My bad, I figured it was out of beta by now. Also, you only listed 2 or 3 mods that you "can't play without", and it seemed like SCS was a big one (your line about the game being way too easy without it), so I thought that SCS being available for BG:EE would be quite significant.
SCS for BG:EE is only "available" if one is able to master the arcane procedure by which EE is supposed to be modded. I admit that I may be in the minority in not having any idea what they're asking me to do with that procedure, but I can't possibly be alone in not seeing why I shouldn't just stick to Weidu, if I want to play a modded game.
As far as I know the only difference between installing mods for BG:EE compared to the orginal is that you have to go to your installation directory, open up the command prompt, and type in a single line, in order to prep your installation for Weidu. After that you install mods just like you normally would.
I could be wrong though. Before my first playthrough I installed a few components from the tweakpack, but that's it. Maybe things have changed since, or maybe some mods are more complicated to install than others.
SCS for BG:EE is only "available" if one is able to master the arcane procedure by which EE is supposed to be modded. I admit that I may be in the minority in not having any idea what they're asking me to do with that procedure, but I can't possibly be alone in not seeing why I shouldn't just stick to Weidu, if I want to play a modded game.
+1
I spent an hour trying to get SCS into BGEE and was none the wiser at the end of it.Probably my bad at the end of the day but i just couldn't manage it )
@TJHooker, see, you already lost me, right after "go to your installation directory". I have no idea how to "open a command prompt", or even what a "command prompt" is in this context. Type in a line? Huh?
That's okay, though, I know you weren't trying to give a step by step tutorial, there. But I read the technical instructions that got posted, and my reaction was a big "Wut?"
It seemed to me like they were using a lot of technical vocabulary and instruction like "open a command prompt", that was assuming a much higher level of Windows skill than someone like me has.
All I ever had to do to install a Weidu mod was to extract an .exe file and a resources folder to my installation, double click it, and voila!
Weidu even gives me simple instructions like type "I" for install, "n" for not install, "u" for uninstall, "r" for reinstall, or "q" to quit, when it needs to ask me a question. And it knows how to automatically manipulate a large number of mods to avoid problems with conflicts and installation order crashes, to a very large extent.
I don't really mean to complain too much about it, but my hope is that somebody, preferably the devs after they get the patch and then BG2:EE out, will create a mod management utility with a user-friendly interface. That shouldn't be too hard, since most newer games have such a utility either on release, or shortly after.
Or, I don't know, maybe it is hard to write. I watch the miracle of DOS manipulation that Weidu performs every time I mod my GoG BG setup, and it looks like it's writing over thousands of files and lines of code every time it makes even one simple modded change.
Have you tried googling the technical things you don't understand? Most of it might sound complicated, but is actually very simple. for example, your install directory is the digital location of the game (so if you go to the my computer heading, and go into whatever hard drive you installed the game to, and then navigate the folders [for some this might go program files (x86)->Baldurs Gate Enhance edition -> Data -> 00766]). The technical terms are used because it's much to wordy to have to explain it and it's something that is pretty easily understood once defined.
@belgarathmth If you look at http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/6950/player-how-to-getting-mods-to-work-on-bgee/p1 for instance, it tells you pretty much exactly how to open a command prompt. As explained in the first lines of the post, the manipulations described there are about adjusting your installation so current versions of weidu will work with it. Once you've done that it's business as usual, except that several mods have yet to be updated to work with the EE at all.
And yes, once things have caught up a bit more, such manipulation might well not be necessary. Considering the availability and diversity of mods for the original games though, I'm not sure how much more user-friendly or automated it could be made.
@Shin, I tried doing what that says, after I figured out what all the overstrikes were about. Specifically, I shift-right-clicked on the game directory, and clicked "open command window here". Then I copy-pasted that command line into the window, and pressed enter. It said "error - cannot create a file when the file already exists." I assume it's talking about the dialog.tlk file.
The last time I looked at the instructions, there was this whole thing about downloading something called "Near Infinity" and doing something complicated in that, before you could even get to the step I just tried. Now, it's all got overstrike marks through it, so I assume you're supposed to just ignore all those instructions.
