Mod Compatibility List for EET

[Cahir]

12 minutes ago, 4udr4n said:

If you produce a list of the mods (or ideally the specific components) that you are interested in trying, there are plenty here who will help you figure out an install order. I've been amazed by the willingness of this community to help.

This, imagine that for my EET adventure @subtledoctor made a small mod specially for me unusual needs (which I still need to test, but I have full confidence it will work as intended) and also got a new shiny portrait for ma blue dragon disciple sorcerer Charname. This is so awesome

I would probably be able to play this game already, but perfectionist in me still makes me tweak things here and there. But boy, this will be a hell of a playthrough.

[Caedwyr]

It is sounding like I may want to just go with separate installs and modlists for BG1 and BG2 and skip EET if I want to be able to install the maximum variety of mods (mostly NPC mods that aren't on the EET compatibility list).  What would people say is the major advantage to an EET game over separate BG1 and BG2 installs?  The intention is to provide a gameplay experience for my friends that offers a good variety of well-integrated content into the base game.  I don't need to have everything, just for the sake of having everything.

@4udr4n From my last go around with BG modding, I am aware that install order is important, but it's a good reminder.  Thanks!

[Cahir]

1 minute ago, Caedwyr said:

It is sounding like I may want to just go with separate installs and modlists for BG1 and BG2 and skip EET if I want to be able to install the maximum variety of mods (mostly NPC mods that aren't on the EET compatibility list).  What would people say is the major advantage to an EET game over separate BG1 and BG2 installs?  The intention is to provide a gameplay experience for my friends that offers a good variety of well-integrated content into the base game.  I don't need to have everything, just for the sake of having everything.

@4udr4n From my last go around with BG modding, I am aware that install order is important, but it's a good reminder.  Thanks!

Caedwyr, but most of the best NPC mods are ready on the compatibility list. Which mods do you specifically miss? 

[Caedwyr]

For BG1, I found Aura  by AionZ (https://artisans-corner.com/aura-npc/).  Lava's White NPC also doesn't appear on the list.

I haven't done a lot of digging so far for BG2, but I figure I'll run into a few (Redemption, Geomantic Sorcerer, PnP Celestials, .  As I dig, I may find more.

I have already filtered out a bunch that aren't on the list due to reported bugginess/incompleteness/quality.

It's a judgment call in the end that I'll have to make, but I'm mostly interested in why people recommend EET over separate installs.  What is the reason that makes adding another layer of complexity and possible failure point to a set of mod installs something that is worth doing?

 

Understand that back in the day BGT was somewhat popular, but frequently resulted in more buggy gameplay experiences than a properly curated list of mods and careful install order based on reading their documentation.  I'm all for EET if it is going to improve the experience overall, but I really want to avoid bugginess if at all possible since I'm showing this off to others and it isn't just me fooling around with my custom mod installs.

[Lightbringer]

Well, I'm pretty stoked that:

Isra in BG2 has retained the stat book increases I gave her in BG1, because EET makes them the same character. Same with Imoen, after I rescue her. Furthermore, the spells I taught her in BG1 remained in her spellbook for BG2. Not including proficiences, custom class/kit changes, etc.

Having just finished the D'Arnise keep, I'm ready to go up to High Hedge and have Thalantyr Upgrade some items for me that I lost in Chateau Irenicus. While I'm up there, I'll go ahead and drop by the Friendly Arm Inn to visit the merchant who took a Slow Boat from Kara Tur and purchase some monk gear for my charname.

Then I'll go back to Amn.  If I had known about the Cowled Menace at the time, I would have reason to go back and forth between Athkatla and Baldur's Gate city. Perhaps there, I could show that I had redeemed Skie's soul and gain clemency.

Eventually, I'll be going back and forth from Icewind Dale during my time all along the Sword Coast.

All these things require EET to turn the segmented games into one long saga.

Not to mention the glorious map that runs from the utter North all the way down to Calimshan...

I'm currently on an EET run that I've poured nearly 200 hours into. I'm early in the BG2 portion. I have a multi-megamod setup with a ton of quest mods. I have many NPCs, tweaks, item mods, and SCS. I admittedly am light on things like kits, alternate spell or feats, or other engine and system things.

I have had near zero bugs that were not obviously self-induced (i.e. a direct result of my tinkering), from Candlekeep, through BG city, through Dragonspear, to Athkatla. Install with Project Infinity was fairly straightforward, took about an hour per attempt, and took about 4-5 tries to get it perfect. I think I spent about an evening and a half. It doesn't always have to be a big ordeal.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Lightbringer

[subtledoctor]

If you’re going to play a mod kit, EET makes it a lot easier to play the same one throughout. 

1 hour ago, Caedwyr said:

I haven't done a lot of digging so far for BG2, but I figure I'll run into a few (Redemption, Geomantic Sorcerer, PnP Celestials, 

Is Aura not EET-compatible?

Does aTweaks and/or SCS not cover celestials?

