[Mod in progress] 2nd floor of the Detective Guild
scheele
Member Posts: 72
๐พ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฏ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฒ๐๐๐๐
Now that the Detective Guild has been released, there are still so many ideas that havenโt been explored or developed yet. Iโd really like to change that by creating a standalone mod or an add-on that brings those untapped concepts to life.
I have the area of the second floor, a lot of ideas, but Iโm not able to write the code myself!
Iโd like to suggest an idea for anyone interested in the upcoming mod: how about we create a small collaborative mini-mod focused entirely on cats, humor, and other fun, lighthearted themes? Though the space of this area is limited, it can be packed full of the most entertaining and quirky treasures) ๐ฑ
The main ideas for the project:
- It is required to add this area of the second floor (either as an independent location or to link this area to the Detective Guild. Thus, it can be either a standalone mod or an addon mod (crossmod).
- It is essential to fill this location with fun mini-quests and simple riddles.
Iโd be really happy to hear any fresh ideas from the wonderful members of this forum. Iโm also open to full co-authorship, and it would be fantastic to have coders join in as full co-authors too!
URT (United Russian Topic): https://arcanecoast.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=1653
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/// Meeting with Nordic
At the far corner of the building, the guards surrounded a bugbear fiercely growling at the terrified clerk.
CLERK: GUARDS! GET RID OF HIM!
GUARD: THAT'S IT LAD, YOUR TIME IS UP. MOVE ON EXIT!
NORDIC: A-R-RRR!
0~*You see a huge bugbear in front of you, struggling fiercely to break free from the hands of the guards. Once you get in the line of sight of his one eye, the bugbear's jaw drops open. Throwing off the guards, the goblinoid addresses you directly.*~
1 = ~Please listen to my, CHARNAME! My knowing you-rrs. Help me!~ [BUGBR03A]
2 = ~Who are you and how do you know my name?~
3 = ~Get away from me, you monster!~
4 = ~Rah-rah! Trouble! I'll be off then, I've got to get some gold for the guild!~ [BUGBR01A]
5 = ~My name be Nordic! And your name be CHARNAME. Mine saw the fight on the Prror-menade. Help me! These bastarrds are trrying to take away my guild!~
6 = ~Well... So what?~
7 = ~Wait till mine tells you all about it. When the landlord disappeared, there was nothing to pay. Nothing to eat! I came to ask for an extension, but they won't give it. They want to take the Guild for themselves! R-r-r! R-r-r-ree!~
8 = ~Take it easy! One more word like that and you're out of here.~
9 = ~What kind of a guild is this, can you tell me?~
10 = ~*At this point, bagbear puffs up his cheeks in an important manner, bows his head, and solemnly proclaims* The firrst in Amn, the Detective Guild of Athkatla, founded by my Masterr - the arrchmage and the sage, Magister Adelard the Wanderer!~
11 = ~Hmm, great. You said it all without a single mistake, and you almost didn't growl. Almost.~
12 = ~*Nordic smiles proudly from ear to ear, which makes his scarred muzzle even more terrifying*. My learrn and train... long time.~
13 = ~Well, your story sounds interesting. But answer me this: what happened to your master, and why are you asking a stranger for help?~
14 = ~Um! Whut you say? *Bagbear lowers his head and growls sorrowfully* Masterr was tasked with rr-finding someone, and then he disappear-red. Mine looked all over for him and didn't find him. My guess is he's dead! Then the papers starrt coming, the debt! I've got to pay, and I've got no gold.~
15 = ~*The Nordic's one eye lights up with hope as he raises his head again* I know you, you're the Hero of Baldu-rr-r's Gate, the adventur-rer. My heard you saved an entire city! You can help!~ ~*The Nordic's one eye lights up with hope as he raises his head again* I know you, you're the Prortectr-ress of Baldu-rr-r's Gate, the adventur-rer. My heard you saved an entire city! You can help!
