Here's MY BG2 beginning!! (**UPDATED**)
SharGuidesMyHand
Member Posts: 2,584
Like many people here, I'd always been frustrated by the piss-poor continuity between BG1 and BG2, mainly because the so-called "canon" party is one that I would never willingly choose to finish BG1 with. The only one of that party that I genuinely like is Dynaheir, and she's long dead and gone before the game even begins! (at least Khalid gets to have his body shown). Not only that, but other of my favorite BG1 NPCs, like Kivan, don't even get a mention in BG2.
Then came @Vasculio's thread here,
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/457132
...and it turned my whole world upside down - or should I say, right side up!
I'm nearing the end of my current BG1 run, with a party that includes Kivan, Dynaheir, Branwen, and Coran, which I intend to complete the game with. Minsc had briefly been in my party long ago, but took a fatal stroll into a kobold arrow in the Naskel mines and was never raised. Although I won't actually finish the game with Khalid and Jaheira in my party, they had previously spent a fair amount of time in my party and were still alive when I dismissed them.
So I decided to create my own "canon" beginning for BG2, using Vasculio's method for importing BG1 NPCs into BG2, as well as a few other tricks up my own sleeve.
Assembling my BG2 party, starting the game in multiplayer. Recognize any familiar faces?
Be sure NOT to choose this dialogue option - or else they'll be a reference to a certain BG1 ranger who is no longer above ground.
The NPCs are released from their respective cells. Dynaheir's boots are still made for walking.
Valkur's buttocks are still strapping.
Kivan's soul still aches for his lost Deheriana.
Kivan still retains the 19 strength that he gained from a tome in BG1.
Better yet, Branwen retains the 19 wisdom that she gained from the 3 tomes in BG1. Look at all those bonus spells!
Branwen also retains her innate spiritual hammer ability (for anyone who ever actually uses this).
Dynaheir can still cure poison.
Branwen, what are you doing?!? Poor Dynaheir does not feel well inside.
Go swing that hammer somewhere else, Branwen! Should she stay here, or head off to the Copper Coronet?
Of course Jaheira doesn't recognize Branwen. They were never in my BG1 party at the same time.
What's in this cage? Oh nevermind - it's just a rat.
Pantaloons, shmantaloons! How about the Big-Fisted Belt instead!
Erm, the description seems to be a bit off. (Does anyone possibly know how this could be corrected?)
But hey, it still works!
What you see above actually required only a very minimal amount of EE-keepering - which is ideal for me, since I don't really like to hack games because I don't want to be perceived as "cheating," and also for fear that I'll break them. Most of the work involved exporting, renaming, and overriding existing files.
Obviously, this still isn't a perfect transition, but it's still a helluva lot better than what the original game offered.
I didn't want to mess around altering the game-generated NPCs, so Imoen is still a thief/mage dual (whereas I always keep her as a thief in BG1), and I didn't import Coran because he appears later in the game with an associated quest. I decided to allow the game-generated Jaheira to remain as a recruitable option too - even though I don't intend to finish BG1 with her, she at least will still be alive when the game ends, and she's associated with some of the best quests/subplots in BG2 IMO.
Thoughts?
Then came @Vasculio's thread here,
http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/457132
...and it turned my whole world upside down - or should I say, right side up!
I'm nearing the end of my current BG1 run, with a party that includes Kivan, Dynaheir, Branwen, and Coran, which I intend to complete the game with. Minsc had briefly been in my party long ago, but took a fatal stroll into a kobold arrow in the Naskel mines and was never raised. Although I won't actually finish the game with Khalid and Jaheira in my party, they had previously spent a fair amount of time in my party and were still alive when I dismissed them.
So I decided to create my own "canon" beginning for BG2, using Vasculio's method for importing BG1 NPCs into BG2, as well as a few other tricks up my own sleeve.
Assembling my BG2 party, starting the game in multiplayer. Recognize any familiar faces?
Be sure NOT to choose this dialogue option - or else they'll be a reference to a certain BG1 ranger who is no longer above ground.
The NPCs are released from their respective cells. Dynaheir's boots are still made for walking.
