Which game mods should I be most considering?

[2wamhm]

Ok, so currently I don't have any mods on the game.

Most games I have tried mods have not gone so well.
They often slow the game to a crawl and my PC has enough trouble just running games.
But even more often they make the game unstable and crash often. That i find incredibly annoying.

1) Are either of those real issues with this game and mod packages?

2) Should i be looking at adding all the mod packages? (That seems unlikely.)
3) Just the ones for the PC I am running?
4) Are some more stable than others?
5) Lastly, where do I find these mods and how do I install them?

Just for the record, I would only be interested in mods that match the PnP game. No interested in homebrew stuff at this time (though maybe later).

[Frostfeather]

I find mods to work very well for Kingmaker, and I find Kingmaker to be one of the best games to mod that I've ever played.

But I'd also try to keep the number of mods to a minimum to avoid as many issues as possible, and try to use the most popular and comprehensive mods that have somewhat recent updates. Basically, it comes down to Bag of Tricks and Call of the Wild. Possibly alternatively Eldritch Arcana, Respecialization, and/or some niche ones depending on what you want to do.

Bag of Tricks lets you change or modify just about anything you can think of, but I mainly use it for the camera zoom distance and for the group teleport. I use the teleport only to reduce tedious time spent walking across a map I've already explored or out of a web trap or something... it's only saving my time as a player. Bag of Tricks is also convenient for fixing mistakes you made building a character without needing to do a full respec. Great quality of life features here, basically.

Call of the Wild adds a *lot* and it mostly brings the game closer to PnP, so this should be a good fit for you. There are optional balance tweaks you can turn on/off, and some individual options you can turn on/off, too. It adds many classes, archetypes, Feats, spells, metamagic, etc and it makes almost all mediocre classes more viable due to these new options.

You can Google them for more options, but nexusmods has all the ones I mentioned.

[Wolfsun]

look for mods at www.nexusmods.com There are 213 mods for Pathfinder:Kingmaker there.

They currently have a huge library of mods for 1,949 games.

Major games like ex. Fallout and Skyrim have a mod that will do just about anything you want. currently 57K+

Give it a look.

[2wamhm]

Ok, I will try Call of the Wild first.
How do I install it? Or are there directions with it?

[Wolfsun]

2wamhm původně napsal:

Ok, I will try Call of the Wild first.
How do I install it? Or are there directions with it?

IF you use nexus then get their Vortex mod manager. In general it does all the work for you.

There are some exceptions and those almost always have detailed instructions on how to install the mod.

[2wamhm]

Are there any mod packages that you know don't work well or are unstable?

[99Random]

2wamhm původně napsal:

Are there any mod packages that you know don't work well or are unstable?

Keep in mind that while the game has been patched to a degree that there are no longer any game breaking bugs, there are still a number of minor bugs and each mod will add to this with unforeseen interactions.

I suggest sticking to the mods listed above since those are the most popular and most stable and add more if you want later.

[Invisible]

I use only 1 mod: Respezialization!

Why? Because you can respec your companions from level 1. No more" Valerie the way too weak to hold a tower shield". Just make her a soccerer of what every you fancy.

[nshawmc]

ALL OF THEM.
except for the turn based mod. *(turn based ruins the game)
download everything from nexus. ignore the portrait packs.
Make sure to use Bagoftricks reduce your party damage to like 40% and increase health by enemies to 200% so you have effective 500% enemy health. then play on top difficulty, but you might want to reduce enemy difficulty to strengthened from insane for the first few levels because first levels are not balanced are too hard with +4 AC +4 attack plus hidden +8 to every stat (effectively +8 to attacks) is a bit too much combined with 500% effective health. Besides that the only adjustment should be damage by monsters i like to put at 150% from 200% this way less often do you get killed outright but with longer fights AC and health still matter a lot.
This way you will need a tank, a healer, a tripper, a big d str dps, buffer, caster, etc. and the game will be way more fun. bagoftricks can be used to fix any mistakes you make and to fix problems like deleting the DR 5 that Jaethal comes with where she cant die and has DR 5 at level 1 (this is horrible ruins the game) as well as other issues you might come across.

