What's is the best mod?
BGEFanatic
Member Posts: 67
Hey,
What is the best mod so far? I'm not quite new when it comes to mod a game and I've actually enjoyed installing new mods to GTA San Andreas back in a year.
P.S
I've mentioned GT SA because back then I've collected the best mods for that game tried it with one another to see if it run with/without problem then discard those that crashes it or having conflict with other mods so my question is not only what is the best mod for this game (BGEII) but rather can it also be installed all at once?
Cheers,
BGEFanatic
What is the best mod so far? I'm not quite new when it comes to mod a game and I've actually enjoyed installing new mods to GTA San Andreas back in a year.
P.S
I've mentioned GT SA because back then I've collected the best mods for that game tried it with one another to see if it run with/without problem then discard those that crashes it or having conflict with other mods so my question is not only what is the best mod for this game (BGEII) but rather can it also be installed all at once?
Cheers,
BGEFanatic
0
Comments
- mods that change gameplay in many many ways (difficulty of battles, item prices, weapon accessibility, modifications of kits etc etc);
- mods that add quests;
- mods that introduce new NPCs or add banter or quests to existing NPCs;
- mods that introduce new kits;
- mods that introduce new items.
There are good mods and bad mods in all these categories. Note that some mods combine two or even more of the above aspects. For example various NPC mods not only introduce the new NPC, but also include a quest for that NPC and possibly one or more new items.
In my experience you might want to watch out with mods that introduce items because some of these items are overpowered and break the game balance.
Anyway, maybe you could specify what kind of changes you'd like to make to your game?
Also, I take it you've played through the unmodded trilogy a few times already. If not, then I would even recommend you to wait with modding your game too much.
I believe the NPC1 Project mod is available for BG1:EE. Does anyone know whether this is true, and where it can be found?
If you could install this mod, you'd have much more banter between your NPCs, which makes them really come to life more than in the original game. I'd recommend not installing anything beyond said mod.
BG1: NPC Project
BG2: Ascension
I believe those to be must haves.
@Archaos:
(1) can BG1 NPC Project be safely used in the EE version? I.e. without bugs, crashes to desktop etc.?
(2) would you recommend Ascension to someone who just bought the games and is going to play for the first time?
@Blackraven: I understand, so what mod do you recommend for BG2:EE though?
As to recommendable mods for BG2EE, well I would wait with SCS and Ascension until you've experienced the vanilla game (because these mods make the game much harder, while it's already hard enough as it is for a first-timer). I would also wait with mods that change gameplay/rules etc. Some of these are good mods IMO, such as Rogue Rebalancing and Wizard Slayer Rebalancing (should you want to play a Wizad Slayer), but you'll be able to judge for yourself once you've experienced the original game.
You could consider installing 'Unfinished Business' as it ties up a couple of loose ends in the original game, maybe 'Banter Packs' and 'IEP Extended Banters' to have more, often funny banter. And you could also take a look at the mod NPCs and install one you really find interesting.
But there are mods that bring BG1 NPCs into BG2 (Alora, Coran, Branwen, Tiax, Xan). These could be interesting for you if you happen to have any of these NPCs in your party in BG1. Other NPC mods I can recommend from my experience would be Angelo, Isra (both BG1and BG2), Gavin (both BG1and BG2), Tasha, Adrian. BUt keep in mind that these are my personal tastes, yours might well be very different.
For the other games there are some things called "tweak packs" that can add minor hassle-reducing things to your game (make sure you can carry more than 80 arrows in a box for example)
Other than that, play the first game! Ascension is good too, but I would only install the parts that change the story, not the parts that make certain battles more difficult.
Basically, the majority of mods these days are installed with WEDIU. That's this lovely little program that allows multiple mods to be installed and used together, save for in the rare case where they alter the exact same thing (the mod that allow's Dak'kon's katana to be upgraded, for instance, probably wouldn't work if I installed a random mod that turned the thing in to a warhammer for some unknown reason). You'll most have to watch out for this when it comes to spells changing the core engines: from what I know, there's two different packs that change divine spells and how they work, and in that case, which ever mod you install last would have it's changes made.
But every other mod will work together. So best 'mod' is a bit of a stretch: there are probably over a thousand of different mods, and many people play the game with over a hundred mods installed. (This, er, can cause some slowdown.) Though my BGEE/BG2EE modding collection is smaller, my original BG2 game has over 500 various components installed in it. That's a lot of modding.
...However, you should really play the game in it's original state before installing mods. Mods change the game in a lot of ways, and you'll miss out on things if you go for a fully modded playthrough. You'll see banters written by other players instead of the original in game banters, for instance, which could cause you to develop extremely uncanon versions of these characters in your head. You could end up in a party full of NPC mods and not have any banter at all, missing that aspect of the game. And most importantly, you could end up stuck in a quest or stuck with a repeating banter and not be able to continue due to some buggy coding.
Like with every game, mods are best used after you've seen the original game, and after you've learned how to use the console: as if you do run in to a bug, you're going to have to use the console to fix it. In general, mods for BG aren't just simple 'cosmetic' changes. If all you want is new portraits, that's not a mod, that's just following the directions in the custom portraits thread: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/28402/custom-pc-npc-portraits/p1.
The only mod I'd install for the first time BGEE or BG2EE game is the BG2 Tweak Pack (yes, it works on BGEE too): http://www.gibberlings3.net/bg2tweaks/ . (For BG2EE, don't install the romance cheats- they have a tendency to bug out.) Install the unlimited ammo to make the game less irritating, make the stores sell higher stacks of items, for BG2 make sure to install more interjections and the altered HP triggers. Don't go crazy with the stealthing and casting in heavy armor and the unnerfed spell casting tables.
Once you've played through the game, you'll be able to decide what you want more of. Banters? Quests? Items? NPCs? Rule changes? At that point, we can more seriously recommend mods for you.
I haven't really kept up with the modding scene for EE, so I can't tell if they're compatible, yet.
There's no reason not to play the NPC mod if it's compatible.
About Ascension, yes. I installed Ascension on my first playthrough for BG2.
It's a semi-official mod. It was made by one of the game's creators back then.
It only changes ToB and makes it more challenging but not stupid-cheap hard like some "difficulty" mods.
I will just say that the first boss you fight is actually a boss and not a joke and the last battle is just fittingly hard and interesting.
It also adds some story elements that are very appropriate so it's not just the battles.
But, not sure if it's compatible yet either. You can do a forum search and see if it's compatible.
- Those mods that add new areas created using 3DSMAX, and not recycled BG/BG2 areas.
- Those mods that are supported by BG:EE and BG2:EE, with a continuous story between the two, right into TOB.
- Those with complex character development through new party NPCs, that include the above.
Can't think of any off the top of my head.
then you will have a better idea what kind of mods you are looking for
http://imgur.com/a/9hfF2#2
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Till now, a bit expensive to have it replace with another LCD so I've just bought a second-handed PC monitor instead; that should keep me going for now.
I'd tell you which mod is best but I have so many and Iam new myself to this whole mod thing that I dont even know which does what
on another thought, best mod is "DUngeons-be-gone". Allows you to skip the irenicus dungeon