Planescape: Torment Topic

[Gorth]

What kind of quests are re-added with Unfinished Business? Just interesting sidequests or stuff that is key to TNO's character and provides more info on his past incarnations?

Because I'm lazy and cut and pasting:

 

From Spellhold Studios:

 

Restored Able Ponder-Thought Research

95% of what's necessary to have Able Ponder-Thought conduct research on three subjects for you is in the original game files. This component completes it. As of version 3.0, it will simply take roughly 20 game hours for Able to complete his research.

 

Restored More Morte Mortuary Moments

This component restores two bits regarding Morte in the Mortuary. They are "Morte's Original Intro" which was originally restored in the Restoration Pack but which I handle completely differently, and "Morte Comments on Dhaal's Book" from SKARDAVNELNATE'S AIP, which I also implement somewhat differently.

 

"Morte's Original Intro:"

 

The main Morte dialog file the game ships with (DMORTE.DLG) contains an introductory conversation with Morte that is much like all the other conversations in game - you have multiple options in what you say, lots of different conversation paths to explore, etc. What actually shipped is a lobotomized version with almost no options in your responses, probably so as to introduce players new to RPG's more slowly to the whole experience. This UB component restores Morte's introduction to the originally intended more complex version. You can get quite a lot more dialogue out of Morte now if you dig for it.

 

I'm doing this completely different from the way Restoration Pack did it. Also, the entire dialogue is presented exactly as it was written by Black Isle, with three minor exceptions. See MorteIntro\tph\MorteIntro.tph if you want the details on the differences from Restoration Pack's handling and from the game files.

 

"Morte Comments on Dhaal's Book:"

 

Originally restored by SKARDAVNELNATE and done in a slightly different manner by Qwinn, Morte's walkthrough in the mortuary is extended slightly, and he will comment when you approach Dhaal near the beginning of the game. All content was within the game files, all that was needed were a couple of script changes.

 

Restored Candlestick Quest

Originally restored and distributed as a stand alone restoration mod by Platter, SKARDAVNELNATE provided some good fixes for this restoration of a quest in the Buried Village. Most of the content here existed in the game files: the areas, the items, the creatures and the dialog lines, all were already in the game, just not enabled. Platter added a couple of triggers and actors and scripts to restore it, and SKARDAVNELNATE added the quests to the journal, fixed some script errors and corrected the colors and appearance of the actors. Qwinn added some additional scripting for the portals.

 

Restored Deionarra's Truth Conversations

SKARDAVNELNATE'S description of his restoration: "There are several dialog options [regarding Deionarra's fate] that can't be accessed before the Fortress of Regrets. However a few of them are non specific enough where TNO doesn't need to know all the details. Using the Deionarra Sensory Stone and speaking with Iannis should be enough to piece together that something happened. Iannis's dialog is too detailed but if it is enabled it will now work properly."

 

Note that this is NOT the "Deionarra's Truth" mod out there that also restores Iannis's conversation about Deionarra's fate despite the fact that there's no way that TNO could know what he discusses in it. As he says, SKARDAVNELNATE's version only restores conversational bits that are consistent with what the player can know at that point in the game. If you want more, though, check out the "Expanded Deionarra's Truth Mod", newly available in UB version 3.0, that restores every bit of content regarding Deionarra's Truth, and adds some new content besides.

 

Restored Pendant of Yemeth Quest

Originally restored by SKARDAVNELNATE, this is possibly the single biggest restoration in this mod. This component restores a quest involving 6 actors spanning two different areas, mostly in or near the Smoldering Corpse Bar. To start it, talk to Ratbone in Ragpicker's Square. Note that this is NOT the Ratbone that was in that area in the original game - that Ratbone gets renamed to Carver in the PS:T Ultimate WeiDU Fixpack so as to avoid redundancy with -this- Ratbone that is restored by this mod.

 

Although there were lots of typos and small bugs that needed fixing to get the quest working smoothly, the vast majority of the content of this quest existed in the game files, including all of the dialogue. The restoration mainly just adds already existing actors to the areas and scripts to control them.

 

Restored Elyce and Company

Originally restored by SKARDAVNELNATE, with some additional fixes by Qwinn, this quest restores Elyce, her brother and her boyfriend to the game, and there is a small quest involved. Once again, the dialogues and creatures, etc., were all there in the game files. SKARDAVNELNATE just adds them as actors to the area, and corrects a handful of script errors. Qwinn fixed a few additional bugs in their dialogues.

