All strongholds – what NearInfinity file to edit, or if mod required?

hoooderewanderer

Hi.


I could have sworn I browsed through a NearInfinity file where it listed / dictated what class get what stronghold. But now I can't find it again. Anyone know?

Or if there's a global variable I can just set through EEKeeper, or console?

If I'm misremembering, what mod do I need? But I would much prefer a solution through NearInfinity or EEKeeper as I'm always afraid a mod will break something as I'm on mac and it seems more fiddly, and / or that a mod alters way more of the game than I want!

Also I intend to get both Mage stronghold and Nalia Keep stronghold, so would be immensily helped if you know the setting to fiddle with to make that work.


Thank you so much if you can help! / h

jmerry

It's not in one convenient file. It's scattered around a bunch of dialogues and scripts. You need a proper mod for this one.

Permidion_Stark

The Tweaks Anthology mod from The Gibberlings3 gives you a few choices. You can either make all strongholds available to your character, or keep class restrictions (so a fighter/thief could be offered d'Arnise Keep and the Thieves' Guild but isn't going to be offered the Planar Sphere). There is also an option to only make individual strongholds available. I tend to use the latter so my Cavalier can get a castle as well as membership of the Noble Order of the Radiant Heart. https://gibberlings3.net/mods/tweaks/tweaks/

shevy123456

I usually install tweaks and then select no-class restriction for stronghold mods. This gives you various stronghold-specific quests. The paladin stronghold quest is great; cleric stronghold is a bit meh-meh. Druid is ok too. It's simply more fun when one can do those subquests. There seem to be a few installation issues with regard to other mods though; one other mod complains that stronghold mod is not installed, which I handle via tweaks lateron, but it seems to omit some content. It may be best to actually carve out the stronghold mod into a separate mod from tweaks IMO but I guess who wants to do that?

atcDave

Tweaks Anthology does make it easy. You can just say no to the ones that don’t fit a particular character. I pretty much always take D’Arnise as *my* place, and imagine Imoen setting up base at the Planar Sphere. I typically take two or three others as well.

But it does cause some weirdisms. It assumes your character *is* the appropriate class for each stronghold. So your paladin may get drawn into a Druid duel, and your thief referred to as a mage. Funny.

Humanoid_Taifun

@atcDave Maybe you would be interested in the NPC Strongholds mod.
Though the creator thinks that Imoen would not cooperate with the Cowled Wizards.

Permidion_Stark

Humanoid_Taifun wrote: »

@atcDave Maybe you would be interested in the NPC Strongholds mod.
Though the creator thinks that Imoen would not cooperate with the Cowled Wizards.

I hadn't heard of the NPC Strongholds mod but I have just taken a look and its sounds really interesting. Does anyone know if it conflicts with the strongholds mods in the Tweaks Anthology?

Humanoid_Taifun

The readme says:

This mod [] will not work with the Multiple Strongholds component of the Ease-of-Use or BG2 Tweak Pack mods, or with any mod that directly changes the same parts of the game. So, anything that hinges on Oisig greeting the party in the Temple District, for example. I could code around that, but, I'd also need to write around it and it would be, in my opinion, significantly worse writing for Arval to appear to Aerie and ask her to come to the Temple of Lathander and then Oisig to appear and tell the main character, "I wish you were a <MAN/WOMAN> of faith." I don't know which mods do directly affect stronghold NPC dialogue, but I'm guessing it will not be compatible with Big Picture, Big World or any related projects. It will also not be strictly compatible with any mod that requires the PC to have a specific stronghold. Any mod that changes Anomen's alignment to something other than Lawful Good, Lawful Neutral, or Chaotic Neutral will lead to NO VALID REPLIES OR LINKS if Anomen is in the party.

I assume that allowing a multiclass protagonist to gain all strongholds <PRO_HESHE> is eligible for, should be fine. But just in case, you should install that option before installing the NPC Strongholds mod.

Permidion_Stark

@Humanoid_Taifun

Thanks for that. I am tempted to give it a try. But then again my current EET set up seems to be working fine and in the past whenever I have tried to make changes something has gone wrong and I have had to start again from the beginning. So it might need to wait for another life!

atcDave

Humanoid_Taifun wrote: »

@atcDave Maybe you would be interested in the NPC Strongholds mod.
Though the creator thinks that Imoen would not cooperate with the Cowled Wizards.

I remember looking at that one a while back and choosing to stick with Tweaks. I’ll be doing a BG2 rebuild in the next few days and maybe I’ll take another look.

But I would add, Imoen’s experience with the Cowled Wizards is *exactly why* I give the Sphere to her. In my head canon, she will harass, taunt and undermine that group at every opportunity. And how foolish of them to entrust Imoen with three young mages, Imoen will do all she can to turn them from their wicked ways…
I generally expect my main character to also not be well disposed towards the Cowled Wizards. It’s a shame the dialogue options in that Stronghold quest don’t really let you mess with them much.