Good Mods

[Legacy_ScotGaymer]

               Hi guys.

Basically I am currently playing Baldur's Gate 2 (with ToB expansion) and a number of mods. Unofficial BG2 Fixpack, SCS, Saerileth NPC, Tsujatha NPC, Nathaniel NPC, Solaufein NPC, Kelsey NPC, and a few portrait mods cos the vanilla portraits SUCK.
And finding them, understanding them, and installing them was fairly simple especially after dealing with Morrowind, Oblivion, and Fallout 3 modding; and modding with Civ 3 and 4.

And when i am finished I am probably going to then go on to play NWN (with the expansions).

The thing is I am not 100% up on mods for NWN as the whole modding scene seems to be shrouded in a sea of links, and techspeak. At least Planet Neverwinter Nights is a right pain in the backside to navigate (as are all Planet whatever sites if I remember right). (*Edit* Ahem meant NWN Vault sorry.)
So I am not sure on what to do and such with finding decent mods.

Naturally my first download will the official patches and then the latest CEP.

But after that? I dont know.

Near as I can tell most if not all the "mods" for NWN seem to be in single player additional modules much like Awakenings is seperate from Origins (as apposed to most expansions being integrated into the main game) and they arent really what I want.

I want some good mods I can use in the original single player campaign (and the expansion campaigns of course).

I believe the CEP takes care of most of what I could ask for; expanded weapons armour creatures etc as well as fixing bugs and that. So I dont believe I need any fixpacks or whatnot.
So primarily I think perhaps any good portrait mods for PC and NPCs; also I wonder if there is any good companion mods with or without romances as well. I am gay so I would also like a gay one if possible lol; but I would settle for a really well written friendship path NPC.

So I am kinda throwing it out there for suggestions please?
               
               

               

                     Modifié par FitScotGaymer, 24 juillet 2010 - 07:27 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy__six]

               This is your online Neverwinter Nights bible. It's got vast amounts of content, often awkwardly so from a navigational point of view, and can be a pain to search at times, but hold fast and in it true greatness you shall find.

FitScotGaymer wrote...

I believe the CEP takes care of most of what I could ask for; expanded weapons armour creatures etc as well as fixing bugs and that. So I dont believe I need any fixpacks or whatnot.

Well the CEP is in fact builders' resource, and adding it or any other hakpak to the OC won't change a thing unless you wanted to manually rework the campaign in the toolset to take advantage of that. I'm not aware of any released update of the OC to use CEP content existing, although a version of the original campaigns modified to use Project Q (another custom content package developed by a team of CC artists) has been released on the vault.

On the other hand, there are a bunch of graphical and otherwise overrides that you can put in your override folder of NWN that can improve how the game looks and feels without having to do any real work on your part - including (shameless plug alert) mine and Lord of Worms' creatures.  You'll also want to check out this thread on the old forums which has a list of what are widely considered must haves in this department from a singer player perspecitve.

Ahem. That said, if you ask my opinion, compared to some of the awesome custom modules out there, the works of Fester Pot and Andarian first springing to mind, NWN's original campaigns really suck (OK, besides HotU).
               
               

               

                     Modifié par _six, 24 juillet 2010 - 07:12 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Shadooow]

               There are no "mods" for NWN, because you can create your own game, so you dont have to modify the standard game. Only thing that behaves as mod are overrides - files that overwrite actual game resources. There was thread with recommended overrides at old forum, but Im unable to locate it, hopefully someone will recreate it here.

But most, if not all, overrides will just change graphic look, if you are looking for new quests/challenge in OC, I believe there is not such override. When I last played BGII with mods (tactics, new q, item mod etc.) I thought modify OC would be good idea and I tried it (I wanted to make something like tactics mod), but I abadoned it as it was far more complicated with uncertain useability, you know since there are persistent worlds, not many players playing single player, and if they do, they already played OC and now they are playing custom made modules from vault.

Oh yes, forget about neverwinter planet, all NWN stuff is concentrated at nwvault.ign.com.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par ShaDoOoW, 24 juillet 2010 - 07:19 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_ScotGaymer]

               The CEP is essential for a number of mods tho I it still its pretty much a must have isnt it?

I dont mean to be ungrateful but I dont want pointed to lists of mods. My god those are usually pointless and hell to navigate. The only "list" ive found useful in modding was Arwen's lists of mods for Oblivion and Fallout 3 because she actually sumarises whats in each mod and WHY she uses it instead of just having a generic list of so called good mods.
I mean Glenvar Castle regularily comes near the top of any recommended mod list for Oblivion and I detest it; okay the castle itself AFTER you gain it is very well done - not too big not too small - and some useful less than generic characters but the quest itself to actually get it is one of the worst quest mods ive ever played (im one of these folks who likes to figure things out on  my own and I had to watch the Youtube "how to get glenvar castle" videos), it was just painful.

Is there any mods that actually do any complete texture overhauls ?

