I have always uses strategy-mode. The reason is that it is the only mode that I can mark all my members with my mouse. I dont play with AI on. I need to control my team 100%.
mooth visual experience (the camera way overreacts to mouse movement in Character mode), and consistently having all party members follow one who is taking "point." I evidently don't really get the nuances of toggling between Exploration, Strategy, and Character camera modes.
Years ago I got to know NWN2 in a way that involved trying out yet not buying (I'm a proponent of the buy it if you like it, so it helps getting to know IF you like it), but was put off by the wacky camera controls: in the tutorial, my camera went all over the place, sometimes even viewing at heaven instead of the playfield. It was only because of BGR being announced and NWN2 being available dirt-cheap on GOG some weeks ago, that I decided to buy it after all.
@Sachery, I've been seeing critical hits happening to everybody in my game on easy - pets, party members, and Charname. I guess maybe they're not damaging as much as they would on a harder setting, but they still usually take the victim down. AC doesn't seem to help as much as in BG:EE - it seems like the enemies have no trouble at all hitting, regardless of AC. The mobs may be concentrating their attacks, though.
@Lemernis, I use exploration mode only in my game. I have mouse sensitivities set to minimum. I've been in my .ini file before to change the minimum mouse camera movement speed even lower than NWN2 has it set by default, but I did it a long time ago, and I don't remember now exactly how I did it.
I would agree that the unwieldy camera controls are the top reason to dislike NWN2, for some people. They play for a short time, and then give up because it's giving them a headache, and they have no fun.
I would also agree that the arwork is much richer and detailed in BG:EE. NWN2 in general has always had kind a dull black-grey-white contrast to the colors, and drab-looking environments.
I'm still enjoying BGR though, for the newness of the experience, and the third edition rules, which I like. I'll probably stick with BGR, at least until they get the new patch out. I may move on to some other games when I get done with BGR, and wait for BG2:EE to come out before I get back into BG - I haven't decided yet where I want to go from BGR. I certainly have no shortage of character ideas I want to play with.
Here are two new promotional photos I took today. Heh, it's getting fun to take on photography as a hobby in BGR, because you can get some beautiful shots!
The first is from the conversation with Portalbinderwiden. I took it, because I saw an unusual angle that really flatters Minsc, Jaheira, Khalid, Imoen, and Dynaheir. The second is a shot of fighting a pack of wolves under a full moon, and you can see the Tears of Selune shining brightly behind the moon. Behind me are my panther, Jaheira with her bear, and Minsc.
Yeah I started a new game of NWN2's OC recently, and the game just isn't fun (wonky camera controls, ai is atrocious, and controlling all party members is an exercise in tedium). To me, BGR seems worthless because you are playing the same game but on an inferior engine and with a large number of balance issues.
@Vellin, on the other hand, for all of those of us who stuck with NWN2 long enough to figure out all of its issues, and who have learned to have a great deal of fun with the original game, BGR is a diamond gift to us, giving us hours upon hours of entertainment and fun.
If you hate NWN2, you definitely won't like BGR. If you love NWN2, as I do, then BGR is a gift from the gods.
Keep trying to play it but I get the "missing HAK files" message. Earlier I read that there is problems when your connection times out and try to resume download. My connection frequently drops while I download large files so its quite frustrating. The base game still plays if I remove the BGR files however. Any advice?
edit: gonna try a bit torrent download, maybe that will help
@ReadingRambo, I read a post from someone who finally got a clean download on their third try.
Are you using WinRAR? If so, it usually gives you a warning message such as "archive ended sooner than expected" if your download is corrupt. Since each of the six parts takes five to ten minutes to download, you might try extracting them one at a time, and watch carefully for any warning messages from WinRAR.
So, you would download part one of six, extract it into My Documents/Neverwinter Nights 2, and watch for a warning message from WinRAR. Then download part two of six, extract it, etc.
If at any point, WinRAR gives you the warning flag that your download is corrupt, you will know which of the six parts. You shouldn't have to redownload the .rar files that didn't trigger a warning.
If all else fails, you may have to just keep downloading again and again, hoping for your connection to have a good day.
Sorry for your frustration. I can't really think of anything else that might help.
So I got the module running woot!. According to the installation instructions it says to put them in the libraries/mydoc NWN 2 override folder, so I put them in the base directory in mydocs instead after reading a post from one of the creators. Everything seems to be up and running, now if I could just stop rerolling characters and actually play it...
@ReadingRambo it either helps or hinders that they've added so many classes eh?
