Bamboozled Newbie seeks Understanding Veteran

[Guest Jason Wire]

I'm hoping title that doesn't sound too much like a personal ad for casual sex.

 

Anyway, here's the deal. I am very new to this whole modding thing, but have been a Baldur's Gate fan since the first one came out. Seeing this talk of mods that combine the games, extra NPC's, etc etc, I've got a bit hot and bothered and decided to check it out.

 

However, being honest, it's a thoroughly intimidating world to get into. I've researched different sites (here, gibberlings 3, spellhold), and all of them have fantastic looking mods, but I don't know which ones contradict each other, are compatible, are any good etc etc and my technical knowledge isn't enough to fix broken installs without starting from scratch.

 

So I'm hoping someone will help.

 

What I want to do is build a BG1, TOTSC, BG2, TOB install that maximises the roleplaying and the scope. I am not a huge combat fan, I generally end up trying to cheat my characters into invincibility, as I'm all about the story. Can anyone recommend the mods (and the install order) to create the ultimate roleplaying build of Baldur's Gate? I'd adore you.

 

I'm looking for things like...

 

a) well-constructed NPCs with romances, sidequests and lots of dialogue

b) Quest packs that test your mind as well as your sword arm

c) Intrigue! I like mystery...

d) Items that have a well-written history or an interesting process to accquire them

 

View this as your platform to convert me to your favourite build!

 

Thanks guys

 

Jason

[Jarno Mikkola]

So I'm hoping someone will help.

 

What I want to do is build a BG1, TOTSC, BG2, TOB install that maximises the roleplaying and the scope. I am not a huge combat fan, I generally end up trying to cheat my characters into invincibility, as I'm all about the story. Can anyone recommend the mods (and the install order) to create the ultimate roleplaying build of Baldur's Gate? I'd adore you.

Well with ... the BG1+TOTSC + BG2 + TOB, you have 4 Choices:

1) You can go with the original BG1+TotSC and BG2:SoA+ToB in all languages.... or you can go with;

2) The BG1Tutu, which today is a bit outdated format, as the full support has been set for the English only... +the BG2:SoA+ToB

3) The EasyTutu, which copyies the BG2:SoA or ToB Engine, set's it up so you start form the very beginning and Candlekeep with Kit's etc, using the chosen engine, the only bad thing about this is that it's English only. And the BG2:SoA+ToB (as a separate game you need to import the chars to...)

4) The BGT(-WeiDU), the 'ultimate unification of the two games', well that's the ad, as it actually adds the BG1(+BG1:TotSC) to the BG2 game engine as a simultaneous experience.

 

Now, what comes to further mod installing, it's important to know a few things... in choice 1, you can experience most of the mods out there, but the BG1 engine might might kill you while doing it...

In choice 2, you can install any BG2 mod out there, but when you wish to go to the BG2 part of the game, you'll have to uninstall the whole thing cause you are using a BG2 mod to play the BG1 part... not a good thing.

In choice 3, you get to make a separate and independent game from the original BG1 and BG2 games.(but for that you'll have to have a full clean patched install to make that, after which you can uninstall the BG1 if you wish, and/or the BG2, if you do not intend to play that just at that moment)

In choice 4, you'll get a single game, that stretches from the Candlekeep to the Throne of Bhaal, well of course there is a few transitions, but the game data is always the same, you'll have to have all the BG1+TotSC + BG2 + TOB games though to be able to install this.

 

Now, there is quite a lot of mods made for the both BG games, but all but one major mod of the BG1 mods has been converted to the BG1Tutu/EasyTutu or BGT... it's important that you install the right version though.

And as the data forms in both games are very similar, the BG2 tweak mods usually work in BG1, BG1Tutu/EasyTutu and in BGT.

 

Now, if you are convinced that the BGT is you best option, I would suggest you to use the BWP/S to setup&install the mods in correct order... what mods you wish to install is totally up to you, though!!

If you are more convinced that you wish to play a BG1Tutu or EasyTutu game, I suggest that you should check out this topics last post.

Of course there are other choices, but I'll laugh about how small/hard those are.

 

Now, other players might be inclined to suggest their own mods, but I can not have that integrity shame to burden my small Imp back.

[Guest Jason Wire]

Thankyou! Looking at those, I am slightly in love with option 4... Am I right in thinking the only major drawback to it is that both games have to stay installed, no matter which one you're currently playing through?

 

That Big Picture programme looks phenomenal.

[PetrusOctavianus]

I'm looking for things like...

 

a) well-constructed NPCs with romances, sidequests and lots of dialogue

b) Quest packs that test your mind as well as your sword arm

c) Intrigue! I like mystery...

d) Items that have a well-written history or an interesting process to accquire them

 

I can heartily recommend BG1 NPC Project. It fits in very well with the vanilla game and makes the NPCs feel more like the NPCs in BG2. It is very well written and the quests and rewards are not too "munchkin". Too many quest mods suffer from wildly overpowered enemies and items.

 

I can also recommend Lure of the Sirines Call, which is a very nice litte quest mod and Unfinished Business, which fixes some of the broken/unfinshed quests.

