Mods - installation and choices

[Aelia Jusa]

Hey guys [img]smile.gif[/img]

I'm going to replay BG2 with some mods. I've read quite a few threads about installing them and which order and so on to do it in, but when I went to the Pocket Plane list of mods, there were so many to choose from I was a bit unsure of how to go. I picked some that I think will be good:

Item Upgrade
Kelsey
Banter Packs
Unfinished Business
Expanded thief stronghold
Dungeon-be-gone
Virtue

There were a whole bunch of mods that added quests that I thought might also be worthwhile, but I want to make sure the ones I use are relatively bug-free and won't crap up my game. So I'm hoping for some advice on which ones might also be good to install - which ones have you guys found to be fun and stable?

I'm not going to add Tactics or similar because I find the battles plenty tough already, not being much on buffing and summons and all that. And while I'm going to install ToB as well, I'm not going to play it apart from Watcher's Keep because it's a bit boring, so Ascension and related won't be very useful for me.

Re installation - as I understand it, you're supposed to install the patch then the Baldurdash patch, then Weidu mods then non-Weidu mods. On the mod list they indicated which ones were non-Weidu - is that comprehensive? The ones I listed above all are Weidu, I think. Are there any ordering issues within Weidu mods that you should do?

So just to summarise, I'd appreciate some recommendations about which quest-adding mods would be good, as well as any other (e.g., item adding) that you have found particularly good and non-buggy. And also exactly how and in what order to install them [img]smile.gif[/img]

Thanks! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Kestrel Daystar]

It would appear as though you have chosen well with those mods. Here are a few that I would suggest:

Keto
The Gibberlings Three Anniversary Mod
Ease-of-Use
Song and Silence

I personally love Keto, I think she is extremely well made and a bloody good NPC. I recommend her highly. The Gibberlings Three Anniversary Mod is good for a long, well made quest that will keep you entertained for a while. Ease-of-Use I only downloaded for three things:

Multiply Strongholds (If you like lots of quests then get this!)
Bonus Merchants
Edwina Portrait

Everything else I just left un-installed. And finally Song and Silence is very good; it adds new items and merchants for thieves and bards as well as new class types.

As long as you have these installed in this order then you shouldn't have any problems:

Shadows of Amn
Throne of Bhaal
Throne of Bhaal Patch
Baldurdash

Then just install the Weidu mods, doesn’t matter which order I don’t think.

The mods I have installed are:

Unfinished Business
The Gibberlings Three Anniversary Mod
Black Rose Part I: Market Prices
Ease-of-Use
Keto
Banter Pack
Valen
A-pack
Song and Silence

I have played through the game with those mods and have not come up with a problem.

Hope that helped


--Kestrel--

[Aelia Jusa]

Thanks, Kestrel [img]smile.gif[/img] . I did look at the ease of use readme but there wasn't much there that I wanted - what are the bonus merchants like? I thought the multiple strongholds looked okay but I've played through most of them anyway. And Edwin isn't going to be in the party! I will look into the Gibberlings one, thanks [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Kestrel Daystar]

Yeah, there was only those three things that I wanted off Ease-of-Use, but the bonus merchants are alright. Sell some new made stuff and some stuff from other Infinity Engine games.

Do try the Gibberlings mod though.

If you liked Xan from Baldur's Gate I then im working on a Xan mod at the minute so it should be out in the not too distant future. Working on it with Andyr.

Have fun

--Kestrel--

[Cerek]

Heya Aelia. Welcome back to the BG2 forum.

I've installed several Wiedu Mods myself and found they added a lot of enjoyment to the game. From what I've read on here, the only time there are any serious "bug issues" is when you install NON-Wiedu Mods AND Wiedu Mods together. Most of them will still work together, but there are a few non-Wiedu Mods that simply aren't compatible with Wiedu Mods for some reason. And Weidu Mods will override non-Wiedu Mods.

As you said, there are several threads on this topic already, but I'm sure the members will be happy to list individual Mods they have tried and enjoyed in order to spare you the time necessary to search and slog through all the other threads.

Good luck in your game. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[shamrock_uk]

I'll throw my weight behind Keto as well - she has some very well thought-out banters with Kelsey and is a pure 'roleplaying' NPC; nice dialogue, average stats, permanently hungover, pretty funny. She's at least as good an NPC as Kelsey, probably better if you weren't planning to romance him. But take them both together because they get on well.

I also enjoyed Souloufein in my party, but if you don't play with tactics I'm not sure he'd fit your playing style. You get into some nice philosophical discussions with him, but he can become a bit of a melee monster and is probably too powerful for a non-tactics game.

Bonus merchants are official Bioware ones - they have some items that are pretty good and I would recommend them. You don't have to buy a couple of the more cheesy ones if you don't want to.

The rogue rebalancing mod might be good if you're playing a rogue-ish character.

Also the virtue mod is rather good - separating your virtue from your reputation. So if you donate money to a church, your rep goes up but your virtue doesn't. If you kill a peasant while nobody is looking, your virtue drops but your reputation doesn't. Just make sure that this is the very last thing you install before you start playing.