 

Restored Curst Citizens

Seven cool new Curst Citizens, originally restored by SKARDAVNELNATE, all with interesting dialogues dug up from within the game's unimplemented files.

 

Restored Curst Prisoners

This is original to PS:T Unfinished Business, restored by Qwinn. Ever wonder why the Curst prison, a major planar prison, had so few prisoners in it? Not even a plague could account for how sparse it was. You'd see up to 3 prisoners only if you yourself sent them there, and then a bunch more quickly hacked to pieces later on, and that's it. There were actually 9 additional prisoner's dialogues coded that were never put into the area. This component puts them there. And if by some chance those prison doors were to ever open, and the prison erupt into riots and chaos, don't expect them to ignore the opportunity!

 

Restored Carl Parfidor

Another cool restoration originally done by SKARDAVNELNATE. In the original game, you can hire someone to kill Carl Parfidor, but you can never actually meet him. Now you can! As with all other UB components, the dialogue enabled here was written by the Black Isle staff. And if you do have Carl Parfidor snuffed, you will meet a "Curst Administrative Assistant" instead, also as intended. Qwinn added scripting so that the hired help doesn't simply disappear and Carl doesn't just get magically replaced.

 

Restored Alley of Dangerous Angles Thugs

This is original to PS:T Unfinished Business, restored by Qwinn. The generic thugs in the Alley always bothered me greatly - they seemed very unintelligent, aware only of whether or not you'd paid their gang's toll, and repeatedly telling you to "Stay right here, someone will be along shortly to talk to you" which in most of the area simply wasn't true, you were only approached near the area exits. Thankfully, I found other buried dialogue files (and these following the correct PS:T naming conventions) where they are actually aware of events unfolding around them, will comment on them, and they will no longer be, down to the last man and woman, maniacally obsessed with your 10 copper piece toll.

 

Restored Morte & Ingress's Teeth Banter

This is original to PS:T Unfinished Business, restored by Qwinn. It restores a very amusing (non-voiced) banter between yourself, Morte and Ingress's Teeth. Before Morte can use the teeth, you will need to use them with Morte nearby.

 

Please be aware that unlike all the other recommended components of Unfinished Business, this restoration includes dialogue not contained within the unmodded game files. Two short lines were needed to connect existing blocks of dialogue together smoothly. More significantly, I had to write an epilogue to the banter to account for a game engine limitation - namely, there is no way to automatically equip Morte with the teeth, but that's how the original banter ends (which was probably why the banter was cut from the game in the first place). Almost all of the dialogue up to him having them equipped is original Black Isle material, everything after that was written by me to account for the limitation.

 

Since such an epilogue was necessary to 'finish' the content, I decided to have fun with it. I hope you'll find my epilogue as amusing as the original content. It's certain that Annah (if she's there) will find it so. I do continue the original banter's providing of both a "good" and "evil" track, at least for a little while.

 

Restored Items

As of version 2.0, the items restored to the game by this component are the Rat Charm, the Fiend's Teeth, Spiked Gauntlets, Gauntlets of Rending, the Eye of Vecna, Devil's Due and the Chaos Feather. All except the Rat Charm were originally restored in the Restoration Pack.

 

Version 3.0 of the Ultimate WeiDU Fixpack fixes the bug with the usability restrictions on the Rat Charm. It is now usable only by Xaositects, as was intended. Previous workarounds that made it usable only by Chaotic characters have been rolled back. The rat charm is available from Barking Wilder if you are a Xaositect, you ask him the right question, and you have the right component item in your inventory. If you install this component without installing the Fixpack, you will not be able to use the Rat Charm.

 

The Fiend's Teeth (usable by Morte), Spiked Gauntlets and the Gauntlets of Rending are sold by a merchant named Murk who is restored to Curst. His store already contained these items, all I do is restore the merchant.

 

The Eye of Vecna will not become available until later in the game... be sure to check with Vrischika if you come back after leaving Sigil for any length of time.

 

Devil's Due and the Chaos Feather will be found in a container somewhere within the walls of Sigil - or at least, it's reputed to be, though no one knows for sure.

 

Restored Party Comments and Banters

Version 1.0 and 2.0 of UB did not add any new banters and only 3 voiced comments. One was originally restored in the Restoration Pack, a comment by Grace about Fell the first time she enters the Hive area containing his parlor. Qwinn added another two, both in the main Clerk's Ward area, one when Morte first enters it and another when Grace first enters it.

