# Minsc Friendship

A Spellhold Studios mod for Baldur's Gate II:ToB, Baldur's Gate Trilogy, Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition and EET

Authors: Lava Del'Vortel, Kaeloree & AionZ / Artemius_I

Mod Website • Mod Forum • Download • GitHub •

## Introduction

One of the things many find sorely lacking in the Bioware NPCs are the more complex relationships presented by modern NPC mods--especially in regards to "friendships", the relationships NPCs have with the PC when not romancing them.

This mod adds a series of dialogues with Minsc.

➽ Visit the website or forum for all the latest updates.

## Compatibility

### Games supported

Minsc Friendship is designed to work on the following Infinity Engine games:

- Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition (BG2EE).
- The original Baldur's Gate II (BG2, or just SoA), with the Throne of Bhaal (ToB) expansion. Make sure you have Throne of Bhaal patched to version 26498. Check the ReadMe files related to your patch in your game folder and the BioWare website if necessary.
- The conversion projects based on ToB, Baldur's Gate Trilogy (BGT) (as of version 1.1), and Enhanced Edition Trilogy (EET).

### Other Mods Compatibility

Minsc Friendship is a WeiDU mod, and therefore should be compatible with all WeiDU mods.

It has been tested on several different installations, and has so far worked perfectly. If you encounter any bugs, please report them on the forum!

### Installation Order

➽ Although it is not required for Minsc Friendship to function properly, you are strongly recommended to also download and install the BG2 Fixpack before proceeding with the installation of this mod.

- Please install Minsc Friendship after TobEx, BG2 Fixpack, and EET.
- Please install Minsc Friendship before EET_End and any final "biffing" routines.

## Installation

### Notes

If you've previously installed the mod, remove it before extracting the new version. To do this, run setup-minscfriendship.exe , un-install all previously installed components and delete the 📁 minscfriendship folder.

When installing or un-installing, do not close the DOS window by clicking on the X button! Instead, press the Enter key whenever instructed to do so.

Disable any antivirus or other memory-resident software before installing this or any other mod. Some (particularly avast and Norton!) have a tendency to report false positives with mod activity, resulting in failed installs.

You can extract files from the archive using 7zip, WinRAR, ZipGenius or another file compression utility that handles .zip files.

### Enhanced Editions Note

The Enhanced Editions are actively supported games. Please note that every patch update will wipe your current mod setup! If in the middle of a modded game you might want to delay the patch update (if possible) as even after reinstalling the mods, you might not be able to continue with your old savegames. Alternatively, copy the whole game's folder into a new one that can be modded and will stay untouched by game patches. It is important that you install the mod to the language version you are playing the game in. Otherwise, the dialogues of the mod will not show but give error messages.

### Windows

Minsc Friendship for Windows is distributed as an extractable compressed archive and includes a WeiDU installer.

Extract the contents of the mod to the folder of the game you wish to modify (the folder which contains the "CHITIN.KEY" file). On successful extraction, there should be a 📁 minscfriendship folder and a setup-minscfriendship.exe file in your game folder. To install, simply double-click setup-minscfriendship.exe and follow the instructions on screen.

Run setup-minscfriendship.exe in your game folder to reinstall, un-install or otherwise change components.

### Mac OS

Minsc Friendship for Mac OS is distributed in the same compressed archive and includes a WeiDU installer.

First, extract the files of the archive into your game directory. On successful extraction, there should be a 📁 minscfriendship folder, setup-minscfriendship and setup-minscfriendship.command files in your game folder. To install, double-click setup-minscfriendship.command and follow the instructions on screen.

You can run setup-minscfriendship.command in your game folder to reinstall, un-install or otherwise the components settings.

### Linux

Minsc Friendship for Linux is distributed in the same compressed archive and does not include a WeiDU installer.

Extract the contents of the mod to the folder of the game you wish to modify.

Download the latest Linux version of WeiDU and copy weidU and weinstall and tolower to /usr/bin. Then open a terminal and cd to your game installation directory.

Optional: run 'tolower' and answer 'Y' to both queries. You can avoid running the second option (linux.ini) if you've already ran it once in the same directory. To save time, the archive is already tolowered, so there's no need to run the first option (lowercasing file names) either, if you've extracted only this mod since the last time you lowercased file names. If unsure, running tolower and choosing both options is the safe bet.

