Installing Tweaks Anthology to Steam installed BGEE on my C programs drive questions

[marcus88]

Hello All,

I bought the Steam infinity collection recently which includes all the Baldurs Gate games.

I let Steam do the downloading and they were automatically put into program files on the c drive. For example BGEE was put onto path c:/programfiles (x86)/steam/steamapps/common/Baldurs Gate Enhanced Edition.

I ran BGEE after years of absence and the game ran well on 1280 by 720 on my 32 inch screen, but I decided to use Viconia in my good party this time, where i am paladin undead hunter with charisma 18. When I recall playing BG2 as Paladin with charisma 18 and having Viconia in my party throughout she never left even with  reputation 20 so I added her in my current game in BGEE.

Now she was staying with reputation 19 but as soon as i hit 20 she left. I understand her happt setting would have been -300 for her to leave but i do not know how to check or change it to -80 so she complains but never leaves. Also i do not wish to steal or do other things to reduce my reputation since i wish to roleplay my alignment.

I see Tweaks Anthology has a happy mod that gives me various options so that party members do not ever leave, as well as many other useful mods produced that could also be used.

However from other threads it says my c:program files settings on windows 10 will not allow mods to install/take effect if the game folder is on the c:program driectory.

So firstly i am required to move the BGEE games folder to another location? I only have the one HD and the saved games so far i see are stored in the "mydocuments" section. I should move the games folder there or where else?

Secondly I read from other posts that I should after having moved the BGEE games folder from the c program files directory, that one should then download modmerger or DLCmerger and then install in the BGEE games folder, and then finally to download and install the v9 Tweaks Anthology into the games folder. Is that right or what is the correct procedure?

i recall in my old computer just putting patches or fixes directly into my games folder on c program files but that was an earlier windows operaing system, with no problems so it is not so straighforward now it seems.

I am  relatively new to windows 10 and am not  experienced modder or code programmer so I am tentative before trying to change things unless i have complete knowledge or support from others who have done it before so this is the reason for the post.

Thank you

[Jarno Mikkola]

23 minutes ago, marcus88 said:

or where else?

Moving Steam apps. It says drive, but the same process is done to folders without different drive letter.

And move them to:

C:\Users\<windows user name>\Games*\BG2\

*Games, or what ever you like to use as your native name for that, it doesn't matter, but it improves legibility. The folder name doesn't matter, but anything under there, you have a free ownership and rewrite ability, unlike any other folder.

Also your native language will display the "Users" forder as that but on it's own language, but it's actually Users if you go and make folders and then look at the path. This is partially horrible user interface problems the OS has.

[marcus88]

ok thank you for the assistance. You are right the Windows 10 interface is not so intuitive/clear.

So I checked the path of the files in the directory "documents" which is where i have been saving files since i bought the new desktop a year ago and it looks like they are linked with onedrive, because for example a BGEE saved game has the path C:\Users\miner\OneDrive\Documents\Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Edition\save.

I am not sure what miner in the path above refers to.

So i should create my own user folder "games" under c:\ users to store games? I guess i should then if i did that, also change the settings on my steam account so they are directed to the new location of the games so that when i launch BGEE Steam knows where the files are?

I am still not sure about the process then for installing v9 Tweaks Anthology correctly into the BGEE games folder, if i need to install modmerger or DLCmerger beforehand.

I omitted to ask also if the tweaks will work on an already started game, from the time the tweaks are installed, or if it is required to start a brand new game to enable the tweaks to work?

 

 

 

 

[Jarno Mikkola]

If you have the Siege of the Dragonspear(aka SoD) DLC, you should install the DLCmerger to the game before you install any other mods. But if you don't, you don't need it. As it only brings the DLCs archived file content to the games actual files. It needs to be installed before the other mods. The game has several types of ways to start it. One is to use Steam... I wouldn't recommend that. This is because it leaves Steam open while you use another program to play a game.

The game itself only need to know where it's own files are stored, in .bif files, and this is a bit more tricky today than it was 10-20 years ago. As the BGEE today uses a file called "baldur.lua" in:

C:\Users\<windows user name>\Documents\My Games\Baldur's Gate\

- to list the links the games read data files from. So if you want, you can without uninstalling the game, move the entire game to a different folder and edit just that file to reflect the changes.

My general advice is always to start a new campaign when ever you modify the games content. This will prevent the game from having bad days, like wrong string references and unfinnisheable quests, crashes and that sort of fun. Even if you know that the change will take effect in your current game without hickups. But then, I do have more free time than a few hours a month.

[marcus88]

Thank you kindly for your response to me which I am only just now reading. Much appreciated.

Regarding Siege of Dragonspear it is new code because it has recently been made, relatively so i guess that is the reason for DLCmerger. I believe BGEE contains TOTSC but that SOD is a standalone expansion pack for BGEE. I have the steam BGEE so i believe it already contains SOD because I cannot find it on my program files directory for downloads.

However i just found a thread from October 2020

https://baldursextendedworld.com/Vanilla_Forums/discussion/1095/cannot-install-bg-eet-due-to-sod-error

in  which Roxanne says:

"Never mod on steam itself, use copies of the BGEE and BG2EE directories.

