BG2 mod suggestion

[Ronkoteus]

Hi,

I'm planning to start a new BG2 game. I played through EasyTutu three years ago with couple of tweak mods added. I have also played twice to the end of both the vanilla BG1 and vanilla SoA many years ago. I've never played through ToB though.

 

I'm looking for essential and good mods for BG2: SoA and ToB. I would like to have as bug free and balanced game as possible and the contents of the mods should be about the same level of quality as the original game content. I'm really nitpicky about graphics, icons, sounds etc.. I'm mostly interested in gameplay improvements and convenience tweaks. Some tactical challenge would also be nice since many of the battles in the vanilla are just too easy hack'n slash. Currently I'm looking to install most or all of the components from following mods:

 

BG2 Fixpack

Item Revisions

Banter Pack

IEP Extended Banter

Spell Revisions

Ascension

Sword Coast Stratagems II

BG2 Tweak Pack

Level 1 NPCs

 

What do you think, are they good or am I missing something? Not very sure yet about install order either. Big world v10 install guide seems to have lots of info on that, so it's propably right one to follow? I'll be also checking mod readme's.

 

Of course I would love to add new items, quests, kits and NPCs. But I'm not sure which of them would meet my quality requirements. I've also understood by browsing the forums, that many of them also bring lots of compatibility issues or bugs to the game or just break the balance. Some of you know better so feel free to suggest. Thanks.

[Jarno Mikkola]

BG2 Fixpack

...

Ascension

Sword Coast Stratagems II

 

What do you think, are they good or am I missing something? Not very sure yet about install order either. Big world v10 install guide seems to have lots of info on that, so it's propably right one to follow? I'll be also checking mod readme's.

Well, in the parts the mods are not fixed by the BWP's own fixpack... among others it made the Ascension mod installable with the other mods... without major bugs.

You would do well the change Ascension mod to the Ascension component of the BP v180b mod. Then everything in the install order seems fine to me:

BG2 Fixpack

Item Revisions

Banter Pack

IEP Extended Banter

Spell Revisions

BP v180b - Ascension component

Sword Coast Stratagems II

BG2 Tweak Pack

Level 1 NPCs

Widescreen mod ?

[berelinde]

the Big World guide will probably steer you right regarding installation order, but by all that's holy, don't install everything on it. Your experience would be bugged to hell and laggy as sunscreen sales in November.

 

If you're a purist, there aren't a lot of NPC mods that will make you happy. Most really do scream mod content. That said, I'm going to recommend a few mods, assuming that you're a heterosexual male gamer. If you would prefer a different love interest for your PC, please state your preferences and I'll see if I can make some alternate recommendations.

 

NPC, wise, you can't go wrong with Tashia. She's pretty cool, as an NPC, and she's got a nifty quest as well as a really nice romance. Just in case you're not interested in Aerie, Jaheira, or Viconia. If I were interested in women, I wouldn't be. I want to recommend Fade, but I find that I can't. I absolutely love her dialogue, but she's just got far too much reading involved to make her blend with the game. Every dialogue line is several lines long. Too much. I don't recommend Saerileth. She's a cute paladin love interest, but unless you're really into love at first sight, she'll probably invoke some eye-rolling. Of course, if you are into love at first sight, knock yourself out. If you're looking for a fighter who isn't Korgan, Auren Auseph might do for you. She blends with the game better than probably any other NPC mod out there. How could I forget Amber? You'll never mistake her for a game NPC, but if I were into women, I would do her in a heartbeat. As it stands, she's probably the most interesting thief you'll meet, and she doesn't bail halfway through. Though you will have to do some tricky quests to keep her, but most players don't object to quests. If you hate Anomen, and a lot of guys do, Gavin is a good-aligned cleric with a friendship path, but he does a fair bit of talking and he likes to get pushy with evil PCs. So that's a definite recommendation for Amber and a tentative recommendation for Gavin.

[ericp07]

Here's another two coppers thrown in...

 

I've got a successful BGII - SoA/ToB game going, with my party just having gotten what they came for in Spellhold, so I'll recommend selecting some or all of the following, as I haven't encountered any unwanted behavior so far:

 

BG2 Fixpack

1PP (main component, potions, flaming short swords, female Dwarves, colourable quarterstaves, avatars, and thieves galore)

Dungeon Be Gone

Unfinished Business

W_GUI (the most beautiful interface you may ever see)

Zyraen's Miscellany

Weimer's Item Upgrades

BG2 Tweaks

D0 Questpack

Alternatives

Dungeon Crawl

Spellhold Gauntlet

NPC Kitpack

Elven Pack

Tactics (Fighter-Class Archer kit)

Divine Remix

Solaufein

Tashia

Yasraena

Saerileth

Kivan

Fade

Amber

Sarah

Fading Promises

Angelo

Tyris Flare

Kitanya

Darian

Beyond The Law

Hidden Kits

Z#Adkit (a script to add the Generic Archer kit)

Banterpack

IEP Banters

Imoen Friendship

De'Arnise Romance

Korgan Redemption

Mazzy Friendship

Viconia Friendship

Yoshimo Friendship

BG2CPM (Character Portrait Mod, adds small portraits to the minor BG2 characters throughout)

 

I hope to see you post your final mod choices at some point.

 

Happy gaming,

Eric

[Ronkoteus]

Thanks Jarno, I'll do that. I might also put in that Widescreen mod, even though I don't mind the black bars on the sides. What do you think about Generalised Biffing, does it really make that much a difference and can it cause any problems?

