@Dareus You can disable auto update yourself on Steam, and it's been written everywhere that this patch was coming, you could have known to make a back up of your saves and installation if you had mods.
You can still play 1.3 on Steam by going in the properties of the game and selecting the 1.3 beta.
Thank you for your intentions to help. I switched to beta 1.3 but was unable to load any game...game crashed every time. Secondly I search a lot to disable auto-updating but when you want to run a game you have to update it.
@Dareus You can disable auto update yourself on Steam, and it's been written everywhere that this patch was coming, you could have known to make a back up of your saves and installation if you had mods.
You can still play 1.3 on Steam by going in the properties of the game and selecting the 1.3 beta.
Thank you for your intentions to help. I switched to beta 1.3 but was unable to load any game...game crashed every time. Secondly I search a lot to disable auto-updating but when you want to run a game you have to update it.
How do I switch back to 1.3?
I tryed to play SoD today, but simply couldn't keep going on. And the main problem is the UI. I don't need to give details, because the post of @Mivsan express all my feelings about it. I'll wait until Beamdog decides to bring back the old BG feel to Siege of Dragonspear... And if they do not listen, then it's a pity, but I won't play it.
@Dareus You can disable auto update yourself on Steam, and it's been written everywhere that this patch was coming, you could have known to make a back up of your saves and installation if you had mods.
You can still play 1.3 on Steam by going in the properties of the game and selecting the 1.3 beta.
Thank you for your intentions to help. I switched to beta 1.3 but was unable to load any game...game crashed every time. Secondly I search a lot to disable auto-updating but when you want to run a game you have to update it.
How do I switch back to 1.3?
I tryed to play SoD today, but simply couldn't keep going on. And the main problem is the UI. I don't need to give details, because the post of @Mivsan express all my feelings about it. I'll wait until Beamdog decides to bring back the old BG feel to Siege of Dragonspear... And if they do not listen, then it's a pity, but I won't play it.
Hello Vitor,
You go to your steam client -> LIBRARY -> GAMES pick up BG EE right click Properties new window pupup -> BETAS tab and choose bgee_1.3 Look at the screens
Well, scratch everything I said about the beta 1.3. option being a safety net for people who don't like 2.0.. I did a completely clean install with this option selected, hoping I could continue playing the version of EE that I really liked, but as it turns out - it's unplayable. I'm going to list the bugs I've encountered. The first one on the list is a big, BIG problem:
- Game crashes during Gorion's death cutscene. As soon as Gorion and Sarevok finish their conversation and the fight begins - crash occurs. - Trying to load most of the saved games crashes the game too. I am unable to determine any logic behind it - I could randomly get one save to work, everything else crashes. I had all my saves backed up, used them instead of anything that could be "tainted" (:+P) by 2.0. and 99% of them don't work. - Speaking of saves, this is how the menu looks. - Some other bugs that don't require me to elaborate much - intro, inventory, slider. - EDIT: a new one - the game also crashes upon attempting to cast some spells. Try reverting to 1.3. and casting Armor of Faith, for example. Haven't tested many more, because what's the point?
After starting up the game and seeing the bugs above, I was willing to live with most of them. A small price for having an instant minimap again, familiar sounds and functionality of ruined UI features. Old saves crashing was bad, but you can always start a new game. And then, when even that failed too, something snapped...
All in all, there might be a workaround for Gorion's cutscene to allow the game to progress, like using the console to teleport to another area and changing Global Variables to make everything right, but why would you bother, knowing that crashes like that might happen at any other time to block your progress?
The option to opt for the 1.3. beta isn't an option at all - it's a dysfunctional illusion of having an option.
Now I am really shaken about the whole thing - going back to 1.3. is impossible. Only the thought of reverting to 1.3. kept me in good spirits about the whole thing, because I was certain I could just go back and not worry about 2.0. or anything else. Now however, when I've realized that the 1.3. beta isn't the solution I had thought it would be, I'm disheartened. The game is ruined - 2.0. is horrible and 1.3. is unplayable. I wish I never bought the EEs on Steam. If I had those on GoG, I probably would be able to skip the patch altogether and not have to deal with this disaster at all.
I was about to make a big post with bugs and screenshots regarding BG2:EE 2.0., but I'm not sure I'm going to bother anymore. It's probably a much better use of my time to do a big installation for the classic games to achieve similar effects that EE provided for a couple of years, without the need for such hassle. Ehhh, excuse my emotional tone, but experiencing how the 1.3. beta "works" was a very discouraging realization to make.
@Mivsan You can buy the 'original' BGEE (1&2) on DVD at Amazon UK (I don't know about other countries but I believe Amazon Germany has them as well). P.S. They're what I'm running my games on now after the SoD download crashed my digital versions.
In general, I'm not particularly liking of the new UI changes. My feeling is, why try to fix what wasn't broken? I would prefer for the UI to go back to 1.3, but that's not a huge concern to me in particular.
A major concern for me is how do I get the console codes working? There are now some preset ones that add gold or XP, but I couldn't figure out how the travel one works, and I couldn't enable cheat keys or create items. Baldur.ini is no longer there.
The biggest problem I have right now is that none of my 54 saved games will load anymore. I think they were from pre-1.2. I previously purposely delayed updating to 1.2 for a long while because I wanted a bunch of playthroughs to be consistent with each other. But I eventually updated to 1.2 or 1.3 and all the saves still worked. I would have assumed that any update of the same game would be compatible with any save from any previous version.
