IndyPendant

Heh.  Doh.  Not used to forums that allow you to post anon anymore.

That was me just above, of course.

Billybob, no worries there. The savegames were after I installed everything. I've now got SBT also installed, so it looks like the installations are done. NI is being extremely stubborn tho. I've tried all the options: dl it, dl the .bat to run it, dl the 128 .bat to run it, dl the zip to install it, ran it from many many directories, nothing. Left it to open a file for nearly 20 minutes just in case. Nothing. Same problems I listed above. (Thanks for explaining the whole .key thing btw, hlid.)

I've read pretty much the entire website there, with no luck. I even tried running it with BG2 up and running in the background. I just can't get this thing to work, and have pretty much exhausted my limited knowledge trying, unfortunately.

One thing: when I run it using the batch file, it opens a cmd window and gives me a ton of error messages. They always look similar, possibly exactly the same, and I've copied one set here. These mean anything to you?

C:\Program Files\Games\Baldurs Gate II>java -Xmx128M -jar NearInfinity.jar
Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: wrong
parent for CardLayout
        at java.awt.CardLayout.checkLayout(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.CardLayout.show(Unknown Source)
        at infinity.gui.StructViewer.valueChanged(SourceFile:326)
        at javax.swing.DefaultListSelectionModel.fireValueChanged(Unknown Source)
        at javax.swing.DefaultListSelectionModel.fireValueChanged(Unknown Source)
        at javax.swing.DefaultListSelectionModel.fireValueChanged(Unknown Source)
        at javax.swing.DefaultListSelectionModel.changeSelection(Unknown Source)

        at javax.swing.DefaultListSelectionModel.changeSelection(Unknown Source)

        at javax.swing.DefaultListSelectionModel.removeSelectionIntervalImpl Unknown Source)
        at javax.swing.DefaultListSelectionModel.removeSelectionInterval(Unknown Source)
        at javax.swing.JTable.checkLeadAnchor(Unknown Source)
        at javax.swing.JTable.tableChanged(Unknown Source)
        at javax.swing.JTable.setModel(Unknown Source)
        at infinity.gui.StructViewer.<init>(SourceFile:129)
        at infinity.Struct.makeViewer(SourceFile:464)
        at infinity.Browser.setViewable(SourceFile:236)
        at infinity.gui.ResourceTree.valueChanged(SourceFile:115)
        at javax.swing.JTree.fireValueChanged(Unknown Source)
        at javax.swing.JTree$TreeSelectionRedirector.valueChanged(Unknown Source)
        at javax.swing.tree.DefaultTreeSelectionModel.fireValueChanged(Unknown Source)
        at javax.swing.tree.DefaultTreeSelectionModel.notifyPathChange(Unknown Source)
        at javax.swing.tree.DefaultTreeSelectionModel.setSelectionPaths(Unknown Source)
        at javax.swing.tree.DefaultTreeSelectionModel.setSelectionPath(Unknown Source)
        at javax.swing.JTree.setSelectionPath(Unknown Source)
        at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTreeUI.selectPathForEvent(Unknown Source)

        at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTreeUI$Handler.handleSelection(Unknown Source)
        at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicTreeUI$Handler.mousePressed(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.AWTEventMulticaster.mousePressed(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.AWTEventMulticaster.mousePressed(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.Component.processMouseEvent(Unknown Source)
        at javax.swing.JComponent.processMouseEvent(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.Component.processEvent(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.Container.processEvent(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.retargetMouseEvent(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.processMouseEvent(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.Window.dispatchEventImpl(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForHierarchy(Unknown Source)

        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(Unknown Source)
        at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(Unknown Source)

Hrm. First, sorry for the frustrated tone of the earlier post. I usually know enough not to post when I'm overtired and bleary-eyed...: )

Thanks for the clues, hlid. Something's definitely wrong then. I have been doing exactly as you describe--placing NI in my game directory, getting it to run, and then going into the savegame directory to access the savegame.

Then things go wrong. The only file I can access that does anything is the .sav file. It opens the big window on the right with a 'decompress' option, giving me .are, .toh, and .tot files--which I can't seem to do anything further with, even if they would do what I want them to do. Which I doubt.

When I try to access the .gam file--nothing happens. Nothing shows in the right-hand window at all. I've tried to open the .gam file using the left-hand menu, r-clicking the file, opening it in a new window, the drop-down 'file' menu...nothing.

Note that the 'Open Game' option in the File menu *only* looks for either .key files or 'all files'. There's no option to select .gam files at all. I'm going to look into this further--maybe I'm using a wrong version, or Winrar is somehow interfering even tho I've got NI running, or something.

(And just to show I'm not a total newbie at adjusting savegames: I used to hexedit the old Curse of the Azure Bonds etc, Eye of the Beholder, and so on to get the things I wanted. I went so far as to hexedit inventory in the Wizardry series, after beating them the first time. I've used Shadowkeeper extensively in the past, but never IESE or NI. And while I have teeny-tiny programming abilities (--Although true programmers would probably look at that statement as a kindergardner saying they have some math knowledge!: )--I have zero modding xp.)

I...thought dialog.tlk was just for things the chars said...

(And yes, I should have said three sorry. Missed that BillyBob popped by. Hi there!)

Err...Azazello...should I be hating you right now? : )

Just cuz I'm a stubborn cuss, I managed to find NearInfinity. Eventually figured out how to get it running by updating java and manually forcing extensions and things onto the program.

What the hell do I do with it? : )

Is this going to be worth learning how to use, or would it take the equivalent of a 1st-year college course of work and study...to figure out how to change the stats of a char? It seems to only want to open .key files, and when I try to open using the 'any file' option, it can only open .sav or something files, and then I can't figure out what to do from there. Instructions on the website don't seem to help; they seem to infer a level of knowledge about things that I just don't have.

Anyways, dead tired. Going to bed now. Thanks again, and have fun!

Okay! It's all installed. And it runs. Seems to have gone without a hitch. Thanks again, you two. I *know* I would have failed without your help. Probably about five times. : )

Two more questions, and then I'm done.

First, there's a program called Shorter-Better Transition (sbt14.exe) that I can't find to dl--but there's hints that it is already included in the huge BP/BGT install. Am I correct in that--do I already have it? And if not, do I need to find it before I finish BGI?

And finally, a savegame editor. Is there such a thing that will work? I hate how sucky the NPCs are in terms of stats and proficiencies. But I want to use the NPCs, and not just play with a party of 6 of my own chars. Shadowkeeper flat-out doesn't work, so after a bit of research I tried dling IESE. After searching for and finding 3 .dll files, it finally ran--and crashes whenever I try to access the savegame file. I even tried an older version of IESE, and it did the same thing. Anything else out there for me?

If I have to, I'll play with the NPCs as they are--but I'd really rather not. They sort of suck. I understand that with any editor I'd have to tread *very* carefully or risk breaking a savegame, of course...