A long list of suggestions

[Guest dead drunk]

I have a long list of suggestions. All are for BG2EE unless told otherwise, although many of the ideas can be used elsewhere as well.
Let me first thank the maker of this mod. It is the best there is and makes BG2 a whole new game. An amateur modder myself, I have limited knowledge of the game mechanics.
My main suggestion is to make the game consistently more challenging. At the moment even with this amazing mod there are some very easy fights even very late in the game. And as you will see I also have some ideas to make the game harder and realistic in other ways.
Also I understand that this is mainly an AI mod, but since about everything that can be done with AI has already been done... about all the rest of the creatures can only be made more powerful by giving them better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level etc... So I suggest a lot of these. But look further than just the "Tougher battles" before you judge my ideas not suitable for this mod. I think I have some very good ones that you like.
I have listed some info about the files needed to be changed(not all files everytime unfortunately, but if you want to start working on some suggestion of mine and want to know the files I will try to find them to make it easier for you) and what area etc. they can be found - .CRE, .ARE, .BCS etc... hopefully it makes understanding what I want clearer and locating the files easier.
If you want more info of any of my suggestions ask using the correct number.
Also english is not my first language, so sorry if its not always perfect.

 

Tougher battles
*******************
Now these I hope would go to the "Tactical Challenges" section since they are mostly non-AI changes.

