Baldur's Gate is one of my most favorite games and has a surprisingly complex patching, release and demo history. I have written this blog article to help enlighten people on the version and patches available for the original game, significant physical releases and localization changes and finally the three demos of the game which were sold at some point. I will not discuss any unofficial patches (such as the Baldurdash and Dudleyville fixpacks), engine conversions (such as BG1Tutu or Baldur's Gate Trilogy) or Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition.
Showing posts with label Baldur's Gate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Baldur's Gate. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 30, 2022
Sunday, September 20, 2015
Baldur's Gate: Character Creation and Party Choices
Apparently I have been somehow pushed or co-opted into writing a series about Baldur's Gate. Hopefully this will be the last part, which gives my approach to character creation for this game.
Character Creation :
My main PC has always been a Human Fighter. I get a good roll and set my Str, Dex and Con to 18 and my Int, Wis and Cha to no less than 9. (Preferably 10 for Charisma, because 9 gives a -1 reaction adjustment). This requires a total roll of 84, which make take a few dozen clicks of the reroll button. Judging by the Enhanced Edition, total rolling points range from 75-100, but are heavily weighted toward the low end of the scale.
When you choose a class, you are stuck with whatever exceptional strength roll you get when you increase your strength score to 18. If you raise and lower the strength score, you will keep the first exceptional strength roll you make. You have to reroll to get a different exceptional strength score. However, you can raise your strength a point later in the game, and exceptional strength becomes irrelevant at that point.
With a Fighter, you have four weapon proficiency slots to use. I set two slots for Swords and one for Blunt Weapons and one for Bows. You will start out with 14 H.P. I prefer Fighters to Rangers and Paladins because they can gain new levels faster than Rangers and Paladins can. Also, Fighters have Weapon Specialization and the other two do not. Put the points you can earn by leveling up to the Sword. The best long sword in the game can be found at the Entrance to the Nahskel Mines in Chapter 2.
A dwarf or an elf make excellent fighters. A dwarf has a +1 to Con for +5HP per level at Con 19. If you raise your Con during the game, you can acquire regeneration. However, a dwarf has a max Dex of 17, so his AC adjustment is only -3. An elf has a max Dex of 19, making them superb archers. But they also have a +1 to hit for Swords and Bows, sweetening the pot even more. However, their Con maxes out at 17, giving them a benefit of only +3 HP per level.
Single Game Party Selection :
If you want to keep a harmonious party, you should pick NPCs close to your alignment. By acting mercifully, honestly and selflessly, your reputation will increase, good party members will be happy and the shops will give you better prices. Neutral party members will mutter but will not leave the party no matter how high your reputation becomes. Evil party members will leave if your reputation goes above 18. Being cruel, dishonest and greedy will cause your reputation to not increase and evil characters will stay content. Keep your reputation to no less than 10 to avoid higher prices, negative reaction adjustments and Flaming Fist posses and mercenary attacks.
I tend to favor characters you can acquire early over characters who are not obtainable until Chapter 4 or 5. You can pretty much clear out all the areas outside of Baldur's Gate (Chapter 5) before you have to go there to make progress with the plot. If you want to stay strictly to the main plot, the Chapter 4 NPCs can be used as replacements without too much of a management headache. None of the Chapter 5 NPCs are particularly impressive.
The Law-Neutrality-Chaos axis really has no importance in Baldur's Gate, only the Good-Neutral-Evil axis matters. So if you want your reputation to start at the maximum, pick Lawful Good (12). If you want take a path to the Dark Side, then pick Lawful or Neutral Evil (9) or Chaotic Evil (8).
Recommendations for a Good-Aligned Party :
Main Fighter PC
Imoen
Kivan
Minsc
Branwen
Dynaheir
Imoen has two purposes. First, you acquire her at level 1, so you can shape her thief abilities as you wish. Second, you can and should Dual Class her to a Mage when she becomes a Level 6 Thief. By the end of the game, you can get her to a Level 9 Mage. She should advance to a Level 6 Thief very rapidly if you explore the world, and then she will be developed as a Mage until she reaches Level 7, when she reacquires her Thief abilities.
The Thief skills that should be improved are Hide in the Shadows and Find Traps. Hide in Shadows is the most important skill because it allows her to scout out areas for monsters and encounters, especially at night. The 2nd Level Mage Spell Invisibility can also allow you to scout around undetected and without chance of failure for a long time, but it costs a spell slot and ends when you attack a target. Find Traps is also useful to find and disarm traps, which appear quite frequently in the ToSC Expansion and in some of the underground and even wilderness areas. Open locks is not as important because fighters with high strength can usually force locks and a Mage can use a Knock spell. You never really need to use the pick pocket skill (except for one instance at the Friendly Arm Inn) and you can save and reload if you fail.
Kivan makes a great archer and a pretty good front line warrior, and you can quickly pick him up at High Hedge east of Beregost. Ajantis is also a defensible choice and can be found at the Fishing Village north of the Friendly Arm Inn.
Minsc makes a great tank and he is located right in Nashkel. He will require you to rescue Dynaheir at the Gnoll's Stronghold, but she is worth it as is the trip to that area.
Dynaheir is an Invoker, so damage spells like Magic Missile, Melf's Acid Arrow, Lightning Bolt and Fireball are her specialty. She cannot summon or enchant, but there are many wands that can summon monsters. Weirdly there are no pure Mage NPCs in Baldur's Gate. You can find Xan at the end of Chapter 2, but he is an Enchanter and cannot cast Invocation spells like the ones I just listed, essentially the opposite of Dynaheir. Nothing clears out a horde of xvarts or gnolls like a well-placed Fireball spell.
