IATweaks 1.1 - IA Rebalance, New spells, enemies, items and many balancing changes Options

[SparrowJacek]

Hello,

Today I'd like to share the results of my ambitious project to rebalance Improved Anvil. What began as a loose collection of changes in a few separate areas kept growing month after month, as new ideas appeared and my experience with Near Infinity modding increased. What I present now is a project that touches many aspects of the game: new creatures, animations, spells, items and kits, as well as a number of changes to the graphical interface.

I took inspiration from many amazing mods, such as SCS and Spell Revisions. I went through the component lists of dozens of projects, trying to adapt the best solutions in a way that would still fit the spirit of Improved Anvil. At the same time, I implemented several completely unique elements that have never been used in any mod before (for example, a fully rewritten Hide in Shadows mechanic).

This was a very ambitious undertaking, especially for a single person. Despite hundreds of hours spent on development, the work is still not complete - many encounters remain untouched or only lightly adjusted, and I already have plans for future releases. Because of the sheer scope of the changes, I was not able to test everything exhaustively. I am certain there will be issues, particularly with the redesigned enemy AI, which in many cases was written from scratch. If you notice anything strange, please let me know and I will try to fix it as quickly as possible.

I tried to rebalance many aspects of the mod, toning down things I deemed too powerful and improving things that were unusable in Improved Anvil, however that was just one man's perspective, checked only with a single run and a specific party composition. I count on you for feedback regarding the changes, it will surely help to create a more fun and balanced mod, I'll be really grateful for any comments and suggestions for improvements.

Known issues (the list might change):
- You might see "Sequencer Active" icon on some characters that shouldn't have such abilities. Without going into details, there are some new abilities that internally rely on mechanics related to Sequencers, however the game automatically puts the icon if such effects are active on a creature and there is no way to remove it without breaking the mechanics, so please just ignore the icon.
- Hide in Shadows button works only for party members, using the button on any other creature (like a dominated Thief) will not work properly and might bear strange results. The game does not allow any modifications of real Hide in Shadow button, so in order to make reworked Hide in Shadows to work properly, I had to create some hacks and workarounds, which are sadly limited to party members.
- If Controversial Changes component is applied, then most rings and cloaks +X will apply their bonuses with a slight (1s) delay, so their effects won't be visible immediately.
- Single Weapon Style bonus to APR might also take around 1s to be applied

I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who helped - directly or indirectly - in the creation of this mod.

First and foremost, the amazing Improved Anvil team: Sikret, Critto, Bulian, Nicoper, HTRT.
To Pekkae, who volunteered to test parts of the mod while it was still in a very early state.
To Morpheus, for sharing the fantastic new animations you will see in this release.
To OlvynChuru, for the tool that allows seamless addition and removal of class- and kit-specific spells.
To the many modders whose work inspired me and showed how to implement the mechanics used here.
To Berzerkerzz, for his passion and tremendous work on his own vision of IA encounters.
And last but not least - to all the fans who keep the mod alive, for the hundreds of posts across IA threads and especially for your ideas on how to make Improved Anvil even better.

You can find the latest version of the mod here: https://github.com/SparrowJacek/ImprovedAnv...ee/IA_rebalance
To download, please press the green "Code" button and select "Download ZIP"
For more details, please check the readme file provided with the mod files.

The mod has only been tested on BG2EE version 2.6.6. and with IA v7

This post has been edited by SparrowJacek: Mar 6 2026, 04:07 PM

[Berzerkerzz]

Well done Jacek, the work is expansive and will unlock a lot of potential from the mod now. Congratulations on your commitment and hope it brings in new and old players.

[lappen]

thank u for ur work man.

i would donate some money if u let me

i start next week with a fresh installed game and try my best

[Hideous the W...]

Life brought me back to IA at the right time I see! Thank you for your hard work and dedication. My favorite game of all time just keeps getting the love. Downloading now and preparing for adventure!

[bulian]

Let's go!!!! I'm excited to finally be able to play it. Well done and congratulations

[Hideous the W...]

When installing the mod I get

ERROR Installing [Button for showing number of Stoneskins], rolling back to previous state
Will uninstall 0 files for [IATWEAKS/SETUP-IATWEAKS.TP2] component 105.
Uninstalled 0 files for [IATWEAKS/SETUP-IATWEAKS.TP2] component 105.
ERROR: Sys_error("%MOD_FOLDER%/lib/components/IA_rebalancing/helper_functions.tph: No such file or directory")
Please make a backup of the file: SETUP-IATWEAKS.DEBUG and look for support at: el.critto@gmail.com
Using Language [English]

ERROR Installing [IA Rebalancing -> Rebalance with Controversial Changes with changes to Sibel mod items], rolling back to previous state
Will uninstall 0 files for [IATWEAKS/SETUP-IATWEAKS.TP2] component 403.
Uninstalled 0 files for [IATWEAKS/SETUP-IATWEAKS.TP2] component 403.
ERROR: Sys_error("%MOD_FOLDER%/lib/components/IA_rebalancing/helper_functions.tph: No such file or directory")
Please make a backup of the file: SETUP-IATWEAKS.DEBUG and look for support at: el.critto@gmail.com
Using Language [English]

[SparrowJacek]

Let me confirm some things, regarding your file structure
1. Do you have Setup-IATweaks.exe file in your main BG2EE installation directory?
2. Do you have IATweaks folder directly in your main BG2EE installation directory?
3. Do you have helper_functions.tph file in <BG2EE_installation_directory>\IATweaks\lib\components\IA_rebalancing\ directory?
4. Do you have Setup-IATweaks.tp2 in <BG2EE_installation_directory>\IATweaks\ directory?