I'm sorry, but I just don't have any motivation to keep struggling with it, since I can mod Gog BG easily and effortlessly with any mod I want, without worrying about compatibility. Enhanced Edition still has a long way to go vis a vis modding.
I'll still buy BG2:EE, and I'll play Enhanced Edition whenever I feel like a vanilla, unmodded game experience with all the pretty interface elements that Enhanced Edition has. (And I do find the interface and the widescreen rendering beautiful, so I will play with it from time to time just to enjoy all the eye candy.) But when I want to play with custom NPC's, or tweak the rules, or use SCS AI enhancement, it's still easier and more fun to use Gog.
At least they did get Keeper to work with Enhanced Edition, so I can still do anything I want with Enhanced Edition that can be done through Keeper.
@belgarathmth: I never did the mklink thing either, but I simply copy dialog.tlk from my lang directory to 00766 directory before installing WeiDU mod and copy it back to lang after.
@Pecca, hmm, now that actually makes sense to me. You could just keep two copies of the dialog.tlk file, one out in the 00766 for Weidu to work with, and another in the lang file that you would copy over after Weidu has done its magic. Thanks!
@belgarathmth - I had a hard time trying to do the mklink command too. Then I figured out I was doing something wrong, and bam! I got a the dialog.tlk hard linked in there.
Also, from what I've heard so far, BG2EE is going to be a lot easier to mod than BGEE.
@belgarathmth You don't need to run a command prompt, you can do it with a .bat file. I just tested the installation of scs and made this (although the stratagems mod already comes with a .bat for auto install). You will need the latest version of WeiDU in your 00766 folder too.
This .bat can be applied to ANY weidu mod, just change the tp2 reference and folder location (right click, edit, make your changes, then save as -> new bat name).
That is a quickie that should work. It goes in the game directory where you would put any weidu mod. Attached also the actual .bat and latest weidu.exe. extract to your game directory, go get scs... and double click THIS .bat. should start the process for you.
Thank you to everyone who tried to help, but none of it works for me. I tried installing the v.22 beta of SCS, with a copy of the dialog.tlk out in the 00766 folder, and it still crashed as soon as I double-clicked on the .exe. Oh well. I've spent about an hour trying to mess with it. I hate giving up on stuff, but yeah. I'll just have to use the vanilla release if I decide to play Enhanced Edition again.
BTW: I think I've now officially derailed this thread into a discussion that belongs in the modding forum. My apologies to the original poster. I guess it was sort on topic, at first. The op said "BG:EE is awesome compared to original BG", basically, and I said, "Yeah, but I can't mod it." That was really all I wanted to say.
@Belgarathmth - I think if you're doing it as @Pecca suggests, then you have to put the modded dialog.tlk back into the lang folder that you found it in. So, be sure to make a backup of it. Then again, one could always use the 'repair installation' option in the launcher.
@Cuv, thank you, but sorry, that doesn't work for me. I have no idea how to use that. It's completely over my head. I'll just wait for somebody to come out with an idiot-proof user interface, or else just stick to Gog when I want to mod, like I said.
My bad, I figured it was out of beta by now. Also, you only listed 2 or 3 mods that you "can't play without", and it seemed like SCS was a big one (your line about the game being way too easy without it), so I thought that SCS being available for BG:EE would be quite significant.
Probably SCS, IR, SR, Tweak pack, Fixpack, NPC project and UB at a minimum. Most of those are in testing or planned for the next release already. I'd love to see SoBH, NTotSC and DSotSC too though. Either way it's only a matter of time until we have the best mods for BGT/Tutu available in EE.
The big added content might not make it but... not as important as the overall game balance/improvements.
Fixpack is included in EE by default. CamDawg has been updating it for the vBG users, but if you're playing the Enhanced Edition you don't need it.
What about Unfinished Business,this mod rounds up most of the broken or unfinished quests that the original had or have these been taken care of anyway.