Branwen will join the party for the price of a Stone to Flesh scroll and is located at the Naskel Carnival. Buy it from the temple, not the huckster next to her. She is the only good Cleric you will find early in the game, and you need a healer. If you really want to wait until Chapter 4, you can pick up Faldorn who is a pure Druid or even Yeslick.
Recommendations for an Evil Party :
Main Fighter PC
Imoen
Viconia
Kagain
Shar-Teel
Edwin
Safana serves as Imoen's replacement for evil parties. She is a quite a bit more closely aligned to the moral compass of this party, but she requires a bit of travel and risk to obtain. If you can raise her Int you can dual class her to a Mage.
Viconia can be found in Peldvale, to the east of the Friendly Arm Inn and requires killing a Flaming Fist soldier. There is no reputation loss for killing the soldier, but you will incur a -2 reputation hit whenever you add Viconia to the party. She is a painless way to lower your reputation if it gets too high. Even evil parties need a healer.
Kagain is in Beregost and keeping him only requires going back to the Coast Way. He is not the best fighter but he regenerates HP and does not need your healer's attention after resting.
Shar-Teel is located in Mutamin's Garden, which is east of the Beregost Temple. You must best her with your best male fighter before she will join. She makes for a great front line fighter. If your fighter is female, you should have someone with a higher strength score than Kagain to fight her. If your main PC is a female fighter, you can use the Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity (found in the area south of the Friendly Arm Inn) to change your sex temporarily so you can best her. Of course you may have to wait or pay for a Remove Curse spell to unequip the stupid belt.
Edwin is probably the best mage in the game and his Amulet doubles the number of first and second level spells available to him. Magic Missile is always useful and will damage just about anything in the game. Unfortunately, you have to kill Dynaheir at the Gnoll's Stronghold or bring him to her to keep him. He is a Conjurer, so he cannot use Divination spells like Identify or Clairvoyance, which is only slightly annoying. You really won't need a Mage immediately, so you can bypass the Xzar and Montaron duo. Xzar is a decent second choice, but as a Necromancer he does not have access to Illusion spells, most notably defensive spells like Blur and Mirror Image. In that case, Montaron should take care of your Thiefly duties.
With a multi player game, my basic recommendations remain the same. You need three characters who are good in melee combat. A character with good Thief skills will make the game a lot less challenging. At least one Cleric/Druid character is a must, and two is better. Finally, a good Mage is a must.
Multi Classing and Dual Classing :
Dual Classing has its benefits, but it is quite the investment as you build up your second class to the level of your first class. In Imoen's example, to get the maximum Mage level, you cannot progress past level 6 as a Thief, otherwise you will hit the XP limit. (Canonically for sequel purposes, she changes classes after Thief level 7).
Multi Classing has its benefits, but experience is split between the classes, and therefore the characters will be weaker at the end of the game than the single class characters. Let's consider the combinations presented by the various NPCs in the game :
Fighter/Thief
Fighter/Cleric
Fighter/Druid
Cleric/Illusionist
Cleric/Thief
The game will allow a maximum of 80,500 XP to be split into each class. That give a Fighter/Thief a maximum level of 7/8, a Fighter/Cleric a maximum level of 7/7, a Fighter/Druid 7/8, a Cleric/Illusionist 7/7 and a Cleric/Thief 7/8. Single classed can achieve Level 8 for Fighters, Paladins, and Rangers, Level 9 Mages and Level 10 for Thieves, Bards and Druids. Level 9 Druids can cast Level 5 Priest Spells and Level 9 Wizards can cast Level 5 Wizard Spells.
Also, know that each class gets half the HP of a single class. A single classed Fighter can have 1-10 HP per level. A Fighter/Thief will have 1-5 or 1-3 HP per level. So while a Level 8 Fighter can have up to 80 HP by the end of the game, a Fighter/Thief will only have up to 53 HP. A Fighter/Druid would only have up to 63 HP.
The Elephant in the Room :
The above advice focuses on playing a character through Baldur's Gate and its Expansion Pack, but what about its Sequel and its Expansion Pack? You can import your character as developed in Baldur's Gate into Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn.. Only the PC gets transferred, any NPCs common to both games like Imoen and Viconia will have their own stats, items and spells for Baldur's Gate II.
Should you transfer your PC? The benefits are that you can start your character a level above the starting level of BGII generated PCs, assuming you maxed out your XP in BG. You also can carry over a few items from the previous game, most notably the Golden Pantaloons (or just use Cheats or a Character Editor). You will be able to reassign your Weapon Proficiency slots and Thief Abilities. You can keep the HP and spells you earned in BG. You can even select a Class Kit for your character.
There are a few drawbacks to importing. First, a character that has already Dual Classed in BG cannot select a Class Kit for his inactive class. A Kensai to Mage in BGII is a combination that many swear by, but if you already Dual Classed in BG, it won't be available to you. Nor can you be a Half-Orc, Sorcerer, Monk or Barbarian, races and classes that did not exist in BG. BG was based on the basic 2nd Edition of the AD&D rules and came out in 1998. By the year 2000, the 3rd Edition of the D&D rules had been introduced and these contributions to the tabletop game were added to BGII. Because the Kits are not available to the low level characters in BG, they have distinct similarities to the Prestige Classes introduced in 3rd Edition. The designers were willing to bend the rules in a 3rd Edition fashion, witness the almost-Paladin Halfling Mazzy.
