I was just wondering what are the best mods, if any, to use with this game other than the ease of use. Do any of the ones with story add alot to the game? Are they too unbalanced? I'm wanting to try some that really add to the experience. Also, is TeamBG permanetly down? I wanted to check out their mod, Zapfix i think it is, but thier site hasn;t been working every time I've tried. Anyone know about that? Any Suggestions for fun mods would be really appreciated. (BTW, I don't want to try any that are very buggy, thanks).

[ March 26, 2003, 19:16: Message edited by: Taluntain ]

Can´t really say which one improve the original game in a noticeable way, but I can which ones don´t:

Imoen´s Romance. Rubbish. Good idea, but...

Tactics mod. Ooohkayyy; three liches in the temple ruins, skeleton warriors casting spells, wizards cheating like never before, and Sahuagin being one of the deadliest sharp-shooters with multiple, simultaneous!, skills. No thank you.

Solaufein mod. I don´t think this guy has even seen the real Solaufein, or any of the real drow for that matter.

Oh, wait; there is one I can recomend: Improved Items. Good items, well balanced.

The Tactics mode definitely has my vote of confidence.

One of the best features of it is you get to pick and choose what you want and don't want installed.

Examples of what I've installed:

1) improved Bodhi, with this mode she takes on a real Purgatori-like aura and is one tough broad to stake.

2) improved Dragons - dragons under the original AI are a joke. Under the tactics mode, they still often give me trouble.

3) improved Irenicus - all but restores Irenicus' credibility as the final villain of SofA.

Examples of what I didn't install:

1) Kuirosan, throwing somebody this powerful at any party so early in the game, and then getting that way overpowered Sanchodokuu katana, nope.

2) hardest random encounters - liches are a little much for a 7th level party

The tactics mode can definitely improve the fun of your experience, its really up to what you want from it.

For TofB, download the Ascension module.

*** Warning Alert ***

Stay away from The Darkest Day. I've never tried it myself, but I'm always hearing horror stories from just about anybody on any site or board.

P.S.: there's plenty of other threads here that ask this same question, with a lot of opinions offered.

[ March 31, 2003, 13:03: Message edited by: Beren ]

A non-trivial number of people have told me that stuff I've worked on like Kelsey and the Flirt Packs are a lot of fun, you can grab those at http://www.forgottenwars.net where you'll also find the replayer's delight Dungeon-Be-Gone and a few other goodies.

Examples of what I didn't install:

1) Kuirosan, throwing somebody this powerful at any party so early in the game, and then getting that way overpowered Sanchodokuu katana, nope.Well, you can always opt not to go get the katanas he covets so early in the game. You can also just give him what he wants and he'll leave you in peace. A first-level party could survive a Kuroisan encounter, after all.

Hey!
I have 3 liches in temple ruins in an unmodded game.

Good Mods:
Item Upgrade
Kelsey/Tashia
Flirt Packs

And the SEARCH option helps...

The unmodded game increases the level of monsters found in various monster encounters throughout the game, depending on your level when you reach that point. The encounter in the Temple Ruins is one of these, and if you go there at high level can certainly turn out as three liches.

I'm used to get about one lich, several greater mummies and several skelwarriors...

Alot of the weapon mods that can be found at the SP homepage are great. Well balanced etc. Also, there is the Ease of Use mod. that is brilliant.

One mod that is available (though still in late beta stages) is the Big Picture. It allows you to combine The Darkest Day, Tortured Souls and Shadows over Soubar into one game (otherwise they are totally incompatible). I haven't played much of it yet, but those who have seem to love it.

I have to disagree about the Imoen Romance. I personally love that mod. Great dialogue, and it's far more challenging than the other romances I've tried.

The tactics mod has some good parts to it, though it isn't confirmed compatible with the Big Picture mod yet.

Item Upgrade is good. I just wish it would add some belts that aren't just strength enhancers.

Soulafein is pretty good, and has some hard challenges in it.

Valen is way overpowered.

Spell-50 is overpowered for my taste. Many spells are meant to cap out at a certain level, and removing that cap makes things a little silly. On the other hand, your enemies get the new versions too so it makes things a little more challenging when you are fighting other casters.

Ease of Use has some good parts, some cheesy. Take a look and judge for yourself.

Reign of Virtue and Freedom's Reign are primarily item packs, but there are some new fights in TOB. I like them, and they aren't too unbalancing.

Taza, Maldir; at level 7 or 8? (Straight from Irenicus´ dungeon)

If remember correctly, half of the skeleton warriors were replaced with adamantine golems or greater wolfweres... It was, to say at least, kinky to get past them...

There's a mod that allow you to take the Neutral path in Hell (ie before you confront Irenicus) at http://adahn.gmxhome.de

Features:

A new way to deal with each of the abyssal tests in chapter 7!

Get finally punished for "straying from your alignment", like the manual promised years ago!

Over 2 minutes of brand new gameplay!

Originally intended as a small contribution to a larger project that is now never to be completed, this mod deals with the five tests that occur in the Abyss (or Baator, depending on whom you ask) during chapter 7. From a roleplaying standpoint, this final stage of the game seemed somewhat unsatisfying, especially for neutral characters. And the fact that a neutral protagonist had to complete all five tests in the "good" manner in order to remain neutral doesn't appear too logical, either. Therefore, this mod attempts to resolve these issues by changing the following things:

For each of the tests there's now a "neutral" path to take, resulting in a different reward as well. Sometimes the neutral path is closer to the original evil way, sometimes to the good one, and sometimes it is completely different to either of them.

After the last test the protagonist's alignment is judged, which can result both in a positive or negative adjustment. It's generally easier to drop down to evil than to become good, though.

The conditions for a paladin's or ranger's loss of his class have been slightly refined, causing a higher tolerance of neutral and evil acts for the ranger. In addition, specialist clerics will now lose their kit if they stray from the alignment dictated by the respective god

Best mod? Not sure.

But one to avoid is definitely The Darkest Day. It's so bug-ridden as to be almost unplayable.

I'd avoid Shadows Over Soubar too as it seriously unbalances the game. You get 4,000,000 XP for killing an enemy and a weapon from another that allows you to kill any enemy of less than 18th level. Takes all the challenge out of encounters afterwards.

Here's the ones that I liked:

Flirt Packs-pretty self explanatory

Improved Tactical Encounters-Depending on my mood, but this one does have some balance issues. It's nice if all the "normal" fights seem too easy for you.

Improved Mage AI-Makes the mages actually challenging.

I did not like:

Ease of Use Mod-Some of the features of this just made the game too simple for my tastes

Improved Bodhi-Not bad later on, but when you fight her in Chapter 3, pretty much impossible.