Comments
I could be wrong though. Before my first playthrough I installed a few components from the tweakpack, but that's it. Maybe things have changed since, or maybe some mods are more complicated to install than others.
I spent an hour trying to get SCS into BGEE and was none the wiser at the end of it.Probably my bad at the end of the day but i just couldn't manage it
That's okay, though, I know you weren't trying to give a step by step tutorial, there. But I read the technical instructions that got posted, and my reaction was a big "Wut?"
It seemed to me like they were using a lot of technical vocabulary and instruction like "open a command prompt", that was assuming a much higher level of Windows skill than someone like me has.
All I ever had to do to install a Weidu mod was to extract an .exe file and a resources folder to my installation, double click it, and voila!
Weidu even gives me simple instructions like type "I" for install, "n" for not install, "u" for uninstall, "r" for reinstall, or "q" to quit, when it needs to ask me a question. And it knows how to automatically manipulate a large number of mods to avoid problems with conflicts and installation order crashes, to a very large extent.
I don't really mean to complain too much about it, but my hope is that somebody, preferably the devs after they get the patch and then BG2:EE out, will create a mod management utility with a user-friendly interface. That shouldn't be too hard, since most newer games have such a utility either on release, or shortly after.
Or, I don't know, maybe it is hard to write. I watch the miracle of DOS manipulation that Weidu performs every time I mod my GoG BG setup, and it looks like it's writing over thousands of files and lines of code every time it makes even one simple modded change.
As explained in the first lines of the post, the manipulations described there are about adjusting your installation so current versions of weidu will work with it. Once you've done that it's business as usual, except that several mods have yet to be updated to work with the EE at all.
And yes, once things have caught up a bit more, such manipulation might well not be necessary. Considering the availability and diversity of mods for the original games though, I'm not sure how much more user-friendly or automated it could be made.
The last time I looked at the instructions, there was this whole thing about downloading something called "Near Infinity" and doing something complicated in that, before you could even get to the step I just tried. Now, it's all got overstrike marks through it, so I assume you're supposed to just ignore all those instructions.
I'm sorry, but I just don't have any motivation to keep struggling with it, since I can mod Gog BG easily and effortlessly with any mod I want, without worrying about compatibility. Enhanced Edition still has a long way to go vis a vis modding.
I'll still buy BG2:EE, and I'll play Enhanced Edition whenever I feel like a vanilla, unmodded game experience with all the pretty interface elements that Enhanced Edition has. (And I do find the interface and the widescreen rendering beautiful, so I will play with it from time to time just to enjoy all the eye candy.) But when I want to play with custom NPC's, or tweak the rules, or use SCS AI enhancement, it's still easier and more fun to use Gog.
At least they did get Keeper to work with Enhanced Edition, so I can still do anything I want with Enhanced Edition that can be done through Keeper.
EDIT: @Cuv is about to ninja me with some better information, so I'll let him tell it.
Also, from what I've heard so far, BG2EE is going to be a lot easier to mod than BGEE.
This .bat can be applied to ANY weidu mod, just change the tp2 reference and folder location (right click, edit, make your changes, then save as -> new bat name).
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weidu stratagems\setup-stratagems.tp2 --script-style BG2 --tlkin .\lang\en_US\dialog.tlk --tlkout .\lang\en_US\dialog.tlk --log stratagems.DEBUG
---------------------
That is a quickie that should work. It goes in the game directory where you would put any weidu mod. Attached also the actual .bat and latest weidu.exe. extract to your game directory, go get scs... and double click THIS .bat. should start the process for you.
Here is the link to scs - http://forums.gibberlings3.net/index.php?showtopic=25546&st=0
BTW: I think I've now officially derailed this thread into a discussion that belongs in the modding forum. My apologies to the original poster. I guess it was sort on topic, at first. The op said "BG:EE is awesome compared to original BG", basically, and I said, "Yeah, but I can't mod it." That was really all I wanted to say.
that you can download from here
The big added content might not make it but... not as important as the overall game balance/improvements.