What would you like to see?

[WildGirl]

Have any ideas for improving ToB?  I'd like to hear them.

[yarpen]

I'd love to see Saradush stuff how it was handled in Trone of Bhaal book - so fights in the city - not in camp because it really sucks. So - we're going to Yaga-shura's camp and there's noone - everyone is fighting in Saradush already.

Also, I want TRA files, becuase it's one of most promising mods this days!

[WildGirl]

Fighting Yaga Shura on the steps outside the castle would be awesome.  I'd have to change the area so that you could see a broken wall or something, though.  So I'll put that on the back burner.  My art skills aren't so great. 

A TRA file, wow!  I never thought anyone would want to translate it.  (And my second language is so awful you wouldn't want to read it.)  I've been changing dialogue trees like crazy, but as soon as things firm up I'll start using TRAs.  It'll definitely be done for the version 1 release.

[kthxbye]

About, the TRA files, I think weidu has an automatic traify command, so I think it's best to wait a bit if you change dialogs quite frequently. Anyway I'm quite new to the modding world so I can be mistaken.

About the YagaShura fight inside Saradush: it would indeed be something interesting to say the least. What about a chase? The party has to fight all the way through the back lines in the camp outside the city, in order to reach YagaShura on the walls and defeat him, thus breaking the siege. I don't think Yaga would leave his most powerful allies on the back, so it could be quite easy at the start, but as soon as the party gets nearer to the front lines, they could meet stronger (or just more numerous) foes, and maybe a lieutenant.

[WildGirl]

From what I understand, you can get WeiDu to traify for you pretty easily.  But like you said, if I'm messing around with dialogues a lot then I should put it off a little bit.  But it will be there eventually, oh yes.

Clearing a path through Yaga Shura's followers to get to him inside the city walls would be great.  It just depends on some nice area art for it to work well.  Also, I don't plan on letting the PC actually break the siege and save Saradush.  I like it that there is someone that the PC can't save.  But that shouldn't stop other people from making a "Saving Saradush" mod.   

[Ardanis]

In regards of traifying, yes, it's better to wait out for a large enough pack. Makes life simplier for the modder.

Area making, especially that from the scratch, is rightfully considered the most difficult task in IE modding, so I'd think carefully before embarking on that route.
There's a rather nice service available over BWL, that has area tilesets for all IE games easy to look through and download - http://www.blackwyrmlair.net/%7Echevar/Community/Areas/index.html
Other than that, well, afaik very few people make new arts, not to mention the painful encoding of a picture into a working area file - walls, lights, etc. I guess the easiest way would be just to add some unpassable tiles (smoldering ruins, whatsoever) at the edges of the map. The possible issue of shifting coordinates, which might arise, is easy to deal with.

[kthxbye]

Well, breaking the siege is somewhat the same as saving the city - but it could very well be that the main character manages to save only a pile of crashed walls and some ruins.
I really don't remember the camp's area that well, but maybe you can find a way to do the chase without having to redo the areas for now, using a cutscene to "hide" the fact that the walls aren't broken as they should instead be. Temporary solution, obviously, but would give you time if it's doable.

[WildGirl]

That's true -- I could write up the whole thing (dialogue, scripting, etc) and then make the background make more sense later.  This is a beta, after all. 

[Annabelle Rose]

Originally David Gaider was working on a ToB Vallygar romance for the PC, but it got cancelled (like most of the stuff he wanted to add) when they rushed it out the door.

You can see snippets of it in NI.

You could always re-add/expand/finish that (if you like writing romances).

[Smiling Imp]

To be honest, I have yet to play through TOB so some of the stuff I mention might already be solved by other mods of be mute to the point but...

Sending NPCs home before the pocket plane is destroyed. Not sure if Homeward Bound takes care of that or not

I know the North Forest is in TOB, but what about the Underdark, Trademeet and Alkatha? Would it be possible revisit these areas and juice them up so that they have some high level quests that can only be unlocked in TOB? I just think that with more places to go, and more side-quests, that the gameplay would be less linear and it would increase the replay factor.

[WildGirl]

I've looked into the Valygar romance, but I don't think it's a first priority.  I like writing dialogue the most, but that particular project seems to be a bit of a Don Quixote; many people have tried and most have failed.  I think it's cursed. 

I think Homeward Bound takes your companions back to their homes in Amn.  And there's a teleport mod that allows you to revisit any area you've been to before.  So it'll take you back to Amn, but there's no new content.  I think I'd rather have old friends (or enemies) find you in the ToB areas than return to Amn for new quests.  I like how your destiny keeps bringing further and further south, going back up north seems like moving backwards.

[berelinde]

Don't worry about the Valygar Romance. It'll be re-released some day, after the ToB part gets recoded. It's still active, but there are other projects ahead of it in the cue, at least according to the current caretaker.

And Homeward Bound does take your companions back to their homes.

Because of World Map issues, it would be far easier to stick to ToB areas.

[Hide and Seek]

Clearing a path through Yaga Shura's followers to get to him inside the city walls would be great.  It just depends on some nice area art for it to work well.   

This. Totally this. Having to fight through his army on the outside, then heading into the ruins of Saradush and fight Yaga-Shura himself (and whatever minions that might be waiting in there) would be an awesome twist of battle. 

[Annabelle Rose]

Clearing a path through Yaga Shura's followers to get to him inside the city walls would be great.  It just depends on some nice area art for it to work well.   

This. Totally this. Having to fight through his army on the outside, then heading into the ruins of Saradush and fight Yaga-Shura himself (and whatever minions that might be waiting in there) would be an awesome twist of battle. 

+1

I will say I disagree with Berlinde about the Valygar romance.

If you want to write one, please write one. You could always make that an optional component if the ToB of the old Valygar romance gets released.

[Lilly]

Sorry I gave the impression of not wanting another Valygar romance! I like variety in my games, and the more, the merrier! 

But if you're going to do it, please make it a separate component, so players can choose on installation whether to play it or another.