-A1)All the guards in Saerks house should be tougher(not Saerk and his son themselves) - better thac0, more hit points (SGUARD1.CRE, SGUARD2.CRE, SGUARD3.CRE, SGUARD4.CRE - AR0504.ARE, AR0505.ARE)
-A2)The Slaver Compound guards(fighters only) in the Slums should be tougher - better thac0, more hit points - also the slaver guards who try to move some slaves at night and the guard at the door of Copper Coronet at night (HAEGAN.CRE, SLGUARD1.CRE, SLGUARD2.CRE, SLARCH1.CRE, SLAVER1.CRE, SLAVER2.CRE, SLAVER3.CRE, SLAVER4.CRE - AR0405.ARE, AR0400.ARE)
-A3)Mae Var and his guild should also be tougher - better thac0, more hit points (MAEVAR.CRE, MVGUARD1.CRE, MVPRIES.CRE, THIEF5.CRE, THIEF8.CRE, THIEF6.CRE, THIEF7.CRE- also DASSIN.CRE which is not unique creature to this location - AR0301.ARE, AR0302.ARE, AR0303.ARE)
-A4)Lehtinan and Copper Coronet guards could be stronger, at the moment they are really a pushover - better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level - this means that also Hendak and the other gladiators fighting them should be tougher (GUARD2.CRE, GUARD1.CRE, BEAST.CRE, GUARD3.CRE, GLAD2.CRE, HENDAK.CRE, LEHTIN.CRE, copamb01.cre, copamb02.cre, copamb03.cre, copamb04.cre, copamb05.cre, ccguard1.cre, ccguard2.cre - AR0406.ARE, AR0406.BCS)
-A5)Tougher Trademeet Crypt guards - better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level... and more undead creatures (CESKEL01.CRE - these others I think are not unique creatures, they can be found elswhere as well: SKELWA.CRE, SKELET01.CRE - AR2013.ARE)
-A6)tougher Amalas - better thac0, more hit points, better AC (RUFFIAN.CRE - AR0406.ARE)
-A7)Chaos (druid grove final mission) could be tougher and maybe summon some help? better thac0, more hit points, better AC (DRSHCH01.CRE - AR2000.ARE, AR2000.BCS)
-A8)Improved orcs, gnolls, goblins, hobgoblins - they are all just pushovers, I know they are not meant to be boss fight material but now they are just a boring easy fight every time you bump into them - better thac0, more hit points
-A9)Samia and her thugs in Windspear Hills could be tougher, especially since before they attack they position themselves in one room ready to be bombarded with fireballs etc... better thac0, more hit points, better AC (SAMIA.CRE, AKAE.CRE, KAOL.CRE, CHAK.CRE, LEGDOR.CRE, DESHAR.CRE - AR1202.ARE, AR1202.BCS)
-A10)Tougher "Umar" - she is the final mission of the Umar Hills, and at this point CHARNAME is very powerful - make her a really good wizard and give her some demon allies(I think the Umar Hills people talked about her summoning demons)? (RUMAR01.CRE - AR1401.ARE, AR1401.BCS)
-A11)Tougher Lord Roenall and bigger and better army for him, since you need only to kill him to win the fight, his soldiers can be very powerful (and CHARNAME is again very powerful at this point) - he should also have a ranged weapon and use it so he wont charge right away to get killed - better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level for all his soldiers and him - I made a script where he has more soldiers, I can post it if you are interested. (KPROEN01.CRE, KPROEN02.CRE, KPROEN03.CRE, KPROEN04.CRE, KPROEN05.CRE - AR1304.ARE, AR1304.BCS)
-A12)Touger Fallen Paladins and the Smugglers they fight at Bridge District - better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level (kaypal01.cre, kaypal02.cre, kaypal03.cre, kaysmg01.cre, kaysmg02.cre, kaysmg03.cre, kaysmg04.cre - AR0500.ARE, AR0500.BCS)
-A13)Tougher Assassin at the Vulgar Monkey(the one who kills Sanik), he is attacking a party of six all alone after all - better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level (PIRMUR02.CRE - AR1602.ARE)
-A14)Galvenas guards in Pirate Isles should be extremely tough - everyone says they are well trained, and there should be a reason why you might want to drug them instead of just hacking them to pieces - better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level so they can use High level abilities. And maybe they should summon more help? (PIRMUR08.CRE, PIRMUR04.CRE, PIRMUR05.CRE, PIRMUR11.CRE, PIRMUR03.CRE - AR1608.ARE, AR1611.ARE, AR1613.ARE)
-A15)much tougher 2 Pirate night ambushes in Pirate Isles - and why are so many of them green skinned? better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level. (ppldr01.cre, ppmag01.cre, ppsail01.cre, ppsail02.cre, ppsail03.cre - AR1600.ARE, AR1600.BCS)
-A16)Improved Galvena and her wizard Vadek - Galvena should be better fighter and Vadek better spell caster - at this point CHARNAME and party is very tough. Better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level. (PIRMUR01.CRE, PIRMUR07.CRE - AR1610.ARE)
-A17)Improved Kobolds - give them much better thac0 so that their arrows are more dangerous
-A18)much tougher Noble Djinni in Bodhis mazze level 3. Better thac0, more hit points, better AC. (PPDJINN2.CRE - AR1514.ARE)
-A19)Irenicus in his Spellhold battle should do his stonekins and contingencies BEFORE he makes the clones - otherwise he is very vulnerable before and during he makes the clones (PPIRENI2.CRE)
-A20)much tougher slave Ettin(the one the fish king makes you fight to prove your worth) in Sahuagin city - better thac0, more hit points, better AC (SAHOTY01.CRE - AR2300.ARE)
-A21)even with the "Improved Sahuagin" the Sahuagin City is very easy(again CHARNAME is very tough at this point) - better thac0, more hit points, better AC, bigger level for all the Sahuagins, maybe more enemies? and maybe even give them some special powers? (AR2300.ARE)
-A22)tougher Kuo-Toas in Underdark and elsewhere also - better thac0, more hit points, bigger level(so death spell wont kill them)
