A Gibberlings Three Mod
Author: CamDawg
On the web: Home page and discussion
forum
Version 3 - Check
for the most recent version
Languages: English, French, Russian
Platforms: Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux
One of the many fantastic things about Icewind Dale was the time the writers took in their item descriptions. This mod started by reading various item descriptions and trying to tell more of their story.
The scope of the mod is fairly modest, as only 11 items are eligible for upgrade. Six items, based on Baldur's Gate II, are also available.
The tweaks work with or without the expansions Heart of Winter and Trials of the Luremaster. This mod makes interactive changes and therefore should be compatible with other mods. While the Icewind Dale Tweak Pack is generally recommended to be installed last, this mod will detect and apply appropriate changes if it is installed after Tweaks.
As of version 3, this mod also works on the Icewind Dale in Baldurs Gate II project, currently at beta v5.
Windows
Item Upgrade for Icewind Dale is packaged and installed
with WeiDU and is distributed
as a self-extracting archive. To install, simply double-click the archive
and follow the instructions on screen.
Alternatively the files can be extracted from the archive using WinRAR. If properly extracted, you should have an iu_iwd folder and setup-iu_iwd.exe in your IWD folder. To install, simply double-click setup-iu_iwd.exe and follow the instructions on screen.
Please run setup-iu_iwd.exe in your IWD folder to reinstall, uninstall or otherwise change components.
Mac OS X
If the mod was previously installed, uninstall it before extracting the
new version. Item Upgrade for Icewind Dale is packaged
and installed with WeiDU.
To install, simply extract the contents of the mod into your IWD folder.
If properly extracted, you should have an iu_iwd folder, setup-iu_iwd, and
setup-iu_iwd.command in your IWD folder.
To install, simply double-click setup-iu_iwd.command and
follow the instructions on screen.
Linux
Extract the contents of the mod to the folder of the game you wish to modify. Download the latest version of WeiDU for Linux from WeiDU.org and copy WeiDU and WeInstall to /usr/bin. Following that, open a terminal and cd to your BG2 installation directory, 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 lower cased file name. If you're unsure, running tolower and choosing both options is the safe bet.
Run WeInstall iu_iwd in your game folder to install the mod. Then run wine BGMain.exe and start playing.
The idea for the mod came about during my latest Icewind Dale game. Reading through the item descriptions, the developers really took a lot of time to give many items an elaborate backstory. In many cases, I felt that an upgrade was a chance to tell a bit more of the story.
There were two main drawbacks to an Item Upgrade mod for IWD--first, you can not rely on some items being in the game, as many are part of random treasure lists. At least two items available for upgrades may not appear in any given game. The other issue is that, unlike Cromwell in BG2, there's no 'magic dwarf' available early to facilitate upgrades. This means that the upgrades are accomplished through a variety of means, which was good in the long run as it provides more of a role-playing flavor to the mod.
Six items were also added from Baldur's Gate II, as they seemed appropriate for where they were placed in the game.
I'd like to think the upgrades are straightforward enough that players can discover them with a little thought, so further details are available in the form of spoilers:
First, a big thanks to the wonderful community at The Gibberlings Three. Thanks to the still active and vibrant Infinity Engine modding community. Thank you to TheWizard for mirroring the G3 mods.
I'd also like to give a big thank you to theacefes, who provided a perfect piece of music for the mod.
Tools Used in Creation
WeiDU by
Wes Weimer
Near Infinity by Jon Olav Hauglid
IESDP maintained by igi
BAM Workshop by
Glenn Flansburg
ConTEXT Text Editor by Eden Kirin
WeiDU ConTEXT
Highlighters by Idobek, updated by cmorgan
The modding community for the Infinity Engine has been going strong for almost 10 years now, and is the culmination of thousands of unpaid modding hours by fellow fans of the game. Modders produce their best work, and players get the best, well-supported mods, when we all work together.
There are two big ways to upset this harmony. One is to claim someone else's work as your own. The second is to host and redistribute a mod without permission from the author(s).
Be kind to your fellow players and modders. Don't do either.
Version 3 - January 16, 2010
Version 2.1 - November 28, 2010
Version 2 - January 21, 2010
Version 1 - February 13, 2008