Will this mess up my saves? (POSSIBLE SPOLIERS)

[Soothsayer]

I am currently playing IWD with HoW installed, but not (as of yet) TOTLM.

I have just started Lower Dorns, I got this far without installing TOTLM because I was under the impression it added no new items to the game, so I decided Id install it later, if I felt the need to.

Now ive been told that TOTLM does, infact, add new items to the game that I might have found helpful up until now. So Ive decided to install TOTLM immediately, without taking another step into lower dorns.

My questions are as follows:

Will installing another expansion at this stage have any negative effects on my saves?

What difference will this actually make to current gameplay? (new items etc)

When do I play the TOTLM areas? (I plan to go right up to the stairs in IWD, with the 6 badges...then go to HoW, then do TOTLM (whereever it fits) then go back and finish IWD for the final act.

Thx everybody.

[NobleNick]

Soothsayer,

~

~ Thinly veiled minor HoW spoiler coming in the last paragraph...

~

I do not know the answer to your first 2 questions, although I strongly suspect, from my own experience with IWD/HoW/TotLM, that: 1.) there will be no negative impact to your saves; and 2.) There will be no appreciable impact to your IWD/HoW gaming experience, with the exception that the game should have a few bugs fixed.

For your third question: Assuming you want to maximize your party's XP and the goodies they can take, you want to decline an offer you will get to travel to the S__ of M_____ I__. (Once you accept that offer, you never again get to see Lonelywood.) Return to Lonelywood, save game, and poke around a bit, saving often, until you have AT LEAST one (I had two) encounters, one of which is very interesting, very profitable (if you make the right choices) or very entertaining (if you don't make the right choices) : Try it both ways. Once you're satisfied that you've squeezed Lonelywood for everything it has to offer, talk to Stubbletoes and accept his invite to begin TotLM. After finishing TotLM, return to the point in HoW where you earlier declined the travel. Accept the offer to continue on to the late game of HoW.

--------------------
What's a party,
without a song?
Bards ROCK!
Party On!!

[Soothsayer]

Thankyou very much, as always, noble nick...

I have proceeded to install TotLM, and have continued Lower Dorns. I have noticed a few new items...I found the 'Jesters bag of holding' in the hand of the Seldarine (went back to the arboretum)...and this bag is used to generate random items once per day...simple eh? Well, everything was going fine clicking on the bag once a day gave me some nice gems Id never seen, water-opals etc, and scrolls...but then, out of nowheer...a dead cat pops out of the bag!

Needless to say I am traumatised, at the sudden presence of this feline corpse in my inventory...anyone care to explain?

At this point I think it is important to mention that I have only ever played IWD before, never HoW, and never TotLM, therefore I have no idea what Lonelywood is all about, or any other places outside of the IWD areas.

PS. Are there any other new items, other that this 'jesters bag of holding', and the dead cat, and the new gems?

Thx again.

-Sooth

[ 05-19-2005, 09:03 AM: Message edited by: Soothsayer ]

[Dragonshadow]

The bag is there wether you have TotLM or not
the dead cat is one of the items taht the bag generates. it serves no real purpose.

[ 05-19-2005, 10:51 AM: Message edited by: Dragonshadow ]

[Soothsayer]

Fair enough, I left the cat on the floor in the Gnome village in Lower Dorns.

Bye bye cat...

Thx

[ 05-19-2005, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: Soothsayer ]

[Dragonshadow]

I always dumped mine in a forest. Thought it might appreciate the scenery, and in its own way, help the world.

[Aerich]

To the best of my knowledge, TotL does not add items to the main game (I may be mistaken). However, HoW does.

Installing the expansion should have no effect on your previously saved games. I believe that the the TotL changes (if any) will show up once you enter another area (e.g. see the loading screen), but will not affect the area you originally saved in (until you leave and come back). I haven't seen any indication that TotL changes the original IWD.

The best time to do TotL is after exposing Wylfdene in the HoW expansion. As NobleNick alluded to, there is a further magical encounter in Lonelywood (your HoW base, much like Kuldahar in the original game), that should also occur before you accept the offer of Hobart Stubbletoes in Lonelywood's Inn.

The Jester's Bag of Holding was always in the original game, complete with the chance of getting a dead cat. Any new items you see (typically in shops, or in random weapon drops) were added in by HoW. There are new items (including proper bags of holding) in the TotL expansion itself.