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Mod ideas for Icewind Dale in Baldur's Gate II


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I hope that Icewind Dale in Baldur's Gate II will quickly became one of most popular modding platform - it connects fresh and not heavily modded storyline (after 500+ mods for BG2 there's not so much space for new NPC) with most moddable engine of BG2. I think that we can say something about our ideas of mods for this system.

 

- Reputation system for Icewind Dale

- Icewind Dale 2 not implemented kits (Mercenary, Giant Killer, Votary, Arcane Trickster, Riddlemaster, Aes Dana, Priest of Selune/Tempus/Bane)

- NPCs from these available in-game: young cleric at Tempus shrine, dwarven woman at Easthaven inn, owner of Nightshade Inn.

 

Post yours!

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Is the idea of using the BG2 engine here to make NPCs available such as with Neverending Journey? What's the advantage of using the BG2 engine for IWD?
Yes, and the advantages... are Join party -command unlike in IwD, the Kits, the mod structures that work in BG2, work in IwDtoBG2... so most of the tweak mods etc. Wish to cast magic missiles in full plate armor? Just pop in one of IR component and let yourself loose, well it actually works in IwD, but that's besides the whole point.

 

-The horde mod... the whole story on the other side of the campaign. But that's far from my ability.

-The cold mod, instead of +1 hit point from resting, the party looses 1 hit point each, because they are outside.

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Cold mod... we were implementing such an idea for never-released, biggest polish mod "Call of the wind", which was a questpack which moved Bhaalspawn team to terrains from Icewind Dale as a quest which could give them some money for rescuing Imoen. But we gone few steps far. Every turn character made saving throw vs. breath or suffer cold damage, constitution score decided how much (from 1d2 to 1d6). There were also traveler's fur cloaks which gave immunity to this effect.

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The first thought I had when I heard this is whether it's feasible... in terms of the sheer amount of work required... to integrate the the IWD saga into the BG series' Bhallspawn saga with for a massive Infinity Engine game gameplay experience. I would imagine this would be done by modifying BGT to include the IWD series.

 

I'll add the caveat that I don't know the story for IWD/HoW and IWD II. From the little bit I played of IWD all I remember is that it starts in the Ten Towns region.

 

Anyway, I could see the following maybe...

 

1) Be sure to complete ToSC quests before completion of BG1, if the player wishes to do them.

 

2) After defeating Sarevok and saving the Sword Coast, the party embarks on a quest that takes them to the IWD series. In my opinion, the really nice part here is you get to take BG1 characters on into IWD/HoW/IWDII. Modders will of course also make custom IWD series NPCs available. I'm assuming that IWD is designed to start the party at level 1... If so, because the party has already gotten to level 7-10 from BG/ToSC, the IWD series encounters will have to be modified to match that higher XP level.

 

3) Upon conclusion of the IWD series the party is captured by Irenicus, and BGII commences. Therefore the BGII series will also need to be revamped for epic level play. I.e., you're then beginning Irenicus dungeon at... what would it be?... something roughly around level 35? (The levels gained from the combination of BG/ToSC and the IWD series.)

 

Perhaps some new spells and items can be introduced for the epic level play that a mod like this will provide. In time, anyway. But starting BGII at roughly level 35 and playing through to the conclusion of ToB at around level 70 should still be satisfying with the existing spells and Weimer's Underrepresented Items, let's say. Of course, as mentioned, all of BGII's encounters would have to be redesigned to match that higher XP level.

 

As far as I can see, the greatest chore for a project like this is reworking the encounters for the IWD series and BGII/ToB for higher level play than they were originally designed. Personally, I would want to see that done via SCS and SCSII scripting.

 

That is a daunting task. A project of this scope would take a large and dedicated team to have any prayer of coming to fruition, I think.

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Lemernis, Icewind Dale story occurs at hmm... other times. F.e. Bane was still alive (not as Iyachtu Xwim). And I think that there's no sense of emerging these stories into one. Call of the Wind was something other: it used the same locations, but most of characters, quest and events were new. It was far more roleplaying than IWD.

 

The biggest problem in emergin BGT and IWD is a great difference in gameplay between these games. IWD is hack'n'slash, BG2 is more story-game. :)

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...
Why is it that you are always reading this whole thing wrong? As the "Icewind Dale in Baldur's Gate II" is a total conversion mod that makes the IwD's story to use the BG2's engine...

And there is already the kind of mod that infuses the IwD's areas etc to the BG2 game, call it Never Ending Journey.

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Okay, thanks Jarno. I guess I'm still not understanding it then. What is the difference between the two? Between "Icewind Dale in Baldur's Gate II" and "Neverending Journey," that is. I guess what I mean is they both sound the same. You play IWD using the BGII engine, so what's the difference?

