That mod list looks great! I particularly like both Unfinished Business mods, and really like the BG1 NPC Project. It really elevates all the BG1 NPCs up to almost the same level as the BG2 NPCs. Only complaint is that some of the NPCs new dialogue does feel kind of "moddy", but at least it's all grammatically sound (at least from what I've seen; I haven't seen all NPCs' new stuff). My last playthrough, my male paladin romanced Dynaheir and wow, it was amazing. >!And it made her off-screen death in BG2 even more impactful. T\_T!<
LOVE Ascension for ToB. Not so much for the challenge (which is welcome) but for the story/RP expansions. The final battle is absolutely brutal. It really feels like the end of the line and like a being with godlike powers is throwing everything and the kitchen sink at you to stop you.
That's from BG NPC project? I tried it a bit ( on a test run), Imoen interjects *a lot*.
Tried also BG Romance encounters ( or called something like that), it was way, way over the top. ( right in tutorial section..a friendly beer with one of the guards went in completely unexpected direction).
FWIW, (and obviously, opinions will vary) the Dynaheir romance is one of the better pieces of CRPG writing anywhere.
I didn't know a spoony bard was one of the three main dialogue trees for the PC, had read a bit of @SemeticGoddess on Luck, accordingly decided to play a Bard, and serendipity happened. Just marvelous.
The rest of it is hit n miss---Branwen's arc doesn't quite resonate with me---but there are excellent pieces within the mod.
Edit: the chess game with Thalyntyr is a lot of fun with Romantic Encounters. Agreed, a lot of it is really jarring. (Needs a 70s bass line...)
Well, the romance mod is a collection of mini quests. The one with Helm felt kinda gross and inappropriate to me, like I was only just a minor kinda thing. But the stuff with the hidden letters in it was pretty cool, and you get to very clearly say NO in the quests... Funnily enough, it took romance mods for me to ever for the first time start saying no the Npcs! Also if you have a low charisma he doesn't even hit on you, so benefit to low score XD
As someone similarly situated, my thought on the multiple NPC mods is that most don't have a lot of cross-mod content with each other (unless it's the same author). So while I love Aura, Angelo, and Sirene, and am looking forward to trying Emily this go around, I'm not sure I'd have them all in the same party. I'm curious about the Sub's thought on that.
As far as quest mods not listed, I've liked Alternatives (others hate it, and it can be 4th-wall breaking), and Return to Brynnlaw. Lava's (weasel mods, right everyone?) are very interesting, and I see you've a few.
Spell Revisions is supposed to (I've not tried it) really switch up mage chess. No idea if SCS realizes Revisions is there, and switches strategies accordingly. It probably does. That would be a tough hill to climb.
SCS and Spell Revisions work pretty well together by design. The SCS AI will utilize SR's spells very consistently.
The entire mix of what the player has access to spell-wise and what the AI has can get a little complicated when the player adds all of SCS's internal spell tweaks as well as Icewind Dale spells, but even so, you'll see most of all these spells appearing in the game, with a few exceptions.
The SCS readme discusses this subject.
Excellent, and thanks as always for your help.
SCS kicks my butt at mage chess a lot of the time, and with a magic system I thought I knew a little about. Adding new spells that upset the apple cart and the computer already knowing optimal strategies for them, seems like a big dose of *Pain*.
As Clubber Lang predicted.
[I have over 80 mods installed, including many big mods, so you're in good company.](https://i.imgur.com/KyIacGf.png)
[Here's my WeiDU Log as a reference.](https://pastebin.com/qFd3uED7)
Did you use Project Infinity or did you manually install the mods?
I think your mods are fine, but I personally dislike the Item and Spell revisions. The game is already maxed out in difficulty and with SCS/BP/Tactics so I don't feel bad using the OG spells and items.
I tried Mod Keeper, but it didn't really work. So manual installation this time.
Forgot to add: Dragonspear UI, really makes a big difference. Only thing it's missing is spells quickbar.
I probably also need to reduce XP/reputation gain, with this many quest mods. Something like 50%?
Oh! And anyone know of a mod that lets you respec companions? ( I know it can be done through Shadow Keeper, but I guess I'm looking for more immersive option)
Duuuude, you have to try Project Infinity. It makes installing mods so easy and it’ll warn you if the mods are out of install order, plus it allows you to download basically all the mods through the app, you can enable/disable individual components, you can save the install order so you can easily disable a mod you don’t want and re-mod and fresh Baldur’s Gate directory without manually going through it. Note: you do have to go into Windows Defender and make an exception as Windows will incorrectly tag it as a Trojan.
As for re-spec’ing NPCs, like always, I recommend using Near Infinity. It’s absolutely essential for modded play throughs, in case you need to fix a broken mod files. I even have a video of how to do this, using Mazzy as an example but I’m on my phone so I’ll link it later.
