I actually prefer the Item delay from using the Amulet abd how long it takes to move the character, makes it feel more intense and lorewise it feels appropriate that its not as instantaneous as its spell counterpart, but to truelly help in fights , I just feel it shouldn't be limited by line of site.
Hi - great mod - some very nice tweaks to existing items
Ring of superior arcane clumsiness -
is actually cursed - lol - when you put it on a character (eg Minsc) and then have him leave the party the ring returns to you - when I saw this - i thought wow - a really cursed ring - it always comes back to the main character :P
@Edvin hi first of all nice mod! I have a question about Mask of King Strohm III, the helm used to have crit protection and everyone can use it (even mages) and EE patched it so it lose the crit protection just like Ioun stones. I see this mod add that back and even give it 1 ac, will this still be used by mages or it is treated as normal helm?
So the mask of king and shadowdragon wardstone both grant helm crit protection (apparently they shouldn't if it is treated as ioun stone)
Also will the boo change conflict with CDTweak's Move Boo Into Minsc's Pack, since you will need to put Boo in quickslot to use it but move it to pack breaks this?
> Ok, I want someone to propose some item. A weapon, armor, a usable item, I don't care.
> Just a general description, I don't need exact numbers or specific information.
> I will create the first item that will be realistically possible to create.
I love Jan. It's one of my favourite characters of BG2. The guy is just so cool!
Small and kickass. Sure, other mages are stronger, and pure thieves can be
deadlier too, but Jan is kind of the ultimate trickster.
So I was thinking ... how about an item for Jan? But an item that does not quite
exist yet.
Jan is probably a gambler, so I suggest a cheating device for gamblers. Perhaps
some loaded dice. Or some oily substance for fingertips, from a jar, similar
to Jan's alchemy thingy.
Anyway, the idea is that this item can increase the luck for some value (not
sure how much is ok, +1 to +3 or something) for some duration, say 2 hours
or something that lasts a bit longer than one battle.
It can work only on Jan, or if you want to make it more useful, on all thieves,
or even on everyone, similar to that teddy bear shield from tales of the deep
or something.
Or some other device that can be used for trickery-purposes, which is why I
suggested to modify luck. Could also increase dexterity for a bit, but it
should be a useful item, not an overpowered one.
By the way, the mod is really great and it should be hosted on github too.
I suggested to the spellstudio github folks to help people come together
into one big meta-project on github, so that old downloads are not disappearing
once content creators vanish. We kind of should preserve this for future
generations to come.
On the Gond item thingy: I think you need to solve this before Unfinished
Business triggering Minsc disappearing Boo. Because after that quest the
cowled wizards will never again show up, so I think the Gond item could never
be obtained anymore. I haven't tested this yet though, but I think when you
install many mods you kind of have to think about how to be able to solve
them, without breaking other mods. That's the problem with mods.
PS: Since some mods install katanas, and there are many overpowered katanas,
how about a katana that is similar to the speaking sword you get from under
the first pub? It could be a moody katana, aka with dialogue options - if
the talking katana has a depression then it is only +1 and makes annoying
comments. If its mood improves, it gets +3 or something and deals +1
extra damage electricity or so (again, useful, but not overpowered).
Another idea for an item would be a shield that could give stoneskin and
could perhaps be obtained from the golem area. Yet another idea may be
some darts that would taint the target with glittering dust for some
rounds - so disposable items.
PSS: Perhaps someone could one day create a meta-mod for all items. And
re-balance the items a LITTLE BIT. Some items are garbage, others are
too overpowered IMO. It is hard to achieve good balance.
PSSS: in regards to overwriting files, this is why I think a meta-meta
mod for items should be created, hosted on github and co-maintained
by several people who understand the format. Often when there is just
a single developer, for better or worse, you can create a great mod,
but it can also break other things. I have noticed this with different
mods now and it is annoying if it breaks other unrelated mods. So
we could need some quality control overall.