Please put back the quick character creation. Now you have choose colors, name and stuff when previously you just pressed play (for example on Adrian). This made mod testing (when creating mods) so much easier and quicker. Now it is soooooooo slow
UI and graphic changes really kill the mood for me. Yes, you have an option to disable outlines, but neverthless, they are still there. Plus, graphic bugs. New UI, with some exceptions, is a complete disaster. Not only does it look completely alien to the spirit of the game, but it's also less functional. Stat changes on equipping something in inventory screen is fine, removing apr value from damage statistics was outright stupid decision. I find new textbar an actual improvement - you have manual control over the size and it stores text better. New spellbooks could be even better then the old one, if you kept tile-arranged spell icons without their names on left page. Single-click - description, double-click - memorization. Right now I consider old books better.
Using Steam version, and downgrade to 1.3 isn't working. It instanly crashes at clicking "new game","generate character" buttons and loading a save and misses parts of UI. While bug fixes, new class and ability tweaks are nice, as well as ability to equip off-hand/shield with two-handers/launchers (now, that is improvement!), some new bugs are born. Difficulty changes without player's even opening gameplay option is one of them. I simply stopped playing it after an hour or two of this disaster, so I can't really say much about bugs.
Overall, I'm deeply mispleased with this update. And only because of graphic and UI changes. The only changes old UI actually needed was marking the area of AoE spells, maybe casting timer, if needed at all. Really, it has been at work for years, perfectly doing its job. And then you just came in and glued Android interface on top of it?
When I purchased this game, I payed for BG2 EE 1.3 (and would gladly purchase BGEE, too) with its UI and its graphics. These are as much essential parts of game, as the story and combat, and responsible not only for functionality, but for aesthetics and atmosphere, too. What i got now is NOT the product I payed for. Worst part of it, I was not even given a choice whether I want this "new UI/graphics" or not.
P.S. If reverting to 1.3 on Steam actually worked, I would not be that angered with the update.
I can live with most of the patch changes, except the blurry aspect of the characters (even after unchecking the sprite outlines options). Could you please at least re-sharpen them as they were before?
I played a bit of Siege and took some screens to compare the changes myself.
Pros: -Love the color scheme and the dragons in the UI -The journal looks better. You can also play while keeping it open or drag it wherever you want. -The health bars are great. They're functionally the same as highlighting the enemies all the time. -Love the sprite outlines. Like both, really. It's a matter of taste. Sprites look more defined and pleasant. -Create Party option was long-awaited and very welcome. -New portraits look great and fitting. Especially new Viconia, my god that looks good. -The voice packs have been named for easier and more convenient selection. -I like the Area Map transition. It makes it seamless. -I also like the quest pop-up box. Quality of life addition and convenience feature.
Cons: -Big one: The main Record screen has bad priorities. The main priorities when I go to the character sheet are HP, XP, AC, THAC0, DMG. Information and Combat Stats tabs are redundant, they repeat information. Your AC should be one the first things you see when you go on the character screen. It's now more useful to just hit the Inventory button to check your damage and AC instead of your Record screen. That's un-intuitive. I don't mind the redesign but vital information shouldn't be buried in tabs or by scrolling down. You hit R, you check your most important stuff, you close it. That's it. The Inventory menu shouldn't be the one to go to check your AC, the Record menu should be.
-The Biography tab should be shot in some corner. It's by far, the very last priority for a character sheet. -Quick Character Selection was buried under Import. Neutral about it. -Missed the chance to include a Back button for Rerolling. I wish there was one since I played the originals. Basically autosaving the previous roll so you can back to it if you were rerolling and missed it. -Is there a quick button for the Reveal Details button? Absolutely should be mappable, probably defaulting to S or D.
I'm absolutely sure there are more Pros and Cons. This is what I gathered and remember with a quick testing and tinkering.
I also I really don't miss the selection sound for everything or the scroll over details. For the former, I got tired after a while. Especially when you were selecting stuff all the time. For the latter, I always found it annoying that you had to wait just a bit longer for the scroll to fully open so you can read what it says. Though I would prefer if the selection sound was included when you selected your class.
TL;DR: Like the new style and new design of the UI and the convenience features. Hate the redundancy and bad prioritization of the Record screen.
@Archaos I disagree that the record should be your go place to check AC and the like. That's always been inventory for me since I started playing in 1998. The record should be for stuff you check less often.
Also the reveal details button is mapped to tab. Not sure if it can be remapped.
Is it possible to delete journal entries? The AI kinda fudged up a quest for me and it's broken now due to an NPC dying that should not have, so now the unfinished quest is forever staring me in the face. Sometimes, when I'm playing late at night, I feel like it may be laughing at me...
@Mivsan, when you performed a clean install did you ensure that all game content was removed from the installation folder for the game? The Steam option to uninstall the game will leave behind generated content and stuff the user placed in the installation folder (Like stuff in the Override folder for example). So when you re-installed the game mods and stuff may have been left behind and are buggering things up.
1) Delete your Override folder 2) Delete the Expansion folder 3) Verify integrity of game cache
Yes, I manually deleted everything left - I do such clean installs from time to time if only to clean out mod leftovers, to have a different setup for a fresh playthrough, etc.. Unfortunately, the mess that is 1.3. beta is entirely Beamdog's doing, and not a fault of a bad install or any mods. I wish it wasn't.
@Archaos I disagree that the record should be your go place to check AC and the like. That's always been inventory for me since I started playing in 1998. The record should be for stuff you check less often.
Also the reveal details button is mapped to tab. Not sure if it can be remapped.
Well, the AC was displayed clearly on the Record since the first game. Same with PnP, the AC was clearly displayed in the middle-left of the sheet, in a big box. In both cases, the AC was found with a first glance.
It's un-intuitive and bad design to hide the AC, in some line, in a secondary Tab of the character sheet. It's also easier to hit "R" than to hit "I".
About the Reveal Details button, if you click on it, it's a Toggle, it stays there. With Tab you need to keep it pressed all the time you're clicking around.
Perhaps an option should be made where Tab is either Press & Hold or Toggle.
