Even Better Romance 0.1.0 — Baldur's Gate 3

[ModdersHQ]

Created by @loregamer and @Kowe.
Thumbnail by @Silver.

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Overview
Gender-restricted romancing of the Companions and removal of over-sexualization.

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Differences from "Better Romance"
With the new toolkit being unlocked, we can alter dialogue more creatively. Better Romance would prevent dialogue scenes from triggering and stops you from selecting specific options; With this mod, we've altered the flow of dialogue depending on gender.

For example, here is how the Tiefling party interactions go with Astarion:

Male

Female

And with Shadowheart:

Female

Male

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Downloads

Files	Version	Type	Description
Even Better Romance	0.1.0	Main	Current version essentially does what Better Romance did. v1.0 will expand on its logic with racial restrictions.
Even Better Romance - Better Companions Compatibility	0.1.0	Main	Version to account for gender changes made in Better Companions
ㅤ	ㅤ	ㅤ	ㅤ
Toolkit Project Files	0.1.0	Development	Toolkit project files. You can drag and drop these into your game's Data folder and then open the mod in the toolkit.
Toolkit Project Files (EBR-Better Companions)	0.1.0	Development	Toolkit project files. You can drag and drop these into your game's Data folder and then open the mod in the toolkit. Accessed via Dialog Editor.

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To Do

• Add a variant to entirely disable romance
• Create specific flags for Companions that will restrict Romance based on Race, Body Type, class, etc.
• Investigate importing dialogue from other conversations and/or altering voice lines
• Make Shadowheart less of a degenerate and disapprove of an """open relationship"""
  • If any of the other Companions' romance should be altered, let me know
• Disable Mizora sex proposition(?)

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Reporting Bugs
To report any bugs, please submit a post in the Mod Support section and mention me and @Kowe.

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Credits

• @Kowe and @loregamer for editing the dialogue nodes and creating the mod
  ㅤ
• @Silver for the thumbnail.
• @Crusaderknight20 for the original mod to work off of.

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[loregamer]

Mod should be doing all that Better Romance did, but v1 of the mod will include this stuff:

• Add a variant to entirely disable romance
• Create specific flags for Companions that will restrict Romance based on Race, Body Type, class, etc.

[rusty_shackleford]

women are ick and have cooties

[Vergil]

Can you do a version where only half elf male head 5 named Vergil can romance Astarion? Thanks.

[Fable]

There is a Shadowheart mod that gets rid of the degeneracy if she goes the route of Selune. It also uses cut dialogue and adds things like marriage proposal, and other aspects. You could pull ideas from that.

https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/11524

[Finarfin]

There is a Shadowheart mod that gets rid of the degeneracy if she goes the route of Selune. It also uses cut dialogue and adds things like marriage proposal, and other aspects. You could pull ideas from that.

https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/11524

oh this would be perfect. This would make my next run after my current one way better.

[Fable]

Would there be any plans to take this mod beyond the stated goal and improve upon already existing romance routes, and add other romance options? I have a feeling there will be expansions upon romance from other mods, but it will just incorporate the degeneracy and conflict with this mod.

[loregamer]

Would there be any plans to take this mod beyond the stated goal and improve upon already existing romance routes, and add other romance options? I have a feeling there will be expansions upon romance from other mods, but it will just incorporate the degeneracy and conflict with this mod.

I have a hard time predicting the weird things I hyperfixate on, so maybe. @Kowe might be more committal though

[Fable]

Would there be any plans to take this mod beyond the stated goal and improve upon already existing romance routes, and add other romance options? I have a feeling there will be expansions upon romance from other mods, but it will just incorporate the degeneracy and conflict with this mod.

I have a hard time predicting the weird things I hyperfixate on, so maybe. @Kowe might be more committal though

I see. Well, one thing I would like to see in this de-degeneration, is just make some of the characters openly more trad. For example, since we are on the topic of Shadowheart, and fixing her. She hints at her general lack of experience when it comes to relationships. Expanding upon that, and pushing back any sexual encounters with her much further back in the story, and more just general romantic scenes to reflect it. Also, more change in the dialogue if you are a worshiper of Selune, both before and after Nightsong. The Shar and Selune arcs should have much larger impact on the romance depending on the god of the main character.

