Solved! How do I read existing .DLG files in .D format?

BCaesar · February 2017

Near Infinity is great for reading the dialogs and trees, but I would like to be able to read the existing DLG files in .D format to help me figure out how to write things. Supposedly WeiDU can decompile .DLG files into .D files so one can read them, but even following the guide I can't get it to work.

Any suggestions? What's the best way to read in-game dialogs?

Thank you.

TheArtisan · February 2017

I use Infinity Explorer to read dialogs and scripts.

AstroBryGuy · February 2017

WeiDU is very simple to use to decompile a DLG file.

Just place the weidu executable in the game folder (the one with the CHITIN.KEY file for the game) and run it from the command line with the name of the DLG file you want to decompile.

For example, to decompile Minsc's joined dialog file, MINSCJ.DLG:

weidu.exe minscj.dlg

or on OSX:

./weidu minscj.dlg

You can use NI to determine the name of the DLG file you want to decompile.

BCaesar · February 2017

AstroBryGuy said:
WeiDU is very simple to use to decompile a DLG file.

Just place the weidu executable in the game folder (the one with the CHITIN.KEY file for the game) and run it from the command line with the name of the DLG file you want to decompile.

For example, to decompile Minsc's joined dialog file, MINSCJ.DLG:

weidu.exe minscj.dlg

or on OSX:

./weidu minscj.dlg

You can use NI to determine the name of the DLG file you want to decompile.

Ok thanks. I put WeiDU.exe in my game folder (the same folder I put all the mods in). And then I double-click on it to open it and it gives me a list of things along with the words Press Enter for more options.

I type:
weidu.exe mazzyj.dlg
and I press Enter, and all I get are the lists or more options (since it says Press Enter for more options). Every time I press enter it gives me more options until is closes. It doesn't recognize what I'm typing.

So I tried opening WeiDU with the Command Prompt instead but I can't figure out that either. It's in C:\GOG Games\Baldur's Gate II - Enhanced Edition\weidu.exe

So I open the command prompt and it says C:\Users\Brandon>

I type cd\ and press enter and it goes to C:\>

Then after the C:\> I type GOG_Games\Baldur's_Gate_II_-_Enhanced_Edition\weidu.exe and it says it cannot find the path specified. I tried it with spaces instead of underscores and that didn't work. MS_DOS mode is not my thing. The only thing I ever learned how to do on it was play Warcraft I and II and Syndicate, and while after all these years I still remember the commands to run those on my friends computer, I'm having no luck with WeiDU. Any help?

BCaesar · February 2017

Artemius_I said:
I use Infinity Explorer to read dialogs and scripts.

Is there a version of it that will work with BG2-EE? I tried downloading version 0.85 and couldn't get it to work and did a quick search and someone said it doesn't work with EE games.

argent77 · February 2017

Infinity Explorer doesn't provide more features than Near Infinity when it comes to scripts and dialogs. They may be slightly differently implemented though. The biggest 'advantage' is probably that it doesn't require a Java Runtime Environment installed on your system. But at the same time it runs natively only on Windows. Because of the much lighter feature set it will also not be as resource hungry as NI. Latest version is from 2008 though (so no EE support available).

If you simply want to inspect dialogs in WeiDU's .D format then you can decompile the .DLG files with the weidu binary following the instructions posted by @AstroBryGuy .

Assuming the game is located in C:\GOG Games\Baldur's Gate II - Enhanced Edition you can use the following command to navigate into the game folder:
cd /d "C:\GOG Games\Baldur's Gate II - Enhanced Edition"
To decompile Minsc's interjection dialogs, execute
weidu.exe minscj.dlg
If WeiDU gives you an error message about not having a language set, use this command first to set the language (English in this case):
weidu.exe --use-lang en_us

BCaesar · February 2017

argent77 said:
Infinity Explorer doesn't provide more features than Near Infinity when it comes to scripts and dialogs. They may be slightly differently implemented though. The biggest 'advantage' is probably that it doesn't require a Java Runtime Environment installed on your system. But at the same time it runs natively only on Windows. Because of the much lighter feature set it will also not be as resource hungry as NI. Latest version is from 2008 though (so no EE support available).

If you simply want to inspect dialogs in WeiDU's .D format then you can decompile the .DLG files with the weidu binary following the instructions posted by @AstroBryGuy .

