Overview


This game mod (modification or module) is created for the BG2:SoA side of a BG2:ToB game (yes, BG2:ToB is required), as many people wouldn't want to go through a whole new game to reach ToB areas just to play this mod. With that in mind, most people who have played BG2 know that one of the plot quests is to save the village/town of Trademeet from evil druids, Calim rakshasa, and the noble bickerings. "Shadows Over Soubar" picks up just after that. However, action in the mod does occur if you do not complete the entire sequence of quests in Trademeet, beginning directly after Imoen is kidnapped by the Cowls and Irenicus.

Spoiler:  

We know that war is brewing in Tethyr, and that the Sword Coast has experienced troubles since our hero left Candlekeep as a young adventurer. Power groups- the Iron Throne in particular- have been destroyed, and others are quick to grab for their own power. Including such enemies as Yaga-Sura, Melissan, and Irenicus. But there are other less twisted enemies that prey not on heroes, but on the simple folk. Folk who's only crime is that they live in a town where a great leader who met an orcan horde on the field of battle once lived. Farmers, herders, tradesmen, and merchants all are affected by those who claim power over their lives. Now that sounds like a call for help! Which our great hero will answer. To the rescue we go!

So our story begins in Trademeet, where our hero learns that some mysterious men from the north are looking for them. What those men want, we are not sure. But after a time of searching Amn, our great hero finds a sneaky thief who 'employs' us to do some 'work'. After completing the jobs, the sneaky thief will finally tell our hero what needs to be done to move on. And our hero does indeed move on, finding some letters which leads them to the mysterious men. These mysterious men will explain the entire situation, and the hero can accept (continue the mod) or decline to help.

Key features

  • More than 100 new areas, new as well as changed.
  • More than 400 new creatures.
  • 4 new NPCs with their own tasks
  • More than 400 new items.
  • More than 20 new stores.
  • More than 30 mini quests and 2 major quests.

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Compatibility


Games supported

Shadows over Soubar is designed to work on the following Infinity Engine games:

  • The Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition (BG2EE) published by Beamdog.
  • The original Baldur's Gate II (BG2, or just SoA), with the Throne of Bhaal (ToB) expansion. Make sure you have Throne of Bhaal updated to version 26498. Use patch file for your game language, check the ReadMe files related to your patch in your game folder if necessary.
  • The conversion projects based on ToB, Baldur's Gate Trilogy (BGT) and Enhanced Edition Trilogy (EET).



Other Mods Compatibility

This mod is a WeiDU mod, and therefore should be compatible with all WeiDU mods. Though we are striving to make Shadows over Soubar compatible with as many other mods as possible, there is always a chance that incompatibilities will arise. If you encounter any bugs, please report them on the forum.




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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-mymod.exe , un-install all previously installed components and delete the 📁 mymod folder.

When installing or un-installing, do not close the Console 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.

Extract files from the archive using build-in "Right-click>Extract all..." Explorer fearure, 7zip, WinRAR, ZipGenius, or another file compression utility that handles .zip files.




Special Note for Siege of Dragonspear from Steam/GOG

Good Old Games (GOG) and Steam both package the additional content for Siege of Dragonspear in a method that WeiDU, the tool used to install this mod, cannot access. You must run a program called DLC Merger on your SoD installation before you can install this or any other WeiDU-based mod.




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

Mymod for Windows is distributed as an extractable compressed archive and includes a WeiDU installer.

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 📁 mymod folder and a setup-mymod.exe file in your game folder. To install, simply double-click  setup-mymod.exe  and follow the instructions on screen.

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




Mac OS X

Mymod for Mac OS X is distributed in the same compressed archive and includes a WeiDU installer.

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

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




Linux

Mymod for Linux is distributed in the same compressed archive and does not includesa WeiDU installer.

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, weinstall and tolower 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-mymod  in your game folder to install the mod. Then run  wine bgmain.exe  (or  wine baldur.exe  for EE games), 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-mymod --uninstall  at the command line to remove all components without wading through prompts.




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Components


The installer includes the following components. The number of each is the component DESIGNATED number which gives it a fixed install position, lets other components and mods detect it and allows automated installers to specify component choices.

All optional components require the main component (they need to since it's the one that installs new content).


0. Main component

This component installs the mod itself.




1. Alternative Soubar area

We all know that the original Soubar was built by the same construction company as Beregost. This component installs brand new Soubar location created by Cuttooth. This component requires the main component to be installed.




