Baldur's Gate The Baldur's Gate Series Thread

[barricade]

Soooo, any pointers at a nice vanilla-like EE setup?

this classic GUI mod is pretty much mandotory:

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/83508/mod-classic-bg-ui-v1-4

 

[whydoibother]

Soooo, any pointers at a nice vanilla-like EE setup?

this classic GUI mod is pretty much mandotory:

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/83508/mod-classic-bg-ui-v1-4

Is there some UI to make it playable on small screens, on phones and pads and such? I wouldn't sit through BG again on my desktop, but I might find time for it when I'm afk.

 

[d1r]

Soooo, any pointers at a nice vanilla-like EE setup?

this classic GUI mod is pretty much mandotory:

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/83508/mod-classic-bg-ui-v1-4

Is there some UI to make it playable on small screens, on phones and pads and such? I wouldn't sit through BG again on my desktop, but I might find time for it when I'm afk.

EE was also designed for smartphones and tablets. So I am sure that it will be fine on your machine.

 

[octavius]

People who praise npc project are the same people who think Archolos is not evil.

Some people who praise it has also tried the abomination that was the Icewind Dale NPC Project.

 

[Average Manatee]

What IWD could actually use is a Wizardry-style NPC project so that you could get personalities with banter attached to the characters you create. The various voice options already have plenty of personality in them to base some interjections and stuff off of.

 

[Chippy]

"Bodhi hunts the player in spellhold" is an unfinished business component. If you install it along SCS (or any other general difficulty mod, though I don't know of any other at this point), you're basically asking for an unbalanced mess. And SCS also has it's own "parties items are taken from them in spellhold", if you're installing that too you're basically consigning yourself to unwinnable fights since casters will run out of spells and everyone else will be without their items swinging unenchanted clubs at things.

So the mod takes all your equiptment, and then pits you against mobs of vampires?. Sounds like something a typical BG modder would do.

Your post really made me laugh, I cant think of anything more annoying than having to fight creatures that require magic items and a mod change removes it :D

I guess this mod change is for magic users only because how else would you defeat them with items?

You have to be careful of the average BG modder. They're like that slightly retarded neighbour you've known for a few years because you have this thing in common. And then one day you accept an invitation into their house for a cup of tea, and they pull out a magnum and suggest playing Russian roulette for fun.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

To get the most fun out of BG1, use the following mods:
SCS for more challenging combat. But don't overdo it.
BG1 NPC Project, and recruit Xzar and Monty. They are easily the best contribution to this mod.

Anyone playing BG1 for the first time should avoid both. And even on replays, I no longer use SCS (mainly because I had a few game breaking bugs a few years back with it that halted a replay).

For SCS, fact is, some players really loved BG2's mage duels - myself included. Loved them too much and tried turning everything into a mage duel. After a while it just gets tiresome, and it's probably too advanced for new players anyway.

The NPC project is very much a mixed bag. Imoen talks like she ate too much sugar - even for her. Viconia's dialog and 'romance' is ok all things considered, as is Jaheira's dialog. But the romance options added are almost nonsensical in some cases. Who wanted to romance Sharteel exactly?

It's really better to just experience Vanilla as normal, but with BGT and whatever QoL fixes. It's bad enough that all EE players are going to be forced to sit through the giant larp that is Dragonspear - which somehow manages to have more out of character dialog than the NPC Project fan mod.

 

[Average Manatee]

SCS, especially pre-ToB, should be really quite gentle if you put it on its easiest difficulty settings. Mages won't spawn with a million protective spells or sequencers/contingencies and will just cast a slightly smarter set of spells at you. One tick up from the minimum they'll just have something minor like Stoneskin when they spawn so they don't quite die in 0.5s if you focus ranged fire on them. You should be able to mostly get away with only memorizing Breach rather than needing the full autistic understanding of exactly which spells remove which protections (which you can find here btw: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1y7r2Z3FfZk74NdAVHuZuiNmWh14y1tAytNrsFMSY7zc/edit#gid=0)

BG1 NPC project does let you decline to install the romances IIRC? But just avoiding them is pretty simple. It's not like you are going to accidentally end up in a romance with Shar-Teel.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

SCS, especially pre-ToB, should be really quite gentle if you put it on its easiest difficulty settings. Mages won't spawn with a million protective spells or sequencers/contingencies and will just cast a slightly smarter set of spells at you.

True, but for a first run, I'd still avoid it. Especially since all it takes is one bug to ruin a playthrough, I think a minimal mod setup is best.

 

[Sarathiour]

Main grip with scs is stoneskin on every mage for bg1, which is obviously annoying to deal with without breach, and the akward difficulty spike with random bullshit.

