18 replies to this topic

[jakgrant]

Hi,

I'm not sure if I should be posting in this forum or the modding workshop forum section, anyway.

I really need some help when it comes to mod installation order for BG2. Every time I look at a forum, whether it be this one, pocketplane, sorcerers place, etc, everyone has a different idea of what mods to be installed and the order is always different. Or you have some people who hate the Big Picture et al, and prefer straight out Weidu, or vice versa. So I have yet to see a list of what is actually compatible with what, I asked on pocketplane forums for some help, but I seem to have got no answer I wouldn't say I was totally incompetent, when it comes to modding, and installing games. But like I said when each forum seems to have different views of what to install, it leaves me pretty confused, and the only reason I've never bothered with mods until now, is I have never had the hdd space available.

Anyway, what I really want to install is:
i) as many kits as possible, and yes I know there is a limit;
ii) as many npcs as possible;
iii) preferably the BP, as it uses TDD, and a whole host of others; and
iv) a lot of the Weidu stuff.

There are some npc's, kits, and mods, I wouldn't install, because some I think are just too munchkin.

What I want from what I have listed above, is something that expands the game play to a lot more hours, and gives me a wider range of npc's and quests to do. Under plain old BG2 and BG2:ToB I tend not to vary my party much, and do get tired of playing the same old kits time and time again.

If someone can give me a comprehensive skeleton of what should be installed when and where, I would greatly appreciate it.

For the moment, I do install BG2 -> ToB -> Official Patch -> Baldurdash Patch -> Collectors Edition CD Shopkeepers, in that order, though I probably should reverse the last two. But really when I don't know the order of the mods to install after that. I'm not really prepared to download gigabytes of mods, especially to find out, that a lot of them I won't be able to put together.

I also, would rather be told an expert skeleton mod install order, rather than a basic one for someone who hasn't played and installed many mods before.

Anyway, thanks for any help.

[GeN1e]

Here you can find desired information. As for your request "as much as possible" I can only say - beware. If you nave no experience with IE editing tools or don't know how IE works you will probably find yourself asking a couple of question like "why it doesn't work", and more than likely that you'll give up for playing mods.

Also many mods add powerful items avaliable at the very beginning (though for a price) which can make playing... well, boring would be proper term.

Edited by GeN1e, 01 August 2006 - 07:11 AM.

[seanas]

If someone can give me a comprehensive skeleton of what should be installed when and where, I would greatly appreciate it.

I also, would rather be told an expert skeleton mod install order, rather than a basic one for someone who hasn't played and installed many mods before.

comprehensive skeleton install order, either expert or basic, can be found here. updated today even. short of listing what yr planning on installing, there's not much else help to give - altho both BG2 Tweaks and BP add the bonus merchants - so if yr installing either of those mods, don't install the bonus merchants. and please, please, please don't use the old baldurdash patch - use the new weidu one or G3's soon-to-be released BG2 Fixpack. and make sure, when yr installing mods, that you've got the most recent versions: IEGMC is an excellent mirror for BG2 mods.

Edited by seanas, 02 August 2006 - 01:13 AM.

[ronin]

IEGMC link is here: http://america.iegmc.net/

seanas yours linked back to g3's fixpack.

ronin

[jakgrant]

Thanks guys, but hmm, the two forums posts of: A comprehensive Guide and BP-BGT-Weidu Installation Order really still don't help me either way really as to what can be installed. I think I'll just play one mod at a time and install 2 or 3 npc's and 2 or 3 kits at one time, til I find out what I like.

I do appreciate the advice and help, but like I said neither of those posts truly help. I do assume from the Comprehensive Guide post everything in there would supposedly be installed at step 8 in the BP-BGT-Weidu post :-/

But what I still don't know is where the rogue balancing should be put, if I rely on the BP-BGT-Weidu install order, I would assume between step 0 and step 1 or would it be between step 1 and 2 ?

I also don't know when any class kits or npcs should be installed that aren't in mods like TDD, et cetera. Do they also get put in between step 0 and step 1 of the BP-BGT-Weidu install order post ?

Sorry, if I'm being annoying, but this is the whole problem I walked into, with some mods being on pocketplane, some here, and what should and can be installed, is extremely confusing.

I understand your final point GeN1e about powerful items, et cetera, that's why there are certain mods, I'd not install, to me bottomless bags, et cetera are broken. Even in pen and paper ad&D there is a limit to a bag of holding.

