For day 2 of 12, BGT-WeiDU v1.05b has been released!

This update corrects a few residual problems from the item installation changes introduced in version 1.05a, fixes a few gameplay bugs and bugs with sound importation, adds the Traditional Chinese language, and modifies the iron shortage effects, most prominently the removal of armor and shield shattering. Old saved games are likely to be rendered incompatible with this update, so a new game is recommended.

You can view the BGT forum here and download BGT v1.05b here!

- K’aeloree/Liam

For the first day of 12, here’s a mod from berelinde, author of Gavin, contributor to many other modding projects and general all-round helper!

Ever wondered what it was like to be tied to life - forever? Aidan knows.

Help him regain his honor, and you might even help him remember what it was to be human.

Fading Promises introduces Aidan, a fallen paladin of Amaunator, who has a couple problems. One of them is that he’s dead. Another is that he never completed his last quest. You can’t help him with the first, but he would be very grateful for your assistance with the second. Who knows? You might even give him the courage to face the judgment he has so long avoided.

You can visit the forum for Fading Promises here, and download the mod here!

With this release, berelinde has decided to step down from the SHS Staff. She has been a huge aid to SHS, and we’re very sorry to see her go - we wish her the very best in all of her future endeavors!

- K’aeloree/Liam

Aloha to all you fellow readers of the Infinity Engine Modding Digest. This fortnight, it appears that many modders have reveled in personal convivialities and travel. This is not the case for one community entity at least, as today’s news is marked by his deliberations.

Baldur’s Gate II battles aggrandised
Zyraen has been busy working on a demonstration mod involving a non-laggy large-scale battle centred on squads led by commanders. Much progress has been made recently, and Zyraen has put up a few screenshots of battles in action. For more information, see here.

The Middle Earth of Infinity Engine
Zyraen has penned down a total conversion idea based on Silmarillion, a novel set in Middle Earth written by the fabled J.R.R. Tolkien. Catch up on his idea here.

I shall leave you with an inquisitive question. They say that quality is better than quantity. Certainly, mods can be scrutinised as such, but let us throw away reasoning for one moment and find out whether you currently play your Infinity Engine game with tons of mods, or with only a selectively modest amount? Make your bid in the discussion topic. With that, I bid you have a wonderful Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year.

Welcome to the second edition of the fortnightly news on Infinity Engine modding. Today I have several updates with far-ranging implications for the land of Faerun, other lands, and even other planes. Be sure to read them carefully, for they may affect you in subtle ways.

Knitting up those holes in Classic Adventures
Classic Adventures is a total conversion for Baldur’s Gate II that re-creates the experience of many classic pen-and-paper modules from Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Recently, a juicy version 0.43 to 0.44 patch was made available by Sir BillyBob. You need the full 0.42 archive and the 0.42 to 0.43 patch for this patch to install correctly. Be sure to grab them all here.

Dealing with the hard of hard-coded
I recently generated two executable patches for Baldur’s Gate II: one allows the player to speak to charmed and dominated creatures and characters, the other corrects the giving and reporting of experience. The former not only enables charm-specific dialogues for Tutu and Baldur’s Gate Trilogy users, but future modifications and updates to modifications may now begin to introduce charm-specific dialogues. More details and download links can be found here and here.

Restoring harmony within the Planar Sphere
Buried within the forums is a fix to the Planar Sphere mod generated by ScuD. This mod was a derelict mod that extended and expanded the Mage Stronghold of Baldur’s Gate II, adding new quests, encounters, items, and spells. In recent times, the mod has been converted to a more compatibility-friendly format and several bug fixes made. Find out more about the mod in the Mod Resurrections forum, find version 2.6a here, and grab the version 2.6a fix here.

A deeper, more nefarious Ariena
Ariena is a female Aasimar-blooded half-orc non-player character that forms part of an evil-centric project called the Mod for the Wicked. Deathsangel has updated her to version 2.0. Find out more information at the Mod for the Wicked forum, and grab a copy of this plane-touched non-player character here.

In a whirlwind of productivity, Cuv has just released Part 2 of his Animations mod, which intends to solve the issues with animation slot overwriting and mod incompatibility due to animation overwriting. Part 2 includes 8 wights, including the BGII Wights, the IWD zombies, the IWD Ghoul and the IWD Ghast.

All of the animations in this package use the same death animation, which is why so many animations can be placed in the same slot.

This mod is intended to give modders more flexibility in their modding endeavors, allowing them to use animations from other games in their BGII mods. This is the second installment, but many more are promised.

You can download Part 2 of the mod here, and check out many of the animations Cuv has ported from PS:T here. For any modder interested in using animations from games other than BGII, this is a great resource to take a look at and use!

For more information and the discussion thread, take a look here!