Heh, It was just I wanted to know why, and "Because I said so" wasn't cutting the mustard.
I did find out why. It helps to RTFS - and know what it means.
'taint nothin' new under 'da sun - so said Old Solomon.
Every computer language is just a translation of a turing machine; every computer a finite turing machine. All languages, programming styles and such are merely a way to work with that. And sometimes it is easier to deal with a limitation of someone else's code than to bother setting them straight.
One time, I was working with Proxy server logs, of about 400 MB a day; I ran 'em though with a buffer declared in a local variable in C (which, you may not know, is declared on the stack, then the stack pointer is backup past it when done). Well, to my surprise the darn thing abended after a variable time, depending on the file. Looking though the core dump, i saw the stack varibles were leaving crud. A compiler error, of only a few bytes for each call, but too much. So, I switched to a static buffer, took the security risk, and got the job done. The company was still using that code, modified a little, last time i checked, in '05 - some 8 years after I did it.
The point I'm making is I COULD have worked with HP to get the HPUX version 9 compiler fixed; I did send them the code which compiled to the stack failure, but that would have been the slow way to fix it. If I had the sopurce (for instance, if I was using gnucc) I might have fixed the compiler, instead.
So, really, the fast way to get a mod working and get on to what i want to do - which is have Jonathan Chat with Imoen about theiving and magic (perhaps some dialogs indicating tutoring?) - interact with Minsc and Boo about insanity - chat with Ajantis, Coran, even Edwin, Xvar, Montaron and Eldoth. These characters are interesting, and complex, and part of the reason i'm doing this is I wanted to share my imagination of what I would say and do at various situations and times. And I shan't pull any punches - i don't think I'm going to attack any of the characters, like the Jaheira/Xvar fight, more likely, I'll take my concerns to <CHARNAME>, and if <HISHER> response to them is nt satisfactory, go on about my business. If I thought <CHARNAME> was evil enough, I might even try to form up a group to oppose them. It will be interesting to see.