61 replies to this topic

[Eric P.]

Just one change to Erephine's procedure: since I'm on a Mac, I can't download the "non-buggy Windows version" of 1PP, but must instead download the Mac verison. After I extract the .rar, I'll see if I can follow the rest of the procedure as outlined.

- E

You can, and you'll have to.

Everything I posted is Mac-only.


-edit to add: If the .exe confuses you, it's just a RAR self-extracting file. You should (?) be able to extract it manually on a Mac, right?


-edit the second: I have changed the procedure slightly to make more sense with the 1ppv2 files (heh) and, to make things easier I've uploaded a .rar file containing the changes. (it's in my previous post) Extract it to your override when you have the remix installed and give it a try

-edit the third: I forgot to 'fix' the monk paperdoll, both in the written and downloadable form. But I won't do that now, so yeah. Don't let that stop you from testing if it works at all

On a Mac, whenever you download a .exe file, then double-click on it, the OS just scratches its head and tells you it doesn't know what to do with the file. You might think of a .exe as a Windows proprietary file format. As I don't run Windows on my Mac, I can never make use of anything .exe. That's why some mods out there are currently impossible for me to use. There is no possibility of even extracting for contents, the way a .zip or a .rar or other compressed file will extract, using StuffIt or any other expander, if the filename ends in .exe. With Mac OS, changing the extension of a filename causes the system to handle it as that file type (most times even changing the file icon to reflect this), provided it's a file type the Mac OS recognizes.

I downloaded the 1PP v2 Mac version, and followed your procedure, but I noticed that most of the files were already .PLTs, so that made things a bit easier. After copying the appropriate files into the override folder (and at this point, I still had/have the 1PP remix mod installed), and loading my saved test game, I found that all paperdolls now hold weapons in hand, the way they're meant to Also, where before the buckler would not appear on the paperdoll when equipped, I now see Imoen holding said buckler on the inventory screen, as it should be.

The test game was all good till I killed the final group of foes in Irenicus' dungeon, and then I got a CTD when looting the bodies. I'll reload and go again, as I want to check if Yasraena will work properly.

Thanks!
Eric

[Erephine]

Of course you can't run the .exe, but there's no reason you shouldn't be able to open it with RAR. I wasn't asking you to execute Windows code on your Mac, but to extract the files from a RAR archive that happens to have a Windows self-extractor attached to it. If you can't do that... I'd say your RAR tool is pretty stupid. It extracts like a RAR because it is a RAR.

Did you download the file I uploaded? Or did you follow my instructions manually?

Either way, you'll have to create/copy/overwrite those PLT files I mentioned even if they already exist - because they're the very reason it was not working

If you did... do any of the predicted issues still happen with the de-remix files in your override?

I am *very* pleased to hear this is working. Thank you so much for testing for me. (... and to think something like this could have been fixed back in 2004).

Was the CTD connected to 1pp? Do you remember what the error (if any) said?

[Eric P.]

Of course you can't run the .exe, but there's no reason you shouldn't be able to open it with RAR. I wasn't asking you to execute Windows code on your Mac, but to extract the files from a RAR archive that happens to have a Windows self-extractor attached to it. If you can't do that... I'd say your RAR tool is pretty stupid. It extracts like a RAR because it is a RAR.

Did you download the file I uploaded? Or did you follow my instructions manually?

Either way, you'll have to create/copy/overwrite those PLT files I mentioned even if they already exist - because they're the very reason it was not working

If you did... do any of the predicted issues still happen with the de-remix files in your override?

I am *very* pleased to hear this is working. Thank you so much for testing for me. (... and to think something like this could have been fixed back in 2004).

Was the CTD connected to 1pp? Do you remember what the error (if any) said?

The issues we Mac users face It doesn't matter that the file is a .rar. Mac OS won't see it as such, if .exe is at the end of the filename, and no decompression app I know of will extract from it. I use StuffIt to extract from all compressed files, including .rar. I understood that you weren't expecting me to do something that's impossible Anyway, enough of that...

