Hi again, it's that damn noob posting once more. :)

I'm seeing a lot of talk about Mods and other various downloads as I trawl through all the posts on this forum. So, which should I definitely get, and which should I avoid like the plague?

For your first time through, only download the fix patches for the game, (if you hvae Throne of Bhall, only download that patch, or if you only have SoA - the original game download the SoA patch). That's all you need for your first time through. As for everything else, go through the site and read the descriptions of the mods, and ask us about the ones you're interested in. For my next two weeks of vacation I'll be checking the boards a few times a day, so I'm sure I'll catch you and help you out with some advice!

Ok thanks, well I've done that already, I always get patches for games, sometimes I've downloaded them before I've actually bought the game. :)

Edit:

BTW, another quick question, what is CLUAconsole, and where can I get it/read about it? It seems to be mentioned regularly here.

[ January 10, 2005, 12:43: Message edited by: Mel Ti ]

CLUAConsole is needed to cheat in the game.
Just go to the game's install directory on the harddisk, and open the "baldur.ini" file.
Then go to game or program options and add a new line, called "Debug Mode=1"
save the file, and play the game.
While you'r in the game, press space + ctrl at the same time.
Now you can see you can enter cheats.
Here are a few who are handy.
CLUAConsole:AddGold(####) = Enter for # the amount of money you want and press enter.
CLUAConsole:CreateItem(arow11,9999) = Gives you 9999 arows.

http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/cheats.php

Would recomend Ease of Use pack, but probably not all of it (you get a choice of which modules to incorporate under installation.)
The following would be helpful and (in my opinion) not ruin the gaming experience)
1.) Weapon/Potion and Gem stacking
2.) Shut up "You must gather you party"
3.) Multiple Strongholds (Up to you, if you intend playing through with each different character type you might want to leave this one out)
4.) Bonus Merchants (Was in the collectors edition of the game)
5.) Bottomless bag of Holding.

Ahh, I didn't realise it was a cheat mode, I think I'll give that a miss for the time being. Thanks anyway. :)

Calling CLUAConsole "cheat mode" is true enough, but a little misleading--it's for debugging. You should enable it even if you don't want to turn your godling into a...er...godling. When you see the console mentioned around here it is to fix mistakes we make in the game--losing a key item, screwing up a dialogue, and most of all...debugging. Sometimes a game variable gets thrown off and you have to fix it yourself. And the more mods you use, the more likely variables will get screwed up. CLUA is the quick way to smoothing things out, so if you plan on using mods, you should definitely enable the console.

Guys, once again thanks for those tips. I'll have to look for the 'Ease of Use' pack, and Eric thanks for the insight into the varied uses of CLUAConsole. :)

Edit:

Ok, I found and downloaded the 'Ease of Use' pack, thanks. :)

[ January 10, 2005, 16:40: Message edited by: Mel Ti ]

Be very carefull when installing Ease of use. There is a lot in there you may not want. I suggest just going with Carcoroth's suggestions. I personally didn't like the Multiple Strongholds and certainly wouldn't have used it the first time round. SoA is short on bags of holding. The one 'cheat' I use is to get at least one bag of holding. You're going to collect a lot of stuff.

Mel: Is this your first play, or have you already finished the game? If first time, I'd suggest playing modless.

A comprehensive list of game mods can be found at http://modlist.pocketplane.net - it also has brief descriptions. :)

Andyr: Yes, this is my first play (apart from once playing it about 2 years ago when I first bought it!).

I have another question. Which of the following are the best or strongest at defence and attack?

1D8
1D10
1D4+1

I'm sorry if this is explained in the manual, but I'm having trouble with my eyes at the moment and the print in the manual is too small for me to read.

i would choose 1d8 or 1d4+1

Could you explain for me just what those numbers and letters mean, I'd be very grateful. :)

'D' means dice. '1D8' means one dice with 8 sides, i.e. a random number between 1 and 8. '1d4+1' means a random number between 1 and 4, plus one, i.e. a random number between 2 and 5. Hope that helps. :)

Well, I'm still a little confused! I mean, how can you tell which is the better of those, what do they actually mean as regards attack and defence when you are looking at 3 similar weapons and you can only select one of them?

I don't think it 'does' affect defense unless it gives an AC bonus.

If you have to choose between two weapons, for example if ones does 2d6 damage and another does 1d6+2 damage.

2d6 - computer rolls two six sided dice. Giving the total between 2 and 12. Which would give decent damage, especially with high strength. 1d6+3, rolla dice and add 2 to the result rolled, gives a total between 4 and 9.

If choosing between a weapon you'd have to think if you wanted a smaller range of possible damage you could deal out - or a possibility of doing more damage.

I hope that helps a little.

Would recomend Ease of Use pack, but probably not all of it (you get a choice of which modules to incorporate under installation.)
The following would be helpful and (in my opinion) not ruin the gaming experience)
1.) Weapon/Potion and Gem stacking
2.) Shut up "You must gather you party"
3.) Multiple Strongholds (Up to you, if you intend playing through with each different character type you might want to leave this one out)
4.) Bonus Merchants (Was in the collectors edition of the game)
5.) Bottomless bag of Holding. I would not suggest Shut up "You must gather your party", multiple strongholds, or Item stacking. I know all three are a nice convenience, but multiple strongholds #1 ruins the beginning experience, 'cause you're trying to manage strongholds for classes you shouldn't have. The gather your party one is a part of the game, it's needed for a reason, (I'm not sure if it just makes the voice go away or if there's no long a requirement to ahve the whole party there, but either way it's a cool voice). and the item stacking makes it so you don't have to manage your inventory anymore.. which should be done either way.

If it is your first go, install the Official Patch. And that's pretty much all I'd suggest.

If you do want to install mods for your first run, I'd suggest the Baldurdash Fixpack from http://www.baldurdash.org and the Banter Packs and Flirt Packs from http://www.pocketplane.net as they fit seamlessly with the game. :)

@ Mel Ti: You've gotten a lot of advice but I have one more.

Play the game a while and then decide what you want. Everyone has their likes & dislikes. (Variety is the spice of game play.)

Thanks to all :) I did install the latest patch and some elements from 'Ease of Use' pack, but not all! I have just managed to get out of the first dungeon and met up with Yoshimo and then went on to get him and my PC killed in pretty short time, lol. Don't worry, I saved right after the conversation with Yoshimo so tomorrow I can try that again.

Once again, thanks everyone for you advice and help. :)

I might add that I am really enjoying this game now, which is strange as I am not a big RPG fan, in fact this is the only RPG game I own!

I bought it about 2 years ago, played it once, got stuck, and put it back in my games unit, along with about 100 other games. I was bored the other day, and happened to spot this game laid on a shelf, and thought, what the heck, I'll give it another go. I'm pleased I did. :D