@Novakor, gotcha with the storage space and updates... It all came back to me when I opened the Lenovo 100S. I remember the troubles I had not being able to update due to limited space. If you are interested, I can send you a PM on how to update your beast to the latest version (1809 with a possible upgrade to 64 bit - I was on 32Bit but used the 64Bit to do a clean install). It isn't tricky or anything, just isn't relevant for this discussion.
1024 files? I think we found the possible problem. Which version do you have? v1.3 had about that amount in both files and folders. I am using v2.5.17.0 and the dialog.tlk posted above is too small for that version. When looking at the file properties, the v2.5 version size is 4,731,376 bytes whereas your dialog.tlk is 4,666,687 bytes.
If you have 2.5.17.0, then the patch..obb contains 2088 files and 86 folders, main..obb contains 30 files and one folder, so it could that the patch..obb didn't unpack properly. What file compression tool are you using?
I just use the Windows 10 internal and it extracted all of the files. I have been trying to see if there is a limitation with SDCards etc but it looks alright. Do you have a HDD you could connect and try with that? I did the setup yesterday on the Lenovo 100S on a USB HDD and I had some errors first up, changed the order of the mod install and was left with one error in SCS (Improved Demon Cultists - can't find resource INNATE_FIEND_TELEPORT) which I find has been a problem thoughout other installs as well. I have attached the new .bat.
Can I confirm that you are using 2.5.17.0 of the BG1EE?
If so, here is what I am show for my version unpacked. Most of the files are in \lang:
2117 Files, 86 Folders (3,183,828,320 bytes) full game
676 Files, 49 Folders 1 (993,093,348 bytes) without \lang
1441 Files, 36 Folders (1,190,734,972 bytes) just in \lang
162 Files, 3 Folders (43,550,951 bytes) in \lang\en_US
And then there is the concern about the size of the dialog.tlk.
For almost 20 years now, I've played the Baldur's Gate games completely un-modded and have enjoyed every second of it. But for my next playthrough, I'm planning on trying mods for the first time. If possible, I'd like to play them on my Android tablet. From what I've been reading here on this thread, it sounds to me like the process for installing mods on Android still isn't compatible with the latest version of the game, or it's still being perfected. Is that correct?
Hi @SteveRogers41, there are a couple of work arounds that seem to enable mods to work for all the games. The method will vary slightly depending on how you are looking at modding the game and the language used, ie: using the PC games as the modding base or setting up an area using the Android version.
Either way, I would be happy to help you out with the procedures and work arounds. To do this, you would need a PC as you can't install the mods directly using the Android device. If you don't have a PC, we could still put something together for you to try out.
@SteveRogers41, from what I saw above, I am guessing that you have never installed a mod before? I suggest that you pick one or two and we will start with BG1EE. We will use the PC as your base modder.
We will do the setup first:
For this, you will need to have separate PC installs for
BG1EE,
BG1EE with SOD (if you have them), and
BG2EE.
Of course, if you have IWDEE and PSTEE, you can do the same.
For info (you don't need to do this), this is my config (all PC based):
The concenpt here is that the game without anything foloowing is my modded game on PC. The one with .Android is well uhm my (and others) Android Modded games, and the .Clean contains a clean copy of the game for any vanilla run (which I haven't done in years and it is a backup incase anything goes wrong with the other two folders. Bit redundent but I have the space on my HDD. All games are in my E:\Games folder away from any Windows System security. BTW, I didn't install them individually. Only installed once, then copied them to the other folders.
From what store did you purchase your games from. Only ask as, by default, they install into different folders. You likely have them installed already (except for the standalone BG1EE) so you can copy them into new folders if you want. If you intend to have the same folder and play the same mods, then if you have them installed in 'Program Folders' somewhere, they will need to be copied or reinstalled into a neutral drive or part of the drive (no where near system files as Windows gets a bit iffy playing with files in that area).
What sort of mods were you looking at? I am only suggesting the one or two so that you can get the procedure under your belt (but you can do more if you want), then look at the the total modded game you want and we can step through that. Starting with BG1EE because it is the easiest
If you have installed mods before, then you are likely to understand a big part of the process (like getting your mods install order correct).
