[STEAM] Making Mods Function
FinalMaster
Member Posts: 3
I have had almost no luck using mods with Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Edition or the bug fixes that are rampant through here. So, I have came to ask for help.
Several issues to help me [and probably others] with:
Steam
I purchased the game via Steam, which created a long directory of C: Program Files (x86)/Steam/SteamApps/Common/Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Edition
As I bought it from steam and most people here are referring to a Beamdog [?] version - did I buy the wrong/broken/whatever negative[positive] version? If so, how do I fix the game [fix patches/general mod-ability/ect]?
When someone gives a directory tree, and it's a Beamdog sourced game, how do I install in my version?
WeiDU
I have read that most mods require this program. I found it http://weidu.org/ <-- there, downloaded, unzipped and now have no idea exactly where to put it, or how to use it with the various mods available.
Where do I put the WeiDu files? How do I use it to sync the various mods [if that's what it is even for?]
00766 & Override
I finally found these folders. They are located in my Steam data tree, yet it seems most people have them in the auto generated My Documents portion of the game. Is the data not being generated properly for my copy/do I need to copy/move these two folders to the My Documents portion?
When someone says to put file x in their override folder, that's it? There's nothing else? The game knows to call to that folder, with or without Weidu?
External Drive Play
I tend to have all my game files on an eHD. I copied the data in the Steam tree for the game, and can play it freely from my eHD. Does this impact any effect on whether modified files function or not? Do I have to launch the game from the Steam Client to play properly? I haven't had stability issues, but it is a concern.
Specific Example
The fix for the Firebead quest at the beginning of the game is located here http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/268466/#Comment_268466 . I downloaded, unzipped and moved the file to my override folder, yet it didn't fix the issue. Teleroth or whoever only lets me speak to him three times, and then no more interaction is allowed. How do I utilize the patch [along with many others here]? I would love to have a game that works as well as everyone else, especially as this was my first DLC/game purchase ever.
As a side note, I have read the various help threads such as How To Manually Customize Your Game, Mod and modding tutorials quick links and Here's how to use custom portraits. They are helpful, but again, I cannot utilize their knowledge, apparently.
If anyone can help me in any way they can, I would very much appreciate it.
Edit:
I get the feeling that most of the patches look at a certain directory for the files they effect, when placed in the override folder. If this is true, then do they really fix anything if designed for use in one game version [beamdog] when placed into another [steam]?
Several issues to help me [and probably others] with:
Steam
I purchased the game via Steam, which created a long directory of C: Program Files (x86)/Steam/SteamApps/Common/Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Edition
As I bought it from steam and most people here are referring to a Beamdog [?] version - did I buy the wrong/broken/whatever negative[positive] version? If so, how do I fix the game [fix patches/general mod-ability/ect]?
When someone gives a directory tree, and it's a Beamdog sourced game, how do I install in my version?
WeiDU
I have read that most mods require this program. I found it http://weidu.org/ <-- there, downloaded, unzipped and now have no idea exactly where to put it, or how to use it with the various mods available.
Where do I put the WeiDu files? How do I use it to sync the various mods [if that's what it is even for?]
00766 & Override
I finally found these folders. They are located in my Steam data tree, yet it seems most people have them in the auto generated My Documents portion of the game. Is the data not being generated properly for my copy/do I need to copy/move these two folders to the My Documents portion?
When someone says to put file x in their override folder, that's it? There's nothing else? The game knows to call to that folder, with or without Weidu?
External Drive Play
I tend to have all my game files on an eHD. I copied the data in the Steam tree for the game, and can play it freely from my eHD. Does this impact any effect on whether modified files function or not? Do I have to launch the game from the Steam Client to play properly? I haven't had stability issues, but it is a concern.
Specific Example
The fix for the Firebead quest at the beginning of the game is located here http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/comment/268466/#Comment_268466 . I downloaded, unzipped and moved the file to my override folder, yet it didn't fix the issue. Teleroth or whoever only lets me speak to him three times, and then no more interaction is allowed. How do I utilize the patch [along with many others here]? I would love to have a game that works as well as everyone else, especially as this was my first DLC/game purchase ever.