I've have just left Baldur's Gate and so far so good. BUT, and this is a big BUT, the new graphics are beyond awful. I'm trying to give them a chance but sorry, it just looks bloody awful. However, hope the actual game is good and that the devs listen to the players and change the graphics back (all work done until ver 1.3 was FANTASTIC!!!). As my dad always says - if it ain't broke, don't fix it...
@Archaos I disagree that the record should be your go place to check AC and the like. That's always been inventory for me since I started playing in 1998. The record should be for stuff you check less often.
Also the reveal details button is mapped to tab. Not sure if it can be remapped.
Well, the AC was displayed clearly on the Record since the first game. Same with PnP, the AC was clearly displayed in the middle-left of the sheet, in a big box. In both cases, the AC was found with a first glance.
It's un-intuitive and bad design to hide the AC, in some line, in a secondary Tab of the character sheet. It's also easier to hit "R" than to hit "I".
About the Reveal Details button, if you click on it, it's a Toggle, it stays there. With Tab you need to keep it pressed all the time you're clicking around.
Perhaps an option should be made where Tab is either Press & Hold or Toggle.
I get that it's more intuitive for you but it's not that way for everyone. I'd rather not have information duplication myself. If it's on the record screen it shouldn't be on the inventory screen, and vise versa. Luckily with how moddable everything is now you could probably move it around yourself. Yay for options!
I love everything about the new UI but the map zoom. The new health bars are my current favorite feature because in big battles it really slowed things down to hover and wait for the parchment to see who was lowest after an AoE spell to target accordingly.
I love everything about the new UI but the map zoom. The new health bars are my current favorite feature because in big battles it really slowed things down to hover and wait for the parchment to see who was lowest after an AoE spell to target accordingly.
Haha strange im the opposite, love the uI, love the zoom and hate the healthbars.
Luckily with how moddable everything is now you could probably move it around yourself. Yay for options!
Removing something that was there for almost two decades and then saying "put it back yourself" is flawed logic. Thinking like that, the Record screen should remove THAC0 and HP as well.
If AC needs to be displayed somewhere clearly, that's the character sheet, not the inventory.
I've decided to finish my quick, minimalistic run in BG2:EE 2.0. to get some more testing done and grab some achievements. I've made a lot of notes and taken a lot of screenshots, so brace yourselves, as this is going to be a HUGE wall of text. You've been warned.
The main run consisted of a custom party of protagonists from some of my previous playthroughs, each exported into files named "zzz1", "zzz2", "zzz3", etc. so that they appear at the end of the import list of characters, to make it clear who I'm importing. More on that in the "character creation / importing" section below.
Also, it has to be mentioned that everything was done on a completely clean install: I uninstalled the game via Steam, manually deleted all the leftovers and finally downloaded and installed the game with no mods. That said, here are my thoughts about a lot of things in BG2:EE 2.0. and the bugs I've discovered:
Achievements: - The achievement "Planehopper" to rescue Haer'Dalis only triggers if you recruit him into the party. If you let him go and allow him to return to Raelis on his own, you won't get the achievement. - The acheivement "Double Cross" (to double cross Matron Mother Ardulace) doesn't trigger, if you also double cross Phaere by giving her Solaufein's eggs. In such situation you only get the achievement "Triple Cross". It makes no sense, as you foil Ardulace's plans in both scenarios, yet you only get "Double Cross" when you give the real eggs to Phaere. - The achievement "Time to Slay", requiring you to take the form of the Slayer, doesn't work. Whether it's intended to trigger when you first change into the Slayer in Spellhold, or when you use it manually after getting the ability - it doesn't, in either scenario. Tried both situations many times. - The achievement "Don't Mind Us" - its description says "found and destroyed a hidden mind flayer lair", yet it activated as soon as I entered it. - The "Epic Warror/Priest/Mage/Rogue" achievements only activate once you've traveled through an auto-save area transition, not when you level up.
UI - Character and level up related: - Character Record screen is so bad... Let's take a loot at the "proficiencies" tab - there you'll find information about your LORE, REPUTATION, ATTACKS PER ROUND and weapon proficiencies (this one actually makes sense!). Wow. It's really not a great consolation that the current BG2:EE 2.0. UI is a "placeholder", because: 1. They decided to release it in this form anyway and there's no telling when a next patch might come to correct it; 2. The BG:EE's UI isn't much better. The tab-focused version is still a giant step down from 1.3. - In tabs like "proficiencies" and "skills", the setting for "hide details" only persists until the game is shut down. After launching the game again, it is reset back to showing the details. - You can't exit out of the level up screen. The "back" button is grayed out and the ESC key does nothing. The "information" button is all the way up on the screen (actually couldn't find it for a second) and the text info in the lower right corner looks bad, when showing dual- and probably multi-classed characters. - The HLA menu is worse - you don't see all of your options on one screen (have to scroll up/down) and it's less intuitive when it comes to knowing what you can and cannot choose. Before, if an HLA was unavailable, its icon was grayed out. Now, the "+" sign next to it is grayed out. It's not immediately obvious that an ability is unavailable. Also, even one-time HLAs have a little number 1 in the bottom right corner of their icon, as if you could pick more uses. - The "advanced AI" script is automatically assigned to your character upon starting a new game and gets assigned again after transitioning from SoA to ToB.
UI - Inventory: - When having an item picked up, the portraits of characters unable to use it become grayed out, making you think you can't give the item to them (because they're out of range, for example). The current character's portrait turns yellow, which I'm not sure what it's supposed to signify. It's an ugly mess. - In the Inventory screen, pressing the number keys corresponding to empty party slots makes the game select the first character from the top. For instance, in a party with 4 members, pressing keys "5" and "6" will select your party leader, instead of doing nothing. It works correctly outside of the Inventory screen.
