Icewind Dale 2 : Enhanced Edition (Open Source Community)

[Shillitron]

For those who don't know, there's an open source community Enhanced Edition created for IWD2. (The thing Beamdog said was impossible because they didn't have source code)

I've tried it out and it's pretty amazing, it's actually better than Beamdog's EE.. Lol.

Now.. warning, this comes with ALOT of changes to IWD2 but they are all 100% optional.. so if you just want the better performance and AOE loot / Quality of life, then say No to all Weidu components. I will say though that a lot of the improvements are pretty cool, especially around adding additional feats / spells and improving creature AI.

There's an item overhaul that I'm sorta iffy on. IWD2 items in general were retarded, 95% of them are worthless and 5% of them are god tier game ruining.. I dunno how I feel about this EE's interpretation of it though.

Last minor note: The EE leverages LUA injected scripts so the potential for modding IWD2 has gone up quite a bit and if you look at the added feats (all of them based on 3.5E PnP in some way) you can tell they've done a lot of stretching of the IE engine.

Anyways here's the Link:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/8 ... s-released

----

The Enhanced Edition also optionally adds NPC's that can join your party, they are all NPC's from the main story, so between the EE and the IWD2NPC project (below), you can add about 15-20 recruitable NPC's to the game - if you wanted to play IWD2 more as a single character Baldurs Gate game or something.

(The NPC's all have full dialogue, banter , etc)

https://www.gibberlings3.net/mods/npcs/iwd2npc/

[Acrux]

IWD2 is my most played IE game. I joined the mod's beta initially just to mock it, but parts of it grew on me.

BTW, the tranny who started the project dropped out a few years ago. He mostly worked on the new joinable NPCs from what I can tell.

The fix to sneak attack is the best part of the mod.
Itemization is way over the top.
Most of the class changes are an improvement, but it doesn't follow 3.x rules at all. Under-performing classes from vanilla get a boost, and there are some nice surprises like druids having access to the wildshape casting feat.
New spells are OP.
Skills are much better now and are used in interesting ways.
The addition of Attacks of Opportunity is great.
Enemies have new abilities and the scripting for enemy spellcasters is pretty good.

It is not a "balanced" game in the traditional sense. It follows the logic that the dev for the Fall From Heaven mod for Civ4 (Kael) used - achieving balance by msking everything OP.

[rusty_shackleford]

If you're looking for a project to actually contribute to, I'd suggest GemRB instead. IWD2 is the game that still needs a lot of support to be finished.
https://gemrb.org/
https://github.com/gemrb/gemrb/blob/mas ... IBUTING.md

[KnightoftheWind]

If you're looking for a project to actually contribute to, I'd suggest GemRB instead. IWD2 is the game that still needs a lot of support to be finished.
https://gemrb.org/
https://github.com/gemrb/gemrb/blob/mas ... IBUTING.md

Interesting, haven't heard of this one. There is a similar project for BioWare's Aurora engine (KOTOR, Dragon Age) but it hasn't been active in a while. https://github.com/xoreos/xoreos

[rusty_shackleford]

If you're looking for a project to actually contribute to, I'd suggest GemRB instead. IWD2 is the game that still needs a lot of support to be finished.
https://gemrb.org/
https://github.com/gemrb/gemrb/blob/mas ... IBUTING.md

Interesting, haven't heard of this one. There is a similar project for BioWare's Aurora engine (KOTOR, Dragon Age) but it hasn't been active in a while. https://github.com/xoreos/xoreos

For kotor 1 & 2 there's reone. It's unfinished but actually gets worked on.
https://github.com/seedhartha/reone

[Shillitron]

If you're looking for a project to actually contribute to, I'd suggest GemRB instead. IWD2 is the game that still needs a lot of support to be finished.
https://gemrb.org/
https://github.com/gemrb/gemrb/blob/mas ... IBUTING.md

THis thing is vapourware. It's been in development for 200 years and breaks mods last I looked at it.

I want something I can play now.

[rusty_shackleford]

If you're looking for a project to actually contribute to, I'd suggest GemRB instead. IWD2 is the game that still needs a lot of support to be finished.
https://gemrb.org/
https://github.com/gemrb/gemrb/blob/mas ... IBUTING.md

THis thing is vapourware. It's been in development for 200 years and breaks mods last I looked at it.

I want something I can play now.

I'm sorry it breaks your dragon dildo mods, but it works fine for normal people.

[Shillitron]

New spells are OP.

Really?

The ones I saw in the list were all BG2 spells as best I could tell - no?

(They Moved Dimensional Door to be a level 1 spell - lel)


A lot of the feats just look like IWD2 interpreted 3.5E feats.

Like they added ManyShort and Metamagic feats which is great.
But they also added a feat like "SPELL OF POWER" which gives you 5DR to any spell damage and increases the damage of all spells by 20% ..???

I think I'm willing to give a lot of this OP shit a pass because:
A) It's optional
B) IWD2 Heart of Fury is sorta ridiculous sometimes... The goblins in Targos have something like 200 health and +9 to saves and +10 to attack rolls.

[H-H-Holmes]

Why are you fucking stopping us from making spawn points you cunt

[Shillitron]

If you're looking for a project to actually contribute to, I'd suggest GemRB instead. IWD2 is the game that still needs a lot of support to be finished.
https://gemrb.org/
https://github.com/gemrb/gemrb/blob/mas ... IBUTING.md

THis thing is vapourware. It's been in development for 200 years and breaks mods last I looked at it.