I followed your instructions manually. I changed a few file extensions, then moved the files you instructed into BGII's override folder. In order to test for all your predictions, I'll have to create some new characters, and see what they look like. In most games, I don't include any races other than Humans, various Elves, and Half-Elves in my parties, but I understand that we want to explore all possibilities here. So shall it be.

I don't believe the CTD had anything to do with 1PP, and there was no error message at all, which occasionally happens with a CTD. When there is, I usually look to see what it was, but I don't bother wading through the fine technical details, as such things as which thread crashed are beyond my knowledge.

Heh, in '04 I was just starting to play BGII, and the only mod I became aware of was Solaufien. Never finished the game, and then I had to put it on hold for a long while. Tried NWN, but didn't like it, so I'm sticking with BGII...and contemplating checking out IWD (I'll forever be behind the times, I think *L*).

It's my pleasure to help out here! I'll report back after checking out the way things look with the other races and classes, keeping the install as-is, since I know that things appear to be working properly now.

- E

[Gorilym]

Contains guesswork:

From what I've been reading on other forums, it seems that the 6 byte 'fake' PLTs that come with 1ppv2 tend to crash Mac installs, where the Windows install simply declares them broken and moves on to read the supplied BAM files. Whoever made the remix had the idea to simply rename my BAM files to PLT, so when the game would be looking for the PLTs, it would read the BAMs.

This is a nice idea, however, it doesn't seem to work.

<snipped for forum brevity>

Boy, is my face red. In my defense, this is the kind of thing that can happen when you rely on limited testing, by only one person, and receive no feedback indicating that something is amiss (additionally, reading Erephine's analysis makes me wonder if I was asleep or drunk when I packaged Mac 1PP ). That said, now that the problem has been acutely defined it should be a fairly small matter to solve it. The Mac 1PP download has been removed for the time being; if Erephine allows, I'll put together a fixed package utilizing the files in 1pp_mac_de-remix.rar.

edit: On a side note,

The issues we Mac users face It doesn't matter that the file is a .rar. Mac OS won't see it as such, if .exe is at the end of the filename, and no decompression app I know of will extract from it. I use StuffIt to extract from all compressed files, including .rar.

StuffIt isn't very good at dealing with rar files, but there are many OS X apps that are; such as UnRarX. Oh, and you should be able to force StuffIt to open a RAR .exe by selecting Open with... from the right-click drop-down menu.

Edited by Gorilym, 01 November 2007 - 02:54 PM.

[Steve]

You can make all .EXE files open with Stuffit by right-clicking (or control-clicking) on any .EXE file and choosing Get Info. In the section "Open with:" choose Stuffit Expander. Then hit the "Change All..." button.

As Gorilym noted, Stuffit will choke on quite a few RAR/EXE files so the commandline program unrar is included with Install-tools. To use it:
1) Make a new folder where you want the extracted files to end up.
2) Open a Terminal window.
3) Type "cd", space, then drag-n-drop the new folder in the Terminal window and press "RETURN".
4) Drag-n-drop the unrar program to the Terminal, type "x", space, drag-n-drop the RAR/EXE file and "RETURN".
If it extracted OK it says "All OK".

[Erephine]

Boy, is my face red. In my defense, this is the kind of thing that can happen when you rely on limited testing, by only one person, and receive no feedback indicating that something is amiss (additionally, reading Erephine's analysis makes me wonder if I was asleep or drunk when I packaged Mac 1PP ). That said, now that the problem has been acutely defined it should be a fairly small matter to solve it. The Mac 1PP download has been removed for the time being; if Erephine allows, I'll put together a fixed package utilizing the files in 1pp_mac_de-remix.rar.

Hey, no worries

Like I said... I guess not a lot of people use 1pp on a Mac, or this wouldn't have happened in the first place. I wasn't aware of any of this.

Feel free to upload a fixed installer with the files. And don't mind "edit the third" - apparently I did fix it when I uploaded the .rar yesterday.

