59 replies to this topic

[@vGur]

Hellow! Everyone who starts to build "the beast" needs to know content quality. It's hard to analyze the every single component, easier to give from 1 to 5 stars to large mods with new areas, that You already tried. Feel free to vote, it's only your personal thaught. There are few things to rate, 1st is areas quality (1 for "very poor" and 5 for "blend in original"), 2nd for fun (quests and\or fights) and 3rd for bugs  (1 for large unplayable parts, 5 means fully playable). If some components are better to avoid - please tell us.

It should look like: Mod name\ area quality(here could be a number or any comment)\ fun \bugs \ avoided components (if any).

 

Current Rating:

DSotSC                                              5\ 4\ 4\use it with Sandrah mod (votes: 1)

NTotSC with dialog patch                5\ 4\ 5\use it with Sandrah mod (votes: 1)

Dark Horisons                                   5\ 3\ 5 (votes: 1)

Drtizzt Saga                                       3\ 4 (3 for NPCs coded old way)\ 5\use it with Sandrah mod (votes: 1)

SoBH                                                  4\ 4 (3 fo a bit twisted plot)\ 4 (votes: 1)

Shadows over Subar                       4\ 4\ 4 (votes: 1)

Tortured Souls                       

TDD                                                    4\ 3,5\ 5 (votes: 1)

Check the Bodies                             3\ 3,5\ 5 (votes: 1)

Reign of Terror                                  4\ 4\ 5\use it with Sandrah mod (votes: 1)

Fishing for Trouble                            5\ 5\ 3 (votes: 1)

Colours of Infinity                              5\ 4\ 5 (votes: 1)

Vecna with text overhaul mod

 etc (any mod with new areas could be added)

Of course NeJ3

 

Large converstions:

Return to Trademeet,

Paladins of Faerun,

Classic Adventures

 

Smaller mods with new areas & quests

Tower of Deception                         5\ 4\ 5 (votes: 1)

Stone of Askavar                             3\ 3\ 5 (votes: 1)

Back to Brynnlaw

                                            Thanks for every vote!

[@vGur]

Recentli I've seen Sandrah mod reedme and it looks like collection of best ideas of last years. How it plays? Someone tried Return to Faerun part of it already?

[Roxanne]

Recentli I've seen Sandrah mod reedme and it looks like collection of best ideas of last years. How it plays? Someone tried Return to Faerun part of it already?

Please - Please Leave Sandrah out of this discussion

a) it is a Beta state mod still under development and test, far from being stable - only to be used in expert install

b) It is a mega mod and by that another piece of *buggy, cheesy, unbalanced junk* (1)

c) It only works in a large installation contents and only with BGT (and EET, once it is stable)

d) It will be abandoned as soon as NTotSC and TDD become available for EET and EET will be published after SoD release.

Do not consider it here

 

(1)

The bigger "mega" mods that add more super-powerful spells!! more super powerful magic weapons!! more super powerful enemies!! reach level 30 before starting SoA!!... I think they are generally buggy, cheesy, unbalanced junk that affirmatively *harm* the experience of playing the rest of the game. Strip them of all loot, magic, artificially-buffed enemies, and XP rewards and turn them into good quests with interesting characters and well-written stories, and I'll take another look. But for now, '1's across the board.

subtledoctor, 23 December 2015 - 05:41 PM.

 

This pretty much sums it up I guess....

kreso Posted 25 December 2015 - 02:30 AM

Edited by Roxanne, 28 December 2015 - 01:08 AM.

[@vGur]

Ok, next post is TOTALLY out of this discussion

Haven't heard about any mod from kreso or subtledoctor, or any fix from them, so not big deal what they think about Your mod, when they don't even played it. Sandrah mod corrects some unbalnced content of Mega Mod - even in beta, I still want to try it

 

p.s. What makes BGEE better platform for modding then original BGT? I heard that BGEE gives 1pp animations, few NPCs and zoom (nothing worthy to my), but missed some good old mods compatibility and more recent TOBEX fixes and additions, like "talk your way out of guards" & "failed pickpocket starts dialog" that i consider a major gap. In other words, is it possible to not abandon so promising project or i missed some BGEE improvements over original BGT? 

 

Thanks

Edited by @vGur, 28 December 2015 - 01:11 PM.

[The Imp]

Well, the EE also has a native "widescreen mod" resolution support, and it will have a whole new game coming in the next 5 years, Baldur's Gate: Siege of the Dragon Spear. I say 5 years, cause it's not ready yet, but it's likely to come out, and the Enhanced Edition Trilogy will have day one support for that game, so long as the v1.4 updates will come out.

