Best Mods?

HooAmEye

So, after missing out on the initial craze for the infinity engine games I finally completed my first playthrough of BG2, WHICH I LOVED!! Anyhow, I've decided to play through all the enhanced editions of the games, and am wondering which mods are the best to download.

From what I've read there aren't many good mods for BG1, apart from the "NPC Project". So, I suppose my request is more geared to BG2/Ice Wind Dale. What are the best additional NPC mods, content additions (the "Back To Brynnlaw" looks interesting), and other improvements. I plan on playing through as a femPC if that helps any.

Thanks.

semiticgoddess

I thought for a moment this was about the best Beamdog moderators... ah, well.

Anyway, welcome to the forums, @HooAmEye! I like your username. I hope you enjoy the community here.

Unfinished Business is a great quest mod for BG2, and there is a "banter pack" that expand the inter-party banters for all the original NPCs. They add in a lot of extra flavor.

If you're looking for a tactical challenge, you might try installing Sword Coast Stratagems, which vastly improves enemy intelligence and targeting. It's very customizable and you can tailor it to your exact specifications. But if this is only your second playthrough, I would recommend installing only the bare basics of SCS, because if you install everything, the difficulty would be excessive.

CrevsDaak

There actually are many good mods for BG1, but not as much as for BG2. I'm not gonna give you names BG2 content mods because I don't know any besides Ascension and Wheels of Prophecy which are both ToB mods (that make it actually playable/interesting), and BG2 UB has already been mentioned so IDK.

I think BG1 Unfinished Business is pretty good as well, since in most cases it actually just fixes stuff that made quests impossible to be completed.

Finch (an NPC for BG1) is said to be very good, but I don't use NPC mods so I couldn't tell you myself.

semiticgoddess

Finch is the best mod-introduced character I've ever had. She is just darling.

"The pen is mightier than the sword, and much easier to write with!"

Flashburn

Try the BG2 Coran mod by @kulyok. I'm not very big on NPC mods and Coran is the only one I use, so its got a big seal of approval from me.

lefreut

***

gorgonzola

I suggest to wait a little more for difficulty enhancing mods, unless you have found vanilla really easy.
Among them SCS is probably the most played nowadays, but I like Tactics, an old style BG2 mod that in the early days was almost standard and now is played by few. It has a completely different approach than SCS, presenting "impossible" situations that, if you don't google for answer, but seek yourself a solution, are funny to solve.
Imo is worth to give it a try, when you will feel that you are really too strong for vanilla, but prepare yourself to a lot of reloads, the enemies cheat a lot and the boost in difficulty is huge. Maybe you will find that it is not for you, but imo the BG2 experience is not complete if someone does not give it a try, at least once in the life.
One of its advantages is that if is true that enemies often cheat there it does not alter the game mechanics, at least from the party side, spells and the rest continue to work exactly as in vanilla, you don't have to learn differences, with SCS and even more with other mods some differences are introduced.

An npc mod that I like is Tashia , a female sorcerer that you can romance. booth the romance and the added content imo are good, I prefer it to Kelsey, an other sorcerer NPC that probably is more played.

I link you a topic with @Pantalion review of mods, there you will find his point of view, with which I don't completely agree, as each one has his tastes, but is a good review and allow you to have an opinion on many npc and new quest mods.
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/46634/mod-reviews/p1

Kamigoroshi

semiticgod said:

Mur'Neth is the best mod-introduced character I've ever had.

Fixed, no need to thank me.

The single most important mod for BGII in my humble opinion is Dungeon-Be-Gone. No other mod enhanced my playthroughs as much as this one. Or saved my hair from being pulled out violently, for that matter.

gorgonzola

@Kamigoroshi as i mostly play with Tactics mod I have never used Dungeon-Be-Gone, I find the modded first dungeon too interesting to loose it. But playing vanilla or other mods I can perfectly understand you, doing again and again the initial dungeon can get really boring and frustrating.

Mirandel

Get yourself one mod - Big World Setup (BWS) https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/44476/tool-big-world-setup-bws-mod-manager-for-baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-trilogy-for-windows/p1 (all instructions are there)

It's a mod-installer with a collection of the most popular mods with explanations what each mod does and links to the sites of each mod developer with additional information.

Often people use mods restoring content that was cut out for some reasons (Unfinished Business), adding life to the world (additional dialogs, like BG1NPC), Tweaks (make life easier), SCS (makes fights harder) and some random additional quest mods (new areas, new quests, new NPCs).

argent77

Kamigoroshi said:

The single most important mod for BGII in my humble opinion is Dungeon-Be-Gone. No other mod enhanced my playthroughs as much as this one. Or saved my hair from being pulled out violently, for that matter.

