BG2 Fixpack

A Gibberlings Three Mod
Authors: Multiple, see below
Project Lead: CamDawg, aka 'Cam' Camagna
O
n the web: Home page and discussion forum

Version 9 - Check for the most recent version
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Korean, Polish, and Spanish
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux

Overview

The BG2 Fixpack is a WeiDU compilation of fixes for Baldur's Gate II. With the disappearance of Kevin Dorner and the cessation of activity of the Baldurdash fixpack for BG2, several modders and myself began working on a new WeiDU fixpack to address the numerous bugs that have been identified since Baldurdash. This collaborative effort, including the work of modders from several different modding communities and assistance from BG2 lead writer David Gaider, has resulted in a fixpack that currently includes all of the fixes addressed by Baldurdash (including the Game Text Update) and several hundred new bugfixes. The project is ongoing, and we're working through a substantial list of bugs culled from various sites, the old Baldurdash forums, and our own research.

Though the project has now left beta behind, there remains a need to introduce and test new fixes. To facilitate these new fixes without compromising the stability of the project, a component entitled BETA Core Fixes is available. This component includes fixes intended for the Core Fixes component and tested in a limited fashion, but have not yet been tested 'in the wild' or with other mods. As such, this component is considered to be of a BETA status. As fixes in this component get tested and validated in the wild, they will move into the Core Fixes. These fixes are also documented separately from the Core Fixes.

Complete documentation of changes for every component is available on the BG2 Fixpack project pages.

Compatibility

The Fixpack is designed to work with Baldur's Gate II with or without the Throne of Bhaal expansion pack. In terms of installation order, the Fixpack should be installed after the official patches, but before other mods. Do not install the Fixpack alongside other fixpacks such as Baldurdash. There is a compatibility and redundancy thread in the Fixpack forums for the most recent information; these are the known incompatibilities and redundancies as of v5:

Baldurdash or any other previous fixpack
We used the bug lists from previous efforts to fix bugs as a starting point. If the bugs aren't already fixed by the Fixpack they will be in future versions. Installing Baldurdash alongside Fixpack will result in a lot of issues.

D0Tweak
The 'Corrected Demon Animations' component is included in the core fixes. 'Corrected Summoned Demon Behavior' and 'Ghrey's Holy Symbol Fix' are included as Optional But Cool components.

Ease of Use
Ease of Use is deprecated by the more modern (and actively supported) BG2 Tweaks. If you insist, however, note that the Edwina Portrait component from Ease of Use will overwrite our Edwin/Edwina 'gliding animation' fixes. This is not the case with the same component from BG2 Tweaks.

LuvNalia
Sir Billy Bob's repackaged Nalia romance will report errors when trying to patch ar2904.bcs. These are non-fatal errors.

Oversight
The 'Alignment Corrections' component was used as a basis for the alignment changes in BG2 Fixpack, making them semi-redundant. 'Improved Continuity' is included except for the Saemon Havarian bits; it should be safe to install if you want to get the extra Saemon material.

Quest Pack
The Revised Hell Trials component will generate warnings if the OBC Additional Script Fixes component from Fixpack is installed. A workaround is available.

Installation

Windows
The BG2 Fixpack is packaged and installed with WeiDU and is distributed as a self-extracting archive. To install, simply double-click the archive and follow the instructions on screen.

Alternatively the files can be extracted from the archive using WinRAR. If properly extracted, you should have a bg2fixpack folder and setup-bg2fixpack.exe in your BG2 folder. To install, simply double-click setup-bg2fixpack.exe and follow the instructions on screen.

Please run setup-bg2fixpack.exe in your BG2 folder to reinstall, uninstall or otherwise change components.

Mac OS X
If the mod was previously installed, uninstall it before extracting the new version. The BG2 Fixpack is packaged and installed with WeiDU. To install, simply extract the contents of the mod into your BG2 folder. If properly extracted, you should have a bg2fixpack folder, setup-bg2fixpack, and setup-bg2fixpack.command in your BG2 folder. To install, simply double-click Setup-bg2fixpack.command and follow the instructions on screen.

