Amber NPC for Baldur's Gate II

A Gibberlings Three Mod
Authors: Meira Erviälä & Ville Marttila AKA Darios
On the web: Home page, discussion forum, and Discord

Version 9
Languages: English, German, and Spanish
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux

This mod adds a joinable NPC for Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition or Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. Amber is a tiefling rogue of a chaotic good alignment, possessed of a few special abilities. Despite being fairly intelligent, she can at times be rather blunt when communicating with other people. This trait rarely earns her friends among the people she meets, and the feeling of initial dislike is usually mutual. But underneath her prickly manners, she has a good heart and is prepared to go to great lengths to help those who she sees to be weak and in need of aid.

The mod features not only romance and friendship tracks for the protagonist, but also a romance track for a second PC in a multiplayer game (Player 2). This feature is also exploitable in a single player game if you want enjoy two concurrent romances without cheating. For more information, check out the discussion forum. In addition, Amber is lavishly voiced and has her own original musical theme.

The quest that leads to meeting Amber begins in the streets of Athkatla, and can take place before or after your journey to Brynnlaw.

This mod is designed to work with Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition or Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn with the Throne of Bhaal expansion pack, as well as the BGT and EET conversions. The mod should be compatible with other WeiDU mods. For more information on compatibility, check out the discussion forum.

If you should encounter any bugs, please report them to the authors at the Amber forum.

First time installing a mod? Check out G3's comprehensive tutorial: A New Player's Guide to Installing and Playing Mods.

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
Amber for Windows is distributed as a self-extracting archive and includes a WeiDU installer. To install, simply double-click the archive and follow the instructions on screen.

Alternatively, the files can be extracted into your game directory using 7zip or WinRAR. When properly extracted, your game directory will contain setup-amber.exe and the folder amber. To install, double-click setup-amber.exe and follow the instructions on screen.

You can run setup-amber.exe in your game folder to reinstall, uninstall or otherwise change components.

macOS
Amber for macOS is distributed as a compressed tarball and includes a WeiDU installer.

First, extract the files from the tarball into your game directory. When properly extracted, your game directory will contain setup-amber, setup-amber.command, and the folder amber. To install, double-click setup-amber.command and follow the instructions on screen.

You can run setup-amber.command in your game folder to reinstall, uninstall or otherwise change components.

Linux
Amber for Linux is distributed as a compressed tarball and does not include a WeiDU installer. Linux users will need to do a one-time install of WeiDU (and a few other adjustments) as described in this great writeup.

To install, run 'WeInstall amber in your game folder.

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

This NPC Mod's Shadows of Amn portion currently includes two components, that are available both in English, German, and Spanish:

• 1. Amber, a chaotic good tiefling fighter and thief (dual class) as a joinable NPC with
  • a customised portrait
  • extensive voicing in the English version and soundset for Amber in the German version
  • original music that plays during the conversations with the PC (due to its infinitely looping structure it occupies one of the 17 free slots in songlist.2da)
  • custom made AI script (courtesy of Yovaneth)
  • up to 13 casual interactions with the player character including one in-between talk if you can't quite decide whether you want to be friends or something else
  • up to 10 chapter-specific interactions with the player character
  • up to 13 player-initiated conversation topics to discuss about if the casual interactions left you wanting more
  • one of these three relationship paths:
    • a friendship path for the protagonist with
      • up to 9 friendly interactions
    • romance with a suitable male protagonist with
      • 24 romantic interactions, of which 7 are 'floating' and 3 are kind of pick-up talks if things are about to go sour between you and Amber
      • a flirt pack with unique Amber-initiated flirts and an extensive set of player-initiated flirts
      • a romance conflict with Viconia, Jaheira and Aerie; Amber will also react to Solaufein's romance
      • the Bodhi abduction quest
    • a romance with another suitable male player character in a multiplayer game if the protagonist is not agreeable, with
      • customised friendly interactions and lovetalks to replace those suitable only to the protagonist
  • 2 or 3 regular banters with all Bioware NPCs and a set of scripted banters with Imoen, Viconia and Haer'Dalis
  • up to 47 interjections and reactions to conversations between the player character and non-party NPCs, plus additional 24 interjections with minor citizens of Amn
  • Tree of Life with different options depending on your relationship with Amber
  • special interjections, banters and more for the Underdark
  • a string fixer (SHIFT-k) in case, for example, re-installation mixes up her soundset and name strings in old savegames
  • 3 mini-quests with copious dialogue, new areas (edited from original game areas) and voicing for six non-party NPCs
  • several brand new items, some more useful than others, along with an upgrade to the Blade of Roses
  • small tweaks including
    • corrected spear animations: more stabbing and less swinging
    • corrected Haer'Dalis' blades description texts: they're usable only by Haer'Dalis, not by all tieflings
    • corrected kit.ids and added ToB scripting functions
  • and a hilarious Easter Egg to boot! *Now includes singing and music!*

