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Questions About Adjusting My BWS Install


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#1 Torvald

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Posted 17 May 2015 - 03:04 PM

It has been many years since played a modded version of the original Baldur's Gate games, but I recently finished Pillars Of Eternity and wanted to give BG/BG2 a try again.  My past modding experience was of the manual kind, where you had to research each individual mod, separately download each one, and then figure out on your own which install order to use, etc.

 

Well, this time I thought I'd try a semi-automated BWS install.  May have bitten off more than I was expecting, but you never know until you try.  At any rate, I went with a BGT setup using the recommended list of mods, plus a few minor tweaks in the settings.  It took over 24 hours to complete the entire process, with about fifteen mods that either wouldn't download or install, but the game seems to start okay once BWS finished.

 

With that said, I have several questions:

 

1.  Now that my BWS install is complete, is it possible to install any additional mods or is it too late?

 

2.  For example, my BWS install tried, but failed to install Item Revisions v3 Beta 1.1 (it was not found during the download phase).  I was later able to manually download a copy of the earlier Item Revisions v2.   Is it possible for me to manually install this v2 version now that my BWS install is complete, or will that mess it up?

 

3.  I also wanted to install the W-packmule mod, but that wasn't listed as an available mod in BWS.  Can I manually install that mod now?

 

4.  Also, when I installed igi's mod "Learn Through Use", I think I may have guessed too low at the number of successful hits with a weapon to earn proficiency stars. (50=1, 125=2, 200=3, 275=4, and 350=5).  Is it possible to manually re-install this mod now to insert different/higher thresholds for earning weapon proficiency stars?  If possible, does anyone have a recommendation on what higher numbers I should use?

 

5.  My weidu.log shows the widescreen mod was installed, but my game does not seem to be expanding to fill up my entire monitor screen.  Is it possible to manually re-install this mod, and if so, what settings should I enter?

 

Thanks.


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#2 The Imp

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Posted 17 May 2015 - 03:56 PM

5.  My weidu.log shows the widescreen mod was installed, but my game does not seem to be expanding to fill up my entire monitor screen.  Is it possible to manually re-install this mod, and if so, what settings should I enter?

What do you mean with this ? Did you start the adventure or did you just look around the menus ?

EDIT:The menus are not expanded, well this was technically wrong, the menues are expanded, but as the art assets do not exist to cover the whole of the expanded area, they are surrounded by black borders just like the in game areas that do not cover the whole of the expanded environment, but for example the main Canblekeep area should cover the whole monitor... as it's about 5120x4000...whatever. Or is your Graphic card cutting the image to a smaller than it's meant to be (usually a visible window) ? Then cut that off with the GPU control Panel(NVidia Cotrol Panel, ATI Catalyst Control Panel) from the scaling options... or if you don't have the option to alter the screen scaling, and you don't wish to get a better graphic card ... :P ... you have to play the game with the 3D acceleration off, in which case you can't use the 1PP and other mods that require that, as the 3d acceleration is for what ever reason tied in your graphical card to the screen scaling, yes, the intels CPU's with integrated GPU's have this gigantic problem.


Edited by The Imp, 18 May 2015 - 08:49 PM.

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.


#3 Torvald

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Posted 18 May 2015 - 05:22 PM

The Imp,

 

I was very tired after finishing the complete BWS install last night, so I actually only looked around the beginning game menus and movies instead of venturing forth into the game areas.  Will try venturing forth tomorrow evening.

 

In the meantime, did you or anyone else have any feedback concerning my questions 1 thru 4 above?

 

Thanks.


"My wife says I have the body of a God - Buddha!"


#4 Bill Bisco

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Posted 18 May 2015 - 07:15 PM

Torvald,

 

You can reinstall any/all of your mods.  I think if you uninstall a mod, Weidu may reinstall the mods that came after it, so it may take some time.

 

You're welcome to install more mods on top of the BWS, If they're small and unlikely to mess something up, you're probably fine.



#5 The Imp

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Posted 18 May 2015 - 08:33 PM

You can reinstall any/all of your mods. 

Well, there's a few restrictions for this, as the weidu.exe cannot chain uninstall mods that use a .bat to uninstall their biffing, meaning you cannot uninstall some of the large mods that still use the ancient approach to install their files.  Fortunately the BWS Trimpack should get rid of that code in the mods it knew it to be in them last year.


Edited by The Imp, 18 May 2015 - 08:54 PM.

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.


#6 Torvald

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Posted 19 May 2015 - 06:26 PM

Alien,

 

Thanks for the helpful feedback.  This was my first attempt at using BWS, so can really use all the advice I can get.

 

Thought it might mess up my BWS setup if I tried to re-tweak any of my installed mods, especially with the generalized biffing, but it was worth asking.

 

Even though my first BWS install took a whole day to complete, I will probably just try re-installing it again this weekend, especially now that I have figured out how and where to manually download seven of the mods that would not auto download. (Including Item Revisions v3 Beta 1.1)  Will probably deselect many of the added NPCs and character kits, though, since I probably won't use them and they'll just clutter up the game.

 

Based on a posting on Reddit, it looks like I was way off on my manual settings for the "Learn Through Use" mod.  They were recommending requiring 1,000 successful weapon hits to earn each star of weapon proficiency instead of the much lower numbers that I used.  I tried to register at the iimods website to read the forum messages and see what advice was posted there, but could not register.  Not sure why - perhaps those forums are no longer active.  Perhaps I should simply skip this mod for my second attempt at a BWS install, and just use EEKeeper if I need to adjust anything.