If you arent using all the mods the game experience is about 5% what it could be.

the default game has really big problems like flanking from range making the arcane trickster about 5 times better than any other class in the game (when its already better than them all without ability to flank). and flanking doesnt even follow pnp rules in pathfinder without a mod.

the default game doesnt let you rotate camera either. lots of other things too.

call of the wild is most important also to add new classes and fix the pet problem default game pets are OP but call of wild lets you level them and get feats making it much more fun to have pets while also making them not be OP.

Vast majority of the mods work together. You can easily have no conflicts. This is not like skyrim or something. The only exception might be two mods that do the same thing like there are two mods that fix flanking properflanking vs Closer to table top (pick one). Eldritch arcana and z favored class are the same so pick one or the other.

[nshawmc]

Here are my notes. not updated but should still be useful.

LIST OF MODS
ADVANCED MARTIAL ARTS – says it no longer works but It actually still adds a few things such as the half orc ability to get toothy (extra attack) racial trait. - NOTE THAT both the half-orc traits: TOOTHY + TUSKED combined with like vivecestionsist or any shapeshifter (3 attacks) make a STR focused melee half-orc super OP (Can have 5 attacks at 2nd level all adding +STR to damage)

ARMS AND ARMOR
Adds Temple Sword and some other stuff

CALL OF THE WILD
Adds hunter witch, skald, war priest, and bloodrager classes, some feats and spells.
Says that it doesn’t work with advanced martial arts or eldritch arcana, but this is not true.
New COTW has a balance fix to limit Monk AC to level of Monk. To disable go to mod settings.json and set Balance_fixes_monk_ac to false. When you use this with eldritch arcana, you need to edit eldritch arcana options to disable the conflicting options. Just a simple check mark.

ATOUCHOFMAGIC
Works with a call to the wild mod. It adds arcane archer and deadeye devotee. Adds the owlcat familiar. Adds expands on enhanced arrows including feats for this. Requires COTW 1.3.1+

BAG OF TRICKS
Lots of cheats. Some good useful things such as: showing location, auto filling belt with new items, alpabetical spells, change # of skill points on main or merc (increase merc from 20 to 25), LOTS OF CHEATS such as instantly regain all spells and spell like abilities. This is useful to fix xp to level up a pet that is behind a level, or for testing to put on option to ALWAYS be able to level up so you can plan your characters (its what the youtubers use)

CAMERA ROTATION
The camera can be turned using the comma (',') and period ('.') keys and reset to it's default position with the slash ('/') key. The hotkeys can be remapped in-game.

CLAW MOD
Gives unlmited claws to wizard dragons instead of limited uses. Sort of a cheat but the ability sucks anyways.

COLLISIONREDUCER
This mod reduces the in-combat collision for all units to be the same as out of combat. This helps resolve pathfinding and blocking issues.

COMBAT ROUND LOGGER
Lets you know when a round ends in the combat log. Very useful.

COMMUNITY PATCH
Fixes the cutom portrait size. Has plans to do more in the future.

COMPANION CUSTOME PORTRAIT
Creates folders in your portraits folder for all companions, including your MC, and mercenaries, and pets! You can place your custom portrait files into these folders so that in the future those characters will always load to the custom portrait. Sometimes it requires a reload - like right after you get a new merc/companion. You can reload from the mod manager or just restart the game. The original portraits are saved in the files in case they are needed.

COUPFIX
Fixes the way coup de grace works more like PVP. Scythe is best weapon for coup de grace now.

COWWITHHAT'S CUSTOME SPELLS MOD
Adds a lot of new spells.

CRAFT MAGIC ITEMS
Adds crafting feats and you can craft items or magical items with feats.

PROPER FLANKING2
This only gives flank to someone that is in melee and has an ally on the other side of their target. RANGE CANNOT FLANK.

