BG EE Bag of Holding STO File Locations
Mycenius
Member Posts: 28
Hi All - just wanting to double check - does the game place the STO file (with the contents of each bag of holding) in the override folder? Or are they in the game save files somewhere (assume these are compressed repositories or similar)?
And can you just delete them to clear the contents of a BoH, or does that break the bag completely (as it wont' auto-recreate the store file)?
Also regarding the location if it's the Override how does it prevent the contents showing in the same bag ID (e.g. BAG04.sto) for a different 'game' (<CHARNAME>)? Or does it have some other way to differentiate which <CHARNAME> 'game' the bag contents belong to? Or doesn't it?
Reason for question is just asking as trying to understand why I get some bags in BG 1 EE (with SoD installed and a couple of mods like Tweaks Anthology 16 that 'fix' BoH) that have contents included a lot of unidentified items (including items with no names that if removed into inventory then lock up a slot and can't seem to be removed initially). I know that ToB has some bags like this for pre-gen or stand alone characters, but it looks a bit like these bags appear in my BG 1 EE install (as it looks a lot like the contents - that are valid items - are on the list on the fandom wiki page). e.g. BAG25, BAG27 have this issue in my current install, and BAG19 to BAG30 (13 in total) are in the list on the above page.
There are also some similar comments on that page but no explanation? This is part of a comment from there:
Curiously this is someone with an unmodded game in 2021 above... I was guessing this was a side effect of the mods doing the fix to the bag files (to make sure each one has unique icon & name to help identify them in game, etc) and because the mods are designed for all of BG EE (i.e. entirety of 1 & 2 plus SoD) it results in the BG 2 EE ToB stuff ending up in the BG1 game install? But the above quote would seem to eliminate that since unmodded game is similar, so is it just as simple as EE install just dumps these bags into both BG 1 & BG 2 installs regardless as they are part of the core engine/environment files common to both?
I only noticed because occasionally I allow myself the indulgence of a BoH added to <CHARNAME> via console or eeKeeper at the very start of BG1 (usually if I have a low STR wizard or similar and/or have turned on identifying gems & potions in Tweaks Anthology so can't sell booty quickly to clear inventory) - and I just happened to randomly pick BAG25 and BAG27 in new game started yesterday and had a similar issue with my previous play through (think that was BAG19 same as quoted comment above).
I'm a semi-veteran player (played all BG series off an on since original release in 1998) but have largely confined my game system experience to what eeKeeper (and Shadowkeeper before it) did, plus in last 3 years using a few mods. So haven't had detailed familiarity with the back end or used Infinity Explorer (back in the pre-EE days) to edit stuff, etc...
And can you just delete them to clear the contents of a BoH, or does that break the bag completely (as it wont' auto-recreate the store file)?
Also regarding the location if it's the Override how does it prevent the contents showing in the same bag ID (e.g. BAG04.sto) for a different 'game' (<CHARNAME>)? Or does it have some other way to differentiate which <CHARNAME> 'game' the bag contents belong to? Or doesn't it?
Reason for question is just asking as trying to understand why I get some bags in BG 1 EE (with SoD installed and a couple of mods like Tweaks Anthology 16 that 'fix' BoH) that have contents included a lot of unidentified items (including items with no names that if removed into inventory then lock up a slot and can't seem to be removed initially). I know that ToB has some bags like this for pre-gen or stand alone characters, but it looks a bit like these bags appear in my BG 1 EE install (as it looks a lot like the contents - that are valid items - are on the list on the fandom wiki page). e.g. BAG25, BAG27 have this issue in my current install, and BAG19 to BAG30 (13 in total) are in the list on the above page.
There are also some similar comments on that page but no explanation? This is part of a comment from there:
...in an the unmodded BG1EE v2.6.6.0. When you use the console to give BAG19 to one of your characters, the bag is filled with items, some of which are none existent in the BG1 engine. So just move the "empty" items out of the bag, starting with the bottom of the contents list and working your way up. Some non-existent items inside the bag appear as blue empty (iconless) squares in your inventory. After you move them from the bag into your inventory, just save the game, then reload and then the iconless items will disappear from your inventory.
Curiously this is someone with an unmodded game in 2021 above... I was guessing this was a side effect of the mods doing the fix to the bag files (to make sure each one has unique icon & name to help identify them in game, etc) and because the mods are designed for all of BG EE (i.e. entirety of 1 & 2 plus SoD) it results in the BG 2 EE ToB stuff ending up in the BG1 game install? But the above quote would seem to eliminate that since unmodded game is similar, so is it just as simple as EE install just dumps these bags into both BG 1 & BG 2 installs regardless as they are part of the core engine/environment files common to both?
I only noticed because occasionally I allow myself the indulgence of a BoH added to <CHARNAME> via console or eeKeeper at the very start of BG1 (usually if I have a low STR wizard or similar and/or have turned on identifying gems & potions in Tweaks Anthology so can't sell booty quickly to clear inventory) - and I just happened to randomly pick BAG25 and BAG27 in new game started yesterday and had a similar issue with my previous play through (think that was BAG19 same as quoted comment above).
I'm a semi-veteran player (played all BG series off an on since original release in 1998) but have largely confined my game system experience to what eeKeeper (and Shadowkeeper before it) did, plus in last 3 years using a few mods. So haven't had detailed familiarity with the back end or used Infinity Explorer (back in the pre-EE days) to edit stuff, etc...
0
Comments
- Each bag has an associated item in the game files, with exactly the same resource name. For example, the basic scroll case you get in Beregost is BAG04.ITM and BAG04.STO.
- When you first get the container, its contents are those specified in the .STO in the game files. For example, the gem bag Neera has comes with a few low-value gems already in it.
- Now that you have the bag, a copy of the .STO file goes into the save; it's one of the many resources in the .SAV file, like any store or area you've visited. From now on, that copy is what is used.
So, the bags of holding in BGEE are copied from BG2. And most of them are the bags that characters starting fresh in ToB would get, with a bunch of equipment in them. Large portions of that equipment are items that weren't copied over, so you get null items when that resource reference doesn't point to anything in the game files. Oops.
For an empty bag of holding, go for BAG31. It's the same as the one you can buy in Saradush, with a 2000 item capacity, and SoD allows you to buy it as well. Only BGEE (either with or without SoD) gives that bag a 20x markup, from a 500 gold base price to 10000.
No mods are needed to see this behavior; the bags with messed up contents are in base BGEE. I recommend just using the one bag that does start empty - a 2000 item capacity should be plenty.
Cheers.