Isewein

It's a simple typo in the .tp2. The last block under epilogues is set to copy rh#eva4.2da twice; instead change it to ~evandra/epilogue/rh#eva.2da~ ~override/rh#eva5.2da~ for "Romance, PC ascends".

Just wanted to drop a quick line and say thank you for those! They look very different than the standard BG style, but I've been using them for NWN.

I for one never understood why people feel that too many interjections by a mod NPC "hijacks" the game. 1) In BG1 Charname is hardly that special; not the whole group has to revolve around them. They are adventuring companions. I can see the concern for ToB, at best. 2) Why install Mod NPCs in the first place if you don't want to see as much new content as possible? 3) The conditions for these sort of multi-NPC-banter are so unlikely to be fulfilled anyway (have all participants alive in the party at the right time and place) that more of it makes it more likely that you at least see some. I really love discovering these little content easter-eggs. Your writing is superb, and I'd be shocked to hear anyone wouldn't want more of Vynd's snarky, deadpan attitude if they take him along for the ride. EDIT: While I'm at it, selfishly demanding more content from poor busy modders, the one thing I really missed when playing with Vynd were crossmod banters... Wish he threw a snarky remark at Indira or made fun of Finch here and there! He might even get along with Isra ... initially.

Homeward Bound or Ninde? There are clear references to Ninde ToB on SHS, but the download link seems to never have been updated. Dropped Rhaella a PM. As for Homeward Bound, it somehow ended up a relic on TeamBG Forums (2010 version at least; no idea if there was a more recent one). Download there still works. EDIT: Never mind about Ninde; the download link in the forum is outdated but the page has the most recent version 2.2 as suggested above.

Ninde ToB was adopted by @Rhaella who is still active. Don't know whether she has plans for EET compatibility, however? Has anyone tried making Homeward Bound work under EE or EET? I realise it not being hosted on any of the active sites has let it fall under the radar, but it's the only one of Berelinde's mods not in the list.

Wow, that is without doubt the unlikeliest multi-romance constellation I have ever read of.

The talking letter is indeed introduced by the NPC Project to keep track of variables. Did he mention something about it before leaving or is this pure conjecture? Tiax is a cleric of Cyric, so it could make sense, but if it was part of the NPC Project he would definitely have brought it up in a dialogue. Are you sure it's nothing to do with your reputation?

