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

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

I'm on a ton of caffiene so just skip anything irrelevant here:

1. Nothing in your mod list would cause stuttering by itself or in combination with the others. That said...

2. The 'new' 1pp (v4?) can be wonky, especially if you un/reinstall it or any component of it. The exe hack for the non-optional color palette expansion is a curiosity for me. It also hacks to get in the new avatars (female dwarves, etc). I have multiple BGT installs for testing and generally do not install anything that hacks my exe besides ToBEx.

3. Stuttering can be a memory issue. Many of SCS's scripts are assfuckingly long, and biffing won't help this at all.

4. BGT biffs only what would be considered 'core' files -- things that later mods aren't likely to alter -- so your override folder will still be fat but not bloated enough to cause an issue with your current mods.

The first thing I'd do is do a clean install of the same mods except SCS, then cheat your way to the bandit camp and see if you can repeat the problem. I'll guess it won't happen.

If you need to know how to do multiple installs, it's a simple procedure. One cloned install of what you have will need about 5 gb, so you can have as many separate installs as you have space for.

Thanks! I've re-installed BGT and installed all mods excluding SCS and my old save runs much faster. Funnily enough, the 1pp glitches disappeared too.

3D acceleration still off, when it's on it lags extremely hard and I couldn't get D3D windower to run.

Guess the next step is to figure out which SCS elements make it so laggy and caused glitches with 1pp (with 3d acc off), hopefully I can keep the core ones like improved AI and pre-buffed enemy mages.

Ah fuck the slowdowns came back as soon as I ran into a sizeable enemy group, guess it's not SCS either. Guess it's my video card throwing fits at me, and the last viable option is D3Dwindower which grrrrrr doesn't work

 

[Lilura]

How is your Windows install, is your HDD really full and fragged? It might pay to do a defrag... do you have any resource-hogging apps running in the background?
As others have said, there's really nothing in your mod install that would cause slowdowns. SCS can make things jumpy at times when it spawns lots of enemies but its not game-breakingly bad.
You could try ditching BGT and using Tutu instead with SCS, I've never had problems with this combo on various systems.

 

[Average Manatee]

http://www.sorcerers.net/forums/showthread.php?p=690166

Here are my tips for improving IWD2 experience with Windows 7.

Since Windows 7 does not allow DirectX hardware acceleration to be disabled, I have found two ways around this.

1) By using Compatibility Administrator program (in Start, search box, type "compatibility" and it should appear, otherwise you may need to download it from Microsoft website. Then, under Custom databases, right click on a new database, and select Create new -> Application fix. Browse to IWD2 folder and select iwd2.exe file, and make sure in the further steps to check the "Force DirectDraw Emulation" box. This immediately improved the speed, but on my machine it still slowed down after some minutes into gameplay, so I applied the second solution.

2) Download the latest DirectX SDK from Microsoft, and when installing, select only the DirectX Utilities (and Redist - required for tools). Then in Start -> SDK -> Utilites, open DirectX Control Panel. In there check "Software Only" under Direct3D tab, uncheck "Use Hardware Acceleration" under Direct Draw tab, click Advanced Settings and uncheck Use Hardware Blit, Use Hardware Transparency and User Hardware Color Fill. This worked best on my machine.

Hope it helps.

Try this out. Sounds like you simply have problems running IE correctly, nothing to do with mods other than that they exacerbate the problem.

 

[Average Manatee]

Oh, and are you using lots of bags? Particularly, bags of holding with a ton of items in it? The IE engine, being made by dumbfucks, has quest-based scripts that constantly check your inventory. Which isn't a problem if you have the limit of 30 items or whatever the number is, but is a huge problem if you have a bag of holding with 1000 items in it. Also a stack of 1000 arrows apparently counts as 1000 separate items in BG-script speak, from what I've heard.

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

Thanks for the advice bros, unfortunately none of it helped.

No way to get around 3D acceleration screwing with me, and no way to uninstall 1pp without screwing over my savegame either.

Re-installing BG with old mods, now without 1pp...

 

[roshan]

I'm planning to play BG Trilogy, what are good new content mods to install, for both the BG1 and BG2 portions of the game? How are Tower of Deception and Secret of Bonehill?

 

[yes plz]

Is there a mod yet that allows you to use the Enhanced Edition's portraits in the regular game? Looking at the added NPCs, I know the portraits aren't particularly great but at least they seem to fit the artstyle of the game better than any portrait pack mod I've seen so far.

 

[Cromwell]

Dont want to open new thread. Can anyone just quicklist what mods I need, are recommende for bg1/2? The net is not sure if I should use tutu or not and what mods to use.

 

[Lorica]

What's your background? You playing them for the first time/as if for the first time or are you playing through for the 19th time looking for challenge and variety?

I'd start with BGT. With that alone, you don't *need* anything else.

EDIT: Also, why am I getting alerts for a random thread?

 

[waywardOne]

Dont want to open new thread. Can anyone just quicklist what mods I need, are recommende for bg1/2? The net is not sure if I should use tutu or not and what mods to use.

Minimalist is BGT + BG2 Fixpack.
Recommended adds SCS and BG2-Tweaks.

After that, it's personal preference.

 

[Cromwell]

What's your background? You playing them for the first time/as if for the first time or are you playing through for the 19th time looking for challenge and variety?

I'd start with BGT. With that alone, you don't *need* anything else.

EDIT: Also, why am I getting alerts for a random thread?

First Time, I was told there where mods with which I could play bg with bg2 ruleset , whatever that means but I was also told that this would be better. Although I dont know which mod that does. Aside from that there has to be a widescreen mod and I hope a mod which scales the ui like the one I used for torment.

