And so another year has rolled around, and the world is still spinning.  Truly amazing, don’t you think, considering all the havoc in the world at the moment? Ah, the joys of civilisation and government.

Just as events have been happening in the real world, events have been happening in cyberspace - we’ve seen a lot happen this year; many mod releases, new projects, and even the occasional halted project.  Infinity Engine Radio was one particularly interesting (and informative!) new addition to the Infinity Engine community, and I believe the World Transition Project over at Blackwyrm Lair is soon to enter into its first Alpha, another great milestone in the community.  That’s one to keep your eye out for, for sure! WeiDU has reached version 98, and the G3 Fixpack & Tweakpacks have been released, to the almost unanimous joy of the IE modding community.

Another huge announcement was the revival of TeamBG, with the release of some new tools (and the re-release of some of the old ones!) as well as some not to be missed mods.

Here at ‘Studios, we’ve seen quite a few updates and releases: the Total Conversions Return to Trademeet and Classic Adventures have both been updated with new content and bug fixes.  Mod releases include Tashia Remixed, the Sword Coast Stratagems (BGT Version), and Baldur’s Goth (BGT Version).  Another big mod which received updates was the famed Baldur’s Gate Trilogy, which is rapidly becoming more popular, along with easyTuTu.

I hope everyone has had a fantastic holiday so far (I know I have!), and that everyone’s Christmas/Yule/Hannukah will be just as fantastic.  This year, we have some goodies for you -“ several new mods which are in-progress, and even a big mod update!

Before those, however, I’d like to present you all with the new, improved and reskinned Spellhold Studios Wiki! It currently doesn’t have much content, but I’m definitely aiming to add to it soon, and I hope I’ll have some helpers with that!  Whereas the G3 Wiki is a development-centric Wiki, the Studios Wiki is very game-centric; eventually, we’d like it to have as much information as possible on BGII, BG, IWD, IWD:HoW, IWDII, and Ps:T as possible, including characters, the setting, enemies and more.  A more community-centric section will be coming soon, so keep your eyes peeled! In the meantime, go and add some pages to the Wiki!

Another thing to keep your eyes peeled for over the following weeks will be the announcements of some new mods here at SHS… :)

In the meantime, take a peek at some other new in-progress mods to SHS - specifically, the Iylos NPC Mod for BGII: ToB, and the BG2 NPC Interaction Expansion Project!

Iylos is a ToB-only Monk NPC, sent to ascertain your intentions by Balthazar. He is a grim, somewhat dour young man with an arrogant streak - will you try to befriend him, scorn him, or change him? It’s up to you. You can check out his forum here, and his page on the website here.

The NPC Interaction Expansion Project is an attempt to make your Baldur’s Gate 2 experience all that more enjoyable by adding new interjections, friendships and interaction with the game world to the Bioware NPCs. You can visit it’s page on the website here, and the forum here.

To round up our Christmas “releases” (hah, I hear you say - alright, announcements, except for this one!) Sir BillyBob, leahnkain and Celestine would like to present you with version 0.37 of Classic Adventures, including several new NPCs, new locations and new quests! Download it HERE! Check out Classic Adventures website here, and visit the forum here.

Merry Christmas, Holidays, Yule and Hanukkah to all!

- K’aeloree

P.S. You may notice some changes appearing on the forums over the next few days, so stay tuned… :)

Version 1.5 of Return to Trademeet has been released by al17! Changes include:

- 46 items to replace the old ones of SoA and ToB
- New icons for all the new items (about 120)
- Samuel is the only ‘common’ merchant in Trademeet and Kristian’s goods have their own price now
- A few annoying NPC bugs fixed

Return to Trademeet Website and Return to Trademeet Forum.

Many of you have probably heard or played Fade, formerly hosted at Chosen of Mystra, and so you’ll know exactly how wonderful this mod is! Fade is a CN Fey’ri (elven tiefling) for Baldur’s Gate II, in the employ by Aran Linvail who is here to help you fight Irenicus… and perhaps even spark a romance with male characters who match up… ;)

So I’d like to welcome Mistress Elysia, Silmarien and Fade to Spellhold Studios, and hope they have a wonderful time here!

Mod information can be found on Fade’s forum - go post, and take a look at this wonderful mod!

That’s right - Classic Adventures now has its own website! Created by Celestine, it is a great source of information for those interested in downloading CA, finding out about the NPCs, or just checking it out!

Go take a look!

Finch and Indira added to the list of tested NPCs and the scripts are also now ‘certified’ to work with BGTuTu. Available now from Yovaneth’s Scripts.