# Sword Coast Stratagems

A Gibberlings Three Mod
Author: DavidW
(contact: david dot wallace at balliol dot ox dot ac dot uk)

Version 21

Sword Coast Stratagems adds over 50 optional components to BG1Tutu and BGT, improving encounter difficulties, monster AI, NPC management, and general gameplay.

Sword Coast Stratagems is a WeiDU mod; it's an approximately-1MB download and it's compatible with most or all other BG1Tutu mods.

Sword Coast Stratagems is available in English, in Spanish (courtesy of www.clandlan.net), in German (courtesy of Leonardo Watson), in Polish (courtesy of Nugrud), in Russian (courtesy of Prowler), in French (courtesy of Graoumf), and in Italian (courtesy of Stoneangel).

## Table of Contents

1. Compatibility and Installation Order
2. Installation
3. Overview
4. Contents
   - A. Core components
   - B. Spell tweaks
   - C. Item tweaks
   - D. Gameplay tweaks
   - E. Cosmetic and Ease-Of-Use components
   - F. AI improvements
   - G. Tactical challenges
5. Power-user options
6. Additional notes on content (contains spoilers)
7. Known Bugs
8. Acknowledgements
9. Copyright Information
10. Version History

## Compatibility and Installation Order

### BG1Tutu

SCS now appears to be compatible with pretty much all the BG1Tutu mods in common use. In particular, it has now been extensively tested with BG1 NPC, Unfinished Business and the Grey Clan, as well as most NPC mods. It is compatible with BG1Tutu with or without the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion.

In general, on a BG1Tutu install SCS should be installed last or close-to-last, after any quest, NPC and item mods. For a very detailed set of notes on compatibility between different BG1Tutu mods, see here.

SCS should be compatible with both EasyTUTU and TUTU v4, though the most recent version has only been tested on an EasyTUTU install.

### BGT

While SCS was originally designed with a BG-only (i.e., not BGT) install in mind, it now seems to run pretty smoothly on BGT. The range of BGT mods is so huge that it is difficult to give general installation advice; in general, though, SCS should be installed as late as possible in the install order, and certainly after most or all BG-content mods, but before SCSII. However (for slightly complex reasons) the AI improvements from the Quest Pack need to be installed before SCS (to be precise: before the Durlag's Tower component of SCS).

Players trying to build a complicated BGT install involving Sword Coast Stratagems are strongly advised to seek advice on the boards at forums.spellholdstudios.net.

### Original BG

SCS is not compatible with the original (non-Tutu) version of BG, and I have no plans to make it compatible (the scripting language is too irritating).

### Overlap with other mods

Some of the SCS ease-of-use components overlap with some other mods. In particular:

- The "wait-at-inns" component of SCS isn't compatible with the wait-in-inns component of BG1 NPC. Choose which one you want; you'll only be allowed to install one. (They're very similar, though.)
- The "move NPCs to more convenient locations" component overlaps harmlessly with the move-NPCs components of BG1 NPC. (They move Alora, Eldoth, Tiax and Quayle; we move Eldoth, Tiax, Quayle, Viconia and Shar-Teel).
- The "allow player to choose NPC proficiencies and skills" component of SCS tries to do rather the same thing as the "ToB-style NPCs" component of BG2 Tweaks. This is also harmless: you should be able to install them in either order, but the SCS version overrides the BG2 Tweaks version whichever way round you install them. (The only reason you might want both installed is that SCS doesn't affect third-party NPCs.

## Installation

SCS is a very standard WeiDU mod, packaged in an auto-installing file. To install it, run it and tell it to install in your Tutu folder (for EasyTutu players), or your BG2 folder (for BGT or Tutu v4 players). If you want to modify your installation later (or if for some reason you don't get the install program to start with) then double-click on setup-scs.exe in that folder.

You don't need to start a new game to install SCS. It's recommended that you do, though - SCS affects things right through the game and if you install it part-way through, you'll almost certainly miss things.

On Mac OSX, follow the above instructions, except that you should click on setup-scs.command.

On Linux, usual instructions apply: Download the latest version of WeiDU for Linux from weidu.org and extract (at least) the WeiDU, weinstall and tolower executables in a $PATH directory (E.G. /usr/bin). Following that, open a terminal, cd to your BGT/BGTUTU installation directory, run `tolower' and answer Y to both queries. Finally, run WeInstall scs to install the mod.

## Overview

Sword Coast Stratagems (SCS) is a collection of mini-mods for Baldur's Gate: Tutu and Baldur's Gate Trilogy. Its main focus is on increasing the tactical challenge of the game, through a combination of much smarter AI and mild increases in the abilities of various creatures (many named enemies gain a couple of levels, mid- and high-level creatures often start with a potion or two, and so on.) In many ways it resembles the Tactics mod for BG2, though it's generally rather more "low-key" - enemies get smarter and more dangerous but they don't gain vast sets of new powers.

It also includes a collection of components that improve NPC-related aspects of game-play in small ways - for instance, it implements the useful BG2 feature where you can send NPCs to inns when you don't need them; it lets you break up NPC pairs like Khalid/Jaheira without having to arrange for one of them to get killed; it lets you choose NPC's weapon proficiencies rather than being stuck with the game's preset choices; and it allows Yeslick, the dwarven fighter-cleric, to use axes.

It also tweaks a few other aspects of gameplay: for instance, it tones down Fire and Ice arrows a bit; it adds Potions of Extra-Healing to a few of the temples; it replaces most of the game's standard +1 magic weapons with non-magical "fine" weapons (for those who get irritated at the sheer number of permanent magic items lying around); and it gives bears a half-decent movement rate.

Finally, it implements a couple of very minor ease-of-use patches that don't seem to be included in the standard mods: for instance, it lets you skip the Candlekeep tutorial at the start of the game and it lets you move Boo out of Minsc's quick access and into his pack.

SCS is very customisable - it's broken up into 40-odd components, so you can choose what you want.

Originally, SCS (with a few exceptions) avoided introducing BG2 magic into BG1Tutu - so mages wouldn't use Stoneskins or Sequencers and couldn't cast enemy-only Dispel Magic, clerics didn't use Holy Smite, and so forth. As of version 9, though, optionally you can choose for enemies to use BG2 resources.

SCS introduces virtually no cool new magic items, and virtually no extra experience or loot. Personally, I think the treasure levels in BG are rather nicely balanced - a design principle of this mod was: don't unbalance them.

A couple of tweaks you might not notice if you install the whole package: Yeslick the dwarf cleric/fighter can now use axes (actually so can all cleric/fighters but that's not deliberate!), and the Protection from Normal Missiles spell works on almost all missiles now, not just non-magic ones. (It doesn't affect arrows of Detonation, Slaying or Dispelling.)

## Detailed Contents

### 6A: Initialise component

This component is required for almost all other components

This component does various setup tasks needed by most other components in SCS. You won't directly notice what it does, but it fixes a few bugs and extends the game's capabilities to allow the rest of SCS to function correctly. (For experts: it installs Detectable Spells and (on Windows installs) ToBEx, makes magic items detectable, modifies weapons so that the script engine can detect their enchantment level, fixes the bugged Spell Shield spell, reconfigures area-effect spells so that Mirror Image doesn't block them, prevents casting from being disrupted by zero-damage attacks, fixes the Beregost bug, and installs a collection of low-level tweaks and fixes to creature statistics.)

(Advanced users who find my mods slightly too good at detecting items may wish to experiment with setting AI_Does_Not_Detect_Items to 1 in scs/scs.ini; this isn't recommended, though.)

### 6B: Spell Tweaks

These components (most of which are borrowed from my BG2 mod, Sword Coast Stratagems II) makes a few small tweaks to the spell system, mostly to correct odd inconsistencies or to make certain tactics less overpowered. Most of them actually have only limited effects in a BG1-only game.

Make Protection from Normal Missiles affect magical projectiles

This component improves the power of the PNM spell. It now blocks almost all arrows, bolts etc. The exceptions are the Arrows of Detonation, the Arrows of Slaying, and the Arrows of Dispelling.

The logic behind this is basically that magic arrows are two a penny in BG. It's essentially pointless for an enemy mage to use PNM, since any prepared party worth their salt will just swap to magic ones. (By contrast, in pen-and-paper D&D magic arrows are often fairly rare at mid levels). By making PNM more impervious, enemy mages gain a basic defence against long-range attack, compensating for the lack of Stoneskin in BG2.

You don't need this component to use the Smarter Mages scripts, but you'll find them a lot easier to kill if it isn't installed.

As of version 12, there is a lower-key version of this component available. It replaces all +1 arrows in the game with non-magical masterwork arrows, and it changes the spell so only arrows which are +1 or better can penetrate it. The practical upshot is the same as the normal component except that +2 arrows penetrate Protection from Magic Weapons; however, purists may prefer it on style grounds.

If you install this component on a BGT install, it will (obviously) affect the spell in BG2 as well as in BG.

More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning

Although it isn't documented, the 5th level spell Breach will remove a creature's combat protections (such as Stoneskin) even if that creature is protected by Spell Deflection, Spell Turning or Spell Trap; it will not, however, affect creatures like liches or rakshasas, because they are immune to spells of level 5 or below (not that there are many of the latter in Baldur's Gate I!). This component removes both features: Breach now bounces off Spell Turning (etc.), but it affects even those creatures immune to "normal" 5th level spells.

Once this component is installed, the Breach effect of the Wand of Spell Striking will behave in exactly the same way as the Breach spell.

Enemy wizards will assume Breach works this way (and so won't target characters protected by Spell Turning etc with a Breach), even if you don't install this component.

This component is identical to the equivalent component of SCSII.

This component changes those spells which target a creature's spell defences (e.g. Secret Word, Spellstrike, Ruby Ray of Reversal - but not Breach) so as to allow them to target creatures which are protected by Improved Invisibility. (This works by targetting the closest hostile, protected creature to the target point.) The idea of this component is that these spells can now be cast on enemy mages who are protected by Improved Invisibility - this makes the Improved Invisibility / Spell Immunity: Divination combination less overpowering.

Prior to version 16, this component worked by giving the spells a small area of effect. This option remains, as a legacy component, for those who prefer it.

The antimagic attacks of enemy mages will bypass Improved Invisibility even if you don't install this component.

This component is identical to the equivalent component of SCSII.

Iron Skins behaves like Stoneskin (can be brought down by Breach)

For some reason the Iron Skins spell, although it appears identical to a Stoneskin, counts as a Spell Protection (like Spell Turning) and not as a Combat Protection (like Stoneskin). This means that in the unmodded game, Breach does not bring down Iron Skins, but (e.g.) Secret Word does. This component relabels Iron Skins as a Combat Protection.

Enemy mages will assume that Iron Skins works this way (and so will, e.g., cast Breach at it) even if you don't install this component.

