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

[oldmanpaco]

Item Revisions is very good. It tones down some cheese and brings some mediocre items up to par.

I hate this mod so much. Gauntlets of Ogre Power that set a character's strength to 18/00 change how you use that npc. Gauntlets of Ogre Power that add +1 to strength is D&D3.5 munchkinism at its worst.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Also note that Ascension lets you either bring Balthazar or Bodhi into the final battle as an allied NPC. Not sure what Balthazar looks like (though I'd be happy just not to fight him),

Balthazar is much more powerful than Bhodi, at least as far as defenses go. I think I have had him die only once. His offense is good, but nothing to write home about. I have enlisted Bohdi once or twice, and while the level drain comes in handy, she doesn't have the same endurance.

 

[agris]

Grunker since your mod knowledge is much more recent than mine, where do you sit on aTweaks fiend improvements vs the SCS ones? That was always a point that I waffled on, think I usually picked aTweaks as it looked more bespoke for the creatures (pulling heavily from pnp books), whereas SCS did not. That was probably 7+ years ago though, both components may have evolved in execution.

edit: I'll also add, since you recommended Song & Silence - I found that the mod's stores and items were not suited for BG1 at all, it was munchkin gear out the ass. Not sure about implementation in BG2, but if you care at all about difficulty and item progression I would at least be wary about recommending the mod without a caveat for the vendor/item component.

 

[Grunker]

Grunker since your mod knowledge is much more recent than mine, where do you sit on aTweaks fiend improvements vs the SCS ones? That was always a point that I waffled on, think I usually picked aTweaks as it looked more bespoke for the creatures (pulling heavily from pnp books), whereas SCS did not. That was probably 7+ years ago though, both components may have evolved in execution.

edit: I'll also add, since you recommended Song & Silence - I found that the mod's stores and items were not suited for BG1 at all, it was munchkin gear out the ass. Not sure about implementation in BG2, but if you care at all about difficulty and item progression I would at least be wary about recommending the mod without a caveat for the vendor/item component.

Actually my knowledge is a bit out of date since my last playthrough is getting 3 years old this summer. I also use Roxannes mod installer which many people seem to hate. I've never had a problem with it and Roxanne has been great about answering the two problems I've ever encountered, so I don't really give a shit about the modder being clinically mad stark insane.

But to answer your questions, I use very, very few tweaks from the two packs you mention. Mainly the QoL components and minor components - like changing the spell casting delay on warrior innates from aTweaks, or the Shadow Thief changes from Song & Silence.

EDIT: Lol, I just double-checked. The mod I actually use is Rogue Rebalancing. NOT Song & Silence. The Bard changes in RR I especially recall being p. good.

 

[agris]

oh yeah, rr is good. i aborted a bg1 playthrough a few years ago where I had installed song & silence for the first time and was bummed when I ran into the mod's vendor at Nashkel's carnival.

I'll put the call out to anyone else then who appreciates quality over quantity: takes on aTweaks vs SCS improved fiends components?

 

[Average Manatee]

SCS readme says:

aTweaks
aTweaks was designed to function with SCS, but is now quite out of date (and not currently maintained). It is designed to be installed after SCS. (This is an exception to the usual rule that SCS should be installed last.) At the moment I'm fairly sure its Fiend components are at least partially incompatible with SCS Smarter Mages and Improved Fiends; to be safe, use one or the other. Its other components are probably compatible with SCS.

I try to avoid any hint of incompatibility like the plague since I don't want to have a 30 hour playthrough screwed up or spend 2 hours diagnosing something buggy. Not being compatible with SCS Smarter Mages makes aTweaks fiend changes a no-go for me. I'll just take SCS fiends even if they aren't as good as aTweaks.

 

[octavius]

I didn't notice any compatability issues when using aTweaks Fiends and SCS, but that was nearly five years ago.
aTweaks Fiends certainly makes things more interesting! Not just their added abilities (like Etherialize and Gate), but also the in-fighting.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Improved Fiends is a major reason to use aTweaks, but not the only one. I like mage/Cleric spells being moved to a once daily HLA being. Its a power downgrade, but stops them from competing with your Level 9 spells. All that being said, I have never had a compatibility issue between aTweaks and SCS. Its been a long time though. This was just before the EEs were released that I did any major modding.

