There's enough fanmade content to feel like a new expansion. Dark Side of the Sword Coast, Northern Tales of the Sword Coast, Shades of the Sword Coast, The Cowled Menace, Twisting with the Rune, Tower of Deception, Ascalon's Quest Mod, Unfinished Business (BG1 & 2), and many more quest mods all provide additional content on EE & EET!
True, although a part of myself feels like I need to take on this adventure. Like there is a piece of good out there in the universe with my name on it and only I can share it to the world. It is unique in a way; just like everyone else but still special. I lack resources but not inspiration. I hope that I can deliver on this life long desire to make this extra 'Baldur's Gate Expansion'. It feels like it is a dream I must fulfill to live in peace with myself; like a work that never dies inside of myself. Iterate, iterate, iterate, bit by bit, aim high, dream big; fight hardXD.
Here is an example of subterranean tunnels integrated into the 4 Corners area first nations 'fortresses' / the the Mesa Verde Cliff Palace ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Palace ) type architecture / building culture (this is the direct inspiration of the Gnollish Stronghold depiction in Baldur's Gate). Given that this example is quite small for about 20-30 people and that the Chaco Canyon Ruins ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo_Bonito ) and other sites can go up to ~1,000+ people this could give more labour and more work fork to possibly build deeper more elaborate tunnels than this smaller scale example.
Also given the natural cave system below the Gnollish Stronghold, I could ascertain that the rock / ~'ground' even without magical / supernatural aid could lend it self to a cave system and or tunnels and passageways and rooms and galleries both natural and artificial in composition; especially that histrionically evidence included artificial ~'Anasazi' tunneling on even smaller scale settlements / built up areas such as shown in the video above.
I could take the general floor plan and layout rooms and passageways in similar architectural style as the square rooms and other stone construction and work my way down to a mix of artificial blending into ~'natural' caves and galleries that finally weave and wind down much like the Nashkel mines into a series of natural features and spectacles and possible an inner / lower final chamber for ritual sacrifice / an order of command chamber / a connection point to worth worlds / realms and possibly an allusion yet most possibly inaccessible passage (for the scope of the adventure of Baldur's Gate, possibly a small cliff face drop into the abyss below ~'No rope')/ difficult to follow point connecting to the Underdark.
Mesa Verde Cliff Palace general floor layout and possible inspiration for a subterranean level or set of divided levels that descent / mix into subterranean caves and galleries that finally descend into a final level and or even possible 'geode' / rock bubble and or gallery like the Nashkel mines general layout but with a unique identity and possibly more side and non-linear features.
Perhaps the final chamber / 'tomb' can be something inspired / akin to Lord Pakal's Ancient Tomb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmhIrlRZp6w&t=365s
(Example at 6:05)
But bigger and more fun to play in but still that same kind of ancient perhaps blood god vibe at the bottom like combining elements together with the imagination not to dissimilar than a dreamscape. More ideas, the better. So please feel free to giver some ideas if you feel so inspired:-).
Took me more time than what I wanted to put into, but hereby I present to you: version 3.0!
CHANGELOG:
Added: Red Drakescale Armor +2 ("studded leather" armor available via Taerom from the drake encounter)
Fixed: Wyvern Cave encounter actually spawns now (and also doesn't break other mods trying to use the cave and installed prior).
Fixed: Bimmy waits for Ioin Gallchobhair's action before attacking.
Fixed: Melia will no longer attempt to heal the player (she will also be affected by SCS's priest script).
Fixed: BG1NPC Xan will respond appropriately when he receives the New Grove Moonblade.
Fixed: StrongArm description icon was corrupted.
Fixed: Many description inconsistencies.
Changed: Moonblade no longer provides additional magical fire resistance, and the leech-life damage is delivered as magic damage. Restored BGEE assumption of using Dagger class.
Changed: Melia's Ring of Accurate Striking only provides +1 Melee THAC0 (Mulahey's remained untouched).
Changed: No longer substitute vanilla items but patch them (Xan's Moonblade, Magma Bulwark, Bimmy's helmet).
Changed: The mod no longer tries to completely rearrange th3e contents of Mulahey's chest.
Changed: Removed additional type of healing potions and substituted them with BG1 counterparts and Potion of Fortitude.
Unexpected surprise; after a few runs with this mod, it is now one of my single favorite BG mods of all time. Beyond excited for a new release, and *just* as I was starting a fresh EET install. Perfect timing.
Thank you as always for your hard work, @GraionDilach it is greatly appreciated!
