Need help with my BG:EE mod list install order

shay5525

Hey everyone, I’m Shay!

This is (kind of) my first post here, so I just wanted to say hello and that this looks like a cool community (I’ve been reading here for a while).

About me & Bladur's Gate:

I’ve been obsessed with BG since the ads for it started appearing in “Zombit”, the Israeli computers magazine I was subscribed to between 97’ and 99’ (they looked kind of like the Hebrew version of the big box, which you can see on the left here).

I remember waiting for the summer vacation for the opportunity to buy it with a year-long worth of savings (I was 12) while I’m staying at my aunt’s in the city. I remember walking with my cousin for what looked like eternity through the scorching sun to get to the mall to buy it with trembling hands (it was actually a 20 minutes walk through a very quiet Israeli neighbourhood). And I remember opening the box and having my mind blown by the five (!!!) CDs, by the hugh manual, by the amazing opening cinematics and the menu music; it was the best thing ever. And it is still one of my top 3 favorite games of all time (Fallout 1 & 2 and HoMM3 are up there with BG).

Anyway, although I’ve played BG numerous times, I haven’t really touched it for the last year, since finishing it with an evil party for the first time (using a version of EE lower than 1.3), and getting to know and enjoy Xzar, Montaron, Kagain and later Dorn and Baeloth for the first time. Finally got to hack away at anything and everything, viciously mauling Flaming Fist patrols. I am now in the process of taking this character through Siege of Dragonspear, and plan on doing the whole saga with him later on.

Now I’m planning a big new install of v2.3, and I’ve been scouring the forums, and all other BG-related online resources, for the best BG:EE v2.3 compatible mods, building my install order. I would love your help, if you’re willing, with three things:

1. Taking a look at my install order, to see if I have anything out of order (or even a pure conflict). @SubtleDoctor, I’d love to get your opinion specifically, if you can spare the time, as I’m installing several of your mods, and I couldn’t figure out the exact install order you recommend.
   
2. Telling me if I missed anything good.
   
3. Help me decide on a few open issues.
   

And if you think to yourself “OCD much?”, you’re right.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and thank you even more of you’re planning to read further.

Shay


The Goals
The rationale of my choices is that I played the game many times, including with SCS, and so I would like to modify it in a way that changes core systems to generate new tactical challenges, and offer new decisions. The gist is:

• Some new content, mainly things that expand on the original BG1 content.
  
• A few NPCs. I don’t like most NPC mods, especially anything that has romance in it. I’ve found Verr'Sza, Vynd and Sirene cool-sounding, so I’ll install them.
  
• A more interesting spell casting system. I went with Spell Revisions’ system + Tome & Blood’s Armored Casting system and some other few components.
  
• A more interesting armor system. Went with Item Revision’s Revised Armor system and The Tweaks Anthology’s armored thieving system.
  
• As much new races, classes and kits as possible, as this is my favorite thing.
  
• Challenge tweaks such as SCS.
  

Questions

• What to install from SCS and what not? I heard that some mages can become waaay to tough.
  
• Anyone here has experience with Eldritch Magic’s EE: Item Expansion component? Is it buggy in any way?
  
• Any experience with the Armor Pack and the Item Pack over v2.3 (these two seem a bit outdated)?
  
• I gather you need to enter the beta to use Faiths & Powers. How in/compatible is this with some of the other divine kit mods?
  

The Install Order
The list is written in order of installation, which was built by categories. The category order was based on the order @SubtleDoctor gave here.

The full install order, broken down by component, can be found in this very orderly Google Sheet. It’s probably easier to read than the following one, but I’m assuming people don’t like clicking on links, so here goes:

1. Base Game
   1. BG:EE, Beamdog’s Installer (not GOG or Steam) v2.3
      
   2. BG:SoD, Beamdog’s Installer (not GOG or Steam) v2.3
      
   3. I don’t need Modmerge, right? Because it’s Beamdog’s version.
      
2. Quest Mods
   1. BG Mini-Quests
      
   2. Stone of Askavar
      
   3. BG1 Unfinished Business
      
   4. Critter Parts
      
3. NPC Mods
   1. BG1 NPC Project
      
   2. Chatty Imoen
      
   3. Verr'Sza
      
   4. Vynd, drow assassin
      
   5. Sirene, Paladin of Ilmater
      
4. Spell Mods
   1. Spell Revisions
      
5. Item Mods
   1. More Style for Mages
      
   2. Item Revisions - Everything but Store Revisions & Allow Thieving Skills in Armor
      
   3. Barbed Club of Pain
      
   4. Armor Pack - Not sure, but I think I’ll try to see if it works with v2.3.
      
   5. Weapon Pack - Not sure, but I think I’ll try to see if it works with v2.3.
      
6. Race, Class & Kit Mods
   1. Planetouched Races
      
   2. The Shieldbearer
      
   3. The Card
      
   4. Derat's Unused Kits Pack - Not sure. I hope each kit is an independent component. I want just the following:
      1. Vermin Hunter
         