Personally I'd like to hear the classes that everyone's building in BGR, what-with all the options. Especially if you've unlocked NPC multiclassing. Which I strongly suggest, it allows for some new & interesting approaches.
My current party includes: Imoen (Rogue, Wizard - building towards Arcane Trickster) Khalid (Fighter, Anointed Knight) Jaheira (Druid1, Bard - building towards StormSinger-Druid spell progression) Branwen (Cleric, Warlock - building towards Eldritch Disciple) Xan (Fighter1,Wizard - building towards Eldritch Knight1, Swift Blade)
Just cleared out the Bandit Camp. Everyone's level 6, they left it in ruins.
Ugh I'm having a TON of problems... First off, after I start the module, if I load the game it either doesn't load or loads me into the durlags tower area (as a single level one character lol). Also after following gorion the game gets stuck and gorions and sarevoks cutscenes fails to play or something. Bleh. Completely unplayable at the moment
I'm having the exact issue @Lemernis had on his other computer... Drat.. So you were never able to get it running on your first computer? Was it the steam version? Mine is and having basically all the issues as these.
Quit disheartening, but I haven't given up yet.
EDIT: SUCCESS!!!!! Finally did a clean install and its working great so far... Took the better part of a day but now I get to delve into the Sword Coast in 3d woohoo! Sorry for ranting everyone, the mod didnt seem to point me in a direction of where to try for support. Most likely some mod I installed years ago and forgot about was messing up the module
Update: This module is amazing. I just got to the Friendly Arm Inn after getting my ass kicked by Tarnesh 6+times, but you know what? I didn't care dying to him; it was awesome in fact!
@Isair, I am currently playing an Asimaar Pally X/Cleric 1/Fighter 1, and I just defeated Davaeorn for the first time. Things get very easy around level 5 or 6.
My party is my pally, Jaheira, Khalid, Minsc, Dynaheir, and a witchy Imoen.
Make sure to give Jaheira the "Elephant Skin" feat when it becomes available. Make sure to switch Imoen to wizard for her very first level up, and then take "Able Learner" as her feat at her next level-up, which will allow her to keep progressing in her rogue skills as if she had not dual-classed.
I'm looking forward to trying Karoug and Sarevok. I want to see if Sarevok in particular can really hit AC30 easily, as some people seem to imply. My experience with NWN2 is that nothing but a dragon or a vampire lord hits AC30 with a roll less than 19 or 20. So, is Sarevok as strong as a dragon or a vampire lord? That would make him an ACTIV NWN2 boss (average character level on getting there, at least 15, which isn't even possible in BGR), or MotB (your first vampire lords) level boss.
I guess I'll find out. I'm rather looking forward to it.
@belgarathmth Elephant skin isn't an option for her in my game since she just has one level of Druid/as I recall it requires wildshape.
Sage advice though, I agree with both points - Imoen is also effected by the creative licence I've taken (Able Learner is a good feat to have but redundant in my case since Arcane Trickster requires three levels of Rogue - I've just had her focus on Thief skills during Rogue levels & spell casting skills during the Wizard levels, Arcane Trickster will grant progression in both).
Paladin/Cleric/Fighter is an interesting build, Fighter for the bonus feat & Cleric for the domain bonuses? One of my favorite builds in NWN1 was Paladin (1), Monk (1), Cleric - Monk bonus attacks per-round increased via base attack rather than Monk progression. Turned you into an Cleric with a wisdom bonus to AC, access to Monk equipment (boots, robes), evasion, divine grace & rapid attacks (with a Kama + divine might).
Arcane Trickster's a natural choice for Imoen, I think. Same reason my mage CHARNAME took Arcane Scholar as soon as he could; it just fit too well from a role playing perspective not to.
@belgarathmth I haven't been able to beat Sarevok legitimately with an AC of 27 or so. The only way I can think of to (possibly) defeat him is if your character is a WIS/DEX-based elf or halfling monk because he gets an ungodly number of attacks per round and goes into a frenzy which renders him unkillable for a while. Kiting him around with monk speed + haste while Imoen cloaks the party with an Invisibility Sphere is the best solution I can think of.
Problem is that I played a paladin/anointed knight through the whole game so I'd have to start all over to see if it would work.
Ah, so Sarevok is restored to his vanilla, punch-your-fist-through-your-monitor difficulty? Oh joy. I don't think I ever beat him in vanilla without HUGE helpings of cheese.
@Isair, yes, on my pally build, I took the one level of fighter for tower shields and a bonus feat, and the cleric level for two domain feats plus a handful of Cure Minor Wounds and Endure Elements/Cure Light Wounds.
