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Enemy spawn mechanics in Baldur's Gate

Revenant

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Has anyone ever found out for sure how do you fight your way through the Gnoll Stronghold all the way to Dynaheir only to fight over 9000 gnolls on your way back? At first I thought that the game punishes you for reloading by spawning new enemies in the fog of war area, but this clearly isn't the case. Now I'm more inclined to think that enemies spawn at completely random times even when you stand still. So, fucking enemy spawning in BG1, how does it work?

I'm talking about vanilla BG1 with optionally Tales of the Sword Coast installed, not that enschumacated edishun shit obviously.
 

Sensuki

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I play Original BG1 Tales of the Sword Coast 5521 when I play and I do not encounter this problem, you might get one mob respawning.

It is possible that rest makes some mobs reload but I rarely have to rest in the Gnoll Stronghold.
 

Infinitron

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The Gnoll Stronghold has some wacky spawning, yes. But it's nothing compared to Firewine Bridge. You'll never look at kobolds in the same way again. :smug:
 
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Has anyone ever found out for sure how do you fight your way through the Gnoll Stronghold all the way to Dynaheir only to fight over 9000 gnolls on your way back? At first I thought that the game punishes you for reloading by spawning new enemies in the fog of war area, but this clearly isn't the case. Now I'm more inclined to think that enemies spawn at completely random times even when you stand still. So, fucking enemy spawning in BG1, how does it work?

I'm talking about vanilla BG1 with optionally Tales of the Sword Coast installed, not that enschumacated edishun shit obviously.
Maybe they spawn on rest?
 

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The Gnoll Stronghold has some wacky spawning, yes. But it's nothing compared to Firewine Bridge. You'll never look at kobolds in the same way again. :smug:
Yes, this. Kobolds in Firewine Bridge spawn all the time, every X seconds, regardless of what you do. It's a nightmare. Gnolls in the stronghold spawn on reload, on rest, and a timer (I think), but it is not as harsh as the one in Firewine.

Other areas have different spawn mechanics, it depends on where you are. Basilisks never respawn, for example, but you will always encounter ankhegs in the area north of Friendly Arm Inn. Forests usually spawn wolfs and bears, but the one west of Beregost is always full of gnolls, flinds and skeletons.
 

Revenant

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No, spawning on rest would be too easy, I clear most areas in the Infinity Engine games without resting. It's something else, because sometimes all you have to do is walk a few meters into the fog of war and enemies respawn as you walk back, and sometimes they don't respawn at the exact spot no matter how long you wait or what you do.

EDIT: MicroSelva's post above describes the spawning kind of the same way as I experience it. I think it's a very good notion that spawning heavily depends on the area in question. It is obvious that some areas don't respawn enemies at all while others do it, but at first I presumed that the spawning mechanics are quite the same in all areas that do have spawning.
 
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CappenVarra

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Spawning in the fog of war on every quickload is known to happen. Since you didn't quite explain where these extra gnolls spawned, how large the groups, and how much you used loading, it's hard to say anything smart. But I'll just say that I've never had any unexpected spawns on the way out in BG1+TotSC - when I clear the fortress, it stays cleared. So... It's not the game, it's you ;)
 

Revenant

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Spawning in the fog of war on every quickload is known to happen.
No, I'm pretty sure that not every quickload spawns enemies. I thought of using quickloading to grind the winter wolves for their fur and XP in some area west of Nashkel, but wolves didn't spawn every time I quick loaded. Now maybe they do spawn on quickSAVE... It has been a while since I last played BG1, so I don't remember.
 
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No, spawning on rest would be too easy, I clear most areas in the Infinity Engine games without resting. It's something else, because sometimes all you have to do is walk a few meters into the fog of war and enemies respawn as you walk back, and sometimes they don't respawn at the exact spot no matter how long you wait or what you do.

