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Please Help! Complete modding newbie


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#1 jrhyder

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Posted 29 December 2016 - 09:17 AM

Help! :crying: I've never done any programming in my life and I need someone who has experience and can explain how I can apply mods. I checked the forums, but it seems like most of you already have a basic level of understanding that I'm lacking. I'm not an idiot, but I have no experience, and that basically comes down to the same thing here. 

 

So I've been wanting to play Baldur's Gate for awhile now for nostalgia purposes, but I didn't really do anything about it until I randomly found the Nathaniel mod. I've also been looking at some of the other mods here and they look interesting to try out.

 

I bought the Enhanced Edition of Baldur's Gate 2 days ago, and then downloaded the Nathaniel mod, naively thinking that's all I had to do. I couldn't find him in the game, so I looked up the installation instructions and figured out I'd messed up.

 

I didn't even have a program that could open .rar files until I downloaded t-zip, but even then I didn't understand the instructions to "open the .exe file anywhere on your drive". I took that to mean as long as it was on my computer I could open it. Apparently, that's not the case  <_<

 

So then I tried hunting down the actual folders where the Baldur's Gate game and Infinity Engine game directory, but I wasn't actually sure what I was looking for, and every time I tried opening the .exe file, I got an error saying that it was not in a game directory. So then I downloaded EE Keeper from Soulforge because I figured that might help. Only EE Keeper didn't know where my Baldur's Gate was on my computer either. 

 

So that's where I'm at: Downloads of EE Keeper, Nathaniel mod, and Baldur's Gate, and no idea how to put them together. Heck, I didn't realize how hard it was to even find the C/: drive on Windows 10 until trying all this tomfoolery, and I've developed a healthy dislike for Cortana as a result. 

 

Please please please someone help me figure out how to do this. 


Edited by jrhyder, 29 December 2016 - 09:20 AM.


#2 agb1

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Posted 29 December 2016 - 09:19 AM

I suggest you start here:

 

https://forums.beamd...-for-windows/p1

 

Also:  Installing games in C: drive usually causes problems down the road.  I suggest you uninstall completely, then reinstall and specify a different install location on a drive other than C:  For example, I have an E: drive and I use E:\GOG\BG2EE as my install location.

 

 

EE Keeper is just a saved game editor.  You don't need it for installing mods.

 

Instead of t-zip, I use and recommend 7zip:  http://www.7-zip.org/download.html  (you probably want the second download link, for 64-bit Windows)

 

Once you install 7zip, you will be able to use it to open .zip packages, .rar packages and .7z packages, all of which are basically compressed folder formats often used to distribute mods.

 

Almost all mods are designed to be installed using Weimer's Dialog Utility (aka "WeiDU").  WeiDU is a program that reads a mod's "setup" script (usually named something like setup-modname.tp2 or just modname.tp2), and proceeds to follow the instructions in that script to copy various files into your game's override folder and patch various existing game files.  Many mods are packaged with a setup-modname.exe that is actually just the WeiDU program (originally weidu.exe), renamed to setup-modname.exe.  By renaming the weidu.exe to setup-modname.exe, the program automatically looks for a corresponding setup-modname.tp2 or modname.tp2 file in the game folder or in a directory called modname inside the game folder (e.g., setup-nathaniel.exe would recognize an install script file at nathaniel/setup-nathaniel.tp2).

 

Therefore, if you correctly unpacked a mod into your game folder, the new mod folder should be sitting in your game folder itself (at the same level as the data and override folders, not inside them).  And there should be a setup-modname.exe also in your game folder, with the modname matching the folder name.

 

Some mods have a containing folder in the zip/rar/7z package, like modname-v123.  You don't need that containing folder, just the files and folders at the same level as the setup-exe.  So, for example, if the mod contains:

 

modname-v123/

modname-v123/mod_folder

modname-v123/setup-mod_folder.exe

 

Then you would copy mod_folder and setup-mod_folder.exe directly to your game folder, without the modname-v123 folder.

Edited by agb1, 29 December 2016 - 09:31 AM.

