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Custom kit and item questions

Abdel_AdrianAbdel_Adrian Member Posts: 430
edited January 2015 in General Modding
Hey, I've looked everywhere and can't find the specific answers to my questions,so hopefully someone here can help out a Baldur's Gate veteran new to modding.
First off, I installed the latest WeiDU, but relied solely on DLTCEP for my purposes. By modifying the .2da's, I was able to create a rough draft Bladesinger kit. It's supposed to be a Fighter/Mage kit available to elves, but to simplify it for now I made it a fighter kit with all spell casting being innate.

W̶h̶i̶l̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶y̶,̶ ̶m̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶i̶s̶s̶u̶e̶s̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶k̶i̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶s̶e̶l̶f̶,̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶I̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶f̶i̶g̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶f̶i̶r̶s̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶l̶l̶o̶w̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶c̶u̶s̶t̶o̶m̶ ̶k̶i̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶w̶i̶e̶l̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶u̶s̶t̶o̶m̶ ̶w̶e̶a̶p̶o̶n̶.̶ ̶W̶i̶t̶h̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶k̶i̶t̶l̶i̶s̶t̶.̶2̶d̶a̶,̶ ̶I̶'̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶r̶i̶e̶d̶ ̶c̶h̶a̶n̶g̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶B̶l̶a̶d̶e̶s̶i̶n̶g̶e̶r̶'̶s̶ ̶"̶U̶N̶U̶S̶A̶B̶L̶E̶"̶ ̶v̶a̶l̶u̶e̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶0̶x̶0̶0̶0̶0̶4̶0̶0̶0̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶0̶x̶0̶0̶0̶0̶0̶0̶0̶1̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶i̶c̶e̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶f̶f̶e̶r̶e̶n̶c̶e̶;̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶r̶s̶t̶ ̶v̶a̶l̶u̶e̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶k̶i̶t̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶e̶m̶ ̶r̶e̶s̶t̶r̶i̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶a̶ ̶t̶r̶u̶e̶ ̶c̶l̶a̶s̶s̶ ̶f̶i̶g̶h̶t̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶y̶e̶t̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶c̶u̶s̶t̶o̶m̶ ̶w̶e̶a̶p̶o̶n̶ ̶u̶s̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶e̶l̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶s̶i̶n̶g̶l̶e̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶m̶u̶l̶t̶i̶ ̶f̶i̶g̶h̶t̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶u̶n̶u̶s̶a̶b̶l̶e̶.̶ ̶O̶b̶v̶i̶o̶u̶s̶l̶y̶ ̶D̶L̶T̶C̶E̶P̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶h̶a̶s̶ ̶c̶h̶e̶c̶k̶ ̶b̶o̶x̶e̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶o̶r̶i̶g̶i̶n̶a̶l̶ ̶k̶i̶t̶s̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶s̶i̶m̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶w̶a̶y̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶a̶d̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶k̶i̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶U̶S̶A̶B̶L̶E̶ ̶B̶Y̶ ̶l̶i̶s̶t̶.̶

