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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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Nirth: snip
print screen works perfectly for me.
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Nirth: snip
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lukaszthegreat: print screen works perfectly for me.
It probably does but I take a lot of screenshots with all my games hence I use an external application so I get the same quality, location save, same format, same hot key etc.. :)
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MeetsInTaverns: I don't know...I'm not having too much of a problem with the actual text (although, yes it could be better) but everything is a little small for my liking.

Also, maybe it's something I've done but, there seems to be a bit of an issue when scrolling. Everything sort of flickers a bit.

Edit: although I am wondering if it's something to do with the parameters I've put in when doing the widescreen. I've put in 1920x1080 on the (x and y coordinates) as that's what my monitor says it is (it's about 22" I think) - if it is is there a way of changing this post install?
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Pangaea666: That resolution got too small for me too, although it's the native for my monitor. 1600*900 seems to fit quite well, both with text and textures. It can sometimes be a little hard to pick up things from the floor after fallen foes and such, but I'm pleased with the game at 1600x900.

You can just run the widescreen mod again and choose smaller settings, that should work. Also, if you have installed other mods, it's usually best to install the widescreen mod at the very last.
Cheers that looks a lot better. It is still a little far away but I guess I can play around with the parameters. :)
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Sabin_Stargem: […]
*Updates the engine to use BG2's ruleset & classes (Wild Mage, for example)
*Compiles fixes made by the community, and the developers fix more.
*Ensures compatibility with modern systems
*Makes the game less hard-coded, so modders can do more with the engine.
*Adds an optional dungeon and extra characters.
*Can be played on the iOS.
*Increased resolution.
*Multiplayer now works much better.
*General improvement of the code.
*Doesn't require the work of manually collecting fixpacks for installation, or BGTutu.
[...]
And now the features of the GemRB engine, which runs BG1, BG2, PS:T, IWD and IWD2 (plus all addons):

* Fixes many Bugs, etc.
* Ensures compatibility with modern systems
* Easily modable, open source.
* Can be played on the Windows, Linux, Mac , *BSD, Android and iOS (Also Tablets).
* Clean reimplementation of the Infinity Engine → improvement of the Code
* Doesn't require the work of manually collecting fixpacks for installation, or BGTutu.
* Under active development → Many updates to come!
- No multiplayer support...yet.

Who needs the EE?

http://gemrb.org

P.S. You can use your old savegames with the new engine.
Ah Baldur's Gate 2... So we meet again, my favorite game of all time...
I don't know how many times I've finished this game. Let's see if I can do a quick recap of them all:

Archer
Undead Hunter
Barbarian
Sorcerer
Fighter/Mage/Thief (solo)
Cleric/Ranger
Wizard Slayer
Jester
Kensai (in progress)

I never stopped playing because I was bored with the game but because I had something else to do... Never played anything like this one after it came out back in the day.
Post edited September 20, 2012 by FAButzke
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Verdan: Who needs the EE?

http://gemrb.org

P.S. You can use your old savegames with the new engine.
There must be some disadvantage, whereever I go for BG and mod support and to run on newer systems there's usually more talk about BGT or BGTutu.

Is it that good? Any performance issues? Widescreen works?
Post edited September 20, 2012 by Nirth
My questions would be about multiplayer....any impact? Does it make it easier? Worse, as it's already like brain surgery?:(
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Nirth: [...]
Performance wise I think GemRB runs smoother, but (thanks to modern hardware) I can't attest to that. It's at least worth a shot for people not using Windows who don't want to run Wine....

Widescreen isn't (yet) supported by default, but there is a way to install the Widescreen mod.
All mods that don't change the .exe should, by default work with GemRB.

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billybgame: [...]
Uh...no multiplayer in GemRB yet, it's one of the largest todo features.
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billybgame: My questions would be about multiplayer....any impact? Does it make it easier? Worse, as it's already like brain surgery?:(
You'd have to have the clients running exactly the same mods as the host is, otherwise it should work as fine as multiplayer in these games can work. Which is not very.

EDIT: Agh, whoops, this is what I get for not realizing that he's talking about GemRB. Poster above me is correct in this case.
Post edited September 21, 2012 by Watashiwa
Thanks for tips.
Gog, thanks for posting this detail about BG1 and 2. Now i can play them one game through....All the user tweeks have made this game even better.

Bioware rocks!

Sad to hear Ray and Greg (CEO's and founders of Bioware) have retired from game making. Thank you for making such great games!

Gog thanks once again for bring back these great games and giving us the ability to play these games!
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billybgame: My questions would be about multiplayer....any impact? Does it make it easier? Worse, as it's already like brain surgery?:(
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Watashiwa: You'd have to have the clients running exactly the same mods as the host is, otherwise it should work as fine as multiplayer in these games can work. Which is not very.

EDIT: Agh, whoops, this is what I get for not realizing that he's talking about GemRB. Poster above me is correct in this case.
Does GemRB refer to the mod above? I didn't see it called that anywhere in the text.....so wanted to be sure.

Does multi work in Tutu?
It works with Polish version! :D

I used Saga Baldur's Gate version.

Only widescreen mod doesn't work. And I did not use any non-Polish mods.
11. OPTIONAL: Download and install any user-created material (banter packs, expansion mods, new NPCs, etc.

what do you suggest i should download of this, any must have or just nice have? Any user created content who really shine ?
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Watashiwa: You'd have to have the clients running exactly the same mods as the host is, otherwise it should work as fine as multiplayer in these games can work. Which is not very.

EDIT: Agh, whoops, this is what I get for not realizing that he's talking about GemRB. Poster above me is correct in this case.
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billybgame: Does GemRB refer to the mod above? I didn't see it called that anywhere in the text.....so wanted to be sure.

Does multi work in Tutu?
GemRB is for making new Infinity Engine games. Google it, it's interesting. As far as I'm aware as long as everyone's on the same page mod wise everything should work together.

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nerdlight: 11. OPTIONAL: Download and install any user-created material (banter packs, expansion mods, new NPCs, etc.

what do you suggest i should download of this, any must have or just nice have? Any user created content who really shine ?
Avoid NPC mods; they're always awful. Ascension is practically a necessity, I don't see why the post doesn't include it, The Longer Road is an expansion of that. If you've played through Baldur's Gate a few times Dungeon B Gone is fabulous. Really, anything I say is wholly secondary, just look here: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/cebua/step_by_step_moddingguide_turn_baldurs_gate_and/