Is there modding life in the BG2 engine yet?

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 10:49 am

The mod community for BG2 has never taken off like that of NWN and Morrowind, both of which were designed in part for modders. Still, BG2 has attracted some excellent mods. But given newer games that have drawn attention away from it, are we likely to see major mod efforts in the future, in your opinion? (Major *completed* mod efforts, that is. There are some impressive mods that have eternally been discussed, but never seen light of day.)

nephtu · Post by **nephtu** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 11:25 am

I suspect so...

Return to Windspear is quite far along, and looks exceedingly interesting, without being unreasonably ambitious.

With the Tutu TC for BG, you could really consider that as a rrecent Huge MOD for BGII, which it effectively is.

So, I'd have to say, yes, it probably will, ancient though BGII is (at least in game terms)

Mini Me · Post by **Mini Me** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 11:28 am

BP-BGT-NEJ

I think most of our best modders are working on this hehehe

NeJ itself is due to take 3 more years i believe. Check the Bodies is due for release soon too. That looks very good from what I have seen. Lost Crossroads is another in the making (with dedication)

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 11:51 am

Return to Windspear, though, seems to be proceeding at a snail's pace, if one can judge from its forum. I sincerely hope they finish it one day, because it looks to be strong on roleplaying elements.

Tutu TC...? What is that?

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 11:58 am

Originally posted by Mini Me
BP-BGT-NEJ

I think most of our best modders are working on this hehehe

NeJ itself is due to take 3 more years i believe. Check the Bodies is due for release soon too. That looks very good from what I have seen. Lost Crossroads is another in the making (with dedication)

check the bodies is OUT, version 145, and fixpack b...kinda buggy, but absolutely playable...HUGE mod...just huge...

http://www.teambg.net/forum/?board=99

bg tutu, is like bgt, baldur's gate trilogy...essentially, it converts bg1 and tales of sword coast into the bg2 engine, so you can play a sorceror in bg1...

nephtu · Post by **nephtu** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 11:59 am

Tutu...

Tutu is here

Return to Windspear is slow, but will (I believe) emerge before the heat death of the universe.

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 12:07 pm

Originally posted by UserUnfriendly
check the bodies is OUT, version 145, and fixpack b...kinda buggy, but absolutely playable...HUGE mod...just huge...

You're right, UU, it does look huge, and it has a modder with a good rep behind it. Have you played it, or are you stating it's buggy based on that forum? I'm curious just how badly bugged CtB is, and how much work is currently going into fixing the bugs. I can't get a sense of either from that forum, what with the constant sniping among members, the growling at newbies, etc.

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 12:14 pm

Originally posted by fable
You're right, UU, it does look huge, and it has a modder with a good rep behind it. Have you played it, or are you stating it's buggy based on that forum? I'm curious just how badly bugged CtB is, and how much work is currently going into fixing the bugs. I can't get a sense of either from that forum, what with the constant sniping among members, the growling at newbies, etc.

i've actually posted and notified cbisson about some bugs...but at this point, its completely playable, albeit with a little tweeking by me...its over 200 megs big, so truthfully, i'm awed by how few bugs there are, for such a huge project..and despite what may seem a less than totally friendly board, whenever anyone reported legitimate and serious bug reports, CB takes rapid action...which is all you really need, after all...and i'm afraid that the ie modding community boards have always been that way...

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 12:29 pm

Originally posted by UserUnfriendly
i've actually posted and notified cbisson about some bugs...but at this point, its completely playable, albeit with a little tweeking by me...

You make it sound here as though the game really isn't quite playable, unless your tweaking is employed. Without quantifying matters, is the average member of this forum in your opinion likely to get frustrated over having the amount of work-arounds necessary to play it through?

its over 200 megs big, so truthfully, i'm awed by how few bugs there are, for such a huge project..and despite what may seem a less than totally friendly board, whenever anyone reported legitimate and serious bug reports, CB takes rapid action...which is all you really need, after all...and i'm afraid that the ie modding community boards have always been that way...

True enough. I know of at least one major modder (not the one under discussion) who seems incapable of replying to anybody without baring fangs. He also laments the way people join his team for a while, then leave. One wonders if the two could be related.

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 12:42 pm

Originally posted by fable
You make it sound here as though the game really isn't quite playable, unless your tweaking is employed. Without quantifying matters, is the average member of this forum in your opinion likely to get frustrated over having the amount of work-arounds necessary to play it through?

its over 200 megs big, so truthfully, i'm awed by how few bugs there are, for such a huge project..and despite what may seem a less than totally friendly board, whenever anyone reported legitimate and serious bug reports, CB takes rapid action...which is all you really need, after all...and i'm afraid that the ie modding community boards have always been that way...

True enough. I know of at least one other major modder who seems incapable of replying to anybody without baring fangs. He also laments the way people join his team for a while, then leave. One wonders if the two could be related.

CBGORCLD.DLG
AR3501.ARE
CBGORCLD.BCS

delete these 3 files from override as per the information in this post here...if you installed fixpack b...

http://www.teambg.net/forum/?board=100; ... adid=11552

the tutorial area of candlekeep has a big bug, which cb says will be remedied by next fixpack...since most of the people playing it now is already past the tutorial area of candlekeep, its not a big issue...and have already played tag and hide-and-seek with the child imoen...

that's it...since i reported the bug originally, i've been keeping an eye on it...

and cbisson has been very impressively timely with bug fixes and patches, so i concentrate on that, and he/she has been very informative, and quite friendly...

i think i know the modder you're talking about..urg...

