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"Maybe this time" [NO-RELOAD THREAD]: "The Tale of ONE MILLION visions"

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  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    Currently trying out a Fighter/Illusionist in Heart of Fury mode. I start out at level 1, but I give myself the pick of any and all items I gathered on my last two playthroughs... which leaves me with some gaps in my spellbook, since I have so few scrolls, but also gives me access to some of the best items in the game, which I didn't all get to use in the last two runs.

    Notably, I have two copies of Kontik's Ring of Wizardry and therefore almost unlimited level 1 and 2 spells. I use Charm Person constantly in Easthaven. The Two-Handed Sword +3: Bane lives up to my expectations: its permanent disease effect, while it only triggers 25% of the time, offers no save. Once I hit an enemy with it, I can ignore it and move on to the next one. In long battles like those of HoF mode, the damage is extraordinary, as it does 1 damage every 2 seconds.

    I did, however, experience lots of trouble in Kuldahar Valley. The fights just went on for so long that I had to drain several Potions of Extra Healing and a couple of Potions of Invisibility and an Oil of Speed to make sure I didn't die when I got surrounded. The enemy's collective APR was just too high for my Mirror Image spells to hold out--I should have run out to Kuldahar or slept in Ghereg's tower before confronting the last group of enemies (I have no Invisibility spell yet to run past them).

    I'm currently in the Vale of Shadows. I purchased a scroll of Web and drank some of my limited potions to scribe it (my Fighter/Illusionist has an INT of 10 to make sure her CHA is high enough to hit 20 with Friends), since the Girdle of Labelas makes me immune to Web. Even though I have no pips in morningstars or two-weapon style, I'm dual-wielding the Morning Star +4: Defender with Valiant in the off hand, since it's the most effective means of dealing damage to skeletons that I have. Valiant grants an extra attack per round, just like Belm, and the Morning Star +4: Defender, aside from several excellent defensive benefits, does crushing damage, which is extremely important in the Vale of Shadows.

    I'm sitting on -10 AC and about 10 castings per day of Mirror Image, plus 4 castings of Haste per day and immunity to fatigue thanks to the Helm of the Trusted Defender. With Free Action from the Girdle of Labelas, immunity to sleep thanks to the HotTD, and a save vs. spell of 0, I should be safe from disablers for quite some time. The biggest threat now is getting surrounded and running out of Mirror Image spells, because my damage output isn't as strong as a normal HoF party's. But I have a few Potions of Invisibility left to give me breathing room to cast Mirror Image, and if things get really bad, I still have 10 Arrows of Translocation, which should be able to get me out of a crowd if I really need them. I figure they'll last at least until I get the Dimension Door scroll in Dragon's Eye.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    I tried getting BG2:EE back. All I want is to be able to install SCS.

    I uninstalled the game via Windows as well as Steam (apparently the former just does the latter). I searched for the relevant registry files to delete them as @BelgarathMTH suggested, but there was no way to identify which one was BG2 and which ones were my other Steam games.

    Instead, I followed a tutorial on Youtube to delete Steam cloud files.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zulnvYsJ20&nohtml5=False
    I followed the steps exactly, but there was no desync, which is what was supposed to happen. The userdata files I was supposed to delete have been replaced, evidently by Steam, and the situation appears the same as before.

    I tried reinstalling SCS just to see. The initialize component failed to install due to an unspecified error. Where do I report this?

    If I can't get SCS working on this install, my only choice is to delete all of my Steam-related registry files, and I have no idea what that would do to my other games. I have uninstalled the game, done a clean install, and did everything I know how to do to delete the Steam cloud files that might be responsible.

    I fear the situation is absolutely broken beyond all repair, even though there were several possible solutions that were supposed to be able to fix the problem. I have no choices left. Nothing. No ideas, no solutions, no way forward.

    The game itself isn't the problem. The registry files, I can't touch without putting my other games in jeopardy. Clean installs don't work. The steam cloud appears invincible. Every file that could be responsible for the problem has either been deleted, or apparently cannot be deleted.

    I have a second Steam account, but last I checked, it too was broken somehow, and I could not access it. I don't know when I'll be able to play BG2 with SCS again.

    I am out of ideas.

    It just feels helpless and frustrating to know that I can't play my favorite game for the past 16 years... because a clean install apparently isn't physically possible without doing something dangerous to my computer.

    Whatever happened to just re-installing a program?
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    There is one other solution I can think of. But I'd need a forumite's help.