Yeah, I think I covered almost all issues I'm aware with this one. The scale armor ultimately wasn't based on @WithinAmnesia 's vision, because his planned item (atleast what I could read from that Emporium dump) featured lightning resistance, which doesn't go along with red scales.
One thing I'm not sure because I don't play with that mod, but I might need to drop some compatibility options to BG2 Xan incase someone carries the items over between the games somehow. That, along with the Gnoll Stronghold tuning is just a nice-to-have (and if I'd start tuning those gnolls, I'd probably randomize the weaponry akin to how IWDification allows it). Another nice-to-have would be to restore one of the healing potions and distribute it atleast among BGEE/SoD shops (or maybe even BG2 if it's installed on EET) but I wanted this to be out so for now I just cut those instead of trying to salvage the concept.
I also found data for one additional tweaked encounter in that Emporium stash (turning Natasha in the Cloakwood mines from a human mage to a half-elf thief/mage with another new magic item) but I wasn't sure how to approach that (the item is balancewise broken and changing the character such heavily might conflict with other mods).
For now I don't have any interest in dealing with these tbh. If the BG2 Xan issue turns out to be an actual problem (or someone manages to find other issues), let me know and I'll fix.
Due to the new icon proposals for Unique Icons in Tweaks Anthology will include an IMO higher quality Magma Bulwark icon than what this mod hands out, I exposed the Magma Bulwark icon patching to an ini option in a 3.1 version of this mod. Prior to the mod installation; copy the ini/ol_eeee.ini file to override and edit ol_magma_bulwark_icon value to 0 for this option.
Keep in mind that the default value for this mod is to add it's own icon and Unique Icons do not patch items which have received a new icon beforehand. I feel this is the most fairest outcome.
Did you leave it as option because tweaks anthology uses it already and you don't want to make a duplicate icon happen in-game, or did you do that to respect the original author vision?
The latter, which is also why the default is to install @WithinAmnesia's icon. Tweaks never overrides custom icons provided to it's target items and leave them as-is, so the only way to combine the two would be to provide a bypass to the icon installation. However this is so minuscule that I didn't wanted to make this into a full-fledged component.
It is a complicated one, which has a technical, a design and a practical side.
The Xan's New Grove component provides a fair amount of specialized gear for Xan which I have not prepared with BG2 Xan mods and I am not sure if they work together. Since this was a mod which I added the EET compatibility, this issue didn't came up in the original version before I started maintaining it. I don't really play with BG2 Xan mods myself to know how much would those mods act on if I'd give their Xan additional stuff and I can't even promise that if the player somehow pass over these additional gear to BG2 (via stripping Xan off in BG1 at one point, stashing away these new items in a container then returning to it after irenicus's dungeon) then the gear would be compatible with the BG2 Xan counterparts.
In this scenario, I'd only take action based on feedback from people who actually play with Xan. For now, the compatibility between Xan's new items and BG2 Xan is all up in the air, but it doesn't need special treatment - I'll document any such followup based on such feedback.
It has been a while. Does anyone have any questions or feedback? I am pondering / thinking if I should work towards a proper release of the Baldur's Gate Arms and Armour Emporium.
@GraionDilach Are there any missing pieces or bits that I should work with / find? Also does the Arms and Armour Emporium currently play nice with other mods or is it kind of finicky? I am wondering if I should work more on it and get it to some kind of launch. Although I am wondering if people around the community would like that kind of new content.
The Arms and Armour Emporium is almost done 'as is' (the upgraded items, creatures, vendors, areas, simple mod installer are already made); it still needs some dialog work to get the forging recipes done and working and some player testing for bug fixing / content polishing. I figure that if people in the community want this kind of new content I could add recipes, get them tested and and ask for feedback and polish it all up for hopefully a proper release. Also I could tie up the loose end / add extra choice / crafting options with the Red Drake Scales (and other established in-game creature items like Winter Wolf, Beatle and Wyvern etc. body parts) as an extra option in the Arms and Armour Emporium.
Also what should I do with the Arms and Armour Emporium? What would people like to see? I think all it is majorly missing are the upgrade recipes for the rest of the game's unique magical items I suppose that if that could be completed it should be able to launch or be very close to launch and play nice with other mods? I am not very good at the installer aspects / making the mods play nice admittedly; but I do try.
