Bug with High Hedge mage sprite

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Due to computer problems I recently reinstalled BG and played a bit for old time's sake. On my second visit to the High Hedge mage to buy things (I forget his name) I found that a golem sprite was stuck over the mage sprite, neither apparently able to be disentangled from the other.

This is annoying but not fatal, as by patient slight moves of the pointer I was eventually able to click on the mage and start the store dialog. But it's a pain. Anyone else have this, and is there a way to fix it? A way within a non-programmer's reach, I should add.

 

I've had this with the Nashkell guards sometimes. Going back to a savegame before visiting Nashkell sometimes worked.

 

The only time I've had something like that was with a ground item and a person, making it impossible to pick up the items (save killing the person ) although it's never happened with TWO people..

 

That is odd. I, like Silvershield have had this happen when a person is standing on an item, but I've never had it occur with two NPCs.

Here's an option that will correct it. You said that by careful mouse movement you can highlight the Thalantyr. It makes sense then that you should also be able to highlight the flesh golem. My advice would be to kill the flesh golem. You get 2,000 XPs to boot!

 

Ah, Aldeth, a true adventurer: kill it if it's in your way!
I may go back and try it. I've been too busy the last few days to play anything and I don't remember exactly where I am but I'm curious to see what happens. Will it make all the golems mad at me? Can I even kill them at the level I am? Stay tuned, sports fans. Film at 11:00.

 

Oh, it most certainly will make the golems mad at you - and they hit quite hard, so I certainly don't recommend this approach if you party consists of 1st and 2nd level characters, as there is a distinct possibility that it won't end well for you.

Another point to remember is that flesh golems - like almost all golems - can only be damaged by magical weapons. So that's another reason why things will go poorly if you have all low level characters, because you likely also will not have access to (m)any magical weapons.

Generally speaking if you have two or three fighter/paladin/ranger types with magical weapons who are around 3rd level or better, and you properly surround the golem so that they can all get swings in, the beat-down should go smoothly. I always kill the two golems - it's a easy 4,000 XPs provided you meet the above conditions.

 

Or, a low level thief or a F/T with the +1 quarterstaff from Silke can backstab and run them golemsies to death... even without a potion of speed...been there, done that...

Mind you, the glitch might make you want to be extra careful not to hit Thalantyr...

 

Huh, 2 golems? I didn't count but there were at least 8. And on this most recent visit another one seemed to be stuck on Thalantyr's sprite.

Maybe that's the problem: for some reason the Hedge is spawning new golems, some flesh, some stone.

And we all died. I think most of the party is level 5, and everyone has a +1 or slightly better weapon.

Oh, well, at least with patience I can still eventually trigger Thalantyr and buy things.

 

Enable cheat console and just CTRL+Y the bugger. Voila!

 

Went back to very early saved game and entered the High Hedge building for the first time, following usual strategy of sending in only one character and making a beeline for Thalantyr. After my first exchange with him a stone golem appeared behind him, with a red circle, but the further conversation was available and I took the dialogue options that led to the store. I finished with Thalantyr, the red circle turned blue, and I looked around. There were 2 flesh golems wandering the halls plus the stone one that appeared as I spoke to Mr. T.

So then I went back to my latest saved game - nearly all level 5, Jaheira still 4/4, I think. We've been in and out of the High Hedge building several times. As we entered a stone golem appeared with a red circle but it went back to blue immediately. Now I spread out and counted. There were 5 stone golems, mostly in the inner room, and 7 flesh golems. They are indeed spawning in for some reason and I suspect one of those spawn-ins was when Thalantyr and the golem got entangled. But why this is happening I have no clue.

I've played this game off and on for several years now, finished it three times, have had various mild combinations of ease-of-use type mods in place. This never happened before. How lucky can you get?

With the proliferation of golems I will soon not be able to get into the place at all, so I will hold off visiting again until I have accumulated everything I want to sell him and have enough to buy everything I want to buy.

Or, yes, I could cheat and solve it all.

 

That might be a mod problem if you are using some.

I never experienced more than 2 Flesh Golems in an unmodded game.

 

I agree that using the console to work around a bug isn't really cheating.
I also agree it almost has to be connected with a mod during the recent re-install.
When I have time - not soon! - I'll do another re-install and see if I can work out what's causing it. I think I had the same setup before but since the previous install there may have been an update and the files I downloaded may be slightly different .
When I find out I'll post again.

 

All I know is there definitely shouldn't be any more than 2 flesh golems in there. In fact, stone golems don't even exist in unmodded BG1, so I don't know why they are spawning.

 

OK, I think I've isolated the problem - if that's what it really is, see more shortly - to The Vault 5.01. My previous install (before latest computer problem) was Vault 4.0. The new version has several extra mini-quests. My guess is that the spawning-golems-in-High-Hedge is part of some quest I didn't get to.

Anyway, I uninstalled the game and reinstalled it with The Vault 4.0 (I found a copy of the older zipped file lurking unnoticed in a desktop folder) and there is no sign of the problem on visits to High Hedge now, so I think that must be it.

As to whether it's actually a bug - the golems tangled with Thalantyr is a bug, but having them spawn in probably is not, if it's an intended part of a quest. The mod author has an apologetic note on his site indicating RL is keeping him from responding to inquiries, so I don't think I'll find out from him.

Anyway, problem or not, it's not happening now, with the reinstall and the earlier version of The Vault.