Why has the game lowered my XP to 161000? BEWARE

helmo1977

I had used an uncapper to take my character to 220000 just before the final battle with Sarevok, but when I transitioned to SoD I noticed every one of my buddies and my character were down to 161000. So I reload the save before gettin in battle with Sarevok and notice the characters of that save have been also "dowgraded"¡ I have the usual uncapper with the three files that goes into the override (I took it away before installing SoD and patching BG 1. It is still there). It seems SoD dowgrades your characters no matter what¡

Ps. I have fixed it with ee keeper, but i dont like the game making me feel like a punished child¡

Fardragon

I'm shocked - that you find this behaviour surprising.

Ulb

helmo1977 said:

ades your characters no matter what¡

Ps. I have fixed it with ee keeper, ...

And does it still work (stay up) after a reload?
At least the original engine also had an xp cap within the actual .exe that could override all the .2da changes a "normal" xp cap remover mod would make.

Kilivitz

The cap remover probably needs to be updated in order to edit the new area files which enforce the XP cap.

On a similar note: has anyone noticed the starting XP for newly created characters in SoD? It's 64k - less than the original BG1 cap.

That might explain why they're not removing the cap between game/expansion like it was on ToB.

mlnevese

@Killivitz Not so simple I tried editing the new 2da files but something is ignoring them. There may be a new 2da involved. I don't believe the cap is hardcoded.

BTW the xp is really lost I tried importing a save to BG2 and was around 30k xp below what I expected...

Illydth

Many mods at this point are not working with BG:SoD, I expect the xp capper one is one of those.

I can't speak to what the code is doing but 161K is the assumed max cap of XP from BG:EE, I'm not sure why we'd support importing a game beyond that XP range...starting you in the Safehouse at like level 10-11 or something would be...ridiculously easy? Especially when the safehouse is tuned for characters starting with 64K of xp?

GrimLefourbe

It works on other imports though, you can import a character with 161k xp in candlekeep and import a character with 2M95 xp in Irenicus's Dungeon.

The game shouldn't lower your exp if it's too high because if it is too high, you have already previously made the choice of unlocking the exp cap and the game shouldn't aim at imposing rules on modded content.

Besides, if you import a lvl 10 character then lowers his exp, it's still a lvl 10 character with all the benefits of being lvl 10, it'll just take twice as long for him to get his first level up.

I don't know what's going on with the code but this interaction really can't be justified so I would assume it isn't intended and is a side effect of the way it's been coded.

Illydth

GrimLefourbe said:

It works on other imports though, you can import a character with 161k xp in candlekeep and import a character with 2M95 xp in Irenicus's Dungeon.

I concede this point, I return that there is an assumption that SoD starts at a max of 161K xp and MAY take steps (this is where my "I don't know the code"comes in) to enforce that. However, as BG:EE and BG2:EE do NOT do so, I don't suspect SoD Does either...that would seem to be an engine thing to me.

GrimLefourbe said:

I don't know what's going on with the code but this interaction really can't be justified so I would assume it isn't intended and is a side effect of the way it's been coded.

I will backtrack my initial comment by saying I wasn't looking at it the way you've presented it above, I was looking at it assuming the max for the previous game would be the min for the current game...but you're absolutely correct you CAN import 2.5M into BG2, so why not 200K into BG:SoD.

Feel free to file that one as a bug, we'll see what we can do to look into it.

That said, I to respectfully disagree with the following:

'"you have already previously made the choice of unlocking the exp cap and the game shouldn't aim at imposing rules on modded content."

While I agree that this SPECIFIC modded content is not something the game should be blocking (if you attempt to import something > 500K THEN it should be blocking), I do not agree that if you try to import a 30 strength character that unmodded SoD Should happily let you. You should not be able to bypass, without modding, the basic limitations of the game rules.

What I missed in my initial comment back to you was that while we were breaking BG:EE's rules, we were NOT breaking "SoD's Rules".

Bug report it, lets see what comes of it.

SirBatince

I actually hate that further XP is remembered even beyond the cap. It's lame to transition into BG2 from level 8 to level 11-12 instantly.

GrimLefourbe

30 strength just isn't possible through the engine rules but BG lets you import characters with godly amount of strength because you can use a strength book in the first game and that would make your character "illegal" in the 2nd game.

Playing unmodded baldur's gate once with a character doesn't allow you to have above 20 strength, so if a character arrives in SoD with 21 strength, it means that the player has consciously made the choice of having more strength than the game gave him, I do not think it's a good thing for the game to restrict this character's strength.
If the starting strength in SoD was hard capped to 20, it wouldn't affect any vanilla playthrough but it would affect some intentionnally modded playthrough, what would be the point of such a cap?

Illydth

@SirBatince It's not. I can confirm this.

There is no additional XP remembered or imported as part of a standard import. What this thread is talking about is one game being allowed to Overcap XP (a cap removal mod installed) and the effect that has on the save game as imported into the next Game (SoD).

helmo1977

Illydth said:

Many mods at this point are not working with BG:SoD, I expect the xp capper one is one of those.

I can't speak to what the code is doing but 161K is the assumed max cap of XP from BG:EE, I'm not sure why we'd support importing a game beyond that XP range...starting you in the Safehouse at like level 10-11 or something would be...ridiculously easy? Especially when the safehouse is tuned for characters starting with 64K of xp?

I didnt import, I transitioned because i hadnt finisehd bg ee. On any case I know my uncapping does no good for balance, but I like getting all my xp. It is the way I like it. Some people play on easy or normal. Nothing wrong with that. I play on core but with all my hard won xp.

On any case, ee keeper "fixed" it. I will check again just in case I have been "downgraded" again. I am not ranting, I just wanted other people let it know.

Mikey205

I'd imagine must be a setting in a new 2da file. Would be nice if a dev could let us know how to change the setting ahead of any fix.

mikkle

Well if you start cheating then you need to carry this on I guess ha.

ojthesimpson

BG2 spoilers (sorta)
I think they should have set the level cap to level 15. Think of it, there's an RPG answer. You're kidnapped, tortured, mutilated, damage is done to your body and mind.
You're no longer as strong as you once we're when you crawl out of iranecus's (spelling?) lab/dungeon
ur items have been stolen. your best friends tortured and also lose strength.

they could have given SOD a full 5-7 levels to advance. people LOVE gaining levels... wait lemme correct that.. I LOVE GAINING levels. Im gonna start the game on easy at level 5

Avenger_teambg

For those with some modding inclination: see sodstrta.2da

mlnevese

@Avenger_teambg Thanks!

mlnevese

I have updated my simple xp cap remover

Once more thanks to @Avenger_teambg