Linux
Download the latest version of WeiDU for Linux from weidu.org and extract (at least) the WeiDU, weinstall and tolower executables in a $PATH directory (E.G. /usr/bin). Following that, open a terminal, cd to your BG2 installation directory, run `tolower' and answer Y to both queries.
You can avoid running the second option (linux.ini) if you've already ran it once in the same directory. To save time, the archive is already tolowered, so there's no need to run the first option (lowercasing file names) either if you've extracted only this mod since the last time you lower cased file name. If you're unsure, running tolower and choosing both options is the safe bet.
After that, run 'weinstall widescreen' from your game installation directory to install or uninstall the mod.

Contents

The BG2 Fixpack is basically five items: core fixes, a game text update, a modder pack, beta core fixes, and several optional but cool fixes. Optional but cool is broken down further into individual components.

BG2 Fixpack (Core Fixes)
This component includes all fixes deemed to be core by the Fixpack team. While some bugs are clearly bugs, the team also has a review process for 'gray area' bugs to insure that fixes do not contradict developer intent. The result is a 'core fixes' component which aims to address true bugs only and in a manner consistent with Bioware's original goals. When we encounter something we happen to think is a bug (or just strange behavior) but appears to be intentional, we generally fix those as an Optional But Cool component. Complete documentation is available on the G3 web site. Additionally, the complete Fixpack forums are open, so if you want to see the reasoning behind a bugfix (or tell us we've got it all wrong), please join us on the forums and provide feedback. If you find a bug that is not fixed and is not in our Pending Fixes forum, please report it.

Game Text Update
English Only
This component, based upon the Baldurdash Game Text Update, seeks to address miscellaneous errors in the text. Typos, grammatical errors, item description inconsistencies, etc. are addressed by this component. It should be noted that incorrect strings that are actually bugs are addressed by Core Fixes. The Game Text Update can be installed in two ways. The first (and recommended) option will install "GTU Light" (by Wisp), a fairly minimalistic dialogue update which contains only the most relevant typographical corrections. The second option will install "GTU Classic" (from Baldurdash, by Kevin Dorner), an in-depth dialogue revision, parts of which may be considered arbitrary by purists

Super Happy Fun Lucky Modder Pack
This component is designed to add changes to make life easier for modders. Players should not see any differences in game, though some mods may begin requiring this component in the future. IDS files are expanded to provide additional symbolic lookups, areas without scripts get one assigned and several DLTCEP and Near Infinity error messages are cleaned up (many from leftover BG resources). Once the new schema is finalized, this component will also include Detectable Spells.

BETA Core Fixes
Though the Fixpack has now left beta, new fixes still need to be added. This component includes fixes intended for the Core Fixes component and tested in a limited fashion, but have not yet been tested 'in the wild' or with other mods. As such, this component is considered to be of a BETA status. As fixes in this component get tested and validated in the wild, they will move into the Core Fixes. These fixes are also documented separately from the Core Fixes.

Optional But Cool: Party Gets XP for Sending Keldorn to Reconcile With Maria
In Keldorn's personal quest, if you go with Keldorn when he reconciles with Maria the party receives XP. However, if you send him alone to reconcile you do not--this component gives you XP for sending him alone to reconcile.

Optional But Cool: Improved Spell Animations
This component alters the animations of several spells, including Maze, by addressing subtle errors in their animation cycles.

Optional But Cool: Cromwell's Forging Actually Takes a Day
When Cromwell forges an item for the party, he says it will take a day but no actual time passes. This component changes the upgrades to actually take a day.

Optional But Cool: Mixed-Use Dagger Fixes
Daggers that can be used in melee and thrown are an irresolvable bug: when thrown, daggers should get an extra attack per round, but there's no way to apply this bonus without also granting it when he dagger is being used in melee. This component grants the extra attack but at the expense of removing melee abilities.

Optional But Cool: Ghreyfain's Holy Symbol Fixes
Basically, it makes the granting of Holy Symbols in the game a bit more logical. Aerie gets the symbol of Baervan, Viconia gets the symbol of Shar, and Anomen gains the symbol of Helm even when lawful good (he used to get Lathander's).

