I'm not sure if I understand. BGT music was always intended to be installed right after the core component. This is because other mods need to know the contents of the song list. Otherwise how are you supposed to add an area for your NPC mod with BG1 music if you don't know what the song number will turn out to be at the end of the installation chain? And as far as I know, the reasons it's a separate component with options are 1) not every platform supports executable patching (e.g., macOS) and 2) the player was supposed to understand and accept the risks of hacking the executable.
Again, this was to provide an intermediate solution, not a structural one. As far as I know, no mod checks songlist.2da; so for the time being, installing this component just after, in the middle or at the end makes no difference.
The music component used to be a separate mod, and the readme was as follows:
Baldur’s Gate and Tales of the Sword Coast music
Music is installed during Baldur’s Gate Trilogy-WeiDU installation, but is not activated.
To activate Baldur’s Gate and Tales of the Sword Coast music, run Setup-BGTMusic.exe in your Baldur’s Gate Trilogy-WeiDU installation directory. Three options are available:
- Full Baldur’s Gate and Tales of the Sword Coast music: Activates all original Baldur’s Gate and Tales of the Sword Coast music. If you play Shadows of Amn and/or Throne of Bhaal with this component installed, the music heard will be incorrect. For best results, when you decide that you want to play Shadows of Amn and/or Throne of Bhaal, uninstall this component to restore the default music for Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal.
- Hybrid Baldur’s Gate/Shadows of Amn/Throne of Bhaal music: Keeps all music for Shadows of Amn and Throne of Bhaal, but activates only some music for Baldur’s Gate and Tales of the Sword Coast. Effort has been made to ensure the music is as appropriate as possible for each area.
- Full Baldur's Gate/Shadows of Amn/Throne of Bhaal Music (WARNING: patches BGMain.exe): Utilises a hack to the executable created by Taimon to allow all Baldur's Gate I and Baldur's Gate II music to be used. The executable hack increases the numbers of SONGLIST.2DA rows supported by the game. Use at your own risk.
- Install none: No Baldur’s Gate and Tales of the Sword Coast music will be heard in the corresponding portion of the game. The music heard during Baldur’s Gate and Tales of the Sword Coast will sound inappropriate.
If you intend to install other modifications with Baldur’s Gate Trilogy-WeiDU, it is recommended that you install the music as close to the end of the installation chain as possible. This will allow you to uninstall this modification easily and avoid possible compatibility issues.
So installing at the end was at this time recommanded - this is from v1.21 and things may have changed of course.
Come on, you're saying it as if it had worked before and only now it didn't. Let's get the facts straight: some of these mods weren't even originally developed with BGT in mind and only later the authors/maintainers released newer versions with BGT support. So, who introduced the issues: the author of BGT music or the authors of the respective mods which were intended to be installed on top of BGT?
In principle, it just isn't correct to do things backwards and, at least in my opinion, these issues aren't important enough to warrant a temporary patch that doesn't give me the satisfaction of a good solution. If somebody wants to play these mods, for now they can do a custom install with your suggestions or use a different option for BGT music.
That wasn't my intention, I was just saying that there's no direct answer, it's not as if there are any clear rules to follow, maybe some are better than others but some take less time: it depends on your motivation.
But your point is clear and I won't bore you with it any further.
What? I didn't say a year. I said I'd look at your list. Thank you; it's very helpful, by the way
Sorry, but I wasn't aiming for anyone... that's more or less the time between updates of the old BG mods.
Anyway, it's good to know that it helps to move forward; the list should cover all the areas that need addressing.
Edited by TotoR, 11 February 2024 - 01:08 AM.