Icewind Dale I & Icewind Dale II Mod Thread

[valcik]

What did you think of it?

The same as you, wasn't impressed at all. Party banters became really tiresome after a while, naive and childish. Won't install it next time.

 

[ghostdog]

I'm starting an IWD+HOW playthrough of the original game (not EE) and I'm trying to refresh my memory about how Dual-Class stuff work in that game. So I guess this is a good place to ask.

Let's take for instance a fighter that dual-classes at lvl3 to a mage. It's well known that the character will regain his fighter abilities when he reaches the same level as mage, but what happens to weapon proficiencies?

Let's say as a fighter he had ** in bows and *** in long swords. As a mage normally he is prevented of using these weapons, will he able to use them when he reaches level 3 as a dual-classed fighter/mage?
If he can use fighter weapons, will he be able to add proficiencies to them and reach, let's say **** in long swords?
If he can't add more points to fighter weapons, will he instead be able to reach **** in mage weapons like the quarterstaff, if he chose it as a starting fighter weapon?

Or is the high/grand mastery route cut-off once you dual-class?

If that's the case what happens if I put *** into quarterstaff as a fighter and then add one point when I dual-class to mage? Is that point lost when the fighter abilities are re-enabled?

oh man, ad&d...

 

[pippin]

If I'm not mistaken you lose the fightr proficiencies when you dual as a mage. The best thing to do in this case would be to pick quarterstaff, daggers, darts or missile weapons. Same thing happened to my f/cleric. Made her pick mace and hammers because she lost the ability to use bladed weapons when she dual classed.

 

[hilfazer]

Fighter dualed to mage will keep his weapon profs. I remember having figher>mage with *** in swords.

It could be different when dualing to priests/druids tho. My observation is that most classes in AD&D enable some weapons (in case of fighters it's all weapons) but some classes (druids and priests) enable weapons but also BAN other weapons. And banning is stronger than enabling so fighter/cleric can only use blunts.

 

[ghostdog]

Yeah I recall clerics are prevented from using bladed weapons because of spiritual reasons or some shit. God wants you smash people to pulp with your holy hammer.

So, it seems Fighter/Mage keep weapon prof, what about high/grand mastery? At least quarter-staff high/grand mastery or something.

 

[hilfazer]

My Fig9 dualed to druid (fuck you 17 charisma requirement!) kept her ***** in scimitars. My guess it's same story when dualing to a wizard.

 

[ghostdog]

Thanks for the info.

Final question: can a dualed fighter/mage cast spells while wielding a shield?

 

[moraes]

Let's say as a fighter he had ** in bows and *** in long swords. As a mage normally he is prevented of using these weapons, will he able to use them when he reaches level 3 as a dual-classed fighter/mage?

Yes.

If he can use fighter weapons, will he be able to add proficiencies to them and reach, let's say **** in long swords?

Only after fighter class is re-enabled.

what happens if I put *** into quarterstaff as a fighter and then add one point when I dual-class to mage? Is that point lost when the fighter abilities are re-enabled?

oh man, ad&d...

The point is lost, after dual-classing is in effect the game only keeps the highest value (this works with THAC0 also, for example). You should wait for fighter class to kick in again.

Final question: can a dualed fighter/mage cast spells while wielding a shield?

Yes.

 

[ghostdog]

Thanks. I just checked it myself with a character editor., it's all as moraes said.
Damn, mages level up like crap, I'll have to wait for 10000 xp to reach level 4 as a mage and be able to use fighter abilities...



....And since this is basically a modding thread let me add this:


Mods for the original Icewind Dale (not EE, not BG2 TC, or other shit)

1280x720 UI Fix for the widescreen mod
The main UI has some ugly banding from cropping/pasting in higher resolutions, this fixes it to look better. Don't ask for other resolutions.

TNO voice pack
This also works for the original Baldur's gate.

Bigger fonts
Prevents blindness with 1280x720 and higher resolutions. I just quickly combined some stuff from my PST UI mod and my BG2 fonts mod, could be probably done better if someone was arsed to experiment with haen's font tool. Couldn't find the font file for floating text, so that's unchanged.

Infinity Engine Savegame Editor
The only save game editor I found that works with original IWD+Expansions. Dale Keeper apparently doesn't like the expansions.

 

[ghostdog]

So, the original IWD is FUCKING HARD. When I started I said, OK, I haven't played this for many years, but I've payed the shit out of all IE games, so I'll go with Insane difficulty and also install the tweak that gives all mobs max health. Just to have a bit of challenge... Yeah right.

