by Baronius

Andyr, Domi, Echon, Galactygon, Ghreyfain, jastey, Rabain, Rastor, T.G.Maestro, Vlad, Westley Weimer and Windwalker kindly answered all or most of the questions. Thank you a lot!

There were 10 questions originally, but I made one question from the first and the second one, because the first question isn't so important (it was "what IE games did you play to the end?" and the second question was "what is your favourite game from those above?"). You can see the questions and the answers below.

What is your favourite IE game from those you have played to the end?

Andyr: BG1 for story, BG2:ToB for engine. So Tutu, overall.

Baronius: Baldur's Gate (with or without TotSC), without Tutu. It's the best computer game in my opinion.

Domi: BG1

Echon: Baldur's Gate - Tales of the Sword Coast.

Galactygon: I can't decide whether or not it is BG1 or PS:T. Both have outstanding plots and an immersive gameplay.

Ghreyfain: BG1Tutu.

jastey: BG, BGII, PST (in that order)

Rabain: PST / BG1

Rastor: Planescape: Torment

T. G. Maestro: Baldur's Gate II

Vlad: PST

Westley Weimer: BG2

Windwalker: I would say Baldur's Gate I (without TOTSC). This is mainly because it was a great game and was a really nice introduction to the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting.

What is your favourite character class/race?

Andyr: I quite like Cleric/Mage multiclasses (very powerful) as well as Thieves and Bards (again, power and general usefulness). I use a lot of Elves and Half-elves because I like their animations. In Ps:T I am normally a Fighter as the NPCs fulfil my other party needs.

Baronius: Humans have the ability to achieve any level. I like human Specialist Mages and Sorcerers. Specialist Mages, and wizards generally, are my favourites because they use their intelligence while learning and improving their skills. However, their implementation could have been better in the Infinity Engine games. For example, I would have been glad to see each of them having an unique ability, specific to their specialisation. I like the Sorcerer not because it is the most powerful class in BG2, but due to the fact I like magic. Together with the medieval atmosphere and mythic world, magic is what makes me like AD&D and the IE games.

Domi: An Elven Blade or a Human Scald - I generally like Elves as a race, since reading Tolkien; I like bard's class because they remind me most of myself - generalists rather than specialists. Playing a bard also opens a lot of RP opportunities for witty remarks and responses in the dialogues.

Echon: Human fighter/mage. The best of two worlds. I find they compliment each other very well.

Galactygon: I'd say a half-elf cleric/mage, since I may cast a wide variety of spells. A conjurer dualed to a cleric at level 22 wouldn't be bad either.

Ghreyfain: Human cleric with a sword, because they get to mix it up in melee if you want, can cast some nifty spells, and roleplaying a worshipper of different sorts of gods allows for a lot of different stories to unfold.

jastey: For my PC: CG fighter. I like how she beats enemies face to face. CG because I only play good, but I don't want the restriction of a LG paladin.

Rabain: Human-is just so more versatile than non-human with dual-classing. Paladin-best class ever. True roleplay here with the ability to fall.

Rastor: Invoker. I find mage characters to be more fun to play than fighter-types. I prefer the Invoker over any other mage because I almost never use schools from his opposition school (Enchantment). My favorite race is elves, but I normally play a human because they are the only race that can be Invokers and so that my PC can have the Viconia romance.

T. G. Maestro: Assassin - it just fits my style of play in a game;)

Vlad: My favourite character is a dual fighter/cleric but I prefer to play for a kensai/mage because it's more challenging, and there are no fighter/mages in the whole series. Race, well, I would say I dislike other races than humans but dot't blame me then in racism (he-he-he). So my favourite character is a human fighter/cleric.

Westley Weimer: They're all more or less equivalent from a roleplaying perspective (although I'm actually not fond of standard Forgotten Realms drow). From an efficiency perspective I favor the fighter/mage.

Windwalker: My favourite character class? That would be the paladin. He's got all he needs to be a perfect character: swords and plates, a little bit of charisma to do the talking, and even his own cures. Since I'm playing (Lawful or Neutral) Good characters throughout the Baldur's Gate Series, this is my ideal class: a warrior that combines instant healings and minor protection. If we're talking about a kit, well, that would be the cavalier paladin, since it's more balanced and generally closer to the "true class" type of paladin, but still has abilities worth it. Well, that would also make a human. :)

How did you meet Infinity Engine modding?

