34 replies to this topic

[Kaeloree]

File Name: Restored ToB Heads
File Submitter: K'aeloree
File Submitted: 20 May 2008
File Updated: 26 May 2008
File Category: Miscellaneous Released Mods
Forum: shsforums.net/index.php?showforum=234
Readme: No Information

The other day I stumbled upon the files 2HEAD01.wav through 5HEAD04. It seems there were more verses than are in the original introduction! Upon further inspection, it seems the beginning of Throne of Bhaal was a bit longer than it is at the moment.

I've attempted to piece together the original scene. It's very much a slap-dash effort, however, and if anyone has any suggestions on ways to improve it (or perhaps a better idea of how it might originally have been structured) just send me a PM and I'll see what I can do!

Just extract tobheads.rar to your Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal installation folder and execute "setup-tobheads.exe" to install. Start a new game in Throne of Bhaal to see the changes.

Click here to download this file

[Tassadar88]

funny, I will take a look ;-)

[Bearwere]

wow, interesting!

[Kaeloree]

Any thoughts on it? I quite enjoy the dialogues, and I think I'll install it myself in future games.

It'll also be going into the next version of Unfinished Business, so I'll take it down when that comes out.

[Amaurea]

I've just installed it and will let you know what I think when I get there.

If they started chanting "Same as it ever was..." it would be all kinds of awesome.

[theacefes]

And She Was! Hey Hey Hey!

[Caedwyr]

Looks good. Not 'Gansta Nation by Westside Connection Talking Stone Heads good, but nothings perfect.

[Kaeloree]

Glad you like it

Let me know if there are alterations I can make which would improve it!

[Tassadar88]

only ... ?Orlando? - I kind of thought the prophet was Alaundo the Seer

[Kaeloree]

Argh Okay, yeah, my bad. Fixed. I rather thought that was wrong!

[smeagolheart]

Orlando Bloom plays the Seer in the movie version of Baldur's Gate: TOB.

[Kaeloree]

Bwahaha, sounds like a plan.

[Tassadar88]

I actually started a ToB game yesterday (lasted full five minutes or so...) and there was one more minor change

all forms are possible e´er the wheels first turn=ever

should be changed to

all forms are possible ere the wheels first turn=before

as that makes much more sense ...

Also, I am wondering whether the conversation at the beginning could be trimmed a little from the player side - this way it took a little of the prophetic feeling from me. Merging the answers so that fewer questions are asked or maybe reducing the amount of questions the player can ask would do it for me :-)

[Kaeloree]

Well, if there's a better way to work it and still have it make sense, let me know your ideas! It was a fairly quick job, and we don't have much to go on.

And you're right, it should be ere Cheers! Will fix once we've figured out a better way to do the PC options. Do you have any thoughts on that? Take a look at the dialogue.d file and see what you think.

[Jarno Mikkola]

And you're right, it should be ere

Are you sure, as the e´er is "Where" or "Ever" and the 'ere is "Here" or the "Before". It's written that way cause there are more than a few unpronounced sounds.

Edited by Jarno Mikkola, 28 May 2008 - 11:59 PM.

[Kaeloree]

Quite possibly... in context:

All forms are possible ere the wheels first turn,
The road twists and winds, the way unclear.
The mists of chance and choice obscure,
That which may be, is also that which may not be.

Anyone else?

[Tassadar88]

I am not sure if it really matters what it is changed to, as it is only the "ever" that is written "e'er". All the rest is "ere" or possibly " 'ere" -and to be honest, as much as dropping "h" is quite common, elision of the bilabial prenuclear approximant is very uncommon in English historically and unlikely in the text, even though it does make sense

[Nuuskamuikkunen]

Yeah that h dropping isn't common at all. Don't take English lessons from the commoners in Nashkel

[Kaeloree]

I think I'm going to go with "ere," for the moment, since the Heads themselves mostly speak in relation to time. If anybody has any convincing arguments against that, I'm more than willing to listen, though.