• 2. Multiplayer-friendly flirting for Amber
  • Flirting with Amber will not pause the entire game. The other players are free to do their shopping, adjust inventories of their characters etc., and you can make out with your sweetheart without annoying your co-players. This is an optional component that will be of use mostly to multiplayers.

This mod was created by Meira and Darios. You can visit The Gibberlings Three for information on this and any other mods on which we may be working.

Special thanks CamDawg for hosting Amber at The Gibberlings Three and to all Gibberlings for their support.

Extra Special thanks to all testers, voice actors and actresses, Yovaneth (Amber's combat AI), and proofreaders who contributed to this project.

For inspiration we would like to thank: Jason Compton & co (Kelsey NPC and Bioware NPC banter/flirtpack -mods), Domi (idea of the 'bounty notice'-lovetalk, 'The Elegies of Elven Heart' fanfic), Ruslaka ('Losing Grip' fanfic), plus Uriah Heep, Nightwish and Rainbow.

On the technical side, we would like to thank:

• Westley Weimer (WeiDU),
• TeamBG (providing tools, IESDP),
• igi (maintaining IESDP),
• Jason Compton & Jesse Myers (flirt tech), Avenger (DLTCEP),
• Sim, Death and CamDawg (tutorials), CamDawg & Idobek (spear animation correction), CamDawg, Andyr and Grim Squeaker (ideas and WeiDU code for Amber's unusability stuff), Ghreyfain, Rastor, Idobek, hlidskialf, Sim, Caswallon, Zandilar, SConrad and many others (answering questions both technical and concerning the game world).

Tools and Resources Used in Creation

• WeiDU by Wes Weimer, the bigg, and Wisp
• IESDP maintained by igi and lynx
• Complete Scripting Guide by SimDing0
• DLTCEP by Avenger
• IETME by TeamBG
• BAM Workshop I by TeamBG
• Near Infinity by Jon Olav Hauglid, FredSRichardson, and argent77
• TextPad
• Audacity (audio editor)
• Kristal Audio Engine (multi-track recorder, audio sequencer and mixer)
• Steinberg Cubase LE (multi-track recorder, audio and MIDI sequencer and mixer)
• Voxengo Redunoise
• Voxengo r8brain
• OggDrop XP
• Corel PhotoPaint 9
• The three-dimensional character model (as presented in "Characters in Computer Games: Toward Understanding Interpretation and Design" by Lankoski, Petri; Satu Heliö & Inger Ekman (2003))
• Tile2EE, A MOS and TIS converter by argent77

Authors:

• Meira Erviälä - original character concept, dialogue writing, dialogue and script coding, sound editing
• Ville Marttila (AKA Darios) - tools research, creature, item and area editing, text editing and proof-reading, dialogue and script coding, graphics, sound and music production, website design

Cast:

• Amber - Celissa (English voicing and soundset)
• Amber - Ines (German soundset)
• Girl - Irenicus Knightingale
• Boy - Harry
• Lorraine - Sheryl Mason AKA Silk
• Demon - Ville Marttila AKA Darios
• Gabriel - Ville Marttila AKA Darios
• Ymmyrt - Ville Marttila AKA Darios
• Ghost boy - Grim Squeaker

