BG2 Fixpack Documentation: 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 on his own to reconcile you do not--this component gives you XP for sending him alone to reconcile.

Files altered: keldorj.dlg

Improved Spell Animations

This component alters the animations of several spells, including Maze, by addressing subtle errors in their animation cycles. It also makes Burning Hands affect an area, per its description, instead of one sole target.

Files altered: bhaal4b.spl, scrl68.itm, spcl213.spl, spin550.spl, spin553.spl, spin558.spl, spin674.spl, spin675.spl, spin696.spl, spin826.spl, spin891.spl, sppr107.spl, sppr408.spl, spwi103.spl, spwi113.spl, spwi214.spl, spwi702.spl, spwi813.spl
Files added: burnhand.pro, spspmaze.vvc

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.

Files altered: ar0334.bcs

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.

Files altered: dagg11.itm, dagg12.itm

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).

Files altered: aerie.bcs, aeri25.bcs, anomen.bcs, anom25.bcs, belt13.itm, viconia.bcs, vico25.bcs
Files added: d0baer.bam, d0shar.bam, j#belt12.itm, j#belt14.itm

Additional Hero Quests in Trademeet Wait Until Hero is Officially Named

DEPRECATED. Per David Gaider, this has been moved into the Core Fixes and is no longer available separately.

Giants Receive Penalties When Attacking Halflings, Dwarves, and Gnomes

This component gives giants their missing penalty when trying to attack undersized (halflings, dwarves, gnomes) foes. The files to accomplish this existed in BG2 but were not implemented.

Files altered: giafir.itm, giafir2.itm, giafir3.itm, giants01.itm

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 beast masters can; for consistency Core Fixes adds this restriction to SoA-only games as well. This component will remove the restriction.

Files altered: dualclas.2da

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.

Files altered: ar2905.bcs

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).

Files altered: demglasu.bcs, demnabsu.bcs, dempitsu.bcs

Additional Script Fixes

Several scrpts had errors that were difficult to determine developer intent. While we still believe these to be fixes, the level of uncertainty is high enough for us to put them in an optional component. The details:

  • Miscellaneous commoners had scripts to run away from hostile creatures, but not to turn hostile and run away from the party if attacked
  • Dragons had a missing spell response (presumable Zone of Sweet Air) along with a wing buffet in response to cloud-based attacks. As a dragon's wing buffet already clears these spells, the reference is removed.
  • Blue dragons have an extra spell being forced after their breath attacks. It appears to be a leftover from a copy-and-paste from the green or red dragon scripts. For green and red dragons, the breath attack spell itself does nothing (except visuals) and the forced spell does the actual damage. In the case of blue dragons, the breath attack itself does the damage and the 'extra' forced spell is unnecessary.
  • Vongoethe in Amketheran has a block where he has four possible options if he can't see the player. One is to move towards Player1, two others are summoning spells (animate dead and summon nishruu), and the fourth is missing. Sumoning an efreeti is often paired with summon nishruu, so the missing reference is replaced with Summon Efreeti.
  • The Unseeing Eye has a single 'if I have spell X memorized, cast it' block that's missing a reference. The only spell in its memorized list that is not already scripted is Horrid Wilting, so it's placed in the missing reference.
  • Two additional creatures (presumably olive jellies, from the name) are supposed to spawn with the Ghaunadar cult in Ust Natha. The missing jellies are replaced with a green slime and a mustard jelly.
  • In the Pocket Plane challenge with Cyric, he summons Favored. They have an early buff in their script that's missing. Based on their kit (assassin) , their existing HLA usage, and propensity for turning invisible, the buff is set as the Assassination HLA.
  • The escaped Ellisime clone in the opening dungeon has a 'if I have spell X memorized, cast it' block that's missing references. The only two memorized spells not already scripted are Fireball and Magic Missile. As there's no range check, magic missile is used so she won't fry herself.
  • In the final cutscene of SoA before being sent to ToB, the cutscene resurrects and heals all party members. One action is missing in between them; best guess is a form of restoration. A restoration spell without fatigue effects was selected so that the PC does not start ToB fatigued.
  • Part of the Irenicus dream cutscene that begins with "Life... is strength. This is not to be contested; it seems logical enough. You live; you affect your world.". If you refuse Jon, he summons Imoen, informs you that others will suffer for your refusal, then tortures Imoen as the dream ends. There is a missing action between when he summons Imoen and speaks--presumably a first round of hurting her.
  • Degardan, who comes hunting Edwin after the Nether Scroll affair, has several combat actions which are missing spell references. The replacements were chosen based upon comparable mage combat scripts.
  • The green dragon combat script is missing a spell call between dragon fear and a wing buffet. Red and blue dragons have similar sequences, and use the spell in between to lower resistance to their particular breath attack (blues lower electrical resistance, reds lower fire resistance). There is no way to reduce poison resistance, so the call is simply removed.
  • The gphealer scripts for clerics were missing spell calls for two 'if I have spell X memorized, cast it' blocks. Near-identical blocks were found in generic mage scripts to use the mage symbol spells. Filled in gphealer with the cleric versions of the symbol spells.
  • And speaking of generic mage scripts... several of them had incomplete 'if I have spell X memorized, cast it' blocks. Due to the number of scripts of this type, they can be reconstructed with a fair degree of confidence.
  • One of Melissan's scripts for the ToB finale was missing a call to a big, high-level spell (tracked by the MelissanBigSpell3 variable). Her other 'MelissanBigSpell3' options included Comet and Bigby's Crushing Hand, so Dragon's Breath was selected for the missing spell.
  • Fire mephits were missing a spell call in their initial scripted attack; subbed in one of their inherent abilities.
  • When you solve the riddle and acquire Lilarcor in the sewers, a sound is supposed to play but it's missing. No other sound file names were close, ruling out a typo. The hammer-and-anvil sound from Cromwell's forge was substituted.
  • Fire salamanders have two identical blocks for their opening three rounds of combat, with four possible responses. One is melee, two are fire-based spells, and the fourth is an unknown spell. Given that the two known were Fireball and Burning Hands, Agannazar's Scorcher was selected as as the replacement.
  • Tahazzar in Watcher's Keep has an offensive scripting block with a missing spell in one of the branches. Based on the level of the spells in the other branches, selected Flame Strike to replace the missing reference.
  • Demon Knights had several missing references for spell calls. These were reconstructed from variable hints (i.e. DeathKnightFireball) and similar mage combat script triggers.

