Hi. I was wondering if someone could help me with my question, which is as follows: What, exactly, is the deal with the New Content? ToEE's bugginess sent me in search of fan patches, leading me here. I'm used to fan patches--such as the G3 Fixpack for Baldur's Gate 2 and Qwinn's patch for Planescape: Torment--adding (optional) new content along with bug fixes. I usually opt out of these, as I prefer to play the game as the developers' intended. This appeared to be the deal here, too. However, while reading the changelog, I was mystified by the way earlier versions of this fixpack apparently did not have NC vs Pure versions. Some content within them--such as custom quests--has clearly been moved out to NC versions, but it's impossible to tell what other changes were kept in the standard patch. Many of the changes in these earlier versions give me pause, as they seem to alter the very foundations of the game. It'd be great if someone could inform me about this. I'm enough of a purist that I'd go with the broken, unplayable vanilla ToEE because of a couple of custom portraits or voice-overs--so if the non-bugfix stuff isn't optional, I doubt I'll install. Not to disrespect the work you guys are doing; the amount of dedication it takes to fix such a broken mess of a game, for so many years, is incredible. It's just that, depending on the answer I get here, I might have to leave the enjoyment of that work to those who aren't as obsessed with the developers' intentions as I am. Thanks in advance.
I have no info for you myself, but I think there are stickies that show what is in the regular mod packs what may have been added. Have you tried a search yet? If not I am sure one of the more knowledgeable old hands may be able to give a breakdown on what is available and what may have been changed to give you a bug free game.
There is a chart that can be found in this thread which ought to help you out: http://www.co8.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7743 It shows that the standard patch contains only the bug fixes and none of the new content. Thus the standard patch ought to be what you want as it just keeps the game to how it appeared in the AD&D module.
That's not quite accurate. The way the modern versions of the modpack (standard version and new content version) differ is that the standard version does not contain *major expansion* new content - Verbobonc, Hickory Branch, etc. It does however contain every other modification that Co8 has ever done, from bugfixes to rules compliance tweaks to minor new content mods such as the Moathouse Ambush and the Rannos and Gremag revenge scenario. Also new portraits, new voice sets, etc. So the short answer is, given the priorities you've stated, the vanilla game is probably for you. That said, you may want to consider playing Co8 3.0.4 ... have a look at the changelog up to and until 3.0.4 and see if the alterations there are acceptable. Up to that point, the modpack was still largely limited to bugfixes. We understand that some people like a 'pure' gaming experience like you describe, so no hard feelings.
Thanks, Gaear. I think I'll stick with vanilla, but I will look at that early version you mentioned. Again, thanks for the quick response.
