Mac Weidu Launcher - easy mod installation on macOS

[Guest guest]

19 minutes ago, subtledoctor said:

The MWL contains Weidu for use on Macs, so to install the mod on a Mac you do not need a Weidu executable.  If you are distributing it for use on Windows as well, then just grab the "setup-[This_Mod].exe" file from any mod - can use one of mine, their Windows Weidu is up-to-date as of this writing - and rename it to "setup-Your_Mod.exe."  Whatever the .tp2 and folder name of your mod is.)

Thank you so much for the quick response! Makes total sense. Will do that for Windows, and on my Mac I copied an executable of WeiDu into the folder and it was able to install just fine then with your launcher.

Slight problem now - it won't uninstall. (If it helps, I'm just creating a simple item that's a duplicate in every way to the Tuigan Bow, except it has a different description and I will eventually make some modifications to it via NearInfinity.) The launcher knows the mod has been installed but I can't seem to get it to uninstall for me. Here's some screenshots to  help out... https://imgur.com/a/K8Y2X8q I'm aware that I cut off Terminal with the second screenshot but it just cut out the name of the mac and my user name so it shouldn't affect anything.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Guest IvanK Guest]

Hi subtledoctor. Does the MWL still work on Big Sur, to your knowledge? It was working fine on Catalina, but on Big Sur when I open the app it correctly finds the mod folders in the game directory, but after choosing one terminal presents the following without actually installing anything (with personal info removed):

Spoiler

 

/Users/REDACTED/Desktop/IWDEE/Mac_Weidu_Launcher_v7.app/Contents/Resources/mwl.command ; exit;

/Users/REDACTED/Desktop/IWDEE/Mac_Weidu_Launcher_v7.app/Contents/Resources/mwl.command: line 3: 23527 Killed: 9               ./weidu tomeandblood/tomeandblood.tp2 --log logs/tomeandblood.debug

Saving session...

...copying shared history...

...saving history...truncating history files...

...completed.

 

I'm a bit of terminal novice so I'm not clear what has gone wrong. The same thing happens for any mod I attempt to install.

[subtledoctor]

Apple seems to be locking down their OS more and more and more. This is the third time in a three years that an OS update has seemingly broken this app.  I think one day using a Mac will be like using one of those pretend computers that you give to a 3-year-old.

I don't have Big Sur, and don't plan to get it anytime soon - heck, I won't even install Catalina - so I don't know what the problem is. Could be your file/folder permissions are locked down; could be that your Gatekeeper settings won't allow anything run except stuff from the Mac App Store; could be one of the new security measures in Catalina that I'm not sure ever got a name; or it could be some newer security measures in Big Sur.  Who knows?

Do you ever have problems with viruses or being hacked? I don't, and I'm on Mojave with the most permissive settings just about everywhere. I don't know what problem Apple is trying to solve with these updates. Except maybe they just need to be hostile to old-fashioned types like me who just want to use their computer like a computer...

Okay I'll stop grumbling now. If anyone knowledgeable about Big Sur can give this a look and talk about it, I'm happy to update the tool.

[AL|EN]

IvanK,

download updated WeiDU for Big Sur, extract it and locate 'weidu' executable inside 'WeiDU-Mac' folder

locate Mac_Weidu_Launcher_v7.app, use 'Show package content' right, navigate to Mac_Weidu_Launcher_v7.app/Contents/Resources

replace 'weidu' executable with the updated one.

Hope that this helps. If it does, @subtledoctor you can update weidu directly inside app.

[Guest IvanK]

subtledoctor, no big disagreements from me over the changes to macOS, though I've been running Weidu launcher and the IE games on Catalina for the past year, and it's all clear there. On Big Sur my permissions are set correctly and Gatekeeper is set so it can launch correctly. To be clear, your launcher opened just fine on Big Sur and showed the list of modfiles in the directory properly. It was apparently indeed weidu that was the problem, as replacing it with the version AL|EN provided did the trick!

[subtledoctor]

Well that explains why the problem was not apparent to me!  