Ultimately, BGII has so many opportunities to earn huge amounts of experience that you start getting achieving near godlike levels of power in Thone of Bhall. Unless you make really poor choices in BG, whatever you do is not likely to matter much once you get into BGII.
One thing you should do is to use all the Manuals and Tomes you find in BG that raise your attribute points on yourself. Why waste them on the NPCs? They are not going to be transferred to BGII. In fact, there will be some sacrifices to be made in BGII, so boosting the ability scores is a good idea. You can't take these items with you, so use them to give yourself a permanent boost when you find them in BG.
Another thing you should do is to watch your HP increases. Save before you level up, so if you only earn 1HP from a roll, not including Constitution bonuses, you should try again. If you consistently get the upper end of the range of the die roll, you will be in good shape. (Of course there is a mod that can always give you max HP on level up). You won't have to be rolling many hit die in BGII, so you should make these early rolls count.
Avoid triple-multi classes like Fighter/Thief/Mage. While I might not be the biggest fan of two class multi classes, a triple class multi classed character will spread out the XP too thinly. Given a rough amount of XP available to an average party that has progressed through BG and BGII, say 4,000,000, your individual classes will still be hovering around level 12-13 by the end of Throne of Bhall.
Finally, I once brought a Fighter character through BG with an Int score of 3. I paid for it with a great deal of frustration in BGII against a certain type of monster. Try to keep every Ability Score in the double digits.
I do have a note of caution about the pure Fighter in BGII. BGII notably decreased the value of Weapon Specialization. Grand Master in BG gave you a bonus of +3 to Hit, +5 to Damage, and 3/2 extra attacks attacks per round. Grand Master in BGII gives you a bonus of +2 to Hit, +4 to Damage, and 1/2 extra attacks attacks per round. BGII encourages you to spread around the Weapon Proficiency points and there are so many great weapons you wish you could achieve Mastery in. Don't overlook hammers for BGII.
Character Creation :
My main PC has always been a Human Fighter. I get a good roll and set my Str, Dex and Con to 18 and my Int, Wis and Cha to no less than 9. (Preferably 10 for Charisma, because 9 gives a -1 reaction adjustment). This requires a total roll of 84, which make take a few dozen clicks of the reroll button. Judging by the Enhanced Edition, total rolling points range from 75-100, but are heavily weighted toward the low end of the scale.
When you choose a class, you are stuck with whatever exceptional strength roll you get when you increase your strength score to 18. If you raise and lower the strength score, you will keep the first exceptional strength roll you make. You have to reroll to get a different exceptional strength score. However, you can raise your strength a point later in the game, and exceptional strength becomes irrelevant at that point.
With a Fighter, you have four weapon proficiency slots to use. I set two slots for Swords and one for Blunt Weapons and one for Bows. You will start out with 14 H.P. I prefer Fighters to Rangers and Paladins because they can gain new levels faster than Rangers and Paladins can. Also, Fighters have Weapon Specialization and the other two do not. Put the points you can earn by leveling up to the Sword. The best long sword in the game can be found at the Entrance to the Nahskel Mines in Chapter 2.
A dwarf or an elf make excellent fighters. A dwarf has a +1 to Con for +5HP per level at Con 19. If you raise your Con during the game, you can acquire regeneration. However, a dwarf has a max Dex of 17, so his AC adjustment is only -3. An elf has a max Dex of 19, making them superb archers. But they also have a +1 to hit for Swords and Bows, sweetening the pot even more. However, their Con maxes out at 17, giving them a benefit of only +3 HP per level.
Single Game Party Selection :
If you want to keep a harmonious party, you should pick NPCs close to your alignment. By acting mercifully, honestly and selflessly, your reputation will increase, good party members will be happy and the shops will give you better prices. Neutral party members will mutter but will not leave the party no matter how high your reputation becomes. Evil party members will leave if your reputation goes above 18. Being cruel, dishonest and greedy will cause your reputation to not increase and evil characters will stay content. Keep your reputation to no less than 10 to avoid higher prices, negative reaction adjustments and Flaming Fist posses and mercenary attacks.
I tend to favor characters you can acquire early over characters who are not obtainable until Chapter 4 or 5. You can pretty much clear out all the areas outside of Baldur's Gate (Chapter 5) before you have to go there to make progress with the plot. If you want to stay strictly to the main plot, the Chapter 4 NPCs can be used as replacements without too much of a management headache. None of the Chapter 5 NPCs are particularly impressive.
The Law-Neutrality-Chaos axis really has no importance in Baldur's Gate, only the Good-Neutral-Evil axis matters. So if you want your reputation to start at the maximum, pick Lawful Good (12). If you want take a path to the Dark Side, then pick Lawful or Neutral Evil (9) or Chaotic Evil (8).
Recommendations for a Good-Aligned Party :
Main Fighter PC
Imoen
Kivan
Minsc
Branwen
Dynaheir
Imoen has two purposes. First, you acquire her at level 1, so you can shape her thief abilities as you wish. Second, you can and should Dual Class her to a Mage when she becomes a Level 6 Thief. By the end of the game, you can get her to a Level 9 Mage. She should advance to a Level 6 Thief very rapidly if you explore the world, and then she will be developed as a Mage until she reaches Level 7, when she reacquires her Thief abilities.