I am not sure what the item upgrade recipes should exactly look like / how many items should be needed for an upgrade. The old / original test / alpha version had waaay too many item components per reforged item recipe (like ~10-15 and stacks of like x20 gems and potions) I figured less it more / brevity is better / simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication. I figure around ~5 recipe component item types plus a lot of gold and the original item to be upgraded (for ~6 in total item types) seems reasonable per item reforging / upgrade. There could be (hopefully) a balanced / reasonable gold sink (as to give a use for the comparatively huge / near-infinite feeling amounts of gold in the middle to late game in BG1. Also to hopefully give an meaningful use for extra potions and gem stones and scrolls of protection / mage scrolls perhaps (other than just 'vendor trash')? Like say for example Chain Mail +2 'Mail of the Dead' could be upgraded into a +3 version with this recipe at the Arms and Armour Emporium:
Example Arms and Armour Emporium Recipe for Chain Main +3 'Mail of the Dead':
- Base item x 1 [Chain Mail +2 'Mail of the Dead']
- ~10,000-50,000 Gold [or sort of reasonable gold sink]
- King's Tears x 3
- Diamond x 2
- Potion of Invulnerability x 1
- Protection From Undead x1 [Protection Scroll]
- Spirit Armour x 1 [Mage Scroll]
Story Elements / In-Game Setting Lore: Having sky-high demand, diminished local supply from the iron crisis and eve of war hysteria hiking foreign supply import prices coupled with the arms and armour demand capitulated into the sky for an already over worked smithy as an in-world explanation for high prices?
Giving a once per day spell like Spirit Armour (or something minor) that fits the general lore / theme of the base item but just adds a bit of extra utility (like cast Spirit armour on yourself or a friendly target once per day) but nothing crazy like 10 times per day summon a bunch of skeleton warriors. Also any +3 items would need a special reason to go +4 (like Xan's Moonblade) but should in general stay +3. Yet perhaps that could be +3 with an extra minor / lesser enchantment / magical power imbued / reforged upon them at a steep cost.
I hope to have content that blends seamlessly with BG1 almost as if it could have been from Black Isle in the 90's or something where it just feels proper and well thought out. This is all just an idea so far. So I am just looking for some feedback to see if people would like this kind of content and what they might like to experience.
It seems like I could tidy up the loose ends of the Arms and Armour Emporium and add recipes for a release sometime. It seems like as long as my projects do not take overly huge amounts of time and complexity of content development in scale I can crank new content modules out like E.E.E.E. and the like. So long as if I stay relatively focused on having a reasonably smooth, efficient and mentally healthy and hopefully sane content creation pipeline. If I stay focused and reasonable in my content creation scope / scale I can also focus on multiple projects / focuses simultaneously in my life. I am just curious if people want the Arms and Armour Emporium enough. If that is so / there is a reasonable community demand / interest for the new content to properly release I could potentially squeak out some Baldur's Gate content while I work on bigger projects this year. So if the community wants this kind of new content, perhaps with a little bit of help and feedback from the community; Baldur's Gate Arms and Armour Emporium could be polished up and given a proper release hopefully :-P.
Due to the new icon proposals for Unique Icons in Tweaks Anthology will include an IMO higher quality Magma Bulwark icon than what this mod hands out, I exposed the Magma Bulwark icon patching to an ini option in a 3.1 version of this mod. Prior to the mod installation; copy the ini/ol_eeee.ini file to override and edit ol_magma_bulwark_icon value to 0 for this option.
Keep in mind that the default value for this mod is to add it's own icon and Unique Icons do not patch items which have received a new icon beforehand. I feel this is the most fairest outcome.
Oh yeah, the Magma Bulwark icon in E.E.E.E. is kind of, (well... it is not amazing but ~'serviceable' work) it is not ~'rushed' art work but like it was one of a few things that I had on my plate / one of a few things on my mind at the time. It is not up to my 100% level of potential detail that is for sure. It kind of feels like 6 or 7/10 in terms of my quality aspirations. It is not quite a placeholder but still it could be done with a better artistic job admittedly.
I am not sure what people would like with this and what would make sense to do. I am not 100% sure what makes mods play nice with each other yet I think having an independent release is probably better for stability? Yet if it is a base version of the game being updated and there are no big conflicts (hopefully no drama either x.x.) it could make sense to just swap the icon for the new one; the new one looks better in my opinion. Yet I am just not sure what the deal is with how that could work for permissions and what not. I guess for now leave it the way it is and if everything 'good' / fine with a official release; then swap the icons? If it is bound to a / the Tweaks Mod(s) with @CamDawg then it must seek the proper permissions and ways of doing things to stay polite and keeping with acting in good faith, good will and trust of the community. So it is up to the mod creator(s) if the E.E.E.E. mods could use the (admittedly high quality) Magma Bulwark artwork icon; I suppose? As it stands having the ~'Red Plate Mail +1' item icon works so until there is more information of the proper permissions, keep on keeping on I suppose?
