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Baldur's Gate & Baldur's Gate II Mod Thread

octavius

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At least they are not Tactics pit fiends, with their chain gating reaction. That is probably the most ridiculously modded summon in the history of BG2 mods.

Heh, Tactics is one of the most ridicilous mods ever, period. Escpecially Bohdi was so ridicilously over the top that I could only shake my head, roll my eyes and hit Uninstall.exe. The only part of it I enjoyed was TorGal.
aTweaks have gating too for some Fiends, but I don't think (hope) there will be a chain rection. Mephits apparantly have a very low chance of gating, since I've not seen any of them succeeding yet.
 

hell bovine

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There was the chain gating, and then there was some random poison attack that dealt 666 damage. Admittedly, it was kind of hilarious watching the promenade get overrun by fiends; I think it was the cowled wizard teleporting police that gated one and it kind of went downhill from there.
 

octavius

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I just did the Haer Da'Lis quest line and The Master of Thralls summoned a Nabassu. The Nabassu went down very quickly, though, so its Death Gaze was of no consequence. And I managed to kill the Master before he could etherealize; Haste and hard hitting fighters (Keldorn, Anomen with FoA, Minsc and Jaheira with a Girdle of 19 STR) helped. After I killed the Master three Cambions appeared, but I'm not sure if they were Gated (probably not).
 

Sigourn

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Not sure where to post this, but I just installed Baldur's Gate II and I'm having massive issues with graphical glitches. :cry: Disabling 3D Acceleration gets rid of most glitches (and playing windowed apparently gets rid of the remaining ones), but it also makes the game's spells look crappier.

I'm running Windows 8.1 and have an ATI Radeon HD 7700 Series videocard. Any tips for a bro? I just wanted to enjoy BGII as God intended.

EDIT: In case I'm not being obvious, this is Baldur's Gate II original I'm talking about, with the Throne of Bhaal expansion. NOT the Enhanced Edition.
 
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octavius

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Just faced the dreaded SCS Improved Shade Lord, and he was quite a nasty bugger; his Darkling Aura (drains one level every round or so of those too close or not protected enough), Prot vs Magic Weapons, Spell Turning and magic resistance means he's almost invulnerable.
But he has one major weakness; he's slower than a console lard. And with Prot vs Magic Weapons having a very short duration it was just a matter of concentrating on the Altar and Shadow Patrick, keep a safe distance (I thought, but the aura has a large radius) and keep him occupied with summons.

My party didn't have time to buff, so opening round was Jan casting Haste (he had no spell to counter the Spell Turning), Anomen and CHARNAME casting Negative Plane Protection on selves, Keldorn using True Sight, Valygar sneaking up behind Shadow Patrick and Mazzy looking cute and cuddly.
Except for Valygar failing save against Finger of Death (despite a ST of 5) the fight went well.
Once the Shade Lord's PfMW wore off it was just a matter of kiting him with magic arrows and bullets. Mazzy is a sub machine gun with the Tuigan Bow.

But I think I'll leave the Shadow Dragon for another time...
 
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Sigourn

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Maybe try DXWnd: https://sourceforge.net/projects/dxwnd/
Info on how to set it up for BG2 here

Been using DXWnd for BG without issues, but using the same settings in-game and in DXWnd is useless if I have 3D Acceleration enabled. :cry: I'll have to see if I find a program that allows me to do that thing others do in their NVIDIA cards for triple buffering and the like.
 
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Malpercio

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Yeah, I think these should be enough. Everything else seems like utter crap. Or just insane.

Like this brand new mod:

Imoen is Stone (Windows) 1.0

I feel under a lot of time pressure every time after the incident with Irenicus, Imoen, and the Cowled Wizards at the Promenade. This mod lets Imoen be turned to stone in that fight. The idea is to give the PC more ease of mind to do all the quests in Chapter 2, knowing that Imoen doesn't suffer - and can be turned back to live like Branwen was in BG1 once the PC reaches Spellhold.

:hahano::hahano::hahano:

Maybe someone should do MOD MADNESS Baldur's Gate Let's Play. All three Nalia Romance mods and both Imoen Romance mods at once. I can't personally do that, I don't rape the things I love.
Change it to Imoen is stoned and I'm sold.
 

octavius

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So how do people deal with instances like Lavok?
He starts with Stoneskin, Spell Shield, Spell Turning, Improved Mantle and Immunity: Abjuration.
Having limited arcane spell casting repertoire (I'm starting to regret ditching Nalia), I found it was easiest to just wait out the Mantle, and the Prot vs Magical Weapons his Contingeny provided the second his Mantle expired, keep him occupied with summons, and use Holy Smite (not surprisingly he was immune to Cloud Kill) to disrupt his spell casting.
 