Also, in regards to criticism: there is a LOT that is not easily found because
barely anyone documented things. This makes it hard for new people to
understand what is going on. Another reason why I think we should all
build a huge team for github sharing purposes and changing of mods,
ESPECIALLY if the original author is no longer active, or some other
problems exist (such as the messenger that keeps on crashing the game,
I ran into this issue - thankfully I read on the forum here that we can kill
him via time stop + disintegrate, so I can kill that game-crashing bastard
at the least until someone manages to fix that problem).
By the way, since SCS was mentioned above: I found SCS also creates
problems in regards to other mods. In general I try to avoid mods that
make mega-meta-changes because it breaks so many things. Tactics
remix is a wonderful example: I love some changes, such as the
kenzai ninja or the gnome ninja, but other things such as improved
irenicus with that fat mega-dragon are just annoying to no ends, and
other things outright break (e. g. Dusk NPC, where in the area in
the docks district there are vampire liches, and you can not even
LEAVE THE FUDGING AREA because the guy who wrote it was not
the brightest person on this planet - I HATE mods that lock down
an area and force you to fight-or-break-the-game. I understand the
"don't cheese" the gameplay, but on e. g. highest difficulty, some
fights are no more challenges but instead just the author being
a troll. The katana-kenzai and gnome kenzai are hard, but still
manageble. I write this because some mods simply do too much,
and the big mega-mods are all in ways guilty of that. I also hate
the change of rules for the most part, tactics remix should be
re-written. Or just forked off and people resume from there since
many original authors just disappeared anyway.)
> Hey, any chances you'd make the "Key ring - New drop from Ilyich" compatybile with the skip chateau irenicus mod
> (by Argent77)? Or make it purchasable at the mart?
I think you can simply take all items from the hidden spots nearby. At the least when I look at it
I can take the key ring. I always skip the initial dungeon since I hate having to redo it for the
1000x time. Do you not find the items hidden there in the stash? I think there are three stashes,
check all of them. I also had the situation where some cowled wizard NPC blocked the northern
stash, but I think you can kill them if they are still there (sometimes they are there, sometimes
not; I think some mod is causing issues. I guess it is more logical if they are all dead instead.)
In regards to "04) Hourglass of Gond - Reward for the hardest fight of your life."
One of the above posters wrote how he prepared via various scrolls against
magic and what not.
I think while that is valid, I found an easier "workaround".
So the first part of the battle was quite annoying and hard, but somehow the
enemy AI made the female mage mirror image, and then move to the top
right, after I used the ring of the ram to knock her towards that position.
At that time, or already before that time, she was spamming that spell where
some coloured orbs or balls are moving outside, and kept on doing that.
I believe skeletons are immune to that, so I surrounded her with skeletons.
Then it was easy to slowly whittle away on her via ranged weapons; also
having one berzerk guy such as Korgan helps.
I think the party was level 12 to 14 or so, still in chapter 3. Having said that
some mods that are installed have super-helpful items in general, so my
party was stronger than "vanilla" builds. So the fight was actually not THAT
difficult in the end, especially after having breach and true sight (again some
items provide that too).
By the way, since SCS was mentioned above: I found SCS also creates
problems in regards to other mods. In general I try to avoid mods that
make mega-meta-changes because it breaks so many things. Tactics
remix is a wonderful example: I love some changes, such as the
kenzai ninja or the gnome ninja, but other things such as improved
irenicus with that fat mega-dragon are just annoying to no ends, and
other things outright break (e. g. Dusk NPC, where in the area in
the docks district there are vampire liches, and you can not even
LEAVE THE FUDGING AREA because the guy who wrote it was not
the brightest person on this planet - I HATE mods that lock down
an area and force you to fight-or-break-the-game. I understand the
"don't cheese" the gameplay, but on e. g. highest difficulty, some
fights are no more challenges but instead just the author being
a troll. The katana-kenzai and gnome kenzai are hard, but still
manageble. I write this because some mods simply do too much,
and the big mega-mods are all in ways guilty of that. I also hate
the change of rules for the most part, tactics remix should be
re-written. Or just forked off and people resume from there since
many original authors just disappeared anyway.)