I’ll update the Launcher with the newer version of Weidu. But of similar issues arise in the future, be aware that the MWL will defer to your own copy if Weidu if you have one. So you can download new versions of Weidu, chuck them in your game folder, and the MWL will use those instead of the one it is bundled with.

So if I ever disappear or stop updating the MWL, it should be pretty straightforward to keep using it and stay up-to-date with the latest versions of Weidu.

[C87]

To preface things here, I'm completely new to anything regarding programming etc.  But wondering if anyone would be kind/willing to give a walkthrough on how to install mods for a complete idiot who's not familiar with a lot of the terminology?

Background:  I purchased BG2 EE via the Mac Store and am running Big Sur 11.2 (not sure if those fact make it more difficult/impossible to run mods).

I believe I've followed the correct steps in downloading the Mac Weidu Launcher v7 + cdtweaks package contents, and placing it in the "Recourses" folder.  I also read I had to replace the "weidu" (unix excecuteable) with the one from the MWL, so I did.

Any advice/input appreciated.  I played this game years ago as a teenager and thought it'd be fun to give it another go but with some twists.

Edited February 19, 2021 by C87

[subtledoctor]

@C87 I think the initial version of Weidu v247 didn't work in Big Sur.  I don't have Big Sur, so I didn't realize that when I included it in the MWL. But I have updated the MWL to use the version of Weidu that should work on Big Sur.  What you need to do:

• Delete the MWL from your game folder
• Delete the file called "weidu" from your game folder
• Download the MWL v7.5.247.1 package, unzip it and put the app in your game folder
• Run the MWL app, it should work.

If that fails, delete the MWL and weidu again, and instead try MWL v7.5.246, which includes the older Weidu v246.  I don't recall anyone saying that version doesn't work on Big Sur.  EDIT - Okay forget that, just use 7.5.247.1

Edited February 18, 2021 by subtledoctor

[AL|EN]

All older version of WeiDU are packaged using UPX (cause of error) so they won't work on Big Sur (they would have to be recompiled/repacked). 

[C87]

On 2/11/2021 at 10:13 AM, subtledoctor said:

@C87 I think the initial version of Weidu v247 didn't work in Big Sur.  I don't have Big Sur, so I didn't realize that when I included it in the MWL. But I have updated the MWL to use the version of Weidu that should work on Big Sur.  What you need to do:

• Delete the MWL from your game folder
• Delete the file called "weidu" from your game folder
• Download the MWL v7.5.247.1 package, unzip it and put the app in your game folder
• Run the MWL app, it should work.

If that fails, delete the MWL and weidu again, and instead try MWL v7.5.246, which includes the older Weidu v246.  I don't recall anyone saying that version doesn't work on Big Sur.

Excellent, thanks for your fast response and the work you've done.  I'll give it a shot.

 

UPDATE:  I got slightly further in the terminal window but the new issue comes up as: 

Are the mods just simply incompatible with Big Sur?  I wouldn't be surprised as the game is fairly old by now and Apple's OS has gone through quite a few updates since.  To get this far, I also changed the "baldurs' gate ii enhanced/contents/resources" folder to read and write based on another post I found, not sure if that makes a difference.

 

Apologies if this is a rudimentary question (all this stuff is way over my head), but do I need to download EEkeeper/shadowkeeper as well in order to implement the mods?  Or should I only need the MWL and the cdtweaks mod package?

Would this be the solution at all?:

 

Edited February 19, 2021 by C87

[C87]

@subtledoctor and @AL|EN, got the mods to work, thanks for the help!  I referenced Al|EN's previous post about replacing the "weidu" in the MWL v7.5.247.1 with the weidu component from 247.

[Elminsters Hat]

EDIT: I fixed it, but I will leave it here in case anyone else needs it too. 

I'm a newbie in modding, so "game folder" does not mean where OSX stores your saves; it means you have to Open Package and drill down inside the executable until you reach ~/Documents/Baldur's Gate II - Enhanced Edition/Baldur's Gate II Enhanced Edition.app/Contents/Resources and then run MWL from there, with the mods. 

 

Original post below: 

I need to start saying how immensely grateful I am to @subtledoctor for MWL. I have been playing for 20 years and I never modded, and I would have taken 10 more without your kindness. Nowadays I wear glasses to actually see the game... Better now than later for sure.

