Tweaks Anthology Content Changes

Home Cosmetic Changes Content Changes Rule Changes Joinable NPC Tweaks Convenience Tweaks and/or Cheats

These components make alterations to content in order to provide a better player experience.

More Interjections

BGEE, BG2EE, IWDEE, EET, BG2, BGT, Tutu, IWD-in-BG2

One of the more common triggers for dialogue interjections does not quite work as well as intended--Irenicus not realizing Yoshimo is in your party at Spellhold is a common example in Baldur's Gate II. This component will interactively replace these faulty triggers with a simple in-party check, similar to the Valen or Solaufein mods. The net result is that some characters may be chiming in on conversations from half-a-map away, but it also means no more silliness such as Irenicus missing Yoshimo when he's standing four feet away. If party members are in another area, this component could cause some dialogues to exit early. This component will affect all dialogues and scripts in the game, including ones introduced by mods that use the IsValidForPartyDialogue trigger, provided this component is installed after them.

Alter HP Triggers for NPC Wounded Dialogues

BG2EE, EET, BG2, BGT

Many NPCs have banters for when they are wounded. However, the triggers are typically for HP levels so low that many players never see them. This component will raise the HP trigger level so that the player has a better chance of seeing these dialogues.

Reveal Wilderness Areas Before Chapter Six

BG2EE, EET, BG2, BGT

This component will allow you to travel to the three wilderness areas from the City Gates area at any point in the game. Previously, the Small Teeth Pass, North Forest, and Forest of Tethyr areas were not available until chapter six. Please note that while not incompatible per se, this may cause conflicts with mods that set encounters in these areas that assume you've completed the story through chapter six.

Make Cloakwood Areas Available Before Completing the Bandit Camp

BGEE, EET, BG, BGT, Tutu

This component will allow you to travel to the Cloakwood forest from a nearby area prior to completing the Bandit Camp. This will allow you to explore, complete Cloakwood quests, and pick up Cloakwood NPCs earlier in the game. The component has two options: open up the first area only (with the lodge and Aldeth Sashenstar) or open up all four wilderness areas, leaving just the mines themselves inaccessible until after the Bandit Camp.

This functionality was also available from the BG1 NPC Project until v24.

Improved Athkatlan City Guard

BG2EE, EET, BG2, BGT

The Amnian guards aren't really tough enough to keep the peace in the cities, what with all the thieves and vampires around. This component makes the various Amnian guards and the like slightly tougher, and gives them a chance of summoning backup in the form of either another guard, a Sanctioned Wizard or a Militia Cleric.

Please note that the guards aren't amazing killing machines, and this isn't aiming to make the game a hardcore battle experience. You won't get much XP or loot for randomly going around killing soldiers, either. But it might make such activities a little more interesting.

Gradual Drow Item Disintegration

BG2EE, EET, BG2, BGT

Rather than your drow items turning to dust immediately upon exiting the Underdark, they will gradually degrade over time. They also have a chance to break every time they are used in combat. Please note that this component adds a number of item checks to the main game script; as such it can cause slowdowns when you have a very large number of items in your inventory and bags of holding.

Breakable Iron Non-Magical Shields, Helms, and Armor

BGEE, EET, Tutu

The iron crisis in the Sword Coast means that non-magical iron weapons can break when used in combat. This component will extend the same vulnerability to non-magical iron armor, helmets, and shields to close an oversight by the game.

This tweak is not available for Baldur's Gate Trilogy as it contains this functionality by default.

Improved Multi-Player Kick-Out Dialogues

BGEE, BG2EE, IWDEE, EET, BG (requires TotSC), BG2, BGT, Tutu, IWD-in-BG2

This allows you to ask multi-player created NPCs to "wait here" or go to a nearby meeting place. For BG2EE/EET/BG2/BGT, options are added to send NPCs to the Copper Coronet or the Pocket Plane. For BGEE/EET/BG/Tutu, options are added to send NPCs to the Friendly Arms Inn, Jovial Juggler in Beregost, the Temple of Helm in Nashkel, or the Elfsong in Baldur's Gate. For IWDEE/IWD-in-BG2, options are added for the Winter's Cradle Tavern in Easthaven, the Root Cellar in Kuldahar, or the Whistling Gallows in Lonelywood.

Send BioWare NPCs to an Inn [DavidW/Zed Nocear]

BGEE, EET, BG (requires TotSC), BGT, Tutu

Note: despite the name, the BG NPCs added by the Enhanced Editions are covered by this component.