Files altered: abazdrag.bcs, abazdrag.bcs, aewimer1.cre, aewimer2.cre, aewimer3.cre, amlich02.bcs, ar2200.bcs, bdgoph01.cre, bdgoph02.cre, bheye.bcs, brat1.cre, brat2.cre, brat3.cre, chalcy02.bcs, clone1.bcs, cut59a.bcs, cut67d.bcs, degard2.bcs, dragblue.bcs, dragbrow.bcs, draggre2.bcs, draggre2.bcs, draggree.bcs, draggree.bcs, ftown1.cre, ftown2.cre, ftown3.cre, ftown4.cre, gorsal.bcs, gphealer.bcs, gpmage1.bcs, haquat.cre, lyros.bcs, mage12b.bcs, mage12e.bcs, mage14d.bcs, magehigh.bcs, maria.cre, meliss01.bcs, meliss02.bcs, meliss03.bcs, meliss03.bcs, mepfir.bcs, mourner5.cre, mourner6.cre, mtown1.cre, mtown2.cre, mtown3.cre, mtown4.cre, murtlen.cre, noblem1.cre, noblem2.cre, noblew1.cre, noblew2.cre, peony.cre, pipe04.bcs, postul1.cre, postul3.cre, postul5.cre, postul6.cre, pwauk2.cre, radeel.cre, salgrfir.bcs, scbutler.cre, scqar.cre, scsarles.cre, sethle.cre, tahazz.bcs, trskin02.cre, trtavp05.cre, uddeath.bcs, uhmer02.cre, wellyn.cre
Files added: cdpr417.spl

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.

Files altered: clabba01.2da, clabba02.2da
Files added: fjbard.spl, fjbarda.spl, , fjbardb.spl, , fjblade.spl, , fjbladeb.spl

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.

Files altered: spcl133.spl

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. Check the Core Fixes documentation for more information or visit the alignment discussion threads for more information. .

  • Changed to Lawful Good: garkid01.cre (Iltha), garkid02.cre (Taar)
  • Changed to Lawful Neutral: acolyte3.cre (Watchknight Aabir), bdact05.cre (Zaren), bdact07.cre (Balmitance), bdhigg01.cre (Higgold), gftown01.cre (Commoner), gmtown02.cre (Commoner), helmbyr.cre (Acolyte Byron), helmkni1.cre (Shield Knight), helmpr.cre (Sir Lothtyran), prophelm.cre (Shield Knight), sctelwyn.cre (Guardian Telwyn)
  • Changed to Lawful Evil: amtgen01.cre (Jamis Tombelthen), bounha.cre (Bounty Hunter), bounha04.cre (Bounty Hunter), jade2.cre (Thenry), jade3.cre (Jeremon)
  • Changed to Chaotic Neutral: jarev1.cre (Harper)
  • Changed to Chaotic Evil: priss.cre (Priss), rumar.cre (Rumar), victown1.cre (Commoner), victown2.cre (Commoner), victown3.cre (Nobleman),

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.

Files altered: blun30.itm, potn45.itm, ring09.itm, sper12.itm, sppr403.spl

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.