3 replies to this topic

[Amodeus]

Okay, so I plan on starting a playthrough of the Baldur's Gate series (using BGT). I have never played BG1, it's expansion, or ToB. I have played most of SoA though. I want a fairly hassle free gameplay experience. This means no overly buggy mods, or mods that require the use of the console, etc. I want to be able to just start a game, play, and a have a good time. I also don't want to use any mods that feel too out of place... as in, no metagaming, or anything that doesn't feel like Baldur's Gate. Finally, I don't want anything that causes me to level very slowly. I have been bored with gaming lately and I really don't want to lose interest in Baldur's Gate... this is why I want mods in the first place when I haven't played the game before. If anyone could suggest a good starting package of mods, preferably adhering to my criteria, it would be greatly appreciated.

I should also note some of my gameplay preferences...
I love a good story, I like collecting items and having a place to store them, I like banter and romance, and I like conquering difficult epic encounters. One thing I do not like is the grind. I'd rather not go on a 2 hour long goblin hack 'n'slash.

[Azazello]

Okay, so I plan on starting a playthrough of the Baldur's Gate series (using BGT). I have never played BG1, it's expansion, or ToB. I have played most of SoA though. I want a fairly hassle free gameplay experience. This means no overly buggy mods, or mods that require the use of the console, etc. I want to be able to just start a game, play, and a have a good time. I also don't want to use any mods that feel too out of place... as in, no metagaming, or anything that doesn't feel like Baldur's Gate. Finally, I don't want anything that causes me to level very slowly. I have been bored with gaming lately and I really don't want to lose interest in Baldur's Gate... this is why I want mods in the first place when I haven't played the game before. If anyone could suggest a good starting package of mods, preferably adhering to my criteria, it would be greatly appreciated.

I should also note some of my gameplay preferences...
I love a good story, I like collecting items and having a place to store them, I like banter and romance, and I like conquering difficult epic encounters. One thing I do not like is the grind. I'd rather not go on a 2 hour long goblin hack 'n'slash.

I read you're other thread. It helps on how to respond to this one.

There's a lot of contradictory statements in your 'quest', and you're going to get several conflicting opinions on how to go forward. Let the flame war debate begin!

I'll start with something indirect. In your other thread, you wrote that "I am under the impression that BiG World works best with all of the recommended mods." This is worrisome as we spend a lot of time and effort reminding players that, for each and every Mega Mod option, it is NOT necessary to install all the mods.

I ask you, as someone just getting started with mega-modding, how can we improve our message to new players?

You should link and/or post your weidu.log, to better answer your questions.

Now, for my recommendations:

• Do not install ANY mod that "directly" changes the BG1 or ToB portion.
  For example, leave off e.g. DS/NTotSC (BG1) or Ascension (ToB). Great mods, all of 'em, but leaving off such content will let you to see how a regular (modded) game works.
  "Indirect" mods, such as G3 BG2 Tweak or SCS2 may affect these portions but that can't be avoided.
  
• You want hassle-free? Less is More.
  I'm not sure what "overly buggy mods" means to you, as people's tolerances for such things are subjective. Also, I don't know of any mod that requires the use of the console.
  Very simple philosophy: The fewer mods installed, the less problems you'll encounter and the easier it'll be to track and correct problems.
  
• Concerning BG2 content (not knowing your weidu.log)... [just a small list of suggestions]
  Epic encounters, i.e. mad battles, and quest-heavy mods that you might like: SoS, TS, RoT, Solaufein (The Eclipse encounter)
  Quest mods to hold-off on, maybe until another play-thru: CtB, TDD, NeJ

As always, be sure to read/understand the mods you install, read the ReadMes, go to their forums/sites to get updated info.

Edited by Azazello, 28 December 2008 - 04:49 PM.

