!!!IMPORTANT NOTICE!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. This download does not include the custom soundset for Kiara and Zaiya!!!
You can download it separately from the Kiara-Zaiya website.
2. To find Zaiya (Slum's district) and then Kiara (follow the quests set to
you), your character needs to be of either good or neutral alignment. You can't
start evil!! Don't cheat, bugs will lurk around if you do!
3. Kiara or Zaiya leave for good if one or the other is killed *permanently*
(out of party - this is not a bug). Though, they won't leave if one is showing
dead in the party slot.
4. Kiara and Zaiya leave the party for *good* in Brynnlaw if you have not done
enough quests around Athklata (this is not a bug). The reason is: it serves
the general story.
5. Watcher's keep is hidden in SOA (this is not a bug)
6. Conflict with Valen: not all Valen dialogs will appear (unresolved issue).
On a general note the MOD is untested with other MODs but should work with most
of them, like tactics (tested a few battles), Kelsey (was reported working by
Seif), Tashia, Oversight MOD...I also added some lines for Solaufein.
7. Some of you may want to cheat: changing equipment, adding a bit of XP...may
be fine. Once you reach the fundamentals of this new MOD (alignment and variables),
you will find bugs beyond my control...Another cheat example: you can try to
have only Zaiya or Kiara in the game though there are so many variables they
exchange (including Kiara's AI script) you'll find bugs everywhere! DO NOT TRY
and then tell me you found a bug!!!
8. Kiara ships with two different portraits. To have the more oriental one,
check in Kiara-Zaiya\Portraits folder the readme file provided.
!!!ADULT CONTENT WARNING!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This MOD contains some love scenes between the main character and Kiara. It also contains some *sex jokes*. I would categorize none of these as adult material though it may hurt the sensibility of some of you. If you object to it, DO NOT PLAY THE MOD.
Table of Contents
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I. About
II. Installation
III. Component 1: Kiara-Zaiya
IV. Component 2: T.G. Maestro's HLA
V. Component 3: Tougher De Arnise Golem room
VI. Component 4: Original improved Amaralis battle
VII. Component 5: Custom soundset
VIII. Kiara's AI script
i) - What does the script actually do?
ii) - Best use for the script
iii) - Script tatics
IX. Known Bugs
X. Credits
XI. FAQ (Spoilers)
XII. Portrait Notes
XIII. Future Developments
XIV. Revision
Section I. About
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(01) Zaiya (ZaEeya) is an NPC who
can join your party.
She is a Chaotic Good Half-Elven Wild Mage
(02) Kiara (KeeAra) is an NPC who
can join your party.
She's a Neutral Evil Human Monk.
The "a" is pronounced like Viconi"a"
Section II.
Installation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TOB is now a requirement for this mod
Unzip the main ZIP file into your
BGII main directory. This is normally:
X :\Program Files\Black Isle\BGII - SoA where X is the letter of the drive you
have installed K&Z.
Run (click on) "Setup-Kiara.exe".
You may always uninstall later by re-running "Setup-Kiara.exe".
Section III
Kiara-Zaiya
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zaiya
~~~~~
Zaiya is offered to you as a joinable NPC if you are a GOOD OR NEUTRAL ALIGNED
CHARACTER ONLY (CHAOTIC_GOOD,NEUTRAL_GOOD, LAWFUL_GOOD, CHAOTIC_NEUTRAL, TRUE_NEUTRAL,
LAWFUL_NEUTRAL). This is essential to the game!!! Zaiya can be found inside
the slaver ship (slums district).
QUEST
~~~~~
She has a specific quest right from the start (find her friend Kiara). She DIES
PERMANENTLY if you can't find Kiara in the allocated time (she will tell you
more once you find her). Advice: save often until quest resolved! The battles
will be hard if you are at a low level (below 300,000 XP point per party member)
but that's the fun about it! Other possibility you come back and pick up Zaiya
at a highler level, which means you'll miss on good scenes that have been planted
throughout the game or YOU can't find her anymore!.
KIARA
~~~~~
Kiara is offered to you as a joinable NPC after you resolve some specific quests
AND YOU STILL HAVE ZAIYA IN YOUR PARTY - ALIVE -.
SPECIAL ABILITIES FOR KIARA:
Level 6: Shadow Stance (improved invisibility for a full turn...Bhaltazar's
original spell)
Level 10: Snake Stance (improved haste modified for Kiara: attacks are doubled
minus one upto a maximum of 7 attacks per round at level 18+). This ability
lasts 6 rounds and can be combined with stunning blow, quivering palm or any
other special abilities she may have. Kiara gets penalties for using this spell.
