What are your recommended mods?

[Borsook]

What's Lightspeed's BG2 Graphics Fix? where to find it and what's wrong with bg2 graphics?

[Wounded_Lion]

I think that people tend to shy away from quest mods because they are generally lacking in quality.

For example, the Pai' Na / Spider's Bane quest of Unfinished Business makes the quest longer (you have to retrieve the broken Spider's Bane from the sewer workers) but fails to add any in-depth role playing or desirable reward (say, the sword itself) to the encounter.

The Illithium quest makes the quest much longer (you have to find the duergar's brother in the Temple) but fails to add any in-depth role playing or desirable reward (say, 400 pounds of illithium, which would be enough to complete both the statue and the Mace of Disruption).

To be honest, aside from its restored items and script/descriptions fixes, I don't think it's worth installing.  Sadly, the same goes for most quest mods (although I have not yet tried Sim's Quest pack).

a Wounded Lion

[SimDing0™]

To be honest, aside from its restored items and script/descriptions fixes, I don't think it's worth installing. Sadly, the same goes for most quest mods (although I have not yet tried Sim's Quest pack).

Don't bother with the current version. The next one, I hope, may allay your fears, although no way am I putting powerful items in as motivation to do every quest. I consider roleplaying reasons alone sufficient in most cases.

[CamDawg]

What's Lightspeed's BG2 Graphics Fix? where to find it and what's wrong with bg2 graphics?

Many of the BG graphics simply looked better--paperdolls, item BAMs, etc. One Pixel Productions restores a lot of BG graphics in place of the BG2 ones.

[Borsook]

What's Lightspeed's BG2 Graphics Fix? where to find it and what's wrong with bg2 graphics?

Many of the BG graphics simply looked better--paperdolls, item BAMs, etc. One Pixel Productions restores a lot of BG graphics in place of the BG2 ones.

Oh, I'm familiar with One Pixel Productions, calling them graphic fix got me confused, thought Lightspeed realesed something else... OPP is very good but it's hardly a "fix". Anyway thanx for clearing it out for me.

[Drew]

Don't bother with the current version. The next one, I hope, may allay your fears, although no way am I putting powerful items in as motivation to do every quest. I consider roleplaying reasons alone sufficient in most cases.

Not to put words in your mouth, Sim, but does this mean that v2 is just around the corner?

[Ghreyfain]

There's really no such thing as "Just Around The Corner" in IE modding terms.  Unless you're talking about a Sillara mod, in which case they all are.

[jcompton]

I split the UB/illithium discussion out to http://forums.pocketplane.net/index.php?topic=19378.0 . Carry on recommending mods in this thread.

[Wounded_Lion]

Regarding kit mods, I would recommend the Warrior Kit Pack from BlackWyrmLair.  Most the kits are interesting and useful.  Just thought I'd mention it because I don't recall seeing it on anyone's list.

a Wounded Lion

[Bursk]

Can anyone give me some advice and info on the 'Revised Hell Trials' mod?

I haven't yet played BGII through beyond Chapter 2 (I'm going to be leaving for Spellhold soon), so I've tried not to read too much about the mod at the http://adahn.gmxhome.de/ website.

Firstly, I'd like to know if the unmodified hell trials are so bad that they need improving.  Secondly, are there any negatives to the mod?  Do people think along the lines of, 'Yeah, it's a good mod but I'd like to change this part...' i.e. is there any reason not to use the mod?

I noticed this part from the mod readme 'Obviously, it is generally easier to become evil than good, and the chance for an evil character to "ascend" is lower than for a good character.'  What does it mean by "ascend"?  Is it talking about you having the chance to become a god at the end of the game?  If so, how difficult is it for an evil player to ascend when the mod is installed?  I wouldn't want to rolepay an evil PC who wants to ascend (note that I have no idea how one does this, not having yet got that far in the game) but then finds that this mod has made it really difficult to do so.

Opinions are very welcome.

[the bigg]

Overall, it wasn't that bad, however there are some coding troubles due to WeiDU advancements, so it's better to avoid that (unless you wished to fix the bugs on yourself)

In the readme, ascend = become good, not God 

[the man with the plan]

I've never had any problems with improved hell trials, and I've had it installed every time I've played, except the first. Then again, I might just be lucky.

I'd reccomend it though, definitely. If you've ever played neutral up to this point, you will have hated the hell trials. Now you can make sensible choices. Also, good characters  now have more than one option, unlike before. None of the rewards are overpowered, nothing stands out from the original game. Download it today.

