These Dev Secrets Are Hidden Out of Sight in BG3 Act 1 transcript

if you've ever taken a close look at the coordinates on the mini map you may have noticed that walking through a door or down a ladder can move you hundreds of meters from where you started that's because the inside of that building is actually way out here in the void and there are a lot of interesting things hidden out here if you know where to oh what is that and why is there a big a on it I can answer both of those questions so let's start there this this is the Asylum which is what the a stands for how do I know it's called that just a hunch okay and it's written in the game files the developers used this spot to load NPCs in advance so they're ready when needed for certain dialogues and cutcenes as well as items that they don't want lying around in the world where you might stumble onto them a quick disclaimer I'm using external tools to easily reach these locations but this is the unmodded normal version of the game okay let's get started with the goblin raiding party waiting patiently for their chance to attack the Grove if you attack them here the cut scene will actually trigger though the camera does get a little confused open the bloody gate nobody gets in zor's orders provoke the blade and suffer it sting omam hangs out here when he's not in the mikin at Colum though you can't actually talk to him here in fact he won't talk to you anywhere outside of his favorite spot in the underdark here we have the Druid centries that show up in the Grove to announce the attack on the teelings if you do something to annoy The Druids the idle it's gone stolen the time has come remove The Outsiders after voss's Red Dragon destroys the bridge don't worry about those flaming Fists they didn't die they just teleported up here see they're just fine what's on the other side of that bridge anyway it's the road to balder's gate right oh this area looks empty but there's actually something hiding here in a special State called offstage this makes it invisible and non-interactable which is good in this case since the spectator is naturally hostile the reason it's here is because it's waiting to pop out of the iron flask if you actually decide to open it up this unassuming lady is the absolute or more specifically the disembodied voice during the cutscene that triggers when crossing the bridge into the goblin camp this is who is actually talking to you hear my voice obey my command anytime someone other than the narrator speaks in a conversation or cutscene The Voice voice must be attached to somebody loaded into the current map oh hey it's Gerson the bent that proxy found the only purpose of this MPC is to distract you with a bit of dialogue if you're in the Grove when it's time for the teelings to all teleport into their new positions not that he does a great job of hiding it but if he's not around it is pretty jarring but what about those other backup teelings that can show up during the camp party why aren't they also up here in the Asylum because they're already in your Camp all the time you just can't see them because they're off stage just like The Spectator watch out Boulders gate chell's coming for you in fact all six of them are also in your Camp dead because they are the teeling corpses that the Goblins are picking over during the evil Camp party there are some friends of hous also waiting off stage right here if you free hon from his cage but then join the goblins and Slaughter The Grove he'll show up in your camp for revenge and these are the two animals that help him during that fight oh no I hate wolves oh right sorry shadowart I forgot about that whole wolf thing I'll get rid of him for you speaking of howon this book has weirdly complex Mech oh hold on all right Gail this better be important kasus okay as I was saying this book has weirdly complex mechanics its whole purpose is to act as a way of learning about moonrise towers and the shadow curse if you don't find out by talking to Hon or Menara if you kill hon first and then kill Menara this book will show up on her corpse or if you kill manthara first and then kill hon the book will show show up on his body instead if you don't kill H but side with the goblins and raid the Grove once the Goblin party is over and Menara considers stabbing you in your sleep the book teleports into her bag this way if the conversation leads to a fight you can find the book on her corpse If instead you play nice with manthara she'll tell you about moonrise Towers on her own so the book is no longer needed but since it already teleported into her inventory during the conversation she'll still have it if you recruit her during act two all that just to make sure you know where to go next a developer comment in the script file actually calls it the magical teleporting death Journal nearby we have the dark urge hangout of course the butler is here waiting to make his first appearance in Camp also hiding off stage is the dark urge this is the actual player character not a dummy the only reason I can find for him being here is a debug command that puts the dark urge into your party as another Avatar he can't move but he can talk to Companions ala's Bard replacement is also here and unlike most NPCs in the Asylum she can actually be spoken to even if you're not playing as the dark