 

Version 3.0 of Unfinished Business, however, has greatly expanded this component. It restores 27 fully voiced flirts between Morte and female zombies, which can be enjoyed right at the beginning of the game. Morte will chime in a moment or two after talking to any female zombie. Also added are 15 new and entertaining fully voiced banters between various PC's, and a new comment by Grace that she'll say one time when entering most areas of the Hive for the first time. Note that you're unlikely to ever see the 15 new banters unless you install the accelerated banter component in Qwinn's Tweak Pack.

 

Version 4.0 adds even more restored sounds and banters - I combed through every available sound file, and this version pretty much restores every banter that can be sanely restored. Also, new and more music! the "Smoldering Corpse Alternate" theme music from the official PS:T soundtrack will now play at night (game time, of course) in the Smoldering Corpse Bar. Finally, talking with your party members will now play that character's theme music, as several of those themes were very rarely played otherwise in game. Morte's theme music did not ship with the game, but talking to him will play his main theme from the official Planescape Torment soundtrack. Both of these tracks from the soundtrack are by Mark Morgan.

 

Restored Mebbeth

This component, new to version 3.0 of UB, restores two significant orphaned blocks of Mebbeth's dialogue. One block is several lines worth and was supposed to occur after you sleep in her hut via her dialogue option to do so, and actually leads to a new journal entry. Another block of dialogue is "Mebbeth's Tale of Ravel", which you will only be able to get from her before you leave for Ravel's maze, and it also leads to a new journal entry. Sound interesting? It is.

 

Restored Lower Ward Encounters

This component, new to version 3.0 of UB, is packaged along with the rest of the Recommended components. It restores 9 creatures to the main Lower Ward area, 7 of them with previously unseen dialogues that shipped with the original game, and also brings back an existing character for a little bit of extra original dialogue that you couldn't get after she left the Lower Ward.

 

The best new addition is Hailcin'n, a scarred and tattooed githzerai warrior who wanders in the same general area as Kii'na. A very colorful character, he thankfully doesn't seem to hold Dak'kon's history against him. This was an easy restoration - the game files already included his creature file, his dialogue file, and his walking-around script. All I needed to do was put him in place, and do a couple of very minor dialogue corrections. His dialogue is quite detailed, and adds a lot of flavor.

 

Another 6 creatures are placed based on two unused dialogue files, representing customers standing around Deran, the slave auctioneer. Much like the customers at Giltspur's auction, there are 3 males and 3 females. Talking to any one of them can produce one of 3 random dialogues for that gender, again the same as occurs with Giltspur's customers. No corrections to the dialogues were necessary, but I did have to pick creature sprites and write a script for them based on the (fixed by the Fixpack) Giltspur customer script. They also add a good deal of flavor to that area.

 

Another two characters, laborers working on some strange unidentified device, are restored near where Lenny hangs out. This is restored based on a complex script that existed for the worker that moves around. There wasn't any special interactive dialogue files for them, but there are a good number of original floating text lines. If you do try to talk to them, I gave one a generic Lower Ward citizen dialogue and the other has an original "I'm working, leave me be" dialogue line that I didn't find being used elsewhere.

 

Finally, if you give Ki'ina information that causes her to leave the Lower Ward, she will now return about a week later so that you can enjoy the rest of her dialogue that was previously inaccessible.

 

Restored Bestiary Entries

This component, new to version 4.0 of UB, was originally restored by Kung Fu Man in his Restoration Pack. Most of these restored text entries were incorporated in Fixpack v3.0, but as of version 4.0 are now separated into this UB component. Affected bestiary entries are Annah, Dak'kon, Dhall, Dustmen (both male and female), Grace, Ignus, Lothar, Nordom, Trias and Vhailor.

 

In addition, the game's dialogue included an alu-fiend text entry for the bestiary, but no corresponding portrait was available. Thankfully, SHS forum poster MaeBe responded to my request for a modified version of the Aasimar portrait, and poster Leila improved upon it further to make the included portrait for Vrischika an excellent addition to the bestiary. I think it fits the PS:T style quite well, and I am very grateful to both posters for lending their excellent artistic skills to this project.