Run weinstall setup-minscfriendship in your game folder to install the mod. Then run wine bgmain.exe (or wine baldur.exe for EE games), and start playing.

### Note for Complete Un-installation

In addition to the methods above for removing individual components, you can completely un-install the mod using setup-minscfriendship --uninstall at the command line to remove all components without wading through prompts.

## Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is the Minsc Friendship compatible with XYZ mod?
A: It most certainly should be, but we have not tested it with every single mod available. It may logical incompatibilities with The Kidnapping of Boo UB quest.

Q: When will the friendship start?
A: After you join Minsc. First timered dialogue should happen some time after you visit Slums for the first time. Talks with specific PC character should start after 5 friendship talks. There are also some event-related talks which can be fired independently.

Q: This mod isn't in character at *all*.
A: We're always looking for ways to improve the characterisation in this mod, so please post any suggestions or constructive criticism on the forums.

Q: Have you got any plans to expand the mod by adding more dialogues in future?
A: There are no current plans to add to the mod, no, but feel free to make suggestions!

Q: How many dialogues are there added in total?
A: With this mod installed, you should be able to experience up to 16 dialogues in SoA - 5 timered ones, another 5 if your character match special conditions and up to 6 situational talks. You can experience up to 4 dialogues in ToB. You can have some easter-egg Boo dialogues. Just click "converse" while browsing Boo's item description.

Q: Does this mod change the game in any way besides adding more dialogue to Minsc?
A: No, it shouldn't.

Q: Is there any chance that player initiated dialogue will be added in future?
A: There are currently no plans for it.

Q: I would like to translate Minsc friendship into another language. Any chance you could TRAify the mod?
A: Sure, we'd be happy to. If you are interested in translating, just send us a line and I'll see what I can do for the next version.

## Credits

Writing and coding: Lava Del'Vortel, based on some talks and notes left by Kaeloree
Editing and additional writing: AionZ / Artemius_I
Consultation: Kaeloree

##### Acknowledgements:

- Thank you to everyone on the Interaction Expansion project team, and everyone who has contributed to the mod!
- Russian translation: Arkie and Arcanecoast.ru.
- Spanish translation: Magis365.

##### Programs/tools used in creation:

- WeiDU, by Wes Weimer, Valerio Bigiani (the bigg) and Wisp.
- Near Infinity, by Jon Olav Hauglid, FredSRichardson, and Argent77.
- WinRAR, by Eugene Roshal/Alexander Roshal.
- IESDP, maintained by igi and lynx.

##### Copyright Notice:

The Minsc Friendship was developed by Lava Del'Vortel, Kaeloree and AionZ / Artemius_I, based on material from the game Baldur's Gate II and its expansion.

All mod content is © Lava Del'Vortel, Kaeloree and AionZ / Artemius_I.

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal © TSR, Inc. The BioWare Infinity Engine is © BioWare Corp.

Please note that any and all redistribution and/or hosting of this mod is expressly unwanted without permission from the author(s).

## Version history

###### Version 1.3 (July 20, 2021)

- Added dynamic install order syntax and global LABELS to support AL|EN's "Project Infinity".
- Added Spanish translation (thanks Magis365).
- Reformatted readme file and moved it into new 📁 "readme" folder.
- Added archive libiconv-1.9.2-1-src.7z with iconv licence info.
- Updated WeiDU installer to v247.

###### Version 1.2 (December 14, 2019)

- Fixed an issue with Auto-Package Generator tool: new version of MacOS (Catalina) prevented the mod to be installed.

###### Version 1.1 (November 24, 2019)

- Added minscfriendship.ini metadata file to support AL|EN's "Project Infinity".
- Rewrote itemdial.2da appending in a more "cosmetic" way.
- Added REQUIRE_PREDICATE process to avoid installing the mod in inaccurate games.
- Added component DESIGNATED number and "minsc_friendship" LABEL .
- Updated deprecated modding tools links.
- Lower cased files.
- Updated and renamed readme file to minscfriendship-readme-english.html.
- Added Russian translation: Arkie and Arcanecoast.ru.
- Included Linux and Mac OS versions in the same package (thanks AL|EN!).
- Updated WeiDU installer to v246.
- Transfered mod to Spellhold Studios GitHub account.

###### Version 1.0 (January 2019)

- Initial release.