Unique Containers

Introduction

This mini-mod assigns unique icons to all containers in the game. Containers include standard and mod-added bags of holding, gem bags, scroll cases, potion cases and ammo belts. The tweak allows you to identify containers at a glance by color and use them for a particular type of storage. Or it just makes your character’s accessories color-coordinated :P. Optionally, you can assign unique names (based on the colour) to the containers to differentiate them further.

The mod will also fix various issues with stores and containers in both the unmodded (and Fixpacked) games, as well as with mods. Some of those mods include BP, CtB, NEJ2, RoT, SOS and UB. Most significantly, it fixes some issues with Lost Items v2, including containers with duplicate stores attached and other mod usability issues Bursk and SixOfSpades pointed out. You don’t need to have any of these mods installed to use the main feature though.

These are just some of the containers you may come across after installing this mod, depending on which other mods you have installed.

Unique Containers

Ultimately, this mod ~~will be~~ is included in a larger tweak mod but is released as a patch or minimod here.

Introduction • Back to top

Compatibility

This mod works with BG2: Shadows of Amn, with or without the expansion pack Throne of Bhaal. Make sure your game has the latest patch. Check the ReadMe files related to your patch in your game folder if necessary.

This mod will also work with all mods, including Baldur’s Gate Tutu (and EasyTutu), Baldur’s Gate Trilogy, the BiG World Project and the total conversion Classic Adventures.

You should install this after any mods that add containers, including the Tweaks Anthology and BGT Tweaks.

Compatibility • Back to top

Installation

Note: If you’ve previously installed the mod, remove it before extracting the new version. To do this, run setup-contain.exe (or .command), uninstall all previously installed components and delete the contain folder. When installing or uninstalling, do not close the DOS window by clicking on the X button! Instead, press the Enter key when instructed to do so.

You can extract files from the archive using 7-Zip, ZipGenius or another file-compression utility that handles archives.

You have three choices when installing this mod. Option 1 gives you unique names and icons for containers, option 2 gives new icons only and option 3 just fixes container and store bugs in the vanilla game and with mods.

Windows

Extract the contents of the mod to the folder of the game you wish to modify (BG2, BGT or EasyTutu). On successful extraction, there should be a “contain” subfolder and a setup-contain.exe file in your game folder. To install, simply double-click setup-contain.exe and follow the instructions on screen.

Run setup-contain.exe in your game folder to reinstall, uninstall or otherwise change components.

MacOS

Extract the contents of the mod to the folder of the game you wish to modify. On successful extraction, there should be an “contain” subfolder in your game folder. Download the MacOS version of WeiDU (or copy another mod’s launcher) and rename it setup-contain. Put this and the setup-contain.command file within the “contain” subfolder in your main game folder. To install, double-click on setup-contain.command and follow the instructions on screen.

Linux

Extract the contents of the mod to the folder of the game you wish to modify. Download the latest Linux version of WeiDU and copy WeiDU and WeInstall to /usr/bin. Then open a terminal and cd to your game installation directory.

Optional: run “tolower” and answer “Y” to both queries. You can avoid running the second option (linux.ini) if you’ve already ran it once in the same directory. To save time, the archive is already tolowered, so there’s no need to run the first option (lowercasing file names) either, if you’ve extracted only this mod since the last time you lowercased file names. If unsure, running tolower and choosing both options is the safe bet.

Run WeInstall setup-contain in your game folder to install the mod. Then run wine BGMain.exe and start playing.

Installation • Back to top

Specific Fixes

Buggy “bottomless” containers

If you’ve installed the Tweaks Anthology or a similar component that makes your bags supposedly “bottomless,” there is a bug where items may disappear sometimes. This attempts to fix that by setting the container capacity to 65535 (the maximum value for that field) if it finds any that are set to zero.

Unavailable containers

If you install Unique Containers after Brendan Bellina’s mods, it will patch those containers into stores. (Otherwise, they are only available via CLUA Console; therefore, do not use the console to create these or any other containers, as that will lead to buggy duplication of bag stores and inventories.) In Tutu, these stores are the ranged weapons shop (for quivers and ammunition belts) and the magic items shop (for other containers) at the Nashkel Carnival. In BG2, the respective containers will be at Perter’s and Mira’s shops in Waukeen’s Promenade. Unique Containers will also patch Bellina’s scimitar (if you’ve installed it) into a shop later in the game. In addition, it will balance the weapon to fit in better to whichever game you’ve installed it on. If you don’t want this “balancing” (and prefer a potentially imbalanced item), install it after Unique Containers (though you will need to use the console to obtain it in this case).

Unnamed shops

Some container-selling shops have very generic names like “Shop” or “Merchant” or have no valid names at all. This mod gives those shops valid names based on the merchant’s name (“Ikert’s Wares” for example).

