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

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.

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

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!

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

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]

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?

Yes to all of the above

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?

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

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.

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.

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


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.

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

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

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.

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.


It's in the directory where BG2EE is installed.


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.

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.

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?

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.

Warriors get reworked HLAs that increase their APR. (Greater) Whirlwind and Warcry are changed.


The mod works only with IAv7. I guess you're right, I don't think we have a component that enables Burried Ambitions. I also don't see one for JD fight, was it present in some earlier version of IATweaks?

I don't think it was a part of IATweaks ever, it's just v6.5 Judgement day was available for any playthrough. But v7 that got changed.

I believe it has been mentioned those two (along with others) should be an option in Tweaks to enable or just be part of the game version itself. Along the lines of Dequ's unrestricted version etc.

This change fits IATweaks much better than IA. It would be best if Dequ could share his changes required to enable those 2 quests, that way I could prepare new components pretty fast.

Fantastic work, so good to see the greatest bg2 mod there is, is still receiving love years on.

I must echo the sentiment about the component allowing any playthrough to do Buried Ambitions as well as MotA related quests for non mages and Judgement day for non fighters. The one thing v7 is missing.

Can't wait to play and see the new changes.

I don't rememember exact files or details to unlock those 2 quests, but commits can be founds here:
https://gitlab.com/tommolas/improvedanvil-u...?ref_type=HEADS

JD encounters there were multiple things to take consider when unlock.
1. JD related item drops enabled for characters
2. JD crafting to be enabled for all characters
3. Encounter triggering related scripts to be enabled for all character

Good to see more and more users coming back at the right time to check the new version

Ohh, I must have missed the fact that you have a Git repository for those changes. That will make things easier, I'll prepare new components today or tomorrow.

JD plot for all protagonists is added as an optional component. It has to be installed after IA Rebalancing.

Simplified economy doesn't seem to be working correctly for me, thought I was seeing quite a few more gems than usual. I killed a Gem golem and instead of dropping the usual 2900~ gold under simplified economy it drops all the gems instead. Not a huge deal this one but thought I'd point it out if anyone else is having similar issues.

Also Rings of protection +1, +2, and Cloak of protection +1 (I assume all of them) do nothing, doesn't add to savings throws nor armor class when equipped.

There were a few changes to Simplified Economy prior to my release. From what I remember, critto restored the original recipes and prevented the gems from being converted into gold. It made the implementation easier and cleaner and there aren't that many gem types, so I hope it's still acceptable. Or did you have any other issues with Simplified Economy, that was not related to gems?


They should have a slight delay and you should see the results after equipping them and unpausing the game for a second. Let me know if that's true for you. To make such items wearable but not stackable, I had to resort to such implementation and I'll update Known Issues part of the first post so that people are aware of this, if they install Controversial Changes.

Yeah I've kept RoP +2 on since I got it and only just realised it isn't doing anything. Along with other party members protection items.

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

Howdy All!

Thank you Jacek, this seems (ridiculously) exciting!

I will be following the forums until I get a chance from RL to try out everything!

Big congratulations; even bigger thanks!

(edit: a question; is there a log available somewhere with changes/possibilities?)

Thank you, I hope it will live up to your expectations


The readme file that is shipped with the mod should have most of the changes listed, there is nothing more detailed, the number of changes was just too large to write them all down in detail. But if you want to know more about a specific change, then feel free to ask here on the forums!

Added "Burried Ambitions quest line is available for non-druid protagonists" component

Well, there's truly a lot of stuff here.

I'm trying to avoid asking all of the questions I have but here's a few I can't resist asking. Also with a few comments .

* Viconia's changes? Kit / Stats? She was always one of my favorites, but has been left unused in IA for obvious reasons (she wasn't very powerful)
* A lot of the non-useable spells have been reworked, like magical stone, poison, nature's beauty etc -> this is superb!
* What are the changes to Nature's Fist?
* Cleric/Mage multiclass can now pick Improved Alacrity as a HLA -> This is absolutely fantastic!! I have personally always though it should be so. Now Aerie looks like a playable character
* Rework of Defensive Stance of Dwarven Defender --> This was like a cheatcode before, (especially with a shaman) -> what's done with it?
* Extend spell progression for Mages and Sorcerers past level 30 --> Wonderful!!
* Reworked: Bigby's, Prismatic Spray, PW:Silence + Black Blade of Disaster, Spellstrike, Energy Drain --> wonderful!!
* Rework of Cloak of Atonement --> Haha, no more cheat code - I think this is good even though most of the players missed how superbly powerful this item used to be. (including myself for most of the runs, hah)
* New items ->> ooh!!!

For spells you can always create a new character and check their description whenever you have access to the game


Its base damage was increased to 6d10, but its damage to Rakshasa was decreased to 24d10 (from 28d10). A small change, but it should be slightly more useful for general use, especially for Auramasters. Bigby's Hands got a more significant upgrade.

M/C are quite weak in general, so there was no need to nerf them further by preventing them from learning IA. And regarding Aerie - there's a component now that turns her into a Shaman and changes her specific item upgrade. You can readd about it here http://forums.blackwyrmlair.net/index.php?...494&st=361# if you missed it.


