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Playing Baldur's Gate 2 again for the first time in years - Which mods should I use?

ThesblahThesblah Member Posts: 56
in BGII:EE Mods
I am a long time fan of the Infinity Engine CRPGs like Torment, Baldur's Gate series, and Icewind Dale series. I have played them all in the past.

My favorite was Planescape: Torment, of course, with Baldur's Gate 2 being my second favorite. I've decided to reinstall Baldur's Gate 2, so that I can introduce my girlfriend to the game and play multiplayer co-op. The new Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced Edition looks really nice. However, I'm debating on whether buying the enhanced edition version or buying the cheaper regular version on GOG and applying mods to it.

I have several questions:

(1) is the enhanced edition worth paying more for than the normal version after applying mods,
(2) if I were to buy the enhanced edition, is there a standard list of about three to five good standard mods for the enhanced editions,
(3) if I weren't to buy the enhanced edition, what are the few standard recommended mods for the non-enhanced version of Baldur's Gate II, and
(4) is there a mod that makes Baldur's Gate II use the 3.5 DnD rules (like Icewind Dale 2) instead of ADnD?

I'm really interested in what your opinions are on whether Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced Edition is better or worse or equal to Baldur's Gate 2 regular with mods. I'm a mod noob.

Comments

  • meaglothmeagloth Member Posts: 3,806
    1) definitely yes.
    2)I dunno much about mods, but I hear a lot about SCS, asencion, Bg2tweaks, and look into NPC mods.
    3)most mods are comparable, the lost shouldn't be any different.
    4) not that I know of. That would be a huge change. Though I have heard of something called IWDification, I don't know what that is. I think it's cosmetic.

    Invisible 5) the EE's are far superior to the original. Lots of bug fixes, the like. Remember this is pretty much the same game, just with some new NPC's, their quests, and lots of fixes. The black pits are also a nice little game.
  • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
    edited May 2014
    If you want to play MP with your GF get BG2:EE, BG2 will make of you a shame more than once (by crashing, being highly bugged and low resolution without mods).
  • AurorusAurorus Member Posts: 201
    I recommend BGII:EE as well. I tried a few years back playing BGI and BGII on the newer systems with the appropriate mods for modern computers and found them the games to be somewhat unstable, even with the appropriate mods. The Enhanced Editions are very stable, and I have experienced maybe 1 crash in nearly 200 hours of gameplay.

    As to mods: I recommend SCS (highly) and Ascension. There is a version of ascension that is useable for BGII:EE and there is a thread about how to install it somewhere on the forums.

    Many people like Unfinished Business as well, but I am not familiar with it entirely. I would note that much of the unfinished business mod is already included in the Enhanced Edition.
  • FinaLfrontFinaLfront Member Posts: 260
    One aspect that I really like about BGEE is the fact you don't have to turn off hardware acceleration. This of course was the only way to play the games without crippling slow downs. Back in the XP days this wasn't that much of a problem, but MS7 requires a huge 3rd party program.

    IMO this one feature makes BGEE worth it, not mentioning all the other niceties.
  • ThesblahThesblah Member Posts: 56
    Thanks for the suggestions guys. I bought BGII:EE off Beamdog. I believe I'm going to add the SCS and Ascension mods once I figure out how to add them.
  • AurorusAurorus Member Posts: 201
    Thesblah said:

    Thanks for the suggestions guys. I bought BGII:EE off Beamdog. I believe I'm going to add the SCS and Ascension mods once I figure out how to add them.

    It is the Big Picture Ascension module that works. It can be downloaded from Spellhold Studios. There are 2 or 3 threads about it on the forums, including links. My understanding is that only the core components of BP along with Ascension have been tested and proven stable. You should install BP-Ascension prior to SCS.

    There is a bug with SCS on the battle in ToB with Sendai that has caused numerous people difficulty. A solution to this problem was reported yesterday by Dam23. The solution simply involves changing 2 scripts in the Sendai battle, which you can do manually or by downloading a short zip file. Here is the link to Dam23´s fix https://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/495410/#Comment_495410
  • ThesblahThesblah Member Posts: 56
    Thank you again!

    One favor, would anyone be kind enough to post the download links to the most recent SCS and Ascension mods for BG2:EE? I have zero experience with mods, and I don't even know what is most recent or where to look.

    Thanks
  • DeltharisDeltharis Member Posts: 124
    edited May 2014
    Umm... Given the requirements I don't know if SCS is a good idea. I mean, basically it's a mod that makes enemy AI deadly efficient at what it wants to achieve using some approximation of optimal strategy. It does remove some unfair advantages from certain enemies, but replaces them with bigger legitimate advantages, so the overall difficulty will increase. It is fairly popular around here, but than again, hardcore no-reload or single character low stats runs are too.
    What I'd suggest more is BPSeries AI scripts. They allow you to reduce micro-management of the team by making AI of your characters competent enough to deal with medium level dangers and use their advantages even when you forget about them.
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