Andyr: Looking for Solaufein as a result of the old Interplay forums led me to the old FWS, and on from there...

Baronius: As a member of Sorcerer's Place, I noticed the fan-made IE mods on its website. I made some items and the Claw of Kazgaroth 'fix', all of them requested by SP forum members. I continued my activity at TeamBG.

Domi: I was running Anomen's Romance that stalled. I dimly remembered that on Bio's site there was a cheat code for checking the status of the romance. So I made a search for RomanceActive and the search returned - Solaufein's Romance. So I got to Wes Weimer's old site, where he advertised Kelsey, who was not yet released. I asked my hubby's permission to install it and got a grumble: 'I am not fixing it if this hacker's software breaks our machine.' If you know anything about women at all, you'd guess that I downloaded and installed Solaufein V20 twenty seconds later. So, I played a bit more, after downloading Solaufein (got a couple of bugs with Kuroisan's fight, and was recommended to update my version - and Sola was V40 by that time!), but since it was too long to get to Ust-Natha, I checked on Kelsey another time - and Lo! And behold! It was released. So, I loaded it and fell instantly in love with Kelsey, modding and modders. Whom, at that time, I thought to be a bunch of hackers form Britain.

Echon: A friend of mine presented me to Dark Side of the Sword Coast which he had gotten hold of. Many years later I returned to TeamBG to download the much better mod for Baldur's Gate that I was sure somebody had made after the catastrophe. Seeing as that had not happened, I decided to do it myself.

Galactygon: I stumbled accross The Darkest Day, and made my way to TeamBG.

Ghreyfain: I was hanging out at the YMCA, and Infinity Engine modding came up to me and said, "Hey, dude. Those're some nice shorts you're wearing..." We hit it off right from the start.
Okay, actually, I forget. It was 5 or 6 years ago. Somehow I found TeamBG and played DSotSC and then wanted to make my own mod.

jastey: I was looking for a cheat because the Anomen romance seemed to be broken. That's how I found out about the existence of mods, and I was fascinated by the idea of making my own.

Rabain: I think I seen a link on the old Blackisle boards (remember the ones that had the little bookshelf with the Game name on it as a book), to TeamBG.

Rastor: Sorcerer's Place. At the time, WeiDU basically did not exist and the vast majority of mods were simple item packs. I fixed some bugs with items in Baldur's Gate II (with IEEP) and then moved on to more ambitious projects.

T. G. Maestro: By browsing the good-old "sorcerersplace" website, looking for available downloads.

Vlad: Well, it's an interesting question. First I played Fallout in earlier 1997, then Fallout 2. I played those games so many times, so I decided to improve something, to play some mods. Unfortunately the only team working on Fallout modding was TeamX, and there were neither mods, nor tools at that time to make mods. After release of BG I have switched to BG playing and then joined TeamBG. Using their modding utilities started to mod the game, but it was really small tweaking, some primitive items and small bug fixing at that time...

Westley Weimer: One summer I was working on an internship at Microsoft Research. I had some spare time in the evenings and had gotten fed up with the standard BG2 romances (both for their content, which seemed to equate romance with therapy and deception, and for their scripting, which was full of bugs). I decided to see how hard it would be to do a better job. I started out using TeamBG's IDU, but its bugs and general lack of usability inspired me to write the tools that would go on to become WeiDU.

Windwalker: I actually came across The Dark Side of the Sword Coast many years ago, included in a CD from a PC magazine. That had me interested for a while, but when I did a quick google search for similar tools, the only one I found was a creature/character editor for BG1, with limited abilities. It was not enough to get me interested, since I wasn't aware of the communities that time, but it was a good start.
The real introduction to the modding world came a year or so later, when I came across The Darkest Day, in a similar way, through a PC magazine. The mod was presented as terrific in the magazine, so it had me expecting something like TOB quality! Well, I was a bit dissapointed, but that is mainly because I was expecting too much out of a mod, not because the mod was really not worth the trouble. As a matter of act, the specific mod had me interested in the modding world of TeamBG, where I was soon to find myself downloading Todd's IEEP and Theo's IETME. Quite an intro! :)

What was your first mod and what did it do?

Andyr: The first one I started was Elai, which has undergone many revisions and is still not released. The first released code of mine was the Kalah component of Unfinished Business.