Tactics Remix is rewritten from the ground up with permission from Wes. Others are welcome to make their own version of the original Tactics with Wes' permission, but my interpretation of it is not for others to fork without permission. Tactics Remix is also actively being maintained. Regarding Dusk, both the original Tactics and Back to Brynnlaw use that area, so that is on Dusk's author to correct any issues that arise from his mod (he has been notified of the bug). Additionally, Tactics Remix is supposed to be a difficult mod, and I will not lower the standard of difficulty as it diminishes the experiences for those who are playing for the challenge. If you don't want a fat mega-dragon, then don't install that component. It's really that simple.
I think many players are very pleased that we get to revisit the Tactics mod in the EE era. Thank you for that Morpheus!!
There are a lot of mods for us to play, all free but like regular buffet eaters, we tend to stuff our plates with interesting stuff well beyond reason and limit. That is our problem and not the buffet.
Older mods didnt foresee the things they could break because the work wasnt coordinated for future mega mod. It was a stand alone piece of work. Even when the BWS surfaced the tactical mods where flagged as potential bug introducing and had to be chosen as the last in line - and with a dire warning that bugs and and other stuff might happen. Thats how it was, and perhaps still is. The modders do plenty to fix bugs, but sometimes its just us players who fill the plate to much.
The tactics is a great mod. And should be a pain to complete. Nerfing it is against the authors expressed wishes of the author and the mods many fans. So I think it is where it should be. Best wishes
Guenhwyvar's Figurine is a must have. I always end up having
to kill Drizzt for the Figurine.
Wizard hat I also like - the gains are not that huge, but
it just looks so stylish on a Kenzai-Mage! (Or Jan. But he
gets that helmet from The Bridge Block since it raises
INT by +2 which seems to help Jan a lot.)
I am modifying this mod a little bit right now (go me \o/).
I also looked at some of the .BMP files such as CLEAVERX.BMP and
modified it (I had to drop some blood on it). I do this mostly as
a learning experience until I understand the strange language mods
use, but also, when I looked at the above listing of items, I did not
find the cleaver. Could the initial listing (in this thread here) also
add the cleaver and where it may be found? Could also more
spoiler entries be added? Some items do not seem to be listed
in the first thread, unless I missed them.
Anyway, the idea is that this item can increase the luck for some value (not
sure how much is ok, +1 to +3 or something) for some duration, say 2 hours
or something that lasts a bit longer than one battle.
.............
Or some other device that can be used for trickery-purposes, which is why I
suggested to modify luck. Could also increase dexterity for a bit, but it
should be a useful item, not an overpowered one.
Something that gives +3 Luck, and in a mod where there is already a mantle that gives +1 to it, is extremely OP in the game.
I found another way to cheese Hourglass of Gond, although it
was semi-accidental and I did not "deliberately" use that
strategy to milk it. But I still found it fun to report it
here.
So, get Paina the spider druid; that requires another mod.
Trigger the cowled wizards showing up. I use the gate location
since it does not have many NPCs. I also installed the
stronger city guards, but this is not necessary - it's just
funny when the city guards try to kill the cowled enforcers.
Summon the tiny spiders via the ring from Paina. Cast haste
on them. Send them into battle.
In the last fight against Zalla or whatever is her name,
her AI keeps on spamming those coloured balls. Spiders tend
to die but there are many of them, in particular if you
let some of them attack her from the read side (she will
face only one direction so you can move around in her
back; I did this with my main character, you can get in
one or even two strikes, but with the spiders that is
not necessary).
The tiny spiders killed Zalla quickly, due to poison
as well as casting web (which I think may disable her
spellcasting). A bit of luck is also involved but I
just killed her with only the tiny spiders. And that
means she can be killed early on and the Hourglass is
yours (which I think is a great item but also overpowered,
if anyone ever reworks this mod perhaps allow the Hourglass
to cast timestop but add some penalty to it, be it fatigue,
slow, or some reduced mental stats for some time; hourglass
is too overpowered for final bosses who can not deal well
with time stop, because you get in so many free things to
do, be it free strikes or free spells to soften up the
target or cast disposable summonables and so on).
