Beamdog's BG Remake and further speculation

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There's also a mod that allows you to use the old BG1 interface in place of the BG2 one (which looks completely out of place in the original). Apparently, this "developer" couldn't be arsed to even do something as basic as that. Pathetic.

Ooh so is there a mod which let you use BG1 UI graphics with widescreen and BGT? What is that called?

Does anyone know what he's referring to? None of the portraits look new to me if he's referring to a new character. Although the 2nd one looks like a black Kagain.

Edit: Also

Lol Bioware. How is that even possible? Fuck sake.

That basically solidifies the notion that they're not going to do shit to the visuals.

I guess this means they aren't even going to fix things like dual wield animations or even make the characters look better, which is the only part of the visuals that really could stand a boost.

Why did they even say they were going to enhance the visuals when they must have known a long time ago, before they announced the game, that all of the art assets were lost?

They centered it, that's it? If they could add more icons it would be cool, since iirc some multiclasses don't get quick spell slots at all. But just centering, that's barely anything.

Looks like a RTS to me. On these high resolutions you don't get to enjoy the wonderful details of the background art at all.

1st: Charname looks like he's holding a Dragon Age type staff. 2nd: I can't tell but that looks like it's just got a bad shadow map.

No, that is 100% bullshit. Not about the original assets. Whether they're still available isn't the issue (and what constitues original assets? You think they cropped out huge amounts of usable material?). The issue is that (a) they never intended to do anything with them in the first place besides maybe adding sparkles and bloom; (b) they're putting off like it's Bioware's fault; (c) if you've got the source code, you can import any new graphics you want. No, all it says is that Trent Oster is a huge, lying, talentless douchebag.

Lost or not, with the source code he has the ability to add any kind of art asset he wants. Then again, considering how fucking ugly NWN was, it's a good thing he's pretending he can't.

Lol, so the whole hype was about an iOS version and a few extra quests? Way to go, Trent

Anyway, I think I found what he means by "look at the characters in the bottom 2 shots"

They both appear to be running in the same resolution of window, yet the one on the left is far more zoomed in than the one on the right.

If you can zoom in or use high resolution without turning the characters into ants then I suppose that's an incline over the current widescreen mod. Probably not enough to submit yourself to Beamdog DRM and the inevitable breaking of mods and their forced shit additions though.

These people are retarded talentless con artists peddling a jewgold edition. Perhaps they are trying to get rehired by Bioware, and are trying to show just how much bullshit double speak they can dish out. Whatever the case, fuck Trent Oster and fuck this bullshit. I'm done caring about it. Gonna go back to my BG1 game now. In the midst of all this (potential) incline regarding Wasteland etc., I thought that maybe this was some sort of good sign. But fuck no. Should have known - anything that has SOMETHING to do with Bioware, is now and forever going to be utter shit and should be purged.

I always feel frustrated about buying games/books/movies decades after they were released with the creators not getting any of the dough. Aside from making the content accessible to newer audiences, there's pretty much no reason to do this, is it?
By the way, gog is doing the exact same thing with even less to bring on the table (you pay us so we can set up dosbox for your lazy ass, oh and you get some wallpapers)
Changing stuff in-game also manages to fuck things up more than anything (see Broken Sword Director's Cut or Silent Hill HD). If one has the intention of changing stuff, they should at least leave the old options as well (best examples are the Monkey Island remakes).
The only exciting thing to draw from retrofagging abuse like BGEE is that hipster gamers will buy and play the game and demand similar features in the modern gaming scene. Hell, the whole kickstarter thing is already starting the trend.

Yeah, maybe. There's a shill named RushAndAPush on the Beamdog forum sucking Trent's cock about every trivial thing they're adding who had an orgasm extolling the awesomeness of being able to zoom now.

I'm continuing to speculate -- non-spy-aided -- that Trent saw all the shitty, faggoty NPC mods out there and thought he could make an easy buck selling BG to the clearly retarded and deviant Bioware fanbase. He did not understand that fans of BG typically loathe nu-Bioware and nu-fans cannot into nonderp like BG.

Biodrones gonna drone

According to the man himself:

So they aren't going to put new animations in the game (too much work). They can't improve the existing work since Bioware fudged up. But they may use some blurring and contrast filters to bloom up the graphics.

Actually NWN animations look fine in the Infinity engine. NWN just zoomed in too close to em.

To me the avatars looked like they were put together with construction paper. Even full zoom out didn't help.

I hated them too, but in IE they'd be turned into 2D sprites, zoomed out even further and you'd see them at a specific angle.

