[REQ] Baldur's Gate Nexus

[Hickory]

None of the current tools used to mod BG are or were designed or developed by the game developer. Even to this day they are still learning what various data bits of each of the files do and it has been more years than I can count since the initial release of BG. The only official modding tool released was a script compiler intended for use with player party AI. It worked locally but wasn't designed with sharing in mind.

 

That's not a reason. Just look at XCOM, and a few other Nexus games -- not every Nexus game comes with a complete tool set, and some that do are enhanced beyond measure by third party tools (where would Oblivion modding be without such developers and maintainers as those of Wrye Bash, BOSS, OBSE, OBMM et al?) There are PLENTY of Wes Weimers on the Nexus.

 

I quit BG modding as the Enhanced Edition was being developed. I don't know much about it or how it works. All I know is that I informed the people who did ask about using my mod content in BG:EE that they could not use my work. The number one reason being that my mod was designed for BG while BG:EE was supposed to be on an improved BG2 engine. Much of my work (and those who contributed to my project) wouldn't have ran or ran properly if simply lumped into the mix. They could get ideas from, but they had to use their own tools to replicate and not use my actual work. During that process I did get the funny feeling that BG:EE would turn out to be "a mega mod" that didn't need to be installed on top of an existing installation.

 

A great deal of the 'enhancements' in EE were straight imports of extant fix packs etc.

[IsharaMeradin]

A great deal of the 'enhancements' in EE were straight imports of extant fix packs etc.

Not from my fixpack for BG. I was pretty clear that the code could not be used. If as they touted having the original source code & tools at their disposal then they needed to fix the issues with those.

 

That's not a reason. Just look at XCOM, and a few other Nexus games -- not every Nexus game comes with a complete tool set, and some that do are enhanced beyond measure by third party tools (where would Oblivion modding be without such developers and maintainers as those of Wrye Bash, BOSS, OBSE, OBMM et al?) There are PLENTY of Wes Weimers on the Nexus.

Perhaps not a full reason, but still a reason. Modding for Oblivion, Morrowind & Skyrim would continue to be viable as there are tool sets. Those third party programs are just that third party options that modders and players can use. One of the latest modding trends in Infinty Engine modding is nothing more than EXE hacking which if I'm not mistaken is against the TOS of the game(s). You might say it's a lot like SKSE in that it adds addtional scripting options but SKSE doesn't change the game EXE file.

 

The "freedom" they have on the other sites wouldn't be as welcomed here. There are several mods which I think would get into trouble on the Nexus for having used assests from other games. Where there is a distinction that you can't import Morrowind or Oblivion stuff into Skyrim here on the Nexus, with Infinity Engine modding that distinction isn't there. There have been individual item imports as well as graphic imports between the games. Importing the WHOLE game into another engine version is the only scenario in which they have put in any requirements to have both games installed.

 

The games own design allows for easy pirating and there is no ability to indicate whether someone has a pirated version or not. The only protection is a CD check and that is easily circumvented. With the Nexus' stance on pirates and using pirated games opening the doors to such an easily pirated game will be counter productive.

 

There are several forums for the Infinity Engine games and they have been working together. Each has developed a niche that they focus on and they have gotten much better over the years and much of the infighting is gone. For that reason alone, dropping the Nexus bomb on them would either shatter the tenous bonds or only strengthen them. I don't see a sudden rush of people to take advantage of the Nexus over other existing sites.

 

Even if it were to be added, NMM would need a rewrite to include the ability to do what WeiDU does or be rewritten to at least run the weidu executable. NMM would work great with the old style overwrite mods, but not with the bit changing at install time abilities that WeiDU is capable of. Not saying it wouldn't be possible just that it is a major hurdle to overcome. If the Nexus can't supply that one stop shop to download and install mods then why use it over the existing sites?

