Archived from groups: alt.games.baldurs-gate (
More info?)
"tWinstar" <tWinstar@nospamfor.me> wrote in message
news:n5cAc.19226$k4.383502@news1.nokia.com...
> Oh, and other thing: Is it wise / necessary to install also these
> "Baldurdash bug fixes" (from http://www.baldurdash.org/ ) after I've
> installed the latest patches or are these needed only if playing
with mods
> or something?
>
> Are there any other patches/bug fixes/improvements I should be aware
of or
> are these (the games, patches & baldurdash fixes) all it takes to
play an
> bugfree & enjoyable game?
Tales of the Sword Coast includes ALL previous patches that were for
BG1 only. If you have TotSC, there is no need to include any BG1-only
patches.
Likewise, Throne of Bhaal includes ALL previous patches that were for
BG2 only.
Baldurdash - the "Bugfixes" are *extremely highly recommended*, and
apply to the vanilla game, not to mods. Make sure you get the right
ones, i.e. the ones that apply to Tales of the Sword Coast (you do NOT
need anything that applies to "BG1 only".) Likewise, if you have
Throne of Bhaal as well as BG2, then you ONLY need the Fixpack that
applies to Throne Of Bhaal.
In fact, most mods are predicated on people using Baldurdash Bugfixes,
although the mods also work without them.
There are also "Tweaks & Cheats", for both BG1 and BG2, but I do not
recommend using these - except for ONE of them in BG2, where I
recommend use of the Bonus Merchants (an official Bioware product: one
was released with the initial Pre-Order edition, a different one with
the Collector's Edition: the latter was also included in the "Throne
of Bhaal" expansion, and the former in at least one version of the
full BG2 + ToB collection, therefore they really ought to be
accessible to all players of the vanilla game
So the order for BG1 is:
BG1
Tales of the Sword Coast
Official TotSC Patches (1.3.5521 or 1.3.5512 depending on what version
of DirectX you have access to)
Baldurdash Bugfixes for TotSC (and may also use Dialogue Fixes too)
(Any other mods after this, but only on your SECOND or later play
through the game - play the first time the way it was meant, as a
vanilla game)
and the order for BG2 is:
BG2
Throne of Bhaal
Official ToB patch (2.5.26498 IIRC)
Baldurdash Bugfixes for ToB (may also use Dialogue Fixes too)
(any other mods after this only on the SECOND play through the game,
or possibly later - if you want them at all, which you may not: again,
play vanilla the first time).
I advise, in both games, generally playing on the *middle* difficulty
of the five difficulty levels (usually called "Core": although the
second of five is the one called "Normal", it's in fact easier than it
should be)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As for mods:
Very few actually enhance the game. A lot screw up game balance -
either they give absurdly powerful items too early, or they make
fights too absurdly hard too early (at least, for those of use who
usually play on Core difficulty, and do not WANT tougher fights).
Very few mods have been made for BG1, and those that are are generally
poorly designed. The infamous one is "Dark Side of the Sword Coast",
and this is SERIOUSLY not recommended.
For BG2, a lot more mods have been made. They seem to fall into three
major categories:
(1) Mods made using the "WeiDU" utility, by a variety of different
users
(2) Mods made by the "TeamBG" clan
(3) Smaller independent mods that haven't been converted to one or
other of the two main mod formats yet
TeamBG mods tend to be much larger in scale, but are often described
here as buggy (to be exact, "a buggered buggy bugfest with a side
order of buggalo wings"). Also, they generally do not interact well
with each other, unless you get a special version of one mod that was
made for a game in which the other had been previously installed, or a
combined version of all the mods. Check www.teambg.net for details.
WeiDU mods *do* interact well with each other generally, no matter
which order they are installed in. The exceptions being the
multi-romance and multi-stronghold mods which are an optional part of
the "Ease of Use" mod (which I really do NOT recommend). Also, they
generally come in several parts which do not all have to be installed
at once - generally they are mods of several smaller things each of
which is optional. Check www.weidu.org for details of the majority of
mods made with this utility: the actual creator of the WeiDU utility
has made several mods himself but also advertises (and in some cases
hosts) others.
One of the most highly regarded of all mods - for a *second* run
through the game - is "Ascension", by the former Bioware employee
David Gaider, originally in a different format but subsequently
converted to the more mod-compatibility-friendly WeiDU format by the
utility's creator, Wes Weimer.
Also check out the rest of the list of "known mods" from that
site: many of them can also be found at the websites of the Pocket
Plane Group (http://www.pocketplane.net/mambo/) or Forgotten Wars
Group (http://www.forgottenwars.net/), although these two clans have
been a bit preoccupied with ego clashes of late - originally they were
one, which split.
The "independent" mods, if they have not been converted to one of the
two major formats by a later author, are usually older and almost
invariably pretty much obsolete.
In fact, generally, I don't recommend using any non-WeiDU-format mods
at all. If you want to, then use just ONE (or a combination of TeamBG
mods made by that organisation - don't try to combine them yourself,
it won't work: also make sure you have the correct version of the mod,
whether it's for BG2-only or BG2-plus-ToB), and install it FIRST after
the Baldurdash Bugfixes. Install any WeiDU mods last - usually you can
install WeiDU mods in any order (although again, if you insist on Ease
of Use, which should really be called Ease of Cheat, then install that
first.)
Also, check the readme file for any mod. If it calls the mod a "TOTAL
CONVERSION", then it is not compatible with other mods, because it
intends to replace the entire content of the game with different
content. Not surprisingly, these mods are usually pretty large in
scale.
I don't recommend actually trying too many mods at once anyway. In
fact in four years of playing BG2, I've only ever used four or five
mods, and seldom more than once each. They include "Ascension", which
I mentioned before, which makes significant changes to the endgame of
Throne of Bhaal: and Jason Compton's "Kelsey" (currently hosted by the
Pocket Plane Group, see earlier), which adds one new NPC to the game -
a male sorcerer who can end up in a "romance" with a female
protagonist character (or indeed with one other specific
party-joinable NPC) - and a lot of new lines of dialogue, many of
which are rather fun.
Jonathan.
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