 

Finally, thanks to our engine guru scient, you can now see the updated bestiary picture for TO in game. The portrait will switch from a vague unlit portrait to a fully lit portrait when you first see him in person, which is marked by a short movie. Make sure to check it out before starting dialogue, as your chances to see it may be very limited afterwards.

 

Expanded Deionarra's Truth mod

I am not including this in the "Recommended" section of the installation procedure because it contains a lot more new content than restored content, but I recommend it anyway. As noted in the partial "Restored Deionarra's Truth Mod" listed above, not every original conversation regarding Deionarra's ultimate fate could be restored because the player couldn't know everything he needed to to have those conversations until it was too late. This mod adds a great deal of new content (including 180 new lines of dialogue) that will allow the player to find out her fate before it becomes too late to do anything about it. Once the new content has been played, about 30-40 more lines of original dialogue will become accessible.

 

Note a few important things if you install this component: A closet in your room in the Festhall that could previously be opened easily will now remain firmly locked until the end of this quest (items it contained have been moved and remain accessible earlier). The quest will not be available until after you have returned to Sigil after a long trip elsewhere. Visit an important character in Ragpicker's Square at that time to start the quest, and pay attention to any hints Ravel might drop about items you should hold on to, you will need one to complete this quest properly (the hint is actually part of her original dialogue, I didn't add it). Your TNO will have to be able to handle a pretty tough fight by himself too, and a very nice prize awaits those who complete the quest (although it is both class and alignment restricted). Lastly, this new quest gives an existing long quest that dead-ended rather anticlimactically some sense of closure.

 

I must repeat: You MUST keep an item from Ravel's Garden through most of the game to complete this quest. This item has multiple other uses. You may have to forego the other uses to keep one until you need it near the end of the game. You have been warned. And if you can't open a certain closet that you used to be able to, this component is why.

 

The overall content of this mod - including the tie-in to the existing quest just mentioned - was approved by Chris Avellone, lead designer of Planescape: Torment, and the plot and dialogue also received strong approval from Colin McComb, original designer of the area where most of the quest takes place.

 

Unfortunately, the initial release of this mod does not include an Italian translation. Spanish and German translations are available. If an Italian translation becomes available, a new 3.1 version will be released to include it. Anyone who would like to volunteer to translate it should contact me at Spellhold Studios - any such help would be greatly appreciated. In the meantime, if this is installed in a game set to Italian, the dialogue particular to this mod will appear in English.

 

Restored Item Cheats - Not Recommended

Vrischika's dialogue has disabled conversation paths where she offers to sell you the "Sword of Wh'ynn" - aka "The Cheater's Blade" - and "The Tome o' Cheats". Their descriptions indicate what they are supposed to do, but neither of them actually did anything. Restoration Pack enabled them, allowing you to buy both of them and read the descriptions and, in the case of the Sword of Wh'ynn, reenabled it's power (which is basically to skip ahead to the final game cutscene, which basically just spoils the ending, which is why I don't recommend that one).

 

Note that this in actuality also restores a third item - as buying either of those two items from Vrischika also makes a new tattoo available from Fell (what doesn't?).

 

Restoration Pack also claimed to enable some of the Tome o' Cheats options, but did not in fact do so. The Unfinished Business version, however, does. And it will make the game trivially easy, which is why I don't recommend it (except for modders looking to test their mods, which is the only reason I bothered to make it). The Cheats available in the UB version 1 Tome of Cheats are the Teleport Cheat, Rest Anywhere Cheat, Wealth Cheat, Attribute Score Cheat, Death Cheat, Experience Cheat, Word 'o Good and Evil Cheat, and Word o' Law and Chaos Cheat.~

 

Two things of note about the Tome o' Cheats. One is that Qwinn's PS:T Tweak Pack also contains a Tome o' Cheats tweak, the difference being that with the Tweak Pack mod you start the game with the Tome o' Cheats in your possession, whereas in this component you have to wait until you get to Vrischika (as was... *cough*... "intended") a fair ways into the game before you can buy the Tome (and it's... rather expensive from her). The other thing of note is that this has -nothing- to do with Platter's Tome o' Cheat mod, which I've never even downloaded or seen. The dialog you see when you use the book is entirely authored by Qwinn. The conversation with Vrischika about the book is what was contained in the original files, and the only thing there that I modify slightly is the listing of the cheats available in the Tome.

