10 replies to this topic

[Nordthiad]

Hey everyone,

I have some questions about the Big Picture, Baldur's Gate Trilogy and implementing other mods. I've always been a great fan of Baldur's Gate, but I have never been very acquainted with all the mods there are (except making custom items) since I used to have a crappy internet connection. Anyhow, I'm trying to find out how everything works, but there are still some questions I hope someone can help me with.

I read this Big Picture combines BG2, TOB, TDD, SOS and TS, so you can play them all as one game. The Baldur's Gate Trilogy combines the BP with BG1 and TotSC. So, then you van play BG1, TotSC, BG2, TOB, TDD, SOS and TS all in one game. And I also read you can add DSotSC to BP, so you an play that one as well in one game.

But what about NTotSC, CtB and NEJ (or others)? Can you play those (or one of them) together with BG1, TotSC, DSotSC, BG2, TOB, TDD, SOS and TS?

I also read the Baldurdash-patches can also be used when they are installed after the official Bioware-patches. But that means I should install both Baldurdash his BG1-patch and his ToB-patch... or aren't they (or one) combatable with BP, BGT and DSotSC?

And what about Ascension/WeiDU... are they compatible with the mega pack of BG1, TotSC, DSotSC, BG2, TOB, TDD, SOS and TS as well? Since it would be nice of course after the whole extended mega saga the ending of ToB is extended as well.

In any case, perhaps some questions are a bit daft, but I'm hoping to find out what the max of mods is you can play at once. As I, as well as many other players, like stretching the adventure and improving the adventure with more challenges, I hope someone knows what combination implements the most of the existing mods into the original Baldur's Gate-series.

Greetings and my thanks,


Nordthiad

[Chevalier]

Yes to most all of your questions, Please read the forums carefully and you will find most of your answers.

[seanas]

I read this Big Picture combines BG2, TOB, TDD, SOS and TS, so you can play them all as one game. The Baldur's Gate Trilogy combines the BP with BG1 and TotSC. So, then you van play BG1, TotSC, BG2, TOB, TDD, SOS and TS all in one game. And I also read you can add DSotSC to BP, so you an play that one as well in one game.

that is correct.

But what about NTotSC, CtB and NEJ (or others)? Can you play those (or one of them) together with BG1, TotSC, DSotSC, BG2, TOB, TDD, SOS and TS?

that is also correct.

I also read the Baldurdash-patches can also be used when they are installed after the official Bioware-patches. But that means I should install both Baldurdash his BG1-patch and his ToB-patch... or aren't they (or one) combatable with BP, BGT and DSotSC?

in as much as baldurdash have been included in the BP installation package, it is compatible with BP; but this means that you do not install baldurdash if you install BP, as you've already got it.

And what about Ascension/WeiDU... are they compatible with the mega pack of BG1, TotSC, DSotSC, BG2, TOB, TDD, SOS and TS as well? Since it would be nice of course after the whole extended mega saga the ending of ToB is extended as well.

ascension is included in BP already.

In any case, perhaps some questions are a bit daft, but I'm hoping to find out what the max of mods is you can play at once. As I, as well as many other players, like stretching the adventure and improving the adventure with more challenges, I hope someone knows what combination implements the most of the existing mods into the original Baldur's Gate-series.

the answer to *this* is as many as you are able to tolerate. there are a small subset of mods which for one reason or another are not compatible with various flavours of BP (ie, BP, BP-NEJ, BP-BGT-NEJ, BP-BGT-NEJ-SoBH-CtB-DSotSC-NTotSC -etc-etc) - check the compatibility list (the one in the Big Picture forum is the most up to date) for more information. however, the general rule of modding is - and this applies doubly to large BP-etc-etc installs - is that the more you install, the more strange bugs/ conflicts yr going to have to live with. it *is* possible to install the whole BP-etc-etc edifice and have it bug-free; however, once you start installing mods on top of *that*, it is not uncommon for something, somewhere, for some reason, to freak out - usually because there is an undocumented incompatibility between two things you've installed, or between what you've installed and one of teh base BP-etc-etc mods.

[Nordthiad]

the answer to *this* is as many as you are able to tolerate. there are a small subset of mods which for one reason or another are not compatible with various flavours of BP (ie, BP, BP-NEJ, BP-BGT-NEJ, BP-BGT-NEJ-SoBH-CtB-DSotSC-NTotSC -etc-etc) - check the compatibility list (the one in the Big Picture forum is the most up to date) for more information.