[Jarno Mikkola]

Thankyou! Looking at those, I am slightly in love with option 4... Am I right in thinking the only major drawback to it is that both games have to stay installed, no matter which one you're currently playing through?

And you can uninstall the BG1 after you have installed everything, as the data is copied to the BG2 game.

 

That Big Picture programme looks phenomenal.

It's not Big Picture, it's BiG World Project... there is a huge difference. As the other is just a BG2 mod among others, but the project is a instructions and tools to make the install possible.

 

Now, what comes to the mods and installing them, my advice is that you go look for them, and pick only the once you feel suit for you, and if you do not know what, or where to look, take a look this page, and read the linked data there(readme's). And if you haven't played many moded BG2 games, I suggest that the less mods you try the better. So don't go with a full on Tactical(never mind the broken expert) BWS install and expect to survive a few minute longer, no matter how much you cheat. Kulyok also has her point...

[Icendoan]

When using the BWP, you have to be careful, as filesizes can get fairly large, as well as having to download an awful lot of mods. It may also take a few hours to install properly.

 

It is an amazing set up though, and I need to get another BWP install going.

 

Otherwise, as a hard and fast rule, the readme's for each individual mod will probably have things on compatibility. If it doesn't, or there is no readme, you can just around. Lots of mods work together, in lots of different orders, but there is an optimum, and doing the little to read the readme's compatibility section (use your Find function to get there faster!) for most mods (really small ones don't usually cause much trouble) to help craft the game into one you want to play.

 

Even if it doesn't work, and the games don't load or there are some errors, WeiDU (the installer for most of the BG mods) can uninstall it for you fine. Since lots of mods use self-extracting archives, you will have to navigate to your BG/2 installation (usually "C:/Program Files/Black Isle/Baldur's Gate" or "C:/Program Files/Black Isle/Baldur's Gate II - SoA", depending on the game) and run the application called "setup-modname.exe" and the black box which installed the mod should appear again, and uninstall it if you ask it to.

 

As other useful notes, particularly if you should run into problems, in your BG/2 directory there will be a file called WeiDU.log if you installed WeiDU mods (it may just appear as a text file called WeiDU). This is just an installation log of what components of which mods you have installed and in what order.

 

Good luck!

 

 

Icen

[Guest Jason Wire]

Well guys, the advice you've given me so far (and people on Spellhold and Pocket Plane <Jarno being on all three of them!>) has been brilliant, but I've run into a bizarre snag.

 

I installed both games again, clean and ready for the Big World setup. Then I realised, as I was in Vista, I had to install both games into a non program files folder. BG2, that was fine. With BG1, I went a bit arse-before-face, tried to copy it over first before realising the error of my ways, uninstalling and attempting to reinstall.

 

But now, no matter what I do, BG1 simply will not install. It worked fine before, but now the installer won't even load up. The autorun menu is fine. I've tried copying the files to computer and running setup from there, but no joy. The processes menu in the task manager shows me theres a setup process running, but it won't do anything. At one point it loaded up the installshield loading bar (after such a long wait I'd forgotten all about it) but froze and had to be quit through the process menu.

 

Anyone got any ideas?

[Icendoan]

Have you tried restarting your computer?

 

It is also possible there is a flaw with the discs, so you might want to check those as well.

 

Those are the ideas that spring to my mind, however. (And I didn't see your thread on SHS! )

 

 

Icen

[Guest Jason Wire]

Yeah, I've tried rebooting the system a couple of times. I doubt it's a disc issue, as the install worked fine first time around, it's only since my botched uninstall that the problem's arisen. I've gone through REGEDIT and there's no references to BG1 at all.

[Wisp]

There's an explanation for how to manually uninstall BG1 here. Maybe that'll take care of your problem.

[Guest Jason Wire]

Thanks for the reply. Sadly I've already tried that, there's nothing relating to BG1 in the registry at all.

 

Ah well. I'll bite the bullet and just do a BG2/TOB game. That'll keep me entertained for a long while. I'll let you all know my finsings by Friday (I work the next few nights...)

[Jarno Mikkola]

Jarno being on all three of them!

Well, the Imp is the kind of Demon that likes to pop up unannounced in every which forum for BG there are...

 

I installed both games again, clean and ready for the Big World setup. Then I realized, as I was in Vista, I had to install both games into a non program files folder. BG2, that was fine. With BG1, I went a bit arse-before-face, tried to copy it over first before realizing the error of my ways, uninstalling and attempting to reinstall.

 

But now, no matter what I do, BG1 simply will not install. It worked fine before, but now the installer won't even load up. The autorun menu is fine. I've tried copying the files to computer and running setup from there, but no joy. The processes menu in the task manager shows me theres a setup process running, but it won't do anything. At one point it loaded up the installshield loading bar (after such a long wait I'd forgotten all about it) but froze and had to be quit through the process menu.

 

Anyone got any ideas?

Well, are you sure the BG1 was uninstalled properly, as you said, you moved the game, thus invalidating your Windows Registry (at least temporarily)... Also there have been cases that report that their BG1 install stops to proceed in the percentage calculator, but they work fine when the CD's are changed when it asks that, and then the game is fully installed even though the percentage was in 20's or something(if you install the full install, with you must for BGT).

 

And I didn't see your thread on SHS!

Take a look if you must.