Arath NPC

Introduction

Arath is a very complex, self-assured, humorous and hedonistic druid who cares for little else beyond himself and his love for nature. He loves the human form, both male and female, and isn't afraid to be direct about what he wants -- though he's not always successful in getting it, much to his chagrin. He has a passionate hate for aberrations, the undead and anything else that falls beyond the natural scheme of things, and he has some rather complex and occasionally contradictory beliefs.

Arath includes both friendship and romance dialogues throughout SoA & TOB.

Arath features:

• an opinionated, quirky new Druid NPC
• many banters with BioWare NPCs (3+ throughout SoA/ToB)
• many talks on a variety of in-game plots and ideas
• commentary throughout the game on the PC's quest
• joins during the slaver line of quests in Chapter 2
• a new quest in late SoA
• a unique romance spanning SoA and ToB
• an extensive friendship with any PC not romancing him
• original portrait by Lady Lesatho
• original music by theacefes

Visit the website or forum for all the latest updates.

Installation

Notes

If you've previously installed the mod, remove it before extracting the new version. To do this, run  setup-arath.exe , uninstall all previously installed components and delete the arath folder.

When installing or uninstalling, do not close the DOS window by clicking on the X button! Instead, press the Enter key whenever instructed to do so.

Disable any antivirus or other memory-resident software before installing this or any other mod. Some (particularly avast and Norton!) have a tendency to report false positives with mod activity, resulting in failed installs.

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

Extract the contents of the mod to the folder of the game you wish to modify (the folder which contains the "CHITIN.KEY" file). On successful extraction, there should be an arath folder and a setup-arath.exe file in your game folder. To install, simply double-click  setup-arath.exe  and follow the instructions on screen.

Run  setup-arath.exe  in your game folder to reinstall, un-install or otherwise change components.

Mac OS X

MYMOD for Mac OS X is distributed as a compressed tarball and includes a WeiDU installer.

First, extract the files from the tarball into your game directory. On successful extraction, there should be a mymod folder, setup-arath and setup-arath.command files in your game folder. To install, double-click  setup-arath.command  and follow the instructions on screen.

You can run  setup-arath.command  in your game folder to reinstall, un-install or otherwise the components settings.

Linux

Extract the contents of the mod to the folder of the game you wish to modify.

Download the latest Linux version of WeiDU and copy WeiDU and WeInstall to /usr/bin. Then open a terminal and cd to your game installation directory.

Optional: 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 lowercased file names. If unsure, running tolower and choosing both options is the safe bet.

Run  WeInstall setup-arath  in your game folder to install the mod. Then run  wine BGMain.exe  and start playing.

Compatibility and Installation Order

The Arath NPC mod should be compatible with all WeiDU mods, however, we cannot test every single one. It is compatible with BGII: ToB, BGT, BGII:EE, and EET. If you do encounter an error, please post on the forums.

Please install the latest version of the BG2 Fixpack.

Mod Details

Statistics

STR: 13
DEX: 11
CON: 13
INT: 13
WIS: 16
CHA: 15

Biography

When asked about his past, ARATH smiles and artfully avoids the question. From what you can gather, he was born in Athkatla, the son of a wealthy nobleman, and grew up in relative peace until he discovered his father's ties to the slave trade. Furious at his father's involvement in people-trafficking, he ran away, eventually joining the local Druid Grove and studying to become a druid himself. Arath is quick both on his feet and in his speech, words tumbling out often before he can finish the last, and has a marked appreciation for the beauty of nature. Though he is in his mid-twenties, he exudes a confidence and charisma of one far older than his years would suggest. His eyes sparkle as you probe him with questions, but he does not answer your questions, saying only that he feels no need to recount the past when the present is so much more interesting.

Talk information

Arath is quite a talkative NPC. He has a total of 22 PC dialogues throughout SoA and ToB (18 in SoA, 4 in ToB), as well as a number of comments and interjections. He will banter with each NPC approximately two times in SoA, and once in ToB.

Important notes

The majority of Arath's non-romantic content is situation based, and he will comment extensively on many quests throughout the game. Feel free to slap him around a little; he's a big boy, he can take it.

If he hasn't spoken in a while, don't worry about it. He'll pipe up soon enough as you progress through the game.

Romance Guide

Conditions

Arath will romance elven, human or half-elven PCs of any alignment and any gender with a Charisma of 12+.

Pre-Spellhold

Arath's romance is separated into pre-Spellhold and post-Spellhold talks. There are two conditional talks in the pre-Spellhold talks. These are talk 4 (sleep in an inn), talk 5 (must be in Athkatla). Apart from those talks, the romance is relatively straight-forward. It begins after an initial round of (4) talks discussing the player's Bhaalspawn heritage.