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octavius

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Just killed three instances of Tolgerias.
I thought Simulacrum only created one copy? :?

Both the visible turnip hating scum went down quite quickly after being caught by a Web spell (but I was annoyed that Keldorn was caught despite his Armour being said to give him immunity to Web), and I thought this was way too easy, but then a third, invisible Tolgerias appeared (whom Jaheira's Insect Swarm seemed to ignore after first hitting Tolgerias' generic Mage sidekick ).

Oh well, I managed to beat the bastard on first try with no buffing, and the only wound being Jaheira's Iron Skin being breached.
I am pleased at the progress that this ill-conceived group has made.
 

octavius

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I decided to compare notes with a crackerjack blogger who is considered by Lilura the world's foremost expert on the IE games, and she says:

Ok, it's time to venture forth into three of the hardest areas of the second and third chapters; namely, the Beholder Lair, the Planar Sphere and the Planar Prison. Take them on in whichever order you like, but I wouldn't go into the Planar Sphere or Planar Prison without first breaking into the seventh circle for Ruby Ray of Reversal. The reason? You will be up against Lavok and Tolgerias: two epic Mages that employ Spell Trap to make themselves all but immortal.

Hmm..they didn't use Spell Trap against me, only spells like Spell Deflection, Spell Turning, and Spell Shield.
Does Spell Trap work against area spells as well?

Anyway, my party did all three areas with no 6th or 7th level mage spells available.
Lavok and Tolgerias were not that difficult (did them on first try with no buffs), Planar Prison was quite hard, and I had to buff to the max to defeat the Unseeing Eye. I did the areas in the reverse order that I listed.
It's possible Spell Revisions (which I don't use) makes it harder if the duration of the Mantle and Prot vs Magic Spells is increased, but you don't really need debuffing spells when you can wait out the spells that protect against physical attacks. Also, as long as they don't have Immunity: Abjuration Keldorn has a decent chance of dispelling most of their buffs, even with only a 1.5 modifier (unmodded it's 2).

And as long as cast on an enemy with no protection against directly targeted spells I think Insect Plague should work. Not sure, though. Can someone clarify?
 
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oldmanpaco

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Having limited arcane spell casting repertoire

5noHKsb.jpg


But seriously the best part of a SCS BG2 run is all the high level mage battles. Going without 2-3 mages in your party is just asking for frustration.
 

octavius

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Well, I have yet to rescue Aerie. If she can wield the Flail of Ages to my satisfaction I guess it will be time to put Anomen out on pasture to make room for some fresh goods.
 

oldmanpaco

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Well, I have yet to rescue Aerie.

Aerie is at best a support mage. You need at least two pure mages (Edwin, Nalia, Imoen, or MC). Well you don't need them but it makes it easier.

But hey backpack baby!
 
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Parabalus

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So how do people deal with instances like Lavok?
He starts with Stoneskin, Spell Shield, Spell Turning, Improved Mantle and Immunity: Abjuration.
Having limited arcane spell casting repertoire (I'm starting to regret ditching Nalia), I found it was easiest to just wait out the Mantle, and the Prot vs Magical Weapons his Contingeny provided the second his Mantle expired, keep him occupied with summons, and use Holy Smite (not surprisingly he was immune to Cloud Kill) to disrupt his spell casting.

Vs Lavok: go to entrance and close door, he will DD to you and contigency triggers around same time. Run out and close door, wait PfMW out, open door and collect loot.

Vs Tol: for me he started neutral, and SCS prebuffs applied only when turned hostile (after dialogue). Backstab(+ram) oneshots him. Alternatively he for some reason casted only PfMW instead of mantle so he dies to normal weapons+haste. His door is uninteractable :incline:.

Had more trouble with the Warden like you as well, didn't do UE yet.

Well, I have yet to rescue Aerie.

Aerie is at best a support mage. You need at least two pure mages (Edwin, Nalia, Imoen, or MC). Well you don't need them but it makes it easier.

But hey backpack baby!

You really only need mages to (easily) handle other mages, for that the pures aren't any better than x/mage or Haer'dalis.
 

hell bovine

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Regarding insect plague vs. SCS mages, it depends what spell modifications (including other mods) you have installed. E.g. scs has an option where fireshield stops insect plague. I've run games with and without this option, and if you leave it out, insect plague (and creeping doom for liches) wrecks scs mages regardless of whatever protections they have.
 

octavius

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I have the Fire Shield option installed.

