Icewind Gate - Delta version

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I can't get IwG2 delta to work. I've installed both IwD2 and Bg2 (with ToB) full, but when I try to install IwG2 it apparently copies files just fine, but then says
"ERROR: parsing [iwg2\configuration]: Failure("lexing: empty token") - the same error appears when I try to start IwG2.

So I've edited the configuration file wrong, but have no idea as to how. All I've done was to set right paths to ~source~ and ~target~

 

We really need Nameless One here. I am not a programmer, I have no idea what that error message means. In the configuration file, check your directory addresses for the games and make sure there are no stray white spaces.
I have NO mods installed on either game. My version works perfectly.
If you have Vista you will apparently need to install outside of the Program Files folder else you will hit continual trouble.

 

I have no other mods either. I did a full install for both games and then tried to install IwG2 after editing the configuration file and the install-IWG2.bat.

The problem lies with the configuration file, of that I'm quite sure, because parsing it causes the failure. All I've done to that file is to change the first four lines like this:
~source~ [ Cgames\Bg2]
~source.variant~ [ ~BG2~ ]

~target~ [ Cgames\IwG2]
~target.variant~ [ ~IWG2~ ]

and to the install-iwg2.bat's first five lines:
@echo off
Set /p bg2Path=Cgames\Bg2\
Set bg2Path=%bg2Path:~20%
Set bg2Path=%bg2Path:~0,-3%
Set iwd2Path=Cgames\IwG2\

I haven't changed anything else. I don't know if I should've. Those are the directories I've installed the game into. It does not copy iwg2.exe to my iwg2 folder, but it destroys the .bat after the bugged install. Can you tell how you edited them, since you got it to work?

 

It might be your corrections that are the problem, they may not be necessary. Here are the lines from my two files.
Probably a good idea is to revert to the original form of install-iwg2.bat's first five lines:

@echo off
Set /p bg2Path=Read Installation Path From Configuration<iwg2\configuration
Set bg2Path=%bg2Path:~20%
Set bg2Path=%bg2Path:~0,-3%
Set iwd2Path=%CD%

I use a "C:" drive like most other people, and the configuration file reads as follows:
~source~ [ ~FBlack Isle\BGII - SoA~ ]
~source.variant~ [ ~BG2~ ]

~target~ [ ~FBlack Isle\Icewind Dale II~ ]
~target.variant~ [ ~IWD2~ ]

Don't know why it says "F:". This odd scripting works okay for my games.

 

Doing that resulted in

"Read Installation Path From Configuration.
The path is not found.
Can not find BG2 game path.
Please make sure you correctly edited the "configuration" file.
Press any key to continue..."

Editing the configuration file does nothing here, it seems that I have to do something to the .bat, I just don't know what. Could it be enough to provide it with the BG2 directory?

edit: No, it is not. Adding the BG2 directory makes it copy the override folder files, but then it is unable to find the Chitin.key file... now I have to go run some errands, I'll see then if I can do something about this.

 

Maybe try only one of the two changes at a time, that might work but I am not too confident.

 

...and it works! Glorious!

I edited the configuration file to correct paths and added the BG2 source path to the install-iwg2.bat.

I'm not sure if that did the trick, or the fact that I reinstalled Iwd2 - I had forgotten to patch it before installing the mod.

Anyway, my thanks for your suggestions, following them made my day.

edit: It seems I have problems saving the game. Imoen's action cursor bar is somehow screwed up too - all the buttons are something that does nothing. Let's start over without her and see if it helps with the saves etc.

edit2: I managed to fix saving (not only the game but my antivirus was to blame as well), but it means I can have no bioware NPC's. They seem to be bugged somehow rather bad and saves crash if I try to use them. I think I'll check if I can do something to them with Dalekeeper. I tried, but managed to do nothing. Oh well, maybe I'll start with a whole new group and get on with it.

Edit3: New group assembled and sent to the fray. The conversion works great so far and wandering through Athkatla feels all new again. The lack of npcs is rather irrelevant.

 

Good, it actually worked out.
NPCs must be exported to a character file, deleted in Character Arbitration screen and then they must be Imported back into the party. Icewind Dale 2 does not seem to have joinable NPCs at all, unlike BG2, presumably that is why you have this involved process.
See post #54 on this page for a problem that I have not managed to fix.

 

I had some trouble loading my saves at Athkatla sewers under the Copper Coronet (game crashed), but loading an earlier save and deleting temp-folder's files solved the problem. It is wise to use many save slots just in case it happens again.

IwG2 gives experience very weirdly: for example clearing the Copper Coronet and slave compound gives +150xp per character, while killing the extortionist group in the northern part of Temple District sewers probably yields more than 20 000 xp. Most of the quests I've done so far give very little xp.

Leveling up and fights are harder than in vanilla BG2 and IwD2, as every enemy mage and cleric has scripted protections and at least a hundred hit points. Learning that otyughs now have evasion wasn't very pleasant either.

 

It seems that you should shut down the game at least once a day, to clear out temp folders.
As for saves, I have around one new save per day.
XP is tricky here because, BG2 has fixed amounts of XP needed to gain a new level, when you reach level 10 or 12. By contrast Icewind Dale 2 is Third Edition, where XP needed to gain a new level follows a linear, first degree equation. It sounds cheap, 150XP, but you need far fewer XP to gain a level. You will gain levels slowly but surely.
Otyugh with Evasion is tough, wait till you fight a Dragon with that! I altered the script to make the thing possible to defeat. Some of those spellcaster scripts are cheesy, they can keep on healing for as long as they are alive.