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 12:52 pm

Thanks, UU. Have you tested it with various WeiDU mods, like Kelsey or the improved banter packs? Or is this best run with an updated vanilla (latest official patches, Baldurdash patch) of the games?

UserUnfriendly · Post by **UserUnfriendly** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 1:01 pm

Originally posted by fable
Thanks, UU. Have you tested it with various WeiDU mods, like Kelsey or the improved banter packs? Or is this best run with an updated vanilla (latest official patches, Baldurdash patch) of the games?

tested with

tactics mod, ease of use, item upgrade,imoen romance mod, delainey werewolf romance mod...works great!!!

(delainey is an alpha build i'm playtesting for bri and camdawg)

its important to install over a vanilla build of bg2 and tob, then at your own risk, install weidu mods after check the bodies and fix packs...

follow good muti mod installing tips, like updating the weidu installers for all mods with the latest version of weidu you've downloaded....before installing any of them...

Galmar · Post by **Galmar** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 1:11 pm

I think we just need more fun pick up and play multiplayer mods, like that mage dual thingy. Its not often i really want to play SoA from the start with a party i cant control.

I remember gamespy a while back, played around 5 games.

1st game went well till we got out of the first dungeon, then the guy decided to try to pickpocket a few NPC's. needless to say the entire screen goes hostile and thats the end of that.

2nd game the guy had a level 40/40/40 F/M/T with spells like wail of the father... yeah that was real fun..

3rd game was another maxed stat character, who thought it would be fun to pickpocket evert item i got before backstabbing me with the shadow theif protecter's weapon (or is it the elven ones?) that sickeninly strong varscona edit.

4th the guy used a wildmage, did a wildsurge and i got a nice spell scroll, later on he did it and gated in a demon.

5th was pretty nice up till the de'arnise keep where at which time we missed 2 of the flail heads, and the PC was a fighter, he got the stronghold, went back inside and they were gone, PC got annoyed and left.

Still it was fun while it lasted, but it gets repetetive, some nice, highly chaotic stuff would be perhaps more enjoyable sometimes... hell i wanna see 2 conjorers summoning things to play capture the flag with.

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 1:31 pm

Good outlining of the problems facing anybody who wants to multiplay, @Galmar. I can't begin to tell you the sheer, constant volume of complaints we received in realtime when I worked for one MMOPRG--and they only had a constant, online membership of 17-20,000. Of course, we had rules in place and regularly locked up newbie killers and people who pickpocketed newbies, but still, each incident had to be dealt with individually by a live DM.

So if good multi mods are what you want, one of the basics needed would seem to be a way for the game to prevent parties that include newbies and high level characters, except for specific game-designated helpers in the latter category. Tough to implement. I know.

Galmar · Post by **Galmar** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 1:48 pm

I think everyone's too harsh on newbies really, the only way to really enjoy any multiplay game however seems to be with friends, it kind of runs the risk of making the games inacsessable to new players.

When vampire the masqureade: redemption came out i messed around as a DM with some people, had a lot of fun, in the end however the idiocy of some people just ruined he atmosphere, the solution was private games.

Just seems a shame to me that a few bad apples can ruin the barrel. At least with tabletop the other person is in striking range.

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 1:56 pm

Originally posted by Galmar
Just seems a shame to me that a few bad apples can ruin the barrel. At least with tabletop the other person is in striking range.

Basic flaw in multiplayer gaming on the Web, isn't it? Out of sight, out of reach. Well, not really, but difficult enough to take much of the fun out of gaming when you have to ensure that the idiot who screwed your game or party over can't do it, again.

A good table-top RPG among friends can be a great experience. Barring that, I tend to think the best fun comes from a singleplayer game like BG2 or PS:T, where the NPC party members actually simulate both personality and a degree of self-willed behavior. Sure, it's fake. But it seems real at the time, it adds to the flavor of the game, and you're not about to be blown away at any time by some guy who's just bent on giving everybody a hassle because his dad's told him he has to quit playing online.

Galmar · Post by **Galmar** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 2:15 pm

Exactly, who needs RL friends when you have keldorn?

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 2:25 pm

Originally posted by Galmar
Exactly, who needs RL friends when you have keldorn?

So you think your Gamespy multiplayer groups constituted reallife? Hell, reallife has to be better than that.

And since when does reallife enter gaming, in any case? Finding out what a person's like has far more to do with shared experiences based on a broad variety of experiential inputs, rather than simply encountering a few monsters and rolling dice.

As for experience reallife itself, that's where gaming limits come into play.

1-2 hours per day, plenty of time left over for peer groups, love interests, family interactions, etc.

Galmar · Post by **Galmar** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 2:32 pm

experience... ok get the cap remover, i understand.
Peer groups? ok no more mixed alignments.
romances? ok ill get the flirt packs as well? family interactions???? i hate the government district.

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 2:34 pm

Originally posted by Galmar
experience... ok get the cap remover, i understand.
Peer groups? ok no more mixed alignments.
romances? ok ill get the flirt packs as well? family interactions???? i hate the government district.

LOL! Personally, I'm still searching for an adequate user's manual. Or better yet, a DM's one.