ToB stalls now

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so i downloaded patch from this site; now ToB & Watchers Keep are unavailable. i have tried some things like uninstall whole Shadows&ToB. but it seems the patch made my ToB disk unresponsive. trying to figure out to either make patch work and/or deleting the patch download, but i need someway to uninstall patch as deleting patch parts hasnt changed a thing. i have to reinstall (disks) and i can find the patch #, in readme for patch.
patch# 26498

 

There is no way that the patch made your ToB disc unresponsive. Even if you installed the wrong patch, reinstalling everything should have cleared up the issue.

Uninstall everything, clean up any remaining files that might be lingering, then install the game again. Make sure you install it into a custom folder (like CGames\) and not into Program Files if you're running a newer OS than WinXP. Once that's done, make sure you download the correct patch for Throne of Bhaal (US for the US version, European for the European version) and install it into the same location as your game.

 

figured i may have installed wrong, or picked the wrong 1 and installed it wrong. been sometime ago.

 

If all else fails, you can get the GOG version, which has all the official patches included, if you're not above paying a few dollars, but it shouldn't be necessary.

 

If you are using Windows Vista or later, make sure you are using an administrator account.
Also try disabling User Account Control (UAC), install the game, the official patches, the G3 fixpack, the G3 tweakpack, and other tweaks like Ding0's Tweaks or aTweaks, and any other mods.

I consider the official patches, the G3 fixpack, the G3 tweakpack, and several of Ding0's to be the essentials.

Once that is done, edit the .ini and enter in the "debugmode=1" thing, then run the game once to set up the .INI and verify things.
After that, turn UAC back on and log in as a standard user like you normally would.

See if that helps.

Oh, before doing that, first completely uninstall the game and trash anything left behind except your saved games and characters, stick those in a ZIP archive (or .rar, or 7z or whatever as long as they are in an archive instead of in the directories) as they might be corrupt and we can deal with them later.

 

my whole problem is i have an original win98 disks, may buy the win xp disks and go from there

 

unfortunately i have lost my shadows&ToB prima guides and the ones available arent cheap. is there a link for using character viewer and adding items? also is there any way to change major skills? rolling a party is a b*- & i have problems since the die rolls should be the rules that came from unearthed arcana(iirc), i mean its really hard rolling up say a ftr/cl/mu and not having cha a 3, on a 3 die roll system. & im rolling up a full party of 6.

 

I have all the Infinity Engine games installed on my old Windows 98SE/Windows XP dual-boot system. Most were installed before I made it a dual-boot.

I haven't tried installing BG2 on Win98 First edition, but I have installed Baldur's Gate ONE and Icewind Dale ONE and the procedure was absolutely identical on Windows 98 First Edition and Second Edition.
In fact, I can't think of anything with a different procedure between first and second edition.
In any case, BG2 should run fine whether you are using Win98 or XP. I don't know about Enhanced Edition, but the original should work fine on either. It would be 64-bit Windows 10 that I would expect trouble, since I know it can be installed on 8.1 and earlier (I have no idea how it works on XP-64).

I'll give you the steps for a clean install.

1. What you want to do is use WinRAR or WinZIP to make an archive of your saved games and exported characters. Note that save is for the single player game and mpsave is for multiplayer, and yes, you can play a solo game in multiplayer and create all 6 characters (though you lose the banters and NPC quests).
2. Move the archive out of the BG2 directory, and hold onto it.
3. Now uninstall the game.
   
4. Then run CCleaner (I'm not sure if the current version still works with Win98, you might need an old version) to make sure everything is gone.
5. Then check the game directory, the default is cprogram files\black isle\BG2 - SoA and delete it.
6. Now you are starting from scratch.
7. Install Shadows of Amn
8. Install Throne of Bhaal
9. Install the official Throne of Bhaal patch.
10. Install G3 fixpack
11. Install G3 tweakpack
12. Install other tweaks like Ding0's Tweaks or aTweaks, and any other mods
13. Modify the Baldur.INI to enable debug mode
14. Try the game. If it works, try unpacking your exported characters. Also try unpacking the saved games, but be prepared to sacrifice them as they may be corrupted.

