theacefes

Thank you. I uploaded one of the romance themes. I don't know who I'm going to use it for yet.

We've been working on it for a couple of months literally. I couldn't tell you total game time in hours but it's going to be four chapters in terms of story.

I was wondering though will there be any assumtion made about the Bhaalspawn's gender?

Nope. Other than you had to have been male or female, not BOTH. (haha NI joke...I'll stop now.)

Wauv that is soo good to see, I really wish you well on your journey. ...and if you need some kind of help - say so

Thanks and we certainly will.

The screenshots look really promising. And my goodness, I love all your music work. There's such an epic quality to it. If you have any other tracks you're willing to share with us (be they relavant to the mod or not) I'd love to hear them. I love all the stuff I've heard so far.

Thanks. It was the coolest thing seeing the new title screen with the new music. It was like "Wee! I broke the game!"

My sigs at the bottom link to a few places with my music if you wish.

Picture it this way. Someone handed us the BG game completely empty with only areas. We have to fill in the rest.

That's the best way I can sum it up.

We're not set on a level cap yet but technically you can venture into any area you could venture to with TuTu. So no BG2 areas.

Here is where we'll put up samples such as screenshots, dialogue, and music from the mod.

Music

Music is a big part of the mod because we redid the whole soundtrack. At this point, everything but the NPC songs and the chapter screen songs are done. This includes the background area music and battle music.

I've posted some samples on my personal website.

Click for Music Samples Need to update the links so no samples for now.

Obviously there is a common theme in terms of melody for the mod.

Screenshots

We'll try and post them as often as possible.

Title Screen. We altered some stuff as you can see.

One of the um...first quests you can do. But hey, 30 gold is 30 gold right?

Kidnapped!

Oooh...mysterious.

We want to get different background for the chapters screens of course.

Still in the Prologue.

Ready to go!

This guy has a short temper

Some more Kifor stuff. He is by far my favorite NPC of the joinables.

In Baldur's Gate...

Meeting Stewart. He's not the social type.

I thought it would be appropriate if 30 years later there was still some guy (not the same one of course) standing with nothing better to do than give directions.

Meeting yet another new friend.

Wow! You guys seem to have done a lot of work already.

 

Will you tell us just a little more about the story? I guess I'm not alone who is curious about whether the protagonist is a Bhaalspawn or a new person--whether we'll see some of the old characters there--and whether there are any ties with the Baldur's Gate Saga. Not "Will Jaheira be in my party?" but rather "Hey, maybe we'll see Tiax frolicking out there somewhere, still planning to rule all! Or Quayle's circus, or?.."

Well, I don't want to give too much away but as we said it is thirty years after ToB and it is directly connected to the BG saga. The protagonist is not a Bhaalspawn, though you may see some familiar faces.

Basically, Baldur's Gate as well as the Sword Coast has become under a semi-tyrannical rule. One of the grand dukes who run the city did some not so great things, and an organization has approached you about getting things back to the way they were after Sarevok was killed. Since BG is a major city, everything that happens there affects the Sword Coast in one way or another.

Now, you can help or hinder this organization, and there are a number of things that need to be done so it's not purely "Go kill this guy, get me that necklace" Fed Ex stuff. We're trying to leave as much room for role playing as possible and not make it seem like the player has only one path to follow. We also don't want to assume too much of the Bhaalspawn in the BG saga (we already did a lot by saying they remained a mortal).

I hope that helped.

Here are some possible FAQs but feel free to add more if there is a question not here but you think should be answered.

Current Build: Alpha 14. We have also for the most part, completed the new GUI add on.

Weidu?

Yes.

Requirements?

Our current builds use EasyTutu. We have BG1 and BG2 full installations.

Story?

The mod takes place thirty years after ToB. There are 4 planned chapters currently.

NPCs? You said there were NPCs.

Yeah, there are 6 new ones. You can find out more about them on the mod's webpage.

Romanz?

At least three of the NPCs will have a romance (or something) of sorts. This may change.

Exactly how far along are you guys? Is this for real or will it end up in the trash?

Total Conversions are very big projects in terms of writing and coding. Considering development has only been going on for a couple months, we've gotten a lot done.

What the hell is this about a GUI change?

We decided that as long as we were changing everything else, it might be fun to have a new GUI. The artwork itself is basically the same, but we've given it a darker, more faded look.

What?! I like the BG GUI! Don't go changing it on me! Also, why would you needlessly add an extra 40mb to the mod install?

Don't worry. The GUI will be a separate install from the mod. We're doing our best to keep the download size of the TC a reasonable amount.

Beta Testers?

Not yet. But we will call for them when the time comes.

Can I help?

We would prefer the writing to be consistent throughout the mod but we welcome ideas for non plot-related subquests, so long as they take place in the Sword Coast. We may also be looking for voicers but again, when the time comes.

I don't see my question here.

Post it. One of us will answer it.

The woman standing in front of you seems vaguely familiar. Her lackeys surrounding you twirl their blades; no doubt they are attempting to frighten or intimidate you. Some are scowling at you while others are chuckling quietly, but none of them make any move to attack you. The woman smiles and walks up to you, extending her hand.

"Well, well...it's been a while."

Mysteriousness!!!!!!

Shadow Hand is a new total conversion mod that takes place in the Sword Coast thirty years after the end of ToB. Hopefully, the mod will feel like a whole new game, as it features an original story, lots of subquests, NPCs, monsters, items, etc...and 6 new NPCs. Players will start at level 1 in the town of Ulgoth's Beard. Our current builds require TuTu (we are using EasyTutu) to be installed but that may change depending on how the mod development goes.