I could reuse the ~'Red Plate Mail +1' item icon for a new item if the ~'Tweak Mod' high quality Magma Bulwark icon gets swapped in too (with the proper permissions permitting first if at all). Then there could potentially be a Drake Scale / fire themed Plate Armour (or whatever people think works good / best)? I guess we wait and see?
It can already be used from Tweaks. The players have the options they need already. IMO this was the most respectable way and with the the least resistance.
It can already be used from Tweaks. The players have the options they need already. IMO this was the most respectable way and with the the least resistance.
@WithinAmnesia
Items on this list are ones I'd likely want to use in BG1EE. Since BG1EE comprises levels 1 to about 12 - including SoD - these items are intended to help a variety of characters over a variety of levels to make things more interesting.
Since balance is subjective and because perhaps people want these items in BG2EE as well, perhaps place them in BG2EE (like early in BG2EE) in addition to or instead of BG1EE.
Baldur's Gate Arms and Armour Emporium (2022 Version 0.9)
Here is an early release / mostly functional version that has the Baldur's Gate Arms and Armour Emporium working with the merchants and one oversimplified item upgrade recipe for Long Sword +2 'Varscona' -> Long Sword +3 'Varscona'. Some features are not implemented (like calling the guard when getting caught looting in the Emporium). Two of my other minor quests are included such as Hull's Long Sword Extension and Ghost Knights of Ulcaster Quest (mostly to get the stores / items / installer working). I combed through this version to see if any Sea Tower files were in it and made sure to remove any if they existed and to only have my content in the files; although it could not hurt to double check @jastey . I am not 100% sure how to make this module work nicely / play nice with other mods or even if it works with the current E.E.E.E. properly @GraionDilach . I took a fresh S.o.D. game and iterated away until the Arms and Armour Emporium / install worked. If you find any missed bugs please feel free to report them. Feedback is welcome :-).
@Endarire If you have any ideas for upgrades / encounters / how to add some items on your list please feel free to do so. Right now I am not quite done adding the recipes to the Arms and Armour Emporium. Although if people are interested in suggesting content I would like to consider more stuff than just my own ideas. Also it is nice to get the community involved from time to time :-P. [P.S. What are your favourite items on the list?]
For the record - I am intending to restore one of the healing potions from the two, but I need to ensure it's distributed in all of the trilogy appropriately during an EET campaign.
You can also just pull the files to NearInfinity. The description text wouldn't be set right, but the rest should work. TBH, I also plan to come up with a solution for the BG1->BG2 issue.
For the record - I am intending to restore one of the healing potions from the two, but I need to ensure it's distributed in all of the trilogy appropriately during an EET campaign.
You can also just pull the files to NearInfinity. The description text wouldn't be set right, but the rest should work. TBH, I also plan to come up with a solution for the BG1->BG2 issue.
Good new !
Thanks. I found a way to see each .itm from EEEE (just open a file in NI and select the.itm). There is probably a better solution (to pull the files to NearInfinity) ?. Is there any way to see the file description of the item (as it would appear in Baldur's) ?
Hello @GraionDilach EEEE: bear encounter near the gnoll stronghold is a component that uses SOD monsters; would it be possible to make the user able to install it even if they do not have SoD installed?
"I also found data for one additional tweaked encounter in that Emporium stash (turning Natasha in the Cloakwood mines from a human mage to a half-elf thief/mage with another new magic item) but I wasn't sure how to approach that (the item is balancewise broken and changing the character such heavily might conflict with other mods)."
@GraionDilach I think somewhere in here https://mattwow3.wordpress.com/ or here https://www.deviantart.com/withinamnesia/gallery (my memory feels a bit hazy) I tried to make more Non-Player Characters / get the candlekeep party recruit-able but I ended up with too many good aligned NPCs so I looked around for some possible sellswords / mercenaries in the base BG game that could maybe be convinced to join the party as neutral / evil NPCs who could I suppose be convinced to side with you if you offered them something better than their (soon to be) / dead employer. I think there was an idea to try and make use of BG2 features like (class kits) and under represented class and or race combinations / fill in missing NPC roles (like a neutral fighter in BG1); so as to help 'fill out' the game bit better for more play styles, or something?