16 = ~Sorry, big guy, but I've got my own business here and that's enough.~
17 = ~I have a lot of problems of my own right now, and no time to rescue some unknown guild, so I am sorry.~
18 = ~What's it to you, anyway? Your master is gone, maybe even dead - so go on your own, you're a free bugbear now...~
19 = ~H-r?! Give the guild to... to those?! Mine is to serve my Master faithfully, Adelard to crreate the Guild, that's his BUSINESS! Mine is not to betray, not to abandon, not to forget! *With an angry growl, Nordic glares at the official watching you with a nervous, tired look.*~
20 = ~I don't know who you are, <PRO_SIRMAAM>, but there is nothing to talk about. The owner and head of this investigation bureau has disappeared as far as I know, no income tax has been paid for a year now. With fines will have to be paid.... so. Mm-hmm.~
21 = ~Aha, five hundred coins, and I also have to renew the lease for the next three years, because the land on which the guild building stands belongs to Athkatla, and must be leased properly. That's another two thousand, and all together that's exactly two and a half thousand gold coins.~
22 = ~But that's not all. You need *he raises his voice to a shout* THE GUILDY HEAD to make a new treaty with the city! DO YOU HEAR ME, BUGBEAR?! I NEED ADELARD!~
23 = ~Phew! I'm sorry, but this... this visitor is unbearable. It's the fifth time he's been here, growling, threatening and demanding an extension. But delayed payments will NOT change anything! This guild will be finished if the debt is not paid by the owner within the next week and a new lease is not signed. That's the law!~
24 = ~Okay, I see. I'm gonna step back for a while, I need to talk to this bugbear.~
25 = ~As you wish.~
26 = ~Come with me.~
27 = ~*You decide to just walk past. You've got your own worries, and snarling bugbears aren't one of them.~
28 = ~I wonder how many times I've been told 'help' in all my wandering? Okay... Who are you and how do you know me?~
29 = ~Why are you being so rude? Maybe they have a right to be?~
30 = ~Your guild? Seriously? What does this so-called guild do?~
31 = ~I mean, really, let's just, um, be nice. But I'm wondering what kind of guild this is.~
32 = ~Ah, so this guild has a master besides you after all! That's better.~
33 = ~I can't hear it anymore. I sympathise with the law who have yet to deal with you. I'm leaving.~
34 = ~Detective Guild? Hmm... I don't even know what I was expecting to hear. But definitely not this.~
35 = ~This is rubbish. I'm just wasting my time here. I'm leaving.~
36 = ~Shall I save your guild? What could be more exciting? No, thank you. I'd rather chat with the hamster.~
playthrough, then it'll be holidays for 2-3 weeks. I may get around to
testing it in the next year.
Until then perhaps a few question: who did the character portraits?
They look like a professional artist made them.
In regards to the mod's content: does it relate to any other mod?
What about the thief guilds, are there interjections? Or the government
district (I forgot the chief guy's name, but in one mod the party may
go to kill the thief hideout so I wonder if they are aware of the
detectives ... or perhaps some thieves hide among them).
I suppose you may update the mod in the next year (perhaps), so
things may be adapted. Could you perhaps also add a summary
listing in the first thread? For instance, any interesting items
(not necessarily overpowered, but interesting ... like magnifying
lenses or something like that. Or a book holder or something
where notes and pages can be attached to, a container.)
Also I like that the mod features one furry (a bugbear!)
one day someone makes a whole "furries unite!" mod.
Any interjections with the assassination mod? Or perhaps more
assassinations the party has to uncover.
Anyway, I will probably eventually get to test it next year. As I
may not be very active in the next few weeks, happy new year
to everyone - and for those who have time, beta-test this mod
for improved english content too! \o/ (I once accidentally clicked
on the russian variant for the moneylenders mod; even though
I knew some positions of the answers, I could not finish it - was
too difficult.)
Thanks for the kind words! We are trying to get this recently released mod (demo) out to as many people as we can. It slept in anabiosis for a year and a half and is still only available in Russian.
Regarding your questions:
1.
nordic__bugbear_by_thatdman
https://www.deviantart.com/thatdman/art/Bugbear-499502564
2.
orc_by_michalsalatav2
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/orc-female
3.
this art was created by me using a neural net.
4.
This is the original Baldur's Gate portrait, slightly altered in Photoshop (sent by Alisia).
5.
The Fixer by Smolin
https://www.deviantart.com/smolin/art/The-Fixer-367897816
6.
I miss you... by Safiru
https://www.deviantart.com/safiru/art/I-miss-you-586667224
class: slime, Mustard Jelly, 5th level; HP 50
CN
The guild hall and posters was created by me using a neural network. Our mod is non-commercial, we do not make any profit from artists' artwork. All links to images and authors will be included in the Readme-file.
BG1 NPCs for SoA & ToB:: some minor intersections
Unfortunately, no. But if we get the mod author's permission, we'd be happy to do it.
Thanks!
Not sure if still compatible with BG2EE current version but I remember the NPC Strongholds making changes because you can make Imoen take over the whole guild and you will even battle against the shadow thieves main base.
ReadMe//D0Quest Pack:
first thread too?
I got that link towards dropbox, but the .exe file there is only about
1MB size which seems way too small, so I think it would be useful
if the first thread could contain a direct link to the files. And perhaps
also a repository at github. (If you do not have an account at
github or do not want to, perhaps someone else can co-host it
at github, such as the spellhold studio guys or the weasel guys or
whoever.)
This mostly for convenience - right now I am trying to figure out
whether I should test the provided .exe file or not (explanation:
I need to install this on another computer; the computer I use
right now is my Linux box, which I do not really use for any
games).