 

[Chippy]

I feel like replaying Baldur's Gate 2 and other than the Ascension mod, is there anything in particular else that could improve the experience?

https://artisans-corner.com/ I've had my eye on this site for a while, but it'll be ages before I can be bothered to play BG:EE again, and I think all the mods here are for that abomination. I'd only do it to try out some mods and power builds for fun. Playing BG as a Warlock sounds fun for example, and there are some very interesting things done with the Beamdog kits.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I feel like replaying Baldur's Gate 2 and other than the Ascension mod, is there anything in particular else that could improve the experience?

https://artisans-corner.com/ I've had my eye on this site for a while, but it'll be ages before I can be bothered to play BG:EE again, and I think all the mods here are for that abomination. I'd only do it to try out some mods and power builds for fun. Playing BG as a Warlock sounds fun for example, and there are some very interesting things done with the Beamdog kits.

Sirene is a tiefling paladin

 

[Chippy]

Heh, I should have specified all the mods except party member ones. Ignoring them on these sites it just par for the course.

 

[Average Manatee]

Improved Fiends is a major reason to use aTweaks, but not the only one. I like mage/Cleric spells being moved to a once daily HLA being. Its a power downgrade, but stops them from competing with your Level 9 spells.

That component is part of SCS, not aTweaks. Not sure it really counts as a downgrade either because it means a LOT of free level 9 spell slots, especially for a multiclass like Aerie or Jan who normally doesn't get more than 2 level 9 mage spells even at the XP cap but with this component get another 5 HLAs. I'd say it's only a downgrade for someone like Edwin if you specifically want him to spam comets or something.

Some aTweaks components seem reasonable but still fairly marginal (Magical arrows and bolts deal bonus damage equal to their enchantment level, like OK archers just get a +1-3 damage boost, kind of whatever), some seem like they might add an unexpected imbalance to something that SCS has "balanced" (Allow Dispel/Remove Magic to take down Globes of Invulnerability, PnP Fey creatures), others just look overpowered (Allow Mages to scribe memorized spells onto scrolls, will absolutely ruin balance when groups with multiple mages all get the spell as soon as you find 1 scroll, and bards/thieves can spam anything in the game including imba stuff like black blade of disaster).

 

[Jvegi]

. Its a power downgrade

Lol.

They should code in level 8 slots for clerics/druids somehow. HLA route is op as fuck. Just a different way of breaking a broken mechanic.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Jvegi Average Manatee I suppose I consider the caster spells moved to 1/day HLA a downgrade because they 1) super powerful and 2) I almost always play a Wild Mage, so they are off limits to Nahal's Reckless Dweomer. Remember that they are only selectable once, so you will only be casting any of them once per rest. No more multiple Planetars, Improved Alacrity or Dragon's Breath spam. I think its a very appropriate change in lieu of no Level 10 spell slots.

My favorite part of aTweaks though are the PnP Fiends. They get massively upgraded to a real and terrifying threat. Glabrezus! Ugh! Balor's with vorpal effects! The blood war AI touch id also sublime and delivers massive flavor.

PS: I like the scribe scroll feature. No longer are you starved. The scarcity of some spells is a detriment, and it's nice to be able not to have to literally book keep which mage has what. Scribe scrolls isn't cheap and is a very legitimate D&D function.

 

[Average Manatee]

Jvegi Average Manatee I suppose I consider the caster spells moved to 1/day HLA a downgrade because they 1) super powerful and 2) I almost always play a Wild Mage, so they are off limits to Nahal's Reckless Dweomer. Remember that they are only selectable once, so you will only be casting any of them once per rest. No more multiple Planetars, Improved Alacrity or Dragon's Breath spam. I think its a very appropriate change in lieu of no Level 10 spell slots.

I'll agree if you are playing wild mage, but wild mage is already the most overpowered class in the game IMO. For other mages in what I would consider a normal looking party, I'd disagree.

Planetar: you can only have 1 out at a time. They are strong enough that it's really rare for them to die even in boss fights. They also last long enough to be out for several non-boss fights. So I don't think you ever need to really have more than 1 planetar per mage if you have 2-3 mages in the party. So that's 2-3 spell slots saved.

