Infinity Animations

Introduction

This mod patches Baldur’s Gate II: Throne of Bhaal to support additional creature and character animations (referred to as “animation slots”). It also offers a dynamic automated process for claiming new animation slots. Thus, it acts as a central hub, usable by anyone who would like to add animation entries to the game without being bogged down by issues of mod conflicts and incompatibilities.

Infinity Animations supports a wide variety of animation types from Baldur’s Gate I, Baldur’s Gate II, Icewind Dale I, Icewind Dale II, Planescape: Torment and Neverwinter Nights. As an added bonus, the mod restores Baldur’s Gate I character animations in their entirety, and paperdolls have been unlocked for some animations that did not support them previously.

An important feature for players who use several large mods (known as “megamods”) is a resolution of animation conflicts, and a restoration of standard animations that megamods have overwritten. Finally, this mod contains optional components that implement many new animations into the game. Ongoing work will address sound sets for new animations. While the number of supported animations may not be “infinite” as the name suggests, it should be large enough to accommodate everyone’s present (and in all likelihood future) needs.

Key features

• Restores Baldur’s Gate I character animations
• Improves paperdoll support for existing animations
• Adds custom game animations for characters and creatures (including dragons)
• Allows use of many different animation types (some never before seen in the games)
• Resolves the problems of animation stacking, slot and naming conflicts
• Offers GUI support for adding new animations
• Lets you watch as the percentage of free animation entries refuses to go down (:

For details on how to add new animations, consult the Adding Slots section of the original documentation.

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Compatibility

Infinity Animations works with BG2: Throne of Bhaal and conversions based on ToB. Make sure you have Throne of Bhaal patched to version 26498. Check the ReadMe files related to your patch in your game folder and the Gibberlings 3 website if necessary.

This mod should 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.

Install this mod after most other mods, particularly those that add creatures or animations, but before any final “biffing” routines.

Start a new game after installing this mod, or use the Saved Game Animation Fixer component if you’re reluctant to do that.

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Installation

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

Disable any antivirus or other memory-resident software before installing this or any other mod. Some (particularly avast!) have a tendency to report false positives with mod activity, resulting in failed installs.

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

Important: Download all content you may require from the Infinity Animations download category at Spellhold Studios. If in doubt, download them all (most megamod installs will need all archives). Extract all archives using the “Do not extract paths” option on the Advanced tab in WinRAR. Also, make sure the “Destination path” on the General tab terminates in /content or /restore after infinityanimations (there should be no subfolders beyond that).

Extract all archives to the /content folder except IA_BG2_Restores.rar, which should go in the /restore folder. If you extract IA_Wh_Dr_Wyv_LoP.rar (currently only needed for the Planar Sphere mod), you can delete the subarchive The_Lady’s_Shadow.rar after extraction, as it is currently unused due to animation size limitations.

For WinZip, make sure the “Use folder names” box is unselected. You should end up with a bunch of .bam files and no subfolders in your “content” and/or “restore” folders. The installer will warn you if you’re missing anything you need, at which point you can exit it, download missing content, extract it and rerun the installer.

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 an infinityanimations folder and a setup-infinityanimations.exe file in your game folder. To install, simply double-click setup-infinityanimations.exe and follow the instructions on screen.

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

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-infinityanimations in your game folder to install the mod. Then run wine BGMain.exe and start playing.

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Components

The installer includes the following components. The number of each is the component DESIGNATED number which gives it a fixed install position, lets other components detect it and allows automated installers like the BiG World Setup specify component choices.

All subcomponents require the main component (they need to since it’s the one that installs new content). All components are otherwise optional. Also note that no component affects joinable NPCs, something best left to individual modder discretion. (Hence, if something says it affects all female tieflings, it doesn’t include Amber and Fade in that.)