-A23)Solaufein should be much better fighter(just for the rare chance you end up fighting him) - even Matron Mother Ardulace calls him "mighty" and he is the leader of the male fighers guild - make him very strong - better thac0, more hit points, better AC (UDSOLA01.CRE, UDSOLA02.CRE)
-A24)much tougher Simyaz and his Githyankis - especially since you have much time to prepare before you fight them - better thac0, more hit points, better AC (UDSIMYAZ.CRE, UDGITH02.CRE)
-A25)the drows in "improved drow" could be even more improved - maybe make it possible to choose: hard, harder, insane etc... better thac0, more hit points
-A26)the minotaur brothers Rock and Garock in Watchers Keep Lum the Mad level could be even tougher and summon more help? - better thac0, more hit points (ROCK.CRE, GAROCK.CRE - AR3017.ARE)
-A27)the battle at Suldanesselars Temple of Rillifane could be tougher - we are at the end of SoA after all - maybe some more enemies? Fighters, not spellcasters (AR2803.ARE)
-A28)Tougher Llynis(killer of the boy Wellyn), better thac0, more hit points, better AC (LLYNIS.CRE - AR0406.ARE)
-A29)the Enslaved Genie in Hell could be much tougher, especially since you dont need to fight him at all. Better thac0, more hit points. (HELLGEN.CRE - AR2903.ARE)
-A30)much tougher soldiers at Gromnirs barracks in Saradush - better thac0, more hit points, better AC (SARREIN1.CRE, SARREIN2.CRE, SARTRO02.CRE, SARTRO01.CRE, SARTRO03.CRE - AR5005.ARE, AR5005.BCS)
-A31)tougher Kiser in Saradush - better thac0, more hit points, his thugs could be tougher too (AR5008.ARE, AR5014.ARE)
-A32)MUCH tougher Rejiek and Darsidian Moor at Trademeet - better thac0, MUCH more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level and some special evil powers, maybe they should summon allies too - after all they are attacking the hero of trademeet and his party - they must be powerful indeed to think they can win such a fight (TRSKIN06.CRE, TRSKIN03.CRE - AR2000.ARE, AR2000.BCS)
-A33)much tougher Neb the child killer - better thac0, more hit points, better AC for him and for the child spirits (NEB.CRE, CHWRAITH.CRE - AR0529.ARE, AR0529.BCS)
-A34)After finally killing Bodhi, if you ventrue south a lone Skeleton Warrior approaches and you can fight him. He summons two more skeleton warriors - this should be a much bigger and tougher fight - let him summon a HORDE of undead + better thac0, more hit points, better AC for the already existing skeletons (GRSKEL1.CRE, GRSKEL2.CRE - AR0808.ARE)
-A35)tougher Druid Grove (outside) - there should be more enemies, and the spore colonies should always appear (AR1900.ARE)
-A36)any chance of making "improved Faldorn fight" where your gear wont drop? if you are a fighter there is no way you can win her without your gear - and if you cheat by picking them up by someone else and give them to CHARNAME during the fight it is too easy - some kind of more balanced fight is required - also I HATE IT when someone takes my gear, the Beholders sometimes taking my Shield of Balduran is bad enough. (CEFALD01.CRE - AR1901.ARE, AR1901.BCS, CUT35A.BCS, CUT35B.BCS, CUT35C.BCS, CUT35D.BCS, CUT35E.BCS, CUT35F.BCS, CUT35G.BCS, CUT35H.BCS, CECHALLE.DLG(Master Verthan tells you to pick up your gear that was dropped before the battle so that should be changed too))
-A37)the Shadow ambush at the entrance of Shade Lords dungeon should be tougher, at the present you don't really need to use the reflecting glass to defeat them - better thac0, more hit points, better AC for the shadows (AR1400.ARE)
-A38)is there any meaning for the Balthis Estate at the Bridge District? I haven't been able to find one. Inside there are few easy guards and not much loot. Maybe make it more interesting... both tough battle and something to steal? And maybe make the residents NOT innocent so that you don't need to be so careful when killing them. (AR0506.ARE)
-A39)the Orogs, Orc Archers and others who attack Madulf and force him to flee to the cave with the kid in Umar Hills should be much tougher - better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level so Death Spell wont kill them all and maybe there should be more of them. (RORCL01.CRE, RORCA01.CRE, RORCS01.CRE - AR1100.ARE, AR1100.BCS)
-A40)the Ettins, Orcs and Ogre mages who attack Umar Hills in the first Paladin Stronghold Quest should be tougher too - better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level so Death Spell wont kill them all and maybe there should be more of them. (plshom01.cre, plshfg01.cre, plshfg02.cre, ORC01.CRE, ORC02.CRE - AR1100.ARE, AR1100.BCS)
-A41)the Druid opponent in the Great Druid challenge should be tougher, especially since this time you don't need to drop your gear (GDRUID.CRE - AR1901.ARE, CUT63A.BCS)
-A42)tougher North Forest - better thac0, more hit points for the fighters there (AR18ARCH.CRE, AR18DWAF.CRE, AR18FIG.CRE, AR18SKEL.CRE, AR18THIF.CRE - AR1800.ARE)
-A43)tougher Lanfear and Wolfweres in Forest of Tethir - better thac0, more hit points, better AC (c6lanf.cre, c6were2.cre - AR2600.ARE, AR2600.BCS)
-A44)Tougher Wolfweres in Windspear Hills - better thac0, more hit points, better AC (AEWERE1.CRE, AEWERE2.CRE, AEWERE3.CRE, AEWERE4.CRE, AEWERE5.CRE, AEWERE6.CRE - AR1200.ARE)
-A45)maybe all the enemies in the ToB Oasis should attack you once you enter the area to make the fight harder? (I have a simple scripts for that) (AR6300.ARE)