So the old wrenched BG2 will be "done and dust". Well, not exactly, but there's hope the EET will be new superstar mod.

[@vGur]

Widescreen, trilogy, 1pp, monk & sorcerer npcs - We had it all long ago. Is it something new that do not need 5 more years to appear? Yes, zoom, but with 15 years old sprites there is nothing to look on zoomed.

[Roxanne]

Ok, next post is TOTALLY out of this discussion

Haven't heard about any mod from kreso or subtledoctor, or any fix from them, so not big deal what they think about Your mod, when they don't even played it. Sandrah mod corrects some unbalnced content of Mega Mod - even in beta, I still want to try it

 

p.s. What makes BGEE better platform for modding then original BGT? I heard that BGEE gives 1pp animations, few NPCs and zoom (nothing worthy to my), but missed some good old mods compatibility and more recent TOBEX fixes and additions, like "talk your way out of guards" & "failed pickpocket starts dialog" that i consider a major gap. In other words, is it possible to not abandon so promising project or i missed some BGEE improvements over original BGT? 

 

Thanks

 

 

Well, the EE also has a native "widescreen mod" resolution support, and it will have a whole new game coming in the next 5 years, Baldur's Gate: Siege of the Dragon Spear. I say 5 years, cause it's not ready yet, but it's likely to come out, and the Enhanced Edition Trilogy will have day one support for that game, so long as the v1.4 updates will come out.

So the old wrenched BG2 will be "done and dust". Well, not exactly, but there's hope the EET will be new superstar mod.

The following is my totally unbalanced personal opinion - but since you asked for it (and some others asked me as well)...

 

I am not talking about BGEE or BG2EE (the beamdog products) in comparison to BGT but solely EET vs BGT, which is one modded game vs another modded game. I have abandoned BGEE quickly when it came out since the *enhancements* were irrelevant compared to the amount of unavailable content - same for BG2EE (although the engine is what counts compared to the ancient BGT platform).

What has won me over to EET (and it was a long a resistant struggle before I even considered it) are a number of factors that are based in the approach I took with the Sandrah mod:

1. EET allows a real continuous game (BGT after all is two games glued together, NPCs - story - journal - chapter numbering etc it works but it is a modders nightmare if you go for continuity - like I do)

2. EET allows all NPCs to become continuous, most existing mods (if not done already) can be relatively easy converted to the new game - K4thos has done an excellent job here and is providing a lot of support material and online support to modders!!!

3. Loading times, stuttering, long area transitions etc are past

4. The zoom function is not bad in playing (I use it more frequently than old toggling btw game view and map) even if graphics are not much better (they are at least not worse)

5. It is (at least at this point) a much clearer installation for mega-mod installations (some good tweaks are in the game now) and the burden of 100 tweak-mods racing against each other (THIS IS WHAT BUGS THE GAME NOT THE CONTENTS MODS) - at least for the moment - has not yet started.

6. I hope that the EET world will soon be populated by the NPC and story mods, which are really easy to covert (see my point 2) and will be as rich as BGT but less bug-prone. (I have seen "talk your way out of guards" & "failed pickpocket starts dialog" in EET myself).

7. I see EET as a new start with the chance to incorporate some *lessons learned* from BGT.

8. For Sandrah especially, EET removes a lot of technical limitations - the whole approach of my mod fits perfectly into the new setup, especially since it has all the possibilities for the sequel RtF to be more than the Epilog to ToB, and even more for my half-finished *Part Four of the Trilogy*. And I found that I could get rid of a large amount of code (and thus source for errors and bugs) no longer required in EET, that was only required for technical limitations of the old engine.

9. EET will not have all of BGT contents from day one, but I am sure it will catch up soon. It will also show, which of the 300???400??? mods in BGT actually will survive - a bit of cleanup is not the worst thing that can happen to the game (how many kit mods does one really need? do I really shop all the 20000 items at the Promenade?)

10. I admit - a large part of this is still work-in-progress and may turn out differently - but *no risk no fun*. It is a challenge and I pick it up.

11. And remember - I am talking only of the modded games - I do not expect anything from beamdog and SoD (not after I have seen their *enhancements* to game content) other than that I provides a better way (or a chance for modders to introduce one) to go from BG1 to BG2 than the relatively thin story of BGT.

Edited by Roxanne, 28 December 2015 - 02:18 PM.

