I know, I know, I'm treading on thin ice here, but there's a lot of people who have been stating lately that ShadowKeeper will bug your game. Since I don't use the infamous utility that often (I mainly use it to play BG2 with old "Pen and Paper" AD&D characters that I enjoyed some years ago), I have yet to experience those said bugs, but I'm getting kind of afraid to use it by now.

So I was wandering if those who have experienced those bugs could maybe tell me (well us, as I'm sure I'm not the only one one wandering) what those bugs were and what particular application of ShadowKeeper one should never, EVER, use.

And please don't just say, that we would be better off using GLUAconsole, I already know that. But I, like others, don't know all the codes, and anyway I really want to know what the "in game" bugs related to ShadowKeeper are?

I've found that if you apply many of the innate abilities to your characters it will crash, this only seems to happen with the ones you can't normally get like shadow dragon breath :( . But if you're just making up yor old pen and paper characters you should have no problem. Also you should be careful with the global variables, they can do some damage if you do the wrong things.

Cheers, Void.

Suprisingly if you choose power word kill as an innate ability, the game doesn't displays the icon but actually it works. Any other innate abilities seem to fail to work. Don't bother with the global variables! It can crush your game!

Shadowkeeper works just fine if you are simply trying to do things within the normal parameters of the game. However, it also allows you to generate abilities, items, spells, and other junk that aren't fully implemented. If you put those things in your game, it will generally crash at some point along the way.

Aloha
Vormaerin

Vormaerin: That's what I was starting to think. I've not gone nukin futz with it, so I'm still in the clear. Good to know SK isn't the reason I get kicked out to the desktop every once in a while...

Thanks.

Marmeille, question about bugs that conclude messing with SK you should ask creators of that lame util.

ejsmith, SK is the reason, and only one reason you get crashes. Is it so hard to accept it? Or you're bribed not to believe in it?

Anyway, for codes to use with Console, you can always consult Infinity Engine Explorer - it is not CHEAT util, but just info.

shadowkeeper can and will cause problems to gameplay - doors cannot be opened, romances get screwed and hendaks will disappear

so do what i do: dont use it! =)

Minsc thinks shadowkeeper is evil. Minsc swears one day shadowkeeper will meet his sword!

I've never had any problem with Shadowkeeper. I don't use it a lot admittedly, but it does come in useful when items decide to go missing. Yes that does happen even with a patched up game before a flame appears:almostmad:.
As for the crashes. OK, maybe someone can answer this. Without shadowkeeper ever being used, as i didn't have any access to it when i was playing BG2 the first time, and all patches i found, the game still decided it didn't want to played anymore and either went to the desktop, or gave me the blue screen of death. Are you *sure* that SK is the only reason that crashes occur?

Leave the subject alone now. Those who want to use it will, and those who don't, won't. Why waste time arguing about it?

Of course I'll drop it. I never started it in the first place.

But I wonder - where is that nasty bug that makes items needed to finish the game vanish unless you dropped them by yourself... This never occured to me. Not even in unpatched game.


[EDIT]

I don't say that it never happened to anyone. I ask where is it because I missed it. So when you tell me where is it, I'll try to find a solution to it my dear. A solution that doesn't include cheating utils.

[This message has been edited by Extremist (edited October 13, 2001).]

So, just because it didn't happen to Extremist, it doesn;t happen to anyone? I think not. That is mere incredulity at the comment, not a flame.

happened to me once: in the planar prison i killed the keeper and the master of thralls but forgot to get the key and the orb (it was my first time around and thought they didn't have anything on them). And I rested.. After that I couldn't find anyway out so I looked up a walkthrough and found out i had to get the key. But it was lost along with the corpse. (yes i am 100% sure it was gone)

I used shadowkeeper to add the thing to my inventory and all went smooth. (yes i had the official patch, no i hadn't used sk before this point) Of course using the console is a much better idea for such stuff but i didn't know how to use it then.

It seems shadowkeeper bashing is an appreciated hobby around here. Cautioning against its use is one thing, scaring newcomers who use sk away is another. (of course, i too am against the idea of cheating but nevertheless it is a useful tool if you, for example, want to create a unique character etc without getting into the hassle of iee)

[This message has been edited by Invoker (edited October 13, 2001).]

I used Shadowkeeper in my previous games (I changed avatars/once, my PC's name), then installed ToB. Guess what?! NO dialogue, NONE of it, showed up. Blank text captions!!! THAT'S a serious bug.

yeah, guess what? If you installed any of the Baldurdash bugfixes in SoA and then added ToB, you get all sorts of whacked results too. Any third party program, of whatever nature, risks problems with subsequent patches and expansions. The problem with editors like Shadowkeeper (and even CLUA's cheat codes) is that they allow you to mess with stuff you don't understand. Its all 'use at your own risk'.

Shadowkeeper is easier to use than the CLUA, so its even more likely that it'll be used badly by the unwitting. I'm not sure that counts as a flaw in the program, though.

Aloha
Vormaerin

I had some problems with Gatekeeper, but didn't have any with Shadowkeeper. And SK does a backup of your game, so it isn't that bad utility. But Extremist has more competence in this matter than me, so he can be right.

if you all know about these bugs, why install and use SK? i have used it for a while now and found absolutely nothing wrong with it. and by the way, i like to keep my game clean of all patches and bug fixes as there is always a risk of it stuffing up your game. dont run that risk ;)

You should reconsider your noble goal, and install the official patch Boozer. http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/index_misc.htm


EDITED HERE: Small changes in SK has never done any harm. But they always lurk as recessive alleles.

[This message has been edited by Nobleman (edited October 14, 2001).]