 

After killing Faldorn if one speaks to Cernd the game crashes at the end of the conversation. I had some trouble with the fight too - the druid doesn't teleport out of the arena at all, so one has to export/import the character to get him back to the party. For you neutral evil folks out there, don't equip Cernd's staff if you kill him, it causes a crash.

 

Odd, I never had this problem with the crash. Check the scripts involved in Infinity Explorer.
Any time an NPC leaves the party in BG2 is when you need to do the export/import routine in IWG2. You need to do the export before the NPC leaves...

 

Some stuff I found out:
Dispel magic works seldom if at all. Planar sphere is pretty much impossible for lvl 11 party with spell resistance. The halfling mogadish is ridiculously overpowered. The solamnic knights turn hostile if you open the halfling door. No spellcaster of any note is affected by insect plague and have their spells provided by cheaters incorporated. Most of the game is great but I'm not too fond of cheating enemies.

The only ones affected by insect plague are in my party. Somehow improved invisibility is impossible to dispel, though inv. Purge is supposed to do just that.

I hate golems. In bg2 one at least got good xp killing them. Azuredge does not seem to work - at least all liches are totally immune to it.

Mage killing 101: spam animate dead when nothing else works.

 

"Dispel magic works seldom if at all."
May work on the party as a cure spell.
"Planar sphere is pretty much impossible for lvl 11 party with spell resistance."
Leave until much later in the game, it can be done easily then.
"The solamnic knights turn hostile if you open the halfling door."
Some slip-up in the scripts involved.
"The only ones affected by insect plague are in my party."
You will need to use other spells, BG2 version was much better.
"Somehow improved invisibility is impossible to dispel, though inv. Purge is supposed to do just that."
I tried to fix that and did not succeed. Fighting Tanova the Vampire is a good way to get your party killed, I changed her script.
"I hate golems. In bg2 one at least got good xp killing them."
Wait till you hit Firkraag's dungeon. Otiluke's Resilient Sphere keeps a few of them immobilized at a time while the party gangs up on one or two.
"Azuredge does not seem to work - at least all liches are totally immune to it."
They will need to be taken to pieces by conventional melee and magic.

 

The farther I go in the game, the less XP kills seem to yield. For some reason most of the creatures don't give any XP when killed. In the beginning dungeon even mephits give XP, but at Spellhold no more.

Since there is no XP gaining curve, that means ECL races not only start handicapped but also stay that way during the whole game. I'm halfway through and I'm at levels 11/12, barely. To think that no ECL would mean I'd be at level 14... well, it'd be a walk in the park compared to what I'm encountering. ECL penalty and no bioware NPC quests is a bad bad XP combo.

edit:
There are some very welcome fixes. For example bard songs do not stack (one can cheat with war chant of sith, though) and spell resistance protects now from Disintegrate and Finger of Death, for example. Too bad enemies get it too. Everyone and their mother seem to have both evasion and all elemental feats, so elemental damage is severely stunted.

edit2:
I was wrong. The reason some folks cease giving XP is precisely that I'm on a too high level. Oh well, good to know.

 

I only had the one Ecl penalty guy, he was a Paladin/Fighter. Spellcasters all were races with no penalty. That way, the Clerics got Heal as soon as possible.
Aasimar, LG, Paladin (Helm)
Human, NG, Lathander Cleric
Shield Dwarf, NG, Rogue/Barbarian
Half - Elf, NG, Selune Cleric
Wild Elf, NG, Sorceror
Moon Elf, LG, Wizard

 

I converted the Bioware NPC's more to my liking (ECL races, different ability point allocation et al), and now have

PC (DG rogue/fighter/paladin/illusionist)
Jaheira (now drow druid, took away his extra feats)
Korgan (stays vanilla, I change him to Haer'dalis when I get around to it)
Jan (I made him DG)
Viconia (I made her CN; evil characters' inability to convert spells to healing is too annoying)
Aerie (now drow sorceress, took away her extra feats too)
I like magic resistance. A lot. I also gave my PC +1 to all stats due to the increasing ability books in BG1.

I've encountered the slowing down problem once, but saving the game, quitting to desktop and then starting again seemed to fix it. Dunno why.

 

Any solution to that slow scrolling problem is welcome, never did figure out what it was. It occurred in two areas:
AR0204 The Forgotten Believers -- Temple City (Unseeing Eye Plot) AR0007
AR1400 Shadow Temple Land (Restored) AR0125
I don't know what areas it occurs in, because I did not check them all.

Using Dalekeeper I reduced all spellcasting Bioware NPCs to level 1 in the class of my choosing. Then I levelled them up to level 7 or 8 or whatever. I did not want to waste 2 levels in some class or other, levels that I was not going to do anything with. Especially in the case of spellcasters where you want to attain the higher spell levels immediately. Jaheira was a Druid initially but that did not seem such a great choice.
Abdel-Adrian Aasimar LG Paladin (H)
Anomen Human LN Cleric (L)
Yoshimo Human TN Rogue/Ranger
Jaheira Half - Elf NG Cleric (S)
Nalia Human CG Wizard
Aerie Moon Elf LG Sorceror

Yoshimo took Rogue levels when he attained an odd character level and Ranger levels when he attained an even character level.

 

What is wrong with Druid levels for Jaheira? Druids are excellent class choices in this engine. They become quite powerful casters later in the game.

 

I've only encountered the slowing down once (and the vampire loop too, but leaving docks and coming back in the morning fixes it), and somehow the gameplay seems smoother with NPC's than without them.

Some oddities I encountered, though: no Nalia at De'Arnise Keep. She just doesn't show up at all. Another one is the problem with killing Faldorn; when Jaheira did it, I couldn't do the import/export thing without crashing the game (beats me why), so I teleported my group to Slums with MoveToArea.