"One of the nice features of BG2 is the ability to ask NPCs to meet you somewhere else, rather than just getting them to stand around forlornly. This component introduces this feature for the "core" BG NPCs. You can send them to the Friendly Arm Inn, the Elfsong Tavern in Baldur's Gate (from chapter 5), the Nashkel Inn (if you've been to Nashkel), or the Jovial Juggler in Beregost (if you've been to Beregost). You can't send them there from Balduran's Isle, the Ice Island, the Candlekeep dungeons, or the lower levels of Durlag's Tower.

"To send someone to an inn, first kick them out of the party. Then talk to them - you should be given the opportunity to ask them to go to an inn and await you there."

Add Bags of Holding

BGEE, BG2EE, EET, BG2, IWD (requires Heart of Winter), BGT, Tutu, IWD-in-BG2

For Baldur's Gate content, this component will add a gem bag to the Friendly Arm Inn store, a scroll case at the High Hedge, an ammo belt to Thunderhammer Smithy, a potion case to the Nashkel General Store, and a bag of holding at the Sorcerous Sundries in Baldur's Gate.

For Baldur's Gate II content, this component adds potion cases to the stores of Roger the Fence and Mrs. Cragmoon, ammo belts to the stores of the Trademeet blacksmith and Perter, and a Bag of Holding to the Adventurer's Mart.

For Icewind Dale content, Heart of Winter added support for bags of holding, and scattered a few scroll cases and gem bags about the game. Trials of the Luremaster added bags of holding, but only to its new areas. This component adds ammo belts throughout the game as well as adding some bags of holding to the original Icewind Dale and Heart of Winter areas. This component also alters normal bags of holding (both the TotLM ones as well as the new ones) to hold any type of items. By default, you could not place armor, miscellaneous items, and some shields into them. Ammo belts are added to Conlan, Lehland, Emmeric, and Hobart (TotLM) and Bags of Holding are added to Orrick the Gray, Bandoth, and Kiernan Nye (TotLM).

Portable Containers [Zed Nocear]

BG (requires TotSC)

When Baldur's Gate was created, it was not designed with bags of holding in mind. Tioma's Ease-of-Use and Chosen of Mystra's Dark Side of the Sword Coast have methods that worked but were limited. Now there is another. Using Zed Nocear's work from the Polish mod Tajemnice Wybrzeza Mieczy (Mysteries of the Sword Coast), this component adds five portable containers to the game. These are different from containers in other games such as BG2 because of engine differences.

Exotic Items Pack

The Exotic Items Pack has been moved permanently to The Calling mod.

Reveal City Maps When Entering Area

BGEE, BGT, IWDEE, BG, IWD, Tutu, IWD-in-BG2, PsT, PsTEE

In Baldur's Gate II, city maps were revealed as soon as you entered the area. For Baldur's Gate content, this component will reveal the maps of Baldur's Gate, Nashkel, Beregost, Candlekeep, and (if Tales of the Sword Coast is installed) Ulgoth's Beard. For Icewind Dale content, the maps of Easthaven, Kuldahar, and Lonelywood will be revealed.

Do Not Reveal City Maps When Entering Area

BG2EE, EET, BG2, BGT

In Baldur's Gate II, city maps were revealed as soon as you entered the area. This component will change BG2 city maps to no longer be revealed, forcing exploration of the area.

Add Map Notes

Tutu, IWD-in-BG2

This component will add map notes to many areas throughout the game, including some wilderness areas. This process is done interactively, so no areas are overwritten.

Stores Sell Higher Stacks of Items

All games except PsT, PsTEE

This component will alter all stores in the game to use higher stacks of arrows, bolts, bullets, darts, throwing axes, throwing daggers, and (where available) throwing hammers. This component will affect all stores in the game, including ones introduced by mods.

Reputation Resets in BG2

BGT

When making the transition from the end of Baldur's Gate to the beginning of Baldur's Gate II, this component will reset the party's reputation back to its default value (from 8-12, depending on the protagonist's alignment). It doesn't make sense that the party could emerge from the opening dungeon, head over to the Adventurer's Mart, and get hero discounts (or villain markups) from Ribald. Despite the events of Baldur's Gate, the protagonist and the party are more or less unknown in Amn.