0. Infinity Animations

1. Requires ToB v26498

• Checks mod files and .exe validity
• Backs up and patches the .exe
• Replaces _LOW creature animations
• Updates .ids files
• Restores any necessary mod-overwritten animations
• Copies new animations (any extracted to /content folder)
• Fixes any affected creatures

25. Humanoid Animation Fixes

• Male human fighters get the fighter instead of cleric animation
• Male elf fighters get the fighter instead of cleric animation
• Male halfling fighters get the fighter instead of cleric animation
• Female human fighters get the fighter instead of cleric animation
• Male human mages get the mage instead of cleric animation
• Male elf mages get the mage instead of cleric animation
• Male human thieves get the thief instead of fighter animation
• Female human thieves get the thief instead of fighter animation
• Male human monks get the monk instead of cleric animation
• Male human pirates get the pirate animation
• Male human sailors get the sailor animation
• Amnish guards get the Amnish guard animation
• Male human Shadow Thieves get the Shadow Thief animation

50. Distinctive Genies

1. Requires IA_Fiends_Genies.rar

• Uses djinn, efreet, dao, jann and marid animations where sensible

100. Distinctive Fiends

1. Requires IA_Fiends_Genies.rar, IA_IWD.rar and IA_PST_Abishai.rar
2. Requires IA_NWN_01_Modron.rar only if certain mods are installed

• Nabassus get a green-gray tanar’ri animation
• Chromatic Demon gets a somewhat more colorful base animation
• Bebiliths (Longer Road and Drizzt Saga only) get the NWN animation
• Some mariliths get a darker animation
• Night hags get the PS:T night hag animation
• Bone fiends get the NWN osyluth animation
• Gelugons (only if added by a mod) get an ice salamander animation
• Yochlols (except those in drow form) get a dark otyugh-based animation
• White, green and red abishai get the relevant IWD or PS:T animations
• Manes get the IWD drowned dead animation
• Erinyes get a black-winged elf avatar
• Succubi get the NWN succubus animation
• Maurezhi get a dark ghoulish animation
• Glabrezu get the proper glabrezu animation

Pit Fiends

1. 150. All get the NWN animation
2. 175. Some get the NWN animation
3. Requires IA_NWN_01_Modron.rar

• Choice of subcomponent (or none); “some” = roughly half, randomly selected

Cambion/Isair Animation

1. 210. All cambions
2. 230. Some cambions
3. Requires IA_BGII_IWDII.rar

• Same logic as Pit Fiend component

Alu-Fiend/Madae Animation

1. 260. All alu-fiends
2. 280. Some alu-fiends
3. Requires IA_BGII_IWDII.rar

• Same logic as Pit Fiend component

400. Distinctive Undead

1. Requires IA_Base_Anims.rar, IA_IWD.rar and Shadows_harpy_frostgiant.zip

• Banshees get the wailing virgin animation
• Floating skulls get the demilich animation
• Greater ghasts get the IWD ghast animation
• Generic ghosts get the IWD ghost animation
• Greater ghouls get the IWD ghoul animation
• Some ghouls get the PS:T ghoul queen animation
• Greater liches get the IWD lich animation
• Apparitions get the mist creature animation
• Revenants get the revenant animation
• Shadow Beasts get the shadow animation
• Wraiths get the IWD large shadow animation
• Spectres get the IWD large shadow alternate
• Shadows get the IWD small shadow animation
• Some shadows get the IWD small shadow alternate
• Greater skeletons get the skeleton0 animation
• Moon horrors get the skeletonb animation
• Wights get the IWD gray wight animation
• Green zombies get the IWD green wight animation
• Zombie lords get the IWD yellow wight animation
• Undead knights and similar get the IWD barrow wight animation
• Greater zombies get the IWD yellow zombie animation
• Lacedons and sea zombies get the IWD blue zombie animation

Skeleton Warriors

1. 410. Barrow Wight animation
2. 415. Skeleton animation
3. 420. SkeletonA animation
4. Requires IA_IWD.rar

• Assigns the chosen animation to all skeleton warriors

Seer Animation

1. 450. Some beggars and slaves
2. 455. Some beggars
3. 460. Some slaves
4. Requires IA_IWD.rar

• Same logic as Pit Fiend component

Svirneblin Animations

1. 480. Animations only
2. 490. Animations and sounds
3. Requires IA_IWD_Svirfneblin.rar
4. Skipped if Aurora’s Shoes installed (does the same thing)

• Uses all svirfneblin variants for Underdark deep gnomes

500. More Base Animations

1. Requires IA_Base_Anims.rar

• Histachii get the IWD histachii animation
• Lizardman warriors get the brown lizardman animation
• Lizardman shamans get the green lizardman animation
• Lizardman chiefs get the lizard king animation
• Variant trolls (normal, blue, ice, snow, small) where relevant
• Greater umber hulks get the IWD umber hulk animation

