Revision as of 11:33, 29 September 2009

Infinity Engine is what BioWare's Baldur's Gate series runs on. Despite being a fairly robust engine for Dungeons & Dragons, it is still full of bugs. As the different games use varying versions of the engine, it will be noted which games can carry out each glitch.

Cutscene Breaking

Regain the ability to move during a cutscene by interrupting it.

Note that by a 'cutscene' we mean a sequence in-game in which the player has no control over his characters and the user interface is removed. This includes several two second 'cutscenes' in which the player momentarily loses control of their characters prior to being teleported somewhere. There are two known methods to break cutscenes.

Variant 1

Have a character initiate dialogue during the cutscene. This is generally acheived by kicking a character out of the party just prior to the cutscene so that they will approach the PC and ask to rejoin the group while the cutscene is playing, though other methods exist such as using a Djinni summoned with the Limited Wish spell.

Should dialog be suppressed during cutscene, a Simulacrum can cast Limited wish in a different area before initiating the cutscene. The dialog between the Simulacrum and the Djinni will break the cutscene.

Variant 2

Prior to the cutscene, give the party an order to leave the area via a party-required area transition in order that they leave during the cutscene. This will not of itself break the cutscene, but upon reloading the autosave created when the party left the area, the player will have full control again.

Note that the scripts for many cutscenes will supress all dialogue during the cutscene to prevent the first variant of the trick from occurring, while others will either clear all orders currently issued to the party or disable all exits from the current area when the cutscene starts to protect against the second variant. However, these safeguards are applied inconsistently and most cutscenes are breakable using at least one of the above methods.

Speedrunning Uses

• Breaking the cutscene that plays when you first arrive in Athkatla
• Breaking the cutscene in which Gaelan teleports you to his house in the slums
• Breaking the cutscene when you enter Suldanesslar
• Breaking the cutscene when Irenicus spawns in hell

Different Area Dialogue

Split your party up between areas by initiating dialogue improperly.

Method

To perform this trick, leave a character who is trying to approach the PC to initiate dialogue (such as an NPC removed from the party) behind in an area, and have the PC travel to another area. In the new area, send the PC to the co-ordinates the NPC is at in the previous area, and the NPC will initiate dialogue. This is probably because the code to determine whether two characters can enter dialogue checks only their co-ordinates to see if they are next to each other, and does not check they are in the same area.

In order for the trick to work, it is required that after leaving the first area it remains loaded in the game's memory - whether or not this is the case depends upon the scripting of the individual areas, but a useful rule of thumb is that the game will keep loaded large areas when you enter smaller areas branching off them, but not the other way around. Useful cheats to use when planning tricks involving this glitch are CTRL-G and CTRL-X. The former lists the area codes of currently loaded areas, while the latter shows the co-ordinates of the point under the mouse cursor.

It is useful to note that, for unknown reasons, in Baldur's Gate II, having a party member join (or rejoin) the party in any area will keep that area loaded in the game's memory permanantly until you reload a save, which significantly broadens the range of uses of this trick. This method for keeping areas loaded has not yet been tested in any other games.

Speedrunning Uses

• Involved in breaking the cutscene after the summoning of the Avatar Of Rillifane in Baldur's Gate II. Video

Dimension Door Quick Travel

Teleport across the map by using Dimension Door as you activate an area transition.

Variant 1

Cast the Dimension Door spell and leave the area before the spell is finished. In the new area you'll be placed at the coordinates at which you would have been placed in the old area (check by pressing l or x). Addionally, maps sometimes have different coordinate systems, which can make this trick highly effective.

Variant 2

Cast the Dimension Door spell and leave the area before the spell is finished. The area you're leaving to must create an autosave. Then reload the autosave. The character will be misplaced at position (0,0) (or the nearest possible if blocked).

Speedrunning Uses

• In Baldur's Gate to get into BG-City while the bridge is still raised
• In Baldur's Gate to quickly zone up the north-east and north parts of BG-City
• In Baldur's Gate to get in and out of Candlekeep before chapter 6
• Numerous times in Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale to skip too much walking

Example video

Dimension Door Area Transition

Force yourself into a wall by casting Dimension Door on yourself.

