15 replies to this topic

[Tonton Fred]

Preparing for my first mega-mod install (once again, fabulous work that you guys are doing), I have finally settled on an (almost) final list of mods, around 100 of them and that's only tweaks and fixes mods, I chose almost no "content" mod, I just want a replay of the original saga with as many squashed bugs as possible. Here's the list :

Spoiler

item revisions
BGT-WeiDU
Restored Textscreen Music
lost items
BG1NPC Project
BG1NPC Music Pack
Xan?s friendship path
Coran?s BG Extended Friendship Talks
Ajantis BG1 Expansion
BG1 Unfinished Business
BGSpawn System
BGT Tweak Pack
adalon blood
Underrepresented Items
Weimer's Item Upgrade v37
Jan's Alchemy v4
Haer'Dalis' Swords
Ajantis
Kivan
Xan
XanBG2Voice
alora
tiax
skie
de'arnise
banter packs
iep extended banters
Viconia Friendship
mazzy fr
yoshimo fr
Imoen Romance
Jan's Extended Quest
branwen NPC
quayle npc
quallo fix
lucy
minotaur
npc tweak
UB
gMinion
Spell revisions
Ding0 Quest Pack
resource fixer
BP
SCS
tactics
turnabout
Ding0 Quest Pack
wheels of prophecy
P&P Celestials
Homeward bound
Item Pack
npc flirt pack
revised battles
MTS
Romantic Encounters
Crossmod Banter Pack
Spell revisions
oversight
divine remix
sword & fist
rogue rebalancing
Improved Summons
Zyraen Mis
SCS II
BG2 Tweak Pack
Jarl BGT Tweak pack
Refinements
Ding0's Tweak Pack
Item Revisions v2
Mix Mod
PnP Free Action
aTweaks
BP Series
Thrown Hammers
P5 Tweaks
Ding0 Experience Fixer
BP-Balancer
One Pixel Productions (1pp) v2.70
One Pixel Productions v3: Avatar Fixes
1ppv3: Female Dwarves
1pp: Thieves Galores
Aurora's Shoes and Boots
The Bigg Tweak Pack
BGT NPC Portraits v1.8
Unique Containers v3
Replacement Lightmaps v1.3
Infinity Animations
BP_BGT_Worldmap
Level 1 NPC
BGT Music
BGT Graphical User Interface
Widescreen Mod
Creature Fixer
Generalized Biffing
Taimons tob_hacks

My main question is the following : I want the new cleric kits from Divine Remix (especially the Nightcloak kit for Viconia), but from what I read, DR is incompatible with Spell Revisions (spell spheres : major impact), Refinements (HLA tables : minor impact), SCS II (NPC spell books, minor impact), PnP Free action (no idea what the conflict might be, maybe spells ?).

Now, I might give up on Free action, and I don't mind losing the HLA from DR to Refinements, but SR and SCS II are more important (and I'm also waiting for them to get some hotfix out so their two mods are compatible). Is there any way to just get the kits from DR without conflicting with SR and SCS II ? I doubt it, since SR is installed before DR, and installing the kits would probably also overwrite the spell changes from SR and SCS II, but I'd be happy to be proved wrong I thought of using Level1 NPC to kit Vic, but I would still have to install the kits, and thus the reworked spells spheres...

Another question, about AI : is the general AI improvement from Ding0 Quest Pack redundant/incompatible with the AI improvements from BP and SCS II ? And while we're at it, can anybody tell me what are the strong/weak points of SCS II vs BP AI ? Which one do you guys usually choose ?

I've got other questions, O Great Ones, but I'll save them for later

Cheers,
Fred

[Mike1072]

Tonton Fred, on 10 March 2010 - 07:56 PM, said:

Is there any way to just get the kits from DR without conflicting with SR and SCS II ?

DR's kits require installation of the main DR component. If you wanted to skip the sphere system entirely, you might be able to install the kits after some tinkering with the DR .tp2.

Quote

installing the kits would probably also overwrite the spell changes from SR and SCS II

That is not what happens, but still, the kits are not designed to be installed without the DR components that do have compatibility issues.

Here is the SR compatibility issue: DR does not know that SR adds some spells, moves some spells, and changes the abilities of some spells. As a result, DR will not give characters the new spells, may mess up when assigning the moved spells, and will overwrite around 40 spell descriptions with versions that reflect the vanilla spells, generally making them quite inaccurate for the SR versions.

Changing DR to not overwrite SR descriptions would be easy, but the other parts would take a bit of work.

Edited by Mike1072, 10 March 2010 - 09:00 PM.

[Miloch]

Tonton Fred, on 10 March 2010 - 07:56 PM, said:

from what I read, DR is incompatible with... PnP Free action (no idea what the conflict might be, maybe spells ?).

There is no conflict, nor do I think there has ever really been one between DR and PnP (hell, I believe I even created the mod with DR installed). There was a very minor conflict with SR a while ago, but that is no longer the case. I wish BWP would fix these nasty rumours. Leomar said they fixed it, but I've seen a few reports to the contrary .

