NPC - Dialogue, Banter, Chit-chat ...

The amount of Baldur's Gate II mods that go into that direction is staggering. Why the lack of them for Arcanum?

Is it considerably harder to do? (Don't have a clue about modding Arcanum)

I can't believe that there has never been a demand for such mods. The game itself is quite poor in this regard. Sogg and Jayna for example are basically silent zombies. And the other NPCs are not particularly chatty either.

It adds so much to the atmosphere of a RPG in my opinion.

 

I'll agree with you about it adding atmosphere. Unfortunately, Troika went the simple route with most of the followers - probably due to time constraints.

Modding in some chit-chat or even cattiness wouldn't be too difficult - just really time-consuming. You could literally spend a couple days just getting 2 of your followers to comment properly and on time about a new area you've entered.

 

I assume you have to create scripts that toggle "chit-chat" when you enter some area/do some quest or deed. That means that the modders have to create BOTH new lines in .dlg files (which is a pain in the ass in itself), AND make new .scr files (which I have no idea how to do, personally).

 

Hrm... this would be such a cool project. Just a pity my ability to program sucks most heinously. I was a wanna-be BG2 modder back in the day, wrote a full mod for a Jester-kit Bard, dialogs and all, and then spent a month getting increasingly frustrated by my inability to actually make any of it work. And as I didn't have the internet at the time...

Man, I miss Elizabeth. She was what you get when you play BG2 and read Terry Pratchett during the loading screens... a sharp-tongued, short-tempered, foul-mouthed, suspicious little watchwoman with height issues.

 

Did you try the kit maker?

 

Mod, not kit. Entirely different kettle of fish.

And again, no internet access.

 

i had always wondered about this aswell, with a decently sized fan base behind arcanum you would have thought more people would have created more custom content for the game, at most you may find new backgrounds and bug fixes but other then that zip-zero-nadda.

its a shame really, besides the Drog Black Tooth patch (mind you it is not a mod but it does add alot back into the game just by fixing the bugs alone) there is nothing, it would breath new life into one of the better rpgs of that era.