 

In order for a BG Nexus to thrive, it can't be limited to one of the games. It would have to be an Infinity Engine Nexus and have built in options to choose which platforms the mod is capable of supporting:

 

Baldur's Gate without Tales of the Sword Coast for PC

Baldur's Gate with Tales of the Sword Coast for PC

Baldur's Gate: Original Saga for PC -- includes Tales of the Sword Coast but has a different set of override files as compared to BG with ToSC

Baldur's Gate without Tales of the Sword Coast for Mac

Baldur's Gate with Tales of the Sword Coast for Mac

Baldur's Gate: Original Saga for Mac -- includes Tales of the Sword Coast but has a different set of override files as compared to BG with ToSC

--- Mac versions have to be considered separately as they didn't get the same patch treatment and therefore have different override files.

--- Not to mention that many of the International versions have some differences compared to the English version as well

Tutu v4 -- (last stable International version) -- BG in BG2 Engine, it's a mod but mods are made for it.

EasyTutu -- (Preferred English version) -- BG in BG2 Engine, it's a mod but mods are made for it.

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn with Throne of Bhaal

Baldur's Gate Triolgy -- BG & BG2 in BG2 Engine, it's a mod but mods are made for it

GEMRB -- Open Source platform built from scratch to do things that the Infinity Engine can't do

Icewind Dale without Heart of Winter & Trials of the Luremaster

Icewind Dale with Heart of Winter

Icewind Dale with Heart of Winter & Trials of the Luremaster

IWD in BG2 -- a mod but being extensively tested and worked on and some IWD mods already adapted to work.

Icewind Dale II

Planescape Torment

and now the Enhanced Edition...

 

There are more possible versions & variations that I'm not aware of. I know of the differences within Baldur's Gate & the various versions because of my work on the BG Fixpack. Thankfully I retried from that madness.

 

We could probably go back and forth with our reasons for or against for a long time. In the end it doesn't matter, Dark0ne will decide what he wants to do.

[Rasekov]

I agree that it wouldn't necessarily be easy, but your list seems a bit exaggerated.

 

Having a baldur's gate nexus wouldn't need to imply supporting every game in the infinity engine, not some of the variations/mods.

Even if Icewind Dale and Planescape use the same engine they are not the same game as BG(1, 2, expansions or EE) and have way less(and diferent) mods for them so they wouldn't necessarily belong in a BG nexus.

Apart from that, the mods to play BG1 in ToB/SoA version of the engine are engine changes for BG1 and in similar circumstances I don't see the nexus going out of it's way to add support for that. There is a neverwinter nights nexus but I don't see any reference to the xoreos open source engine, same with the open source engine for morrowind(OpenMW).

 

On the piracy part, unless I'm very mistaken the NMM doesn't check the game exe for cracks so I don't see how it is different/more difficult to use it with a pirated version of skyrim than of BG.

[Hickory]

We could probably go back and forth with our reasons for or against for a long time. In the end it doesn't matter, Dark0ne will decide what he wants to do.

 

Exactly so.

 

Oh, and your list *is* exaggerated.

[IsharaMeradin]

As I said we could go back and forth all day and give reasons for or against. So agree to disagree and mark me against the idea. I don't see it as a good fit with Nexus.

 

EDIT

*****************************************

Oh, and your list *is* exaggerated.

Name what isn't true and I'll strike it out. I want *proof* that my list is exaggerated.

Edited December 4, 2012 by IsharaMeradin

[Hickory]

So agree to disagree

 

I already did.

[IsharaMeradin]

So agree to disagree

 

I already did.

And you posted while I was typing because I have a 3 year old who demands my time. Your post was not visible till AFTER I had posted.

[Hickory]

So agree to disagree

 

I already did.

And you posted while I was typing because I have a 3 year old who demands my time. Your post was not visible till AFTER I had posted.

 

My post: Posted Today, 07:24 PM

Your reply: Posted Today, 08:13 PM

 

That makes it quite a stretch... I mean my post not being visible for nearly 50 minutes. Anyway, I will not go 'back and forth' with you any longer.