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Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II remain cult classics not only among D&D fans, but cRPG gamers in general. With countless hours of gameplay, captivating stories, colorful characters, and many memorable locations they're one of the most intense and extensive role-playing experiences you can get while sitting in front of your PC. But to say that they didn't age at all might be a bit of a stretch. That's why some people would go a great distance modding and upgrading both those titles to combine them into one, seamless, visually updated game--an enhanced edition, if you will.

We're well aware of a commercial project aiming to achieve that goal. Originally, actually, that was scheduled to release today. That didn't happen, unfortunately, but that does give us a great reason to tell you how to make your own enhanced edition of Baldur's Gate. It's very nearly hassle-free and (especially with the sale going on) it won't cost you much at all. There's one catch, though: you need copies of both Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate 2 in order to enhance your game. Let's see how! One of our users, GoJays2025, committed his time to write a comprehensive guide on the topic. We know not all of you dare to venture into our forums, so we thought that sharing this guide here, might be a good idea!

So, are you ready to enhance your GOG.com edition of Baldur's Gate saga and play both games as one, seamless adventure with the visually superior BG2 version of the engine and its updated mechanics, and with high-res graphics better suited for your modern wide-screen display? Here's how you do it, according to GoJays2025!

1. Fully install Baldur's Gate: The Original Saga
2. Fully install Baldur's Gate II Complete.
3. Download Baldur's Gate II Fixpack (Download links are on the left side) and extract it to your Baldur's Gate II directory.
4. Run the newly extracted setup-bg2fixpack.exe (if not automatically started).
5. It is safe to select yes for all the optional fixes, but if you want to learn about each in detail, consult the readme file that comes with the fixpack.
6. Download BGT-WeiDU and extract it in your Baldur's Gate II directory.
7. Run the newly extracted Setup-BGT.exe and follow the instructions. You may need to run it in administrative mode in Windows Vista/7.
8. Enter Baldur's Gate I's directory when asked (if not already provided)
9. Wait for BGT-WeiDU to finish installing.
10. OPTIONAL: Download and install Baldur's Gate 1 Unfinished Business as well as BG 2 Unfinished Business. These mods restore things that were previously cut from the released product, so while you don't need them, and they do add new content, they're pretty nice to have, especially if this is not your first time.
11. OPTIONAL: Download and install any user-created material (banter packs, expansion mods, new NPCs, etc.)
12. Go to your Baldur's Gate II directory, then find and run the file Setup-BGTMusic.exe and select 'Hybrid Baldur’s Gate/Shadows of Amn/Throne of Bhaal music'. This makes it possible to hear the original Baldur's Gate music when playing Baldur's Gate I.
13. OPTIONAL: (for more experienced users) Download Baldur's Gate II Tweak Pack (if this link doesn't work, please try the emergency mirror site) and apply it in the same way as the fixpack. Consult the readme file for details of each tweak - too many to list here. If you don't know what a tweak does even after consulting the readme, just skip it.
14. OPTIONAL: Download and install the Bigger Fonts for BGII mod if you plan to play in really high-res and don't want to strain your eyes reading tiny text.
15. Download the widescreen mod and apply it in the same manner as the fixpack. This makes it possible to play the game in high resolutions and in widescreen format.
16. Remove the Baldur's Gate I installation if you wish - it's done its job!

Now you should be able to play the game all the way from Baldur's Gate I to the end of Throne of Bhaal in one continuous game! Enjoy!

Note: If you're on Windows 7 you might want to install the games in a directory other than C:Program Files or C:Program Files (x86) to avoid potential problems. C:Games should work.

The original forum thread, that also includes some other installation options, can be found here:
Baldur's Gate saga essential mods by GoJays2025
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nburgmei: Hello! So I'm new to Baldur's Gate...completely. No D&D experience and I've never played any of the games. I chose to go with the Original version instead of the enhanced.

My question is, are kits unavailable in the original Baldur's Gate or was that just a change in the enhanced edition? I'd heard that they made a big difference, but when I went to create my paladin I never got a kit option.

Thanks!

Nick
If you go to the Baldurs Gate subforum, there are stickies with lists of mods. Personally, I enjoyed BG2 more than BG. So you can use the BG2 Engine with GB TUTU.
Does this work on linux? If not is it possible to install it on linux using wine and the windows version and then copy my windows version (which on my windows machine has all of this done to it, oh and thanks btw its sweet) over to my linux machine overwrite stuff?
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alexisagius: Does this work on linux? If not is it possible to install it on linux using wine and the windows version and then copy my windows version (which on my windows machine has all of this done to it, oh and thanks btw its sweet) over to my linux machine overwrite stuff?
"Does this work on Linux?" is a bit of an underwhelming question. The better question is "how many ways can this be done on Linux?"

Installing Baldur's Gate and/or Baldur's Gate 2:
1. GOG provides ready-made Wine+Game bundles
2. While not perfect yet, both BG and BG2 are completable as native Linux games by loading their resources into the GemRB engine.
3. The Wine AppDB rates compatibility for BG, BG2, AND the BGT mod as Platinum, so the only thing the preconfigured GOG bundle should be saving you is the hassle of clicking through the installer.