That's it. With Windows 98, you don't have to worry about the admin account, as essentially you are always logged in as a local administrator, even when joining a domain.
You don't have to worry about UAC and virtual stores because it did not exist until Vista.
You don't have to worry about file system permissions (security permissions) because FAT32 doesn't support them, only NTFS supports them and as the name implies, needs an OS based on NT (2000, XP and later are all descendants of NT, ME is a descendant of Windows 95 and the last of the line)

 

I'd recommend Dan Simpson's guide, but check out all the guides here on Sorcerer's PLace and GameFAQs.
http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/index_tips.php
http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/BG2/index.php
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/919881-baldurs-gate-ii-the-collection/faqs

Enable debug mode and the CLUA Console. , then use <CONTROL>-<8> when rolling a character's stats, and the numbers will change to all 18's. You can then reduce an illegal value and add to another to make demi-humans have maxed stats.

Use Shadowkeeper to edit characters.

 

wow; way cool; yea, so, did anyone else find out a weakness for time stop spell?; and not that i want all 18's on a character, but an intelligence thats not like a 1 kill for mind flayers, like characters a dorfus; and chra may be a 3 also, instead something reasonable like a 12 or so.

not to say the mind flayers have a very good to hit roll

 

You don't HAVE to put all 18's, you can then lower the stats to whatever you want once you hit <CONTROL>-<8>. It just gives you 108 points to allocate however you want, there is no rule that says you need to use all 108.

As for CHA, you can get the Ring of Human Influence early on that raises it to 18, so if meta-gaming you can use CHA as a dump stat, unless you are playing a bard.

For your first time through, I would suggest using all 18's, although if you are playing a demi-human, max and min with those 108 points, dropping INT or WIS depending on class to raise the demi-human's stat beyond 18.

 

the good ole paladin seems the best choice of the kit i think, spell casting ability, and a good turn undead, can get better than a multiclass cleric. the inquisitor though, i love that true sight spell.

 

The loss of turn undead/lay on hands and priest spells is a pretty big hit imho just for getting castings of dispel magic and true seeing.
As a paladin you'll be able to get access to dispel magic through the cleric spells you gain (dispel magic is a 3rd level cleric spell) and you get carsomyr later on anyway (the +5 paladin sword which dispels on hit) which should take care of any dispel magic needs you might have, and there are other sources of true seeing available - either take along a spellcaster in your party with the spell or get the book of infinite spells (one of the pages has True seeing) and if you play the Enhanced edition there's also a gemstone to be found during rasaads personal quest in SoA that allows you to cast it once a day.
Don;t forget that paladins get access to up to 4th level cleric spells which contains not only some additional healing spells but also a lot of useful buffs (armor of faith, bless, protection from evil, chant, draw upon holy might, protection from fire and strength of one) you also get a sort of "mini-true seeing" with the 3rd level spell invisibility purge.

Personally i'd either go Cavalier or Undead hunter - Cavaliers get bonuses to fiends and dragons, which are some of the most difficult enemies in the game, as well as getting immunities to many status effects (charm,fear,poison and morale failure) and gaining 20% in poison and fire resistance - the only downside being that you lose access to missile weapons. I honestly can't remember the last time i used a ranged weapon as a paladin however, so the downside is only minimal.

If you really want to be able to use ranged weapons in a bind, the undead hunter is fairly useful - immune to hold and level drain, and +3 to attack rolls vs Undead. the game does offer you a lot of ways to easily deal with undead already (scrolls of protection vs undead, anyone ? ) but the bonuses still make him more useful then an un-kitted paladin in my eyes.

 

I'm with dmc on this one. Inquisitor is incredibly powerful. His dispel magic is slightly redundant with Carsomyr, but the ability allows for different tactics and is far more effective.

In the vast majority of cases, I'd say inquisitor outperforms other paladin kits, but obviously each shines in different situations and all of them (including blackguard in EE) are top tier.

 

Cavaliers can use throwing axes and throwing knives. Since you would normally put pips in a ranged weapon and a melee, it isn't even a sacrifice to put the pips you would have put into longbows into axes or daggers instead while taking pips in greatswords for when you get Carsomyr.

Axes are heavy, but it means you can also use melee axes for great damage with a shield. Daggers are less useful for a paladin in melee since he has access to better weapons, but you can carry a lot more normal, cheap, disposable throwing daggers.

