Not a good impression

[Phoenix]

So, spent 40 minutes creating my party. Arrived, talked to Hrothgar, talked to Grisella, went to deal with her pet problem. First round, first hit beetle got a 20, did 18 damage on my fighter and killed him instantly. thought I would restart...game doesn't auto-save and also doesn't store your characters so I have lost all my toons I created. Quit. Total time played 48 minutes. Lol. This isn't the IWD I remember.

[Spectrum Legacy]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think EE stores/exports your characters after you create them. Try new game, Import character and look for them in the list.

Also that 18dmg hit sounds like heart of fury mode perhaps? It's very hard to do HoF with fresh lvl 1 party, but it's possible (even to solo, but requires some luck and cheese).

Moral of this story, which I learned back in classic crpgs days the hard way too - What's the first thing you do after character/party creation? Save the game! (if it has save feature that is)

[D'amarr from Darshiva]

Plus, there are various other tasks you can do in the starting village of Easthaven.

As I don't have IWDEE installed on this machine - waiting for the v2.5 patch and achievements - I cannot say how much auto-saving and auto-exporting it does. BGEE/BG2EE don't export characters automatically. One needs to do that.

Originally posted by Spectrum Legacy:

Moral of this story, which I learned back in classic crpgs days the hard way too - What's the first thing you do after character/party creation? Save the game! (if it has save feature that is)

Sure thing. Especially after "40 minutes" of creating the party and being new to the game. Saving would be the first thing to do.

Originally posted by Spectrum Legacy:

Also that 18dmg hit sounds like heart of fury mode perhaps? It's very hard to do HoF with fresh lvl 1 party, but it's possible (even to solo, but requires some luck and cheese).

+1

Wouldn't try HOF solo, but starting with a well-versed level 1 party it can be done. Isn't easy, though.

[Spectrum Legacy]

Originally posted by D'amarr from Darshiva:

As I don't have IWDEE installed on this machine - waiting for the v2.5 patch and achievements - I cannot say how much auto-saving and auto-exporting it does. BGEE/BG2EE don't export characters automatically. One needs to do that.

I just checked it and it's the same in IWDEE, the game won't autoexport the characters at the start as I thought. I must have mixed it with something else, either a mod in the past or the list of premade characters already in game or the option to pregenerate characters first and then importing them into the new game roster/screen (since classic IWD was technically always treated as multiplayer game session by the engine). That way they are part of that list along with the default party.

Sorry OP, if you don't have the export of character files or save file, it seems you are out of luck then.

[Armanz]

Originally posted by Phoenix:

This isn't the IWD I remember.

tbh, this is exactly the IWD you should remember, since that was how it works before the EE, too.

[Phoenix]

Never mind, I restarted. I think it must have defaulted to insane mode or something because this time it was easy. Relearning 2nd edition as I go...

[WoodMan]

lol, i've played that scene many, many times over the years and I;ve never seen a character take damage there XD

[Phoenix]

Must be my luck...Ogre in Goblin pass before Kuldahar. 1st hit on my Bard, gets a 20, 32 damage , 1 dead bard lol...

[Ghoul Hunter]

Yeah, sounds like ... um ... modernization syndrome or something.

When you go back to the old games, you need to remember the old habits and expectations. Save all the time, export your characters, don't assume anything, don't take things for granted, check your settings. Be prepared for the worst.

Once you do that, it's great fun!

[Julius Borisov]

Heya!

In the 2.5 patch an Auto-Save is being created after character creation at the start of the game :)

Thanks for the suggestion, folks!

[identifiedasbeingdisrespectful]

People don't just hit Q every 30 seconds and rotate the 5 quicksave slots? Tsch, plebs.

[identifiedasbeingdisrespectful]

On a serious note though, yes it sucks to lose progress from forgetting to save. However, I like it much better than the modern saving after every action gameplay that ruins the ability to try multiple choices for encounters (most infinity engine games autosaved every time you load a new map and the EEs have retained this). I still remember losing hours of progress in one of the original fallout games. It sucked, I didn't feel like playing it for a while, but I learned all of that knowledge about the world for the next time.

[Herr Kruelbar®]

The #1 Rule of any Baldur's gate / Icewind Dale games - ALWAYS create a save game the *moment* you start.

Sorry to hear you lost your game man. Dont give up and either try to save your old party as suggested above or start a new one ... these old school D&D games are awesome and are well worth playing ... even if there are a few bugs or .... err ... *incidents* along the way ...

[identifiedasbeingdisrespectful]

Temple of Elemental Evil is also awesome and the very first D&D module. Was in a different engine by a different company though. Unfortunately, it's not on steam. It's had some great expanding mods too.

[Julius Borisov]

Originally posted by Herr Kruelbar®:

The #1 Rule of any Baldur's gate / Icewind Dale games - ALWAYS create a save game the *moment* you start.

There's always been an auto-save in BG. Now the same auto-save is created at the start of IWD as well ;)

[anferFFmax]

I suffer from the opposite problem as the OP. I over-save my games. Even when the game has an auto-save feature, I still save it! Why don't Beamdog gives you an achievement for over-saving? I would get it for sure. I'm paranoid, and I have this idea that there are two things in this world you can't trust, bananas, who you put in the fridge all ripe and well and two hours later they look like a spawn from hell, and RPGs who are always trying to screw your mental health. LOL!

So what do we learn from this? SAVE your game!