I’m not sure Geomantic Sorcerer is compatible with any EEs, anyway. But if you’re playing on the EEs, there’s all sorts of good stuff available. I will finally plug one of my own mods and recommend Faiths & Powers. Fancy a bombastic elemental Druid? A Barbarian/Shaman? A Ranger/Druid with sorcerer-style casting? All possible, and more. 

[Caedwyr]

This is all helpful information for me, so thanks for the responses.

[Isewein]

As far as I understand, Aura BG2 is simply not yet completed, rather than it being an EET comptibility issue.

[Caedwyr]

On 5/7/2020 at 3:53 PM, subtledoctor said:

If you’re going to play a mod kit, EET makes it a lot easier to play the same one throughout. 

Is Aura not EET-compatible?

Does aTweaks and/or SCS not cover celestials?

I’m not sure Geomantic Sorcerer is compatible with any EEs, anyway. But if you’re playing on the EEs, there’s all sorts of good stuff available. I will finally plug one of my own mods and recommend Faiths & Powers. Fancy a bombastic elemental Druid? A Barbarian/Shaman? A Ranger/Druid with sorcerer-style casting? All possible, and more. 

So, I've been doing some digging and I am really leaning towards including Faiths & Powers, Might & Guile, and Tome & Blood mods to revamp and flesh out the classes and kits available.  One thing holding me back is the issue of HLAs that are addressed in Rogue Rebalancing and Refinements.  Do your mods offer replacement HLAs or are they meant to be used in conjunction with Refinements/Rogue Rebalancing?

aTweaks doesn't touch PnP Celestials, it has everything else, but I think because I'd completed PnP Celestials before it came out, aVENGER left that part out.  SCS might do something with them, but I think it is mostly on the script side of things.

Geomantic Sorcerer should probably be EET compatible.  It's overpowered in its versatility, and starts to break the game in ToB, but I still found it fun enough and not something that just eliminated all challenge at any point in the game.

[subtledoctor]

On 5/12/2020 at 1:53 PM, Caedwyr said:

So, I've been doing some digging and I am really leaning towards including Faiths & Powers, Might & Guile, and Tome & Blood mods to revamp and flesh out the classes and kits available.  One thing holding me back is the issue of HLAs that are addressed in Rogue Rebalancing and Refinements.  Do your mods offer replacement HLAs or are they meant to be used in conjunction with Refinements/Rogue Rebalancing?

Generally, classes will use HLAs from RR and Refinements.  Some mods add HLAs (like a special bard aura with MnG bards, or the chance to take extra feats with MnG feats) but they do so in a non-destructive manner; those new HLAs will be added to whatever table the class is already using.  (In this case that would be RR or Refinements.)

Faiths & Powers sets up its own HLA tables, generating them dynamically at install-time for each kit, based on that kit's major-access spheres.  This means all ~100 priest kits have unique HLA tables, created on the fly.  There are a few HLAs that are common to all clerics, or all druids, and then the rest are connected to spell spheres. So e.g. Globe of Blades is in the Combat sphere, and Fire Elemental Transformation is in the Fire sphere, etc.  So for FnP I advise skipping the cleric and druid HLAs in Refinements.  (You can do that now, in Refinements v4.)  On the bright side, a bunch of the HLAs FnP uses are in fact taken from Refinements; so you can still get most Refinements HLAs, they will just be determined based on your sphere access instead of all clerics getting the same ones.

I don't think Tome & Blood touches HLAs at all.  The only thing there is, I think Refinements might have special sorcerer versions of HLAs; if you play a multiclass sorcerer (or my Mana Sorcerer), you will get mage HLAs. Not that big a deal.

I think that's it.  Probably is a good idea to install Refinements HLAs before Might & Guile (and after RR).

Edited May 15, 2020 by subtledoctor

[Caedwyr]

This is good news.  The install order is going to be tricky between all the various tweaks, kits, and class mods but it sounds like I can get everything working.

[subtledoctor]

7 hours ago, Caedwyr said:

The install order is going to be tricky between all the various tweaks, kits, and class mods but it sounds like I can get everything working.

Luckily, install order has been hashed out pretty well lately by various other players.  Should be fairly easy now to vet your proposed order against those other games.  At least within groupings like NPCs, Tweaks, etc.

[Caedwyr]

A few questions on compatibility and if anyone has experience with these mods or the tweaks needed to get them to work with EET?

1. Iron Modder mini-mods
2. Item Pack v1.8.
3. Epic Thieving v3.5.
4. More Style for Mages v1.56.
5. Oversight v16.
6. Parting of Ways v1.
7. Tower of Deception v4.0.1.

 

 

[Caedwyr]

Note that the Geomantic Sorcerer v7 found here checks for EET and appears to be compatible.

[Lightbringer]

Well, I can comment on Tower of Deception, as I have it installed as part of my EET setup.

Oddly, it's readme (v4.01) makes no mention of EET compatibility. Yet, I was pretty sure that everything in my install list was good to go for EET.

As a test, I went ahead and started it just now. The quest initiated, transport to the Tower was successful, I am several floors in, everything seems to be working -- from journal entries, to friendly NPCs, to all of SCS's antics with spellcasters.  I'll report back if I discover any problems, but so far, I would assume it's good to go.