Reduce the power of Inquisitors' Dispel Magic

This component is identical to the equivalent component of SCSII.

Inquisitors have a very fast powerful Dispel Magic ability, which is cast at twice their level. In most bits of the game, this is usually much higher than the majority of spellcasting enemies. This component reduces the power of the Dispel a little; you can choose to use it at 1.5xlevel or at 1xlevel.

This component is identical to the equivalent component of SCSII.

Slightly reduce the power of Insect Plague spells (and the like) and let Fire Shields block them

In the unmodified game, Insect Plague and Creeping Doom are very hard indeed for a spellcaster to deal with or defend against. This component (which was partly inspired by Demivrgvs's Spell Revisions) grants a per-round saving throw against the spell-failure effects of the insects; it also cause the insects to be destroyed if the target protects himself/herself with a Fire Shield spell (either colour) or Aura of Flaming Death spell. (This component will have only limited effect in a BG1-only game, since few characters will have the power to use Insect Plague.)

This component is identical to the equivalent component of SCSII.

Cosmetic change: stop Stoneskins from changing your character's colour

The Stoneskin spell causes the recipient to turn a uniform grey colour, which is realistic but does get a bit monotonous when your spellcasters are permanently protected by it. This tweak (which uses Ascension64's "ToB Extender") removes the colour change from the spell.

This component is identical to the equivalent component of SCSII.

Make spell sequencers, spell triggers, and contingencies learnable by all mages

In the unmodded game, spell sequencers, contingencies etc are in the Evocation school, making them unavailable to Enchanters; this is a serious weakness for the class. This component moves them to be in both the Conjuration and Evocation schools (like Wish), so that all mages may use them. The affected spells are Minor Sequencer, Spell Sequencer, Spell Trigger, Contingency, and Chain Contingency.

Note that if you have Smarter Mages installed, SCS enchanters will use sequencers and the like even if you do not have this component installed.

This component is identical to the equivalent component of SCSII. In BG1, you'll only see it for Minor Sequencers.

### 6C: Item Tweaks

These are a collection of small changes to the items available in the game.

Make elemental arrows more like BG2

The arrows of Fire, Ice and Acid in BG are seriously powerful in terms of damage done - much more so than their equivalents in BG2, presumably because the designers chose to tone it down a bit. This component applies a similar tonedown to BG (not quite identical; they're still a bit more powerful than the BG2 versions).

On a BGT install, the only effect of this component is to tone down the effects of the Bolt of Lightning (which is actually quite powerful even in BG2).

Replace many magic weapons with fine ones

This replaces most of the standard (i.e. non-named) +1 weapons in the game with non-magical equivalents: they still give you +1 to hit and damage but they don't give you +1 to initiative and they can't harm creatures that are immune to normal weapons.

This is mostly a cosmetic change: I wrote it because otherwise there are implausibly many magic weapons lying around the Sword Coast. It has two significant effects on the game, though. Firstly, +1 weapons cost a lot less (about a third as much). This mostly works against you (you generally find +1 weapons on enemies and sell them). More seriously, the iron plague affects "fine" weapons. I actually quite like this (feels more realistic, and makes the iron plague more a part of the game) but if it's just going to annoy you, don't use it.

As of version 4 of SCS, you can choose to have Fine weapons without the effects of the iron crisis. It's clear from what you're told in-game that the crisis affects all iron (even iron not forged from Nashkel ore), but some people feel this is outweighed by the annoyance of having your high-quality weapons break so much. It's up to you.

BGT users should note that this component also affects weapons which you find in the BG2 part of the game. This component is incompatible with the similar component of SCSII (it doesn't matter which one you install, except that the SCSII versions will not be shatter-proof).

Reintroduce potions of extra-healing

This places smallish numbers of potions of extra-healing at some of the temples (see here for details). It's mostly here because some of the enhanced encounters give potions of extra-healing to the bad guys, and it's rather unfair if the player can't buy them too.

Remove Arrows of Dispelling from stores

This component removes all the Arrows of Dispelling from the stores in BG1; you might want to install this if you find Arrows of Dispelling a bit too effective.

### 6D: Gameplay Tweaks

These could equally have been called "miscellaneous tweaks". Most but not all are concerned with easier NPC management.

Standardise spells between BG and BG2

At the moment, BG1Tutu and BGT are both a bit inconsistent in their use of BG2-only spells (like Stoneskin or Holy Smite). Non-player characters don't have any of these spells, and enemies don't use them, but party sorcerors, clerics and druids have access to them, and party mages can choose them at first level.

This component offers two alternative ways to resolve the inconsistency. The first (available only for BG1Tutu players) blocks player access to all BG2-only spells except for Find Familiar and the various wild-magic spells.

(A version of this component was previously available as part of TutuFix, but turned out to be buggy and to cause occasional crashes. This version works by a different principle, and should (touch wood) be crash-free.)

The second alternative (new as of version 9) reintroduces into BG all of the new wizard spells of fifth level or lower. Some are added to stores, others to treasure caches; see here for all of the locations.

Faster bears

"If you're in the woods, and you run into an angry bear, don't worry about it. Bears can't move very fast, you can outdistance it at a brisk walk".

It's unrealistic that BG bears can't catch up with the party. This component tweaks their movement rate until it's about the same as for humans. This also makes the druid's bear shapeshift less annoying.

This component is identical to the SCSII component of the same name and only one will be installable at a time (this is only relevant for BGT players.)

Allow player to choose NPC proficiencies and skills

At the moment the various NPCs who join your party have their existing proficiencies, thief skills etc. determined for you according to what the designers of BG and/or Tutu had in mind. There's nothing wrong with this, but it can be interesting - especially if you've played several times - to have more flexibility.

This component gives you the chance to select each character's proficiencies from scratch. It does so in a slightly convoluted way (to get around game-engine difficulties): when a new NPC joins your party, they start at level 0. They immediately go up a level, so you get to choose their starting skills. As soon as you've levelled them, they gain enough experience to go up to about the level of the PC, and you can give them any remaining proficiencies.

This differs from the BG2 Tweaks version (which is overwritten) because you get to choose proficiencies even for 1st-level characters. The component only works for the "core" NPCs in BG, not for any NPCs added by someone else's mod (or for BG2 NPCs). It won't work for a given NPC if you install it after you've already entered their area.

Note:the patch takes a few seconds to come into effect. If there's a 3-4 second pause when your character's statistics (hit points, say) aren't right, don't worry about it.

Allow NPC pairs to separate

One of the more frustrating aspects of BG is that many of the more interesting NPCs come in inseparable pairs (Khalid and Jaheira, Minsc and Dynaheir, etc.) Of course, it's always possible to get round this by leaving one member of a pair in a building or getting them killed, but it does spoil the suspension of disbelief a bit.

This component allows you to separate the pairs. If you kick one member of a pair out of the party, then the other still leaves - but if you speak to one member of a pair and invite them to join up, you get a dialogue option to take them but not their partner.

For technical reasons, this component and the next are combined into a single BGT component, "Better NPC management".

NPCs go to inns

One of the nice features of BG2 is the ability to ask NPCs to meet you somewhere else, rather than just getting them to stand around forlornly. This component introduces this feature for the "core" BG NPCs. You can send them to the Friendly Arm inn, the Elfsong tavern in Baldur's Gate (from chapter 5), the Nashkel Inn (if you've been to Nashkel), or the Jovial Juggler in Beregost (if you've been to Beregost). You can't send them there from Balduran's Isle, the Ice Island, the Candlekeep dungeons, or the lower levels of Durlag's Tower..

To send someone to an inn, first kick them out of the party. Then talk to them - you should be given the opportunity to ask them to go to an inn and await you there.

This component isn't compatible with the similarly-named BG1 NPC component "NPCs wait at inns". Install whichever one you want (you won't be allowed to install more than one). There isn't much difference between the two - the dialogue is handled a bit differently, and this version lets you send people to more inns.

For technical reasons, this component and the next are combined into a single BGT component, "Better NPC management".

Allow Yeslick to use axes

It seems appropriate that Yeslick, who is a dwarven fighter-cleric, ought to be able to use the traditional dwarven weapon; this component allows him to.

(There is a loophole here: due to the way the game engine works, this actually allows all fighter-clerics (not just Yeslick) to use axes. Yeslick is actually the only NPC fighter-cleric in the core game but it might affect third-party NPCs, or your primary character (and, for BGT users, it will affect Anomen). If you want to take advantage of this then be my guest, but it wasn't the intended function of the component.)

Move NPCs to more convenient locations

Many of the BG NPCs are inconveniently located - either at places where you can't get to at all until late in the game (e.g. Baldur's Gate, the Cloakwood), or places where you in principle could get to but realistically wouldn't. This makes it annoying to experiment with varying your party: you have to leave extended gaps in your party until quite late, or unrealistically sneak into later-game areas to act on your Reload Knowledge of where someone is.

This component moves as many as possible of the NPCs to locations where you are likely to run into them fairly early in the game. Obviously it doesn't move all by any means (many have plot-related reasons for their locations).

See here for details of who has been moved and to where. Note that this component will only work if you start a new game.

BG1 NPC also moves some NPCs. If you've got BG1 NPC installed, this component will only move those NPCs (Shar-Teel and Viconia) whom BG1 NPC leaves alone.

Improved shapeshifting

This component (inspired in part by Wesley Weimer's Shapeshifter Rebalancing component) modifies all of the druid innate shapeshift abilities to be useable instantly (that is, without requiring a six-second cooldown before the next spell can be cast). It does so by creating "symbolic paws": if you equip one, you instantly shapeshift. Other than that, the effects of the shapeshift are largely the same as previously, though some of the ability score and attack bonuses have been tweaked slightly. Note that shapeshifting still blocks spellcasting.

If you have both this component and the "improved priests" component installed, enemy druids will use improved shapeshifting.

Prevent party members from dying irreversibly

This component tries to prevent "chunking", the annoying permanent death of your character when you're reduced below -10 hp. Characters who get reduced to 0 hp or below just die in the usual fashion and can be resurrected. It isn't possible to prevent quite all forms of chunking (massive damage from fire, in particular, still seems to cause chunking fairly reliably), but this component should make it a rarer occurrence.

This component is identical to the equivalent SCSII component.

Reduce the rate of reputation gain

In general, if you're playing a half-way honorable character in BG2, your reputation fairly rapidly reaches 20 and stays there. The idea of this component is to slow down the rate at which you gain reputation: you can choose the degree of slowdown.

In more detail: any time you would have gained 2 or more reputation points, you gain one fewer point than you should have. Any time you would have gained one, it's decided at random whether you actually do gain it, according to the probability you choose at install time.

This component is identical to the equivalent SCSII component.