Dungeon-Be-Gone got some competition recently.

Quickblade

I'll echo Tashia mod. My first modded NPC, and I love her personality. Very few other mod NPCs I'm even willing to try, and only Tashia and Auren made the cut. And Auren only made it for the Nalia-Auren romance. Not so much that I'm picky, it's just that I already have trouble weeding my party down just with vanilla/EE NPCs.

I'd say I couldn't live without the PPG and IEP banterpacks because I don't think there's ever enough dialogue.

Chad

Rogue rebalancing is fantastic IMO, as well as unfinished business and the npc mod.

Abi_Dalzim

Isra and Tyris Flare are the NPC mods I swear by. As far as I'm concerned, voiced dialogue is just as important to a good NPC mod as good writing.

Ardul

Some of favourite mods, that have not been mentioned yet, are Item Revisions and Spell Revisions by @Demivrgvs. They greatly enhance and enrich the spell and item game, giving both more options and more balanced gameplay. I heartily recommend them

gorgonzola

Ardul said:

Some of favourite mods, that have not been mentioned yet, are Item Revisions and Spell Revisions

Those mods are surely good and interesting, but I am not sure that is wise to install them at the second run of the game. And that is just my personal opinion. I think that is better to first learn the normal game mechanics and become proficient with those, exploring them and the different tactics that they allow, then introduce mods that bring a such radical change in the gameplay.

Ardul

Well I actually would agree with that - they are much better appreciated by a seasoned player. I could not, however, leave them totally unmentioned

Gallowglass

My advice to any new player is to play right through the game two or three times in a completely unmodded game, so that you have some experience of the default mechanics and content, before taking any decisions about modding anything.

Once you've done that, then you're in a much better position to make well-informed choices about what you do (or do not) want to change - different people have very different tastes, and other people's advice is not very useful if you don't have some personal experience against which to compare their recommendations.

gorgonzola

@Gallowglass I agree, but new NPC and new Quest mods have less impact on the gameplay than mods that change the mechanics or the difficulty level. They are really not needed, as just trying a different class charname and different NPCs give a different flavor to the game and for the first few runs that is more than enough.

As the OP asked in an other topic, now closed as is a clone of this one, about Back to Brynlaw mod, I personally like it and it is one of the mods that I use often in my original game, while I am running my first EE game unmodded.
Other quest mods that I like are Tower of Deception, Dungeon Crawl, that are available in chap2 SoA, and Sellswords and Elistrae's Song, available later.
Using quest mods has a side effect, they introduce new xp and new items, some of them quite powerful.
I am not referring to a sword that you find in ToD, that is bugged and imo not even usable, I am referring mainly to a robe in DC that is very similar to the Robe of Vecna and the inventory of the Drow shops in Sellswords. Back to Brynlaw give also the chance to have back the stat point that you have to sacrifice before to progress in the game, but that imo is not an issue in a game where you can roll a 70 or a 100 in stats total at the start of the game.

To have more xp available and more powerful items is not good or bad, it depends on player's taste.
But if installing a single quest mod does not change much the balance, but adds some new content to enjoy, installing many quest mods in the same run will make the game a lot easier, having a couple of levels more than what you are supposed to have and a bunch of powerful items normally not available make a real difference. A new player that install quest mods must be aware of that. Aware, than the decision is up to him.

@HooAmEye I draw the attention of the moderators on your clone topic, so I am somehow responsible of having it closed. But my intention was not to be hostile, I really think that everyone gains from the thing.
The people who is willing to help you, as they don't have to skip between topics to know what has been already told (and believe me, is quite annoying to do it) and also yourself, as you can have more informed answers and less redundancy.

Notabarbiegirl

NPC : Gavin Mor He is available in BG (EE compatable) and BG2 (EE as well). I have not heard word if his TOB was ever completed. He ads a lot of extras even on a friendship path, the Romance path for a female Bhalspawn has a lot of interesting details. He works well with my other choice as esential: NPC mods and has lots of interactions with the teammates.

James_M

I've played these content mods with BG2 recently, and BG2EE (except SOS) when I used to play EE's. These mods are definitely worth installing!


