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

[chuft]

 

[agris]

Hot damn. And that specific BCS has all the oddball tactics-like hardcoding of spells?

Hum... who was that Modder(TM) that was going through the community re-releasing abandoned mods with large amounts of undocumented changes, then created a brigade of alts to defend themselves on a host of forums? I wonder if that person got their claws into BGT.

 

[chuft]

BG1 Semaj BCS file

BGT one

 

[agris]

Can you just diff them and post that in spoiler/code tags? They look similar tho.

 

[hell bovine]

Hum... who was that Modder(TM) that was going through the community re-releasing abandoned mods with large amounts of undocumented changes, then created a brigade of alts to defend themselves on a host of forums? I wonder if that person got their claws into BGT.

Lol, there were a few modders trolling various BG forums with alts over the years. But these changes to the final battle are mentioned in the old noreload threads chuft linked to, so they are not that new.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Can you just diff them and post that in spoiler/code tags? They look similar tho.

Rather post it here https://www.diffchecker.com/

 

[chuft]

https://www.diffchecker.com/hKTZ9mQB

The thing is, Semaj.BCS is not in the override folder nor the backup folder. I am guessing BGT patched it where it is in a biff or something. Clearly it touched it or it would not be in the change log.

Actually it is in the override folder, I somehow didn't see it because one semaj file was in all caps and another in all smalls.

My guess is Semaj.BCS existed already because Semaj makes an appearance in ToB. I would almost think it's an oversight, letting the BG1 Semaj use the BG2 Semaj stuff, except clearly BGT has touched it.

 

[chuft]

Hot damn. And that specific BCS has all the oddball tactics-like hardcoding of spells?

It gives Semaj a Death Spell and Flesh to Stone as an opening salvo. It certainly is not the extent of all the things that were made harder. like Angelo getting immunities to every area spell you are likely to use.

Hum... who was that Modder(TM) that was going through the community re-releasing abandoned mods with large amounts of undocumented changes, then created a brigade of alts to defend themselves on a host of forums? I wonder if that person got their claws into BGT.

https://www.gibberlings3.net/forums/topic/29354-moderator-action/

perhaps?

 

[ghostdog]

So I've been continuing my EET playthrough and I'm well into bg2. No major content mods except "Assassinations" a nice little mod where you become a hitman and do a series of jobs. If you're not a goody two shoes paladin it's recommended.

Apart from that the only major mod running is scs on insane. Continuing from bg with more or less the same crew *and* having the possibility to level up from lv 0 any new party member can give you the edge, but still SC-fucking-S can blue your balls. It seems I had installed the "harder Shade Lord dungeon" portion, so inside the dungeon I was confronted with a couple of high lvl litches that summoned bone golems and... PLANETARS fucking fallen planetars that rain fire on your ass and are probably the most op summon out there. I had to cheese those fuckers. Still, it makes things interesting, if sometimes a bit frustrating.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I just realized that with Larian's BG3 it will be a real trilogy. Larian Baldur's Gate Trilogy. An… LGBT, if you will.

 

[hell bovine]

Apart from that the only major mod running is scs on insane. Continuing from bg with more or less the same crew *and* having the possibility to level up from lv 0 any new party member can give you the edge, but still SC-fucking-S can blue your balls. It seems I had installed the "harder Shade Lord dungeon" portion, so inside the dungeon I was confronted with a couple of high lvl litches that summoned bone golems and... PLANETARS fucking fallen planetars that rain fire on your ass and are probably the most op summon out there. I had to cheese those fuckers. Still, it makes things interesting, if sometimes a bit frustrating.

That might be the 'hardest enemy spawns' & 'max spawns' element, or however it's called now. In unmodded game a lich will spawn in the Umar Hills dungeon only if your party is very high level.

 

[Chippy]

So I've been continuing my EET playthrough and I'm well into bg2. No major content mods except "Assassinations" a nice little mod where you become a hitman and do a series of jobs. If you're not a goody two shoes paladin it's recommended.