More realistic wolves and dogs

In the real world, wolves rather rarely attack humans; indeed, they normally keep their distance. In the Sword Coast, though, wolves are apparently ruthless, fearless predators that think nothing of attacking even large parties of heavily armed adventurers. (And, as a corollary, even wilderness-oriented types like rangers and druids spend much of their time fighting off attacks from implacable wolf packs.)

This component makes the behaviour of wolves (and also wild dogs) a bit more realistic. They won't usually attack humans (they still do sometimes: it's been a harsh winter and game is scarces). They'll generally retreat if more than a few of them are injured or killed. If you approach them, they might take a bite out of you, but just as likely, they'll keep their distance.

This component has no effect on non-"normal" wolves (dire wolves, winter wolves and the like), since for all I know, they really are ruthless predators. Its main point is to spare the author (who rather likes wolves) the heartache of perpetually having to cut them down and listen to the rather sad yelp they make when you kill them.

### 6E: Cosmetic and ease-of-use tweaks

Skip Candlekeep

The Prologue to BG is a perfectly good tutorial in the Infinity Engine for complete beginners. By the time you return to it in BG1Tutu or BGT, it's unutterably tedious - but you more-or-less have to do it, because even the small amount of gold and XP it gives you is pretty vital for later. It doesn't really even add colour, because realism is always being spoiled by these damn monks telling you which button to press.

This less-than-serious component, inspired by PPG's Dungeon-Be-Gone, lets you skip the whole thing. At the start of the adventure, a guard will come up to you and give you the chance to collect all the cash and XP from him. He'll give you a decent interval to shop, and then teleport you direct to Gorion ready for the start-of-game ambush.

Be warned that the dialogue with the guard is unrealistic and written for laughs (but then, most of the prologue dialogue is unrealistic). Realism is restored once you start talking to Imoen and Gorion.

Remove blur effect from displacer cloak

Like it says really: this removes the annoying blurry graphic when someone wears the displacer cloak.

Stackable ankheg shells, winterwolf pelts and wyvern heads

These aren't infinitely stackable in the "standard" inventory-management mods, or at least they weren't last time I checked.

Move Boo out of quick access and into Minsc's pack

I love Boo, really I do, but it's infuriating that he eats up one of Minsc's quickslots. This patch just moves him into a slot in Minsc's backpack. It won't work if you install it after you arrive at Nashkel.

This component is identical to the SCSII component of the same name.

Ensure Shar-Teel doesn't die in the original challenge

Shar-Teel is rather fragile: it's easy to kill her by mistake in the battle where you recruit her. This component guarantees that she survives the battle.

Ease-of-use party AI

This AI script, suitable for all characters, is not intended to help you fight difficult battles, but it might make your life simpler (especially where pre-casting spells is concerned - SCS II virtually requires you to do a lot of precombat spellcasting of long-duration spells, but it's tedious to do manually.) The AI has 5 functions:

1. The character will fight, prioritising opponents who are not immobile and helpless, not fighting if they're trying to Turn Undead, and not wasting Melf's Minute Meteors, Energy Blades or Invisibility (the idea of this AI is to help you mop up weak opponents, so it conserves resources). You can shift the character between melee (D) and ranged weapons (F) using the hotkeys.
   If you'd rather that your character did not enter melee, you can toggle melee off by pressing (K). Characters with melee toggled off will fight if enemies are in weapon range but won't be proactive about getting into range.
2. The character will cast some long-duration spells when out of combat. There are 4 settings for this, which you can toggle through using (S). On setting 1, the character uses no spells. On setting 2 and up, the character will cast all of the following spells if they are memorized (and not already active): Stoneskin, Iron Skins, Armor, Melf's Minute Meteors, Goodberry.
3. On setting 2 and up, the character will consume Goodberries if injured and out of combat. On setting 3 and up, the character will also consume potions of healing. On setting 4, the character will consume potions of extra-healing.
4. On setting 2 and up, the character will automatically activate the following items once per day: the Cloak of the Stars; the Gargoyle Boots; the Belt of Fortitude.
5. The character will cast some spells, by hotkey, on the whole party. This casting is highly accelerated, cannot be done in combat, and only casts on characters who are not already protected. Its main function is for later in the game when you can afford to carry enough spells to protect the whole party. The hot-keys are: C for Chaotic Commands; V for Death Ward; B for Protection from Fire, Protection from Lightning, and Protection from Magic Energy; Z for the paladin's Protection from Evil. (The latter key is already allocated to a hotkey (sleep) - sorry, I was running out of hotkeys. To use it you'll need to disable Z in the Configuration program.

   This component is identical to the equivalent component in SCSII.

   ### 6F: AI modifications

   The distinction between this section and the next ("tactical challenges") is a bit arbitrary, but basically components in this section either don't alter creatures' abilities at all, or do so in a relatively low-key way.

   Smarter general AI

   This component significantly improves the "generic" AI used by most non-spellcasters in the game. Characters with potions will use them; archers will choose their targets intelligently; creatures have less chance of just randomly losing track of where the battle is; if you go away and rest then so will the monsters.

   One general principle of this component (and of most of the AI components) is that enemies usually will not waste time finishing off helpless (paralysed, asleep, feared, etc) characters. With very few exceptions, BG opponents do not see themselves as there to soften up players so that later opponents can do better. They're fighting to win (albeit we as players know they're unlikely to) and so they're not going to kill someone paralysed who's out of the fight already.

   What this means in practice is that although this mod hopefully makes the battles harder, it doesn't make them that much more lethal unless you're defeated altogether. As well as being (in my view) more realistic, this reduces the frustration of those constant trips back to town to resurrect someone.

   BGT users please note: this component should be installed before any mod (such as Big Picture or SCSII) which are intended to have the same function for the BG2 part of the game. If you do not install any such mod, all creatures (including BG2 creatures) will use this AI.

   Better calls for help

   This component substantially improves the (almost nonexistent) BG scripting for monsters to help one another. Even the stupidest monsters will fight in groups (so the advance-a-few-steps-at-a-time strategy will fail); intelligent monsters will call out to nearby allies. There are some ways to abuse this component but generally it seems to strike a good compromise between amazingly unrealistic behaviour on the one hand, and the entire map emptying towards you on the other.

   More sensible choices of weapon proficiencies and kits for fighters

   This component ensures that the fighters in the game make intelligent use of their available weapon proficiency choices, by taking weapon and style specialisations as appropriate. It also allocates kits to a (fairly small) number of fighters, and corrects some inaccurate saving throws etc.

   This component is identical to the SCSII component of the same name.

   Potions for NPCs

   Potions are one of the simplest ways in which BG characters can boost their chances - this component evens the odds, by distributing potions to humanoid enemies. Most creatures get potions according to a level-based randomising process; a few have individual allocations. Roughly speaking:

   - everyone above L4 has some chance of healing potions, rising to certainty at L9
   - everyone above L6 has some chance of a magic-protection potion, rising to certainty at L11
   - fighter-types above L4 have some chance of a battle potion, rising to certainty at L9

   This component introduces extra-healing potions (in moderation) into the game. Note that (since I don't believe in undroppable items) it will probably mildly increase the number of potions that your party acquires. Playtesting suggests that this stays fairly under control, though.

   There isn't much point installing this component unless you're using "Smarter general AI" - otherwise enemies usually won't drink them.

   As of version 9, you can optionally choose for some, all, or none of the new potions to be recoverable from enemies' bodies..

   Smarter Mages

   This component substantially increases the intelligence of the wizards (and ogre magi) who encounter the party. Area-effect spells won't be cast so as to kill the caster, wizards will use defensive spells like Invisibility and Minor Globe of Invulnerability, attack spells will be targetted at the most useful target rather than some random summoned monster, etc. Magic items such as wands and scrolls will be used against the party; fighter-mages will use spare moments to attack.

   The component also changes the spell choices made by wizards so as to use less hopeless spells, and in some cases to remember to memorize the right number of spells; and in some cases it adjusts a wizard's level to match the spells he actually demonstrates in the game.

   As of version 9 of this mod, many wizards will be specialists of one sort or another (I use necromancers, conjurers, invokers and enchanters), and this should - hopefully - lead to a little more variety in the kind of spell use you see.

   Also as of version 9, you can choose at install time if wizards will restrict themselves to BG spells - no spell sequencers, no Stoneskins, etc - or if they will memorise and use BG2 spells. Particularly if you choose the first of these, I recommend that you install the "Make Protection from Normal Missiles affect magical projectiles" mod in order to make the wizards have a bit more of a fighting chance.

   In addition, you can choose at install time whether or not wizards "pre-buff" - that is, whether they pre-cast a range of defensive spells (Minor Globe, Mirror Image, etc.), simulating the pre-castings that players can do just before a fight starts. Mages presumably prepare in advance for a party's arrival by scrying, scouts etc., but this is impossible to simulate within the game engine. (Mages cast very-long-duration spells (Armor, Stoneskin, Minute Meteors) whether or not you install this component, because they're assumed to have cast them at the start of the day or beforehand.)

   Prebuffing is optional because opinions seem to vary about this sort of pre-battle casting. If you normally scout and raise defensive spells yourself, use it in order to ensure a fair fight; if not, you might not want to bother. Note, though, that "Smarter Mages" is primarily designed to use with this component; it's slightly less well optimized if you leave it uninstalled.

   Incidentally, if you're worried about realism, it might help to assume (contradicting pen-and-paper D&D, to be sure) that mages can mentally deactivate their running defence spells, rendering them invisible and ineffective, at will. You more or less have to assume something like this for the party anyway, to explain why various people you meet don't bat an eyelid at the panoply of defensive magic swirling around the party mages!

   Smarter priests

   This component substantially increases the intelligence of the priests and druids who attack the party. Offensive spells like Flame Strike and Hold Person will be intelligently targetted, magic items like the Wand of the Heavens will be used against the party, paralysed and fearstruck allies will be healed, druids will shapechange in some circumstances, etc. The component changes the spells memorised by priests to more optimal choices, and in many cases adds extra spells, since the game often seriously undersupplies priests with spells.

   Priests use a limited amount of healing magic on themselves, but in general don't bother healing allies - it's too difficult to script in a way that avoids ludicrously stupid actions in some circumstances.

   Pretty much all the priests you meet use the same script, but it has enough randomisation in it to (hopefully) remain varied and interesting.

   As with the Smarter Mages component, you can choose at install time whether priests will pre-buff and whether they will use BG2 spells or confine themselves to BG spells. However, this has been bent slightly in this component to allow druids use of Iron Skins and priests use of Physical Mirror even if you choose the latter option - these spells are high enough level that the player usually won't have access to them anyway, and without some sort of basic defence BG priests and druids (who are often encountered alone) usually get slaughtered.

