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Installing and Playing IWD2

ThelsThels Member Posts: 1,416
edited February 2018 in Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition
Hello,

I haven't touched a non-EE IE game in ages, but since it seems like IWD2EE will never happen, and since the 2.5 patch for BGEE/BG2EE/IWDEE is taking a while longer, keeping me from starting new campaigns in those, I'm gonna give IWD2 another try.

What mods/tweaks would one recommend to install on top of it? I'd definitely would like to play on higher resolutions, install any 'fixes' and possibly highly recommended mods.
Post edited by Thels on

Comments

  • SirBatinceSirBatince Member Posts: 882
    am looking for this info aswell, would like to make it as smooth as possible
  • GusindaGusinda Member Posts: 1,915
    edited February 2018
    @Thels, I would like to see this IWD2EE version you have :). This is my install of the original version of IWD2:

    This is convenient. I have the original disks (which is still my install), but I have recently bought the game again from GOG. So for me, this is good timing for a re-install and to sort the mods...

    Depending on where you are installing from, the game needs to be updated to the latest version (v2.01.1016).

    Mods I currently have (in order installed):
    Widescreen for IE v3.07 (Mine is set to 1920 x 1200)
    IWD2 GUI Fix_1.04 - Sets the GUI back to centre when using Widescreen mod (I use the manual install)
    DDRawFix - Direct Draw Fix/Emulation for playing on modern Windows
    My aqrit.cfg (DDraw.dll config file):

    RealDDrawPath = AUTO
    BltMirror = 0
    BltNoTearing = 0
    ColorFix = 1
    DisableHighDpiScaling = 1
    FakeVsync = 0
    FakeVsyncInterval = 0
    ForceBltNoTearing = 0
    ForceDirectDrawEmulation = 0
    NoVideoMemory = 1
    SingleProcAffinity = 0
    ShowFPS = 1


    Ease of Use Mod Pack - Bunch of mods by Weimer
    Weimer-Targos - Undead and Tougher Torak
    Weimer-Merchant - Bonus BG2 Merchant
    IWD2NPC Project - Joinable NPCs
    Light of Selune - Items, updated some classes to D&D3.5, more difficult traps etc.
    IWD2FixPack - Fixpack and Unfinished Business
    IWD2 Cleric Domains - More cleric domains

    Others I am looking at for new install
    IWD2Tweaks Pack - Convenience Tweaks like Inventory Stacking etc...
    Bonus Adventure Pack - Various Unique Items
    Tactics4IWD2 - Tactics Mod to make things difficult for you.

    Please note that there is a problem with Widescreen mod in that the game will freeze when you fight the treants in Fell Wood. You need to revert to 800x600 before undertaking this then you can go back to what ever resolution your game was set to.

    Another thought... if you are playing the game and something like windows gadgets which (as they update) tear though the to the game UI, just open notepad or explorer to full screen and that will prevent the tearing.

    You can also stop those annoying Intro Movies. Just create empty files (0 bytes) called BISlogo.mve, Credits.mve, NVidia.mve, and MOTC.mve; then copy them over to IWD2\Data. Backup the original versions if you wish.

    If you prefer larger fonts, you can also try 'BiggerFonts for IE Games_FontMod_v2.1' but I refer the original text size.

    Don't forget DaleKeeper to perfect your PCs...

    Right, I think that is it for the moment. I haven't had any conflicts using this config. I will watch this thread for more good info/mods then go about reinstalling IWD2 myself.

    Enjoy
    Gus

    Edit: Added a Spoiler to aqrit.cfg as it interfered with the rest
  • ThelsThels Member Posts: 1,416
    Oops, meant to say IWD2, obviously...

    I had to delete ddraw.dll for the game to even run. If I left ddraw.dll in there, it would just take up the bottom right corner of my screen with a black box without doing anything.

    Which of those mods would actually be fixes (and/or engine improvements), and which of those would be content changes? With the EEs, it's sorta safe to assume (well, not really, but close enough) that any fixpacks are already included. But for the old pre-EE games? The following seem more like content changes that depend on user interests, rather than actual 'mandatory' updates. Am I wrong and would you consider any of them mandatory?