Ah, I just found the topic, and it makes things much clearer to me now. Though, of course, Awake did also state 'mods which individually are compatible with BP might not be [with] each other'. So it will still be a bit experimenting on what works. But if I just backup the BG-folder when I try installing an additional mod, t spares me a lot of time in installing and reinstalling all the stuff... I hope.

however, the general rule of modding is - and this applies doubly to large BP-etc-etc installs - is that the more you install, the more strange bugs/ conflicts yr going to have to live with. it *is* possible to install the whole BP-etc-etc edifice and have it bug-free; however, once you start installing mods on top of *that*, it is not uncommon for something, somewhere, for some reason, to freak out - usually because there is an undocumented incompatibility between two things you've installed, or between what you've installed and one of teh base BP-etc-etc mods.

And what is the maximum number of mods you yourself installed and played without major problems in the game play occurring? Or perhaps someone else who tried to maximize it a bit without having too many problems. Ofcourse, I?m not really into installing all the mods there are, but it would be nice though if the major mods worked. I was thinking about trying a combination of especially these ones:

Baldurdash - I
The Darkest Day - I
Shadows Over Soubar - I
Tortured Souls - I
The Big Picture - The one and only
Ascension (WeiDU) - I

And:

Baldur's Gate Trilogy - C, when installed as part of BP-BGT
DSotSC (who seems not to be listed in the Compatibility List)
Item Upgrade - C

And perhaps:

NTotSC (who seems not to be listed in the Compatibility List)
Check the Bodies - C
Neverending Journey Part One - C, when installed as part of BP-NEJ or BP-BGT-NEJ
And some NPC?s of course.

[seanas]

that list of mods will all play nicely together - with the possible exception of check the bodies, which i have an irrational suspicion of - because that's the whole point of the bp-bgt-nej-dsotsc-ntotsc-sobh-etc-etc-etc install process: it makes all of *these* mods behave fine together. there's always the risk you'll have small bugs - as with any mod *or* game - but everything on that list (assuming yr *not* installing baldurdash and ascension separately) will play fine together.

[Nordthiad]

Oh, and one last question: does it matter what resolution I use with the mods? I always play BG2 at the unlocked 1024x768 instead of 800x600.

[seanas]

resolution doesn't matter - i always play on 1024x768 as well

[Nordthiad]

Here's me again. The BP-BGTv311.zip is the same as the BP-BGTv311FULL.rar as in the install guide, and extracts BP-BGTv311.exe instead of BP-BGT-NeJv311.exe? I'm searching for an hour now to those files, but these files I found were the closest I could get that may be them.

Edit: it indeed seems to be them. I almost have it all installed, though I just noticed I have a corrupt Soubar_v100.exe file, so I'm first downloading that one again.

Edited by Nordthiad, 12 July 2005 - 02:16 PM.

[horred the plague]

Here's me again. The BP-BGTv311.zip is the same as the BP-BGTv311FULL.rar as in the install guide, and extracts BP-BGTv311.exe instead of BP-BGT-NeJv311.exe? I'm searching for an hour now to those files, but these files I found were the closest I could get that may be them.

Edit: it indeed seems to be them. I almost have it all installed, though I just noticed I have a corrupt Soubar_v100.exe file, so I'm first downloading that one again.

Best of wishes. In the near future, when I can get BPv200 weidu finallized (after the v170++ beta release to a select few, for testing), and updated versions of TDD and SoS -weidu (these are not currently compatible with BP, just the old versions)...well, this will hopefully be 10x easier to install.

[Nordthiad]

Best of wishes. In the near future, when I can get BPv200 weidu finallized (after the v170++ beta release to a select few, for testing), and updated versions of TDD and SoS -weidu (these are not currently compatible with BP, just the old versions)...well, this will hopefully be 10x easier to install.

I'm really looking forward to that, for BP-BGT (and all the mods) is quite difficult to install now. Also, when installing, my computer always crashes when it reaches the last of the biffme-files when installing/extracting them (I think when closing the dos-prompt). Anyhow, after rebooting it easily continues the install, so I think it is all installed right now.

[Nordthiad]

Ah, it seems to work. Just went to the Friendly Arms Inn. Good stuff this is.

Edited by Nordthiad, 13 July 2005 - 12:13 PM.