As for AI, I think maybe someone with more playing experience should comment. I think it comes down to a matter of personal preference, but you should pick one or the other. Ordinarily, I'd pick SCS because it's more recent and more advanced *but* that could also be a point against it if you prefer a leaner, simpler AI.

Is there a way to get just the DR kits without DR's main component? No, I don't think so, but it's been a while since I've tried such an install.

[Tonton Fred]

Thanks for the tips !

Mike1072, on 10 March 2010 - 08:56 PM, said:

If you wanted to skip the sphere system entirely, you might be able to install the kits after some tinkering with the DR .tp2.
...
still, the kits are not designed to be installed without the DR components that do have compatibility issues.

Not quite sure if I understand you : does it mean I could get the kits working if I give up on the DR sphere system (by commenting out parts of the TP2) ? Or would it create problems anyway because the kits will try to rely on the sphere system even though it has not been installed ?

Miloch, on 10 March 2010 - 09:04 PM, said:

There is no conflict, nor do I think there has ever really been one between DR and PnP (hell, I believe I even created the mod with DR installed). There was a very minor conflict with SR a while ago, but that is no longer the case.

Well, I might be misunderstanding what this line from the BAT is doing :

%IFNLS%freeact%IFNIF%spell_rev%IFNIF%Divine_Remix%S%freeact%L%0%SK% 10 | %M%

but it seems to me that Free action will only be installed if SR and DR are not there ? Besides, the PDF mentions "Install it not together with Divine Remix." So maybe you should ask the team to update the guide/BAT for your mod

Next batch of questions :

Ding0's QuestPack, component [Revised Hell Trials]
The PDF states "You must first carry out the corrections described on top to be able to install this component." => what corrections ? Does it mean reordering component numbers ? Am I right in thinking that in an automated install, the BW Fixpack will take care of it ?

Improved Summons : described as incompatible with Spell Revisions and Spell 50 in the PDF, yet the .BAT only has a check for Spell50 :

%IFXS%Spell50%IFNIF%IMPROVEDSUMMONS%S%Spell50%L%0%SK% 0 1 | %M%

BG2 Tweak Pack :
Component 4050 [Change Jaheira to Neutral Good]
From the PDF : The "Druid Remix" component must be installed! There is an error in connection with Jaheira. To repair it, you must install either a happy patch of another mods or change Jaheira to "neutrally good".
=> does this mean that this component corrects an error introduced by the Druid Remix ? or that in order to correct the error, you must install Druid Remix AND this component ?

Edited by Tonton Fred, 10 March 2010 - 09:33 PM.

[Mike1072]

Tonton Fred, on 10 March 2010 - 09:20 PM, said:

Mike1072, on 10 March 2010 - 08:56 PM, said:

If you wanted to skip the sphere system entirely, you might be able to install the kits after some tinkering with the DR .tp2.
...
still, the kits are not designed to be installed without the DR components that do have compatibility issues.

Not quite sure if I understand you : does it mean I could get the kits working if I give up on the DR sphere system (by commenting out parts of the TP2) ? Or would it create problems anyway because the kits will try to rely on the sphere system even though it has not been installed ?

I mean, you're going to have to edit parts of the mod to do this. You'll have to comment out the kits' Cleric Remix prerequisites and the parts that add spells to the kits' CLAB files, plus remove everything from the main component except the parts that the kits need (like the new HLAs).

Edited by Mike1072, 10 March 2010 - 11:17 PM.

[joshuar9476]

Miloch, on 10 March 2010 - 09:04 PM, said:

There was a very minor conflict with SR a while ago, but that is no longer the case. I wish BWP would fix these nasty rumours. Leomar said they fixed it, but I've seen a few reports to the contrary .

i asked this very thing a couple of weeks ago and was advised against installing the two together ... since i'm waiting around on itev revisions v3, i guess i'll install the two and see what happens ...

[Tonton Fred]

Mike1072, on 10 March 2010 - 11:17 PM, said:

I mean, you're going to have to edit parts of the mod to do this. You'll have to comment out the kits' Cleric Remix prerequisites and the parts that add spells to the kits' CLAB files, plus remove everything from the main component except the parts that the kits need (like the new HLAs).

After reading through the TP2 and trying to work out what to comment and what to leave, I think I'll give up on installing DR in my installation I just wanted to add the kits to add some flavor to the cleric class, while using SR/SCS spell tweaks.

Besides, I also wanted Refinements' HLAs ; but thanks to your reply, I can now see that trying to wedge DR's kits in this... well, it seems there are just too many ways for it to go wrong

joshuar9476, on 11 March 2010 - 10:38 AM, said:

i asked this very thing a couple of weeks ago and was advised against installing the two together ... since i'm waiting around on itev revisions v3, i guess i'll install the two and see what happens ...

I don't think there is any indication that Free action would be incompatible with Item Revisions ? However, the automated install will skip it if either Spell Revisions or Divine Remix are detected, so if you want to have them both, you must either change the relevant line in the .BAT or install manually.