Testers, proof-readers and other help:

• Linux packaging by the bigg.
• macOS packaging by Gorilym.
• English proof-reading by Threadspinner, Sheryl Mason AKA Silk, Celissa and Haucusuchus
• German translation by Nadja Sommerfeld AKA Fey
• German proof-reading by Erian and Lilith
• Spanish translation by Immorality, Claudia Vera, Laura Leticia Velazquez, Luis Vera, Cinabrio, Bet-Nadir, Vicky, Teyo
• Amber's AI by Yovaneth (Based on the work of Greg Hodgson AKA Sarkyn, with some edits by Darios & Meira)
• Lorraine's portrait edit by Sirick based on a still image of Michelle Yeoh from the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
• Alpha-testing by Denise Voskuil-Marré AKA Xiao
• Beta-Testing by Baeus, Celissa, Domi, Haucusuchus, Jolyth, Jyzabyl, Bert Van Hertum AKA Lord Ernie, Lord-Jyssev, Miss Sakaki, Necrofim, Noctalys, Sevariat, Sleigh, Sp101 and Rafal Undertaker Krajnik

This mod may not be sold, published, compiled or redistributed in any form without the consent of its authors.
Amber - The Baldur's Gate II NPC Mod Project is ©2006-present Meira Erviälä, Ville Marttila.
Amber - The BG2 NPC Mod Project website design ©2004-present Ville Marttila.
Unless otherwise specified, all content is the property of its author.

Poem "Hymn To Beauty" by Charles-Pierre Baudelaire
Poem "To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell
Anglo-Saxon riddles from the book Voices by Geoffrey Summerfield
Abyssal Pipe's description and inventory icon from the game "Planescape: Torment" ©1999 Interplay Entertainment Corp.
Amber's portrait edit by Ville Marttila based on character portrait from the game "Icewind Dale II" ©2002 Interplay Entertainment Corp.
Ymmyrt's portrait is a reframed version of a character portrait from the game "Icewind Dale II" ©2002 Interplay Entertainment Corp.
Amber's musical theme composed, arranged, programmed and performed by Ville Marttila.

Version 9 (18.01.2024)

• OK, so, like, that whole offset fix thing for creatures in v8, except now done correctly

Version 8 (05.12.2023)

• All of the area files, the lone store file, and most of the creature files had some bad offsets, where it was reporting the wrong location for a block of information. By itself, these were harmless as there was no information to convey, e.g. a bad offset for map notes when the area had no map notes. However, this becomes an issue when subsequent mods try to modify assets from Amber--at best they'll report an error and move on, at worst they'll corrupt the file based on this bad info. Thanks to Argent77 implementing a new NI feature, I was able to track down all of these errors beyond the two files that initially led to the bug report.

Version 7 (17.11.2023)

• Some strings were duplicated, causing the name of the second component in the installer to be gibberish
• While Amber has no ToB content yet, she did have a custom HLA table attached to her kit--the very one removed in v6. However, the table has never worked: it was attached as a fighter kit, the inactive part of her dual-class, so it was ignored in favor of her active class and she used the default thief HLA table. Her custom kit has been restored, but as a thief kit so that her custom HLA table now works. It's the basic thief table, minus Scribe Scrolls and Use Any Item, but with fighter HLAs (Greater) Whirlwind, (Greater) Deathblow, and Resist Magic.
• Thanks to Frenzgyn, Amber's portraits have been upscaled so as to be less grainy on the EEs

Version 6 (16.11.2023)

