I found a tweak to play hardest without increased damage.

DJKajuru

Hello there!

Those who have played IWD or IWDEE on hardest (not talking about HoF) may have noticed that pushing the slider forward may increase the number of enemies per area. You will fight 4 ogres at the orc cave, instead of one. Another case I remember is that there will be several extra trolls in dragon's eye.

I've always seen it as a another example of how considerate the developers were when it came to tactics (even more than on BG1, I must say) , because fighting those extra enemies did not make the game insanely difficult, it has actually made certain battles more fun and rewarding.

But there was the matter of double damage. A single hit from the orc archer could cause 15 damage and send your level 1 party to death's halls in a single round.

So , by investigating certain area and monster scripts , I found out the script that added these extra monsters , and edited it so I could play it on Core Rules and still get the extra challenge.

So I'm making these .bcs files available for those who may be interested in extra challenge but no extra damage, just save them on your override folder.. If you also know other tweaks that make the game more interesting/challenging, please tell us.

FinneousPJ

Please make a mod that removes the extra XP. That's the real problem with HoF mode.

Skatan

I haven' come around to start tweaking/modding the game yet, but I gotta say this is damn interesting. It removes the double experience which make you level (too) fast but keep much of the fun with increased number of enemies. I personally kinda like the challenge of double damage, though, since a single misplaced fireball can wipe out my frontliners, hehe.. It's not uncommon to get 30 dmg in one hit from a decent enemy, which I offset by cheesing out with "max HP on level up".

Next playthrough I will probably mod the game somewhat, and this may be one of the things I add.

DJKajuru

FinneousPJ said:

Please make a mod that removes the extra XP. That's the real problem with HoF mode.

So far, I really don't understand how the monster files change from normal mode to HoF, If the original creatures are actually replaced or if the game "boosts" them .

Skatan said:

I personally kinda like the challenge of double damage, though, since a single misplaced fireball can wipe out my frontliners, hehe...

I'm a cores rules addict , for me it's "the enemy's fireball should burn as much as mine" heheh

DJKajuru

@bengoshi , the files I've uploaded don't appear in the post anymore , is it normal? I mean, does the moderation block files , and if they do, how can I legitimate them?

Nevertheless, here is the dropbox link to them:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/48sb0p9zby44m62/iwd scripts.rar?dl=0

kensai

FinneousPJ said:

Please make a mod that removes the extra XP. That's the real problem with HoF mode.

I made a fix to reduce EXP by 50% on insane. This fix will be added in my "Starlight" mod.

mlnevese

@DJKajuru‌ I can see the file normally. Can you confirm if you still can't?

JuliusBorisov

@DJKajuru‌ and @mlnevese‌

I can't see any file attached to the OP. It seems the forum is at it again. I advice to always use a link to the source, and dropbox suits perfectly, for the safety.

lunar

Does this also remove the double xp on non-HoF games while playing on insane? So we get:

-increased enemy spawns
-normal enemy damage
-normal xp rewards?

Kerthal

lunar said:

Does this also remove the double xp on non-HoF games while playing on insane? So we get:

-increased enemy spawns
-normal enemy damage
-normal xp rewards?

I think this tweak will allow you to play on CORE difficulty with the increased enemy spawns. So this should cover all the points you listed ^^

lunar

Kerthal said:

lunar said:

Does this also remove the double xp on non-HoF games while playing on insane? So we get:

-increased enemy spawns
-normal enemy damage
-normal xp rewards?

I think this tweak will allow you to play on CORE difficulty with the increased enemy spawns. So this should cover all the points you listed ^^

Oh, okay then. Misunderstood.
Cool!

DJKajuru

mlnevese said:

@DJKajuru‌ I can see the file normally. Can you confirm if you still can't?

Strangely, I can't. I'll make sure to use dropbox links, then.

lunar said:

Does this also remove the double xp on non-HoF games while playing on insane? So we get:

-increased enemy spawns
-normal enemy damage
-normal xp rewards?

It's exactly it!

chickenhed

This is fantastic. Thank you @DJKajuru !

agris

I can't tell from the comments here if this lets you play with INSANE spanws on Core, or HoF spawns, all with normal damage and XP? As I understand it, HoF mode is INSANE + 1 in terms of spawns.

DJKajuru

agris said:

I can't tell from the comments here if this lets you play with INSANE spanws on Core, or HoF spawns, all with normal damage and XP? As I understand it, HoF mode is INSANE + 1 in terms of spawns.

It lets you play with INSANE spawns on Core.

TEMNOZORAN

THANK YOU DJKAJURU !

I wanted this for years, I played the original IWD when it was released and I always had this difficulty problem:

How to get more monsters without making them stronger and without earning more experience points?

Now the game will be a real challenge

thank you again

agris

Now if only there was a compatible version of Ding0's Experience Fixer to cut down monster/quest XP by X%, we could preserve the progression curve of the party.

TEMNOZORAN

I edit my characters at each chapter with EEkeeper to remove some experience points, it works very well

DJKajuru

agris said:

Now if only there was a compatible version of Ding0's Experience Fixer to cut down monster/quest XP by X%, we could preserve the progression curve of the party.

Ding0's experience fixer seems to be working with BG2EE, have tried it on IWDEE?

TEMNOZORAN

It would be great to get such a mod for IWDEE , leveling too fast ruin the game

agris

DJKajuru said:

agris said:

Now if only there was a compatible version of Ding0's Experience Fixer to cut down monster/quest XP by X%, we could preserve the progression curve of the party.

Ding0's experience fixer seems to be working with BG2EE, have tried it on IWDEE?

I haven't, but the readme says:

Section II: Installation
------------------------
BGII and ToB are required.


edit: after looking in the PPG forums, I found this from Angel, the curator:

"The creature-, mage/thief- and quest XP fixers should theoretically work on BG(2)EE (or any IE game for that matter) since they are written as patches, unless the EE games introduce new ways of gaining XP that these patches don't cover. The mod covers creature XP, the xpbonus.2da table, the xplist.2da table, dialogs and scripts that use the AddexperienceParty() or AddXPObject() actions and spells that use opcode 104. (Come to think of it, items could use opcode 104 too. Perhaps I should look into that. Does any game or mod implement something like the Libram of Silver Magic or the Tome of Exalted Deeds?)"