Turnabout: An Ascension Add-On Version 1.5 A Pocket Plane Group Project for Baldur's Gate 2 http://www.pocketplane.net Ascension, created by David Gaider and members of the IEEAIS group, is both among the first and the best-known Baldur's Gate 2 mods. By altering the Throne of Bhaal endgame to what the authors said more closely mirrored the original Bioware plan, Ascension allowed the TOB villain to call up the player's fallen enemies for one final showdown. It also gave the PC expanded Bhaal essence powers. Yet the player was still denied an equal privilege to bring back fallen allies to join in the fray. As we see it, turnabout is fair play. And thus, we have title! Through this mod, the player gains a limited ability to mimic the actions of the mad high priestess of Bhaal. When each of Throne essence pools is disrupted, the player can choose to recall one fallen ally from a selected list of characters from Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, for a maximum of three. In much the same way as the character granted new life to Sarevok in the beginning of TOB, and could choose to do so for Bodhi in exchange for her service in Ascension, the PC can offer the same boon to one of the Turnabout allies. INSTALLING TURNABOUT 0. Be sure that you have installed either Shadows of Amn with Throne of Bhaal and the latest official Bioware patch for TOB or BG2EE/EET, and the latest version of Ascension from https://github.com/InfinityMods/Ascension/releases 1. Extract the contents of this .zip to your install directory. 2. Click on Setup-Turnabout.exe. Select Yes to install the Turnabout mod. 3. Load up your game and play as normal. No new content is added before reaching the Throne of Bhaal itself. 4. To uninstall Turnabout, run Setup-Turnabout.exe again and ask to uninstall. TURNABOUT DETAILS In Version 1, Turnabout makes seven NPCs available from a list of NPCs and supporting characters who are either always "canonically" dead (in that it is impossible to complete Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 as designed without witnessing or being party to their deaths) or are "likely" dead, dying in a common quest or in such a manner that would have tended to occur with or without the player's participation. Each character has been given a posthumous "promotion" of power and experience points, roughly equivalent to a 3.5 million XP character with stock equipment and some additional bonuses. Like Ascension, Turnabout is sensitive to the difficulty slider--your summoned allies will get greater advantages if the slider is low (at the time they are summoned.) Two new NPCs are added for the final pool: the player must choose between Gorion and Alianna, or may choose someone else entirely. Gorion and Alianna are mutually exclusive, however. The player may choose one and only one NPC at each pool. Unselected choices carry over to future pools. First two pools: Dynaheir Tiax Khalid Xzar Yoshimo Third pool: Gorion Alianna (the PC's mother) More NPCs may be added in future versions. Some NPCs will be eager to serve. Others will require cajoling or even a promise of resurrection. (Note that you can make this promise only once--and that includes any promise you might have made to Bodhi in the Ascension portion of the game.) TECHNICAL/COMPATIBILITY NOTES Turnabout should be compatible with most mods. However, this version of Turnabout is only compatible with BG2 or BG2EE. Ascension is required and must be installed before Turnabout, and you must use v2.0 by DavidW, found here: https://github.com/InfinityMods/Ascension/releases FAQ Q: I'm getting a lot of "target lost" messages from my allies. What's going on? A: If your enemies die very quickly, or right when the AI has selected an action, the eSeries AI may need a few cycles before deciding on a new target or standing down. This is normal. Q: Yoshimo says he cannot serve me because he is in torment! Why? A: You did not cleanse his heart at a Temple of Ilmater. We add a new check to Shadows of Amn to track this activity, but for simplicity's sake, if you play with a saved game that takes place after bringing his heart to the Ilmaterians, we will presume that you _did_ cleanse it--providing that the game's (rather profane) variable which indicates that Yoshimo was not taken to Spellhold is not tripped. So, to summarize: - If the in-game trigger which indicates Yoshimo died outside of Spellhold is tripped, - If you have his heart, - Or you have not cleared our new trigger which indicates that his heart was obtained but never cleansed, Yoshimo will not be available. Note, however, that none of this would prevent you from obtaining Yoshimo in a TOB-only game. Q: Why can't I obtain Xzar? A: If you have installed the PPG Quest Pack and resolve the Xzar/Montaron Harper Quest using the new, alternate path which does not end in Xzar's death, he is not dead and is therefore not available. If you do not complete the quest at all, we assume the Harpers got him through some other pawn. Q: How do I control my summoned allies? A: They will behave as summoned creatures rather than party members, so you will not receive a party portrait for them (and do not need to kick anybody out of the party to use them.) They employ eSeries AI which you can simply allow to take its course by "ignoring" them, or click on their green circles and direct them manually if you prefer. Q: My summoned allies keep dying! What can I do? A: The allies use AI scripting which will do its best to keep them alive with potions. However, even with the bonuses we grant them, these summoned allies are still considerably weaker than the enemies at the Throne or standard party members who have adventured through an entire SOA/TOB session. Turnabout is primarily