[Bursk]

Overall, it wasn't that bad, however there are some coding troubles due to WeiDU advancements, so it's better to avoid that (unless you wished to fix the bugs on yourself)

In the readme, ascend = become good, not God 

Cheers, bigg, although I don't understand how a good character can ascend i.e. become good, since they are already good. 

Oh, and thank you, the man with the plan.

[the man with the plan]

Essentially, the original game let you change alignment. It was very limited though- if you played a good/neutral character, you had to follow a single path, or turn evil. That was it- no choices really. The improved version lets alignments go up or down. The reference to ascending is saying that it's easier to become evil that to become good. You gain a solid chance of keeping your alignment though, with more leeway.

[Bursk]

Essentially, the original game let you change alignment. It was very limited though- if you played a good/neutral character, you had to follow a single path, or turn evil. That was it- no choices really. The improved version lets alignments go up or down. The reference to ascending is saying that it's easier to become evil that to become good. You gain a solid chance of keeping your alignment though, with more leeway.

Wow!  That sounds like an excellent improvement.

I'm a little concerned by the bigg saying, '...there are some coding troubles due to WeiDU advancements, so it's better to avoid that'.  I assume by 'that' he means the mod?  I think he's also making sport of me wrt to fixing the bugs myself, since I've asked him far too many questions for him to think I'm anything other than a modding n00b.  I'm sure there are many others here who will also testify to my constant stream of novice questions

Everyone's been great, though.  What a nice bunch of people.

[clock sendak]

are all these written in the proper installation order?

are any of them, if installed in this order, gonna screw everything up?

cheers

GUNNERS!

[Antignition]

I sure hope Ding0's list can be installed in the order it's listed, just finished BG1 Tutu and im taking his advice word-for-word here.

[fcm]

I sure hope Ding0's list can be installed in the order it's listed, just finished BG1 Tutu and im taking his advice word-for-word here.

Installation Orders

I always install G3 tweakpack 2nd to last, then Virtue . . . But I don't use half as many mods as most people.

[Antignition]

Well, I guess Ding0's listing was close enough to that.  One thing I did have to uninstall was the Alter HP Triggers dialogues, Minsc's actions kept getting interrupted because he was trying to say his "We must rest soon dialogue" which he would say every time i force talked to him.

-I'm a bit more paranoid because of that, after all, the more mods you're using the worse the chances are some major (or annoynig minor) bug'll bite you in the ass.  Overall though, I've enjoyed the mods that have shown themselves so far.  I love how the Quest Pack is so well written, I can't tell what quests are from the Quest Pack and what is the restored Bioware content in Unfinished business without checking the readme's for each.

One thing i don't think im ever going to use is the eSeries script thing.  I mean, I can't keep tabs on all my characters all the time (sometimes when i have the AI off i realize minsc was just standing there doing nothing after he killed the first guy i assigned to him), so in that case the scripts come in handy, but the more complicated stuff, like spells and abilities, i prefer to manually do ALL the time.  I find that the scripts Spellcaster Attack/Defend work well for my Melee's and Ranged works well for my lesser mages (though Xan in BGTuTu made me have to rethink my entire mage strategy, the moonblade was just so much better than a sling), eseries is too complicated and i don't want my spells being casted through AI.


I am VERY happy I went with Ding0's list there though, for anyone who's pet peeve is stuff that is out of character/game context, play it safe with that list.

[fcm]

I'm a massive control freak, so I don't use any scripts save for Thief Adventurer -- then I just set my autopause to "target destroyed" and "weapon unusable." I get really annoyed when my NPCs run off screen to chase someone I just casted horror on so that they would leave the battlefield a bit, or when they pick their own targets over mine. I despise the last part especially.

The HP Trigger dialouge caused the same problem for me. Some other mod I had installed was causing conflicts with the Quest Pack mod, so I have almost no components of that installed, either. It is very well written, isn't it?

But I'm playing Tutu now, so . . . yeah.

[Salk]

These following are the Mods I will be installing, in chronological order, once they will all become available (or compatible) with TuTu.
With a "*" I mark the Mods that are presently under development or compatible only in the future:

- G3's BG 1 Fixpack (Idobek) *

- G3's BG 2 Fixpack (Camdawg) *

- BG TuTu V6 *
     - 3D Acceleration&Blue Water
     - Keep two of the rare NPCs sounds
     - No optional kits
     - Core Bugfixes
     - Organised Journal Entries
     - Restored BG1 Load Screens
     - BG2 Ammo Stacks
     - Totemic Druid Spirits Summons are Balanced
     - BG1 Summoning Spells
     - No Walking Speeds
     - Hooded Unarmored Avatars and Hooded Bards
     - BG2 Style World Map
     - NO Remove Spells that weren't in BG2
     - Journal Entry Titles

