Mod installation order question.

[Wolfrin Fenris]

Firstly I want to apologize in advance for the silly question I'm about to ask. I realize that this is probably an oft asked question and that to some the answer should be plenty evident without the question but.... I digress.

I'm a pretty big Baldur's Gate fan, and I've played the game quite a few times over the years, usually with year to two year breaks in between. I've recently gotten the urge to play once more but decided this time I want to change it up a bit with the addition of mods.

I think I may have gone a bit overboard in this respect however as I have a fairly large list of mods I'd like to add, and after reading readme's and compatibility sections for hours, I've decided I should probably request some more experienced advice if I'm going to install these in the proper order.

I suppose the easiest way to request this assistance would be to simply provide a list of the mods I'd like to install and wait for a response so.... On to it! Thank you in advance to any generous and kind enough to give some much needed advice!

In no particular order:

Level 1 npc's, Cross mod banter pack, Amber, Angelo, Gavin, Haldamir, Kivan and Deheriana, Sarah, Tyris Flare, SCSII, Item Randomizer, P&P Celestials, Spell Revisions, Devine Remix, Rogue Rebalancing, Item Revisions, Song and Silence, Keto, Unfinished Business, Quest Pack, Sell Swords, Assassinations, Dungeon Crawl, BGII Tweak Pack, Sword and Fist, Alternatives, Wheels of Prophecy, Oversight (If this is compatible with the others, had a hard time deciphering this one), Darian, and Yikari.

I Know this is a fairly extensive list with mods from some other sights as well, namely Pocketplane and Spellhold studios, and so I want to once again thank anyone that can help me out with this.

P.S. If in this list of different mods theres any problems you can see arising or if perhaps I'm missing an awsome mod that you know of, please feel free to advise me of such. I've done my best to look through and try to eliminate and possible problems, and so I'll mention that I do know that SR and DR have compatability issues, I plan on installing SR after DR to get the updated spells though, sadly, I have to sacrifice the idea of the spheres.

P.P.S. I do have BG II, Throne Of Bhaal, and the latest patch, as well as the BGII Fixpack already installed. (Sorry about the format, for the life of me I couldn't get it to space.... >.>)

[Kulyok]

Welcome to G3! I'm not sure about revisions mods, someone else will probably tell you about that, but:

 

- Fixpack goes first;

- Crossmod banter pack goes after all NPC mods;

- Tweaks and SCSII should be installed close to last. Level1NPCs, too.

 

NPC-wise: you're going to have a party of six - you + five NPCs. Probably, at least one or two characters will be Bioware NPCs(Imoen, Jaheira, Minsc and so on - Banter Pack and Flirt Pack would be a good addition, but it's my opinion). Even if not, you'll need five mod NPCs, no more. You're installing 10. That's too much: they will make your override folder too big(and your game slower; biffing override is for more experienced users and leads to "no reinstalling mods in the middle of the game" issues), and frankly, you don't need so many for one playthrough. Also, not all these guys and gals have crossmod with one another.

 

You can install all these NPCs + small quest mods together after your Fixpack, I believe.

 

As for SR and DR, you know better than me.

 

Have fun playing!

 

EDIT: And you've probably seen the quick backup topic: http://forums.pocket...php/topic,17555

[Wolfrin Fenris]

Thanks for the speedy reply! I'm extremely anxious to actually get playing after having spent hours trying to figure everything out so I appreciate that! . I, of course, knew about the 6 player party but I didn't know that having the extra npcs would slow down the game, so perhaps I'll just install a couple of them for this one and save the others for my next play through, but I assume all the npcs are the same in that they are all installed at one particular point in the order right? Also thank you for the link to that thread on having a clean backup, I'm guessing with my fumbling that's going to come in handy! XD

[kreso]

In no particular order:

Level 1 npc's, Cross mod banter pack, Amber, Angelo, Gavin, Haldamir, Kivan and Deheriana, Sarah, Tyris Flare, SCSII, Item Randomizer, P&P Celestials, Spell Revisions, Devine Remix, Rogue Rebalancing, Item Revisions, Song and Silence, Keto, Unfinished Business, Quest Pack, Sell Swords, Assassinations, Dungeon Crawl, BGII Tweak Pack, Sword and Fist, Alternatives, Wheels of Prophecy, Oversight (If this is compatible with the others, had a hard time deciphering this one), Darian, and Yikari.