-Tutorial quest: Find the Kobolds that scared little jimmy: Archers fucking Archers, they almost killed 2 of my weakest characters.
-First quest of the game: Go to that nearby cave and fight some low level gnolls: I Got completely raped. No way I could do this without hit and run and rest tactics.
-Hey, check out that disturbance at the cemetery: Fucking hordes of skeletons, Mummies, shades and various other undead. every damn step I took forward was absolutely painful.
-Money scarce. I can't even find some +1 arrows to buy, but even if I did I wouldn't have enough money.
-You know, I need a gem that's somewhere inside those volcanic caves:
1rst level: Armies of trolls. What? you only have a couple of fire/acid spells, 10 fire arrows and one sword that does 15% acid damage? Tough luck.
2nd level: Armies of undead. Because we like necromancers, we like them a lot.
3rd level: Yuan-Ti and a lot of fucking Yuan-Ti priests. I hate those guys. You used the haste spell? You're fatigued, and fatigue in IWD seems much worse than BG, your character can't hit shit. You want to rest? Nope, you can't. Walk all the way back.

But hey, I was getting good, my party was shaping up nicely so I was gaining some confidence. My fighter/druid kicked ass. I realized ranged combat is the way to go, especially bows. My fighter/mage was pretty good too... so yeah it was time to meet:

Yxunomei: Immune to all weapons below +3 and high magic resistance. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

The only weapon I had that could hit her was +1 hammer I had stolen from the blacksmith, that thankfully had the ability to bypass immunities. 1d6+3 maces/hammers can't actually hit her because they are considered +2 weapons. I learned that the hard way. It was fucking hilarious. In all this clusterfuck I ended up somehow tanking with my fighter/mage and killing her with my cleric who used this hammer.

As you can guess, I'm having a blast.

 

[pippin]

The game kinda suffers after Yxu. When I fought the last boss, she still was the strongest creature I killed.

 

[octavius]

Icewind Dale and Heart of Winter was rather badly balanced, but still jolly fun even if a bit frustrating at times.

 

[FeelTheRads]

I played IWD on HOF starting with a lvl1 party. Doable, and yeah, great fun.

 

[roshan]

So, the original IWD is FUCKING HARD. When I started I said, OK, I haven't played this for many years, but I've payed the shit out of all IE games, so I'll go with Insane difficulty and also install the tweak that gives all mobs max health. Just to have a bit of challenge... Yeah right.

-Tutorial quest: Find the Kobolds that scared little jimmy: Archers fucking Archers, they almost killed 2 of my weakest characters.
-First quest of the game: Go to that nearby cave and fight some low level gnolls: I Got completely raped. No way I could do this without hit and run and rest tactics.
-Hey, check out that disturbance at the cemetery: Fucking hordes of skeletons, Mummies, shades and various other undead. every damn step I took forward was absolutely painful.
-Money scarce. I can't even find some +1 arrows to buy, but even if I did I wouldn't have enough money.
-You know, I need a gem that's somewhere inside those volcanic caves:
1rst level: Armies of trolls. What? you only have a couple of fire/acid spells, 10 fire arrows and one sword that does 15% acid damage? Tough luck.
2nd level: Armies of undead. Because we like necromancers, we like them a lot.
3rd level: Yuan-Ti and a lot of fucking Yuan-Ti priests. I hate those guys. You used the haste spell? You're fatigued, and fatigue in IWD seems much worse than BG, your character can't hit shit. You want to rest? Nope, you can't. Walk all the way back.

But hey, I was getting good, my party was shaping up nicely so I was gaining some confidence. My fighter/druid kicked ass. I realized ranged combat is the way to go, especially bows. My fighter/mage was pretty good too... so yeah it was time to meet:

Yxunomei: Immune to all weapons below +3 and high magic resistance. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

The only weapon I had that could hit her was +1 hammer I had stolen from the blacksmith, that thankfully had the ability to bypass immunities. 1d6+3 maces/hammers can't actually hit her because they are considered +2 weapons. I learned that the hard way. It was fucking hilarious. In all this clusterfuck I ended up somehow tanking with my fighter/mage and killing her with my cleric who used this hammer.

As you can guess, I'm having a blast.

The toughest difficulty mode is actually normal. Why? Because when you play on insane, you get double XP, and your characters level up more quickly. If you have a smaller party, say 4 people, you level up quick, and the game compensates by throwing more monsters at you, all of which give double XP. By the time you get to the Vale of Shadows, the game is completely broken, turned into a Diablo style hackfest.

Thankfully, the Enhanced Edition now has a mode that eliminates the double XP reward.

 

[ghostdog]

The toughest difficulty mode is actually normal. Why? Because when you play on insane, you get double XP, and your characters level up more quickly. If you have a smaller party, say 4 people, you level up quick, and the game compensates by throwing more monsters at you, all of which give double XP. By the time you get to the Vale of Shadows, the game is completely broken, turned into a Diablo style hackfest.

Thankfully, the Enhanced Edition now has a mode that eliminates the double XP reward.