Level 16: Snake stance (Second and last)
Level 19: Solar Stance (fireball explodes away from her body and blows away
enemies. A Balthazar spell modified.)
OTHER SPECIAL ABILITIES ON OCCASION:
Dragon Stance: with this spell Kiara aquires for a short time some of the dragon's
innate strength and resistances. Critical strike in the first round, her strength
is set at 25 for 3 rounds, 25% resistance to slashing, crushing, piercing...
protection from wing buffet (can not be blown back for a considerable distance)
and unconsciousness for a full turn.
SPECIAL ITEM
She comes with a special monk robe that adds 10% magic resistance (+1 AC Bonus/+1
to all saving throws) and the guardian's ring (+2 AC Bonus/+2 to all saving
throws).
An improved monk robe (+2 AC/+2 saving throws/Immune to level drain and Regenerate
1HP every 6 seconds/True sight once day) *may* be added in one particular circumstances.
SPECIAL BONUSES:
Strength and Hit points and experience points...*may* be added in one particular
circumstance.
TALK TO KIARA TO ENABLE BATTLE SCRIPT/FLIRTING/FIXING SCRIPT
1. Enable: "Kiara, time to
show us your fighting skills."
2. Fix battle by resetting the timer: "What's wrong with your fighting
skills, Kiara?"
3. Disable (set as default): "Kiara, let me direct you in the incoming
battles."
4. Start Flirting: Flirt with Kiara (only from love talk 2 to love talk 36).
5. Run fixing script (if you installed another MOD after Kiara, then reinstalled
Kiara): Never Mind.
Section IV. HLA for Monks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This HLA was prepared by T.G. Maestro:
The HLA is the High Level Abilities. This one replaces the Monk's selection
of spells from the fighter pool abilities to a complete different set. You can
read it from Kiara's spell folder "description.txt". I would definitely
try it as Kiara will have far more interesting spells like dragon fist, capable
of removing a mage's protections (yes everything from spell trap to protection
from magic weapons!)
Well if you tested Kish's excellent Monk HLA, you may want to leave it. This
one is perhaps more balanced (Eg: no lunar stance) and fewer Balthazar spells
but others instead (Chant, Evasion and Greater evasion which are rogue HLA).
Section V.
Tougher golem room
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It changes the cheat whereby in De Arnise, you could take on the Golems one by one. Beware! Six angry golems rushing at you will be quite a surprise.
Section VI. Original improved Amaralis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When this option is installed, first
you will find a less cheesy opponent in chapter 2. He will still use low spells
BUT a few more well chosen ones and will use "improved haste" instead
of just "haste". But then don't forget he is master slaver of Akhlata,
something of the kind was to be expected! In chapter 6, you will find four more
deadly opponents in Amaralis's party (A mage, a druid, a second beserker yielding
soul reaver and a elven ranger with a long bow and poison arrows). You are ill
advised to try this fight unless you are familiar with tactics and the likes!
The standard Amaralis Chapter 6 fight is hard enough.
This option was developed in the spirit of ascension and tactics.
Section VII. Custom soundset
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The custom soundset is available for download separately at the site.
Section VIII
- The Custom Ai for Kaira
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BATTLE SCRIPT
I - What does the script actually
do?
II - How do I best use the script?
III - Brief overview of the scripts tactics.
NB: You may replace the word spell with the word innate ability, all in all they are the same.
I - What does the script actually
do?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BATTLE SCRIPT: Kiara can, at high level, clear out an entire area without your assistance with the script ON. She is quite slow at the start of the game but becomes a dervish of destruction by level 18!
Risk assessement instructions have
been included that prevent Kiara using all of her spells against low level enemies
(gibberlings, kobolds, Ankheg...), she will only activate stunning blow against
such foes! Don't expect her to use solar stance on gibberlings.
For all other enemies, the script works on a timer and will activate every round
a new spell (IF she has the spell memorized AND the condition for its release
is met!):
The battle is automatically disabled if Kiara detects a high level mage alone (example Lich) protected from magic weapons (improved mantle, protection from magical, absolute immunity...), she does not see or detect any other enemy and she does not have dragon fist. Kiara was uselessly wasting her spells on various lich found in the game.
WARNING 1: The script (IF ACTIVATED)
messes up in several occasions:
1. You cast a spell (eg: hardiness) just prior engaging a battle/seeing an enemy.
The timer will be messed up! She will stay idle since the timer expired but
she can't cast her ability yet! Once she casts the spell, the timer is still
ahead and she again waits, despite the fact that the timer is set after "cast
the spell" instruction!