UI - other: - The decision to always display the text of Map Notes makes many of them unreadable. Just look at it. It's a MESS. The Promenade is the worst offender, but many other places like the Bridge District or Ust Natha aren't much better. I don't even... - The prices in stores are obstructed by the scroll bar. For instance, it looks like the Sensate Amulet costs 1372g, instead of 13720g. - Some Journal entries are titled "No Objective Text", which is either not intended or bad design. - Some Journal entries are fully displayed in the chat box (example 1, example 2), whereas the default behavior of all the others seems to be to only have the "your journal has been updated" message like this. - You don't see how many copies of a spell you have memorized when setting up contingencies and spell triggers. In this example, I have 3 Horrid Wiltings memorized, yet it looks the same as the other available spells (of which I have one copy memorized). Nothing changes once 1 or 2 of those Wiltings are picked, the icon only vanishes once all 3 are used up. Here's a Spell Sequencer example with 3 Magic Missles memorized. Also, obvious text bugs on the right page in both cases.
Character creation / importing: - The character import list - I've commented on this before in my other posts, but seriously, why isn't there file names or any meaningful info about the characters like their level, or an option to right click the portrait to receive more info (about their gear, proficiencies, etc.)? It's just baffling to see - how is it possible to go so far backwards and still think it's a good idea to release such a mess. The current list of characters tells me NOTHING about them. - There's no "start over" button when creating a character anymore. I guess it was too convenient compared to only being able to go back one step at a time. - Assigning/changing stats by holding the mouse button is really slow. It's especially horrible when assigning thieving skills. Have fun creating a Thief in ToB with 540 thief skill points to spend. Even in SoA (215 points) or during a simple level up it's still annoying. - Imported high level characters in SoA keep their level, but get their experience reduced to 2950000. You end up, for instance, with a level 27 mage who needs ~4 million experience for their next level. - Imported characters get permanent status effect and higher stats out of the blue - in this example, my character has no gear equipped, yet has 25 strength, Mind Shield, Negative Plane Protection, etc.. The character didn't have such effects active while being exported, so it's not an instance of buffs "carrying over" through export -> import. - There's a weird bug I have with importing a certain character. It's a Kensai 9 -> Mage 27. If I import her as the main character, she only has 93 hp. When I import her as a regular member of the party, with someone else being the Bhaalspawn, she has the correct 157 hp. She also gets Negative Plane Protection in both cases, for some reason.
Other bugs: - Alt-tabbing zooms the game out a lot and allows you to zoom out even further. It also slows down screen scrolling speed significantly. - Water doesn't look right. I've noticed those lines show up in other places as well, like the lava in the Umar Temple Ruins, for example. - One time, after loading a quick save, the game activated Story Mode. I wouldn't even have known, had it not been for a "Story Mode on" message that popped up. It only happened to me once and I've tried to look for this bug by loading saves in different circumstances, but to no effect. - This is how Neera now arrives in the "ambush" that happens after seeing her teleport out of the Bridge District. As you can see, I'm stuck in the cinematic mode, looking at a corner of the screen, until she initiates the conversation, at which point the screen fixes itself. - Minister Lloyd simply POOF disappears after being told that Madulf wants to trade with the people of Imnesvale. He doesn't come back until after leaving Umar Hills and coming back. - It seems CHARNAME has trouble finding the right words after being offered the Ranger cabin. For a while, Minister Lloyd and our protagonist decide to communicate using sign language. - Minister Lloyd strikes again! This time, he improves the ToB intro cinematic with his words of wisdom. As you can see, Minister Lloyd is ever-present and able to transcend simple boundries of space and time, appearing and disappearing at will. - Yoshimo doesn't spawn in the Copper Coronet after being rejected in Irenicus' dungeon. - Related to the above - I spawned him using C:CreateCreature("YOSHI7"), recruited him into my party and everything went fine until the fight with Irenicus in Spellhold, after which he didn't spawn. After defeating Irenicus, the Dimention Door animation where he's supposed to show up happens, but Yoshimo just doesn't spawn. - Characters changed into drow by Adalon do not receive drow colors (black skin, white hair), only the Elf model. Here are examples of "drow" Imoen and my human Bhaalspawn. - Players DO get actual drow colors if they change into the Slayer, though. The drow disguise is so strong however, it conceals the visual effects of becoming the Slayer - example 1, example 2. As you can see, it's a buggy mess. - Elven Spirits in Suldanessellar do not have their Blur effect.
Other thoughts/comments: - Pathfinding - similar to the example of Charleston Nib from my other post, NPCs intending to get somewhere, after being blocked for a split second, immediately change their route completely, going the long way around, searching for another way to reach their destination. I've never seen Hendak go over there before. Irenicus in Spellhold is the real star, however. Just look at him go, sensing where he needs to be - so close, yet so far away. - Pressing spacebar now progresses dialogues (just like the enter key does) and can sometimes lead to accidently progressing/ending a conversation, if you were about to pause. - Items: Roranach's Helm has a different look and Arbane's Sword now has a longer name "Arbane's Sword of Agility", which is probably something that was only visible in its description before? - The Favored of Cyric from the 4th Pocket Plane challenge just run around like headless chickens after having their invisibility dispelled. Although I don't remember that much from before playing with SCS, I'm pretty sure that wasn't their behavior - they'd just stand and fight. Now, at the start of the fight, they immediately use Assassination, which indicates that Beamdog must have done some tinkering with their AI? I might be wrong here, as this was my first run without Ascension & SCS in a very long time. - The switched order of buttons has really been done across the board. Even the buttons identifying methods swapped places. I've talked about it already, so just a quick note - aside from the annoyance of changing something ingrained in my mind for 20 years (like some early April Fools prank played on my muscle memory), what really boggles my mind is how they made it so that CANCEL is the first button from the top. That just simply doesn't make sense. The button of the action you want to perform should be on top and "cancel/exit" on the bottom. It's so silly. - Graphics changes - just another example of how bad the characters look in 2.0. (and that's with outlines turned off, of course). Another thing I've noticed, possibly indicating some more fundamental graphics changes that have happened, are differenty colored sprites for many items, like this flamedance ring, for example. It looks worse than before and has this weirdly noticeable shadow now.
