BGII Mods help/suggestions?

johntyl

Hi, I just bought and installed BGII and I wished to install some mods. I'm looking at BGII:EE Compatible Mod List but I'm confused regarding which mods I should be installing.

I know I wish to carry on playing SCS mod, and since my main CHAR is a F/T I guess I should be installing Rogue Rebalancing Mod as well? I'm also thinking of installing Weimer's Item Upgrade Mod. What else should I be installing?

Any recommendations on useful tweaks such as Items Stacking (for eg. Wand case, arrows x1000, etc.), Portrait and Sound mods?

Thank you!

jesterdesu

Sorry in advance because I'm going to sound very negative and you've written a perfectly polite post.

Rogue rebalancing is a ridiculous mod which makes powerful classes even more silly. As much as 2ed and the baldurs gate implementation of it can be strange, this mod simply breaks any remote semblance of balance there ever was.

I've some respect for Weimar's intentions and the quality production of his items mod but it's entirely unnecessary as the game is full of powerful items already. There's only so much plus 5 items I can handle till they get boring.

1000 arrow stacks... As if 80 x 3 wasn't silly enough! This game ought to make ammo weigh something...

As much as mods used to be essential to fix bugs in vanilla, I'd say enjoy bgee as it comes from beamdog, they've done a fine job.

JuliusBorisov

I now find myself often using https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/38319/mods-awesome-soundsets-mods-master-thread-custom-soundsets-for-bgee-bg2ee-and-iwdee#latest if the standard BG2 soundsets don't suit this or that character.

For the portraits, I prefer to set them (if I want to) manually, by placing new portraits for NPCs to the override folder or by using the EE-Keeper.

I can't play withouth the SCS mod, so it's a must for me - to make enemies behave more challenging.

As for the tweaks, it's a matter of taste: http://www.gibberlings3.net/bg2tweaks/ generally cover everything I would like to have: Alter Multiclass Restrictions, Remove Racial Restrictions for Single Classes, Remove Racial Restrictions for Kits. I use the Maximum HP Creatures tweak (although @Blackraven mentioned the SCS mod already includes this tweak, I'm not sure about that).

As for Unlimited Ammo Stacks, Unlimited Jewelry and Gem Stacks, Unlimited Potion Stacks, Unlimited Scroll Stacks and Happy Patch - again, it's up to you. I tried them but in the end found they seriously change my feelings of the game.

johntyl

jesterdesu said:

Sorry in advance because I'm going to sound very negative and you've written a perfectly polite post.

Rogue rebalancing is a ridiculous mod which makes powerful classes even more silly. As much as 2ed and the baldurs gate implementation of it can be strange, this mod simply breaks any remote semblance of balance there ever was.

I've some respect for Weimar's intentions and the quality production of his items mod but it's entirely unnecessary as the game is full of powerful items already. There's only so much plus 5 items I can handle till they get boring.

1000 arrow stacks... As if 80 x 3 wasn't silly enough! This game ought to make ammo weigh something...

As much as mods used to be essential to fix bugs in vanilla, I'd say enjoy bgee as it comes from beamdog, they've done a fine job.

That sounds perfectly reasonable and insightful. Advice gratefully taken. Thanks!

johntyl

bengoshi said:

I now find myself often using https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/38319/mods-awesome-soundsets-mods-master-thread-custom-soundsets-for-bgee-bg2ee-and-iwdee#latest if the standard BG2 soundsets don't suit this or that character.

For the portraits, I prefer to set them (if I want to) manually, by placing new portraits for NPCs to the override folder or by using the EE-Keeper.

I can't play withouth the SCS mod, so it's a must for me - to make enemies behave more challenging.

As for the tweaks, it's a matter of taste: http://www.gibberlings3.net/bg2tweaks/ generally cover everything I would like to have: Alter Multiclass Restrictions, Remove Racial Restrictions for Single Classes, Remove Racial Restrictions for Kits. I use the Maximum HP Creatures tweak (although @Blackraven mentioned the SCS mod already includes this tweak, I'm not sure about that).

As for Unlimited Ammo Stacks, Unlimited Jewelry and Gem Stacks, Unlimited Potion Stacks, Unlimited Scroll Stacks and Happy Patch - again, it's up to you. I tried them but in the end found they seriously change my feelings of the game.

Okay, so in short, SCS is good enough. I felt so too, but was just looking for more opinions regarding this matter. Thanks!

Neverused

jesterdesu said:

Sorry in advance because I'm going to sound very negative and you've written a perfectly polite post.

Rogue rebalancing is a ridiculous mod which makes powerful classes even more silly. As much as 2ed and the baldurs gate implementation of it can be strange, this mod simply breaks any remote semblance of balance there ever was.

I've some respect for Weimar's intentions and the quality production of his items mod but it's entirely unnecessary as the game is full of powerful items already. There's only so much plus 5 items I can handle till they get boring.

1000 arrow stacks... As if 80 x 3 wasn't silly enough! This game ought to make ammo weigh something...

As much as mods used to be essential to fix bugs in vanilla, I'd say enjoy bgee as it comes from beamdog, they've done a fine job.

I dunno, I haven't found that RR's unbalanced... anything, really. If anything, Rogue Rebalancing probably weakened the Thief Kits instead of making them overpowered. I'm looking at the readme now, and positive changes for Thieves: they can get 3 points in Two Weapon Fighting (... taking 3 proficiency points.) Kind of nice, nothing crazy.
Assassins: I would argue that RR WEAKENED Assassins. Before, the poison would do half damage on a save. RR, no damage. No longer a guaranteed mage disrupter. True, they allow the Assassin their additional backstab multipliers earlier than waiting for endgame for their benefit over regular thieves, but... Even, at worst.
Swashbucklers: Noticeably weaker than vanilla. Gaining Fighter THAC0 when using melee weapons, but no longer gaining the +1 damage per 5 levels hurts the quick-leveling thief class. No question.
Bounty Hunter: ... Yeah, no question here, I think. RR weakened the Bounty Hunter by removing the Maze effect from the equation. See Blackraven's old Bounty Hunter runs to see how this affects things: I think he dropped dragons by mazing them and then Spike Trapping the ground beneath them while they were gone and thus out of combat. Still good, no doubt, but I don't think it's ludicrously broken.

HLA revisions: Most major one to note is that Spike Traps are now Piercing rather than Magic damage, and thus blocked by Stoneskin. And let's be honest, we're comparing all these impressive-looking HLAs to being able to summon Devas and Planetars and throwing around Improved Alarcity to drop your entire spell book on something. It's GOOD, but it's not Imma Wizard good.

I don't have time to go over Bards or equipment, but I'm curious in knowing what you thing about RR you found unbalancing.