The Thief skills that should be improved are Hide in the Shadows and Find Traps. Hide in Shadows is the most important skill because it allows her to scout out areas for monsters and encounters, especially at night. The 2nd Level Mage Spell Invisibility can also allow you to scout around undetected and without chance of failure for a long time, but it costs a spell slot and ends when you attack a target. Find Traps is also useful to find and disarm traps, which appear quite frequently in the ToSC Expansion and in some of the underground and even wilderness areas. Open locks is not as important because fighters with high strength can usually force locks and a Mage can use a Knock spell. You never really need to use the pick pocket skill (except for one instance at the Friendly Arm Inn) and you can save and reload if you fail.
Kivan makes a great archer and a pretty good front line warrior, and you can quickly pick him up at High Hedge east of Beregost. Ajantis is also a defensible choice and can be found at the Fishing Village north of the Friendly Arm Inn.
Minsc makes a great tank and he is located right in Nashkel. He will require you to rescue Dynaheir at the Gnoll's Stronghold, but she is worth it as is the trip to that area.
Dynaheir is an Invoker, so damage spells like Magic Missile, Melf's Acid Arrow, Lightning Bolt and Fireball are her specialty. She cannot summon or enchant, but there are many wands that can summon monsters. Weirdly there are no pure Mage NPCs in Baldur's Gate. You can find Xan at the end of Chapter 2, but he is an Enchanter and cannot cast Invocation spells like the ones I just listed, essentially the opposite of Dynaheir. Nothing clears out a horde of xvarts or gnolls like a well-placed Fireball spell.
Branwen will join the party for the price of a Stone to Flesh scroll and is located at the Naskel Carnival. Buy it from the temple, not the huckster next to her. She is the only good Cleric you will find early in the game, and you need a healer. If you really want to wait until Chapter 4, you can pick up Faldorn who is a pure Druid or even Yeslick.
Recommendations for an Evil Party :
Main Fighter PC
Imoen
Viconia
Kagain
Shar-Teel
Edwin
Safana serves as Imoen's replacement for evil parties. She is a quite a bit more closely aligned to the moral compass of this party, but she requires a bit of travel and risk to obtain. If you can raise her Int you can dual class her to a Mage.
Viconia can be found in Peldvale, to the east of the Friendly Arm Inn and requires killing a Flaming Fist soldier. There is no reputation loss for killing the soldier, but you will incur a -2 reputation hit whenever you add Viconia to the party. She is a painless way to lower your reputation if it gets too high. Even evil parties need a healer.
Kagain is in Beregost and keeping him only requires going back to the Coast Way. He is not the best fighter but he regenerates HP and does not need your healer's attention after resting.
Shar-Teel is located in Mutamin's Garden, which is east of the Beregost Temple. You must best her with your best male fighter before she will join. She makes for a great front line fighter. If your fighter is female, you should have someone with a higher strength score than Kagain to fight her. If your main PC is a female fighter, you can use the Girdle of Masculinity/Femininity (found in the area south of the Friendly Arm Inn) to change your sex temporarily so you can best her. Of course you may have to wait or pay for a Remove Curse spell to unequip the stupid belt.
Edwin is probably the best mage in the game and his Amulet doubles the number of first and second level spells available to him. Magic Missile is always useful and will damage just about anything in the game. Unfortunately, you have to kill Dynaheir at the Gnoll's Stronghold or bring him to her to keep him. He is a Conjurer, so he cannot use Divination spells like Identify or Clairvoyance, which is only slightly annoying. You really won't need a Mage immediately, so you can bypass the Xzar and Montaron duo. Xzar is a decent second choice, but as a Necromancer he does not have access to Illusion spells, most notably defensive spells like Blur and Mirror Image. In that case, Montaron should take care of your Thiefly duties.
With a multi player game, my basic recommendations remain the same. You need three characters who are good in melee combat. A character with good Thief skills will make the game a lot less challenging. At least one Cleric/Druid character is a must, and two is better. Finally, a good Mage is a must.
Multi Classing and Dual Classing :
Dual Classing has its benefits, but it is quite the investment as you build up your second class to the level of your first class. In Imoen's example, to get the maximum Mage level, you cannot progress past level 6 as a Thief, otherwise you will hit the XP limit. (Canonically for sequel purposes, she changes classes after Thief level 7).
Multi Classing has its benefits, but experience is split between the classes, and therefore the characters will be weaker at the end of the game than the single class characters. Let's consider the combinations presented by the various NPCs in the game :
Fighter/Thief
Fighter/Cleric
Fighter/Druid
Cleric/Illusionist
Cleric/Thief
The game will allow a maximum of 80,500 XP to be split into each class. That give a Fighter/Thief a maximum level of 7/8, a Fighter/Cleric a maximum level of 7/7, a Fighter/Druid 7/8, a Cleric/Illusionist 7/7 and a Cleric/Thief 7/8. Single classed can achieve Level 8 for Fighters, Paladins, and Rangers, Level 9 Mages and Level 10 for Thieves, Bards and Druids. Level 9 Druids can cast Level 5 Priest Spells and Level 9 Wizards can cast Level 5 Wizard Spells.
Also, know that each class gets half the HP of a single class. A single classed Fighter can have 1-10 HP per level. A Fighter/Thief will have 1-5 or 1-3 HP per level. So while a Level 8 Fighter can have up to 80 HP by the end of the game, a Fighter/Thief will only have up to 53 HP. A Fighter/Druid would only have up to 63 HP.
