Better Companions 1.0.0.0 — Baldur's Gate 3

[Auld_SnawBeard]

I saw that the original post was last updated April 25th. I assumed all files were updated then, but is this correct? I'm having trouble with them using loremaster's new MO2.

[Auld_SnawBeard]

I've got Karls mods partially working now. He shows up and talks like Karl in the introduction play in the character creator, but once I start the game with him he's mute instead of talking to himself. And when I click something he gives me click-quipps with Karlah's voice instead of Karl's.

I have similar problems with Gaile and Li'zel. Added them to the bug-report.

I don't know if this is a patch8-bug for now, or if I just haven't got my mods working properly yet.

Edit: Other's report the same, so I'll post it in the bug-report section.

[Kowe]

I've got Karls mods partially working now. He shows up and talks like Karl in the introduction play in the character creator, but once I start the game with him he's mute instead of talking to himself. And when I click something he gives me click-quipps with Karlah's voice instead of Karl's.

I have similar problems with Gaile and Li'zel. Added them to the bug-report.

I don't know if this is a patch8-bug for now, or if I just haven't got my mods working properly yet.

Edit: Other's report the same, so I'll post it in the bug-report section.

Sorry for any confusion. It was mainly a project update, not mod update. I am in the process of updating the files which will take time into next week.
The Point & Click sounds are not included in the Voice Conversions as they weren't categorized in data sets at that time. Expect them with the next update.

[Auld_SnawBeard]

I've got Karls mods partially working now. He shows up and talks like Karl in the introduction play in the character creator, but once I start the game with him he's mute instead of talking to himself. And when I click something he gives me click-quipps with Karlah's voice instead of Karl's.

I have similar problems with Gaile and Li'zel. Added them to the bug-report.

I don't know if this is a patch8-bug for now, or if I just haven't got my mods working properly yet.

Edit: Other's report the same, so I'll post it in the bug-report section.

Sorry for any confusion. It was mainly a project update, not mod update. I am in the process of updating the files which will take time into next week.
The Point & Click sounds are not included in the Voice Conversions as they weren't categorized in data sets at that time. Expect them with the next update.

Thank you for the update Kowe, I appreciate that.
Looking forward to it's release!

[ravlen]

Oh Nice! cant wait until its all switched over! Keep up the great work!

[KingOfRapture]

Thanks for making Astaria, she reminds me a lot of Claudia Black from StarGate SG1

[Kowe]

Uploaded the Point & Click VCs. Enjoy!

[Auld_SnawBeard]

That's awesome, thanks for the update!

[MilfMaker]

Thank you for the mod! I’m waiting in anticipation for the Wilhelmine Ravengard update.

[Auld_SnawBeard]

@Kowe Both of Karl's voice mods (and I believe files for the other character's too) are just .pak files, not zipped. They are not recognized by MO2. Am I supposed to do something particular with these, or is it simply an oversight?

[Kowe]

@Kowe Both of Karl's voice mods (and I believe files for the other character's too) are just .pak files, not zipped. They are not recognized by MO2. Am I supposed to do something particular with these, or is it simply an oversight?

Changed all VC PAKs to ZIP files. Haven't used MO2 yet, so do let me know if this fixed it or not.
They were also in need of a minor update.

[Auld_SnawBeard]

I zipped those I downloaded earlier and that seemed to do the trick. I was mostly worried that I wasn't supposed to zip them at all, or that if it was an oversight then they had to be zipped with specific parameters or some such to be functional for our purpuses.

Still, I've clicked through all the download links now and can confirm they are all zips. I think I found some bare pak-files in a downoload on another mod as well but can't quite remember which one, so I'll be more vigilant at pointing it out in the fututre.

[Auld_SnawBeard]

► Show Spoiler

@Kowe, considering Astalia is mute if you use her as the player character, does that mean she will be mute when participating in banter as a companion? Or does that use different sound-files? (trying to decide whether to use her as a companion or just keep Astarion)

Actually nvm. I did a mistake somewhere and that's where her muteness stemmed from. I'm still getting her mute when clicking on random objects, but I personally don't care about that. I don't plan to play her anytime soon, and if I do I perfer the click-on-object quacking to be mute anyway

[Kowe]

► Show Spoiler

@Kowe, considering Astalia is mute if you use her as the player character, does that mean she will be mute when participating in banter as a companion? Or does that use different sound-files? (trying to decide whether to use her as a companion or just keep Astarion)

Actually nvm. I did a mistake somewhere and that's where her muteness stemmed from. I'm still getting her mute when clicking on random objects, but I personally don't care about that. I don't plan to play her anytime soon, and if I do I perfer the click-on-object quacking to be mute anyway

Banter is covered by the normal, dialogue-related VCs. Compatible with mods which decrease or increase the frequency of banter, by the way.
Now that you mentioned her being mute when clicking on random objects, I do have to check what lines those were again. At least for future reference.

