Though I haven't played for a while, this Board has been wetting my appetite. So I downloaded BG1 and may try the whole enchilada again.

But playing around with BG1 some annoying things began to happen:

1) Imoen started out with 40% in traps and shadows. I don't think that is right. I did switch out her "Mom" Portrait in BG1 for her BG2 portrait which is more appropriate for a cut throat kid sister type (IMHO). Did that trigger something. Also I do have an old BG1 end of game file. Believe me, I was surprised to see that file when I turned on the game last night. I always transferred a bunch of old files onto my new computer (actually this would No 3 computer after my last game in 1990's). Some how that old game tagged along. LOL. Maybe that did something?

2) Sometimes when I load a game, a screen keeps popping up (its random. Sometimes inventory, sometimes character description etc.) I have to force a save. That screen fills in the save slot with a bunch of random letters. I've figured out a work around, but it takes a while. Once saved, the screen stops popping up. All and all annoying. Fixable?

3) I always play with a human fighter (knight whatever) in RPG. This time I started with an Elf Mage. Geez are these guys really that whimpy at the start?

4) If I download BG2 and do the fixes and everything, I figure I might as well do some mods. Which would the Board recommend.

Thanks
Bob

1) When you say 'Traps and Shadows' it makes it sound as though you are not talking about vanilla BG1. In vanilla, there is no 'Hide in Shadows', it is merely called 'Stealth'. What Imoen starts with depends entirely upon what level your main character is at the start. She has several creature files, and if you import a higher level character an appropriate one is chosen to be closer to your level. If you start a new character at level 1, Imoen should start with:

Open Locks - 25%
Stealth - 30%
Find Traps - 30%
Pick Pockets - 25%

That is her lowest level creature file.

2) Again, this sounds like you may be using TuTu/BGT? Need more detail.

3) Yep.

4) A subjective question, and I'm sure you'll get all sorts of answers. If you are not averse to fix packs, then the BG2 fixpack is pretty much a no-brainer. If you are, or are going to be, playing BG1 in TuTu/BGT then the BG1NPCs is one you should not overlook. Like I said, it's very subjective, so I'll just stop there...

Traps and Shadows was just a quick way of saying "Find Traps" and "Stealth." I started with new character creation but ended up with 40% in both "Find Traps" and "Stealth" when Imoen was a level one thief. The only thing I imported was the BG2 picture of Imoen. Still doesn't make sense, and I won't play with that advantage. As for BG Vanilla or not. Whatever is sold on this site is what I have on my computer.

As for the screen pop-up: I load a game and the play screen loads. Then one of the side screens pops-up. Random and without my hitting any symbols to bring them up: Character or Inventory etc. If I close it, it will immediately pop-up again as if the Symbol for the site is being held down.
To get rid of it, I close the pop-up and before it comes back I hit save. I'll pick the first unused save site and hit the save button. That's when a random series of letters fills the save slot. Say xaiwcd. This series repeats itself across the save slot and I'm not allowed to backspace to get rid of any letters.
To get rid of it, I have to hit the last letter key of the series on my keyboard. In the example given, the "d" key. This allows me to then back space and the d will disappear to replaced by another "c" so I will get xaiwcc. I hit c on my keyboard and now I can get rid of c's by backspacing. Then I end up with xaiwww. Hit w, backspace over the "w's", then I'll get xaiiii. Hit I, back space, I get xaaaaa. Hit a, backspace over the a's, then just 'xxxxx". Hit x, and I can clear all the x's and no new repeating. Then I can clear the other set of letters by just hitting backspace until the entire line is clear for normal naming.
Last night I realized a second way of handling it is to accept the series of letters as the "Save" name. Then save a second time and I will be allowed to use normal naming. Then delete the save file with the random letters. Easier, not a game breaker, doesn't happen all the time, but still annoying.
Like the symbol itself popping up, it is as if the letter keys are being held down, only to be cleared when I hit the actual letter key a couple of times on the keyboard.
I'll have to download BG2 just to see if the whole thing becomes corrected as one larger game with the fix package you mentioned.

Thanks
Bob

Ok, re. Imoen's stats, do you have any mods installed?

On the dodgy keyboard issue, have you tried a simple reboot?

I'm going to download BG2 this weekend, reload everything, get the fixes in, etc, look over the mods then see what and what doesn't work. As for the Save slots being buggy, others on the Board seem to have a similar problem with naming their original character. Something replicates holding the letter keys down. But again, I'll look it all over this weekend.

Thanks
Bob