   Smarter deployment

   Many BG enemies foolishly walk right up to you before announcing their desire to kill you, despite the fact that they're spell-casters or archers. Other BG characters who are blatantly going to turn hostile sit around waiting for you to surround them before talking to them.

   This component modifies a couple of dozen opponents so that they talk to you on sight (like Davaeorn does) rather than waiting for you to talk to them or walking up to you.

   Smarter sirines and dryads

   This component improves the intelligence of sirines - their charms will be better targetted and they make more intelligent use of their invisibility. It also adds a little defensive magic to the hamadryad of the cloakwood - she is hopefully a little more of a challenge now.

   This component has not been tested with the "Lure of the Sirine's Call" mod by Ghreyfain, but I expect it to be compatible.

   Slightly harder carrion crawlers

   This small component increases carrion crawlers' attacks to 5 (closer to pen-and-paper D&D) and gives them a slightly smarter script - carrion crawlers know enough to continue paralysing moving opponents before feeding.

   Smarter basilisks

   This component spreads basilisks' gaze attacks around, rather than mechanically petrifying the nearest target. More importantly, it gives them the intelligence to see (eventually) that some targets are immune altogether, and to concentrate on others.

   ### 6G: Tactical challenges

   Though the distinction isn't hard-and-fast, components in this section are less concerned with improving the intelligence of creatures, more concerned with increasing their abilities and numbers. (Though hopefully, creatures remain intelligent and changes remain fairly low-key.)

   Improved doppelgangers

   The doppelgangers in chapter 5 and later are by and large nothing like powerful enough to be an interesting challenge to a Tutu party at that level. This component improves them by adding a little extra magical power (see below for details - in keeping with their nature, it's mostly illusions and befuddling spells). Purists should note that this deviates from the pen-and-paper doppelganger.

   Harder spiders

   This component enhances the difficulty of some of the tougher spiders you meet in BG - it makes the Cloakwood, in particular, quite challenging. Basically, there are two changes: giant spiders cast webs every few rounds, and phase spiders teleport more effectively.

   Be warned: this component has been fairly controversial! - lots of people find it too hard. Install at own risk.

   Tougher Black Talons and Iron Throne guards

   This component upgrades the Black Talon Elite and (most of) the Iron Throne mercenaries to L5 fighters. This doesn't have that much effect on the Black Talons (though they are now immune to Sleep); it's quite a substantial boost for some of the Iron Throne flunkies.

   Improved Deployment for Parties of Assassins

   Two groups of assassins (one made up mostly of dwarves and gnomes, one made up entirely of amazons) hang out in the vicinity of Gullykin. This component removes them from there and makes them proactively hunt the party down instead - they'll show up at random times in chapter 3.

   As of version 5 of SCS, the assassins only spawn once your main character is above 3rd level. (The way I normally play the game, I'm always above 3rd level by the start of chapter 3, but apparently some people race through chapter 3 and then get slaughtered by the assassins.)

   Dark-Side-based kobold upgrade

   This component substantially increases the number of kobolds met, and adds some tougher "Guards" and "Chieftains" - the Nashkel Mine becomes less of a walkover, especially if "Better calls for help" is also being used.

   As the name suggests, this component is substantially based on a small subcomponent of the old "Dark Side of the Sword Coast" mod for BG. I haven't been able to track anyone down from that mod to ask permission (I'm not really sure where to start) - it goes without saying that if the authors of that mod would like the component removed I'd be happy to oblige.

   Relocated bounty hunters

   In the original game, a tough group of bounty hunters are waiting pointlessly in a locked building in the Docks, with no explanation as to why. This small component moves them to somewhere more interesting - see here to find out where, if you want to spoil the suspense.

   Improved Ulcaster

   This component improves two of the tougher monsters in Ulcaster: Icharyd and the Vampiric Wolf. Both are pretty straightforward opponents in Tutu (more so than I remember from the original BG) and this component gives them a fighting chance. Both gain a few more hit points and some special powers (the Vampiric Wolf's powers are specific to the one in the ruins, they don't apply to all vampiric wolves).

   Improved Balduran's Isle (requires TotSC or BGT)

   This component makes a number of changes to the "Balduran's Isle" component of Tales of the Sword Coast. A couple of the main fights are made more interesting and the dialogue with Kaishas and Mendas is substantially altered. It is now possible to seek a significantly less bloody resolution to the island voyage. (See here for details.)

   Improved Durlag's Tower (requires TotSC or BGT)

   This component improves the tactical challenge of a number of the key battles in Durlag's Tower. It is designed to be used with the "Smarter Mages" and "Smarter Priests" components, though it's playable without them. (See here for details.)

   At least one of these battles is now actually quite hard, though still perfectly doable by a seventh-eighth level party.

   As of version 3, the Mirror Fiend encounter has also been changed: the Fiends are now real copies of your party.

   Improved Demon Cultists (requires TotSC or BGT)

   This component ups the capabilities of the demon cultists you meet in TotSC. It's designed to work with Smarter Mages and Smarter General AI; I don't vouch for its effectiveness without them. (See here for details.) It's also pretty difficult for a party that isn't already 7th-8th level - be warned.

   Improved Cloakwood druids

   The druids of the cloakwood, even with improved scripting, are a pushover for a well-played party. This component increases their levels slightly and gives each a couple of low-level acolytes.

   Improved Bassilus

   This component slightly increases Bassilus's level; it also makes his undead flunkies die off a little less quickly even if you say the right thing to him.

   Improved Drasus party

   This component upgrades the group of mercenaries you meet in chapter 4 guarding the Cloakwood mines: each gains a couple of levels.

   Improved Red Wizards

   This component adds three levels to each of the Red Wizards of Thay you can meet in the Wood of Sharp Teeth.

   Improved Undercity assassins

   This component enhances the (optional) final group of assassins you meet - each gains about three levels.

   Improved miscellaneous encounters

   This component mildly increases the difficulty of a half-dozen or so battles scattered through the game, usually by increasing opponents' levels by one or two. It creates "divertingly" difficult fights rather than really stiff challenges. See here for the specific battles if you want to spoil the surprise!

   Tougher end-of-chapter battles

   These components (there are five of them) improve the strength and numbers of the opposition in the end battles in chapters 2-6 - they are "upgraded" rather than massively overhauled, so they still aren't ridiculously hard. See here for details.

   Improved final battle (requires TotSC or BGT)

   By the end of the Tutu version of TotSC, the final battle of BG isn't much of a challenge. This component tries to change that and provide a worthier finale to the adventure. It turns out that Sarevok didn't just flee to the Temple of Bhaal because it looked pretty - he has other surprises... (see here for details).

## Power-user options (contains spoilers)

A certain amount of "fine tuning" of SCS is available over and above your install options via the console. (For those who don't know, the console can be accessed by (1) adding the line "Cheats=1" (without the quote marks) to the baldur.ini file in your BG2 directory, just below the line "[Game Options]", and then (2) pressing CTRL-SPACE in-game.)

The options are all controlled by setting certain global variables, which is done by typing this command:

CLUAConsole:SetGlobal("[Global to set]","GLOBAL",[value to set it to])

So for instance, to set the variable SeduceBodhi to 3, type

CLUAConsole:SetGlobal("SeduceBodhi","GLOBAL",3).

The variables that can be set in SCS are these (all start as 0):

- DMWWNeutralPrebuff - set to 1 to allow neutral mages and priests to have long-term defences like Stoneskin in place, rather than insta-casting them when they go hostile. (Arguably this is more realistic, but it can be offputting.) Note that the default behaviour has been reversed as of version 10.
- DMWWKillAndris - set to 1 while in the Ice Island Maze to kill Andris. (This is in response to persistent problems with his being unkillable - hopefully I've fixed it, but just in case...)

It's also possible to make a few more fine-tuned install options by editing the file scs/scs.ini. (This must be done before installing the mod.) This file can be edited in a text editor. Each line consists of a configuration option, then a space, then a number. The only thing you should edit is the number.

The current configuration options are:

- AI_Does_Not_Detect_Items - set this to 1 if you want to experiment with the computer not being able to tell when your magic items protect you. (This will probably cause some odd behaviour.)
- Disable_ToBEx - set this to one to disable ToB Extender. (If you don't know what this means, don't do it.)

## Additional notes on content (contains spoilers)

Correct various errors on race, class etc.

The full list of corrections is:

1. Some small errors are fixed in the join-party and leave-party dialogue.
2. Davaeorn, Krystin, Daitel, Andris and Tellan have their classes and races corrected.
3. Skeleton warriors are made monsters rather than human (they can't be made "undead" as they're non-turnable).
4. For the same reason, Daitel is flagged as "monster" not "undead".
5. Various jellies are marked as "slimes".
6. Lots of random creatures marked as "mage" are corrected to "no class".
7. Lycanthropes, doppelgangers and vampiric wolves are changed from "humanoid" to "monster".
8. Vampiric wolves are redesignated as "wolf" and are no longer mages.
9. A large number of incorrect THAC0s are corrected (usually to the benefit of the creature concerned; I wasn't particularly worried about inaccurately powerful NPCs).
10. A large number of wizards (including ogre magi) with levels that don't match their spells are corrected (the mage scripts use level as an indicator).
11. A large number of creatures with inaccurate saving throws are corrected.
12. Some non-clerics recorded as clerics are corrected.
13. Naaman's dexterity is modified from 11 (rather low for a mage-thief) to 17
14. Daitel, currently immune only to magic cold and fire, gets immunity to the nonmagical variety.
15. The druids with Seniyad get proficient in their flame blades.
16. Genthore isn't actually able to use his weapons. He gets proficiencies in the axe, and swaps his melee dagger (!) for a battleaxe.
17. Niemain is wearing a Ring of Clumsiness. I've no idea whether this is deliberate, but it seems bizarre that he would engage the party in melee when at such a disadvantage, so I've taken it off his finger.
18. Kobolds get one proficiency with the shortsword. (Currently they have none).
19. Yago and Resar, supposedly powerful mages, don't actually get any spells at all. They're given some.
20. Encounters with Gretek and Cyrdremac are rescripted to make them more reliably go hostile (currently they sometimes randomly don't bother).
21. Conversely, the dialogues with the mad mages of the Ice Island seem to require that they start non-hostile.
22. Some skeletons need to have their damage-resistance added.
23. The casting levels for wands are made more consistent: wands of fire cast fireball at L3 (and continue to cast their high-powered Scorcher variant at L5); wands of lightning cast at L3; most other wands cast at L1. (This is relevant for penetrating MGI).
24. The amnesia of the Nashkel merchant is corrected: he doesn't now comment on a winter wolf having been seen more than once. (If you can't stand this subcomponent, use the console and enter CLUAConsole:SetGlobal("DMWWNashkelPelt","GLOBAL",2) )
25. Monster Summoning spells can now be targetted on creatures protected by globes of invulnerability and the like.

