most important patches/mods

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I just reinstalled BG2, with ToB. Which patches and mods are needed for a regular game?

BTW, I like Ease of Use, but I think there's a better way to do it now (weimer or something).

TIA

 

Here's how I usually install the game:

1. BG2: Shadows of Amn
2. BG2: Throne of Bhaal
3. Last patch for Throne of Bhaal (v.26498)
4. Baldurdash English-Language Game Text update v1.2
5. Baldurdash fixpack v1.12
6. FixedBG2BootsOfSpeed.zip (improvements to Boots of Speed)
7. BG2extras (preorder and bonus pack merchants)

Links:
http://www.bioware.com/games/throne_bhaal/support/patches/
http://www.baldurdash.org/ToB/Fixes/TOBfixes.html

€: not sure where exactly to get those extra merchants but maybe sorc.net has the file as well

 

Gibberlings 3 has the BG2 Fix Pack, which includes all the Balderdash fixes and text upgrades.

They also have the BG2 Tweak Pack, which i feel you should check out.

You should definitely run the official ToB patch and the Fix Pack at least.

 

As it's already known, Baldurdash is more reliable and safe than the "Gibberlings 3 BG2 Fixpack", so I recommend following Master Leo's 1.,2.,3. and 5th step (optionally, you can choose 4th too, of course) as the base installation. (In no way I want to blow out a discussion about fixpacks here, this is just my usual advice to players when the question is brought up in threads such as this.)

 

And everytime you give that advice on these boards... a blown out discussion seems to ensue. Just an observation

 

What's up with the boots of speed? I've never heard of a 'fix' for them.

 

Boots of Speed had some bugs in the vanilla game:

- The boots in the vanilla game granted haste (type 2) which doubled the initiative round. This meant that the first attack was wasted; a character with only one attack per round might stand around for up to two rounds before making the first attack
- A character who tried a backstab would come out of invisibility before the first attack was actually made, leaving them vulnerable with an uninjured enemy

Baldurdash fixpack uses a method to fix those bugs. The bugs are indeed fixed but a new bug is created. Improved Anvil fixes the boots in a different way so that the original bugs are fixed without creating the new one:

Quote from Improved Anvil's Readme file:

Also, note that while playing Improved Anvil, Boots of Speed won't be available early in the game; so, the haste effect on the item won't make them overpowered. Even if the boots were available normally, having haste on them is much more acceptable than allowing a character with quadruple speed of course.

 

yup, i prefer baldurdash because it's almost perfect
granted, it doesn't fix as much as the other pack but i've never encountered any issues either

well, you know the proverb "don't fix it if it ain't broken"

€: as for the boots of speed fix, i think it's already included in the 1.12 fixpack so you don't need to install it separately anymore (you can skip step 6)

 

The G3 fixpack also causes male sterility and cancer.

 

lol, i'd of gone with a Scrubs quote "Nausea, Impotence and anal leakage" and hope like hell someone got the reference and replied with "I'm getting two out of three just from this thread"

Mods i use most often are;
Ease of Use
Unfinished Business
Quest Pack.

Then what ever other quest related, tactic related or NPC related mod i want to use.

never really tried any of the "fix pack" type mods.

 

Hmm, I haven't touched BG2 in years, recently installed it again with ToB, patched it, installed the G3 FixPack and TweakPack, configured them, and made an EasyTutu installation.

Haven't encountered any problems, but it's possible it's because I'm just running through BG1 now.

However, there might be some things which I've missed; people who've been actively modding the game have picked up on them and I'm sure you guys have a good reason to say that Balderdash's FixPack is safer than G3's.

Maybe I'll just do a clean install soon, since I'm thinking of reformatting Windows anyway.

BTW, does anyone know how to backup a clean, patched version of BG1/BG2? The reason I ask is because I'd like to try out some mods, and if anything goes wrong, I wonder if simply overwriting the modded game folder with a clean, just installed and patched version would work?

 

-Install SOA
-Install TOB
-Install TOB Patch
-Copy the SOA directory
-Paste to another location

if something goes wrong

-Delete original SOA Directory
-Copy/Paste the one from the different location

and it should work from what i've heard.

that or just unistall the mods, that way is probably easier, unless something un forseeable at the time happens.

 

You can find detailed instructions for building and maintaining a clean install in this thread on PPG.

 

After installing and patching make a folder called BACKUP and do the following:

copy:
Override Folder
BgMain.exe
Chitin.Key
Dialog.tlk
Baldur.ini

And place the files in your BACKUP folder. If you then at a given point want to restore the clean install then delete:

Override folder
WeiDU.log

and copy:

Override folder
BgMain.exe
Chitin.Key
Dialog.tlk
Baldur.ini

Into your installation directory.

 

Thanks everyone, that'll be really handy.

 

Sorry, been out of circulation for a few days -

looks like you are all set.

The backup stuff is very, very handy - you can even toss the thing on a separate CD and rebuild very quickly.

There is a good PPG post of folk's WeiDU.log contents that can tell you what some folks use as installed bases/orders; there is a Tutu/EasyTutu post at G3 on mods orders and combinations,; for BG2, I really like the following as a fun, relatively light install (my latest playthrough):

1. BGII - SoA
2. BGII - ToB
3. patch for Throne of Bhaal (v.26498)<< watch it, there are two out there, different numbers - Master Leo has the recommended one
4. G3 Fixpack [G3]
5. Divine Remix (new divine spheres and spell stuff for my paladin) [G3]
6. Taisha (romance for my male Paladin) [SHS]
7. BGII Banter Pack [PPG]
8. iiItem (igi's cool and not-overpowered "colour" items randomly placed with ingame NPCs and creatures) [TBG]
9. BG2 Tweaks (all the older EoU stuff, plus more) [G3]

This is an extremely conservative install. There is alot more out there to play with, and much of it really good. But for a very simple, fun, and low profile install, I have really enjoyed this particular game, targetted for a male goody-two-shoes paladin.

 

That's not true at all.

It causes female sterility, too.

 

Yep, there's no sex discrimination at G3.

 

I thought it was subjunctive sterility and subjunctive cancer?