[MOD] Trials of the Luremaster for BG2:EE

argent77

The Icewind Dale expansion "Trials of the Luremaster", made available for BG2:EE, Siege of Dragonspear and EET.

Download: Trials of the Luremaster for Baldur's Gate (90 MB)

Readme

The quest starts by talking to the halfling Hobart Stubbletoes, who can be found either in the Umar Hills Inn (SoA), Amkethran Inn (ToB) or in the southeastern area of the Coalition Camp (SoD). In the course of the adventure you have the opportunity to explore a haunted castle, test your mettle in challenging combat and lift an ancient curse. In addition to the original adventure, the mod provides various story and combat improvements as well as interactions from all of the Bioware and Beamdog NPCs.

The mod is available in the following languages: English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish and Polish.

Available components:

1. Trials of the Luremaster (requires BG2:EE, SoD or EET patched to 2.0 or higher)

This is the main component. It installs many new areas, creatures, items, spells and everything else needed to enjoy the adventure. (Recommended party strength: level 11 or higher.)

The mod makes a number of slight changes to the adventure to bring it more in line with the Baldur's Gate universe. Spells and items that are only available in Icewind Dale and have little or no relevance in the adventure have been replaced by similar BG2 spells or items. Moreover, several events, scripts and creature animations have been expanded, improved or adapted to Baldur's Gate style.

2. Rebalance weapons and equipment (requires the main component; not available for SoD)

Many items in Icewind Dale are more powerful than items found in Baldur's Gate II. Since the mod allows you to gain access to several powerful weapons, armor and equipment, it may diminish the challenge from the rest of the game. This component replaces these items by less powerful variants.

Note: Because of balance reasons this component is automatically installed by the main component "Trials of the Luremaster for Baldur's Gate" in a Siege of Dragonspear game.

3. Reduce experience from monsters and quests (requires the main component)

The whole adventure allows you to earn about 300,000 to 400,000 XP which can be too much depending on when or where you start the quest. This component allows you to reduce the experience gained from killing monsters or granted by completing quest stages. You can choose from the following options:

1. Reduce by 25 percent
2. Reduce by 50 percent
3. Reduce by 75 percent (Recommended if you start the quest in the Coalition Camp, Siege of Dragonspear campaign.)
4. Grant no experience

Screenshots

New items...


New spells...


New monsters...


Challenging combat...



The story begins...

Ulb

Awesome, thank you for what will certainly turn out to be another high quality mod!

Now the only thing missing from my mega-super-300-hours EET installation is K4thos' IWD-in-EET for the rest.

On that note: Is there any overlap/redundancy? As someone who hasn't actually played IWD and its expansions yet, I assumed since IWD:EE includes both expansions K4thos' mod would also port over all parts?

Also, do you expect compatibility issues with the upcoming SCSv32 and its version of the IWD spells?

argent77

It will most likely overlap with IWD-in-EET's version of the expansion. I can't say more until K4thos decides to make it public though.

TotLM-BG2EE is more aimed at players who don't want to install the whole IWD package to EET (which will surely add another 2-4 GB worth of content to the game), or don't want to install EET at all. The mod's size is currently about 85 MB.

The mod is already compatible with latest SCS v32 RC. Currently only very few creatures will benefit from SCS enhancements. However, combat scripts will generally be more advanced compared to IWD, even without SCS.

(Edit: About IWD spells, they will be made available to the player by an optional subcomponent. It is skipped if either SCS or IWDification is detected. SCS would most likely just complement the spells, since it's based on the same IWDEE resources. IWDification will install a duplicate set of spells.)

LavaDelVortel

Have you thought of adding NPC interjections/talks as a seperate component? Even interjections alone would be a great new thing and would be a small pearl that distinct it from the original TotL.

argent77

This is one of the features I would really like to add at some point. But I'm not really good at writing NPC dialogs. I guess it will take me a while to come up with enough lines for the NPCs I have in mind.

