Baldur's Gate & Baldur's Gate II Mod Thread

[hell bovine]

Soo... where can one buy Baldur's Gate II (non-enchanted) from? It's no longer on GOG and as far as I see it's better than the new version.

The Enhanced Edition on gog includes the original version.

I like BG2 a lot but would not pay $20 ($40 for both) for a 15-17 year old game. Investing in an eye patch and parrot companion seems a better path if beamdog/bio want to screw people over like that.

True, but sometimes they are selling it much cheaper (I bought mine EE editions when they started selling Dragonspear and cut EE 50% IIRC).

Yeah, I'd recommend waiting for another big sale on gog (they usually have one in winter). It's likely that old rpgs will be offered as bundles again.

 

[oldmanpaco]

So I'm going through the BWP/BGT and just realized RE doesn't give you an option for a Dryad orgy after returning the acorns! Why even install the mod?!

 

[Fargus]

Why even install the mod?!

To have some "hot" undead action with Bodhi in a coffin?

 

[Reinhardt]

To have some "hot" undead action with Bodhi in a coffin?

But Saerileth will die from broken heart in this case. Probably.

 

[Jason Liang]

So two weeks ago I spent about an hour installing and modding BG: EE with Big World Setup.

Then I tried to install Siege of Dragonspear today, and found out the hard way that I should have installed it first. So I decided to reinstall everything, including SoD and BG2: EE.

After I got all the mods to install on BG: EE using BWS and Modmerge, which took about an hour, I realized that I could install everything with the Enhanced Edition Trilogy setup instead of the BG: EE setup.

15 hours later, I've finally successfully installed and modded BG: EET (BG1:EE + SoD + BG2:EE + Ascension). I realized about 2 hours in that the best way to do this would be to install and mod BG:EE and BG2:EE separately, which is what I recommend, but I wanted to learn the hard way how to actually install BG: EET.

So now I can write this guide.

Guide to Installing and Modding Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, Siege of Dragonspear and Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition using Big World Setup for Newbies

Installing and modding BG: EE and BG2: EE can seem imposing and time consuming, but actually you can have an easier time with a helpful weidu frontend program called Big World Setup and the tips in this guide that you are reading.

If you don't know, weidu was the original program written by Wesley Weimer to modify and correctly organize mod components to the Infinity Engine's files, allow the game to be modded. Most mods today still use weidu to install mods.

You need to download the following programs:
BG: EE, latest patch
Siege of Dragonspear
BG2: EE, latest patch
modmerge.exe
Big World Setup

Steps
0. Clean install of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, Siege of Dragonspear and Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition
0.b. Run modmerge.exe
1. Run Big World Setup
1. b. Choose which mods to install
2. Download mods with Big World Setup
2. b. Download missing mods manually
3. Extract essential mods to your game folders
4. Extract other mods with Big World Setup
5. Patch your installation with Big World Setup, MINIMUM INSTALL ONLY
6. Patch your installation manually with weidu

Detailed Instructions
Pre-BWS
1. Install BG: EE
2. Patch BG: EE
3. Install Siege of Dragonspear
4. Install BG2: EE
5. Patch BG2: EE
6. Download and extract modmerge.exe. Move it to your BG: EE game folder (the folder that has chitin.key)
7. Run modmerge.exe - this extracts SoD's files so that BG: EE+SoD can be modded

Downloading Mods
8. Run BWS

Now you have 2 choices:
a) The MUCH easier and recommended choice is to treat modding BG: EE and BG2: EE as two separate operations. This will save a lot of headache.
b) The MUCH more difficult choice is to try to mod BG: EE and BG2: EE together using Enhanced Edition Trilogy.

When you run BWS, the first option it gives you is a) or b)

UPDATE: EET is buggy as hell. Don't patch your game through EET; just patch your games as two seperate games.
To install big mods like Dark Side of the Sword Coast you'll need to install EET (since DSotSC based off BGT) but otherwise EET isn't worth the trouble.

In BWS, in the main menu, modify BG: EE with the first option, and then modify BG2: EE with the second option, BG2: EE only.

9. BWS can automatically download the mods for you, but if a download fails, you'll have to download that mod manually.
You can use BWS as an index to browse which mods currently work with the Enhanced Editions.