[Excess7273]

is there any order requirement with no alphabets or other recommended mods?

Seems all the chars are retaining their OG voices. I seem to have all the other mods working ok, but it could be a me issue. I am installing w/o a mod manager on linux. i just dropped paks into the mod dir, and modified the modsettings.lsx file. I can see the mods in the mod menu in game. Unsure if its normal for the chars to have their OG voices when talking to them, or playing their prologue on char creation screen as a test.

edit: point and click voices are working it seems. at least in so far as I have gotten lol. first time playing and I rerolled like 5x, haven't made it past the druid circle yet.

[Auld_SnawBeard]

is there any order requirement with no alphabets or other recommended mods?

Seems all the chars are retaining their OG voices. I seem to have all the other mods working ok, but it could be a me issue. I am installing w/o a mod manager on linux. i just dropped paks into the mod dir, and modified the modsettings.lsx file. I can see the mods in the mod menu in game. Unsure if its normal for the chars to have their OG voices when talking to them, or playing their prologue on char creation screen as a test.

edit: point and click voices are working it seems. at least in so far as I have gotten lol. first time playing and I rerolled like 5x, haven't made it past the druid circle yet.

I believe they are quite sensitive to load order. Internal load order is cited in the first post of both No Alphabet and Realms Restored. From what I've experienced with them so far this group of mods should go towards the end of your load-order as a whole.

[Excess7273]

is there any order requirement with no alphabets or other recommended mods?

Seems all the chars are retaining their OG voices. I seem to have all the other mods working ok, but it could be a me issue. I am installing w/o a mod manager on linux. i just dropped paks into the mod dir, and modified the modsettings.lsx file. I can see the mods in the mod menu in game. Unsure if its normal for the chars to have their OG voices when talking to them, or playing their prologue on char creation screen as a test.

edit: point and click voices are working it seems. at least in so far as I have gotten lol. first time playing and I rerolled like 5x, haven't made it past the druid circle yet.

I believe they are quite sensitive to load order. Internal load order is cited in the first post of both No Alphabet and Realms Restored. From what I've experienced with them so far this group of mods should go towards the end of your load-order as a whole.

I put the alphabets at the bottom. Whats your load order? I'll try and copy that.

edit: I put mine toward the bottom as well, I assumed as much. but maybe I need to go further.

edit: deff my mistake! I did not download the voice overs, only the PC voices lol.

Side note. Is Gailes VA really only 66mb? Ive downloaded it 3x now, and I cant unzip it, seems corrupted or something. not sure if its a me issue or a file issue.

[Excess7273]

ok I'm not as bad as I thought. The VC<char>.pak files were in fact in my mod dir. But they don't auto populate into the modsettings.lsx file.

would anyone mind sharing their modsettings.lsx file? I cant seem to get a mod manager to work, or at least I can but with immense effort. easier to just place the files manually. So if I can just copy your node block, I should be able to add it to my game.

[Kowe]

ok I'm not as bad as I thought. The VC<char>.pak files were in fact in my mod dir. But they don't auto populate into the modsettings.lsx file.

would anyone mind sharing their modsettings.lsx file? I cant seem to get a mod manager to work, or at least I can but with immense effort. easier to just place the files manually. So if I can just copy your node block, I should be able to add it to my game.

Reuploaded the ZIP as something went wrong last time. Fixed version has replaced the previous one under Downloads.

[Face]

May or may not be helpful, I don't know, posted for gins and giggles. A utility for Gale voice files, supposedly.

https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/16479

[Demonic Fate]

@Kowe

I've been playing around a bit with your Astaria conversion vs. others that are on the Nexus. I've found something I couldn't understand when trying your model versus this one.