I got mainly two in mind : khark and the iron throne squad (both are optional btw)
khark in OG BG1 is a huge stat bloat with shit like 6apr and ogre strenght, but he only use shitty spell, and got nothing after the mirror image, so given how op were the summoning spell, it was not really hard for level 5-6 party to deal with him. EE or bgt nerfed him to 4 apr and tool to deal easely with mirror image.
In SCS , he got his 6 apr back, and come with great mastery in his +2 katana, meaning he got a negative thaco and will wreck absolutly anyone coming in range in single round, and like all mage, come loaded with sequencer and defensive spell, good luck getting through the stoneskin.

iron throne squad is also pretty ridiculous, most of them were originally multi, why the fuck are you slapping an extra 18/XX on them and zerker kit with grand mastery, it's supposed to be exceptionnal modifier, not given to every fucking grunt. Adding to that the two thief who are doing the invi pot backstab trick, and the pillar that fuck up los and pathfinding, it's getting tirsome really quick.

 

[Average Manatee]

I check Kahrk on SCS lowest difficulty. He has THAC0 3, AC -5, APR 4. He does have the Haste spell but won't come pre-hasted. All he comes with for me is minor globe of invulnerability and protection from magical weapons (though he has an SCS spell list and could theoretically roll any spell up to level 6 and cast that). My chapter 4 start Shar-Teel and Kagain have -6/-7 AC and a further -4 vs. slashing so his hit rate vs. them is about 30%. The only difficulty is that protection from magical weapons which is hard to remove outside of just waiting 4 rounds. He's likely to cast a spell like domination or chaos in the meantime which could cause issues, but once protection from magical weapons runs out you should be able to utterly rape him and you'll be interrupting his spells while doing it.

On the other hand on max difficulty SCS he comes buffed with: Mirror Image, Haste, Minor globe of invulnerability, Minor spell turning, Shield, Protection from Normal Missiles, Stoneskin, and Protection from Magical Weapons.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

Main grip with scs is stoneskin on every mage for bg1, which is obviously annoying to deal with without breach, and the akward difficulty spike with random bullshit.

Use Remove Magic.

But yeah, it's a lot of autism to handle for people who are just starting the series and may not be too familiar with D&D. Better for a second run through. Kind of like a New Game Plus mode.

FTMP, unless the game is completely broken without a mod, I think it's out of touch for an older player to recommend mods to a newbie. You're looking at it with the benefit of hindsight and habit. Not everyone is the same, and everyone deserves the chance to experience a game in its original state so that they can appreciate mods later.

 

[Average Manatee]

Remove Magic really doesn't work well unless you outlevel enemy mages. Which is usually the case for common mages but not named enemy mages in the chapter end encounters. Bards have a pretty good chance though due to accelerated leveling.

 

[Skdursh]

My Baldur's Gate I/II mod folder weighs just over 20GB.

I have not yet played either of the games with any mods installed (excluding UI and bug fixes of the OG versions for modern systems).

Maybe someday, but I think vanilla is best, especially for a first playthrough. I believe the first playthrough of nearly every game should be vanilla, with the only exceptions consisting of something akin to community bug fixes or modifications that fix the scaling and small, unreadable text issues that often crop up when playing older games on modern monitors.

 

[Sensuki]

Yeah I much prefer vanilla BG1 and IWD to the EE or Tutu etc. For BG1 the original spawns are just a lot better than the BG2 engine ones, and I just prefer the overall feel.

Used to have a CRT monitor that I plugged in to play games like that, now since I've got Windows 10 I just use the integer pixel scaling thing on my LCD and that's good enough.

 

[Sratopotator]

Soooo, any pointers at a nice vanilla-like EE setup?

this classic GUI mod is pretty much mandotory:

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/83508/mod-classic-bg-ui-v1-4

Is there some UI to make it playable on small screens, on phones and pads and such? I wouldn't sit through BG again on my desktop, but I might find time for it when I'm afk.

In the end decided to shop for some mods, and I saw this while browsing:
Pocket-play UI++

Image

There are probably some bugs.

On the other hand, default mobile UI seems to be unchanged from the PC version at first glance. Looks way too busy for a small screen. Lazy devs. You can see how it looks here (buttons super small, you may need to larp a wizard).
PS: Mobile gaming is pure cancer, you will die a painful and fiery death for embracing it. Enjoy the mod.

 

[Grunker]

To get the most fun out of BG1, use the following mods:
SCS for more challenging combat. But don't overdo it.
BG1 NPC Project, and recruit Xzar and Monty. They are easily the best contribution to this mod.

Anyone playing BG1 for the first time should avoid both. And even on replays, I no longer use SCS (mainly because I had a few game breaking bugs a few years back with it that halted a replay).

What game breaking bugs with SCS?

Game is hardly worth playing for veterans without

 

[Grunker]

Main grip with scs is stoneskin on every mage for bg1, which is obviously annoying to deal with without breach, and the akward difficulty spike with random bullshit.