I Know this is a fairly extensive list with mods from some other sights as well, namely Pocketplane and Spellhold studios, and so I want to once again thank anyone that can help me out with this.

I'd go with, in this order - Italic being my reccomendations:

Ascension - makes ToB much better

BG2 Fixpack

Item Revisions (only base component)

Spell Revisions (not "update spellbooks of joinable NPCs")

NPC mods - I'd add Xan, and skip on any without ToB content. May be just me, but it's very annoying to play a silent NPC in the end, and I like to plan my party ahead, not drop NPCs in ToB.

Spell Revisons - update spellbooks

Quest mods

Banter packs

RR without "Revised HLAs"

Refinements - revised HLA's only

RR - Revised HLAs components

Divine Remix - as you noted, it has issues with SR but plays OK in the end.

Item Revisions - all other components (if you plan on using Randomizer, skip "Store Revisions")

Randomizer

BG2 Tweaks

Level 1 NPC

SCS

aTweaks - definitely Demons and Undead, Elementals may be hard but I like them

 

Mods I'd skip:

Oversight - SCS improves Sendai and it's outdated I think. Haven't played it in ages.

UB - I think (but may be well wrong) Minsc's quest includes unkillable trolls. May be fixed however.

Quest Pack - never got to me for some reason. Not that it's bad, anyway.

Sword and Fist - again, no particular reason.

 

P.S. If in this list of different mods theres any problems you can see arising or if perhaps I'm missing an awsome mod

Back To Brynnlaw, goes in Quest mods.

[Wolfrin Fenris]

Wow! Thank you Kreso, that's exactly the kind of guidance I was hoping for XD. I'd have to agree on Oversight, but I think I'll give the other three you mentioned a chance at least, though I'll be keeping a backup XD. Also, Ascension, Refinements, and aTweaks are three I hadn't even considered so I'm going to follow your advice and throw them in as well. I'm hoping this is going to be an enjoyable, and evidently LONG, play through XD Thank you so much!

[kreso]

You're welcome.

[Wolfrin Fenris]

I did run into one issue that I thought might become an issue while installing these various mods, and that's with my level 1 npcs. Is it possible to install this last to prevent having to reinstall SCSII and aTweaks each time I make a new party or start a new run? I've looked through the compatibility sections of each once more and other then SCSII advising that it should go last if possible. Will any issues arise out of this?

[Jarno Mikkola]

I did run into one issue that I thought might become an issue while installing these various mods, and that's with my level 1 npcs. Is it possible to install this last to prevent having to reinstall SCSII and aTweaks each time I make a new party or start a new run? I've looked through the compatibility sections of each once more and other then SCSII advising that it should go last if possible. Will any issues arise out of this?

The first few components are good to install before the said mods... but the real NPC components ... the components #1201 onwards can be installed after SCSII etc.

[Daulmakan]

I'd consider Oversight if you're playing with a monk in your party, for the Monk-exclusive HLAs.

[InKal]

There's no Dungeon be Gone on the list ;] , thats why I recommed Slightly Improved Ilych mod by Razfallow. Great, somewhat low key mod, impressive AI scripts.

 

http://www.sorcerers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=21116

[Demivrgvs]

There's no Dungeon be Gone on the list ;] , thats why I recommed Slightly Improved Ilych mod by Razfallow. Great, somewhat low key mod, impressive AI scripts.

I loved that mod too!

[Wolfrin Fenris]

Thanks for the clarification Jarno! I went ahead and did put Level 1 Npc's last and so far so good lol. Also thanks for the suggestions Inkal and Daulmakan, as far as oversights goes, I got caught up on that first part about fixing alignments, which I noticed another mod I was going to use did, and so I kind of dismissed it. I do plan on running a monk so I'm disappointed I did so XD. I never ran into that Ilych mod, but I'll have to try that on my next run though for sure. I'm not much of a forums goer but I'll have to check back in here incase there's any more good suggestions, thanks again all!