TORTURED HEARTS 2.
by Zoltán Gonda & Jim Grimsley
v.1.24
JOIN OUR RPG CAUSE:
WARNING:
You should not play Tortured Hearts 2 if you:
-can't respect others' hard work!!!!
and you:
-are impatient
-are a power gamer
-are a nitpicky D&D ruleplayer
-are a rollplayer
or if you:
-don't have much time
-don't like complex stories
-don't like the hardcore approach
-can’t deal with a non-linear discovery approach
I mean it... any of the above-mentioned things will ruin the fun factor of this game and I don't want to rob your precious time. It is still not my intent to appeal to everyone. If you can’t seem to get in the spirit of the game, thanks for dropping by and there are 4000 other modules to try.
AS WELL AS MY GIFT TO THE NWN COMMUNITY, TORTURED HEARTS 2 IS PRESENTED AS A DEMONSTRATION SAMPLE OF GAME BUILDING SKILL.
** Do I need to play TH1 in order to play TH2?
No, but it will help to establish the scene and history. There are plenty of references to TH1 in TH2. The story of TH1 is summarized at the end of this description.
You can download all of my mods from here:
** CONTACT INFORMATION
Zoltán Gonda
e-mail:
** LETO
Modifying your characters and module through LETO is your option, but there’s no guarantee that things will work better if you do: in fact, they probably won’t. Please don’t do this. We are not responsible for the results when the game was designed otherwise.
** CEP
TH2 is based on the CEP package. You need CEP 1.50 and 1.52 installed if you want to play my game. If you have 2.0 only, it won't work due to missing or renamed files. No matter what it says on the CEP site, 1.50 and 1.52 WILL work with NWN 1.68 in TH2 if you have the 2da.hak. Because these patches are no longer supported by CEP, they are included in the “Critical CEP” files on the supplement page for download. These are the files you need:
cep2da.hak
cep1patch.hak
cep1patch150.hak
cep1patch152.hak
cepanatomy.hak
cepbaseitem.hak
cepcreature.hak
cepplace.hak
cepportrait.hak
ceptexture.hak
The last six items are core CEP files that were installed with earlier versions. If you do not see them in your hak folder, you will need to download the CEP 152 exe which installs CEP v. 1.52. This will not interfere with CEP v.2.0. at all.
** Installing TH2
-First of all, extract the downloaded files with WinRar 3.2+ (
-Copy the extracted music files into the music folder
-Copy the extracted TorturedHearts2_en.tlk into the tlk folder of your NWN directory
-Copy the extracted CEP 1.50 and 1.52 patches, TH2Misc.hak, and TH2Tiles.hak files into the hak folder
-Copy the extracted Tortured Hearts II module file into the modules folder
If you want to use the Bonus Portraits Pack, extract the TH2_Bonus_Portraits.zip archive into the Portraits folder. If there isn't such a folder, create one:
Path name: NeverwinterNights\NWN\Portraits
PLEASE CHECK THE “KNOWN BUG” SECTION BELOW!!
You are ready to go!
** KNOWN AND UNRESOLVED BUGS IN TORTURED HEARTS 2
-The bubble that indicates your henchman wants to talk to you doesn't appear over the Packbeetle due his beetle appearance. (weird) You have to talk to him with the radial dial or by clicking.
-Custom item graphics disappear sometimes. Quitting and reloading your game will help.
-Some custom tilesets have no minimaps or there are missing tiles
-Sometimes you can get stuck behind closed doors. Don't panic, turn around and open the door using the radial menu.
-There is a vampire in the Pirate Burial Dungeon who leaves an invulnerable gaseous form. Just leave it, it won’t attack or follow you.
-I've tried everything to eliminate all the bugs, but there may still be some others.
** NEW VERSIONS
Please check your versions against the version number at the end of the page. Older and newer files of Tortured Hearts 2 versions shouldn’t be mixed. The old ones should be overwritten by the new ones. The TH2Misc.hak has also been updated. Don’t use your old save games with a newer version. The music files remain unmodified.
** PLAYER RESOURCE CONSORTIUM PACKAGE (PRC)
TH2 is not PRC-compliant. Sorry. I tried, but there’s no way.
** LINUX USERS
Linux users should probably rename the hak and the music files to lower case, since the file system is case sensitive.
** LAG
TH2 is much less laggy than TH1. If lag is a problem, please quit all other applications before playing Tortured Hearts 2. Thank you.
** MULTIPLAYER
The game can't be played in multiplayer mode. Excess players will be booted out of the game.
** CHARACTER LEVEL
This game starts with a level 1 character and you can gain about 20-25+ levels throughout the very long adventure if you take side quests. More XP is available through conversations, activities and quests than through killing things.
