[DLC] Question / Proposal for DLC respecting and involving existing mods

Manduran

Hi everybody

I was wondering if it might be possible to bring together some most beloved mods and the idea of DLC.

Nearly everybody who's been playing BG1 and then BG2 and then either BGT or Tutu was crying for banter and the fullfilment of some unsolved paths in BG1.
Help arised: BG1NPCProject. Unfinished Business. And lots more, certainly, but for this question I only want to focus on these as an example (with full respects to any other mod out there!).

As I understood, editing content itself of BG1 for BG:EE is not possible due to licenses or similar.

Now, if that's not possible, would it be possible to come up with DLC(s) or something similar (somehow shipping around licensing issues) containing those mods in some way?

To me (assuming that loads of other players think similar) BG:EE sounds cool, very cool. But personally I'd still rather use my old cds and BGT (or Tutu) to bring BG1 _content wise_ to BG2 standards, as long as BG:EE does not come up with the most 'missing' contents for BG1 in a convenient, player friendly way.

I heard there will be banter with the new added NPCs and I totally DO apreciate that, but still, when it comes to me, this doesn't feel like the 'definition of done'. It still feels kinda... well... unfinished

Don't get me wrong, I do want BG:EE, I do want BG2:EE, and I DOOOO want BG3. So be sure I'll support when and where I can, but still...

...what do you think?

Regards,
Manduran

Shin

In all likelihood popular mods like the BG1 NPC Project and UB will be updated to work with BG:EE in relatively short order, so there shouldn't be any need for any kind of official DLC with them.

Manduran

Yay, I agree, but I was going for a 'deeper' integration, like i.e. start your romance or even quest in BG:EE, continue in BG2:EE, just like with the new NPCs, but for the existing ones...
This is kinda what Tutu or BGT offers...

Shin

Not sure what you mean. Everything that the mods you mentioned add to BG Tutu they will also be able to add to BG:EE if/when they get updated for it.
BGT is obviously slightly different as it features integration with BG2 - so I don't think there's much to do about that part until we know how BG2:EE will work with BG:EE.

Manduran

Shin said:

BGT is obviously slightly different as it features integration with BG2 - so I don't think there's much to do about that part until we know how BG2:EE will work with BG:EE.

Which I'm assuming I.e. using a BG:EE savegme to import your characters to BG2:EE, you could also import any quest / romance progresses, bring over NPCs and alike, IMHO.

Shin

Right. I believe the main stance on that is that it won't be possible to mod until it's decided/announced how BG2:EE will work in regards to how much it imports from BG:EE. Once both games are out, a BGT:EE mod that allows all sort of imported content doesn't seem all too unlikely.

Manduran

Shin said:

Once both games are out, a BGT:EE mod that allows all sort of imported content doesn't seem all too unlikely.

I'm with you on that point, but honestly, if I wanted to start over implementing mod over mod over mod.. and so on, well, I'd stay with BGT (in my case) just because I know what to do.
I was thinking of a convenient way. Download the content, automatic integration, no worries, no how to, no 'if this, you can't that', because the developers of the game integrated it. (I know this is not neccessary a sign of quality, but I'm very sure it will be in this case [?])

Shin

Well, exactly what would you like to see integrated?

Afaik, integration in official content will be ultimately limited to what the contract allows: basically, if it brings changes to official vanilla story content it goes against the contract and cannot be released as DLC or any other official product, and would as such have to be a mod. This essentially rules out the BG1 NPC Project and a whole lot of other mods. It may not rule out UB as that is somewhat official/intended content, but by the time we might see UB as DLC it will in all likelihood have been made available as an updated mod already.

As such we might expect to see a romance with one of the new NPCs that starts in BG:EE and gets imported to BG2:EE, and possibly also things like NPC stat changes brought on by tomes like in BGT. If you want to start your BG1:NPC Project Branwen romance in BG:EE and have it carry over to BG2:EE with Branwen appearing there though, the chances of having that as an official release seem tantamount to zero.

What we can hope for is that with the game code cleaned up and more elements being externalized, modding for the EEs will be both easier to implement/use and more extensive in terms of what can be altered. So a community-made BGT:EE with assorted mods might be less of a hassle to get to work properly (not that it is all that tricky now) than the current BGT with assorted mods.

Manduran

Shin said:

Well, exactly what would you like to see integrated?
If you want to start your BG1:NPC Project Branwen romance in BG:EE and have it carry over to BG2:EE with Branwen appearing there though, the chances of having that as an official release seem tantamount to zero.

This or similar is exactly what I was hoping. And I expected the answer, but posing questions is at no costs I also hope that contracts can be changed if BG:EE turns out to be success...

Shin said:

What we can hope for is that with the game code cleaned up and more elements being externalized, modding for the EEs will be both easier to implement/use and more extensive in terms of what can be altered. So a community-made BGT:EE with assorted mods might be less of a hassle to get to work properly (not that it is all that tricky now) than the current BGT with assorted mods.

Totally agree on that point!