It seems Domi has not been seen around for a while, but I nevertheless felt it was the decent thing to do to leave some remarks upon completion of this wonderful mod. At the very least, it might encourage someone else to give it a try. Icewind Dale II is not an easy game to enjoy. While writing and scripting are well executed in some areas, others are lacking even the most basic aspects of immersion. This is exacerbated by the bad pacing and gratuitous padding of some of the more tedious dungeons, especially during the mid-section of the game (the Ice Temple and Dragon's Eye are the worst offenders). Apparently the game lacked an effective lead writer, accounting for the disjointed impression different sections of the game give. In the forgotten corners of the internet you can still trace the development of this last IE game, which was intimately linked to the planned Baldur's Gate 3 (foreshadowed in the IWD2 intro). It is but a slight exaggeration to say that the real history of Black Isle of the time is in many ways more intriguing than the lackluster narrative of IWD2. To be frank, I think it highly unlikely that I should ever have finished Icewind Dale II at all, were it not for my curiosity about this mod considering Domi's excellent writing for the BG1 NPC Project. Following advice on the forums, I went with the core party of Sir Nord, Hildury, Salomeya (multiclassed to Demarch of Mask), Diriel and Nikosh (as dual Thief/Diviner). I could easily imagine swapping out Nikosh or Diriel, but I did not want to play a rogue myself and wanted to try out the infamous Diriel romance option. That team worked very well on core difficulty, and thanks to 3rd edition rules you can really customise these characters in any direction you want in IWD2 anyway. Initially I wasn't all that sold on the tone of IWD2 NPC, which seems to follow the style of BG2 (that strange combination of mature themes and absurd humour) more than the IWD1 NPC Project does. The straightforward, classic heroic fantasy of Kulyok's IWD1 NPCs went well with the feel of that game and kept me going through the infinite hordes of enemies. I therefore feared Domi's more 'realistic' writing might clash with the game, but I'm happy to conclude that, for this party at least, it turned out not to be the case. IWD2 differs from its predecessor in that it essentially pushes you towards playing Lawful Neutral-verging-on-Evil mercenary types (albeit unintentionally so, I presume, simply due to the unpolished nature of the game). The touches of moral ambiguity introduced by leading what is essentially a band of dregs, most of whom hate each others' guts, contrast very nicely with the heroic band of adventurers theme of IWD1 NPC Project, and fits right in with IWD2. I also found it nothing short of a stroke of genius to solve the so frequently problematic issue of lacking character motivation for an Evil PC to take up sidequests by having Sir Nord be the factual co-leader of the expedition. This allowed me to roleplay the sort of Elf that would actually take up with Diriel without ignoring major parts of the game’s content. One criticism I have is that the mod was obviously written with a human PC in mind. I recognise that romance options for non-human PCs (such as Diriel) were added later on following popular demand, and while they themselves are written flawlessly, the character background assumed for the PC in Sir Nord's talks especially really only works for a human or at least half-elven PC. But it’s a minor inconsistency and only comes up occasionally. With some mental gymnastics I could make it work regardless. In general, there are some other parts of the mod which the forums show were introduced later on and not really integrated into the rest of the mod as well as they could have been (a very important and obvious event for Hildury’s character development, for instance, is never referenced by other characters). Enough has been written on the Diriel romance, but it really is exceptional. It is far more than just a romance, because it essentially upends the whole narrative of the game, offering a motivation and goal for the final part of the main quest which goes beyond the mercenary attitude assumed by the game. And Domi managed to integrate it seamlessly without even coding any new areas or quests; it’s extremely impressive. All in all, this is one of the most ambitious mods ever created for any game, and I really do wish it received more of the recognition it undoubtedly deserves outside this forum. For some reason it has become infamous as an example of fanfiction-y romance mods instead, when it really is so much more than that. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone thinking of going through IWD2. PS: ASOIAF readers will particularly enjoy the many little touches and hommages to characters of the series which clearly served as inspiration to Domi. Personally I think those were well done; they never feel like a blunt crossover. Sir Nord taking Cera Sumat gave me goosebumps; that was some great characterisation. The Hound always has been one of my favourite characters in phantastic literature.

Mind you, the race she gets reincarnated as is chosen randomly, is never referenced again in future dialogue and can potentially mess up her specs and usability. It's a nice easter-egg, but I recommend making a save before triggering the dialogue. I had to redo a large portion of the most annoying quest in the game (time jump level) because I didn't want to keep her as a halfling without that even being recognised by other characters.

This looks splendid, and far more geographically accurate thane the old BP Worldmap. It always bugged me how off some distances and locations appeared on that one (that stretch of land between Waterdeep and Neverwinter being cut, for example), despite the lovely design. I think the decision back then was done to limit excessive need for scrolling across areas not used in any mods, but with the better resolution and GUI I understand EE has eliminated that need, right? EDIT: Should this be done I would also suggest moving Watcher's Keep to the Marching Mountains or some other place further south than the promontory next to Murann (?) the BP Worldmap located it on. Most players explore Watcher's Keep during the ToB portion of the game, so this would make the detour a little less outlandish.

It depends how particular you are about your mods. I've still been holding off on transitioning to the EEs, due to a number of old classics not having been adapted yet. But that is slowly changing, and generally it seems that the more unpleasant aspects of the EEs have now been made either optional or can be fixed with mods. You could have the essentially same experience with a few nice, added features such as faster loot collection or weapon switching. And Siege of Dragonspear seems like a decent addition to the story as well; just treat it as a quest mod.