DERRING-DO
Adds swashbucker class. Dependent on proper flanking.

ELDRITCH ARCANA
adds oracle class, corssblood sorc, adds some spells, feats, etc. Adds the background traits . Adds favored class. Adds Alternative Racial Traits MUST go to options to make compatable with COTW by disabling some features.
I LIKE TO USE ELDRITCH ARCANA, NOT Z FAVORED CLASS

FASTER MENU BOOK ZOOM
loads game faster at start so you can play faster :)

FAST TRAVEL
Lets you adjust speed variables easily.

FIX LOADING BUG
Fixes "Error: Access to the path ..." error when loading a savegame

FRACTIONAL BASE BONUSES
Fractional Base Bonuses changes how BAB and Saves are calculated for multiclass characters. (no effect on single class characters). When calculating base attack bonus normally you calculate it per class, round down, then add up. That means that for example Wizard 1/Cleric 1 will have ⌊1/2⌋ + ⌊3/4⌋ = 0 BAB. With this rule it will be first summed up, then rounded down, so for the same character it will be ⌊1/2 + 3/4⌋ = 1.

FUMI'S CODEX
Adds more feats, more monk combat styles: snake, boar, wolf, adds Extra Wild Talent Feat, removed HD cap on slumber hexes, added new archtype Hexcrafter for the magus, added new monk archetype Master of Many Styles, added Fligth Wild Talents.

GOBLIN RACE
Adds a goblin race

HAIR UNLOCKER
Lets you use different race hairs for other races

HIGHLIGHT LEARNABLE SCROLLS
Makes them green really good for wizard and AT to learn spells

INFINITY ENGINE LIKE STATS WINDOW (IELIKESTATS)
Adds cool stats on character info page about your character. You can delete the folder and reinstall the addon to reset stats to zero to get a sort of dps meter from them. EXCELLENT to compare damage of characters.
MOD ERROR with new patch--> It will reset the data every time you load a saved game. So either don’t die or remember to look at the data before you load a saved game.

JMMT (folder in mods)
Requirement for Stolen Lands Encounters

KINGMAKER AI
conflicts with stolen land encounters so i don't use this.

BUFF BOT
Set up auto buffing sequences so you don't have to do it yourself.
I think the summon monsters spells is a cheat don’t use it- summons them without using a spell slot. Clerics that have multiple uses for a spell wont use their spells. Alchemists wont use their elixirs. You have to do these manually. Cant stop buffbot from using skald spells.

LEVEL SCALING (DIFFICULT MODIFIERS SCALE WITH LEVEL)
Changes unfair mod so its easier at start then gets harder.
On unfair the +4 to AC and attack bonus as well as the +8 to every stat are extremely impactful at level 1 and far less impactful at level 20 when the abundance of buffs and potential for min maxing overshadow them. This mod changes: At level 1 the bonuses will be very small, at levels 8-12 the bonuses will be around the same as vanilla and at level 20 they will be 50% larger in order to try and correct the games strong inverted difficulty curve.

MAGICFANGFIX
Kingmaker has never fixed the issue where unarmed attacks lose the benefits of Magic Fang or Arcane Weapon Enhancement whenever a loading screen comes up. This mod reapplies the spells after loading if the buff is present for all members of the party (including animal companions

PLAYER BIOGRAPHY
CONTROL F10 and you can edit a story for your companions biography. Something is adding cool option for character creation- you have background options now for skill points and skill proficiencies nice.

QUICKUSE
Shift click a potion to use it instead of the right click use. I have not really used this yet.

RACES UNLEASHED
Adds ganzi suli hobgoblin duergar drow and dhampir races.

RESPEC
Sot control F10 brings up the addons. Log on and go to a zone where your characters can move around. open the addon then select the character you want to respec. And then respec. Best to respec from town (oleg's for example)> if you try to respec a second character in a row game will crash so save game reboot before using a second time.

SHOW MY PETS
Adds pets frames to character frames.