I think there was a duo / couple with the Cloakwood mines and one was like a triple class or something neat like that. Also there was an idea of a 'band' / 3 'linked' companions up from the typical 2 seen about and they were neutral I think so they could go in any party in theory. Like a mini adventure group along for the ride or something with a dungeon or something to find they are after and could use some extra help. It all got a bit complex for one person and some fairly clunky modding tools so I went with E.E.E.E. and focused on the things I could do verses what I wanted to do. For example I still suck at modding / using WeiDU and the some of the tools; even now I can barely use some of the tools and they are not the best quality that I would like at the end usually XD. I feel like I have aback log of things to make for Baldur's Gate / make my own expansion finally but like... I feel I need a better shot / opportunity / not have every tool just fight myself constantly in order to work efficiently as a team of basically one person when base BG was built with I think over 100 people; or at least 10 talented people all sharing the work and eventually getting paid to justify the time and sacrifice spent in order to crank out some really really good content and pay for talented freelance professionals to improve the quality of the content. Like how all of the infinity engine game launches and how regular industry standard video games are made. It is not easy working alone and with ancient clunky tools XD.
Comments
True, although a part of myself feels like I need to take on this adventure. Like there is a piece of good out there in the universe with my name on it and only I can share it to the world. It is unique in a way; just like everyone else but still special. I lack resources but not inspiration. I hope that I can deliver on this life long desire to make this extra 'Baldur's Gate Expansion'. It feels like it is a dream I must fulfill to live in peace with myself; like a work that never dies inside of myself. Iterate, iterate, iterate, bit by bit, aim high, dream big; fight hardXD.
(Example at 18:46)
Here is an example of subterranean tunnels integrated into the 4 Corners area first nations 'fortresses' / the the Mesa Verde Cliff Palace ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Palace ) type architecture / building culture (this is the direct inspiration of the Gnollish Stronghold depiction in Baldur's Gate). Given that this example is quite small for about 20-30 people and that the Chaco Canyon Ruins ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo_Bonito ) and other sites can go up to ~1,000+ people this could give more labour and more work fork to possibly build deeper more elaborate tunnels than this smaller scale example.
Also given the natural cave system below the Gnollish Stronghold, I could ascertain that the rock / ~'ground' even without magical / supernatural aid could lend it self to a cave system and or tunnels and passageways and rooms and galleries both natural and artificial in composition; especially that histrionically evidence included artificial ~'Anasazi' tunneling on even smaller scale settlements / built up areas such as shown in the video above.
I could take the general floor plan and layout rooms and passageways in similar architectural style as the square rooms and other stone construction and work my way down to a mix of artificial blending into ~'natural' caves and galleries that finally weave and wind down much like the Nashkel mines into a series of natural features and spectacles and possible an inner / lower final chamber for ritual sacrifice / an order of command chamber / a connection point to worth worlds / realms and possibly an allusion yet most possibly inaccessible passage (for the scope of the adventure of Baldur's Gate, possibly a small cliff face drop into the abyss below ~'No rope')/ difficult to follow point connecting to the Underdark.
Mesa Verde Cliff Palace general floor layout and possible inspiration for a subterranean level or set of divided levels that descent / mix into subterranean caves and galleries that finally descend into a final level and or even possible 'geode' / rock bubble and or gallery like the Nashkel mines general layout but with a unique identity and possibly more side and non-linear features.
Perhaps the final chamber / 'tomb' can be something inspired / akin to Lord Pakal's Ancient Tomb:
(Example at 6:05)
But bigger and more fun to play in but still that same kind of ancient perhaps blood god vibe at the bottom like combining elements together with the imagination not to dissimilar than a dreamscape. More ideas, the better. So please feel free to giver some ideas if you feel so inspired:-).
CHANGELOG:
Added: Red Drakescale Armor +2 ("studded leather" armor available via Taerom from the drake encounter)
Fixed: Wyvern Cave encounter actually spawns now (and also doesn't break other mods trying to use the cave and installed prior).
Fixed: Bimmy waits for Ioin Gallchobhair's action before attacking.
Fixed: Melia will no longer attempt to heal the player (she will also be affected by SCS's priest script).
Fixed: BG1NPC Xan will respond appropriately when he receives the New Grove Moonblade.
Fixed: StrongArm description icon was corrupted.
Fixed: Many description inconsistencies.