There does seem to be a trajectory of Shadowheart that does a 180, and I think it's because there are multiple sets of writers. There were the original writers for Shadowheart, and then some others that worked on later scenes that decided they didn't like what the other writers did, so they injected it with things that completely go against her personality. They probably did it to just spite the people that were writing what was essentially a trad character.

[Kowe]

Would there be any plans to take this mod beyond the stated goal and improve upon already existing romance routes, and add other romance options? I have a feeling there will be expansions upon romance from other mods, but it will just incorporate the degeneracy and conflict with this mod.

I have a hard time predicting the weird things I hyperfixate on, so maybe. @Kowe might be more committal though

I see. Well, one thing I would like to see in this de-degeneration, is just make some of the characters openly more trad. For example, since we are on the topic of Shadowheart, and fixing her. She hints at her general lack of experience when it comes to relationships. Expanding upon that, and pushing back any sexual encounters with her much further back in the story, and more just general romantic scenes to reflect it. Also, more change in the dialogue if you are a worshiper of Selune, both before and after Nightsong. The Shar and Selune arcs should have much larger impact on the romance depending on the god of the main character.

There does seem to be a trajectory of Shadowheart that does a 180, and I think it's because there are multiple sets of writers. There were the original writers for Shadowheart, and then some others that worked on later scenes that decided they didn't like what the other writers did, so they injected it with things that completely go against her personality. They probably did it to just spite the people that were writing what was essentially a trad character.

Since the toolkit makes the process of adding additional content easier, there is high probability such changes will occur in the future. When that is, I cannot tell, since everyone is more or less new to the kit. It is, however, progressing fast and Fetish, or someone else, has already made this custom content in Act 1:



With others also sharing their progress.

On the topic of Shart, she is one of the topics Lore and I have discussed already and I probably speak for us both that we hate the Drow twins stuff with her and the others. And it isn't just the two of us, who see it like this. One goal with the mod being to make all companions monogamous will lead to adding rejections to those twins, for example. None of that DoubleDating shit Larian scripted into the game. Properly fixing what the writers did with the companions will still take some time.
With the "Better Companions" mod taking priority over this one for me, it is difficult to give a definitive yes to extending the original romances. For some companions, Shart and Minthara, it will overlap. Jaheira will get a romance path. Others will see it extended as the other gender, like Karl aka male Karlach.

[Nobere]

women are ick and have cooties

Nah, I just do not want that awkward moment when your 13 year old walks in while you are playing...
Or your wife...

Waiting for the celibate version to come out.

[Luckmann]

It says "removal of over-sexualization", but what does that actually mean? I like the removal of same-sex romance options (the concept of Schrödinger's Faggot was always lame and gay), except perhaps for Astarion (him being quite lame and gay, he's exactly the kind of degenerate I could see engaging in this, well, degeneracy, including the drow twins and shit like that) - but since I have no intent to actually explore that, its absence is unlikely to bother me anyway, although a variant would be nice.

So some more specifics or a clearer description would be nice.

That being said, it seems like I'm definitely using this in the future; doubly so if it actually fixes Shadowheart's approval of "open relationship" and restores Selûnite-based dialogue, although I think that the rest of the previously mentioned mod's changes should stay out of the scope of this mod.

[loregamer]

It says "removal of over-sexualization", but what does that actually mean? I like the removal of same-sex romance options (the concept of Schrödinger's Faggot was always lame and gay), except perhaps for Astarion (him being quite lame and gay, he's exactly the kind of degenerate I could see engaging in this, well, degeneracy, including the drow twins and shit like that) - but since I have no intent to actually explore that, its absence is unlikely to bother me anyway, although a variant would be nice.

So some more specifics or a clearer description would be nice.

That being said, it seems like I'm definitely using this in the future; doubly so if it actually fixes Shadowheart's approval of "open relationship" and restores Selûnite-based dialogue, although I think that the rest of the previously mentioned mod's changes should stay out of the scope of this mod.