Your Astaria is missing the vampire fangs, while the Nexus version has them. The Nexus mod mentions the issues with fangs:

- Astarion's animations have been modified to work with Astaria's BT1 although I'm sure I missed some. There are A LOT.
- Body Type is locked in. It is not possible to change it anyway.
- Head is locked in. Changing the head may cause very unpleasant issues with Astaria's fangs as they are designed specifically for this head. You'd also lose her bite marks. I used Elf Head 3 and customized the textures to add her bite marks.

However, during Astarion's introduction, when the MC gets grabbed and rolled to the ground, something weird happened. With your mod, the animation looks totally fine. Instead, with the Nexus mod, the animation gets screwed up and "Astaria" get slenderwoman'd with her neck and limbs stretching out. Since your mod also uses the standard female body, but you don't mention doing any animation work, I would have expected the opposite.

Anyway, in light of all that: do you think you would be able to give Astaria a proper pair of vampire fangs, without screwing up the animations? (Stealing the Nexus mod's work if useful)

Separate, minor question: does your voice replacer .pak have any specific dependency with the other mods or with No Alphabets? In other words, I have found a different female Astarion voice pack that I like better (it gives here a ridiculous rolling R), I guess I can safely use that one alongside your dialogue and visual changes?

[Kowe]

May or may not be helpful, I don't know, posted for gins and giggles. A utility for Gale voice files, supposedly.

https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/16479

Thanks. It may include some Soundbank or Sound files which were missing in the data-set used for this project. Can't hurt to compare.

@Kowe

I've been playing around a bit with your Astaria conversion vs. others that are on the Nexus. I've found something I couldn't understand when trying your model versus this one.

Your Astaria is missing the vampire fangs, while the Nexus version has them. The Nexus mod mentions the issues with fangs:

- Astarion's animations have been modified to work with Astaria's BT1 although I'm sure I missed some. There are A LOT.
- Body Type is locked in. It is not possible to change it anyway.
- Head is locked in. Changing the head may cause very unpleasant issues with Astaria's fangs as they are designed specifically for this head. You'd also lose her bite marks. I used Elf Head 3 and customized the textures to add her bite marks.

However, during Astarion's introduction, when the MC gets grabbed and rolled to the ground, something weird happened. With your mod, the animation looks totally fine. Instead, with the Nexus mod, the animation gets screwed up and "Astaria" get slenderwoman'd with her neck and limbs stretching out. Since your mod also uses the standard female body, but you don't mention doing any animation work, I would have expected the opposite.

Anyway, in light of all that: do you think you would be able to give Astaria a proper pair of vampire fangs, without screwing up the animations? (Stealing the Nexus mod's work if useful)

Separate, minor question: does your voice replacer .pak have any specific dependency with the other mods or with No Alphabets? In other words, I have found a different female Astarion voice pack that I like better (it gives here a ridiculous rolling R), I guess I can safely use that one alongside your dialogue and visual changes?

Can't promise when as I am not experienced with Blender and thus dependant on available heads from elsewhere. As the fangs have to be integrated into the head armature.
There is an interesting head for Elves from Maki's collection but I have to check if it includes fangs or not. Alternatively, there is a version of Vemperen's Heads with them.

As for Voice Conversions, there is no dependency. They are stand-alone.
Localization and Visual Changes can safely be used with other VCs.

[Demonic Fate]

May or may not be helpful, I don't know, posted for gins and giggles. A utility for Gale voice files, supposedly.

https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/16479

Thanks. It may include some Soundbank or Sound files which were missing in the data-set used for this project. Can't hurt to compare.

@Kowe

I've been playing around a bit with your Astaria conversion vs. others that are on the Nexus. I've found something I couldn't understand when trying your model versus this one.

Your Astaria is missing the vampire fangs, while the Nexus version has them. The Nexus mod mentions the issues with fangs:

- Astarion's animations have been modified to work with Astaria's BT1 although I'm sure I missed some. There are A LOT.
- Body Type is locked in. It is not possible to change it anyway.
- Head is locked in. Changing the head may cause very unpleasant issues with Astaria's fangs as they are designed specifically for this head. You'd also lose her bite marks. I used Elf Head 3 and customized the textures to add her bite marks.

