@Voytaz Keep in mind that what you're attempting to do is to SOLO the game with THIS mod installed while playing on the game's regular Heart of Fury mode at the same time. You're essentially trying the Icewind Dale equivalent of the solo Baldur's Gate saga Legacy of Bhaal + Sword Coast Strategems challenge (except possibly even harder).
If I had been playing my mod with those conditions, I probably wouldn't stand a chance either.
I recommend that you DON'T play on the game's regular Heart of Fury mode (play on Insane or Core Rules or something). Also, try playing with a party for your first run. Solo playthroughs are really hard when you're trying a new version of one of these games for the first time.
In the case of the beetles in my playtesting run, several of my party members shot missiles at different beetles, killing each one in one hit before they had a chance to spit too many fires.
Yeah, I knew there would be some problems. I wanted to make this run, because these are the achievements left for me: https://i.imgur.com/OWs9AoD.png And I wanted to do them in one run, but I see it's gotta be a little hard, maybe with some HLAs mod, or xp cap remover/bigger max lvl, if there is one.
@olegbenloleg I edited the first post on this thread to include a link to the GitHub repository where you can download the mod. You can also get there using the link below. Once you get to GitHub, click "Clone or Download" -> "Download ZIP".
Thanks a lot. Had some difficulties installing. Probably because it is the first time ever I use a download game from a game platform. I'm strictly old school in that way but your mod concinced me here. And, yes the beetles wiped me out: Great Once again thanks so much
Okay, with HoF disabled I can defeat one bug while beeing fireballed by others and chugging potions at the same time. With a lot of money and a few in-game days I think I could make this and I WILL. But first I'll wait for HoW and ToTL. Keep up the good work.
And a little question. Is there any bag of holding available at the beggining or some later? I feel like I'll be carrying around a lot of stuff for different occasions, like armors, belts, weapons etc.
@plef I have no idea. I know very little about Linux. One question: do .exe files work on Linux? If not, you won't be able to use WeiDU so you won't be able to install it (unless there's another version of WeiDU that does work on Linux). In any case, I'm really not knowledgeable about Linux.
@Voytaz You can buy a bag of holding from Orrick in Kuldahar. Also, it's going to be a while until I finish Heart of Winter and Trials of the Luremaster. Currently I have a lot of work to do for college (I was only able to finish up this mod last weekend because I had forgotten about an assignment I had to do). In the meantime, you might as well play the base game.
@OlvynChuru No problem, I can wait. I'm going to the next year of college next week, and now I have some games I want to finish (last chapter of BG2 is still waiting).
Do you know if this mod can be used with other mods, like IWD Ease of use pack? I just read there are some programs dealing with that kind of problem. Is any one of them recommendable? And finally can you recommend a difficulty level for someone who likes to think about strategy for a more difficult fight but doesn't like to have an epic battle against any pair of Goblins along the way?
@olegbenloleg I don't know what mods this mod is compatible with, but I do know that it is not compatible with @sarevok57 's Mega Icewind Dale Mod (since both mods modify creatures, encounters, and item locations). It may be compatible with certain tweak mods but I don't know since I haven't used any.
In terms of difficulty, I recommend you choose one of the options below:
* Core Rules (with Max HP rolls) * Insane (with double experience, double damage, and Max HP rolls) - This is the difficulty I used when I playtested the game. * Insane (with double experience, no increased damage, and Max HP rolls)
Also, the goblins in this mod aren't that bad. They aren't much tougher than they are in the base game. Some of them have abilities like Critical Strike or Greater Whirlwind Attack, but their stats aren't much better than in the base game. The enemies in the game get much, much stronger as you go through the game.
Pretty great time on my current run through. Playing a fairly strong team and I have certainly had to rest often and retreat a few times here and there. Great job!
@chimaera I don't know because I've never used the IWD NPC mod. Note that my mod makes individual modifications to creatures already in the game but does not make any difficulty changes to creatures from other mods.
@chimaera I don't know because I've never used the IWD NPC mod. Note that my mod makes individual modifications to creatures already in the game but does not make any difficulty changes to creatures from other mods.
I actually like characters with random stats (since the game has spells and potions to make up for character weaknesses), hence my question: would it be possible in the future to split the mod into parts like scs? The higher max stats means all my random rolls end up quite high, which is probably very useful for Hof mode, but overkill for normal difficulties, so I'd rather skip it.
It won't be overkill. On Core Rules, enemies won't give any additional experience, so your party will be at a lower level. It won't necessarily be easier than Insane with double experience, which is the difficulty I playtested the game with.