In the screen that asks for the game directories give the BGEE that contains SoD as one path and the BG2EE as the other."

 

"You simply copy the whole game director(ies) and have the copy in an unprotected section of your computer. Steam updates may reset all your mods and bug your saved games.

As far as I understand, steam has a BGEE version without SoD or it has SoD (which contains all of BGEE as well). It is the latter you need for EET."

 

From the above I believe I have the  Steam version with SOD (since i do not see SOD anywhere in my downloads but i did download it) and means i need to install DLCmerger, but Beamdog forum is not working or do i get DLCmerger from another download source?

 

Ok regarding the game itself starting from another folder, if i copy the games folder to another directory, why i cannot then just click on the Baldur.exe to start the game, without getting steam involved? I just checked and the shortcut on my desktop, setup by steam, and which i have until now been using for starting the game, which as indicated I have been playing only this week, asks steam through "steam://rungameid/228280" to run the game and this is directed to the c programsfiles bgee that steam downloaded.

 

If there is a copy of the BGEE game folder on a separate directory, within users, I can make mods for the BGEE game, using first DLC Merger and then Tweaks Anthology, in that folder and run it using the baldur.exe command i presume? Then the pure steam bgee game folder remains on programsfiles and receives updates automatically from steam so remains separate from my modded game in the other BGEE games folder located in users and both the unmodded steam BGEE and modded BGEE should run without issue, in theory?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AL|EN]

1 hour ago, marcus88 said:

i need to install DLCmerger, but Beamdog forum is not working or do i get DLCmerger from another download source?

Here: https://github.com/Argent77/A7-DlcMerger

[Jarno Mikkola]

4 hours ago, marcus88 said:

Why i cannot then just click on the Baldur.exe to start the game, without getting steam involved?

This has to do with the auto programming that comes with the OS. And since I am not completely sure on how the game takes the Windows register into account, it can have side effects. For example, the original game didn't want to start the game with baldur.exe if it was not registered in the exact location the .exe was at, as that only started the games starter program, which then reverted the game to be started from the Windows Registers location. Now, it had another .exe called bgmain.exe that actually was used to start the game. And this was 20 years ago.

Now, it COULD take the game folder into account, but I am not sure.

[marcus88]

Thank you  Alien  for the DLCmerger download source!

[marcus88]

Thank you kindly for the explanation Jarno and i do seem to recall years ago the main BG exe was called bgmain.exe.

However in my present path for my BGEE game of c:/programfiles (x86)/steam/steamapps/common/Baldurs Gate Enhanced Edition

there is only the baldur.exe command file and no other BGEE executable program. I test launched baldur.exe from my games folder in the above path and not from the desktop shortcut (which reverts to steam), and it runs as normal and asks to continue with the game or begin new game and has all other options.

I mean if i copied the games folder in the steamapps path above, to another folder in users it would be disconnected from the steam path and have the data folder and script folder, language folder, manuals folder, music folder and everything needed to run the game. Plus chtin.key and engine.lua So if engine.lua is copied over to the users bgee game folder then all the relevant files will be in that folder there too and BGEE should run? There are just two related steam filed on the above c:programs files path and one file i do not recognise, which are

oalinst.exe which is apparently, reading other threads, used to return missing DLL files back to the games folder

steam_api64.dll

steam_appid.txt

When I transfer my games folder I should omit to transfer the above three files and BGEE should then work by itself without steam input right?

 

Also regarding DLCmerger I see a folder in the c:programs files path above for BGEE that is called DLC and within it the single file SOD-DLC.zip

What is that SOD-DLC.zip file? do i still need DLCmerger to be installed in my BGEE games folder once it is moved to c:users gamefolder?

 

[Jarno Mikkola]

43 minutes ago, marcus88 said:

What is that SOD-DLC.zip file?

It contains the DLCs data. It's not recommended to be opened with a archive tool, but the DLCmerger. There's a reason for this. But now we know you have the DLC, and that you need to install the DLCmerger to the game before you install ANY mods, cause if you don't, you'll most likely just make a mess of the games content cause, doing it the wrong way around will cause either some missing text, or the mods just won't install.

The EE games never had the bgmain.exe .. only the nonEE game had that.

51 minutes ago, marcus88 said:

When I transfer my games folder I should omit to transfer the above three files and BGEE should then work by itself without steam input right?

No. It doesn't matter which files you have in the game folder, so long as the game won't be auto-updated when the Steam is ran, as that (can) invalidate the mod installs. Cause Steams file validation reads the files ends and compares them to a list of known values and redownloads invalid files to restore the original file content.

[marcus88]

Jarno, again thank you kindly for your clear responses and assistance!

I shall attempt then to try to transfer my BGEE to c:users, then download the DLCmerger and install it, and then install Tweaks Anthology v9.

I read that in the BGEE version i have i have SOD starts automatically at the end of the game but that then characters can go up one or two levels in SOD and that makes them overpowered for the beginning of BG2.

Is it possible to just then ignore SOD and then import characters into BG2 without completing SOD because if what i read is right, SOD is not launched separately but is part of my version of BGEE so automatically starts, meaning characters are transported to its beginning at the end of BGEE?

