                    Turnabout: An Ascension Add-On
		      Version 1.7
              A Pocket Plane Group Project for Baldur's Gate 2
	              http://www.pocketplane.net

Ascension, created by David Gaider and members of the IEEAIS group, is both
among the first and the best-known Baldur's Gate 2 mods. By altering the Throne
of Bhaal endgame to what the authors said more closely mirrored the original
Bioware plan, Ascension allowed the TOB villain to call up the player's fallen
enemies for one final showdown. It also gave the PC expanded Bhaal essence
powers. Yet the player was still denied an equal privilege to bring back fallen
allies to join in the fray. As we see it, turnabout is fair play.

And thus, we have title! Through this mod, the player gains a limited ability
to mimic the actions of the mad high priestess of Bhaal. When each of Throne
essence pools is disrupted, the player can choose to recall one fallen ally
from a selected list of characters from Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, for a maximum of
three. In much the same way as the character granted new life to Sarevok in the
beginning of TOB, and could choose to do so for Bodhi in exchange for her
service in Ascension, the PC can offer the same boon to one of the Turnabout
allies.



INSTALLING TURNABOUT

0. Be sure that you have installed either Shadows of Amn with Throne of Bhaal and the latest
official Bioware patch for TOB or BG2EE/EET, and the latest version of Ascension from
https://github.com/InfinityMods/Ascension/releases

1. Extract the contents of this .zip to your install directory. 

2. Click on Setup-Turnabout.exe. Select Yes to install the Turnabout mod.

3. Load up your game and play as normal. No new content is added before reaching
the Throne of Bhaal itself.

4. To uninstall Turnabout, run Setup-Turnabout.exe again and ask to uninstall.


TURNABOUT DETAILS

In Version 1, Turnabout makes seven NPCs available from a list of NPCs and
supporting characters who are either always "canonically" dead (in that it is
impossible to complete Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 as designed without witnessing or
being party to their deaths) or are "likely" dead, dying in a common quest or in
such a manner that would have tended to occur with or without the player's
participation.

Each character has been given a posthumous "promotion" of power and experience
points, roughly equivalent to a 3.5 million XP character with stock equipment
and some additional bonuses. Like Ascension, Turnabout is sensitive to the
difficulty slider--your summoned allies will get greater advantages if the
slider is low (at the time they are summoned.)

Two new NPCs are added for the final pool: the player must choose between
Gorion and Alianna, or may choose someone else entirely. Gorion and Alianna
are mutually exclusive, however.

The player may choose one and only one NPC at each pool.
Unselected choices carry over to future pools.

First two pools:
Dynaheir
Tiax
Khalid
Xzar
Yoshimo

Third pool:
Gorion
Alianna (the PC's mother)


More NPCs may be added in future versions.

Some NPCs will be eager to serve. Others will require cajoling or even a promise
of resurrection. (Note that you can make this promise only once--and that
includes any promise you might have made to Bodhi in the Ascension portion of
the game.)



TECHNICAL/COMPATIBILITY NOTES

Turnabout should be compatible with most mods. Ascension is required and must be installed before
Turnabout, and you must use v2.0 or higher by DavidW, found here:
https://github.com/InfinityMods/Ascension/releases


FAQ

Q: I'm getting a lot of "target lost" messages from my allies. What's going on?

A: If your enemies die very quickly, or right when the AI has selected an
action, the eSeries AI may need a few cycles before deciding on a new target or
standing down. This is normal.

Q: Yoshimo says he cannot serve me because he is in torment! Why?

A: You did not cleanse his heart at a Temple of Ilmater. We add a new check to
Shadows of Amn to track this activity, but for simplicity's sake, if you play
with a saved game that takes place after bringing his heart to the Ilmaterians,
we will presume that you _did_ cleanse it--providing that the game's (rather
profane) variable which indicates that Yoshimo was not taken to Spellhold is
not tripped.

So, to summarize:
- If the in-game trigger which indicates Yoshimo died outside of Spellhold is
tripped,
- If you have his heart,
- Or you have not cleared our new trigger which indicates that his heart was
obtained but never cleansed,

Yoshimo will not be available. Note, however, that none of this would prevent
you from obtaining Yoshimo in a TOB-only game.

Q: Why can't I obtain Xzar?

A: If you have installed the PPG Quest Pack and resolve the Xzar/Montaron
Harper Quest using the new, alternate path which does not end in Xzar's death,
he is not dead and is therefore not available. If you do not complete the quest
at all, we assume the Harpers got him through some other pawn.

Q: How do I control my summoned allies?

A: They will behave as summoned creatures rather than party members, so you will
not receive a party portrait for them (and do not need to kick anybody out of
the party to use them.) They employ eSeries AI which you can simply allow to
take its course by "ignoring" them, or click on their green circles and direct
them manually if you prefer.

Q: My summoned allies keep dying! What can I do?

A: The allies use AI scripting which will do its best to keep them alive with
potions. However, even with the bonuses we grant them, these summoned allies are
still considerably weaker than the enemies at the Throne or standard party
members who have adventured through an entire SOA/TOB session. Turnabout is
primarily a role-playing exercise, and is not intended to throw the balance of
power in the final battle significantly in the player's favor. How you choose to
use your restored allies is up to you.

Q: Why can I only resurrect one ally?