LavaDelVortel

Sure! I would be really happy to see something like that in the mod.

bob_veng

there already exist written interjections for ToTL as part of IWD-in-EET, written by astrobryguy i think.

i mixed up the nickname with AWizardDidIt (g3 user)

Ludwig_II

This looks amazing. Thanks a lot argent77. I love the fact that it's not only for EET

Ulb

bob_veng said:

there already exist written interjections for ToTL as part of IWD-in-EET, written by astrobryguy i think.

i mixed up the nickname with AWizardDidIt (g3 user)

It might be worth getting in contact with AWizardDidIt and K4thos to see if some collaboration could be reached? (Assuming you aren't already.)

If K4thos hasn't already done any manual altering for the Luremaster content, adapting it for the BG setting, it would seem like a huge waste if he want through that while you spent your time on wirting another set of ToLM chracter interactions just so we end up with to alternate versions of the same mod.

smeagolheart

How do you meet Hobart to start things?

I tried to create something like this years ago, didn't success. I intended to have Hobart be in the Copper Coronet.

Ulb

Going by the screen shots it looks like you'll meet him at the Imnesvale Inn

argent77

Ulb said:

bob_veng said:

there already exist written interjections for ToTL as part of IWD-in-EET, written by astrobryguy i think.

i mixed up the nickname with AWizardDidIt (g3 user)

It might be worth getting in contact with AWizardDidIt and K4thos to see if some collaboration could be reached? (Assuming you aren't already.)

I'll try to contact K4thos/swit, thanks.

smeagolheart said:

How do you meet Hobart to start things?

I tried to create something like this years ago, didn't success. I intended to have Hobart be in the Copper Coronet.

He can be found in Imnesvale, Umar Inn. Copper Coronet would have been problematic, as the adventure is quite challenging (combat-wise) and might be too much to handle for a party straight out of Chateau Irenicus.

Chidojuan

Looks amazing, super excited for it, do you still need help with the Spanish translation? I'd be happy to volunteer.

argent77

Chidojuan said:

Looks amazing, super excited for it, do you still need help with the Spanish translation? I'd be happy to volunteer.

Certainly, your help is appreciated. I'll PM you the details.

smeagolheart

Have you considered adding Hrothgar someplace and have him offer his quest?



Edit: Hjollder not Hrothgar. The barbarian quest...

AWizardDidIt

Hey @argent77 I did write a bunch of banter and interjections for IWD-in-EET which includes Trials of the Luremaster! Since that's obviously stalled out for a bit, I could probably cut out the Trials of the Luremaster bits separate from what Kathos has already and send them to you. Let me know if you're interested.

bob_veng

i think castle maluradek would make for a great shaman stronghold, btw

it could be the missing shaman "class quest", according to the general outline of SoA sidequests

argent77

AWizardDidIt said:

Hey @argent77 I did write a bunch of banter and interjections for IWD-in-EET which includes Trials of the Luremaster! Since that's obviously stalled out for a bit, I could probably cut out the Trials of the Luremaster bits separate from what Kathos has already and send them to you. Let me know if you're interested.

That would be great. Thanks for the offer.

bob_veng said:

i think castle maluradek would make for a great shaman stronghold, btw

it could be the missing shaman "class quest", according to the general outline of SoA sidequests

Yeah, the setting is great. Too bad the castle is situated in the middle of nowhere - somewhere hidden in the vast Anauroch Desert far away from Amn.

argent77

The first release candidate is available.

Download: Trials of the Luremaster for BG2:EE 1.0 RC1

Release Candidate 1 contains:
- The full "Trials of the Luremaster" quest. It can be initiated by talking to Hobart in Imnesvale, Umar Inn.
- Improved combat scripts for a great number of creatures.
- Adapted behavior and animations for many creatures to the BG2 setting.
- Several unique spells and items straight from IWD:EE.

