I love BG1 and I've been playing through it a few times now, but I got to thinking that some of the area monsters are just too weak and provide no challenge. Some of the mods might be a solution, but I came up with a fun solution if you want some control over what happens. Note that I bumped up the experience cap prior and that's why I wanted just a bit more to my battles.

I simply installed Near Infinity v1.32.1 beta 24 by Jon Olav [needs Java] and started hacking the area files -- replacing the wimpy creatures with some of the other [tougher] stock creatures that can make it more interesting.

Example *** spoil ***:
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The Gnoll Stronghold -- quite unchallenging...but...

The cave with the Tome of Leadership and Influence [AR5102] should be guarded by more than Xvarts! Just replace them with Vampire Wolves and now you'll earn that tome big-time (not to mention a bucket of XP.) The other two caves received similar "themed" treatment. One cave was full of undead and the other ogres (including a mage that replaced the Carrion Crawler in the nook -- one of my guys ended up getting cooked by the Lighting Bolt that bounced around...poor Ajantis.)

I also enhanced some of the area spawn points as well...Mutamin's Garden may now spawn Lesser Basilisks now {eek!}

Disclaimer might be that just don't put HUGE creatures in small areas and it should be bug-free. The game really rocks now.

Hmm. I dunno... .

I just got my butt handed to me by Tarnesh, then Silke about a thousand times each. And I spent a good 5 minutes of real time on the run from three whole entire hobgoblins.

I find the game is pretty screwy with difficulty levels as is. You can go get killed by Ankhegs with Ajantis on day 1, or you could go roast some poor zombies at a farm as the very last thing you do before the final confrontation. Keeping a low level party alive can be a hassle even for a vetran (okay; so it is just for me :D ), and I wouldn't feel comfortable with the mod ... unless it listed ALL the creature/area changes it included. I'm not sending a level 1 Minsc to tank Vampire Wolves :D (the xvarts eat him for breakfast at that level... .)

Okay...maybe I got carried away by the Vampire Wolves, but if one doesn't rush to get to the "enhanced" areas, then it actually works out. You need a power team -- unless you're a superb player. My team can take on most things...

There is one exception so far ** spoil **

I put this character I found in the game files called "Valinor" in the Wyvern cave (he's worth 20,000 XP!!!) and he can clean your clock almost similar to Drizzt. He doesn't get that 30-point automatic damage, but otherwise he's REAL tough. If you want a real challenge - find this dude and plop him in someplace in the game ; )

Enhancing certain areas could be interesting. There are places that characters have to avoid until higher levels as is.


"Valinor" sounds like an interesting challenge, albeit one out of my league :D . Remember parties of more faint-of-heart players might be turned off if you can't complete Koran's quest. Especially if they want to grab Koran as early as possible and then power level him up to face challenges. Maybe if you put him in the little cave near the druids, where the two baby wyverns and the weird "ranger" guy is.

Sounds interesting so far. :D

Yea...I couldn't quite beat the mysterious Valinor creature, so I'll save him for another part of the game when I've leveled a bit more. Reading this guy's file -- I think the BG1 team was going to use him for Greywolf, but they needed to tone it down a bit so they created Greywolf instead of Valinor [Valinor was equipped with the +2 Longsword - I deactivated it and activated the +1 Longsword that was there also instead.]

I only replace unscripted monsters so that it won't interfere with the game, so I left Peter of the North alone in the druid's cave. A good example would be to place Valinor (a dangerous fighter) next to a mage or cleric enemy that was just using a basic guard (no-name) for a guard [a mage in the Cloakwood Mines would be one spot -- but that might be yet too early for this guy!] It certainly makes for uber challenge.


Another good example:
I replaced almost all Baby Wyverns with Air Aspects in the Cloakwood Wyvern area. I left two Baby Wyverns in the cave along with two Greater Wyverns and another single Air Aspect at the back. My team's tanks were down to there last drops of blood, but I beat them with a bit of buffing. Whew!