Baronius: Some mod with overpowered spells for ToB. A bunch of SPL files, without their descriptions or names stored in any way. :)

Domi: The first mod I wanted to create was, of course, Kivan?s romance. But WeiDU at that time did not have such friendly features as Chain, quite so many tutorials, so I went around and got hired by Vlad as a writer for Tortured Souls. I hoped he?d teach me to code in response, but it did not happen. The first mod that I both wrote and coded for was BG1NPC, and I consider it my first mod. It added tons of dialogue to the original characters in BG1.

Echon: The Fields of the Dead. It features many gameplay changes as per P&P along with a lot of new content and improved AI.

Galactygon: Lost Crossroads. It started as a TDD fix and balance pack, but as I matured over the years, the mod has evolved into something better.

Ghreyfain: Goo, the Disembodied Floating Eyeball NPC. It was either a ground-breaking mod that revealed a lot of previously unknown IE modding tricks, or it set the stage for large amounts of horribly unfunny joke mods. Goo is my shame and my pride all at once.

jastey: It's Ajantis for BGII, German version.

Rabain: I had lots of little things that never got released. I think the first modding of IE I did was to do with items but for my own personal enjoyment. I think it was a shield.

Rastor: My first mod was called "Rastor's Item Pack." It weakened some of the more powerful items in Baldur's Gate II.

T. G. Maestro: BG2 Refinements. For it's contents, see the README:)

Vlad: My first mod I made for BG2. It was Coran NPC mod which allowed to save him in the Forest of Tethyr and then he joined the party. All this was included in a quest of Ribald to find Coran and visit the Forest of Tethyr already in Chapter 2. Later this quest has been inluded in TS, and a few years later Domi wrote Coran Romance.

Westley Weimer: My first mod was "Solaufein" for BG2. The mod added Solaufein of Ust Natha as a joinable NPC that would offer romantic and philosophical dialogue. Solaufein also had special powers, unique challenges and different "rewards" based on how you answered his questions.

Windwalker: Warrior KitPack for Baldur's Gate II. Added a few more kits for the warrior classes of BG: the fighter, the ranger, the paladin.

What's the coolest in IE modding, the part you like the best (except 'politics')?

Andyr: Making the bad parts of the games go away. ;) That's why I like kit/tweak mods a lot. I like unique NPCs too; Ps:T's were the best.

Baronius: The unlimited possibilities. You don't have to write a new game with graphics, engine etc. You are doing the enjoyable part of modding, the content, the story, the tale. Many say that the IE engine is limited. It is, but human's creativity and imagination isn't.

Domi: Control that I get over the events in the game. I was ever the person who did not like how things turned out in the books and invented alternative stories.

Echon: Being creative in whatever way that may be possible. Making new content is a lot more fun than altering existing content.

Galactygon: Breaking the limits of the infinity engine.

Ghreyfain: BG1Tutu. Go download it.
Or if you're asking what I enjoy most about making mods, I'd have to say the sense of discovery, when one unveils a previously unknown method of doing something. Not much of that happening these days, of course, but it was fun back in the Good Ol' Days when I was coding Kelsey and stuff.

jastey: To change the game, to bring my ideas into it, and to see the characters saying the words I put into their mouth. The community I am thankful for the lots of help I receive on all my questions, and for the great tools without I wouldn't be able mod at all.

Rabain: Seeing something you created talking and walking in a game.

T. G. Maestro: The freedom in creation.

Vlad: Spending my time for enjoyment of others (he-he-he). Well, I am altruist *(except 'politics')*. Seriously, everything in modding is cool, but the coolest is probably scripting and graphics.

Westley Weimer: When I first started modding I was drawn in by the technical challenges. Could I actually change such a detailed game in a non-trivial way and have it all still work? These days my favorite part would be the camaraderie of the modding community.

Windwalker: Mainly area creation, especially areas with graphics I've created (well, that's the reason: implementing 3d creations into the game). Many people consider area creation boring though.

What's the worst in IE modding, the part you don't like at all (except 'politics')?

Andyr: Generic dull NPC mods. I like NPCs to be able to do stuff the PC cannot.

Baronius: Bug-hunting... It is generally true that bugs that cause the game to crash can be fixed much more easily than problems caused by a poorly written script. However, finding a damned bug is always a good challenge, and it's a good feeling to win any challenge.