As part of the initial setup, grab yourself Centralfix.exe (which can be found at the start of this discussion. If you have pruchased from GOG or Steam, then you will also need to get Modmerge or DLCMerger, which will prepare BG1EE-SOD for installing mods. They both do the same thing but I use Modmerge. It only happens once.
With-in your BG1EE game folder, create a new folder called '_Modfile'. The _ in the name will place the folder at the top of the screen and this will be the location where you will create your modfiles for transfering to your device. You can do this with each game folder and copy centralfix.exe into each one.
In BG1EE.2.5.17.0\lang\en_US, copy 'dialog.tlk' and paste into the same folder. Rename as 'dialog_orig.tlk'. This keeps a backup of your dialog.tlk in case anything goes wrong or you want to create a new modfile with different mods. Again, you can do this for all the game files.
I will introduce you to the batch files to assist later when you understand what is happening.
So at the end of this, we should have all the games setup in a Games folder, _Modfile folder created and centralfix.exe copied, as well as a backup of dialog.tlk.
For the next session, we will install some mods and generate a modfile to test on your device. Let me know which mods you want to play with. If it is something like Tweaks Anthology, then you will also need to look at the components and decide which ones.
@Gusinda I bought BG:EE from Beamdog. I put the separate install in the Program Files folder. I followed all of the steps as you instructed. Also, the mods I'm interested in trying are the Portraits Portraits Everywhere, Animal Companions, and the Tweaks Anthology. I've looked at the components, and came up with this list: Move NPCs from Baldur's Gate, Multiple Strongholds, Weapon Styles For All, and Make Xan a Generalist Mage. Since you suggest starting with just two mods, we can take out Animal Companions if necessary.
Hi @SteveRogers41, great. We can still do the Animal Companions and the components within Tweaks Anthology are just so that we can talk about them if we need to. When you are doing this, you can select anything you want really...
This is rather a large wall of text and a bit to get through so take your time, the idea is to understand what is happening So pose any questions you need to.
Modding the Game
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first thing to do is to download and unpack the mods to BG1EE folder. For most these days, the mods are contained in .zip, .rar, .7z or a .exe. All of these can be unpacked using WinRAR or 7Zip. The .exe is generally self unpacking, but can be manually unpacked as well. Most contain the WeiDU runtime (which is the file setup-modname.exe) and a folder (modname). Both go into the root folder of the game where you will find engine.lua and chitin.key.
So now you will have something looking like (where x = your drive letter):
x:\Games\BG1EE\_Modfile (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\AnimalCompanions (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\cdtweaks (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\data (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\lang (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\movies (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\PPE (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\scripts (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\Baldur.exe
x:\Games\BG1EE\chitin.key
x:\Games\BG1EE\engine.lua
x:\Games\BG1EE\Setup-AnimalCompanions.exe
x:\Games\BG1EE\setup-cdtweaks.exe
x:\Games\BG1EE\Setup-PPE.exe
etc...
The setup-modname.exe are essentially all the same file but, initially are most likely different sizes and different versions. Although they should update each other to the same version, some don't so it can be a problem sometimes (just something to keep an eye on). If, after first run and they don't update themselves, it can be done manually by copying the youngest (generally the largest and most upto date), pasting as a copy, then renaming the copy to the setup-modname. ie: If Setup-AnimalCompanions.exe is an older WeiDU version and setup-cdtweaks.exe is the latest, then copy setup-cdtweaks.exe and paste it as a copy, then rename it to Setup-AnimalCompanions.exe (after you delete the original one of course). Hope that makes sense...
Next is to install the mods in the right order. There are many dicsussions in this forum about the order of mods install, but if you have a look here, it is a good place to start.
So for this installation, you would start with Animal Companions, Tweaks Anthology then PPE. To install, run the setup-modname.exe, select your language and answer the prompts. Do this for all three mods. You will see if there are any errors during the install. These can come from any number of things; the mod isn't suited for the game version, incorrect install order, conflict with another mod, incomplete mod etc. This is something that needs to be discovered and sorted at the time... Use the forums if the errors don't make sense.
To add to the above structure, you should now have the additional:
x:\Games\BG1EE\override (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\weidu.conf
x:\Games\BG1EE\WeiDU.log
and a number of .debugs.
The override folder is where most mods place their content. Some (not many) also place files into \music and \scripts etc but with experience, you will be able to find those.