A bit less PDR and penalty to save vs breath (as it's related to dodging and reacting fast), but got some bonuses to compensate for the change.


Some changes were small, some larger, but Spellstrike is now a completely diffferent spell, I hope it'll be an interesting choice now, though RVE/Wish are still unmatched


You'll be able to use it much more reliably now, though you might have to invest some money into it. And all of the item's abilities should be useful at some point.

Yes, but this is definitely a move into the right direction - not sure if they are now on par with Cernd but they are now much closer - which is a really good thing!

Aerie's new armour looks fantastic; she now looks like a very playable character and one that is probabbly even more powerful than a PC shaman (for the added spells!) - while the PC Shaman plays a little bit differently (would play it so that it can take a more active role in H2H as well - as the Half-Orc version of the Shaman should be quite nice withthe gauntlets).





Haha. I'll need to buy a new Mac now, to try out all of the stuff. These things look really, really good!

A few other notes from the readme:

"IA loves Golems, but gives too few means of dealing with them. Since we have specialized anti-Golem spells, they should really help when fighting Golems. And if we're talking about Elemental Golems, the most rewarding way of dealing with them was to prolong the fight till all lesser Golems spawn, which was tedious, but gave a huge advantage; this is not the case any more, Golems can die in 1 round and the reward will still be the same now."

How does the dynamics work now? But this definitely is the way. I actually felt that this was one of the most straining sides of the game that one needed extreme durability for the fights, even though I think milking out all of the golems from supreme golem in WK was qute thrilling the first time around, haha. But. Really good stuff this!

Regarding APR's

"It always bothered me that a 6th (not 9th!) arcane spell is actually the best spell in the entire game and warriors can't reach their full potential without an arcane caster. Now this is changed and the progression of APR should be smoother. IH should still be useful, but not mandatory to win the game."

How is this changed?

Thank you, again

A creature spawns when the Elemental Golem's HP drops to certain values. The number of enemies and the HP thresholds are different for Greater and normal Elemental Golems, but you should get the same number of enemies no matter how long the fight takes to finish.


Spawns from other creatures (Ghost Spiders, Ultra Golems, Supreme Golems) are not changed at the moment, so EG spawns will be time based, but each EG should spawn enemies based on HP.


There are quite a few changes, but in general you reach the largest number of APR a few levels after you reach HLAs with your warrior-type characters, as there are 3 that increase APR for some duration: Whirlwind Attack, Greater Whirlwind Attack and Warcry. Before that the number of APR for them might be lower than before, though non-warriors should still have roughly the same APR. Yes, it makes pre-HLA part of the game a bit tougher, which I hope is at least partially compensated by other changes.
IH was changed in Controversial Changes to grant standard Haste + additional 1 APR. So characters with 1APR with IH now have 3APR (more than before), characters with 2 APR have 4(same as before). This should also lower the necessity of dual wielding for non-warrior characters, as the difference in APR is less significant and some characters can reach *** in Single Weapon Style or 2h Weapon Style and get additional 1/2APR from that (change available even without Controversial Changes)

Loving the new additions!! I'm in the middle of the Underdark, taken on the 2 drow parties and some minor drow quests so far. Party is...

Transmuter Protagonist
Viconia
Valygar (Riskbreaker) > now Imoen (Riskbreaker)
Beastmaster
Assassin
Enchanter

I'm really loving the Transmuter! Not so much the Enchanter. Assassin and Beast Master are fun and unique but only decent additions to the party. Cleric changes are great! I'm finding this party may need a little more firepower, some of the controversial changes and reworked battles are even more challenging, which I love.

A bit of feedback...

-Minsc does not have the Beastmaster class even though I asked for it when setting up the mod
-Beastmaster's Animal Fortitude spell does not block "Death Spell"
-Whenever I right click Cloverleaf to see the properties my game crashes
-There have been two instances of Golems just standing there. Torgal's Gem golem and a few of the Asylum Scouts
-Summoned Berserker from Iron Horn of Vahalla goes hostile after taking his berserk damage (not a big deal really)
-Cloak of Magic Shielding is usable by other rangers, seems like Beastmaster should be able to equip.

Overall great fun so far!! I might restart just to try out some more kits and have a cleaner run. One instance of the Transmuter fun was getting the majority of the drow party and spiders to follow him away using his blinding speed ability while other party members smashed the drow spellcasters. Transmuter and some beastmaster beasts were able to withstand the spiders and drow for just long enough for the rest of the party to reinforce! Very rewarding battle!

Thank you again for all your work!

Should be fixed now, please download the newest version


This issue and another one with Vithal's script have already been fixed a few days ago

I forgot that he goes hostile any time he's attacked by an ally, and the game treats him as an ally of himself fixed the issue, you should be able to safely attack him and order him to go into your cloud/AoE spells without him turning hostile.


Implemented this inside "Mage- and ranger-specific rewards and crafted items are available for all protagonists" component



Good to hear that you like the new Transmuter! It's the hardest Mage kit to balance as it loses so much, because of its opposing school. I still think it should be improved, but haven't tested it myself.