-A46)much tougher Bodhis first Guild. In the discussion with Aran CHARNAME can be worried that "there can be any number of vampires there", but once you enter there are not many actual vampires(or other enemies) - in my own moddings I made a vampire ambush right behind the great stone doors(ask if you are interested)... also the ambush downstairs could be tougher as well as the battle with Lassal in the spike and blood room... maybe he should summon some aid, use a fireshield and other magics like Bodhi. (is it LASSAL.CRE or LASSAL02.CRE? maybe both should be made tougher? - AR0801.ARE, AR0801.BCS, AR0803.ARE, AR0803.BCS)
-A47)Dace Sontan the vampire in Spellhold Bodhis Maze level 2 should be much tougher, he is alone and vulnerable to Mace of Disruption so I would give him all the same powers as Bodhi. He also does not start a dialogue when he sees you(like he should?) and his corpse stays on the floor(unlike other vampires) even though it is said that he has retreated to his coffin. (PPJOYE.CRE - AR1513.ARE)
-A48)maybe Improved Undead(other than vampires) like they are in the Tactics mod: they cast spook and horror spells etc or scare the living with some other ways.
-A49)tougher guardians of Cayia (Pirate Lord Deshariks girl) better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level. (PPGUARDA.cre - AR1606.ARE, AR1606.BCS)
-A50)tougher Deshariks men who attack you when you try to leave Pirate Isles with Saemon - better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level.
-A51)much tougher Svirfneblin patrol in Underdark (the one you need to take the helmet from) since you dont need to fight them they should be really strong if you decide to fight them anyway - better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level (udsvir07.cre, udsvir08.cre - AR2100.ARE, AR2100.BCS)
-A52)githyankis in the Watchers Keep and also elswhere should be tougher - better thac0, more hit points (AR3022.ARE)
-A53)the enemies in the Saradush sewers should be tougher, this is ToB after all - better thac0, more hit points, better AC (shadfi01.cre(this might not be area specific creature), sewsha03.cre, SEWYAG01.CRE, SEWDUE01.CRE, SEWDUE02.CRE, SEWYAG03.CRE, SEWORO01.CRE, SEWYAG02.CRE, SEWARC01.CRE, SEWARC02.CRE - AR5013.ARE, AR5013.BCS)
-A54)In the non-Gromnir levels of Gromnirs Castle: the basement and the 1st castle level, the fighter enemies should be tougher - better thac0, more hit points (GROMG14.CRE, GROMG12.CRE, GROMG11.CRE, SARGRD04.CRE, SARGRD05.CRE, SARGRD07.CRE, SARGRD08.CRE, SARORC01.CRE, SARORO01.CRE - AR5001.ARE, AR5001.BCS, AR5007.ARE, AR5007.BCS)
-A55)tougher Yaga-Shura soldiers at AR6400 River area (the one with the raided caravan) - much better thac0, more hit points, better AC (YSSOLD15.CRE, YSSOLD13.CRE, YSSOLD12.CRE, YSSOLD16.CRE - AR6400.ARE)
-A56)tougher fighter undead at the Nyalees Hideout(temple of bhaal ruins) - better thac0, more hit points (HGSKL02.CRE, HGSKL04.CRE - AR5202.ARE)
-A57)much tougher Nyalee and she should summon something useful or just more of the same stuff she does now. - better thac0, more hit points, better AC (HGNYA01.CRE - AR5202.ARE)
-A58)even tougher Crypt King in Athlatkan graveyard - better thac0, more hit points (BHCRYPT.CRE - AR0806.ARE)
-A59)Balhazars monks should be tougher - better thac0, more hit points, better AC
-A60)There should be a way to choose which components you want to install from the SCS "Improved Watcher's Keep". I would really like to have more Mind Flayers in their WK base but not install the other improvements.
-A61)the drow pit fights and duels are pretty easy - better thac0, more hit points, better AC, some special powers to the pit fight creatures? Maybe leave the mages and the Beholder as they are. (UDCHAL.CRE, UDLESA.CRE, UDUMBER.CRE, UDNABA.CRE, UDSAHA.CRE - AR2202.ARE)
-A62)Hells Wraith Sarevok could be tougher fighter - better thac0 (HELLSARE.CRE - AR2905.ARE)
-A63)all the Amkethran mercenaries should be a bit tougher - better thac0, more hit points, better AC
-A64)ToB pocket plane third challenge (Slayer) could be tougher fighter - better thac0, more hit points (CHALSLAY.CRE - AR4500.ARE)
-A65)ALL the drows in Tob Sendais Enclave could be tougher - better thac0, more hit points
-A66)Captain Egeissag at Sendais lair should be a much tougher fighter - also his archers should be really strong so that it makes choosing the duel smarter - better thac0, more hit points, better AC (SENGUA03.CRE, SENGUA05.CRE - AR6106.ARE)
-A67)ToBs pocket plane 4th Challenges Favored of Cyrics could be a bit tougher or there could be more of them(then the area script needs to be modified) - better thac0, more hit points (CHALCY02.CRE - AR4500.ARE, AR4500.BCS)
-A68)the Empathic Manifestation in the lost temple in the Unseeing Eye quest should be a dangerous fighter with some demonic powers so that its not so easy to just walk to him and heal him (RIFTCR04.CRE - AR0203.ARE)
-A69)Shade Wolfs and Greater Shade Wolfs could be much tougher - better thac0, more hit points, better AC (OHHSHWL1.CRE, SHAWOL01.CRE , SHAWOL02.CRE)
-A70)MUCH Tougher Lord Igen Tombelthen, Tamorlin and Tombelthen Soldiers - better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level (rigen01.cre, rigen02.cre, rigen03.cre - AR1400.ARE, AR1400.BCS)
-A71)Tougher Lord Ketlaar Argrim and his guards "Man-at Arms", "Archer" - better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level (mgket01.cre, mgketg01.cre, mgketg02.cre - AR0022.ARE, AR0022.BCS)
-A72)Gaal and his Elite Guards and Cultist Guards in the Unseeing Eye Cult should be tougher - better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level (BHGUARD.CRE, CGUARD1.CRE, GAAL01.CRE - AR0202.ARE)
-A73)Tougher Wyverns - better thac0, more hit points, better AC
-A74)Improved Spectator Beholder in the Sahuagin City, he should be made very powerful since you dont need to fight him at all. (SAHBEH01.CRE - AR2300.ARE)

