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Time of Icewind Dale Content's Availability in the BG Campaign [SoD and IWD spoilers]


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9 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

All the IWD1 stuff will be in your override folder (or biffed, or whatever).  The campaign will be selectable to play on its own, just like the Black Pits. 

But, there won't be any built-in story hooks in the BG campaign(s) to get you to IWD1, and the IWD1 areas will not, by default, be on your BG1/SoD/BG2 worldmap.  Contrast with IWD2, which will be selectable as its own campaign and will be integrated into the BG1/SoD/BG2 campaign and worldmap.

 Because the content of the IWD1 campaign will be present in the game files, it should be fairly straightforward for some enterprising modder to add hooks to send you there in the BG campaign.  Not very different from how Roxanne added a hook for the Black Pits adventure to her Sandrah mod, or how argent77 added a hook for the Trials of the Luremaster adventure to BG2EE.

So, one modder could get you there via the Wish scroll, and another modder could get you there via a dude with a boat.  IWD-in-EET will make the content available, but modders can take that last step to actually get the player from BG to IWD.

huh, I'm not sure if it's language barrier but please quote the part of my posts that says IWD1 base won't have a story hook in the game. You can select it from campaign menu, yes, but there most definitely will be a way to get there during bhaalspawn saga after installing this mod (even though it won't be as smooth as IWD2, HoW and TotLM, since it has to take place in the past/alternate timeline). As mentioned in my post, it's possible even now (via option 3 - Yxunomei's quest).

Since the current implementation is not ideal (a bit far fetched and makes sense only if Belhifet is still alive), in this topic we're discussing other ways for story hooking IWD1 base content that would follow the ramifications I've presented (available at any time - BG1 or BG2, no story conflicts with SoD and IWD2, as few changes to the script as possible). Based on this feedback the default way how to get there during Bhaalspawn story will be decided (lot's of great ideas has been posted already - thanks for all the posts, guys). There are like 100 pages of vanilla BG NPC interjections (BG1 as well as BG2 ones) written already for IWD1 content by @AWizardDidIt. Such huge part of this mod won't be left for other mods to implement (external mods will be able to alter the implementation of course).

Edited by K4thos
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23 minutes ago, Vlan said:

I guess that we won't see a BGT version of this mod ?

nope sorry. IWD2 portion of the mod is heavily dependent upon EEex. And IWD1 content relies on lots of EE unique opcodes, triggers and actions. The mod won't be ported to old engine. There is NEJ, though, if you're looking for something similar.

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3 hours ago, K4thos said:

 

huh, I'm not sure if it's language barrier but please quote the part of my posts that says IWD1 base won't have a story hook in the game. You can select it from campaign menu, yes, but there most definitely will be a way to get there during bhaalspawn saga after installing this mod (even though it won't be as smooth as IWD2, HoW and TotLM, since it has to take place in the past/alternate timeline). As mentioned in my post, it's possible even now (via option 3 - Yxunomei's quest).

Since the current implementation is not ideal (a bit far fetched and makes sense only if Belhifet is still alive), in this topic we're discussing other ways for story hooking IWD1 base content that would follow the ramifications I've presented (available at any time - BG1 or BG2, no story conflicts with SoD and IWD2, as few changes to the script as possible). Based on this feedback the default way how to get there during Bhaalspawn story will be decided (lot's of great ideas has been posted already - thanks for all the posts, guys). There are like 100 pages of vanilla BG NPC interjections (BG1 as well as BG2 ones) written already for IWD1 content by @AWizardDidIt. Such huge part of this mod won't be left for other mods to implement (external mods will be able to alter the implementation of course).

Not saying the work should be wasted, only a question of how to get to it. I had read your posts a long time ago, maybe I missed the bit about Yxunomei. 

I'm concerned that clearly there are many different ideas sbout how to do this (doesn't SoD already have a mysterious hooded figure?). And in trying to satisfy everyone, modders might find it more difficult to disable your method, in addition to adding a new one. Maybe your IWD hook can be in a distinct component? That way a player who knows they want to use a different method can simply not install that component. 

(And all of the writing done by AWizardDidIt would be used regardless.)

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@K4thos Thank you for clearing up the confusion a bit. Sorry to repeat myself from before: But I for one REALLY dislike the "book as a framing device" idea, as well as anything that prevents rewards from carrying over. I'm also glad to hear that AWizardDidIt's work won't go to waste! 😃

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1 hour ago, Ser Elryk said:

But I for one REALLY dislike the "book as a framing device" idea, as well as anything that prevents rewards from carrying over.

 
 

Then why don't you go ahead and just play IWDEE instead ? devil.gif Ouh, but that's the whole point of the....never mind. 

Edited by Jarno Mikkola
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@K4thos Glad we could all be of help. It's good to know that there will be a default method of access native to IWD-in-EET.

 

One thing I would like to add: I know there's been some dislike regarding the book framing method of access -- which I largely also dislike. I am, however, very much a fan of having the option to have the book reading cinematics -- play. Specifically, I think the opening should play upon initial travel to IWD1 areas -- start of IWD1-- and the closing cinematic should play upon defeat of Belhifet in Easthaven -- end of IWD1. Is that something you plan to do K4thos?

What do the rest of y'all think? (Particularly @Ser Elryk :) )

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55 minutes ago, Ser Elryk said:

@Lightbringer Sounds like it'd be a nice touch. But I'm not familiar enough with them to say for sure. I've been saving my first IWD playthrough for IWD-in_EET for years lol.

Then you should very much see the IWD intro, and after seeing that, you should reask your self, how do you feel now.

Which also is the point I posted earlier.

Edited by Jarno Mikkola
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8 hours ago, Daxtreme said:

I'm not sure because it's been discussed a lot, but what is the actual plan as for carrying over stuff from IWD1? Will your XP and gear carry over the main BG campaign?

doing otherwise would be against majority of posts in this topic. I promised to take the feedback into account, so yeah, everything will carry over (one way or another).

Edited by K4thos
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@K4thos I've been thinking about what others have put forth as suggestions on how we ought to be able to access IWD1 content. Instead of having the genie send you back in time as a one-time affair perhaps he could open a two-way portal to Kuldahar that would allow you to go back and forth between present-day Faerun and erstwhile Icewind Dale? I'm not sure how this would jibe with DnD lore but it would certainly keep players from getting burned out midway through the campaign. It may be easier to balance IWD this way as you wouldn't be expected to finish it all in one go. Of course, the jackass genie would tamper with the portal and send you to Easthaven requiring you to reach Kuldahar before being able to return. Maybe this would be more in keeping with the original aim of EET: promoting continuity instead of restricting the player's world map destinations.

Edited by The_Rock
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1 hour ago, The_Rock said:

@K4thos I've been thinking about what others have put forth as suggestions on how we ought to be able to access IWD1 content. Instead of having the genie send you back in time as a one-time affair perhaps he could open a two-way portal to Kuldahar that would allow you to go back and forth between present-day Faerun and erstwhile Icewind Dale? I'm not sure how this would jibe with DnD lore but it would certainly keep players from getting burned out midway through the campaign. It may be easier to balance IWD this way as you wouldn't be expected to finish it all in one go. Of course, the jackass genie would tamper with the portal and send you to Easthaven requiring you to reach Kuldahar before being able to return. Maybe this would be more in keeping with the original aim of EET: promoting continuity instead of restricting the player's world map destinations.

Thing is, where would the genie place the two-way portal ? As placing it anywhere except a specific point in the map ... can't be essentially done, as the game doesn't have teleport to a specific point ... except for the ToB function and the ToB uses that.

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