The higher max stats won't make the game too easy, trust me.
So far I have made it through the opening dungeon. The only thing I am not enjoying so far are the goblin archer elite that summon additional goblins. These don't seem to fit, realistically. They have not proven a problem but rather are a good nuisance and required a new approach. Then again I am not a fan of just spamming enemies to increase difficulty. My major issue with it is not actually the amount of enemies but that it interrupts the pathfinding AI resulting in characters occasionally just stalling out instead of moving towards their goal. This is just personal preference and not meant to distract from the awesome mod and the amount of work put into it, just constructive criticism.
(In the next patch, I'm making it so that some spectral undead creatures, including Ghost Shamans and the other spirits in the Burial Isle, can go through impassable areas.)
(Ghost Shamans are level 30 shamans. This means they can do things like this.)
(Battle Cry is basically Mass Greater Whirlwind Attack for 2 rounds. Optimally you want to either have someone with Protection from Magic Weapons to soak up the hits, or kill the wailing virgin and run away until Battle Cry wears off.)
(I also gave the wailing virgins another wail.) (Piercing Shriek is an automatic Dispel Magic + Spellstrike on everyone.)
(By the way, all the spirits in the Burial Isle are permanently under the effect of the shaman HLA Spirit Form, which grants Improved Invisibility and 50% physical damage resistance.)
Presio fight was really difficult. Legions of undead, those blasted skeletons (why area of their blast is wider than area of fireball?) Damned zombies with bugged slow (can't be cured with potion of haste and slows too much) And Presio. 182 hp 23/19 lvl cleric/necromancer Presio. Even her cast can't ne interrupted sometimes and that nasty spell Wrecking Pain that kills my teammate everytime. What does tfis spell do btw?
@kensai Congratulations for getting that far! I'm also glad to hear that you're having fun!
I am very much aware of what was killing your teammate. Presio cast Great Shout through Chain Contingency. When I was modding the spells, I buffed Great Shout so that it does more damage and instantly kills creatures of HD 15 or less with no save. However, I didn't do this until long after I tested the Presio fight, and I forgot to make it so that Presio doesn't cast Great Shout.
I had already realized this not long after I released the first version of the mod. One of the first changes I made for the next version of the mod was to make Presio cast a different spell instead of Great Shout, one that doesn't kill you instantly. Once I release the next version (which could still take some time), Presio won't cast Great Shout.
Do you, at the very least, have someone who can cast Death Ward? That should prevent Great Shout from instantly killing you (except possibly through damage) until I get the next patch out.
But yeah, Presio's hard. Even before I buffed Great Shout, the Presio duel ended up being among the toughest fights in the game for my playtesting team.
@OlvynChuru Thanks, I completely forgot about Death Ward So Wrecking Pain is Great Shout? Then maybe it's my mistake maybe some component in spell revisions made this change
Remorhazes: (Remorhazes can eat you. The character takes acid damage over time while inside the remorhaz and can't do anything. It lasts for several rounds.)
(Gloomfrost Giants are some of the toughest giants around. They can also summon more remorhazes.)
(Yes, ice beholders.)
Hosttower assassins: (Vaarglan can summon a LOT of skeletons. The good news is that by this point your cleric can simply kill the skeletons with Turn Undead (or gain control of them).)
(I took the Kossuth's Blood amulet off that remorhaz and gave it to Alpheus. He's dangerous.)
The Final Island: (This level is rough. It's nice to have high level barbarians around to help you.)
The Blue Temple: (All of the enemies in this area are level 30 or higher, with the exception of the regular Sahuagin Warriors, which are level 24.)
As it's getting closer and closer to finish, I have started to think about my party and I have some questions:
Are there any new items for monks? In vanilla you hardly get any.
Are assassins viable here? Or everyone just get detect invisibility/protection from backstab?
Did you balance HoW and TotL to play before or after end-game?
And last thing, is this compatible with other mods? I want to install only kit mods, but some of them can slightly change rules (like sorcerers getting additional spells and caster level from charisma, or changing monks abilities). Is it going to break the balance or is it good?
As it's getting closer and closer to finish, I have started to think about my party and I have some questions:
Are there any new items for monks? In vanilla you hardly get any.
I had actually intended to put a good monk item at Pomab's shop at the beginning of the game, but I forgot. The item is Force of Lightning, from Icewind Dale 2. It'll be in Pomab's shop in the next patch.
Are assassins viable here? Or everyone just get detect invisibility/protection from backstab?
Pretty much no one was given protection from backstab who didn't have it in the first place. Some enemies were given the ability to see invisible creatures, but most still don't. And in my changes to spellcasters, I don't make them cast True Sight when an invisible PC is approaching them.