Optional But Cool: Additional Hero Quests in Trademeet Wait Until Hero is Officially Named
In Trademeet Jenia would initiate her quest, referring to the PC as the Hero of Trademeet, prior to the official ceremony that designates the PC as such. This component changes Jenia to wait until the ceremony to initiate her quest.

Optional But Cool: Giants Receive Penalties When Attacking Halflings, Dwarves, and Gnomes
This component gives giants their P&P penalty when trying to attack undersized (halflings, dwarves, gnomes) foes.

Optional But Cool: Remove Dual-Classing Restriction from Archers and Stalkers
In Throne of Bhaal, archers and stalkers can not dual-class to clerics as normal rangers and beastmasters can; for consistency Core Fixes adds this restriction to SoA-only games as well. This component will remove the restriction.

Optional But Cool: Remove Second Attribute Bonus for Evil Path in Wrath Hell Trial
If the protagonist selects the 'evil' option when speaking to Sarevok in the Hell Trials, the PC gets rewarded twice with attribute bonuses. There are several factors that suggest one of the bonuses is leftover junk in the script, but there's not enough evidence of developer intent to include it in the Core Fixes.

Optional But Cool: Corrected Summoned Demon Behavior
This component alters the AI of summoned demons, causing them to behave less predictably, but at the same time, more realistically (i.e. Baatezu will attack Tanar'ri).

Optional But Cool: Additional Script Fixes
There are several additional scripting errors which can not be fixed by the core fixes. While clearly bugs, what was intended by the developers is more towards speculation and, as such, these fixes have been moved into their own component. Most of the bugs are missing checks in spellcaster scripts for memorized spells (or casting spells). A more detailed account of the changes can be found in the full Optional But Cool documentation.

Optional But Cool: Bard Song Fixes
The manual describes bard's Battlesong as granting "morale and luck improvement for the party." And then goes on to describe a luck bonus for the party as though it were a luck penalty for opponents. And then in-game battlesong grants only immunity to fear (without preventing the additional effects that can accompany fear) with no morale or luck effects at all. Our best educated guess at developer intent adds a +1 luck bonus to battlesong, which improves to +2 at 15th level and improves again to +3 at 20th level. Blade's version of battlesong in this component still does not improve with levels (as the class disadvantage states) and Skald and Jester songs (which already vaguely match their descriptions and work) are untouched.

Optional But Cool: Wizard Slayers Cause Miscast Magic on Ranged Attacks
The original kit description of the Wizard Slayer states as a kit advantage: "For each successful hit on an opponent, 10% cumulative spell failure penalty is applied". However, it was only applying this effect on melee hits. The Core Fixes do not change this and the Game Text Update clarifies the kit description to specify melee-only. This component allows players to extend the ability to both melee and ranged attacks and updates the kit description.

Optional But Cool: Additional Alignment Fixes
As part of the Core Fixes, the Fixpack addresses many creatures who either lack alignment, have conflicting alignments between their creature files, or have an alignment completely at odds with their behavior. These changes underwent a great deal of scrutiny in an organized review, and it was decided that some of them should be moved into an optional component as there was no general consensus for the new alignments of these specific creatures.

Optional But Cool: Change Free Action to Protect Against Stun
Bioware was very inconsistent about whether free action shold protect against stun or not. The spell did not protect against it, but most items that grant free action did. However, per David Gaider, free action is not supposed to protect against stun. For players who think this overpowers stun (particularly mind flayer psionics) this component will extend free action to protect against stun.

Optional But Cool: Paws from Shapeshifting Can Not Be Dispelled
This component, though fine in testing, resulted in serious errors when released into the wild. It's being reworked, but until the bugs have been fully fixed it's been withdrawn.

Contact Information

The Fixpack is the hard work of many authors. For issues, suggestions and general feedback, the Fixpack forums are the best resource. CamDawg, as project lead, is also available for assistance. Visit the Gibberlings Three Forums for information on this and any other Gibberlings Three mods on which we may be working.

Thanks and Acknowledgements

The Fixpack would not be possible without the hard work of many, many people. There's no way to try and acknowledge this many people without missing someone, so if you've been left off please let us know so you can be properly acknowledged.