I̶n̶ ̶a̶d̶d̶i̶t̶i̶o̶n̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶n̶o̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶b̶l̶e̶m̶ ̶e̶d̶i̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶r̶e̶f̶e̶r̶e̶n̶c̶e̶s̶ ̶r̶e̶q̶u̶i̶r̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶g̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶k̶i̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶l̶o̶w̶e̶r̶ ̶&̶ ̶m̶i̶x̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶i̶t̶l̶e̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶d̶e̶s̶c̶r̶i̶p̶t̶i̶o̶n̶,̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶I̶ ̶t̶r̶y̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶i̶m̶i̶l̶a̶r̶ ̶m̶e̶t̶h̶o̶d̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶c̶u̶s̶t̶o̶m̶ ̶i̶t̶e̶m̶,̶ ̶I̶'̶m̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶o̶r̶i̶g̶i̶n̶a̶l̶ ̶i̶t̶e̶m̶'̶s̶ ̶d̶e̶s̶c̶r̶i̶p̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶g̶a̶m̶e̶.̶ ̶I̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶r̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶w̶o̶r̶d̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶s̶w̶o̶r̶d̶-̶u̶s̶e̶r̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶w̶i̶e̶l̶d̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶m̶o̶d̶i̶f̶i̶e̶d̶ ̶i̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶i̶d̶e̶n̶t̶i̶f̶i̶e̶d̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶i̶n̶g̶s̶.̶ ̶E̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶ ̶I̶ ̶m̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶h̶a̶n̶g̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶D̶L̶T̶C̶E̶P̶ ̶I̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶N̶I̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶v̶i̶c̶e̶ ̶v̶e̶r̶s̶a̶,̶ ̶y̶e̶t̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶S̶e̶l̶d̶a̶r̶i̶n̶e̶'̶s̶ ̶F̶u̶r̶y̶ ̶+̶6̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶d̶s̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶V̶a̶r̶s̶c̶o̶n̶a̶ ̶+̶2̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶g̶a̶m̶e̶,̶ ̶d̶e̶s̶p̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶p̶l̶e̶t̶e̶l̶y̶ ̶o̶v̶e̶r̶w̶r̶i̶t̶t̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶d̶i̶a̶l̶o̶g̶.̶ ̶C̶r̶e̶a̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶b̶r̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶n̶e̶w̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶i̶n̶g̶s̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶g̶i̶v̶e̶s̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶v̶a̶l̶i̶d̶ ̶r̶e̶f̶e̶r̶e̶n̶c̶e̶s̶.̶
A̶n̶y̶ ̶h̶e̶l̶p̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶g̶r̶e̶a̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶a̶p̶p̶r̶e̶c̶i̶a̶t̶e̶d̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶k̶s̶!̶

edit: I did get it to equip by selecting every class in DLTCEP, only excluding evil & neutral alignments and non-elf races, but now I'll never know exactly what did it and why....

edit: well now I feel really sillly, I solved my problem and located the duplicate strrefs, I had dialog.tlk copies just about everywhere, and I was able to rewrite them successfully after finding one that didn't crash my game.

Since I solved all my own problems, feel free to tell me how I can make this a mage, or better yet, F/M kit, or WeiDU compatible. Any suggestions are welcome.
Post edited by Abdel_Adrian on

Comments

  • GrammarsaladGrammarsalad Member Posts: 2,582
    edited January 2015
    Is it okay that other fighters can use the weapon? All you have to do is allow fighter usage (make sure fighters are checked in the usability section if the item); just use 0̶x̶0̶0̶0̶0̶4̶0̶0̶0̶ for usability.

    "Creating brand new strings" are you using weidu? That is the best way to do it.

    Okay, answering as I'm reading...

    It might be easier if you uploaded what you have. This way, we can take a look and give some suggestions
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  • Abdel_AdrianAbdel_Adrian Member Posts: 430
    @Grammarsalad‌ I would prefer that only fighter/mages, FMTs, and my Bladesinger "fighter" [F/M] kit could wield this weapon, however, selecting true class fighter, FM & FMT, and marking my Bladesinger with 0x00004000 doesn't seem sufficient.

    I "fixed" my strref issue and introduced a new one: I've got copies of dialog.tlk in both 00783 and en_US so that I could use DLTCEP (looks for dialog.tlk in 00783) and play the game (looks for dialog.tlk in en_US). If I use DLTCEP to change the 00783 file, I have to replace the en_US one to use the strings in game. So now my custom weapons (and kit descriptions) are tweakable again.

    First, I really need a way to have DLTCEP look for dialog.tlk in en_US instead of 00783, these duplicates are giving me headaches.
    Second, I seem to have introduced the error of blank fields below "equipped abilities" on armor (not weapons, oddly enough), but the strrefs still have the appropriate data below that line, so it's not the strings themselves missing the information. This is a more serious issue that I could really use help on.
    I only used DLTCEP, no WeiDU. Any suggestions involving WeiDU should assume I have very limited knowledge of it.

