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Discussion on 'Converting existing mods to the EE engine'


jastey

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Just mirroring here my query on the "common workshop" thread: what ToBEx functionality has found its way into BG2EE? SCS uses:

 

- configurable bypass-II flag

- configurable ignore-mirror-image flag

- expanded number of slots in RNDTREAS

 

(It also uses the option to deactivate concentration checks on zero damage but I think I'll just have to work around that.)

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And now we've got our new WeiDU. I went through and updated a variety of mods to get an idea of how hard it would be, and also so that folks can have some real-world examples.

 

G3 Anniversary is probably the easiest mod to examine and covers a lot of territory--it adds audio, a tileset, and uses journal entries, so it covers most of the updates you'll need to do. Mur'Neth is a good example for BG:EE conversion as it now covers Tutu, BGT, and BGEE. It also includes a kit and uses some of the unique kit features available when installed on EE.

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Thank you, that's really very-very helpful! Respect for doing so much updates at once! To you and all involved, naturally.

 

Okay, here comes love, here comes marriage, here comes Kulyok with silly questions. Here we go:

 

- off-topic, but something strange happened with the default path in G3A installer: when I clicked it for the first time, G3A installer offered me a ProgramFiles directory. When I installed the mod and clicked the installer the second time(and the third), it showed my current directory, D:\Personal\Mods\VariousMods, but when I moved it to another directory, D:\Personal\Stuff and clicked it there, it still showed me D:\Personal\Mods\VariousMods. Weird.

 

- We only have to edit Setup-Mod.tp2, and add some lines to Setup-Mod.tra(+ create a Setup-Mod-EE.tra where we put all item descriptions, minus their usable/unusable blocks), correct? Nothing else needs to be changed(okay, portraits).

- All in all, the changes in G3A amount to this: an extra .tra file which overwrites our item descriptions(lines @182 and @190), and ADD_JOURNAL command, right?

- Why did adding CD_STATE_VALID state moved to the section where the game is not BG2EE? Does it mean that BG2EE has CD_STATE_NOTVALID by default? (And Cam achieved immortality?)

- AddJournal. Am I correct in assuming that ADD_JOURNAL TITLE (@19984) @19985 @19986 is not enough and we still need good old AddJournalEntry(@19985,QUEST_DONE) and EraseJournalEntry(@19986) and such, and they'll still work correctly? Because no tutorial mentioned this fact(or else I'm a horrible reader), and I'm a bit lost/nervous without confirmation.

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And, before I forget, one more question: suppose a mod is not traified, and the only journal entries it has look like this:

 

UNSOLVED_JOURNAL ~The Final Battle with Bodhi.

 

Bodhi appeared in an ambush shortly before I reached her haven, warning me that she was aware of my pursuit and stealing from me the one person that is dearest to my heart: Branwen. Before she vanished and unleashed more of her undead creations upon me, Bodhi warned me that if I continue I will lose even more than I thought possible. I cannot give up on the Rhynn Lanthorn... but now the life and immortal soul of the one I love is at stake, as well!~

SOLVED_JOURNAL ~The Final Battle with Bodhi.

 

While I had feared for some time that Bodhi's final revenge on me would be to take away Branwen forever, it seems that the information in the lorebook was right... Amaunator's idol has restored Branwen not only to life, but has removed the vampiric curse from her, as well.~

 

What do we do in ADD_JOURNAL, then? Will the lines below work?

 

ADD_JOURNAL TITLE (~The Final Battle with Bodhi.~)

~The Final Battle with Bodhi.

 

Bodhi appeared in an ambush shortly before I reached her haven, warning me that she was aware of my pursuit and stealing from me the one person that is dearest to my heart: Branwen. Before she vanished and unleashed more of her undead creations upon me, Bodhi warned me that if I continue I will lose even more than I thought possible. I cannot give up on the Rhynn Lanthorn... but now the life and immortal soul of the one I love is at stake, as well!~

~The Final Battle with Bodhi.

 

While I had feared for some time that Bodhi's final revenge on me would be to take away Branwen forever, it seems that the information in the lorebook was right... Amaunator's idol has restored Branwen not only to life, but has removed the vampiric curse from her, as well.~

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- AddJournal. Am I correct in assuming that ADD_JOURNAL TITLE (@19984) @19985 @19986 is not enough and we still need good old AddJournalEntry(@19985,QUEST_DONE) and EraseJournalEntry(@19986) and such, and they'll still work correctly? Because no tutorial mentioned this fact(or else I'm a horrible reader), and I'm a bit lost/nervous without confirmation.

Yes, you still need to use AddJournalEntry() etc. (the tutorial does mention this). ADD_JOURNAL is strictly something extra you do in additional to the regular stuff.

 

And, before I forget, one more question: suppose a mod is not traified, and the only journal entries it has look like this:

You need to traify. You can only ADD_JOURNAL with @trarefs, #strrefs and (AT var)s. If it's any consolation, using trarefs is less error-prone than using raw strings. If you ADD_JOURNALed with a string that did not exactly match the journal entry as used in D/BAF files, the results would not be what you desired (ADD_JOURNAL would create another strref use that instead).

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- off-topic, but something strange happened with the default path in G3A installer: when I clicked it for the first time, G3A installer offered me a ProgramFiles directory. When I installed the mod and clicked the installer the second time(and the third), it showed my current directory, D:\Personal\Mods\VariousMods, but when I moved it to another directory, D:\Personal\Stuff and clicked it there, it still showed me D:\Personal\Mods\VariousMods. Weird.

The installer looks for the usual BG2 directory; if it can't find it it'll just use the current path. Once you select a path, though, it'll remember it.

 

- All in all, the changes in G3A amount to this: an extra .tra file which overwrites our item descriptions(lines @182 and @190), and ADD_JOURNAL command, right?

Right, though I would also highly recommend moving audio and tileset decompression to the new HANDLE_AUDIO and HANDLE_TILESETS macros. It's so much easier than having to maintain platform-specific batch files.

 

- Why did adding CD_STATE_VALID state moved to the section where the game is not BG2EE? Does it mean that BG2EE has CD_STATE_NOTVALID by default? (And Cam achieved immortality?)

I probably should have been a little more careful here--CD_STATE_NOTVALID is in BG2EE, but not BGEE. STATE_REALLY_DEAD, being necessary for bugfixes, is on both.

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1 vote to make CD_STATE_NOTVALID universal to BG:EE, BG2:EE, any other future XX:EE, et al (tell Coriander that you demand permanent status on all variants of i.e. games or you will be forced to republish the bigg's square, round, triangular, and trapezoidal mods :) )

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