The TS-IA compatibility patch will be ready in the very near future (I'm just waiting for Vlad's reply to one of my PMs before completing the patch).

As always, I'm not going to release something without having it tested. So, if anyone is willing to test the TS-IA combo with the forthcoming compatibility patch, just let me know.

The only requirements for testers are having enough free time to play fast and following the installation instructions I will provide accurately.

TS and IA exclusive, or can I do NeJ2 as well? I ask because I am trying to install all of that right now. So far I found IA must ( a big must) go before NeJ2. So that game was hosed and now I am in the process of installing again. Let me know the details of installation and I will be glad to help, Sikret.

It's a TS & IA exclusive test. Since we need a reliable and accurate test, testers should not have any other mods except WeiDu Baldurdash, TS, IA and the forthcoming compatibility patch (exactly in that order).

As for Nej2 and IA,



what we have discovered so far is that to have any chance of compatibility, the player should not install those components of Nej2 which relate to Imoen in any way. Following this rule, you can (and should) install IA after Nej2. But if you have any independent reasons (independent of Imoen) to say that Nej2 won't work if installed before IA, then we should probably announce the two mods as being incompatible and in need for a separate compatibility patch. But I'm very optimistic that your problems will be solved if you just skip installing the "Imoen-related" components of Nej2 and install IA last.

Re:Imoen and NeJ2 and IA
That seems right as BG2 won't progress to where she comes out of the door and GUI doesn't reappear.


I will be happy to install TS and IA to test exclusive. It will be nice to have something small for a change. Then I can do the other stuff when I get everything ironed out later.



I have my vanilla game ready and waiting. I will go ahead and install Bdash 1.6.6. Is every component acceptable?

Sikret, I would be very happy to test the patch out for you. I am not far into my current game and would love to do my part in the modding process by making myself available! I have plenty of time to play....job has me infront of a computer a lot so I use that to my advantage...lol. Let me know and I can start right away!

Regards Nazar

Thanks, Hoppy and Nazar!

I'll send you all relevant files and instructions as soon as the patch is ready. As I said, I'm waiting for Vlad's reply to my PMs. Once I recieve his reply, I will complete the patch. The time I will require to complete it directly depends on the content of Vlad's reply.

I also have a gift for you:

If you want, I can send you the "still-in-progress" IA v6 as well so that you can test it too and enjoy the extra features. The expanded druid stronghold is incomplete but you will have a lot of new content. Playing a vagrant protagonist is still my recommendation, because with a druid protagonist you can't see the full expanded druid stronghold yet.

Thanks Sikret!!

Thanks for letting us get a "behind the scenes" look at version 6, too. I always wanted to see a tactic mod, or any mod, expand the druid stronghold a lot more. Definitely looking forward to that when it is finished. I have seen the progress report for V.6 and it just keeps getiing better and better.

Wow Sikret....you read minds too! That was going to be my next question, if I had to install the fixes for V5 or if you could include V6 as is! So yes is the answer....lol. I will use a Vagrant also as the prog.

Waiting patiently for Vlad.... or maybe I should look him up in the phone book....rotflmao

Nazar

Sikret, is there any particular party configurations that Vlad or you would like me to use to check out kit compadibilty or item compadibility for IA. Would it be desirable to keep Yoshi and Kachiro in the party the whole game or kick until chapter 6. Just mulling over some ideas while I wait, oh and will EOU be used or just BD/TS/IA?

Regards, Nazar

I guess selected components of Ease-of-Use can be used, but I'd like to hear Vlad's opinion as well.

As for party composition, I will ask you to play a female vagrant protagonist (to test TS's Valygar romance). Consequently, you will also have to have Valygar in the party. Yoshimo and Kachiko also need to be present. I know that Yohsimo is a relatively weak character for IA, but you can dual him to fighter (he will still have low hp, but it's much better than playing him as a pure thief.

Valygar is an immensely useful character in IA v6 (due to his new kit); the vagrant and Kachiko are also powerful characters. These powerful party members can compensate having Yohsimo with yourself. The other two slots are also there to be chosen by you. So, the party will be this:

1- Female vagrant protagonist
2- Valygar
3- Kachiko
4- Yoshimo
5- Free slot
6- Free slot

To have a balanced and powerful party, I recommend to take a cleric and another arcane caster (Kachiko is a Kensai-mage, but one mage is not enough in my opinion). Personally, I would go for Anomen and a custom sorcerer, but it's a matter of playing style. You may want to take Sime as your cleric (she is a multi-class ranger/cleric), though as a multi-class character her level progression may be a bit too slow.

