Restoring import02.2da

[CamDawg]

This may be a bit outside UB, but import02.2da is unused by the game. Re-enabling it would allow Malaaq, the genie trapped in the lamp, to give the player an imported item rather than the Sword of Chaos.

Code: [Select]

COPY_EXISTING ~ar0602.bcs~ ~override~
  DECOMPILE_BCS_TO_BAF
    REPLACE_TEXTUALLY ~SetGlobal("Chapter","GLOBAL",1)~
    ~SetGlobal("Chapter","GLOBAL",1)
    ActionOverride("Malaaq",DestroyItem("sw2h16"))
    ActionOverride("Malaaq",TakeItemListPartyNum("IMPORT02",1))~
  COMPILE_BAF_TO_BCS
  BUT_ONLY_IF_IT_CHANGES
Malaaq will now have one of the following items if the character is imported:

SW1H24 - Flame Tongue + 4
HAMM03 - War Hammer +2: 'Ashideena'
AX1H07 - Bala's Axe - Wizard Slayer
HALB03 - Halberd +2: 'Suryris's Blade'
DAGG04 - Dagger +2, Longtooth: 'Grave Binder'
STAF07 - Staff Spear +2
STAF06 - Staff Mace +2
SLNG03 - Sling +3
SW1H06 - Long Sword +2: 'Varscona'
BLUN11 - Mace +2 : 'Krotan's Skullcrusher'
BLUN10 - The Root of the Problem
BLUN09 - Kiel's Morningstar

If the party has none of these, the Sword of Chaos is given instead. blun11 doesn't have its description imported from BG, so:

Code: [Select]

COPY_EXISTING ~blun11.itm~ ~override~
  SAY 0x0c ~Mace +2~
  WRITE_SHORT 0x42 40 // lore to ID
  SAY 0x54 ~Mace +2 : 'Krotan's Skullcrusher'
Even the hordes have their heroes, and while they are vilified in civilized company, their deeds are sometimes impressive nonetheless. Krotan was an exceptionally intelligent orc, as far as orcs go, who commanded an ever-shifting legion of ogres, orcs, hobgoblins, and other assorted beasties during the Year of the Lost Lady, 1241DR. It was in this year that a group of orc bandits allegedly kidnapped and killed a Tethyrian noblewoman, and the response from authorities was a genocidal slaughter of orcs throughout the south in her memory. Krotan mounted a defense that ensured his people were not entirely destroyed; though they were displaced. Krotan himself fell near the end of the conflict, and his head was mounted outside the graveyard where the young lady was buried. As a point of interest, orcs called this time the "Year of Pushing Too Far."

STATISTICS:

Damage: 1D6 + 3
THAC0: +2
Damage type: crushing
Weight: 7
Speed Factor: 5
Proficiency Type: Mace
Type: 1-handed
Requires: 10 Strength
Not Usable By:
 Druid
 Mage
 Thief
 Monk
 Beast Master~
Sling +3 is a generic +3 item, but lacks an ID'd description:

Code: [Select]

COPY_EXISTING ~slng03.itm~ ~override~
  SAY 0x54 ~Magical slings are the hallmark of stout halfling warriors.  Usually their mothers or a talented aunt will create such a sling for the halfling lad or lass who is about to embark on their second great adventure.  The reason that the sling is given on the second adventure and not the first is that many halflings decide not to pursue the life of an adventurer after getting a taste of it.

STATISTICS:

THAC0: +3 bonus
Damage: +3 (missile damage)
Weight: 0
Speed Factor: 3
Proficiency Type: Sling
Type: 1-handed
Requires: 3 Strength
Not Usable By:
 Kensai
 Cavalier~
If we really want to do this right, we should make sure the unique items on the list aren't duplicated elsewhere. To that end: Root of the Problem (blun10) can be acquired in the druid stronghold quests; Suryris's Blade (halb03) is already on four creatures, including two of the WK statues; Ahsideena is available in a container (ar0204) in the Unseeing Eye quest; Varscona (sw1h06) is available on a number of chapter 6 characters; Flame Tongue (sw1h24) is available on Dalok in the Druid Grove.

Varscona is already addressed by the Fixpack and I've added Suryris's Blade to the pending fix list. For the others, we can either script it so, if the item is imported, we make alternates available in the other locations, or simply remove them as options in import02.2da. The former is mroe difficult, but I think it's the better solution.

[SixOfSpades]

Bear in mind that BG2 starts only 1 year after the start of BG1.

Unique BG1 items that definitely could not have gotten to their location in BG2:
Gauntlets of Ogre Power, Bala's Axe (added by UB): The Planar Sphere is completely sealed against everything, and hasn't even been on this plane for the past 500 years. Nuff said.

Unique BG1 items that probably could not have gotten to their location in BG2:
Ashideena: Unless the hammer was taken from your person, then given to one of Irenicus's Duergar or a Shadow Thief as payment for helping to capture you, and the bearer then became an early convert to Gaal's little cult and went down to seek the other half of the Rift Device, answered the riddles to make the bridge whole, got across, suddenly died, and the bridge broke in half again, I don't really see how Ashideena could have found its way into that container.
Suryris's Blade: Odren says that not even the Knights of the Vigil are able to refresh the seals on the various levels, and I believe he also implies that nobody has even ventured into the Keep for years. I believe the halberd is also sold by Ribald: a far more appropriate placement, methinks.
Cloak of Protection+2: So--it was given to a Shadow Thief, who was then assigned some mission that involved a trip to the Pirate Isles, his ship was sunk in one way or another, and the Cloak was found/taken by Ixilthetocal, who, instead of doffing his Cloak+1 and replacing it with the +2, instead opened up a chest which contains a soul-consuming Spectre, stuffed the Cloak inside, closed and locked the chest again, then played "Eye spy" with the Imps. Me, I say it's simply not the same Cloak.