• Took another run at fixing text formatting
• Fixed issue where Amber could have garbled text or other errors when re-installed as part of a WeiDU stack operation
• Updated metadata/install info for PI
• Simplified the checks for the Player2 romance, thanks to insights from K4thos
• Changed the handling of Amber's custom item usabilities. Amber won't wear armor heavier than studded leather and also won't wield certain weapons (e.g. halberds or two-handed swords). This was accomplished by giving Amber an invisible kit that duplicated fighter abilities with stalker item restrictions for armor, and then handling the remainder of the items individually. However, this meant that other mods that changed fighter abilities weren't necessarily being applied to Amber. As such, this has been redone so that (hopefully) mods which make fighter changes will be reflected in Amber.
• Cleaned up the installer to make installation quicker
• In oBG2 Amber updates the description of Haer'Dalis's swords since they claim to be usable by 'tieflings' but are actually only usable by Haer'Dalis. Amber used to do this by overwriting the descriptions; Amber will now do this via a targeted patch in case other mods have updated the description

Version 5.1 (15.02.2021)

• Fixed text formatting for EE (non-English versions).
• Added libiconv-1.9.2-1-src.7z for licence info on ivonv.exe.

Version 5 (1.2.2019)

• Native EET compatibility
• Updated old code libraries; other optimizations and modernizations
• Amber's item restrictions have been expanded to be more comprehensive; on EE they now utilize EE-only functions to show up as other unusable items (e.g. red borders)
• Fixed bug with class/kit checks in Amber's banters
• Fixed broken tokens in Amber's interjections
• Fixed bug with Rashryn's spawn in the Promenade
• When curing Amber's vampirism, she could sometimes spawn hostile
• Fixed a handful of bugs where dialogues with Player1 would check Player2 for triggers, or vice-versa
• Fixed a handful of bugs with items having wrong/illegal charges on their items
• Numerous small item fixes
  • In EE games, item descriptions now more closely follow the EE style guide
  • Abyssal Pipe's Cloudkill now gets blocked by poison immunity, as appropriate
  • Feline Fur Cloak and Ymmrt's Robe now display appropriate portrait icons
  • Bottled Elements no longer misses a description
  • Beauty Kit now properly displays visuals and plays audio when used
  • Blade of Roses +4 had wrong speed factor, wrong damage in description, and had incomplete fear immunity
  • Thorard's Saucer now enforces its required strength
  • Speed factor was incorrect for Club +2
  • Gillian's Bracelet also had incomplete fear immunity
  • Speed factor and entangle effect was incorrect for Mielikki's Gift (regular and upgraded)
  • Box of Pixie Dust had incorrect duration for its invisibility effect
• Art for the new areas now uses the native tileset format for EEs, reducing potential seams in the tiles
• Numerous typo fixes

Version 4 (3.10.2013)

• Fixed bug with ADD_MUSIC
• Adjusted images for BGII:EE item descriptions

Version 3 (30.9.2013)

• BGII:EE compatibility

Version 2.6 (17.9.2009)

• Added a Spanish translation.
• Upgraded to WeiDU version 211 (Windows & Linux, Mac is still 206).
• Fixed some miscellaneous typos in various dialogs.
• Fixed mistakes in tra files.
• Fixed typos in variables.
• Improved the code that spawns the children.
• Corrected inconsistieces in dialogue.
• Fixed the incompatibility issue with SCS-II's "Remove unrealistically convenient ammunition from certain areas".

Version 2.5 (24.4.2008)

• Added a Linux version. Thanks, the bigg!
• Updated German translation.
• Upgraded to WeiDU version 206.
• Improved the way talks occuring when party rests are triggered.
• Fixed some timer issues with Rashryn the tailor.
• Fixed the issue with unwanted subtitles.
• Fixed some miscellaneous typos in various dialogs.
• Fixed two instaneces in Player 2 romance where the dialogue could get stuck.
• Fixed typos in variables.
• Corrected inconsistieces in dialogue
• Cam modified the item restriction script for the tp2 file.
• Moved the additions to Haegan's script to the slaver area file.
• Updated the new contact information to the read-me and tp2.

Version 2.4 (21.1.2007)

• Added a German translation.
• Added a German soundset for Amber.
• Fixed the problem in the batch files of the Mac OSX version.
• Added extra lines to Max and Ed.
• Doubled the braclet quest's timers.