The best bug/change, without question: - Dying Merella plays the "you are welcome in my sight" line :+DDDD. I have to admit, that gave me a massive chuckle and I kept redoing the Shade Lord fight for a while just to hear it many more times. It was a glorious thing to experience.
And now, a surprise - changes that I LIKED: - Being able to skip cutscenes using the ESC key - great addition! However, you can't skip the ToB cutscene with Balthazar and Melissan that happens after killing Sendai and Abazigal. It seems inconsistent, as it's the same type of cutscene you can skip in SoA. Another note - too bad you can't skip Neera's introductory cutscene in the Bridge District. That's a BADLY needed feature. - Create Party button in single player. Though not a big deal, not having to copy&paste saves from multi- to single player is a nice convenience tweak. - In general - things that you can turn off. Optional stuff = good. Someone earlier mentioned how they liked the grayed out pause look. I don't like it, as it makes me feel like there's a Time Stop going on. We're both satisfied however, because they can keep it and I don't have to. If only more "improvements" could be disabled that way...
Well, that's it. Now that my 2.0. runs are finished, it's probably time to take a break from BG or do a big Trilogy/Tutu installation or something, so this was likely my last big post in this thread. Maybe this info is going to prove helpful to someone, perhaps even the developers, though they'd probably prefer 30 separate bug report threads, which I'm not going to do. If anyone wants to use the info I've provided and/or the screenshots posted here for bug reports, feel free to. Thanks for reading!
@Mivsan I would suggest you to try BGEE quickly, BG2EE is on an outdated UI because the design for the new, revised UI, wasn't finished by the patch's release.
I can't deal with the BG2EE ui but I like the BGEE revised UI.(they had negative feedback during the road to 2.0 and modified the bg2EE current ui to reach the BGEE current UI)
What all are you using for mods? SCS and custom portraits?
Do you mean what I usually use for mods or just this run? For the 2.0. tests I used no mods, so as to experience only 2.0. features and not have anything screwed up by broken mods. Normally I play with varying setups, but Ascension, SCS, BG2Tweaks are a part of every run I do.
As for the portraits, I made all of them myself, with the exception of one that came from here.
@Mivsan I would suggest you to try BGEE quickly, BG2EE is on an outdated UI because the design for the new, revised UI, wasn't finished by the patch's release.
I've kind of addressed this point at the beginning of the "UI - Character and level up related" section of my last post. I've done tests and a quick run of BG:EE 2.0. (and tried reverting to 1.3.) before going through BG2:EE. The UI in BG:EE is a little better, but in my opinion it's still much worse than what we had in 1.3..
Also, it's not a big consolation for someone who just wants to play BG2:EE at the moment - when the patch hit I was in the middle of a playthrough, about to enter Suldanessellar. I've pretty much given up on finishing it anytime soon - I obviously don't like many features of 2.0. and it broke mods anyway (apparently there's some workaround to make SCS work, but I'm not in the mood to bother with that). I'm probably going to have to start over on a classic BG2 installation, but that's going to require much more effort with modding. compared to just having a functional good ol' 1.3.
Comments
I tryed to play SoD today, but simply couldn't keep going on. And the main problem is the UI. I don't need to give details, because the post of @Mivsan express all my feelings about it. I'll wait until Beamdog decides to bring back the old BG feel to Siege of Dragonspear... And if they do not listen, then it's a pity, but I won't play it.
You go to your steam client -> LIBRARY -> GAMES pick up BG EE right click Properties new window pupup -> BETAS tab and choose bgee_1.3 Look at the screens
- Game crashes during Gorion's death cutscene. As soon as Gorion and Sarevok finish their conversation and the fight begins - crash occurs.
- Trying to load most of the saved games crashes the game too. I am unable to determine any logic behind it - I could randomly get one save to work, everything else crashes. I had all my saves backed up, used them instead of anything that could be "tainted" (:+P) by 2.0. and 99% of them don't work.
- Speaking of saves, this is how the menu looks.
- Some other bugs that don't require me to elaborate much - intro, inventory, slider.
- EDIT: a new one - the game also crashes upon attempting to cast some spells. Try reverting to 1.3. and casting Armor of Faith, for example. Haven't tested many more, because what's the point?
After starting up the game and seeing the bugs above, I was willing to live with most of them. A small price for having an instant minimap again, familiar sounds and functionality of ruined UI features. Old saves crashing was bad, but you can always start a new game. And then, when even that failed too, something snapped...
All in all, there might be a workaround for Gorion's cutscene to allow the game to progress, like using the console to teleport to another area and changing Global Variables to make everything right, but why would you bother, knowing that crashes like that might happen at any other time to block your progress?
The option to opt for the 1.3. beta isn't an option at all - it's a dysfunctional illusion of having an option.
Now I am really shaken about the whole thing - going back to 1.3. is impossible. Only the thought of reverting to 1.3. kept me in good spirits about the whole thing, because I was certain I could just go back and not worry about 2.0. or anything else. Now however, when I've realized that the 1.3. beta isn't the solution I had thought it would be, I'm disheartened. The game is ruined - 2.0. is horrible and 1.3. is unplayable. I wish I never bought the EEs on Steam. If I had those on GoG, I probably would be able to skip the patch altogether and not have to deal with this disaster at all.
I was about to make a big post with bugs and screenshots regarding BG2:EE 2.0., but I'm not sure I'm going to bother anymore. It's probably a much better use of my time to do a big installation for the classic games to achieve similar effects that EE provided for a couple of years, without the need for such hassle. Ehhh, excuse my emotional tone, but experiencing how the 1.3. beta "works" was a very discouraging realization to make.