Seanas, is there a reason why the bonus merchants shouldnt be installed ? :-/ I'm just curious as to why they shouldn't if I go and install a mass amount of mods from here. I kinda like having access to the robe of vecna and a few other items, even if they are cheesy

Oh, I assume Hubelpot and Tashia npcs are both weidu mods ? Or more to the point, is everything I find on Spellhold Studios a Weidu mod ? Because I know not everything on pocketplane is, and pocketplane definitely has a lot of npcs and kits I'd like to install, hence all my confusion.

I wish I'd had a decent size hdd back when all these mods were being properly developed, then I wouldn't be asking so many questions

[SConrad]

Oh, I assume Hubelpot and Tashia npcs are both weidu mods ?

Yes, they are.

If you wish to play Hubelpot, though, I recommend signing up for the beta-testing team. The new version is waaaay better than the old.

Or more to the point, is everything I find on Spellhold Studios a Weidu mod ? Because I know not everything on pocketplane is, and pocketplane definitely has a lot of npcs and kits I'd like to install, hence all my confusion.

Yes. As far as I can remember, we only have WeiDU mods.

[seanas]

Thanks guys, but hmm, the two forums posts of: A comprehensive Guide and BP-BGT-Weidu Installation Order really still don't help me either way really as to what can be installed. I think I'll just play one mod at a time and install 2 or 3 npc's and 2 or 3 kits at one time, til I find out what I like.

there is no list of 'what's best to install;' or 'what can be installed' - there're so many mods and so many mod combinations that it's impossible to provide such a list. the BP-BGT install order does provide the skeleton install guide you asked for, however.

But what I still don't know is where the rogue balancing should be put, if I rely on the BP-BGT-Weidu install order, I would assume between step 0 and step 1 or would it be between step 1 and 2 ?

in all honesty, if you've not installed many mods before, i'd install Rogue Rebalancing OR BP-BGT-weidu - which is another way of saying 'dont install rogue rebalancing with BP+ games unless you know what yr doing'.

I also don't know when any class kits or npcs should be installed that aren't in mods like TDD, et cetera. Do they also get put in between step 0 and step 1 of the BP-BGT-Weidu install order post ?

with BP+ games, everything that is not explicitly listed - kits, npcs, quests, whatever - goes at

step 6) Install ANY other mods you want here (hope they're truly WeiDU and don't ruin anything)

Sorry, if I'm being annoying, but this is the whole problem I walked into, with some mods being on pocketplane, some here, and what should and can be installed, is extremely confusing.

yep, there are hundreds and hundrds of mods - you've just gotta read up on everything you can find to work out what works and what doesn't. as i said - it simply isn't possible to construct a matrix listing every mod and its compatibility with every other mod and every possible mod combination - so you've gotta read as much as you can.

Seanas, is there a reason why the bonus merchants shouldnt be installed ? :-/ I'm just curious as to why they shouldn't if I go and install a mass amount of mods from here. I kinda like having access to the robe of vecna and a few other items, even if they are cheesy

because both BG2 Tweaks and BP install the bonus merchants as well, and do so in a manner that is mod friendly (which is not a promise you can make with the bonus cd).

Edited by seanas, 02 August 2006 - 02:32 AM.

[jakgrant]

Sorry about that post just now, forgot to log back in.

[seanas]

Regarding rogue rebalancing vs BP-BGT-Weidu what is better or does it not matter ? I assume BP-BGT-Weidu is the same as 5) BGT-WeiDU v1.01, and NeJ2-BGT compat patch if using both NEJ2 and BGT step ? and where would I find the NeJ2-BGT patch ? or is that the same as the NEJ2v602 patch ?

NEJ2 and CtB have some incompatibilities according to a post, so if I install one for the moment, I shouldn't install the other, I gather ? Or is there components I can choose not to install in one or both to make them compatible ?

no, with the rogue rebalancing - it's a choice of either one or more things on the BP-BGT install order OR rogue rebalancing. if you install NEJ2 or BGT or SoS or TDD or BP or RoT or CtB - then don't go near rogue rebalancing unless you know what yr doing. it's a shame - i quite like rogue rebalancing - but it's a very old mod and will break any of the BP+ family* of mods.

* the BP+ family, BP-BGT-weidu and BP-BGT-etc are all synonyms for 'that set of large mods you choose to install': once ppl start installing one large quest mod - whether it's BGT, TDD, CtB, etc - they generally don't stop; so we've tried to make sure that all of the really large mods - TDD, SoS, TS, NEJ2, CtB, RoT, BGT and BP - all play nicely together (or as nicely as possible). collectively, this set of mods is BP-BGT-weidu - the idea being that you can install some or all of them together and they'll work properly.

all the BP+ family, including all necessary components, can be found at http://america.iegmc.net - you might just have to poke around a bit. the incompatibilties between NEJ2 and CtB are in their core components - the incompatibility isn't huge, but yr best off choosing only one.

