Tutu or Trilogy

[PsyckoSama]

I've never used either of these mods before and I'm wondering which you suggest and why... also, would either leave me able to export a character to IWD?

[BelgarathMTH]

I used to swear by Tutu, and I used it for years. It has good mod compatability, but you have to use "the degreenifier" and be ready with the "Beregost Crash Fixer."

 

I'm now using the latest version of BGT for the first time, and I'm loving it. It has a few more things that can go wrong if you mod it too heavily, but it links all three games together (TotSC, SoA, ToB), it has fixed the infamous Beregost crash bug, and you don't need to worry about "degreenifying"

 

The answer to which is best is going to depend on who you ask. I would say that the community is split roughly 50-50 between preferring Tutu or preferring BGT. Some people get rather passionate about their choice of one over the other.

 

Tutu is probably a little easier to get up and running and to troubleshoot if needed, but BGT is probably the most convenient to use after you get it working. If you decide to go with BGT, be sure to install the World Map mod from Spellhold Studios. I've found that BGT can have trouble accessing the BG1 maps if you don't have the mod.

 

Also, install your BG2 game in its default directory, (C:\Program Files (x86)\Black Isle\BGII-SoA, for Windows 7), because the BGT install program will give you a chance to change your BG1 directory, but it won't give you a chance to change the BGII directory. I'd go ahead and put the BG1 folder in the same directory as your BGII program, because I've also found that BGT is more stable when they are in the same directory. (Mine are C:\Program Files (x86)\Black Isle\Baldur's Gate and C:\Program Files (x86)\Black Isle\BGII-SoA)

 

If anything at all goes wrong with your BGT install, do not try to repair the botched installation. Start all over by running the BGT install .exe on a set of clean installs, and it will save you a world of headaches. The BGT program is very, very sensitive.

 

Because of the need for troubleshooting, with both BGT and Tutu, make copies of your clean from-the-disk Baldur's Gate directories and put them in a special folder. I call mine "Baldur's Gate Clean Installs". Then, when I need to start with a clean install, I copy (NOT move!) the folders into C:\Program Files (x86)\Black Isle .

 

Mods need to go in a certain order, or weird things happen. My rule of thumb is "BGT or Tutu, BG Fixes, World Map, music mods, portrait mods, character mods (NPC project, IEP, any added characters, finally crossmod banter), SCS and Tweaks is always last, in that order." I don't use added content mods, so I'm not sure where that goes.

 

Many people find that Windows 7 gives them some headaches with the tweaks and mods they want to do unless they install their games into some directory other than Program Files (x86). That may work with Tutu, but DON'T do that if you use BGT. The latest version of the install program cannot use anything other than the default path for the BG2 files.

 

This may seem intimidating or daunting, but let me end by saying that it is so, so totally worth it! Playing BG1 with the BG2 engine gives you so many more choices and enhances your experience so much, that once you have tried it you will not want to play without it!

 

EDIT: BTW, you cannot play IWD with the BG engine. There was an attempt made to make a conversion, but it has been abandoned because it caused too many problems with the hard code

[grogerson]

... also, would either leave me able to export a character to IWD?

You cannot export characters from BG1 or BG2 into IWD, or vice-versa. Too many engine differences.

EDIT: BTW, you cannot play IWD with the BG engine. There was an attempt made to make a conversion, but it has been abandoned because it caused too many problems with the hard code

There is a new conversion being developed and hosted on this site. Check out the Icewind Dale-in-Baldur's Gate II forum. There are some serious bugs with the latest open BETA that need to be worked out, however, but many of the issues from previous versions have been addressed. I'm playing through it now and logging my findings (slow going since I'm playing parallel games in IWD and the conversion). So far I've found only three critical GLOBALs failed to set, random items found in containers don't appear (though those carried by someone/something do), and some item descriptions are missing. We're looking for more BETA testers, if you're interested...

[Daulmakan]

I used to swear by Tutu, and I used it for years. It has good mod compatability, but you have to use "the degreenifier" and be ready with the "Beregost Crash Fixer."

The beregost crash has been fixed by Ascension for quite a while. IIRC, SCS and BG1 NPC already include it, or you can just drop it in a .tp2 by itself (Macready recently did this as a hotfix over at PPG).

[PsyckoSama]

I'm running off the GoG version of the games... so it doesn't quite install the way it used to.

 

Was sick of juggling CDs.

[PsyckoSama]

... also, would either leave me able to export a character to IWD?

You cannot export characters from BG1 or BG2 into IWD, or vice-versa. Too many engine differences.

EDIT: BTW, you cannot play IWD with the BG engine. There was an attempt made to make a conversion, but it has been abandoned because it caused too many problems with the hard code

There is a new conversion being developed and hosted on this site. Check out the Icewind Dale-in-Baldur's Gate II forum. There are some serious bugs with the latest open BETA that need to be worked out, however, but many of the issues from previous versions have been addressed. I'm playing through it now and logging my findings (slow going since I'm playing parallel games in IWD and the conversion). So far I've found only three critical GLOBALs failed to set, random items found in containers don't appear (though those carried by someone/something do), and some item descriptions are missing. We're looking for more BETA testers, if you're interested...

 

not really sure how to betatest...

 

Though what would be a real blast is finding a way to intigrate IWD into BGT... just immagining but damn that would be a cool game to play

[Jarno Mikkola]

Though what would be a real blast is finding a way to intigrate IWD into BGT... just immagining but damn that would be a cool game to play

Well, you have two options already available, the IwDinBG2, it's in the 6'th beta phase, it has bugs, but you can help to kill them, or you can use the NEJ, it doesn't work that well with BGT, as it's a BGII mod, it also requires presice files, that are outdated and the mod is actually quite horrible to play, but you get quite close.

[grogerson]

not really sure how to betatest...

It's simple. Just download, install and play. Then post any bugs you find on the thread in the IWD-in-BG2 forum. (And being a little masochistic doesn't hurt .)