    The idea is to just take somebody else's files and transplant them directly into my override folder. My override folder is currently empty, so there should be no risk of conflict. I'd have all the correct scripts and spells and .cre files and so forth that I needed. The weakness is that I couldn't safely tweak the install, I don't think, without risking screwing something up.

    @Blackraven? @bengoshi? @Gotural? @Lord_Tansheron? I believe all of you use SCS as a standard, with Tansheron being the only one to use IR and SR. Would it be possible for one of you to collect your override files and post them as one or more .zip folders so that I could transplant your install onto my computer?

    It doesn't really matter what the settings are. I can go without enemy pre-buffs or universal HLAs. I just can't go without the basics of SCS... there just wouldn't be much point in playing BG2 without SCS. Experimental no-reload SCS runs are the only way I can really maintain the difficulty these days, and that's what keeps bringing me back to this game.
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,754
    @semiticgod Are you talking about BG2EE on Steam with 2.0 patch? Then you should follow https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/50441/modmerge-merge-your-steam-gog-zip-based-dlc-into-something-weidu-nearinfinity-dltcep-can-use#latest to get mods work.
  • Lord_TansheronLord_Tansheron Member Posts: 4,212
    @semiticgod If it's just SCS that is the problem, make sure to apply the fixes posted here. If you get the error in the AI initialize, that is exactly what happened to me as well before I applied the fixes. With the fixes, no problem.

    As for Steam issues, I haven't the faintest as I have never used Steam.
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    Taking a mage through BGEE with SCS and on insane difficulty is not easy at all for me. I already mentioned a solo Elven Diviner who bit the dust in a Hobgoblin ambush. Eirian, whose progress I reported in my last post, fell in the Firewine Ruins. I assumed I wasn't playing BGEE with full SCS prebuffs but with the toned down version (instant buffs only if created in sight of the caster, as per my last BG2EE setup). Lendarn showed me that I was mistaken. When Eirian cast Hold Person at the wizard, his buffs, which included a MGoI, instantly triggered, nullifying Eirian's threat. He then succesfully Horrored Eirian and Dirgesinger Canaid, added a Stinking Cloud, and finished her off with MMMs and a Lightning Bolt.
    After this I decided to go solo again, as I prefer the pace and I find it more exciting if a character has no one else to rely on, and more educational for myself as to how to play a given class or kit.

    Invoker Clare got ambushed by Skellies on her way to the High Hedge area, after she had barely left Candlekeep. She managed to Shield herself but suffered a critical nonetheless.
    I had a promising and - thanks to Invisibility being unavalable - thrilling run with Necromancer Stella. She was around level 6 when she succesfully Horrored a Carrion Crawler in Shoal's area. Sadly panic didn't stop it from attacking. Stella got Held and was nibbled to death.
    I then rolled an Abjurer, a Half-Elf Transmuter and a second Elven Diviner. The roll I got on the latter was extraordinary:
    Unfortunately this doesn't mean that much to a Mage, though in principle it's nice to be able to maximize Str (for corpse hauling, throwing daggers), Dex (for ranged accuracy), Con (for the Claw of Kazgaroth), and Int (for spell scribing convenience). I even got to max Wis (for lore). I went with the Diviner, Manteia, not because of these godly stats but rather because I think I won't really miss Conjuration/Summoning stuff unlike Abjuration or Alteration spells. The exception would be Find Familiar for the extra HP, especially early on. Most of the other Conjuration/Summoning spells seem to have alternatives in other schools, e.g. Spirit Armor instead of Ghost Armor, Skull Trap instead of Flame Arrow (although Flame Arrow is single target), Mordy Swords and Skeletons as summons. The PW spells are nice but can be hard to use.
    Of course it's harder to play a Diviner using mostly Divination spells than it is to play a Necromancer using Necromancy spells or an Invoker user Evocation spells offensively. After all, Divination spells are utility spells, and some of them aren't even that useful to begin with. I do intend to work not only with the obvious picks Identify and True Sight (and the lesser detection spells before that), but also with Clairvoyance and Farsight to control the battlefield from afar and to give some meaning to the fact that my Diviner is actually a Diviner.

