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

[hell bovine]

What spells do Imoen and Edwin have in their books? And which spell levels are available to your clerics and druids?

On a funny side note, after a little mishap with a fireball in Nashkell, my 'chaotic misunderstood' wild mage was having trouble with the locals. But now I've figured out a way to get rid of them without a reputation drop:

Hm, where to go next...

 

[Xeon]

PC: C13/R12 -- Lv1-9 || Lv2-9 || Lv3-8 || Lv4-7 || Lv5-3 || Lv6-2
Jaheira: F12/D12 -- Lv1-8 || Lv2-5 || Lv3-5 || Lv4-3 || Lv5-2 || Lv6-2
Viconia: C17 -- Lv1-9 || Lv2-9 || Lv3-8 || Lv4-8 || Lv5-5 || Lv6-3 || Lv7-2

Took a screenshot of everything important, album. All available spells, items and levels.

 

[oldmanpaco]

I think you need to spam Khelben's Warding Whip while making sure everyone who can has True Sight up. After a few spell triggers and contingencies things might get to the point where you can get to him. Also pace out your skeletal warriors and send them after him instead of your guys. Once his fire shields go down Insect Swarm might work. Might not. Another deal is to get his magic resistance down with pierce magic/lower resistance then spell trigger him full of acid arrows. They don't do a ton of damage but they may interrupt his non-contingency/trigger casting. Also the ever useful Greater Malison + Chaos could help with the clones at the beginning but I'm sure you knew that.

You upped the difficulty pretty high it seems. I have done that in the past and the game becomes more work than its worth sometimes. Anyway you have a lot more patients than I do.

 

[Xeon]

I don't have Khelben's Warding Whip, I checked the wiki and it says that it can only be gotten from Planar Sphere in SoA. I didn't do the Sphere yet.

I finally managed to beat him. Managed to win with only Imoen dying, finally. I just kept buffing and removing all spells except for Pierce Magic and Breech. Since Viconia was the highest Cleric, made her have Skeleton Summons and Jaheria 1 Fire summons. removed other magic, fight started, attacked the Viconia and then Jahiera clones and made both of them try and summon. One of the mages killed most of the clones for me, Irenicus went for Imoen, Edwin used Pierce Magic on him and then Imoen had Breach scroll, she managed to use it before dying, Skeleton Warriors attacked him and Edwin used the Chain Lighting scroll and managed to kill him.

Have no idea what worked or what didn't, but man, that was ridicules. I still can't find my items, the only items I found so far are the ones that were with Yoshimo.

 

[oldmanpaco]

I don't have Khelben's Warding Whip

Whoops meant Ruby Ray of Reversal.

I've never used the remove items component of SCS because it just seems like a pain. Good to know I was correct.

 

[hell bovine]

I don't have Khelben's Warding Whip, I checked the wiki and it says that it can only be gotten from Planar Sphere in SoA. I didn't do the Sphere yet.

I finally managed to beat him. Managed to win with only Imoen dying, finally. I just kept buffing and removing all spells except for Pierce Magic and Breech. Since Viconia was the highest Cleric, made her have Skeleton Summons and Jaheria 1 Fire summons. removed other magic, fight started, attacked the Viconia and then Jahiera clones and made both of them try and summon. One of the mages killed most of the clones for me, Irenicus went for Imoen, Edwin used Pierce Magic on him and then Imoen had Breach scroll, she managed to use it before dying, Skeleton Warriors attacked him and Edwin used the Chain Lighting scroll and managed to kill him.

Have no idea what worked or what didn't, but man, that was ridicules. I still can't find my items, the only items I found so far are the ones that were with Yoshimo.

Seems like you didn't need the help after all.


I'm not sure what is still applicable in EE/SCS, but:
- call woodland beings - once you've got a malison off, they're good for a hold/domination spell before getting chunked. The more disabling spells, the merrier, especially with the added protection from a teleport field (I assume that's those pink swirly things in your screenshots).
- That power word in Eddie's spellbook, is that silence? No save and conjuration means the enemy mages are probably not protected against it. Considering it's level 6, it also should work against liches; never used that, but you could test it against that city gates lich, to see if it works.
- You can also try disabling a group with an earthquake. That spell has a nasty save penalty and puts people to sleep for a short time. It does have a long casting time, though.
- If protection from magic energy gives 100% immunity to skulltraps in EE, have Eddie protect himself and detonate them via sequencers/triggers, while standing practically next to the target; no chance of misfiring and with 6 skulltraps you can take out an entire group. The advantage is sequencers/triggers can't be interrupted and don't count towards spell per round limit.
- Not for this battle, but at her level, Vicky probably could turn even vampires.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Depends on his mod. I believe SCS has a component that makes vampires immune to turning or increases the level required, alongside liches, ie sentient undead.

 

[Xeon]

Some spots have really severe slowdowns now, first was Sahuagin city, got really choppy when I had summons then in the Illithid lair, when the Githyankies provoked the Illithids so I can open the door, frame rates became pretty bad almost 5-10fps. It was like a slideshow.