[Amodeus]

I'm sorry, maybe I am not explaining myself well. I didn't think I contradicted myself. If you are referring to my available time, basically I don't mind a large amount of playable content as I A) don't need to play every tiny shred available, and B) don't mind if I never finish... I can always enjoy myself by playing a little bit here and there when I get the chance. The time limitation I am referring to is for the installation, testing and debugging process. Basically, I am going back to work in a few days and I won't have large amounts of time to work on my installation. I just want to install a chunk of content that expands the game. Similar to an expansion pack... if I buy an expansion for a game, I am buying the entire thing and everything it adds as opposed to just the pieces that I want.

As for the message being conveyed about Mega Mods, no worries. The communities definition of a Mega Mod is clear to me and I realize it doesn't need to be every mod available or even more than a couple. I was referring specifically to BiG World. A lot of what I've read about it has led me to believe that it, as a project, is designed to allow a massive amount of content to be installed simultaneously. The list of mods considered part of the "Standard" installation is staggering. I thought that if you were planning a smaller Mega Mod installation, you would use a method other than BiG World's.

I unfortunately can't post my log, as I am starting a new installation. I've eliminated my old one due to a couple of potential mistakes I made... also, my installation wasn't as "clean" as I believe I can make it now that I've learned a bit more.

First, thank you for the suggestions. Unfortunately, as explained above, I (being new) don't have the time to research the hundreds of mods available, their documentation, bugs, compatibilities, etc, yet I wish to have the best possible play experience possible and I am willing to invest some time to accomplish this. I am thinking along the lines of bigmoshi's SMM. As a matter of fact, the installation I was attempting before seeing this post is similar to his setup. I actually ran bigmoshi's utility, downloaded all of the updated files from the BW link list according to the list in the utility, added a few things I liked, ignored things not in the BW standard installation and I was going to install them using the BW installer.

I will be more specific. Putting aside my gaming criteria, I am looking for a Mega Mod installation that I could setup within 2 or 3 days at the maximum that I could start playing and theoretically play through to the end without running into game breaking bugs, or situations where problems are big enough that I have to spend a lot of time on the forums researching and modifying my installation, or running commands in the console, or other such messy solutions. There might be nights where I can only play for an hour. I don't want to play for 15 minutes, get stuck in a room somewhere, and spend 45 minutes solving the issue. If I am looking for something that is not (yet) possible, please tell me. I used to spend a great deal of time installing plugins for Morrowind, and this type of thing was definitely not possible for that game unless you only installed a few small mods.

I apologize if I seem lazy, but I rarely have the free time I used to any more. I was recently diagnosed with cancer (lymphoma) and I have to work twice as much (70+ hours per week) to pay for medical expenses. I guess my entire objective could be simplified as this: I want the richest and smoothest gaming experience possible given my 3 day time span. (Obviously this deadline isn't so strict that I couldn't spend some time after work tweaking things, but it is a general guideline.)

[Leomar]

If I am looking for something that is not (yet) possible, please tell me.

At the moment this is not possible, for what you're looking for. That is what we try with our BWP, but we're far away to reach this goal, because new mod-versions and new mods were released, which must be included and tested again. It is an ongoing project. But we try to get the standard-version as stable as we can and you don't need to use each mod of the standard version. There are some mods, we recommended for a minimum installation and that is not less. Before you try to get all you can, try a smaller stable one.

What we recommended are the following mods:
- BG2 Fixpack
- Baldur's Gate Trilogy
- BGT Tweak Pack
- BG2 Tweak Pack

For BG1:
- BG Mini-Quests and Encounters
- Grey Clan Episode 1
- Lure of the Sirene's Call
- BG1 NPC Project
- BG1 Unfinished Business

For BG2:
- Adalon's Blood
- Dungeon Crawl
- Tower of Deception
- Banter Pack
- IEP Extended Banters

Additional you can choose one or two NPC mods which you want to have for BG1 and BG2.

If you want big mods, then try at first:
- Dark Side of the Sword Coast (for BG1)
- The Darkest Day (for BG2)

If you want little tactics, try this too:
- Sword Coast Stratagems (for BG1)
- Sword Coast Stratagems II (for BG2)

Greetings Leomar

Edited by Leomar, 10 January 2009 - 08:22 PM.