    Ease of Use Mod Pack - Bunch of mods by Weimer
    Weimer-Targos - Undead and Tougher Torak
    Weimer-Merchant - Bonus BG2 Merchant
    IWD2NPC Project - Joinable NPCs
    Light of Selune - Items, updated some classes to D&D3.5, more difficult traps etc.
    IWD2 Cleric Domains - More cleric domains
    IWD2Tweaks Pack - Convenience Tweaks like Inventory Stacking etc...
    Bonus Adventure Pack - Various Unique Items
    Tactics4IWD2 - Tactics Mod to make things difficult for you.
  • GusindaGusinda Member Posts: 1,915
    I am guessing here that you are playing on a Windows platform (8.x - 10) for DDraw.dll. If you have earlier, there would be no need.

    Mandatory mods for fixes (of the ones mentioned):
    - If you are using IWD2 Fixpack, then the rest are content changes.

    If you are asking which I would not play the game without then:
    - Ease of Use Mod for stacking only. (the bug fixes are already incorporated in the IWD2 Fixpack). I am likely to replace this with IWD2Tweaks Pack to include 'Force All Dialogue to Pause'.
    - IWD2NPC Project - Joinable NPCs (If you are looking at interaction between characters)
    - Weimer-Targos - for the more difficult start...

    The others are based on your preferred game play (ie: if you have played before, there are additional items/classes etc) and are content changes.

    Gus

  • ThelsThels Member Posts: 1,416
    It's been too long for me to really remember the details of the game, so let's assume it's a fresh experience, though not the first IE game I play at. I'm playing on Windows 10 64bit. I have the CDs and a GoG version.

    The GoG version seems to come with DDrawfix already included, but I don't see any aqrit.cfg. Though as I said, I had to delete ddraw.dll for the game to run at all. I guess as long as the game is running, I don't need to temper with it further?

    I'm using Tweaks Anthology for the other IE games. Doesn't it also support IWD2 for such basic things as stacking and dialogue forcing pauses? I thought the individual Tweaks packs were all deprecated now that Tweaks Anthology arrived. Are there any important things in the Ease of Use mod that aren't in Tweaks?

    Targos: Is the start of the game a cakewalk, and does this make things more balanced? Then it's something I may want to install. If it's actually changing the content quite a bit, I may want to keep away from it.

    The NPC Project, do they have a lot of interesting banter? If they're basically silent, I'd prefer to just create my own party, but if their banter is interesting, it'll be worth it to bring a suboptimal party.
  • ThacoBellThacoBell Member Posts: 12,235
    I believe IWD2 has its own tweak pack. Targos can vary. Depending on your party, it certainly starts as a cakewalk, but a certain boss encounter at the very end is a bit of a jump. I can't really comment on the NPC project.
  • GusindaGusinda Member Posts: 1,915
    @Thels, The DDraw is odd. I am also on Win10 but require DDraw.dll for the game to play properly. I am also on the old disk version but will be doing a reinstall with the GoG version. Maybe there will be a change... The aqrit.cfg comes with DDrawFix or if you download DDraw.dll from the web as a seperate package (for other games that require DDraw).

    Tweaks Anthology... Uhm, er, yeah. Never even considered the Tweaks Anthology pack. I had a read and sure enough, there is IWD2 in the readme for the stacking and pausing. Thanks! :) There are some additional components in Ease of Use, but whether they are important for yourself... the readme is easy to grab hold of. It basically adds improvements (or bugfixes) for weapons and, once you played the game a couple of times, a randomiser for items. Having re-read the readme, I will continue to use it in my new install.

    Targos. All the mod does is add Undead to Targos and a tougher fight with the boss. If you are taking this as the first time play. I wouldn't worry about the mod, use it next time. As Thacobell has said, Targos difficulty level depends on the makeup of the party.

    NPC Project. I haven't used all of the available NPCs so wouldn't be able to comment on them all. The ones I have used have added interesting banter, but as above if this is the first play, I would create a team of 6 and party on. There are rules when using the pack so if you do use it, make sure you read the instructions.


    Gus
  • GusindaGusinda Member Posts: 1,915
    edited February 2018
    @Thels, @SirBatince - I have just installed IWD2 GoG version and make the following observations:

    - Upon installation, the GoG version did not start until ddraw.dll was renamed...
    - When Widescreen was installed (1920x1200), the game lagged far too much. I rename ddraw.dll and the game wouldn't start.
    - I reinstalled ddraw.dll using 'setup-ddrawfix.exe' (you will need to copy the following files from the root of the game to .\ddrawfix\wined3d - ddraw.dll, libwine.dll, wined3d.dll) using '2] Use WineD3D's DDraw Library' even though it was already installed. Once done, it worked well with no lag.
    - Given that, I restarted the install and setup the DDraw.dll first, game started, then widescreen mod after that. Worked well!

