22 replies to this topic

[sakh]

Hey guys,

 

Played the game back in the day probably a dozen times in all sorts of variations from party vanilla to "all the mods I can get"  to solo Tactics, etc. Trilogy was in infancy back then and I recall big mods like TDD and SoS nothing more than a Diablo hack and slash in IWD settings with some overly retarded items. Now I am thinking to have another go and I am totally lost looking at all the mods our there.

 

Now I am a power player and I do like cheese, but mostly easy of use cheese like potion stacks, or fixed thaco tables, or npcs not having flip outs in a mixed party type of cheese. Not +10 dagger by Chapter 2 type of cheese. I have a very vague recollections of the game by this point, but I am fairly sure that Ritual is probably as far as I want to go in terms of item disbalance and still I am likely to chuck away some of the more OP items from this quest line. If items make sense in the content, like that blacksmithing mod that allows you to craft some OP items by the end of SoA, I have no qualms with this. As far as I recall I enjoyed Weimers mods the most, Ascension, Tactics, various improved battles, etc.

 

Another thing is I want to be able to go through the entire game from start to finish with the same party, something like Ed, Vic, Minsc, Jah and maybe Iomen.

 

I am considering big mods like TDD and Check the bodies atm, but not sure what to think of them since its been ages since I last played the game and there would probably be in their alpha stages back then. If all they give is a hack and slash I'd rather pass. I am wondering if there are any good tactical mods in existence since then in top of Tactics, etc or quality content additions like Ascension. I am also not sure if any of the NPC packs, things like bringing Khalid or Xan into BG2, are worth considering. And there also seem to be a whole bunch of new rebalancing/pure item mods that I have no clue whatsoever.

 

Any advise on quality mod selection and whether its worth the time bothering with big mods is appreciated.

Edited by sakh, 28 April 2013 - 09:06 AM.

[Daulmakan]

Rogue Rebalancing, aTweaks, and Sword Coast Stratagems would be my top recommendations. For extra content, I liked Quest Pack, Dungeon Crawl, Assassinations, and Tower of Deception. You should also check Level One NPCs and ToBEx if you're not familiar with them already, lots of awesome stuff there.

 

I wouldn't bother with the "Big" mods.

[The Imp]

Well, my tops are the BG2Fixpack, BGT(-weidu) and either SCS or the BP, but not both. Well, the SCS can handle the BP's Ascension part, but it could get to be a cheese feast if you use both on your part as the enemy gets quite hard, meaning that the cheese is the only way to win.

What you are probably talking about is the NeverEnding Journey, it adds the IwD setting and it's ridicilious... yeah, you could say the other big mods are the same.

As is big mods worth the trouble... well, the BGT is if you look at going through the whole saga. The rest is either or opinion thing...

 

But using their inspired tools(to fix them) is totally worth it, so use the BWS, to set the game up and use the customization options it has to select the mods you want.

[sakh]

Hm ok, so here is the list I came with so far.

 

Base:

 

 

BiG World Installpack 11.3.8

BiG World Trimpack 11.3.4

BiG World Fixpack 11.3.5

BiG World Textpack 11.3

WeiDU (Tool) 231

 

Media:

 

One Pixel Productions (1pp) 2.70

One Pixel Productions 3: Avatar Fixes 3

One Pixel Productions 3: Female Dwarves 1

One Pixel Productions 3: Thieves Galore 1.1

Restored Textscreen Music (TxtMusic) 9

Widescreen Mod 3.05

Generalized Biffing 2.2

Should I add IA stuff?

 

NPCs:

 

BG1 NPC Project 20

BG1 NPC Project Music Pack 5

Angelo NPC 4 Heard good things about him ???

Banter Packs 12

IEP Extended Banters 4.1

Level 1 NPCs 1.9

 

The big boys:

 

Baldur's Gate Trilogy 1.18

Big Picture (BP) 180c

 

Fixes:

 

BP-Balancer (Beta) 0.33f

BG2 Fixpack 10

BP-BGT-Worldmap 9.0.1

 

Tweaks:

 

BGT Tweak Pack

Item Revisions 3 Beta 1.14

Spell Revisions 3.1

aTweaks 4.01

Rogue Rebalancing (RR) 4.61

G3 BG2 Tweak Pack (BG2 Tweaks) 11

Throne of Bhaal Refinements 3.31

Is this too many, some obsolete???

 

Items:

 

Weimer’s Underrepresented Items (from Icewind Dale 2) 6

Weimer's Item Upgrade 39b

Item Pack 1.7

The first two I remember being good, not sure about third. Any other similar packs? What about that Ruhud guy?

 

Tactics:

 

Sword Coast Stratagems (SCS) 21

Sword Coast Stratagems II (SCSII) 21

Weimer's Tactics 25

Revised Battles 6.3

Any other good tactics I am missing? Will take anything thats quality and not too OP. Esp for BG1.

 

Content:

 

BG1 Unfinished Business (BG1UB) 13

Unfinished Business (UB for BG2) 19

Throne of Bhaal Extender (Beta) 0026

Ding0's Quest Pack 2.3

Wheels of Prophecy (Beta) 2

Assassinations 9

Tower of Deception (ToD) 3.3.1

Anything else? BG1?

