39 replies to this topic

[juggernautx]

Hello everyone,

As you can probably see, I'm completely new to these forums and I'm looking for some advice!

I've been a long long long-time BG and IWD player, and finished all games on multiple occasions. As of late I felt the urge to start playing BG1 again, and after that, BG2. I remembered reading something about a BG trilogy mod somewhere and started searching for it, which is how I got here!

My question is; what mods do you advice me to install and play? I'm mainly looking for way more quests, challenging fights and decent loot(without becoming too overpowered or god-like). I do not care much about romances, I do care about NPC stories and sidequests. There's a lot more I want, but I can't think of everything at the moment, so ask if you like. I love demon / lich / dragon fights by the way

I would be very grateful with some advice.

[Izzy]

Hello!

I just joined up a few days ago myself but I have been playing some of these wonderful mods (thanks to everyone for all your hard work on them. I love them! ) for about a year now.

If your not interested in the mushy stuff like I am (Tsujatha is soooo hot!) the first thing I would (and did) try would be BGT-WEIDU (that's baldur's gate trilogy). What it does is allow you to play from BG1, including ToSC, all the way to BGII ToB. But why stop there? Since your interested in more quests and npc's I would recommend SoS (Shadows over Soubar) and TDD (the Darkest Day), but in order to have them both you will need BP (The Big Picture) also and the Worldmap.

If you've never played any mods before, that should be quite enough to get you going (and possibly make you pull out your hair) but just remember if your having trouble come back to SHS and if you can't find a fix in any of the forum topics (that's where I look first) then you can always ask someone here. These are a bunch of really nice people.

Anyway, I hope that helped.

Izzy

Edited by Izzy, 10 January 2011 - 08:29 PM.

[Kulyok]

Check this site and these two:
gibberlings3.net
pocketplane.net

I recommend BG1 NPC if you're going to play BG1 via EasyTutu/BGT, and if you're going to play IWD and IWD2, there're IWD NPC and IWD2 NPC, respectively.

I also recommend Widescreen mod, BG2 Tweaks, Level 1 NPCs, Banter Pack/Flirt Pack/NPC IEP(including various friendships), Kelsey/Xan/Kivan as well as other NPC mods(there are others, like Amber, Angelo, Fade, Ajantis, Keto and others, but some of them have not ToB content), but don't install more NPC mods than you need, or your game performance will suffer, Crossmod Banter Pack, Tales of the Deep Gardens, Tower of Deception, Assassinations, and others. Also checkiout modlist.pocketplane.net for more NPCs and quests - there are quite a few good ones. I'd recommend holding off bigger mods(like, 100mb big, the ones mentioned in the previous post) unless you're an experienced mod user.

Before you start installing mods, make a quick backup for your dialog.tlk, cheatin.key, baldur.ini, bgmain.exe, baldur.exe and the whole override directory. Should your install go wrong, this way you can restore a clean installation quickly.

[Jarno Mikkola]

but in order to have them both you will need BP (The Big Picture)

Nope...
What the BGT & TDD & SoS combination needs is a properly made BiG World Install setup with the help of the BiG World Setup.
The BP aka Big Picture is nothing like it used to be, today it's just a WeiDU AI mod + few addon encounters today...

So download the BWS, extact it to your BGII game folder, and follow this for example.
Edit: But use the "Standard" -Compilation...

But if I were you with my knowledge, I would first go with what Kylyok said, and familiarice yourself to the smaller mods the BG2 has to offer.

Edited by Jarno Mikkola, 11 January 2011 - 04:11 AM.

[juggernautx]

Hey all thanks for the quick replies!

Anyway, yeah I have already downloaded the BG Trilogy and I was looking at the Shadows over Soubar expansion as well but i'll hold that off until a bit later if you say I shouldn't. Could you explain to me in short what the BG1 NPC, level 1 NPC's and BG2 tweaks are?


I'm already very excited about playing once more( haven't played for over a year) but there are so many mods that I don't know where to begin hah.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Could you explain to me in short what the BG1 NPC, level 1 NPC's and BG2 tweaks are?

Well, the BG1 NPCs is a BGII mod aimed at BGT users, as it extends the dialogs(the ammount) between the player and the NPCs.
The Level 1 NPCs is a BG2 mod that allows the player adfjust the classes, kits, proficiencies etc. that the NPCs have "chosen" and so make Minsc a Berserker, or even a mage(or any other) if they so wish, it's also has BG1's NPCs covered if you use the BGT or either of the Tutu's, and a few custom NPCs.
BG2 Tweakpack is a mod that allows you make tiny adjustments, for example you can make the XP limit go away(you gain no more XP than usual, but there is no set limit), have arrow stacks that are in the 10k's(10 000) etc.

[Choo Choo]

To correct Jarno, the BG1 NPC Project is NOT a mod for BGII. It's for BG1 Tutu or BGT. It adds banters, romances, interjections and quests to the NPCs and is a huge collaboration between many different modders.

BG2 Tweak Pack is... well, what it says on the tin, it's a number of tweaks for cosmetic, ease-of-use, D&D streamlining etc. values that you really don't want to live without. Read the readme for further details - the tweakpack is found on G3.

[juggernautx]

Alright, I took a look at the patches and they look amazing, definitely going to install these.

I also noticed the Stratagems I and II mods, does anyone have any experience with these?

[Jarno Mikkola]

I also noticed the Stratagems I and II mods, does anyone have any experience with these?