Shit, you're right at the vale I turned it back to normal and the game didn't seem easier. With all those dual classed characters I was struggling in the beginning, if I had double XP I would be much stronger in dragon's eye.

 

[agris]

Yeah, one of the concrete improvements in IWD:EE is divorcing the extra XP and damage (if you want) from Insane Mode. You can toggle either on or off, in combination with Insane or any other difficulty. It's nice.

 

[pippin]

So the IWD EE is worth buying then? At least you are not forced to suffer through Beamdog's "enhancements".

 

[ghostdog]

Aren't they basically using the bg2 engine for IWD EE? Doesn't that make it easier to begin with?

 

[pippin]

That's the thing though, you can use bg2 classes and spells and that inevitably feels like it's going to hurt the quality of the game. IWD isn't really a high level adventure.

 

[roshan]

Or you can simply just..... not use them. All you need to do is avoid picking half orc or kitting your characters. The BG2 mage spells are only available in one shop, so you can just avoid purchasing the BG2 spells from that shop. As for the Druid/Cleric spells, there is not much that BG2 has that IWD didn't already, IWD already has druidic/clerical spells far better than those in BG2.

Also, pureclass Druids (shapeshifting into elementals, immunities at higher levels), Paladins (remove disease, disease immunity, smite evil, spell progression to level 6), Rangers (spell progression to level 6), Bards (stronger bardsongs at higher levels, more options/effects for songs, spell progression to level 8) are already much more powerful in Icewind Dale than in BG2, and their abilities are ported to the new engine. Some of the kits probably don't get these abilities, so there's more incentive to pick pureclass specially for the Bards and Druids.

Furthermore, thieves are actually nerfed in the BG2 engine due to the splitting of stealth into hide in shadows and move silently. And some kits are heavily disadvantaged at the lower level before the kit abilities can start to shine.

So overall I really don't see how there's a big balance issue there.

 

[ghostdog]

So at some point I realized I had this spell "contact other plane" and it's nice, since it gives you pointers about the area, where to find some important plot characters etc. but nothing you can't actually find on your own... that is until Market teleported away in Dorn's Deep. I believe this is the extended questline added from IWD Unfinished business and it's fucking great, only a bit surprising since the game up to that point is a straightforward dungeon crawler with very simple quests. So I contacted the planar creatures and they gave me a hint about what to do.

I believe this spell was added from the expansion and in HOW you *have* to use it for a certain side-quest. It's a great idea and it would have been awesome if its use was expanded even more and if other IE games used it more, it could have very interesting uses in order to collect info for quest-solving. I don't think you can find this spell in BG. Was it also used in IWD2? I can't recall ever using it before.

This brings me to the ranger's tracking ability. It's a fun ability that gives you info about each area and the creatures you'll face, but actually in a certain case I found in Lonelywood it also gives you hints about the murders that occur in the area. It's just that it can't be used for more than that. It's understandable, since it's a class-specific ability, but still it adds a lot of flavor.

In general I'd say HOW is improved in all the areas the base game suffered since it has much more interesting characters and side-quests.

Also did HOW made the IWD final boss much harder? When I faced him without starting HOW he kicked my ass. Those dispel-magic traps were fucking evil

 

[Saxon1974]

Wish there were more mods that add quests and story. While I like the games I could never finish more than half due to boredom of fight, fight, fight, rest...Fight, fight etc...

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

Wish there were more mods that add quests and story. While I like the games I could never finish more than half due to boredom of fight, fight, fight, rest...Fight, fight etc...

Man, IWD is a gameplay-RPG! I.e. you build a creative party, explore great locations (the exploration is God Mode, IMO) and develop your party while overcoming difficult combat. It's even better on harder difficulties where you have to be more tactical and pay closer attention.

If you want the story-heavier version of the game, play Baldur's Gate. That game has plenty of story.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

My only complaint about this game is that it was too short. I co-oped the Enhanced Edition with someone on tablet (please, save your tomatoes and make pizza sauce with them) and we finished it way too quickly. Granted, the multiplayer service wouldn't let us get far into the expansion content (which seemed really good, too), but the base game should have been doubled in overall hours of gameplay, IMO. Baldur's Gate on the other hand took me 100 hours to beat the first game alone.

 

[Raziel]

So at some point I realized I had this spell "contact other plane" and it's nice, since it gives you pointers about the area, where to find some important plot characters etc. but nothing you can't actually find on your own... that is until Market teleported away in Dorn's Deep. I believe this is the extended questline added from IWD Unfinished business and it's fucking great, only a bit surprising since the game up to that point is a straightforward dungeon crawler with very simple quests. So I contacted the planar creatures and they gave me a hint about what to do.

Ya that's one of the best spells made in the IE games. Only way to get the demon infested armor from burial isle.

I don't know why magic/spells aren't used more in RPGs as another way to solve story problems. I'm pretty sure IWD1's the only game to do it in a favorable fashion.