Keto NPC MOD For Baldur’s Gate 2 A Pocket Plane Group Project http://www.pocketplane.net INTRODUCING KETO Keto is an NPC add-on for Baldur's Gate 2. A travelling storyteller, Keto has seen the front door of just about every dungeon in Amn, and seen the inside of even more taverns. An energetic young woman who has a love/hate relationship with adventuring (she loves adventure but hates the inevitable peril), Keto stumbles into the story of the Bhaalspawn while plying her trade in Athkatla's Five Flagons Inn. The design goal for Keto can be summed up simply: if we’ve done our job right, you’ll swear she was always meant to be in the game. We have tried very hard to give her the same level of detail as the Bioware NPCs, right down to audio recording and inter-party dialogue. If you have any reactions to share, please let us know at the Pocket Plane Group forums: http://forums.pocketplane.net Mirror sites, the latest Keto updates, alternate portrait suggestions and more will always be available at http://www.pocketplane.net/keto/ INSTALLING KETO You should obtain and install the latest official patch from www.bioware.com BEFORE installing Keto. If you have other mods already installed, uninstall them before applying the patch. 1. Extract the Keto-SOAv2.exe file from Keto-SOAv2.zip and place it anywhere on your drive. 2. Double-click Keto-SOAv2.exe. The installer will launch, and will automatically suggest installing in the directory where Windows believes you have BG2 installed. Unless you have a VERY unusual configuration, accept this default. 3. Click to accept the install directory. The installer creates a new "Keto" directory in your main BG2 folder, copies a number of files, then exits. A new file, called Setup-Keto.exe, has been created in your main BG2 directory, and will _automatically_ be run. 4. A console window (DOS window) opens up and asks whether or not you wish to install Keto. Answer Yes. 4b. If you see a message telling you that a newer version of WeiDU has been located and that you must re-run Setup-Keto.exe, do so. PLEASE NOTE, this means that you must browse to your BG2 directory and run *Setup-Keto.exe*. It does NOT mean you re-run *Keto-SOAv2.exe*. 5. Files will be copied, dialogue will be compiled, and the game will generally be made ready for Keto. This process may take a minute or two on a slower system. 6. There are optional installation modules: - Keto/Kelsey content: With this module, Keto is aware of and will banter with the Kelsey NPC, also available from http://www.pocketplane.net . Kelsey-SOA must be installed before Keto for this module to be presented. - Banter accelerator: With this module, all NPCs will attempt to initiate banter more frequently. Depending on how fast you play BG2, this component may help you see all of the new banters added by Keto and other mods before the game ends. If you already have the banter accelerator installed from the Kelsey or Banter Pack mod, this option will not be presented. 7. After the text window tells you to press enter to exit, there is one final stage--decompressing the compressed audio included with Keto to standard WAV format. The window will fill with text: THIS IS NORMAL. This process may take a few minutes on a slower system. 8. Enjoy! If anything goes wrong with the process, or you later wish to uninstall Keto, run the Setup-Keto.exe program once more and select the U option. KETO GAMEPLAY NOTES You do not need to start a new game in order to take advantage of Keto if you do not wish to do so. You can find Keto in the Five Flagons, in the Bridge district of Athkatla. She is standing near the bar and will tell her tale when you get close enough. Keto includes extensive banter with all potential party members. Keto also includes banter with the Kelsey NPC mod. Install Kelsey-SOA before Keto, or re- run Setup-Keto.exe after Kelsey-SOA has been installed, if you wish to install their mutual banters. Keto does not have a romance track in the style of Aerie, Jaheira, Viconia, and others. That doesn't mean the PC isn't given occasional opportunities to suggest it, however. STRING FIXER Unfortunately, sometimes when multiple MODs are installed and uninstalled, funky things happen to the strings associated with a mod NPC's name, her select/ confirm text, and so forth. If this should happen to Keto, select her and press the K key. This should correct the problem. Thanks to Arian for pioneering this particular technology. COMPATIBILITY Keto has been tested with a number of mods and on a number of machines. We believe her to be compatible with most normal configurations, and most mods that are designed with an eye toward compatibility with other mods. KETO TECHNICAL NOTES Keto's script name is, cleverly enough, "Keto." Her dialogue files are of the following form: BFWKETO : banter FWKETOJ : joined DLG FWKETO : Initial meeting FWKETOP : Out of party, post-joining NOTES FROM THE EDGE The Keto NPC project began in 2002 in the modding renaissance that followed the release of the first version of the Kelsey NPC. Victoria Joyner (Blue, best known as the author of the wildly popular Dungeon-Be-Gone mod) posted a character sketch for a bard NPC by the name of Keto, whose enthusiasm for stories was outstripped only by her enthusiasm for wine. Blue set her sights very, very high. She focused her development around banter, the interparty dialogues that have made Baldur's Gate 2 so memorable and rich. To satisfy players who lamented running out of banter before the game ended, she wanted to create a character who would offer a seemingly endless amount of things to say. Blue wrote a prodigious amount