About to start BG2EE with SCS: how stable/clean is it? Should I wait for patch? (when?)

Ygramul

So, as per title:

The BUGS thread is looking long & painful.

Is the game any good at the moment? Should I wait a bit? How long will the patch likely take?

Is SCS up to par on the current version of BG2EE?

shawne

BG2:EE currently suffers from a substantial number of bugs, many of which are game-breaking (dialogue loops, cutscenes that won't trigger, key items that go missing, etc.). Most of these bugs are concentrated around the EE content, so you might do better if you stick to the original characters... but if you really want the full EE experience, you'll have to wait.

As for how long the patch will take... we're at nine months and counting. Your guess is as good as mine.

Gotural

I have ran all SoA with SCS installed and I have yet to find a gamebreaking bug. Nothing forced me to reload a previous save or to cheat.

But I didn't play the EE content, so what shawne said may be true.

JuliusBorisov

You should be fine! I've played BG2:EE with SCS with Hexxat, Neera and Rasaad. There were only several places when I needed to find a solution to a problem, but this forum provided it (just use a search or aske directly) so nothing game-breaking.

Go for it. Nobody knows how long it will take to release the patch for BG2:EE. Play now, the game is fine. And SCS part has no problems either.

Ygramul

Thanks a lot @bengoshi‌ and @Gotural‌ -- it seems I should go ahead now and hope for the best.

Sed

Playing SCS in my run with Neera and Rasaad.. no issues so far, except a very angry lich who killed me without mercy :P

Ygramul

Follow-up:

How does SCS interact with BG2 Tweaks?

I tried instal order: Tweaks -> SCS and got problems [parts reverting, failing to install etc.]

... but forums suggest SCS should come last.

Any advice?

JuliusBorisov

Ygramul said:

Follow-up:

How does SCS interact with BG2 Tweaks?

I tried instal order: Tweaks -> SCS and got problems [parts reverting, failing to install etc.]

... but forums suggest SCS should come last.

Any advice?

@Gotural‌ , @Blackraven‌ - calling you because I don't use BG2 Tweaks so can't help here

Gotural

To quote the SCS readme :

SCS attempts to be as compatibility-friendly as possible. It should be compatible with most quest, item, NPC and tweak mods (I don't know of any significant incompatibilities with currently-used mods other than those listed below).

In general, when installing multiple mods, it matters which order you install them in. A rough guide is:

The Ascension mod
The BG2 Fixpack
Mods which change the spell or item systems
Mods which add new quests and similar game content
Mods which add new joinable characters
Mods which tweak aspects of gameplay

Within each category, as a rule of thumb you should install older mods first. SCS is a tweak mod, so it should be installed towards the end of your installation. Ideally, SCS prefers to be installed last, but several other recent mods (aTweaks, BiggTweaks, BG2 Tweakpack) also say "install last" in their readmes. You can generally install any of these listed mods after SCS fairly safely. (In particular, aTweaks is designed with SCS specifically in mind, and should definitely be installed after SCS). Other mods, and in particular any mods that add new items, really need to be installed before SCS.

So watchout, you are probably confusing the BG2 Fixpack and the BG2 Tweakpack.

The Fixpack (which is obsolete if you have the Enhanced Edition) is indeed best installed before SCS, but the Tweakpack, the mod we're speaking about, should be installed after SCS. That may be the source of your problem.

So I would suggest you to install the game once again to make a clean, vanilla install, then to install SCS => BG2 Tweakpack => aTweaks (if you want to install this one too)

elminster

I would also make sure you enable the console. Especially if you are taking the new characters with you you may need it.

Blackraven

@Gotural put it perfectly. I've nothing to add to that.
@Ygramul, if you have another speficic question about other mods, feel free to ask.

Ygramul

Thanks, all!

I narrowed down my compatibility problem to actually a missing HLA-thingy for smarter mages AI in SCS: when you permit at least some of the mages have HLAs the file works and installation happens fine.

We'll see if the current will prove problem-free...