Favorites:
Varscona: I've already said that my favorite Varscona placement is the new store added in aVENGER's Rogue Rebalancing mod, and I think she also sells Grave Binder.
Spider's Bane: Reintroduced in UB (Pai'Na's quest), Tactics (Improved North Forest), and Rogue Rebalancing (Rogue Shop)--with the UB version being my favorite, as well as being actual UB.

Other stuff on your list:
Staff Spear+2: Dropped by Xzar.
Staff Mace+2: Dropped by Haz in Bodhi's Lair and/or Aran's Guildhall, and also by the Mage next to him in Aran's Guildhall.
Kiel's Morningstar: Placed by Tactics (Improved North Forest) in the grave in the North Forest, along with Kiel's Helmet & Buckler. I really like the them of this placement, as it suggests one of the various BG1 party members who don't appear in BG2 (such as Kagain) managed to escape Irenicus's ambush, carrying some items, and made their way to northern Tethyr before meeting their end. Or, alternatively, some Dwarven servant of Irenicus or the Shadow Thieves felt that these Dwarven items shouldn't be disgraced by being used by non-Dwarves, and took them and fled--either laying them to rest in the ground again himself, or being killed for betraying the Shadow Thieves or some such.

Krotan's Skullcrusher does not appear anywhere in BG2, AFAIK.

[CamDawg]

Unique BG1 items that definitely could not have gotten to their location in BG2:
Gauntlets of Ogre Power, Bala's Axe (added by UB): The Planar Sphere is completely sealed against everything, and hasn't even been on this plane for the past 500 years. Nuff said.

Good point about the Planar Sphere; Bala's Axe should probably find a new home. Andy can decide if moving Ashideena, CoP +2 and the ogre gauntlets is appropriate for UB.

Suryris's Blade: Odren says that not even the Knights of the Vigil are able to refresh the seals on the various levels, and I believe he also implies that nobody has even ventured into the Keep for years. I believe the halberd is also sold by Ribald: a far more appropriate placement, methinks.

Yeah, missed Ribald's store.

Staff Spear+2: Dropped by Xzar.
Staff Mace+2: Dropped by Haz in Bodhi's Lair and/or Aran's Guildhall, and also by the Mage next to him in Aran's Guildhall.

Neither are unique, so I'm not worried about placement (same with the sling +3). Both are sold in a couple of stores.

[devSin]

Suryris's Blade: Odren says that not even the Knights of the Vigil are able to refresh the seals on the various levels, and I believe he also implies that nobody has even ventured into the Keep for years. I believe the halberd is also sold by Ribald: a far more appropriate placement, methinks.

All the items except for the upgradeable ones were supposed to be undroppable. Hooray, BioWare!

[Andyr]

I'll think about this, thanks. It looks like a good restoration but I'm not sure what I think's best for moving items (as duplication is, as you guys note, dubious).

[SixOfSpades]

Bala's Axe, Ashideena, CoP+2 can all be moved pretty much anywhere that would be easily accessible to a Dwarf or Shadow Thief starting from Waukeen's Promenade.

In my game I've given the GoOP to Karamazov, the CoP+2 to Rasputin, and the Ring of Holiness (because it's next to impossible to obtain in-game) to Zhivago. I can always just ignore the "other" copies of the items when/if I come across them later.

But for a fix that doesn't involve Tactics, it would be simple to switch the (general) locations of the Gauntlets of Ogre Power with the Hammer of Thunderbolts. We've never seen the HoT before and therefore don't care if we find it inside the Sphere (and there's nothing in its description that would disagree with its being there), the Gauntlets could have been worn by a Thief who went to the Sewers to see Roger but got captured by the Illithids, and you have to go to exactly the same places to make the Crom Faeyr.

[Andyr]

I think I'm going to put it in directly as is, for this version at least, and sort out possible shifting of other items later on. Thanks for the code, Cam. As an aside, is this something you coded for Fixpack but left out?

[SimDing0™]

Are you sure that's wise? Duplicating unique items and making the Sword of Chaos less readily available are things I'm not convinced UB should be doing.

[CamDawg]

I think I'm going to put it in directly as is, for this version at least, and sort out possible shifting of other items later on. Thanks for the code, Cam. As an aside, is this something you coded for Fixpack but left out?

It's definitely not Fixpack material. Thought it might be nifty to restore a few more import options, though Sim raises a good point about losing the Sword of Chaos.

One more complication: in BG, slng03 is Arla's Dragonbane, whereas it's slng05 in BG2.

[Andyr]

Are you sure that's wise? Duplicating unique items and making the Sword of Chaos less readily available are things I'm not convinced UB should be doing.

It'd be as a separate, clearly-described component. Not worrying about the duplicating for now means it will be released before 2009, given I don't have very much time on my hands at all.

One more complication: in BG, slng03 is Arla's Dragonbane, whereas it's slng05 in BG2.

This can be fixed by replacing slng03 for slng05 in the .2DA, yes?

[Grim Squeaker]

One more complication: in BG, slng03 is Arla's Dragonbane, whereas it's slng05 in BG2.

This can be fixed by replacing slng03 for slng05 in the .2DA, yes?

Well my guess is that a single entry 'foo' in import02.2da checks for foo.itm in your starting character and if it finds it, puts foo.itm in the correct place in the game.  And this causes a problem in this case as you want to check for foo.itm but place bar.itm in the game.

[devSin]

More code in the AR0602.bcs before NEWGAME. IF HasItem(a;ldkfj) THEN R100 TakeItemReplace(a;ldkfj) Continue() END

THEN update your 2DA to look for the new item.

[Andyr]

Good plan.