Did you balance HoW and TotL to play before or after end-game?
I'm intending them to be played after end-game. It might be possible to beat them starting earlier, but I have no idea. You'd really need to know what you're doing.
And last thing, is this compatible with other mods? I want to install only kit mods, but some of them can slightly change rules (like sorcerers getting additional spells and caster level from charisma, or changing monks abilities). Is it going to break the balance or is it good?
I haven't played many mods, so I have no idea if it's compatible with other mods, but this mod does not make many major rules changes. The changes from this mod are mainly to spells, items, creatures, areas, and stores, but not to rules or kits. The only kit change I can think of is that I changed Inquisitor Dispel Magic to have a 100% chance of dispelling, like other ways of dispelling magic. The only rules change I can think of is the higher stat rolls. I think this mod should be compatible with kit mods, but it won't be compatible with big overhaul mods like @sarevok57 's Mega Mod.
Icasaracht is really hard in this mod. She's by far the toughest (and the biggest) dragon in the game. She has -28 AC, 3600 Hit Points, -22 THAC0, and attacks 3 times per round for 20-86 damage per hit, with a breath weapon that deals 50d4+50 cold damage (optimally you'd only want characters who are immune to cold to get close to her). She can also cast a lot of high level spells.
Icasaracht also has many allies, some of whom can summon other creatures.
(The Sahuagin Priestesses can also summon creatures. Each of them can summon multiple Greater Water Elementals.)
Icasaracht's Soul Gem is no pushover either.
But after several hours of trying, I finally beat her with my playtesting team!
Now I just have to finish up modding items and odds and ends in Heart of Winter, then I'll release the next version and start working on Trials of the Luremaster. TotLM is going to be fun to mod; I already have plenty of ideas!
This looks INSANE. I remember Icasaracht beeing laughably easy as a last boss, but now with that two layers of summons and one-hitting everyone, she's gonna be really tough.
And what about the experience points? I saw that your single classes characters were almost max level after beating base game, if I'm going 6 singles, I'm gonna run through HoW and TotL with almost no level ups. Rising max level can break some spells based on caster level, so that's a pass for me I think, and playing on core difficulty to slow down exp a little bit would be probably harder than insane. Is there a way to somehow fix it? It's not a big problem, you still get new and powerful items, but when your characters stop progressing, it's much less fun to play.
And as always, keep up the good work, this mod is amazing.
Comments
If I had been playing my mod with those conditions, I probably wouldn't stand a chance either.
I recommend that you DON'T play on the game's regular Heart of Fury mode (play on Insane or Core Rules or something). Also, try playing with a party for your first run. Solo playthroughs are really hard when you're trying a new version of one of these games for the first time.
In the case of the beetles in my playtesting run, several of my party members shot missiles at different beetles, killing each one in one hit before they had a chance to spit too many fires.
https://i.imgur.com/OWs9AoD.png
And I wanted to do them in one run, but I see it's gotta be a little hard, maybe with some HLAs mod, or xp cap remover/bigger max lvl, if there is one.
And, yes the beetles wiped me out: Great
And a little question. Is there any bag of holding available at the beggining or some later? I feel like I'll be carrying around a lot of stuff for different occasions, like armors, belts, weapons etc.
@Voytaz You can buy a bag of holding from Orrick in Kuldahar. Also, it's going to be a while until I finish Heart of Winter and Trials of the Luremaster. Currently I have a lot of work to do for college (I was only able to finish up this mod last weekend because I had forgotten about an assignment I had to do). In the meantime, you might as well play the base game.
And finally can you recommend a difficulty level for someone who likes to think about strategy for a more difficult fight but doesn't like to have an epic battle against any pair of Goblins along the way?
In terms of difficulty, I recommend you choose one of the options below:
* Core Rules (with Max HP rolls)
* Insane (with double experience, double damage, and Max HP rolls) - This is the difficulty I used when I playtested the game.
* Insane (with double experience, no increased damage, and Max HP rolls)
Also, the goblins in this mod aren't that bad. They aren't much tougher than they are in the base game. Some of them have abilities like Critical Strike or Greater Whirlwind Attack, but their stats aren't much better than in the base game. The enemies in the game get much, much stronger as you go through the game.
@RVNS How far have you gotten?
The higher max stats won't make the game too easy, trust me.
The goblin archers in the Severed Hand also fire Goblin Arrows. Should I change that as well?
(In the next patch, I'm making it so that some spectral undead creatures, including Ghost Shamans and the other spirits in the Burial Isle, can go through impassable areas.)
