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1Mac

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  1. Thank you for the feedback! I was already beginning to realize that Weidu was less a mod manager and more a mod installation tool. I guess I was filtering it through TES modding concepts. (The launcher seems to have some mod manager functionality, if you squint.) For whatever reason, I was having no luck installing EET via the Weidu Launcher. I thought I tried the method you suggested, but perhaps I didn't! So with the Weidu Launcher + Weidu itself, all one really needs to install EET are the EET and EET_end folders (EET_gui optional), and that these should be put in the Resources folder? That seemed to at least run the appropriate installer when I tried that approach just now. Also, this makes me think that what Weidu is doing is interpreting the contents of mod folders into commands for installation. Maybe there's an additional document in the mods folder that tells Weidu what to do? This is quite a bit different from how TES modding works, so I'd like to do my best to understand how it works.
  2. I managed to get EET working with the Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition games for Mac. While I was able to find lots of helpful info here and other places, it was kind of scattered, and a few things I had to figure out myself. It seems a consolidated guide for installing EET on a Mac would be useful to many folks. Note that I've only tested as far as Candlekeep so far, but that alone indicates that things have gone right. It's also possible that these instructions omit something important or include something extraneous, so I'd appreciate any corrections or clarifications you may have. I suppose it's worth mentioning what EET is. Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition Trilogy is a mod that combines the Enhanced Editions of Baldur's Gate games into a single game. You can play seamlessly with a single character and explore the full world of the Baldur's Gate series as you progress. It also takes up less space than individual versions of each game. EET supports many other mods, often with little or no more difficulty than installing over the vanilla games. Installing EET on a Mac is not quite as straightforward as it would be on a PC, but the great Infinity Engine modding community has made it a lot easier than it could have been. For starters, you need legally owned Mac versions of Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, the Siege of Dragonspear expansion, and Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced Edition. I recommend purchasing these either from GOG or directly from the publisher Beamdog. Between its overlays and DRM, I believe that Steam is simply not a good platform for modded games when there are alternatives available. I recommend using GOG Galaxy to install. GOG Galaxy is just a download utility; you are not required to launch it when playing games, unlike with Steam. One thing that wasn't entirely obvious to me was that there is no separate download for Siege of Dragonspear on GOG; rather, it downloads automatically with BGEE. GOG Galaxy will prompt you to decide where you want to install your games, and you can move them somewhere else after the fact. You will need a mod manager to install most Baldur's Gate mods. We will use the Mac Weidu Launcher application. Download it from GitHub as a zip file, then double-click to unpack it. We'll set it up in a minute. There are newer, arguably better mod managers for Infinity Engine games than Weidu, but as far as I know there is no Mac native version of these programs. You could perhaps get them to work using Wineskin, but it's probably more of a headache than is necessary. Unless you purchased your games from Beamdog, you need to merge Siege of Dragonspear with BGEE before installing EET. Download DLC Merger as a zip and double-click to unpack it. We now need to move both DLC Merger and the Weidu Launcher to where they can be used. Right-click the Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition application (i.e., BGE1, not BGE2!) and select "Show Package Contents." Mac OS organizes programs with lots of resources like games into single packages, so this is how we see "inside" the program, in a way. Open the Contents folder, then the Resources folder. Move the DLC Merger folder into this Resources folder. Do the same with the Mac Weidu Launcher program; that is, the file inside the unzipped folder, not the folder or the zip file. Open the Mac Weidu Launcher. This will install the weidu program automatically if it isn't there; you'll see it in your Resources folder. It will also open a simple dialogue window asking what mod you want to install. Choose DLC Merger. This will open a Terminal window. Terminal might make some users antsy or uncomfortable, but in this case it's just a matter of typing in numbers to select options and hitting Enter. In this case we just need to merge Siege of Dragonspear, so select that option and follow the directions. Be sure to hit Enter at the end to close Weidu and wrap up the installation process before closing the Terminal window. (To clarify, merging Siege of Dragonspear is not necessary if you purchased your games directly from Beamdog. The rest of this guide applies to everyone.) Some mods need to be installed in BG1EE before installing EET, so if you want any of these mods, this is the time to install them. Consult this compatibility list: we want to look under "Mods installed on BG:EE previous to installing EET on BG2:EE." Note that EET installs original BG1 movies by default, so you don't need the separate mod to do so. Download, unpack, and move the folders for any such mods to your BG1EE Resources folder. Again, you'll need Weidu to install mods, so if you haven't done so, unzip the Mac Weidu Launcher zip file, open the folder, and move the application to your BG1EE Resources folder as well. Then run the Weidu Launcher and install these mods, always being sure to hit Enter at the end to complete the Weidu installation process before closing the Terminal window. To be clear, none of these mods are necessary to install EET; it's just that this is your best opportunity to install them if you do want them. Now is the time to download and install EET proper. Download it as a zip and double-click to unpack the archive, then open the folder. I recommend highlighting all the contents, right-clicking, and tagging with the color of your choice. This will help you keep track of what files belong to EET. Navigate to your BG2EE Resources folder. This is done the same way as with BG1EE: Right-click the application, select Show Package Contents, open the Contents folder, then Resources. Drag the EET folders and files to your BG2EE Resources folder. It's a good idea to install Weidu for BG2EE at this time. Once again unzip the Mac Weidu Launcher zip file, open the folder, and drag the application to your BG2EE Resources folder. Yes, this means you will have two copies of Weidu, one for BG1 and one for BG2. I am not sure if Weidu is strictly necessary to install EET, but you will need it to install other mods. Open the setup-EET.command file. This will again launch Terminal. Follow the directions. When prompted for the location of Baldur's Gate 1, navigate to your BG1EE Resources folder as before. Click and drag the "data" folder to the Terminal window, and you should see the file path appear. Delete the word "data" at the end, then hit Enter. (Really, you could have done this step with any file in the Resources folder. This is just the easiest way to make sure the file path has been properly entered.) Don't forget to hit Enter again when the installation is done before closing the Terminal window. This process will create two new files: setup-EET_gui.command and setup-EET_end.command. You can color-tag these to match other EET files if you like. The latter we will need to run to finalize our EET setup. Before we do this, this is our chance to install more mods. Again, consult this compatibility list: this time we want "Mods installed after EET main component on BG2:EE." I recommend installing EET Tweaks, if only for the increased FPS compatibility patch. Use the Weidu launcher to install these and other mods. Just follow the prompts in Terminal, and remember to hit Enter once the installation is done before closing the Terminal window. Optionally, you can also open the setup-EET_gui.command file. This will give your UI the same black-obsidian theme as Siege of Dragonspear. It may conflict with other UI mods. When you are done installing mods, run the setup-EET_end.command file. This step is necessary to make sure EET and mods work together. You can continue to install mods, so long as they needn't be installed on BG1EE before installing EET. Just make sure you then run setup-EET_end.command every time after doing so. The first time you run it, select (I) for Install; select either (R) for Reinstall or number (1) for subsequent installs. You should now test to see if EET installed correctly. Navigate back to the folder your BG2EE application is in. If you are in the BG2EE Resources folder, just clicking the < back key in the Finder window once or twice should suffice. Double-click to launch. From the main menu you should see an option to "Select Campaign," where you can select either Baldur's Gate 1 or 2. Select BG1, create a character, and see if you wind up in Candlekeep. If so, congratulations! You have successfully installed Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition Trilogy on your Mac! Other things to consider: After launching, BGEET will create a "Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Edition Trilogy" folder in your user/Documents folder. This folder contains your save files and the Baldur.lua file. This file is a configuration file that includes some options not accessible from the game. You may consider setting Maximum Frame Rate to something higher than 30, which among other things will change how fast your party moves (45 seems nice). You would think that disabling the various Movies settings would disable movies would disable intro movies, but it doesn't seem to work like that. You can also turn on UI Scaling, either in the Baldur.lua file or through the in-game Options menu. This will keep the UI elements the same size no matter your Mac's resolution settings, which on some resolutions looks very tiny. Unfortunately, I find that scaled UI is too big. There doesn't seem to be a way to change the game's resolution either. Changing your Mac's resolution (via Displays, via System Settings) before playing will work, but that's a pretty clunky solution. I'm looking into the whether any UI mods could solve this issue to my satisfaction. You can change the name of your Baldur's Gate 2 application to Baldur's Gate EET or similar. You can also change the icon: Highlight the program and hit command-I, or right-click and select Get Info. Search for a Baldur's Gate icon online and copy your favorite. Or, use Get Info for Baldur's Gate 1, select the icon in the top-left corner, and copy that using command-C. Whichever icon you've copied, select the BG2 icon in the BG2EE Get Info panel and hit command-V to paste the new icon. After you've installed EET, you may delete BG1EE if you wish by putting it in the Trash. The advantage to doing so is saving disk space and cleaning up your games folder a bit. The disadvantage is that if you ever want to install mods for EET that must first be installed for BG1EE, you'll have to reinstall it and repeat the first several steps of this guide. If disk space isn't an issue for you, it may be prudent to keep your copy of BG1EE just in case.
  3. Thanks guys, I appreciate the responses. I'll post my guide in a little bit. I can mess around with my OS's resolution, but tbh that isn't a very graceful solution. Would a mod like Lefreut's UI Be helpful? Edit: Another question I should have asked: It doesn't seem like EET itself requires Weidu or any other mod manager to install, since you just launch the installer exe/.command file. Is that the case?
  4. I've just successfully installed EET on my Mac and plan on posting a little guide to help others do the same. Before I do, I have a few oddball questions. 1.) I'm 95% sure that BG1EE could in theory be trashed after installing EET (whether it'd be prudent is another question!), but I wanted to ask to be sure. 2.) I'm unhappy with the apparent options for the vanilla user interface. UI scaling is too big, but it's too tiny (at my resolution) when it's turned off, and I didn't find a way to change in-game screen resolution. Any recommended UI mods that address this issue, or am I missing some vanilla option? 3.) It seems to me that background animations (for things like water fountains, chimney smoke, and ocean waves) move too quickly. I noticed this in Candlekeep for both BG1EE and BGEET. Is there a fix for this, or is it just the way it is? Lightning round: As mentioned, I may be interested in a UI mod, and I've already installed EET Tweaks. Any other must-have mods? I'm not looking for things like quests at this time; more like bug fixes, immersion and quality of life improvements. Thanks!
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