I decided to try the Monkey Grip feat so I could wield Spider Bane with a tower shield, but that was probably a mistake. The two penalty to attack rolls is making way more difference than I imagined - I can't hit anything. If I had it to do over, I'd take weapon focus in either War Hammer or Longsword. Also, I took Earth Domain for free Toughness, and Time Domain for free Improved Initiative. There are likely better bonus feats in the cleric list I could have taken. I took Luck of Heroes at character creation, but maybe I should have picked another feat there, and used Luck Domain when I got my cleric level.
Anyway, questionable choices in the build or not, I'm having a lot of fun with the character. When I get done with BGR, I think I'll run him through the OC and MotB. I've never finished MotB before.
Sigh, I just encountered a game-breaking bug in BGR tonight, or, at least, it's game-breaking if you ever want to do Ulgoth's Beard and Durlag's Tower content. There is supposed to be a town crier in the Gate District of BGCity who opens the content. I have NO idea why the BGR devs tied game content to a buggered npc.
In my game, there was some bug, denied by the BGR devs, and by all the people who did not encounter the bug, that prevents this critical npc from spawning, permanently in your game, even though you can clearly hear him crying "hear ye, hear ye" in the Gate District.
Combine that with all the buggered quests in the Fishing Village just south of BGCity, and, I do believe I have had it. It was fun while it lasted, but I just don't have enough gaming time in my life to waste it on buggered games, at least, where the bugs can bring me to a halt, unable to play any further in intended game content.
I posted the following on the BGR website, and I am posting it here: Hookay, this is the "straw" (more like a "beam") that's broken this camel's back.
There is a bug that causes the town crier in the Gate District who gives access to Ulgoth's Beard and Durlag's Tower to disappear forever. I have no idea what causes it. What I know in my case, is that when I first entered BGCity, it was daytime, and, despite my Charname being in the lead position, he was blocked in by the party. So, Jaheira was the one who wound up being the recipient of the Elminster dialogue.
I don't know if the town crier might have been available to be spoken to at that point. I was hardly even thinking about needing to speak to an NPC in order to open up game content, and I proceeded to explore the city for my first time.
What I DO know, is that, if he was ever there, he is not now. Also, I've read posts from someone who encountered a bug where he was never again able to access BGCity after he left it.
This game is just, most unfortunately, too buggy in the BGCity area. Most if not all of the quests starting in the Fishing Village are buggered out. You proceed with BGR at your own risk - you risk spending hours and hours of your gaming time over days and weeks, and then getting stopped by stability bugs once you get to the BGCity portion of the game.
So far, the response I've seen from the devs is "It's your computer, or you didn't install the game correctly, or you did something stupid."
Basically, they are not supporting this game, and honestly, I don't blame them, given that it still has all these problems after seven years of their hard work, and that Atari has gone bankrupt, and seems to be systematically serving everyone who ever created content based on their game engines with "cease and desist" legal orders.
I cannot recommend any further to anyone that they, and I hate to use this word, "waste" their time on BGR. Many, many people have actually had a very fulfilling game experience based on the hard work that was put into this offering, but many, many other people are having their gaming time coming to a screeching halt from game-breaking bugs, and are being told that it's their own fault.
I've even seen a post from a forum friend who had his entire NWN2 install permanently buggered on his computer, even after a complete uninstall and reinstall of NWN2, with no BGR installation at all, with the "BGR" choices still in his campaigns folder in all four campaign slots, and told that it was his fault.
If you have actually completed BGR as intended by its devs, then you have had the blessings of Tymora. INSTALL THIS MOD ON YOUR COMPUTER AT YOUR OWN RISK.
@belgarathmth Ulgoth's Beard is only unlocked by a town crier? That's messed up, it explains why it didn't show up when I went North of the Bridge Map.
I'm currently running through BG proper at the moment (this time without neverending waves of Flaming Fist to contend with) I'll head back to the Gate District & see if I encounter the same issue.
Yeah the Fishing Village... No quests can be completed.
MotB is well worth it, it's quite short though. The two handed sword/tower shield set-up requires an immense str score & high BAB. It works well with a Fighter/Dragon Disciple blend but most of the time it's easier to just use a medium weapon & take power attack, being able to add a flat +3 to damage when needed seems more preferable. That & it leads to feats like Cleave.
If you wanted to pursue it in MotB, a Dwarven Fighter/Sorcerer(1)/Dragon Disciple/Dwarven Defender is quite capable of having a tower shield/two handed sword & using power attack. That & your AC/HP are other-worldly.
