I recently made an options menu that makes it super easy to toggle the new fog of war, (which has been added in the latest version):
Might not look like much, but the entire GUI system was hardcoded and almost untouchable before this. I've figured out how to define new menus during runtime, making it much, much easier to add new things like this in the future.
On the crazy off-chance that one of the mods peruses this thread and sees new comments: as it's not entirely clear what actions are preferred to make oneself eligible for the IWD2EE beta, if forum members are in fact being granted access to it, please note that my hand is up in the air and happily waving, as I've never had the pleasure to even *play* the game until now - and have discovered that IWD 2 + Windows 10 is indeed a bad parent.
So, hey - if beta access is still available: I'm game to be your monkey and do Q&A testing, if only to finally find out what this game is like at resolutions other than 640 x 480.
Thank you very much for this project. Among other things, the 200Hz mod is particularly impressive and welcome.
Do you plan to add support for current standard resolution or even ultrawide?
If so that might motivate me to join in the effort by creating high definition versions of the interface.
I recently made an options menu that makes it super easy to toggle the new fog of war, (which has been added in the latest version):
Might not look like much, but the entire GUI system was hardcoded and almost untouchable before this. I've figured out how to define new menus during runtime, making it much, much easier to add new things like this in the future.
The option in the menu is a welcome addition, as is removing the flickering fog of war, which I cannot get rid of using any method found on the net. It's a complete dealbreaker for me and I really want to do another playthrough. Maybe not in 640x480 though
Guys it is awesome someone finally doing something with best infinite engine game of all times,i have few questions tho.
- When game will be launched and where can i download it ?
- why they didnot add spell stop time ? too many irelevant spells got added but the one that is most important is missing ?
- How is experience and leveling different from vanilla game ? is it possible to farm random mobs and gain high levels early in the game ?what about xp limitations as character progress with level ? is it possible to just keep farming giants before Lisana's frozen palace up to lvl 16-17 ?
- do mages have access to spell scrolls early in the game if they are farmed to high lvl ? the reason sorceress has been favored class over mage is because mage just cant get any spell scrolls if they are farmed early in the game its so frustrating. in original game first scroll of finger of death can be found as late as yuanti jungle.weil of the banshee in severed hand when game is already over
Guys it is awesome someone finally doing something with best infinite engine game of all times,i have few questions tho.
- When game will be launched and where can i download it ?
- why they didnot add spell stop time ? too many irelevant spells got added but the one that is most important is missing ?
- How is experience and leveling different from vanilla game ? is it possible to farm random mobs and gain high levels early in the game ?what about xp limitations as character progress with level ? is it possible to just keep farming giants before Lisana's frozen palace up to lvl 16-17 ?
- do mages have access to spell scrolls early in the game if they are farmed to high lvl ? the reason sorceress has been favored class over mage is because mage just cant get any spell scrolls if they are farmed early in the game its so frustrating. in original game first scroll of finger of death can be found as late as yuanti jungle.weil of the banshee in severed hand when game is already over
I'm still not quite sure when IWD2EE will be launched.
IWD2EE now adds Time Stop instead of Time Slow. It's still a little glitchy since the game animations were not meant to be stopped when the game is unpaused, but it mostly works:
It's still possible to grind by resting and fighting enemies in rest encounters, but I don't recommend you do that. The game is balanced under the assumption that you don't do any grinding.
IWD2EE does add more high-level spell scrolls earlier on in the game. In the prologue and Chapter 1, stores that sell scrolls may sell a couple of scrolls of levels 5-7. By Chapter 3, some stores sell a couple of level 9 scrolls.
Oi, don't grindshame. There is nothing better than getting my solo Monk to such high levels he makes Isair cry uncle after a few punches. Hopefully after the monk nerf this will still be possible
Oi, don't grindshame. There is nothing better than getting my solo Monk to such high levels he makes Isair cry uncle after a few punches. Hopefully after the monk nerf this will still be possible
Monk nerf? Monks aren't nerfed; they're still really good. They deal less fist damage than originally, but they get a lot more attacks per round.
really excited about this and put my hand up to volunteer if you are still accepting new testers. IWD2 was the first DnD game i ever played and i absolutely love it.
- is rogue somewhat useful in enhanced edition ? he is pretty much worthless in vanilla game.very few traps and not enough obstacles + pickpocket objects to justify quite useless class in combat. in baldurs gate II without rogue game is next to impossible to complete lol
- is vanilla xp calculator applyed for Ehnanced edition also ? my biggest problem with vanilla is that as party grows in average lvl iam getting less and less xp per mobs killed. i fight that by leaving party at lvl 5-6 while farming giants and than i suddenly jump to 12-14 lvl before moving further. i dont see no harm to be OP trough out game if you spend time farming.