urge is there someone who you think you might love oh come on I won't tell I mentioned the butler waiting to make an appearance in camp and the first time he shows up is to congratulate the dark urge on killing The Bard and to hand over your cloak as a prize this Cuts scene is one of very few in the game that takes place in a special unique location called a private Camp room every Camp has one and on the Act One map each one is hidden 100 M below the camp itself it's wild how much work went into crafting these areas when they may never even be seen by most players if you look carefully during the dark urge cut scene you can spot this painting in the background which isn't anywhere in the normal camp area you can't actually move around in these rooms or in most other dedicated cinematic areas due to the lack of an AI grid which is what the game uses to map out walkable terrain oh and the butler already has that cloak sitting in his bag just asking to be pickpocketed of course mazora is here preparing to show up in Camp camp and chastise will though after that first visit she doesn't return to the Asylum so where is she you guessed it she's just chilling in your Camp off stage the only reason kazador is here in act one is so that he can show up for a few seconds in a dream scene when playing as Avatar asarian and this is the real Cazador from act three not a dummy which is the main reason you don't want to start a fight up here since I mentioned aarian let me show you the location where his romance scene takes place for some reason it has a very small walkable area right here which means you can help yourself to this wine and take a nap in the bed roll next we've got the Raphael gang including these four Raphael dummies with various different hairstyles these were intended to be used in the future for a scene where Raphael comes to Camp to reveal secrets about the companions as you can see that scene was never finished in case you didn't know Raphael was originally called Monitor and he still called that in the game files this is the real Raphael the one that appears at various locations in act one to strike up a conversation next to him is a dummy version of Raphael in Devil form which replaces him in the cutscene after he trans transforms and this is a good time to point out that there's a large chunk of the House of Hope copied into act one just for the short scene but what's out that front door is it a verice nah it's just the albear nest this platform is supposed to be in Grim Forge in front of the sh Temple and sometimes it is I have comb through the game files and done numerous in-game tests and I cannot figure out why this particular platform starts in the Asylum or when and why it teleports into its normal position if you have any idea please let me know speaking of that sh Temple let's take a look around down there again it's not possible to walk in here so moving the camera around is going to have to do the place is pretty stylish for something you can barely see from the ledge Above This Arrow of roaring Thunder is the one that barcus will hand you during the teeling party if you ask him for it it has a unique ID so that the game can teleport it around but it's otherwise a totally normal arrow and these nearby Scrolls don't even have unique IDs they're just normal Scrolls without any reference in the script files so I have no IDE idea why they're here right next to those Scrolls we have this big pile of dream visitors AKA daisies these four in the back are the default versions you technically start with before you customize your own up to four avatars means four defaults are needed these other three duplicates hanging around are backups that are pulled in and disguised as your custom Daisy if you somehow manage to start more than one dream visitor dialogue at the same time all the different Emperor copies are used in the same way as the dream visitors even though you don't actually see him in mind flare form until after act two the emperor is a global character so he shows up somewhere on every map and your Custom Dream visitor is hiding here under the pile speaking of customizing this spot probably looks familiar if not then maybe from this angle or how about now though it's a little crowded in here right nearby we have a spot that is probably less familiar unless you played during Early Access but the modern dream visitor customization spot is over here oh and there's also the dark urge hanging out with four naked bald dudes moving on way above the normal level up spot is this alternate version that is only used during the intro scenes for each origin character if we take a bit of a trip off in this direction we'll find an unexpected little area these colored squares are the backgrounds for each character portrait in the front we have Gail aarian laelle shadowart will carlac hson Minsk Menara and jir ER behind those are all the custom race portrait backgrounds those darker ones in the background are unused and if we look very carefully we can find this tiny little McBeth color Checker Cube okay enough of this diversion let's get back to the Asylum because there is plenty more to see these are the golden path books you can't actually read them but examining them will describe a series of instructions meant to set up a demo of the game and each book also has an