Okay steam versions of DS1 and DS2 are all correctly installed. Installed the framework. Copied all the legendary mod files, several additional mods and my armor and weapon mods from my retail DS2 resources folder into the mods folder under steam. All of the maps appear in the map selection screen, all of the maps start. I have not had an opportunity to play any of the maps as yet. Any suggestions as to which map I should start with? Anyway so far it looks as if your fix for Steam is working well at least to the point I tested it to.
That sounds promising. It looks like I haven't forgotten to include anything vital. I would assume that having gotten everything started, things would work fine from there. There is a small difference in size between the Object.ds2res of the two versions but the Logic.ds2res is exactly the same size. I'd be surprised if anything major is different. The previous issues of missing objects, hireable characters, etc, has been confirmed to be due to the way the steam exe reads mods. Using this modified launcher bypasses all of that.
Possibly the most debatable feature is having a custom mod folder. You could argue that since the Steam version has it multiplayer component disabled then there's no need to have a custom mod folder. Perhaps that's true. That feature could easily be dropped if necessary but in any case mods will still work as before if they're located in the resources folder. It's just that if somebody wants to use the steam version (crippled as it is), mods located in the resources folder will impact saved games.
Maybe of interest is some observations I made about the way the commandline switches work. Using the parameter user_path in a shortcut automatically assigns all of the other path locations normally found in Documents\My Games\Dungeon Siege 2 to the new user_path plus the required sub-folder.
However user_path doesn't seem to work if used in DungeonSiege2.ini or ElysDS2AllSaves.ini. Nor does save_path and possibly none of the path parameters. It has to be set in a shortcut. It also requires the full path be declared. However res_paths doesn't need the full path to be declared.
As an experiment could someone try using SteamDS2AllSaves.exe directly and see what happens? Just a warning that you may need to use Task Manager to quit the game if an error occurs. For me the error generally occurs trying to click on Singleplayer (Multiplayer and Options worked) and the game hangs. In the background there is an error message regarding Smart Heap and out of memory error, which I mentioned earlier. It would just be useful to know if the problem was systemic just to my game configuration or a common occurrence.
As to what map to play, whatever one you would like, maybe the latest version of KOE?
That sounds promising. It looks like I haven't forgotten to include anything vital. I would assume that having gotten everything started, things would work fine from there. There is a small difference in size between the Object.ds2res of the two versions but the Logic.ds2res is exactly the same size. I'd be surprised if anything major is different. The previous issues of missing objects, hireable characters, etc, has been confirmed to be due to the way the steam exe reads mods. Using this modified launcher bypasses all of that.
Possibly the most debatable feature is having a custom mod folder. You could argue that since the Steam version has it multiplayer component disabled then there's no need to have a custom mod folder. Perhaps that's true. That feature could easily be dropped if necessary but in any case mods will still work as before if they're located in the resources folder. It's just that if somebody wants to use the steam version (crippled as it is), mods located in the resources folder will impact saved games.
Maybe of interest is some observations I made about the way the commandline switches work. Using the parameter user_path in a shortcut automatically assigns all of the other path locations normally found in Documents\My Games\Dungeon Siege 2 to the new user_path plus the required sub-folder.
However user_path doesn't seem to work if used in DungeonSiege2.ini or ElysDS2AllSaves.ini. Nor does save_path and possibly none of the path parameters. It has to be set in a shortcut. It also requires the full path be declared. However res_paths doesn't need the full path to be declared.
As an experiment could someone try using SteamDS2AllSaves.exe directly and see what happens? Just a warning that you may need to use Task Manager to quit the game if an error occurs. For me the error generally occurs trying to click on Singleplayer (Multiplayer and Options worked) and the game hangs. In the background there is an error message regarding Smart Heap and out of memory error, which I mentioned earlier. It would just be useful to know if the problem was systemic just to my game configuration or a common occurrence.
As to what map to play, whatever one you would like, maybe the latest version of KOE?