Mod Installation and some questions.

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Hi, I recently finished TUTU and know I want move on to BGII. I thought about trying some of the new mods. Picking mods have taken extensive research, so I assure these question isn't asked from laziness.

So what is the installation order?

While searching I got this advice:
I. Non-Weidu mod (maximum of 1) always first.
II. NPC mods
III. Banter/flirt packs
IV. Quest / Kit mods
V. Tweak mods
VI. Divine Remix / Virtue

This was what the installation order I gathered from the Icelus recommended mods thread :

BG2fixpack( I assume it works like baldurdash?)
One Pixel Productions (this a tweak shouldn’t it come last?)
Oversight (for sendai?)
Ascension
eSeries
gMinion
Improved horn of valhalla
Quest Pack
Ding0Tweak
Unfinished Business
Banter Packs
NPC Flirt Packs
The Bigg Tweak Pack
Every Mod and Dog
G3 Tweak Pack
BG2 Tweak Pack

Then I wanted stuff these in;

Cal-Culator
Ding0 Experience Fixer
Moinesse's Avatars
Restored BG1 Casting Sounds
NPNPC Portrait
Item upgrade
Itemvalue tweak
Improved Battles
Slightly Improved Ilyich
Tactics
Scriptable Spells(Is this one necessary, worth it?)


1.Is there a mod which cut down on gold as def jam cuts down on xp alternativly raise the cost of stuff dramatically?

2.Was detectable spells included BG2 fixpack?

3.Oversight alignment changes are not necessary with BGII fixpack?

4.How much should you reduce xp to adjust for added content? I would like to finish around Tob around level 25.

5.Weimar ported IDWII item into the game how about those for IDW 1?

6.I know about Imoen the bard, can she be modded into a blade?

 

Can't answer all of your questions, but I can field some.

The BG2 Tweak Pack replaces the old G3 Tweak Pack, so you don't need it (and probably can't find it anyway). Scriptable Spells is included in the Fixpack, but Detectable Spells is not. It will be eventually, but it's currently undergoing (what is hoped to be) its last schema change. For now, use the BP Detectable Stats 1.2 package (though you'll need to do a manual fix--that thread's for an old version of BP, but Detectable Stats v1.2 has the same issue). Oversight's alignment fixes were the basis for Fixpack's, so it's also not necessary. One Pixel Productions' patches are very minor, so its order in the install is not really that critical.

edit: Oh, and for IWD items: one of the bonus merchants (Joluv at the Copper Coronet) already has several IWD items for sale.

 

Thank you CamDawg.

I suppose tactics like mods are tweaks and that they go in before general tweaks?
So the order of the graphic fixes doesn’t matter?

Where is the official download site for Detectable Stats 1.2? and where do I paste that fix?

If I go by this order is my thinking wrong?

BG2fixpack

Cosmetics
One Pixel Productions graphics
Moinesse's Avatars grapics
Restored BG1 Casting Sounds


Oversight (for sendai?)
Ascension

Quests
Improved horn of valhalla
Quest Pack
Unfinished Business
Every Mod and Dog
Item upgrade

Tactical tweaks
Improved Battles
Slightly Improved Ilyich
Tactics

Scripts (after everything that adds new content)

Detectable Stats
eSeries
gMinion

NPNPC Portrait
Banter Packs
NPC Flirt Packs

Misc tweaks
Ding0Tweak
Cal-Culator
Ding0 Experience Fixer
Itemvalue tweak


General tweaks
The Bigg Tweak Pack
BG2 Tweak Pack

I was mostly thinking about all the cool miscellaneous items.

 

There's a lot there I haven't played, so by all means check the readmes of these mods for conflicts and install order advice. Hopefully one of the very mod-heavy players here (oh, Silverstar?) can offer more specific advice.

The order looks fine, more or less, though I might suggest moving Tactics and Ascension way up in the order, perhaps even as far as immediately following the Fixpack. Being older mods, they tend to overwrite a lot of files and don't play as nicely with others as newer mods.