The Elephant in the Room :
The above advice focuses on playing a character through Baldur's Gate and its Expansion Pack, but what about its Sequel and its Expansion Pack? You can import your character as developed in Baldur's Gate into Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn.. Only the PC gets transferred, any NPCs common to both games like Imoen and Viconia will have their own stats, items and spells for Baldur's Gate II.
Should you transfer your PC? The benefits are that you can start your character a level above the starting level of BGII generated PCs, assuming you maxed out your XP in BG. You also can carry over a few items from the previous game, most notably the Golden Pantaloons (or just use Cheats or a Character Editor). You will be able to reassign your Weapon Proficiency slots and Thief Abilities. You can keep the HP and spells you earned in BG. You can even select a Class Kit for your character.
There are a few drawbacks to importing. First, a character that has already Dual Classed in BG cannot select a Class Kit for his inactive class. A Kensai to Mage in BGII is a combination that many swear by, but if you already Dual Classed in BG, it won't be available to you. Nor can you be a Half-Orc, Sorcerer, Monk or Barbarian, races and classes that did not exist in BG. BG was based on the basic 2nd Edition of the AD&D rules and came out in 1998. By the year 2000, the 3rd Edition of the D&D rules had been introduced and these contributions to the tabletop game were added to BGII. Because the Kits are not available to the low level characters in BG, they have distinct similarities to the Prestige Classes introduced in 3rd Edition. The designers were willing to bend the rules in a 3rd Edition fashion, witness the almost-Paladin Halfling Mazzy.
Ultimately, BGII has so many opportunities to earn huge amounts of experience that you start getting achieving near godlike levels of power in Thone of Bhall. Unless you make really poor choices in BG, whatever you do is not likely to matter much once you get into BGII.
One thing you should do is to use all the Manuals and Tomes you find in BG that raise your attribute points on yourself. Why waste them on the NPCs? They are not going to be transferred to BGII. In fact, there will be some sacrifices to be made in BGII, so boosting the ability scores is a good idea. You can't take these items with you, so use them to give yourself a permanent boost when you find them in BG.
Another thing you should do is to watch your HP increases. Save before you level up, so if you only earn 1HP from a roll, not including Constitution bonuses, you should try again. If you consistently get the upper end of the range of the die roll, you will be in good shape. (Of course there is a mod that can always give you max HP on level up). You won't have to be rolling many hit die in BGII, so you should make these early rolls count.
Avoid triple-multi classes like Fighter/Thief/Mage. While I might not be the biggest fan of two class multi classes, a triple class multi classed character will spread out the XP too thinly. Given a rough amount of XP available to an average party that has progressed through BG and BGII, say 4,000,000, your individual classes will still be hovering around level 12-13 by the end of Throne of Bhall.
Finally, I once brought a Fighter character through BG with an Int score of 3. I paid for it with a great deal of frustration in BGII against a certain type of monster. Try to keep every Ability Score in the double digits.
I do have a note of caution about the pure Fighter in BGII. BGII notably decreased the value of Weapon Specialization. Grand Master in BG gave you a bonus of +3 to Hit, +5 to Damage, and 3/2 extra attacks attacks per round. Grand Master in BGII gives you a bonus of +2 to Hit, +4 to Damage, and 1/2 extra attacks attacks per round. BGII encourages you to spread around the Weapon Proficiency points and there are so many great weapons you wish you could achieve Mastery in. Don't overlook hammers for BGII.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Baldur's Gate: Shady Multiplayer Privacy Practices
Two days ago, an Anonymous individual posted this comment to my blog regarding Baldur's Gate. It does not show up in the comments section and only appeared in my email. His comment was so thorough that I thought I should post it in full here:
"'While there was no central matchmaking service like Battle.net integrated into the game, TCP/IP hosts were supported.' [This is what I said in the previous blog entry, his or her comments follow]
Unfortunately, this is not correct. "Unfortunately" because Bioware integrated hidden GameSpy registration matchmaking functionality into the multiplayer module and enabled it by default for TCP/IP hosts. Yes, you read that right. If you hosted a TCP/IP game, BG would clandestinely register the game at the Gamespy servers - without your knowledge or consent. If you were hosting a TCP/IP session anyone could and would appear (unless you either disabled the functionality/otherwise blocked connections with your firewall or/password protected the game/disabled "listen to join requests").
This had to be disabled with a setting in baldur.ini (not documented, just like the hidden GameSpy functionality wasnt) as follows:
[Gamespy]
Enabled=0
That's what the strange vague reference to the Gamespy "region" setting in the README.TXT file and the Baldur's Gate Config utility refer to - configuring which region to register the hidden in-game Gamespy multiplayer matchmaking functionality with (which is based on DirectPlay functionality) in the baldur.ini file.
So yeah any time you hosted a game all the details of it were listed and advertised (unbeknownst to you most likely unless you disabled it of course) at the GameSpy matchmaking servers for all the (GameSpy) gamingverse to see...and join, if they so chose.
In fact, BG even came with the GameSpyLite client (not documented and installed without consent along with the HEAT client) so that you could find these "undocumented hidden" multiplayer games (through Gamespy/HEAT).
So while its true there is no "in-game" CLIENT matchmaking service, there IS an "in-game" SERVER matching-making service - the undocumented hidden auto-enabled Gamespy server registration. And it was easy enough to find any/one of these games via the GameSpyLite client (or any other GameSpy client etc) which one could Alt-Tab to if needed to find a game.