      2. Master of the Swarm
         
      3. Bearer of Hate
         
   5. Eldritch Magic - Everything but:
      1. Bladesinger
         
      2. Undead Hunter
         
      3. Wilderness Runner
         
      4. EE: Item Expansion - I want all the items, but am afraid to install this because of the beta label. Opinions?
         
      5. Congenio's Pebble Collection
         
   6. Hexblade [Bard Kit]
      
   7. Lost Druid
      
   8. Divine Remix - Everything but Disable Kits, NPC changes & Sphere System
      
   9. Divine Remix Hotfix - Found here.
      
   10. FG Cleric Kits
       
   11. Pale Master
       
   12. Tome & Blood - The following components:
       1. Core Revisions
          
       2. Gnome Sorcerers
          
       3. Armored Casting
          
       4. Arcane Crafting
          
       5. Cantrips
          
       6. Bloodline Sorcerer
          
       7. Dragon Disciple Expansion
          
       8. Specialist Revisions
          
   13. Tome & Blood Hotfix - Found here.
       
   14. Rouge Rebalancing - Everything but Component #2: Thief kit revisions.
       
   15. Song & Silence - Everything.
       
   16. Faiths & Powers - I gather you need to enter the beta to use this. How in/compatible is this with some of the above?
       
   17. Monastic Orders of Faerun - Everything.
       
   18. Might & Guile - Everything but...
       1. Component 225: Revised Stalkers
          
       2. Component 260: Revised Kensai
          
       3. Component 410: Add the Sniper thief kit
          
   19. Tweak Mods
       1. Animal Companions for Rangers & Druids
          
       2. BG:EE Classic Movies
          
       3. The Tweaks Anthology - About 70% of the components.
          
       4. Scales of Balance - I’ll install the following:
          1. IWO: Enchantment Tweaks
             
          2. IWO: Weapon Tweaks
             
          3. WPO: Weapon Category Combination
             
          4. WPO: Fighting Style Overhaul
             
          5. Saving Throw Overhaul (STO)
             
          6. Stat Bonus Overhaul (SBO)
             
          7. SBO: Full Strength form 2-Hand Weapons Only
             
          8. Hit Dice Overhaul (HDO): Revised Hit Point Progression
             
   20. AI Mods
       1. Sword Coast Stratagems - Everything besides things that will make some/all mage encounters extremely hard in BG1.
          
       2. SCS Fix - From here.
          

[Deleted User]

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agb1

Most of the SCS fixes out there seem to be unreliable. Instead, you should use the BWFixPack that @agb1 maintains. Procedure: get all your mods into your game folder, apply any hotfixes, and then run the BWFixPack. Then start installing mods.

No, no. Put all the mods (unpacked) into your game folder, yes. But do not apply any hotfixes manually before running the BWFixpack script. The patches in the fixpack are line-by-line edits to the original mod files, and any changes you make to those files will cause the patching to fail. Only unaltered original mod files should be placed there. In almost all cases, the BWFixpack includes the latest known hotfixes. If you find an exception, please tell me, and within 30 minutes that usually will be corrected.

shay5525

subtledoctor said:

So, first, it seems like you have put an incredible amount of thought into this. Sadly, this is necessary, or at least recommended, to really mod up these games. But good for you!

If you are willing to give it that kind of consideration, you might want to consult the true authority, the Big World Guide pdf. It's huge, but it encompasses everything. Basically you can just put your selected mods in the order presented there, and you will have the highest chance of having a bug-free experience. I *think* it can downloaded here:
http://www.shsforums.net/files/file/534-big-world-english/
(I can't see what's at the link, the page doesn't load on my phone. If that's not it, use Google. You want v16 or later. (v16 is currently the latest release.))

Thanks, I'll go over it!

subtledoctor said:

- Might & Guile has both kits and tweaks, so you can have it straddle those. Categories - it should be the last kit mod, and the first tweak mod. (If the readme still says to install it after Tweaks Anthology, then I need to fix that ASAP! On the other hand, it probably won't make a huge difference...)

Thanks. I've changed the order. And yes, your readme is currently outdated.

subtledoctor said:

- I'm not sure which M&G components you want, but remember the feat system is not compatible with RR's revised thief kits.

Good that you said that. I missed that, and I do actually want the feat system. Actually, I'm installing all M&G components but:

• Component 225: Revised Stalkers
  
• Component 260: Revised Kensai
  
• Component 410: Add the Sniper thief kit
  

subtledoctor said:

- Remember that the hotfixes you mention should be applied to the mod folders themselves *before* the mod is installed.

Didn't know that. Phew...

subtledoctor said:

- Most of the SCS fixes out there seem to be unreliable. Instead, you should use the BWFixPack that @agb1 maintains. Procedure: get all your mods into your game folder, apply any hotfixes, and then run the BWFixPack. Then start installing mods.

Thanks. Will do.

subtledoctor said:

- Note that SoB 5.5's Fighting Style Overhaul currently has a bug, which I will hopefully fix next weekend. There is an interim hit fix available in the SoB mod thread. Unlike most hotfixes, this one is a mod unto itself, which should be installed at the absolute very end of your install order.

Than I'll wait for that, as I need a few more days to set everything up anyway.

subtledoctor said:

- Finally a recommendation: throw a few more NPCs in there! The good ones blend into the game world if you don't want to use them, and give you more variation if you do. I'm partial to Indira and Valerie.

I'll definitely throw those two in! I love having new NPCs, I just want them to written really well and also not be overpowered. Got a few more names of well-written NPC mods for me? Hell, I'll even take OP ones and nerf them with an attribute sum between 78-82 and an interesting kit.

GrimLefourbe

Item Revisions's armor system is list based and didn't work very well with SoD and some mods last time I checked.

Scales of Balance's armor system will probably bring a more cohesive experience at the cost of a few items being unbalanced(in either direction) while IR's method will bring all items as intended but a bunch of items won't have the same restrictions which sort of breaks immersion.

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agb1

You got me there. The Tome & Blood hotfix was missing, but it is included now.