Baldur's Gate & Baldur's Gate II Mod Thread

[Parabalus]

Overall this looks like pretty big incline to me,

Care to tldr?

Basically he incorporates the vast majority of tweaks that improve/balance the game, for example capping skull trap damage, making breach more usable versus liches, making Imp Invisibility+Spell Immunity:Div combo less overwhelming, stuff like that

He also makes it so that enemies are a bit more resistant to cheese strats eg they can pierce magic immunity scroll effect with certain abilities, that kind of thing

The enormously long list of changes to classes, kits, races, ability scores etc are not so immediately obvious to analyse, will require some testing to see if they are incline or if they don't fit the game

But overall it looks very promising, if possibly a bit feature-creepy

It looks nice, especially the multi-class kits.

Most of the stuff already exists spread out through various mods, consolidating and updating it in one place is a great move.

 

[ds]

A few forum posts seem to suggest I'm not alone, others also notice the difference and apparently it wasnt always this way, that BG2EE used to use catmull-rom for scaling but they dropped it because it wasnt working on mobile platforms, so now everyone is stuck with linear (looks like shit) or nearest-neighbor (looks like shit).

Upscaling low resolution 2D sprites with a small non-integer scale factor is always going to look bad no matter the scaling filter you use. The only upscaling that don't look shit are either integer scaling with nearest neighbor or full on CRT emulation (requires high scale factors to look good) - both of these are effectively simulating a lower-resolution display. For IE games I think just not scaling at all works best for any "normal" monitor with 96ish DPI or less. That's what both non-EE as well as EE with zoom lock *should* be doing so if you are seeing something different then it would be interesting to see what you are seeing. If you can't take a screenshot then maybe a photo of your screen would at least show the zoom level difference you are seeing?

 

[Ryzer]

With EE, you can also see further from the limits of the map, obviously it's black empty void but it's hideous to see. Something the original didn't have as it breaks immersion, the interface oozes 0 style and originality as well, it looks awful.

 

[Jvegi]

obviously it's black empty void but it's hideous to see.

Just like your vatnik-wannabe brain. You can diseable scrolling outside of the map in the settings.

I wish your head was diseabled.

*disabled. Not saying I am not disabled myself.

 

[Ryzer]

obviously it's black empty void but it's hideous to see.

Just like your vatnik-wannabe brain. You can diseable scrolling outside of the map in the settings.

I wish your head was diseabled.

*disabled. Not saying I am not disabled myself.

You should ask yourself what's the purpose of this option in the first place. It's a completely useless setting.

 

[Average Manatee]

Talents of faerun threw errors on boot for me, not sure if the conflicts are from UI mods or EEex or w/e but either way I guess I'll wait until its out of beta.

The leveled abilities look pretty good and balanced. Some spells look quite OP, and the multiclass kits look stupidly OP.

 

[Ryzer]

Talents of faerun threw errors on boot for me, not sure if the conflicts are from UI mods or EEex or w/e but either way I guess I'll wait until its out of beta.

The leveled abilities look pretty good and balanced. Some spells look quite OP, and the multiclass kits look

It works just fine without additional mod.

 

[Average Manatee]

I'm not going to play without those mods though so might as well wait.

It also takes like 10 minutes to install along with SCS taking a similar amount of time so playing around to try and figure out how to make things compatible would take a lot of work.

 

[Melcar]

A few forum posts seem to suggest I'm not alone, others also notice the difference and apparently it wasnt always this way, that BG2EE used to use catmull-rom for scaling but they dropped it because it wasnt working on mobile platforms, so now everyone is stuck with linear (looks like shit) or nearest-neighbor (looks like shit).

Upscaling low resolution 2D sprites with a small non-integer scale factor is always going to look bad no matter the scaling filter you use. The only upscaling that don't look shit are either integer scaling with nearest neighbor or full on CRT emulation (requires high scale factors to look good) - both of these are effectively simulating a lower-resolution display. For IE games I think just not scaling at all works best for any "normal" monitor with 96ish DPI or less. That's what both non-EE as well as EE with zoom lock *should* be doing so if you are seeing something different then it would be interesting to see what you are seeing. If you can't take a screenshot then maybe a photo of your screen would at least show the zoom level difference you are seeing?

Nearest Neighbor makes text look too blocky, especially if scaling to a large modern resolution.
EE scaling is horrible I agree. No idea what the fuck they did. If you install the originals and apply scaling the games don't look that bad.
I use fsr in gamescope for most of my old 2D sprite games. I like how text is rendered and sprites have smooth outlines that don't look like smeared out shit.