2. You have her use a potion or make her cast a spell during a battle! This
will also mess up the timer, resulting in the same problem.
3. She messes up by herself in some *rare* occasions. One example: she just
casted a spell, last enemy dead (combat is over) but then suddenly an enemy
spawns, the timer gets messed up!
SOLUTION: Talk to her and ask her: "What's wrong with your fighting skills, Kiara?" This will reset the timer and everything should be fine.
WARNING 2: The battle script, *even
if disabled*, will still activate some abilities or spells from time to time:
1. If Kiara sees a high level mage (Eg: Lich, Irenicus...) and her magic resistance
is below 75%: Shadow Stance! Enemy can not target invisible creatures.
2. If she has very few hit points left, she will use monk heal or a potion then
re-engage battle. After that, if she has still or again few hit points left,
she will cast shadow stance and leave the combat area until half hit points
restored, using potions to speed up recovery. When almost half hit points restored,
she will return to the battlefield and if any enemy left, activate her battle
script whether ON initially or not...
3. Enemy is invisible/hiding: cast true seeing if she acquired the second robe.
II - How do I best use the script?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. The battle script is better reserved
for hard battles since she will use all of her most powerful spells first in
a very short time. On some very long battles in TOB, Sendai and Melissan, it
will be useless.
2. On a general note, DO NOT INTERFERE with the script, except directing her
to a specific foe to attack or forcing an attack.
a. If you want somebody in particular to be attacked first (eg: Drizzt), first
move Kiara close to the enemy to attack, then attack. If no orders are given
or she sees a closer enemy than the one directed, she will attack her nearest
enemy.
b. DO NOT force any abilities or make her use potions if you have the battle
script on! This will disrupt the timer and she may stand idle for a while, refusing
orders to attack. If you did, see above Warning 1. This is the only recovery
possible. The timers are re-set when the battle is over or she is self healing
but it will not be reset during a fight.
c. Sometimes, she may seem to stand idle (one or two second max), *do not interfere
except to force an attack on an enemy*, an ability will be cast soon and she
will resume her attacks.
d. For those who are on difficulty Insane, she casts Hardiness as contingency
as from level 20 if you have the spell memorized (you need to select the spell
only once from the special abilities).
III - Brief overview of the scripts tactics.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's based on simple principles: first disable your enemies if they are in a group (War cry, Solar tance), if your enemy has protections then disable his protections (dragon fist), then check your health and use lay on hands or potions if below 50%, then use the most powerful abilites to kill your enemies. Last and if severely taxed, go and hide using either shadow stance or a potion of invisibility, then wait using potions to heal before returning to the main character and engage combat again if enemies are around!
A. Preparation spells (First one spell goes off from the following list):
* Solar Stance: if see group of
enemy and they are in range of Solar Stance
* War Cry: if group of enemy in range with level lower than 9
* Dragon fist (HLA): if her nearest enemy has protections (magic_weapons, stoneskins,
spell turning...)
* Shadowless kick: victim rendered unconscious - no save against this spell!
* Snake Stance: doubles attacks per round minus one for 6 rounds (1 turn)
* Solar Stance: if see group of enemy and they are in range of Solar stance
* Greater DeathBlow: enemy level = or lower than 12
* DeathBlow: enemy level = or lower than 8
* Quivering palm: if enemy save vs spell is = or above 8.
* Dragon Stance: sets strength at 25 for three round, critical strike in the
first round, 25% resistance to slashing,...
* Smite or (tiger strike): critical strike in the first round, with enemy rendered
unconscious and blown back if save failed.
* Critical Strike: all hits are criticals hits.
* Quivering Palm: if enemy save vs spell is lower than 8.
* Stunning blow: enemy stunned if failed his saving throw
* Power attack: same as stunning blow
B. After the preparation spells, conditional spells are first activated if the
condition is met every round (6 seconds real time):
* Chant: if HP less than 66% (60%
resistance to slashing, piercing, crushing...for 3 rounds)
* Lay on hands: hitpoints less than 50% and amounts of lay hands is over 27
* Use a healing potion: hitpoints less than 50%; does not have lay on hands
* Lay on hands: hitpoints less than 50% and amounts of lay hands is below 27
* Solar Stance!: if see a group of enemy with level superior or equal to 9
* War Cry: group of enemy level = or lower than 9
* Dragon fist: if her nearest enemy has protections (magic_weapons, stoneskins,
spell turning...)
* Greater DeathBlow: enemy level = or lower than 12
* DeathBlow: enemy level = or lower than 8
Then all other spells activate every round (6 seconds real time):
* Shadowless kick:
* Snake Stance:
* Quivering palm: if enemy save vs spell is above 5.
