Advice requested. How many is to many?

Moonsong

As I am making my way through LiamEsler’s excellent post on BGII EE compatible mods, Thank you LiamEsler! The list of mods that I want to install grows longer and longer. It occurs to me that I may be greedily setting myself up for trouble. I really could use some advice from those here with more experience in installing multiple mods and the potential problems that can cause.
This is the list I am considering for my next play through, in the order I would install them according to LiamEsler’s post.

Arath NPC
Banter Packs
IEP Extended Banter Packs
Edwin Romance
Edwin Flirts
NPC Flirt Packs
Romantic Encounters
Haer’Dalis Romance
Sarevok Romance
BG2 Tweak Pack– mostly convenience tweaks and npcs don’t leave party over reputation.

Any insight you could provide would be greatly appreciated!

Wisp

Moonsong said:

Edwin Flirts

That mod was obsoleted by Edwin Romance v2, and versions less than v2.0.3 won't work right on BGII: EE.

Moonsong

Thank you so much for your reply! I had wondered about that and hoped someone would spot it and know if that was the case.

Deltharis

NPC not leaving over reputation has it's problems - new NPCs, while they will not leave, will refuse to join on unbearable reputation. Especially tricky when facing opponents who cast imprisonment. Also new NPCs are not affected by party-conflict-nullifiers.

And there is no such thing as too many mods. One game to have them all.

Moonsong

Thank you for the tip about things like imprisonment. I will be prepared for possible reloads.
Well it looks like I was overly cautious about the number of mods I am using then. Kind of wishing I had added a couple more for this play through now. (chuckles)
Thank you!

Twani

You can install too many mods. It's hard- the only way I've managed to reach is by installing every NPC mod ever released for BGII, along with every quest mod, every item mod, and every mod that adds kits, tweaks things, fixes stuff, and so on. In all honesty, you never need that much- at most, you're only going to use one kit per game, for example. And every NPC mod is kind of a waste, too. What doing all that does is cause this annoying slow-stutter with *everything*- you'll first notice in the cutscene in Irencius's dungeon, when the shadow thief takes around three minutes to run down the hallway because the engine can't process everything and he's moving at the speed of slow.

But really, you almost have to try to do that. I have over 100 mods installed in my BGII game, and they're working fine, and you could easily install every mod currently compatible with BGIIEE and not have any problems. And even installing every mod that's been created for BG1/Tutu, I've never been able to get Tutu so full up that it has that same stutter.

So mod away.

Moonsong

I can see that the amount of mods I’m trying to use at once really isn’t that many at all compared to what some people are using. Thank you!
I hope this thread will answer the question for anyone else who also might be wondering. There are so many wonderful mods out now that really add to our games. I don’t have much experience with using the ones that tweak the classes and such, but the NPC mods really help bring my role playing world to life. Some of them feel so much fuller and complete then the NPCs that come with the base game, giving me a much more satisfying experience. I also really like the fact that there are diverse personalities and “feel” to the different mods. Something for everyone's taste so to speak.
Some that I have tried so far:

Kelsey
I played this years ago and really enjoyed it. Very well done and had a complete feel to it for me. I think it was the first one to allow you to initiate talking to the NPC. A lovely romance option as well as friendship. To me, he had the “boy next door” feel to him.

Haer’Dalis Romance
This is the one I am currently playing and I just love it so far. The conversations are interesting and the romance a bit “spicier”, but very tasteful. I remember back when I first was playing the game years ago, wishing there was a romance possible with him and this mod is bringing him to life just as I hoped it would. I really like the writing of this modder and am looking forward to trying the Sarevok romance only because it is done by the same person. Normally I would never get into an evil party member, but after playing Haer’Dalis, Sarevok is a must try.

Anomen
Sadly there is no mod devoted solely to Anomen but if like me, you actually like the character, just not his over the top irritating manner portrayed in the base game, I recommend the NPC flirt Pack mod. It adds so much to his romance and personality, while still keeping him in character.

Arath
Though I liked this character, and thought the way his quest fit into the Copper Coronet slaver quest was well done, I just didn't feel this mod fit my tastes as well as some others. Rather then having a feeling of sliding in and out of romantic conversation, it felt abrupt and bumpy to me. Perhaps my age is showing and this would appeal to a younger audience then me. There is also no option yet in this mod to initiate talk with the NPC. I suspect that will be added later. I did like the fact that he made another druid NPC option for your party.

I hope my impressions of some of the mods helps someone else want to try them. I know I really appreciate it when others take the time to share their impressions.