I guess the “over-sexualization” part was written for future updates. I don’t think we’re gonna make this the TRAD EXPERIENCE NO SEX ALLOWED mod, but we are gonna remove or reword garbage like this:

[BobT]

It says "removal of over-sexualization", but what does that actually mean? I like the removal of same-sex romance options (the concept of Schrödinger's Faggot was always lame and gay), except perhaps for Astarion (him being quite lame and gay, he's exactly the kind of degenerate I could see engaging in this, well, degeneracy, including the drow twins and shit like that) - but since I have no intent to actually explore that, its absence is unlikely to bother me anyway, although a variant would be nice.

So some more specifics or a clearer description would be nice.

That being said, it seems like I'm definitely using this in the future; doubly so if it actually fixes Shadowheart's approval of "open relationship" and restores Selûnite-based dialogue, although I think that the rest of the previously mentioned mod's changes should stay out of the scope of this mod.

I guess the “over-sexualization” part was written for future updates. I don’t think we’re gonna make this the TRAD EXPERIENCE NO SEX ALLOWED mod, but we are gonna remove or reword garbage like this:

Urgh, you can just SEE the coloured hair on the person who wrote that.

[buttfucker 3000]

It says "removal of over-sexualization", but what does that actually mean? I like the removal of same-sex romance options (the concept of Schrödinger's Faggot was always lame and gay), except perhaps for Astarion (him being quite lame and gay, he's exactly the kind of degenerate I could see engaging in this, well, degeneracy, including the drow twins and shit like that) - but since I have no intent to actually explore that, its absence is unlikely to bother me anyway, although a variant would be nice.

So some more specifics or a clearer description would be nice.

That being said, it seems like I'm definitely using this in the future; doubly so if it actually fixes Shadowheart's approval of "open relationship" and restores Selûnite-based dialogue, although I think that the rest of the previously mentioned mod's changes should stay out of the scope of this mod.

I guess the “over-sexualization” part was written for future updates. I don’t think we’re gonna make this the TRAD EXPERIENCE NO SEX ALLOWED mod, but we are gonna remove or reword garbage like this:

Jfc

[orinEsque]

It says "removal of over-sexualization", but what does that actually mean? I like the removal of same-sex romance options (the concept of Schrödinger's Faggot was always lame and gay), except perhaps for Astarion (him being quite lame and gay, he's exactly the kind of degenerate I could see engaging in this, well, degeneracy, including the drow twins and shit like that) - but since I have no intent to actually explore that, its absence is unlikely to bother me anyway, although a variant would be nice.

So some more specifics or a clearer description would be nice.

That being said, it seems like I'm definitely using this in the future; doubly so if it actually fixes Shadowheart's approval of "open relationship" and restores Selûnite-based dialogue, although I think that the rest of the previously mentioned mod's changes should stay out of the scope of this mod.

I guess the “over-sexualization” part was written for future updates. I don’t think we’re gonna make this the TRAD EXPERIENCE NO SEX ALLOWED mod, but we are gonna remove or reword garbage like this:

I'd sacrifice my right to vote so these people don't get to.

[Nobere]

I hate to be a pest, but how is progress on the celibate version?

(Please don't virtually flog me).

[Finarfin]

I hate to be a pest, but how is progress on the celibate version?

(Please don't virtually flog me).

[loregamer]

I hate to be a pest, but how is progress on the celibate version?

(Please don't virtually flog me).

Gimme a few days I’ll get ‘er done

[Nobere]

Gimme a few days I’ll get ‘er done

Thank you, I appreciate your efforts.

[Tipfy]

Since dialogue lines are not changed yet, i removed the lingo from the files. So non-English users don't get their language changed.

https://f.rpghq.org/hvIKEx0M2T39.zip?n= ... users.zip

[Pixelargh]

The mod is great but I can't help but wonder if you blocked some neutral scenes from Gale and Wyll. I have high approval with both but Gale is not showing the Mystra scene among others.

[Tripster369]

Is this incompatible with narrator voice changing mods?

[Nobere]

Is this incompatible with narrator voice changing mods?

I do not think it would be, since all romantic dialog is between the player and NPC's.

[Kowe]

Is this incompatible with narrator voice changing mods?