I think for the time being I'll just stick to this site's mods, that and download them off the iegmc mirror, and stay away from the pocketplane mods unless I know they're specifically Weidu.

all of the pocketplane mods are solid: all are weidu, all are up to date - i recommend them all, even the ones i don't use. same with gibberlings3 mods. as for what to isntall or not install - that really comes down to personal preference - you'll find 'what mods shold i use' threads on most BG2 forums, and i doubt any of them would say the same things.

Edited by seanas, 02 August 2006 - 03:32 AM.

[jakgrant]

*nods to all of Seanas' last post*

If I'm downloading from http://america.iegmc.net/ , I take it go to anything that is sos-weidu instead of sos, for starters ? and what is the difference between the nej, bp-nej and bp-bgt-nej folders, I'm confused about all of that, I've just been downloading from the nej folder, one of the files being over 300 mb, and I've already downloaded 100mb of that, if it's the wrong file, I'm going to have to start again :-/

The "BP-BGT-Weidu Installation Order, updated as necessary" thread, mentions NEJ2 biffer in step 2 ? is that actually a file or is that referring to the note below in the post saying what lines of the .TP2 file to delete ?

[ronin]

*nods to all of Seanas' last post*

If I'm downloading from http://america.iegmc.net/ , I take it go to anything that is sos-weidu instead of sos, for starters ? and what is the difference between the nej, bp-nej and bp-bgt-nej folders, I'm confused about all of that, I've just been downloading from the nej folder, one of the files being over 300 mb, and I've already downloaded 100mb of that, if it's the wrong file, I'm going to have to start again :-/

The "BP-BGT-Weidu Installation Order, updated as necessary" thread, mentions NEJ2 biffer in step 2 ? is that actually a file or is that referring to the note below in the post saying what lines of the .TP2 file to delete ?

In the mega install instructions it tells you which version of the mods you need to have. You do not want the sos, you definately want sos-weidu.

ronin

[jakgrant]

Wells, I've just about finished downloading all the files from the BP-BGT-Weidu Installation Order thread, but I'm not sure about whether I need all of the following from the BGT-Weidu folder, I'm using the canadian mirror, the US one was timing out for me :-/

BG1NPC-BGT-readme.html
BG1NPC-BGT-v11.exe
BG1NPC4BGTWeiduv111.rar
BG1NPCv112patch.rar
BGT101-Install.rar
BGTReadme.htm
BGTNeJ2_v1.rar
BGTNeJ2.txt
BGTTweak_v4.rar
BGTTweak.htm
IndiraNPC.htm
IndiraNPC_v72_BGT.rar
MulgoreXaviaNPC.txt
MulgoreXaviaNPC_v2_BGT.rar
Prologue_v3.rar
Prologue.txt
SirinesCall.html
SirinesCall_v43_BGT.rar

I have read some of the txt and html files, but I've downloaded BGT101-Install.rar, BGTNeJ2_v1.rar, and BGTTweak_v4.rar so far, do I need the others, and would I be correct to assume the BGTTweak_v4 is the same as BG2 Tweaks mentioned in the BP-BGT-Weidu Installation Order thread at step 8 ? Also where would I find the virtue mod, I didn't see a virtue folder on the mirror.

[jakgrant]

Okay I think I've got everything I wanted, I grabbed a couple of files from pocketplane mainly the unfinished business ones for BG1 and BG2, and virtue. I assume if I install all the patches in this order, it will work?

Full BG1 + BG2 series installs
Official Patches
Baldurdash-Weidu v1.5
NeJ2v42b
NEJ2v602
NEJ2Biffer_v3
SoSv1.11
TDDv1.11
TS-BPv6.04.02
BGT101-Install
BGTNeJ2_v1
DSotSC4BGTWeidu185WM6
NTotSC4BGTWeidu145WM6
ChloeMod-v12
Redemption113
Refinements-v3.02
YikariV1.1
Tashia_Remix_v1.0
1pp-v2
Kz14 (Kiara-Zaiya)
UnfinishedBusiness-v15
BG1UB-v3
IndiraNPC_V72_BGT
Prologue_v3
SirinesCall_v43_BGT
BPv177
BGTTweak_v4
Virtue_v18
BP-BGT-Worldmap v6.3

I'm assuming between DSotSC and SirinesCall the order wouldn't matter, and would I be installing the wrong DSotSC and NTotSC files? ie. should they be the ones from the dsotsc and ntotsc folders instead of the BP-BGT-DSotSC folder I downloaded them from ?

I'm hoping I've got the order right, I probably won't start installing til I hear back, don't want to install and reinstall 10 dozen times.