I semi-accidentally found another lazy way to beat the Hourglass of Gond challenge (and I think the mod may have to changed a little bit as it is too easy to exploit parts of it). I'd do my usual routine to defeat the cowled Enforcers, including the final boss, but this time my party level was rather low, so I had no realistic chance to break through (well, perhaps with some specific items, but that would be too much effort to obtain them). So after I killed all but the final boss, at the city gate, I went outside the sight of her (but still within the city gates) and just idled (I was multitasking so I was not paying attention). When I came back the final boss was dead \o/. The city guards killed her (although these were improved ones from another mod). It was quite surprising to see as I never thought of using the city guards to defeat bosses (I think her protection probably wears out over time). Now if only I could teleport these city guards to dragons and have them kill dragons ...
There are also semi-exploits elsewhere in the game, sometimes related to mods. For instance, one mod yields an axe of vorpal for Korgan and he actually managed to vorpal the dragon in chapter 7 or so at the very beginning of the fight, for the talisman of Rillifane. Admittedly the party I had back then was very strong already, so the dragon had no chance anyway, but one-shotting is pretty hilarious, even if overpowered (I mostly try to adhere to vanilla games, so most of the mod changes I try to reject).
PS: Perhaps there may be some more ways of exploiting the Hourglass of Gond, perhaps even with regular guards. Some of the AI can sometimes be exploited, like whenever it does something that is predictable. Others may be more creative to find ways of in-game exploits.
Comments
https://rawgit.com/K4thos/EET_Tweaks/master/EET_Tweaks/readme-EET_Tweaks.html
Just one thing , I don't know if you could tweak the dimension Door on Amulet of the Hearthfire to work for any distance , not just line of site.
Sorta like Atweaks component itself , so the dimension Door spell itself to work for any distance along the map.
http://www.shsforums.net/files/category/99-atweaks/
I actually prefer the Item delay from using the Amulet abd how long it takes to move the character, makes it feel more intense and lorewise it feels appropriate that its not as instantaneous as its spell counterpart, but to truelly help in fights , I just feel it shouldn't be limited by line of site.
Ring of superior arcane clumsiness -
So the mask of king and shadowdragon wardstone both grant helm crit protection (apparently they shouldn't if it is treated as ioun stone)
Also will the boo change conflict with CDTweak's Move Boo Into Minsc's Pack, since you will need to put Boo in quickslot to use it but move it to pack breaks this?
Tested on new playthrough and this is not on Adalon.
> Ok, I want someone to propose some item. A weapon, armor, a usable item, I don't care.
> Just a general description, I don't need exact numbers or specific information.
> I will create the first item that will be realistically possible to create.
I love Jan. It's one of my favourite characters of BG2. The guy is just so cool!
Small and kickass. Sure, other mages are stronger, and pure thieves can be
deadlier too, but Jan is kind of the ultimate trickster.
So I was thinking ... how about an item for Jan? But an item that does not quite
exist yet.
Jan is probably a gambler, so I suggest a cheating device for gamblers. Perhaps
some loaded dice. Or some oily substance for fingertips, from a jar, similar
to Jan's alchemy thingy.
Anyway, the idea is that this item can increase the luck for some value (not
sure how much is ok, +1 to +3 or something) for some duration, say 2 hours
or something that lasts a bit longer than one battle.
It can work only on Jan, or if you want to make it more useful, on all thieves,
or even on everyone, similar to that teddy bear shield from tales of the deep
or something.
Or some other device that can be used for trickery-purposes, which is why I
suggested to modify luck. Could also increase dexterity for a bit, but it
should be a useful item, not an overpowered one.
By the way, the mod is really great and it should be hosted on github too.
I suggested to the spellstudio github folks to help people come together
into one big meta-project on github, so that old downloads are not disappearing
once content creators vanish. We kind of should preserve this for future
generations to come.
On the Gond item thingy: I think you need to solve this before Unfinished
Business triggering Minsc disappearing Boo. Because after that quest the
cowled wizards will never again show up, so I think the Gond item could never
be obtained anymore. I haven't tested this yet though, but I think when you
install many mods you kind of have to think about how to be able to solve
them, without breaking other mods. That's the problem with mods.