Either that or an Earth Genasi Fighter/Bard(1)/Dragon Disciple/Weapon Master(7). Unlike the Dwarf you can unlock Epic Weapon Focus/Specialisation.
@Flashburn, no, this is a specific BGCity town crier, in the Gate District where you first enter. I have been given a workaround by a poster on the official BGR posts board by another user who insulted me and belittled me for my posting about it, but I still got the workaround.
There is a sequence to getting the needed town crier to spawn (or at least, I had to go through this rigamarole or never have access to Ulgoth's Beard or Durlag's Tower):
After you first go into the Gate District, and run the dialogue with Elminster, there is a named bard there who wants to tell you the history of this and that, and you must give him all of the polite responses. The town crier may or may not be there after that; I don't know.
If you go to any other region of the City before speaking to that bard, there will be no town crier ever after, until:
You rest in the Gate District, out on the streets, at night. This should trigger an encounter with a mob of undead.
Then, you have to leave the city to the exterior bridge, and rest there, and then come back in and out of the City, resting as necessary, until you get "just the right" setting of daytime in the Gate District. If you do this enough times and in the right combination, you will eventually have the necessary town crier to spawn next to the fountain.
Until you have played the game to the point of entering BGCity, and have clicked on exactly the right sequence of dialogues, needing multiple rests in multiple locations if you don't "get it right" the first time, you will not be able to access Ulgoth's Beard nor Durlag's Tower.
Honestly, at this point, I am still more interested in trying a game of NWN2 OC and MotB, or a game of the Aielund Saga in NWN1, or a game of BG Classic with my mods, than in continuing with BGR, given the experience I have had with bugginess and hostility of its devs toward BGR "consumers", in the BG endgame (Fishing Village and north to BGCity, plus the two main TotSC modules), than in continuing with what I now perceive as a beautiful one-time thing to try, but as a waste of my time to keep spending my precious game time on.
Imoen looks pretty, and so are the environment! Very nicely done! But how about the dialogue sounds, are they also incorporated in this mod? I hope EE stuff also gets added; I would like to see how Neera would look like. :-)
Comments
@Lemernis, I use exploration mode only in my game. I have mouse sensitivities set to minimum. I've been in my .ini file before to change the minimum mouse camera movement speed even lower than NWN2 has it set by default, but I did it a long time ago, and I don't remember now exactly how I did it.
I would agree that the unwieldy camera controls are the top reason to dislike NWN2, for some people. They play for a short time, and then give up because it's giving them a headache, and they have no fun.
I would also agree that the arwork is much richer and detailed in BG:EE. NWN2 in general has always had kind a dull black-grey-white contrast to the colors, and drab-looking environments.
I'm still enjoying BGR though, for the newness of the experience, and the third edition rules, which I like. I'll probably stick with BGR, at least until they get the new patch out. I may move on to some other games when I get done with BGR, and wait for BG2:EE to come out before I get back into BG - I haven't decided yet where I want to go from BGR. I certainly have no shortage of character ideas I want to play with.
The first is from the conversation with Portalbinderwiden. I took it, because I saw an unusual angle that really flatters Minsc, Jaheira, Khalid, Imoen, and Dynaheir. The second is a shot of fighting a pack of wolves under a full moon, and you can see the Tears of Selune shining brightly behind the moon. Behind me are my panther, Jaheira with her bear, and Minsc.
If you hate NWN2, you definitely won't like BGR. If you love NWN2, as I do, then BGR is a gift from the gods.
edit: gonna try a bit torrent download, maybe that will help
Are you using WinRAR? If so, it usually gives you a warning message such as "archive ended sooner than expected" if your download is corrupt. Since each of the six parts takes five to ten minutes to download, you might try extracting them one at a time, and watch carefully for any warning messages from WinRAR.
So, you would download part one of six, extract it into My Documents/Neverwinter Nights 2, and watch for a warning message from WinRAR. Then download part two of six, extract it, etc.
If at any point, WinRAR gives you the warning flag that your download is corrupt, you will know which of the six parts. You shouldn't have to redownload the .rar files that didn't trigger a warning.
If all else fails, you may have to just keep downloading again and again, hoping for your connection to have a good day.
Sorry for your frustration. I can't really think of anything else that might help.
Personally I'd like to hear the classes that everyone's building in BGR, what-with all the options. Especially if you've unlocked NPC multiclassing. Which I strongly suggest, it allows for some new & interesting approaches.