Domi: Its addictiveness and long hours.

Echon: That we have to research everything ourselves, that many features are hardcoded and that the whole thing is so timeconsuming.

Galactygon: Some of the limits in the infinity engine are impossible to overcome, with less-appealing alternatives.

Ghreyfain: Goo. Do not ever download this.
Or, again, if you're asking what I hate most about modding, I would say keeping mods updated. I love people who report bugs, but I hate fixing those fuckers.

jastey: Spending more time than necessary on the forums. Somehow it's part of modding, but it's only sometimes really productive.

Rabain: Item editing when the item just won't behave.

T. G. Maestro: The heavily out-of-date engine, and it's clear limitations.

Vlad: I would lie to myself if I say that I don't like area graphics, because I like graphics, we simply don't have a good area editor for now which would allow easily to make areas from scratch. It's a very mundane task to make areas, and it has nothing to do with graphics. Once the area image is uploaded into IETME then all the routine and boring work begins to alive the image and to turn it into a game area.

Westley Weimer: These days my least favorite part of IE modding is the Infinity Engine itself. I have less patience with its foibles and limitations than I used to.

Windwalker: Eh... Let's say... worldmap editing?

Do you think there is rivalry between IE modders? (Please explain your answer, if possible)

Andyr: Yes, for historical reasons, and because of feelings of 'elitism'. I am not sure I can give a much longer explanation. I have tried to ignore the politics; I do not think it serves much purpose.

Baronius: Yes, there is. Healthy rivalry is natural when there are more people doing the same activity. And it's okay as long as it results in positive motivation to make better mods, even it increases the quality of released mods. However, rivalry is not good any more if it is present in big sizes, since it is pointless to consider this as a competition. Gaming and modding is always fun, and conflicts should get no place here.

Domi: Yes, there is rivalry. Honestly, guys, if, in paradise, there is more chorus of angels than one, there is rivalry there. Some sort of 'The Heavenly Cherubs' vs 'The Singing Archangels'. It's normal.

Echon: I believe there is rivalry between some modders but not all of them, of course. There could be many reasons why.

Galactygon: That depends on the modders themselves. Some want to make a name for themselves, while others mod because they like to. Some mod for both of those reasons.
I think the rifts that divide certain modding communities have little to do with elitism or the like. Disagreements between various modders on how things are run/made is a more likely answer, with people handling those disagreements in a less "cool".

Ghreyfain: Obviously. Some people are in it to create good mods, and some people are in it for popularity. The two types of personality types don't tend to jive very well, so conflict results. Then you've got people misinterpreting others words, as the internet isn't a perfect means of communicating, so rivalries form based simply on miscommunication. Finally, there are idiots wandering around who just want to play mindgames.

Rabain: Yes, some people need to just get over themselves and realise no matter how long they have been modding they do not own modding in any way.

jastey: I am not sure about rivalry between some modders, but what I notice is a tendency of "we" - "they"-thinking concerning modding forums. That's something I don't like at all.

T. G. Maestro: Definitely. Just as anywhere else in the world, people tend to fight their way higher and higher in the (imginary) hierarchy. Some do this without a single word, and often by helping others, while there are cases where people fight for their pathetic role in this community. But again, it's the same in RL.

Vlad: Rivalry??? So eventually you would like to ask about 'politics'. I don't think there is any rivalry because each IE modder makes his own mods and there is no place for rivalry. However each modder also has his own mind on modding 'politics', and some of them have always tried to bring this 'politics' into our IE modding community... By the way this is why my mods have never been (and will never be) hosted by FWS (and it doesn't matter how they will call themselves next time they want to make cosmetic changes to their site and 'politics').

Westley Weimer: I don't see rivalries today. There were rivalries in the past (e.g., between TeamBG and "everyone else") but it was certainly possible to avoid getting caught up in them. I like to think that there isn't much call for "rivalry" between WeiDU mods and modders -- for example, there's no "competition" between Solaufein and Kelsey: players can install neither, either or both depending on what they like.

Windwalker:Yes, there is rivalry. Especially between modding groups, not specific modders. Modders tend to be excited about the progress of their modding group to the extent that they intentionally not mention or acknowledge the achievements of other groups. And things get ugly when the other groups demand the acknowledgement and respect for their work. It would be unwise to lay the blame on any of the groups, though.