[Gorilym]

OK, this should be, and appears to be, devoid of the problems of the previous package, though additional testing would be a boon.

[Eric P.]

OK, this should be, and appears to be, devoid of the problems of the previous package, though additional testing would be a boon.

Sweet! So, does this get installed in place of any other 1PP mods, and we go from there? You know I'll be testing this ASAP

Very grateful about the .exe/unrar info, BTW! I learn something new every day, if I'm not careful

- E

[Eric P.]

Testing the new fixed-up 1PP mod together with Moinesse Avatars and BG2 Fixpack reveals that, AFAICT, everything shows as it should on-screen, but I'll take screenshots of those items Erephine wanted to be tested. I played a test game this morning with a male human mage, male dwarf berserker, male half-orc barbarian, and the rescuees in Irenicus' dungeon. I gave Jaheira the boot when Chloe wanted to join the party, and her mod works perfectly in the mix It wasn't till I was in the room after the party meets Yoshimo that I got a CTD. Not sure if it has to do with looting or not, but it was much like the crash I got in a previous test game, in the Otyugh room. I'll have to pay closer attention to the last action before such a CTD, so I can report on it, as no error message appears when I'm at the desktop.

Back to testing

- E

[Miloch]

It wasn't till I was in the room after the party meets Yoshimo that I got a CTD. Not sure if it has to do with looting or not, but it was much like the crash I got in a previous test game, in the Otyugh room.

However, don't go any further before trying the things suggested in your other post (clear your cache folders and change your game configuration).

http://forums.biowar...t...37&forum=10
http://forums.biowar...t...89&forum=10
(In other words, if you're running the game above 800x600 try reducing the resolution to that and turning off 3D acceleration. If that's not the problem, at least you've ruled it out.)

I also can't help noticing that you keep mentioning these errors in connection with Chloe, Yasraena, etc., who I believe are modded NPCs unrelated to 1PP and Moinesse's Avatars, right?

[Eric P.]

It wasn't till I was in the room after the party meets Yoshimo that I got a CTD. Not sure if it has to do with looting or not, but it was much like the crash I got in a previous test game, in the Otyugh room.

However, don't go any further before trying the things suggested in your other post (clear your cache folders and change your game configuration).

http://forums.biowar...t...37&forum=10
http://forums.biowar...t...89&forum=10
(In other words, if you're running the game above 800x600 try reducing the resolution to that and turning off 3D acceleration. If that's not the problem, at least you've ruled it out.)

I also can't help noticing that you keep mentioning these errors in connection with Chloe, Yasraena, etc., who I believe are modded NPCs unrelated to 1PP and Moinesse's Avatars, right?

Ooh, yes...I forgot about trying it with lower resolution (probably because I can't stand to play in any resolution lower than 1024x768), so I'll try that.

Yes, Chloe and Yasraena, the two mod NPCs I have loaded, are unrelated to the other two mods. I'm probably trying to do too much all at once here, so I'll scale back again, and test without either, then with just one, then just the other, then with all.

Back to testing

- E

[Erephine]

There shouldn't be any incompatibilities with other mods that don't alter the same thing (i.e. 99% of NPC and quest mods should be totally unaffected).

Chloe definitely works fine... and I've played with Yasraena before, too. I didn't have any problems.

[Eric P.]

The corrected version of 1PP appears to solve all the issues between this mod and Moinesse Avatars. Using both together, I see Moinesse avatars on-screen, and Moinesse paperdolls when a character has nothing equipped. There are some items that change the paperdoll to the BGII stock version. 1PP graphics show for many items, and every character in my test party--human males and females, dwarf males, and half-orc males--holds weapons in hand. No more floating items

As for the CTDs I got during testing, I finally got one with a (cryptic) error message. I can only guess that it has to do with loading area elements into memory addresses, based on what I see in the error report, though I'm far from experienced at deciphering such data. "Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001). Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE (0x0002) at 0x00000ab0" has no meaning to me whatsoever. One crash happened when the party went through the portal that takes them to where they meet Yoshimo, and another happened when I told the party to move after they returned from the Air plane. I got CTDs when using 1024x768 resolution with 3D acceleration enabled, and again when using *shudder* 800x600 with 3D acceleration disabled. That suggests to me that it's not a video issue. My monitor's optimal settings are 1600x1200 at 60Hz, but I never play the game with that setting, as everything is too small that way.