 

[cretin]

So reading over the Talents of Faerun, it strikes me much of it is *3.5e inspired *3.5 inspired *3.5 inspired

It makes me think, why not just stop beating around the bush and do a full blown 3.5E conversion? The IWD2EE guys have conclusively shown, I think, that it not about engine limitations on implementing 3.5 hallmarks - IWD2EE having working trips, grapple, AoOs and so on.

 

[agris]

So reading over the Talents of Faerun, it strikes me much of it is *3.5e inspired *3.5 inspired *3.5 inspired

its why i won't play it, 3.5 was decline systematized

 

[HumanTotemPole]

Been enjoying modded playthroughs of these two lately. Had to laugh today after trying Dark Horizons ported to BG:EE though. 1st time ever, never played it before.

The mod adds multiple encounters including one at the southern end of the road in AR3800, i.e. very early game. 1 handed fighter with a shield and a dagger-tossing rogue.

My PC got repeatedly instagibbed despite hitting AC -5 for the encounter as an enraged zerk with a shield, 18 Dex, the RoP +1 from AR2800 and plate mail from the Flaming Fist bums up the road.

Their weapons after switching to entangling and sniping them both down?

Look at this shit!

The non IH/HLA'd max ApR at level 1 with that dagger. The sword is more powerful than some endgame weapons in ToB. Modders are beyond retarded sometimes.

 

[NecroLord]

Modders are beyond retarded sometimes.

No argument here.

 

[Yosharian]

Wait it just straight up gives you +2 attacks? Bahahaha what the fuck

Edit: did Solaufein make this? That would explain a lot

 

[HumanTotemPole]

Wait it just straight up gives you +2 attacks? Bahahaha what the fuck

Edit: did Solaufein make this? That would explain a lot

Yeah. Seems to have ignored years of feedback about how poorly made the mod is judging by the Beamdog thread.

 

[NecroLord]

Solaufein mod?
The one that rivals the Imoen Romance mod in notoriety?

 

[agris]

All the medium to large content mods for the BGs have issues like this, except Lava’s. They may too, but I’ve never played them.

 

[Grunker]

Don't add mods to IE games except the small handful of well-vetted ones - especially not megamods. Those are all completely retarded.

 

[octavius]

Don't add mods to IE games except the small handful of well-vetted ones - especially not megamods. Those are all completely retarded.

What about romance mods?

 

[Shaki]

Don't add mods to IE games except the small handful of well-vetted ones - especially not megamods. Those are all completely retarded.

What about romance mods?

Imoen Romance mod is 10/10, but you need to find the original version, I heard they toned down the retardness and rewritten most of it in later releases, removing all the fun stuff like the famous choice where you could rape Imoen, then she would turn into a slayer and bite your head off.

 

[Lacrymas]

Imoen is your sister.

 

[Melcar]

And?

 

[Average Manatee]

Imoen is your sister.

Yeah, in case it wasn't clear, the mod is really important to the BG2 experience.

 

[HumanTotemPole]

Don't add mods to IE games except the small handful of well-vetted ones - especially not megamods. Those are all completely retarded.

I'd say things have gotten slightly better over the years e.g. I remember DSotSC being nigh on unplayable back in the day. Gradual balancing has attenuated things somewhat e.g. the kobold fight on level 3 of the Nashkel mines just before the level 4 exit is now a good scrap and appropriately pitched for a party expected to be taking on that dungeon.

Of course the story and writing remain retarded but who cares? Encounters uber alles in BGI&II.

 

[agris]

Don't add mods to IE games except the small handful of well-vetted ones - especially not megamods. Those are all completely retarded.

I'd say things have gotten slightly better over the years e.g. I remember DSotSC being nigh on unplayable back in the day. Gradual balancing has attenuated things somewhat e.g. the kobold fight on level 3 of the Nashkel mines just before the level 4 exit is now a good scrap and appropriately pitched for a party expected to be taking on that dungeon.

Of course the story and writing remain retarded but who cares? Encounters uber alles in BGI&II.

I just don't believe it. Even more grounded mods like Rogue Rebalancing that claim to add somewhat balanced gear results in elven chainmail being sold at the nashkel fair for like 2k gold.

elven chainmail doesn't disable spell casting, it's a highly sought item in BG2, and we're talking potential acquisition in act 1 of BG.