PS: Since some mods install katanas, and there are many overpowered katanas,
how about a katana that is similar to the speaking sword you get from under
the first pub? It could be a moody katana, aka with dialogue options - if
the talking katana has a depression then it is only +1 and makes annoying
comments. If its mood improves, it gets +3 or something and deals +1
extra damage electricity or so (again, useful, but not overpowered).
Another idea for an item would be a shield that could give stoneskin and
could perhaps be obtained from the golem area. Yet another idea may be
some darts that would taint the target with glittering dust for some
rounds - so disposable items.
PSS: Perhaps someone could one day create a meta-mod for all items. And
re-balance the items a LITTLE BIT. Some items are garbage, others are
too overpowered IMO. It is hard to achieve good balance.
PSSS: in regards to overwriting files, this is why I think a meta-meta
mod for items should be created, hosted on github and co-maintained
by several people who understand the format. Often when there is just
a single developer, for better or worse, you can create a great mod,
but it can also break other things. I have noticed this with different
mods now and it is annoying if it breaks other unrelated mods. So
we could need some quality control overall.
barely anyone documented things. This makes it hard for new people to
understand what is going on. Another reason why I think we should all
build a huge team for github sharing purposes and changing of mods,
ESPECIALLY if the original author is no longer active, or some other
problems exist (such as the messenger that keeps on crashing the game,
I ran into this issue - thankfully I read on the forum here that we can kill
him via time stop + disintegrate, so I can kill that game-crashing bastard
at the least until someone manages to fix that problem).
problems in regards to other mods. In general I try to avoid mods that
make mega-meta-changes because it breaks so many things. Tactics
remix is a wonderful example: I love some changes, such as the
kenzai ninja or the gnome ninja, but other things such as improved
irenicus with that fat mega-dragon are just annoying to no ends, and
other things outright break (e. g. Dusk NPC, where in the area in
the docks district there are vampire liches, and you can not even
LEAVE THE FUDGING AREA because the guy who wrote it was not
the brightest person on this planet - I HATE mods that lock down
an area and force you to fight-or-break-the-game. I understand the
"don't cheese" the gameplay, but on e. g. highest difficulty, some
fights are no more challenges but instead just the author being
a troll. The katana-kenzai and gnome kenzai are hard, but still
manageble. I write this because some mods simply do too much,
and the big mega-mods are all in ways guilty of that. I also hate
the change of rules for the most part, tactics remix should be
re-written. Or just forked off and people resume from there since
many original authors just disappeared anyway.)
> (by Argent77)? Or make it purchasable at the mart?
I think you can simply take all items from the hidden spots nearby. At the least when I look at it
I can take the key ring. I always skip the initial dungeon since I hate having to redo it for the
1000x time. Do you not find the items hidden there in the stash? I think there are three stashes,
check all of them. I also had the situation where some cowled wizard NPC blocked the northern
stash, but I think you can kill them if they are still there (sometimes they are there, sometimes
not; I think some mod is causing issues. I guess it is more logical if they are all dead instead.)
One of the above posters wrote how he prepared via various scrolls against
magic and what not.
I think while that is valid, I found an easier "workaround".
So the first part of the battle was quite annoying and hard, but somehow the
enemy AI made the female mage mirror image, and then move to the top
right, after I used the ring of the ram to knock her towards that position.
At that time, or already before that time, she was spamming that spell where
some coloured orbs or balls are moving outside, and kept on doing that.
I believe skeletons are immune to that, so I surrounded her with skeletons.
Then it was easy to slowly whittle away on her via ranged weapons; also
having one berzerk guy such as Korgan helps.
I think the party was level 12 to 14 or so, still in chapter 3. Having said that
some mods that are installed have super-helpful items in general, so my
party was stronger than "vanilla" builds. So the fight was actually not THAT
difficult in the end, especially after having breach and true sight (again some
items provide that too).