Experience, somewhat... it was a few versions ago but...
It makes the hostile AI far more smarter, like it is able to what protections you have and dispel them it it's inclined to. But it's customizable which makes you able to adjust to your requirement of dificulity, first play through I would suggest to choose the light options(on the AI enchancement and Tactical chalenges) or not install them, while more experienced, there's a lot of chalenge there too.

To correct Jarno, the BG1 NPC Project is NOT a mod for BGII. It's for BG1 Tutu or BGT.

Well if we take that line, then it's for BG1TUTU, EasyTUTU and BGT(-WeiDU)...

[juggernautx]

Ok sounds good, i'll download them then. Difficulty shouldn't be a problem since this will be my nth playthrough! Thanks everyone for all the advice, I will start tonight and I'll post back with my experiences.

[juggernautx]

After reading some more I have one more question(last one, i swear heh!) . Do I need to re-install all my games before applying the mods and such? I have BG2 and ToB installed but I still need to install BG and Tales of the sword coast. Will i need to reinstall BG2 and ToB if I plan on using the following mods? :

Baldur's gate trilogy
shadows over soubar (optional)
the BG2 tweak pack
level 1 npc's
sword coast stratagems I and II
Baldur's Gate Mini Quests and Encounters(optional, if compatible and such)
The BG1 NPC Project

[Jarno Mikkola]

After reading some more I have one more question(last one, i swear heh!) . Do I need to re-install all my games before applying the mods and such? I have BG2 and ToB installed but I still need to install BG and Tales of the sword coast. Will i need to reinstall BG2 and ToB if I plan on using the following mods? :

If you have installed a mod, then yes... but if you are certain that you have not, then you have a clean install. OK so there is a clean BG2 backup here if you don't like installing... or just cannot.

BGIIFixpack
shadows over soubar (optional)
Baldur's Gate Trilogy
Baldur's Gate Mini Quests and Encounters(optional, if compatible and such)
The BG1 NPC Project
the BG2 tweak pack *'
sword coast stratagems I and II *
BP-BGT Worldmap
level 1 npc's*

That's quite much it, the blouded mods are required. The *-es are the once moved, should be quite much it. The BGII Fixpack, the BP-BGT Worldmap.

Edited by Jarno Mikkola, 11 January 2011 - 08:54 AM.

[juggernautx]

ok BP BGT WORLDmap are three seperate mods right? Big Picture , BG trilogy and Worldmap?

I also read that windows vista users(which I am) need to move their install folder to a different map than Program Files, can this still be done or do I need to reinstall for this to be possible?

[Jarno Mikkola]

ok BP BGT WORLDmap are three seperate mods right?

Well, the mods name is BP-BGT-Woldmap, that's it's original name and what reads on the mod package... it's misleading as hell, but it's all the same just Worldmap mod. The BP and BGT are different mods...

do I need to reinstall for this to be possible?

Well, I would suggest that just to be sure.

[juggernautx]

alright, after a 3 hour install last night I ran out of time and called it a night. I did some testing today and everything seems to work. The game takes about 4 minutes to start up though and i've had 2 crashes so far(one in candlekeep and one just outside).

I kind of get the feeling this is because I installed too many mods, can I just uninstall some mods or do I have to restore a back-up using the Big world setup?

So far I'm loving the little tweaks such as different npc models and added npc dialog, looks awesome!

[Kaeloree]

Unfortunately you can't really uninstall specific mods from the stack, you have to restore a back up and reinstall the mods you do want.

[Jarno Mikkola]

The game takes about 4 minutes to start up though ...

That's because you haven't biffed the game resources. I would use this to do that. It will take some time to install though(more than 5 minutes).

Unfortunately you can't really uninstall specific mods from the stack, you have to restore a back up and reinstall the mods you do want.

Actually if he followed the instructions I gave, he can up to the Baldur's Gate Mini Quests and Encounters, as the BGT cannot be uninstalled(nor the SOS) because it biffs the files in the old way, unlike the Gen_Bif... but everything else can.

Edited by Jarno Mikkola, 12 January 2011 - 11:03 PM.

[Kaeloree]

People new to modding their installs should not be uninstalling/reinstalling mods that aren't at the end of their install. For people who are more experienced and understand the risks, sure, but new users? It's so easy to mess things up if it's not done right.

[Jarno Mikkola]

People new to modding their installs should not be uninstalling/reinstalling mods that aren't at the end of their install. For people who are more experienced and understand the risks, sure, but new users? It's so easy to mess things up if it's not done right.

How are they to learn then, if not from their own mistakes ? Mine ? Yes but, that's not as easy... and you cannot remember everything that way either. And without risks there is no rewards... we don't live in the Kindergarten anymore.

[juggernautx]

The game takes about 4 minutes to start up though ...

That's because you haven't biffed the game resources. I would use this to do that. It will take some time to install though(more than 5 minutes).

Unfortunately you can't really uninstall specific mods from the stack, you have to restore a back up and reinstall the mods you do want.

Actually if he followed the instructions I gave, he can up to the Baldur's Gate Mini Quests and Encounters, as the BGT cannot be uninstalled(nor the SOS) because it biffs the files in the old way, unlike the Gen_Bif... but everything else can.

Thanks I will do that tonight. I already tuned down ALL my settings to the lowest, but the game was still slow, even though my specs aren't bad. I'll try doing this first, and if that doesn't improve performance i'll carefully start deinstalling some mods. As Jarno said, people have to learn from their mistakes..fortunately i'm in IT so I might learn a bit quicker!

TA.