inXile Bards Tale (original version) bt1d2.2mg file HELP

[schuld66]

OK, so I bought the new(er) version of The Bards Tale, mainly to get the 3 original versions. Two friends of mine and I finished all 3 C64 versions back in the 80s, and it's been since then that I have played them. All of them run fine, but I need a good party, and I'm not thrilled with the idea of building the existing ones up. Everything I see on cheat sites talk about TPW files for BT1, but this version uses a virtual drive pointing to a file called bt1d2.2mg, not TPW files. I've searched high and low, but cannot find any kind of character editor for this file.

Can anyone offer up any help? Perhaps a hearty team bt1d2.2mg file ...

Thanks.

[toper]

OK, so I bought the new(er) version of The Bards Tale, mainly to get the 3 original versions. Two friends of mine and I finished all 3 C64 versions back in the 80s, and it's been since then that I have played them. All of them run fine, but I need a good party, and I'm not thrilled with the idea of building the existing ones up. Everything I see on cheat sites talk about TPW files for BT1, but this version uses a virtual drive pointing to a file called bt1d2.2mg, not TPW files. I've searched high and low, but cannot find any kind of character editor for this file.

Can anyone offer up any help? Perhaps a hearty team bt1d2.2mg file ...

Thanks.

TPW files are for the DOS version BardsTale. You'll have to find a 2mg file that is for the same version of BT you are playing with developed characters, and use that as your character disk.

*IF* the version of BT you have has automapping (Press ? while in the dungeon)... then this file will work... it was originally called Fully Stocked... I don't know if that means the players, Garths shop, or both... but here it is if you want to try it.

http://sites.netcessor.com/topper/blog/ ... 2-disk.zip

Don't forget to back up... before doing anything.

Goodluck

[Peaches]

Talk about late to the game! In my defense though I did just recently download the Steam bundle of these games and went rummaging for info on just this thing. Just in case it can be helpful to the OP or anyone else out there that is looking, I'll try to explain...

You first need to download a hexidecimal editor. I still have a 5.4" floppy of the one I had in the 80's for my 128! This is the one I use now...

http://download.cnet.com/HxD-Hex-Editor ... 91068.html

Once you have the editor running, navigate to your BT1D2.2MG file and <open> it.

You will see the hexidecimal code on the left panel and the ASCII equivelant on the right panel. I can't know that our files would look the same but you can scroll down until you get to some Hexidecimal coding that will look like what I have posted at the end of my ramble. Mine started on OFFSET 1040 so it was not far at all. Go slow. I have not been able to edit the ability stats specifically. Just the Health, Spell Points, gold, and items they carry.

Character gold is listed as the actual number amounts NOT a true hexidecimal code. So for say 100 gold, it will be shown as 01 00 00. 111 gold would be shown as 01 01 01. Or 49,238 gold will show up as 04 09 02 03 08 in the coding.

Health and Spell Points are shown in MAX and CURRENT formats. 00 0A 00 09 would be 10 Maximum (0A) with 9 Current (09).

Items: I downloaded Bard's Tale for DOS and ran it with D-fend Reloaded (user friendlier w/DOSBOX) and then edited my character's items with one of the many .TPW file editors I'm sure you stumbled across before you got to here; to get an idea of what codes applied to what items. Luckily, the DOS version and Steam version of Bard's Tale used the same item codes. The items (5A, 4F, 5B, 51, 4E) given to your melee characters will most likely give them all LO armor classes as well as a Diamond Sword.

EDIT: What an idiot I am! The character experience is coded just like the character's gold. So you have 14,098 xp - it will be coded as 01 04 00 09 08. It's so obvious now!

So, here goes...

D2 C5 CE C5 C7 C1 C4 C5 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF - 1st character begins
7B 0F 63 58 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 04 00 09 08 - 14,098 experience(01 04 00 09 08)
00 05 00 05 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 04 00 00 02 - 5th lvl char w/ 104,002 gold
01 23 00 F0 00 00 00 00 07 01 00 00 00 39 00 15 - 291 (01 23) Max HP with 240 (F0) Current HP
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01
01 5A 01 4F 01 5B 01 51 01 4E 00 00 00 00 00 00 - ITEMS (01 = equipped)
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 -1st character ends
D2 C8 CF CF CE A0 CD C1 D2 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF -2nd character begins
83 D2 62 91 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 04 00 09 08
00 05 00 05 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 04 02 06 03
01 16 00 F2 00 00 00 00 07 01 00 00 00 39 00 15
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01
01 5A 01 4F 01 5B 01 51 01 4E 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 2nd character ends (etc)
CD C1 D4 C1 A0 D3 CF CF CE FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
93 D0 7B 98 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 04 00 09 08
00 05 00 05 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 03 06 05 03
01 11 00 F3 00 00 00 00 05 04 00 00 00 39 00 15
00 00 00 00 27 22 2A 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
01 5A 01 4F 01 5B 01 51 01 4E 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
D0 C5 C1 C3 C8 C5 D3 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
64 12 63 12 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 04 00 09 08
00 05 00 05 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 03 09 06 00
01 33 01 2F 00 00 00 00 06 01 00 00 00 39 00 03
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00
01 14 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
D2 C1 D3 C1 CC C1 A0 D6 C9 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
7B D0 73 95 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 04 00 09 08
00 06 00 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 08 00 03
01 09 00 FD 01 13 01 13 04 01 00 00 00 39 00 01 -265(01 09)Max HP w/ 253(FD) Current HP (cont->)
00 00 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 -275/275(01 13 01 13)Spell Pts
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
D3 C1 C8 CC C1 A0 D6 C9 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
5C 90 62 D9 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 04 00 09 08
00 06 00 06 00 00 00 00 00 00 01 00 01 09 05 08
01 0E 01 07 01 1E 01 06 03 01 00 00 00 39 00 01
00 03 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 - 00 03 00 00 = Spell Levels
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

One of the appeals of games like The Bard's Tale (all) and the first Might & Magic especially, was that you had to make an effort to graph each location or stumble around blindly searching for something you vaguely remember from someplace you think was ..."over that way?" But it was more than just that. It was a level of difficulty you could look back on and appreciate after the grind of completing the game. That rewarding sense you felt after so much trial and error. Many games sort of lose their appeal once you figure out how to make them easier to play. Keep that in mind if that is the route you choose to go.

[Quantum Reality]

Hey all,

Came back here after God only knows how long because I grabbed the Steam version of BT1/2/3 and wanted to find out how to edit my characters, too.

Thanks for the advance legwork, Peaches.

One additional note is that a checksum might be stored which would make a character unloadable except through using a team.