The problem is when I open WeiDU I see this:


[C:\GOG Games\Baldur's Gate II - Enhanced Edition\weidu.exe] WeiDU version 24000

                WeiDU (version 24000: "d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e")

usage: WeiDU [options] BAF,BCS,D,DLG,TRA,TP,TP2-files

General Input Options:

  --game X      set main game directory to X
  --game-by-type X      set main game directory to the one where X is installed
(BG,BG2,IWD,IWD2,PST)
  --nogame      do not load any default game files
  --search X    look in X for input files (cumulative)
  --search-ids X        look in X for input IDS files (cumulative)
  --tlkin X     use X as DIALOG.TLK
  --ftlkin X    use X as DIALOGF.TLK
  --use-lang X  on games with multiple languages, use files in lang/X/
  --tlkmerge X  merge X into loaded DIALOG.TLK

                Press Enter For More Options
cd /d "C:\GOG Games\Baldur's Gate II - Enhanced Edition"
  --yes         answer all TP2 questions with 'Yes'
  --uninstall   answer all TP2 questions with 'Uninstall'
  --reinstall   reinstall all installed TP2 components
  --language X  Set the language to X
  --force-install       X installs component X number (cumulative)
  --force-uninstall     X uninstalls component X number (cumulative)
  --force-install-rest  X Y... installs component number X, Y... (cumulative)
  --force-install-list  X Y... installs component number X, Y... (cumulative)
  --force-uninstall-rest        X Y... uninstalls component number X, Y... (cumu
lative)
  --force-uninstall-list        X Y... uninstalls component number X, Y... (cumu
lative)
  --quick-menu  X installs the quick menu selection X

                Press Enter For More Options
-- C:\GOG Games\Baldur's Gate II - Enhanced Edtion
  --process-script      X process installation script X
  --skip-at-view        kills AT_* ~VIEW this~
  --quick-log   Doesn't print the name of components in weidu.log (much faster)
  --safe-exit   Prints weidu.log after starting the installation of every compon
ent
  --version     print version number and exit
  --exit        print version number and exit
  --no-exit-pause       Don't ask to press enter to exit
  --ask-every   ask about every TP2 component
  --list-languages      X lists the languages in X
  --list-components     X Y lists all components in X using language Y
  --save-components-name        rewrites weidu.log, printing every component nam
e

                Press Enter For More Options
weidu.exe minskj.dlg
  --change-log  generates a changelog for the given resource (cumulative)
  --change-log-list     generates a changelog for the given resource (cumulative
)
  --change-log-rest     generates a changelog for the given resource (cumulative
)
  --noautoupdate        do not auto-update WeiDU setup files
  --no-auto-tp2         do not run setup-mymod.tp2 even if argv[0] is setup-mymo
d.exe
  --noselfupdatemsg     do not print any self-updating messages
  --update-all  auto-update all WeiDU setup files
  --args        X X will be stored in the %argv[x]% variable (cumulative)
  --args-rest   X Y... X, Y... will be stored in the %argvx% variables (cumulati
ve)
  --args-list   X Y... X, Y... will be stored in the %argvx% variables (cumulati
ve)
  --print-backtrace     prints OCaml stack trace when reporting an exception (ra
rely of interest to end-users)

                Press Enter For More Options

And it doesn't seem to matter what I type. I typed all the things you said and all it does is scroll through the options every time I press enter. It doesn't actually do anything. I don't even get error messages.

argent77 · February 2017

The WeiDU help is displayed when you execute weidu.exe without any arguments (which is always the case when you double click on it in the Windows Explorer).

As described in previous posts you have to start a command prompt, change into the game directory and execute weidu with the desired arguments.

Edit: Use weidu.exe directly and not any of the setup-xxx.exe files. These files trigger elevated privileges and therefore execute in a separate environment.

BCaesar · February 2017

argent77 said:
The WeiDU help is displayed when you execute weidu.exe without any arguments (which is always the case when you double click on it in the Windows Explorer).

As described in previous posts you have to start a command prompt, change into the game directory and execute weidu with the desired arguments.

Edit: Use weidu.exe directly and not any of the setup-xxx.exe files. These files trigger elevated privileges and therefore execute in a separate environment.

It worked! Thank you so much for walking me through that.

For anyone else reading this who wants step-by-step instructions here's exactly what I did (in case you have no experience with command prompt, ms-dos mode, etc.)

First I clicked on the windows icon in the lower left corner of the screen and searched for Command Prompt.

Then I opened Command Prompt and I typed: cd /d "C:\GOG Games\Baldur's Gate II - Enhanced Edition"
The stuff inside the quotes is the path to BG2 on my computer. Yours could be different depending on where and how you bought and downloaded the game. However if you copy weidu.exe into your BG2 folder (the folder that has the chitin.key file) and then open weidu, at the top it will tell you where it is. Whatever it says at the top is what you type inside the quotes, minus the last /weidu.exe

Then I typed: weidu.exe bmazzy.dlg and hit enter, and mazzy's banter file in .D format was created in my BG2 folder.

Ardanis · February 2017

You can also execute those "weidu etc." commands from a .bat file located in the same directory. Just rename a .txt file and double click on it. Handy when you don't want to do a lot of manual typing in command prompt.

BCaesar · February 2017

Ardanis said:
You can also execute those "weidu etc." commands from a .bat file located in the same directory. Just rename a .txt file and double click on it. Handy when you don't want to do a lot of manual typing in command prompt.

Would you mind spelling out exactly how to do this? I created a blank .bat file in my game folder but when I tried to open it it says that it is not a valid win32 application.

Solved! How do I read existing .DLG files in .D format?

Comments