Changed: Moonblade no longer provides additional magical fire resistance, and the leech-life damage is delivered as magic damage. Restored BGEE assumption of using Dagger class.
Changed: Melia's Ring of Accurate Striking only provides +1 Melee THAC0 (Mulahey's remained untouched).
Changed: No longer substitute vanilla items but patch them (Xan's Moonblade, Magma Bulwark, Bimmy's helmet).
Changed: The mod no longer tries to completely rearrange th3e contents of Mulahey's chest.
Changed: Removed additional type of healing potions and substituted them with BG1 counterparts and Potion of Fortitude.
DOWNLOAD:
https://github.com/GraionDilach/ExtraExpandedEnhancedEncounters/releases/latest
Unexpected surprise; after a few runs with this mod, it is now one of my single favorite BG mods of all time. Beyond excited for a new release, and *just* as I was starting a fresh EET install. Perfect timing.
Thank you as always for your hard work, @GraionDilach it is greatly appreciated!
One thing I'm not sure because I don't play with that mod, but I might need to drop some compatibility options to BG2 Xan incase someone carries the items over between the games somehow. That, along with the Gnoll Stronghold tuning is just a nice-to-have (and if I'd start tuning those gnolls, I'd probably randomize the weaponry akin to how IWDification allows it). Another nice-to-have would be to restore one of the healing potions and distribute it atleast among BGEE/SoD shops (or maybe even BG2 if it's installed on EET) but I wanted this to be out so for now I just cut those instead of trying to salvage the concept.
I also found data for one additional tweaked encounter in that Emporium stash (turning Natasha in the Cloakwood mines from a human mage to a half-elf thief/mage with another new magic item) but I wasn't sure how to approach that (the item is balancewise broken and changing the character such heavily might conflict with other mods).
For now I don't have any interest in dealing with these tbh. If the BG2 Xan issue turns out to be an actual problem (or someone manages to find other issues), let me know and I'll fix.
Thankee for the update!
Xan in BG2 is in these mods:
-"BG1 NPCs in SoA"
-"The Darkest Day (TDD)"
-"Xan for BG2"
Note that Back to Brynnlaw also has crossmod content with "Xan for BG2."
Keep in mind that the default value for this mod is to add it's own icon and Unique Icons do not patch items which have received a new icon beforehand. I feel this is the most fairest outcome.
https://github.com/GraionDilach/ExtraExpandedEnhancedEncounters/releases/latest
In particular i should go with Back to Brynnlaw and Xan for BG2. I don't know yet about "BG1 NPCs in SoA"
I didn't unserstood what is this Xan BG2 issue. Any consideration to take in count considering those mods ?
The Xan's New Grove component provides a fair amount of specialized gear for Xan which I have not prepared with BG2 Xan mods and I am not sure if they work together. Since this was a mod which I added the EET compatibility, this issue didn't came up in the original version before I started maintaining it. I don't really play with BG2 Xan mods myself to know how much would those mods act on if I'd give their Xan additional stuff and I can't even promise that if the player somehow pass over these additional gear to BG2 (via stripping Xan off in BG1 at one point, stashing away these new items in a container then returning to it after irenicus's dungeon) then the gear would be compatible with the BG2 Xan counterparts.
In this scenario, I'd only take action based on feedback from people who actually play with Xan. For now, the compatibility between Xan's new items and BG2 Xan is all up in the air, but it doesn't need special treatment - I'll document any such followup based on such feedback.
@GraionDilach Are there any missing pieces or bits that I should work with / find? Also does the Arms and Armour Emporium currently play nice with other mods or is it kind of finicky? I am wondering if I should work more on it and get it to some kind of launch. Although I am wondering if people around the community would like that kind of new content.
The Arms and Armour Emporium is almost done 'as is' (the upgraded items, creatures, vendors, areas, simple mod installer are already made); it still needs some dialog work to get the forging recipes done and working and some player testing for bug fixing / content polishing. I figure that if people in the community want this kind of new content I could add recipes, get them tested and and ask for feedback and polish it all up for hopefully a proper release. Also I could tie up the loose end / add extra choice / crafting options with the Red Drake Scales (and other established in-game creature items like Winter Wolf, Beatle and Wyvern etc. body parts) as an extra option in the Arms and Armour Emporium.
Also what should I do with the Arms and Armour Emporium? What would people like to see? I think all it is majorly missing are the upgrade recipes for the rest of the game's unique magical items I suppose that if that could be completed it should be able to launch or be very close to launch and play nice with other mods? I am not very good at the installer aspects / making the mods play nice admittedly; but I do try.