    Manteia started out with Identify, Shield and Sleep, and found a nice Blur spell (rare I think) on one of the victims Gorion had made before he fell. The Elf safely reached Beregost where she quested to level 2. In the area south of Beregost she slew three Flaming Fist mercenaries (thanks to Sleep) for their armor worth 900 GP. Further south she met Noober, sold the Ankheg armor and spent most of the proceeds on boosting her reputation. She also killed the Amazing Oopah, which brought her very close to level 3. She would have been there already, had the Ghast she had run into south of Beregost not disappeared after a rest. Now she risked her neck securing the Coquetle family necklace, as a Hobgoblin arrow whizzed past her.
    On her way to Beregost to return the necklace, death came even closer. Amid ten bandits, she managed to timely cast Shield,
    fled but suffered a critical hit that left her at 1 HP and breathed a sigh of relief as she escaped with her life.
    With level 3 reached in Beregost, and thus level 2 spell slots received, Manteia traveled to the High Hedge, approaching it from the northwest and walking toward the entrance in a counter-clockwise direction, so as not to run into beasts or skeletons. She spent most of her gold on spell scrolls, saving only 105 GP so she could buy the red and violet potions at the Nashkel Carnival. After having quaffed the red potion she copied around 20 spells into her spellbook, including Invisibility, a crucial spell for handling ambushes (and other precarious situations).
    Up north Manteia looted the Ankheg hoard using Invisibility, and brought Tenya to her senses with two Magic Missiles. She then bought the Fragment of Enlightenment ioun stone (+20 lore, RR item) at the High Hedge, lots of throwing daggers and a green scroll of PfPetrification at the Nashkel Carnival, and went Basilisk hunting. She cheated a bit with the Strength spell, casting it before traveling so that she would only become encumbered with her throwing daggers upon arrival. One Greater Basilisk dropped a Haste scroll. Manteia had a bit of a scare when Mutamin suddenly appeared while she was dealing with two Basilisks. She went invisible and retreated, threw a couple of wand-Fireballs at her enemies, and was at a safe spot when she witnessed Mutamin's Remove Magic fail to dispel her PfPetrification. She then Scorchered Mutamin and dealt with the other Basilisks.
    The Elf also slew Kirian, Lindin, and Peter with fire, and returned to Beregost a richer wizard. Her coin she spent in Ulgoth's Beard on the Greenstone Amulet and a Cloak of Displacement.
    Manteia then traveled to Durlag's Tower, where she killed one Battle Horror with Skull Traps and her wand of fire, but had to leave because of a Skull Trap placed too far from the second Battle Horror for it to trigger. She bought a scroll of PfUndead and traveled to Nashkel Mines exit area to loot the tombs while protected from undead. The wand of monster summoning was then used to trigger the Skull Trap, and the wand of fire to defeat the second Battle Horror. Inside Durlag's Tower Manteia secured a tome of wisdom, and used the Greenstone Amulet to get past a trap to the Basilisk terraces. (The trap still did 26 damage the first time.) All four Basilisks were slain, which was enough for Manteia to reach level 7. This is a screenshot of her character record (forgot to take one earlier), with the 19 Wis thanks to Durlag's Tower.
  • BelgarathMTHBelgarathMTH Member Posts: 5,653
    @semiticgod , I think you may have me confused with someone else. I am pretty clueless when it comes to registry management, so I would never try to give anybody any advice about that. I don't even know how to access the registry on my computer - I've always used a utility if I wanted to try cleaning it to solve a problem.

    I'm sorry I don't know how to help getting SCS working, (I don't even use SCS), but I see some other forum members who know a lot more about these things than I do are giving links to the threads by the people who have gotten it to work. I hope you get it all sorted.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    I started a new run of BG2. This is a poverty run with three Shamans, two sorcerers, one Dragon Disciple, and no level 10 mage spells. I'm currently in Chateau Irenicus and thanks to EE 2.0 allowing you to have memorized spells at the very beginning of the game, we can clear out the entire first level before resting. Fireball, Magic Missile, and the Shaman dance proved instrumental in addressing our party's greatest weakness, which is the lack of physical damage power. But we still suffer a tremendous amount of damage, as our AC is terrible and we don't yet have any Stoneskin or Ironskins spells memorized. We have no way of disarming traps, but since this run includes no items besides quest items, we won't be triggering all that many anyway.
  • BelgarathMTHBelgarathMTH Member Posts: 5,653
    @Blackraven , condolences on your loss. That's devastating. A lot of the traps in BG2 are definitely no-reload enders for solo non-thieves.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @Blackraven: How does Nightmare mode work in BG1? I'd have thought it would be ludicrously difficult if the bonuses are the same as NM in BG2. A gang of 90-HP kobolds with 3 attacks per round would be hellish.
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    @lurith, great to see a new face in this thread :smiley:
    Best of luck with Conor!
  • PteranPteran Member Posts: 388
    @lurith I look forward to reading more about Conor and your adventures along the Sword Coast!
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    I was also considering having a weaponless run, and had our Cleric of Lathander/Mage fight with her bare hands, since Enchanted Weapon could let her hit enemies immune to normal weapons using her fists.
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