 

"Guard Calls"
****************
I got the idea for these from the Tweaks Anthology mods "Improved Athlatkan City Guard" - if they can call for backup, why should not many others too? Now what makes these different from other fights is that they are mostly for battles you usually don't fight. Since there is really no sense in going and killing everyone in the Athlatkan Goverment Building. But that does NOT mean nobody would want to do so just for the lulz. And also even if "guard calls" are city guards or other good people, they should not be made "innocent" or "flaming fist" so that killing them will not result in massive reputation loss.
If you are making a guard call trigger script to a Creature(.cre) You should also give him minhp1.itm which gets deleted after he has made the calls(so that he wont get killed before he completes the guard call script). I can give you samples of guard call scripts made by me.
SCS mod has already one of these in the "improved Ust Natha defenses" but here are some more suggestions from me:

-B1)You should make your own version of "Improved Athlatkan City Guard" - at the moment in Tweaks they are not really that challenging and I think they are "innocent" so fighting them means you lose all your reputation - Also I think at the moment the Athlatkan City Guards fight the Knights of Noble Order sent after you when your reputation sinks to the lowest levels IF the City Guards are not hostile themselves. I think I made some sort of script for them to prevent this, I can try to find it if you are interested. (the Knights of Noble Order sent after you are: ALEX.CRE, JOLUS.CRE, KENDAK.CRE, RYAN.CRE, ALHEL.CRE, WILLIAM.CRE)
-B2)Solaufein should have many allies when he attacks you if you take too long in drow quests - I mean he says "you are a fool surfacer", but who is the fool when he attacks alone a party of six? I have a simple script for this if you are interested. (UDSOLA02.CRE)
-B3)The Athlatkan Goverment Building should have Amnish Centurions and Legionaries and Cowled Enforcers come to help if CHARNAME decides to go mental and kill the goverment. (AR1002.ARE)
-B4)The Svirfneblin village in Underdark is almost empty of people - still they too should have some tough guards if CHARNAME again decides to just start killing everybody.
-B5)Pirate Lord Desharik should have some guard calls inside his house in case he is attacked by trolling CHARNAME. (PPDESH.CRE)
-B6)the Guild Contact (Gracen) could summon some guards(vampires?) to his aid when exposed - and could be tougher fighter himself - also the Shadow Thief traitors Jaylos and Caehan should be tougher (BODFGT03.CRE, JAYLOS.CRE, CAEHAN.CRE - AR0511.ARE, AR0511.BCS)
-B7)The Most Noble Order of Radiant Heart hall could have some high level paladin guards on top of all the others already there AND tougher already existing guards. (AR0903.ARE)
-B8)Dao the djinn should have some more djinns to support him if the player wants to fight him - He and his buddies should also be tougher. (TRGENI01.CRE, TRGENI02.CRE, TRGENI03.CRE - AR2000.ARE, AR2014.ARE)
-B9)All the Temples in Athlatkan Temple District should have guard calls AND tougher already existing guards. (AR0901.ARE, AR0902.ARE, AR0904.ARE)
-B10)Jarlaxle - after all his men are NOT imprisoned by the lich - if you decide to fight him and Visaj instead of just leaving it should be a very tough fight. (JARLAXLE.CRE, BREG01.CRE, JARLAXLE.DLG - AR2208.ARE, AR2208.BCS)
-B11)Trademeet should not have guard calls but better AI for their militia, since Trademeet is supposed to be weak militarily - at the moment I think the Militia (but not the guards of the nobles Lurraxol and Alibakkar) attack everyone with red circle wheter they are animals, civilians or the guards of the nobles(militia attacks noble guards and guards attack militia). Also if only the noble guards are hostile they attack the trademeet militia who have "GoodButBlue" circles - The town militia and the guards of the nobles should work together if CHARNAME decides to wreak havoc and if they see hostile civilians(attacked by CHARNAME) they should turn hostile themselves - I think I have a scripts for this too somewhere - the guards of the nobles and the militia should also be little tougher, they are very weak now (TRFUED02.CRE, TRFUED06.CRE, TRGRD03.CRE, TRGRD01.CRE, TRGRD02.CRE)
-B12)Lord Logan the mayor of Trademeet could summon some additional guards if he(or guildmistress Busya) is attacked by the player. And the Lord Logans guard should be tougher. (TRHMER01.CRE, CELOGAN.CRE, TRLGRD01.CRE - AR2007.ARE, AR2007.BCS)
-B13)In the Sahuagin City both the old King and Prince Villynaty should have some backup if you decide to betray them. Actually I would suggest Ust Natha defenses level guard calls after you have completed the quest there and either Villynaty or the old king is now undisputed ruler, just so that CHARNAME dont kill all the remaining sahuagin anyway. After all you are facing an entire city here just like in Ust Natha. (SAHPR2.CRE (SAHKNG01.CRE or SAHKNG02.CRE if you want to put the guard call on a .cre files script im not sure which one of these two you should use) - AR2300.ARE, AR2300.BCS)

 