    If your interested, these are the mods I installed in the order installed:



    Widescreen v3.07 (1902x1200)
    IWD2 GUI Fix_1.04 (Manual Install)
    IWD2 Fixpack v4
    *Wiemer-IWD2-Ease-of-Use v15 (Not all of the components)
    - If you plan on using Weimer's Ease-of-Use mod (v15), don't install the component 'Additional Druid Spells' as it appears not to work with the GoG version and doesn't allow the game to start. Haven't yet looked at what the problem may be (and probably wont...).
    *IWD2 Weimer-Undead Targos-v6
    IWD2 NPC Project v5.0
    *Weiner Bonus Merchant v1.3
    Tweaks Anthology v4.0 (Not all of the components)
    One Pixel Production v4.1.0 (Not all of the components)
    No Intro Movies (create BISlogo.mve, Credits.mve, NVidia.mve, and WOTC.mve as empty files and copied to '.\Data' replacing the files that were there.


    *A lot of the older mods needed to have their .tp2 placed into the correct folder and may not play properly until the version of WeiDU updates (sometimes manually).




    Although I haven't played a game yet, it starts up and I can make it partially into Targos without any issues (using one of the preconfigured parties).

    The DDraw.dll that comes with the GOG version is much better (more stable and doesn't bleed) than the version I was using previously (IWD2 DDWrapper).

    Now to get planning a new party and having a play. Lets see, bard/sorc, druid, rogue/wiz, no wait bard...

    Hope this helps
    Gus


    Edit: Spelling - Fixed MOTC to be WOTC
    Edit 2: Fixed version of 1PP
    Post edited by Gusinda on
  • ThelsThels Member Posts: 1,416
    edited February 2018
    Thank you both for your input. I'll be sure to try. I'll be following Gus' list of mods, except I may choose different components for Ease of Use, Tweaks, and One Pixel, and I'll skip No Intro Movies for now.

    Here are some links, to prevent people having to find them themselves:
    Fixpack: http://www.shsforums.net/files/file/1085-almaterias-iwd2-fixpack/
    Ease of Use: https://weidu.org/iwd2.html (directly under "Installing These Mods")
    Undead Targos: https://weidu.org/iwd2.html (directly under "Installing These Mods")
    Bonus Merchants: https://weidu.org/iwd2.html (directly under "Installing These Mods")
    NPC Project: http://www.gibberlings3.net/iwd2npc/
    Tweaks Anthology: http://gibberlings3.net/forums/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=973
    1 Pixel Production: http://www.shsforums.net/files/file/1006-1ppv410/
    Widescreen: http://www.moddb.com/games/planescape-torment/downloads/widescreen-mod-windows-v3072
    GUI Fix: http://havredest.eklablog.fr/interfaces-pour-widescreen-a42876917

    The 1pp mod is listed as broken, but it seems to work just fine. For some of the mods, the .tp2 is sitting next to the .exe file. I've moved these .tp2 files into the mod's folder, and they installed properly.
    Post edited by Thels on
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    For switching back to 800x600 for Fell Wood, I'd recommend Widescreen and GUI Fix last, rather than first.
  • ThelsThels Member Posts: 1,416
    That's what I did personally, though the GUI Fix is not a WeiDU mod. I used the order in which I listed the mods above.

    I also ended up removing the NPC Project again. It seemed to replace the NPC you talk to initially, even if you didn't bring those NPCs into your party.

    Those Undead swarming around in Targos surely made it a tricky experience.
  • AstroBryGuyAstroBryGuy Member Posts: 3,437
    IWD2NPC has Sir Nord appear at the beginning if he's not in the party. He kicks off your mission and also gives you an heirloom from your father. He doesn't replace the boat captain, however; he's just added to the boat.
  • GusindaGusinda Member Posts: 1,915
    Thanks @AstroBryGuy. During the build, I forgot about the res change for Fell Wood. Will reinstall before I go any futher. Fortunately I have batched my install...

    Gus
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