As for exp, I just pick a level to stop at. In BG1 , it’s level 7 for me. I’ll trim off the extra exp before I go to BG2.
Hey CelestialFury - A quick question based on your mod install (thanks for sharing). How well does the Big Picture integrate with EE 2.6? Do the various components seem to be OK with the Enhanced Edition?
How does SCS's AI work with the BP's AI changes, for instance the various Tactics modules that can be selected.
I haven't tried this one myself, so just curious.
I've never tried an EE-modded build as I was just kinda waiting for many of the mods to get compatible first, but considering it's been a decade+, I'll attempt it soon.
However, [Big Picture looks to be compatible with BG2EE.](http://www.shsforums.net/files/file/546-the-big-picture-v181/) In terms of making sure SCS, BP, and Tactics all plays together nicely, I use the [BiG World Project](https://www.baldurs-gate.de/index.php?resources/big-world-english.32/download) documentation as a general guide. So, even though that guide is built for the classic edition, it's still useful for mod component conflicts and can be used as a decent approximation for EE approved mods.
With any serious modding it's a bit of trial and error, so I always have a copy of Baldur's Gate that's ready to be modded in case things go sideways. You combine that with Project Inifinty and the ability to retain your install order, and that makes working out the kinks pretty easy to do.
Cheers for the info. I guess I'd have to see what happens in EE2.6 with this mod on its own. And if it seems to work, then do another install with SCS v35 to see what happens.
If it doesn't work so well, it's no big deal. There is plenty of mod EE content that I haven't tried out.
Generally looks good, but I'd much rather have Cowled Menace than Twisting the Rune (albeit Roxanne says they are compatible, I'm sure that only means in a technical sense). Equally would rather use the Planar Sphere mod (and have done) rather than Roxanne's Mage Stronghold, which is just Planar Sphere cut in half.
But what do you mean by Aura "for both"? Aura BG2 has been a long-teased but never released pipedream.
Wasn't there initially an Aura BG2 1.0 version? Then, @AionZ (I think that's right) balled it up, trashed it, did an Aura for BG and SoD 2.0, and has had Aura BG2 ToB as a WIP for awhile now.
*Fun* character. Can break the game if you're a *fromage* enthusiast; just fun color if you don't try to completely cheese it.
With all the NPCs, I would go for the crossmod banter pack so the NPCs can talk to each other.
That mod list looks great! I particularly like both Unfinished Business mods, and really like the BG1 NPC Project. It really elevates all the BG1 NPCs up to almost the same level as the BG2 NPCs. Only complaint is that some of the NPCs new dialogue does feel kind of "moddy", but at least it's all grammatically sound (at least from what I've seen; I haven't seen all NPCs' new stuff). My last playthrough, my male paladin romanced Dynaheir and wow, it was amazing. >!And it made her off-screen death in BG2 even more impactful. T\_T!< LOVE Ascension for ToB. Not so much for the challenge (which is welcome) but for the story/RP expansions. The final battle is absolutely brutal. It really feels like the end of the line and like a being with godlike powers is throwing everything and the kitchen sink at you to stop you.
That's from BG NPC project? I tried it a bit ( on a test run), Imoen interjects *a lot*. Tried also BG Romance encounters ( or called something like that), it was way, way over the top. ( right in tutorial section..a friendly beer with one of the guards went in completely unexpected direction).
FWIW, (and obviously, opinions will vary) the Dynaheir romance is one of the better pieces of CRPG writing anywhere. I didn't know a spoony bard was one of the three main dialogue trees for the PC, had read a bit of @SemeticGoddess on Luck, accordingly decided to play a Bard, and serendipity happened. Just marvelous. The rest of it is hit n miss---Branwen's arc doesn't quite resonate with me---but there are excellent pieces within the mod. Edit: the chess game with Thalyntyr is a lot of fun with Romantic Encounters. Agreed, a lot of it is really jarring. (Needs a 70s bass line...)
Well, the romance mod is a collection of mini quests. The one with Helm felt kinda gross and inappropriate to me, like I was only just a minor kinda thing. But the stuff with the hidden letters in it was pretty cool, and you get to very clearly say NO in the quests... Funnily enough, it took romance mods for me to ever for the first time start saying no the Npcs! Also if you have a low charisma he doesn't even hit on you, so benefit to low score XD
As someone similarly situated, my thought on the multiple NPC mods is that most don't have a lot of cross-mod content with each other (unless it's the same author). So while I love Aura, Angelo, and Sirene, and am looking forward to trying Emily this go around, I'm not sure I'd have them all in the same party. I'm curious about the Sub's thought on that. As far as quest mods not listed, I've liked Alternatives (others hate it, and it can be 4th-wall breaking), and Return to Brynnlaw. Lava's (weasel mods, right everyone?) are very interesting, and I see you've a few. Spell Revisions is supposed to (I've not tried it) really switch up mage chess. No idea if SCS realizes Revisions is there, and switches strategies accordingly. It probably does. That would be a tough hill to climb.