Improved Alacrity: Generally the way I use this is to put on vecna and amulet of power and spam like 30 lower level instant cast spells. You can only do this once before resting, so again not terribly much reason to take more.

Dragon's Breath: It's honestly only slightly better than Horrid Wilting in damage to begin with (horrid wilting also give enemies a penalty to saves), and it deals fire which is one of the most commonly resisted damage types vs. Horrid Wilting's Magic which is one of the better ones. There's also Comet which is almost the same thing. Enemies almost always save by ToB, so both are just 10d10 fire damage AoEs, so you're basically getting 2 fire AoEs for free by making them HLAs. Though I will say its cool when edwin has 7 spell slots dedicated to these and uses improved alacrity to unleash them all in a single frame.

And there's many excellent level 9 mage spells to use instead like imprisonment, wish, spellstrike, black blade of disaster, and time stop. I don't get the argument that getting one of the each of the above for free + using these is a downgrade.

I'd actually say it's clerics/druids who are hurt far more by making HLAs one-use. Implosion and elemental summoning are really, really good spells compared to the fairly lackluster level 7 spells divine casters get. And divine casters end up with a lot more level 7 slots than mages do level 9 slots.

PS: I like the scribe scroll feature. No longer are you starved. The scarcity of some spells is a detriment, and it's nice to be able not to have to literally book keep which mage has what. Scribe scrolls isn't cheap and is a very legitimate D&D function.

I just read the component, I don't know what the cost is. But I know by the 2nd half of SoA you have almost unlimited money and millions of XP, so I'm assuming the cost doesn't matter then. I do get that it's a PnP D&D mechanic but there's a lot of things that make it sound really abusable in BG2.

 

[A horse of course]

Hello retards, as I'm sure you all know, I'm making a BG2 video. I was wondering if anyone had any particular mods that they strongly recommend I mention in the modding section of the video?

At the moment my script mentions the G3 fixpack & tweakpack, Infinity Animations, SCS, Unfinished Business, Almateria's Restoration, Ascension/Redemption, and Dungeon-Be-Gone. I will also be playing through Shadows Over Soubar and the half-finished Classic Adventures mod once I've finished getting footage of the vanilla gnome. I will not be reviewing any romance or NPC mods, just mentioning them. I also won't talk about Bgtutu or anything involving porting or consolidating BG1 content in BG2.

Anything else important you think people should be aware of?

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I was wondering if anyone had any particular mods that they strongly recommend I mention in the modding section of the video?

Baldur's Gate Mod List & Installation Order (Pre-EE)

Spoiler

Game 1
Game 2
No CD Hack
Ascension
Wheels of Prophecy
Baldur's Gate 2 Fixpack

Baldur's Gate Trilogy
Baldur's Gate Trilogy Tweaks

--------------------
Baldur's Gate 1 Mods
--------------------
Baldur's Gate I Restored Narration
Baldur's gate Lightmaps
Baldur's Gate Unfinished Business
Baldur's Gate Mini-Quests & Encounters
NPCs
Baldur's Gate NPC Project
Level 1 NPCs
Sword Coast Strategems I
Baldur's Gate Tweaks

---------------------------
Baldur's Gate 2 Mods & Else
---------------------------
Baldur's Gate 2 Unfinished Business
Pocket Plane Group Quest Pack
Assassinations
Pocket Plane Banter
iepBanter
Baldur's Gate 2 Creature Fixer
Oversight
Rogue Rebalancing
Improved Horns
Item Revisions
One Pixel Productions
Baldur's Gate II Sheild Animation Fix
PnP Free Action
Wildmage Expansion
WizardSlayer Mod
Shapeshifter Mod
Spell Revisions
Picky Familiars
PnP Celestials
Sword Coast Strategems II
gMinion
Baldur's Gate II Tweaks
aTweaks
eSeries (PC Scripts)
WideScreen
Generalized Biffing
Throne of Bhaal Extender
Refinements

 

[ghostdog]

Hello retards, as I'm sure you all know, I'm making a BG2 video. I was wondering if anyone had any particular mods that they strongly recommend I mention in the modding section of the video?