A: Ascension establishes that the PC can restore Bodhi. We could have enabled
the player to offer the same boon to everyone, but felt it was more appropriate
to keep the power limited--after all, Melissan, not the PC, has greater control
over the Bhaal essence. And it forces the PC to make decisions about how to
manage that gift, rather than giving it away like candy.

Q: Why didn't X have more to say about Y being recalled/resurrected?

A: Although we appreciate that there are many, many interactive possibilities
opened up by the reintroduction of these characters, we did not want Turnabout
to deflect the focus of the final showdown and the Ascension sequence--which,
fundamentally, is and should remain the player character protagonist. The
Throne sequence, in real-time, would take but a few minutes. Extensive sidebars
of five NPCs arguing with Yoshimo, for example, or a rehash of the BG1 Harper/
Zhent showdown, or a Jaheira/Khalid/Gorion tea party, would have destroyed the
dramatic tension and focus of the endgame. We believe we have struck a suitable
balance.

Q: Why isn't X available for summoning? I loved X!

A: The list of "canonically dead" NPCs is actually quite short, and we have
left out only a few for our initial release. And while some may argue that
including Gorion or Alianna is a stretch because neither was a joinable NPC
(and Alianna was never exactly "friendly" towards the PC), we will not be
further stretching the concept to embrace fallen "ambivalent" characters like
Saemon, dead enemies like Tazok, or living characters such as Drizzt.

Q: Does Turnabout alter core Ascension code?

A: Only slightly, and not in a way that affects gameplay. Specifically, we edit
certain scripts so that your restored Turnabout allies are placed in formation
at the end of the final battle. We also change the animation associated with
PPGUY02.CRE (the part of the pool that "talks" to the PC) so that it works
correctly with NPC interjections. We do not alter the behavior of Melissan, the
Five, Irenicus, Bodhi, or the pool guardians in any way.

Q: Is Turnabout compatible with other Ascension add-ons?

A: We have not tested Turnabout with other mods which alter the TOB endgame,
except for Wheels of Prophecy, which is fully compatible.


AUTHOR'S NOTE BY ORIGINAL CREATOR, JASON COMPTON

So, one of the longest-standing "vapormods" is finally a reality. Turnabout is
one of those ideas that has been bubbling for years. I had long said it was "a
one or two-weekend project", but those one or two weekends always proved too
elusive to actually make the mod.

A short while ago I decided that I would make the time, and exhort as many
people to help out in as short a timespan as possible. Most of the authors
listed in the credits turned in great material in well under two weeks, and I'm
grateful to them for answering my call so quickly and so competently.

I've always been just a little ambivalent about Turnabout. Ascension gives the
PC some useful new powers, but Melissan gets more, too. And if the theme of
Ascension was in part to explore greater attunement to Bhaal powers... why
shouldn't the PC get some variant on Melissan's ability to dig up the dead? On
the other hand, I've never found "all your dead friends and enemies show up for
one last showdown!" to be a very effective plot device, yet here we are,
compounding the situation!

In the end, the potential intrigue of bringing Khalid back to life before the
eyes of an astonished Jaheira, of facing down the infanticidal Alianna, or of
simply strapping it on one last time with the off-kilter Xzar and Tiax won out.
We hope you enjoy.

-- Jason Compton


Version History:

v1.7: -French version added, by Shoedead (proofread by JohnBob)

v1.6: -added "libiconv-1.9.2-1-src.zip" for licence info.
	-removed remnants descriptions of mod versions only compatible with EE or classic version (mod is unified since v1.5).
	-changed @2 in setup.tra to address the correct error text.

v1.5: -all instances for crossmod with Lava's Khalid for BGII mod considered.

v1.4: Unified version for classic BGII and EE, by Austin and jastey:
	-Moved tp2 into mod folder.
	-Added turnabout.ini with mod metadata , install order syntax, and globally unique LABELs to support Project Infininty.
	-Crossmod with Lava's Khalid mod: if Khalid is alive, he can't be summoned via the pools.

v1.3: Finally fixed loading issues with the three pools; separate EE version by Cirosan.

V1.2: Fixed a bug wherein if you promised resurrection to Khalid,
      Dynaheir would erroneously be resurrected instead

V1.1: Updated components to be compatible with EE

V1: Initial Release


CREDITS

Simon Jones (SimDing0)                                  Turnabout code


Al Bowers (Hendryk)                                     Turnabout author


Jason Compton						Turnabout author


Jessie Gillespie (Stoplight Red)                	Turnabout author


Bonnie Rutledge (Bons)					Turnabout author
                                                        Voice of Alianna
                                                        Alianna portraitess


Andy Sayer (Andyr)					Turnabout author


Wendy Yung (Cliffette)                                  Turnabout author


David Gaider                                            Original Ascension
IEEAIS                                                  authors


Westley Weimer                                          WeiDU-Ascension port


Christo Brittain (Cirosan)				All updates after v1
							EE compatibility
							Other bugfixes


Thanks to Cirerrek and Sarkyn for the use of the eSeries AI implementation.

Thanks to Lady Alustriel, Kish, Entreri, and Wynne for original Turnabout
development support.

Gorion's portrait is adapted from the cover of the book Assassin's Apprentice,
drawn by Michael Whelan.


Original audiovisual elements and scripts are Copyright © 2005

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


REDISTRIBUTION NOTE: Turnabout was created to be freely enjoyed by all Baldur's
Gate 2 players. However, this program may not be sold, published, compiled or
redistributed in any form without the consent of its authors.


LINKS

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

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

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

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