Valkur's buttocks are still strapping.
Kivan's soul still aches for his lost Deheriana.
Kivan still retains the 19 strength that he gained from a tome in BG1.
Better yet, Branwen retains the 19 wisdom that she gained from the 3 tomes in BG1. Look at all those bonus spells!
Branwen also retains her innate spiritual hammer ability (for anyone who ever actually uses this).
Dynaheir can still cure poison.
Branwen, what are you doing?!? Poor Dynaheir does not feel well inside.
Go swing that hammer somewhere else, Branwen! Should she stay here, or head off to the Copper Coronet?
Of course Jaheira doesn't recognize Branwen. They were never in my BG1 party at the same time.
What's in this cage? Oh nevermind - it's just a rat.
Pantaloons, shmantaloons! How about the Big-Fisted Belt instead!
Erm, the description seems to be a bit off. (Does anyone possibly know how this could be corrected?)
But hey, it still works!
What you see above actually required only a very minimal amount of EE-keepering - which is ideal for me, since I don't really like to hack games because I don't want to be perceived as "cheating," and also for fear that I'll break them. Most of the work involved exporting, renaming, and overriding existing files.
Obviously, this still isn't a perfect transition, but it's still a helluva lot better than what the original game offered.
I didn't want to mess around altering the game-generated NPCs, so Imoen is still a thief/mage dual (whereas I always keep her as a thief in BG1), and I didn't import Coran because he appears later in the game with an associated quest. I decided to allow the game-generated Jaheira to remain as a recruitable option too - even though I don't intend to finish BG1 with her, she at least will still be alive when the game ends, and she's associated with some of the best quests/subplots in BG2 IMO.
Thoughts?
Post edited by SharGuidesMyHand on
20
Comments
1. Use EE keeper to open a BG1 saved game, and click the checkbox that says "exportable" on the pages of any party members that you want to import into BG2. Then save, and reopen the game and export those NPCs.
2. Use WinBiff to locate and extract the voice files for BG1 NPCs. Two things to be aware of here:
-If you find that you have trouble opening the biff file with the voices in it, it may be because WinBiff recognizes the file as being in a different folder than it's actually in (it may be located in your "lang" folder, but WinBiff is searching for it in a "data" folder). To solve this problem, temporarily relocate the biff file to the folder that WinBiff is searching in.
-The "grunting" (i.e.: being hurt/killed) sounds are kept in a different biff file than the spoken dialogue sounds.
Once you've extracted the voice files, place them as is in the BG2 override folder - no renaming should be necessary.
3. Download the file that @Vasculio posted in the bottom of the 1st page of this thread, http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/457132 and place it in the BG2 override folder. This creates additional dialogue options for the imported NPCs when you dismiss or re-recruit them (as shown above in the screenshot of Branwen being dismissed). Otherwise, the imported NPCs will leave permanently when they are dismissed.
4. To override any characters or items in BG2 (as I did with Minsc and the pantaloons), use EE keeper or WinBiff to extract a file from BG1 or BG2, then rename it to the name of who- or whatever you want to override, and place it in the BG2 override folder.
5. Begin a BG2 game in multiplayer, and import the characters through the screen that appears just before the character generation screen (the one that lists characters to choose from). This ensures that your character will be associated with the correct voice file, whereas the char gen screen requires you to choose all new voices.
In his thread, Vasculio recommends that once you have begun playing in multiplayer, you then save the game, relocate the save file to the single player saved folder, and then continue playing in single player mode.
The biggest drawback I see is that there won't be any npc character banter, story, or quests. I think in my case, I'd rather use the Branwen and Kivan mods, so they'd have story arcs and dialogues. That still wouldn't help with Dynaheir, though.
Still, it's a great idea, and you've written a very nice guide about how to do it.
I just tried the same thing with the Albruin sword (for which there already is an item code in BG2), and in this case, the normal description shows up. All true. However, I don't necessarily intend to keep this party all the way through BG2 - I'll probably swap NPCs in and out, if only just to do their quests. That's why Vasculio's download is so important, because it allows you to dismiss and re-recruit the imported NPCs. Also, it should prevent the NPCs from becoming non-recruitable if they get petrified.