P.S. They're what I'm running my games on now after the SoD download crashed my digital versions.
A major concern for me is how do I get the console codes working? There are now some preset ones that add gold or XP, but I couldn't figure out how the travel one works, and I couldn't enable cheat keys or create items. Baldur.ini is no longer there.
The biggest problem I have right now is that none of my 54 saved games will load anymore. I think they were from pre-1.2. I previously purposely delayed updating to 1.2 for a long while because I wanted a bunch of playthroughs to be consistent with each other. But I eventually updated to 1.2 or 1.3 and all the saves still worked. I would have assumed that any update of the same game would be compatible with any save from any previous version.
Using Steam version, and downgrade to 1.3 isn't working. It instanly crashes at clicking "new game","generate character" buttons and loading a save and misses parts of UI.
While bug fixes, new class and ability tweaks are nice, as well as ability to equip off-hand/shield with two-handers/launchers (now, that is improvement!), some new bugs are born. Difficulty changes without player's even opening gameplay option is one of them. I simply stopped playing it after an hour or two of this disaster, so I can't really say much about bugs.
Overall, I'm deeply mispleased with this update. And only because of graphic and UI changes. The only changes old UI actually needed was marking the area of AoE spells, maybe casting timer, if needed at all.
Really, it has been at work for years, perfectly doing its job. And then you just came in and glued Android interface on top of it?
When I purchased this game, I payed for BG2 EE 1.3 (and would gladly purchase BGEE, too) with its UI and its graphics. These are as much essential parts of game, as the story and combat, and responsible not only for functionality, but for aesthetics and atmosphere, too. What i got now is NOT the product I payed for. Worst part of it, I was not even given a choice whether I want this "new UI/graphics" or not.
P.S. If reverting to 1.3 on Steam actually worked, I would not be that angered with the update.
Pros:
-Love the color scheme and the dragons in the UI
-The journal looks better. You can also play while keeping it open or drag it wherever you want.
-The health bars are great. They're functionally the same as highlighting the enemies all the time.
-Love the sprite outlines. Like both, really. It's a matter of taste. Sprites look more defined and pleasant.
-Create Party option was long-awaited and very welcome.
-New portraits look great and fitting. Especially new Viconia, my god that looks good.
-The voice packs have been named for easier and more convenient selection.
-I like the Area Map transition. It makes it seamless.
-I also like the quest pop-up box. Quality of life addition and convenience feature.
Cons:
-Big one:
The main Record screen has bad priorities. The main priorities when I go to the character sheet are HP, XP, AC, THAC0, DMG.
Information and Combat Stats tabs are redundant, they repeat information.
Your AC should be one the first things you see when you go on the character screen.
It's now more useful to just hit the Inventory button to check your damage and AC instead of your Record screen. That's un-intuitive.
I don't mind the redesign but vital information shouldn't be buried in tabs or by scrolling down.
You hit R, you check your most important stuff, you close it. That's it.
The Inventory menu shouldn't be the one to go to check your AC, the Record menu should be.
-The Biography tab should be shot in some corner. It's by far, the very last priority for a character sheet.
-Quick Character Selection was buried under Import. Neutral about it.
-Missed the chance to include a Back button for Rerolling. I wish there was one since I played the originals.
Basically autosaving the previous roll so you can back to it if you were rerolling and missed it.
-Is there a quick button for the Reveal Details button? Absolutely should be mappable, probably defaulting to S or D.
I'm absolutely sure there are more Pros and Cons. This is what I gathered and remember with a quick testing and tinkering.
I also I really don't miss the selection sound for everything or the scroll over details.
For the former, I got tired after a while. Especially when you were selecting stuff all the time.
For the latter, I always found it annoying that you had to wait just a bit longer for the scroll to fully open so you can read what it says.
Though I would prefer if the selection sound was included when you selected your class.
TL;DR:
Like the new style and new design of the UI and the convenience features.
Hate the redundancy and bad prioritization of the Record screen.
Also the reveal details button is mapped to tab. Not sure if it can be remapped.
I think I should sleep.
1) Delete your Override folder
2) Delete the Expansion folder
3) Verify integrity of game cache
Same with PnP, the AC was clearly displayed in the middle-left of the sheet, in a big box.
In both cases, the AC was found with a first glance.
It's un-intuitive and bad design to hide the AC, in some line, in a secondary Tab of the character sheet.
It's also easier to hit "R" than to hit "I".
About the Reveal Details button, if you click on it, it's a Toggle, it stays there.
With Tab you need to keep it pressed all the time you're clicking around.
Perhaps an option should be made where Tab is either Press & Hold or Toggle.
Thinking like that, the Record screen should remove THAC0 and HP as well.
If AC needs to be displayed somewhere clearly, that's the character sheet, not the inventory.
AC shouldn't be displayed in a simple line in a third tab of the sheet. At the very least, it should be brought to Information, right under THAC0.
Lore and the AI script are insignificant in comparison.
I've decided to finish my quick, minimalistic run in BG2:EE 2.0. to get some more testing done and grab some achievements. I've made a lot of notes and taken a lot of screenshots, so brace yourselves, as this is going to be a HUGE wall of text. You've been warned.
The main run consisted of a custom party of protagonists from some of my previous playthroughs, each exported into files named "zzz1", "zzz2", "zzz3", etc. so that they appear at the end of the import list of characters, to make it clear who I'm importing. More on that in the "character creation / importing" section below.
Also, it has to be mentioned that everything was done on a completely clean install: I uninstalled the game via Steam, manually deleted all the leftovers and finally downloaded and installed the game with no mods. That said, here are my thoughts about a lot of things in BG2:EE 2.0. and the bugs I've discovered:
Achievements:
- The achievement "Planehopper" to rescue Haer'Dalis only triggers if you recruit him into the party. If you let him go and allow him to return to Raelis on his own, you won't get the achievement.
