Posted February 20, 2017
Hi there,
to help you (and a future me) to install Baldur's Gate Trilogy, here is a short guide. Note that it likely is not perfect, but I do not have the time to get a complete overview of all the possibilities.
I've done this on Linux through POL, but it should be largely the same on Windows. One thing that is sort of Linux specific: get WeiDu for Linux and use it instead of the installers included in the various .exe files. You might even want to do this on Windows, simply because there might be newer WeiDu versions since the specific mod has been packaged. Installing mods on Linux generally includes the following steps:
1) Copy the mod directory into your BGT directory.
2) Run 'tolower' to make sure all files are lowercase and will be found.
3) Run 'weinstall modname' and choose the part of the mod you want installed.
Prepare yourself a pot of tea, installing all this stuff will take an hour or two.
The guide largely follows this guide: http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/the-ultimate-baldurs-gate-experience/
Be careful with the included links, as they frequently directly point to outdated versions. Just search for those mods on the net, they are mostly easy to find.
As for the guide above, I think it makes the game too hard. I do not play Baldur's Gate for the tough tactical challenge. I found the D'Arnise Keep with the enhanced Spirit Trolls was just too annoying and I don't think that it's plausible that every spellcaster on the swordcoast should have spelltriggers equipped, just in case you show up.
I suggest to read the help files and look up what the options are doing. Here is roughly what I did.
1) Stratagems is responsible for most of the stuff that makes the game harder. I did make enemies in general smarter and let them call for help but did not enable the smarter mages, priests, etc.. 'Smarter' and 'Improved' here means a lot harder.
2) BG2Tweaks mostly follow this guide but change at your discretion. Be careful, a lot of this stuff can greatly change how the game works. Be conservative with this one. Do not change it unless it really annoys you or you think that the game is broken without this change. This mod is a very mixed bag ranging from nice to have or convenient to gamebreaking rule changes.
3) I did not use the experience fixer, but it's too early to say whether this was a good idea. If you follow Atropos guide completely you should definitely use it, simply because you will get tons of experience from all the difficult encounters, if you survive that is.
After finishing the whole thing I suggest to biff everything: http://www.shsforums.net/files/file/741-generalized-biffing/
Without this the loading times might be quite horrible (about as bad as Lethis').
I'm not far into the game yet, but from what I can tell the game is tougher, but not too tough.
I hope this is helpful to someone.
to help you (and a future me) to install Baldur's Gate Trilogy, here is a short guide. Note that it likely is not perfect, but I do not have the time to get a complete overview of all the possibilities.
I've done this on Linux through POL, but it should be largely the same on Windows. One thing that is sort of Linux specific: get WeiDu for Linux and use it instead of the installers included in the various .exe files. You might even want to do this on Windows, simply because there might be newer WeiDu versions since the specific mod has been packaged. Installing mods on Linux generally includes the following steps:
1) Copy the mod directory into your BGT directory.
2) Run 'tolower' to make sure all files are lowercase and will be found.
3) Run 'weinstall modname' and choose the part of the mod you want installed.
Prepare yourself a pot of tea, installing all this stuff will take an hour or two.
The guide largely follows this guide: http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/the-ultimate-baldurs-gate-experience/
Be careful with the included links, as they frequently directly point to outdated versions. Just search for those mods on the net, they are mostly easy to find.
As for the guide above, I think it makes the game too hard. I do not play Baldur's Gate for the tough tactical challenge. I found the D'Arnise Keep with the enhanced Spirit Trolls was just too annoying and I don't think that it's plausible that every spellcaster on the swordcoast should have spelltriggers equipped, just in case you show up.
I suggest to read the help files and look up what the options are doing. Here is roughly what I did.
1) Stratagems is responsible for most of the stuff that makes the game harder. I did make enemies in general smarter and let them call for help but did not enable the smarter mages, priests, etc.. 'Smarter' and 'Improved' here means a lot harder.
2) BG2Tweaks mostly follow this guide but change at your discretion. Be careful, a lot of this stuff can greatly change how the game works. Be conservative with this one. Do not change it unless it really annoys you or you think that the game is broken without this change. This mod is a very mixed bag ranging from nice to have or convenient to gamebreaking rule changes.
3) I did not use the experience fixer, but it's too early to say whether this was a good idea. If you follow Atropos guide completely you should definitely use it, simply because you will get tons of experience from all the difficult encounters, if you survive that is.
After finishing the whole thing I suggest to biff everything: http://www.shsforums.net/files/file/741-generalized-biffing/
Without this the loading times might be quite horrible (about as bad as Lethis').
I'm not far into the game yet, but from what I can tell the game is tougher, but not too tough.
I hope this is helpful to someone.
Post edited February 20, 2017 by hollunder