Re-introduce potions of extra-healing.

There are three potions at the temple in the Friendly Arm Inn, five each at the Song of the Morning temple at Beregost and the Lady's temple in Baldur's Gate, and eight at the High Hall of Wonders in Baldur's Gate.

Standardise spells between BG and BG2

The locations of the new spells are as follows.

- Feldepost's Inn: Reflected Image, Spook, Deafness
- High Hedge: Spook, Power Word: Sleep, Ray of Enfeeblement, Deafness, Minor Spell Deflection, Protection from Fire, Protection from Cold, Hold Undead
- Sorcerous Sundries: Power Word: Sleep, Ray of Enfeeblement, Minor Spell Deflection, Protection from Fire, Protection from Cold, Hold Undead, Melf's Minute Meteors, Contagion, Secret Word, Farsight, Wizard Eye
- Alai: Minor Sequencer
- Davaeorn: Remove Magic, Stoneskin
- Denak: Teleport Field
- Dezkiel: Stoneskin
- Halacan: Detect Illusion
- Kysus: Fire Shield: Red
- Niemain: Spider Spawn
- Nimbul: Find Familiar
- Resar: Fire Shield: Blue
- Tranzig: Glitterdust
- Venkt: Spell Thrust

Move NPCs to more convenient locations.

The NPCs who are moved are:

- Eldoth - moves from the Cloakwood to the woods south of the Friendly Arm.
- Quayle - moves from Baldur's Gate to the Nashkel Carnival
- Shar-Teel - moves from a fairly inaccessible bit of wilderness to the Nashkel-Beregost road
- Tiax - moves from Baldur's Gate to Beregost
- Viconia - moves from the eastern forest to the woods south of Beregost.

Relocated bounty hunters.

These are the five ogre magi in the Docks district. They turn up just outside Candlekeep as you arrive at the start of chapter six.

Improved Balduran's Isle.

Three fights are modified:

- The battle with Karoug. Karoug himself is left alone, but Daese lives up to the villagers' warning about the wolfweres' magical powers. She becomes an eighth-level mage.
- The confrontation with Kaishas. Kaishas becomes a greater werewolf, with Free Action and immunity to all weapons except cold iron. (This seems to have been intended in BG1 but not properly implemented). She will also call for help from the tunnels: reinforcements will arrive at a rate of about one werewolf per round.
- The final battle with Selaad. Selaad and Baresh are now both greater werewolves, as well as being respectable opponents in human form - Baresh is a twelfth-level fighter, Selaad is a tenth-level mage. Only once reduced to below 25% hit points will they take on their wolfman forms.

In addition, it is now possible to talk your way past Kaishas and on to the boat. Your protagonist needs either Intelligence 14+, or Wisdom 14+ and good alignment, and you need to have saved Maralee's baby and befriended Durlayle or Delainy. (This was an aspect of the original game that's always infuriated me - I liked Kaishas.)

Improved Durlag's Tower.

Four fights are modified:

- The battle with "Love", "Pride", "Avarice", and "Fear" on the first dungeon level. They get extra hit points and/or regenerative capability, and three get improved magic powers.
- The doppelgangers on the second dungeon level - they are instructed to use their specific powers a bit more effectively. (This mostly affects Islanne's doppelgangers; it won't be all that effective without Smarter Mages).
- The duplicates that can emerge from the Mirror have been upgraded slightly.
- The chessboard battle has been significantly upgraded and is now quite difficult. The chess constructs have gained a variety of immunities (electricity, normal weapons, mind-affecting magic) to represent their status as constructs rather than humans; the pawns have gained more hit points. The King is now a 9th/7th level fighter/mage and the Queen is an 11th level mage.
  (For what it's worth, my own solution to the fight was to refuse to play the chessboard game: make everyone immune to lightning and just go where you want. You should have enough potions of absorption by this stage.)

Improved demon cult.

The cult consists of:

- Cult Guards: 8th level fighters. Their hit points are increased from 39 to 65; otherwise they're left alone. But note that 8th level fighters usually get pretty good battle potions from Smarter Potions.
- Cult Archers: originally 8th level thief archers, they're changed into 8th level fighters (more hit points and better battle potions).
- Cult Assassins: 8th level fighter/thieves. They get extra hit points and a stack of Invisibility potions (they'll only use them if you have Improved General AI installed).
- Cult Wizards: originally 3rd level wizards (in practice), they become 8th level and get Wands of Paralysis (a surprisingly nasty weapon in BG1).
- Cult Enforcers: in the original game they're actually listed as high-level fighter-mages, but they don't use any of their fighter-mage powers. I take their classification seriously: they are now 15th/15th level fighter-mages, though with only L5 spells and below, and they use their Wands of Frost. These guys are very dangerous.

The demon Aec'Letec isn't modified (it's already seriously dangerous) but Tracea Carrol, previously a weakling wizard (c. L6), is now 11th level. In addition, the six cultists from whom Aec'Letec draws strength will now defend themselves. All in all, this makes the final battle with Aec'Letec pretty tough. I recommend the use of Arrows of Dispelling on your own party to dispel Aec'Letec's Death Gaze.

Improved miscellaneous encounters.

The full list is:

- Laurel the paladin's gibberling hunt. As it stands this is a ridiculous encounter - the "horde" of gibberlings is tiny. I've quadrupled their number - it's still not a difficult fight, but it's a more realistic one.
- Cythandria, Sarevok's paramour, is currently guarded by a pair of hopeless ogres; they're replaced by Stone Golems.
- Slythe the assassin gains a level (which brings his backstab into quadruple-damage territory). He also slugs a potion of invulnerability, and receives a Non-Detection spell, before the battle starts.
- Jenkal, the halfling traitor in Gullykin, is currently a 4/4 fighter/thief. I raise her to 6/6 and give her some potions of invisibility. Jenkal will flee if badly hurt and will turn up again later in the game. More seriously, the secret passage in Jenkal's home is now blocked, requiring you to go the long way through Firewine Bridge to reach the Ogre Mage.
- Hairtooth and Gnarl, the half-ogres at the bridge to the gnoll fortress, become 5th level fighters and get an appropriate (18/95) strength score.
- Sunin (the randomly encountered mage in a house in Baldur's Gate) is raised to 11th level.
- Tamoko's level is increased to 14, so she's slightly more of a speed bump to end-of-game-level parties.
- The "amazon" group of assassins gain one level each. (This is really just to make them immune to Sleep.)

Tougher chapter-two end battle

This is the fight with Mulahey at the bottom of the Nashkel Mine.

Mulahey's hit points are improved, and he gets some Strength of One spells and scripting to use them. Mulahey's tough kobold allies are redesignated as "Kobold Elites" and improved a bit. The allies that he summons later in the fight are beefed up a bit too.

If "Dark Side based kobold upgrade" is installed, the kobold elites get poisoned daggers and the summoned allies include some kobold guards.

Tougher chapter-three end battle

This is the fight with the Iron Throne adventurers in Tazok's tent.

Britik the gnoll gets a strength potion and a slight level increase. A few Black Talons and Chill are added to the tent.

Most importantly, if you talked your way into the bandit camp, by the time you get out you'll find that Taugosz has smelled a rat, and you may have to fight your way out. And if you storm the camp, the Iron Throne adventurers won't be content to wait for you - they'll come out and attack.

Tougher chapter-four end battle

The confrontation with Davaeorn at the bottom of the Cloakwood mine.

The battle horrors, instead of being summoned by traps, are there already. They're enchanted to be immune to fire, lightning and web (I'm following pen-and-paper rules here, more or less.)

More importantly, if the Smarter Mages component is installed, Davaeorn benefits from it: he has a modified script which combines features of his original teleport-around script with the Smarter Mages script.

Tougher chapter-five end battle

The six acolytes are left alone (though if you are using the Smarter Mages/Priests/general AI components you'll notice a big effect). However, they are joined by two new acolytes: a half-elven fighter/thief and a human thief, who begin the battle invisible. You get some warning of the change if you read the dialogues lower down the tower carefully.

Tougher chapter-six end battle

Each adventurer in Prat's party gains two levels. The party starts the battle invisible and supported by a couple of air elementals.

Improved final battle.

Sarevok and his three acolytes (Tazok, Angelo, Semaj) are joined by a fourth: Diarmid, who the party briefly encounter at the very end of chapter 6. He's a fighter/mage rather like Angelo.

More crucially, Sarevok is the beneficiary of a spell which lets him draw protective strength from his followers. You won't even be able to hurt him until at least one is dead, and killing him requires all four to have died. (Not terribly original, I admit, but in the original battle you might as well just ignore everyone else and go straight for Sarevok. This way it's a proper fight against a team of opponents. And hopefully the added dialogue is smooth enough not to make it feel contrived.)

## Known Bugs

If you have the "NPCs have potions" component installed, you'll find that occasionally potions turn up in random places, usually on the bodies of people who are killed by scripts. This is because the potions component works by adding code to the "generic" scripts that all enemies use, and sometimes BG randomly gives that script to someone who isn't actually going to fight you. I've caught this wherever I can but I'm sure some exceptions slipped through - let me know if you find any.

Some people have reported that the "Allow player to choose NPC proficiencies and skills" component is a bit erratic on occasion, particularly if you do things like going to the level-up screen and then escaping out of it again. I can't reproduce this locally but let me know if you encounter it.

## Acknowledgements

Firstly, many thanks to Gibberlings Three, and CamDawg in particular, for hosting!

Huge thanks of course to Westley Weimer, who created an astonishingly flexible and powerful mod editor for IE games; and to the creators of BG1Tutu for perhaps the greatest mod ever, which has breathed new life into BG. Many thanks also to the creators of the Infinity Engine Structure Description Project, which clarified what the hell was going on several dozen times; and to Jon Hauglid, for Near Infinity - it was such an elegant and straightforward editor to use, I didn't need any other;

I'm grateful to the authors of the Dark Side of the Sword Coast mod for the fragments of their mod I borrowed for the kobold upgrade. And I'm hugely grateful to Hannah Wallace, who playtested this whole thing with me (it began as a series of upgrades to make our own game more interesting, actually) and put up with a ridiculous number of comments like "that was too easy, do you mind if I rewrite it?"...

As of version 3, I'd also like to thank everyone who's playtested SCS and reported bugs, but in particular I'd like to thank Berelinde, Shaitan, and Lemernis for their detailed comments at various points.

As of version 4, I'd like to thank Pro5 and Ronin69hof for their work on the port of SCS to Baldur's Gate Trilogy. Many of the suggestions they made are now incorporated into the original version of SCS. And for the Spanish translation, I'd like to thank Feyd Mandalore, Immortality, Eresh Kigal, elvex, danmj2000, Federico Ezequiel Montiel and www.clandlan.net.