AI and Realism tweaks & Bugs
*************************************
-C1)For some reason Prince Villynaty does not always fight you if you decide to attack him. You can attack him right at his base or after he has taken the throne and he will not fight back. But if you talk to him first at his base and agree to take the fake rebel heart to the old king and then attack him he will fight right there. Or if you talk to him in his base and disagree to help him he also fights. This might be because of the conflicts in his .dlg file triggers and his scripts. To tell the truth I dont remember how I fixed this years ago but somehow I think I did. I can post all scripts I made for Villynaty if you want. Maybe you can make some sense of them. (SAHPR2.CRE)
-C2)interestingly while exploring the Sahuagin city, I noticed Sahuagins fighting each other while still all being red(hostile). I dont know why this happened or what should be done with it. (AR2300.ARE)
-C3)about half of the Watchers Keep demiliches gold should be given to Saladrex on top of his already 1500 gp. Saladrex boast how big hoard he has and for me he is the tougher opponent of the two(about half means something like 9821 gold, now the demilich has EXACTLY 20 000 gold - it would be more realistic if they have like 9821 and 11 579) (DEMILICH.CRE, GORSAL.CRE - AR3027.ARE, AR3018.ARE)
-C4)also the gold given to you by Odren could be something else than EXACTLY 10 000 (like 9634 gold) - he says "take what we have", which means he will give every penny he has. Not very likely he has EXACTLY 10 000 (SHUGOD01.CRE, GORODR1.DLG - AR3000.ARE)
-C5)Mirinielle Santele(the countess of Saradush) gives 2000 gold as a reward and says it is "ALL I HAVE" - again it could be like 1982 gold (sarcnt01.cre, sarcnt01.dlg - AR5010.ARE, AR5010.BCS)
-C6)Jermien does not fight his attacking golem, he only gets stoneskinned and casts one magic missile and then just stands there while the golem hits him - his script should be changed so that he casts spells or at least hist the golem with his staff - you know some of us like to let the golem kill him because that way we can take all his money from his corpse. The golem could be tougher fighter too. (JUGJER01.CRE, JUGJER01.BCS, JUGJUG01.CRE - AR1103.ARE)
-C7)The Solamnic Knights in Planar sphere might be afraid to leave their room but at least they should help the party if enemies come to the room - I actually made a simple script for them all to help the player but not leave the room and I will post it later if you are interested (OBSSOL01.CRE, OBSSOL02.CRE, OBSSOL03.CRE - AR0411.ARE)
-C8)Sime(the shadow thief ally that comes with you to the Pirate Isles) should also lend her hand when the vampires attack and not just stand there like an idiot - I mean she IS there for security reasons, right? She should be given a ranged weapon so she dont charge and get killed, maybe even given minhp1? - I have a simple script for her too. (PPSIME.CRE)
-C9)Elhan could equip a bow and shoot all enemies that come near at the gates of Suldanesselar - instead of just standing still when CHARNAME saves the city. (SUELHAN.CRE - AR2800.ARE)
-C10)Bhaal in CHARNAMEs Asylum dream drinks potions - does not really matter, I just thought it would be better if he didn't - not really a bug or a big deal (PPBHAAL.CRE - AR0028.ARE)
-C11)Bodhi who fights you at the end of the Bodhis maze level 3 in Spellhold should have some more hp, armor class and resistances - now while this is not really a REAL battle, still I find it unrealistic how weak Bodhi is, you can easily hack her to "near death" (PPBODHI4.CRE - AR1514.ARE, AR1514.BCS)
-C12)maybe the AI of Skeleton Warriors and some other summons should be changed so that they DON'T travel back to their creator whenever they get out of sight. It can have its own uses but it also gets really annoying if you want to use them outside your sight. Especially since not ALL summons act this way.
-C13)Sanik drinks a healing potion once you enter Vulgar Monkey in the Pirate Isles - maybe it's because he has only 1 hp(so that the assassin kills him with one shot) and the SCS scripts gives him a potion and says to drink it if you have so low hp? - does not really matter... just wanted to point that out. (PPSANIK.CRE - AR1602.ARE)
-C14)Eric Vanstraaten, leader of the paladins who help you fight Bodhi, drops two swords if he dies: Two-handed sword+2 and Harbinger+3. The Harbinger is not undroppable at the present as it should be (C6ERIC.CRE - AR0808.ARE, AR0808.BCS)
-C15)Elven warriors at the first Pocket Plane challenge drop Long Sword+1, they should be made undroppable (CHGOOD04.CRE, CHGOOD05.CRE - AR4500.ARE, AR4500.BCS)
-C16)ToB Sendais enclave North Tunnels drow Slavemaster drops 2 copies of Battle Axe of Mauletar+2, the other should be made a regular Battle Axe+2. (SENGUA04.CRE - AR6102.ARE)

 

Other ways to make the game more fifficult
**************************************************
-D1)One bad thing in the game is that eventually you get so much gold that you can buy basically everything. I would like it more that you must choose carefully what to buy. The increase of the money asked by Gaelan Bayle and to use magic in the city in this mod are great ideas. But one other idea I had was to make the game harder by making all the stores sell more expensive stuff. I called this the "Poorman" mod. There can be different difficulty levels like: All store prices(sell markup) x2, x2,5, x3 - now notice it cant be done the other way(if you lessen the "buy markup" then you get the same effect like in Tweaks Anthologys "No Depreciation in Stores") - This should be done in other games too like BG1EE where there are only very little useful items for sale.
-D2)Also especially in ToB the gold just keeps coming... one way to lessen this without making the enemies easier is to make their actual stuff undroppable and make them drop different(less expensive) loot. Just an idea.
-D3)This one is actually for BG1EE: make stores sell more items worth buying. Like more +2 weapons etc...

 

Cosmetic changes
***********************
-E1)Firkraag and his servant Conster should turn to face the player when we arrive to his lair (I have a simple script for that) (FIRKRA02.CRE, FIRMAG01.CRE)
-E2)the drow guards in House Jaellat have light skin and hair. Also the Jaellat family have dark brown skin, Im not sure if drows can have that skin color. (jaellat guard: JAEL04.CRE - the jaellats: JAEL01.CRE, JAEL03.CRE, JAEL02.CRE - AR2209.ARE)
-E3)some Saradush soldiers have green skin even though they are humans. (I think they are: SARGRD01.CRE - AR5000.ARE)
-E4)The Watchers Keep Level 1 Golem statue is not made of stone like the others, it can be seen breathing. (I think it is GORSTA08.CRE - AR3001.ARE)
-E5)Any chance of making the Stoneskin spell to NOT change the color of the caster - it would make things more consistent as there are spellcasters whose color does not change when they cast Stoneskin. And as you normally keep mages ALWAYS stoneskinned it would be nice to see their colored clothes and skins. - IF you do this you should also change the color of the "Heroes of Trademeet" statues to gray... otherwise they have strange colors without stoneskin. (The Trademeet statues: STATUE01.CRE, STATUE02, STATUE03, STATUE04, STATUE05, STATUE06.CRE).
-E6)Squire Cathras of Radiant Heart has green skin for some reason. He is not half-orc and I think Radiant Heart only accepts humans in their ranks anyway. He also leads you to a wrong room. This is because for some reason in BG2EE the Radiant Heart place is a mirror image of the original... so Cathras walks where the Prelate was before BG2EE. This should be fixed. (C6SQUIRE.CRE - AR0903.ARE)