What I found lacking the most during my last playthrough was crossmod with quest mods. Some combinations just seem to ask for interjections! Examples are Eilistraee's Song / The Sellswords and any Drow NPC, the Sune Temple added to Waukeen's Promenade by one of Lava's mods and Isra, Kulyok's Reunion and the Nalia Romance / Auren Aseph, Paladins objecting to backstabbing Balthazar in Wheels of Prophecy... and so many more! I don't quite understand why quest mods seem to get less attention than NPC mods, in general. They're far easier to integrate into the game seamlessly, considering the 6-party-member-limitation. Now that work on the project has recommenced, it'd be great if these could become part of the Crossmod pack as well, eventually.

That sounds really interesting! Although it is hard enough to make room for one new NPC in the SoA party, two of them should be a whole different challenge. I never tried Kivan and Deheriana for just that reason. I take it you have a special interest in unusual paladins, then?

What a comeback! Congratulations, Rhaella! I'm positively sure that even if Evandra turned out merely half as well-written as Adrian and Isra, she'll make for a great addition to an Elven team. Now, if only there were crossmod with Xan and Kivan as a cherry on top...

You absolutely should! The writing is great, as in Kulyok's other mods, but this one fits more smoothly into the story than the others.

Crossmod with Kulyok's Reunion! Seriously, that'd be a great ToB conclusion to their story. Even if it were nothing but some tiny acknowledgment of saving 'their' castle (again).

Great, thanks!

Is there any way to recover old links? I know that content has been preserved, but if for example https://www.gibberlings3.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=2819&page=1 leads into nowhere, can I adapt the link to the new page setup to find the equivalent?

Well, that's true, but none of it could be considered gamebreaking. Worst case some banter refers to the impending confrontation with Sarevok, or a tavern rumour to his political machinations. But these minor inconsistencies were always present in BGT as well, iirc. The ideal solution would be to recreate any ENDOFBG1 instances wherever BGT and BG1NPC et al. applied them, but for replace them with a simple Dead("SAREVOK") check for the EET version instead, I suppose...

I will say, I still wish this functionality could eventually be turned into an optional EET core component rather than remain packaged into an NPC mod by a modder whose writing style, no offense intended, is known to hardly appeal to a majority of players. It's easy enough for myself to simply mirror the few changes as Roxanne has outlined by moving the trigger from Sarevok to the Duke, but I figure there should be many interested in such a feature emulating the original BGT pacing.

New background is lovely! Thank you so much for not going the way of Web 2.0, visually, as so many time honoured places have recently... Keep up the great work!

Hey, you're welcome! So happy to see you're still around and tinkering! This is really one of the most important mods out there; it brings ToB to the standards of SoA and I can only imagine how many hours of work went into it. Don't be scared by the bug reports, people! It's well worth grinding through, and most of them should be fixed by now.

Thanks subtledoctor, that's pretty much exactly what I meant to say. I understand Roxanne's concerns for compatibility. That's why it would be the best compromise to leave such an interlude right after Sarevok's defeat. Seems to me as if it couldn't really break any mods there, as long as the transition proper were kept the same. A little change of pace between all the heavy plots would be appreciated by many, I'm sure. Of course a real quest mod as you describe sounds perfect, but in lieu of someone willing to code this it would be great if at least the basic option to delay the transition (and move it to one of the Dukes) could be included in EET.

Actually I wasn't doubting compatibility; just thought it would be near-essential to give him some interjections in that mod. If you need some proofreading for your translation (assuming you're doing it yourself?) by the way, I'm happy to be of assistance.

Thanks for indulging me! No, I haven't played it yet. In fact, I'm really just asking out of curiosity here - it may be long until I get around to replaying the Trilogy. But as far as I understand SoD starts its mop up operation some time after Sarevok's defeat (story-wise)? While the rest of SoD is said to be linear and thus likely leaves no opportune time for TotSC. That's why I thought it would be nice to give the option for some respite and wandering around after Sarevok's fall, then trigger the transition to SoD by talking to Belt (or whomever), as it was done in BGT. I guess he could tell you about these 'remaining followers', something like that. PS: I should clarify I came up with this idea when doing some nostalgia reading over at the new forums... the last post in this thread, to be precise.