a role-playing exercise, and is not intended to throw the balance of power in the final battle significantly in the player's favor. How you choose to use your restored allies is up to you. Q: Why can I only resurrect one ally? A: Ascension establishes that the PC can restore Bodhi. We could have enabled the player to offer the same boon to everyone, but felt it was more appropriate to keep the power limited--after all, Melissan, not the PC, has greater control over the Bhaal essence. And it forces the PC to make decisions about how to manage that gift, rather than giving it away like candy. Q: Why didn't X have more to say about Y being recalled/resurrected? A: Although we appreciate that there are many, many interactive possibilities opened up by the reintroduction of these characters, we did not want Turnabout to deflect the focus of the final showdown and the Ascension sequence--which, fundamentally, is and should remain the player character protagonist. The Throne sequence, in real-time, would take but a few minutes. Extensive sidebars of five NPCs arguing with Yoshimo, for example, or a rehash of the BG1 Harper/ Zhent showdown, or a Jaheira/Khalid/Gorion tea party, would have destroyed the dramatic tension and focus of the endgame. We believe we have struck a suitable balance. Q: Why isn't X available for summoning? I loved X! A: The list of "canonically dead" NPCs is actually quite short, and we have left out only a few for our initial release. And while some may argue that including Gorion or Alianna is a stretch because neither was a joinable NPC (and Alianna was never exactly "friendly" towards the PC), we will not be further stretching the concept to embrace fallen "ambivalent" characters like Saemon, dead enemies like Tazok, or living characters such as Drizzt. Q: Does Turnabout alter core Ascension code? A: Only slightly, and not in a way that affects gameplay. Specifically, we edit certain scripts so that your restored Turnabout allies are placed in formation at the end of the final battle. We also change the animation associated with PPGUY02.CRE (the part of the pool that "talks" to the PC) so that it works correctly with NPC interjections. We do not alter the behavior of Melissan, the Five, Irenicus, Bodhi, or the pool guardians in any way. Q: Is Turnabout compatible with other Ascension add-ons? A: We have not tested Turnabout with other mods which alter the TOB endgame, except for Wheels of Prophecy, which is fully compatible. AUTHOR'S NOTE BY ORIGINAL CREATOR, JASON COMPTON So, one of the longest-standing "vapormods" is finally a reality. Turnabout is one of those ideas that has been bubbling for years. I had long said it was "a one or two-weekend project", but those one or two weekends always proved too elusive to actually make the mod. A short while ago I decided that I would make the time, and exhort as many people to help out in as short a timespan as possible. Most of the authors listed in the credits turned in great material in well under two weeks, and I'm grateful to them for answering my call so quickly and so competently. I've always been just a little ambivalent about Turnabout. Ascension gives the PC some useful new powers, but Melissan gets more, too. And if the theme of Ascension was in part to explore greater attunement to Bhaal powers... why shouldn't the PC get some variant on Melissan's ability to dig up the dead? On the other hand, I've never found "all your dead friends and enemies show up for one last showdown!" to be a very effective plot device, yet here we are, compounding the situation! In the end, the potential intrigue of bringing Khalid back to life before the eyes of an astonished Jaheira, of facing down the infanticidal Alianna, or of simply strapping it on one last time with the off-kilter Xzar and Tiax won out. We hope you enjoy. -- Jason Compton Version History: v1.5: -all instances for crossmod with Lava's Khalid for BGII mod considered. v1.4: Unified version for classic BGII and EE, by Austin and jastey: -Moved tp2 into mod folder. -Added turnabout.ini with mod metadata , install order syntax, and globally unique LABELs to support Project Infininty. -Crossmod with Lava's Khalid mod: if Khalid is alive, he can't be summoned via the pools. v1.3: Finally fixed loading issues with the three pools; separate EE version by Cirosan. V1.2: Fixed a bug wherein if you promised resurrection to Khalid, Dynaheir would erroneously be resurrected instead V1.1: Updated components to be compatible with EE V1: Initial Release CREDITS Simon Jones (SimDing0) Turnabout code Al Bowers (Hendryk) Turnabout author Jason Compton Turnabout author Jessie Gillespie (Stoplight Red) Turnabout author Bonnie Rutledge (Bons) Turnabout author Voice of Alianna Alianna portraitess Andy Sayer (Andyr) Turnabout author Wendy Yung (Cliffette) Turnabout author David Gaider Original Ascension IEEAIS authors Westley Weimer WeiDU-Ascension port Christo Brittain (Cirosan) All updates after v1 EE compatibility Other bugfixes Thanks to Cirerrek and Sarkyn for the use of the eSeries AI implementation. Thanks to Lady Alustriel, Kish, Entreri, and Wynne for original Turnabout development support. Gorion's portrait is adapted from the cover of the book Assassin's Apprentice, drawn by Michael Whelan. Original audiovisual elements and scripts are Copyright © 2005 Turnabout is not developed, supported, or endorsed by BioWare or Interplay/ Black Isle. REDISTRIBUTION NOTE: Turnabout was created to be freely enjoyed by all Baldur's Gate 2 players. However, this program 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 Turnabout, and other fine projects! http://www.idi.ntnu.no/~joh/ni: Home of Near Infinity http://infexp.sourceforge.net: Home of Infinity Explorer