Use a brand new first-level character please! If you use imported characters, they may screw up the game!!! If you see an item called "Little pain in the neck" in your inventory, the game is screwed up. In this case don't begin playing! "Little pain in the neck" is actually a Creature Hide and it is supposed to be a part of you, not in your inventory. You'll need it if you want to learn from books and people. If you import a character the custom Creature Hide won’t work right.
In the beginning, if you are creating a new character, you may see a new package on the bottom of the left-hand character creation screen under “Customize Packages.” It will be called TH2 <your class> Henchman. As a matter of fact, we wouldn't like the users to select this package, but NWN1 doesn't support this feature unless the henchman custom package is in the "player-selectable packages" list. This package can affect the PC as well: if you choose it and use the automatic “Recommended” leveling defaults to level the PC, it will give you unexpected feats and skill distributions. We recommend you pick a standard package or make your own custom adjustments. The henchman package will work automatically for the henchmen even if you don’t choose it for your own character. See "Regular or Prestige Class Autolevel Packages" below for more.
** NOTE ON DEBUG MODE
While it may be very convenient to jump around in debug mode, perhaps saving your game if you get stuck on the scenery, things don’t work the same, especially triggers. You may walk over a trigger that will not fire or will disappear while in this mode, and miss a quest, even a plot-essential one. Save it for emergencies, please.
** FATHER/MOTHER CHOICE
-There is an assumption throughout TH2 that the PC is the child of the PC hero in Tortured Hearts 1. In case your PC who won TH1 was a heroine, you now have an option of choosing whether the game will refer to your heroic father or your heroic mother. This option required rewriting many conversations and journal entries and one-liners, so some may have been missed. It also happens that an NPC referring to his/her own “father” is now referring to a mother. Please, report any mistakes to the author. Thank you.
** REGULAR OR PRESTIGE CLASS AUTOLEVEL PACKAGES
A package of scripts has been added which allows henchmen to advance to prestige classes, with some guidance from you. Not all the henchmen will be suited to all prestige classes because of ability, alignment or class restraints, but the henchmen have been tweaked so that it will be possible to turn henchmen, within their natural limits, to Arcane Archer, Assassin, Champion of Torm, Dwarven Defender, Pale Master, Red Dragon Disciple, Shadow Dancer, Weapon Master.
This package has been added to provide an alternate way to play with your henchmen, for those who are interested and think the henchmen will be improved in prestige classes. Some people might find it tedious or unsatisfying: Be aware that there will be different results according to how the henchman advances; for instance, alternating class A and class B, one level at a time, is not the same as alternating five levels at a time. As you switch classes, different feats and skills take priority, and you may have to experiment to find the best progression for your purposes.
WARNING: You do NOT need to choose this package when creating a character, and we recommend that you ignore it if you see it in the Custom Packages of the Character Creation screen. It works automatically and if you choose it, then using the “Recommended” button when the PC levels up will give the PC henchman defaults. See “Character Level” above.
** ITEMS AT THE START
-"Magic Lollypop" - By using this item, you can: switch autosave on/off, instruct a companion to wait, check how much your henchmen like you, check your own and your henches’ battle kill statistics, find the location of present and “waiting” henchmen and your ship, and Recall Out. This last feature takes you to the area you just exited, sometimes two areas back or toward Raven Fall.
-Henchman command tokens (HMC tokens) - These will help you command your henchmen in battle or reorder them, without accessing their conversations. If you are playing solo and don’t want them in your inventory, you can eliminate the tokens with the Magic Lollypop. They are very handy and if you dismiss the tokens you can’t get them back.
** INANIMATE AREA OBJECT (PLACEABLE) PUZZLES
A few (but not all) of the item usage puzzles in TH2 involve transferring an item from your inventory into the inventory of an inanimate area object.
** DEATH
There is no respawning for PCs. When you die, you must reload your game. If a henchman dies, a cleric can resurrect him/her, or non-clerics can use a Rod of Resurrection or a Life-Giving Fruit.
** GETTING STUCK
If you can't get an item, or it seems that something didn’t happen as it should have, or simply don't know what to do, don't panic! I'll help you as much as I can!
My email:
And for information to learn more trouble-shooting skills, follow this link to the console commands:
** DISCLAIMER:
The musical scores used in Tortured Hearts 2 are copyrighted by:
-Interplay Inc.
Baldur's Gate I-II, Fallout I-II, Icewind Dale II., Planescape: Torment
-Monte Cristo Multimedia
Many of the musical scores are taken from the games Desert Rats vs. Africa Korps, Platoon and D-Day published by Monte Cristo Games and developed by Digital Reality.
Respective Music Composed and Orchestrated by:
Ervin Nagy
Tamás Kreiner
Orchestral Samples from the Vienna Symphonic Library.
Used with the kind permission of Monte Cristo Multimedia.
-Wise Publications
Enya ("Evening Falls" from the album Watermark)
-United Audio Entertainment Ltd.