- The acheivement "Double Cross" (to double cross Matron Mother Ardulace) doesn't trigger, if you also double cross Phaere by giving her Solaufein's eggs. In such situation you only get the achievement "Triple Cross". It makes no sense, as you foil Ardulace's plans in both scenarios, yet you only get "Double Cross" when you give the real eggs to Phaere.
- The achievement "Time to Slay", requiring you to take the form of the Slayer, doesn't work. Whether it's intended to trigger when you first change into the Slayer in Spellhold, or when you use it manually after getting the ability - it doesn't, in either scenario. Tried both situations many times.
- The achievement "Don't Mind Us" - its description says "found and destroyed a hidden mind flayer lair", yet it activated as soon as I entered it.
- The "Epic Warror/Priest/Mage/Rogue" achievements only activate once you've traveled through an auto-save area transition, not when you level up.
UI - Character and level up related:
- Character Record screen is so bad... Let's take a loot at the "proficiencies" tab - there you'll find information about your LORE, REPUTATION, ATTACKS PER ROUND and weapon proficiencies (this one actually makes sense!). Wow. It's really not a great consolation that the current BG2:EE 2.0. UI is a "placeholder", because:
1. They decided to release it in this form anyway and there's no telling when a next patch might come to correct it;
2. The BG:EE's UI isn't much better. The tab-focused version is still a giant step down from 1.3.
- In tabs like "proficiencies" and "skills", the setting for "hide details" only persists until the game is shut down. After launching the game again, it is reset back to showing the details.
- You can't exit out of the level up screen. The "back" button is grayed out and the ESC key does nothing. The "information" button is all the way up on the screen (actually couldn't find it for a second) and the text info in the lower right corner looks bad, when showing dual- and probably multi-classed characters.
- The HLA menu is worse - you don't see all of your options on one screen (have to scroll up/down) and it's less intuitive when it comes to knowing what you can and cannot choose. Before, if an HLA was unavailable, its icon was grayed out. Now, the "+" sign next to it is grayed out. It's not immediately obvious that an ability is unavailable. Also, even one-time HLAs have a little number 1 in the bottom right corner of their icon, as if you could pick more uses.
- The "advanced AI" script is automatically assigned to your character upon starting a new game and gets assigned again after transitioning from SoA to ToB.
UI - Inventory:
- When having an item picked up, the portraits of characters unable to use it become grayed out, making you think you can't give the item to them (because they're out of range, for example). The current character's portrait turns yellow, which I'm not sure what it's supposed to signify. It's an ugly mess.
- In the Inventory screen, pressing the number keys corresponding to empty party slots makes the game select the first character from the top. For instance, in a party with 4 members, pressing keys "5" and "6" will select your party leader, instead of doing nothing. It works correctly outside of the Inventory screen.
UI - other:
- The decision to always display the text of Map Notes makes many of them unreadable. Just look at it. It's a MESS. The Promenade is the worst offender, but many other places like the Bridge District or Ust Natha aren't much better. I don't even...
- The prices in stores are obstructed by the scroll bar. For instance, it looks like the Sensate Amulet costs 1372g, instead of 13720g.
- Some Journal entries are titled "No Objective Text", which is either not intended or bad design.
- Some Journal entries are fully displayed in the chat box (example 1, example 2), whereas the default behavior of all the others seems to be to only have the "your journal has been updated" message like this.
- You don't see how many copies of a spell you have memorized when setting up contingencies and spell triggers. In this example, I have 3 Horrid Wiltings memorized, yet it looks the same as the other available spells (of which I have one copy memorized). Nothing changes once 1 or 2 of those Wiltings are picked, the icon only vanishes once all 3 are used up. Here's a Spell Sequencer example with 3 Magic Missles memorized. Also, obvious text bugs on the right page in both cases.
Character creation / importing:
- The character import list - I've commented on this before in my other posts, but seriously, why isn't there file names or any meaningful info about the characters like their level, or an option to right click the portrait to receive more info (about their gear, proficiencies, etc.)? It's just baffling to see - how is it possible to go so far backwards and still think it's a good idea to release such a mess. The current list of characters tells me NOTHING about them.
- There's no "start over" button when creating a character anymore. I guess it was too convenient compared to only being able to go back one step at a time.
- Assigning/changing stats by holding the mouse button is really slow. It's especially horrible when assigning thieving skills. Have fun creating a Thief in ToB with 540 thief skill points to spend. Even in SoA (215 points) or during a simple level up it's still annoying.
- Imported high level characters in SoA keep their level, but get their experience reduced to 2950000. You end up, for instance, with a level 27 mage who needs ~4 million experience for their next level.
- Imported characters get permanent status effect and higher stats out of the blue - in this example, my character has no gear equipped, yet has 25 strength, Mind Shield, Negative Plane Protection, etc.. The character didn't have such effects active while being exported, so it's not an instance of buffs "carrying over" through export -> import.
- There's a weird bug I have with importing a certain character. It's a Kensai 9 -> Mage 27. If I import her as the main character, she only has 93 hp. When I import her as a regular member of the party, with someone else being the Bhaalspawn, she has the correct 157 hp. She also gets Negative Plane Protection in both cases, for some reason.
Other bugs:
- Alt-tabbing zooms the game out a lot and allows you to zoom out even further. It also slows down screen scrolling speed significantly.
- Water doesn't look right. I've noticed those lines show up in other places as well, like the lava in the Umar Temple Ruins, for example.
- One time, after loading a quick save, the game activated Story Mode. I wouldn't even have known, had it not been for a "Story Mode on" message that popped up. It only happened to me once and I've tried to look for this bug by loading saves in different circumstances, but to no effect.