My current party includes:
Imoen (Rogue, Wizard - building towards Arcane Trickster)
Khalid (Fighter, Anointed Knight)
Jaheira (Druid1, Bard - building towards StormSinger-Druid spell progression)
Branwen (Cleric, Warlock - building towards Eldritch Disciple)
Xan (Fighter1,Wizard - building towards Eldritch Knight1, Swift Blade)
Just cleared out the Bandit Camp. Everyone's level 6, they left it in ruins.
Quit disheartening, but I haven't given up yet.
EDIT: SUCCESS!!!!! Finally did a clean install and its working great so far... Took the better part of a day but now I get to delve into the Sword Coast in 3d woohoo! Sorry for ranting everyone, the mod didnt seem to point me in a direction of where to try for support. Most likely some mod I installed years ago and forgot about was messing up the module
Update: This module is amazing. I just got to the Friendly Arm Inn after getting my ass kicked by Tarnesh 6+times, but you know what? I didn't care dying to him; it was awesome in fact!
My party is my pally, Jaheira, Khalid, Minsc, Dynaheir, and a witchy Imoen.
Make sure to give Jaheira the "Elephant Skin" feat when it becomes available. Make sure to switch Imoen to wizard for her very first level up, and then take "Able Learner" as her feat at her next level-up, which will allow her to keep progressing in her rogue skills as if she had not dual-classed.
I'm looking forward to trying Karoug and Sarevok. I want to see if Sarevok in particular can really hit AC30 easily, as some people seem to imply. My experience with NWN2 is that nothing but a dragon or a vampire lord hits AC30 with a roll less than 19 or 20. So, is Sarevok as strong as a dragon or a vampire lord? That would make him an ACTIV NWN2 boss (average character level on getting there, at least 15, which isn't even possible in BGR), or MotB (your first vampire lords) level boss.
I guess I'll find out. I'm rather looking forward to it.
Sage advice though, I agree with both points - Imoen is also effected by the creative licence I've taken (Able Learner is a good feat to have but redundant in my case since Arcane Trickster requires three levels of Rogue - I've just had her focus on Thief skills during Rogue levels & spell casting skills during the Wizard levels, Arcane Trickster will grant progression in both).
Paladin/Cleric/Fighter is an interesting build, Fighter for the bonus feat & Cleric for the domain bonuses? One of my favorite builds in NWN1 was Paladin (1), Monk (1), Cleric - Monk bonus attacks per-round increased via base attack rather than Monk progression. Turned you into an Cleric with a wisdom bonus to AC, access to Monk equipment (boots, robes), evasion, divine grace & rapid attacks (with a Kama + divine might).
Now I feel like playing NWN1, damn it.
I haven't been able to beat Sarevok legitimately with an AC of 27 or so. The only way I can think of to (possibly) defeat him is if your character is a WIS/DEX-based elf or halfling monk because he gets an ungodly number of attacks per round and goes into a frenzy which renders him unkillable for a while. Kiting him around with monk speed + haste while Imoen cloaks the party with an Invisibility Sphere is the best solution I can think of.
Problem is that I played a paladin/anointed knight through the whole game so I'd have to start all over to see if it would work.
I think Khalid has 28 AC at the moment (level 7) when he has Combat Expertise activated so I may have a chance.
I decided to try the Monkey Grip feat so I could wield Spider Bane with a tower shield, but that was probably a mistake. The two penalty to attack rolls is making way more difference than I imagined - I can't hit anything. If I had it to do over, I'd take weapon focus in either War Hammer or Longsword. Also, I took Earth Domain for free Toughness, and Time Domain for free Improved Initiative. There are likely better bonus feats in the cleric list I could have taken. I took Luck of Heroes at character creation, but maybe I should have picked another feat there, and used Luck Domain when I got my cleric level.
Anyway, questionable choices in the build or not, I'm having a lot of fun with the character. When I get done with BGR, I think I'll run him through the OC and MotB. I've never finished MotB before.
In my game, there was some bug, denied by the BGR devs, and by all the people who did not encounter the bug, that prevents this critical npc from spawning, permanently in your game, even though you can clearly hear him crying "hear ye, hear ye" in the Gate District.
Combine that with all the buggered quests in the Fishing Village just south of BGCity, and, I do believe I have had it. It was fun while it lasted, but I just don't have enough gaming time in my life to waste it on buggered games, at least, where the bugs can bring me to a halt, unable to play any further in intended game content.
I posted the following on the BGR website, and I am posting it here:
Hookay, this is the "straw" (more like a "beam") that's broken this camel's back.
