Quest Name file list

Boradordin

Does anyone know where in the game files the names of the quests resides? I'm working on something along the line of Dudleyville's Quest List but would prefer to use the in-game names.

Cordially,
'Ol Bearded Menace

Wisp

The file you want is bgee.sql, specifically the quests and journals_quests tables, and the rows being inserted therein. You can obtain the file with WeiDU and the --biff-get command line option. Or I could not be a jerk and attach it. Either way. Oh, and then you need something for looking up the strrefs, like NI.

Boradordin

Thanks kindly Wisp, especially for extracting it.

Now for the really tough questions / comments. Every time I dust off BG I need to learn the utility programs all over again.

In NI, and thanks for the link, I can't see how to have it show those files with the Sql extension. Ahh, I think I might be catching on. Open the Sql file using EditPad Lite, go down to the INSERT INTO quests ROWS section and make note of the five digit numbers. Pop over to NI and open the string search window up, plugging in the five-digit number. For the quests that gets me the name. I can then take the description, doing a search with it, and come up with a brief description of the quest itself. Sweet! Thank you.

OR I could just scroll down to the INSERT INTO journals_quests ROWS line and do the same thing. An observations on my part though.

There are 172 quests in the first section. There are a whole lot more in the second section. Is the first section the main quest line? Is the second section have any bearing similar to what Dudleyville has? If so then there are a whole lot more than over at Dudleyville.

If I take this any further I'll have to figure out how to see any items or XP associated with them. IF I take it further that is

I'll muddle through the rest of it on my own and thank you kindly.

Cordially,
'Ol Bearded Menace

Wisp

Boradordin said:

There are 172 quests in the first section. There are a whole lot more in the second section. Is the first section the main quest line? Is the second section have any bearing similar to what Dudleyville has? If so then there are a whole lot more than over at Dudleyville.

The quests table holds the titles for each quest and journal_quests holds the journal_entries for each quest. The entries in the quests table consist of a title (a strref) and a quest id. Each entry in journals_quests consists of a strref to the journal_entry and a quest id, which signifies that the journal entry belongs to that quest.

As an example, let's take these excerpts from quests and journals_quests:

quests said:

2,'', 31271,0,0,0,
3,'', 31272,0,0,0,

In this case 2 and 3 are quest ids and 31271 ("A Bard's Request") and 31272 ("A Book for Firebead") are quest titles.

journals_quests said:

27415, 2,0,
27416, 2,0,
27082, 3,0,
27083, 3,0,

Here, we have two journal entries belonging to quest id 2 and another two belonging to quest id 3. 27415 is for when you have started "A Bard's Request" and 27416 is for when you have given the book to Rinnie, quest completed. Likewise, 27082 is the journal entry you get when you start the "A Book for Firebead" quest, and 27083 is the journal entry for when the quest has been completed.

Boradordin

Mein Gott! Well described Wisp. I was starting to see how the Quest ID (the first number) was tied to the journal entries, and then you popped up and did it in one fell swoop. This sounds eerily similar to how it was done in one of my old antique war game programs. I can only assume that most engines use a similar method.

Since we're on the topic of the data field relationships, is it known what the single quotes and the zeros represent in the Quests table? How about the trailing zero in the Journal Entries table? Where does it say, this quest belongs to this chapter?

I must say, that with a little concerted effort I should be able to redo Dudleyville's tables. I just need to figure out in my work how to denote what is a quest and what is a "thing to do." I've attached a sample of what I am trying to achieve. Everything in the PDF from is clickable and the third page is a check list.

I've yet to decide if I will do a section with the information you have so graciously helped me with.

Cordially,
'Ol Bearded Menace

Wisp

Boradordin said:

Since we're on the topic of the data field relationships, is it known what the single quotes and the zeros represent in the Quests table? How about the trailing zero in the Journal Entries table? Where does it say, this quest belongs to this chapter?