Although the BG2 NPCs provide more dialogue, I've always considered that to be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it can make the playing seem more spontaneous, but it often makes the characters themselves seem less likable IMO. I think the BG1 NPCs actually have the better personas despite having less dialogue (especially Kivan's "Robin Hood meets Clint Eastwood" persona), and I appreciate the fact that the "less is more" approach leaves a little mystery about them.
I also like the fact that I can give the BG1 tomes to someone other than my protagonist and not feel like they're being wasted.
Excellent guide.
One of my playthroughs had Coran and Quayle in it. :S! So looks like Boundaries will have to remain behind (or be CTRL+Y'd on sight or name-changed) and Fedora will have to remain in the circus.
Fedora, you will be replaced with Hot Dog Water Osprey.
I've started a BG2 run in earnest this time. Contrary to what I had originally intended, I decided not to allow Jaheira to remain in the opening of BG2, and instead overrided both her and Minsc with dead bodies (the ones that the game uses for Khalid's body, in fact). Looking over Jaheira's dialogue, I had realized that it very strongly implies that she has been a key figure in your group and has finished BG1 with you, which simply was not the case in my BG1 run (where she was only in my party for the first quarter of the game and really didn't leave much of an impression). I know that I will be depriving myself of a few very notable BG2 subquests/subplots, but Jaheira has always been a fixture of my BG2 runs, and I figure that excluding her here will at least give me the opportunity to focus on some other NPCs that I may have overlooked in the past (like Cernd, for example).
I also overrided Jaheira's cell key with the Albruin sword, and the golden pantaloons with Kiel's helmet (the one that you get in Durlag's tower which grants fear immunity).
As others here have pointed out, the BG1 NPCs won't provide the same sort of banters that the BG2 ones do, but it turns out that they still interact with each other on a much smaller scale (and it seems, more often than is triggered in BG1).
For example, Branwen still respects Kivan as a strong warrior.
Kivan still thinks Branwen is a valuable companion (I've always felt that there was a burgeoning romance between these two).
Kivan still hates the ways of the dwarven folk.
Dynaheir still marvels at the hustle and bustle of cities.
A very interesting interaction happened between Aerie and Dynaheir. Dynaheir's comment seems to fit with her persona, but Aerie's response is somewhat perplexing and even a bit disturbing IMO.
In terms of efficiency, my party has acquitted itself well at this early stage of the game, but I can envision how someone like Branwen (even with 19 wisdom from BG1 tomes) may be made redundant later on by someone like Anomen, who is simply a more well-rounded and versatile character.
I've especially enjoyed having Kivan in my party, as he's made a great archer and flanker (especially now that he has 19 strength from a BG1 tome). With a halberd, he was especially adept at reaching over my charname's shoulder and chunking opponents. I had recently bought him the Suryris halberd and given him a point in 2-handed weapon style, and was looking forward to seeing him really cut loose (alternatively, I was also looking forward to having him dual wield some of the many magical long swords in BG2). However, I ended up traveling to Umar Hills as my first quest outside Athkatla (due to my main char being a ranger), and after teaming up with Valygar and then Mazzy, I was basically forced to remove Kivan from my party to make room for them. I'm hopeful that I may have the opportunity to invite Kivan back into the party later on (perhaps after I finish Valygar's Planar quest?), but who knows what the future will hold?
One interesting thing that I've noticed is that the BG2 NPCs, on average, typically have a lot more HPs than the BG1 ones. My ranger charname is at level 9 with 16 con and has 77 HPs, and Kivan at level 9 and 14 con had only 54 HPs. By contrast, Valygar and Mazzy are both at level 9 with 16 con and each have 88 HPs. It would seem that the BG2 NPCs did a lot of reloading each time that they level'd up. ;-)
For now, regardless of what the future holds, I'm glad to at least feel a sense of continuity between the two games, and I've been able to spend a little more time with characters that I've become somewhat attached to and am accustomed to using.
O_o
but still, really cool idea. Well done and I wish something similar was implemented!
On another note, this thread is really interesting. I hope you keep the updates coming.