Post-Spellhold

After Spellhold, the romance becomes slightly more complex. But fear not! Even when things look dark, keep going. Talk 18 requires you to sleep. The SoA romance ends with a gift.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Where do I pick him up?
A: Pick him up near the Fighting Pits in the back of the Copper Coronet before starting the Slaver line of quests.

Q: Much much does he talk throughout the game?
A: Arath has many different talks throughout the game, which more than doubles if you decide to romance him, for a total of over 40 talks.

Q: Does he have a quest?
A: Arath's quest will begin soon after you exit the Underdark in Chapter 6.

Q: Is a soundset on the way?
A: Voicing was not a priority in getting the mod released, however, once the right voice actor is found he will most definitely be voiced in a future version!

Q: How rude can I be to him?
A: Feel free to bully him. But a word of warning: he gives as good as he gets!

Q: Does he have any major arguments with other NPCs?
A: Arath does not get along with a variety of NPCs, but will not come to blows with any of them.

Q: Have you got any plans to expand the mod or add new dialogues?
A: Absolutely! After ToB has been written, there are plans to add both voicing and player initiated dialogue.

Q: Speaking of which, where are they?!
A: Due to time constraints, PID had to be cut from the initial release. It will definitely make it into a future release!

Q: I've got an idea for something I think you should add!
A: I'm afraid the mod is closed content wise [this reply was adjusted by jastey].

Q: I'd like to translate Arath into another language.
A: That's great! Please post into the forum so we and other potential translators know, and send us the finished tra files once you are done.

Q: Crossmod?
A: Crossmod will definitely be added in future versions, although probably more likely to the Crossmod Banter Pack.

Q: Can I write crossmod with Arath?
A: Sure, like all of my NPCs Arath is free for anyone to write crossmod with--you don't need my permission to do so or anything ridiculous like that. If you'd like me to check over your banter(s), I'd be happy to.

Credits

Thank you to all of the people over the years who've suffered through me talking to them about Arath, especially SConrad, Deva, Riviera, berelinde, Bookwyrme, Tameon the Dragoon, MiLeah, Lava Del'Vortel, Crazee, Rhaella, Stnemele and Choo Choo!

Programs/tools used in creation:

• WeiDU, originally by Westley Weimer/Valerio Bigiani (the bigg)
• Near Infinity<, originally by Jon Olav Hauglid
• Infinity Explorer, by Dmitry Jemerov/bigmoshi
• WinRAR, by Eugene Roshal/Alexander Roshal
• IESDP

Copyright Notice:

Version history

9th October 2022 - Version 6:

• Anomen's romance will be set to broken in two specific instances where it was missing so it doesn't break others.
• More support for Project Infinity: added globally unique LABELs, install order syntax.

30th July 2020 - Version 5:

• Russian version by Ghyn added.
• Corrected Arath's cre file (removed Bhaalspawn Innates and "export allowed" and "been in party" flags; changed stats to specifications in readme).
• Replaced healing potions in his inventory with normal ones that can be stacked with the others.
• Arath will receive XP to level to the PC's level upon first joining (up to 3,000,000 XP)

6th February 2018 - Version 4:

• Fixed instance where romance would not set to committed in the morning after dialogue
• Removed timer check in the resttalk in an inn to reduce player confusion why it does not trigger aftr Arath just suggested it
• Arath will no longer refer to Imoen as "his" sister if PC is female (in first Imoen banter)
• ToB: Summoning via fate spirit will be deactivated if Arath was in the party during ToB transition
• ToB banter with Jaheira will no longer be started (wrongly) with SoA banter dlg
• Added "Continue()" to the script block that are patched via EXTEND_TOP
• Optimized ids patching
• Small optimizations in the tp2: use of DECOMPILE_AND_PATCH, removal of unnecessary ToB checks, use of fj_are_structure for area patching
• PRVZ tis (v2) for the EE games provided
• Added EET compatibility
• Added HANDLE_CHARSETS to prepare for possible language versions
• Added arath.ini with modinfo
• Updated to WeiDU v246

15th November 2013 - Version 3:

• Various bugfixes
• Added BGII:EE compatibility
• Moved audio to new HANDLE_AUDIO

22nd January 2013 - Version 2.1:

• Fixed repeating dialogue in joining quest
• Fixed Arath's proficiency points
• Fixed Aerie/Arath romance conflict banter to only trigger for men
• Fixed death dialogues to not trigger immediately after one another
• Added backup break script to ensure talk breaks work correctly

2nd January 2013 - Version 2:

• ToB content added
• Several minor SoA bugs fixed

28th April 2012 - Version 1.1:

• Several small bugs fixed
• Fixed first lovetalk so it now works for multi-and-duel classes

14 February 2012 - Version 1.0:

• Initial release