In addition to those heavy normal throwing axes, there are a few returning throwing axes that never run out of ammo. Because of these, I try to obtain one ASAP, and don't buy normal throwing axes. You get a few in Irenicus's dungeon, but I forget where else you can get a few more. I find a few throughout the game, and since selling them isn't worth much if anything, I do try to use them instead of the returning axes against cannon fodder as I dislike waste even though they have a lower change to hit.
You can get Hangard's Axe+2 from the middle of the sewers in the Temple district as a reward for a tough fight.
If you side with Bodhi (something you probably should not as a Paladin), you can get a similar axe that is a +3 instead during the quests, IIRC the one where you attack the docks in the lower-left corner of the map.
Finally, there is a superior axe to the one you get in Bodi's quests available for sale from Benard at the Copper Coronet after Hedron's quest to free the slaves. It is Azureedge and has impressive anti-undead abilities in addition to being a +3 axe. One of the best weapons available in SoA.

There are also a couple of returning throwing daggers, but they are not available until late in the game. There is one you can get early, but it means sacrificing the change to learn the spell "limited wish" by casting it off a scroll. Otherwise you have to wait until you can cast 7th level spells, and do the limited wish quest to obtain the Boomerang Dagger +2.

Then there is the Firetooth +3 throwing dagger, not to be confused with the crossbow that adds fire damage to the quarrels you shoot called "Fire Tooth". It is found in Urst Natha.

Daggers are not that bad. The poisoned daggers for sale in a few stores in limited quantities are not to be underestimated however. They are pretty powerful, but supplies are very limited. They are not enchanted, so the to-hit change is no better than normal daggers, and mages can easily defend against them with protection from normal weapons and stoneskin. However, a paladin has a MUCH better THAC0 than the mage or even the thief you'd normally give it to.

 

If you start in BG (EE or Tutu) with a paladin kit, the lack ranged options is a serious limitation for the cavalier. I'd say the inquisitor is overall more powerful, if only because you can immediately resume attacking mages if they cast invisibility.

 

Ah yeah, i forgot that thrown weapons do not count as missile weapons for the purpose of restrictions. I do usually make my way to the sewers pretty quickly to kill the party with the +2 throwing axe there so i can get access to their gear, selling what i don't need for some cash - though i usually don't hang onto the throwing axe, just the full or regular plate mail +1 and the helmet of charm protection (though a cavalier would obviously not need the helmet).

Well, like Keneth said you can still use thrown weapons, and you can buy regular throwing axes as soon as you start from the candlekeep inn, as well as in shops in the friendly arm inn/nashkell/beregost and baldur's gate. Same thing with throwing daggers, though if i recall correctly they are only available in candlekeep, beregost and baldur's gate, meaning you only have 1 place to pick them up reliably for a while after leaving candlekeep.
Sadly the only returning throwing axe is a +2 one you only get off prat in the caverns underneath candlekeep at which point there shouldn't be much left of the game to tackle unless you save the bulk of the side-areas/expansion content for after that point.

 

azureedge on my game was corrupted, really good killer of a lot of vampires; but mine didnt do a thing against other undead, and throwing was easier than melee. it also disables using second hand for anything other than, i think, a shield. lately ive liked 2 weapon styles.

oh, and i wasnt saying my current operating system is '98, i have win7, and the disks are for '98, remember where i bought them; went out of business as playstation2, and nes came out and took over market. so i found a set of 4 for baulders gate for about $14+shipping, so not too bad, as they work(or say they work), for xp/vista. gotta fix my win7 though.

i, when choosing proficiencies consider weapon speed for a lot of things.

 

This is probably because you are running the game from the original disks instead of the GOG version or enhanced edition (which contain a lot of fixes), Azuredge was known to be quite buggy in the original game.
As far as i know it will only work on a few undead like vampires and a select fe liches, but things like ghasts/ghoul/skeletons seem to be unaffected, and it also will not give the -4 to enemy saves modifier OR the +4 extra damage to undead. On the plus side it does more damage to non-undead (when thrown) then it should.

i would suggest getting the fixpacks at http://www.baldurdash.org/ since it fixes a lot of bugs, including restoring Azuredge to the way it should work.