Here are the mods that I recommend:

Core Game Improvements (Definitely get these mods):

Big World Text pack (mandatory)
Big World Install pack (mandatory)
Enhanced Edition Trilogy master mod (mandatory for Enhanced Edition Trilogy install)
Big World Fixpack (mandatory for Enhanced Edition Trilogy install)
Enhanced Edition Trilogy tweaks
Tweaks Anthology - This has many of the "classic" BG2 mods like Balderash's multiple strongholds, female Edwina, etc...

Sword Coast Strategems - improves the AI
Ascension - improves Throne of Bhaal portion of BG2: EE
Jimfix tweak patch- you need this to get SCS to work with Ascension. Otherwise, you must turn off smarter Abazigal and smarter Solars from SCS.

Baldur's Gate 1: Unifinished Business
Unifinished Business (for Baldur's Gate 2)
Banter packs
IEP Banters
Neera mod - this gives Neera and Ashrad content similar to Dorn

Recommended Mods:

Quest mods:
Baldur's Gate quest pack
Baldur's Gate 2 quest pack
Baldur's Gate 1 romantic encounters (only for Girdle of Masculinity/ Feminity reactions, the rest of the mod just adds smut to the game)

Baldur's Gate 1 NPC project - this makes several changes, including allowing you to recruit late-game companions earlier (Eldoth, Quayle and Tiax, and optionally Alora) and also it allows you to visit Cloakwood Forest 1 (for Coran) and/ or Cloakwood Forest 2, 3 and 4 (for Feldorn and Coran's wyvern quest) in chapter 1. It also adds banter to BG1 companions.

NPC mods:
Finch NPC - has a useful book bag!
Isra NPC
Isra NPC (for BG2)
Keto NPC (for BG2)
These are the best of the NPC mods, you can add others if you like.
cross mod banter pack- this gives Finch, Isra, Keto and other non-BioWare/ Beamdog companions banter with each other

Class specific mods:
Animal Companion mod - install only if your PC is a Ranger or Druid. This gives your Ranger PC an animal companion.
UPDATE: This mod was just updated to work with multiclass Ranger Clerics and Fighter Druids!

Rogue Rebalancing mod- install only if your PC is a Thief or Bard. Also this mod doesn't really affect anything in BG1 so I would only install this for BG2.

10. BWS Analysis
Once you've made a package of the mods and components you'd like to patch, BWS will run a diagnostic and show you which mods are incompatible with each other, and which other mods you must download to get your package working.

11. BWS mod download
Next BWS will proceed to download the mods for you automatically. If a download fails, BWS will send you directly to the download page so you can download the mod yourself.

12. Manual mod download
If that doesn't work, you can try finding the mod online yourself. A majority of IE mods are hosted at
spellholdstudios.net (Enhanced Edition Trilogy)
gibberlings3.net (Sword Coast Stratagems, BG1 NPC project, Banter pack, crossmod banter pack)
pocketplane.net (Unfinished Business, Quest pack, Keto)
or you can search Beamdog's forums for download links

The mods that you manually download will probably not match the format BWS is looking for. BWS prefers zip format files and also the latest version, even beta versions. However, you can override BWS to use the version that you've got.

For example, the files from G3 are self-extracting .exe instead of zip files. DO NOT self-extract these files on your own! BWS installation requires a clean WEIDU log and if you run the .exe it will path the game with weidu. Instead, just point BWS to the .exe file and BWS will extract the mod files without any problems.

13. Extract manually downloaded mandatory mods
BWS will automatically extract most mod files automatically to your game folder. However, for some reason, you MUST extract manually downloaded mandtory mod packs to your game folder FIRST. If you do not do this, BWS will quit and you will have to completely reinstall the game from scratch. So if you downloaded any of these manually, you must extract them to your game folder on your own before you try to patch the game with BWS:

Big World Text pack
Big World Install pack
Enhanced Edition Trilogy master mod - to both BG: EE and BG2: EE folder
Big World Fixpack - to both BG: EE and BG2: EE folder
Ascension - to BG2: EE folder only

14. Use BWS to extract all other mod packs

15. Weidu Patching with BWS
Once all the mod pack files have been extracted to the right game folders, you can now run BWS to patch the game with weidu. Hopefully everything works!

UPDATE: After I reinstalled, I realized NPC Project wasn't working properly. I just spent the whole day trying to figure out how to fix it. Finally I reinstalled all my mods manually and it works. So, fuck BWS for installing, just install all your mods manually, much easier.