[Daulmakan]

Thumbs up for Angelo. SCS latest version unifies the BG1 and BG2 parts IIRC.

 

BG1: for extra BG1 content, you might want to try Jastey's Mini Quests and Encounters. Tactics-related, there is The Grey Clan mod, though it could certainly be considered OP, your mileage may vary. The Aurora mod offers several items for buying, and there's also a Thalantyr item upgrade mod which you might like.

 

I hear Item Pack is pretty decent, heh.

Edited by Daulmakan, 29 April 2013 - 02:45 PM.

[Jourin]

I would look at the PDF for all the mods in the BIG world project and then pick the ones that you like. I like all the BG1 modes.  For BG2 I like CTB as far as BIG mods...maybe

Region of Terror (still undecided), but I like almost all of the smaller mods.

 

I would go with SCS and not BP at this time.  Once BP 181 is released I think I will try BP.

[sakh]

Thanks guys.

 

I don't think I can pass on BP, it is pretty much all the good old stuff from Weimer/Kensai Ruy/PP that I remember all in one place, bar Oversight.

 

I never tried SCS as it did not exist back then I think. That said I like the description. What's gonna happen if I try BP/SCS 1&2/Tactics all under one roof? I'm ok if all of BPs AI/scripting disappears, I just want it for the content. If its just difficulty, I am ok with that. There is always a difficulty slider if things get too hairy. Although, Improved Faldron was already pretty damn hairy in a no cheese game as far as I remember.

 

And btw Oversight. It's marked Expert in BWS. Any particular issues with it?

Edited by sakh, 30 April 2013 - 05:13 AM.

[The Imp]

I never tried SCS as it did not exist back then I think. That said I like the description. What's gonna happen if I try BP/SCS 1&2/Tactics all under one roof? I'm ok if all of BPs AI/scripting disappears, I just want it for the content.

Then make sure you choose the BP without(the primary component, the) AI changes.

As for the Oversight mod and it's only unique components(as in not made better for compatibility sake), the BWS can install just the Class Tweaks/Fixes, Altered spells, Monk HLA's and the Holy Liberator kit. There's several other mods that these are incompatible with, one highly popular is the Spell Revision mod at least with the spells, the Monk HLA's are elsewhere too....

[sakh]

Ok, things seem to be working now and I am about to start. 

 

How does Level1 NPCs work? I tried starting a BG2 game and I could not change class or skills on Iomen.

Edited by sakh, 01 May 2013 - 04:49 AM.

[dabus]

You change it my the time the weidu-setup is modding the game, not during the game.

[sakh]

Um ok, so how do I do this with the automatic BWP install batch?

Edited by sakh, 01 May 2013 - 05:04 AM.

[dabus]

Batch or BWS?
You have to edit the BiG World Install.bat yourself to add the component or select the NPCs you want to mod in the BWS selection-window.
Or you just run the Setup for the mod again and select the NPCs you want. Just be sure you don't reinstall anything so you don't add a chance to get things messes up.
Neither the batch nor the BWS has this automated (way too many options here !!!), so in the end you'll have to manually select your options either way.

Edited by dabus, 01 May 2013 - 05:49 AM.

[sakh]

OK, thank you. While we are at it. Is there a way to allow Barbarian Dual Class in BWP?

[dabus]

Bg2 Tweaks 2140: Expanded Dual-Class Options
This component will allow Barbarians and Wild Mages to dual-class to other classes. Barbarians will have the same dual-class options (cleric, druid, mage, and thief) with the same requirement (15 strength) as fighters. Wild Mages will have the same dual-class options (cleric, fighter, and thief) with the same requirement (15 intelligence) as regular mages.

[sakh]

Ye, I saw that. It also says underneath that this element conflicts with Level 50 ruleset from BP and something else.

[sakh]

Ran into a minor annoyance with Level 1 NPCs.

 

I am trying to mod Jaheira to become archer(ranger)/cleric. It works fine, but I can't get grandmastery for bows when I do that. Only offers 2 stars.

 

Grandmastery for other multiclasses seems to work fine, ie fighter/cleric or fighter/druid.

 

Anyway to overcome this other than making her select archer(fighter)/cleric?

Edited by sakh, 03 May 2013 - 09:42 AM.

[The Imp]

Anyway to overcome this other than making her select archer(fighter)/cleric?

Yes, level her up ... as at level 1 you shouldn't actually be able to set more than 2 points to any profs slot on any of the classes, as it's a AD&D rule and whatnot.

Edited by The Imp, 03 May 2013 - 11:58 AM.

[sakh]

I think I may be doing this incorrectly.

 

To mod NPCs with Level1NPCs, do I need to run the setup file after a BWP batch file installation? Or do I need to pause batch file when it gets to Level1NPCs and then run the setup file manually and then resume the batch? If so, how do I do that?

[sakh]

Ok, I figured this out. Just needed to add INSTQ to the bat.

 

Another question. Is there a mod that combines Kargain and Korgan into one? Or perhaps a good implementation of Korgan in BG1 or Kargain in BG2?

[phlaphee]

This thread may be of some help:

http://www.shsforums...-mod-selection/