BiG World Fixpack (community collection of mod fixes and compatibility patches, with user-friendly cross-platform script)

 

BiG World Setup (tool to automate best-practice installation of Infinity Engine mods on Windows, with conflict analysis)

Latest version:    https://bitbucket.or.../get/master.zip


#3 jrhyder

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Posted 29 December 2016 - 09:41 AM

Thank you. I'm sure that was a great explanation. I will try to follow your instructions exactly... but I don't really understand half of them. Could you dumb it down a bit more please? 



#4 Roxanne

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Posted 29 December 2016 - 09:47 AM

 Installing games in C: drive usually causes problems down the road.

Not really (talking of windows 10, 64 bit, which I use myself).

Installing games in C:\programme files... or similar (which is what that game installation selects per default) causes problems because of some protections applied to that path)

 

I have all my stuff on C; like C:\BaldurEET\BG1EE and C:\BaldurEET\BG2EE without any problem.

 

Nathaniel mod rar contains a folder named *nathaniel* and a file named *setup-nathaniel.exe",

Those two are extracted into the BG2EE folder. Afterwards you go to that folder and start the *setup-nathaniel.exe", It will open a console window that asks you some questions and finally installs the mod.

If you did it right you get a *Nathaniel successfully installed* at the end


Edited by Roxanne, 29 December 2016 - 09:48 AM.

The Sandrah Saga

another piece of *buggy, cheesy, unbalanced junk*

 


#5 agb1

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Posted 29 December 2016 - 09:49 AM

Edit:  Follow Roxanne's suggestion above.


Edited by agb1, 29 December 2016 - 09:50 AM.

BiG World Fixpack (community collection of mod fixes and compatibility patches, with user-friendly cross-platform script)

 

BiG World Setup (tool to automate best-practice installation of Infinity Engine mods on Windows, with conflict analysis)

Latest version:    https://bitbucket.or.../get/master.zip


#6 jrhyder

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Posted 29 December 2016 - 10:29 AM

Can I re-install the Extended Edition without having to buy it again? It was an online purchase and I didn't save it to cd's or flashdrive. 

 

Also, do I have to un-install everything first? And how do I know it's all been uninstalled? 


Edited by jrhyder, 29 December 2016 - 10:33 AM.


#7 agb1

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Posted 29 December 2016 - 10:32 AM

Yes, you can download it again.


BiG World Fixpack (community collection of mod fixes and compatibility patches, with user-friendly cross-platform script)

 

BiG World Setup (tool to automate best-practice installation of Infinity Engine mods on Windows, with conflict analysis)

Latest version:    https://bitbucket.or.../get/master.zip


#8 The Imp

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Posted 29 December 2016 - 11:02 AM

Can I re-install the Extended Edition without having to buy it again? It was an online purchase and I didn't save it to cd's or flashdrive.
The online purchase sites all have profile based purchases, and you can usually download the games as many times as you like using the same profile. Of course the profile is meant to be personal, so you can't have the same profile online in multiple machines ... so like said already by agb1, you just need to uninstall and download the game again. The Steam and GoG also might feature a "check the file integrity" option that can revert the game back to non-moded state without the need to uninstall nor download.
And how do I know it's all been uninstalled? 
You uninstall the game, and then after remove the game directory. There's no need to uninstall any of the mods as removing the game folders content that the games own uninstall won't remove, removes the mod added content. From your game and the computer.

Edited by The Imp, 29 December 2016 - 11:09 AM.

Yep, Jarno Mikkola. my Mega Mod FAQ. Use of the BWS, and how to use it(scroll down that post a bit). 
OK, desert dweller, welcome to the sanity, you are free to search for the limit, it's out there, we drew it in the sand. Ouh, actually it was still snow then.. but anyways.


#9 jrhyder

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Posted 29 December 2016 - 11:48 AM

Okay, I reinstalled the game in a new folder labeled BaldurEE. Then I put the Nathaniel rar in that folder before extracting it. I get the same error as last time. 

 

This is the error I get: 

 

[C:\BaldurEE\Setup-Nathaniel.exe] WeiDU version 23500

 
Please run this program in your Infinity Engine game directory.
 
FATAL ERROR: Failure("Not a game directory")
 
Press ENTER to exit.

Edited by jrhyder, 29 December 2016 - 11:52 AM.