550. More Icewind Dale Animations

1. Requires IA_IWD.rar

• Animated Plates get animated plate animations
• Archdruids get the IWD Arundel animation
• Variant barbarians (brown, red, tan and shamans)
• Greater elementals make use of variant BG2/IWD animations
• Some fire giants get the IWD fire giant animation
• Iron golems get the IWD iron golem animation
• Adamantite golems get the BG2 iron golem animation
• Sahuagin priestesses get the IWD sahuagin animation
• Sahuagin royal guards get the BG2 large sahuagin animation
• Sahuagin chiefs get the IWD large sahuagin animation

600. More Icewind Dale II Animations

1. Requires IA_BGII_IWDII.rar

• Greater fire giants and firbolgs get the fire giant variant
• Variant goblins (worgriders, leaders, browns, greens, elites)
• Hook horrors get the hook horror animation
• Shadow druids get the Malarite animation
• Ellesime clones get the white-haired Ellesime animation
• Poison mists get the lagoon creature animation
• Death tyrants get the death tyrant animation
• Wererat gets the wererat animation
• Worgs get the IWD2 worg animation

650. More Neverwinter Nights Animations

1. Requires IA_NWN_01_Modron.rar

• Scythe-wielders (in NTotSC) get the NWN Amel animation
• Bombardier beetle (in Big Picture) gets the NWN animation
• Greater basilisks get the NWN basilisk animation
• Modrons get the modron animation
• Displacer beasts (in AjocMod) get the NWN-CCP animation
• Some fire giants get the NWN female fire giant animation
• Some frost giants get the NWN female frost giant animation

More Planescape: Torment Animations

1. 710. 25% of relevant non-joinables
2. 720. 50% of relevant non-joinables
3. 730. 75% of relevant non-joinables
4. 740. Most relevant non-joinables
5. Requires IA_PST_Paletted.rar

• Female human thieves get the female Curst townie animation
• Male human thieves get the male Curst townie animation
• Female monks get the female Dustman animation
• Male monks and Dustmen get the male Dustman animation
• Some ghouls get the female ghoul animation
• Some ghouls get the male ghoul animation
• Male human smiths get the Godsman animation
• Axe- and hammer-wielding bandits and mercenaries get the large thug animation
• Sword- and dagger-wielding bandits and mercenaries get the small thug animation
• Female human peasants get the female lower-class townie animation
• Male human peasants get the male lower-class townie animation
• Male human merchants get the merchant animation
• Female human merchants get the midwife animation
• Harlots get the harlot animation
• Skeleton mage gets the skeleton priest animation
• Skeletons get the skeleton worker animation
• Female tieflings get the female tiefling animation
• Male tieflings get the male tiefling animation
• Male human mages get the townie wizard animation
• Female human nobles get the female upper-class townie animation
• Male human nobles get the male upper-class townie animation
• Some zombies get the female zombie animation
• Some zombies get the male zombie animation

Moinesse’s Avatars for IA

1. 7000. 25% of relevant non-joinables
2. 7010. 50% of relevant non-joinables
3. 7020. 75% of relevant non-joinables
4. 7030. Most relevant non-joinables
5. Requires Moinesse_edits_IAised.rar

• Male human barbarians get the male barbarian animation
• Female human druids get the female druid animation
• Female human fighters get the female human fighter animation
• Female elf mages get the female elf mage animation
• Female human mages get the female human mage animation
• Female human thieves get the female human thief animation (unless they’ve already received the female Curst townie animation)
• Male human ninjas and assassins get the male human ninja animation
• Male vampires get the Moinesse vampire animation

BG1 Character Animations for NPCs

1. 8000. 25% of relevant creatures
2. 8010. 50% of relevant creatures
3. 8020. 75% of relevant creatures
4. 8030. Most relevant creatures
5. Requires IA_Base_Anims.rar