* Dragon Stance:
* Quivering Palm: if enemy save vs spell is below 5.
* Smite (1 round later)
* Critical Strike (1 round later)
* Stunning blow (2 round later until exhausted)
* Power attack (2 round later until exhausted)
If has all spells (condition met) she will cast all the spells, or skip to the next available spell.
THE SCRIPT COULD STILL BE IMPROVED DRASTICALLY BY DIFFERENTIATING THE TYPE OF CREATURES OR GROUP OF CREATURES FACED ESPECIALLY AT HIGH LEVEL BUT I DID NOT HAVE THE TIME TO DO SO.
Section IX.
Known Bugs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The MOD was tested and you should *hopefully* be able to finish the game hassle free. But occasionally conflicts and bugs arise.
If you wished to report a bug, please do so if you have been playing a clean game (no cheats!). There are so many cross variables in Kiara-Zaiya that using CLUAConsole or ShadowKeeper and cheat will result in a bug! That includes changing fundamental variables for your characters like alignment and such.
Refer to the forum to report a bug.
X. Credit section
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The MOD's romance and plot improvement:
Seif and Jesara.
I can't stress how important their help has been in improving both the romance
but also the general plot.
It led to the complete rewriting of 10 love talks, revisiting the entire romance
(including some partial rewriting and merging) and the creation of 8 new dialogs
with the PC whether in romance or not.
Editing, proofreading, ideas, website
construction, portrait editing (including sending his own for Amaralis), voicing
(well Amaralis again), testing,..:
I can't thank you enough for helping me out on this MOD. What can I say?
Seif: you're the man!
New dialogs: I'd like to thank Bri (Brianna) for her invaluable contribution towards this MOD, mainly the new erotic stories and the Cernd-Zaiya short romance
Editing: Jessayla has done a marvelous job at the edit. It is unfortunate I did not give her this readme...:)
Portrait of Kiara by Amalthea:
The sketch is truly great work and I can't wait for final portrait.
The other portraits provided are mine and *please* should not be used with another
MOD, they are Kiara-Zaiya.
Soundset:
A special thank to Sorschana: her voice and acting are just awesome. I can't
think of anything else that integrates so well in BGII. Well, she sure has a
BIG fan of her work!
Thanks to Domi: her accent is going to bring an exotic touch to Zaiya. Besides,
her acting is very good too!
Beta tesing:
Amongst testers, I'd like to thank particularly Castamir (Mike) for his trial
of the MOD which hopefully led to the killing of all undesired bugs in the game.
I'm being hopeful here, it would be faster with a spray! :-)
I'm still waiting for Jesara, TGM and Seif's comments but given the schedule
set for the release it was impossible.
HLA and Kiara balancing:
My thanks to T.G. Maestro for his valuable insight in reducing Kiara's strength
from initially Balthazar to "Hey! Why did she die for? :) Joking aside,
he has contributed to make the game more fun. Besides, Kiara will also use most
of his own spells and his own HLA table when Kiara reaches level 20. You won't
see much before TOB but it will give you an idea.
Detectablespells: I would like to thank Cirerrek for letting me use this very good MOD in Kiara-Zaiya and of course it's original developers Kensai Ryu and Vulgar Zildrah. It has been extremely helpful in improving the battles in Kiara-Zaiya.
Translation:
Thot started the French translation lazy as I am. ;) Thanks Thot!
Chloé has agreed doing the german translation. My German is a bit too
rusty for such large endeavour in German. So, thanks Chloé.
Jason Campton: first for letting me use part of his code. I did not give him much choice I must say. :) and secondly for is pertinent advice regarding my old coding.
Wes Weimer and WeiDU:
I long wondered if I should curse the man or kiss his feet? :P I guess a bit
of both. :LOL:
I'll explain: I guess the "parse error..." *is* every modder's nightmare
and I got my fair share of it, that said I can't think of a better program to
bring the MODs out to you once you get the hang of it!
I wouldn't have even started modding without it. So, a BIG thank to Wes.
Story additional research:
Thanks to Mikka, I closely avoided the mention AU (Alternate Universe) and her
help was useful in making a credible story within Toril.
The Kiara-Zaiya forum:
Neil for first opening the forum. I never quite found the time to thank the
webmaster! Thanks Neil.
Other help: I would like to thank everybody who left a message on the Kiara-Zaiya forum at FWS and their valuable support and/or help towards this MOD.
Last but not least, Bioware and their team for making such a great game!