Again I also dont want to come off ungrateful for your post but I dont want pointed to "single player" mods that arent actually in the main game just yet. I want to actually play the main game campaign and expansion campaigns first.
Later once I have completed the game then probably aye. but not just yet.

Thanks anyway man.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par FitScotGaymer, 24 juillet 2010 - 07:23 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_ScotGaymer]

               

ShaDoOoW wrote...

There are no "mods" for NWN, because you can create your own game, so you dont have to modify the standard game. Only thing that behaves as mod are overrides - files that overwrite actual game resources. There was thread with recommended overrides at old forum, but Im unable to locate it, hopefully someone will recreate it here.

But most, if not all, overrides will just change graphic look, if you are looking for new quests/challenge in OC, I believe there is not such override. When I last played BGII with mods (tactics, new q, item mod etc.) I thought modify OC would be good idea and I tried it (I wanted to make something like tactics mod), but I abadoned it as it was far more complicated with uncertain useability, you know since there are persistent worlds, not many players playing single player, and if they do, they already played OC and now they are playing custom made modules from vault.

Oh yes, forget about neverwinter planet, all NWN stuff is concentrated at nwvault.ign.com.

Sorry that is the terrible site I meant.

Lol.

I was thinking of fileplanet sites when i typed that but I dont think they have one for NWN.

Sorry i dont want to come off cheeky here - please dont take it that way but I am sure I was fairly clear in what I was after.
I dont want quest mods.

AI mods, portrait packs, new items weapons armour, bug fix perhaps, graphical mods, NPC mods. For the original game campaigns.

Quests mods I am sure I already acknowledged came mostly in single player additional modules played seperately which i clearly said I didnt want. Just yet anyway.

Sorry not tryin to be cheeky or ungrateful.

Maybe im just not communicating what I want very well.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par FitScotGaymer, 24 juillet 2010 - 07:30 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy__six]

               

FitScotGaymer wrote...

Is there any mods that actually do any complete texture overhauls ?

The closest thing to that would be Project Q conveniently integrated into the original campains by Mask, as linked here.

Again I also dont want to come off ungrateful for your post but I dont want pointed to "single player" mods that arent actually in the main game just yet.

Well, yes. That's why none of the things I explictly linked to were seperate 'games' as it were, but overrides that will improve your overall experience.

Edit: May as well reiterate this for good measure.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par _six, 24 juillet 2010 - 07:33 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_ScotGaymer]

               Sorry im just looking for mostly flavour stuff (except maybe any fix packs, ai packs and the like) to start with is all im after.

Maybe Im just spoiled by the Nexus sites easy to use yet with a wealth of information needed to understand what to do is right there.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par FitScotGaymer, 24 juillet 2010 - 07:37 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Winterhawk99]

               Try Helven's Rural tileset overide. I dont have the link to the vault just now. Her rural overide greatly enhances the rural tileset with a complete texture overhaul.



Look up Helvene on the vault i think you will be very happy with her work.



If you do like it please vote. Custom content creators for nwn dont get paid and spend alot of hours on their projects. The only thing they have is knowing that their work is appriciated by the community at large.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Winterhawk99]

                
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Winterhawk99, 24 juillet 2010 - 07:54 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Shadooow]

               

FitScotGaymer wrote...

AI mods, portrait packs, new items weapons armour, bug fix perhaps, graphical mods, NPC mods. For the original game campaigns.

You dont understand. There are no "mods" for  original game capmaigns (OC), there are global overrides which behaves like mods in BG2 which will work in all NWN games, whether you play OC, Custom SP module, or MP module. As I said, there are almost only graphical overrides, better textures/models/icons, Six_ found that list so if you follow his link, you find them. Then there are few AI override and one fix to game resources (atm). There is no mod that would added new items into OC, neither NPC mod. For portraits, they are also override so you can look there: http://nwvault.ign.c....Detail&id=5682. I dont understand what you got against nwvault site, but you dont have to register to download so whats the problem. Anyway its the only source of NWN files.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par ShaDoOoW, 24 juillet 2010 - 07:55 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_ChaosInTwilight]

               

FitScotGaymer wrote...

The CEP is essential for a number of mods tho I it still its pretty much a must have isnt it?

Lots of mods use CEP, some use the 2.x, a lot use 1.X. It comes down to the simple fact that 2.X was released within the past couple years, while 1.X was avaliable to a bigger community, for a larger stretch of time.

I dont mean to be ungrateful but I dont want pointed to lists of mods. My god those are usually pointless and hell to navigate.

OK, so you want to adapt to the termonoligy. In NWN a "Mod" is a Module, a new adventure, given the term "Mod" because the file extension for such creations is .mod

Your looking for "Game Modifications for the Official Campaigns"  It'll be a short list, for the simple fact that who wants to insert their story into the Official Campaign (Reffered to as the OC), when its possible, and easy.. to setup and tell your own story.  The Official campaign was essentially a tutorial and guide as to what can be done. 