Today's testing was done with only BG2 Fixpack, the newly fixed 1PP, and Moinesse Avatars installed. If this is sufficient, I'll continue with my own testing of the many mods I have left to test together.

As for order of installation for these mods, and considering the others I have, I'd like to know where in the order 1PP and Moinesse Avatars should go, in relation to these kinds of mods:

NPCs (except for Chloe, Yasraena, and Kivan)
Enhanced BG2
Dungeon Crawl
Kits (does 1PP go before or after kits?)
Subrace
BW Herbs
tbquest
Romantic Encounters
SP Collection
Refinements
Crossmod Banter Pack
tbtweaks and BG2 Tweaks
Chloe, Yasraena, Kivan

That's been the closest to successful order of installation for the mods I have so far, so I'm hoping to correct and perfect this and get all the mods to play and interact well together, if possible Failing that, maybe I'll be able to determine if any of those mods cannot peacefully coexist, and then I'll remove the offender(s).

Happy gaming,
Eric

[Azazello]

Bravo once again to Erephine for her great troubleshooting, and mod updating!

Eric, as the paperdoll issues have been resolved, move your comments about CtDs and install order over to Mega Mod Help forum. You'll get more brains to help you out there.

I don't know if you already have a thread open over there. Be sure to remind us that you're on Mac.

[cmorgan]

Volunteering to assist on this one - I owe you for several hundred hours of enjoyment. If ghostwriting/assistance is needed to get v3 (or v2.5, or "Cool New Stuff, or whatever) out the door, Erephine, K'aeloree, please contact me.

Besides, I am having to download all those cool individual replacement files each time and toss them in override after every install. So really, this is just "enlightened self interest"

[Eric P.]

Bravo once again to Erephine for her great troubleshooting, and mod updating!

Eric, as the paperdoll issues have been resolved, move your comments about CtDs and install order over to Mega Mod Help forum. You'll get more brains to help you out there.

I don't know if you already have a thread open over there. Be sure to remind us that you're on Mac.

Good deal...I'll post over there, if I remember. At this point, I'm almost willing to just live with the CTDs, as there doesn't appear to be any fix for them that works with my system. My workaround, at least till I have a way to solve it, will be to save games more frequently.

Thanks,
Eric

[Miloch]

If ghostwriting/assistance is needed to get v3 (or v2.5, or "Cool New Stuff, or whatever) out the door, Erephine, K'aeloree, please contact me.

How good are you with BAMs and such? (See this post for what needs to be done.)

Though really, I think the Mac fixes, finished added paperdolls and the like could be packaged in a v3 right now, with the unfinished stuff to be included in a theoretical v4 later on...

[cmorgan]

No experience at all in .bam editing, minor and inconsequential graphics work in simple programs - musician not artist. But I can package and test, organize, build installer/.tp2, etc.

If someone were to rope in an artist type to assist too, as ghostwriters-are-us types, Erephine's work speaks for itself, as does the large numbers of folks using ppv1 and ppv2. If we could get a little community action rolling to finish off the materials, with E as "benevolent and occasional watcher-over-shoulder-and-vetoer-of-stuff-not-liked", we could get these materials into player hands alot sooner

[Erephine]

Volunteering to assist on this one - I owe you for several hundred hours of enjoyment. If ghostwriting/assistance is needed to get v3 (or v2.5, or "Cool New Stuff, or whatever) out the door, Erephine, K'aeloree, please contact me.

You can always PM him and ask if he needs or wants some help

I can also forward the relevant PMs to you if you want to take a look yourself.

[Eric P.]

Should any image editing work be desired, I love to work with Photoshop, and am always eager to learn new techniques to add to my current ability.

Happy modding,
Eric