[ 01-23-2005, 08:08 AM: Message edited by: shamrock_uk ]

[SixOfSpades]

Item Upgrade - Be very picky about what you decide to build. Some items, such as the Holy Buckler of Amaunator, are pretty well balanced in terms of general power and difficulty of acquiring components, while others, such as the Improved Kitthix Figurine, are, well.....not. Also note that Item Upgrade can be considered an "antidote" to Tactics: Counteract the difficult battles with powerful equipment. The fact that you're playing without Tactics means you might want to examine the Item Upgrade README pretty carefully and decide ahead of time which stuff would be too cheesy to make.

Virtue - Version 17 just came out, but SimDing0 says that 18 should be close on its heels. Since this is supposed to be the last WeiDU mod you install, you might want to wait for V18 (provided it's not more than a day or two away, I suppose).

Ease-of-Use - Again, pick and choose what you want. As for me, I stick only to things that don't affect the odds of combat (like Bottomless Bag of Holding), and stay the heck away from things that reek of cheese (like Wear Magic Rings with Magic Armor). I have also heard that Multi-Strongholds is very buggy. I wouldn't touch the "Rebalanced" Shapeshifter with a stick.

Valen - From what I hear, almost as overpowered as Solaufein. Definitely not what you want in a non-Tactics game.

A-pack - If this is aVENGER's mod, I can only say that once again you have to be picky with the components. I reccommend the Rogue Rebalancing component and the Elven Sleep/Charm Resistance and Half-Orc Infravision fixes, but strongly encourage you to avoid Shadow Thief Improvements like the plague: It is, bar none, the worst mod I have played. I might have installed the Chosen of Cyric encounter except for its placement: Right after you emerge from Bodhi's Lair in Chapter 6. So, all your spells and abilities are depleted, you're probably down at least 1 party member, and you're sucked off to a big fight that you can't run away from until all the cheesy enemies are dead? No thanks.

[Aelia Jusa]

Thanks for all that, guys [img]smile.gif[/img] . How exactly does the rogue rebalancing mod rebalance them? I was going to play an assassin or swashbuckler - does it make them better, or worse, or just different, or what?

[Kismet]

Just to clear a few things up...

Re installation - as I understand it, you're supposed to install the patch then the Baldurdash patch, then Weidu mods then non-Weidu mods.

Installation goes: SOA, TOB, TOB patch, Baldurdash, non-weidu mod, WeiDU mods.

http://forums.pocketplane.net/index....6902#msg236902

Most of them will still work together, but there are a few non-Wiedu Mods that simply aren't compatible with Wiedu Mods for some reason. And Weidu Mods will override non-Wiedu Mods.

WeiDU mods append to files rather than overwrite them, which is why you can have more than one WeiDU mod installed.

[SixOfSpades]

Originally posted by Aelia Jusa: How exactly does the rogue rebalancing mod rebalance them? I was going to play an assassin or swashbuckler - does it make them better, or worse, or just different, or what?

From the aPack README:

Dual Wield Fix and Rogue Shop: This component will allow all rogues (Bards, Thieves and their Kits and Multi-classes) to assign three points into 'Two Weapon Fighting Style' instead of just one. It will also fix the Two Handed and Two Weapon Fighting bugs with multi classed Cleric/Rangers, Fighter/Druids and Fighter/Mage/Clerics who were not being able to assign two/three points into those styles respectively. Then, more generic magical bucklers will be added to the game (with an enchantment level up to +3) plus two of my custom made enchanted bucklers and some useful BG1 and IWD items like the long lost Kiel's Buckler, Dagger of Venom, Eagle Bow, Longtooth dagger, Lyre of Progression, Returning Frost Dart...etc. You can buy the restored BG1/IWD items and the new magical Bucklers from Marina, the Black Market merchant who resides in the Shadow Thief main hall (AR0305). This component will also alter the Short Sword of Backstabbing in order to closer match its PnP counterpart. Thief Kit and HLA revisions: This component will rebalance the Bounty Hunter and the Swashbuckler thief kits and add a new ability called 'Crippling Strike' to the Thief HLA list. The Bounty Hunter kit now gains a special 'Tranquilizing Shot' ability and enhanced set of Special Snares which can incapacitate your opponents, while the Swashbuckler kit gains better THAC0 progression. Bard Kit and HLA revisions: This component modifies all Bard kits to better match their PnP counterparts and also alters the default Bard songs and makes them functional. The trap HLAs are no longer available to Bards. They have been replaced with new unique supernatural abilities like Mass Charm, Sound Burst, Enthralling Melody and Lingering Song. Each kit now also gets a specific Enhanced Song with different effects and the Magic Flute HLA has been improved as well. Some kits also get additional special abilities and/or advantages. The modified versions of all kits are based on their PnP counterparts described in the 2E AD&D 'Complete Bard's Handbook' supplement.