In fact, when this clear violation of user privacy/connectivity control (not to mention lack of transparency and forced third party software install with no user knowledge or consent) was later made known to BioWare circa 1999/2000, they at first officially denied it, then later officially claimed that "privacy and security was not a concern when the game was first published back in 1998".
So there you have it, the scandalous sordid history of BG's in-game hidden undocumented Gamespy server registration for hosted TCP/IP games.
FWIW, some people find that disabling the (now useless due to GameSpy defunctness) hidden Gamespy server registration for hosts/servers fixes direct connection issues with clients."
This is rather unusual for this time. The days of TAGES and SecuROM and copy protection that would install rootkits on your PC without your knowledge or consent were not yet upon us. Big Data in the form of Google services and all its competitors was still in the future. Windows 10 is always sending some kind of data to Microsoft but what Baldur's Gate did is comparatively tame.
I never used the multiplayer back in the day, I always assumed that you used it solely by typing in the IP address of the host computer if not trying to connect via a LAN. That is what the manual says and that is how the interface works. A GameSpy client could save you the trouble of finding IPs hosting games and typing the IP in. But was it always present? Consider the following version list for Baldur's Gate :
1.0.4309 - Full Release - Baldur's Gate
1.1.4312 - Beta Patch - Baldur's Gate
1.1.4315 - Release Patch and Product Revision - Baldur's Gate
1.1.4320 - DirectX 8.0 Multiplayer Fix - Baldur's Gate (executable only)
1.3.5508 - Full Release - Tales of the Sword Coast
1.3.5512 - Release Patch and Product Revision - Tales of the Sword Coast
1.3.5521 - DirectX 8.0 Multiplayer Fix - Tales of the Sword Coast (executable only)
The 1.1.4315 version's readme is where they first mention Gamespy. My DVD-ROM has 1.1.4315 and it presumably installs the Gamespy service. It contains the Gamespy Lite and HEAT applications. The readme for 1.1.4315 states that "Gamespy software is automatically installed" and "Region: This setting is used for Gamespy connections". My Tales of the Sword Coast CD also has the Gamespy Lite and HEAT applications.
My original version, 1.0.4309, does not appear to have any Gamespy connection at first. It isn't mentioned in the manual, the readme and the GameSpy Lite or HEAT applications are not present. However, I have the UK release, not the US release, and the GameSpy logo is on the back of every US big box I have seen. It does not appear to be on the UK big boxes. When I do a straight 5CD install, no patches, no Expansion Pack, the Region setting is present in the configuration program and the is an entry for the Gamespy region is in the Baldur.ini file. Therefore, it appears to be present from the day the game went Gold. I am not sure there are any software differences between the US and the UK launch versions outside the readme file.
Now, I am sure that someone must have wondered how strangers were joining their multiplayer servers when they had not advertised that they were hosting outside their chosen circle of friends. When people said I saw your game on GameSpy, the next thing that the person running the server must have asked is "How does GameSpy know I am running a multiplayer BG game?" A Yahoo Search later (remember, this is the late '90s) and I'm sure most people could figure out that their information was being communicated to GameSpy in some manner. Not that this should excuse Bioware of deceptive, security compromising practices. Fortunately, you no longer have to worry about this since GameSpy has been shut down since 2013 and its Baldur's Gate matchmaking servers were probably shut down years earlier. You can still host your own multiplayer game of Baldur's Gate with your friends and disable the GameSpy services using the ini entry above to ensure that you can receive your maximum performance and bandwidth.
"'While there was no central matchmaking service like Battle.net integrated into the game, TCP/IP hosts were supported.' [This is what I said in the previous blog entry, his or her comments follow]
Unfortunately, this is not correct. "Unfortunately" because Bioware integrated hidden GameSpy registration matchmaking functionality into the multiplayer module and enabled it by default for TCP/IP hosts. Yes, you read that right. If you hosted a TCP/IP game, BG would clandestinely register the game at the Gamespy servers - without your knowledge or consent. If you were hosting a TCP/IP session anyone could and would appear (unless you either disabled the functionality/otherwise blocked connections with your firewall or/password protected the game/disabled "listen to join requests").
This had to be disabled with a setting in baldur.ini (not documented, just like the hidden GameSpy functionality wasnt) as follows:
[Gamespy]
Enabled=0
That's what the strange vague reference to the Gamespy "region" setting in the README.TXT file and the Baldur's Gate Config utility refer to - configuring which region to register the hidden in-game Gamespy multiplayer matchmaking functionality with (which is based on DirectPlay functionality) in the baldur.ini file.
So yeah any time you hosted a game all the details of it were listed and advertised (unbeknownst to you most likely unless you disabled it of course) at the GameSpy matchmaking servers for all the (GameSpy) gamingverse to see...and join, if they so chose.
In fact, BG even came with the GameSpyLite client (not documented and installed without consent along with the HEAT client) so that you could find these "undocumented hidden" multiplayer games (through Gamespy/HEAT).
So while its true there is no "in-game" CLIENT matchmaking service, there IS an "in-game" SERVER matching-making service - the undocumented hidden auto-enabled Gamespy server registration. And it was easy enough to find any/one of these games via the GameSpyLite client (or any other GameSpy client etc) which one could Alt-Tab to if needed to find a game.
In fact, when this clear violation of user privacy/connectivity control (not to mention lack of transparency and forced third party software install with no user knowledge or consent) was later made known to BioWare circa 1999/2000, they at first officially denied it, then later officially claimed that "privacy and security was not a concern when the game was first published back in 1998".
