WARNING: This is a One-Day NPC(tm). That means it was written and released in a
day. That means it's probably got some bugs. The audio's probably not perfectly
balanced. As the name implies, all the work was done in a day, except for a
recent bugfix.

			Ghareth NPC MOD For Baldur’s Gate 2
			            VERSION 0.91
                	            ONE-DAY NPC(tm)
			     A Pocket Plane Group Project
                              http://www.pocketplane.net



A couple hundred new lines, give or take!
A hastily-recorded soundset, plus three other clips!
Almost 20 banters!
A low-level dual-class NPC!
Magic and moralizing!
Almost 16 hours in the making!

This, Baldur's Gate 2 fans, is Ghareth V0.9, the world's first One-Day NPC(tm)!


INTRODUCING GHARETH AND THE ONE-DAY NPC(tm) CONCEPT

Every so often somebody asks me "How long did it take to write Kelsey?" or "How
long have you been writing the Nalia romance?" and I answer "a very long time."

And then I sit and think about that, and realize that quite a lot of work gets
done if I just sit down and work all day on something. The Banter Packs were
written in just a few busy weekends, basically.

So I asked myself... "Knowing what I know by now, how thorough of an NPC could
I make in one day, start to finish?"

And I wondered more and more about the outcome, to the point where it was
genuinely distracting, so I decided to do something about it. On February 15,
2004, I declared International One-Day NPC(tm) Day, and sat down to write a new
NPC. Ghareth is the result.

When you meet Ghareth in the City Gates area of Athkatla he has just left the
employ of the Cowled Wizards... after spending some years with them, first as
menial labor and later as a low- ranking Enforcer, he has seen too much
corruption and abuse, and decides to do something about it. The abduction of
Imoen was the last straw, so he turns to you for mutual aid.

Ghareth is a male human, level 3/4 fighter/mage.


INSTALLING GHARETH

(If you have already clicked the GharethNPC.exe file, of course, you are almost
done!)

TOB IS REQUIRED.

You should obtain and install the latest TOB patch from www.interplay.com or
www.bioware.com BEFORE installing Ghareth. Really bad things happen if you 
don't have the Bioware patch installed before mods, even worse things happen if
you try installing the patch AFTER mods.

1. Extract the GharethNPC.exe file from GharethNPC.zip, and place it anywhere
on your drive.

2. Double-click GharethNPC.exe. The installer will launch, and will
automatically suggest installing in the directory where Windows believes you
have BG2 installed. Unless you have a VERY unusual configuration, accept this
default.

3. Click to accept the install directory. The installer creates a new "Ghareth"
directory in your main BG2 folder, copies a number of files, then exits. A new
file, called Setup-Ghareth.exe, has been created in your main BG2 directory,
and will _automatically_ be run.

4. A console window (DOS window) opens up and asks whether or not you wish to
install Ghareth. Answer Yes.

5. Files will be copied, dialogue will be compiled, and the game will generally
be made ready for Ghareth. This process may take a minute or two on a slower
system.

6. After the text window tells you to press enter to exit, there is one final
stage--decompressing the compressed audio included with Ghareth to standard WAV
format. The window will fill with text: THIS IS NORMAL. This process may take a
few minutes on a slower system.

7. Enjoy!

If anything goes wrong with the process, or you later wish to uninstall Ghareth,
run the Setup-Ghareth.exe program once more and select the U option.


MORE INFO

You can keep up to date on any further developments with Ghareth, or other One-
Day NPCs(tm) that may come out over time, at www.pocketplane.net. Or stay in
touch via e-mail, jcompton@pocketplane.net or jcompton@xnet.com.

TECHNICAL

Ghareth should be highly compatible with virtually any other mod out there.

Talk Fixer: If Ghareth's name and select text goes weird, select him and press
the F key.

Ghareth was created using these fine tools:

WeiDU
Near Infinity
Infinity Explorer
Shadow Keeper




FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS


Q: So what did you manage to finish in one day?

A: Quite a bit. Less than I had hoped, of course. He banters with all Bioware
NPCs except Yoshimo and Sarevok at least once. He has a fair few interjections
in SOA, and the parts you'd expect (Irenicus threats, TOL gut-check.) There are
a few banters in TOB but unfortunately basically nothing in the interjection
department. He does have a Volo biography, words of advice on ascending, and an
epilogue.

Q: Did you REALLY do everything in one day?

A: I cheated a little. I prebuilt the CRE files because it was something I'd
never done before. I wrote down a few things, like the names I'd need for the
different DLG files. And I did some brainstorming, but nothing I wrote down. I
tried to play it "fair." And V0.91 reflects a single bugfix with the Madeen 
dialogue that was made after initial release.

Q: Why is he low level compared to other BG2 joinables?

A: I thought it might be fun. I like the level-up chimes, too.

Q: Are you aware that Ghareth's banter / voicing / backstory / concept / name /
etc. isn't very good?

A: Probably. But I created a functional NPC in a day, so give me a break.

Q: Isn't this guy an illegal dual-class?

A: Yes, but for story purposes it works better this way. Shhh.

Q: I remember Kelsey's foot fetish... this guy doesn't have another banter
about shoes, does he?

A: Um, yeah, actually... he does.

Q: Isn't that more than a little weird?

A: It's relevant, I swear.

Q: I don't read so good. Did you say where Ghareth is?

A: No, you don't. City Gates.

HISTORY

V0.91: Fixed the Madeen interject bug that made Ghareth leave the party. Oops!

V0.9: Initial One-Day NPC(tm) Release


CREDITS

Jason Compton		Writing, Coding, Voicing, etc.
jcompton@xnet.com

Amalthea		Portrait ("Ezeekiel")

Ghareth employs Ogg Vorbis for audio encoding and decoding. More information,
including complete source code, can be found at http://www.xiph.org, http://www.
vorbis.com

Special thanks to Telefragged.com for ongoing hosting support, and to Michel,
Icelus, UFR, and other friends for file hosting.

Ghareth is Copyright © 2004 Jason Compton.

Ghareth is not developed, supported, or endorsed by BioWare or Interplay/Black
Isle.




LINKS

http://www.weidu.org:                 Home of WeiDU and Solaufein

http://www.pocketplane.net:         Home of Kelsey, and other fine
                                      projects!

http://www.idi.ntnu.no/~joh/ni:       Home of Near Infinity

http://infexp.sourceforge.net:        Home of Infinity Explorer