• Uses the original Baldur’s Gate character animations as specified
• The last option is “most” instead of “all” because certain creatures are excluded
• These include creatures with scimitars, katanas or anything other than a shield in the offhand slot (or related proficiencies) since BG1 did not have these animations
• Use with caution in the case of joinable NPCs: it will avoid any characters with the two weapon proficiency or a second weapon equipped, but do not try to dual wield

9000. Fix Area Creature References

1. Installed by default

• Corrects changed creature animations in area files for easier reference

BG1 Character Animations for PCs

1. 9500. Prompt for each exported PC
2. 9510. Prompt for problematic PCs
3. 9520. Patch all PCs without prompting
4. Requires IA_Base_Anims.rar

• Uses the original Baldur’s Gate character animations as specified
• The second option patches all PCs but prompts for those with scimitars, katanas or anything other than a shield in the offhand slot
• Scimitars and katanas should work, but will appear as longswords on character avatars
• Use with caution: do not try to dual wield or the game will likely crash

BG1 Character Animations for Saved Games

1. 9600. Prompt for each character
2. 9610. Prompt for problematic characters
3. 9620. Patch all characters without prompting
4. Requires IA_Base_Anims.rar

• Same notes as above
• You get to choose whether to patch each game (and character within it, if you’ve selected one of the prompting options)
• Back up your saved games before uninstalling this component, as it will restore the versions present at the time of the installation

Saved Game Animation Fixer

1. 9900. Correct only LOW animations
2. 9910. Correct all animations IA has changed

• The first option prevents games from crashing due to moved LOW animations
• The second option does the above and also patches any changed animations into your saved games
• You get to choose whether to patch each game
• If you’ve started a new game after installing this mod, then this component is not necessary (unless you’re starting in the BG2 portion of BGT)
• Back up your saved games before uninstalling this component, as it will restore the versions present at the time of the installation

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Troubleshooting

These are some general tips if you have problems getting the game working, with or without this or other mods. Many times, errors have to do with the game engine itself or the manner of installation or gameplay. The game recommends deleting all files out of the /cache, /temp and /tempsave subfolders in your game folder to see if that resolves the problem before any further troubleshooting.

Installing with non-ANSI compatible language systems

Baldur’s Gate II uses the preset non-Unicode codepage to load resource files. Some of the resources in Infinity Animations use characters like £, μ, Þ, etc., which map to different numerical values. Therefore, if the installer detects a codepage other than the Windows-1252 ANSI codepage used with most Western languages, it will force a registry change to the 1252 codepage and prompt to reboot the system so the change takes effect. After the reboot, you can install the mod normally.

If you have a different codepage and wish to change it manually yourself (and only if), you can set the default system locale for non-Unicode applications to English. You can do this as follows on Windows systems:

→ Control Panel
→ Regional and Language Settings in Classic View (or Clock, Language and Region then Regional and Language Options in fancy view)
→ Click on the Advanced or Administrative tab
→ Then where it talks about non-Unicode programs, change the language to English

Symptom: Game freezes or crashes to desktop (CTDs)

Sometimes the game displays an “assertion error” in a pop-up window when this happens, but often times it doesn’t. To enable the full error message, open the file baldur.ini in your game folder with a text editor (such as EditPad). If you find you can’t edit it or save changes in Windows, see this topic for assistance.

Under the [Program Options] section in the file, type Logging On=1 (unless it’s already there). While you’re there, you may also want to make sure Debug Mode=1 is there to enable the CLUA Console for debugging and testing. Save the file and exit. Now go back into the game and try to reproduce the crash. Then look in your game folder again for the Baldur.err file and open it with a text editor to analyse its contents.

Symptom: Game crashes with no Baldur.err log and shows either a black screen or a pop-up window indicating an error at offset 005ca8a8

This usually indicates an animation-related issue. Make sure you have the latest version of the mod. If you’ve installed other mods after it and have this issue, install the fix available here.