Patching the games:
1. The patching process will run under Wine (I got lazy when I bought my OpenPandora)
2. If you're not feeling lazy, you could download the Linux version of the WeiDU patcher and translate the DOS batch files to shell scripts.
3. As was hinted at by my mention of the OpenPandora (an ARM-based device), all the changes should be internal to the data files, so you can just copy them over from your Windows install.
Good to know, thanks
Nice posting. I've been having a hard time downloading BG unfinished business 1 and 2 - the links seem to be broken at pocketplane (both downloads failed). Any suggestions on acquiring these?
Nevermind - seems to be working now!
This tutorial is great, but there are some things left unclear - at least to me ;-)

1. I want to use the german dialog.tlk and dialogF.tlk.
I GUESS they have to be put in place before BGT-Setup is run - if that's possible at all??

2A. What about the BG1-Tweakpack? Is it needed at all, or is it ok just to have the BG2-Tweakpack?
2B. WHEN has the BG2-Tweakpack to be applied? Before or after BGT-Setup?
If "after", it obviously should do the tricks for both games, but I'm not sure about that.

Also, the ordering of the optional stuff seems not fully logic to me.
If, for example, I want to install BG1 Unfinished Business, I can't imangine that has to be done after BGT-Setup! Or is it applied to the BG2 install folder, tweaking the already joined games?
(However, I'm afraid I can't use "unfinished business" with german dialog files at all. ;-) )

Another example:
"OPTIONAL: Download and install any user-created material"
Great. Assume I want a mod/patch for BG1: When do I apply it? Can it be done after joining the games??

... and so on.

At least: BiggerFonts and Widescreen should apparently be applied after BGT-Setup, if I'm right.

This tutorial IS great, but some things are simply left to the users imagination if one does not have any experience with mods! The logic of WHAT doing WHEN may be obvious for you if you are used to WeiDU and stuff like that, but it's pure guessing for a beginner ;-)
And, yes - I did search the web for a novice install guide, but *lol* finally ended up here in this forum over and over again...

Tanks for reading!
Belushi
Does this work with the german version?
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belushi1965: This tutorial is great, but there are some things left unclear - at least to me ;-)

1. I want to use the german dialog.tlk and dialogF.tlk.
I GUESS they have to be put in place before BGT-Setup is run - if that's possible at all??

2A. What about the BG1-Tweakpack? Is it needed at all, or is it ok just to have the BG2-Tweakpack?
2B. WHEN has the BG2-Tweakpack to be applied? Before or after BGT-Setup?
If "after", it obviously should do the tricks for both games, but I'm not sure about that.

Also, the ordering of the optional stuff seems not fully logic to me.
If, for example, I want to install BG1 Unfinished Business, I can't imangine that has to be done after BGT-Setup! Or is it applied to the BG2 install folder, tweaking the already joined games?
(However, I'm afraid I can't use "unfinished business" with german dialog files at all. ;-) )

Another example:
"OPTIONAL: Download and install any user-created material"
Great. Assume I want a mod/patch for BG1: When do I apply it? Can it be done after joining the games??

... and so on.

At least: BiggerFonts and Widescreen should apparently be applied after BGT-Setup, if I'm right.

This tutorial IS great, but some things are simply left to the users imagination if one does not have any experience with mods! The logic of WHAT doing WHEN may be obvious for you if you are used to WeiDU and stuff like that, but it's pure guessing for a beginner ;-)
And, yes - I did search the web for a novice install guide, but *lol* finally ended up here in this forum over and over again...

Tanks for reading!
Belushi
I second this post. The sequence of the tutorial seems sketchy to me too. Especially since it says you can delete your BG1 installation. That seems to suggest that all the BG1 data files are copied into the BG2 installation and so... right, when should I apply any mods I want to apply to BG1? In some of the readmes I have come across for these mods (take Sword Coast Stratagems, for example) a BG trilogy folder is mentioned .... Well I followed this tutorial right up to the point where I am trying to add my additional mods and only have a BG1 an BG2 folder, no new directory was created. Confusing. I'm not sure any changes I make in the BG 1 directory are going to apply my BGT installation.
how do you get the trilogy to install on OS X? i got the fix pack installed by downloading weed OS X from here [url=http://www.weidu.org/~thebigg]http://www.weidu.org/~thebigg[/url]/ ... don't know why the main link from the site doesn't work :x

bgt i get errors that binaries are missing even though they are there. uhhg this is such a pain.
I keep trying to run the setup-bg2fixpack but it keeps telling me that I need to open it with Inifinity Engine game directory, cannot figure out if I am missing an app to run the program or if I have it in the wrong spot or what.
and I am running on a mac OS X
Post edited August 04, 2015 by acesurfer125
I'm having problems with the gibberlings 3 BG2 fixpack. The website isn't loading (maybe it's overwhelmed since these games are on sale). Is there another place I can download it from?
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pikklz: I'm having problems with the gibberlings 3 BG2 fixpack. The website isn't loading (maybe it's overwhelmed since these games are on sale). Is there another place I can download it from?
Hi,
Spellhold and Gibberlings 3 appear to be down completely. A chap is maintaining some mods on:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/42972/spellhold-studios-gibberlings-3-websites-down
The fix pack is on the list.

As for anything else, well, its probably a move by beamdog to push us all to buy the "enhanced" edition.
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pikklz: I'm having problems with the gibberlings 3 BG2 fixpack. The website isn't loading (maybe it's overwhelmed since these games are on sale). Is there another place I can download it from?
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nightcraw1er.488: Hi,
Spellhold and Gibberlings 3 appear to be down completely. A chap is maintaining some mods on:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/42972/spellhold-studios-gibberlings-3-websites-down
The fix pack is on the list.

As for anything else, well, its probably a move by beamdog to push us all to buy the "enhanced" edition.
Thanks, that's perfect!
For the sites that are down, you can also use the internet archive to reach those sites and download the mods, read all the pertinent info, etc etc.