[mod] Tales of the Deep Gardens

LavaDelVortel

Tales of the Deep Gardens, one of my first mods, is a quest mod that let you discover new, quite weird and unique place. It's also the very first project from my Colours of Infinity mod series. The mod is available for all BG2 platforms.

Tales of the Deep Gardens allows players to travel through a new land, deep under Faerun; a realm of mystery, dream, Colourful Essences and riddles. Talk to people who may not even see you, try to find the answers to obscure riddles, fight with Living Colours and gather 10 Colours to leave the Gardens. But remember, Dreamer, that this place is something more than just a chain of caves... It may be a Dream you'll not want to wake up from...

Thank to some help I received from other modders, the mod was just updated and now should work even better.

Colours of Infinity download section

saber0

thanks for the updates these are awesome mods!

LavaDelVortel

The mod just got updated. Now it includes a brand new worldmap icon and EE savegame patching! @swit did most of the coding! Check the original post to download the mod.

[Deleted User]

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LavaDelVortel

Well, no, I don't think so. And it's really weird. Especially because when I was working on it I tried to make everything as simple (code-wise) as possible...

Maurvir

I believe I wrapped up ToDG in ToB last night, but the

spell I received from the witch

seems to be malfunctioning. "State of the True Dreamer" has a description of "Invalid: 16777215".

It does seem to work, though.

Casting it turns my PC into a creature resembling a blue elemental.

I'm not sure what it does for her, though.

LavaDelVortel

Sadly the mod was developped in the times when you could never check descriptions of the innate abilities, so my older mods don't have those lines. Perhaps I will add them one day, but the problem is that old CoI mods have a couple of translations and I would need to provide version for each of those languages.

The form itself gives you a boost. Don't remember what, but perhaps something like attacks per round and some AC/resistances Or something similar.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

LavaDelVortel

Thanks for letting me know

Ludwig_II

Hi Lava, just finished your Colours of Infinity mod series and would like to give some feedback if you don't mind. First of all, I think it's obvious that these mods are your earlier mods compared to Southern Edge and Ooze's Lounge. The latter two mods look more refined and more seamlessly fit into BG content than the CoI series. In CoI series, some voice overs have some microphone noise, most item descriptions do not match the styling of other item descriptions in Baldur's Gate series. There were one or two combats where I felt the music was a bit anticlimactic. The most obvious example would be the fight with Incomplete in I Shall Never Forget. I also felt the conversations with Granny in Innershade a bit anticlimactic too. What she tells you about her life story is just way too much coincidence with what you've been through in Baldur's Gate 1.

Now that the negatives are out of the way, I want to talk about the main deal. I absolutely love the atmosphere you created in these mods. The story, the conversations, the music, the colors, the designs, the melancholy, all the little bits and pieces combined into one amazing experience. The reason why I'm writing all of these into this mod's thread is Tales of the Deep Gardens is my favorite one. I seriously didn't want the mod content to finish, and all these CoI mods will always be a part of my BG2 runs from now on.

I liked all of them, but to order them based on how much I liked from most to least:
1) Tales of the Deep Gardens
2) The White Queen
3) Innershade
4) I shall never forget

These mods are a work of art. I am so glad to have finally tried them. Thank you so much for all the work you committed into these mods, and for sharing them with us. I really can't get the music and the atmosphere of Tales of the Deep Gardens out of my head.

LavaDelVortel

Thank you! Yeah, TotDG was my first recognized mod and it started the Colours of Infinity series. The whole mod series was to introduce otherwordly and oneiric experience. They were never to match original Baldur's Gate II quests, but offer advantures for those craving for unusual and quite melancholic stories. That is why I decided that if I am to build up new quest mods (like the Edge or Lounge), they shouldn't join my other series. They use differerent style and atmosphere.
I always had a thing for sad stories, but I suppose CoI shows that much more than my other mods. All of them base on a kind of loss and while there are things I would handle differently these days and there are things I am less fond of today, I suppose I can say they still have that... dream-like something that can be a nice break from the usual "kill some trolls" quests. Because sometimes we want to just go and hunt some monsters and sometimes we want to gather Colours in some weird world, hehe.
Anyway, I am glad you liked them! Thank you for your feedback!

brunardo

Yeah have to agree with @Ludwig_II say these are probaby the best group of mods I have played and the stories/writing was better than half of the original content, bravo!

megamike15

i agree while sill have not played with Yvette the rest is pretty solid. i consider i shall not forget my favorite quest mod.

theacefes

Glad you liked the music, too @Ludwig_II . I had a lot of fun working with @LavaDelVortel on them.