As of version 5, I'd like to thank Bursk, Coaster, Erebusant Grand_Dracolich, Jadefang, KGub, Nythrun, PetrusOctavius, Shaitan, Raven_Song, thetruth, and Wanderer for the many bugs they identified. For the Polish translation I'd like to thank Nugrud; for the German translation, Leonardo Watson.

As of version 6, huge thanks (again) to Pro5 and Ronin69hof - SCS couldn't have been made BGT-compatible without their earlier translation.

As of version 9, I've lost track of all the various people who've contributed bug reports and content suggestions - but thank you all! Thanks also to ClanDLAN and the d'Oghmatiques for the Spanish and French translations.

Version 10 owes a huge amount to Taimon, who wrote and maintained an unofficial hotfix to version 9 during a two-month period when I wasn't around. More than half the content of v10 is directly taken from that hotfix.

Tools Used in Creation
WeiDU by Wes Weimer
Near Infinity by Jon Olav Hauglid
IESDP maintained by igi

## Credits and Copyright Information

This mod may not be sold, published, compiled or redistributed in any form without the consent of its authors. Sword Coast Stratagems is ©2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 David Wallace.

## Version History

V1: Initial release 21st July 2006

V1.02: Version history added(!) Spider bug fixed (hopefully) following Macready's worry

V1.03: Note added to README about the few-second delay in NPC hit points being correct after Choose Your Own Proficiencies. Minor upgrade to AI after MacReady's comments.

V1.04: Silke altered so she doesn't attack her own summoned creatures. Ogre magi changed to class "mage" so their spells aren't cast at L1; magetop.baf and magecore.baf altered to reflect this.

V1.05: Various bugs picked up after a new walkthrough test:

- Wolf of Ulcaster correctly placed
- Leaving Tazok's tent is now party-required
- Warning that Tazok's tent is shut displays at the right time
- Wizards and others who drink invisibility potions now admit to it
- Loophole in Kaishas dialog fixed
- Daese now goes hostile
- Ogre mage in ambush only drops one letter
- Sarevok correctly receives his min-hp ring
- Angelo is correctly marked as hostile
- Sarevok banter slowed a bit
- Sarevok flunkies correctly use magic items
- Restored fire resistance to Sarevok flunkies, since discovering that exploding arrows pierce MGI

V1.06: It turns out SCS doesn't like to play with other mods that add bytes to .cre files (the Walking Speeds component of TutuFix, notably). The new version dynamically checks where the bits of the .cre file we want to overwrite are, rather than doing it blind.

Under the hood change: we use ALWAYS to install DS (bypassing the need to put STATS.IDS in the install by force rather than by WeiDU) and deprecate the DS component.

It turns out that arrows of detonation bypass MGI, so we replace Diarmid's arrows with Arrows of Dragon Venom. And we give the C6 Diarmid a min-hp ring so he reliably makes it to C7.

Minsc (and hypothetical other rangers) now correctly gets 2-weapon proficiencies at start.

V1.07: Changed numbering system (from v.x to v.1.0x). Improved mage AI a little, so that they finish off helpless parties more efficiently.
Removed a bug whereby L4-5 mages get infinite numbers of healing potions.
Daitel and the skeleton warriors are now unturnable.
Compatibility fix: Mur'neth now appears in the Nashkel mines even if SCS is installed after Mur'neth.
Language fix: to my embarrassment it turns out that "stratagems" doesn't have "strategy" as a root, so I'm misspelling it.

V2 (16th August 2006): Added flags to each component, so other mods can detect them.
Generic AI undergoes a significant overhaul to try to reduce stuttering.
Minor bugfix to the mage script: it now deals correctly with solo adventurers using protection-from-magic.
Potions of freedom now block Hold Person (only if EasyTutu not in use).
Detectable spells moved into component 1.
Various codings made cleverer (detectable spells now dynamically adds scripting states rather than overwriting files, the Ulcaster wolf is added to the .are file by detecting where it's supposed to go rather than guessing no-one else has altered the code, various creatures who are given items get them through ADD_CRE_ITEM rather than the outdated overwrite, PNM blocks magic missiles rewritten to do less overwriting and generally be more intelligible)
Resar, Yago and the Queen in Durlag's Tower are now built from a version of Kysus in the SCS directory rather than from the local one (in case someone alters it).
Creatures whose hit points are boosted now get code to make sure they don't accidentally lose hit points if TheBigg's max-hp patch from BG2 Tweaks is installed.
Code is borrowed from BG1 NPC to make the "move NPCs" patch a bit more future-proofed.
Move-NPC and Wait-at-inns components now don't install if the equivalent BG1 NPC components are installed.
Redundancy corrected: level changes for mages are now made only in component 1, not duplicated in "Smarter Mages".
Prat's elementals start non-hostile, so they don't attack before Prat does.
Druid alignment shift is deprecated, since it's covered in Divine Remix.
Bandit scalp part of stackable-items deprecated, since it's covered in BG2 Tweaks.
Readme is put into G3 format.

V2.01 (18th August 2006): Fixed some incompatibilities causing CTD if Walking Speeds from TutuFix installed before SCS
Added support for Indira, Mur'neth and Finch to the Wait-at-Inns and Choose-Skills components
Marked Gretek-go-hostile not to install if EasyTutu is installed
Modified Smarter AI and Better Calls for Help for increased compatibility with EasyTutu.
Added Goodberries and Mage Armour to Ease-of-use AI.

V2.02 (25th August 2006):Fixed the problem with Indira, Mur'neth and Finch being required by the Choose-Skills component
Bassilus's buffing no longer affects the party.
Spiders (including Huge Spiders and Ettercaps) react more intelligently to enemies caught in webs
Gibberling hunt now unfolds over a slightly longer period of time
Clerics attack people they hit with Command
More under-the-hood changes: hopefully the last "blind" looks at hex codes have now been smartened

V3 (10th October 2006): Mages really declare that they've used potions of invisibility now
Tweakpack Montaron-as-assassin no longer clashes with SCS choose-proficiencies (really now, I hope)
Andris's goons really go hostile now
Stuttering effect on chessboard fixed
Archers finish off charmed opponents more efficiently
Mage, Priest and general AI modified to almost-completely-eliminate the annoying delay when they're created
Problem with the Ardrouine quest fixed (Smarter Calls for Help no longer overwrites the scripts for "worgar")
A couple of problems cleaned up with the Mulahey fight (kobolds now go hostile more reliably; Mulahey doesn't buff the party)
Hobgoblins in the C3 end fight go hostile more reliably now.
Davaeorn's battle horrors no longer turn on him
Slythe and Krystin no longer chase invisible foes indefinitely
Mirror of Opposition creatures now created via Simulacrum
Ease-of-Use AI now stops repeatedly casting Armor, correctly uses Goodberries, avoids combat when turning undead, and doesn't inappropriately reference "wesalac".
Tazok correctly becomes undead on death.
Sarevok and co. successfully chase the party.
Corsone no longer attacks his own summoned creatures.
New component added: smarter deployment for Drakar's adventurers and the Amazons.
New component added: Shar-Teel no longer gets killed in her challenge fight.
Major under-the-hood change: a number of more complicated scripts are now written in "SSL" (Stratagems Scripting Language, an experimental metalanguage for writing IE AI) and compiled in advance (not at run-time). This shouldn't be visible to players at all.

V4 (December 2006)
Spanish translation added, courtesy of ClanDLAN
Mage and priest scripts revamped for code optimisation and to allow area-effect spells to be targetted on improved-invisible targets; priest core is now written in SSL.
TP2 modified for code optimisation, incorporating various modifications to the Baldur's Gate Trilogy version by Pro5.
Fine weapons component rewritten, for code-optimisation purposes and to incorporate Miloch's suggestion that it should be optional whether fine weapons break.
Order of some scripts altered (for chessboard bishops, and for Islanne and Kiel doppelgangers) so as to avoid clashes with the new optimised mage and priest scripts. In the process the bishop is given a new move-to-PC script.
Bugfix in general AI: stupid creatures like skeletons now use missile weapons if they have them.
Minor bugfix in stackable-pelts component: the Nashkel merchant now only takes one pelt at a time.
Typo corrected: wyverns now respond correctly to calls for help.
Giant spiders now have a less poisonous, but more paralysing, bite.
Ease-of-use AI now uses SimDing's improved Goodberries correctly.
Chainmail removed from Fuernebol doppelganger: he now uses spells correctly.
Minor bug in general AI corrected: creatures were not resting correctly after the first time.
Neira removed from the Amazons
Montaron-and-Xzar-vanish bugfix should now work correctly

V5 (July 2007)
Polish and German translations added
Updated "note for translators"
Chase-PC script improved to handle solo and small parties better
Mages are now better at killing helpless enemies
Removed a loophole where mages target themselves if the party is invisible
Pride (in Durlag's Tower) no longer buffs when party is offscreen
Phase spider script edited to remove a serious bug and generally tightened up
Idiot bug in the potion script fixed: nonmages now use cast-and-attack routine with potions
Full rewrite of the general AI (incorporating bits from SCSII)
Doppelgangers should no longer buff when dead
Liia and Belt are now immune to doppelganger confusion and to fear
Varscona is no longer erroneously deleted
Viconia is moved off a spawn point
Taugosz stutter bug in EasyTutu fixed
Tarnesh no longer hangs back
Changed an 0x28 to an 0x38 in the "replace magic weapons" component - doesn't seem to have done any harm yet though
Hopefully it's now harder to draw Sarevok's minions forward
Mages and priests now deal better with undead summons
Dynaheir's split-pair dialogue no longer assumes the player is male
Flesh golems no longer get potions
Wyverns move to a longer-range help script, hopefully solving problems with some wyverns not coming forward
Streamlined Andris's retreat-and-heal script, to avoid accidental minhp1-cheese
Hobgoblins and humans now use the same SHOUT code, so that the hobgobs in the Cloakwood help the Throne humans
Several Iron Throne guards with dialog (notably the Cyric-worshipper) no longer respond to help calls and so break their dialog
Davaeorn's battle horrors moved so as not to come forward before Davaeorn speaks
Jenkal added to the "improved miscellaneous encounters" list
Firewine bridge ogre mage no longer comes forward to back up Lendarn
Druid apprentices now run away when their master leaves
Ogre mage assassins now have the right scroll label
Mages and priests hopefully no longer buff when dead
Monsters no longer set off traps
Carrion crawlers now get 5 attacks per round
Minor bug in assassin-arrival fixed
Assassins no longer spawn until the protagonist is 4th level
Slythe gives feedback of his buffs
"Choose NPC proficiencies" component now displays its warning explanation in the text box, not above characters' heads, and it doesn't attribute the warning to the character. (This is in response to Kulyok's worry about fourth-wall-breakage)
Increased experience for killing kobold shamans
Added "remove spells not in BG" component
Relabelled all components in the TP2
Spellcasters' fake-see-invisibility tightened up: they no longer keep concentration when casting individual-target spells at a target who goes invisible partway through, and they no longer attack invisible opponents.
Priests don't hang back from melee if the whole party is helpless.
Davaeorn doesn't bother with his teleporting routine against a single opponent