I carefully read everything here, and I even copied the BG2EE executable file to the game's foder, which is inside ~/Documents. But this terminal message makes me stuck. 

The chitin.key file is there indeed, in ~/Documents/Baldur's Gate II - Enhanced Edition/Baldur's Gate II Enhanced Edition.app/Contents/Resources.

I wonder what else I could do. I'm on Mac OS 12.0.1.

Thank you!
 

Quote

 

The default interactive shell is now zsh.

To update your account to use zsh, please run `chsh -s /bin/zsh`.

For more details, please visit https://support.apple.com/kb/HT208050.

/Users/elminster/Documents/Baldur\'s\ Gate\ II\ -\ Enhanced\ Edition/Mac_Weidu_Launcher_v7.app/Contents/Resources/mwl.command ; exit;

This-iMac:~ elminster$ /Users/elminster/Documents/Baldur\'s\ Gate\ II\ -\ Enhanced\ Edition/Mac_Weidu_Launcher_v7.app/Contents/Resources/mwl.command ; exit;

[./weidu] WeiDU version 24700

ERROR: Unable to find CHITIN.KEY in:

.

.

..

../..

../../..

/

FATAL ERROR: Failure("Unable to find CHITIN.KEY: run me in an Infinity Engine game directory")

logout

 

 

Edited February 13, 2022 by Elminsters Hat

[VEKT0R]

@subtledoctor Not sure if you're still on here but MWL is still working in 2023 and, if I can, I'd like to buy you a coffee for the work you put in to it.

[Guest Shaella]

Hi subtledoctor, I am trying to use Gibberlings mods (BG2EE from Steam) on a MacBook running Ventura 13.4.

subtledoctor - A lot of mac users have been able to make this MWL package work. I have followed every step, including changing OS's, adding the blank weidu.log file, checked directories, and can't get the file to launch. I have also tried admin read&write for every level of permissions. Whenever I try to run anything from the MWL folders, the same message comes up: "cp: /Applications/BaldursGateII-macOS.app/Contents/Resources/weidu: Permission denied (1)" . I put the mods and MWL into the game's Resources folder. I'm a female protagonist, and really want to break through the in-game restrictions.

[Rhal]

My thanks to you and the modding community

I'm trying to install TDDz on Mac Ventura.

I have the permissions set allowing read/write by anyone.

MacWeidu finds the mod okay but when installing I get an error "must have TDD core installed::

( ignore the slash through marks. IDK why they appeared)

 

What should be done with all components that are NOT YET installed?

nstall them, kip them, [A]sk about each one? i

 

Installing [TDD - Core] [v1.3.1]

Copying 1 file ...

Copying and patching 1 file ...

Copying 1 file ...

Copying and patching 1 file ...

Copying 1 file ...

Copying and patching 1 file ...

loading 1 tra file

loading 1 tra file

Copying 1 file ...

Copying 1 file ...

ERROR: error loading [TDD/Bam]

Stopping installation because of error.

 

ERROR Installing [TDD - Core], rolling back to previous state

Will uninstall   7 files for [tddz/tddz.tp2] component 0.

Uninstalled      7 files for [tddz/tddz.tp2] component 0.

ERROR: Unix.Unix_error(Unix.ENOENT, "stat", "TDD/Bam")

Please make a backup of the file: logs/tddz.debug and look for support at: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/4841/the-darkest-day/

Using Language [English]

 

SKIPPING: [TDD - Trollford]

You must have TDD - Core installed

 

SKIPPING: [TDD - Eshpurta]

You must have TDD - Core installed

 

SKIPPING: [TDD - Purskal]

You must have TDD - Core installed

 

SKIPPING: [TDD - Riatavin]

You must have TDD - Core installed

 

SKIPPING: [TDD - Onset of the Darkest Day]

You must have TDD - Core installed

 

SKIPPING: [TDD - Robilard]

You must have TDD - Core installed

 

NOT INSTALLED DUE TO ERRORS TDD - Core

 

Press ENTER to exit.

Edited November 9, 2023 by Rhal