LavaDelVortel

Oh, @theacefes - hi! I remember I had problems finding the right music for Innershade! theacefes saved it and composed all tracks. Some were created by her before I worked on the mod, some was created once we talked and she agreed to help, but my favorite one was made specifically for this mod - the one for the finale in ToB. It's been quite some time, but thank you again for composing those, theacefes

Ludwig_II

Great to know that @theacefes . While I was playing Innershade, I paused the game in the town, laid down on the couch and listened to the music for hours. Seriously, I liked it that much. The music fit so well with the mod’s atmosphere.

Isewein

That's true! The music in Innershade was lovely - I always assumed it was taken from some other game. Great job on composing them, @theacefes !

theacefes

Thanks, that means a lot to hear. Innershade was one of my favorites to work on. It's awesome to see people are still modding and installing mods for these games.

Maurvir

I consider Lava's mods to be canon in my games - to the point I reinstalled several times to get them fully working. I love how they feel like a part of the original game in graphic style and music. Some mods stick out like a sore thumb, but Lava's feel like they were cut content that was restored.

That goes for the music as well. It is both beautiful and fits so well into the game that you almost don't notice it at first. Top notch all the way.

elterin

Hi, Spellhold is down, is there another way to download your mods?

LavaDelVortel

@elterin - All my mods are always available here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/56dr4q8h2q7djri/AACJfi0A2mV7hFlH3eqDLTcEa?dl=0

elterin

Thank you!

Tulgas

Now that indeed was strange journey, and hard to say, good or bad. It probably doesn't belong to BG lore, yet it worth playing.

Definitely a lot put into voice acting, and simultaneously feels like improving it is biggest priority anyway. Liked more quest-ish style of add-on, it's closer to P:T than BG2 in general.

LavaDelVortel

TotDG is my oldest quest, it was created more than 10 years ago and it belonges to Colours of Infinity mod series which is way different from the Athkatlan Ground series you are also trying out. All CoI mods are more oneiric, unusual, bizarre.

seraglio

I just wanted to echo what so many others have said. TotDG was one of my most memorable gaming experiences. It has such atmosphere, such feel, that is so different than anything else. And the MUSIC, OMG its soooo good. I really loved this mod! Great job!

xiaoleiwen

Hi Lava, I'm going to try your Colours of Infinity series (TODG, WQ, Innershade ISNF) during my current playthrough. As someone who love interjections from NPC, I would like to confirm with you, do you add interjections from Vanilla NPCs for the quests that you have added? Asking this because I'm using mainly MOD npcs this time, and I think only Sirene and Xan will have interjections in your quests. If you have added interjections for Vanilla NPCs, I will swap and take them for your quests~

Do you have any suggestion when is the best time to start your quests? Chapter 2 or 6? (role play wise)

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By the way, just want to say I'm quite impressed with the mini area added (temple of Sune). I rarely visit the north part of the Waukeen's map for around 20 years, and when I visited the temple yesterday, I thought it is original content that I have missed out... until I saw the bird, then I know it is MOD.

Looking forward to the other areas art added

Angulimala

@marcnivar I'm definitely not Lava, just wanted to mention that Viconia has expanded content during White Queen. Haven't played those mods recently so can't remember any others atm. I'm thinking Haer'Dalis had an interjection last time i played one of those mods, can't remember which.

LavaDelVortel

Sorry, I've been busy lately because of RL matters...
There are talks here and there, but apart from Viconia's extended sub-plot in The White Queen, there aren't many such talks.

Want to know my opinion? Play with a party you feel comfortable with and which you enjoy That's the best way of experiencing this game

xiaoleiwen

@LavaDelVortel

Hi Lava, do you have higher resolution portraits for you COI series MOD, the portrait is quite blurry when UI with bigger portrait size is used.

LavaDelVortel

Thanks for making that note. I may need to check that out.

Trouveur

Hi, I was certain to still have time left but now the mysterious mage doesn't have anything to say to me.

Whats is the variable timer on this one please ? If I could avoid having to clean again Bodhi's Lair...