Warm welcome to new PC players who joined the modding scene thanks to the KH3’s Steam release!

Here’s a “small” update for this mod, mostly to fix and address what was quickest to address, or complete enough to be included while keeping the mod cohesive.

Short disclaimer: this mod update was not scheduled at all and is thus quite small when it comes to bug fixing. To improve a bit the experience for new Steam players, we addressed what was possible to do with the time off from away-from-keyboard duties (family, kids, jobs, school, etc.).
Due to these constraints, things that would have taken more time (such as tricky and complex bugs or game rebalance) weren’t possible, sadly. Still, we hope that new players that haven’t got the chance to do a walkthrough with our mod will enjoy playing with it nonetheless!

Consider it for now a “legacy” mod to experience the same feeling that many PC players had in 2022 when this mod originally released, at a time when only some of today’s modding breakthroughs were made.

Anyway, enjoy being able to play KH3 to your heart’s content with all the great mods that have been and are released!

[Light] Bug fixes
- Crashes with the message “requesting n_ex009’s skeleton but it was still waiting for creation” should hopefully longer occur. (Thanks to Sora101Ven for the fix, and to all players who reported that this could only happens if you play with a HDD)
- The Situation Command to trigger Aqua’s Wayfinder Team Attack now has proper text
- Aqua’s Wayfinder Team Attack also has its UI restored (Thanks to Chris Shade and DavidRM99!)
- Text has been restored for Formchanges situations commands for Shooting Star’s replacement

[Darkness] Bug fixes
- The Situation Gauge indicator should no longer be invisible if the Light Edition is not installed

[Light] Interface improvements (English localization only)
Major changes to text and UI to clarify gameplay changes:

Title menu and Save menu
- Clarified the names and descriptions of difficulty levels on the Title Menu
- Added warnings about loading non-modded saves
- Added a “Light vs. Darkness” logo on the title screen (which should help players understanding if the mod was correctly installed)
- Hotfix v1.6.2: Fixed Critical+ Mode description when starting a New Game.

Tutorials
Updated general tutorial text with added tips and info to account for gameplay changes. This includes:
- The “Dive to the Heart” tutorial
- Many, many Game Help screens (the full-screen tutorials which show up during the main story)
- Optional tutorials in the Final World (the ones accessed through tutorial screens, save points, or the title menu)
- Game Over tips

Main menu and Gummiphone
- Rewrote descriptions for certain abilities (such as Formchange Extender), with details about gameplay changes
- Indicated the cooldown duration for Party AI styles (previously known as “Pace Yourself” and “Hold Back”)
- Updated Gummiphone descriptions for all playable characters and party members
- Hotfix v1.6.2: Fixed Panacea item description; the text will now explicitly state that Panaceas grants immunity from all negative statuses for 60 seconds.

Other
- Updated information bar text for a couple of battlegates (such as the Terror Gate in Monstropolis)

Music / BGM improvements
Light and Darkness Editions
- General mixing improvements for all existing tracks
- Levelled the music volume for many, many gameplay tracks and for a few cutscenes as well (This is probably what took the most time, going through hundreds of tracks and checking their volume in-game!)
- Improved the music flow for the Keyblade Graveyard Organization XIII battles with better transitions
- Improved starting point for music during certain cutscenes-to-gameplay transitions (“Enter the Darkness”, “Wave of Darkness”, “Sinister Shadows”, etc.)
- Replaced certain tracks that were often muting streams
- Removed tracks that were incompatible with gameplay constraints (too long/too short, etc.)
- Removed music edits that were modifying the original tracks beyond recognition (mostly for cutscenes)
- Hotfix 1.6.1: The installer no longer gives the option to not install any of the music overhauls

Light Edition only
The following changes are samples from a separate, but very WIP project. These tracks are mostly finished, in time for inclusion in this mod’s unscheduled update (although they may get tweaked in the future). Enjoy these extra 3h of music! /Timoram

- Added a few, new orchestral arrangements (made by Timoram for this mod) for certain boss battles, San Fransokyo, and for certain cutscenes (mostly those that flank boss battles)
- Added looped versions of the Caribbean’s field and battle themes from the World of Tres concert album (upmixed to quadraphonic to match other unmodded gameplay tracks)
- Replaced or removed from the mod several tracks that were thematically incorrect, not following the plot, or undermining certain cutscenes
- Hotfix v1.6.1: Added missing battlegate tracks

Documentation improvements
- Updated guide, with additional tactical data, Steam Deck inputs, info about Sora’s weapons, etc.
- Removed the music spreadsheet download, which is now available online instead