This post has been edited by SparrowJacek: Mar 1 2026, 11:55 PM

[Hideous the W...]

Yes to all of the above

[SparrowJacek]

Please download the files once more and let me know if this version worked. I removed %MOD_FOLDER% variable and changed it to hardcoded path.

Also, can you right click on Setup-IATweaks.exe, then go to Properties => Details and share File Version value, if you're on Windows?

This post has been edited by SparrowJacek: Mar 2 2026, 12:05 AM

[Hideous the W...]

The new version worked for me! Thank you!
When I go to properties > details > file version it's blank.

[SparrowJacek]

I'll update the Setup-IATweaks.exe file. It seems that older versions of Weidu don't support %MOD_FOLDER% variable, which caused the problem. I am sorry for the inconvenience, the .exe file updates automatically to the newest version out of all .exe files that you have in your BG2 installation directory and I had some recent mods in my directory, which is why I did not catch this issue.

[lxgxnd9]

Thanks for all your work in keeping this mod alive.

Having a quick look at the changes, perhaps debatable but the biggest change might have to be the huge nerf to Improved Haste. I do agree it was way too good for a level 6 spell though.

[SparrowJacek]

Thank you everyone for your kind words, I hope that this release will be a breath of fresh air, as it's been almost 2 years since IAv7 and Sibel Mod were published

perhaps debatable but the biggest change might have to be the huge nerf to Improved Haste. I do agree it was way too good for a level 6 spell though.

That's why I decided to put this change and some others to a separate component, so that players can still get most of the content without being forced to deal with some of more exotic and experimental ideas that I had for balance.

Having said that, I still highly encourage everyone to play with Controversial Changes component installed, as some of the abilities and items work best with it. And Improved Haste is still quite useful, it even works better than previously for non-warrior classes, that do not use two weapons, and warrior classes will still reach that 7-10 APR, just not at level 13, which is very early and makes further levels much less impactful.

[Hideous the W...]

Experiencing a bug where no buffs stay on Korgan. Even his berserk ability just disappears as soon as I cast it.

[SparrowJacek]

Can you send me your save game and weird.log file?

This post has been edited by SparrowJacek: Mar 3 2026, 01:07 PM

[Hideous the W...]

I get an error message that says "Upload failed. You are not permitted to upload this type of file" when I try to send you the .save file. Should I email it to you?
Where do I find the weird.log file?

Thank you.

Edit - I downloaded EEKeeper and saw that there were all kinds of effects being applied by his berserker rage and cleared those and he seems to be fine now.

This post has been edited by Hideous the Wu Jen: Mar 3 2026, 07:31 PM

[SparrowJacek]

I get an error message that says "Upload failed. You are not permitted to upload this type of file" when I try to send you the .save file. Should I email it to you?

There's a possibility to upload the files somewhere and share the link, that's the easiest way, or I can provide my email via PM.

Where do I find the weird.log file?

It's in the directory where BG2EE is installed.

Edit - I downloaded EEKeeper and saw that there were all kinds of effects being applied by his berserker rage and cleared those and he seems to be fine now.

EEKeeper is not safe, it tends to remove/reset some variables, which can be harmful to your run. It's safer to use Near Infinity (though it's harder to find the effects of a character there). Anyway, since you encountered the issue, I'd still like to check it, as there's no guarantee it won't happen again.

[SparrowJacek]

Turns out that Hideous the Wu Jen found a weird engine-level bug. It seems that when a trap casts a spell that drains HP and transfers it to the caster, it does not know how to handle such situation, as there is no real caster, that it can transfer the HP to. So the game keeps the effect on the target (Korgan in this situation), but until its processing is finished (which is never), it prevents all further effects from being applied. My workaround is already on the repository, I hope I addressed all places where such mechanics are used.

[lxgxnd9]

Thank you everyone for your kind words, I hope that this release will be a breath of fresh air, as it's been almost 2 years since IAv7 and Sibel Mod were published

perhaps debatable but the biggest change might have to be the huge nerf to Improved Haste. I do agree it was way too good for a level 6 spell though.

That's why I decided to put this change and some others to a separate component, so that players can still get most of the content without being forced to deal with some of more exotic and experimental ideas that I had for balance.

Having said that, I still highly encourage everyone to play with Controversial Changes component installed, as some of the abilities and items work best with it. And Improved Haste is still quite useful, it even works better than previously for non-warrior classes, that do not use two weapons, and warrior classes will still reach that 7-10 APR, just not at level 13, which is very early and makes further levels much less impactful.

So Warrior classes get additional APR at a level breakpoint past lvl 13 ?

Also is this like Version 7.0 IA in the sense that you need Druid protag to do Buried Ambitions, Fighter for JD fight etc?

[critto]

Congrats Jacek.

I haven't paid much attention to the forums in the last months due to RL commitments, glad I decided to pop back in just when you released the mod. Always happy to see some new life being injected into IA. After all these years, we're still going.