So there you have it, the scandalous sordid history of BG's in-game hidden undocumented Gamespy server registration for hosted TCP/IP games.
FWIW, some people find that disabling the (now useless due to GameSpy defunctness) hidden Gamespy server registration for hosts/servers fixes direct connection issues with clients."
This is rather unusual for this time. The days of TAGES and SecuROM and copy protection that would install rootkits on your PC without your knowledge or consent were not yet upon us. Big Data in the form of Google services and all its competitors was still in the future. Windows 10 is always sending some kind of data to Microsoft but what Baldur's Gate did is comparatively tame.
I never used the multiplayer back in the day, I always assumed that you used it solely by typing in the IP address of the host computer if not trying to connect via a LAN. That is what the manual says and that is how the interface works. A GameSpy client could save you the trouble of finding IPs hosting games and typing the IP in. But was it always present? Consider the following version list for Baldur's Gate :
1.0.4309 - Full Release - Baldur's Gate
1.1.4312 - Beta Patch - Baldur's Gate
1.1.4315 - Release Patch and Product Revision - Baldur's Gate
1.1.4320 - DirectX 8.0 Multiplayer Fix - Baldur's Gate (executable only)
1.3.5508 - Full Release - Tales of the Sword Coast
1.3.5512 - Release Patch and Product Revision - Tales of the Sword Coast
1.3.5521 - DirectX 8.0 Multiplayer Fix - Tales of the Sword Coast (executable only)
The 1.1.4315 version's readme is where they first mention Gamespy. My DVD-ROM has 1.1.4315 and it presumably installs the Gamespy service. It contains the Gamespy Lite and HEAT applications. The readme for 1.1.4315 states that "Gamespy software is automatically installed" and "Region: This setting is used for Gamespy connections". My Tales of the Sword Coast CD also has the Gamespy Lite and HEAT applications.
My original version, 1.0.4309, does not appear to have any Gamespy connection at first. It isn't mentioned in the manual, the readme and the GameSpy Lite or HEAT applications are not present. However, I have the UK release, not the US release, and the GameSpy logo is on the back of every US big box I have seen. It does not appear to be on the UK big boxes. When I do a straight 5CD install, no patches, no Expansion Pack, the Region setting is present in the configuration program and the is an entry for the Gamespy region is in the Baldur.ini file. Therefore, it appears to be present from the day the game went Gold. I am not sure there are any software differences between the US and the UK launch versions outside the readme file.
Now, I am sure that someone must have wondered how strangers were joining their multiplayer servers when they had not advertised that they were hosting outside their chosen circle of friends. When people said I saw your game on GameSpy, the next thing that the person running the server must have asked is "How does GameSpy know I am running a multiplayer BG game?" A Yahoo Search later (remember, this is the late '90s) and I'm sure most people could figure out that their information was being communicated to GameSpy in some manner. Not that this should excuse Bioware of deceptive, security compromising practices. Fortunately, you no longer have to worry about this since GameSpy has been shut down since 2013 and its Baldur's Gate matchmaking servers were probably shut down years earlier. You can still host your own multiplayer game of Baldur's Gate with your friends and disable the GameSpy services using the ini entry above to ensure that you can receive your maximum performance and bandwidth.
Saturday, September 12, 2015
AD&D Done Right : Baldur's Gate
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| Title Screen & Main Menu |
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| Character Creation |
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| Starting Out in Candlekeep |
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| Area Map |
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| World Map (portion) |
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| Character Journal |
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| Character Record |
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| Inventory |
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| Attacked inside a house |
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| Chapter One Introduction |
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| Aftermath of an ambush and a new party member |
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| Aftermath of a battle, don't let this happen to you |
Baldur's Gate supported cooperative multiplayer. While there was no central matchmaking service like Battle.net integrated into the game, TCP/IP hosts were supported. This allows the game to be played over the modern Internet today with comparative ease over games that just supported a serial null-modem, modem or IPX network connection. Baldur's Gate allows the players to go through the game with each player controlling his or her own character, up to six characters can join a game at a time. The first player would act as the leader and would be the central character in the game. If he died, you would have to reload. Because the game had to pause for dialogue and gold was always pooled in the party, the leader could control who could do what with a permissions control. If you do not like the NPCs available in the single player game, by playing multiplayer alone you can generate all six characters to your liking.
One of the more praiseworthy elements of Baldur's Gate is the amount of customization offered. For any created character, you can assign a portrait and voice samples to him or her from any jpg and wav file that meets the engine's specifications. You can also generate A.I. scripts to control the character in combat or use the ones the game provides. However, when creating a new character, you cannot simply set all your ability scores to 18s as you can with the Gold Box and Eye of the Beholder series. You have to add and subtract points, and it is easy to spend half an hour trying to a high total number and exceptional strength at the character creation screen. While the game does roll for your gold, it starts you off with maximum HP for the first level characters you create, but leveling up will give a random HP increase according to the class hit die. You can import and export characters, and they will come with their experience and equipment intact. There is also a built-in cheat system.
The game world is fleshed out in a variety of ways. The first way is with the material included in the box. The game comes with a large bound book called Volo's Guide to the Realms. This book acts as the game manual, gives an overview of the Forgotten Realms and the Sword Coast and describes the relevant AD&D rules. The book itself is 156 pages and bound with glue and uses a parchment style of printing, brown text on cream-colored paper. There is also a double-sided poster. The first side gives you a map of the Sword Coast, similar to the in-game map but with more detail and color. The reverse side gives you a map of Baldur's Gate indicating where various locations are within the city. This was very useful in the days before sites like GameBanshee laid them out using screenshots from the game itself. The City of Baldur's Gate itself is absolutely huge, with nine full areas and teeming with quests.
