Icewind Dale The Icewind Dale Series Thread

[Grunker]

Krasselack's Tomb would be impossible with Calls for Help, I think.

Probably the Severed Hand and Dragon's Eye too :D

 

[Wayward Son]

Krasselack's Tomb would be impossible with Calls for Help, I think.

Probably the Severed Hand and Dragon's Eye too :D

Oh and the area with Perdiem(?) that has all the undeads after you kill that priest chick with all the fire giants (where that would also prob fuck you up).

 

[Parabalus]

IWDEE is suitable for a level 1 HoF run. The added kits and spell negate a lot of need for cheese, but it's telling how warped the normal balance is if I found HoF smooth. If you refrain from using the new stuff you can still benefit from the touched up interface/smoothness, but it's by far the most dubious of the EEs.

 

[the_shadow]

- Holy Word is... strange. I just one-shot killed Maiden Illmadia with it. That shouldn't be happening according to the spell description.

Just used DLTCEP to look at Illmadia's stats. While she has decent stats, she's Level 1 for some reason, which is why Holy Word annihilates her. I thought this might be interesting for anyone who wants to make that already easy fight even easier...

 

[Jazz_]

I'm flirting with the idea of starting a playthrough of old vanilla IWD (non EE), I was wondering if there are worthy mods that spice things up a bit without changing too much? maybe that make the game a bit..toughter/more challenging? Btw is it worth to select hard or insane to have more challenge? I have read that later on in the game the double XP you get actually makes things easier, is that true?

 

[ghostdog]

I'm flirting with the idea of starting a playthrough of old vanilla IWD (non EE), I was wondering if there are worthy mods that spice things up a bit without changing too much? maybe that make the game a bit..toughter/more challenging? Btw is it worth to select hard or insane to have more challenge? I have read that later on in the game the double XP you get actually makes things easier, is that true?

In my recent playthrough I used (in this installation order):

-Auril's Bane (adds new quests, items, does some balanc changes, generally it's a good mod, but some items may be overpowered - use if you want to see some new content)
-One Pixel Productions Animation Fixes for IWD:TotLM
-The IWD Fixpack
-One Pixel Productions High-Quality Music
-Improved BAMs
-Item Upgrade for IWD (more item upgrade options)
-Unfinished Business for Icewind Dale
-One Pixel Productions (aka 1pp) (some graphical improvements)
-Icewind Dale Tweak Pack (For extra chest hair I propose using the tweak that implements the correct immunities for high level demons aka Yxunomei will be immune to weapons below +3)
-The Widescreen Mod

Extra stuff I made for my playhtough:

Mods for the original Icewind Dale (not EE, not BG2 TC, or other shit)

1280x720 UI Fix for the widescreen mod
The main UI has some ugly banding from cropping/pasting in higher resolutions, this fixes it to look better. Don't ask for other resolutions.

TNO voice pack
This also works for the original Baldur's gate.

Bigger fonts
Prevents blindness with 1280x720 and higher resolutions. I just quickly combined some stuff from my PST UI mod and my BG2 fonts mod, could be probably done better if someone was arsed to experiment with haen's font tool. Couldn't find the font file for floating text, so that's unchanged.

 

[razvedchiki]

also rogue rebalancing and atweaks.

 

[Tigranes]

Insane is fun to do, but yes, after around halfway mark the extra XP makes it no more difficult than usual.

I find IWDs don't need that many mods, I hardly miss UB if I don't install it, for instance. ghostdog's list - which is basically fixpacks and little general improvements - suffice.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

Auril's Bane is a mixed bag for me, some items and spells are a bit too powerful. I remember talking the mod-maker in toning down one of them, some kind of "aerial servant" spell that was really OP. It's worth trying though, but some items, like the armour that gives immunity to mundane weapons, should be left alone.

ghostdog 's list is alright but what is "Improved BAMs" ?

 

[ghostdog]

what is "Improved BAMs" ?

Improved item graphics IIRC (in IE they have a .bam format)

 

[ga♥]

Is there a mod for icewind dale II that would let you play it at 640x480 instead of 800x600? I hate how it looks at 800x600^^

 

[Sceptic]

Is there a mod for icewind dale II that would let you play it at 640x480 instead of 800x600? I hate how it looks at 800x600^^

It's been a while but I thought you could just choose the resolution you wanted?