EDIT: And I'm not sure if a romantic conflict will arise between Valygar and Anomen over the female protagonist or not. Vlad will know. If such a conflict is possible and if it will make Anomen leave the party, you can make your own custom Cleric for yourself from the beginning.

Honestly, I don't care for romances and love talks in my own games at all, but since we want to test the full compatibility between IA and TS and since there had been some doubts about Valygar's romance being halted due to the improved battle with Shade Lord in the past, I have to (reluctantly) ask you to test it.

If it was just me, I would surely say "all romances and love-talks be damned! Pick a male vagrant and enjoy the battles and quests."

Ok that is sound advice:

1- Female vagrant protagonist
2- Valygar
3- Kachiko
4- Yoshimo
5- Free slot (Sime/Cernd/Anomen) leaning toward Cernd-just like him and his upgrades!
6- Free slot (Nalia)

Will continue to ponder!

- Is level 12 a good time to dual Yoshi or should it be done right away to max hp?

Yes I understand what you are saying, but I do not mind testing out the romances and maybe Vlad would like to have me play Anomen also to see how the conflict with Valygar goes?

Sime from what I remember also has a romance with a male prog. so maybe hoppy could use a male Vagrant in his game?

As far as romances and romantic conflicts in TS are concerned, we need some more information which Vlad can hopefully provide.

As for Yoshimo, it's best to dual him as soon as possible.

Yoshi-Thought so too and probably start having him work on a dual wield...say katana and dagger?

I sometimes will give him profs in Katanas and Scimitars similar to other eastern warriors.

Sikret, just got back from teaching tonight so I sent you my yahoo. I can start playing tomorrow night and have a solid weekend at it too! Lineup looks good and was what I had in mind for testing.

It doesn't matter to me to play male or female protaganists. Nazar what do you prefer? That way we can get Valygar's in one and Sime's in the other. At least for TS specific content.


Addition:Would it be possible to have different free slot characters for two different installs? I was thinking Jan instead of Nalia and we can get different banters in different installs. Unless banters aren't really any concern to test.

Hey Hoppy, I can do the female protag. along with:

Valygar
Kachiko
Yoshi
Nalia
Anomen

Baring Vlad wanting something different. Guess we will just have to wait and see!

And I will do:

male vagrant
Yoshimo
Kachiko
Jan (entertainment value) good backup mage and good thief
Rotation spot for moveable NPC for quests
Sime Chapter 3 <previous chapters will allow for another rotation (tank? Korgan, Minsc)

Yes let us wait and see if Sikret and/or Vlad have some specific setup ideas for parties.

We never received any report in regard to Sime's romance. Even if you find a bug or something in her romance with a male protagonist, it should be directly reported to Vlad as a problem in TS (i.e. it won't have anything to do with IA or with the TS-IA compatibility patch).

Valygar's romance, on the other hand, needs to be tested because his romance requires defeating Shade Lord in chapter 3; and Shade Lord is improved in IA. Of course, he still can be defeated in chapter 3, but not so early in the game. Vlad believes that as long as you are in chapter 3, it doesn't matter when you go to defeat Shade Lord. Valygar's romance will proceed normally. The only thing which will kill Valygar's romance is to postpone Shade Lord to chapter 6.

If Vlad is right, you can stay in chapter 3 for weeks and do other quests just to gain enough power to go for Shade Lord. It may take weeks (in-game time) but as long as you are in chapter 3 and have not gone to spellhold, it won't be a problem (but you also need to stay in chapter 3 after defeating Shade Lord for a while to give Valygar enough time to say his pre-spellhold lines). This is Vlad's account of the story.

However, trufa (a player) had reported that defeating Shade Lord in chapter 3 is not enough. Shade Lord must be defeated very early in the game if you want to have Valygar's romance.

We need to test to see which one of these two theories is true. if Vlad is wrong and trufa is right, then players who want to play IA and TS will have to ignore Valygar's romance completely. This issue (assuming that trufa's theory is true) can't be solved by the compatibility patch. Vlad will need to change Valygar's romance's conditions and variables directly in TS; and Vlad has clearly said that he is not willing to do such a thing. Of course, this problem alone won't make the two mods incompatible with each other (as long as the player doesn't insist on romancing Valygar).

There were other and much more important incompatibility problems related to TS's items which are all fixed by the compatibility patch and these are the main things we are going to test.

