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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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oasis789: Is there any point to getting BGEE instead of BG1+2 on GOG and modding?
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adamzs: the enhanced editions will feature improved mod support, so chances are in the future we will see mods being made primarily for BGEE and BG2EE.
Why would you say that?.Im sorry but this thing has been built for use on tablets from day one (complete with the downsides). Desktop PC comes 2nd. People should realise this before wasting their hard earned money on it.

I just realised now its going to be $19.99.... i read somewhere it was supposed to be $10 a fair while back.Gosh....
Post edited November 24, 2012 by nijuu
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nijuu: Why would you say that?.Im sorry but this thing has been built for use on tablets from day one (complete with the downsides). Desktop PC comes 2nd. People should realise this before wasting their hard earned money on it.

I just realised now its going to be $19.99.... i read somewhere it was supposed to be $10 a fair while back.Gosh....
I'll try to address both of your points, starting with the tablet UI. It's true, some of the buttons on the interface are too large for my liking as well, the specific two I'm talking about are the 'select all party members' and the 'toggle AI' buttons in the lower right. They just seem large, perhaps becuase they were so small in the original game. However, that's something I can live with, and I don't know about any other signs or evidence pointing to BGEE catering to the tablet crowd.

Still, I have a few issues with the UI - other than the button arrangement I'm no fan of the colors either, but I understand that's a design issue and plenty of folks are fine with it. I'd also have loved it if they made the UI similar to the one in Icewind Dale 2 where it was a single bar on the bottom instead of a frame around the screen. I just want more space on the screen for the actual game. However, there is good news on this front: the new UI is supposed to be more dynamically moddable compared to the old one, so I expect to eventually be able to customize it to my liking (or at least to some extent) with user made mods.

As for the price, I've been following this project since the beginning and I don't recall the devs ever saying it would cost 10 bucks. I believe it has been $20 ever since a price was announced publicly. Granted, $20 is a bit steep but it's not exactly an over-the-top price tag as far as I'm concerned. $10 for the base game and another $10 for the engine improvements and the extra content. I'm fine with it.
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nijuu: Why would you say that?.Im sorry but this thing has been built for use on tablets from day one (complete with the downsides). Desktop PC comes 2nd. People should realise this before wasting their hard earned money on it.

I just realised now its going to be $19.99.... i read somewhere it was supposed to be $10 a fair while back.Gosh....
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adamzs: I'll try to address both of your points, starting with the tablet UI. It's true, some of the buttons on the interface are too large for my liking as well, the specific two I'm talking about are the 'select all party members' and the 'toggle AI' buttons in the lower right. They just seem large, perhaps becuase they were so small in the original game. However, that's something I can live with, and I don't know about any other signs or evidence pointing to BGEE catering to the tablet crowd.

Still, I have a few issues with the UI - other than the button arrangement I'm no fan of the colors either, but I understand that's a design issue and plenty of folks are fine with it. I'd also have loved it if they made the UI similar to the one in Icewind Dale 2 where it was a single bar on the bottom instead of a frame around the screen. I just want more space on the screen for the actual game. However, there is good news on this front: the new UI is supposed to be more dynamically moddable compared to the old one, so I expect to eventually be able to customize it to my liking (or at least to some extent) with user made mods.

As for the price, I've been following this project since the beginning and I don't recall the devs ever saying it would cost 10 bucks. I believe it has been $20 ever since a price was announced publicly. Granted, $20 is a bit steep but it's not exactly an over-the-top price tag as far as I'm concerned. $10 for the base game and another $10 for the engine improvements and the extra content. I'm fine with it.
Question. are you viewing the game from tablet viewpoint or desktop?.Two different things....Im not willing to part with $20 for what is basically a reskinned game - which i could easily mod with existing mods to get it to the same or similar level (without the small extra content)
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nijuu: Question. are you viewing the game from tablet viewpoint or desktop?.Two different things....Im not willing to part with $20 for what is basically a reskinned game - which i could easily mod with existing mods to get it to the same or similar level (without the small extra content)
I don't own a tablet and I'm not planning on buying one anytime soon, so I'll be only getting BGEE on the PC. And as I said, the game is worth the $20 for me - for one, the BG series are my favorite games and I'm quite excited that new content is being developed for them by a team that includes several of the original developers. Plus I do not see the extra content as a small amount. 6 hours of gameplay + 3 NPCs is pretty decent for an expansion. And don't forget the engine rewrite, which was definitely needed - as it is, BG2 is an ancient mess of code with a lot of limitations.
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adamzs: One additional thing to consider is that while BG1+BG2 already has a large amount of fan-made mods, the enhanced editions will feature improved mod support, so chances are in the future we will see mods being made primarily for BGEE and BG2EE.
Isn't the EE going to be incompatible with all current mods? I have to wonder if it's been done on purpose so that if you want the new mods you need to buy the EE even if they'd otherwise work fine on the originals.
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Poulscath: Isn't the EE going to be incompatible with all current mods? I have to wonder if it's been done on purpose so that if you want the new mods you need to buy the EE even if they'd otherwise work fine on the originals.
Mod scene for BG is almost dead now, imo. Not much being worked on, no big mod released for a long time.
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Poulscath: Isn't the EE going to be incompatible with all current mods? I have to wonder if it's been done on purpose so that if you want the new mods you need to buy the EE even if they'd otherwise work fine on the originals.
Not quite sure, to be honest. There were some instances where the BGEE project lead Trent Oster talked about how they're working with the authors of big and popular BG mods in order to help them make those mods compatible with BGEE. Additionally, he said that they'll try to make sure that existing mods are not hard to convert, which also kind of confirms that existing mods indeed do not work with BGEE without some additional effort.

I have already preloaded the game on my hard drive and as of now it seems that the folder structure is not at all similar to the original game. We'll see how all that works in two days, I suppose.
Bump.
BGEE intro

I wasn't expecting a vast improvement, but at least it shouldn't be worse than the original.
GameBanshee review
To be honest I rather buy 1 and 2 here then 20 for the enchanted version. I think i get more bang for my buck.
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hercufles: To be honest I rather buy 1 and 2 here then 20 for the enchanted version. I think i get more bang for my buck.
I wish there were enchanted versions of games. Even a bad game would be worth buying if you could use the enchantments to turn your shoes into boots of speed or something.
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hercufles: To be honest I rather buy 1 and 2 here then 20 for the enchanted version. I think i get more bang for my buck.
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Skunk: I wish there were enchanted versions of games. Even a bad game would be worth buying if you could use the enchantments to turn your shoes into boots of speed or something.
I chuckled. :)

I forgot to ask about this, I recently followed this guide and got it up and running after I clicked use 3D acceleration. However, the game crashes (I only tried with BG1 in BGT) when I try to use map pins on the map. Does that happen for anyone else?
Hopefully I haven't done anything wrong, but the widescreen mod doesn't seem to be working. I'm using bgt, as suggested, and should clarify that I'm running the games from disk (patched to what I believe to be the latest version), and have put the .exe into my BGII - SoA folder before running it. I then typed in to my resolution (1366*768) and it seemed to have succeeded, but I still have black bars along the edge of my screen while playing. Any help would be appreciated.
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pi4t: Hopefully I haven't done anything wrong, but the widescreen mod doesn't seem to be working. I'm using bgt, as suggested, and should clarify that I'm running the games from disk (patched to what I believe to be the latest version), and have put the .exe into my BGII - SoA folder before running it. I then typed in to my resolution (1366*768) and it seemed to have succeeded, but I still have black bars along the edge of my screen while playing. Any help would be appreciated.
You might have better luck in the Baldur's Gate subforum if you don't hear anything here.