Still more questions / remarks :

Unfinished Business (BG2) :
Component 1 [The Suna Seni/Valygar Relationship] : PDF states This component is not compatible with TS and BGT, but the BAT will only skip it if TS-BP is detected. So is it in fact compatible with BGT ?

Component 24 [Sarevok?s Remorse] : PDF states There might be a conflict between UB's Sarevok's Remorse and Ascension's Sarevok dialogues, but the only check the BAT does before installing it is whether the "Keeping Yoshimo" mod is detected. However, Ascension is included in BP, so maybe it should be checking for this ? Has the incompatibility been confirmed ? (I tried searching the forums, but come up with a database error every time)

Taimon's ToB Hacks : components numbers and selection are inconsistent between PDF and the BAT

BAT installs 80 [Non-cumulative blindness effect (THAC0 malus)] when PDF says Not install
BAT installs 110 [Apply profsmax.2da restrictions on char creation (BGT)] when PDF says Not install
BAT does not install 140 [Fix stacking of attacks per round modifier effect (#001)] when PDF says Install (from the TP2 comments : Taimon says patch is experimental)

[Jarno Mikkola]

Tonton Fred, on 11 March 2010 - 08:51 PM, said:

(I tried searching the forums, but come up with a database error every time)

The search function in the SHS forum is still down from the begining of this year...

Tonton Fred, on 11 March 2010 - 08:51 PM, said:

Taimon's ToB Hacks : components numbers and selection are inconsistent between PDF and the BAT

They might have changed between the versions... the pdf is not always upto date either.

[Tonton Fred]

Ok, another one on Hotfixes : I see plenty of "fixes" being posted, both here in the Fixpack thread and in the mods' respective forums like G3 ; should I hunt and collect all those fixes manually or are they being automatically downloaded by the BWP setup at install time ?

[Lollorian]

You'll have to hunt for any fixes lol Fortunately, most of the fixes are attached in the last 2 pages (or linked to where they're attached, so you probably won't have too much trouble ) The BWP dudes will probably use them in patching form in the next BWPFixpack update (or major release )

[Tonton Fred]

Ok, I think I'll wait a bit, there seem to be quite a few important mods on the verge of a new release (SR, SCS, IR...) but OTOH, maybe that's always the case

[Tonton Fred]

Lollorian, on 12 March 2010 - 03:48 AM, said:

You'll have to hunt for any fixes lol Fortunately, most of the fixes are attached in the last 2 pages (or linked to where they're attached, so you probably won't have too much trouble ) The BWP dudes will probably use them in patching form in the next BWPFixpack update (or major release )

Mmmm, ok, I'm still confused about this. There are some simple hotfixes such as spcl923.spl, which I assume I just have to drop in the override folder after the install is over, right ?

And then there are more complex archives, containing a TP2 for example. How to integrate this ? Should I extract them in the corresponding mod folder after BWS extracts the mods, but before launching the BAT for installation ? That would mean that those can only be integrated before installation and not mid-game (thus not really being hotfixes ) ?

[Lollorian]

Actually, none of them are hotfixes unless mentioned

Most of the attachments preserve the folder structure so you can just unpack the package in your BGII-SoA directory. For packages that contain no folders, you'll have to find the files in the mod folders yourself and overwrite them

And then, about when to overwrite, you should copy any fixes you have when the black console screen pops up to let you choose the language

[Tonton Fred]

Lollorian, on 13 March 2010 - 09:40 PM, said:

And then, about when to overwrite, you should copy any fixes you have when the black console screen pops up to let you choose the language

Eh... not quite sure what this sentence means... I thought I should extract the fix files before launching the setup ?

For example, I select Ding0 Quest Pack in BWS. It downloads the mod and extracts it for me. Then, before launching the BAT installer, I extract temujin's fixpack and overwrite the files in the Quest Pack folder. Then I launch the BAT installer (or the Quest Pack setup if doing a manual install) and proceed as usual. Is that correct ?

How can I know that a fix can be just dropped in the override folder or that it needs to be (re)installed with the mod ?

[Lollorian]

Tonton Fred, on 13 March 2010 - 11:55 PM, said:

For example, I select Ding0 Quest Pack in BWS. It downloads the mod and extracts it for me. Then, before launching the BAT installer, I extract temujin's fixpack and overwrite the files in the Quest Pack folder. Then I launch the BAT installer (or the Quest Pack setup if doing a manual install) and proceed as usual. Is that correct?

Absolutely

Tonton Fred, on 13 March 2010 - 11:55 PM, said:

How can I know that a fix can be just dropped in the override folder or that it needs to be (re)installed with the mod ?

If the post mentions that it's a HOTFIX, you can drop it in the override after everything's done. If not, it'd be great if you overwrite the stuff in mod folders before installing

[Tonton Fred]

Ok, thanks for your patience Lollorian

Now, just waiting for the new versions of Item Revisions and the BG2 Fixpack and I'll be on my way to the Sword Coast