- is rogue somewhat useful in enhanced edition ? he is pretty much worthless in vanilla game.very few traps and not enough obstacles + pickpocket objects to justify quite useless class in combat. in baldurs gate II without rogue game is next to impossible to complete lol
Literally on the first page
"Class Revisions
This component dramatically rebalances the game to make warriors and rogues much more viable(..)
- Rogues: Rogues get +1 luck every 5 levels. They won't have the sustained damage output a warrior has, but they'll be able to land some very wicked sneak attacks (luck in IWD2 increases the chance of a critical hit).
- Remove the delay after a sneak attack before the creature can be sneak attacked again
Normally once a rogue sneak attacks a creature, that creature becomes immune to sneak attacks for about 3 rounds. This component removes that immunity, allowing the creature to be sneak attacked again. "
- is vanilla xp calculator applyed for Ehnanced edition also ? my biggest problem with vanilla is that as party grows in average lvl iam getting less and less xp per mobs killed. i fight that by leaving party at lvl 5-6 while farming giants and than i suddenly jump to 12-14 lvl before moving further. i dont see no harm to be OP trough out game if you spend time farming.
"7. Better XP Progression
In most RPGs, you gain levels at a roughly constant level over the course of the game. In IWD2, though, you gain XP and levels slower and slower as you progress in the game, which is the biggest reason why the late game is so much less fun than the early game. This is because many enemies are rigged to be a lower challenge rating than their actual level. By the time you're in the Severed Hand, you might be fighting critters that are level 17 but have a challenge rating of 9!
This component fixes that. There are two install options. The first option sets all creatures' challenge rating equal to their level, which results in extremely fast leveling as the game progresses. The second option, which is the recommended version, sets CR to slightly below their level after level 9. Neither option will affect early game enemies much, but midgame and endgame enemies will now grant XP appropriate to the challenge they pose."
And I guess also
"40.Enemies give the same amount of experience regardless of the party's level
This component makes killing enemies give the same amount of experience no matter the party's level. This way, leveling up doesn't come with the dissatifaction of enemies giving less experience, and there's no incentive to delay leveling up to increase experience gain. There are two options: either you can have enemies give experience equal to 25 * their challenge rating (a six-character party will reach about level 15 by the end of the game), or it can be 35 * their challenge rating (a six-character party will reach about level 18 by the end of the game)."
I’m so excited by this news and can’t wait to try it out once it’s finished. Thank you for bringing life back to this old classic.
I have a question regarding xpbonus. I’ve always been a fan of the xpbonus given for disarming traps, picking locks and scribing scrolls in the BG games. I always add a xpbonus.2da from BG2 to the override folder when I play the first installment of IWD.
If I recall correctly, IWD2 didn’t have this feature and didn’t have a xpbonus file to tweak in the game files either. Will you be adding such a feature in the EE version as an optional feature. Is it even possible to make since the game is different from it’s predecessors?
- that would be best if during time stop spell screen would go gray just like in BG II
- fighter in vanilla game is strongest damage dealer both dual wielding and two handed weapon, half orc in particular, due to weapon specialization and 19 starting strength
- not sure if it was said here but what about pickpocket ? is it gonna be worth it in EE ? there were 2 items in targost that were worth it ring +1 and amulet +1 saving throws. that was all for entire game tho / hard to justify learning skill and lvling it up higher
Wow, lots of good tweaks coming. I especially like the AoO addition. I used to try going into fights unbuffed, even if I knew it would be a hard fight and the AoO change will make running around much harder. So many fights will be more tricky, notably the tactics chapter 1 bridge fight and the chapter 6 cleric tower fight.
I played quite a bit with the wonderful Semi-overhaul by semiticgoddess, which introduced many of the concepts implemented in EE.
Things I remember to excite you about the rogue and the insane damage output:
I had a 25rogue/5 fighter = +5 luck, fighter specialization and UMD to use most any scroll, of which mirror image is extremely powerful defensively. 14-20 base chance for a possible crit every attack if you are within AB range. Otherwise you need natural 20 if outside your AB.