EDIT: MicroSelva's post above describes the spawning kind of the same way as I experience it. I think it's a very good notion that spawning heavily depends on the area in question. It is obvious that some areas don't respawn enemies at all while others do it, but at first I presumed that the spawning mechanics are quite the same in all areas that do have spawning.
http://iesdp.gibberlings3.net/file_formats/ie_formats/are_v1.htm#formAREAV1_0_Spawn
 

CappenVarra

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Spawning in the fog of war on every quickload is known to happen.
No, I'm pretty sure that not every quickload spawns enemies. I thought of using quickloading to grind the winter wolves for their fur and XP in some area west of Nashkel, but wolves didn't spawn every time I quick loaded. Now maybe they do spawn on quickSAVE... It has been a while since I last played BG1, so I don't remember.
Yeah, I meant QuickSAVE but my fingers typed out LOAD, sorry...
 

octavius

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I'm not sure excactly how the spawns work, but when playing vanilla BG1 (TuTu works differently) I noticed that enemies did not respawn within the party's line of sight. So I parked one character in the central chamber of Firewine Bridge to prevent the spawning there. This also worked in the Gnoll Fortress, but the respawning Xvarts and Gnolls are not nearly as annoying as Kobold Commandos.
 
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WarHamster

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I had a smiliar experience as Revenant in the Gnoll Stronghold with my recent playthrough (GOG version). I remember the gnolls (re)spawning extremely fast in the Gnoll Fortress with no party resting or reloading done by me in between. There must've been at least 4 groups of 4-6 gnolls on the upper level alone (where the prisoner pits were). I was barely through checking the loot of the previous group (same old halberds and shit, but gotta check 'em all none-the-less) when another group spawned just out of screen. It got somewhat ridiculous and tedious to have to mow down this legion of gnolls. It seems random though, as on my very first playthrough (original CD version), I didn't encounter nearly as many gnolls in the stronghold (e.g. only something like 4-6 total near the pits), IIRC.

And kobold commandos? Good lord, what was the name of the smallish dungeon under the halfling village? Catacombs or ruins of something or other? That one really got on my nerves with its constantly and quickly respawning kobold commandos with their fire arrows. To say nothing of the slew of traps in there through which they could walk over without triggering them, but my PCs trigger them, ofc. Hell, had I known then that I could just shortcut to the mage via a back door, it would've saved lots of hair-pulling and gnashing of teeth.
 

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The Kobold Stronghold was by far my most annoying part when I recently played through BG.
My problem was having Minsc on a couple of hours left before going berserk on PC for not saving Dynaheir in time, and having hundreds of Gnolls ahead of me. Bad timing. I ended up using invis potions to sneak past to save her and getting her out.

And kobold commandos? Good lord, what was the name of the smallish dungeon under the halfling village? Catacombs or ruins of something or other? That one really got on my nerves with its constantly and quickly respawning kobold commandos with their fire arrows. To say nothing of the slew of traps in there through which they could walk over without triggering them, but my PCs trigger them, ofc. Hell, had I known then that I could just shortcut to the mage via a back door, it would've saved lots of hair-pulling and gnashing of teeth.
Could you really take the backdoor in?
 

Zed

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That's pretty cool, actually. Not a lot of games allow for a meta short-cut to the boss.
 

weirwood

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I'm pretty sure the gnolls spawn on saving, not on loading. I remember sneaking a thief through the fortress to find Dynaheir the first time I went there, and as I made my way back, there was pretty much an army of gnolls standing around.
 

octavius

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And kobold commandos? Good lord, what was the name of the smallish dungeon under the halfling village? Catacombs or ruins of something or other? That one really got on my nerves with its constantly and quickly respawning kobold commandos with their fire arrows.

Firewine, which was mentioned in the message just above yours...
 

WarHamster

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Firewine, which was mentioned in the message just above yours...
Huh, so it was. My bad. I thought it was only the Firewine Bridge which was called Firewine something. Could've sworn the dungeon was called something else, but Firewine Ruins it is.
 

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The Kobold Stronghold was by far my most annoying part when I recently played through BG.
My problem was having Minsc on a couple of hours left before going berserk on PC for not saving Dynaheir in time, and having hundreds of Gnolls ahead of me. Bad timing. I ended up using invis potions to sneak past to save her and getting her out.
I had this Minsc situation on my very first playthrough. Since he persisted in being an ass, I sent him to fight gnolls by himself. He killed a lot of them (he is a gnoll-slaying ranger after all) before dying. After saving Dynaheir, I resurrected him in Nashkel.
 