 

[ga♥]

Is there a mod for icewind dale II that would let you play it at 640x480 instead of 800x600? I hate how it looks at 800x600^^

It's been a while but I thought you could just choose the resolution you wanted?

800x600 or 1024x768 are the only options here.

I last played this 15 years ago on a CRT so maybe it looked good at that time I guess.
I rly can't play any IE game at more than 640x480 on my laptop nowaday.

P.S widescreen mod doesn't let me set the res at lower than 800x600.

 

[roshan]

I'm flirting with the idea of starting a playthrough of old vanilla IWD (non EE), I was wondering if there are worthy mods that spice things up a bit without changing too much? maybe that make the game a bit..toughter/more challenging? Btw is it worth to select hard or insane to have more challenge? I have read that later on in the game the double XP you get actually makes things easier, is that true?

With a 4 person party, in insane mode, by the time you get to the vale you are so overpowered it degenerates into Diablo with pause.

I suggest getting the Enhanced Edition, it allows you to switch off the extra XP from insane mode.

 

[Jazz_]

I did a playthrough with the EE not long ago. So basicly Hard and Insane mode are actually easier than Normal in the lon run? Meh, I think I will stick with normal then, maybe gimp my party a bit to add some artificial challenge. I have installed a bunch of mods from Ghostdog's list as well, let's see how it goes.

 

[laclongquan]

Is there a mod for icewind dale II that would let you play it at 640x480 instead of 800x600? I hate how it looks at 800x600^^

It's been a while but I thought you could just choose the resolution you wanted?

800x600 or 1024x768 are the only options here.

I last played this 15 years ago on a CRT so maybe it looked good at that time I guess.
I rly can't play any IE game at more than 640x480 on my laptop nowaday.

P.S widescreen mod doesn't let me set the res at lower than 800x600.

I think it's not the resolution, it's the CRT screen.

You prolly should find some graphic mod that emulate scanlines for your game screen.

 

[Tigranes]

More importantly, what would be a fun and fucked up IWD party concept for someone who's played it various ways? Once you've done no-magic dwarf party I don't know where you go.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

So basicly Hard and Insane mode are actually easier than Normal in the lon run?

Yes and no. Or rather, it depends on the age old question: how much do you like cheese? Insane increases the spawn numbers by a lot and they do hit like a truck. However, if you cheese, abuse the shitty AI and questionable design like monsters not being able to fit through chokepoints etc then it doesn't make much difference and the extra xp might in fact make the game easier. If you refrain from cheesing too much then parts of the game are in fact genuinely challenging on insane, the Burial Isle for example. One thing to remember in vanilla IE is that extra xp from higher difficulties messes up with arcane casters a lot. The scroll availability is mostly horrible and your mages will be overleveled with nothing to cast for huge parts of the game.

 

[ghostdog]

More importantly, what would be a fun and fucked up IWD party concept for someone who's played it various ways? Once you've done no-magic dwarf party I don't know where you go.

I recall a very entertaining let's play many years a go, by someone who had a party of 6 "ninjas" aka 6 fighter/mage/thieves multiclassed.

 

[octavius]

Anyone tried a Fafhrd&Gray Mouser party?
Fafhrd would be a regular Fighter, I guess, unless you use a mod that introduces Barbarians.
Mouser should probably be a Mage/Thief dual class, starting as a Mage.

I did a LOTR party once (only one Halfling), which was fun.

I'm sure there are other parties from literature or movies that could be fun to play in IWD.

 

[Cael]

Completely screwed up award goes to a full party of single-classed thieves.

Close second is one of 6 rangers.

 

[SwiftCrack]

Robin Hood Party

Hood (Party Leader): Ranger
Friar Tuck: Cleric
Little John: Fighter/Thief
Will Scarlet: idk, does this version have Bard kits? If so Blade kit?
Maid Marian: ?? who knows, Mage so you don't gimp yourself?

Then for your sixth, you can pick any other Merry Man that is less prominent throughout the stories I guess:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merry_Men


Honestly, this just turns out to be an almost cookie cutter standard party

 

[Cael]

Then for your sixth, you can pick any other Merry Man that is less prominent throughout the stories I guess:

Try Broomhilde.

 

[SwiftCrack]

Heh.

I guess you could go with Alan-A-Dale who is a pure bard and appears in most of the movies/TV.

 

[Cael]

I guess you could go with Alan-A-Dale who is a pure bard and appears in most of the movies/TV.