-Of course this also assumes the second threat roll is also a hit; crit confirm rules, etc- which means AB is still important to keep in mind-> spells, stats, feats increase AB. For the most part, every enemy's armor class is within the first couple of attacks for all classes, including mages...even in HoF.
there were 2 rare items in HoF for a possible +5 more luck, and the EE bard songs (+2 luck with tymora's melody)
there was a party spell to further increase crit chance by 4, which rogue could use as scroll with enough UMD
Rogues can be initially squishy so I used polearms: first the big reach spears to attack out of melee (nine paces= reach x3) progressing to better damage (Purdu's Blight, HoF stuff...etc) later. Or ranged weapons. Only melee weapons allow for sneak attack in IWD2.
luck also : reduces incoming character elemental and magic spell damage per die (min of 1) and increases base wpn damage (pushes it towards the max die rolls, but not above)
and from my limited play with an early version of EE, I suspect there might be armors that improve with certain rogue skills.
In EE sneak attacks can be set to once per round or even once per valid attack, I think.
In HoF this rogue hit so very hard in boss fights. He was not a tank, though.
I had another traditional damage dealer in the party for comparison and support (multiclass, of course) - and this rogue was more deadly on average and just as flexible with enough investment in UMD (magic scrolls).
Re: pick pockets. In IWD2 pick pocket DC is vs Target Level+intelligence. Thus in HoF mode, it is essentially pointless except for maybe the start with a very, very high skill. However, in non-HoF there are quite a number of items that can be pocketed,including a wand of fire, potions, magic weapons and Jemeliah's Lucky Knucky. EE may have tweaked items and possibly inventories.
I was using a mod to increase trap damage so missing some later traps was quite dangerous. I don't think EE has an option to make traps more dangerous-but maybe it's something they could consider.
In Vanilla the best races were Human (skills= better min/max stats and class versatility), Drow (MR) and Deep Gnome AC tank. Asimar for paladin splash. Sadly, Half Orc's favored class, bonus and lack of skills was a big negative in Vanilla multiclassing.
Note that the barb rage adds very good immunities in EE, and I'm hopeful that the rest of the class will be further improved. EE has made most race choices more interesting, as well.
EE should play very differently from Vanilla. In Vanilla, high DC Wail of the Banshee/Malison/Symbol made short work of most every fight with a few exceptions...even in HoF (although it may take a couple each time). Or you could chain holy words, etc. With Semi-overhaul, there was so much more variety/importance with Druids and Clerics that things never got so boring.
I tried the tweaked Druid shapes, but switching certain forms had some conflicts with different items and spells. I liked it enough that I worked within the bugginess (ie, remember to remove certain items and spells before shapechange to avoid a crash). I expect that the testers are sorting that out.
TLDR: I'm excited to see what goodness comes with full EE.
Also for IWD fans, there is an ongoing effort to create an IWD module for the ToEE engine, which is a very good combat engine. This will not be ready for a long time, but it's good to see there are a large number of IWD enthusiasts around.
@semiticgoddess If you're looking for another playtester, I'd love to offer my services! I was just about to start a new game after probably more than a decade and came across this mod. It looks amazing and I'm so excited for it. I grew up playing the Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale games as well as Planescape: Torment. Seeing these games get something of a revival after all this time is so thrilling.
I'm not going to lie, after the news of the source code supposedly being lost and undertaking on a campaign to try to find any auctions or other sources of "boxes of CDs and hard disks from Black Isle Studios" on ebay and other websites for some time before ultimately giving up, I wanted to stick around and continue to be supportive of Beamdog's other projects but I had lost a substantial piece of my heart over that sad news and found myself drifting off to other pursuits and interests to fill the void. Work became more busy, then the pandemic hit, I lost a few friends early this year--etc. But, this is the pick me up I really needed. I had no idea this project was going on right under my very nose and it pleases me greatly to see other more talented and ambitious folks taking on something I had dreamed of doing had I more time and knowledge of the Infinity Engine and its many quirks.
I will be watching this closely and attempt to get in on the beta ASAP. I'd very much like to be a participant, however small, in seeing that this project sees the light of day and meets its fullest potential. Many thanks to the team and the fans who have been working on and supporting this endeavor while I've been away.
Make a GitHub account, and send me or @semiticgoddess a PM with the name of your GitHub account. We'll invite you to the beta; you'll need to check your email to accept the invitation. Then, you should be able to access the GitHub repository for IWD2EE.
I just started playing the Baldur's Gate games and Icewin Dale games this past January and just finished IWD1 last week. It's been a great help since the start of this year has been brutal (lost my father a few weeks back and soon my mum and my wife’s best friend past away from cancer this year too). I'm glad I came back to these after skipping them (regrettably) back when they came out as I said its helped a lot mentally.
Just wanted to say thanks to all those making this happen. Can’t wait to try this out when its done.
Finished the game with version 2.10.5 with most options installed. Had a few non reproducible crashes during area changes and a reproducible crash when I had the "Nonviolent Option for Isair and Madae." installed.