As a side note, I have read the various help threads such as How To Manually Customize Your Game, Mod and modding tutorials quick links and Here's how to use custom portraits. They are helpful, but again, I cannot utilize their knowledge, apparently.
If anyone can help me in any way they can, I would very much appreciate it.
Edit:
I get the feeling that most of the patches look at a certain directory for the files they effect, when placed in the override folder. If this is true, then do they really fix anything if designed for use in one game version [beamdog] when placed into another [steam]?
Post edited by FinalMaster on
1
Comments
WeiDU is a mod-manager/installer for mods. However, it is only useful for WeiDU mods. If the mod does not use WeiDU, you do not need it. If the mod merely consists of files for you to dump into the override, then that is how you install it. No other steps are necessary.
You should be able to use mods together with your installation on your external harddrive, just bear in mind you need to install the mods there and not to the game directory on C:\.
As for why your specific example did not work, I don't know. It's conceivable the mod relies on a particular patch, but that your Steam version is still on an older patch. If you are on Windows >= Vista, you may also be running into problems with Windows virtualising the Program Files(x86) directory (which would keep the game from "seeing" changes you make yourself). It is generally recommended you install your games elsewhere, but since you are using Steam, maybe that is a less attractive proposition. There's quite a bit to read about this issue, with various more or less ill-conceived solutions.
Mods should still install regardless of where the game is actually located. The main file to look for it the chitin.key file, it is important to make a note of this as this is probably the only file from version to version that does not change it's name or location. If that file is within
\Common\Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Edition, then that is the same as the usual\00766\directory that you will find with the Beamdog\standalone version. Many mods will come with a copy of WeiDU, usually named setup-[mod name].exe. So downloading it yourself should not be required. In the case that it is required to download and use WeiDU separately, then you will probably also need to start the command line and enter the required details (a batch file can do this).weidu [mod directory]\[mod name].tp2 --script-style BG2 --tlkin .\lang\[language directory; example: en_US]\dialog.tlk --tlkout .\lang\[language directory; example: en_US]\dialog.tlk --log [log file name that you want to create].DEBUGAs an example, I'll take TeamBG's Weapon Pack for BG:EE, BGT & TuTu.
Note, again, as I said above that this is the location of the chitin.key file. This will help in understanding the correct directory. In the case of TeamBG's Weapon Pack, the WeiDU installed comes with it. It's called SETUP-BGeeW.exe.
I can't remember whether or not it looks for the dialog.tlk file in the appropriate place or not.
If it doesn't, then you'll need to start the command line - or, alternatively, copy the dialog.tlk file from the lang\[language] directory, install the mod and then copy the dialog.tlk file back. Following on with the above, if a mod is just a collection of loose files, instead of a WeiDU mod, then they only need to copied over to the override folder. The default list of folders on the Steam version should look something like this:
SteamLibrary\SteamApps\common\Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition\data SteamLibrary\SteamApps\common\Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition\lang SteamLibrary\SteamApps\common\Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition\Manuals SteamLibrary\SteamApps\common\Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition\movies SteamLibrary\SteamApps\common\Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition\music SteamLibrary\SteamApps\common\Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition\Redist SteamLibrary\SteamApps\common\Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition\scriptsWhere, as I said above,
\Common\Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Editionis the same thing as the 00766 folder that others mention.If you don't have an override folder, then you will be required to manually create the override folder in the
\common\Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition\directory and copy whatever loose mod files there are to it.If the mod is a WeiDU mod and comes with the WeiDU executable, then just copy them to the
\common\Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition\directory, as shown in the picture above, and run the installer.The 00766 & Override should not be located in the My Documents directory. It should not. When I am at home, I have BG:EE installed on a NAS device (specifically, this type), and the drive is listed as 'Z' on all of my desktops.
It is doubtful that there will be a significant decrease in performance. For the specific example, I'm drawing a blank. Could it be that the override folder is not in the correct place? Have you tried starting a new game? Some mods are not retroactive and require a new game.