I got mainly two in mind : khark and the iron throne squad (both are optional btw)
khark in OG BG1 is a huge stat bloat with shit like 6apr and ogre strenght, but he only use shitty spell, and got nothing after the mirror image, so given how op were the summoning spell, it was not really hard for level 5-6 party to deal with him. EE or bgt nerfed him to 4 apr and tool to deal easely with mirror image.
In SCS , he got his 6 apr back, and come with great mastery in his +2 katana, meaning he got a negative thaco and will wreck absolutly anyone coming in range in single round, and like all mage, come loaded with sequencer and defensive spell, good luck getting through the stoneskin.

iron throne squad is also pretty ridiculous, most of them were originally multi, why the fuck are you slapping an extra 18/XX on them and zerker kit with grand mastery, it's supposed to be exceptionnal modifier, not given to every fucking grunt. Adding to that the two thief who are doing the invi pot backstab trick, and the pillar that fuck up los and pathfinding, it's getting tirsome really quick.

git gud

 

[whydoibother]

Soooo, any pointers at a nice vanilla-like EE setup?

this classic GUI mod is pretty much mandotory:

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/83508/mod-classic-bg-ui-v1-4

Is there some UI to make it playable on small screens, on phones and pads and such? I wouldn't sit through BG again on my desktop, but I might find time for it when I'm afk.

In the end decided to shop for some mods, and I saw this while browsing:
Pocket-play UI++

Image

There are probably some bugs.

On the other hand, default mobile UI seems to be unchanged from the PC version at first glance. Looks way too busy for a small screen. Lazy devs. You can see how it looks here (buttons super small, you may need to larp a wizard).
PS: Mobile gaming is pure cancer, you will die a painful and fiery death for embracing it. Enjoy the mod.

That UI doesn't strike me as being functional on a phone screen, even a big phone. I might give it a shot though. Bit desperate for something to bring with me on vacation, in case there's downtime.

 

[Sarathiour]

I check Kahrk on SCS lowest difficulty. He has THAC0 3, AC -5, APR 4. He does have the Haste spell but won't come pre-hasted. All he comes with for me is minor globe of invulnerability and protection from magical weapons (though he has an SCS spell list and could theoretically roll any spell up to level 6 and cast that). My chapter 4 start Shar-Teel and Kagain have -6/-7 AC and a further -4 vs. slashing so his hit rate vs. them is about 30%. The only difficulty is that protection from magical weapons which is hard to remove outside of just waiting 4 rounds. He's likely to cast a spell like domination or chaos in the meantime which could cause issues, but once protection from magical weapons runs out you should be able to utterly rape him and you'll be interrupting his spells while doing it.

On the other hand on max difficulty SCS he comes buffed with: Mirror Image, Haste, Minor globe of invulnerability, Minor spell turning, Shield, Protection from Normal Missiles, Stoneskin, and Protection from Magical Weapons.

Our installation must be different, because mine got improved haste, but no protection from magical weapon, the last one would be pure cheese btw. Also you can't interrupt him trough conventionnal mean, you don't get that much apr around level 5, and no haste, so stoneskin is here for a while.

git gud

Spare me the meme, I never said that I can't beat it, just that it's poorly thought.

 

[Average Manatee]

Our installation must be different, because mine got improved haste, but no protection from magical weapon, the last one would be pure cheese btw. Also you can't interrupt him trough conventionnal mean, you don't get that much apr around level 5, and no haste, so stoneskin is here for a while.

SCS doesn't have preset spells, it's all generated semi-randomly at the time of installation. Given that both protection from magical weapons and improved haste are 6th level spells it's probably a 50/50 chance what SCS give him.

 

[Shadenuat]

Our installation must be different, because mine got improved haste, but no protection from magical weapon, the last one would be pure cheese btw. Also you can't interrupt him trough conventionnal mean, you don't get that much apr around level 5, and no haste, so stoneskin is here for a while.

SCS doesn't have preset spells, it's all generated semi-randomly at the time of installation. Given that both protection from magical weapons and improved haste are both 6th level spells it's probably a 50/50 chance what SCS give him.

hmm? I remember reading somewhere it actually gives wizards some specialized spells, with enchanters actually liking enchantments, summoners summon, yan ti mages always going into invis and using melf meteors, etc.
through my plays with it, a few of them, mod felt consistent to me.

 

[Average Manatee]

Yeah those will bias mages towards certain things but its still randomized. And unless you completely reinstall SCS the spells will be the same forever since it's determined at the point of install.

 

[Sarathiour]

yeah, that's why he said semi-randomly, I would not complain if he got something shitty like chain lightning or conjure elemental instead of the most busted spell you don't even have acess to.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

My opinion on SCS has changed over time, maybe it's because SCS has changed though. It makes the battles too formulaic, as if I'm finding myself doing the same things over and over frequently. I think one of the things I dislike the most is that all mages you fight against end up feeling almost the same rather than having a personality to the abilities they use.