Other than two npc's having their small portraits misaligned (Emma and Pairi, plus the big portrait was missing) and the aforementioned crashes it was stable and overall a nice experience. Fun spells, new abilities, the class overhaul finally made some choices (like a pure fighter) less boring.
Didn't really use the "Faster x location" changes aside from the Wandering Village (finally able to do all quests at once), mostly because I wanted to do the quests.
And of course having a non-flickering fog of war was just fantastic.
I'll wait with my Heart of Fury playthrough for the final version.
I have a question on "Reduce enemy saving throw bonuses in Heart of Fury Mode", "Revised Creature Immunities", " More Accurate Saving Throws for Enemies" and "Spell Revisions" (possibly also other tweaks): how practical will be debuffs and instakill spells? I remember from when I played the game that even if using spells that lower enemy throws, they had so good saving throws, that all spells that allowed save without any penalty were completely useless, especially on HoF. Surely they could work (I think it was roll of 20, so 5% chance) but compared to other spells of the same level, they were just underpowered.
Comments
Might not look like much, but the entire GUI system was hardcoded and almost untouchable before this. I've figured out how to define new menus during runtime, making it much, much easier to add new things like this in the future.
So, hey - if beta access is still available: I'm game to be your monkey and do Q&A testing, if only to finally find out what this game is like at resolutions other than 640 x 480.
Cheers,
Ilya
Do you plan to add support for current standard resolution or even ultrawide?
If so that might motivate me to join in the effort by creating high definition versions of the interface.
The option in the menu is a welcome addition, as is removing the flickering fog of war, which I cannot get rid of using any method found on the net. It's a complete dealbreaker for me and I really want to do another playthrough. Maybe not in 640x480 though
Any ETA on an open Beta anyone?
- When game will be launched and where can i download it ?
- why they didnot add spell stop time ? too many irelevant spells got added but the one that is most important is missing ?
- How is experience and leveling different from vanilla game ? is it possible to farm random mobs and gain high levels early in the game ?what about xp limitations as character progress with level ? is it possible to just keep farming giants before Lisana's frozen palace up to lvl 16-17 ?
- do mages have access to spell scrolls early in the game if they are farmed to high lvl ? the reason sorceress has been favored class over mage is because mage just cant get any spell scrolls if they are farmed early in the game its so frustrating. in original game first scroll of finger of death can be found as late as yuanti jungle.weil of the banshee in severed hand when game is already over
I'm still not quite sure when IWD2EE will be launched.
IWD2EE now adds Time Stop instead of Time Slow. It's still a little glitchy since the game animations were not meant to be stopped when the game is unpaused, but it mostly works:
It's still possible to grind by resting and fighting enemies in rest encounters, but I don't recommend you do that. The game is balanced under the assumption that you don't do any grinding.
IWD2EE does add more high-level spell scrolls earlier on in the game. In the prologue and Chapter 1, stores that sell scrolls may sell a couple of scrolls of levels 5-7. By Chapter 3, some stores sell a couple of level 9 scrolls.
Monk nerf? Monks aren't nerfed; they're still really good. They deal less fist damage than originally, but they get a lot more attacks per round.
- is vanilla xp calculator applyed for Ehnanced edition also ? my biggest problem with vanilla is that as party grows in average lvl iam getting less and less xp per mobs killed. i fight that by leaving party at lvl 5-6 while farming giants and than i suddenly jump to 12-14 lvl before moving further. i dont see no harm to be OP trough out game if you spend time farming.
Literally on the first page
"Class Revisions
This component dramatically rebalances the game to make warriors and rogues much more viable(..)
- Rogues: Rogues get +1 luck every 5 levels. They won't have the sustained damage output a warrior has, but they'll be able to land some very wicked sneak attacks (luck in IWD2 increases the chance of a critical hit).
- Remove the delay after a sneak attack before the creature can be sneak attacked again
Normally once a rogue sneak attacks a creature, that creature becomes immune to sneak attacks for about 3 rounds. This component removes that immunity, allowing the creature to be sneak attacked again. "
"7. Better XP Progression
This component fixes that. There are two install options. The first option sets all creatures' challenge rating equal to their level, which results in extremely fast leveling as the game progresses. The second option, which is the recommended version, sets CR to slightly below their level after level 9. Neither option will affect early game enemies much, but midgame and endgame enemies will now grant XP appropriate to the challenge they pose."
And I guess also
"40.Enemies give the same amount of experience regardless of the party's level
All components are optional.
I’m so excited by this news and can’t wait to try it out once it’s finished. Thank you for bringing life back to this old classic.
I have a question regarding xpbonus. I’ve always been a fan of the xpbonus given for disarming traps, picking locks and scribing scrolls in the BG games. I always add a xpbonus.2da from BG2 to the override folder when I play the first installment of IWD.