[subtledoctor]

EE has touch-based iOS and Android versions. And it is far, far, far, far more resistant to crashes than BGT is. And it has some really nice new opcodes, like 321 that cancels spell effects by resource. So you can make proper non-stacking spell effects that can be extended with repeated castings (no need for opcode 206 protection from itself). There's a bunch of stuff like that.

The EE engine is, in short, noticeably better than the TOB engine. With a few more enhancements (option for concentration checks, improved touch controls, one or two other things) it will be good enough that I will trash my BGT files and never look back. And Beamdog is still actively listening to feature requests from players, so there are whole new improvements coming - for example, improving the UI to make dual-wielding easier, and thievery for cleric/thieves easier.

[The Imp]

Widescreen, trilogy,

That's not dynamic widescreen support, it's set it to the exact value you wish to use it in, during mods install time. Try and change it and you are more than likely to need other things to change too. The sound system support in the old games is incorrectly coded, use a 5.1 system and you are likely to hear breathing sound from the sub woofer than to hear what's said in dialog or in combat sounds.

BGTrilogy... it's not an actual trilogy, just part 1 and part 2 of the second game, this one will throw in a whole new adventure in the mix, and you can walk back to the BG1 areas from the fire giant settlement(in ToB) within the EET game without it confusing you for level <10 characters that might wish to get their pesky rings of no importance.

 

Monk kits, Sorcerer kits, a whole party maid from the same general alignment NPCs, so you don't have to take the "neutral" characters.

Edited by The Imp, 28 December 2015 - 02:15 PM.

[@vGur]

Sound & opcodes fixes as concentration check already here in ToBEx, android and iOS versions of EEs don't accept modding, we already had 100+ npcs with all alignments, It's not big deal to use only one widescreen resolution etc

But i can't stop You from EE modding wnen it removes technical limitations , hope I'll be there in 5 years to see how many "must have" mods survive, for now i'll start bws on BGT tomorrow

Thanks for answers

 

p.s someone here already started "return to BG1 locations from BG2" mod development, don't remember exactly, maeby by Teleport mod? Is it still alive? 

Edited by @vGur, 30 December 2015 - 05:51 AM.

[agb1]

Sandrah NPC with Return to Faerun allows you to return to some BG1 locations from BG2.

Edited by agb1, 30 December 2015 - 09:28 AM.

[The Imp]

Sandrah NPC with Return to Faerun allows you to return to some BG1 locations from BG2.

But that's different than doing so in EET.

[Roxanne]

Sandrah NPC with Return to Faerun allows you to return to some BG1 locations from BG2.

But that's different than doing so in EET.

Sandrah currently uses some workarounds to do that (and actually it is return from ToB to BG1/BG2), especially for moving between map portions of the different games, i.e. it is not possible to move from old BG1 areas to old BG2 areas without some extras from the RtF mod. Once I have done the conversion of the mod to EET, I will look into the new possibilities and probably be able to make full use of the new capabilities. This will make the game easier to play, but part of it also less interesting.

 

...return to some BG1 locations from BG2 You can explore all of BG1 and BG2 anew via the worldmap (except those areas from mods that require a RevealArea from a mod event),

Edited by Roxanne, 30 December 2015 - 10:12 AM.

[subtledoctor]

android and iOS versions of EEs don't accept modding, 

Granted, it requires jailbreaking, but:
http://gibberlings3....showtopic=27207

Getting back to the original topic here, I would love to see people's opinions on these mods. I've been warned away from them by people who make blanket statements like "buggy, cheesy, unbalanced junk." But I'd like to get a better sense of each of them - *before* installing them om my game. I definitely like the idea of adding more content to the game. For instance, I LOVE Fishing For Trouble, and the Colours of Infinity mods are fantastic. I even like Saerileth, for the brief trip to Sigil. I always install a bunch of mod NPCs.

So it would be nice if people who have played the "mega mods" could share information about them. Which ones *really* are buggy, cheesy, unbalanced junk? Which ones are decent, and getting a bad rap? Not just opinions about whether you like them, but concrete information, like:

1) How buggy is it, exactly? Could it be played on a iPad, where you don't have access to the CLUA console?

2) How's the writing? Is it super Mary-Sue, like Saerileth? All grimdark? What's the tone of the mod?

3) Is it well-integrated with the base game? Is the mod full of level 20 orcs that are mysteriously more powerful than normal orcs, in ways that make no sense in the game world (e.g. if they're so powerful, why haven't they conquered the Sword Coast?)