What kind of mods are the most popular among players in your opinion?

Andyr: NPC mods and anything by Weimer, as people think he is part of BioWARE or something.

Baronius: Joinable NPC-mods. Perhaps they are so popular because they add the most novelties (banters, biography, special abilities etc.), and contain the least bugs among the released mods. So the player can enjoy their advantages during the whole game basically.

Domi: Romances of the 'hotz love' kind.

Echon: I believe NPC mods are the most popular.

Galactygon: High-quality mods that give something the players want.
It might seem at first glance that NPCs and TweakPacks are more popular, but more high-quality NPCs and TweakPacks have been released than high-quality quest mods.

Ghreyfain: Completed ones. Down with vapourware.

jastey: No special kind, there are players for every mod type, I guess.

Rabain: NPC mods though I think now a lot of people would like to see more area's to explore.

Rastor: NPC mods with romances.

T. G. Maestro: ...

Vlad: It strongly dependents on players taste and internet connection. I would say people who have a good taste and fast internet connection equally enjoy good NPC mods, quest mods as well as some tweaking mods. However those who have slow internet connection or no internet at home they tend to enjoy mainly NPC and tweaking mods which are small and readily (easily) available for further bug fixing. Normally technical support for small mods is excellent because it doesn't require browsing 100 scripts and dialogues hunting for some invisible bug. Unfortunately this group of players also tends to reject big mods in advance and have a very negative attitude to them even without playing. However there is a big number of those who strongly support the idea of making and developing big, quest and area related mods, and who enjoy mainly big mods which include several quests, NPCs, areas, items etc.

Westley Weimer: Everyone seems to use fixpacks and tweaks (e.g., Baldurdash, Ease of-Use, G3 Tweaks) but they typically aren't listed as "favorites". Mods that provide detailed new quests are still relatively rare. Given that, I would say that NPC mods are the most popular (defeating mods that provide new battles or items).

Windwalker: That would be quest mods with a story. Not "fetch that thing for me" quests, but rather quests with plot. I wouldn't like to picture specific mods right now, but mods with interesting quests are pretty much what the player would like to see: it reminds him the excitement of the good old BG2 quests (well, many of them where the "fetch that" style...) This is the idea behind the success of the Romance Mods or NPC Mods. They include a story behind their characters, and most of the times, quests behind this story, that would help that story evolve. :)

Beyond CRPGs, what other game genres/game types do you like to play with?

Andyr: Strategy/adventure games, mostly. But I almost exclusively play RPGs now.

Baronius: Many years ago, I used to play adventure games and FPSs. Currently I would prefer fantasy/medieval strategies, games such as SpecOps was, and probably many more - but I simply don't have the time even to make IE mods or play any of the IE games.

Domi: You must be kidding! Who needs to play when she can mod! Seriously, though, CRPG is the only genre that I enjoy.

Echon: I like some first person shooters, both real-time and turn-based strategy games as well as old adventure games.

Galactygon: Only strategy games such as Heroes of Might and Magic or Cossacks.

Ghreyfain: Plenty. Half-life 2, SimCity 4, Pirates!, Civilization 3, Kotor 1 and 2... the list goes on..

jastey: I like riddle games, like Myst and Riven.

Rabain: I like FPS though mainly in the Battletech universe, all that Unreal/Quake stuff was never interesting. Halo was okay, you could just drive around if you liked!

Rastor: I do not have much time for gaming at all, let alone games other than CRPGs. Outside of CRPGs, I enjoy some old turn-based strategy games as well as Empire Earth and Sims 2.

T. G. Maestro: Strategy games, be it turn based or realtime, and MMORPGs lately.

Vlad: I like cards, chess, football but it has been long time ago I played these games last time. Now my favourite computer game is digital art.

Westley Weimer: Roguelikes (e.g., ADOM, nethack), first-person shooters (e.g., Deus Ex, Half-Life), puzzle games (e.g., tetris), "German board games" (e.g., Bohnanza, Peurto Rico).

Windwalker: That would be adventure games in the old days, when plenty of good adventures would still be around, and strategy games nowadays for me. Although I still like CRPGs and miss the good old BG days...

Many thanks to Andyr, Domi, Echon, Galactygon, Ghreyfain, jastey, Rabain, Rastor, T.G.Maestro, Vlad, Westley Weimer and Windwalker for answering these questions!