- TuTu Gui

- Map Notes

- Virtue for TuTu *

- aVenger's Rogue Rebalancing
  - Thieves Rebalancing
  - Bards Rebalancing

- SP Collection
  - Archer of Sylvanus Kit
  - Wushi Ninja Kit

- The Vault 4.01 (raised the cost of one item from 12.000 to 36.000)

- The Gray Clan Episode I

- Herbs&Potions

- Slime Quest

- The Gray Clan Episode II *

- Secret of Bonehill

- Sirine's Call

- The Fields of the Dead *

- One Pixel Production's Paperdolls

- TuTu Tweaks
     - Breakable Nonmagical Armor, Helms, and Shields
     - Avatar Morphing Script
     - Weapon Animation Tweaks
     - Icewind Dale Casting Graphics
     - Shut Up "You Must Gather Your Party ..."
     - Commoners Use Drab Colors
     - Icon Improvements
     - Change Avatar When Wearing Robes or Leather Armor
     - Exotic Items Pack
     - Add Map Notes
     - Force All Dialogue to Pause
     - Sellable Staffs, Clubs, and Slings
     - Wear Magical Armor AND Magic Rings
     - Multi-Class Grand Mastery
     - True Grand Mastery
     - Un-Nerfed THAC0 Table, Saving Throws, Grand-Mastery, and Arcane, Divine Spell Progression
     - Shapeshifter Rebalancing
     - PnP Spell Progression Tables
     - Give Edwin his BG2 Stats
     - Give Jaheira her BG2 Stats
     - Change Jaheira to Neutral Good Alignment
     - Give Minsc his BG2 Stats
     - Give Viconia her BG2 Stats

- Ding0's Experience Fixer
     - Creature XP Reduction to 50%
     - Locks, Traps and Spells XP Reduction to 75%
     - No No XP for learning Spells
     - Quest XP Reduction to 75%
     - No SoA Starting XP Reduction
     - No ToB Starting XP Reduction

[Antignition]

I wasn't thrilled with the mods that came out for BG1.  Some components of the G3 tweak pack were good and BGTutu was awesome (i like how it was less buggy/no badly written fillers like BGT seemed to have).  The NPC mods were ok, but since i had the BG1 NPC Project i wanted to see the added banters for my favorite characters so i didn't take Murneth, Finch, or Indira along.  The siren's call was fun, it was a small quest that expanded on the original issue with Sil, the siren chick. 

-I would have installed the OPP setup, i forgot about it till i moved forward to BGII and it makes the paperdolls look so much better.

When V6 of BGTutu comes out, FotD (compatible with BGTutu), and that Virtue thing comes out i'll probably go back just to play it with FotD, heard good things about that.

As far as Secret of Bonehill and The Grey Clan went, I like Sir Billybob but i just didn't enjoy either of them.  Secret of Bonehill was weird, I wound up doing some quests to solve the murder the first time i went there, which didn't make sense, and I just thought most of the stuff was way to overpowered.  TGC seemed to unbalance some stuff too, and i stopped when i saw the throng of bandits inside the Friendly Arm Inn, just seemed to jumbled together.  They're not terrible, I am just really damn picky and i like things to blend pratically seamlessly with the game, which is much better done in BGII than BG.

In a list form--In order on my weidU log (minus the ones i didn't like)

-BGTutu v4  (I hear v6 is in beta)
-TutuFixpack (not needed in v6)--Just Core Fixes
-TutuSounds
-Siren's Call
-BG1 NPC Project (everything went pretty well, I liked the non-joinable NPC portraits for the most part)
-TutuFixpack -Components other than the fixpack
-G3 Tweak Pack

[Borsook]

You mean tutu v4. V5 was a very short lived beta.

[Antignition]

I do, thanks, and i'll fix that.

[Berserthief]

Hi all,

I will not present a long list of all my installed mods. I will just mention the mods which I recommend most:

1- Ease of use (minus "no traps no locks" component)
2- Spell 50
3- Dungeon be gone
4- Dark ritual (selected components)
5- Ruad
6- a-pack mod
7- Deeper shadows of amn (selected components)
8- Munchmod
9- Item upgrade
10- Desecration of Souls
11- Rolles Safyer

Note: Planar sphere mod is also a superb mod with an outstanding story. Try it with a mage PC (not a sorcerer one). It's best to install it with as few other mods as possible. To avoid bugs I recommend to have Jaheira in the party (even though she is not one of my favourite NPCs). I also recommend not to start planar sphere's main quest before chapter 6. It's also best not to forgo the city of caverns.

Cheers
Berserthief