SKIP INFO
Removes animation at the start.

SORT BY CATEGORY
Adds option for sorting inventory by category

THE LOST GRIMOIRE
Adds new options for wizards new arcane discoveries and new subschools for spell focus also some new spells. Adds golems. This adds the new focused arcane schools such as prophecy that I used recently. Adds older hero feat, adds a Golem Companion this is a level 11 feat I think.

TOGGLE AI AND STEALTH HOTKEYS
This mod gives a hot key to stealth and toggle ai - super important. Should be in the game default! I am using G and J as my hotkeys.

TWEAKMOD (FOLDER IN MODS)
Required for Stolen Land Encounters

STOLEN LAND ENCOUNTERS
The mod gives old enemies new tricks (including combat feats, new spells, new abilities) and adds some new enemies!
Requires COTW and JMMT (Jarinex Monster Mash Test).
You can expect more higher level enemies with new abilities, including prebuffing (for example, most casters that have defense spells (mirror image, displacement, etc) will cast those as a prebuff).
NOTE: YOU NEED BOTH JMMT AND TWEAKMOD IN YOUR MODS FOLDER! THE MOD WILL NOT WORK WITHOUT BOTH FILES! May have conflicts with Kingmaker AI https://www.nexusmods.com/pathfinderkingmaker/mods/216

TRICK OR TWEAK
Lots of additions cannot edit goes with call of the wild. Adds some archetypes mindchemist alchemist, mutation warrior fighter, sylvan trickster rogue, and changes a few other things. REQUIRES COTW 1.112+ and RACES UNLEASHED

VENDOR PROGRESSION
unlocks a lot of other items and armor at vendor for a price but only once your kingdom completes certain building expansions. This is cool cause everytime you game a level the vendor options change.

VISUAL ADJUSTMENTS
change how your character looks and can also change voice here
So make a ugly looking fighter look like a rogue etc.

WEAPON FOCUS PLUS
Makes Weapon Focus feat apply to all weapons of the weapon type.

WEAPON HOT KEY
Quick hot key to change weapons very useful for opening with ranged then changing.
Swapping a weapon does take an action though. I used for my bow rogue.
B for bow and Z for melee.

[Zzyl_tsw]

My two cents, but Call of the Wilds changed many things so i am not sure i would used it on a 1st playthrough.
Bags of tricks is full of QoL so not issue there if you want to use it.

[Frostfeather]

Zzyl_tsw původně napsal:

My two cents, but Call of the Wilds changed many things so i am not sure i would used it on a 1st playthrough.
Bags of tricks is full of QoL so not issue there if you want to use it.

If a person has not yet played the game, they won't know what's been changed or not with Call of the Wild... so using it immediately simply gives more choice.

Also, for a player already familiar with tabletop Pathfinder, Call of the Wild will give an experience that's generally a little closer to tabletop rules.

[Yoinkyz]

best mod is toolcheck list mod. alot of items can be easyly missed in maps. this mod tells you the loot that your missing.

[Finrod]

Bag of tricks, I used it to rename the pets.
My preferred mods are: Camera Rotation, Cleaner, no history and highlight learnable scrolls.

[mbradtke]

i can not recommand to use mods on first playthrough,
all i use is a mod so the game is not over once the MC dies, so i can eventually raise me... and a difficulty scaling mod so that start is not so ridiculous and the game gets a little harder later, and respec, just in case i really need to respec someone and i dont want to pay for that eventually... bag of trick i only used once to get rid of a bug after i respeced (buff of old class would not wear off, that was annoying)
from my experience mods change too much on the vanilla experience and kingmaker is clean enough that you dont really need mods.... maybe for a second run but even then.... you must decide on your own but mods make the game too complicated for my taste and i prefer vanilla or(and) small mods that do small tweaks only, like bug fixes or serious improvements, many mods however do more, they change too much on the core gameplay/balance

[Yoinkyz]

only likes mods when he uses them ^^