Any thoughts on the PC options? Here's the relevent bit of dialogue for those interested:

APPEND ~HEAD1~
  IF WEIGHT #-2 ~True()~ LK#UB_Head1
	SAY ~The wheels of prophecy e'er turn,
Gorion's ward hath come.
Crossroad of past, present and future,
The one foreseen, the one foretold.~ [HEAD01]
	++ ~What lies ahead?~ + LK#UB_Head1_1
	++ ~Who are you?~ + LK#UB_Head1_2
	++ ~You know me?~ + LK#UB_Head1_3
	++ ~Can you tell me what is going on?~ + LK#UB_Head1_4
  END
  
  IF ~~ LK#UB_Head1_1
	SAY ~Past, present, future,
Thou must speak to the others of the domains of time.~ [HEAD02]
	++ ~Who are you?~ + LK#UB_Head1_2
	++ ~You know me?~ + LK#UB_Head1_3
	++ ~Can you tell me what is going on?~ + LK#UB_Head1_4
	++ ~I have enough information.~ DO ~StartCutSceneMode() StartCutScene("Cut204b")~ EXIT
  END
  
  IF ~~ LK#UB_Head1_2
	SAY ~Ancient e'er time was born,
New born when the final darkness falls.
Forgotten elders of the Elven Gods,
Stone blind witness to return at his end.~ [HEAD03]
	++ ~Can you tell me of my future?~ + LK#UB_Head1_1
	++ ~You know me?~ + LK#UB_Head1_3
	++ ~Can you tell me what is going on?~ + LK#UB_Head1_4
	++ ~I have enough information.~ DO ~StartCutSceneMode() StartCutScene("Cut204b")~ EXIT
  END

  IF ~~ LK#UB_Head1_3
	SAY ~Alaundo spake of what we know,
Babblings of a child before the old,
The prophet's bones wither to dust,
Yet we endure, the First, and the Last.~ [HEAD04]
	++ ~Can you tell me of my future?~ + LK#UB_Head1_1
	++ ~Who are you?~ + LK#UB_Head1_2
	++ ~Can you tell me what is going on?~ + LK#UB_Head1_4
	++ ~I have enough information.~ DO ~StartCutSceneMode() StartCutScene("Cut204b")~ EXIT
  END
  
  IF ~~ LK#UB_Head1_4
	SAY ~Such secrets I shall ne'er divulge,
Thy answers lie with the others.~ [HEAD05]
	++ ~Can you tell me of my future?~ + LK#UB_Head1_1
	++ ~Who are you?~ + LK#UB_Head1_2
	++ ~You know me?~ + LK#UB_Head1_3
	++ ~I have enough information.~ DO ~StartCutSceneMode() StartCutScene("Cut204b")~ EXIT
  END
END

[DavidWallace]

This is very cute.

Some thoughts on the transcriptions, first. To my ear, the following are slightly wrong:

HEAD03 line 4 - "Eternity's end", not "return at his end".

2HEAD03 line 1 - "sown 'cross the realms", not "sown across the realms".

3HEAD03 line 3 - "blood-steeped course", not "blood's deep course".

3HEAD04 line 1 - "but illusion", not "but an illusion".

4HEAD03 line 2 - "The resurrection of a god", not "The resurrection of the god".

4HEAD03 line 4 - "a new god is born", not "a new realm is born".

5HEAD02 line 3 - "spill tainted blood o'er the earth", not "spill tainted blood all over the earth".



As for the structure of the mod: the last lines spoken by heads 2-4 give me the impression that it's supposed to be a little more nonlinear. It looks as if you're supposed to speak to the heads of the past, present and future and learn what they've got to say.

I think I'd structure it as follows:


1) Player clicks on any of the heads. Five of them light up, as in the existing structure. Head 1 has a dialogue basically as you've done. At the end of that dialogue there's no cut-scene.

2) Clicking on head 1, head 5, or any of the unlit heads just gets a "This head has nothing to say" floating text.

3) Clicking on heads 2-4 gets the appropriate monologue. (After which, the head deactivates, with the same floating text). The first or second time you speak to one of heads 2-4, you get the whole monologue, including the "speak to the others" bit.

4) The third one of heads 2-4 that you speak to doesn't finish its cutscene with "speak to the others" - it kicks you straight into the head-5 dialogue, which in turn kicks you into the Illasera cutscene.


That means a certain amount of traipsing around the map, to be sure. On the other hand, I find it pretty likely that the original scene had some traipsing around, because (a) otherwise it's a waste of artwork to have a whole map, and (b) there must be some reason Bioware cut the original scene, and "there's too much traipsing for the casual player" strikes me as just as likely an explanation as anything else.

As a variant, you could have it so only heads 1-4 light up originally, and each head's fires are extinguished after it's finished talking to you. Might avoid confusion.