If I recall correctly, IWD2 didn’t have this feature and didn’t have a xpbonus file to tweak in the game files either. Will you be adding such a feature in the EE version as an optional feature. Is it even possible to make since the game is different from it’s predecessors?
- fighter in vanilla game is strongest damage dealer both dual wielding and two handed weapon, half orc in particular, due to weapon specialization and 19 starting strength
- not sure if it was said here but what about pickpocket ? is it gonna be worth it in EE ? there were 2 items in targost that were worth it ring +1 and amulet +1 saving throws. that was all for entire game tho / hard to justify learning skill and lvling it up higher
I played quite a bit with the wonderful Semi-overhaul by semiticgoddess, which introduced many of the concepts implemented in EE.
Things I remember to excite you about the rogue and the insane damage output:
14-20 base chance for a possible crit every attack if you are within AB range. Otherwise you need natural 20 if outside your AB.
-Of course this also assumes the second threat roll is also a hit; crit confirm rules, etc- which means AB is still important to keep in mind-> spells, stats, feats increase AB. For the most part, every enemy's armor class is within the first couple of attacks for all classes, including mages...even in HoF.
In HoF this rogue hit so very hard in boss fights. He was not a tank, though.
I had another traditional damage dealer in the party for comparison and support (multiclass, of course) - and this rogue was more deadly on average and just as flexible with enough investment in UMD (magic scrolls).
Re: pick pockets. In IWD2 pick pocket DC is vs Target Level+intelligence. Thus in HoF mode, it is essentially pointless except for maybe the start with a very, very high skill. However, in non-HoF there are quite a number of items that can be pocketed,including a wand of fire, potions, magic weapons and Jemeliah's Lucky Knucky. EE may have tweaked items and possibly inventories.
I was using a mod to increase trap damage so missing some later traps was quite dangerous. I don't think EE has an option to make traps more dangerous-but maybe it's something they could consider.
In Vanilla the best races were Human (skills= better min/max stats and class versatility), Drow (MR) and Deep Gnome AC tank. Asimar for paladin splash. Sadly, Half Orc's favored class, bonus and lack of skills was a big negative in Vanilla multiclassing.
Note that the barb rage adds very good immunities in EE, and I'm hopeful that the rest of the class will be further improved. EE has made most race choices more interesting, as well.
EE should play very differently from Vanilla. In Vanilla, high DC Wail of the Banshee/Malison/Symbol made short work of most every fight with a few exceptions...even in HoF (although it may take a couple each time). Or you could chain holy words, etc. With Semi-overhaul, there was so much more variety/importance with Druids and Clerics that things never got so boring.
I tried the tweaked Druid shapes, but switching certain forms had some conflicts with different items and spells. I liked it enough that I worked within the bugginess (ie, remember to remove certain items and spells before shapechange to avoid a crash). I expect that the testers are sorting that out.
TLDR: I'm excited to see what goodness comes with full EE.
Also for IWD fans, there is an ongoing effort to create an IWD module for the ToEE engine, which is a very good combat engine. This will not be ready for a long time, but it's good to see there are a large number of IWD enthusiasts around.
I will be watching this closely and attempt to get in on the beta ASAP. I'd very much like to be a participant, however small, in seeing that this project sees the light of day and meets its fullest potential. Many thanks to the team and the fans who have been working on and supporting this endeavor while I've been away.
Make a GitHub account, and send me or @semiticgoddess a PM with the name of your GitHub account. We'll invite you to the beta; you'll need to check your email to accept the invitation. Then, you should be able to access the GitHub repository for IWD2EE.
Just wanted to say thanks to all those making this happen. Can’t wait to try this out when its done.
Other than two npc's having their small portraits misaligned (Emma and Pairi, plus the big portrait was missing) and the aforementioned crashes it was stable and overall a nice experience. Fun spells, new abilities, the class overhaul finally made some choices (like a pure fighter) less boring.
Didn't really use the "Faster x location" changes aside from the Wandering Village (finally able to do all quests at once), mostly because I wanted to do the quests.
And of course having a non-flickering fog of war was just fantastic.
I'll wait with my Heart of Fury playthrough for the final version.
Read the post by OlvynChuru a few posts above yours.
I created a free GitHub account, sent a pm to OlvynChuru on this forum and got my invite to the RedChimera Github the same day.
If you really want to test the beta now you can just do that.
Not yet. That's something we're still working on.
Oh I wrote someone already, can't remember the name... But it wasn't Olvyn! I'll give that a shot
Also: any chance of release this year?