I see there is a forum also for EET, or merging BGEE and BG2EE into one game. I assume this works with the Tweaks anthology, but where to download this mod since i do not find it under downloads? I only see https://github.com/Gibberlings3/EET

I see there is a BG2 fixpack mod so I guess i need to transfer my BG2EE games folder to c:users before installing it, away from program files and steam.

Also Icewind Dale EE (including heart of winter and trials of the luemaster) was the only game Beamdog enhanced of that series. I assume if i wished to use the mod "unfinished business for icewind dale" i would need to do the same thing and copy my games folder to c:users and then perfrom the mod? this would not need DLCmerger i believe.

Lastly there was no Icewind Dale 2 Enhanced Edition version made by Beamdog because apparently the original code for the game is missing. However i see that Domi who is a member of this site did a mod called the "IWD2 NPC project" that is downloadable on this site. Also the widescreen mod on this site says it supports IWD2.

 

[Jarno Mikkola]

2 hours ago, marcus88 said:

but where to download

Here: https://github.com/Gibberlings3/EET/releases/tag/V13.4 Well, that's where the latest version is the "source code (zip)"... it requires the DLC merger installed to the BG1+SoD, and it's installed to the BG2EE folder, it will ask the BG1EE+SoD folder during install, and then you install nearly all the mods on top of that, this is a whole big process. There's a whole EET compatibility list here in G3, explaining few aspects, like which mods should be installed in which game, in order to have them all in the game you end up with as you then can uninstall the whole BG1EE+SoD, cause they are then located also in the BG2EE game. And the thread says nothing about the actual install order, as it hasn't been found out yet*.

And bad news about the SoD experience with that, you need to complete it to proceed into the BG2EE content, IN EET. Well, you could actually export and import the save game character, and start the game in BG2EE without any items and all that jazz, but it's not recommended as it will break continuity.

*well, there's different results as the install order is as arbiturary as a result driven rather than the ability to get one result. Aka, you want to get impossible monsters, you install a mod that makes monsters impossible as the last mod, and your result will reflect that.

 

2 hours ago, marcus88 said:

I see there is a BG2 fixpack mod so I guess i need to transfer my BG2EE games folder to c:users before installing it, away from program files and steam.

The BG2 Fixpack is for non-"EE games" only, you can install it, but it fixes nothing, it's more of a tweaks than a fix in what it's programmed to do in that case.

I left this site a while ago, so I don't know anything that happened with IWDEEinBG2EE, it had been delayed a year when I left, by K4thos... so it might not be real yet either. There was also a Russian mod that brought both IWD and IWD2 into the EE games. Don't know what happened to that yet either.

 

Yeah, they "lost" the IWD2 source code. Right. Or rather they didn't find a drunk westerner to export the games resources to the new engine, they would have needed Westley Weimer, had he still been here in the moding community after the ten years he had left it. Yes, that's how they made the BG1EE and IWDEE games, then had the resulting expanded BG2 engine, and brought the BG2's resources back to it and you have your results.

So essentially they BGT'ed the BG2 engine, removed the whole BG2 game content the same way the BGTutu did and went and bought the IWDinBG2 programmer to bring the art and other assets to the "new engine"... then they got some talented man to bring in zoom function to the game engine, how ? I have no idea. But they made it all commertial along the way. And by a company that uses an old and defunct company name... no, the Atari of today, is not at all the same company that the old and backruptcy suffered old one was. Cause it was liqudated. So the name, was sold too.

Edited December 11, 2021 by Jarno Mikkola

[marcus88]

Thank you again Jarno for your advice and assistance in location of sources for download.

The EET mod, having read your link page seems as you said a big process and still ongoing so maybe i will test BGEE and BG2EE first. The SOD experience must be completed to proceed to BG2EE? yes not ideal.

In my humble opinion someone should build some AI into the installation software, so that the installation software locates the software it needs from the folder, or c drive or through online patches or software, and then implements it by itself, without human input.

Haha yeah losing the source code for IWD2 seems kind of weird, but sure Westley Weimer was key developing WEidu and is teaching software engineering. Indeed he is working on various projects, quite interesting.

 

[Jarno Mikkola]

3 hours ago, marcus88 said:

In my humble opinion someone should build some AI into the installation software,

Thing with this is, the program everyone uses to install their self made mods, is build to take command line commands, aka similar as the 1980's DOS. Going from there to AI is a bit far step and kind of out of reach, I would think. Now there was a few tries to build a system that could handle the whole process called BiG World Setup, but it crashed as it's maintainers were overworked and over encumbered by the challenge of maintaining a single program for too many ideals. Ideals like; keeping the mod versions upto date, as there's a new mod out everyweek and mods get updated, their components get shuffled and so on and on. And keeping the project compatible with the games it had gotten involved with.

Now, some of them still work on their independent projects. Project Infinity, Baldur's Extended World, BiG World Install tools, and some others. And then there was me, the troll.

Edited December 12, 2021 by Jarno Mikkola

[jastey]

@Jarno Mikkola please do not just link to Roxanne's EE Setup/Install Tool without mentioning the background story of it.