Associated spot on the map in the early parts of act one these books have been here a long time since way back in Early Access but even the oldest videos that I can find of the game being shown off during development don't seem to match the situations described in these books the only mention of them in the scripts even says they're obsolete the pouch is empty but the old script has a list of a few random consumables that may have been intended to be inside even though you meet your pixie friend during act two you can use the Bell to speak to her anywhere so she needs to be available even on the Act One map and the monk Spirit back there works the same way this werewolf is never used in the released game but the game files do give us a hint as to who he may have been during development his internal name is we dad and that o RI means that he's associated with one of the origin characters tracing this layer data lets us find that he was designed to show up in a wolf dream in Camp in act one so my guess is that this was originally meant to be Shadow heart's father instead of the normal wolf seen in the final version of the dream on that note here's a look at where that wolf dream cinematic actually takes place Withers is hanging out here until it's time for him to pop out of his sarcos in the Crypt but you can actually click on him and he'll pop out right here what a curious way to awaken you can say that again but he won't appear in your Camp until oh right the oathbreaker night he technically starts in the Asylum but a quirk of his scripting causes him to teleport to your Camp as soon as you get en range to see him as I was saying even though you already talked to Withers he won't appear in your Camp until you visit the Crypt why is there a bear sitting here when you first find houson in the war pins even though he's in Bear form that's the real houson speaking to you but if you ask him to follow you around the goblin camp and then talk to him in bare form you're actually talking to this voiceover dummy bear in the Asylum it's the same situation with this quasit who is the dummy used when talking to shovel here is volo's guide to goblins and here it is again this one is the real one which is teleported into the inventory of the nerdy Goblin Sage as soon as Volo is captured by the Goblins if you talk him into handing it over it will give Gail an Inspiration Point when you read it just like it does here in the Asylum so why is there a second copy if you side with the goblins and raid the Grove while Volo is still in your Camp he'll show up during the party in a nice comfy cage if you talk him into handing over the book you'll get this copy which won't give an Inspiration Point when read Spencer is a very old left over from development that was already up here during Early Access so old in fact that even his related Flags already have deprecated written on them though we can see from those flags that he had some kind of interaction with Will from digging around in the files I can also tell you that Spencer is labeled as a Monster Hunter and that this t Ling in the Grove was meant to be an associate of his but there's not enough information to know who Spencer was really intended to be and speaking of old things from Early Access the dream scenes with the dream visitor were originally very different and took plac in a completely different spot and this is that spot even though all the dialogue and other references to those old scenes have been removed from the files the location used for the cinematics is still in the game hidden away in a corner of the map oh and when you [Music] hear the [Music] river this is supposedly the river she is singing about of course in the released game the dream scenes take place here though there is still a gazebo similar to the one seen in the old version anything interesting inside the skull not really though you can actually walk around a little bit okay I have no idea why those ladders are there the one on the right is internally labeled as a goblin ladder and it's just like many other ladders you see in Act One both in and out of the goblin Camp the one on the left says it's a rope ladder in the files even though it is clearly not made of rope the only other rope ladder is in bal's festering C Cove and it actually is made of rope that reminds me if I try to enter stealth right here I get spotted by boal he's hiding up here until it's time for him to make an appearance in the Cove but he's not off stage just invisible so I can reveal him with volo's eye this is narella who is another unfinished character from Early Access but unlike Spencer she still still has scripts that group her with the other teelings in the Grove and voiced dialogue hidden away in the files it took a fair bit of finagling but I managed to unlock that entire conversation it's actually long enough that I've put the whole thing in a separate video for those that want to see it though I will mention right now that it features a few lines of shadowart mocking you since I know that some of you are into that for now here's what she says if you protect the teelings from the druid attack oh hi hello you surprised me but um thank you for your help with The Druids a real star you are and since she's still in the list of teelings she will disappear from this spot once the other teelings