Can you have too much of a good thing?

[MissBehave]

This is kind of inline with the 'Making the most of a BG2 run' thread, but more from a technical stand point. How many is too many? How many NPC mods can I stuff in my override folder before I'm asking for trouble? Is it better to uninstall and reinstall as you use them, or will that cause different problems? I only have Dungeonbegone, Flirt Pack and mod NPCs installed. I will add the Banter Pack one of these days. I installed these on a 'naked' BG2 with ToB install (no fixpacks, patches, quest mods etc), if that makes a difference. I've successfully completed two SoA runs with that set up, no bugs, but after I complete this run's ToB I'll be ready for my next set of mod NPCs so I figured I'd get some advice on the subject.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Well, there's too much sometimes, but to lessen the burden of making a decisions now, you should use a tool meant to install all the possible BG2 mods out then, but you got to know that you have to customize the selection !! Well, unless you wish to star the installation window 10 hours and get nothing out of it.

And to instruct that, you need to read this... well, that post, yeah, it's a bit out dated... and of course if you wish to read and take a pause, you get a better result by reading the whole thread, going to the links etc...

 

And this non patched version was exactly what ? The version number can be seen in the options menu after starting a game. Yeah, the last official patch might be included in your game already...

[MissBehave]

My version is v2.5.26498. I got it fairly recently so maybe it is pre-patched, hadn't thought of that!

[Jarno Mikkola]

v2. = BG2,

5. = ToB,

26498 = Last patch.

I got it fairly recently so maybe it is pre-patched, hadn't thought of that!

It is.

[MissBehave]

Phew, well that saves me that headache. So in concrete numbers, what do you think? I can safely say that you can install at least 5 NPC mods and it runs fine. Though I currently only have 3 of the 5 in my party. How many more can I install before I start having issues? And does uninstalling cause issues? I've uninstalled Edwin and Faren in the past, which seems to have been okay. But I've never tried reinstalling them later. I think I could safely uninstall Kivan when I'm done this run (to make room) and probably won't reinstall him any time soon either. I do need to uninstall and reinstall Xan in order to get a happy ending for his bonded path, which I have yet to try out. I could probably ditch the Sarevok romance as well, though as it only has ToB content I'm not sure how much that would impact.

[Jarno Mikkola]

So in concrete numbers, what do you think? I can safely say that you can install at least 5 NPC mods and it runs fine. Though I currently only have 3 of the 5 in my party.

Well that's totally mod dependent, the BWS gives you the option to choose from about 400 mods and 1000 components... they are not all compatible, but the BWS warns about them, and it will install the mods in the correct order etc, yes, the order is quite crucial here as well...

 

And does uninstalling cause issues? I've uninstalled Edwin and Faren in the past, which seems to have been okay. But I've never tried reinstalling them later. I think I could safely uninstall Kivan when I'm done this run (to make room) and probably won't reinstall him any time soon either.

We'll the uninstalling a mod will cause issues with your saves, that is, if you intent to use the mods modified files after installing or uninstalling them while they were saved in your game already, as if you start a new game, there will be no problems, other than incompatibility problems. And that should also clerify you the Xan thing.

And yes, if you use the above linked tools, you need to have a clean BG2 install.

[ericp07]

I wouldn't put an upper limit on installing mods. What's important is order of installation, especially in cases where a mod overwrites any files, rather than patching them.

[MissBehave]

So as long as I am just installing NPCs I can go wild, so to speak?

[Ladile]

In my topic about BG2 playthroughs, it was recommended to me to install no more than 4 or 5 NPCs at time; when I initially made that topic I probably had well over 10+ NPCs installed (plus some various other mods) and I could tell that *something* or *somethings* were slowing my game down. One or two of those NPCs, like the Keldorn romance beta, were installed with a warning so I don't know if it was one of those or some other mod that was the problem. I ended up paring down my list of NPCs to the ones I wanted to play the most and made a clean install with just them and a few other mods (Ascension, Divine Remix, etc.) and the lag issues were significantly improved. Of course I still have about 7 or 8 NPCs installed, but hey, I'm stubborn like that

 

I guess the point about only 4 or 5 at a time was from a practical standpoint: why have these other guys hanging around, potentially slowing down the game or causing other gameplay issues, when you're not even using them all? Even though I've still got more than what some folks recommend, I've got a couple of different playthroughs going at once, each with a different PC and party composition. I just play whichever one strikes my fancy at the moment. If I need some Gavin in my game, I fire up my file that has him in the party. If I'm in the mood for elves, I load up the game where I've got Kivan and Xan with me, etc.

[MissBehave]

Yup I can understand that. I have several games going in BG, BGEE, SoA and ToB right now. Geez, reading that makes me think maybe I've got a touch of A.D.D... Ah well, I've got 5 installed at the moment. What harm could bringing it to 7 do... Make that 8 once I get my hot little hands on Aran..

[Jarno Mikkola]

Yup I can understand that. I have several games going in BG, BGEE, SoA and ToB right now. Geez, reading that makes me think maybe I've got a touch of A.D.D... Ah well, I've got 5 installed at the moment. What harm could bringing it to 7 do... Make that 8 once I get my hot little hands on Aran..

Erhm, it's not about the number of NPCs, but... Which exactly are we talking about ?

 

Yeah, if the NPC's mod has a beta attached to it, it's there for a reason... what ever it is.

[MissBehave]

I have the Flirt Pack, Banter Pack, Romantic Encounters and DungeonBeGone. For NPCs I currently have Haer'dalis, Sarevok, Gavin, Xan and Kivan installed on my SoA/ToB. Faren and Edwin have been uninstalled. After this ToB run I'd be comfortable uninstalling Kivan and Sarevok as I think I've gotten all the content I want out of them. Xan needs to be uninstalled and reinstalled because I want to try the bonded path. I have Angelo and Kelsey waiting to be installed for a future run through. And I want Aran once the Gods of Time bless cmorgan so he can get him completed and released. I also want to get Crossmod installed before my next new game. So I guess the real question is, should I uninstall Kivan and Sarevok to make room for two new NPC mods once I completed my current run, or can I leave them installed and add the others anyways, so I can have several games with different parties going at the same time.

[InKal]

So as long as I am just installing NPCs I can go wild, so to speak?

 

 

not quite. check your override folder. when it is 500MB or more - stop right there!

 

depends on pc specs, really. on older machines overide folder >500MB can slow your game.

[Jarno Mikkola]

not quite. check your override folder. when it is 500MB or more - stop right there!

 

depends on pc specs, really. on older machines overide folder >500MB can slow your game.

Well, that depends on what the files are ... but then if it happens to be an issue, you then need to just install all the rest of the mods and then install the Generalized Biffing mod as well, as it fixes the issue.

Will have to check on the NPCs list sometime later... if no one else answers it by then.

[MissBehave]

Well I've gone ahead and done it. So far so good, but I'll report back if I run into issues.