You know that Setup-SearchGuild.exe is JUST a renamed weidu.exe, do you?
In this particular case, it's WeiDU-Windows-249-x86-legacy.
What does it means that "seems way too small"?
You could also check the hash of the two files and conclude that they're EXACTLY the same, so the exe is totally LEGIT: same file, same size.
If for any reasons you don't trust weidu.exe packed with mods (and if you use Project Infinity to install mods you don't even need them, since PI uses it's own weidu) you could safely download the version for the system you prefer and rename it accordingly:
https://github.com/WeiDUorg/weidu/releases/tag/v249.00
I've added the link, thanks for the reminder.
However, the Guild has not yet been translated into English. Only about 40% of the translation is complete - all our efforts are now focused on finishing to complete the Shar-Teel romance.
Pretty sure it is, the change log mentions "Compatibility with BGII: EE" for v3 (mod is currently at v3.5, from 2020). The shadow thieves additional content component has an EE-specific bug which was recently hotfixed by argent77.
The detective guild looks awesome btw, i'm always a sucker for Athkatla content, especially when it's as well thought-out as your releases
Helloi! When the mod is ready, we will post it on GitHub. I need about a month to finish the first version. It will contain all the initial content and key NPCs. In the future, the mod will be expanded with new quests, if I can find time for it or another coder appears.
The banner is extremely minimalist; I wanted something modern.
Font: The Great Gatsby
At any rate, I found the bugbear and the cut scene went fine (I think another player had some issue with it where the bugbear became hostile; I could not reproduce the issue, instead after like the first round of bugbear-rage, the cut scene progressed). I forgot there was a timer, though, and the quest kind of failed because I did not finish the first mission in time (I was actually focusing on another quest, so I somewhat forgot this one here, after the cut scenes).
Two small things I've noticed:
1) There is the quest log entry in regards to the first mission by the bugbear, aka "clean xyz". Now that the mission has failed, though, the quest log journal is still showing that I should solve it. I think it should be closed as well, if the whole mission failed. See also 2).
2) I can not seem to enter the guild hall anymore. I assume this has to do with 1) failing, but that also means I can never finish the first mission anyway, which is why I think the journal entry of all quests in regards to the search guild mod should be closed. (Alternatively perhaps the guild hall should be permanently open, even upon failure of the quest, but I don't recall the exact dialogue so perhaps the guards closed it. Alternatively the bugbear could perhaps be in jail and one has to pay like 5000 gp or so to get him out again, similar to Skitia's NPC Vienxay or what's her name, but this is not so important.)
I really need to pay more attention, but often on a first attempt I end up failing quests. It's a nice idea to have a detective-fedex-quest.
Thanks. The mentioned above thread is relevant.
Now that the Detective Guild has been released, there are still so many ideas that havenโt been explored or developed yet. Iโd really like to change that by creating a standalone mod or an add-on that brings those untapped concepts to life.
I have the area of the second floor, a lot of ideas, but Iโm not able to write the code myself!
Iโd like to suggest an idea for anyone interested in the upcoming mod: how about we create a small collaborative mini-mod focused entirely on cats, humor, and other fun, lighthearted themes? Though the space of this area is limited, it can be packed full of the most entertaining and quirky treasures) ๐ฑ
To begin with, Iโd like to share a few thoughts about the second floor of the Detective Guild.
The second floor of the Detective Guild was originally created as the private quarters for the previous guild leader. Nowadays, itโs where the current guildmaster โ the main character in SoA โ calls [his/her] home โ that is the concept.
Gorion created a maps of new location:
I just want to make sure itโs clear that weโre talking about the first floor or the second floor, but not the "third")
key ideas:
1. This Mod really, really needs an automaton (perhaps Monodrone?) to play music tracks, some sort of sentient jukebox. As the forgotten toy of a former Guild Master Adelard the Wanderer, the Automaton will remain in the Guild (as one of the story variants). He can also be a little crazy (robot jokes, homage to HAL 9000)
Endarire kindly gave me permission to use such a mechanism (he have a Juke Bot (a music making Construct) as part of the Portable Hole Tavern).
2. Of course there will be a well-behaved introvert cat there) The cat will be called Donut. He will do his main business on the street, and come to the Guild for food and sleep sweetly in a meal coma)
3. The protagonist needs to receive a unique minor noble title, one granted specifically by the Council of Fiveโnot the Council of Six, which is an important detail. His/her personal coat of arms should be painted directly onto the floor of the Guildโs second floor. Additionally, a herald must make a public announcement right outside the Guild building, proclaiming that he\she has been awarded this title โ something along the lines of a baronet or chevalier.
https://www.worldanvil.com/w/not-forgotten-realms-palant/a/becoming-noble---D09FD180D0B8D0BED0B1D180D0B5D182D0B5D0BDD0B8D0B5-D0A2D0B8D182D183D0BBD0BED0B2-article
IMHO that the best coat of arms would be a cat, such as this (MB Warband-style):
but also, of course, it is possible to consider other options:
Iโd be really happy to hear any fresh ideas from the wonderful members of this forum. Iโm also open to full co-authorship, and it would be fantastic to have coders join in as full co-authors too!
