Baldur's Gate 2 Redux Mod - Dragon Age Mod Interview

Baldur's Gate 2 Redux is a Dragon Age mod aiming to recreate BioWare's epic classic in a 3D environment. The first part has already been released and, apparently, 100 levels of Athkatla have been developed. Gamers Nexus has an interview on the project with Lorne "Cuv" Ledger, current organizer of the team's production:

Gamers Nexus: How's progress on module 2? How are things looking?
Cuv: Things are looking great! The progress we are making is incredible, considering the actual time everyone has to contribute. We have roughly 30 times the content of the first module so far.
GN: Wow! What kind of content? Levels, items, characters? The whole shebangabang?
Cuv: We have currently over 100 brand new levels completed and final. Some items have been made, but there is more work to do on that front with quest items as the quests begin to take shape. All joinable NPCs are made and working. Some need minor tweaking, but their individual quests are beginning to take shape. Anomen, for example, has his knighthood and sister's death quests mostly in place. Creature models are at a standstill at the moment, with Ablaine [the modeler] pursuing a 'real' gaming job.

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More information.

I have been following this project from the beginning on Bioware's DA forum and I am torn between hope and realism. On the one hand I am wishing Cuv's team all the best. On the other I know that each time a new game engine appears there pops a project to recreate BG2's world. Up until now all of them flamed, sputtered and died....

zahratustra said:

I have been following this project from the beginning on Bioware's DA forum and I am torn between hope and realism. On the one hand I am wishing Cuv's team all the best. On the other I know that each time a new game engine appears there pops a project to recreate BG2's world. Up until now all of them flamed, sputtered and died….

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Thus spake Zahrathustra. Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

Just played through the first part which was released, very nice translation from the original game. Worth a try if you have DAO still lying somewhere around.

zahratustra said:

I have been following this project from the beginning on Bioware's DA forum and I am torn between hope and realism. On the one hand I am wishing Cuv's team all the best. On the other I know that each time a new game engine appears there pops a project to recreate BG2's world. Up until now all of them flamed, sputtered and died….

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Yeah wasn't there one of these for NWN2 that got fairly far? I seem to remember a massive Planescape mod too that flamed out.

Seen way too many mods get overly ambitious and flame out. I now pretty much ignore them until they are complete.

I think the main problem with these mods is that by the time they really get going, interest in the base game has really waned. What we really need is some type of Open Source 3-D game that could be used to build these things, rather than something proprietary that will eventually become difficult to find and/or get to run on modern equipment.

blatantninja said:

I think the main problem with these mods is that by the time they really get going, interest in the base game has really waned. What we really need is some type of Open Source 3-D game that could be used to build these things, rather than something proprietary that will eventually become difficult to find and/or get to run on modern equipment.

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Not sure about that BN... I think that IF such a translation was ever completed many BG2 fans wouldn't mind going back to base game just to play this module. I know I wouldn't. Problem (IMO) is time required to accomplish such a project. Since team members can only work on the project in their spare time and with RL interference it's very difficult (or, up to now, impossible) to keep the team going throughout the whole process.

That's kind of my point. The older a game is, the harder it is to find it (though digital distribution makes that easier now) and it get it running on modern hardware.

As an example, look at the Ultima 6 Project. It took close to 10 years to get it out. At this point, it is damn near impossible to find Dungeon Siege, and getting it to run in Windows 7 can be an adventure. If the boards at U6: P are any indication, this amazing game they created barely got any play, and I think the reliance on such an old and hard to find game is a big part of the problem.

When I played U5:Lazarus in '07 or '08, I told my brother (who played all the Ultimas with me growing up) he had to check it out. Problem was, he couldn't find DS anywhere! I finally sent him my copy.

I misunderstood what you were trying to say BN. Now I've got it and I agree

blatantninja said:

Yeah wasn't there one of these for NWN2 that got fairly far? I seem to remember a massive Planescape mod too that flamed out.

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I don't think the BG remake/port in/to NWN2 is "dead" just yet… Though it should be interesting see what, if anything, happens as a result of the recently announced BG enhanced edition. Will the teams for either the NWN2(BG1) or DAO BG2 redux mods receive cease and desist orders?

Anyhoo here's a link to the NWN2 BG remake thread over at BSN(it seems they are close to being done, though it has been in development since the release of NWN2):

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/167/index/3120312/1

Oh and a link to drechner's photobucket for some of their work:

http://s403.photobucket.com/profile/drechner_BG

blatantninja said:

As an example, look at the Ultima 6 Project. It took close to 10 years to get it out. At this point, it is damn near impossible to find Dungeon Siege, and getting it to run in Windows 7 can be an adventure. If the boards at U6: P are any indication, this amazing game they created barely got any play, and I think the reliance on such an old and hard to find game is a big part of the problem.

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This is true, but there is one thing that you're forgetting: They aren't trying to sell their work, so it really doesn't matter if the audience is small . It's there for the people who want to play it/can play it, but it's certainly not a problem for them if the amount of people playing it is small. Besides, I'm sure DA:O will always be fairly easy to find given its presence on digital platforms.

About the project, although it's a longshot that it will ever be 100% finished given the massive undertaking it will require, if this project is ever completed, it will absolutely put to shame Beamdog's crappy little "Enhanced Edition" that is looking more and more like a cheap cash-in (from what I've read, it doesn't appear that they will touch the areas that truly need "enhancing," such as the poorly detailed character models and crude animations. But hey,the ipad can't run anything truly revamped, and an ipad port seems to be the main focus of the project - regardless of what they may say otherwise ) . BG2 running on DA:O's engine would be a "proper" modern remake/"enhanced" version. Although I would prefer to keep the 2D graphics (just more detailed) and interface of the Infinity Engine, at least this mod project would feel truly "enhanced" compared to the originals.

Nerevarine said:

This is true, but there is one thing that you're forgetting: They aren't trying to sell their work, so it really doesn't matter if the audience is small . It's there for the people who want to play it/can play it, but it's certainly not a problem for them if the amount of people playing it is small. Besides, I'm sure DA:O will always be fairly easy to find given its presence on digital platforms.

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I see what you are saying, but sell or not, you still have the issues of getting older games to work on modern platforms. Really though, I think its just that as the interest wanes for the original game, it gets harder to replace team members that drop off, thus making it less likely these major projects finish.

blatantninja said:

Really though, I think its just that as the interest wanes for the original game, it gets harder to replace team members that drop off, thus making it less likely these major projects finish.

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Yeah, I can see this becoming a problem. Not only this, but as the project becomes more and more daunting, how many will truly stay on to see it to completion? They're not being paid obviously, and real life/supporting yourself has to take precedence at some point. Still, I've seen some incredibly ambitious mod projects for other games somehow get completed (and in a completely stable state) when it looked like it was an impossible task that would never see the light of say, such as the Europa Barbarorum (EB) mod for Rome: Total War. The mod wasn't finished until 2010 - just over 6 full years after the release of the base game. While I won't get my hopes up, I do think it's possible (at least to some degree ) after seeing their work so far.