    @subtledoctor‌ I used NI v1.32 a little bit, and I feel that something to do with the differences "-" is coded in NI and DLTCEP is causing my missing equipped abilities, but idk how to resolve this. I don't mind having reused strings for my custom sword, as it uses a BG1 item in game 2, and the custom armor I made, I used new strings and a new .itm file so as to not replace any items, but this is when I noticed missing equip abilities (not displayed). Removing the custom items doesn't restore proper text so I feel that NI and DLTCEP are competing somehow, and anything below an unreadable symbol in either gets ignored. For my own purposes, any kit I make myself will be kitted in char creation and not in game, but I'd love to play an actual Bladesinging F/M, I'll definitely check it out.

    I can't attach my .2da's, but within kitlist.2da it reads:

    Rowname Lower Mixed Help Abilities Proficiency Unusable Class Kitids
    41 Bladesinger 30 47 60 CLABFI07 61 0x00004000 2 *

    strrefs 30, 47, and 60 were all blank and currently work fine, I made CLABFI07 and it works fine too, it took me a while to figure out 61 in proficiency meant it would look at the 61st column in weapprof.2da but I accounted for that and profs work fine now. The biggest kit issue currently is errors within the char gen screen. (i.e. mage & thief kits should not be under fighter.)

    image
  • GrammarsaladGrammarsalad Member Posts: 2,582
    First things first: are you following the instructions in this thread:
    http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/34119/how-to-making-kit-mods-for-the-ee/p1
  • Abdel_AdrianAbdel_Adrian Member Posts: 430
    edited January 2015
    Lol, and now I've corrupted my dialog.tlk too much with all this copying and overwriting, game consistently crashes when trying to select class.

    edit: through trial and error, I found an uncorrupted dialog.tlk that both lets me select classes/kits, and view equipped effects. It has to be a DLTCEP and NI competition issue.

    edit: hmm, now I only have dialog.tlk in 00783 allowing DLTCEP to find it, but my game is still playable with only dialog.tlk.old in en_US, I just can't use EEKeeper this way.
    Post edited by Abdel_Adrian on
  • Abdel_AdrianAbdel_Adrian Member Posts: 430
    edited January 2015
    @Grammarsalad‌ more or less, yes, but completely with DLTCEP. I edited the correct 2das, that guide doesn't go much into strrefs.

    edit: and just reviewing http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/34119/how-to-making-kit-mods-for-the-ee/p1 reaffirms that I edited all the proper 2das, and did so the same way they'd be put into WeiDU, so I'd still see "Fighter, Abjurer, Conjurer, Diviner, etc.." in char gen.
    Post edited by Abdel_Adrian on
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  • Abdel_AdrianAbdel_Adrian Member Posts: 430
    @subtledoctor‌ They're both interesting methods, although they seem a little complicated given my current skill level. My only hesitations with WeiDU are 1) there's very little explanation as to how to use it with the EEs and frankly I'm lost, and 2) being a compiler, WeiDU really can't do anything that I'm not already doing manually, and to me that's half the fun of learning the IE's ins and outs.
  • Abdel_AdrianAbdel_Adrian Member Posts: 430
    (6) Images attached, if anyone is interested in my custom artifact-wielding Bladesinger, keeping in mind it's not only incomplete, but a kit best suited for PnP as well. I don't have ways of implementing most of his abilities. Kit description taken from the Complete Book of Elves.
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  • Abdel_AdrianAbdel_Adrian Member Posts: 430
    I'm not having any trouble getting my items into game, but I do want to try the method you suggested. My problem right now is not knowing how to create strings in DLTCEP, and doing so in NI is consistently screwing up what's visible in-game. As long as I use existing blank strrefs or overwrite one in the case of items only in BG1, custom items have been a breeze.
    I would eventually like to make my mod WeiDU compatible though, but there's plenty I could do to improve it first.