of content, but other interests and obligations caught up with her and the Keto project sat on the shelf for a long, long while. When I started Pocket Plane Group, I wanted all of the modding projects that I had been proud to be affiliated with to be part of the new site, so I contacted Blue and asked her for her blessing to take up the reins, work with what she had created, and finish the Keto project. She agreed, and with the help of several others, most notably Bonnie Rutledge (Bons), a talented bard in her own right, and of course Jessie Gillespie (Stoplight Red) who ably stepped into Blue's shoes as the voice of Keto, we have finally given Blue's creation life. Most of Blue's original content has been preserved in one form or another. All of the dialogue went through editing, and a small percentage were tabled. A number of new interjections were written. Keto's personal quest and history, which Blue had outlined but never formalized, was ably created by Bons--no small feat, as it involved creating an entire retinue of bards to play against our Keto! More work lies ahead, of course, as we create a Throne of Bhaal component for Keto, but until then, we hope you will enjoy the chattiest bard in Athkatla. I believe we have accomplished Blue's goal as well as our own--the creation of a top-notch NPC for a top-notch role-playing game. As Blue would say, "Get the bard off the floor! There's adventuring to do!" -- Jason Compton My brain lacks the capacity to hold memories beyond the hours of listening to Red repeat each Keto line 20 times. And if it looks like anything is wrong with the mod, remember, it was 3 AM! -- Bonnie Rutledge HISTORY V6: Corrected EE BAMs (switched back to BAMs instead of BMP) Moved tp2 inside the mod folder Added iconv for text format transformation Removd outdated version number from mod name in setup.tra Added keto.ini to support ALIEN's Project Infinity Renamed French readme and added it to the call during installation BWPFixpack fix integrated: Keto will not try to banter with Jaheira if she is not there V5: EET compatibility Updated to WeiDU 246 V4: Full BG2:EE compatibility V3: French translation by Galathee of the d'Oghmatiques V2: Corrected some typographical errors Added about 50 new voice clips Adjusted staging and cutscene timing in the competition Contest invitation now has journal entry and reveals Umar on map V1: Initial Release CREDITS Victoria Joyner (Blue) Head Writer Jason Compton Writer jcompton@pocketplane.net WeiDU Ninja Bonnie Rutledge Writer WeiDU Ninja Item/Spell Weaving Keto Portrait Artist Chief Audio Llama Additional dialogue: Jesse Meyers, Kish Moore, Wendy Yung (poems), Al Bowers Voice credits: Jessie Gillespie (Stoplight Red) Keto Dave Bradshaw (Grim Squeaker) Penny Alanna Cauley (Moreina) Germione Poppy Anna Celnik (Alarielle) Talindra Jason Compton Jasper Kelsey Geraldine Fogarty (Eral) Prudence Grainne Maureen Heller (glain) Amaryllis Simon Jones (SimDing0) Stacy Ulga Erik Manning (Icelus) Barry Mark Melum Myles Katherine Nelson Tewes Liffetta Jill Rosetto (St. Josephine) Lyrica Bonnie Rutledge (Bons) Curious Onlooker Valued Beta Testers: Jennifer Pahl, Hendryk, Andyr, Meira, Rev. Rat Bastard, Balthamel, Jester Thanks to St. Josephine for suggestions on Keto's competition stories. Additional thanks to Mael. And probably to Corvis, since Blue likes Corvis. "Seconded. Corvis is irresistable!" -- Bons Thanks to Andrew Scarhart and the people of Cantaria at http://www.chivalry.com for their musical resources and assistance in bard wrangling. Keto employs Ogg Vorbis for audio encoding and decoding. More information, including complete source code, can be found at http://www.xiph.org, http://www.vorbis.com Keto technical elements, including scripts, are Copyright © 2004 Jason Compton and Bonnie Rutledge. Keto audiovisual elements, including recordings and dialogue, are Copyright © 2002-2004 Victoria Joyner, Jason Compton, and Bonnie Rutledge unless otherwise noted. The following recordings were used with the permission of the artists: "Sally Gardens" From the album "Cool of the Day" © Red Chair Records Produced by Jill Anderson, Dana Altman & Steve Horner Performed by Jill Anderson Available at http://www.redchairrecords.com "I Care Not For These Ladies" © Andrew Scarhart Performed by Andrew Scarhart Available at http://www.chivalry.com/cantaria "Good People" From the album "Our Cups Runneth Over" © Florence Klecka and Monalee Kendall Performed by A Chorus of Two Available at http://www.chivalry.com/chorusoftwo/index.html "Rose By The Door" From the album "Gentle Rain" © Wild Thyme (Robert Leckliter, Carl Brehmer, Sherri Burmeister, Mike McKee, Adrienne Leckliter, Noel Elliott) Performed by Wild Thyme Available at http://www.wildthymeband.com/ Additional bard material was provided by the following: "On My Own" performed by Dave Bradshaw (Grim Squeaker) Excerpted from "Les Miserables", Copyright © Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, and Herbert Kretzmer "The Collier Recruit" performed by Anna Celnik (Alarielle) "The Butcher's Boy" and "The Spinning Song" performed by Geraldine Baldan (Eral) Keto is not developed, supported, or endorsed by BioWare or Interplay/Black Isle. REDISTRIBUTION NOTE: Keto was created to be freely enjoyed by all Baldur's Gate 2 players. However, Keto may not be sold, published, compiled or redistributed in any form without the consent of its authors. LINKS http://www.weidu.org: Home of WeiDU http://www.pocketplane.net: Home of Keto, and other fine projects! http://www.idi.ntnu.no/~joh/ni: Home of Near Infinity http://infexp.sourceforge.net: Home of Infinity Explorer