Section XI. FAQ (Spoilers)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q: What kind of new fights were added to SOA?
A:
1. Poisonous Wyvern: two scrolls of protection from poison are supplied, use
them. :) They might not be enough though ;) and you might want a cleric to cast
dispel invisibility (3rd level spell) and Zaiya cast breach.
2. Amaralis first fight (Chapter
2): Amaralis is a Male Kensai/Mage (Level 9/13).
This one has been reduced so any party can easily do it.
3. Amaralis (and his goons) second
fight (chapter 6):
- Amaralis is still a Male Kensai/Mage (Level increased to 13/15)
- Hroth'Kar: Male Half Orc Barbarian (level 20)
NB: To reduce the number of opponents set the game's difficulty level to EASIEST
and the barbarian will not appear.
Beware that the fight is very difficult and leaving the area or trying to hide
won't work! There are several tatics that will work on him.
Do not install the improved Amaralis fight unless you are familiar with tactics.
You will find it impossible! They all have higher levels than you and use it
quite well.
Q: With whom will Zaiya/Kiara have interjections (i.e., extra dialogue with
another actor that need not involve the PC)?
A:
SOA
1. Lieutenant Aegisfield
2. Elhan
3. Drizzt
4. Tolgerias (2)
5. Demin
6. Svirfneblin Leader
7. Elhan
8. Samia
9. Knight of Solamia
10. Logan
11. Shark king
12. Garren
13. Glaicus
14. Pa'Nai
15. Gythianki
16. Gaal
17. Anas
18. Wellyn
19. Sime
20. Neb
21. Crypt King
22. Merella
23. Rose
24. Daleson
25. Adalon
26. Claire
27. Ginia
28. Bodhi
29. Sir Sarles
30. Tarnor
31. Irenicus
32. Saemon Haevarian (2)
33. Tiris
34. Tirdir
35. Khan Zahraa
36. Daar
37. Delcia
38. Renal Bloodscalp
39. Rylock
40. Aran Linvail
41. Salvanas
42. Ryan Trawl
43. Raelis
44. Umar kids
45. Miranda
Other NPC Chatter
1. Anomen (Kiara&Zaiya)
2. Viconia (Kiara&Zaiya)
3. Korgan (Kiara&Zaiya)
4. Jan (Kiara&Zaiya)
5. Edwin (Kiara only)
6. Imoen (Kiara only)
7. Nalia (Kiara&Zaiya)
8. Valygar (Kiara&Zaiya)
9. Minsc (Kiara&Zaiya)
10. Yoshimo (Kiara only)
11. Jaheira (Kiara&Zaiya)
12. Mazzy (Kiara only)
13. Haer Dalis (Kiara only)
14. Keldorn (Kiara&Zaiya)
15. Cernd (Kiara&Zaiya)
16. Aerie (Zaiya only)
Q: How many quests do I need to do before leaving for Brynnlaw?
A: You need two: do first De Arnise and then do either Firkraag, Planar sphere
or the ransom quest from the graveyard district.
Q: How do I defeat Amaralis the
first time?
A: Use potions, buy a rod of resurrection and use it to resurrect some of your
dead fighters. Alternatively, use a monster summoning spell or wand to create
additional allies and lure Amaralis away from your fighters.
Q: Kiara has been abducted by Bodhi
and turned into a vampire. How do I get her back?
A: Like any other romance character (Anomen, Aerie, Viconia, Jaheira) in BGII
abducted by Bodhi.
Q: What happened to Amaralis? Where
is the long promised second fight?
A: Check the small teeth pass area.
Q: The second fight with Amaralis
is hard, how do I defeat him and his goons?
A: By selecting EASY, you get to fight Amaralis only. Don't expect to arrive
and win on the first run!
Q: Is it possible to get a good
Kiara in the end?
A: Yes. Though, she will be extremely hard to get. Only those who search Amn
thoroughly, keep the romance going on *may* get a good Kiara and are lucky...may
get a good Kiara.
XII. Notes
on the Portraits
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
README PORTRAITS
The mod ships with two sets:
Kiara by Amalthea is standard at installation.
If you want to use the more oriental portrait for Kiara, then copy 1KIARAL - 1KIARAM - 1KIARAS to the BGII portraits folder, then rename KIARAL - KIARAM - KIARAS
None of the portraits in this MOD are to be used in another MOD without the authorization of it's authors:
XIII. Future Developments
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Currently none. I (Seifer) have replaced the Amaralis portrait and tidied up
the readme into one document (this one). The ToB elementm is pending my actuially
having the time to getting around to it. If you have any suggestions, go post
them at the forum or contact me personally.