    The char gen screen is still out of order, displaying invalid kits, I'd love to fix this just for aesthetics, and I guess to be able to choose other kits while my bladesinger is active (you can't pick abjurer from under fighter, it rolls a fighter).

    And what I'd really like to do next is create the bladesinger as a mage kit without overwriting one of the existing ones, I just keep seeing it's possible but I'm not seeing how.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited January 2015
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • AquadrizztAquadrizzt Member Posts: 1,069
    Having done a lot of work with Mage kits, I can say that the Mage kits shown at character creation are prohibitively hard-coded (in fact, there isn't even a K_M_X file in the game resources). However, that does not prevent you from adding mage kits to the game; they just won't be selectable at creation.

    The way that I got around this in Tome and Blood is by having specialists receive a "Declare Kit" ability that they can use once they are created. This ability opens up a dialogue menu where they can select from any kit they qualify for. Confirming their selection then changes them to that kit.
  • Abdel_AdrianAbdel_Adrian Member Posts: 430
    @subtledoctor‌ I'm not doubting the usefulness of WeiDU, I genuinely do want to get back into using it now that I'm creating my own mods. The SAY command definitely seems simpler than what I've been doing, although I think I've figured it out for the most part with DLTCEP & NI.
    I don't think my K_F_Race tables are the issue, they're all the same format and whether or not the kit is grayed out with respect to the race is also correct, but when I remove kitlist.2da from override, "bladesinger" now reads as a second dwarven defender tab for whatever reason, and all other kits are where they belong. So I have a feeling it's something to do with kitlist- maybe kitids, I could only get it to work with an asterisk in that field. But I am trying to keep my changes cleanly reversible, especially to track and learn from all my mistakes.

    @Aquadrizzt‌ That "declare kit" ability sounds like a good alternative, although definitely beyond my modding skills. When I first tried to challenge the hardcoding, I made my own K_M_x tables, and even K_FM_x when I found out the class IDs for multiclasses but I knew I was being hopeful. It seems like the closest a person with my skills could get to a [fighter]mage kit is with a bard kit, but their exclusion to elves is another roadblock.
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  • Abdel_AdrianAbdel_Adrian Member Posts: 430
    @subtledoctor‌ hmm I thought elven bards was something hardcoded against, but maybe I'm just thinking about non-human dualclasses. I'll definitely attempt it if it's that easy to allow bardic elves. I never would have used the blade kit anyway, and its offensive/defensive spins could actually work in nicely. I already set my bladesinger's unusable to the blade's value, 0x00200000, but it doesn't seem to have worked. I was trying to limit his armor choices w/o effecting weapons, but other than a thief ID, idk what could use elven chain and studded leather but not regular chain or shields.
  • AquadrizztAquadrizzt Member Posts: 1,069

    @subtledoctor‌ hmm I thought elven bards was something hardcoded against, but maybe I'm just thinking about non-human dualclasses. I'll definitely attempt it if it's that easy to allow bardic elves. I never would have used the blade kit anyway, and its offensive/defensive spins could actually work in nicely. I already set my bladesinger's unusable to the blade's value, 0x00200000, but it doesn't seem to have worked. I was trying to limit his armor choices w/o effecting weapons, but other than a thief ID, idk what could use elven chain and studded leather but not regular chain or shields.

    Fun fact: the human-only restriction on dual classing is soft coded now. There is a dual-class line (line 61) in CLSRCREQ.2DA that allows you to choose which races are able to dual-class.

  • Abdel_AdrianAbdel_Adrian Member Posts: 430
    edited January 2015
    I saw that line but figured there was something else hardcoded I couldn't change, I actually changed all the values to let every demi-human dual, and then doubted it would work so much that I reverted it back without even trying it.
  • Abdel_AdrianAbdel_Adrian Member Posts: 430
    Well, now I've got fighter and bard versions of my kit, I'm pretty satisfied for now. But for some reason it's getting the right allowable profs/maxprofs, but the bards proficiency progression rate rather than the fighter/mages. 2da files seem correct though.
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