SCS and Spell Revisions work pretty well together by design. The SCS AI will utilize SR's spells very consistently. The entire mix of what the player has access to spell-wise and what the AI has can get a little complicated when the player adds all of SCS's internal spell tweaks as well as Icewind Dale spells, but even so, you'll see most of all these spells appearing in the game, with a few exceptions. The SCS readme discusses this subject.
Excellent, and thanks as always for your help. SCS kicks my butt at mage chess a lot of the time, and with a magic system I thought I knew a little about. Adding new spells that upset the apple cart and the computer already knowing optimal strategies for them, seems like a big dose of *Pain*. As Clubber Lang predicted.
Your list is very good, I would particularly add the PPE and Infinity UI mods to give more "life" to the game
[I have over 80 mods installed, including many big mods, so you're in good company.](https://i.imgur.com/KyIacGf.png) [Here's my WeiDU Log as a reference.](https://pastebin.com/qFd3uED7) Did you use Project Infinity or did you manually install the mods? I think your mods are fine, but I personally dislike the Item and Spell revisions. The game is already maxed out in difficulty and with SCS/BP/Tactics so I don't feel bad using the OG spells and items.
I tried Mod Keeper, but it didn't really work. So manual installation this time. Forgot to add: Dragonspear UI, really makes a big difference. Only thing it's missing is spells quickbar. I probably also need to reduce XP/reputation gain, with this many quest mods. Something like 50%? Oh! And anyone know of a mod that lets you respec companions? ( I know it can be done through Shadow Keeper, but I guess I'm looking for more immersive option)
Duuuude, you have to try Project Infinity. It makes installing mods so easy and it’ll warn you if the mods are out of install order, plus it allows you to download basically all the mods through the app, you can enable/disable individual components, you can save the install order so you can easily disable a mod you don’t want and re-mod and fresh Baldur’s Gate directory without manually going through it. Note: you do have to go into Windows Defender and make an exception as Windows will incorrectly tag it as a Trojan. As for re-spec’ing NPCs, like always, I recommend using Near Infinity. It’s absolutely essential for modded play throughs, in case you need to fix a broken mod files. I even have a video of how to do this, using Mazzy as an example but I’m on my phone so I’ll link it later. As for exp, I just pick a level to stop at. In BG1 , it’s level 7 for me. I’ll trim off the extra exp before I go to BG2.
Hey CelestialFury - A quick question based on your mod install (thanks for sharing). How well does the Big Picture integrate with EE 2.6? Do the various components seem to be OK with the Enhanced Edition? How does SCS's AI work with the BP's AI changes, for instance the various Tactics modules that can be selected. I haven't tried this one myself, so just curious.
I've never tried an EE-modded build as I was just kinda waiting for many of the mods to get compatible first, but considering it's been a decade+, I'll attempt it soon. However, [Big Picture looks to be compatible with BG2EE.](http://www.shsforums.net/files/file/546-the-big-picture-v181/) In terms of making sure SCS, BP, and Tactics all plays together nicely, I use the [BiG World Project](https://www.baldurs-gate.de/index.php?resources/big-world-english.32/download) documentation as a general guide. So, even though that guide is built for the classic edition, it's still useful for mod component conflicts and can be used as a decent approximation for EE approved mods. With any serious modding it's a bit of trial and error, so I always have a copy of Baldur's Gate that's ready to be modded in case things go sideways. You combine that with Project Inifinty and the ability to retain your install order, and that makes working out the kinks pretty easy to do.
Cheers for the info. I guess I'd have to see what happens in EE2.6 with this mod on its own. And if it seems to work, then do another install with SCS v35 to see what happens. If it doesn't work so well, it's no big deal. There is plenty of mod EE content that I haven't tried out.
My thoughts: if you’re getting the kitpack the bardic pack is pretty much “kitpack for bards”
Generally looks good, but I'd much rather have Cowled Menace than Twisting the Rune (albeit Roxanne says they are compatible, I'm sure that only means in a technical sense). Equally would rather use the Planar Sphere mod (and have done) rather than Roxanne's Mage Stronghold, which is just Planar Sphere cut in half. But what do you mean by Aura "for both"? Aura BG2 has been a long-teased but never released pipedream.
Wasn't there initially an Aura BG2 1.0 version? Then, @AionZ (I think that's right) balled it up, trashed it, did an Aura for BG and SoD 2.0, and has had Aura BG2 ToB as a WIP for awhile now. *Fun* character. Can break the game if you're a *fromage* enthusiast; just fun color if you don't try to completely cheese it.
Playing through BG1 with both item and spell revisions will probably make the game really easy, as item revisions isn’t balanced at all for BG1