Duplicate bag bugs

One of the most annoying bugs in the game (both modded and unmodded) relates to the fact that the same container occasionally is available in more than one place. This leads to duplicate access and perhaps even destruction of items placed in those containers. This mod fixes that by cloning the buggy containers and replacing the duplicate references so that every container should be truly “unique.” The specific containers fixed include:

Throne of Bhaal: duplicate gem bags at Amkethran Smugglers
Big Picture: duplicate bags at Joluv’s Wares
Check the Bodies: duplicate Campsite Equipment on Paddy Stoutfellow and Sylvanus Moondrop (also bags fixed so they work as “inns” as apparently intended); duplicate bags at Temple
Chosen of Mystra Encounters: duplicate bags at Adventurer’s Mart and Pen and Parchment
Lost Items: duplicate bags and many other issues fixed (see this thread for some issues)
Mersetek: duplicate gem bag given unique reference
Munchmod: duplicate ammo belt at Arkivisti’s Cart
Region of Terror: duplicate bag of holding at Deli’s Supplies
Shadows Over Soubar: fixed potential duplication of Foot Locker via pickpocketing; also item now looks more like the trunk it should be, and is described as such (rather than a “bag”)
Unfinished Business: duplicate gem bag given by Eleanya

Other bags are not cloned, but are dropped from the mod store that duplicates them. This is due to the fact they (and many other bags) are available elsewhere. There are only so many unique colors in the spectrum.

Bone Hill: duplicate bags at Perk’s Store and Ye Magic Shoppe
Check the Bodies: duplicate bags at Temple
Chosen of Mystra Encounters: duplicate bags at Scrolls R Us
Dark Horizons: duplicate bags at Godfrey’s Goods (single bags retained)
Dark Ritual: duplicate bag at Magically Enhanced Scrolls
Dark Side of the Sword Coast: duplicate bag at Trungle’s Supplies
Forgotten Wars Item Pack: duplicate bags at Forgotten Wars Emporium
Mod for the Orderly: duplicate keyrings at Mira’s Merchandise, Trademeet Peddler and Karthis al-Hezzar (single keyring retained)
Munchmod: duplicate potion case at Arkivisti’s Cart
Neverending Journey: duplicate bags at Merchant League
Region of Terror: duplicate bags at Merchant Arlax
Ribald’s Genie: duplicate scroll case at duplicate Copper Coronet
The Darkest Day: duplicate bags at Magic Shop, Merchant, Store
The Undying: duplicate bags at Dwarven Hammer, Mystra’s Magical Merchant, The Goods, Fine Magical Goods

Invalid store items

Several stores reference items that don’t exist, which can lead to issues. This fixes the problems by replacing invalid references with valid ones if possible, or deleting them if not. The mod also fixes items with zero inventory for sale and similar issues.

Baldur’s Gate II: invalid scrl7a at Adventurer’s Mart removed
Alex Macintosh: zero stock items set to 1 (halfeet and healharp)
Bone Hill: invalid scrolls at X Scrolls removed
iiItemMod: extra random loot from Selence’s Knapsack removed
Mortis Mini-Mod: invalid scrolls at Mortis’ Spells of Terror removed
MTS Crappack: invalid null items at Selence’s Goods removed
Neverending Journey: invalid bag01nej at Conlan’s Smithy removed
The Undying: invalid items removed from Dark Maiden’s Wares; item typo fixed in Merchant’s Market

Other issues

Please report any issues or problems with this mod at the forum. Suggestions, feedback and constructive criticism are welcome.

Specific Fixes • Back to top

Credits

Initial idea and testing: DavidNowlin Troubleshooting: Bursk, pro5 and SixOfSpades Lost Items mod: Aramis and Vedran French translation: Graoumf German translation: Leomar Italian translation: Stoneangel and Andrea/ilot Russian translation: prowler and aerie.ru Spanish translation: Ancalagon el Negro and Immortality

Programs/tools used in creation:

BAM Batcher by Miloch
BAM Workshop by Glenn Flansburg
DLTCEP by Avenger
EditPad Classic by Jan Goyvaerts
IESDP maintained by igi
Multi-replace tools
Near Infinity by Jon Olav Hauglid and others
PSPad by Jan Fiala
WeiDU by Wes Weimer and others

Unique Containers is copyright © 2009 by Miloch. This work (including all code and documentation) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit) and remix (adapt) this work, except for commercial purposes. See the Creative Commons Public License for more details. All other copyrights and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Credits • Back to top

Version History

Version 3: 25 May 2020

Deprecated the mod (use the Tweaks Anthology instead)
Updated the readme

Version 3: 2 Dec 2009

Added a bevy of fixes for mod store bugs (BG2-SoA, Alex Macintosh, Bone Hill, CoM Encounters, CtB, Dark Horizons, Dark Ritual, DSotSC, Forgotten Wars Item Pack, Mod for the Orderly, Mortis Mini-Mod, MTS Crappack, Munchmod, NEJ, Ribald’s Genie, RoT, SOS, TDD, The Undying)
Updated “bottomless” bag fix to avoid using time-consuming regexp
Fixed minor compatibility issue with SPItems and RoT
Added French and Russian translations; updated other translations

Version 2: 25 Oct 2009

Fixed and enhanced the Shadows Over Soubar patch
Fixed bag/store bug on Paddy Stoutfellow in Check the Bodies
Reversed Spellhold Gauntlet bag fix as it is now included in that mod
Enhanced compatibility with Classic Adventures
Added compatibility for more mods (Bellina’s Bags, Bolsa, Charli, Mersetek and Mystigan)
Added Spanish translation; updated other translations
Added fix for buggy “bottomless” bags