The mod supports BG2:EE and EET, and is currently available in English, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish.

smeagolheart

argent77 said:

AWizardDidIt said:

Hey @argent77 I did write a bunch of banter and interjections for IWD-in-EET which includes Trials of the Luremaster! Since that's obviously stalled out for a bit, I could probably cut out the Trials of the Luremaster bits separate from what Kathos has already and send them to you. Let me know if you're interested.

That would be great. Thanks for the offer.

bob_veng said:

i think castle maluradek would make for a great shaman stronghold, btw

it could be the missing shaman "class quest", according to the general outline of SoA sidequests

Yeah, the setting is great. Too bad the castle is situated in the middle of nowhere - somewhere hidden in the vast Anauroch Desert far away from Amn.

There's precedent for that sort of thing with the pocket plane and the planar sphere taking you far away.

Perhaps a enchanted totem of some sort could whisk you back and forth.

argent77

smeagolheart said:

argent77 said:

bob_veng said:

i think castle maluradek would make for a great shaman stronghold, btw

it could be the missing shaman "class quest", according to the general outline of SoA sidequests

Yeah, the setting is great. Too bad the castle is situated in the middle of nowhere - somewhere hidden in the vast Anauroch Desert far away from Amn.

There's precedent for that sort of thing with the pocket plane and the planar sphere taking you far away.

Perhaps a enchanted totem of some sort could whisk you back and forth.

Yeah, transportation is not the biggest issue in a world where you can find portals in every other dungeon. Getting the stronghold would be more of a challenge, as the TotLM quest is considerably more difficult to complete than any of the other stronghold quests.

It would also require some collaborative effort to make it work for both this mod and K4thos' IWD-in-EET. I don't think it'll be possible to use both mods at the same time.

LavaDelVortel

Also there would be a matter of working on additional compatibility with my Will of the Wisp, which already introduce my version of shamanic stronghold.

Clubboth

Thank You, argent77!

I do like the option to start Tales of Anegh either in Amn or in Tethir. Could this be an option for your mod too?

argent77

Clubboth said:

Thank You, argent77!

I do like the option to start Tales of Anegh either in Amn or in Tethir. Could this be an option for your mod too?

I thought about this idea already some time ago. Originally I wanted to add Hobart to the Amkethran tavern as well. But it would have required lots of duplicate lines (dialog, journal entries, etc. plus their respective translations to other languages) and additional coding effort, so I discarded this idea. I'll think about it once more.

Aedan

Just wanted to say that I am fine with the current location

LavaDelVortel

I haven't checked the code yet, I will probably want to check it all in game first (once I finally have some time to play), but have you thought about adding a line "This is a dangerous mission. Are you sure you're ready for this? Don't get me wrong, but you look as someone who may want to take another moment to think it through." if PC has little experience / low level. Just an idea, though.

argent77

I think that would be out of character. Hobart behaves very rudely towards the party and doesn't really care about their well-being. (You'll know why if you press him for an answer later.) I think placing him in the Umar Hills should suffice to assume the party is strong enough. Even with poor starting equipment the quest can be completed with the loot you can find early on.

But now that I think about it I can certainly create a custom autosave right before the point of no return.

LavaDelVortel

Oh, but I didin't mean these exact words, but a level check in general to make in-game questgiver recognize PC's situation. It should happen more often in mods. Anyway, just a thought.

argent77

I know what you mean. But there aren't many more options I can use besides a dialog check. I don't want to prevent anyone from starting the quest, even if the party is still inexperienced. I'll inspect Hobart's dialog more closely, maybe I come up with a line that would still work.

Ulb

Call me old fashioned but I think mentioning the intended level range in the mod's readme/description should be enough.

For that rare breed that enjoys RPGs but really hates reading, struggling a bit with the quest might be a beneficial learning experience...

argent77

The quest is actually doable at any level range if you aren't afraid to use Story Mode once in a while.

The original IWD:EE HoW expansion has an experience check (250000 XP), with TotLM probably requiring a similarly powerful party. However, equipment makes a difference, and IWD provides some really powerful items. If I would guess, then average party level should be level 11 or higher to start the quest.