 

Other suggestions
**********************
-F1)Ankheg shells dont really have any purpose in BG2EE, the armor that Cromwell can make of them is not that good and costs much - maybe Ankheg shells should be sellable and have some value like 300 gold? (MISC12.ITM)
-F2)the Horn of Valhalla berserker fighters should become much better after every improvement - now there is really no reason to waste money and gems at them because they are so weak even after the updates. (BERSERSU.CRE, BERSER02.CRE, BERSER03.CRE)
-F3)The endlessly spawning enemies at ToB Sendais Enclaves North Tunnels (Derro, Derro Berserker, Orogs) should give you 0 XP and all their stuff made undroppable. Otherwise there is no point trying to get through this level quickly. Even worse is the fact that this is a way to gain easy endless XP and stuff(and ultimately: gold). They could be made tougher too. (these I think are the endlessly spawning creatures: senorc01.cre, senorc02.cre, sensmsp2.cre - Other enemies in that same area: SENORC04.CRE, SENORC03.CRE, SENGUA04.CRE... maybe they all should be made tougher too - AR6102.ARE)
-F4)Could the "Boots of Speed" be changed so that they dont double the characters movement but let you cast improved haste once per day? (BOOT01.ITM, BOOTDRIZ.ITM)
-F5)Maybe more rare potions to stores so you can get rid of all that gold by buying something that is actually useful?
-F6)Although the Enhanced Editions have made the games better in many ways, I never enjoyed the new potential party members and their dialogues and quests. To me they all feel out of place and bring nothing important to the game. When playing I just try to avoid them as best as possible. Could it be possible to remove the new EE NPCs altogether? In BG2EE I think Dorn and Hexxat can be removed simply by making them "destroyself" at the moment the player enters the area. Hexxat can be removed from Copper Coronets AREA Script too: AR0406.BCS, if that is more simple. Rasaad(and his pals Treya and Sun Soul Monk) I think can be removed from Trademeets AREA Script AR2000.BCS. Neera is trickier, but I guess her first cutscene is in Bridge Districts scripts somewhere (AR0500.ARE, some of it is in OHNMCUT1.BCS). Removing it from there should do the trick. They all should also be removed from ToBs Fate Spirit Summoning. And Hexxat reappears in ToB, I think she can be removed with "destroyself" from Amkethrans bar or get removed from the AREA script: AR5501.BCS.
I am not that familiar with the changes the EEs made in BG1EE since I never actually played the normal version, only EE. But the same new NPCs are there and should be removed somehow. Also the drow mage from Black Pits should be removed too, even though he is not a potential party member. Not much tips I can give you here.

[Luke]

1 hour ago, Guest dead drunk said:

Could it be possible to remove the new EE NPCs altogether?

Have a look here.

[WanderingScholar]

2 hours ago, Guest dead drunk said:

I have a long list of suggestions. All are for BG2EE unless told otherwise, although many of the ideas can be used elsewhere as well.
Let me first thank the maker of this mod. It is the best there is and makes BG2 a whole new game. An amateur modder myself, I have limited knowledge of the game mechanics.
My main suggestion is to make the game consistently more challenging. At the moment even with this amazing mod there are some very easy fights even very late in the game. And as you will see I also have some ideas to make the game harder and realistic in other ways.
Also I understand that this is mainly an AI mod, but since about everything that can be done with AI has already been done... about all the rest of the creatures can only be made more powerful by giving them better thac0, more hit points, better AC, Bigger Level etc... So I suggest a lot of these. But look further than just the "Tougher battles" before you judge my ideas not suitable for this mod. I think I have some very good ones that you like.
I have listed some info about the files needed to be changed(not all files everytime unfortunately, but if you want to start working on some suggestion of mine and want to know the files I will try to find them to make it easier for you) and what area etc. they can be found - .CRE, .ARE, .BCS etc... hopefully it makes understanding what I want clearer and locating the files easier.
If you want more info of any of my suggestions ask using the correct number.
Also english is not my first language, so sorry if its not always perfect.

I just got finished reading your list and a have some thoughts. 

First, I suspect you might be overlooking some easier and more systematic ways to provide challenge to the player. For instance, you get an egregious amount of experience in BG2 (especially quest XP) that can boost you to high levels early if you play in any sort of completionist fashion. The enhanced editions have only made this worse, especially if you play through the whole saga (SoD included) with all the quests. 

I think you'd find that if you simply nerf quest or creature xp by 25-50%,  and there are mods that do this, many of the encounters you face mid to late game will be on more even footing. There's really no good reason the player should be dropping HLA's, for example, before they reach ToB, if they want any semblance of challenge. Taking this type of approach is much easier than trying to manipulate the AC, THAC0, HP....etc of enemies in specific encounters. Also, if I'm not mistaken, there are still .ini options available in SCS where you can tweak the levels of enemies up or down to specified offsets. It might achieve some of the effects you are aiming for. 

Secondly, I'd try various mod combinations like SCS + Ascension + Spell Revisions + Item Revisions, if you haven't. There are already mods that address some of the things you've mentioned if you look.