I want something I can play now.

I'm sorry it breaks your dragon dildo mods, but it works fine for normal people.

Dragon Dildo mods for IE games?
You really are a one trick pony for making arguments.

[Acrux]

New spells are OP.

Really?

The ones I saw in the list were all BG2 spells as best I could tell - no?

There are others. The thing that makes the ones that aren't BG2 spells OP is that they ignore spell resistance and have no saving throw. Sometimes they are really similar to a higher level spell that does require a saving throw.

I think most of the feats are great. I really like the way they implemented some kits/prestige classes as feats. I'd like to see more of those. They also did things like requiring really high levels in ranger for some of the advanced archery/two-weapon fighting feats, which is good. Weapon specalization did get a nerf, though, so taking 5 levels of the feat isn't worth it for +3 damage (iirc). But high level fighters are still pretty good since they can get other feats like whirlwind attack.

The "Spell of Power" feat is definitely OP AND it works with Paladin of Mystra's smite. Combine that with the Exploding Smite feat and PoM is way over the top. I don't see why anyone would choose a different Paladin order (extra healing? pfff; guard another? why)

The greater emphasis on focusing on a single-class by moving around class bonuses is a really strong element of the mod. (No more Monk1/Dreadmaster of Bane1/IllusionistX Deep Gnome monks ). For instance, a monk/druid wouldn't get the bonus AC from Wisdom while wildshaped unless there are more Monk than Druid levels. High level rangers and fighters have access to special feats.

Also, I really like the addition of the Knave's Robe that allows some spells to add sneak attack damage.

B) IWD2 Heart of Fury is sorta ridiculous sometimes...

HoF has always been ridiculous. I was never much of a fan of it. This mod was designed around the expectation that in normal mode a 6-man party can get to around level 15 or 16, and then higher levels requires playing on HoF. The randomized loot tables are different for HoF as well. There are some truly ridiculous weapons/items available there.

But, one thing I think is strange is that some of the components allow you to reduce the difficulty of HoF (lower enemy BAB, HP, or saving throws). I think the combination of that AND the better weapons, spells, etc. works at odds with that.

[rusty_shackleford]

The only proper way to enhance IWD2 is to port it back to AD&D 2E.

[Acrux]

You mean the way to improve the BG EEs is to make them more like IWD2? Sure: https://www.gibberlings3.net/mods/tweaks/tof/

(That's the SCS dev, btw.)

[Shillitron]

The only proper way to enhance IWD2 is to port it back to AD&D 2E.

Not gonna make it THAC0 bros.

[Acrux]

@Shillitron - I don't know if you saw, but there was a new update over the weekend, a pretty substantial one. One thing I didn't see listed, but I know Olvyn had mentioned changing, was that the lich at the Fields of Slaughter wasn't flagged as undead. I'd actually been waiting on this change to start a new game, as I wanted to try out some of the turn undead updates - enemy clerics can cast it, and the lich necromancer kit is supposed to be vulnerable.

[Shillitron]

@Shillitron - I don't know if you saw, but there was a new update over the weekend, a pretty substantial one. One thing I didn't see listed, but I know Olvyn had mentioned changing, was that the lich at the Fields of Slaughter wasn't flagged as undead. I'd actually been waiting on this change to start a new game, as I wanted to try out some of the turn undead updates - enemy clerics can cast it, and the lich necromancer kit is supposed to be vulnerable.

Almost done my current run but I'll take a look.

NGL - I was planning another run and your Paladin of Mystra comment sounded kinda fun.

[fkirenicus]

For those who don't know, there's an open source community Enhanced Edition created for IWD2. (The thing Beamdog said was impossible because they didn't have source code)

I've tried it out and it's pretty amazing, it's actually better than Beamdog's EE.. Lol.

Now.. warning, this comes with ALOT of changes to IWD2 but they are all 100% optional.. so if you just want the better performance and AOE loot / Quality of life, then say No to all Weidu components. I will say though that a lot of the improvements are pretty cool, especially around adding additional feats / spells and improving creature AI.

There's an item overhaul that I'm sorta iffy on. IWD2 items in general were retarded, 95% of them are worthless and 5% of them are god tier game ruining.. I dunno how I feel about this EE's interpretation of it though.

Last minor note: The EE leverages LUA injected scripts so the potential for modding IWD2 has gone up quite a bit and if you look at the added feats (all of them based on 3.5E PnP in some way) you can tell they've done a lot of stretching of the IE engine.

Anyways here's the Link:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/8 ... s-released

----

The Enhanced Edition also optionally adds NPC's that can join your party, they are all NPC's from the main story, so between the EE and the IWD2NPC project (below), you can add about 15-20 recruitable NPC's to the game - if you wanted to play IWD2 more as a single character Baldurs Gate game or something.

(The NPC's all have full dialogue, banter , etc)

https://www.gibberlings3.net/mods/npcs/iwd2npc/

I'm playing this now, currently using only the (graphics) fixes. Do you know if it is possible (as in: does it work) to install the feats and item revisions, but not character, spell and creature revisions?

[Acrux]

Item revisions, yes. Just install the component called Item Revisions. They would be very overpowered without the others, though.

I actually don't know which component changes the feats. I assume it's Class Revisions.