42 replies to this topic

[Cuv]

Here are some commonly asked questions about Return to Windspear:

Q: Do I have to have ToB installed to play RTW?
A: Yes. This is a mod for Baldur's Gate: Throne of Bhaal.

Q: Do I have to begin a new ToB game to play RTW?
A: No, you need only visit the road to the Marching Mountains at any time after it is installed. The messenger will be there near the merchant. He will approach you and give you the quest.

Q: Can I play RTW from SoA if I have ToB installed?
A: Yes, but you will have to CLUA in the messenger yourself to get the quest. The mod is designed for parties of level 20 or greater... but I wont stop anyone from trying with lower levels.

Q: Will RTW be compatible with TDD?
A: Now that TDD is ToB compatible, I would say "probably", but someone will need to test before I can give a clear and final answer.

Q: How big is RTW, I have a poor dialup modem?
A: Approx. 60MB

Q: Is RTW compatible with other mods?
A: To our knowledge yes. It should work with any WeiDU mod, though TeamBG ones will need more testing. The concurrent romance patch may cause some problems.

Q: How much new content does RTW have?
A: RTW features 19 new areas that you can visit from within the old Firkraag dungeon, over 100,000 words of new dialog and text, new voice overs, new battle music for some areas, 7 new tilesets, a big new dungeon, dozens of new monsters, improved AI, some new items, a new joinable NPC with epilogue, and three possible endings...and more.

Q: How many hours of new gameplay does RTW add?
A: My current estimate is between 6-8 hours of new content. Some people may play faster, while others play slower. This might be an underestimate with this mod, but that is the approx amount of time it currently takes me to negotiate the quest.

Q: Is RTW as hard as Ascension?
A: You will be able to decide upon the difficulty of this mod through one of the early conversations. You can play at your own level, without having to resort to the difficulty slider, and rule changes.

Q: Will the monsters act stupid or smart?
A: The AI has been improved significantly for many of the creatures, courtesy of the IEEAIS yahoo group scripter Xyx. Some monsters will appear as normal, but most will display strategies that you have not encountered before.

Q: Are the monsters of RTW cheesy?
A: No... though some may appear to be. I wont make any boasts about RTW being cheese-free, game engine limitations have forced some concessions.

Q: Is this whole thing a single quest?
A: Yes... but there is a bonus quest once inside the dungeon. The quest for the "real" tomb of King Strohm III.

Q: Can I start the quest, then leave, and come back to finish it later?
A: No. This is a plot point which I cant spoil here, but once you start on the quest it must be resolved somehow. You will not be allowed to return if you quit the quest.

Q: Since it takes me back to a SoA area from ToB, can I go back to Athkatla in ToB?
A: No. You are at the descretion of the quest... and will be taken where you need to go. SoA areas will never appear on your ToB map... to say more would spoil.

Q: Where can I download RTW?
A: RTW is currently in beta testing and not yet completed.

If you dont see your question on this list, feel free to ask by replying here.

Cuv

[Quitch]

We have made a few small changes to SoA, though we don't intend to say where. The quest itself starts a little way into ToB.

[chevalier des Trois-Tours]

OK, one question: Are exceedingly high stats (as 21 WIS for a human without items or cheating) to change something? Apart from rolls, of course...

[chevalier des Trois-Tours]

OK, one question: Are exceedingly high stats (as 21 WIS for a human without items or cheating) to change something? Apart from rolls, of course...

[Quitch]

Super human wisdom will allow you to see past almost any lie. Yes, I believe there are a couple of checks that high.

[chevalier des Trois-Tours]

Super human wisdom will allow you to see past almost any lie. Yes, I believe there are a couple of checks that high.

Thanks so much. I believe there's going to be quite a hell lies then in RTW. And 19 charisma will allow me to lie better than others do

[Quitch]

In cases where monsters that we use are in AD&D, our copies will be as close to 100% faithful as we can make them, right down to their speed and basic stats.

Our AI will be far better than anything Weimer has done. No one beats Xyx at BG2 AI

IMO, ToB itself is bias towards Fighters. Our mod will be less so, we won't have innate MR on every creature. We don't tack on MR, if the creature has it, we give it to them, but we don't make it up.

[Cuv]

The original plan was to include Ascension... but that will not be the case. Most people have it now or can easily get it. It was also originally intended to work well with Ascension, and that is still the case.

Cuv

[Quitch]

a romour reached my ears a looong while ago that RTW would come with ascension and improved battles included... is that true, and in that case is it WeiDU ascention or regular ascension?

This is a plan from the days when WeiDU was merely a gleam in the eye of Weimer.

[T.G.Maestro]

A short question: will this mod have any banters or connections with Valen? I mean at that time she will became a dominant Vampire (and overpowered as well ) so I thought she may have some comments on the "Vampire-part" of RTW.

[Quitch]

We'll not be writing in any 3rd party NPC dialogue.

[Assassin]

Are the quests fed-ex? Will they involve the skills of a particular character (say the ability of the thief to detect traps- will those kind of skills be crucial to the plot)? Are you going to have to bust your eye-balls looking for those red dots taht your theif has detected as traps?

[Dyara]

Each class will have its use, some more, some less. Having a thief might be useful too.

[alson]

We'll not be writing in any 3rd party NPC dialogue.

This may sound a bit cheeky, but - why not?

Most people who will download RtW probably already have some other mods installed, too. I would say that the chance that these players will have [ Solaufein / Kelsey ] in their party is higher than the chance they'll have, say, Keldorn.

[Dyara]

Because it´s not our job . Of course we (or Quitch ) could write a Kelsey interjection, but most likely Jason will say 'Hmmm, that´s not Kelsey style, *my* Kelsey would never speak like this.' But even if we´re completely 'in character', should we write dialogues for each 3rd party NPC? Or only the 'important' ones? If we don´t write for NPC XY, the creator may say 'Hey, you wrote an interjection for NPC YZ but you don´t wrote one for my NPC. Why? Don´t you like him/her? Don´t you like me?'

Everyone who´s written a NPC mod is free to add some interjections once the mod is finished (or perhaps before) and we will give every support we can, but writing the dialogues is not our job.

[Cuv]

I agree with Dyara 100%

Cuv