Gems and Potions Require Identification

All games except PsT, PsTEE

This component assigns a lore value to gems and potions, meaning that they now require identification. Lore value is calculated by an algorithm based on the value of the item, but smaller gems and lesser potions should still be fairly easy to identify by the party. The component has the option to be applied to just gems, just potions, or both.

Shapeshifter Rebalancing [Weimer]

BGEE, BG2EE, IWDEE, EET, BG2, BGT, Tutu, IWD-in-BG2

Please note that this is a legacy component from Wes Weimer's Ease-of-Use mod. Wes typically designed for balance under the assumption that people would have the Tactics mod installed, so this is probably overpowered for most normal games. The rest of the description is from the original Ease-of-Use readme:

Multiple Strongholds [Sabre, Baldurdash, Weimer]

BG2EE, EET, BG2, BGT

This component comes in two variants to open up acquisition of the BG2 strongholds. The first is the original from Ease-of-Use, which allows any character, regardless of class, to acquire as many strongholds as wanted. The second variant is similar, but retains the class restrictions--so a fighter-mage can acquire the Planar Sphere and de'Arnise Keep, but would not be offered the Thieves' Guild or membership in the Noble Order of the Radiant Heart. In the original game, you were also not able to decline the Five Flagons Playhouse, the cabin in the Umar Hills, or the Druid Grove. In either variant of this component, the player can now decline these strongholds when offered.

Make Individual Strongholds Available [DavidW]

BG2EE, EET, BG2, BGT; only available if Multiple Strongholds not installed

If you choose not to utilize either of the Multiple Stronghold variants in the previous component, you can choose to enable individual strongholds. This is a series of components that will ask about each of the seven BG2 strongholds individually.

Bonus Merchants [Baldurdash]

BG2, BGT

This adds Joluv and Diedre to the Copper Coronet and Ribald's Mart, respectively.

Female Edwina [Davide Carte, Wendy Yung, Weimer]

BG2EE, EET, BG2, BGT

This patch gives Edwina a female portrait to go with her female soundset and female paper doll. This patch was originally written by Davide Carte. This version includes Wendy Yung's "Edwina" portrait, a modified version of the original BG2 art (thus it looks seamlessly like part of the original game).

You can override the portrait by putting your own Royo4L.bmp and Royo4S.bmp files in the override directory.

Romance Bug Fixes [Sabre, Richardson]

BG2, BGT
Skipped if already fixed by the BG2 Fixpack

This module applies some bug fixes to the romance scripts. It's highly recommended that you at least install this module to fix a few glitches in the original game romance scripts. If the BG2 Fixpack is installed, this component will be skipped as this fix is already included in the Fixpack Core Fixes.

Imoen ToB Dialogue Fix [jcompton]

BG2 (requires ToB), BGT

Skipped if already fixed by the BG2 Fixpack

This fixes about 15 places where Imoen had banter dialogue in ToB but you couldn't see it because of a spelling error in the game. If the BG2 Fixpack is installed, this component will be skipped as this fix is already included in the Fixpack Core Fixes.

Use BG Walking Speeds

BGEE, BG2EE, IWDEE, EET, BG2, BGT, Tutu, IWD-in-BG2

From Tutufix, this will make humanoids walk slower, as they did in the original Baldur's Gate. While it's most useful for Tutu and BGT players, you will be able to install it on several other platforms. Because the animations were not meant to walk at these slower speeds, the player may experience some quirkiness when interacting with haste/slow effects or polymorphs.

Allow Cromwell to Upgrade Watcher's Keep Items

BG2EE, EET, BG2 (requires ToB), BGT

It's never made sense to me that Cromwell can forge armor out of red dragon scales, ankheg shells, and shadow dragon armor--but doesn't even acknowledge the white dragon scales you can acquire in Watcher's Keep. This component will allow Cromwell to forge items found in Watcher's Keep using the same formulae as Cespenar. (Note that only the formulae using items you can legally obtain in SoA are implemented; if you cheat in a component from Sendai's Enclave you'll still be out of luck.) This component will allow the party to obtain some high-level items in Shadows of Amn, so be warned that this may ruin the balance in SoA and make the remainder of the game fairly easy. The component will make one minor tweak to Cespenar as well--normally, he can only add the electric head to the Flail of Ages after the poison head has been attached. This component will allow him to add the heads in any order.