2. Biffing

This component requires the main component to be installed. Compress files for better game performance. Only valid for classic (BG2:ToB or BGT) game.




3. Selence arrives to Waukeens Promenade after the meeting with Gaelan in the slums

This component requires the main component to be installed.




4. Remorhaz walking speed adjustment (for ENGLISH version .EXE ONLY!!!)

This component requires the main component to be installed. It patches BGmain.exe to reduce MBRH moving speed.
⚠️ WARNING: This information applies solely to the classic Windows-only game version in English, and is not applicable to any of EE games.


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Troubleshooting


These are some general tips if you have problems getting the game working, with or without this or other mods. Many times, errors have to do with the game engine itself or the manner of installation or gameplay. The game recommends deleting all files out of the /cache, /temp and /tempsave 📁 sub-folders in your game folder to see if that resolves the problem before any further troubleshooting.




Symptom: Game freezes or crashes to desktop (CTDs)


Sometimes the game displays an "assertion error" in a pop-up window when this happens, but often times it doesn't. To enable the full error message, open the file baldur.ini in your game folder with a text editor (such as Notepad). If you find you can't edit it or save changes in Windows Vista or 7, see this topic for assistance.

Under the [Program Options] section in the file, type Logging On=1 (unless it's already there). While you're there, you may also want to make sure Debug Mode=1 is there to enable the CLUA Console for debugging and testing. Save the file and exit. Now go back into the game and try to reproduce the crash. Then look in your game folder again for the Baldur.err file and open it with a text editor to analyse its contents.




Symptom: Game crashes with no Baldur.err log and shows either a black screen or a pop-up window indicating an error at offset 005ca8a8


This usually indicates an animation-related issue. Make sure you have the latest version of the mod. If you've installed other mods after it and have this issue, install the fix available here.




Symptom:

ERROR: error copying [infinityanimations/content/somefile.bam]
ERROR: [SOMEFILE.CRE] -> [override/SOMEFILE.CRE] Patching failed (COPY)
Stopping installation because of error.
(with no other error message)

Less-than-informative messages like these may indicate you're installing to a hard drive with a low data transfer rate or an antivirus program is active during installation (which can also affect data transfer). Try installing to an internal drive with antivirus protection disabled during the install. If unsure, disconnect from the Internet (either unplug your network cable or disable your wireless adaptor) and turn off all memory-resident programs during the install. To get a list of these, go to Start > Run and type  msconfig  where it says "Open:" then click OK. When the System Configuration Utility appears, click on the Startup tab. The only really necessary programs that need to be loaded in memory at startup are those related to your graphics chip (typically ATI or NVIDIA). Uncheck everything else, reboot and try installing the mod again. There are well-documented issues with installing mods while Avast antivirus is running, so make absolutely sure all components of Avast are completely disabled.




Other issues


If you have more than one large mod installed, please refer to the Megamod FAQ for more troubleshooting tips.


If none of this resolves your issue, or you have mod-specific issues, please report the problem in the mod's forum. Include the contents of your WeiDU.log file in the post, or attach it if it's large.


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Credits


Original author: Charles Bisson
WeiDU coding: Horred The Plague (WeiDU version), King Diamond (revision) and Weigo (EE revision)
Support: Weigo and SHS Staff




Special Acknowledgements to:
  • Spellhold Studios team for hosting the mod (Forums).
  • Italian translation: Ilot in collaboration with Mother Anorexia, Hicarus87, Giuseppe, Bhoo the hero.
  • Spanish translation: SirLancelot's Team.
  • Russian translation: aerie-ru.info team.
  • German translation: Leonardo Watson.
  • Soubar alternative area art: Cuttooth.
  • 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:



Copyrights

Shadows over Soubar is not developed, supported, or endorsed by BioWare™ or Interplay/BlackIsle, Overhaul, Beamdog or the Wizards of the Coast. It was developed by Charles Bisson, based on material from the game Baldur's Gate II and its expansion.

All mod content is ©Charles Bisson.

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.

Please note that any and all redistribution and/or hosting of this mod is prohibited without permission from the author.


If there are any copyright issues or this statement needs revision, then please contact me and advise me what to do about it. Most notably, if you see any artwork in this mod that might conflict with Copyright rules, please let me know as soon as possible, and I will remove the conflicting content immediately.


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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Version History


    See SoS-Changelog.md
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