Baldur's Gate advice - BiG world

[Befuddled Halfling]

Never played more than an hour or so of BG2 ages ago (career pressure), now about to have two weeks in July to play, so I'm about to install ... and this comes up -

http://blog.fileplanet.com/2011/06/20/monday-mod-baldurs-gate-big-world-project/

Any advice on whether this sounds like something that would improve the overall experience, or should I just go with what God (/BioWare) intended, and go purist?

 

[SCO]

More trouble than it's worth, especially for a first timer.

Maybe install the fixpack.

PS: 2 weeks is not enough.

 

[Befuddled Halfling]

Thanks - do you think they did the new quests/companions in this mod badly? The widescreen bit sounds nice.

By two weeks (incl 3 weekends) I mean do nothing except play, eat and 6h sleep. Is that still not enough?? Any ways to force fit it into that sort of time without cheating (eg a thread with some no spoiler pro-tips) otherwise I know I'll do something stupid like finish DKS instead.

 

[Excidium]

That might be enough depending on how you play. Took longer for me, I think.

For BG2 just get the fix pack and widescreen mods: http://www.gibberlings3.net/

edit: I meant the fix pack, not the tweaks.

 

[Dele]

PS: 2 weeks is not enough.

lol bro clearly you dont play 15 hours a day like true gamers do

you'll finish the game in a week or less depending on how much you'll have to reload

 

[thesheeep]

I definitely recommend the Big World project, though I'd go with the recommended setting for safety.
Also, yeah, two weks for a full series playthrough with that mod is not enough.

But not for a first timer, that is true. Tweak pack and widescreen mod is enough here.

 

[Johannes]

For a first timer I recommend Sword Coast Strategems+Fixpack combo.

 

[Overweight Manatee]

Do you want to play just BG2, BG1, or both together? BiG World is mostly for BG1 + BG2 combined installations + lots of other mods. If you are only intent on playing BG2 you don't really need it (it forces the combined BG1 + BG2 installation which you won't need), but its still useful just for the autodownloading of mods and giving you installation order advice. For just BG1 its still nice because BG1 in the BG2 engine lets you use the new features.

Make sure you get the newest beta version Here. Old versions are completely unusable since they contain a lot of out of date mods they will have way more bugs/less features/are less compatible.

Go with the minimal option then go ahead and customize the installation to add a few important things. The fixpack I believe is forced to be installed no matter what. Widescreen mod is definitely a good thing. Sword Coast Strategems may be a bit too difficult for a first time play depending on your D&D/CRPG/IE engine mastery. I wouldn't recommend much else for a first time playthrough. Maybe BG1NPC mod. Definitely don't go with the recommended mod selection since it installs a lot of random shit, some of it of dubious quality and almost none of it important or good for a first playthrough.

EDIT: IIRC, BG2 gives you something like 1k XP every time you learn a spell/open a lock/etc. Which is fine for BG2, but in BG1 under the BG2 engine you start at a low level and its rather imblancing since 1k xp is half a level in BG1. There should be a mod under the BG2 tweaking section to fix this, but I can't remember what it was called.

 

[FatCat]

First time ALWAYS go with vanilla + fix-pack and few tweak's.

Widescreen mod http://athkatla.cob-bg.pl/viewtopic.php?t=3257
+
http://athkatla.cob-bg.pl/viewtopic.php?t=3257

And you have fine looking widescreen on vanilla BG1.

But if you will go modding , DON't GET TUTU , it fucks up original proficiencies and BGT fucks up some other things.+ imo BG1 and BG2 aren't meant to be played as one at all.

 

[ChristofferC]

Only mods you need are fixpack, widescreen mod and maybe spell revisions. Spell revisions gives you accurate spell descriptions (you can read them all at http://www.gibberlings3.net/readmes/rea ... tions.html) and rebalanced spells. If you decide to use spell revisions, also download the "hotfix" from the gibberlings3 forums http://forums.gibberlings3.net/index.ph ... opic=18487

 

[Ruprekt]

Back up your BG and BG2 directories after installing the official patches and no-cd.

It'll save aggravation in the long run

 

[FatCat]

Back up your BG and BG2 directories after installing the official patches and no-cd.

Just get GOG version from free market.

 

[SCO]

Back up your BG and BG2 directories after installing the official patches and no-cd.

It'll save aggravation in the long run

Yes, but in bg (and torment etc) you need to do more and copy some files over and edit a cfg file.

 

[KazikluBey]

00006a006a008b
0000e9ee030000

 

[Notorious]

Install gay mods to make it more Biowary


Seriously though it's a great game, but the mods I played were all kinda boring.(Including BWP) Ashes of Embers makes it more comfortable, though some might consider it cheating. (Was that the mod that allows infinite arrow/bolt/potion stacking? I don't remember)

I liked Unfinished Business too if you want added content, without changing too much of the main game.

 

[Overweight Manatee]

BG2 tweakpack can increase or make item stacks infinite. A few other mods may as well, but BG2 tweakpack is what should be used. Checking out some of the options it offers may be a good idea.

 

[waywardOne]

But if you will go modding , DON't GET TUTU , it fucks up original proficiencies and BGT fucks up some other things.+ imo BG1 and BG2 aren't meant to be played as one at all.

the kits, man. all those BG2 kits are completely imba in BG1.

 

[Ruprekt]

Well as 2010 newfag I only have the original cardboard sleeve version of BG

 

[zodden]

If its your first play through of BG2 I would go with the fix-pack and widescreen and follow BG2 with the expansion and leave it at that..More than enough for 2 weeks-the BWP will probably take more than 2 weeks I would say.