I am not sure what the item upgrade recipes should exactly look like / how many items should be needed for an upgrade. The old / original test / alpha version had waaay too many item components per reforged item recipe (like ~10-15 and stacks of like x20 gems and potions) I figured less it more / brevity is better / simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication. I figure around ~5 recipe component item types plus a lot of gold and the original item to be upgraded (for ~6 in total item types) seems reasonable per item reforging / upgrade. There could be (hopefully) a balanced / reasonable gold sink (as to give a use for the comparatively huge / near-infinite feeling amounts of gold in the middle to late game in BG1. Also to hopefully give an meaningful use for extra potions and gem stones and scrolls of protection / mage scrolls perhaps (other than just 'vendor trash')? Like say for example Chain Mail +2 'Mail of the Dead' could be upgraded into a +3 version with this recipe at the Arms and Armour Emporium:
Example Arms and Armour Emporium Recipe for Chain Main +3 'Mail of the Dead':
- Base item x 1 [Chain Mail +2 'Mail of the Dead']
- ~10,000-50,000 Gold [or sort of reasonable gold sink]
- King's Tears x 3
- Diamond x 2
- Potion of Invulnerability x 1
- Protection From Undead x1 [Protection Scroll]
- Spirit Armour x 1 [Mage Scroll]
Story Elements / In-Game Setting Lore: Having sky-high demand, diminished local supply from the iron crisis and eve of war hysteria hiking foreign supply import prices coupled with the arms and armour demand capitulated into the sky for an already over worked smithy as an in-world explanation for high prices?
Giving a once per day spell like Spirit Armour (or something minor) that fits the general lore / theme of the base item but just adds a bit of extra utility (like cast Spirit armour on yourself or a friendly target once per day) but nothing crazy like 10 times per day summon a bunch of skeleton warriors. Also any +3 items would need a special reason to go +4 (like Xan's Moonblade) but should in general stay +3. Yet perhaps that could be +3 with an extra minor / lesser enchantment / magical power imbued / reforged upon them at a steep cost.
I hope to have content that blends seamlessly with BG1 almost as if it could have been from Black Isle in the 90's or something where it just feels proper and well thought out. This is all just an idea so far. So I am just looking for some feedback to see if people would like this kind of content and what they might like to experience.
It seems like I could tidy up the loose ends of the Arms and Armour Emporium and add recipes for a release sometime. It seems like as long as my projects do not take overly huge amounts of time and complexity of content development in scale I can crank new content modules out like E.E.E.E. and the like. So long as if I stay relatively focused on having a reasonably smooth, efficient and mentally healthy and hopefully sane content creation pipeline. If I stay focused and reasonable in my content creation scope / scale I can also focus on multiple projects / focuses simultaneously in my life. I am just curious if people want the Arms and Armour Emporium enough. If that is so / there is a reasonable community demand / interest for the new content to properly release I could potentially squeak out some Baldur's Gate content while I work on bigger projects this year. So if the community wants this kind of new content, perhaps with a little bit of help and feedback from the community; Baldur's Gate Arms and Armour Emporium could be polished up and given a proper release hopefully :-P.
Oh yeah, the Magma Bulwark icon in E.E.E.E. is kind of, (well... it is not amazing but ~'serviceable' work) it is not ~'rushed' art work but like it was one of a few things that I had on my plate / one of a few things on my mind at the time. It is not up to my 100% level of potential detail that is for sure. It kind of feels like 6 or 7/10 in terms of my quality aspirations. It is not quite a placeholder but still it could be done with a better artistic job admittedly.
I am not sure what people would like with this and what would make sense to do. I am not 100% sure what makes mods play nice with each other yet I think having an independent release is probably better for stability? Yet if it is a base version of the game being updated and there are no big conflicts (hopefully no drama either x.x.) it could make sense to just swap the icon for the new one; the new one looks better in my opinion. Yet I am just not sure what the deal is with how that could work for permissions and what not. I guess for now leave it the way it is and if everything 'good' / fine with a official release; then swap the icons? If it is bound to a / the Tweaks Mod(s) with @CamDawg then it must seek the proper permissions and ways of doing things to stay polite and keeping with acting in good faith, good will and trust of the community. So it is up to the mod creator(s) if the E.E.E.E. mods could use the (admittedly high quality) Magma Bulwark artwork icon; I suppose? As it stands having the ~'Red Plate Mail +1' item icon works so until there is more information of the proper permissions, keep on keeping on I suppose?
