the game (except, perhaps, the ones that get imported). I am hoping that since people would need to unisntall the GUI mod anyway to correct the music portion for BG2, you might as well restore the BG2 items as well. I guess since spells are used throughout the entire trilogy, I might not end up doing them; but again, you might as well restore the BG2 spells as well (if they are implemented).

Edited by Ascension64, 30 June 2007 - 04:45 PM.

[Jyzabyl]

Congratulations A64. And thank you for all the work you've done to the benefit of players.

[Salk]

-Summons/NPCs set off traps (if possible)

D0Tweak's does not work with BGT? (Or does not work at all?)

Hello, SimDing0!

I love that component of yours (and much more of your production). I didn't really test that component ingame because, reading the Read Me, I thought that it would only apply to the BG2 portion of the game (or TuTu), making it not a consistent choice for BGT.

Here it reads: "This modifies traps throughout BG2 (or Tutu) to be triggered by creatures outside the party, be they friendly or hostile. This allows you, for example, to trigger traps by sending summons through them."

But if it does indeed work for the whole trilogy then I am just sorry I have disturbed Ascension64 for nothing while I could have used it right off.

Thanks!

Edited by Salk, 30 June 2007 - 10:25 PM.

[Immortality]

Will we have a fully-traified quest pack? Also, if its ever done, its HALF translated into spanish because some components have no TRA files. Meaning... *wink wink hint hint*

I guess for the rest... there are a lot of mods still "partially compatible" in the list, but THANK YOU, THANK YOU very much for making this part of the list smaller!

Edited by Immortality, 01 July 2007 - 01:26 AM.

[Salk]

Hello again, Ascension64!

I have re-read your initial post for the third time (no, I am not a glutton for punishment nor mentally incapacitated...maybe) and I wanted to ask you this: provided that BGT won't support the BG1 Fixpack, will there be a chance that you'll be expanding your present Fixpack incorporated into BGT?

I am asking because I am pretty sure that there will be things you'd wish corrected as well and that at the moment they are not. After all, it was you who helped us with the coding of Prism and the Emeralds (just to say one thing)...

Cheers!

[Ascension64]

Probably. Depends on what it is. For example, the dialog.tlk revamp might make it in.
As for Prism and Emeralds, that is an OBC. I'm generaly happy to help with difficult coding problems like that, even after I'm done with BGT-WeiDU and Co.

Oh, do you have any response about my comment about item overhaul?

[DreamMorpheus]

Wow, I actually wondered what kind of person makes mods like this a few days ago, I figured you would be a computer science geek who was trying to break into the game industry. I never would have thought that you were about to go to medical graduate school. Crap, I can barely find time to work and go to class how do you do it!

Gratz on the mod, I have been wishing for something like BGT to exist for years, the main thing preventing me from playing BG1 again was the inability to play the same character for the entire saga (unless I wanted to play something boring, like a pure fighter). I kinda figured bioware would release something like this in their compilition releases, but nope.

Anyway, your stuff is pretty slick, congrats!

[Ascension64]

Well yeah, I think a number of other modders here are in the computing industry, whether it be games, graphics, programming, and so on. For example, I think SimDing0, CamDawg, the bigg, jcompton, Avenger, FredSRichardson, and King Diamond all have careers in computing. There are bound to be more. I'm just one of the exceptions, who picked up programming because I liked it.

[Salk]

About Prism and the Emerald, yes, it's just a OBC component of the coming BG1 Fixpack but I did intend it as an example...

My opinion instad about items and possible spells overhaul: I start with the second. I wouldn't belive it to be necessary at all for a reason that I have, more or less, already hinted at. And for this same reason, items overhaul might not be so necessary either.

I know that the party will not keep items obtained in Baldur's Gate at transition but on the other hand, I guess that Bioware has sometimes made small changes to items and spells for BG2 because they realized that in some way they were better so. Of course, one might argue that those small modifications to spells and items were needed for game balance and not for opportunity reasons.

I am just a humble player and I realize that I am often driven by my own personal tastes but I try to think logically (most of the times failing, of course). I don't think the point is to reintroduce items and spells in BG1 if they are different than the BG2 counterpart but rather ask ourselves the question: why has it been changed? I read that BGT already keeps BG2 resources when BG1 ones are broken/buggy. I think that is the way to go.

Personally, I like the idea that a spell is always the same, from Candlekeep to the final battle of ToB. I like the idea of material that contributes to the atmosphere of a long, unique adventure. Of course, a perfect realization of this can not be reached because, after all, BG1 and BG2 were intended to be two different games. But BGT should have as main goal to make that seem the least visible. In this context, the "Mequel" project you will hopefully create is going to give a boost to BGT's ethos. Since that day comes though, I guess it's wise to not bring in modifications that would go on the opposite direction, making BGT similar to TuTu. Speaking of that, I would not even advise you to put effort in a "Transition for TuTu" project. The two platforms have already a very similar DNA. People that want a transition play BGT. People that don't, play TuTu (exception: removing the added "exotic" weapons from Baldur's Gate/TotSC part of the game or making them rare enough instead of widely available might be a good idea).

Hope I didn't make you yawn too often with this long post.

Cheers!

Edited by Salk, 01 July 2007 - 09:28 PM.

[Ascension64]

Hmm, I might have to show you what is changed so we can all get a better idea of what BG1-izing the items involves. Having gone through all the items now, I think that a lot of them are balance aspects. I certainly cannot say whether BioWare 'fixed' BG1 items in BG2 because AD&D rules were misinterpreted/not interpreted, but I can think of a few examples where changes to items (even monster-only attack items) could completely change the experience of a battle. I am going to display a list of every single change before putting the component in so that everyone can have a say about what is actually a bug and what was just changed in BG2 because of it.

One thought I had was to release separately the BG1-izing component. Apart from tremendous difficulties with giving correct StrRefs to the items in this kind of release, it will at least give people a feel of how things are changed, and might also provide a way to bug-test without putting BGT-WeiDU into beta again. What do people feel of this concept?

[Salk]

This kind of approach seems extremely interesting to me.

I must say that a new Beta label to the next version of BGT-WeiDu might come with a slightly negative impact. This is because no matter how much more evoluted 1.05 will be, it still comes as Beta, thus scaring off potential users. At least, I think this is a concrete possibility.

I understand the item overhaul represents a big step into the unknown (well...) and that problems/bugs might arise but offering the BG1-izing of items as an optional Beta (that one, yes) component of BGT might be a solution.

Edited by Salk, 02 July 2007 - 01:19 AM.

[SimDing0]

SimDing0

As if I work. Maths student, muthafuckaz.

[Oldwolf]

Ascension64 I like that Idea, the release of the BG1 item thing without putting BGT back in beta. I for one would be happy to test it for you. LOL I'm spending ton's of time in BG1 now just teaching myself how mods do what they do. So to be in on the ground floor on this would give me a chance to see an (in my opinion) excellent modder's methods and would be a great help to me in my learning .

[Ascension64]

I'm flattered. the bigg is an excellent modder...the rest of us are just trash.
But yeah, I thought the standalone idea might be more popular before any rash decisions on my biased behalf. However, release of 1.05 won't be any faster either way.

[DreamMorpheus]

Would it be possible to add shield and armor skins from bg1 into the bg2 engine? Just to add some variety?