When the Dimension Door spell is targetted at the caster itself, (s)he moves a tiny bit, depending on the position of the mouse click in the character's circle. This can be used to move the character closer to a wall, not normally reachable by simply walking towards the wall. This has been successfully used in Baldur's Gate I to trigger the area transition of the palace without opening the door. See this video

Encumbered Talk

Avoid walking up to a NPC by being unable to do so.

If you are encumbered and try to talk to a NPC, then the dialog starts immediately as long as the NPC is within sight range of you. This removes the need to walk to them.

Inventory Stack Underflow

Give yourself 65535 of an item by reducing its count below 0.

Baldur's Gate I and Icewind Dale I

Note: This only works sometimes in vanilla Baldur's Gate (without ToSC installed). This is because drinking potions from the inventory is broken and works only occasionally. Though because the drink potion is a bit slower than with TOSC installed you can dupe a potion without having performed an action the round before, saving 6 seconds.

Note: This only works on Icewind Dale if you haven't installed Heart of Winter.

Potions

Open the inventory and drink any potion (not the one you want to dupe). Then drink the potion you want to dupe and pick it up so that it floats. After a few seconds the stack count of the floating potion is reduced. Then quickly drop the floating potion in the inventory, drink it and pick it up again. The stack count will wrap around to 65535. You can also put the potion into the inventory of another party member instead of keeping it floating in the inventory, with the same effect.

Scrolls

Cast the scroll, quickly open the inventory and pick up the scroll while it's still being casted. Repeat this to produce the underflow.

Baldur's Gate II and Icewind Dale II

In Throne Of Bhaal, this can only be used on stackable non-consumables. To execute the trick, right-click on a potion in the inventory, select 'Drink Potion', then swap a gem into the inventory slot the potion was in. Return to the game and wait a round. The gem will be consumed, reducing the number in the stack to zero. Repeat this process to reduce it further, wrapping it around to 65535.

Wands that are not destroyed upon reaching 0 charges can be wrapped around to 65535 charges in this way. However potions, scrolls, missiles, and wands that are destroyed at zero charges will be used up by this trick.

Note that the technique of choosing 'Drink Potion' and then swapping items in the inventory is also used in the Use Any Item's Abilities glitch.

For Icewind Dale II make sure that the game is paused in the inventory. To do this either hit space before entering the inventory or use the button in the lower right of the UI while in the inventory.

Speedrunning Uses

• Duplicating gems near the start of Baldur's Gate II and selling them to immediately gain the 15000GP needed to pay Bodhi or Gaelan.
• Duplicating potions and scrolls in any of the current Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale runs.

Item Recharge

Fill an item's charges capacity at a vendor.

Simply sell the charged item and buy it back. The item is then completely charged to the maximum number of charges.

Polymorph-Teleport

Force yourself through a wall by Polymorph-ing into a large creature.

Variant 1

Stand near a wall where you want to hop over. Then fill the surrounding space around you with NPCs (Party members, monsters, familiars, ...). Then polymorph into a creature which takes more space than the character's natural form, like a Mustard Jelly. If the character doesn't fit in the current location (because it's surrounded by other creatures), then the game checks the nearest possible location where it could place you. This nearest location can be behind a unpassable wall if everything else is populated with creatures.

Variant 2

Rather than polymorphing, releasing a familiar will have a similar effect. The familiar is placed directly under the PC, and the PC is teleported to the nearest possible location.

Speedrunning Uses

• In Baldur's Gate, to skip parts of the Labyrinth by using a greenslime that's walking by Video
• In Baldur's Gate to get in and out of Candlekeep Video
• In Baldur's Gate 2 to skip most of Spellhold
• In Baldur's Gate 2 to skip parts of Irenicus' Dungeon

Scripted Teleport Breaking

Interrupt a NPC's script by confusing the scripting engine.

Baldur's Gate

With a solo character, initiate a dialog with an NPC who normally teleports the player to a different location. After the dialog ends (and the action block of the dialog is about to be run) pause the game and give the character another command. The key is to pause the game immediately after the dialog ends (i.e. by pressing enter and space very quickly). The character should then stay in the current area without being teleported.

