Custom Items

[InfiniteNature]

Hi all I have decided to try another game this time from the beginning, was wondering if there is any way of customizing a item for Baldur's Gate, I know there is one for BGII but not sure if there is one for this game.

Secondary note, is there any way of customizing a weapon so that it levels up with you, you know gains more powers so on the more experienced you become, kind of like a Moonblade, you know starting out nonenchanted, but as you gain levels it becomes more powerful, till when you finally get to BGII you have a really badass +3 or +2 weapon, because it would be really cool to have such a weapon.

By the way I am starting out with a druid, a class I have little experience with, it was either that or the cleric, too religious, I like the nature side of the druid, in any case I am going to customize hopefully a spear or boe which can level up as well, otherwise I guess I'll just wait until I get to BGII again and customize a weapon there.

[nephtu]

Well, there's Gatekeeper, which is sort of like Shadowkeeper, find it at Mudmaster -and you can use it to edit in items & abilities. I don't believe the item can have level specific effects, but I imagine you could just tweak it as you go along. And, of course, there are the Baldurdash tweaks & fixes.

NB - you won't keep your stuff in BGII (well, except for the pantaloons) unless you use a mod of some kind. For that matter, you don't even keep your reputation.

[Skuld]

Gatekeeper won't let you customize items, for this you have to go to www.teambg.com and get IEEP, and possibly a few other utilities. I recommend just pushing every every buttong until you find out what they all do. I've done some editing and that's how I learned the programs. Good Luck.

[Ieo]

You can also just install a custom item someone else made - easier. I believe Arundor's Abode has lots of BGI custom items (many overpowered, unfortunately) including at least one spear.

[Skuld]

The thing with Gatekeeper is I don't think you can extract items, so you'd have to use Infinity Explorer. It's still doable though.

[Skuld]

Yea, I'm pretty sure IEEP works for all IE games except for IWDII, so you should be good.

[JackOfClubs]

Unfortunately, Gamekeeper does not display the item names. The version for Tales of the Sword Coast may have been updated to include item names, but I've never used it. What I usually do is use WinBiff to poke around in the items file for item names that look promising and test by trial and error. It takes a while but you can usually make a good guess as to what the item should be called. Also, there are some lists of items in various walkthroughs and FAQs, but none of them are complete AFAIK.

[Skuld]

Infinity Explorer is a better tool to poke around IMHO.

[JackOfClubs]

Probably, but I can't get it to work on my machine.

[Skuld]

Try NearInfinity. It's a Java program so there's no reason why it shouldn't work.

[JackOfClubs]

One thing that BG needs is better AC for non-fighter characters. I usually make a +1 Buckler and maybe kick one of the bracers of defense up a notch or two. If you want to make an item useful in the begining of the game, a ring or cloak of protection that is stackable would be good. Decent weapons for Druids are very rare in this game.

Another thing I have tried was making the Ring of Infravision (which is useless) into a ring of invisibility. Thus when you equip it, you immediately turn invisible until you attack something. Then you have to re-equip to turn invisible again. This works fairly well in BG since viewing inventory cancels pause; would be somewhat unbalancing otherwise.

Another cool thing I've tried was turning the Golden Girdle (which is a unique item requiring a tough fight) into a pseudo ring of regeneration (sets CON to 20). I tried making it a true ROR but for some reason the effect gets cancelled when changing areas or starting from a saved game. This could probably be worked around, but I got tired of messing with it.

[Skuld]

What BG really needs is some enchanted Bucklers and just some stackable enchanted armours, rings, and cloaks. And more spells for soloists who like to play spellcasters (like myself). So if anyone feels like adding some spells (possibly from BGII) it would be greatly appreciated.

[Skuld]

I'll give it a try later and let you know how mine work out.

[JackOfClubs]

Were the icons and descriptions the only things you changed? There is also and item type and several variables defining how an item works. I would try extracting the original BELT01.ITM and adding the properties to it one by one. This is more tedious but you can check your work as you go.

Also, is it possible that the item needs to be identified? Sometimes that happens with a new item and BG doesn't the blue shading that is used for unidentified items in BG2.

[Skuld]

I've done some editing for BG2, but when I tried BG my item didn't work. I tried making the Belt with AC bonus +3 out of BELT01, and nothing.