Also, it seems like I have misunderstood the Immunity: Abjuration spell. I thought it meant Abjuration spells would have no effect against the protected character, but it turns out I can still use Spell Thrust to remove Spell Shield and even Immunity: Abjuration. Rather counter intuitive, I think.
 

oldmanpaco

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ou really only need mages to (easily) handle other mages, for that the pures aren't any better than x/mage or Haer'dalis.

Maybe but why go through the all the aggravation of taking multiple under-powered mages along? In vanilla its no problem but if you use decent SCS settings its just irritating.
 

Parabalus

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I have the Fire Shield option installed.

Also, it seems like I have misunderstood the Immunity: Abjuration spell. I thought it meant Abjuration spells would have no effect against the protected character, but it turns out I can still use Spell Thrust to remove Spell Shield and even Immunity: Abjuration. Rather counter intuitive, I think.

IIRC it's one off the SCS options to make the meta spell battle spells ignore SI:Abjuration specifically so it's not an IWIN button.

ou really only need mages to (easily) handle other mages, for that the pures aren't any better than x/mage or Haer'dalis.

Maybe but why go through the all the aggravation of taking multiple under-powered mages along? In vanilla its no problem but if you use decent SCS settings its just irritating.

Well, each non-mage party member you take makes the game harder. In SCS especially, it's easier to solo the game with a single x/mage or sorc than to keep non mage party members alive through tougher encounters. Underpowered and mages doesn't really mix in Bg2.
 

Jason Liang

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Aerie is the best mage. She's the only mage that can cast (and Sequencer) cleric spells. At max level, her Projected Images and Simularacums come with a complement of Heal/ Harm spells.
 
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oldmanpaco

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ou really only need mages to (easily) handle other mages, for that the pures aren't any better than x/mage or Haer'dalis.

Maybe but why go through the all the aggravation of taking multiple under-powered mages along? In vanilla its no problem but if you use decent SCS settings its just irritating.

Well, each non-mage party member you take makes the game harder. In SCS especially, it's easier to solo the game with a single x/mage or sorc than to keep non mage party members alive through tougher encounters. Underpowered and mages doesn't really mix in Bg2.

Well yeah the ideal party has all arcane casters (X/Mage MC, Edwin, Aerie, Imoen, Nalia, Jan or Haer'dalis) but if you are only going to have two mages there is no point in having a multi one.

Also this party would plow through any encounter but you would need to manage them. A party with some fighters and more healing will let you autopilot though the combat filler but make the main encounters harder.

Aerie is the best mage. She's the only mage that can cast (and Sequencer) cleric spells. At max level, her Projected Images and Simularacums come with a complement of Heal/ Harm spells.

Super situational and a pain to manage. Also it takes forever to get to this point. But like I said - Backpack Baby!
 

octavius

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Looks like there are two main tactics against high level mages:

1. Have a mage heavy party to engange in the debuffing contests.

2. Have a more fighter heavy party that don't bother with debuffing all the enemy spell protections, but instead wait out their Mantle spells, at least until they get +4 weapons. Prot vs Magic Weapons is not that much of a problem (unless they are naturally immune to normal weapons), and a fighter like Mazzy alone can get rid of a Stoneskin in one round with the Tuigan Bow and regular arrows.
Combine that with Jan's 100 skill in Detect Illusions to counter Immunity: Illusion, Keldorn's Dispel Magic, and use AoE spells to disrupt their spell casting.

The latter tactic has worked very well for me against Lavok and Tolgerias. I didn't even need to buff.

It's not like I planned on going for a more fighter heavy party, but with a Lawful Neutral Cleric of Helm Edwin is not right for the party. Nalia is just too boring and I don't like her voice acting, and her thieving skills are inadequate. I like Jan much better. Anomen is the only one with skill to wield the FoA. Keldorn is nice due to his Dispel Magic ability and True Seeings. Jaheira is the best tank with her Iron Skins and -10 AC (she's the only one who can use Semaj's Cloak) and she can cast Insect Plague. Valygar is an excellent scout, decent backstabber and good archer. With Girdle of 19 STR, Boots of Speed, his Katana and the Pixie Dagger he's more useful than Minsc was, and is more like Drizzt.
 
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hell bovine

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Well, Mazzy in herself is a great mage killer. Shorty saves, a fighter's constitution and some resistance gear, and she can tank SCS-mages (except for the few with imprisonment). Only Korgan is better, thanks to his berseker rage.

It is a bit counterintuitive, but you are better off tanking mages with shorty fighters and better off tanking heavy hitters with magic users in SCS.

(btw, I gave Valygar crom in the off-hand once, and a katana in the main, it improved his backstabs noticeably :D)
 

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