Version 2.3 (4.11.2006)

• Fixed the fatal bug in the Government area script introduced by version 2.2 that prevented Amber from joining.

Version 2.2 (2.11.2006)

• OSX version available for Macintosh users.
• Replaced the script trigger that crashed game in Mac under certain conditions with another, more stable, trigger.
• Amber's buckler is now worth more than 1 gp.
• Amber should now be compatible with Spell Refresh mod.

Version 2.1 (18.9.2006)

• Lorraine's talk now triggers correctly even if you have used holding or mind-altering spells on her.
• Added dialogue checks for Player2 not being dead.
• Amber's comment after the pit fight in Ust Natha is now more logical, regardless of who fought in the pit.
• Fixed a dead end in the "How are you doing, Amber?" force talk option.
• Removed an accidental time restraint from Amber's third quest.
• Fixed the conditions that determine which line Amber uses in the "I'm sorry" talk.
• Removed a whole bunch of empty reply options from various dialogues.
• Fixed a couple of empty SAY lines in Amber's P2 romance talks.
• Amber's voicing, music and tilesets are not installed in the middle of the WeiDU installation instead of after it.
• Some references to Player1 were removed from Player2's romance talks.
• Fixed the Tree of Life once again (it should now actually work).
• Fixed a typo in the Phaere flirts that could cause dialogue to get stuck.
• Added a slight delay so that the map text willl display for a while longer.
• Amber's dialogues and scripts have been traified, making her ready for translation.
• Fixed a non-fatal typo in the script which determines Lorraine's level.

Version 2 (29.8.2006)

• Added dialog options to prison personnel to enable the continuation of Jan's quest while Amber's quest is underway.
• Added dialog options to prison personnel for enquiring the current whereabouts of the prison keeper while he's away.
• Fixed the problem of Amber choking on install if action.ids has a SoA version of the action Shout().
• Added a missing link to Amber's joining dialogue (after Anomen's comment)
• Added Trademeet-specific comments to Amber's third quest.
• The third quest can no longer begin from Imnesvale.
• Removed extra backslashes that prevented Amber's music from installing on older Windows versions.
• Foolproofed setting of Amber's romance timer.
• Fixed typos in the code related to setting some non-critical variables.
• Corrected logical inconsistencies in dialogue related to Amber's second quest.
• Added InParty checks to Amber's Tree of Life dialog.
• Added more opportunities to make Amber like you :).
• Replaced the POISONED shout in Amber's combat script with its numerical equivalent in order to enhance compatibitlity with other mods.
• Set the post-vampire talk to occur sooner than it did before.
• Chapter talks no longer occur if Amber is upset.
• Added customised Waterdeep talks for Player 2.
• Amber is no longer compatible with earlier versions (v.32 or earlier) of Item Upgrade, unless IU is installed after Amber. Please use v33 of Item Upgrade, which will work regardless of the installation order.
• Amber's scripts and dialogs now use the correct death variable for Bodhi.
• Corrected a critical typo in the trigger of an Amber-initiated Player 2 flirt.
• Corrected "Loacals" to "Locals" in some local variables.
• Shifted critical script blocks from the bottom of baldur.bcs to the top to ensure that they fire when supposed to.
• Changed the file Amber uses to check for the presence of ToB.
• Added a See(<player 1 or 2>) check for all flirts and love talks.
• Fixed some miscellaneous typos in various dialogs.
• Removed remaining references to Player 2 character being a Bhaalspawn from some P2 flirts.
• Fixed the issue with the Bath lovetalk triggering for Player 1 although Player 2 is romancing Amber.
• Added a click-talk option which lets the player know what's going on with Amber at the moment.
• Updated the patching routine for the prison cell door to be more secure and compatible with other mods.
• Added voicing to the Easter egg!

Version 1.1 (5.7.2006)

• Fixed compatibility issues with Weimer's Item Upgrade (see the discussion forum for more information).

Version 1 (4.7.2006)

• Initial release