It is compatible. The voice track settings for the dialog nodes haven't been touched. This includes narrator lines.

[Tripster369]

Is this incompatible with narrator voice changing mods?

It is compatible. The voice track settings for the dialog nodes haven't been touched. This includes narrator lines.

Awesome, thanks

[Pixelargh]

When you enter the Shadowcursed lands and talk with Halsin, there are some options to get freaky with him. This mod did a great job stopping romances with Gale, Wyll and Astarion but apparently, it doesn't work with Halsin in the Shadowcursed lands (It did prevent romance lines from triggering during the Tiefling party with him so I don't know why it's not working here).

https://ibb.co/tYz74Ck

https://ibb.co/wh830bm


By the way, regarding Astarion, when you get high approval with him, you get what it seems like a healthy friendship thanks to this mod but in terms of the game flagging romances, he still counts as a romance. When you talk with the Loviatar priest at the goblin camp, Astarion, Laezel and Shadowheart still make comments like we have some kind of romance. According to the game you can have up to 3 romances in Act 1 and when I tried to romance Karlkach she automatically rejected my character because the game thinks I am already flirting with Shadowheart, Laezel and Astarion. Like I said, the dialogue you get with Astarion is friendly only and nothing sexual so the mod worked there but it didn't remove the romance flag for Astarion internally. You might want to take a look at that.

[Dracul]

Hello, thanks for this mod.

I only want the romance restricted to sex (so only male-female) and nothing else. Can this mod still give me it, or do I also have to play with the reworked dialogue (that I do not care about?)

[Kowe]

Since Lore is on a modding hiatus, I will take over things for the time being.

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Downloads

Files	Version	Type	Description
Even Better Romance (Better Companions)	0.1.0	Main	Current version essentially does what Better Romance did. Only has gender restrictions and some dialogue flow changes compared to Even Better Romance.
ㅤ	ㅤ	ㅤ	ㅤ
Toolkit Project Files (EBR-Better Companions)	0.1.0	Development	Toolkit project files. You can drag and drop these into your game's Data folder and then open the mod in the toolkit. Accessed via Dialog Editor.

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When you enter the Shadowcursed lands and talk with Halsin, there are some options to get freaky with him. This mod did a great job stopping romances with Gale, Wyll and Astarion but apparently, it doesn't work with Halsin in the Shadowcursed lands (It did prevent romance lines from triggering during the Tiefling party with him so I don't know why it's not working here).

https://ibb.co/tYz74Ck

https://ibb.co/wh830bm


By the way, regarding Astarion, when you get high approval with him, you get what it seems like a healthy friendship thanks to this mod but in terms of the game flagging romances, he still counts as a romance. When you talk with the Loviatar priest at the goblin camp, Astarion, Laezel and Shadowheart still make comments like we have some kind of romance. According to the game you can have up to 3 romances in Act 1 and when I tried to romance Karlkach she automatically rejected my character because the game thinks I am already flirting with Shadowheart, Laezel and Astarion. Like I said, the dialogue you get with Astarion is friendly only and nothing sexual so the mod worked there but it didn't remove the romance flag for Astarion internally. You might want to take a look at that.

The dialogue from the images has been an oversight. It is accessible to everyone, no romance-related flags required prior to it, only having set an innocent dialogue flag beforehand. This will be changed.
As for Astarion, on first glance, nothing seemed wrong with his Approval dialogue. Will double-check again and if necessary look into the other flags. One of those can be the culprit here.

Hello, thanks for this mod.

I only want the romance restricted to sex (so only male-female) and nothing else. Can this mod still give me it, or do I also have to play with the reworked dialogue (that I do not care about?)

Technically no. Most dialogue has been left untouched, safe for making certain branches restricted as to avoid certain flag setting and make it less degenerate.
Can keep your matter into consideration for the next update, don't know when it will be yet.
Alternatively, if you want to have a look at it yourself, I can offer some guidance with the Toolkit project.

@Nobere Celibate version is next. It will take some time though. Sorry for the delay.

[Nobere]

@Nobere Celibate version is next. It will take some time though. Sorry for the delay.

No problem, I appreciate the work that you do.