Having Sime (at least temporarily) in one of the two parties (Hoppy's party) is good, because Sime has some personal items which should be tested as well. Sime's romance doesn't need to be tested (if you want to romance her, do it; but it's not part of the testing process).

Well as far as my part with Valygar romance I will err toward the modder (Vlad) and hit the shade lord at the end of chapter 3 after I have beefed up on all the other doable quests! He should know how it works best!

Nazar standing by!!!!

That makes sense about the chapter conditions. a lot of checks may be made for !Chapter4, ...5, ...6 and things like that in the dialogs and scripts. No problems here if you want me to change members or testing parameters.

Yes, don't go for Shade Lord early in the game. Take your time in chapter 3 and do some other quests. Then go to defeat him with a party of 13-14th level and see whether Valygar's romance will start and will proceed normally or not. Once the romance begins you will need to stay in chapter 3 for some more time to give Valygar enough time to say his pre-spellhold lines. It's good to Keep some of the quests for that period of time, because you shouldn't rush to spellhold quickly after deafting Shade Lord. (My guess is that trufa had probably made this mistake and had not stayed in chapter 3 long enough after defeating Shade Lord)

Hoppy, on the other hand, will concentrate on testing items/armors/weapons which I have modified in the compatibility patch.

Cool, sounds great cant wait to get started!

Sounds good!

Hoppy and Nazar,



Just don't install the "Upgradable Dak'kon's Blade" component.



Vlad did log in to the forum, but didn't send any comments in this thread, so I think I can let (recommend) you to install those components of Ease-of-Use which are recommended in IA's readme file.

I'm now attaching the main files to an e-mail to send it to you.

Here, I ask Baronius to grant access to IA's workroom to you two (and to Vlad). Each of you can start a new topic inside the workroom as your journal and send your reports there so that we can compare them with each other. Raven will also be there for any question related to IA v6.

Also, note that you are not merely testing TS in this run-through. Since you have IA v6, you are also testing IA, which means that I'll be looking forward to reading your reports regarding IA as well.

Installation should be this (exactly in the mentioned order):

1- BG2
2- TOB
3- TOB official patch
4- WeiDu Baldurdash (except the Dak'kon's blade component)
5- Selected Components of Ease-of-use (see below)
6- Tortured Souls (newest version)
7- IA v6
8- TSIACPatch

@Vlad

If Ease-of-Use (or any of its components) should not be installed, please let us know before it is too late.

Recommended components of Ease-of-Use:

-True Grand Mastery (extra half-attack, etc.)
- Shut Up "You Must Gather Your Party Before Venturing Forth"
- Wear Magical Armor AND Magic Rings (etc.)
- Un-Nerfed Tables
- XP Cap Remover
- Multiple Strongholds
- Bonus Merchants (I think this one is redundant after installing WeiDu Baldurdash)
- No Drow Avatars On Party In Underdark
- Imoen ToB Dialogue Fix
- Romance Bug Fixes (required for later components).
- Infinite Weapon, Potion and Ring/Amulet Stacking
- Infinite Weapon, Potion Stacking (ToB)

Perhaps some of these components are already covered by WeiDu Baldurdash. Vlad should clarify.

I'll coment in red:



Unfortunately, I don't have time to think over and comment on this installation. Let Sikret do this work. As for romances, female protagonist can have both romances - with Valygar and Sime simultaneously, but the female romance of Sime is a bit shorter and has lower priority than other concurent romances. Anomen and Valygar would fight at some point for the female protagonist, but it occurs not so fast, some time in Chapter 6, if my memory serves me well.

My last party was:

Protagonist - Paladin
Yoshimo (Fighter/Thief - dualled to a fighter at level 12)
Kachiko
Sime
Nalia (you'll need a thief while Yoshimo advances his fighter levels, plus you need a second mage)
Jaheira (further replaced with Imoen)

I won't recommend installing other mods except TS and IA. I don't like big problematic installations, and I don't like bugs, which come from mod incompatibilities. Even not mentioning that TS + IA add alreay so much content to the game that I cannot imagine that someone need more NPCs, items, quests etc. Really, your party is well stocked in TS + IA, and rotating NPCs is not my style of game. I start with the party and I prefer to lead the very same party till the end of the game.

Good luck!

Ok, got your recommendations Vlad and will uninstall Inoem and romance fixes. All the others I had already excluded!

Regards Nazar

Why??? It makes Dak'kon's Blade upgradable, like in PST. What's the problem?

I replied in PM, Vlad.