Tactics Remix is rewritten from the ground up with permission from Wes. Others are welcome to make their own version of the original Tactics with Wes' permission, but my interpretation of it is not for others to fork without permission. Tactics Remix is also actively being maintained. Regarding Dusk, both the original Tactics and Back to Brynnlaw use that area, so that is on Dusk's author to correct any issues that arise from his mod (he has been notified of the bug). Additionally, Tactics Remix is supposed to be a difficult mod, and I will not lower the standard of difficulty as it diminishes the experiences for those who are playing for the challenge. If you don't want a fat mega-dragon, then don't install that component. It's really that simple.
There are a lot of mods for us to play, all free but like regular buffet eaters, we tend to stuff our plates with interesting stuff well beyond reason and limit. That is our problem and not the buffet.
Older mods didnt foresee the things they could break because the work wasnt coordinated for future mega mod. It was a stand alone piece of work. Even when the BWS surfaced the tactical mods where flagged as potential bug introducing and had to be chosen as the last in line - and with a dire warning that bugs and and other stuff might happen. Thats how it was, and perhaps still is. The modders do plenty to fix bugs, but sometimes its just us players who fill the plate to much.
The tactics is a great mod. And should be a pain to complete. Nerfing it is against the authors expressed wishes of the author and the mods many fans. So I think it is where it should be. Best wishes
to kill Drizzt for the Figurine.
Wizard hat I also like - the gains are not that huge, but
it just looks so stylish on a Kenzai-Mage! (Or Jan. But he
gets that helmet from The Bridge Block since it raises
INT by +2 which seems to help Jan a lot.)
I also looked at some of the .BMP files such as CLEAVERX.BMP and
modified it (I had to drop some blood on it). I do this mostly as
a learning experience until I understand the strange language mods
use, but also, when I looked at the above listing of items, I did not
find the cleaver. Could the initial listing (in this thread here) also
add the cleaver and where it may be found? Could also more
spoiler entries be added? Some items do not seem to be listed
in the first thread, unless I missed them.
was semi-accidental and I did not "deliberately" use that
strategy to milk it. But I still found it fun to report it
here.
So, get Paina the spider druid; that requires another mod.
Trigger the cowled wizards showing up. I use the gate location
since it does not have many NPCs. I also installed the
stronger city guards, but this is not necessary - it's just
funny when the city guards try to kill the cowled enforcers.
Summon the tiny spiders via the ring from Paina. Cast haste
on them. Send them into battle.
In the last fight against Zalla or whatever is her name,
her AI keeps on spamming those coloured balls. Spiders tend
to die but there are many of them, in particular if you
let some of them attack her from the read side (she will
face only one direction so you can move around in her
back; I did this with my main character, you can get in
one or even two strikes, but with the spiders that is
not necessary).
The tiny spiders killed Zalla quickly, due to poison
as well as casting web (which I think may disable her
spellcasting). A bit of luck is also involved but I
just killed her with only the tiny spiders. And that
means she can be killed early on and the Hourglass is
yours (which I think is a great item but also overpowered,
if anyone ever reworks this mod perhaps allow the Hourglass
to cast timestop but add some penalty to it, be it fatigue,
slow, or some reduced mental stats for some time; hourglass
is too overpowered for final bosses who can not deal well
with time stop, because you get in so many free things to
do, be it free strikes or free spells to soften up the
target or cast disposable summonables and so on).
There are also semi-exploits elsewhere in the game, sometimes related to mods. For instance, one mod yields an axe of vorpal for Korgan and he actually managed to vorpal the dragon in chapter 7 or so at the very beginning of the fight, for the talisman of Rillifane. Admittedly the party I had back then was very strong already, so the dragon had no chance anyway, but one-shotting is pretty hilarious, even if overpowered (I mostly try to adhere to vanilla games, so most of the mod changes I try to reject).
PS: Perhaps there may be some more ways of exploiting the Hourglass of Gond, perhaps even with regular guards. Some of the AI can sometimes be exploited, like whenever it does something that is predictable. Others may be more creative to find ways of in-game exploits.