Anyway I am currently at Ust Natha, did the quest to save the girl then went to the Beholder lair, cleared it and Illithids after, was kinda worried I'll be late for the time limit. Hive Mother was a little hard to deal with but not much overall, she mazed my PC, I kinda thought that was a game over but he got back seconds later, no problem which was good, overall easier than I thought it will be. Illithid tho was kinda hard, they kept teleporting and surrounding my PC or teleporting to my other party members in other side of the dungeon and Skeleton Warriors were kinda not that useful, even Gate was not that usful. took the place step by step then I just buffed my PC and used Hardness and he pretty much killed everything in the boss room.

I also grinded exp from all the scrolls I had, I used all the scrolls of Lv3+ and grinded for exp and manged to level and finally got HLA, PC got Whirlwind and Hardness, Jahiera Diva and Elmental, Voconia Fallen Diva. I am liking Hardness very much. Imoen is still very far from being useful. Edwin been doing really great, he managed to clear the mage duels in the Drow tavern with almost no problem and beside the Elmentals in Underdark he cleared the whole place by himself.

Screenshot

I think there is a Lich in Ust Natha, if I mange to beat him with little trouble then hopefully it means I am ready to beat the Dragons and Liches in Athkatla.

I tried to do a new installation thru BWP to maybe it might have fixed the slowdowns but game crashed when I loaded save, I used the same mods currently installed, tried to make another folder of the game with different set of mods but did not work, I get error at start up.

Edit2:
Killed Thax in 10-15 seconds, felt good. Firkraag took a little more work, hit like a truck and almost killed my entire party, I think only thing left is the Liches and the Hidden Rune or something place.

The Githyankies fight in the Dock also caused a slowdown, framerates took a dive. Not a lot of spells were used in that fight so I have no idea what the problem is, the Docks were lag free before. I hope the fight with Irenicus doesn't cause too much slowdowns.

Edit3:
Killed all Liches and finished the Twisted Rune including Kangaxx, only thing left is Planar Sphere and the extra areas that opened in Ch6. After that I think only Main quest left unless I might give Watcher's Keep a try to completely finish.

Screenshot 2

Edit4:
Yea, I think I am done.

Currently doing Planar Sphere, which was going pretty well but at the fight with the Cowled Wizards, framerates went down to probably 5 or maybe less. Became worse than a slideshow, pretty much unplayable.

 

[hell bovine]

After playing around with a wild mage in BG1 I have to say they are hilarious, even though the implementation seems a bit buggy - the last wild surge happened on a polymorph spell expiring. All of the polymorph buttons disappeared, but my poor mage got stuck in jelly form. Since she had only a familiar for a companion, no one was there to dispel it. I've tried attacking various mages and priest in hopes that SCS scripts will have them cast remove or dispel, but no, instead they waste their spells on a magic resistant blob of slime. (on a side note, mustard jelly is a mage killer even in SCS) Finally tried the ice island, to see if the mages there can help. Except - the jelly can't fit through the doors downstairs. :D

I could reload at this point, but it seems such a fitting ending for an insane evil wild mage, that I've decided to leave her there...

 

[oldmanpaco]

Currently doing Planar Sphere, which was going pretty well but at the fight with the Cowled Wizards, framerates went down to probably 5 or maybe less. Became worse than a slideshow, pretty much unplayable.

Are you playing the EE version? Can't remember.

I've never once had a slowdown with BG/BWP no matter what mods were installed. Seems like a bummer.

edit: Sounds like some scripts are going crazy. Is it just happening at scripted battles or when you fight random spawns?

 

[Xeon]

Original BGT. Current mods is similar to Xor's but I am guessing he used BWP since he had a lot of files with BWP on it, I installed manually using the same order he used with some of the mods I wanted, only thing different is I installed aTweaks after BG2 Tweaks and installed it slightly after I started BG2. I did test it and there was no problems with it so I kept it.

Tried to install a new game with the current mods I am using with BWP installer to try and fix the lag spikes and slowdowns but didn't work, either game crashes when I change area or crash at startup.

First time it started during Ireniscus battle in Spellhold but only lasted for a few seconds when fight started and it wasn't too bad. Sahuagin area, entire map was laggy, Underdark, fighting the Drows near the imprisonment place and Githyankies caused slowdown. In Athkatla, the Githyankies in the Dock also caused a slowdown. Now in Planar Sphere game almost freezes in the Cowled Wizards fight.

 

[Hegel]

Disable party AI.

 

[Xeon]

Damn, that actually worked. Thank you very much.

Finished the fight with the Cowled Wizards with zero lag or stutter.

 

[agris]

Original BGT. Current mods is similar to Xor's but I am guessing he used BWP since he had a lot of files with BWP on it, I installed manually using the same order he used with some of the mods I wanted, only thing different is I installed aTweaks after BG2 Tweaks and installed it slightly after I started BG2. I did test it and there was no problems with it so I kept it.

Tried to install a new game with the current mods I am using with BWP installer to try and fix the lag spikes and slowdowns but didn't work, either game crashes when I change area or crash at startup.