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Okay, thanks Jarno. I guess I'm still not understanding it then. What is the difference between the two? Between "Icewind Dale in Baldur's Gate II" and "Neverending Journey," that is. I guess what I mean is they both sound the same. You play IWD using the BGII engine, so what's the difference?

 

Three things, I guess.

 

(1) NeJ is integrated into BG2. IWD-in-BG2 is standalone.

(2) NeJ contains, as core content, lots of extra content. IWD-in-BG2 is a pure engine conversion.

(3) NeJ is largely a manual conversion. This means that lots of content (as I understand it) hasn't been carried over or has been modified, and - I think? - it doesn't go all the way to the end of IWD. IWD-in-BG2 is an automated conversion of the whole game.

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I was trying to get Erephine's 1PP Female Dwarves to work with IWD-in-BG2, but no joy. Any chance this might be made to be compatible? Female dwarves that look like female dwarves is just too cool not to use.

 

Also, what's the current status of Widescreen?

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Okay, thanks Jarno. I guess I'm still not understanding it then. What is the difference between the two? Between "Icewind Dale in Baldur's Gate II" and "Neverending Journey," that is. I guess what I mean is they both sound the same. You play IWD using the BGII engine, so what's the difference?

 

Three things, I guess.

 

(1) NeJ is integrated into BG2. IWD-in-BG2 is standalone.

(2) NeJ contains, as core content, lots of extra content. IWD-in-BG2 is a pure engine conversion.

(3) NeJ is largely a manual conversion. This means that lots of content (as I understand it) hasn't been carried over or has been modified, and - I think? - it doesn't go all the way to the end of IWD. IWD-in-BG2 is an automated conversion of the whole game.

 

Okay, I have tried to research this a little more, although it is frsutrating that NeJ does not have an easily accessable readme and FAQ. But from what I can see, Neverending Journey takes IWD's areas and story and transplants them into BG2. Okay.

 

And IWD-in-BG2 converts the entire IWD game to the BG2 engine platform. Got it.

 

Well, my suggestion still stands--although I recognize that it would be far more work than anyone probably wouldever be willing to take on. Near as I can tell, the IWD-in-BGT would be the appropriate platform for combining the the two series of games into one massively long, epic saga.

 

But Jarno, are you saying that NeJ would be the better platform for what I'm suggesting? Because I'm thinking that if you have a total engine conversion then there's no longer any need to do what NeJ does...

 

Now if IWD II uses a different engine than IWD then it's all moot anyway. Just use NeJ then.

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On a purely technical level, IWD-in-BG2 overwrites some BG2 scripts, items, and areas. However, it wouldn't be overwhelmingly difficult for someone who knew what they were doing (and who wasn't me!) to change that. That would give you all the IWD resources in BG2, together with the unbroken BG2 resources. The hard part is adjusting the game content. An alternative would be playing BG1 - then IWD - then BG2 - the same way we play TUTU - then BG2: by character export. (As I say, this isn't my kind of thing; it's just technical data in case someone else wants to have a go.)

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@ Lemernis - Icewind Dale (1281dr) takes place 87 years before Baldur's Gate (1368dr). Drizzt hasn't even been born yet! It's really not a good idea to make this a BGT/BG tutu because of this. That's why Never Ending Journey has made so many changes to the story to bring it into BG2.

 

What we have here is a total conversion, creating an entirely new setting for modding, with absolutely no connection to the Bhaalspawn Saga. It's a blank slate ripe for creative minds to expand. This includes quest mods bringing in the other eight of the Ten-Towns and lots of ruins unexplored. Lots of room to take characters just to 40th level...

 

Now back on topic.

 

As a mod/tweak idea: Make IWD/HoW/TotL Continuous.

 

Finish IWD and either travel to or appear in Kuldahar to talk to Hjollder.

 

Finish Icasaracht, talk to Jorn to return to Lonelywood and talk to Hobart.

 

When finished, return to Lonelywood, then Hjollder to finish the game.

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Lemernis, Icewind Dale story occurs at hmm... other times. F.e. Bane was still alive (not as Iyachtu Xwim). And I think that there's no sense of emerging these stories into one. Call of the Wind was something other: it used the same locations, but most of characters, quest and events were new. It was far more roleplaying than IWD.

 

The biggest problem in emergin BGT and IWD is a great difference in gameplay between these games. IWD is hack'n'slash, BG2 is more story-game. :)

 

@ Lemernis - Icewind Dale (1281dr) takes place 87 years before Baldur's Gate (1368dr). Drizzt hasn't even been born yet! It's really not a good idea to make this a BGT/BG tutu because of this. That's why Never Ending Journey has made so many changes to the story to bring it into BG2.

 

Ah. Okay, thanks. Guess I'll have to play IWD before I can offer any suggestions then. :)

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