Adjust Cromwell's Forging Time

BG2EE, EET, BG2, BGT

When you commission Cromwell for a special item, he says the forging will take a day to complete. In BG2, the forging is actually instant and in BG2EE the forging actually takes 24 hours (16 hours of work plus 8 hours of sleep). This component allows you to choose the length of forging time to be instant (like BG2), a full 24 hours (like BG2EE), or a third option that takes a workday (eight hours) to forge items.

Allow Cespenar to Use Cromwell Recipes

BG2EE, EET, BG2 (requires ToB), BGT

Much like the Allow Cromwell to Upgrade Watcher's Keep Items component, Cespenar's inability to forge shadow or red dragon scales into armor is nonsensical. This component will allow Cespenar to forge the same eight items that Cromwell can, with the same components and prices. Also like the previous components, this will make one minor tweak to Cespenar as well--normally, he can only add the electric head to the Flail of Ages after the poison head has been attached. This component will allow him to add the heads in any order.

Friendly Arm Inn Hidden Container Restoration [plainab]

BG (without TotSC)

There is a hidden container with a magic ring in early versions of Baldur's Gate. It was removed with the 4315 patch, then restored with Tales of the Sword Coast. If you don't have the official expansion, then this will restore this very helpful Easter egg.

Move NPCs to Convenient Locations

BGEE, EET, BG, BGT, Tutu

Adapted from the BG1 NPC Project and Sword Coast Stratagems mods, this series of components allows you to move Alora, Eldoth, Quayle, Shar-Teel, Tiax, and Viconia so they can be found earlier in the game, and is compatible with Send BioWare NPCs to an Inn [DavidW/Zed Nocear]. You must start a new game for these changes to take effect on non-BGT games.

• Alora will be found in Gullykin, near the winery door. Her initial dialog has been changed to reflect her new location. (Note: Dialog may not change in games without Tales of the Sword Coast installed.)
• Eldoth moves to the Sword Coast Way, south of the Friendly Arm Inn.
• Quayle will be available at the Nashkel Carnival near the Great Gazib.
• Shar-Teel moves to the area north of Nashkel.
• Tiax will start on the first floor of Feldepost's Inn.
• Viconia moves to the road south of Beregost.

Bardic Reputation Adjustment

BG (requires TotSC)

This component was also modified from the BG1 NPC Project. From the readme:

Change Cloakwood Mine Chapter End Change Trigger to Non-TotSC Behavior [plainab]

BGEE, EET, BG (requires TotSC), BGT, Tutu

In basic Baldur's Gate the Cloakwood Mine chapter did not end with the death of Davaeorn. It ended when you tried to leave the level after his death, whether by the lift or back up the stairs. This component restores that method, allowing you to plunder his lair first.

Game Ends When the Main Character Dies

IWDEE, IWD-in-BG2

By default, in IWD-in-BG2 - as with the original IWD - the game ends only when the whole party is killed. If you install this component, the game instead behaves like Baldur's Gate: if your main character dies, it's game over.

NPCs Respond to the Main Character, Not to Whichever Character Talks to Them

IWDEE, IWD, IWD-in-BG2

By default, in IWD-in-BG2 - as with the original IWD - people you talk to address their comments to whichever party member started the conversation. If you install this component, the game instead behaves like Baldur's Gate: all NPCs talk to your main character, even if you initiate conversation using some other character.

Make Heart of Winter Accessible at Any Level

IWDEE, IWD (requires HoW), IWD-in-BG2

With this component installed, Hjollder will no longer refuse to take you to Lonelywood if your level is too low.

Restore (Most) BG2 Spells and Make Scrolls Available

IWD-in-BG2

By default, IWD-in-BG2 contains only Icewind Dale spells: no Contingencies, Time Stops, and the like. This component restores the BG2 spells not already found in Icewind Dale. (Spells that function differently in IWD continue to function differently.)

The component also places exactly one scroll of each restored wizard spell in a store. Spells of level 6 or below are found in Orrick the Gray's store. Higher-level spells are distributed randomly between Edion, Bandoth, Kieran, and Nym.

Note that the BG2 spells have a different artistic style from the IWD spells, which may appear jarring.

The "Find Familiar" spell is restored, but I don't recommend using it, as the familiars summoned will be over-powerful for the early stages of the game.

NPCs Cannot Pass Doors

BG2(EE), Tutu, BGT, EET, BGEE, IWDEE

This component will prevent non-party NPCs from traveling between areas, which was the default behavior for the original Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale games. There is one exception for the dream sequence at Spellhold in BG2.