Hello,

Just purchased. I played BG 1 & 2 years ago when they first came out. Don't think I quite managed to finish either.

Couple of questions:

Is the GOG version Enhanced or normal?

I have downloaded for my Mac. I'd like to use mods to enhance the game for the better but at the same time I don't want to completely transform the feel of the game. Should I follow the conservative or the newbie guide / something else?

Is it going to be difficult getting the mods up and running on a mac? Would it be better to download the Windows version and then I could run it via Bootcamp (which would be Win 8.1).

I don't really know what the various mods can do but I like the thought of running with improved graphics (via the BG 2 engine?), having extra NPCs and content available, taking a character through BG1 and being able to use it in BG2 (is there an issue with some BG2 character kits not being available with unmodded BG1?).

I'm not overly technical so I'd be worried if any of the modding would take too much fiddling about.

Any help and advice much appreciated!

Hi jspl,

This is speaking for BG2 as I do not own vanilla BG1.

I'm running Windows 8 on a MacBook Pro via BootCamp. Can't recommend it.
I haven't found a way to get the game running properly.
I'm getting weird graphical issues when I start up the game (tiny UI, black bars, scaling issues).

You should try running it on MacOS.

Whether you have the Enhanced Edition or the normal game kind of depends on what you have bought. Both are available seperately here on GOG.

As for installing Mods on MacOS X - there's a guide over at http://weidu.org/Mac.html but since I don't have any Macs I can't say how well that works, especially with mods like BGT or Tutu. I'd say give it a try and if it really doesn't you can still try it with Bootcamp and Windows. Mods not using WeiDu that come with a Windows only installer could pose a problem though - often they're just "extrac and copy to the Override folder" ones.

You can take a character through BG1 and still import it to BG2 even if you don't use BG Trilogy or Tutu, so that's not a problem per se, you'll just lack the improvements made to BG2's version of the Infinity Engine. It's mostly more and potentially unbalancing options and kits for characters, but the game doesn't force you to use them.

The by far best quality of life improvement is the doubled run speed in BG2.

It also adds a container highlighting option which is kind of a mixed bag in BG1. There are items hidden in the game world you're supposed to find through clues which will be readily apparent if you can simply highlight their container's location. Though that's a good thing because they were somewhat annoying instances of pixel hunting.

The engine improvements are already present if you bought the Enhanced Editions and you really don't need to fiddle around with Trilogy or Tutu in that case.

As for what mod guide to follow - if you really want the original feeling of the games stick to the conservative guide or simply don't mod anything at all except for the high resolution patches (again, not needed if you have bought the EEs) and the fixpacks.