UPDATE 2: After I did my manual install, Finch's scripts were fucked up. So I spent a second day figuring out how to fix that. Finally I tried installing the minimum with BWS, and then installing all the other mods manually. Now both NPC Project, Finch AND SoD work.

15. Use BWS to install the minimum+BG1 Quest Pack
This is just Big World Install pack, Big World Text pack and Big World Fix pack. Also install BG1 Quest Pack so that the fix pack runs, which will hotfix patch all your mods.

16. Patch your mods with Big World Fix Pack
After you've extracted all your mods, but before you install them, you should run the lastest version of the Big World Fix pack to patch your mods. The big one that needs this is Sword Coast Stratagems; SCS can't installed in EE without being patched.

16. Install your mods manually
The proper order to install is quest mods first, then Banter mods, then NPC mods, and finally tactical mods (like SCS) and rule tweaks.
So, for BG: EE, my install was
1. Clean install
2. Modmerge
3. BWS download and extract mods
4. BWS Minimum Install
5. BG1 Quest Pack (install with BWS)
- here we install manually with weidu
6. BG1 NPC Project (BWS does NOT install this correctly somehow)
7. BG1 Romantic Encounters
8. Finch NPC
9. Isra NPC
10. Neera Expansion
11. BG1 Unfinished Business
12. Sword Coast Stratagems
13. Animal Companion mod

17. Check to see all your mods are working correctly
Before you start to play, make sure all your mods are working.
a. Take Imoen to the ambush site. If you don't get a dialogue about burying Gorian's body, NPC Project isn't working properly.
b. If Carado assassin in Candlekeep doesn't apply poison, SCS isn't working properly.
c. You can find Finch in Candlekeep's inner courtyard if Finch installed properly. Make sure her name string is correct.

If all else fails, just use BWS to browse download and extract the mods. You can manually install the mods with weidu yourself. BWS just simplifies the process by installing the mods in the correct order, but you can do some research to figure out the correct install order for your package by youself.

 

[Reinhardt]

These are the best of the NPC mods

 

[MediantSamuel]

Good effort, Jason Liang.

Have to disagree regarding Neera, though. Awful npc.

Also, Isra is one of the blandest self-inserts ever. Aggressively bland.

 

[Sizzle]

Haven't played modded BG2 in years, but some of the better NPC mods out there that haven't been mentioned: Angelo, Dace, Kelsey, Kivan, Nephele, Valen, Irenicus, Xan.

Many of these will, of course, come down to personal preference (for example, I know how much Domi's mods are hated around here, so many will probably dislike her Kivan), but these are some of the better done and thought out ones.

 

[Jason Liang]

Good effort, Jason Liang.

Have to disagree regarding Neera, though. Awful npc.

Also, Isra is one of the blandest self-inserts ever. Aggressively bland.

Neera isn't an NPC mod. Unfortuntely, she isn't optional. However, there is a mod to mod Neera OUT of the game... But as bad as she is, she's still better than Dynabitch, if you can't have Edwin for alignment reasons.

Isra helped me take down Greywolf, so she's pretty useful. Also she carries over to BG2 which is kind of cool. Hey, they can't all be Finch or Keto.

 

[Reinhardt]

I liked only one npc mod for bg. I don't remember her name, but she was present only in first game, not voiced, not romanceable, didn't talked too much and had no jarring music when she open her mouth.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Guide to Installing and Modding Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, Siege of Dragonspear and Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition

 

[Jason Liang]

These are the best of the NPC mods

You can't use BWS to install Saerileth for BG: EET. She's not listed as a downloadable component.

 

[Grunker]

Guide to Installing and Modding Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, Siege of Dragonspear and Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition

With EET, the EE's are very close to being strictly surperior to the old versions (barring aesthetic UI aversions). I realize the Codex hates the EE's (hell, I practically started the hate), but with several years of modding, the mod content for the EE's is pretty much superior. I haven't played Siege of Dragonspear yet (saving it for two small compatability issues being resolved), but the people I trust say it's pretty good gameplay-wise.

The only major lacking gameplay mod is Level1NPCs, and not many people use that (I can't play BG without it, unfortunately, so I'm still stuck on the old versions). The rest are pretty much compatible. Even EET is close to being compatible with all relevant mods, it just lacks Item Randomiser and some other misc stuff.