Ive also read here that there is one which changes the gameplayand makes it more interesting magicfight wise, but im not sure if im good enough for this.

I dont really need extra content, just the basics "better graphics" and scaled uii but I dont know if there are any other mods which are so good that i simply have to use them.

 

[Jaesun]

OK if this is your first time I recommend:

BG2 Fixpack (Add this mod FIRST)
http://forums.gibberlings3.net/index.php?app=downloads&showfile=696

Then run BGT
http://www.shsforums.net/files/file/54-baldurs-gate-trilogy-weidu/

That's pretty much all you need (to see how the original games were like).

 

[80Maxwell08]

What's your background? You playing them for the first time/as if for the first time or are you playing through for the 19th time looking for challenge and variety?

I'd start with BGT. With that alone, you don't *need* anything else.

EDIT: Also, why am I getting alerts for a random thread?

First Time, I was told there where mods with which I could play bg with bg2 ruleset , whatever that means but I was also told that this would be better. Although I dont know which mod that does. Aside from that there has to be a widescreen mod and I hope a mod which scales the ui like the one I used for torment.

Ive also read here that there is one which changes the gameplayand makes it more interesting magicfight wise, but im not sure if im good enough for this.

I dont really need extra content, just the basics "better graphics" and scaled uii but I dont know if there are any other mods which are so good that i simply have to use them.

That BG2 ruleset mod is BGT I think unless I'm misunderstanding ruleset. Also you really don't want the widescreen mod for BG. I tried it a while ago and it was just really zoomed out and the textures didn't hold up at that distance. Just hurts the overall game. BGT and the fixpack like waywardOne mentions right above is fine. If you don't believe me on the widescreen part just try it for yourself and make the decision afterward.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Don't play BGT if you've never played BG-series before!

For BG2, get this:
http://www.gibberlings3.net/bg2fixpack/

For both, get this:
http://www.gibberlings3.net/widescreen/

The Widescreen mod works perfectly, I have no clue what 80Maxwell08 is bitching about. Maybe if you increase the resolution to some insane level. If you keep it at a reasonable 1280x1024 or something like that, it makes the game quite a bit better.

If you have the GOG-version, it's already been patched, otherwise you better patch the games.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Also there's no reason to install Tutu (or EasyTutu) any more, as it's outdated. Baldur's Gate Trilogy (BGT) is more up-to-date and runs better nowadays. Used to be buggy as shit, which is why folks who haven't kept up with its development instinctively recommend Tutu over BGT.

But you definitely want to play both games as close to vanilla as possible for the first time.

 

[mastroego]

I also got the Refinment mod for more HLA madness, it pretty much changes all of them into some pretty darn interesting stuff (and fairly balanced imo as well). Pure caster classes really seem closer to a decent option instead of going dual or multi with your PC.

I also use Refinements. Sure the changes come late in the game but they feel fitting.
And I'm playing with the fighter Kit right now. It's like a Kensai that focuses heavily on defense rather than offense (can even use bracers). I like it best for dualling to a mage (can't cast Necromancy spells though).

 

[groke]

I find the balders gate series is most evocative when it is brought stylistically in line with dragon age(bg3).

who could forget such memorable characters as:

 

[Cromwell]

Installed all that needs to be there. Now I have a scrolling problem, meaning my mouse didnt recognize the border of my first monitor and slips into the second one. Is there a known solution which didnt involve a extra programm, on the oh so smart net I found only things like coursor lock or mousecage for this issue.

 

[SwiftCrack]

Unfinished business 1 and 2 have some nice components too like restoring the nashkel poisoned ore quest

 

[Cromwell]

Unfinished business 1 and 2 have some nice components too like restoring the nashkel poisoned ore quest

I didnt install those two because I dont know the reason why it was left out in the first place, also I should have more enough to do with the core games.

 

[Lorica]

Don't play BGT if you've never played BG-series before!

I'm curious about this. I played BG and BGII vanilla after their respective releases and then BGT recently when I hankered for a replay. What do you think BGT ruins? Is it burnout you're worried about (adding kits and such in BGII certainly extends the life of the game)? Some sort of spoiler?

 

[Cromwell]

Don't play BGT if you've never played BG-series before!

I'm curious about this. I played BG and BGII vanilla after their respective releases and then BGT recently when I hankered for a replay. What do you think BGT ruins? Is it burnout you're worried about (adding kits and such in BGII certainly extends the life of the game)? Some sort of spoiler?

As you ask that, I installed bgt and now I can turn undead, is that bgt related and can I get that out somehow or do I have to ignore it? I thought it has to be bg2 related storywise or did I screw up and installed some idiotic mod?

 

[Lorica]

wat

I'm guessing the latter. What exactly happened?

 

[Cromwell]

Nothing happened I installed the mods started the game and had a turn undead option in my skillbar. I checked with various classes (since im not that familiar and wanted to see if it was class related) but I had it with all classes. So now I can be a undead on click. The only tweak I installed were the stackable tweaks (unlimited stacks on things) I left all the other stuff off because I dont know what exactly they do and dint wanna mess with the gameplay I feared there may be things which made it far to easy or some such.

So the two issues I have now is the turn undead (which I can ignore, im still curious about it) and the fact that I cant scroll properly to the right since my mouse hops into the second monitor even in fullscreen mode.

 

[Lorica]

I'm sorry, but have you actually clicked it? It's not the cleric/paladin class feature "Turn [Away] Undead"? You have it with all classes, like fighters and magic users? Is it useable with all classes or is it greyed out with most?