[sorophx]

sweet! didn't even know this existed. time to replay PST

[Gorgon]

The protagonist has amnesia. Kinda been done to death hasn't it. Nostalgia makes everything look better. Still, it's probably my favorite EI game.

[WDeranged]

I keep getting the itch to pay PST again but last time it ruined all other games for about six months

[C2B]

The protagonist has amnesia. Kinda been done to death hasn't it. Nostalgia makes everything look better. Still, it's probably my favorite EI game.

 

Problem is the amnesia is well used both as a plot and a role-play in PS:T's case and more than justifies the element.

 

And you can't really make a "Nostalgia" and "This has been done to death" argument at the same time. Kinda contrary.

[Starwars]

Finished a replay of this a few weeks ago and it was goddamn amazing.

[Gorgon]

The protagonist has amnesia. Kinda been done to death hasn't it. Nostalgia makes everything look better. Still, it's probably my favorite EI game.

 

Problem is the amnesia is well used both as a plot and a role-play in PS:T's case and more than justifies the element.

 

And you can't really make a "Nostalgia" and "This has been done to death" argument at the same time. Kinda contrary.

Even assuming that time is a linear, they have been writing stories for a couple of thousand years already and soaps populated with people with amnesia since the 60s.

Edited January 21, 2012 by Gorgon

[WorstUsernameEver]

You need something a little stronger than "the plot hook is kinda clich

[Gorgon]

I like it quite a lot, but not because Nameless has amnesia. Mainly the NPCs I think.

[Nonek]

Well there goes my weekend.

[C2B]

The protagonist has amnesia. Kinda been done to death hasn't it. Nostalgia makes everything look better. Still, it's probably my favorite EI game.

 

Problem is the amnesia is well used both as a plot and a role-play in PS:T's case and more than justifies the element.

 

And you can't really make a "Nostalgia" and "This has been done to death" argument at the same time. Kinda contrary.

Even assuming that time is a linear, they have been writing stories for a couple of thousand years already and soaps populated with people with amnesia since the 60s.

 

We're speaking about games here (though it happened before here too but imo wasn't overused at the time.) And my main point was the "Nostalgia" bit. Because it expresses that nothing ever was not "clichee" since it retroactivly would be a clichee "nostalgia".

 

I agree with you that "Amnesia" is clichee. But if you actually would start researching and breaking plotpoints down (thereby ignoring what gives them "depth") so is a LOT (if not the entirty) of Planescape.

 

As I pointed out before. The amnesia in this case is not just a gimmick for cheap "drama" but a vital plotpoint that also influences and is important for its gameplay (role-play). It's all in the execution, and Planescape's execution is excellent.

Edited January 21, 2012 by C2B

[WDeranged]

I first played PST about three years ago so nostalgia doesn't really apply for me, it was just a good, involving story.

[HoonDing]

PS:T is good. I've been planning on replaying it for over 10 years now.

[Gorth]

sweet! didn't even know this existed. time to replay PST

I would recommend installing the fixpack first, then UB and then eventually if you want some (or any) of the parts of the tweak pack. I like the maximised HP when levelling up and the accelerated banter (there are a lot of inter party you might miss out on otherwise).

[greylord]

sweet! didn't even know this existed. time to replay PST

I would recommend installing the fixpack first, then UB and then eventually if you want some (or any) of the parts of the tweak pack. I like the maximised HP when levelling up and the accelerated banter (there are a lot of inter party you might miss out on otherwise).

 

If it's allowed, are you able to post links to any of that and the mods here?

 

For those of us who have no idea where we are supposed to look.

 

I have the original disks, so not the new ones released...from the sounds of it they should be find for it all though.

[Gorth]

Sure.

 

http://www.shsforums.net/forum/551-planescape-torment-mods/

 

Click on forum topics for further download links for each mod

 

If you feel confident enough, you might also give the fourth one (Ghostdog's UI mod) a try.

[greylord]

Sure.

 

http://www.shsforums.net/forum/551-planescape-torment-mods/

 

Click on forum topics for further download links for each mod

 

If you feel confident enough, you might also give the fourth one (Ghostdog's UI mod) a try.

 

Thanks a LOT!!

[Orogun01]

Well thanks to this thread I now re installed my copy, thanks Obsidian community.

[Drowsy Emperor]

Well, its a three to four day game so no complaining.

[HoonDing]

Was that Female Nameless One mod ever completed? I must confess that replaying with Guido Henkel is kinda unappealing.