You will in time realize that Community Created modules do it Better, Harder, Faster, and Longer.  This isn't to bash bioware but rather to praise them for giving us the power to tell our own stories, with ease.  Otherwise we'd be stuck like the Ifinity Engine crowd is trying to stuff more and more into the same old stale story.

Admittedly, BG2 was probably the best Bioware story I've ever played, But eat cheerio's every morning for breakfast for 10 years, and cheerio's are going to become a hated dish.

Is there any mods that actually do any complete texture overhauls ?

Project Q is far as I know, the closest you'll come.  NWNCQ will also be of interest, It revises just about every bioware tileset.

You might find OHS helpful, It allows you to create henchmen out of your own characters, and thus essentially Run a Party through NWN.

Amethyst Dragon has several useful User Interface overwrites on the vault, scroll down until you see "NWN Other", Their all in there. Be sure to look at his Transparent Unabtrusive GUI Overhaul/Upgrade
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_olivier leroux]

               

_six wrote...
Edit: May as well reiterate this for good measure.

Just in case you overlooked what _six edited into his last post, click on his link - most of the stuff you want is listed in that old sticky thread.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par olivier leroux, 24 juillet 2010 - 07:58 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_ScotGaymer]

               

ShaDoOoW wrote...

FitScotGaymer wrote...

AI mods, portrait packs, new items weapons armour, bug fix perhaps, graphical mods, NPC mods. For the original game campaigns.

You dont understand. There are no "mods" for  original game capmaigns (OC), there are global overrides which behaves like mods in BG2 which will work in all NWN games, whether you play OC, Custom SP module, or MP module. As I said, there are almost only graphical overrides, better textures/models/icons, Six_ found that list so if you follow his link, you find them. Then there are few AI override and one fix to game resources (atm). There is no mod that would added new items into OC, neither NPC mod. For portraits, they are also override so you can look there: http://nwvault.ign.c....Detail&id=5682. I dont understand what you got against nwvault site, but you dont have to register to download so whats the problem. Anyway its the only source of NWN files.

Well I said what I wanted in my very first post.

Why did you bother posting at all then if you had nothing positive to say or to add?

ChaosInTwilight wrote...

FitScotGaymer wrote...

The CEP is essential for a number of mods tho I it still its pretty much a must have isnt it?

Lots of mods use CEP, some use the 2.x, a lot use 1.X. It comes down to the simple fact that 2.X was released within the past couple years, while 1.X was avaliable to a bigger community, for a larger stretch of time.

I dont mean to be ungrateful but I dont want pointed to lists of mods. My god those are usually pointless and hell to navigate.

OK, so you want to adapt to the termonoligy. In NWN a "Mod" is a
Module, a new adventure, given the term "Mod" because the file extension
for such creations is .mod

Your looking for "Game Modifications
for the Official Campaigns"  It'll be a short list, for the simple fact
that who wants to insert their story into the Official Campaign
(Reffered to as the OC), when its possible, and easy.. to setup and tell
your own story.  The Official campaign was essentially a tutorial and
guide as to what can be done. 

You will in time realize that
Community Created modules do it Better, Harder, Faster, and Longer. 
This isn't to bash bioware but rather to praise them for giving us the
power to tell our own stories, with ease.  Otherwise we'd be stuck like
the Ifinity Engine crowd is trying to stuff more and more into the same
old stale story.

Admittedly, BG2 was probably the best Bioware
story I've ever played, But eat cheerio's every morning for breakfast
for 10 years, and cheerio's are going to become a hated dish.

Is there any mods that actually do any complete texture overhauls ?

Project Q is far as I know, the closest you'll come.  NWNCQ will also be of interest, It revises just about every bioware tileset.

You
might find OHS helpful, It allows you to create henchmen out of your
own characters, and thus essentially Run a Party through NWN.

Amethyst Dragon
has several useful User Interface overwrites on the vault, scroll down
until you see "NWN Other", Their all in there. Be sure to look at his Transparent Unabtrusive GUI Overhaul/Upgrade

Okay I never once said the community add on modules were bad or anything.

I just said i want to play the OC and expansion campaigns first! Jeez.

Im sorry I ever asked now.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par FitScotGaymer, 24 juillet 2010 - 08:08 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_olivier leroux]

               

FitScotGaymer wrote...
Im sorry I ever asked now.

Don't be. You might have gotten a few answers you don't like, so what? You also got a lot of helpful tips and links I doubt you'd have found without asking. But of course it's up to you what you make of it.
'>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Shadooow]

               

FitScotGaymer wrote...

Well I said what I wanted in my very first post.

You absolutelly did not. You were speaking in BG2 language which does mean nothing in NWN. I wasn't able to understand what you want, so if you are angry I didn't got it, you should be angry rather on yourself, that you didn't described your needs better.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par ShaDoOoW, 24 juillet 2010 - 08:39 .