Mendelssohn (selected scores)
-Mediaphon
Dvorák (selected scores)
-Csaba Béke (Lute music)
This module's author makes no claim on ownership of this music, and asserts the copyright belongs to the above mentioned companies or persons. No challenge to copyright or intellectual property is intended, and due to the freeware aspect, no profits are made from the usage of the copyrighted materials.
** CREDITS
THANKS AND COMPLIMENTS GO TO THE FOLLOWING PERSONS:
The Developers at Bioware
Jim Grimsley, my co-author, who wrote a lot of key conversations for me
Deva Bryson Winblood for the NPC Activities script package
András Gáspár who wrote a few conversations of some very weird characters
DrHoo who proofread all the text and wrote the animal conversations
Jason Smith who wrote the henchman gift poem
John 'Gestalt' Bye for his camera system
Colin Spry for optimizing and fixing a few key scripts
** Special thanks to:
Deva Bryson Winblood - again - for letting me use his name...
Henning Ludvigsen for letting me use his portraits in the portraits add-on.
Ruduen for making some excellent custom items
** PLAYTESTERS:
Patrick Desbois
Balázs Dobos
DrHoo
And many of You
** THINGS THAT LOOK DIFFERENT IN TH2
When you “inspect” someone using the radial dial, you will not see a difficulty level. You will only see limited information. This is planned. You aren’t going to be able to see if a creature is “impossible,” so take care for an exit strategy in case it really is an impossible challenge.
Some items and placeables will have information that can be “inspected,” most won’t, but will pop up a message on click instead.
Corpses will fade quickly and leave “remains.” Animal corpses fade slowly to give you time to “skin” them.
** TAKING THE FIRST STEPS
-Be patient. Explore everything carefully.
-Talk to people. This is essential! Rudeness has negative consequences! Save before new NPC conversations, because you may want to explore your options and some lines are one-way.
-Very little need to fight in the prologue: As a low level character in the main game you can gain almost one level via conversation without actually fighting at all. If you kill wantonly you may kill someone who can help you later in a side quest; NPCs with non-plot roles are not invulnerable.
-Each path is just one of many. As in life, different paths have different rewards. You can’t have it all, you have to make choices, and that’s intended.
-Beware of using your weapons mindlessly. Use your wits first. You may get a better result.
-Use spell scrolls, familiars, potions
-Hire henchmen. There are 12 of them in the game
-Buy better equipment (for your henchmen too)
-If you are a rogue, steal! (and face the consequences)
-Take advantage of your sneaking skills, invisibility potions, and thievery potions.
-If you can set traps, do it!
-Use combat tactics. Stand and melee is not a good solution most of the time. Only strong and/or well-equipped characters can do that. Instead, run around, stun the enemy, use ranged and melee weapons alternately, use offensive and defensive spell scrolls, lure the tougher foes away (sometimes strong NPCs can join the battle), have some healing materials in your inventory and use them.
-Save frequently (on leaving an area for example)
-Use your imagination when going on with the story. Talk to people over and over. Look for experts. Talk to animals if you are a druid or ranger. Your henchmen give hints in many areas and the “chatter” of wandering NPCs in the background may also give clues.
-Use the henchman command tokens you are given at the start. They will enable you to control the henchmen in battle and reorder them. You will also get a Magic Lollypop which reports game statistics and henchmen status, calls your henchmen to you if they get stuck on the scenery, and recalls you back to the previous area.
The story of TH2 gives you a chance to become an adventurer in the wake of your heroic father/mother and explore what he/she didn't manage to do.
As I mentioned, Tortured Hearts 2 is a heavily open-ended game. Those who are not used to this may become confused by the freedom they are given. Remember, you can always do something, find new people to talk to, new problems to solve; and in so doing, you will often find the clue or item to an older, unsolved quest. The journal tries to give you guidance during your adventures and of course you can jot your own notes as well.
If you can't win a fight in TH2, then you are not ready for it yet and you should leave it alone for a while. Every path is just one among many others.
** USEFUL INFORMATION
You may choose a deity at the beginning.
The following skills are checked during conversations: bluff, intimidate, lore, perform, persuade, use magic device. All abilities are checked somewhere too, charisma and intelligence most frequently.
Shops will sell cheaper if your charisma and appraise skills are good. Shops never run out of gold.
You can have as many as 5 henchmen at a time.
Take care of your relations with your henchmen; if you are persevering and lucky, one of your henchmen may fall in love with you. “Love” is a prize, not a change in game play. If you act against their advice or alignment, they can also quit.
You can give your companions gifts to raise your relation counter, but usually raises occur at the end of quests. A relatively high relation counter may prevent your henchman from leaving you in a questionable situation; they don’t necessarily put up with everything you do.
Never give your henchman a container. It could be lost if the henchman dies.
Don't give a henchman any important looking item. You may easily forget that it is in your possession, and many things won’t happen unless the right item is in your own inventory.
Your henchmen can guard a position. It may be advantageous when planning a serious combat situation.