Want to start again, what do I need?

[subtledoctor]

I will say, many NPC mods include a quest or two, and even new areas sometimes. And the quality tends to be waaaay higher than the 'big' quest mods

[jastey]

I was kidding, indeed. I know what you meant.

As  @subtledoctor said some NPC mods also have quests. I don't mean to promote my mods, but Ajantis BGII, Solaufein's Rescue, and also Grey the Dog (for BG1) and also Brage's Redemption even have quests you can play without the NPC in party (either because it's necessary to find the NPC or because of design. The quest from Brage's Redemption is also in bgqe, of course.) Just for info.

[Graion Dilach]

Bit offtopic but personally I tend to skip NPC mods if I don't intend to pick the NPC up at one point, unless the NPC does provide some additional quests not requiring itself (Water Gardens from BG1NPCSoA, the additional stuff from All Things Mazzy) I was unaware of Ajantis BG2 and the rest falling into this latter group.

[subtledoctor]

I tend to be the opposite - I always include a lot of NPCs. After all they represent totally optional content, and generally they are self-contained mods with little or no chance of conflicts with other mods. And that way I can decide in-game, at the moment, which NPCs I want to recruit and when, rather than having to plan it out beforehand. NPC customization mods like SCS or my own help with this, since they allow any NPC to fit well in the party at any moment I might want to recruit them.

[Toad]

NPCs which bring their own quest are fun. I remember helping Keldorn make up with his wife. But what I really like are the big quests, like stopping the slave trade in BG2 or the castle that needs to have the bad guys cleaned out. (It's been a few years, but I still remember the high points.)

NPC mini-quests don't have the replayability that the big ones do. No matter how many times I have done it, I always enjoy beating up the slave traders.

But as Jaywalker said in the Linux guide, "Options are great, and this is the one I use. "

[subtledoctor]

FYI if you are interested in the Enhanced Editions, BG2EE is on sale for 4 bucks at GOG right now...

EDIT - and BGEE is 6 bucks. Good deals!

Apparently SoD is not on GOG, though...? Is that right? Why isn't SoD on GOG?

Edited March 24, 2022 by subtledoctor

[Gwendolyne]

It was 2 weeks ago for about 3 €.

[Toad]

Appreciate the information. I got BGEE and BG2EE last week and have BGEE running now. I didn't want to load up BG2EE because the information about BGT and/or other mods seems to suggest that the order in which things are loaded is important. I haven't really felt like doing a lot of experimentation at this point, so I'm just playing BGEE.

I don't recognize SoD. I do know what SoA and ToB are, so is this an expansion or mod that wasn't around 15 years ago? I really would like to have as much mission content as possible in one big chunk, rather than an endless loop of download / test / restore from backup and try again.

[subtledoctor]

SoD is Siege of Dragonspear, a whole new adventure about the size of ToB, which slots in between BG1 and BG2. Depending on where you get it from, it can be appended to the end of BGEE. (But you must make sure to buy SoD from the same retailer you got BGEE from, be it Steam, or GOG, or direct from Beamdog.)

Some people like it. Some people don’t love it. At the end of the day it is a sizable chunk of professionally developed Infinity Engine content, which for me is a guaranteed purchase. As far as its gameplay, it might remind you of the 2nd have of IWD. Also if you want to install EET - the EE equivalent of BGT, combining BG1 and BG2 - then SoD is required. 

Edited March 27, 2022 by subtledoctor

[Toad]

Ok, OK, you’ve convinced me. No sense in not getting a good collection of new content from the start. Hopefully I won’t spend the next year tracking down mods that won’t play nice together.

Here’s my installation order (hoping that someone will point it out if I’m about to make an egregious mistake.)

BGEE

SoD

BG2EE

 

(Mods installed on BG:EE previous to installing EET on BG2:EE)

BG1 Unfinished Business

Dark Horizons BG:EE

Drizzt Saga

Tenya Thermidor

The Stone of Askavar

 

EET

If I get here and everything is still working, I’ll do a backup and then pick some more mods, like:

Anniversary

Ascension

Athkatlan Grounds: Ooze's Lounge

Athkatlan Grounds: Southern Edge

Athkatlan Grounds: Tangled Oak Isle

BG1 NPC Project

BGQE (Should make Jastey happy ...)

Dark Side of the Sword Coast

[jastey]

5 hours ago, Toad said:

BGQE (Should make Jastey happy ...)

Heh. Well, I am a bit sad that you only pick one of my mods... (KIDDING, of course!)

I would put DSotSC before bgqe before bg1npc and before Lava's mods but the only dependency is to install bgqe "Brage's Sword" before bg1npc. The rest is just personal preferences.

[Toad]

6 hours ago, jastey said:

Heh. Well, I am a bit sad that you only pick one of my mods...

I knew that would get your attention ...

I didn't see much point in going through the entire list of available post BG2EE mods. I think it's obvious from the initial selections that I'm interested more in places to explore rather than people to talk to. I hope that anyone who is also like that would recommend mods which give new and interesting places to explore.

Thanks for your advice on when to insert those I have chosen.

[jastey]

Hmm, bgqe is a lot about new people to talk to, though, so maybe not the best choice for you. Lure of Sirine's Call adds interiors to the lighthouse in the Lighthouse Area, not very big areas but at least a little new place. Balduran's Seatower adds fantastic new areas. NTotSC has so-so new areas, the mod is old so one can see the original areas shining through the edits.

[Toad]

7 hours ago, jastey said:

Hmm, bgqe is a lot about new people to talk to, though, so maybe not the best choice for you. Lure of Sirine's Call adds interiors to the lighthouse in the Lighthouse Area, not very big areas but at least a little new place. Balduran's Seatower adds fantastic new areas. NTotSC has so-so new areas, the mod is old so one can see the original areas shining through the edits.

I'm not opposed to new NPCs. I just am not as interested in people as places. I recognize that the BGQE quests are small, but they looked interesting, and of course being small, they are less likely to cause a problem with some other mod (I hope.)

I cannot find "Lure of Sirine's Call" in the list at https://rawgit.com/K4thos/EET-Compatibility-List/master/EET-Compatibility-List.html

Balduran's Seatower claims to be only 50% complete, and I'd rather load up areas that won't be having massive changes on a regular basis. Mod updates that are large often break things, and nearly always make saved games unusable (as I am sure you know.)
NToSC looked pretty old, and I'm trying to collect a bunch that might work well together. However I'm adding it to my list on your recommendation.

Thanks!

[jastey]

@Toad Oh, but you will not be able to use savegames from this install in a different install anyway, and you never do mod updates on a running install. Balduran's Seatower will be expanded eventually, but what is there will most probebly stay and is closed quest-wise (no lose ends). Not trying to persuade you or anything (just trying to prove you wrong muahaha - kidding).

bgqe shouldn't give any problems with other mods, the only other problems that could arise is that another mod I'm not aware of places it's monsters or questcharacters at the same spot as bgqe, but I didn't hear of any current problems. Only dependency is for Brage's Sword to be installed before Bg1NPC or the possibility to bring Brage to the garrison instead to the Temple will miss if you have Jaheira or Viconia (I think it was) in the group when you meet him.

Lure of Sirine's Call is listed as "The Lure of the Sirine's Call" (Link).

Maybe The Grey Clan would be interesting, too. It reuses the Friendly Arm's Inn areas (because it happens at the FAI) but it's a nice quest with tough battles. There is definitely less big quest mods for BG1 than there are for BG2, and the biggest is the oldest with all its flaws (DSotSC).