Zed

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The Kobold Stronghold was by far my most annoying part when I recently played through BG.
My problem was having Minsc on a couple of hours left before going berserk on PC for not saving Dynaheir in time, and having hundreds of Gnolls ahead of me. Bad timing. I ended up using invis potions to sneak past to save her and getting her out.
I had this Minsc situation on my very first playthrough. Since he persisted in being an ass, I sent him to fight gnolls by himself. He killed a lot of them (he is a gnoll-slaying ranger after all) before dying. After saving Dynaheir, I resurrected him in Nashkel.
I don't allow for anyone to die in my playthroughs in IE games (except PST). I'll load a save if that happens :D
 

MicoSelva

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I don't allow for anyone to die in my playthroughs in IE games (except PST). I'll load a save if that happens :D
Usually this is also the case for me, but with Minsc it was either letting him die fighting gnolls (which allowed me to resurrect him later) or kill him when he turned berserk (which did not allow that), so I made an exception. ;)
 

Wyrmlord

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The Kobold Stronghold was by far my most annoying part when I recently played through BG.
My problem was having Minsc on a couple of hours left before going berserk on PC for not saving Dynaheir in time, and having hundreds of Gnolls ahead of me. Bad timing. I ended up using invis potions to sneak past to save her and getting her out.
I had this Minsc situation on my very first playthrough. Since he persisted in being an ass, I sent him to fight gnolls by himself. He killed a lot of them (he is a gnoll-slaying ranger after all) before dying. After saving Dynaheir, I resurrected him in Nashkel.
I don't allow for anyone to die in my playthroughs in IE games (except PST). I'll load a save if that happens :D
I can understand the sentiment, and I am not fond of seeing party members die.

But BG1 has a surplus of potential companions and limited space for having all of them.

They are so dispensable, there is no pressing need to hold on to one of them.

Khalid dies, recruit Minsc. Minsc dies, recruit Ajantis. Xzar dies, recruit Dynaheir. Brenwin dies, recruit Viconia.

You can have only 5 companions with you in your party, and there's probably about 20 people you can recruit.
 

Revenant

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Yes but not every one of them plays nice with the others, sometimes even to the point of engaging in violence with each other such as
the feud between Khalid and Montaron.
Furthermore, recruiting Viconia results in a negative impact on the party's reputation. Moreover, one might want to avoid recruiting evil characters at all because
that paladin in a certain tavern in Baldur's Gate will attack you if you have but a single evil character in a party, and if you fight back the entire tavern turns hostile to you.
All of this leaves not that many choices when putting a party together, especially since some NPCs (usually harder to find) are way better than the others.
 

Zed

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The Kobold Stronghold was by far my most annoying part when I recently played through BG.
My problem was having Minsc on a couple of hours left before going berserk on PC for not saving Dynaheir in time, and having hundreds of Gnolls ahead of me. Bad timing. I ended up using invis potions to sneak past to save her and getting her out.
I had this Minsc situation on my very first playthrough. Since he persisted in being an ass, I sent him to fight gnolls by himself. He killed a lot of them (he is a gnoll-slaying ranger after all) before dying. After saving Dynaheir, I resurrected him in Nashkel.
I don't allow for anyone to die in my playthroughs in IE games (except PST). I'll load a save if that happens :D
I can understand the sentiment, and I am not fond of seeing party members die.

But BG1 has a surplus of potential companions and limited space for having all of them.

They are so dispensable, there is no pressing need to hold on to one of them.

Khalid dies, recruit Minsc. Minsc dies, recruit Ajantis. Xzar dies, recruit Dynaheir. Brenwin dies, recruit Viconia.

You can have only 5 companions with you in your party, and there's probably about 20 people you can recruit.
I've played through BG many times. If I would play it again, which I did recently, I would play with a pre-determined party (as in: I go out of my way to collect the full party ASAP).
But, with that in mind, I still didn't let Minsc die even though I was dropping him later for Valygar.
 

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