Things I can't do

[DavidW]

Here's a list of current issues that I can't (or can't easily) solve. It's probably incomplete - I'm working from memory here. I'll add new ones as I find them. The more significant an issue is, the harder I've tried (and failed) to solve it.

 

GAMEPLAY

 

Critical:

Randomly, very infrequently, irreproducibly, the game crashes to desktop when you look at the map screen. I have no idea why this is or how to fix it.(CamDawg's rebuild of the map files ALMOST fixes this, but once in a long while it still seems to happen)

I've got occasional and irreproducible critical bugs with the cutscene in the Yeti cave in the Vale of Shadows: occasionally, but not often, the game hangs here. (I think various scripting tidy-ups have fixed this.)

 

Significant:

I don't know how to stop the game ending when Player 1 dies. (I'm unsure whether this really matters or not) (Fixed now, thanks to ToBEx and Ascension64)

I can't convert thieves' Evasion or Sneak Attack abilities (Evasion now done, thanks to Nythrun)

 

Minor:

I can't block resting in Kuldahar and Easthaven directly. (I fake it, but it involves new dialogue)

In the Vale of Shadows, I think my converter handles spawning correctly according to the INI file that's supposed to control it, but that behaviour doesn't correspond to how spawning in that area actually works in-game. I think there is a hard-coded hack in the IWD engine which overrides the INI file. I haven't done the research to reproduce this, so spawning is somewhat more common in the Vale in IWD-in-BG2 than in IWD proper. (This isn't the same as the ridiculous overspawning noticed by players of v4: that was a bug in the converter, now fixed.) (After playtesting this a bit, I've just given up and blocked spawning in the Vale of Shadows. I have a feeling the playtesters of the original IWD may have had a similar experience)

The "default" soundset comes with no biography. I have no idea why.

 

SPELLS AND ITEMS

 

Significant:

I can't convert these spells: Seven Eyes, Soul Eater, (Great) Shout, Mordenkainen's Force Missiles, Spiritual Wrath, Mold Touch, Wall of Moonlight, Smashing Wave, Whirlwind.(Thanks to TheBigg, I've now got a (not quite perfect) conversion of Whirlwind)

I can't convert these items: Three White Doves; those items that cast the effects listed above(Three White Doves now converted, thanks to CamDawg)

My conversions of Cat's Grace, Power Word Stun/Kill, Blood Rage, Animal Rage, Chain Lightning, Static Charge are all a bit suboptimal (Thanks to ToBEx and Ascension64, Cat's Grace now works; actually, so do Kossuth's Blood, Kontik's Ring, Kossuth's Ring, the Ring of Edion, and Strength, all of which were a bit suboptimal but which I forgot to list)

 

 

COSMETIC

 

Significant:

I can't get the white dragon animation to work in IWD: we're making do with the BG2 one (I could use Erephine's version, but at 45MB it's twice the size of the rest of the mod put together, and I can't straightforwardly automate its generation)

The spell animations in IWD often have a sort of glow around them which I find a bit unattractive and which doesn't appear in IWD. I think this is because of some basic engine-level difference, but it might just be down to a VVC setting which I don't know.

 

Minor:

Something I don't quite understand about the GUI prevents the selected Inn in the room-for-the-night screen from getting the red border it ought to have.

Because the BG2 move-to-expansion command is not reversible but the IWD one is, I can't give IWD and HOW separate maps, so they're combined into one map.

The Kit selection screen in the character generator creates an unattractive shadow (Fixed now)

Some of the selection boxes on the character generator could do with being bigger (Fixed now)

The Bhaalspawn death movie plays at game-over (Fixed, thanks again to Nythrun)

The maps are only 3/4 the ideal size (IWD maps are larger, so that the biggest IWD areas fill the whole map screen).

Summoned monsters don't appear as quickly as I'd like (there's a puff of smoke, then a two-second pause, then they're there.) I could fix this if I knew the BAM file for the "golden bubble" animation that plays when monsters are summoned, but I can't find it. (note to self: apparently it's SPPLANAR ... no, apparently not, that's the more substantial animation you get from MS spells)

For some reason, the floor in certain areas (wooden floors, mostly) hides the selection circle of characters standing over it.(Fixed by CamDawg)

The rest icon is in the wrong place, and doesn't look quite as nice as it looks when it's in the right place.

If you hide the left-hand display bar, there's no button to bring it back (the quick-key still works)

Save-games in Heart of Winter get labelled as "-ToB".

Selecting a fist (i.e. unarmed attack) seems to select all fists (i.e. put a green box around all empty weapon quick-slots). As far as I can see this is purely cosmetic; in any case, I've no idea why it's happening.

IWD loadscreens show a picture of the area you're in. I can't manage to reproduce this.

I can't convert the "spells" (i.e. graphical effects) INNATE_CONTAINER_GLOW, INNATE_CONTAINER_GLOW_BAD, and INNATE_BLUE_GLOW. These all make things glow in pretty ways, but I'd have to reengineer them from scratch. If anyone has the patience to do this, please send me the copy.

The cursor disappears after you return to the credits page having completed the game. I have no idea why.

Edited July 17, 2012 by DavidW