I could reuse the ~'Red Plate Mail +1' item icon for a new item if the ~'Tweak Mod' high quality Magma Bulwark icon gets swapped in too (with the proper permissions permitting first if at all). Then there could potentially be a Drake Scale / fire themed Plate Armour (or whatever people think works good / best)? I guess we wait and see?
Oh okay, sounds all good then.
Items on this list are ones I'd likely want to use in BG1EE. Since BG1EE comprises levels 1 to about 12 - including SoD - these items are intended to help a variety of characters over a variety of levels to make things more interesting.
Since balance is subjective and because perhaps people want these items in BG2EE as well, perhaps place them in BG2EE (like early in BG2EE) in addition to or instead of BG1EE.
Here is an early release / mostly functional version that has the Baldur's Gate Arms and Armour Emporium working with the merchants and one oversimplified item upgrade recipe for Long Sword +2 'Varscona' -> Long Sword +3 'Varscona'. Some features are not implemented (like calling the guard when getting caught looting in the Emporium). Two of my other minor quests are included such as Hull's Long Sword Extension and Ghost Knights of Ulcaster Quest (mostly to get the stores / items / installer working). I combed through this version to see if any Sea Tower files were in it and made sure to remove any if they existed and to only have my content in the files; although it could not hurt to double check @jastey . I am not 100% sure how to make this module work nicely / play nice with other mods or even if it works with the current E.E.E.E. properly @GraionDilach . I took a fresh S.o.D. game and iterated away until the Arms and Armour Emporium / install worked. If you find any missed bugs please feel free to report them. Feedback is welcome :-).
Download link / mirror (the attached file is the same zip): https://mega.nz/folder/KBYTQIBI#CFhHkRHk6ZyGtsCB334mqA
https://github.com/GraionDilach/ExtraExpandedEnhancedEncounters/releases/latest
The old version of E.E.E.E. has more items (more Healing Potion types for example) but plays not as nice with other mods. E.E.E.E. was kind of built as a test to see if making more content would make sense. So its kind of concentrated in overall scale.
You can also just pull the files to NearInfinity. The description text wouldn't be set right, but the rest should work. TBH, I also plan to come up with a solution for the BG1->BG2 issue.
Good new !
Thanks. I found a way to see each .itm from EEEE (just open a file in NI and select the.itm). There is probably a better solution (to pull the files to NearInfinity) ?. Is there any way to see the file description of the item (as it would appear in Baldur's) ?
EEEE: bear encounter near the gnoll stronghold is a component that uses SOD monsters; would it be possible to make the user able to install it even if they do not have SoD installed?
@GraionDilach I think somewhere in here https://mattwow3.wordpress.com/ or here https://www.deviantart.com/withinamnesia/gallery (my memory feels a bit hazy) I tried to make more Non-Player Characters / get the candlekeep party recruit-able but I ended up with too many good aligned NPCs so I looked around for some possible sellswords / mercenaries in the base BG game that could maybe be convinced to join the party as neutral / evil NPCs who could I suppose be convinced to side with you if you offered them something better than their (soon to be) / dead employer. I think there was an idea to try and make use of BG2 features like (class kits) and under represented class and or race combinations / fill in missing NPC roles (like a neutral fighter in BG1); so as to help 'fill out' the game bit better for more play styles, or something?
I think there was a duo / couple with the Cloakwood mines and one was like a triple class or something neat like that. Also there was an idea of a 'band' / 3 'linked' companions up from the typical 2 seen about and they were neutral I think so they could go in any party in theory. Like a mini adventure group along for the ride or something with a dungeon or something to find they are after and could use some extra help. It all got a bit complex for one person and some fairly clunky modding tools so I went with E.E.E.E. and focused on the things I could do verses what I wanted to do. For example I still suck at modding / using WeiDU and the some of the tools; even now I can barely use some of the tools and they are not the best quality that I would like at the end usually XD. I feel like I have aback log of things to make for Baldur's Gate / make my own expansion finally but like... I feel I need a better shot / opportunity / not have every tool just fight myself constantly in order to work efficiently as a team of basically one person when base BG was built with I think over 100 people; or at least 10 talented people all sharing the work and eventually getting paid to justify the time and sacrifice spent in order to crank out some really really good content and pay for talented freelance professionals to improve the quality of the content. Like how all of the infinity engine game launches and how regular industry standard video games are made. It is not easy working alone and with ancient clunky tools XD.