(Ghost Shamans are level 30 shamans. This means they can do things like this.)
(Battle Cry is basically Mass Greater Whirlwind Attack for 2 rounds. Optimally you want to either have someone with Protection from Magic Weapons to soak up the hits, or kill the wailing virgin and run away until Battle Cry wears off.)
(I also gave the wailing virgins another wail.)
(Piercing Shriek is an automatic Dispel Magic + Spellstrike on everyone.)
(By the way, all the spirits in the Burial Isle are permanently under the effect of the shaman HLA Spirit Form, which grants Improved Invisibility and 50% physical damage resistance.)
Some more items:
Legions of undead, those blasted skeletons (why area of their blast is wider than area of fireball?)
Damned zombies with bugged slow (can't be cured with potion of haste and slows too much)
And Presio. 182 hp 23/19 lvl cleric/necromancer Presio. Even her cast can't ne interrupted sometimes and that nasty spell Wrecking Pain that kills my teammate everytime. What does tfis spell do btw?
Still this mod is really fun, thank you.
I am very much aware of what was killing your teammate. Presio cast Great Shout through Chain Contingency. When I was modding the spells, I buffed Great Shout so that it does more damage and instantly kills creatures of HD 15 or less with no save. However, I didn't do this until long after I tested the Presio fight, and I forgot to make it so that Presio doesn't cast Great Shout.
I had already realized this not long after I released the first version of the mod. One of the first changes I made for the next version of the mod was to make Presio cast a different spell instead of Great Shout, one that doesn't kill you instantly. Once I release the next version (which could still take some time), Presio won't cast Great Shout.
Do you, at the very least, have someone who can cast Death Ward? That should prevent Great Shout from instantly killing you (except possibly through damage) until I get the next patch out.
But yeah, Presio's hard. Even before I buffed Great Shout, the Presio duel ended up being among the toughest fights in the game for my playtesting team.
Thanks, I completely forgot about Death Ward
So Wrecking Pain is Great Shout? Then maybe it's my mistake maybe some component in spell revisions made this change
Remorhazes:
(Remorhazes can eat you. The character takes acid damage over time while inside the remorhaz and can't do anything. It lasts for several rounds.)
(Gloomfrost Giants are some of the toughest giants around. They can also summon more remorhazes.)
(Yes, ice beholders.)
Hosttower assassins:
(Vaarglan can summon a LOT of skeletons. The good news is that by this point your cleric can simply kill the skeletons with Turn Undead (or gain control of them).)
(I took the Kossuth's Blood amulet off that remorhaz and gave it to Alpheus. He's dangerous.)
The Final Island:
(This level is rough. It's nice to have high level barbarians around to help you.)
The Blue Temple:
(All of the enemies in this area are level 30 or higher, with the exception of the regular Sahuagin Warriors, which are level 24.)
More items:
Are there any new items for monks? In vanilla you hardly get any.
Are assassins viable here? Or everyone just get detect invisibility/protection from backstab?
Did you balance HoW and TotL to play before or after end-game?
And last thing, is this compatible with other mods? I want to install only kit mods, but some of them can slightly change rules (like sorcerers getting additional spells and caster level from charisma, or changing monks abilities). Is it going to break the balance or is it good?
Icasaracht is really hard in this mod. She's by far the toughest (and the biggest) dragon in the game. She has -28 AC, 3600 Hit Points, -22 THAC0, and attacks 3 times per round for 20-86 damage per hit, with a breath weapon that deals 50d4+50 cold damage (optimally you'd only want characters who are immune to cold to get close to her). She can also cast a lot of high level spells.
Icasaracht also has many allies, some of whom can summon other creatures.
(The Sahuagin Priestesses can also summon creatures. Each of them can summon multiple Greater Water Elementals.)
Icasaracht's Soul Gem is no pushover either.
But after several hours of trying, I finally beat her with my playtesting team!
Now I just have to finish up modding items and odds and ends in Heart of Winter, then I'll release the next version and start working on Trials of the Luremaster. TotLM is going to be fun to mod; I already have plenty of ideas!
And what about the experience points? I saw that your single classes characters were almost max level after beating base game, if I'm going 6 singles, I'm gonna run through HoW and TotL with almost no level ups. Rising max level can break some spells based on caster level, so that's a pass for me I think, and playing on core difficulty to slow down exp a little bit would be probably harder than insane. Is there a way to somehow fix it? It's not a big problem, you still get new and powerful items, but when your characters stop progressing, it's much less fun to play.
And as always, keep up the good work, this mod is amazing.