 

[Grunker]

For NPC mods, my favourite is probably Kulyok's Ninde: http://www.spellholdstudios.net/ie/ninde

Though I use an alternate portrait because that shit is fugly

 

[agris]

The only major lacking gameplay mod is Level1NPCs, and not many people use that (I can't play BG without it

Same, it's a shame L1NPCs hasn't been updated. I also don't think Infinity Animations is supported by the EEs, is it? And do the palette swaps in aTweaks / rogue rebalancing work? Lastly, the EE UI is ugly as hell. I wish there were 1:1 BG1/BG2/IWD1 UI mods for them. The new journal in SoD and ultra low resolution spell icons in the priest/mage spellbooks are also unconscionable.

 

[Jason Liang]

I haven't gotten to BG2:EE yet, but in BG:EE whenever you recruit a new companion, they start at minimum level (usually level 2, sometimes level 1) and then they get a bonus xp dump, so you get to choose all their proficiencies and such, and get max hp if you turn that option on. Not sure if that is a basic feature in EE or if it's in one of the mods I'm using, but the functionality is already implemented.

 

[Grunker]

I must admit I thought most of IA's stuff was taken care off through the graphical overhaul and core updates to the engine. The EE UI is ugly, as I wrote, but IMO the extra content + new mods + some functionality (like journal) more than make up for it. YMMV. If the Randomiser and Level1NPC were EET compatible, I would be on that shit

 

[Grunker]

I haven't gotten to BG2:EE yet, but in BG:EE whenever you recruit a new companion, they start at minimum level (usually level 2, sometimes level 1) and then they get a bonus xp dump, so you get to choose all their proficiencies and such, and get max hp if you turn that option on. Not sure if that is a basic feature in EE or if it's in one of the mods I'm using, but the functionality is already implemented.

You can get that in the old games with BG2 Tweak ("ToB Style NPCS"), but that's very far from Level1NPCs. Level1NPCs gives you FULL control over party customization. If you really wanted, you could make Minsc a Sorcerer with 10 in all attributes and the ability to dual wield flails.

Personally, I use it to simply optimize the party members I use so I can crank the SCS difficulty up to one million.

 

[Jason Liang]

Um... doesn't Keeper let you do that? I don't use Keeper, so I don't know.

Or you could just create your entire party.

 

[Grunker]

Um... doesn't Keeper let you do that? I don't use Keeper, so I don't know.

Nope

Or you could just create your entire party.

I could also just play without mods at all or play another game. What's your point?

EDIT: Mine is that one of the main reasons I play RPGs is character customization.

 

[Jason Liang]

Guide to Installing and Modding Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, Siege of Dragonspear and Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition

Without Enhanced Edition, you can't use the new official companions like Dorn and Neera, and you wont be able to play SoD either.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Is there already World of Baldur's Gate for EE version of BG1+2+IWD? No? Then it might as well not exist...

 

[agris]

I haven't gotten to BG2:EE yet, but in BG:EE whenever you recruit a new companion, they start at minimum level (usually level 2, sometimes level 1) and then they get a bonus xp dump, so you get to choose all their proficiencies and such, and get max hp if you turn that option on. Not sure if that is a basic feature in EE or if it's in one of the mods I'm using, but the functionality is already implemented.

That's the least important function of L1NPCs. You can reassign any NPC to any race/class and modify the attributes and proficiency. The way L1NPCs handles it ensures that the HP/saves/spells etc are correct when you meet the NPCs which, yes, will be at level 1.

If you modify existing NPCs via EE/Shadow Keeper, to change race/class, you have to manually fix the saves and HP. L1NPCs is far more elegant. Add to it that you can completely automate the L1NPC input process by feeding the L1NPC-weidu.exe a properly formatted text file via command line, it's also much much faster than doing the equivalent via the Keepers.

 

[agris]

Um... doesn't Keeper let you do that? I don't use Keeper, so I don't know.

Nope

Or you could just create your entire party.

I could also just play without mods at all or play another game. What's your point?

EDIT: Mine is that one of the main reasons I play RPGs is character customization.

Whoops, just saw this.

Yeah, the type of L1NPC customization Grunker and I are talking about are for the 50th playthrough types who want to experience different party builds while maintaining access to NPC content/quests.

Tho Grunker, the EE NPCs are objectively horrible as is their BG1:EE map art. I'm surprised you list that content as a bonus.

 

[Reinhardt]

Without Enhanced Edition, you can't use the new official companions like Dorn and Neera

So what?