Question for pure re-installation

[PraetorA]

Hi everyone,

 

so I have a technical question regarding Item Randomiser.

 

I was in a game with around ~12 mods intalled (including EET), and I had Item Randomiser with Option 1 - which worked fine. However, due to some technical issues, I had to fully uninstall then reinstall my games - that means a pure installation of BG:EE, BG2:EE and the mods I selected (Weidu log can be found in the attachments). Of course, I did not want to abandon my save game, so after having everything set again, I loaded my save game.

Now here comes my question: how will Item Randomiser behave in this case? I carried over a save game from my previous setup which had Item Randomiser Option 1, and now - after a fresh install - I once again installed Item Randomiser Option 1, and want to use my old save.

1. The readme says it only works on new games, and the randomisation happens in Candlekeep - so my items won't be randomised any more?
2. Or the items are randomized, however, with a different 'pattern', therefore there's a chance I will find the same items again, and some items will never be found?
3. Or who knows what issues this could case later in the game, and I should uninstall randomisation from my current setup?

 

Thanks in advance for your answers!

[Wisp]

When you say "pure" I imagine you were not prompted by Item Randomiser for whether you wanted the mod reinstalled with save compatibility or not (because the files that would make IR issue such a prompt would not be present in your game). It might still be fine, however, as Mode 1 is light on install-time randomness and stores most or all of its state in your save. If you installed the same mods, none of them were random in a way that would affect IR and installed the same options for IR, the probability of things being fine increases. I'd suggest you continue playing for as long as you don't notice anything amiss.

 

Mode 1 randomises everything [1] at the start of the respective game (Candlekeep, Irenicus' dungeon, ToB starting area). It then uses a system of if variable such and such has this particular value, put the corresponding item in the area you are in, with the area you are in corresponding to the value of the variable. As such, if game state is the same before and after reinstallation, things would continue to work. However, if game state is mismatched, there is likelihood of problems. Your saved game notably stores areas you've already visited in the state they had when you visited them (plus whatever changes your made to them in-game), and if you visited them before reinstallation and their state were different after reinstallation, that state-change would not be reflected in you game. For your question 1, no, items would continue to be randomised, for 2, this is the likeliest kind of issues, if there are issues, and, 3, uninstalling is not without its share of problems either, as randomised items would be missing from areas you've already been to, but would never be found, as they would not be present in the area inside your saved game, because that's one kind of those state changes.

 

1. Not everything everything. BG1 items in Candlekeep, BG2 items next, etc.

Edited November 9, 2018 by Wisp

[PraetorA]

Hi Wisp!

 

First of all, thank you for this mod and your answers on it! It feels really good when the mod creator himself answers the questions!

 

I think now I understand the mechanism a bit better (after reading your explanation a few times ), however I still have a few more questions now, but before that, one more bit of information about my situation: I'm nearly at the end of BG1, and explored most of the areas / found most of the items. If I miss something from BG1, it won't be a very big issue for me.

 

Now my questions:

1. I have a slight change in the mods installed compared to my previous installation, and there are some changes in the components of the mods (I have Wheels of Prophecy installed now, but didn't have it earlier; in SCS I added more difficult battles, etc...). Do I understand right that this can change the randomization?
2. You wrote that "Mode 1 randomises everything [1] at the start of the respective game (Candlekeep, Irenicus' dungeon, ToB starting area)". I know EET is not officially supported, but does this mean that when I started my game, only BG1 items were randomized, and when I get to Irenicus' dungeon, the BG2 items will be randomized? That way I could be sure my BG2 items will be OK
3. You also wrote that "It then uses a system of if variable such and such has this particular value, put the corresponding item in the area you are in" - that means that putting a random item to a container / creature happens when I enter that area? I'm asking because I was thinking of testing the current randomization by spawning in some creatures to the area I am in, but in this case, this won't work
4. I understand that because of mode 1, the randomization is "linked" to my save game, so previously entered areas may have issues due to the mismatch of my installations. Does this also mean - from BG2 perspective - that my BG2 items should work as intended - meaning they will be randomized and put into containers / creatures? Since I have not visited any BG2 areas yet, therefore my save game doesn't have any link to it from my previous installation.

 

Once again, thank you for your previous answer - looking forward for your next one

 

Praetor

[Wisp]

When you start the BG2 portion of your game, it is effectively the same as starting a new game, as far as IR is concerned. You should not encounter any issues at all, not even on account of your slightly different mod setup.

 

You are correct that spawning creatures would not work. The best way to test would be to use to console to take you to one or more areas where you'd find random items.

 

Happy gaming.