(By the way, now I am easily confused these days; I think it may be easier to bundle all discussions in the thread by austin. At any rate, a few comments here.)
Coat of arms: while that cat smoking some herbs is funny, I think the coat of arms should be a little bit more "realistic" in its own right. For fun-stuff some of the mini-quests could be used, e. g. a gnome coming in complaining that someone stole the carrot cake. Lateron it turned out that this gnome just wanted to get a competitor off from the fruit store. Or something like that (that's just an example). Perhaps the coat could be more traditional e. g. the one who founded the guild, could have been a fighter too or so. I am not sure what alternative to suggest; perhaps something more fitting to the background than the stoned cat.
Hand may be fitting; although the hand actually reminds me of that hand in Argent77's Trial of the Loremaster mod, so perhaps it should look a bit differently.
Last flag reminds me a bit of portugal or so. I can be wrong of course, but I think the flag may exist in a variant in reallife? Atthe least the colours seem to be familiar. That's minor nitpicking though - just semi-random comments.
Edit: Just read that this was not the original coat:
> His/her personal coat of arms should be painted directly onto the floor of the Guildโs second floor.
I think an original coat of arms should exist either way. And then, perhaps offer three variants in addition to that that can be pre-generated or AI-generated; and the player then may pick one, or the original or simply none. (And may only find out how they look after it has already been finalized, so if someone chooses the drunken cat, so be it.)
> The cat will be called Donut. He will do his main business on the street, and come to the Guild for food and sleep sweetly in a meal coma)
Hmm. I'd give the cat another name. People may relate this too much with dunkin donuts. I loved them when I was younger (before I had to look at cutting down on high glucose diet; high glucose intake is really dangerous in the long run, even before diabetes). How about Fluffs? If it is a fluffy cat. Or another name ... Sir James. Ok that is not great ... Sir GoneBeMice. Sir Limerick. Or ... Fizzles. Fiffles. His hair causes mages to sneeze and lose concentration. Very hairy and furry cat.
Could also be a polymorphed cat so perhaps it was a gnome or so and then just retained the gnome name. Wispers. Liders.
Automaton I am not sure would fit. It may fit more to Argent77's modron mod, e. g. as an extension such as "build a home for the automatons". There they can have juke boxes.
As for first floor or second floor. Ultimately it should not matter how it is called really. Simply the area behind the broken stairs.
By the way, one of the best animations for "repairing" stairs is in the Trials of the Luremaster mod. Perhaps this could be adapted, with one intermediate, e. g. one or two workers showing up; and some days later the stair is simply finished.
> I have the area of the second floor, a lot of ideas, but Iโm not able to write the code myself!
Well, ideas can be fine since they can be fleshed out and specified. And the code be added at a later time.
I think, however had, having played the mod a bit once or twice, what the mod may need more is more smaller quests actually, similar to the dog quest; and perhaps better "integration" to itself. At some point in the mod I seem to be stuck and nothing appears to progress, in the middle or so. I am not sure what to do next. So perhaps the transitions can be a bit smoother; I assume it is based on time progressed and prior quests solved; perhaps the hired guy can give more hints what to do next via the dialogue.
May also be nice if there can be a few more combat encounters, e. g. some guild raiding the detective guild; or this could be optional, like one mini-quest as trigger, to secure some documents, but these came from a bandit hideout actually (which may not have been known), and then they may invade the detective guild. Perhaps some of the code morpheus' wrote in regards to the ambushing bandits in Tactics remix could be re-used (though balance may have to be considered, as sometimes it could be too difficult, which is why I think it may be better as an optional quest).
Everything is in perfect order with these topics๐คช; I myself sometimes get confused about this
Coats of arms granted not by right of blood but for merit were sometimes strange, reflecting the unusual path of their owner to nobility. And this is even more applicable to Amn, where there is no king. Gondor has no king, Gondor needs no king)
๐๐๐ฅ
These are wonderful name options, thank you so much! Sir GoneBeMice is the best! (โโข ึ โขโ)เฉญ
However, we periodically continue to refine and expand the current version, which is available here.
Hello! I agree with you. We try to add new quests little by little when we can. Since version 1.5, a rather large quest "The Case of the Missing Sailor" has been added.
If you can, please clarify at what point this happened (after what dialogue) and what version of the mod you used. Now each next quest starts after you have completed the previous one, after some time (from one day to a week).