Apart from that the only major mod running is scs on insane. Continuing from bg with more or less the same crew *and* having the possibility to level up from lv 0 any new party member can give you the edge, but still SC-fucking-S can blue your balls. It seems I had installed the "harder Shade Lord dungeon" portion, so inside the dungeon I was confronted with a couple of high lvl litches that summoned bone golems and... PLANETARS fucking fallen planetars that rain fire on your ass and are probably the most op summon out there. I had to cheese those fuckers. Still, it makes things interesting, if sometimes a bit frustrating.

Yeah, I tried a SCS run a while back. It's interesting that the readme states that it plays by the rules, but gives supernatural creatures powerful abilities. So you run into Ichyard in the Ulcaster ruins and he's got access to Call Lightning and DUHM. Or the ulcaster wolf that has limitless summons and limitless horror spells/howls per round, the ghoul SE of the mines has hold person, etc.

It was still fun. But open to interpretation.

 

[CappenVarra]

i appreciate the work put into discovering who tweaked Semaj like a motherfucker, one of the great mysteries of our time

not that i play BGT anymore, vanilla BG1+expansion is my preferred option

 

[Chippy]

Hot damn. And that specific BCS has all the oddball tactics-like hardcoding of spells?

Hum... who was that Modder(TM) that was going through the community re-releasing abandoned mods with large amounts of undocumented changes, then created a brigade of alts to defend themselves on a host of forums? I wonder if that person got their claws into BGT.

Holy shit - that sort of thing really goes on?.

 

[chuft]

I don't plan on playing BGT again, due to these non-optional difficulty increases. Next time I would try BG1 Original Saga from GOG.

I have had a lot of problems in the past trying to play BG1 to the end without game-stopping bugs, which is why I have tried Tutu (more problems) and now BGT (lame super-Sarevok team battle).

 

[GarfunkeL]

Your problem is that you refused to read SCS readme and tweak its options because of your personal attitude that mods should just work. I've never had any such issues with BGT but that's probably because I always use SCS as well, as most people do. If you want to get the authentic experience, then you do like Jasede and play BG1 on its own without any mods. SCS does play by the rules IF YOU MAKE IT DO SO because it has options to break the rules in order to give cheesy players more cheesing opportunities.

But ten points for all that forensic work tracking down the culprit, that's excellent work.

 

[chuft]

I am not an expert on SCS, but read on G3 forums that it raises levels of mages (and ogre mages). If it does, this is actually part of the core SCS package - there is no toggleable option.

I don’t think it’s even documented in the Readme.

 

[GarfunkeL]

It is documented. The author explains why he did that and I 100% agree with him, it is a necessary change to give casters more tools.

 

[Theldaran]

I started a game with the brand-new Psionic Fighter kit, but I don't receive psionic abilities. Any help pleeze?

 

[chuft]

It is documented.

I didn’t see it anywhere, but it’s good to confirm that the enemies are not just playing by the rules smarter, they actually are higher level than they’re supposed to be. That’s what I thought.

 

[GarfunkeL]

BG1 already had level scaling - depending on your total party level, encounter composition and size would change, though this didn't affect named NPCs. But of course, if you think that giving few levels to all mages and priests you encounter in the world so that their toolbox has a couple more things in it somehow breaks your gaming experience, then do discard SCS based on that. It's absurd but it's your game.

Oh, you're playing EE versions, right? I don't know if/how it's documented there but the original SCS/SCS2 readme.txt most definitely said it because the author explained why it was necessary to do so.

 

[chuft]

Not playing EE versions. After TPKs by random ogre mages when I was level 2, and Nashkel tent wizard, it was clear SCS was detracting from the game experience, not adding to it. Game became much more fun after starting over without it. But I detest reloads and think they break immersion; tastes differ.

 

[hell bovine]

And so do player skills. SCS can be noreloaded.

 

[chuft]

And so do player skills. SCS can be noreloaded.

If that’s a goal that gives you satisfaction, great. Work toward it.

Improving skill levels is not why I play RPGs.

 

[hell bovine]

No work was required. Maybe if you solo, but a noreload with a full party wasn't very difficut, since out of six, only one character needs to survive. The only exception is the duchal palace fight, because you need to watch out for two characters there.