Sadly, i cannot remember. You will have to google it, but when i tried it, it worked perfectly and in wide screen too. I think it was for TuTu though, not BGT, which makes sense really, since you cannot use the old UI on BG2.

http://www.shsforums.net/topic/43503-ia-content-thread/page__view__findpost__p__473646

Quick comparisson:



Widescreen mod at 1920x1080:



Widescreen mod at 1280x720:



Widescreen mod at 1024x768:



I'm using Baldur's Gate Trilogy-WeiDU 1.14 & Widescreen Mod 3.05, and as you can see, the toolbar is already at the center of the screen at 1024x768, which I guess is his windowed mode, the last two character portraits already exists and everything looks exactly the same, just with more BLOOM. Fuck you Trent Ostner.

Batch command image resize and smart sharpen?

or perhaps something more sophisticated and modern, like so

Original game:




+ Smart Sharpen & Levels:



I GREAT DEVELOPER! I GONNA DO BG III & PLANESCAPE 2!

bro try cropping out the gameplay window and use auto contrast

PROCEDURAL ENHANCEMENT

If there's any stupid batch filter method that could improve the backgrounds it would have been done by now. I'm cringing imagining what they're thinking of doing.

When you play old PS games on the PS3, you get some options for filtering which basically just blur the pixels slightly. It sort of works and creates a smoother look. However this is only effective when you are sitting a fair distance from the TV/monitor. I'm GUESSING that they might be doing something like this. Judging by the shit excuses they are spewing though, I highly doubt anything of value is going to be done.

Holy shit, that is fucking stupid.

That is all that needs to be said.

The UI for PC BG:EE hasn't been shown yet.
I guess I'll post this here as well. It's a collection of info on BG:EE. Was supposed to be research for an interview but they don't seem to answer.

Development

Five ex-Bioware guys are involved in the development and they plan to add two more. Five of these have worked on BG1&2. The two that were added are probably two level artists from the original team. It's unclear what the other peoples' roles are.

BG:EE will include ToSC. BG2 will include ToB. These are the only two titles they've signed a contract for.

They are working towards a BG3, and they have also expressed an interest in making an EE of PS:T after the BG series.

Interface overhaul

The interface that was seen on iPad shots were “in-dev UI”. They don't show “all the graphical enhancements”. The PC version will get “a serious overhaul”.

No support for controllers, only pointer devices.

Original portraits will remain the same and any new portraits will be in the same style.

No dialogue wheel. Dialogue will work just like in the original game.

New followers

So far only one new follower has been confirmed. Nothing has been revealed other than it's a man. Seems to be some quest attached to him as well.

Content and ruleset/classes/kits

They are not cutting any of the original content.

You will be able to play only the old content and skip the new content.

There will only be voice acting from some of the dialogue, allowing for more in-depth writing. New characters will have new voice actors. There won't be any new voice overs for old characters in the new content.

Original followers will get additional dialogue, but nothing voiced.

Using 2nd Edition D&D ruleset, with all the BG2 kits and classes. This includes using the weapon proficiency system of BG2. He also says they are adding “some classes/kits” - unclear if this refers to the BG2 ones or completely new ones.

In the new content of BG:EE, they will use some of the creatures from BG2 and ToB.

The level cap for BG:EE will be higher, but not too high as “BG encounters do not scale for crazy high level.”

Graphics

No 3D rendering. The game will stay 2D and use hardware for acceleration.

They are looking into FMVs and how to make them look less dated.

The backgrounds will be post-processed originals.

Mods and Import

They are looking to implement mods, but only “popular gameplay tweaks”. No fan material.

They say they want to support mods but pretty vague how exactly.

It will be possible to import characters from BG:EE to BG2:EE.

Release, distribution and support

It's "Beamdog" exclusive. A shop/download/DRM-client like Steam or Impulse. The game will be digital only. They receive a lot of complaints about Beamdog being a shitty service so they're looking to improve it.

EA or Bioware are not involved.

Planned release for BG:EE - Summer 2012. Nothing on BG2:EE yet.

On language support: “French is on our list of must support languages.”

Platforms for release are PC, Mac OSX, iOS and iPad 1,2 and 3. PC and Mac will be similar.

Will most likely be under 2GB in size as “the CD layout of BG was heavy on duplicated data”.

The game will support cloud saving, allowing for players to use different devices for the same game.

Multiplayer

Removed Direct Play.

PC, Mac and iPad players will be able to join the same multiplayer game.

Thats gigantic and pretty.