Introduction
Before we begin this section, let me assure you that I am not now, nor have I ever been a masochist. The actual original reason for this mod was a comment made on the Sorcerer's Place boards. This particular poster in question thought that even Weimer's Improved Dragon AI scripts were too weak. As I was in the process of studying the AI in-game, I decided to take on the challenge of making a Firkraag so tough that even the hardcore tacticians would be screaming for mercy. This is the first of those experimental scripts.
I am constantly attempting to improve this script until I come up with one that simply cannot be beaten until the very end of the game, as dragons should be. For reference, I was able to beat the Tactics Improved Firkraag in Chapter 2 with my Cavalier. That is not very flattering for what is supposed to be one of the most powerful beasts in all of Faerun
This mod should make Firkraag the incredibly powerful magic-user and dragon that he should be. I'm issuing a challenge for all you masters of cheese out there to come up with methods to beat this guy. I intend to remove them in future versions (yes, you'll get credit for the idea).
Note: This mod was first released at RPGDungeon.net. As this site is no more available since many years, it was time to save it from disappearance. It is now hosted at Spellhold Studios with Rastor authorization.
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Compatibility
Super Firkraag is designed to work on the following Infinity Engine games:
- Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition (BG2:EE).
- The original Baldur's Gate II (BG2, or just SoA) with or without the Throne of Bhaal (ToB) expansion. Make sure you have Throne of Bhaal patched to version 26498. Check the ReadMe files related to your patch in your game folder and the BioWare website if necessary.
- The conversion projects based on ToB, Baldur's Gate Trilogy (BGT) and Enhanced Edition Trilogy (EET).
This is a WeiDU mod, and therefore should be compatible with all WeiDU mods. However, we cannot test every single one. If you encounter any bugs, please report them on the forum!
If you want to have Tactics mod installed (www.weidu.org- I heartily recommend it) then it must be installed before this mod. Generally, Super Firkraag needs to be installed last. It is compatible with every mod that I'm aware of.
Although it is not required for the Super Firkraag mod to function properly, classical game players are strongly recommended to download and install the latest version of the BG2 Fixpack before proceeding with the installation of this mod.
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Installation
Notes
If you've previously installed the mod, remove it before extracting the new version. To do this, run setup-firkraag.exe , un-install all previously installed components and delete the firkraag folder.
When installing or un-installing, 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.
You can extract files from the archive using 7zip, WinRAR, ZipGenius or another file compression utility that handles .zip files.
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 a firkraag folder and a setup-firkraag.exe file in your game folder. To install, simply double-click setup-firkraag.exe and follow the instructions on screen.
Run setup-firkraag.exe in your game folder to reinstall, un-install or otherwise change components.
Mac OS X
Super Firkraag for Mac OS X distributed in the same compressed archive and includes a WeiDU installer.
First, extract the files from the archive into your game directory. On successful extraction, there should be a firkraag folder, setup-firkraag and setup-firkraag.command files in your game folder. To install, double-click setup-firkraag.command and follow the instructions on screen.
You can run setup-firkraag.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-firkraag in your game folder to install the mod. Then run wine BGMain.exe and start playing.
Note for Complete Un-installation
In addition to the methods above for removing individual components, you can completely un-install the mod using setup-firkraag --uninstall at the command line to remove all components without wading through prompts.
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Credits
Author: Rastor
Special Acknowledgements to:
- Spellhold Studios team for hosting the mod (Forums).
- Strifestrike: For coming up with the idea for this mod and being one of my original testers.
- Beren: The first person that I know of to have beaten the Firkraag mod. He was my primary tester and a really swell guy!
- Weimer: I actually used his scripts as a basis for making this one. He also developed the WeiDU tool, which is what this mod uses.
- The BiG World Textpack German project Team: German translation.
- SoM (part of CoB Clan): Polish translation.
- A.E.R.I.E.ru Team: Russian translation.
- Mathrim Cauthon: French translation.
- Everyone else from The Gibberlings Three, Spellhold Studios forums, and the other Infinity Engine gaming and modding communities who offered their help and support.
Programs/tools used in creation:
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WeiDU, by Wes Weimer, the bigg and Wisp.
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Near Infinity, by Jon Olav Hauglid, FredSRichardson, and Argent77.
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Infinity Explorer, by Dmitry Jemerov / bigmoshi.
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IESDP, maintained by igi and lynx.
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Notepad++, by the Notepad++ team, Don Ho, and the spellcheck plug-in.
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WeiDU Notepad++ Highlighters , by Argent77.
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Infinity Auto Packager, by AL|EN.
Copyrights
Super Firkraag is not developed, supported, or endorsed by BioWare™ or Interplay/BlackIsle, Overhaul, Beamdog or the Wizards of the Coast. It was developed by Rastor, based on material from the game Baldur's Gate II and its expansion.
All mod content is ©Rastor.
Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal © TSR, Inc. The BioWare Infinity Engine is © BioWare Corp. All other trademarks and copyrights are property of their respective owners.
This mod was created to be freely enjoyed by all Baldur's Gate II players, and its content is free of rights. However, it should not be sold, published, compiled or redistributed in any form without the consent of the author.
The modding community for the Infinity Engine has been going strong for more than 10 years now, 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.
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