Shadows over Soubar (SOS) - 9.5/10!
Tower of Deception - 8/10
Dungeon Crawl - 7/10
Assassinations - very good but too evil for my party
Back to Brynnlaw - 9/10!
The Sellswords- 8/10
Tales of the Deep Gardens - 8/10
I Shall Never Forget - 8/10
Eilistraee's Song - 8/10
Banter Packs - 10/10!
D0 Questpack v3.2: I install 4 components only: Rahul Kanakia's Potion Quest, Burglary Of The Bookkeeper, Tragedy of Besamen; Nazarial The Lich (new area in the Underdark)
Gibberlings 3 Anniversary v9

I have written a walkthrough for BG2 (original) that details Baldur's Gate 2 mod installation order and good mods (basic installation and advanced) and includes a Shadows Over Soubar walkthrough for the main quest and Selence's initial quests:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/71232387/Baldur-s-Gate-2-Walkthrough-for-SoA-ToB-Cleric-Ranger
https://www.slideshare.net/bg2mez/baldurs-gate-2-walkthrough-for-soa-tob-clericranger-72287979

BG2EE walkthrough is here, but no mod guide:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/211406264/Baldur-s-Gate-2-Enhanced-Edition-Walkthrough-for-SoA-ToB-Cleric-Ranger
http://www.slideshare.net/bg2mez/baldurs-gate-2-enhanced-edition-walkthrough-for-soa-tob-clericranger

The above are the quest mods; then I'd install these guys:
1PP v4.1.0 - absolutely beautiful
The Tweaks Anthology (cdtweaks-Beta_4): install components from Cosmetic, Content, and Convenience
BP-BGT Worldmap v10.2.1 (not compatible with any Baldurdash!)
Infinity Sounds v13: I install 3 components only: Restored BG1 Weapon Attack Sound Effects, BG1 Armor Hit Sound Effects, Gulp! Sound Effect
Widescreen: Note: 800x600 looks awesome, so no need to install Widescreen
And finally:
Jaheira romance patch (3 files copy/pasted into the Override folder): Install this patch: JaheiraRomanceAndHarpersPlotPatchV21 (from http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/Jaheira.php)

Tulgas

Really wish for a proper database of all mods, places like reddit may avoid nessesary attention when selecting mods. But for now,

BG 2.5
score scale: below 5 = I'd not advise to install
point of view: P:T is better than any BG games, IWD not worth playing
(first trying-to-blind play, insane difficulty)

UI MODS:
cdtweaks-v9 10/10 (some must have tweaks, and containers)
WandCase 10/10
itemupgrade-v45 10/10
Bubb's Spell Menu 10/10
Lefreut's Enhanced UI 9/10 (if only it had no yellow lines in trade window)
A7-LightingPackEE-v3.0 9/10
~~~DragonspearUI-2.42 5/10 (was not used)

STORY MODS:
win-A7-GolemConstruction-v6.1 10/10
Southern Edge v3.01 10/10
Oozes Lounge v2.3 9/10
g3anniversary-v11 9/10
win-DjinniCompanion-v2.8 8/10 (-2 only for pair of areas with too simplified writing)
DungeonCrawl_v12 8/10 (has easter)
Assassinations_v16 8/10 (probably game enjine is not good enough to fit this mod better)
Tales of the Deep Gardens v12.4 7/10
BackBrynnlaw_v8 7/10
A7-TestYourMettle-v1.2 5/10 (potentially can be improved to 8/10 if infinite respawn removed in futher versions)
Sellswords_v8 4/10 (unbalanced, may be much improved in futher patches)
Reunion_v6 4/10
win-A7-TotLM-BG2EE-v2.0 4/10 (probably was much improved in 2.1 version, but still too IWD mod)

ThacoBell

@Tulgas There's two threads here in the forum that compiles mods with links. They only list mods compatible with the EEs though. I don't think there's a thread for mods compatible with the vanilla games though.

SharGuidesMyHand

To anyone who is agreeable to romancing a female NPC, I would highly recommend FADE. Her mod adds a LOT of content and dialogue to quests like the Guarded compound, the Underdark, Firkraag's dungeon, and the Bodhi abduction. She also makes for a highly efficient backstabber, especially if you choose the option to maker her a shadowdancer.

A few words of warning though:
-I don't know how much of said content would still be available if you don't romance her.
-She doesn't become available until Chapt. 3, and you MUST side with the Shadow Thieves in order to get her.


I also highly recommend ANGELO. Aside from the fact that he himself is a colorful character, he also offers you a VERY useful item when you meet him (which you can keep even if you don't let him in) AND it installs a pair of merchants in the Temple District who sell some very useful stuff as well.