ERROR: error copying [infinityanimations/content/somefile.bam]

ERROR: [SOMEFILE.CRE] -> [override/SOMEFILE.CRE] Patching failed (COPY)

Stopping installation because of error. (with no other error message)

Less-than-informative messages like these may indicate you’re installing to a hard drive with a low data transfer rate or an antivirus program is active during installation (which can also affect data transfer). Try installing to an internal drive with antivirus protection disabled during the install. If unsure, disconnect from the Internet (either unplug your network cable or disable your wireless adaptor) and turn off all memory-resident programs during the install. To get a list of these, go to Start → Run and type msconfig where it says “Open:” then click OK. When the System Configuration Utility appears, click on the Startup tab. The only really necessary programs that need to be loaded in memory at startup are those related to your graphics chip (typically ATI or NVIDIA). Uncheck everything else, reboot and try installing the mod again. There are well-documented issues with installing mods while Avast antivirus is running, so make absolutely sure all components of Avast are completely disabled.

Other issues

If you have more than one large mod installed, please refer to the Megamod FAQ for more troubleshooting tips. If none of this resolves your issue, or you have mod-specific issues, please report the problem in the mod’s forum. Include the contents of your WeiDU.log file in the post, or attach it if it’s large.

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Animations

IA Base Animations

These animations do not exist in a typical Baldur’s Gate II game, though the slots exist and can display the relevant Icewind Dale content if ported. Hover your cursor over each animation to see its name.

Selection of Other Animations

These animations do not exist in most Baldur’s Gate II games; the following have been added (ported or customized) as of the last update of this readme.

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Credits

Author: Erephine
WeiDU coding: Miloch
Assistance: Arkenor and SergIS
Hosting: Spellhold Studios

---

Programs/tools used in creation:

• BAM Workshop by Glenn Flansburg
• DLTCEP by Avenger
• EditPad Classic by Jan Goyvaerts
• IESDP by igi and others
• Near Infinity by Jon Olav Hauglid and others
• PSPad by Jan Fiala
• WeiDU by Wes Weimer, the bigg and others

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 to remix (adapt) this work, except for commercial purposes. See the Creative Commons Public License for more details. Please post any changes or updates at the mod’s forum. All copyrights and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Version History

WeiDU Beta 5: 12 May 2010

• Changed the .exe patch so that it forces a code page change and reboots if a non-Western code page is detected
• Updated the .exe patch so that it recognizes BG1 thief avatars
• Cloned missing animation tables from the unmodded game
• Added other missing animation tables to base content folder
• Adding missing minotaur and water weird sounds
• Disabled problematic stacked animations from chitin.key
• Added creature sounds where relevant (major update here)
• Fixed a minor READ_BYTE glitch in creature patching
• Made it certain so that subcomponents can’t be installed if the main component is not installed (to prevent crashes)
• Added night hags to the “Distinctive Fiends” component
• Added ghoul queens to the “Distinctive Undead” component
• Added white-haired Ellesime to the “More IWD2 Animations” component
• Added lagoon creature to the “More IWD2 Animations” component
• Deprecated tieflings from the cambion/alu-fiend components in favor of the PS:T animation component
• Corrected skeleton warriors appearing as verbeegs glitch
• Added Amel animation to NWN component (if NTotSC is installed)
• Added Humanoid Animation Fixes component
• Added Moinesse’s Avatars component
• Added More PS:T Animations component
• Added BG1 Character Animations for Saved Games component
• Added saved game animation fixing component
• Traified the entire freaking mod by hand for translators (thanks for nothing, WeiDU! :P)

WeiDU Beta 4: 7 Feb 2010

• Added BG1 Character Animations for NPCs component
• Added BG1 Character Animations for PCs component
• Changed fiend patching to accommodate scripting

WeiDU Beta 3: 1 Feb 2010

• Fixed _LOW animation corrections causing areas crashing on load
• Fixed scripts and dialogues that Polymorph to _LOW animations
• Fixed code glitch preventing installation of optional components
• Added option to install sounds in svirfneblin component
• Added component to fix area creature references
• Added revised salamander sound tables (MSAL and MSA2 slots)
• Enhanced compatibility with aTweaks
• Enhanced creature animation patches for fiends and orc shamans

WeiDU Beta 2: 23 Jan 2010

• Added installer support for non-ANSI system locales

WeiDU Beta 1: 11 Jan 2010

• First WeiDU release
• All affected mod and vanilla creatures patched
• Optional components added

(r.10010043)

• Fixed a bug with Icewind Dale animation slots in Baldur’s Gate II

(r.09102252 update)

• Updated documentation and Reference Picker
• Added alternate stylesheet ;)

(r.09102252)

• Initial release

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