V6 (September 2007)
BGT compatibility: SCS now installs on both BGT and BG1Tutu and incorporates all BGT-specific aspects of SCS BGT.
Some components synchronised with SCSII, for the benefit of BGT players
Minor under-the-hood upgrade: mage spells now granted by macro, not by cloning Kysus
Yet another attempt to fix the damn Sarevok bug. This time?...
Traps in endbattle now deactivated
Strength of One now correctly targets party (for real, this time!)
Queen now gets scripts
Mages now stay put if they have dw#move0
Fear spells now allow for cavaliers
Dopplegangers don't cast two spells per round
Hafiz knows about Kaalos and Shennara (C5 endfight)
Kaalos now gives XP
Excellent longsword description now unbugged
Nashkel guards stop shooting Nimbul after noticing PNM
Venkt now casts spells
Mulahey now buffs properly
Slight change in the level-0 NPC component to make the faux-magic item less visible
Gibberlings get a more minimal script, to reduce lag in the Gibberling Hunt
Andris is now killable even if "mages don't prebuff" installed (thanks to falconflicker for catching this)

V7 (September 2007)

Diarmid now gets correct attack script in BG1Tutu installations
Phase spider script installed on BGT installations
Pointless block removed from bandit component
Updated Spanish translation

V8 (December 2007)

Translation update only.

V9 (September 2008)

Added a few Black Talon Elites and Hobgoblin Elites to the bandit camp
Bugfix for Durlag's Tower: doppelgangers don't shapeshift when not near party.
dw#ches3.baf now actually compiled.
Some creatures now can't suffer weapon breakage.
Bug in doppelganger component fixed: doppelgangers now get a round or two before they see party immunities (this previously wasn't working for doppelgangers not created in sight of the party).
Bug in demon cult component fixed: cult enforcers use their magic properly.
Complete restructuring of code to incorporate post-SCSII technology improvements.
Full compatibility with BG2 spellset added.
New DS incorporated.
Free Action spell checked for in casting Slow and using the Wand of Paralysis.
Laurel hopefully helps more against the gibberlings now.
Yago and Resar correctly use their spells.
Increased Sunin's level as part of Improved Minor Encounters.
Hamadryad shouldn't get potions.
Hairtooth and Gnarl added to Improved Minor Encounters.
Carrion crawlers get help scripts.
Some allowance now made for BG1NPC creatures.
Bartender in the Gretek bar brawl no longer goes hostile.
Removed IF_EVAL syntax (clashes with latest version of WEIDU)
Some droppable items which were using BGTUTU BAM files now use BG2 ones (for BGT compatibility)
Bugfix in Better Calls for Help: now should install correctly without Smarter General AI.
Mage and priest scripts now respond better to the undroppable "dw#move0" item, making it easier to create immobile casters (e.g., the King).
King becomes a by-the-book caster. Dialog bugfix to the BGT version of Andris. Fixes component now correctly adjusts the levels of ToTSC creatures if BGT installed.
Tweak to Ulcaster Wolf sound effects.
Fixed bug where the wrong door in Jenkal's hut gets locked in BGT.
Baresh's transformation should work properly now even when BGT and/or UB are installed (code borrowed from Taimon with thanks).
Kaalos and Shennara get the correct equipment even in BGT.
Mulahey's allies now go hostile properly.
BAMs for excellent long and bastard swords were the wrong way around.
HOBGO5 no longer has a help-script install that clashes with BG1UB.
Davaeorn's battle horrors handle BGT better.
Mages and priests respond better (i.e. worse) to fear magic.
Hopefully-improved handling of the possibility of Tazok's death (BG1NPC compatibility).
Corrected a bug with the BGT version of NPC management: hopefully Shar-Teel now leaves and goes to an inn properly.
Choose-proficiencies component now sets Level3 slot on NPCs to zero as well, hopefully helping with robustness.
Restructuring of TUTU version of "wait at inns" to check if Indira/Finch/Murneth installed, thus avoiding (harmless) warnings.
Dialog with Nashkel merchant now works correctly on BGT installs.
We no longer block you from sending party members to inns if you're in the Gnoll Fortress.

V10 (December 2008)

Bandits no longer home in if you arrive already hostile to them.
Door of Tazok's tent correctly patched even on a BGT install.
Tidied-up patching of Tazok's tent.
Erroneous quotation marks removed from generic chase script: it should work more smoothly now.
The (little-used) old copies of WDASIGHT and WDARSGT are now correctly moved to the override folder.
Fixed a typo in potion-use script which was causing a critical bug (infinite potions) in BGT games.
Fixed a typo in potion-use script which meant some undroppable potions weren't being used.
Silent version of invisibility spell now correctly created.
Fixed typo whereby the Armor spell wasn't being auto-cast.
Fixed typo whereby mages got the wrong sort of extra-healing potion.
Tightened up code for mage and priest potions more generally.
Modified Gretek dialog-replacement to allow for random BGT use of upper case.
A BGT/BG1NPC disagreement about Imoen's script name is now allowed for.
Four potions were inadvertently left off the list of potions in potions.2da.
Extra-healing potions now correctly created (previously the script looked for _potn52, not potn52).
Fixed typo in priest spell-allocation routine whereby PCs were being affected.
Fixed typo in priest block whereby Seniyad was getting the wrong script.
Fixed some small bugs in the SCSII macros.
Fixed a typo in the Wolf of Ulcaster script-assembly block.
Updated Baresh's transformation to allow for new version of BGT.
Moved PC-detection block into the ALWAYS section, for convenience & following Taimon's suggestion.
Replaced a couple of uses of "his" in the ogre mage bounty notice with gender-sensitive versions.
Allow the Iron Throne group in the bandit camp to hear if the alarm is sounded.
Division between "detectable spells" and "detectable items" now works properly.
Diggers are now corrected to be 1st level; previously they were 6th level despite having 4 hit points, which was confusing the "drink potions" script.
We now allow for BG1NPC killing Tazok in a slightly more robust way.
Help script slightly optimised to avoid a problem with spellcasters not advancing.

V11 (February 2009)

Updated French and Spanish translations.
Updated to WEIDU v210.
Messengers no longer react to hobgoblin calls for help by going hostile.
PCs with death variables more than 8 characters long are now detected correctly (thanks to Taimon for this).

V12 (March 2009)

Shapeshifter weapon descriptions were being patched to the wrong offset.
Smarter mage, smarter priest, and smarter general AI components are now correctly flagged as requiring detectable spells to be installed.
Joinable characters weren't being correctly insulated from the "smarter general AI" component.
There was a glitch in the v11 detect-PC upgrade; now fixed.
Mendas's transformation wasn't always happening (sometimes he died too quickly). It should now be guaranteed.
Stackable pelts/shells component now includes wyvern heads.
We now use the correct updated Spanish translation.

V13 (July 2009)

Pure translation update: new Italian translation, updated French translation.

V14 (February 2010)

Minor new components, and minor tweaks, optimisations, and additions
Added the mirror-image and dispel-magic fixes from SCSII (both are actually written by Taimon; I'm just giving them a home)
Slight tweak to mage melee script, to block a situation where a mage with Sleep spells only doesn't go to melee against characters of >4th level
Recommended install order tweaked to remove the implication that SCS should be installed before BG2 mods
Harder spiders moved into "tactical challenges" component
Bassilus's level decreased from 12 to 10
Borda is changed to 6th level (he's listed as being 9th level, but this is probably an error and makes him overpowered)
Mages and priests now avoid hitting undead with spells that don't affect them
Priests' turning streamlined
Added the insect-plague and stoneskin tweaks from SCSII (the latter is actually written by Taimon)
Replaced the SCS ease-of-use AI with the SCSII version
A few misc. changes to streamline compatibility between SCS and SCSII (for BGT users)
Silke no longer prebuffs
Mages now use Protection from Magic Weapons, Improved Haste, Spook, and Blindness
New component added: remove Arrows of Dispelling from stores
Spiders re-use their webs less quickly
Updated German and French translations
Bugfixes and compatibility fixes
Kobold chieftains in EasyTutu now correctly get a melee script
Kobold chieftains in BGT no longer get TUTU equipment
Diarmid in BGT no longer gets TUTU equipment
Zargal in BGT no longer gets a TUTU potion
The journal now correctly erases the Nashkel merchant's quest once it's done
Under-the-hood rearrangement of the way combat scripts are assigned to generic enemies (should improve BGT compatibility and mesh better with BG1NPC)
Hobgoblins and humans no longer use the same help scripts (specific hobgoblins who ought to respond to throne shouts now get modified individually)
Taugosz now goes hostile in response to Venkt's death, not to the party starting chapter 4 (this is more robust against the party just not picking up the relevant scroll)
Phase spiders and doppelgangers no longer use their abilities when asleep or otherwise disabled
Andarthe (from BG1NPC) now goes hostile correctly
Blocked a possible situation in which Davaeorn's battle horrors attack him
Tutu magic weapons are now flagged correctly as enchanted (this is relevant for fighting certain summoned creatures from BG2, e.g. elementals) and a few creatures from SCS (Cythandria's stone golems, Prat's air elementals) are now once again immune to +1 or lower-powered weapons
Phase spiders hopefully no longer jump to dead opponents
Under-the-hood change: the NPC proficiency component now uses EXTEND_TOP instead of EXTEND_BOTTOM, in the hope that this will lead to fewer glitches
Added missing documentation for the "lite" Protection-from-Normal-Missiles component
Player-controlled undead now behave less glitchily when turned
"antimagic now penetrates invisibility" component was corrupting the descriptions of the spells, due to an SCS/SCS2 difference I wasn't allowing for; corrected
An error in the cross-platform code (carried over from BG1NPC) was causing Imoen's script to be incorrectly updated; this meant that the "set NPC proficiency" component wasn't working for Imoen on BGT installs. (Fixed; thanks to Taimon for identifying the problem.)
Fixed a typo that was causing slimes to be incorrectly flagged by the fix component
Fix component now makes the doors of Sarevok's temple impassable by NPCs (this was occasionally breaking the final battle)
Fixed various problems in the shapeshift component
Fixed a TUTU-specific bug (caused by a subtle difference between TUTUv4 and Easytutu) that was preventing the final movie from playing
Skeleton warriors in BG1 are listed as "human", to make them immune to turning. They're now listed as undead and made immune to turning directly.
Improved Minor Encounters no longer fails to install if Smarter Mages is not installed
Fear now correctly affects enemies
BG1NPC and SCS were both trying to fix a compatibility problem (caused by killing Tazok) and the two fixes were themselves incompatible! SCS now uses the BG1NPC fix
Kobold shamans now get the benefit of "smarter mages" on BGT installs
The number of Kobold shamans in the ambush has been reduced from 2 to 1
Carrion-crawler help scripts should now work
Fixed a typo in the spider scripts that was preventing their web-spinning being blocked in some locations
Andris now initiates dialogue in BGT installs
Andarthe (from BG1NPC) now summons wolves correctly in BGT installs
Fixed typo in the code for the Avenger kit
Fixed a serious bug which was making it impossible to sneak into the bandit camp
The Warders in Durlag's Tower no longer cast spells when stunned (etc)
Enemies with throwable weapons now use them (previously, a game-engine problem with the EquipRanged() command prevented them
Caught a collection of small typos noticed by Temujin
Fixed a typo in the (non-improved Shapeshift) Avenger shapeshift script
C3 bandits, and moved assassin group, no longer get an accidental immunity to charm magic