At the moment my script mentions the G3 fixpack & tweakpack, Infinity Animations, SCS, Unfinished Business, Almateria's Restoration, Ascension/Redemption, and Dungeon-Be-Gone. I will also be playing through Shadows Over Soubar and the half-finished Classic Adventures mod once I've finished getting footage of the vanilla gnome. I will not be reviewing any romance or NPC mods, just mentioning them. I also won't talk about Bgtutu or anything involving porting or consolidating BG1 content in BG2.

Anything else important you think people should be aware of?

Shadows over Soubar is bad (like that other old big content BG2 mod that I can't remember its name), filled with massively OP items and very weak fanfiction level writing. I wouldn't recommend it.
The only separate content mod (ie: new area) that I think is good is Tower of Deception, it's a nice diversion and it doesn't overstay it's welcome.
I also use the BG2 Quest Pack (without the combat/AI enhancements since I use SCS) that adds some more quests and options, that don't stand out like a sore thumbs at least.
Assassinations mod is also OK, with some tough battles, but it's mostly oriented for neutral/evil playstyle.
Expanded thief stronghold is also nice if you play a thief or enable the multiple stongholds option (I believe it's in the tweaks)

 

[d1r]

Hello retards, as I'm sure you all know, I'm making a BG2 video. I was wondering if anyone had any particular mods that they strongly recommend I mention in the modding section of the video?

At the moment my script mentions the G3 fixpack & tweakpack, Infinity Animations, SCS, Unfinished Business, Almateria's Restoration, Ascension/Redemption, and Dungeon-Be-Gone. I will also be playing through Shadows Over Soubar and the half-finished Classic Adventures mod once I've finished getting footage of the vanilla gnome. I will not be reviewing any romance or NPC mods, just mentioning them. I also won't talk about Bgtutu or anything involving porting or consolidating BG1 content in BG2.

Anything else important you think people should be aware of?

Colours of Infinity series is really good. Has some high quality artwork / maps.
D0QUESTPACK has some really nice quests that feel like Vanilla quests.
Assassinations is a really good quest mod for evil characters.

Please avoid bigger quest mods in BG2. They are all shit.

 

[mkultra]

Hello retards, as I'm sure you all know, I'm making a BG2 video. I was wondering if anyone had any particular mods that they strongly recommend I mention in the modding section of the video?

DLTCEP, obviously.. it's not a mod but a mod installer / browser, making sure mods are compatible, fixing incompatibility issues.. in my last run i had 100+ mods, very easy to install with just this app, not having to google for mods and then also read up for days about issues or if its compatible etc etc. Took me perhaps 2-3h, would've easily taken days otherwise.

 

[A horse of course]

Ok I give up on Shadows over Soubar. Fresh install, no mods except the regular fixpack recommended on the SoS forum (without any tweaks enabled). The transition between Umar Hills and Soubar is held together by string. Scripts frequently fail to fire properly, crashes upon area transitions etc. I finally worked out how to progress from the River Chionthar (you have to click a very specific area of the recycled Throne of Bhaal map in the northwest corner), then get through that bizarre gimmick section with the flowing river. Soon as I reached Soubar (literally Beregost) I got an immediate CTD. Not wasting any more time on this. Maybe the Enhanced Edition version works properly, who knows.


edit: Browsing the SoS forum it seems like the mod was fucked by one of the later releases (1.114 or something). One of the users was trying to fix it but his changes still haven't been implemented - I can see on githhub they're still arguing about it

 

[agris]

As others said, that mod and all the large story ones are garbage Ed123, and not for technical reasons. The stories are bad, the writing is bad, the new mod art is bad and the items/spells always screw up the power curve. You will be an OP killing machine eventually, no reason to hasten it.

 

[A horse of course]

As others said, that mod and all the large story ones are garbage Ed123, and not for technical reasons. The stories are bad, the writing is bad, the new mod art is bad and the items/spells always screw up the power curve. You will be an OP killing machine eventually, no reason to hasten it.

Classic Adventures is ok so far, actually. It's like a cross between Icewind Doyle and BG1.

 

[agris]

I haven’t played that one actually, it released near the end of me having time to try these. Stay far far away from dark side of the sword coast though.

 

[A horse of course]

I haven’t played that one actually, it released near the end of me having time to try these. Stay far far away from dark side of the sword coast though.

I already did it for the BG1 video.

edit: actually I'm mixing it up with darkest day