 

berelinde and ericp07, thanks. I'll look into those. Atleast, if the NPC portrait doesn't fit, I can propably change it to one of my own? UB seems to have some components I might install. D0 Quest Pack also seems interesting. As I stated I'm pretty much purist and therefore really nitpicky about graphics, icons, sounds, etc. that the mods bring in. Keeping the balance is also important.

[Demivrgvs]

Your base install is pretty much identical to mine. I'd simply add there any NPC you want to use, IEP's Friendship mods, and David's Wheel of Prophecy if you intend to play ToB.

 

I'd avoid installing tons of NPCs at once, only install the ones you're actually planning to use in that game. Cconsidering a game could take ages to be completed it's not like you have to re-install it after 1-2 days, and if something goes bad (e.g. a compatibility issue) you're much more screwed if you have tons of mods to re-install.

 

Then, if you define yourself a "purist" I wouldn't suggest you Weimer's mods. It's not that they are bad but they aare intentionally not for "purists" with their overpowered items (Item Upgrades), NPCs (Solaufein NPC is almost as broken as Valen imo) and cheating opponents (Tactics).

 

If you play with Item Revisions you already have 90% of 1PP (and few 1PP things not included within the official 1PP mod). You could install 1PP's Thieves Galore but it's an exe patching mod and I don't know if it could cause issues with ToBEx included with most recent mods such as IR V3 and SCSII V19. Avoid 1PP patching components because they can mess up IR.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Thanks Jarno, I'll do that. I might also put in that Widescreen mod, even though I don't mind the black bars on the sides.

The Widescreen mod is there to allow you to choose any resolution, as long as it's bigger than the smallest standard the game has... so X >= 640 and Y >= 480, and if you set your screen resolution to the chosen, the will be on full screen without any black bars, as long as you don't install a GUI mod after it, which is why I suggest to install it at the bottom.

 

What do you think about Generalised Biffing, does it really make that much a difference and can it cause any problems?

The Generalised Biffing doesn't cause any problems, as it can be installed, uninstalled etc. unlike the END_BIF could.... the only reason I didn't suggest it is that you didn't seem to have many media heavy mods in the order. Some voiced NPCs, the Infinity Animations, and the 1PP music (unless I am wrong about this)... are mods that want to be .bif-fed after the install, so the game doesn't lag nor take tens of minutes to start.

[ericp07]

Thanks Jarno, I'll do that. I might also put in that Widescreen mod, even though I don't mind the black bars on the sides. What do you think about Generalised Biffing, does it really make that much a difference and can it cause any problems?

 

berelinde and ericp07, thanks. I'll look into those. Atleast, if the NPC portrait doesn't fit, I can propably change it to one of my own? UB seems to have some components I might install. D0 Quest Pack also seems interesting. As I stated I'm pretty much purist and therefore really nitpicky about graphics, icons, sounds, etc. that the mods bring in. Keeping the balance is also important.

 

I'm with you re: graphic elements. That's why 1PP has become my best friend in that department

[ericp07]

Thanks Jarno, I'll do that. I might also put in that Widescreen mod, even though I don't mind the black bars on the sides.

The Widescreen mod is there to allow you to choose any resolution, as long as it's bigger than the smallest standard the game has... so X >= 640 and Y >= 480, and if you set your screen resolution to the chosen, the will be on full screen without any black bars, as long as you don't install a GUI mod after it, which is why I suggest to install it at the bottom.

 

What do you think about Generalised Biffing, does it really make that much a difference and can it cause any problems?

The Generalised Biffing doesn't cause any problems, as it can be installed, uninstalled etc. unlike the END_BIF could.... the only reason I didn't suggest it is that you didn't seem to have many media heavy mods in the order. Some voiced NPCs, the Infinity Animations, and the 1PP music (unless I am wrong about this)... are mods that want to be .bif-fed after the install, so the game doesn't lag nor take tens of minutes to start.

 

GenBiff has caused game-breaking issues for me, but it was probably my fault (some mistake in the order of mod/component installations, I suspect). I've abandoned that mod, at least until I have an installation about which I can feel confident.

[Jarno Mikkola]

GenBiff has caused game-breaking issues for me, but it was probably my fault (some mistake in the order of mod/component installations, I suspect). I've abandoned that mod, at least until I have an installation about which I can feel confident.

Hmm, I have not seen anyone else report problems with GenBiff... well anyone that's on PC, not on Mac, as you are on Mac.

 

Hmm, it might help us in giving advice if Ronkoteus would give his/her computers setup. Operation System, Graphic Card ... install folder.

[lynx]

It should easy to break under the spell of pebkac — just install something with common files after the biffing.

[Jarno Mikkola]

It should easy to break under the spell of pebkac — just install something with common files after the biffing.

Erhm, or you could just follow the BWP guidelines and install the Generalized Biffing quite last to get the best result out of it.

THINK! - It's not illegal.

[ericp07]

It should easy to break under the spell of pebkac — just install something with common files after the biffing.

Erhm, or you could just follow the BWP guidelines and install the Generalized Biffing quite last to get the best result out of it.

THINK! - It's not illegal.

 

Makes perfect sense to install it dead last. The issue I faced was that I had to troubleshoot some mods that were deep in the installation (I'm talking about roughly 140 mods installed), where one or another file caused unwanted behavior. There was a situation where the game also was unable to locate a needed file, as well, which puzzled me. Finally, I abandoned the BWP install order that I was so intent on following for the last few years, favoring a stripped-down set of mods installed in what is meant to be the least problematic order (which, I understand, is also the whole point of BWP, but I can't continue banging my head against a brick wall for the rest of my life). Gameplay is encouraging, so future install runs will add to what I've already done.

 

I now return you to your regularly-scheduled thread, already in progress