However, during Astarion's introduction, when the MC gets grabbed and rolled to the ground, something weird happened. With your mod, the animation looks totally fine. Instead, with the Nexus mod, the animation gets screwed up and "Astaria" get slenderwoman'd with her neck and limbs stretching out. Since your mod also uses the standard female body, but you don't mention doing any animation work, I would have expected the opposite.

Anyway, in light of all that: do you think you would be able to give Astaria a proper pair of vampire fangs, without screwing up the animations? (Stealing the Nexus mod's work if useful)

Separate, minor question: does your voice replacer .pak have any specific dependency with the other mods or with No Alphabets? In other words, I have found a different female Astarion voice pack that I like better (it gives here a ridiculous rolling R), I guess I can safely use that one alongside your dialogue and visual changes?

Can't promise when as I am not experienced with Blender and thus dependant on available heads from elsewhere. As the fangs have to be integrated into the head armature.
There is an interesting head for Elves from Maki's collection but I have to check if it includes fangs or not. Alternatively, there is a version of Vemperen's Heads with them.

As for Voice Conversions, there is no dependency. They are stand-alone.
Localization and Visual Changes can safely be used with other VCs.

This one? So in principle, could I use your mod as a base (to provide the ritual tattoos, mainly), then use Appearance Edit Enhanced to give Astaria one of the fanged heads?

[Kowe]

May or may not be helpful, I don't know, posted for gins and giggles. A utility for Gale voice files, supposedly.

https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/16479

Thanks. It may include some Soundbank or Sound files which were missing in the data-set used for this project. Can't hurt to compare.

@Kowe

I've been playing around a bit with your Astaria conversion vs. others that are on the Nexus. I've found something I couldn't understand when trying your model versus this one.

Your Astaria is missing the vampire fangs, while the Nexus version has them. The Nexus mod mentions the issues with fangs:



However, during Astarion's introduction, when the MC gets grabbed and rolled to the ground, something weird happened. With your mod, the animation looks totally fine. Instead, with the Nexus mod, the animation gets screwed up and "Astaria" get slenderwoman'd with her neck and limbs stretching out. Since your mod also uses the standard female body, but you don't mention doing any animation work, I would have expected the opposite.

Anyway, in light of all that: do you think you would be able to give Astaria a proper pair of vampire fangs, without screwing up the animations? (Stealing the Nexus mod's work if useful)

Separate, minor question: does your voice replacer .pak have any specific dependency with the other mods or with No Alphabets? In other words, I have found a different female Astarion voice pack that I like better (it gives here a ridiculous rolling R), I guess I can safely use that one alongside your dialogue and visual changes?

Can't promise when as I am not experienced with Blender and thus dependant on available heads from elsewhere. As the fangs have to be integrated into the head armature.
There is an interesting head for Elves from Maki's collection but I have to check if it includes fangs or not. Alternatively, there is a version of Vemperen's Heads with them.

As for Voice Conversions, there is no dependency. They are stand-alone.
Localization and Visual Changes can safely be used with other VCs.

This one? So in principle, could I use your mod as a base (to provide the ritual tattoos, mainly), then use Appearance Edit Enhanced to give Astaria one of the fanged heads?

Yes, that one.
It is better to use Origin Mirror Unlocked instead of Appearance Edit Enhanced, especially with how the former works. To make them compatible with each other, the Origin.lsx files and Localizations of OMU and Better Companions have to be tinkered with. I can go more in-depth tomorrow.

[dengandos]

really cool mod. is this include narrator address their gender correctly?

[Auld_SnawBeard]

really cool mod. is this include narrator address their gender correctly?

Only the written lines are changed in accordance with the new names and gender.

[dengandos]

really cool mod. is this include narrator address their gender correctly?

Only the written lines are changed in accordance with the new names and gender.

cool. i'll use mod to mute narrator voice then.
what about lines where npc call each other name? i assume they still call their canon names and gender?

[Auld_SnawBeard]

really cool mod. is this include narrator address their gender correctly?

Only the written lines are changed in accordance with the new names and gender.

cool. i'll use mod to mute narrator voice then.
what about lines where npc call each other name? i assume they still call their canon names and gender?

As far as I've observed the only things that have been changed are written lines, so using subtitles for both cutscenes and banter helps a lot. I read somewhere something about the removal of some lines, but I think that was one of the romance mods or Really Shadowheart, not this one. But I may be mistaken.

[iLuvSeafood]

Thanks for the awesome mod. You are doing god's work.