Detectable Stats really doesn't have a formal home; just grab it directly off the IEGMC mirrors (America, Asia, Canada, or Europe) as appropriate. The changes in the linked thread above need to be made in the .tp2 file that comes with the mod and can be done with pretty much any text editor.

 

Did someone call me?

Here I am!

Well I had Tactics and Ascension as my very first mods, in my very long list. My mod list was ugly and ever-growing. I had more than 40 mods in the end! And yet, my game was running with minimal bugs...I was able to finish SoA+ToB a few times, each time adding even more mods! My override and BG2 folders were so heavy that my game slowed down to a crawl most of the time. Agh, it was SOO painful!

Then I uninstalled my BG2, reinstalled a new, and got only the best mods I needed, plus all new and cool Improved Anvil!

@Arawn

As a matter of fact, why don't you try Improved Anvil? It adds great depth and fun to the game, even more than Tactics and others combined! As an experienced mod user I can say it is an excellent mod, which brings lots of fresh air to the game, making it brand new and fun, challenging and full of suprises everywhere! Some components of Tactics and Improved Battles are uncompatible with it though, so you should uninstall those components first. Also be sure to get IA as your last mod! Check IA's wonderful read me for more details if you are interested!

 

As are some from Ascension, Unfinished Business and Quest Pack, and the G3 Fixpack, allegedly. If you're willing to give up various parts of some of the most well-established and popular mods in exchange for, uh, all that stuff Improved Anvil is supposed to offer, then cool. Personally, I'd stick with Unfinished Business any day until Sikret gets his incompatibilities sorted out.

 

Only one component of Unfinished Business and two components of Ascension are incompatible with Improved Anvil. You can have most of their components together with IA.

Those few incompatibilities are not things which can be 'sorted out', because they are not technical incompatibilities; they are rather conceptual incompatibilities.

 

A tenner says I could sort them out.

 

Thank you once again Cam.

Silverstar,

So do you have any thoughts on the optimal installation order?

Since no one is laughing at me, I assume there are no really serious incompatibilities between these mods. (other then keeping older overwriters first.).

Mostly because I wanted to try the item upgrade mod which is incompatible with IA. Also while I generally like nerfs I want to be able to chose them myself. Perhaps next time.


Sim, do you have any idea about how much xp to remove to nullify the xp for the additional content, 10%? 25%?

 

I don't think you'll get that much extra XP for the new content you're installing. If you're looking to keep the balance about the same, I wouldn't go below 75%, but I'm not even sure any reduction would be needed. Quest Pack is going to be your main source of extra XP here, and I go out of my way to ensure I don't upset game balance.

 

Like I said before, Tactics and Ascension and Imp. Battles were my very first mods and I did not have horrible bugs. I think your installation is nice enough.

Have fun in your game! And try IA some time in the future, it is well worth it!

 

Thanks guys.

Cam, I'm afraid I will never be much of a programmer.

Copy BP_DS_1.2 rar till BG11 SoA.
Extract it to BGII-SOA BP_DS_1.2 directory.

The setup file will not find the dialog.tlk in that directory.
Move all the files up one level and it works.

RUN The setup makes an update.

RUN I get the install dialogue.

Install

Patching…


The I get this error message.

I assume I haven't gotten the syntax right.

Edit: I got the same message even with the unedited tp2 file. so it doesn't seem to be that I did the fix wrong.

[ November 08, 2006, 22:49: Message edited by: Arawn ]

 

Delete or remove STAF15.ITM from override folder, then you'll be able to install BPDetectStat.

 

I found this on gibberling3.net

Cirerrek speaking:

Does he mean that all mods asking for detectable stats should be installed before?
(I believe improved battles also had a detectable component).

Another thing Cam,

Is that in the modder pack? I see no outright mentioning of this in the readme and Scriptable spell is still available as a seperate download at your site.

Razfallow,

I do that, if it still wont work. But if it's just one line of code I have to do some rather obvious idiot error.

[ November 08, 2006, 22:22: Message edited by: Arawn ]