leave the Grove now it's actually possible to reach this Asylum without any mods or external tools it's not the easiest thing to do so bear with me first first you'll need any container that has a sliding lid like this wooden trunk you can find in Camp drop the crate on the ground in this spot in the swamp then click and drag the crate way out here to the right of the specific tree move the cursor up until it switches from St block to not enough space and then release the mouse button next pick a high strength character to pick up and throw one of your other party members but the instant you left click to confirm the throw immediately right click to cancel action swap to another character and kill the one who did the fake throwing pick up their corpse and put it inside the crate close CL the crate and quickly drag and release the crate anywhere nearby while the lid is still closing if you timed it right the crate will go flying off to where you dragged the cursor earlier switch to the living character you first picked up and then save the game reload that same save and you've made it to this act one Asylum did you get all that oh and feel free to drag your dead friend out of the crate and revive them and while we're in the swamp let me show you something else if you pass the investigation check to reveal the true form of the swamp a cinematic will play that shows the transformation from Happy version to evil version there is an entire copy of both versions of the swamp out here in the void just to facilitate that one quick cutscene I specified that crate flinging trick will get you to that particular Asylum because there is one on every map in the game no matter how small for the mountain pass this is the tiny little Asylum the pixie and Monk are here for the same reason as the Act One map since you can talk to them anywhere and the pile of dream visitors and Emperors is also here just like act one though there's an extra one hiding behind them this time this weird bald Daisy is who is talking to you during certain dialogues in the crash but not all of the time for example when speaking to The Inquisitor the real Daisy chimes in don't do it the weapon is how I protect you but when talking to the cave entrance inside the astral prism the bald dummy is the one Speaking don't ask me why this is a GTH yanki ardant who was designed to show up in the infirmary after you got on the doctor's bad side and had to fight your way out he has a bit of dialogue in the files so here it is this mess this is your doing impressive a captain may have use for you report to her immediately I am not in the habit of asking twice istake the captain now the only reference to this other gith is a timeline file the kind used for Idol animations in this case he was meant to be standing in the classroom sharpening a sword on the wetstone the only NPC who does that now is varl if if you save him so the animation would probably look something like this and right here is vth the tiny little level one Lich Queen this is who is speaking to you during the conversation in the crash she's really not so big and impressive after all I mean that plane cter would make anyone look imposing you are permitted to look upon me you are invited to kneel this key was once intended to be required to enter the secret chamber where the blood of Leander is kept if you look carefully at it you can even see that the symbol of Leander is part of the key there's no door to actually unlock with it however there is still a spot that triggers a voice line when you do or don't have the key that door there were similar patterns on a key from earlier but it's a little out of the way what's in this chest nothing special at the moment but when you use the plane cter to enter the astral prism you can't very well keep the prism in your pocket so where does it go while you're in there right here in this chest I mentioned private Camp rooms on the main Act One map but every camp in the game has one so there are a couple for this area too and the only cutscene I know of that can actually use one on this map is when scratch and the Alber Cub wake you up in the middle of the night if you look closely you can see the same rug under the two animal Pals speaking of those private Camp rooms you'd think that's where lazelle's first romance scene would play out but it actually has its own unique location out here which she somehow drags you to even if you set up camp in a cave when you bump into the duar on the right to Grim Forge this is where those boats actually are in fact those duar are already there waiting for you normally there's no way to peacefully reach their boat because you can't swap to another party member during the conversation but because someone else could hop over there if you're in a multiplayer game each of those other dwarves has their own bit of dialogue stay on your own raft you trying to tip is over stop moving idiot one wrong move when you're going in the like been a long day for all of us so don't try nothing funny one step closer and your fish food I wanted to say that there's still way more of this hidden content in the later parts of the game so if you're interested in seeing more please let me know in the comments and it would seem like a good idea to subscribe to the channel so you don't miss it thanks for watching