 

P.S.  When doing my first BWS install, I believe the "Recommended" BWP choice of mods was selected, with just a few extra tweaks chosen.  That included a really large package of mods, including BGT (and took a very long time to install).  In truth, I really only want to play a heavily modded game of BG2 (and to skip BG1 completely).  It looks like all I need to do for a BG2-only BWS mod setup is to not pre-install BG1/ToSC, and to then type a dash mark in the BWS setup menu when it asks where my BG1 folder is.  Is this correct, or am I missing something?

 

P.P.S.  I've looked in the BWS "Stores" mods section, but could not find a choice to customize my BWS install to use the packmule mod.  I see from my weidu.log file that it installed, though.  Any idea where in the "Choose Mods and Components" list that the packmule mod is mentioned?  


"My wife says I have the body of a God - Buddha!"


#7 -Torvald-

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Posted 20 May 2015 - 05:32 PM

Alien,

 

Thanks for pointing out there was a search box in the BWS installer menu.  I completely overlooked that feature at first, but am happily using it now.

 

A couple more quick questions before I do my BWS reinstall this weekend (BG2 only, this time): 

 

(1)  What is the basic difference between the "Standard" BWP version and the "Recommended" BWP version?  (They both look very similar to me)

 

(2)  The font being displayed in my current "Recommended" BWP install has a small font size that is hard to read.   What is the best, safest way to get a larger font size for my next install?

 

(3)  The Pack Mule mod sounded great, but I'm having second thoughts.  Have you ever used it yourself, and was it really helpful or just a nuisance?

 

Thanks in advance.



#8 dabus

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Posted 20 May 2015 - 09:21 PM

1) Recommended contains less content.
2) There is no option to only edit the font-size in the selection screen. The size is set per default for all text-items and almost no item has it changed afterwards.
So you could try to open Big World Setup\Includes\11_GUI.au3 and replace the 8 in GUISetFont(8, 400, 0, 'MS Sans Serif') line 11 with something bigger.
No guarantee that it will fit the space that is available since there's no calculation for that in the program.
When creating something like a button, you have some amount of pixels (100x20). Then you have your text that has to fit in that space and we tested if it fits when the texts were translations/available.
If your selected font is to big, it will be "leaving" the buttons assigned space / 100 pixels and be cut.
Maybe it would be easier to use a "magnifier"-program or lower the resolution of your monitor.

Edited by dabus, 20 May 2015 - 09:24 PM.

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#9 Torvald

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Posted 21 May 2015 - 05:46 PM

Guys,

 

Thanks for the great suggestions on ways to enlarge fonts.

 

Looking back through my computer files it seems that during my last manual mega mod installation back in 2013 I successfully used a font enlarger mod called BG2 Bigger Fonts v0.1, which my notes claim was designed to work in conjunction with the widescreen mod (it would have been installed immediately afterwards).  I believe the mod was obtained from Spellhold Studios, but searching through there tonight, it looks like although that mod still mentioned in the foums, the mod is no longer available for download.  (Fortunately, I still have a copy of it saved on my hard drive.)

 

Is anyone else familiar with this "BG2 Bigger Fonts" mod?

 

Also, is it possible to simply remove generalized biffing from my BWS install, tinker around with Big World Setup\Includes, the w_gui mod or some other font mod, and then manually running the generalized biffing mod afterwards when I'm satisfied with the font size?


Edited by Torvald, 21 May 2015 - 05:48 PM.

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#10 Bill Bisco

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Posted 21 May 2015 - 05:58 PM

Absolutely.  You can always run Generalized Biffing Later



#11 The Imp

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Posted 21 May 2015 - 09:10 PM

Absolutely. You can always run Generalized Biffing Later

What you mean to say is that the Generalized Biffing is safe to uninstall using the setup-Generalized_Biffing.exe, and that it can then be installed later back on also safely...

Is anyone else familiar with this "BG2 Bigger Fonts" mod?

It's still here. There's also the Delfosse's mod comparison thread... all you had to do was to use the word "fonts" in the forums (google site)search.


Edited by The Imp, 21 May 2015 - 09:10 PM.

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.


#12 Torvald

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Posted 22 May 2015 - 04:57 PM

The Imp,

 

My internet browser must have been acting weird last night, as I was totally unable to download the bigger fonts mod (or several other files) from SHS and kept getting error messages.  However, tonight, my browser works just fine when trying to download files from SHS.  Strange, but weird stuff happens sometimes.  Oh, well.

 

Hopefully my BWS install won't run too slow without generalized biffing, as I really do want to get a decent font enlarging mod installed and working well before I chance running the generalized biffing mod. 


"My wife says I have the body of a God - Buddha!"


#13 Torvald

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Posted 23 May 2015 - 05:42 AM

Alien,

 

I was just about to start my reinstall of BWS and saw your message that it's possible to install a larger font mod AFTER generalized biffing.

 

That's really good news, as my eyesight is not the best, and I'd sure hate to have to re-run the whole BWS install just to tinker with font mods.

 

Thank you very much!


"My wife says I have the body of a God - Buddha!"