First time it started during Ireniscus battle in Spellhold but only lasted for a few seconds when fight started and it wasn't too bad. Sahuagin area, entire map was laggy, Underdark, fighting the Drows near the imprisonment place and Githyankies caused slowdown. In Athkatla, the Githyankies in the Dock also caused a slowdown. Now in Planar Sphere game almost freezes in the Cowled Wizards fight.

Ambient sounds also make the original games slow to a crawl. Completely disable them via the sound slider and see if your slowdown problem goes away. I'm thinking the AI thing was just coincidence.

Hegel did you experience or hear about party AI causing the game to lag?

 

[Hegel]

No, mine was a blind guess.

 

[agris]

Yea, I don't think that's it unless he's got a shoddy custom AI script that no one uses. Look at this: https://www.google.com/search?q=ambient+sound+baldur's+gate+lag

 

[Hegel]

He said it worked, though.

 

[Xeon]

I am using SCS Ease of Use AI script for all party members except PC, since all of them are equipped with ranged weapons, they can just attack from range unless I order them cast spell or something.

I disabled the Party AI and the Ambient sounds, kinda sucks since I do like the ambient sounds. Finished the Planar Sphere with no lags after that, I hope that fixes it completely. Thanks a lot for the help.

 

[agris]

Xeon I don't give a shit if I'm right or not, but it would be interesting if the AI scripts were causing your slow-downs because I don't think that's a known issue. For science, will you try continuing with the AI enabled?

 

[hell bovine]

Xeon I don't give a shit if I'm right or not, but it would be interesting if the AI scripts were causing your slow-downs because I don't think that's a known issue. For science, will you try continuing with the AI enabled?

I'd suggest testing it also with original AI scripts. I think there should be a ranged attack one there.

 

[Xeon]

I played with Party AI on and finished the Vampire area and Bodhi, other than some stutter every now then, it was smooth. I reloaded a save in Sahuagin area since it was consistent lag and party AI didn't do anything with the lag there but disabling ambient sound fixed the lag. Will try and keep more attention especially in the Irenicus fight since its a mage battle. Sorry, I would have tested it on the Cowled Wizards fight but I did save over it when I beat them and the earliest save before that is at the exit of the Underdark.

Edit:
Finished SoA, killed Irenicus. No lag at all since I disabled the ambient sounds, had party AI on, other than a stutter every now and then, its pretty good.

High level kinda make things a lot easier. I pretty much stormed area after area and aside from Bodhi giving me a little trouble, it was kinda of an easy ride after coming back from Spellhold. Even Irenicus was kinda easy to beat, only reloaded once and that was it. I hated the last boss of ToB on vanilla Insane,, hope I got better for it now even with Ascension.

SS

Dark Planetar sadly got the kill for Irenicus

Edit2:
Sarevok's conversation seem to be bugged. First meeting in ToB, he says "So, you have finally arrived. I have been waiting for you" and it shows Continue but the conversation ends, tried several times but same. Talking to him with Imeon, he says different dialogue but conversation still ends, talking to him with someone else, he just says that he want to talk to PC.

Also my save seem to be still in the normal saves, going to ToB shows no saves even tho I saved in ToB.

 

[Xor]

Sarevok's conversation seem to be bugged. First meeting in ToB, he says "So, you have finally arrived. I have been waiting for you" and it shows Continue but the conversation ends, tried several times but same. Talking to him with Imeon, he says different dialogue but conversation still ends, talking to him with someone else, he just says that he want to talk to PC.

I seem to remember having the same problem a few years ago; I think I had to track down the dialog file with near infinity to fix it.

Edit: if you want to take a look at it yourself, the dialog file is sarev25a.dlg

 

[Xeon]

Importing the game thru Throne of Bhaal seems to have fixed it.

Can someone tell me if I can have Seravok's conversion with Ascension only or do I need another mod for that?

Edit:
I read the Ascension ReadMe so I guess it does but it also mentions the last fight it was re-done so there is no stages I think, I kinda hated that. Do I have to install her component too to change that or is it an option to make her tougher.

I only installed:
- Ascension Core v1.41
- Tougher Abazigal
- Original Tougher Demogorgon
- Tougher Gromnir
- Tougher Illasera
- Tougher Yaga-Shura

 

[hell bovine]

Importing the game thru Throne of Bhaal seems to have fixed it.

Can someone tell me if I can have Seravok's conversion with Ascension only or do I need another mod for that?

Edit:
I read the Ascension ReadMe so I guess it does but it also mentions the last fight it was re-done so there is no stages I think, I kinda hated that. Do I have to install her component too to change that or is it an option to make her tougher.

I only installed:
- Ascension Core v1.41
- Tougher Abazigal
- Original Tougher Demogorgon
- Tougher Gromnir
- Tougher Illasera
- Tougher Yaga-Shura

Ascension does Sarevok's conversion - the readme states it's part of the core component, together with Imoen and Balthazar changes.

I tend to forget (and I think many people don't know) that Gaider did the improved battles mod first, even before Ascension. It's a bit disappointing that he didn't continue in that direction; I find his battle designs far better than his writing.

 

[Xeon]

Demogorgon doesn't get listed in the most powerful vanquished if you kill him or is Bodhi considered more powerful in SCS? PC killed Demogorgon I think but it still shows up Bodhi.

Screenshots