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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
Man, I just noticed this post. Only 5 days ago and the Diamond deal expired already. I own BG2 and I have the cd's here.. somewhere. But It'd be nice to have it archived digitally as well =) Oh Wells.
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nerdlight: what do you suggest i should download of this, any must have or just nice have? Any user created content who really shine ?
It really depends on what you yourself like and how many times you've played the game. For the first time, I'd suggest to keep modding to a minimum or play vanilla. Fixpack yes, but even the recommended BG2 Tweaks above is a bad idea if you don't know what it is your tweaking.

Worthy to mention is NPC1-Project, found on Gibberlings 3, that adds banters to the BG1 your party-members. In vanilla BG1, the NPC's you take in your party do have a set of voiced interjections that get repeatedly played, but no real dialogue. If you want them to talk among eachother like NPC's in BG2 do, you need the NPC1-Project mod.

I disagree with the poster above who said all NPC-mods are awful, there's some well-written ones like Finch for BGTutu and Amber or Keto for BG2, but there's also mods with overpowered NPC's, or NPC's that attract way much attention to themselves. NPC-mods can add variety to your game if you've already played the game more than onces, but read-up on them first to see what you'd like. For many you can google reviews.

As for Ascension, it's a difficulty-increasing mod, so saying it's a must-have is not true for a first-time playthrough.
I can verify that these instructions work for the CD versions of BG_ToSC and BGII_ToB. I have not played through the whole "combined" game yet because I have some UFO: Aftershock to finish, but the instructions worked great for my CD versions. I also applied the GamecopyWorld "Infinity" NOCD crack, because I hate trading out the CDs everytime you go to a new area.
Post edited October 04, 2012 by Kcaldera
Lol, I like GOG trying to co-opt buyers interested in the new REAL enhanced edition. Clever.
Have to say I agree with Watashiwa on NPC mods. Talking about the much-lauded NPC Project as well. It's mostly just grossly annoying because your NPCs happen to butt in with random mambo-jambo at the most absurd moments. Like in the middle of Durlag's Tower, and suddenly Kivan wants to nag about something, or Dynaheir and Imoen start their verbal handbags.

Will never use it again.

And desperately hope this is done much better by default in BG2 (which so far, in the very early stages, it seems to be).
Totally disagree; the NPC Project is the only thing that keeps the NPC's from being completely boring. Although Dyanheir spent the entire game awkwardly sort-of hitting on me, and I could sure as heck have done without that.

(Not saying it didn't have its flaws; but I've been trained by more recent games to expect my party to not be lifeless nonentities, and I'm never going back).
Post edited October 05, 2012 by BadDecissions
I enjoy the gameplay instead. Just found the awkward NPC interjection to be intruding on that, especially with random comments at stupid times, like practically in the middle of combat. Just felt out of place and awkward, and more often than not I was just quick-clicking through it to get back to the actual game.

I can understand why people like it, but I much prefer the game without the mod and will play without it in the future.
I have a question I download all the necessary mods to play Baldur's Gate all the way thru and followed all of the directions, however, whenever I talk to someone I cannot see anything they are saying! Its just a black screen and idk how to fix it can someone help me??
Really cool way to experience Baldur's Gate again ! Brilliant !

Cheers !
Post edited October 10, 2012 by zegweg
I have a question for those with WEIDU experience.

When dealing with some of the user-made mods (and even some of the original scripting), I find myself wishing I could edit the dialog. (I'm a professional writer and also OCD, so it's difficult to ignore this compulsion.) Would it really be that difficult for me to use WEIDU to fix or make changes to the in-game dialog? How would I go about it?

Thanks in advance for your help.


-Khalaq
How do I start the game after I've done all of this? Which .exe do I use? Thanks.
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devilxking: How do I start the game after I've done all of this? Which .exe do I use? Thanks.
I'm pretty sure you want to use the "BGMain.exe" file in your Baldurs Gate II directory. :)
I recently bought both BG1 and BG2 complete second hand, and I was wondering if this works with the CD versions of the game and what to do about the expansions.

This is my first time playing them and I hope I can experience these games the best way possible.
On a side-note, remember to disable crossfire or similar before you play this, i didn't and it got real messy real quick :)
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Strilar667: I recently bought both BG1 and BG2 complete second hand, and I was wondering if this works with the CD versions of the game and what to do about the expansions. This is my first time playing them and I hope I can experience these games the best way possible.
I also have CD version of the saga (in polish) and everything seems working just fine, but to be honest I didn;t play much.
And of course you have to install all expansions as well!
Post edited October 16, 2012 by pykman