The glitch is more complicated if there are other party members. Then all party members need to give the command to leave the area and the dialog needs to be started by the PC. After the dialog, all characters then need to be assigned a different command, e.g. to walk somewhere.

It's currently not known whether this glitch is reproducible with all dialogs.

Baldur's Gate II

Note that unlike in Baldur's Gate I, dialogues in Baldur's Gate II cannot be broken by giving characters another command after the teleport script initiates.

However, if you leave the area between the teleport script activating and the teleport occuring, you will be teleported to the same co-ordinates in the new area instead, like the first variant of the Dimension Door Glitch. For many dialogues this will break the game and leave you trapped in a cutscene; for some it will not. Furthermore, if an autosave is created upon leaving the area, loading this autosave will normally cancel the teleport.

Speedrunning Uses

• To avoid being teleported to Candlekeep by Eltan in Baldur's Gate I (not in any submitted speedrun) Video
• To perform the big chapter skip in Baldur's Gate I, involving two different dialogs (current multi segment Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate TOSC runs) Video

Talk Lock

Force a neutral target to remain neutral while you kill it.

When an NPC has a blue circle (meaning they are neutral and not immediately hostile), pause, talk to them, then give a different command (like move to a different location) and unpause. The NPC will be waiting for your character to talk to them, and will not perform any action until one round goes by. You can repeat talking to them as many times as desired. This can be used to kill the most powerful enemies in the game with no resistance, as long as they are initially neutral (blue circle).

Also note that this glitch instantly rotates the targetted NPC to face the talk-locking character, which may be helpful in setting up a backstab.

Speedrunning Uses

• Killing various bosses (Bohdi, Sarevok, Aran Linvail, Gaelan Bayle, etc.)
• Running past NPCs that would otherwise delay you (e.g. the dryads and shadow thief in Irenicus's lair)
• Skipping the Severed Hand cutscene in Icewind Dale 1
• Protecting the Dukes from the Arrows of Detonation in the Duchal Palace (current Baldur's Gate ToSC multi segment route)

Unpause Menus

Allow the game to remain running while in a menu.

Without Throne Of Bhaal installed, the only menu that can be unpaused is the inventory. To do this, just enter and exit a container in the inventory, and the game will unpause.

With Throne Of Bhaal installed, every menu except the inventory can be unpaused. To do this, enter the map screen, and from there enter the menu you wish to enter unpaused.

This bug can be used for levelling up, memorising spells or managing the inventory without losing any time in menus.

Use Any Item

Activate an item's ability, whether you have the capability to use it or not.

Method

To perform this trick, right-click on a potion in the inventory and choose 'Drink Potion', then swap an item with a usable ability (including potions, scrolls, weapons with castable powers, etc.) into the inventory slot containing the potion. Leave the inventory, and the item's ability will be used, targetted on the caster.

Note that the technique of choosing 'Drink Potion' and then swapping items in the inventory is also used in the Inventory Stack Underflow glitch.

For Icewind Dale II make sure that the game is paused in the inventory. To do this either hit space before entering the inventory or use the button in the lower right of the UI while in the inventory.

Speedrunning Uses

• Allows non-mages to cast spells from scrolls Video
• Allows non-warrior to use Vhailor's Helm

Run Speed Enhancements

Travel faster than a normally hasted character.

Method

Several character models seem to have an innate speed boost. These speed boosts stack with haste. Access to these models can be achieved with a shapeshifting spell. The following models, when hasted, provide a faster speed than a hasted human:

• Iron Golem ~45% faster
• Giant Troll ~25% faster
• Earth Elemental ~15% faster

Other models, including Fire Elemental, Greater Wolfwere, Mind Flayer, and Wolf were slightly slower (~10%) than a human's speed.

Ogre, Flind, Spider, Mustard jelly, and bear models are much slower (~50%+) than a human's speed.

Speedrunning Uses

• Anywhere that a character needs to travel to a point quickly.