V15 (August 2010)

New or heavily modified content
Updated French translation
Updated Italian translation
Updated Spanish translation
Updated German translation
Included Ascension64's fix for Beregost
Minor tweaks, optimisations, and additions
Chessboard Queen is now immune to lightning
Sarevok no longer gets potions
Enemies will now fight back when attacked by guards and other neutrals
Under-the-hood change: "Faster Bears" now edits Creature files, not scripts (thanks to Ardanis for the code)
Bugfixes (thanks to Ilyich and Temujin in particular for these)
Fixed a typo in the no-chunk code that was preventing it from working properly
Blocked a bug that, in rather rare circumstances, would cause mages to recover their spells upon going out of sight
Fixed a typo in Improved Drasus Party, Improved Iron Throne Assassins, Improved Minor Encounters, and Improved Balduran's Isle that was preventing those components from being installed except on the same install runthrough that installed Smarter Mages (thanks to Wisp for catching this)
Fixed an incompatibility with the newest version of EasyTutu that was causing Baresh to summon a Dark Planetar(!)
Tidied up various confusions between SCSI and SCSII version of global macro library ("scsii.tph")
The tourist in Durlag's Tower is no longer immune to the trap (thanks to 10thLich for catching this)
Updated general AI to use SCS2 code for thieves (main change: thieves who can't see you no longer go invisible)
Kobold component now installs even if "smarter general AI" isn't installed
Angelo's end-battle arrows now have the right sound effect
Fixed rather subtle bug that was preventing flesh golems from attacking
Cult archers now attack properly
Corrected a (probably harmless) glitch in the backstab code
Corrected what appears to be a bug in EasyTutu, whereby six copies of Aec'letec sometimes spawn
Compatibility fixes
Fixed a typo that was breaking compatibility with SR
Smarter Priests no longer breaks Jaheira's BG1NPC quest
Belgin (from BG1NPC Tiax quest) now included in Smarter Priests

V16 (September 2010)

New or heavily modified content
New Russian translation (courtesy of Prowler at the Arcane Coast)
Bugfixes
Corrected a potentially serious bug in the v15 version of the "make_casting_innate" macro (this had the potential to cause a variety of crashes and glitches)
Revamped the hostile copies of the party summoned by the Mirror of Opposition, using a method worked out and coded by Ardanis. It should all work much more smoothly, and be more bug-resistant and compatibility-friendly, now; it will also be slightly harder, as clones of party spellcasters no longer lose their highest-level spells
Fixed a (TUTU-specific) problem with the Faster Bears component that was causing crashes

V17 (February 2011)

New or heavily modified components

- New component: make spell sequencers schoolless
- New component: slower reputation increase
- New component: give better proficiency choices and kits to fighters (and also sort out various errors in fighter files)
- New component: more realistic wolves and dogs
- "Allow antimagic spells to penetrate Improved Invisibility" component now has a single-target option
- ToBEx integration: version Beta 0019 of ToBEx installs automatically as part of "Initialise" component

Minor tweaks, optimisations, and additions

- Priests now cast low-level healing spells as part of Ease-of-Use AI (thanks to TheBigg for code)
- Instituted scs.ini, basically as a way to incorporate specialised requests without messing up the mod's overall structure too much
- Consolidated various fixes into an "initialise" component that also installs Detectable Spells and ToBEx
- Moved detectable items back into the main Initialise component (this can be overridden via scs.ini)
- Under-the-hood change: some old macros updated to properly allow for the possibility of spells with extended effects
- Under-the-hood change: Ease-of-Use AI recoded to use SSL
- Updated Detectable Spells to be the same as SCSII v16
- Spiderwebs are now single-target
- Updated to WEIDU v227

Bugfixes

- Priest spellcasting is no longer prevented by effects that give mages a casting-failure chance (this was causing problems in mods that allow armour to be worn by mages with spellcasting failure chances)
- Creatures with slings and shields now fight correctly
- Change to smarter general AI: Enemies should no longer be able to locate players they've never seen yet [technical detail: change to chase.ssl]
- Oozes and jellies no longer lose their ranged attacks
- Chapter 3 assassins should now spawn a bit more reliably

Compatibility fixes

- Slightly esoteric compatibility fix: the "mage_smart_clones", "mage_alacrity" and "mage_make_timestop" macros no longer choke on spells with an extended header (thanks, Galactygon)

V18 (March 2011)

New or heavily modified components

- Updated German and French translations (French translation was actually silently updated between v17 and v18)
- Linux compatibility (thanks to TheBigg)

Minor tweaks, optimisations, and additions

- Under-the-hood change: slight recoding of SSL to avoid some glitches (again, thanks to Wisp for suggesting this)
- Under-the-hood change: a copy loop in Better Calls for Help was missing a BUT_ONLY, and so was creating unnecessary copies of files
- Updated to WEIDU v229

Bugfixes

- The fix to Spell Shield no longer changes the power level of antimagic spells (this was slightly reducing the effectiveness of Spell Thrust and (on an SR install) Secret Word)
- Mages no longer go invisible when blinded
- I was accidentally using "dw#ranged" instead of "dw#range" for an intermediate file, which was causing (slightly esoteric) bugs in some installs
- Help scripts no longer cause party-charmed creatures to return to being hostile (silent fix, 24 hrs after release)
- Thanks to Galactygon, fixed the bug where antimagic didn't work properly for people playing without ToBEx (silent fix, 24 hrs after release)
- Thanks to TheBigg, non-Windows users playing on a Windows emulator still get ToBEx (silent fix, 24 hrs after release)
- Supplied a missing string that was choking Linux installs (hopefully this won't actually be relevant given the above fix, except for a minority of Mac users) (silent fix, 24 hrs after release)

Compatibility fixes

- If Spell Revisions v3 (but not v4) is installed, the area-effect assigned to certain antimagic spells is reverted if you choose the non-area-effect version of "allow antimagic to penetrate invisibility"
- Slower Reputation component no longer chokes if other mods have corrupted scripts, and generally runs a bit more smoothly (thanks to TheBigg for help coding this)
- Fixed a compatibility problem with Spell Revisions and the Spell Shield Fix (silent fix, 72 hours after release)

V19 (April 2011)

Updated French and Italian translations (fixing an error in previous French translation update)

V20 (November 2011)

Minor tweaks, optimisations, and additions

- Ease of Use AI no longer autocasts Minute Meteors for fighter-mages, bards, and fighter-mage-thieves.
- Ease of Use AI no longer breaks Sanctuary to attack.
- Love, Pride etc are now fearless.
- Mages who wander off screen make more effort to relocate the party.
- Slight change in behaviour for the random assassins: they will spawn in city streets, but they won't spawn if the protagonist is invisible.
- Monsters can't flee between levels of Ramazith's tower (preventing comical but implausible scenarios).
- Archers no longer retreat when they're out of ammo. (Thanks to Polytope for pointing out a nice way to implement this; I've wanted to do it for ages.)
- Updated to ToBEx v21. This should fix the problem with magic damage resistance, and should generally increase stability.
- Updated to WEIDU v231.

Bugfixes

- Fixed a variety of crashes and glitches by updating ToBEx
- Fixed problem where the code in some places (notably, Smarter General AI) wasn't correctly identifying some creatures as party-joinable (those with DVs longer than 8 characters were being skipped.)
- The "skipping this component as the equivalent ToBEx component" string was missing; it's been added.
- The "give fighters better proficiency choices" component no longer confuses NPCs.
- "More realistic wolves" no longer runs the risk of breaking Melicamp's quest.
- Fixed a glitch in random assassins' scripting that protected them from Charm.
- Davaeorn now correctly uses BG1 or BG2 spells, and buffing or no buffing, according to player's choice when installing "smarter mages".
- Cythandria's golems are now correctly vulnerable to magic weapons.
- Kelddath Ormyr and his Sirines now help each other.
- Andris's "monhp1" ring is now a "minhp1" ring, which should reduce the likelihood that he gets confused (and added a Kill-Andris option at the console, just in case he does anyway).

Compatibility fixes

- We now detect Spell Revisions modifications to the game engine and try to avoid breaking those fixes via ToBEx.
- We work around Spell Revisions' replacement of a core-game Stoneskin scroll with Dimension Door.
- We give Prat's air elementals immunity to non-magical weapons directly rather than via an item (this guards against the possibility that some other mod changes the protection item).

V21 (July 2012)

New or heavily modified components
- Updated French and Russian translations.
  Minor tweaks, optimisations, and additions
  - We make some attempt to respond to offscreen castings of disabling spells.
  - Updated to ToBEx v23.
  - Hostile innocents no longer propagate shouts.
  - Mages only now learn Fireball and Lightning Bolt if there are circumstances in which they are willing to cast them.
  Bugfixes
  - Wolves' scripting is now slightly more robust.
  - Wolves met as random encounters are now always hostile.
  - Corrected a bug that was preventing ordinary doppelgangers from using magical abilities on a BGT install. (Thanks, Ardanis.)
  - The uncompiled (.pl) version of ssl.pl was a slightly outdated one that failed to fix a couple of script bugs and didn't lowercase files; updated to correct version. (This only affects OSX/Linux users.)
  - Fixed a number of typos in the English-language version spotted by hook71.
  - Fixed an under-the-hood bug in C5end.tph, caught by Ardanis (I don't think it could actually show up in game).
  - We now systematically enforce the requirement that the Initialise component is installed; allowing it not to be causes instabilities when it's uninstalled. (Power users can disable this by putting "dw#detectable.xxx" in the override... but, as Weimer used to say, Don't Do This.)
  Compatibility fixes
- Move-Boo components are now properly synchronised across SCS and SCSII.