I'm not going to bother with any other mods, kits, or npcs for the time being.

Edited by jakgrant, 02 August 2006 - 12:25 PM.

[seanas]

alterations or comments have been bolded.

Full BG1 + BG2 series installs
Official Patches
Baldurdash-Weidu v1.5
NEJ2Biffer_v3 - you run this, and it will install NEJ2v42b for you.
NeJ2v42b
NEJ2v602
SoSv1.11
TDDv1.11
TS-BPv6.04.02
BGT101-Install
BGTNeJ2_v1
DSotSC4BGTWeidu185WM6
NTotSC4BGTWeidu145WM6 - are these two the full mods, or just the updates for the new worldmap?
ChloeMod-v12
Refinements-v3.02 - is going to overwrite various necessary game files. if you want to install it, then before installing Refinements, copy the files XPCAP.2DA and XPLEVEL.2DA from yr override folder (after you've installed TDD, that is), and paste them into folder \Refinements\Hlab\_shared\copy (thus overwriting the existing files).
YikariV1.1
Tashia_Remix_v1.0
1pp-v2
KZ14 (Kiara-Zaiya) - is also going to override various necessary game files. you'll either need to edit the Setup file, or avoid installing.
UnfinishedBusiness-v15
BG1UB-v3 - under no circumstances install this. it only works with original BG1.
IndiraNPC_V72_BGT
Prologue_v3
SirinesCall_v43_BGT
BPv177
Redemption113 - i've never understood the desire to redeem jonny - but if you want it, it has to be installed after BP. and, you'll have to open the file Setup-Redemption.tp2 and remove the following lines:

REQUIRE_FILE ~override/BODHIND.2da~
@2 // Ascension check

BGTTweak_v4
Virtue_v18 - Virtue is incompatible with BGT. dont install.
DEFJAM, aka SimDing0's Experience Fixer - highly recommended, at least while yr playing BGT: it reduces the amount of XP you gain for quests, killing monsters, and/or learning spells and removing traps. you can find it over at PPG.
BP-BGT-Worldmap v6.3

and can someone move this thread to the BP+BGT thread? cheers

Edited by seanas, 02 August 2006 - 01:33 PM.

[jakgrant]

Okay I'll just run the NEJ2v42b file.

The DSotSC and NTotSC which are in the bp-bgt-dsotc folder, the readme.txt file says the following for DSotSC and similiar for the NTotSC:

DSotSC4BGTWeidu185WM6.rar is v1.85 the WeiDU package of Dark Side of the
Sword Coast for BGT. It will ONLY work with BGT-WeiDU and Worldmap v6.
It only has English and German translations.

DSotSC4BGTWeidu185.rar is v1.85 the WeiDU package of Dark Side of the
Sword Coast for BGT. It will ONLY work with BGT-WeiDU. It only has
English and German translations.

DSotSCv181Full.rar is v1.81 the WeiDU package of Dark Side of the
Sword Coast for BGT. It will ONLY work with BGT-WeiDU. It has
translations for several languages.

DSotSC4BGT-BPv160.rar is v1.60 the WeiDU package of Dark Side of the Sword
Coast for BGT. It will work with the original, non-WeiDU BGT (for example
BP-BGT).

So that's why I grabbed the WM6 one, and the DSotSC is about 20mb and the NTotSC is about 80 mb.

Okay I'll make that change for Refinements.

I'll avoid the Kiara ones, I'll take a look at their setup file, but it was just an option. I figure I'm going to have plenty of npc's as is.

Okay to the BG1UB.

Well, I don't think Jonny should be redeemed either, but I figure I might be feeling nice one day when I play, and to have it there to install or have it installed is just an option.

Okay I'll ignore Virtue as well.

I'll go grab DEFJAM, but that gets installed, where I listed Virtue and after BGTTweak but before the World map ? Is Ding0Tweak worthwhile as well ?

Thanks yet again, I was worried I was missing a patch or two somewhere.

[ronin]

@seanas,

It would probably be an excellent idea to have someone make a new directory on the FTP servers called: "Mega Install" and then dump all the current mods into it required for a mega install. It would definately help the newbies out when they are looking for the files required for the install.

Just an idea.

ronin

[jakgrant]

Just want to say thanks for all your help guys, my faith in forums has been restored as of all my questions. I'm so used to awful forums where people don't help. Hopefully I'll be able to help "newbies" and the like, like you guys have helped me out.

I think I finally understand what's going on, and I thought one mod out of place was going to be a pain, but given how Weidu allows you to rollback, that is incredibly sweet

Thanks again.

[ronin]

Just remember if you have to reinstall the game to install your mods in the same order or your save game could have screwed up dialogue's.

ronin