In addition to the material in the box, you can read books and item descriptions. There is a good amount of dialog and some encounters can be solved without violence. Your character keeps a journal describing what was said and what he or she did. The entries will be different depending on the moral alignment of your character. All this helps to bring life to the game world. Enemies are standard early AD&D fare. You have kobolds, xvarts and gibberlings, Hobgoblins, Flinds and Gnolls, Bandits and Mercenaries, Green Slimes, Gray Oozes and Ochre Jellies, Skeletons, Zombies, Ghouls and Ghasts, Ogres and Half-Ogres, Sirens and Basiliks, Skeleton Warriors and Battle Horrors, Spiders, Wolves and Bears, and others. This gives a sufficient variety of enemies to fight, although strangely enough Orcs are absent. You will encounter plenty of assassins and evil NPC parties to kill. Do not expect enemies which would be inappropriate for characters at level 7 by the end of the game.
Baldur's Gate is not beyond criticism. Most of the wilderness areas are vast but comparatively empty of set encounters. Many of the NPC quests are simple fetch and return or kill the foozle quests. Unlike later games, your journal does not list the assigned quests and identifies completed quests, so it can be a bit of a chore to figure out which ones you have completed if your memory is lacking. There is a lot of combat in this game, but the variety of the combat is a bit limited. Bows feel very overpowered, especially when Hobgoblins employ them against your party as they are wont to do early in the game. When you travel across areas on the map, you may be ambushed. If your party is still at the lower levels and you have Hobgoblins or Black Talon Mercenaries shooting fire arrows at you, be prepared to reload your game. Charm and confusion spells are incredibly annoying if your party gets hit by one and they always seem to work when cast against you.
Traveling across non-Town land areas is very tedious due to the fog of war and the number of random encounters you can trigger. Every map has trigger points where monsters will spawn. You have to carefully send out a scout because a single character can easily be overwhelmed. Resurrecting characters is an expense because no PC or NPC will ever be able to cast the Raise Dead spell without a scroll except for a Druid. Also, if characters (or enemies) get killed with a critical hit, they will explode into chunks and that character is dead permanently at the default difficulty level. But before you think you can get away with reloading, the developers devised a way to discourage that. If you reload in an area with spawning enemies, more and more enemies will be present as you keep reloading the saved game.
Good and Evil bears some criticism in how it is handled. Despite choosing your alignment for the main character, you cannot change it no matter how contrary to it you may act. You can be a good character and steal all you want from locked chests and drawers so long as you do not get caught and kill the now-hostile witnesses and guards. Playing an evil character is discouraged because the rewards for completing quests in the "evil" fashion are exceptionally stingy compared to completing quests in the "good" fashion. Being "good" increases your reputation, which leads to lower selling prices in the shops. Also, merchants will pay more for your goods. Even evil parties would enjoy the benefit of lower prices, but if your reputation gets too high, then the evil NPCs will leave your party. If you become too evil, steal too often, kill too many innocents, then the game will send parties or mercenaries or guards against you that will likely kill you.
The Expansion Pack, Tales of the Sword Coast, mainly offers more of the same. It does address a perceived shortcoming in the original game by adding a traditional, multi-level dungeon for you to explore. It also adds a few new areas and items and three major quests. However, perhaps its most useful feature is that it raises the XP cap from 89,000 to 161,000. If you were to go through the the basic game and begin to do quests outside the main storyline, your main character will easily earn well in excess of 89,000 XP. If you do not let your NPCs die or change them too often, they will also be maxed out. The Expansion Pack allows you to gain one more level on average for each character which you otherwise would not have been able to appreciate. Finally, you can increase the number of character nodes eight-fold to improve pathfinding. This is very important for the few tight maze-like maps in the game.
Thanks to the success of Baldur's Gate and other Infinity Engine games, there is a world of modifications available for Baldur's Gate. New characters, items, spells, quests, expansion packs, you name it. There While other Infinity Engine games may have more mods, the game that started it all has plenty of extra free content available for it. If you do not want to buy Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, you can still get the game up to more modern standards thanks to a widescreen patch. However, while widescreen patches will allow you to see more of the game world, they will make your characters smaller and smaller. Although Baldur's Gate is not a bug-ridden minefield after the official patches, there are several fan patches to fix outstanding bugs. There are Infinity Engine viewers where you can look at the game assets in a convenient way and extract them. The game has a screenshot feature that works most of the time, just press Print Screen and it will save to bmp in 24-bit color. That is how I generated the screenshots in this blog entry.
If you are playing Baldur's Gate on hardware that it was current when it shipped, make sure you are using a 5-CD version (+1 CD for the Expansion Pack). It was also released on DVD-ROM before the Expansion Pack was released and is patched and supports the standard five languages, that one is good too. Avoid the 3-CD versions, sometimes called "The Original Saga". They saved disc space by compressing the large area files. This may be good for saving space but bad for performance on this hardware. I also read somewhere several years ago that this version suffered from random crashes when loading new areas. The best installation for those with the CDs is to do a full install of the whole game, then fully install the expansion and finally apply the 5512 patch. Do not apply later official patches, they are not necessary if you are not using DirectX 8.0 or higher and multiplayer. If you want to use unofficial patches, there are sites which can direct you further.
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