So in Chapter 5 I've run into the second completely quest-stopping bug that relates to scripts not completing properly.

In the first, I saved a cow and the farmer just keeps yelling "Help my cow!" I left him and just moved on. Clearly a side quest. While sorry for the lost xp, esp. early game when every xp point is precious, it wasn't game breaking.

Now I'm in the city trying to save the Merchant's guild, and I've swept the building for dopplegangers multiple times. Even googled fixes, and someone suggested doing the building in a specific order, so I reloaded an early save, worked back to the same point and tried the magic sequence.

No luck.

So it seems to be down to messing with the CLUAconsole, but none of the instructions I've found for even turning that on seem to be working.

Release Version 1.3.5521, original edition (not EE) with .ini file.

On the one hand, I'm kinda annoyed I've spent 40 minutes trying to fix a bug, but this quest seems pretty central to the story. Any fixes that work will be appreciated, as I don't really just want to quit the game this far in.

Sigh.

Thanks!

Hulrik and Arabelle: make sure there are no Xvarts left alive, maybe hidden or run away.

Aldeth's merchant guild: when you've been invited to the celebration, go upstairs and talk to Aldeth first. He will send you to Brandilar. Talk to him and be honest! Find the incriminating letters and give them to Brandilar. At this point Zorl will transform. Kill him and then head downstairs and clear the ground floor. Now head to the top floor and clear that. When they're all dead, talk to Brandilar and then Aldeth.

Well, I can't rule out hidden, but nothing ran away. I was level 3-4 by the time I did that one so with a barrage of 3 ranged attackers they died very quickly.

When I get home tonight I'll reload the earlier save and try talking to Aldeth first, but otherwise I did that exact sequence as it seemed to be what was suggested in a number of posts.

Oh, right. Maybe I'll just skip it then.

Because it's Iron Throne-related I was thinking it was main-questy.

Thanks :)

I'll let you know which of these two solutions I go with, but "skip it" does have a certain appeal given the time I've already sunk into it.

Well, trying it in the specific sequence above makes no difference.

So....skip it it is.

Now the Seven Suns quest is bugged as well, and yes, I killed the one in the basement and rescued Jhasso and cleared the upstairs floor.

Leaving a lot of quest xp on the table though. :(

Mostly it's just annoying to have to tab out to try and research what I'm missing, and it would seem the answer is <nothing>. Yeah, did that, did that, tried that.

Sigh. Was enjoying the game, but now it's starting to feel like work.

What exactly happens when you return to Scar and report to him? His dialogue is reset, or does he not notice that you completed the task?

It seems that it's not just one time problem. During all these years and I'm still currently playing Baldur's Gate, I haven't encountered such bug. Maybe try to reinstall the game and then try to finish the quest / reload earlier save.

Precisely. So how can skipping it be the answer?

I suppose you could always make up a little of the deficit by killing everyone involved.

Because not counting time spent googling for solutions and messing with the .ini file trying to get the console to load, I spent 25+ minutes running around the same 3 story house, reloaded multiple times, and there's just no solution?

There were reports from years back about dopplegangers despawning or disappearing into building columns. One reason I was hoping to get into the CLUAconsole is that there's a function that will confirm the 'count' the game thinks you've killed.

That said, one thing here - you noted that I should 'give' the letters to Brandilar. That's simply not happening. I can talk to him and report, but he's not taking the letters out of my inventory, even if I make certain that the character that talks to him has all 3 letters in their inventory. I talk to him, the Jorl NPC turns into a doppleganger, yada yada, but I've still got all the letters.

So is there something not completing with the letters, is the game not "counting" right, or are the right number of monsters not appearing? Maybe one of those lingering merchants is supposed to be revealing itself, but is content to just remain a merchant.

I really just can't tell. Thus, the frustration.

I can absolutely tell you though, that no doppleganger is escaping outside, and sweeping the building there's no enemy visible on any corner of any floor left alive. Yeah, but that would kinda run against my 'lawful good' party theme I've got going.

I could certainly kill all the dopplegangers in the merchant hall anyway (5000 xp or so) and just leave the quest incomplete, which would be the practical thing to do, but I find that deeply unsatisfying. Might not rise to OCD, but I just can't make myself start the quest (in my active game - there are already a half-dozen saves of alternative realities where I've started) if I can't finish it.

By the same token, in the quest where you rescue the guard captain, after claiming the quest reward for saving him, you can apparently slaughter the captain and the priest anyway without penalty, and for 3000 xp or so, but I can't make myself do that either. Feels both morally wrong, and a bit like an exploit of the story vs. mechanics.

Just justify it under the category of "Pull back and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure!" ;)

Omelettes, eggs, greater good, blah blah blah.

Yeah, you could slaughter them afterward, but you aren't making up a deficiency caused by a broken quest, you're just murdering a couple of dudes at that point. It would be the same as if you murdered a peasant who didn't happen to have the protection of a rep hit.

But for 3,000 xp rather than 7.

So different from a pragmatic standpoint ;)

You're missing the point: you made this thread a question about quest bugs. 'Skipping it' is not an answer. Besides, there is always a solution.

You have not mentioned whether you are playing vanilla or TuTu/BGT, nor if you have any mods installed.

No mods. I have no idea what TuTu/BGT is, so I'll presume vanilla, and gave the version in the OP.

Just a really, really valuable peasant. :D

TuTu and BGT are two different ways to start in BG1 and play all the way through ToB in a (more or less) seamless way. No importing characters/parties, etc. The stickies have more details.