There is a bug that causes the town crier in the Gate District who gives access to Ulgoth's Beard and Durlag's Tower to disappear forever. I have no idea what causes it. What I know in my case, is that when I first entered BGCity, it was daytime, and, despite my Charname being in the lead position, he was blocked in by the party. So, Jaheira was the one who wound up being the recipient of the Elminster dialogue.
I don't know if the town crier might have been available to be spoken to at that point. I was hardly even thinking about needing to speak to an NPC in order to open up game content, and I proceeded to explore the city for my first time.
What I DO know, is that, if he was ever there, he is not now. Also, I've read posts from someone who encountered a bug where he was never again able to access BGCity after he left it.
This game is just, most unfortunately, too buggy in the BGCity area. Most if not all of the quests starting in the Fishing Village are buggered out. You proceed with BGR at your own risk - you risk spending hours and hours of your gaming time over days and weeks, and then getting stopped by stability bugs once you get to the BGCity portion of the game.
So far, the response I've seen from the devs is "It's your computer, or you didn't install the game correctly, or you did something stupid."
Basically, they are not supporting this game, and honestly, I don't blame them, given that it still has all these problems after seven years of their hard work, and that Atari has gone bankrupt, and seems to be systematically serving everyone who ever created content based on their game engines with "cease and desist" legal orders.
I cannot recommend any further to anyone that they, and I hate to use this word, "waste" their time on BGR. Many, many people have actually had a very fulfilling game experience based on the hard work that was put into this offering, but many, many other people are having their gaming time coming to a screeching halt from game-breaking bugs, and are being told that it's their own fault.
I've even seen a post from a forum friend who had his entire NWN2 install permanently buggered on his computer, even after a complete uninstall and reinstall of NWN2, with no BGR installation at all, with the "BGR" choices still in his campaigns folder in all four campaign slots, and told that it was his fault.
If you have actually completed BGR as intended by its devs, then you have had the blessings of Tymora. INSTALL THIS MOD ON YOUR COMPUTER AT YOUR OWN RISK.
I'm currently running through BG proper at the moment (this time without neverending waves of Flaming Fist to contend with) I'll head back to the Gate District & see if I encounter the same issue.
Yeah the Fishing Village... No quests can be completed.
MotB is well worth it, it's quite short though. The two handed sword/tower shield set-up requires an immense str score & high BAB. It works well with a Fighter/Dragon Disciple blend but most of the time it's easier to just use a medium weapon & take power attack, being able to add a flat +3 to damage when needed seems more preferable. That & it leads to feats like Cleave.
If you wanted to pursue it in MotB, a Dwarven Fighter/Sorcerer(1)/Dragon Disciple/Dwarven Defender is quite capable of having a tower shield/two handed sword & using power attack. That & your AC/HP are other-worldly.
Either that or an Earth Genasi Fighter/Bard(1)/Dragon Disciple/Weapon Master(7). Unlike the Dwarf you can unlock Epic Weapon Focus/Specialisation.
There is a sequence to getting the needed town crier to spawn (or at least, I had to go through this rigamarole or never have access to Ulgoth's Beard or Durlag's Tower):
After you first go into the Gate District, and run the dialogue with Elminster, there is a named bard there who wants to tell you the history of this and that, and you must give him all of the polite responses. The town crier may or may not be there after that; I don't know.
If you go to any other region of the City before speaking to that bard, there will be no town crier ever after, until:
You rest in the Gate District, out on the streets, at night. This should trigger an encounter with a mob of undead.
Then, you have to leave the city to the exterior bridge, and rest there, and then come back in and out of the City, resting as necessary, until you get "just the right" setting of daytime in the Gate District. If you do this enough times and in the right combination, you will eventually have the necessary town crier to spawn next to the fountain.
Until you have played the game to the point of entering BGCity, and have clicked on exactly the right sequence of dialogues, needing multiple rests in multiple locations if you don't "get it right" the first time, you will not be able to access Ulgoth's Beard nor Durlag's Tower.
Honestly, at this point, I am still more interested in trying a game of NWN2 OC and MotB, or a game of the Aielund Saga in NWN1, or a game of BG Classic with my mods, than in continuing with BGR, given the experience I have had with bugginess and hostility of its devs toward BGR "consumers", in the BG endgame (Fishing Village and north to BGCity, plus the two main TotSC modules), than in continuing with what I now perceive as a beautiful one-time thing to try, but as a waste of my time to keep spending my precious game time on.