4) Similarly, what about power levels - consider that you can play TotSC's Werewolf Island and Durlag's Tower and after all that when you face Sarevok, it is still fun and challenging. Is the mod like that? Or does it shower the player with hackmasters +12 and actually harm the experience of playing vanilla content?

[@vGur]

Thanks for replys!

I've reed RtF reedme and glad to see what it gives AFTER ToB completed, but what i ask is ability to return to BG1 from SoA. Threre was topic about Teleport mod or some else mod that do exactly what i ask. For now i can't find it

[Roxanne]

Thanks for replys!

I've reed RtF reedme and glad to see what it gives AFTER ToB completed, but what i ask is ability to return to BG1 from SoA. Threre was topic about Teleport mod or some else mod that do exactly what i ask. For now i can't find it

Doing this in BGT during the BG2 part is always possible via CLUA MoveToArea (you can do the same with a spell or script in a mod). You will always have the problem that you can easily corrupt your game by doing so. Entering certain areas triggers events and those can change globals etc in your game in an inconsistent way. In EET there will be a continuos chapter sequence (In BGT you have the same chapter numbers and transitions in both parts) that prevents such issues. You can do similar in BGT if you know exactly which areas, events or conversations you need to avoid - even if I doubt the reason to do it without a sensible extra plot or quest given to you.

Edited by Roxanne, 31 December 2015 - 11:22 AM.

[The Imp]

Thanks for replys!

I've reed RtF reedme and glad to see what it gives AFTER ToB completed, but what i ask is ability to return to BG1 from SoA. Threre was topic about Teleport mod or some else mod that do exactly what i ask. For now i can't find it

Doing this in BGT during the BG2 part is always possible via CLUA MoveToArea (you can do the same with a spell or script in a mod). You will always have the problem that you can easily corrupt your game by doing so. Entering certain areas triggers events and those can change globals etc in your game in an inconsistent way. In EET there will be a continuos chapter sequence (In BGT you have the same chapter numbers and transitions in both parts) that prevents such issues. You can do similar in BGT if you know exactly which areas, events or conversations you need to avoid - even if I doubt the reason to do it without a sensible extra plot or quest given to you.

@vGur, you probably talk about the mod I hint in here, bad news I am not going to release it for a while still. The EET's approach is totally different. 

Yeah, the only real area that one needs to be avoided is the Nashkel town area, and that script can be edited to exclude the BG2 exit to BG1 areas via a global that's set in the BG2 areas.

[@vGur]

Imp, You are so good in helping people here, it would be overpowered if You also finished your mod, but we'll wait for it.

 

Still reeding every mod conent to choose better compatibility, good that i doing it for 10 years and still remember half of them

One interesting mod is "bg1npcs in soa", it adds new part to Athkatla, new quests in ToB and ability to help Faldorn to destroy Trademeet  -

http://www.baldursga...v3&topic=7778.0

 

cons: characers are not continuous from BGT, bws say it's not compatible with Sandrah. Have someone tell what components are incompatible?

Edited by @vGur, 03 January 2016 - 02:19 PM.

[Roxanne]

Imp, You are so good in helping people here, it would be overpowered if You also finished your mod, but we'll wait for it.

 

Still reading every mod conent to choose better compatibility, good that i doing it for 10 years and still remember half of them

One interesting mod is bg2 npcs in soa, it adds new part to Athkatla, new quests in ToB and ability to help Faldorn to destroy Trademeet  -

http://www.baldursga...v3&topic=7778.0

 

cons: characers are not continuous from BGT, bws say it's not compatible with Sandrah. Have someone tell what components are incompatible?

The mod you mean is probably BG1NPCs for BG2 and it is incompatible with about 20 other mods beside Sandrah, in fact incompatible with any NPC appearing already in BG1 and BG2 as it adds all of them a second time. The incompatibility with Sandrah is just a consequence of this issue. Sandrah ToB part and RtF deal with the BG2 characters individually, but their clones will still haunt Faerun forever and create various issues. You should take a look at the big world install manual to look for long list of incompatibilities of this mod.

[@vGur]

Thanks for pointing that manual! There much more info, strange that it's missed from BWS

Only Faldorn component seems to be compatible with Mega mod, so i'll try.

P/s Roxanne, i can't find Sandrah forum, so i ask here - What is major incompatibility between Sandrah and Teleport? Is there any safe way of their co-existance in one mega-mod?

Edited by @vGur, 04 January 2016 - 09:27 AM.