Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter tips and tricks.

2007-08-25 02:02:59 am

Holla?

Been practicing some speed runs over the past few days with HoW. So far with some luck and plenty of hiding, I can get into Icasaracht's inner citadel without many problems. However I haven't found a way past the Saughin Prince yet(need his Plain Key to get past the warded gate).

Does anyone have suggestions, tips or tricks for Heart of Winter? I'm almost certain that the expansion can be finished definetly under 30 minutes, and possibly under 20.

Tonight when I get back I'll post some that I have already found.

Thread title:

julien

Edit history:

julien: 2007-08-25 05:00:14 pm

2007-08-25 04:55:26 pm

Is the dimension door spell available in HoW?
Then there are most probably some shortcuts possible (similar to the shortcuts in the BG run)
I already verified that this glitch is still present in the latest HoW version so you should really check if you can get this spell.

The potion duping glitch seem to be fixed in HoW though Sad

sulretal

2007-08-26 05:06:49 am

Holla?

I think there's an almost gaurenteed possibility that I(or anyone else) can speedrun WoW with a Thief. For my practice runs with a Thief, I chose a fighter/thief.

You can get an instant 336,000 exp by saying all the correct choices at the barbarian camp - and having at least 14 charisma.

That gives me the ability to max out hide in shadows instantly, as well as allotting many points to pick pockets.

Right now however, I'm stuck at the inner citadel trying to figure out what I can do before hand to be able to defeat the saughin prince quick with taking minimal damage, and then destroying the Great Wyrm.

Anyway the tricks I've figured out so far are:
1) To speed up the hide in shadows attempt, save your game and the round will end. Not sure if this would be allowed in a speed run though, it's just very useful if you're tired of awkward wait times.
2) If you exit map or enter/exit an entrance your character leaves shadows. However, when you appear on the next map your still in shadows, quickly press the hide button and you'll stay in shadows(if your attempt passes of course).
3) Using the method in 2), you can also sneak past enemies very easily by just pressing the hide in shadows key before you come out of the shadows. With 135% hide in shadows, I walked past every entrance enemy without a problem.

Trying to find more,

I think there's an almost gaurenteed possibility that I(or anyone else) can speedrun WoW with a Thief. For my practice runs with a Thief, I chose a fighter/thief.

You can get an instant 336,000 exp by saying all the correct choices at the barbarian camp - and having at least 14 charisma.

That gives me the ability to max out hide in shadows instantly, as well as allotting many points to pick pockets.

Right now however, I'm stuck at the inner citadel trying to figure out what I can do before hand to be able to defeat the saughin prince quick with taking minimal damage, and then destroying the Great Wyrm.

Anyway the tricks I've figured out so far are:
1) To speed up the hide in shadows attempt, save your game and the round will end. Not sure if this would be allowed in a speed run though, it's just very useful if you're tired of awkward wait times.
2) If you exit map or enter/exit an entrance your character leaves shadows. However, when you appear on the next map your still in shadows, quickly press the hide button and you'll stay in shadows(if your attempt passes of course).
3) Using the method in 2), you can also sneak past enemies very easily by just pressing the hide in shadows key before you come out of the shadows. With 135% hide in shadows, I walked past every entrance enemy without a problem.

Trying to find more,

julien

Edit history:

julien: 2007-08-26 10:53:34 am

2007-08-26 10:02:26 am

This is slightly off-topic but I made some huge progress on IWD yesterday. The scroll duping works like in BG1 and with 65535 Scrolls of Dimension Door I can cut a *lot* of walking in that game.
It would be great if you could use that in HoW as well.
According to this store guide:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/430803/10911
You can buy one DD scroll at the Burial Island.

So I really think that F/M/T is better than F/T. Or maybe even a human dual class Mage 2 -> Figher could work (I'd use that character if I wouldn't need the pick pocking skill which is the only thief skill I really need in IWD)

sulretal

2007-08-26 08:17:44 pm

Holla?

I can confirm that Dimension Door trick does work in HoW, problem is I cannot duplicate it (to the best of my knowledge trying your scroll duplication glitch, maybe I am just doing that wrong).

Also, I can cast haste and then take it off my inventory, but then I am left with a 0 integer haste scroll, I can write it to my magic book but it doesn't seem to let me do anythign else with it.

julien

2007-08-26 08:20:02 pm

Quote:

Also, I can cast haste and then take it off my inventory, but then I am left with a 0 integer haste scroll, I can write it to my magic book but it doesn't seem to let me do anythign else with it.

Yeah that's the first step. If you now repeat that step you get 65535 scrolls.

sulretal

2007-08-26 08:50:00 pm

Holla?

Yeah, I don't think it's possible to do the integer overflow with HoW. Once the haste integer is zero, I cannot use it as a quick item anymore, it is there, but is grey and once I click it a casting target selection icon does not appear(The moon with the stars around it). I can learn it though, which seems to give me at least 3 spells of haste and 2 pots of speed(I think that'll be good enough).

julien

2007-08-26 08:51:32 pm

Hm seems like they really fixed that in HoW Sad

sulretal

2007-08-26 08:56:36 pm

Holla?

It's ok, because I suspect I might be able to use dimension door to skip the saughin prince.

Let me edit:
3 potions of speed so far,
The gravedigger at the top of Lonelywood can be pickpotted 3 times throughout the game, everytime giving two items: Ring of Freedom and potion of speed. With 14 charisma I sell rings of freedom for 7,000, plus I can pickpocket the innkeeper and take his ring of greater protection, which so far gives me about 25,000 gold to spend.

julien

2007-08-26 09:00:25 pm

You could also use the Level 1 spell "Friendship" which gives a +5 boost to Charisma.. nice when buying or selling stuff since it influences the prices considerably.