Most, or even all, of the other columns are probably used internally by the game, so they are not something we need to concern ourselves with.

Boradordin

Thanks kindly for the reply.

So... I went thru the BPEE.SQL file you passed along. After copying the Quest five-digit string, and pasting it into a string reference search of NI, I've come to the conclusion that the Sql file is for your game. The reason I came to that realization is that the file is missing some of the quests I have completed. I manually typed mine from the in-game journal. Your Kylee's Dagger quest is all the way at the bottom, 18675. The way the quests are listed suggests the other in which they were completed. Conversely, my Kylee's dagger, which does not appear in my in-game journal, should be near the top of the Quests section.

I did learn a lot thanks to you and, hopefully, you will continue to enlighten me.

But, I need all the quests for my effort to come to fruition. Since the game uses the five-digit string to denote a quest, and a five-digit string to reference the journal entry that corresponds, I can only presume that the quests start at a number (31270) and runs to another number (?????). Then the associated journal entries start at 31438 and go from there. Almost!

Since the last Quest number in the Sql file was 31431, there is not enough space between it and the first journal entry, 31438.

I'm setting this all up in a spreadsheet, copying and pasting from NI. I'll use that file as the basis for my InDesign file, picking and choosing as I go along. I suspect that the developers started with a series of pre-planned quests and ad hoc added others using no logical numbering sequence. OR, the game arbitrarily adds the numbers.

Cordially,
Confused 'Ol Bearded Menace

P.S. It would seem logical that one of the developers at Overhaul would be able to answer some of these questions / comments. I won't hold my breath.

Wisp

Boradordin said:

So... I went thru the BPEE.SQL file you passed along. After copying the Quest five-digit string, and pasting it into a string reference search of NI, I've come to the conclusion that the Sql file is for your game. The reason I came to that realization is that the file is missing some of the quests I have completed. I manually typed mine from the in-game journal. Your Kylee's Dagger quest is all the way at the bottom, 18675. The way the quests are listed suggests the other in which they were completed. Conversely, my Kylee's dagger, which does not appear in my in-game journal, should be near the top of the Quests section.

The file I uploaded is straight from the biff archive, so no runtime changes have been made to it. The reason you might see quests missing from it is that IIRC, there are still the odd issue with the journal system to be fixed. Kylee's dagger might have been included in the stalled patch.

Boradordin said:

I suspect that the developers started with a series of pre-planned quests and ad hoc added others using no logical numbering sequence. OR, the game arbitrarily adds the numbers.

The strrefs are pretty much written in stone and definitely static at runtime.

Boradordin

Thanks Wisp. Let me muddle with my concept and I'll get back to you. Just now I'm trying to remember just how I got the areas exported at a decent quality. I remember I used a screen capture program on one of the myriad utility programs. It had a scrollable window preview of the area. I copied the screen images and pasted them into Photoshop like a puzzle. The end result was 5120px by 3840 dimensional images. Derivatives were then generated that I use for my "little projects."

If I could ever figure how to post URLs using this forum I'd pass along a link to my site. Best I can offer is to do a Google search for "SpidersRPGWorld." Click thru the Baldur's Gate I material. I work on the site when I have free time from my other chores. Which ain't often.

Cordially,
'Ol Bearded Menace

Boradordin

Ah hah! It took some time and some thinking but now I recall how to get higher resolution area images.

Open up good old DLTCP. In it use a non-BG1:EE install setup source. Go to Edit > Area (ARE, WED). In the new window choose Load Area and select the area you want. Click on the horizontal Maps button. Click on Edit map and you should get a scrollable window you can screen capture to your heart's desire.

However, this series of steps will not work on a BG1:EE game, only on the original version. On a BG1:EE game all you get is a list of thumbnails. I suspect that Overhaul did something that makes DLTCP too old-fashhioned. I suspect Overhaul developed their own version of the various utility programs.

Cordially,
'Ol Bearded Menace