This forum is where Mike1072 and I will post progress updates and answer questions about the mod.

Enjoy.

Nice! Keep it up, you can do it!

(And erm..I swear I will get that voicing to you....)

Cool then! Keep up the good work!

Oh, I see what you're saying. When I was testing voicing for my mod, I got the lips to move for the duration of the lines, but they did seem like a badly dubbed film at times. Other times they seemed fine though.

Oh, nooooo! Adam's tool doesn't take into account the duration of the line it creates an FXE for like 1 sec duration for every clip. (Sigh.) well, it's back to me editing Rogue Dao's clips then. I guess if it sounds too good to be true, it is. So, a set back for me, as I now have the 110 files I thought I was done with AND I will have to re-edit all the references back to 20 letters. ARGH! Good thing is that every line is referenced for every file in an XLS voicing spreadsheet, so at least I know what needs changing. But a damn waste of time nontheless.

Wait...just use the Delay function..no? His tool worked for me just fine.

I know what you mean about the testing. My system is pretty decent and it's a pain to have to keep running the module to see if "that one cutscene" worked.

Keep going!!

Thank you!

I can't wait to play this mod.

Dude! Email me the link if you please!

Oh good! I'm glad you liked it!

What about a hetero flamboyant man?

Updated my NPC creation tutorial.

Well, Sarah is a WeiDU mod, so it should be compatible with most other WeiDU mods. I'll list any incompatibilities as I find them. Please report your issues with the mod in the bugs thread first, so we can figure out if there actually is an incompatibility.

Thanks.

NOTE: This section does contain hints of spoilers.

1) I can’t find Sarah and/or she’s not in the place you said she’d be!

Did you actually install the mod (this involves running the Setup-Sarahtob-v2beta.exe application)? Did you try to install Sarah with a TC (total conversion) or any other mod that is not compatible with Sarah?

2) When I tried to talk to Sarah, she got mad at me and walked away!

Are you playing with an evil PC? Were you rude to Sarah?

3) Sarah is saying funny things that don’t make sense!

Talk to her and ask her if she’s okay.

4) Sarah won’t romance me!

Does your PC fit the requirements? Have you been nice enough to Sarah where she’d want to romance you?

5) I was romancing Sarah and all of a sudden she stopped talking to me!

Have you been nice to her? Try asking her if she’s okay. Remember, Sarah feels most comfortable in the forest, so if she's got something important to say, she probably won't say it in the middle of a crowded city. If you’ve pissed her off in some way, she probably has broken up with you, and chances are she won’t want to be your friend anymore either. It’s amazing she’s stayed in the party at all!

6) Bodhi took Sarah! What do I do?!

Get her back.

7) Sarah isn’t working like she should, and none of the above helps!

Post your problem in the Report Bugs thread. Make sure to include your WeiDU install log and/or your Sarah DEBUG file. It helps greatly if you describe the problem you are having in detail.

8) Does this mod mean that Auren will now be romanceable?

No but Banana! might.

9) Hey! Her quest hasn't happened yet and the game is nearly over!

Are you romancing her?

Frequently Asked Questions About Sarah for BGII

1) WeiDU?

Yes. Should that even be included in FAQs anymore?

2) What is this mod?

This mod adds Sarah, a chaotic good female human ranger, to the cast of NPCs to Baldur’s Gate II. Her stats are as follows:

Name: Sarah

Gender: Female

Alignment: Chaotic Good

Class: Ranger

STR: 16

DEX: 17

CON: 15

INT: 14

WIS: 12

CHA: 10

Proficiencies:

Bow and Long Sword

3) Where can I find Sarah?

Sarah can be found in the northeast area of Umar Hills (AR1100).

4) Is Sarah romanceable/will she have a friendship with my PC?

Your PC can attempt to romance Sarah if they fit the following requirements:

- Female

- Human, half elf, or elf

- Of good or neutral alignment

- Reputation above 12

If your PC does not meet these requirements or if you would prefer not to romance Sarah, you can also befriend her and she will have a complete friendship track.

If you finished the SoA portion of the romance, you can continue with it into ToB. Sarah has multiple epilogues and can be summoned by the Fate Spirit.

5) Anything else we should know about Sarah?

Sarah is somewhat shy, and gets very nervous around crowds of people, so don’t expect her to be a chatterbox while in the city. As a ranger and also having a general love for the forest (she *did* spend much of her life in one), Sarah would rather have a meaningful conversation while out and about in nature, not in the slums of Athkatla. She is sensitive, and will take offense if you treat her badly, and possibly even leave. Just like any other person, she wants to be listened to, and she will want to hear your input on just about everything she talks about. Sarah will have a quest, however, you must be romancing her for the quest to happen.

6) Will Sarah have any cross-mod?

Sarah will banter with Auren, but as for cross-mod with other mod NPCs, that would be a Cross-Mod Banter Pack query.

7) What are the requirements for installing this mod?

This mod requires you to have Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn, installed on your computer. The Throne of Bhaal expansion is not required but Sarah does have content for ToB. Sarah is available for both Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux systems.

8) Who created this mod?

Sarah is a mod by theacefes. You can find a complete list of credits in Sarah’s readme.

9) What's this about a beta?

Sarah V2 is an public beta...which means that although she includes content for both SoA and ToB, the ToB portion is not fully voiced and is still in testing...however the SoA portion has been through multiple releases and is complete.

Keep up the good work, Bri.