Black Hearts BG1 - The Huntress v1.01
Introduction Black Hearts is a new Quest mod for Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition that follows a plotline involving a character from Throne of Bhaal, Illasera, and a Red Wizard plot involving a dangerous new ally that has joined Sarevok’s cause. This mod repurposes fights from the Black Pits module, using those as a basis for various objectives given to players for the questline (with some modifications to them in some cases).
There is a small additional ‘Dialogue patch’ supplement mod that can be downloaded for BG2. This adds some additional dialogues to Illasera in TOB to reflect that the two of you knew each other before.
The mod includes:
- A brand new questline that spans from Chapter 3 through to the end of BG1.
- An expanded non-party companion, Illasera the Quick. While she does not join the party, she is a major presence in a Baldur’s Gate game with Black Hearts installed. In addition to being the major quest giver for the mod, she comments on your journey, provides rumors and advice, has 2-3 conversations with all BG:EE companions, and two long form social events if you choose to befriend her.
- Around 3,000 new lines of written dialogue with an emphasis on roleplay.
- Six brand new areas.
- Eighteen new items with unique magical properties.
Installation For BG:EE Download Blackhearts_BG1.zip and unzip the mod into your Baldur’s Gate EE directory, making sure that the folder “Blackhearts_BG1” and file Setup-Blackhearts_BG1 is in your base game directory (the same location as the chitin.key. Run the Setup-Blackhearts_BG1 weidu exe file to start installation.
For BG2:EE (patch file for additional Illasera dialogue) Download Blackhearts_BG2 Patch.zip and unzip the mod into your Baldur’s Gate 2 EE directory, making sure that the folder “Blackhearts_BG2 Patch” and file Setup-Blackhearts_BG2 Patch is in your base game directory (the same location as the chitin.key. Run the Setup-Blackhearts_BG2 Patch weidu exe file to start installation.
For EET Download Blackhearts_EET.zip and unzip the mod into your EET Baldur’s Gate 2 EET directory, making sure that the folder “Blackhearts_EET” and file Setup-Blackhearts_EET is in your base game directory (the same location as the chitin.key. Run the Setup-Blackhearts_EET weidu exe file to start installation.
Note: The mod should only be played on a fresh save. Uninstalling the mod and loading up a save that had been installed will probably not totally break your save, but may result in weirdness.
FAQ Will this mod get ported for the non-EE BG? Definitely not. It pulls too much from the EE and I learned to mod using a lot of EE shortcuts that I am not going to relearn to mod vanilla BG.
Is SOD required? No, however an SOD add-on epilogue chapter will be coming Soon™
Are there any mod incompatibilities? There shouldn’t be. I tried to make the mod with best modding practices in mind towards compatibility with other mods. However if anyone finds anything that doesn’t work together, notify me and I’ll look into it (contact details below).
What languages are the mod in? Only English so far. If someone would like to assist me in translating to other languages, please contact me (contact details below).
Where does the quest start? The Questline begins in the Feldepost Inn of Beregost and can be started in Chapter 3 and forward.
Are there any time limits or requirements for the quests? There are no time limits on any quest. However, all available quests must be completed prior to starting Chapter 7 (post-Candlekeep) or else the last chain in the questline will not be available. It will be obvious when you’re safe to move on to Candlekeep.
Illasera is kind of mean. Can she not be? No, I tried to write the character as very firmly in the evil camp. However, she is not a cackling villain, simply practical and without much empathy for others. She’s intentionally condescending towards the PC to start, but lightens up over time (and can even respect/befriend them).
Are there story consequences for doing/not doing the quest? Yes. Without spoiling things, playing through the questline to its completion will add an extra benefit to the end game. However, failing to do it will make for a complication towards the end. This is a quest about Sarevok getting a new ally. Failing to stop this will make for a fairly tough battle near the end.
I’m not getting experience from quest turn ins. Is that intended? Yes. I feel like the amount of XP you get in BG:EE is already incredibly high and the fights in this mod generally award pretty good XP for the enemies you kill, so I decided awarding even more XP for quest turn-ins wasn’t really necessary. There are a couple instances of XP rewards given however for alternate quest solutions.
Is there any special content for specific npcs/characters? Imoen gets a few extra bits of content in this mod, including an expanded Eversong Bar scene. Besides her, all other EE base npcs get quite a bit of banter and a few even provide alternate routes for some quests to usually shortcut them.
Credits New Area assets sourced from Lionheart: Legacy of the Crusader Nerys’ song is So Close by FlyByNo (Endless Legend) Nerys voice lines pulled from Legends of Runeterra (Riot Games) Special thanks to DnD Detective (https://www.youtube.com/@dnddetective4463). His modding tutorial videos started out my own dabbling in modding. I couldn’t have made this mod without him. Thank you to all the BG modding community. You’ve inspired so much interest in this game/series that has kept it fresh and fun for decades. This entire process of modding was a lot of trial and error learned from scouring through various mods and trying to put it all together myself. Beamdog for their work to maintain Baldur’s Gate as a game. You all aren’t always appreciated, but I think deserve accolades for the work you’ve done updating the game (and SOD is a pretty swell little expansion).
Contact For any issues had with the mod, send me a message through the beamdog site or contact me at mandatorymarley@sbcglobal.net and I'll get back to you when I can.