- This is how Neera now arrives in the "ambush" that happens after seeing her teleport out of the Bridge District. As you can see, I'm stuck in the cinematic mode, looking at a corner of the screen, until she initiates the conversation, at which point the screen fixes itself.
- Minister Lloyd simply POOF disappears after being told that Madulf wants to trade with the people of Imnesvale. He doesn't come back until after leaving Umar Hills and coming back.
- It seems CHARNAME has trouble finding the right words after being offered the Ranger cabin. For a while, Minister Lloyd and our protagonist decide to communicate using sign language.
- Minister Lloyd strikes again! This time, he improves the ToB intro cinematic with his words of wisdom. As you can see, Minister Lloyd is ever-present and able to transcend simple boundries of space and time, appearing and disappearing at will.
- Yoshimo doesn't spawn in the Copper Coronet after being rejected in Irenicus' dungeon.
- Related to the above - I spawned him using C:CreateCreature("YOSHI7"), recruited him into my party and everything went fine until the fight with Irenicus in Spellhold, after which he didn't spawn. After defeating Irenicus, the Dimention Door animation where he's supposed to show up happens, but Yoshimo just doesn't spawn.
- Characters changed into drow by Adalon do not receive drow colors (black skin, white hair), only the Elf model. Here are examples of "drow" Imoen and my human Bhaalspawn.
- Players DO get actual drow colors if they change into the Slayer, though. The drow disguise is so strong however, it conceals the visual effects of becoming the Slayer - example 1, example 2. As you can see, it's a buggy mess.
- Elven Spirits in Suldanessellar do not have their Blur effect.
Other thoughts/comments:
- Pathfinding - similar to the example of Charleston Nib from my other post, NPCs intending to get somewhere, after being blocked for a split second, immediately change their route completely, going the long way around, searching for another way to reach their destination. I've never seen Hendak go over there before. Irenicus in Spellhold is the real star, however. Just look at him go, sensing where he needs to be - so close, yet so far away.
- Pressing spacebar now progresses dialogues (just like the enter key does) and can sometimes lead to accidently progressing/ending a conversation, if you were about to pause.
- Items: Roranach's Helm has a different look and Arbane's Sword now has a longer name "Arbane's Sword of Agility", which is probably something that was only visible in its description before?
- The Favored of Cyric from the 4th Pocket Plane challenge just run around like headless chickens after having their invisibility dispelled. Although I don't remember that much from before playing with SCS, I'm pretty sure that wasn't their behavior - they'd just stand and fight. Now, at the start of the fight, they immediately use Assassination, which indicates that Beamdog must have done some tinkering with their AI? I might be wrong here, as this was my first run without Ascension & SCS in a very long time.
- The switched order of buttons has really been done across the board. Even the buttons identifying methods swapped places. I've talked about it already, so just a quick note - aside from the annoyance of changing something ingrained in my mind for 20 years (like some early April Fools prank played on my muscle memory), what really boggles my mind is how they made it so that CANCEL is the first button from the top. That just simply doesn't make sense. The button of the action you want to perform should be on top and "cancel/exit" on the bottom. It's so silly.
- Graphics changes - just another example of how bad the characters look in 2.0. (and that's with outlines turned off, of course). Another thing I've noticed, possibly indicating some more fundamental graphics changes that have happened, are differenty colored sprites for many items, like this flamedance ring, for example. It looks worse than before and has this weirdly noticeable shadow now.
The best bug/change, without question:
- Dying Merella plays the "you are welcome in my sight" line :+DDDD. I have to admit, that gave me a massive chuckle and I kept redoing the Shade Lord fight for a while just to hear it many more times. It was a glorious thing to experience.
And now, a surprise - changes that I LIKED:
- Being able to skip cutscenes using the ESC key - great addition! However, you can't skip the ToB cutscene with Balthazar and Melissan that happens after killing Sendai and Abazigal. It seems inconsistent, as it's the same type of cutscene you can skip in SoA. Another note - too bad you can't skip Neera's introductory cutscene in the Bridge District. That's a BADLY needed feature.
- Create Party button in single player. Though not a big deal, not having to copy&paste saves from multi- to single player is a nice convenience tweak.
- In general - things that you can turn off. Optional stuff = good. Someone earlier mentioned how they liked the grayed out pause look. I don't like it, as it makes me feel like there's a Time Stop going on. We're both satisfied however, because they can keep it and I don't have to. If only more "improvements" could be disabled that way...
Well, that's it. Now that my 2.0. runs are finished, it's probably time to take a break from BG or do a big Trilogy/Tutu installation or something, so this was likely my last big post in this thread. Maybe this info is going to prove helpful to someone, perhaps even the developers, though they'd probably prefer 30 separate bug report threads, which I'm not going to do. If anyone wants to use the info I've provided and/or the screenshots posted here for bug reports, feel free to. Thanks for reading!
I can't deal with the BG2EE ui but I like the BGEE revised UI.(they had negative feedback during the road to 2.0 and modified the bg2EE current ui to reach the BGEE current UI)
As for the portraits, I made all of them myself, with the exception of one that came from here. I've kind of addressed this point at the beginning of the "UI - Character and level up related" section of my last post. I've done tests and a quick run of BG:EE 2.0. (and tried reverting to 1.3.) before going through BG2:EE. The UI in BG:EE is a little better, but in my opinion it's still much worse than what we had in 1.3..
Also, it's not a big consolation for someone who just wants to play BG2:EE at the moment - when the patch hit I was in the middle of a playthrough, about to enter Suldanessellar. I've pretty much given up on finishing it anytime soon - I obviously don't like many features of 2.0. and it broke mods anyway (apparently there's some workaround to make SCS work, but I'm not in the mood to bother with that). I'm probably going to have to start over on a classic BG2 installation, but that's going to require much more effort with modding. compared to just having a functional good ol' 1.3.