G3

Item Upgrade for Icewind Dale

A Gibberlings Three Mod
Author: CamDawg
On the web: Home page and discussion forum

Version 6
Languages: English, French, and Russian
Platforms: Windows, macOS, and Linux
GitHub: Gibberlings3/itemupgrade_iwd

Overview

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.

Compatibility

The components 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, and at present there are no known incompatibilities. 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.

A good rundown of install order and incompatibilities for several common Icewind Dale mods is available on the forums.

This mod also works on the Icewind Dale in Baldurs Gate II project, though the project itself has been discontiued.

This mod is not needed on the Enhanced Edition of Icewind Dale, as it is built into the game itself.

Bug Reporting

If you should encounter any bugs, please report them to the authors at the Item Upgrade for Icewind Dale forum. In addition, Item Upgrade for Icewind Dale is available on GitHub, so fixes and changes can be submitted by the community.

Installation

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

Windows
Item Upgrade for Icewind Dale 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-iu_iwd.exe and the folder iu_iwd. To install, double-click setup-iu_iwd.exe and follow the instructions on screen.

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

macOS
Item Upgrade for Icewind Dale 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-iu_iwd, setup-iu_iwd.command, and the folder iu_iwd. To install, double-click setup-iu_iwd.command and follow the instructions on screen.

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

Linux
Item Upgrade for Icewind Dale 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 iu_iwd 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-iu_iwd --uninstall at the command line to remove all components without wading through prompts.

Contents

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't 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.

Vexed Armor can be made safe if the party learns the true name of the demon after acquiring the armor.

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:

  • Spoilers #1 - a simple list of items that can be upgraded
  • Spoilers #2 - a simple list of items that can be upgraded and hints as to how they can be upgraded
  • Spoilers #3 - full item list, how to upgrade, and item descriptions

Contact Information

CamDawg is the author of this mod; you can find him at most IE forums but mainly at G3. You can find out more about Item Upgrade for Icewind Dale by visiting the mod forum or the project page. Visit the Gibberlings Three Forums for information on this and any other Gibberlings Three mods on which we may be working.

Thanks and Acknowledgements

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.

A big thank you to our translators:

  • French: Lothringen
  • Russian: prowler, Accolon, Hawkmoon, Skaramush, Aldanis Darkwood

Tools Used in Creation

Credits and Copyright Information

The modding community for the Infinity Engine has been going strong since 1998, 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 History

Version 6 - December 1, 2021

  • The Quiver of Plenty +1 was providing +1 arrows, but they were using the projectile of normal arrows, meaning they would get blocked by Protection From Normal Missiles
  • The Remorrhaz Shell Helm had some extraneous resistance effects which have been removed
  • Upgrades which use Contact Other Plane have been updated to allow questions in the TotLM portion of the game to keep in step with IWD Fixpack v7
  • Descriptions have been updated with the latest fixes from IWD Fixpack v7 (primarily weapon speeds)
  • The mod will no longer install on unsupported games
  • Elven Chain is now added in the same order where Unfinished Business for IWD adds items to Lehland's store
  • Previous versions disabled effects by changing their probabilities (e.g. removing the berserk chance from the upgraded Young Rage). However, this was done in such a way that it still left a 1% chance for these effects to occur; these removed effects are now deleted outright.
  • Removed a lot of leftover compatibility code with the deprecated G3 Dale Tweaks mod
  • General code improvements and modernization
  • Added Project Infinity compatibility

Version 5 - November 15, 2012

  • A long overdue repair to the Russian translation (thanks for your patience prowler)
  • Fixed some typos in the item descriptions

Version 4 - September 18, 2012

  • Vexed Armor can now be upgraded to the "safe" version if the party learns the true name of Vexing Thoughts after getting the armor
  • Removed conversable flag for the Gnomish Tools in IWD-in-BG2 games
  • Patch to make Mystery of the Dead protect against the divine version of Finger of Death now only applies to IWD-in-BG2 games

Version 3 - January 16, 2010

  • Updated installer to WeiDU 226
  • Fixed bugs with Orrick creating the Winter Wolf Cloack and Yeti Hide Armor.
    • Closed dialogue option that allowed you to request multiple Yeti Hide Armor or Winter Wolf Cloaks
    • If both items were ready at the same time, the party mistakenly received two Yeti Hide Armors instead of one of each
  • Yeti Hide Armor no longer disabled thieving skills
  • Bag of Plenty was seriously bugged and is now fixed.
  • Remorrhaz Helm was not providing its listed armor class bonus and its weight was incorrect.
  • Mystery of the Dead was not protecting from the clerical version of Finger of Death. Both the original and upgraded version of this item are corrected.
  • Removed extraneous flag from the mitril hammer.

Version 2.1 - November 28, 2010

  • Updated installer to WeiDU 224
  • Repaired French translation

Version 2 - January 21, 2010

  • Updated installer to WeiDU 213
  • Added a Russian translation (thanks to Prowler, Accolon, Hawkmoon, Skaramush, Aldanis Darkwood)

Version 1 - February 13, 2008

  • Initial release.