You can also shift a lot of the challenge in the game by tweaking some of the more exploitative things the player can do . In my own game, for example, I've done things like disable area transitions during combat, with the ToBexAfterlife mod, or set a flag on Chain Contingency type spells so they can't be cast in battle. 

Lastly, I do agree with many things in your list when it comes to spicing up encounters and various AI improvements. Even though SCS is already pushing the engine to the limits of its capabilities . 

I think my approach would probably be to focus more on the capstone encounters, much like SCS has already done with components such as tougher "end of chapter" battles.

Something like the final showdown with Carston, at the end of Watcher's Keep level 4 could probably use some spicing up. Perhaps he panics before being broken from the machine, randomly pressing buttons and pulling levers which summon a random assortment of enemies that the party has to face alongside him. 

[morpheus562]

Tactics Remix covers some of these already with plans to address other items on the list. Some are actually done and just need more testing.

It plays nice with SCS 34.3. I haven't had a chance to test with v35, but I don't anticipate any issues between the two.

Edited November 30, 2023 by morpheus562

[jmerry]

4 hours ago, Guest dead drunk said:

-C13)Sanik drinks a healing potion once you enter Vulgar Monkey in the Pirate Isles - maybe it's because he has only 1 hp(so that the assassin kills him with one shot) and the SCS scripts gives him a potion and says to drink it if you have so low hp? - does not really matter... just wanted to point that out. (PPSANIK.CRE - AR1602.ARE)

This one's a complicated mix of stuff, including obscure game mechanics.

First, Sanik's CRE file has him at 1/1 HP. But he has a bunch of levels (16), and the game engine doesn't allow maximum HP to be below a creature's level. So as soon as he spawns in, that becomes 1/16 HP. A similar effect can be seen when a player is transformed by a Polymorph Other effect; they end up at 5/N HP, where N is their level, because the effect tries to set their maximum HP to 5.

Second, Sanik's levels are in a normal character class - mage. And he has a generic mage combat script. Which means all the normal SCS routines kick in; he gets an updated combat script, he gets potions, and so on. That will usually include healing potions, and obviously you drink one of those when you're at 1 HP and there's nothing else pressing like combat.

Finally, when the assassin shows up, it's a cutscene. Which means that combat script doesn't have a chance to interfere; he just shoots with his +1 bow and +1 arrows until Sanik dies. Since nobody was hostile before the cutscene, Sanik's prebuffs don't activate either. He just stands there and takes it. Even with Sanik's -100% missile vulnerability, if he drank a greater healing potion to reach full HP, that'll take several arrows to kill him. Awkward.

(The vanilla version of the assassin is a thief with bow specialization. Not sure if SCS wipes that specialization out and reduces his damage, but it might.)

A fix for this ... you'd have to either lower Sanik's level (there's no narrative reason for him to be high-level) or explicitly exclude him from the potion component.

..............

On the general tone of "all these miscellaneous things should be tougher" ... why? It's OK for there to be easy stuff out there. And sometimes it makes narrative sense. For example, you mentioned Saerk's guards. When Anomen goes off to attack on his own, he just tears straight through them and you meet him already confronting Saerk himself. The guards are just a speed bump. And they should be; they're just hirelings of some rich merchant. Their job is to defend against ordinary criminals, not well-equipped adventurers with a bunch of levels.

5 hours ago, Guest dead drunk said:

-A36)any chance of making "improved Faldorn fight" where your gear wont drop? if you are a fighter there is no way you can win her without your gear...

Very much out of scope. That's a druid-on-druid duel, and druids should be able to handle fighting without gear due to their spells and shapeshifting. If it's anything else, it's because you applied some other mod to change things.

[DavidW]

Thanks for all this. I won't respond to all of it but here are some high-level thoughts. (A general theme of my replies is 'this is out of scope for SCS', but of course the list might well be useful for other modders.)

(A) tougher battles: I'm not really interested in just making everything in the game into a meat grinder, largely for the reasons that jmerry gives. The primary purpose of SCS was to make opponents intelligent enough to not break immersion; after that, I was interested in making the narratively important battles more interesting, but I don't want to just gum up the whole game and make progress a pain. 

(B) guard calls: I don't follow why guards shouldn't be made INNOCENT or FLAMING_FIST. Yes, if they are, you'll encounter massive reputation loss. But I think slaughtering Athkatla's finest by the cartload *should* lead to massive reputation loss! More generally, I'm not sure the work required to beef up all the 'friendly' locations' guard forces is worth it given the payoff - at least in my preferred playstyle, I don't do this sort of thing. I think it's probably better left to someone who likes playing that way to write a mod for it.

(C) bugs: I'll work through this if I have a chance, though a lot of it looks out-of-scope for SCS and some of it doesn't look like bugs (the sahuagin are supposed to be fighting each other, they're in different warring factions).

(D) other ways to make game harder: again looks out of scope. (It would be a very easy mod for someone to write, if it hasn't been written already - just iterate through all the stores and increase the sell markup.)

(E) cosmetic fixes: this mostly looks out of scope. On E5: SCS does this on oBG2 but it's not doable in EE, at least not without hacking the exe (and at present SCS doesn't assume that).

(F) as people have said, you can do a lot of this with other mods already.

[moggadeet]

Store markups are already available through graion's tweak mod - it's got components to decrease gold drops, the value of gems/jewelry and sell prices while increasing the cost of items in stores. Very useful for large installs where you'd be swimming in gold otherwise.