Looking for my first Mod

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Hi all and and a happy new year!

I´ve always loved Baldurs Gate (especially Chadows of Amb and Throne of Bhaal) and I´m proud to say that I'm probably "Mr Vanilla" - never tried any mods. However - since I finally beat the game (BG I) with my evil group and - unfortunately - had a very easy run - I'm finally looking to expand my tastes a little bit. So - what mods are recommended? Bear in mind - I´m not looking for anything that will make this game insanely difficult. I just want a more different time - something that will enhancethe gameplay. I would probably consider myself a good and experienced player - not a masterful one looking for the almost impossible. What should I look for? Is TuTu the one or are there better choices? Right now I'm trying an evil Jester but I would like to try something different. Suggestions are very welcome at this point, since I tend to use almost the same NPC:s every time.

 

Here's the current mod list I'm using (in the spoiler). Overall It adds numerous bugfixes, options, quests and increases the difficulty of combat a good deal (but not to an insane level). They are presented in the order that I installed them.

I would suggest looking at some of those. The Widescreen mod is great by the way, you can increase your resolution significantly with it, and it makes the game look miles better.

Spoiler

• Ascension
• G3 BG2 Fix Pack
• Sword and Fist (provides several new fighter kits)
• Level 1 NPCs (included for the increased weapon options for cleric/fighters and druid/fighters
• Unfinished Business
• Quest Pack
• Tower of Deception
• Banter Pack
• Sword Coast Stratagems II (SCSII) – Generally speaking, I chose the options that would increase difficulty by the greatest margin
• Rogue Rebalancing
• BG2 Tweak Pack
• Spellhold Studios’ 1 Pixel Productions (1PP) – improved paper dolls, animated flaming sword, etc
• Widescreen (This one is bloody brilliant. I’m running in 1600 x 900 resolution. 1920 x 1080 looks great too, but made everything a tad too small for my taste).

 

It really depends on what you want from the game, what you mean by "enhance gameplay". I am a proud owner of the game because there are almost a mod for all kinds of situations. I guess a starter would be to use all the mods tied together by the Big Picture which includes:

Darkest Day
shadows over Soubar
Tortured Souls
Freedom Reign

and a couple of others. This would give you one hellofva massive game. then you have teh BG tweak pack from G3 which allows you to change rules of the game to almost anyway you like it., then you have those that increase the dificulty of the game like tactics mod or anvil, then you have ones that adds NPCs like valen, solufein, kelsey

as for choosing your main character there are tons of people who asked the same question, search "favorite protagonist" or "favorite party" then read your heart out!!! http://www.sorcerers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=48900&highlight=favorite+party

 

I'd stay away of these if I was a beginner due to their buggines. Marceror's suggestions was better.

Personally I'd add in some Quest mods and NPC mods.

Happy Gaming

 

I'm going to have to agree with Shaitan here. While Pyroreaver is correct in that adding those 4 mods will give you "one hellofva massive game", those mods are also infamous for their instability.

Potentially the Widescreen mod, depending on the resolution your monitor can support. Marceror's list is pretty good. Really the mods you should pick up depends on what you enjoy most about BG. Difficulty-wise, I would definitely suggest Sword Coast Stratagems. If you're more into the party talks, then Banter Packs and NPCs (of which Kelsey is probably the most polished) would be best.

 

I agree that Kelsey is very well made. I used him for one play through, but I avoid him now. I romanced him, and I think that subconsciously my strong heterosexual mindset left me feeling a little uncomfortable about that experience. I've been hit on by MANY, MANY homosexual men in my life, and that's never a been an entirely comfortable experience for me (though I think I handle it far more gracefully than do most heterosexuals). That said, when I think of Kelsey, I kind of think associate him with any variety of men who have hit on me, and after this happens, I tend to avoid the person. I realize this is probably WAAAAY too deep of an analysis of a BG2 mod... but what can I say, it's my analysis. High quality mod though, and no romance is required.

I played Darkest Day, and I disliked it. For me, it takes a game that has tact and refinement and replaces it with your crazy relatives who you are embarrassed to be seen in public with. Enemies are placed anywhere that they will fit on the map, so you pretty much can't walk 5 feet without getting attacked. If your mage needs to use the latrine, watch out, because there are probably some kobolds waiting in the cracks of the toilet. It just ruined the personality of the game for me. Not to mention the aforementioned bugs. I guess there are those who enjoy it though, so it comes down to a matter of personal preference at the end of the day, as is true of most things.

 

How about Unfinished Business? I've always wanted to try this one, since (if I understand it correctly) there are some things that was intended in the game that finally gets a resolution. Isn't this the one (except for Boo) where those two thieves in the City Gates gets a little more story? And something about Suna (the first "ambush" in the city) involving Valygar?

 

That's the one. UB can be a bit buggy, though:

Spoiler

The Boo scenario might put you in an un-winnable situation, and the illithium ore quest frequently causes me problems with respect to finding the brother.

 

I found it to be pretty decent. Nice to have a couple of extra quests around anyway. Sounds like you're thinking of the right mod.

Related to Splunge's spoiler:

Spoiler

Never had an issue finding the brother, but I've encountered the 'tough' trolls. Definite pain; I seem to recall my solution being to mass Ctrl-Y, invisibility spells/potions and run. No idea whether that's been fixed yet or not.

 

I downloded Unfinished Business and so far it great with couple of extra quests. I rarely uses Minsc so I will have to see if I encounter any bugs. This time I went with the most good characters I could find - Me (Chavalier), Keldorn, Mazzy (never tried her before), Anomen and Yoshimo (who will be replaced by Imoen). So far there has been only two strange things:

1) When I reached Umar Hills (in order to pick up Mazzy) I was attackad by Shadows. Not strange but when my character missed he used Minsc voice/soundset, which seems rather strange considering that he isn't in the party.

2) Before that, when I went to collect Keldorn, I entered the sewer and died. Why??? I had full health and there was not a monster in sight. It only happened once but the whole experience makes me save my game very often...

In fact UB is the only mod that I've been able to install. Every NPC mod that I tried gives me the message that says "Cannot locate dialog.tlk file". Ok - that's not good. So I searched for solutions and if I understand correctly I have to move the exe and tlk file to my 'BGII - SoA'. But that didn't work. Am I supposed to put the tlk file in the existing one or what? I have the computer skill of a moron so that might have something to do with it. Also the Flirtpack and Banterpack seemed to work like UB but i didn't. When I try so use the setup all I get is a black dialogsquare with som numbers (268 or something). UB worked right away - I got the message that I could chose to install (or not install) certain things. Oh well - right now that one is working so I'm happy with what I got so far.

 

Spoiler

I've encountered this too, but as I recall I was able to just leave the area. When I came back later the unkillables were gone. Another way I've dealt with it is to run away from one of them after it falls; let it get back up, and sometimes I'd get lucky on a second attempt and could kill it.

I've had less troublesome bugs with it too, like with some of the added vampire encounters around the city. I've had dialogues fail to fire so someone shows up, is apparently supposed to be doing something but just stands there until I attack and kill it.

I install components from this sparingly, based on those that I have had better luck with

 

Yep, that caused me confusion too. What you need to do is Extract the zipped downloaded file contents to the SOA main directory and then run the setup file from the main directory.

 

From the BWL mods, I can recommend the Tower of Deception (though it's not the easiest, but remotely not as hard as e.g. Improved Anvil), and the Herbs & Potions Add-in for Baldur's Gate II.

 

The Edwin Romance mod. He's brilliant. Best romance mod I've ever played through.