#10 jrhyder

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Posted 29 December 2016 - 11:49 AM

I have no idea what a game directory is or how I find it, btw. I'm assuming that's where all the files for the game are kept, but that's just a guess. 

 

UPDATE: Whoohoo! I figured it out! Thank you so much guys! Any suggestions on other mods I might like to try, now that I know how to install them? I saw something about flaming swords and shapeshifting, and I'd love to have a wider variety of portraits to choose from for the mc. 


Edited by jrhyder, 29 December 2016 - 12:03 PM.


#11 agb1

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Posted 29 December 2016 - 11:56 AM

Yes, game directory = folder containing all game files.

Right-click on the shortcut you use to launch the game, choose properties, and then press the button at the bottom of the properties window to "open file location" or "open containing folder."

Also note the path displayed in the properties window for the shortcut. It should be pointing to a program named Baldur.exe, which will be in your game directory.

BiG World Fixpack (community collection of mod fixes and compatibility patches, with user-friendly cross-platform script)

 

BiG World Setup (tool to automate best-practice installation of Infinity Engine mods on Windows, with conflict analysis)

Latest version:    https://bitbucket.or.../get/master.zip


#12 Roxanne

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Posted 29 December 2016 - 11:57 AM

Okay, I reinstalled the game in a new folder labeled BaldurEE. Then I put the Nathaniel rar in that folder before extracting it. I get the same error as last time. 

 

This is the error I get: 

 

[C:\BaldurEE\Setup-Nathaniel.exe] WeiDU version 23500

 
Please run this program in your Infinity Engine game directory.
 
FATAL ERROR: Failure("Not a game directory")
 
Press ENTER to exit.

You keep the Nathaniel.rar in whatever download directory you have it in. You do extract to....and select the BaldurEE as the target, Then you change to the BaldurEE directory to find the setup-Nathaniel.exe and start it there.

 

(To find the game directory right click on the icon to start the game with and select properties It tells you where the baldur.exe is located = this is the game directory) You also should have a button there to open the path directly.)


Edited by Roxanne, 29 December 2016 - 12:01 PM.

The Sandrah Saga

another piece of *buggy, cheesy, unbalanced junk*

 


#13 agb1

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Posted 29 December 2016 - 12:01 PM

That seems to be what he did, Roxanne, according to the log snippet shown. However it seems that Baldur.exe and the other game files are not actually in C:\BaldurEE.

BiG World Fixpack (community collection of mod fixes and compatibility patches, with user-friendly cross-platform script)

 

BiG World Setup (tool to automate best-practice installation of Infinity Engine mods on Windows, with conflict analysis)

Latest version:    https://bitbucket.or.../get/master.zip


#14 Roxanne

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Posted 29 December 2016 - 12:04 PM

That seems to be what he did, Roxanne, according to the log snippet shown. However it seems that Baldur.exe and the other game files are not actually in C:\BaldurEE.

Most likely they will be one level down in C:\BaldurEE\BG2EE (or whatever name the install gives it per default) unless you force it to use the given one.


Edited by Roxanne, 29 December 2016 - 12:05 PM.

The Sandrah Saga

another piece of *buggy, cheesy, unbalanced junk*

 


#15 jrhyder

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Posted 29 December 2016 - 12:05 PM

I have no idea what a game directory is or how I find it, btw. I'm assuming that's where all the files for the game are kept, but that's just a guess. 

 

UPDATE: Whoohoo! I figured it out! Thank you so much guys! Any suggestions on other mods I might like to try, now that I know how to install them? I saw something about flaming swords and shapeshifting, and I'd love to have a wider variety of portraits to choose from for the mc. 

 

I think the problem was I just hadn't gone deep enough into the folders. 



#16 agb1

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Posted 29 December 2016 - 12:15 PM

Look at the first link from my first reply above. BiG World Setup (BWS) is an alternative to installing mods manually and will give you a comprehensive list of options, plus it takes care of patches and recommended installation order.

BiG World Fixpack (community collection of mod fixes and compatibility patches, with user-friendly cross-platform script)

 

BiG World Setup (tool to automate best-practice installation of Infinity Engine mods on Windows, with conflict analysis)

Latest version:    https://bitbucket.or.../get/master.zip