First, thanks to the entire Fixpack Team: Andyr, aVENGER, BigRob, Caedwyr, CamDawg, cirerrek, devSin, drake127, Ghreyfain, Grim Squeaker, hlidskialf, icelus, Idobek, igi, Kish, Loriel, Macready, NiGHTMARE, Nythrun, Rastor, SConrad, SimDing0, the bigg, and yarpen.

Thanks to our alpha testers as well: afireinside, Aragorn II, Da_venom, Diana, DirtyAlex, discharger12, Drew, Evilyn, Falco, I. Rahn Maedin, Jyzabyl, Kanain, Kazey, Nim, Rubel, Sir-Kill, TinyMage, and Wounded_Lion.

Thanks to modders who had made previous forays into fixpacks, as well as modders who were kind enough to provide bug lists and/or complete fixes: aVENGER, CamDawg, Dyara, Extremist, FredSRichardson, Ghreyfain, Idobek, japheth, jastey, jcompton, Kevin Dorner, King Diamond, Kish, Littiz, Miloch, plainab, Roana, Sabre, Salk, SimDing0, the bigg, Wes Weimer, Wisp and WizWom.

Finally, we'd like to thank even more folks, who may or may not fit well into the categories above: ababab, Anomaly, AnonymousHero, Ardanis, Ascendancy-Down, Azazello, Baronius, berelinde, Bex, blubid_boy, Blucher, Brett Frazier, cameltoe, Capt Massacre, Chev, clarient, cmorgan, cvieor, Daulmakan, DavidW, Domi, dragonian, erebusant, erik, ecoris, frabjous, G-Mon, Gorilym, Gort, Iroquois, Immortality, Jadefang, jester, John, kix, Kulyok, Luiz, Margrave, Meddle, mossgerila, Naleem, pro5, Qwinn, Rabain, Revy, Riveira, ronin69hof, russoc4, s w raly, s4r3v0k, seanas, shaitan, Sir Alexander, Six of Spades, Smoketest, steve, sturmvogel, temujin, TimesofTrouble, Topaze, truper, tz2z, web2air, Weigo, and ZFR.

In addition, there are a couple of folks we would like to single out for acknowledgement:

Thanks as well to yarpen for the Polish translation, Leonardo Watson for the German translation, Immortality and Clan DLAN (with revisions from Ghildrean) for the Spanish translation, Anomaly for the French translation, web2air for the Korean translation, and Andrea C. for the Italian translation.

Versions 7-8 of the Fixpack were coded by DavidW, in consultation with DevSin and using code and observations by Nythrun, aVENGER, Taimon, Wisp, ScuD, Icendoan and Mike1072. Version 9 was coded by aVENGER, in consultation with devSin, using code and observations by Nythrun, Wisp and Jason Compton.

Tools Used in Creation
WeiDU by Wes Weimer and the bigg
Near Infinity by Jon Olav Hauglid
DLTCEP by Avenger
IESDP maintained by igi
BAM Workshop by Glenn Flansburg
IRE by DevArrah
ConTEXT Text Editor by Eden Kirin
WeiDU ConTEXT Highlighters by Idobek, updated by cmorgan

Distribution note

The modding community for the Infinity Engine has been going strong for almost 10 years now, and is the culmination of thousands of unpaid modding hours by fellow fans of the game. Modders produce their best work, and players get the best, well-supported mods, when we all work together.

There are two big ways to upset this harmony. One is to claim someone else's work as your own. The second is to host and redistribute a mod without permission from the author(s).

Be kind to your fellow players and modders. Don't do either.

Version History

Version 9 - March 14, 2010

Version 8 - February 20, 2009

Version 7 - December 29, 2008

Version 6 - January 31, 2008

Version 5 - January 28, 2008

Version 4 - July 4, 2007

Version 3 - April 19, 2007

Version 2 - January 28, 2007

Version 1 - November 8, 2006

Version Beta 4 - October 15, 2006

Version Beta 3 - September 18, 2006

Version Beta 2 - August 7, 2006

Version Beta 1 - July 9, 2006