The weidu.conf is simply a reminder to WeiDU what language your using, and WeiDU.log contains your mods setup. If you want to change something in your mods, WeiDU looks here to remember all the mods installed and what order etc. It is also a great place to do your own fault finding. Also as part of fault finding are the .debug files which capture everything that happened during the install.
At this point, you can test your mods on PC if you wish to make sure that they are what you want and it also gives you an idea of what to expect the Android version to be like...
Preparing to create Modfile
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now that you have installed the mods (successfully?), we are going to copy the content for modfiles and create one.
Start by right clicking the 'override' folder and select copy.
Move into the _Modfile folder and paste.
While we are here, create a folder called 'lang', the a subfolder called 'en_US'.
Move back to the root of the game folder, enter '\lang\en_US' and copy 'dialog.tlk'
Move to '_Modfile\lang\en_US' and paste.
Copy dialog.tlk and paste making a copy. Rename the copy to dialogf.tlk
You should have something like:
x:\Games\BG1EE\_Modfile\lang
x:\Games\BG1EE\_Modfile\lang\en_US
x:\Games\BG1EE\_Modfile\lang\en_US\dialog.tlk
x:\Games\BG1EE\_Modfile\lang\en_US\dialogf.tlk
x:\Games\BG1EE\_Modfile\override
x:\Games\BG1EE\_Modfile\centralfix.exe
The reason we are making a copy of dialog.tlk called dialogf.tlk is that some mods on some games upset the billy cart and conflict with the vanilla dialog.tlk or not read at all. This is one of those work arounds and might not be needed with 2.6. I just do it now for all the modfiles to save trying to remember which ones...
I also copy over the WeiDU.log so that I can store it with the modfile. This way, I can be sure what was in the modfile.
Creating the Modfile
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now that we have all the modified content copied, we can create the modfile. I use WinRAR so will describe using that.
Sitting in the _Modfile folder, right click on 'lang' and select 'Add to Archive...'. There will be something in the context menu depending on what you use.
In the dialog, name the archive 'lang-en_US.zip'. This can be any name, I just use this to show that it is the language file for en_US...
Set the format to be .zip.
Set the compression method to be 'STORE'. STORE simply means that there is no compression. The .zip is just a container. This is important!! If there is any compression, the dialog.tlk will not be able to be read by the game. If you ave a look at the end result file size, you will know whether you selected the right method.
Once you are satisfied that everything is good, click OK.
Next step is to fix the .zip index file using centralfix.exe. This allows the game to be able to read the (STORE) .zip file and therefore the dialog.tlk.
You can do this a number of ways. One is to simply drag 'lang-en_US.zip onto centralfix.exe. The problem doing that is that you don't get to see if the process was correct. The best way is to use the Command Prompt. If you haven't had much to do with this before, then we will create a batch file to do the work for you. If you have had experience with Command Prompts, then you will know what to do with the commands in the batchfile.
In the _Modfile folder, create and empty text file called 'centralfixlang.bat'. This is done by right clicking in white space on the left had windows of Windows Explorer, select New, Text Document and give it the name.
Once that is done, right click on centralfixlang.bat and edit. Type the following two lines into the file:
centralfix lang-en_US.zip
pause
Save and close. When you run this, it will apply centralfix to lang-en_US.zip and pause showing the results.
Run it now. You should see that a new index has been written.
That is the language file complete. The next part is to package the files to be able to copy them to your device.
Using CTRL key, left click on 'lang-en_US.zip' and then on the 'override' folder. You should have both selected.
Right click on one of those (while they are selected) and select 'Add to Archive...' from the context menu.
In the WinRAR dialog (or whichever compression tool you are using), give the archive any name you wish. I usually include the game version, and some identifier. eg: BG1EE.2.5.17.0_FirstModfile_1.zip.
Make sure the format is .zip. Well it can also be .rar if your file manager on Android can handle the file. You are generally safe with .zip.
This file can be compressed as it will be unpacked on your device.
Select OK. It will now create the archive which can be copied onto your device.
You can open the file and have a look inside, you should have the override folder and the lang-en_US.zip.
Rename the WeiDU.log in _Modfile to be BG1EE.2.5.17.0_FirstModfile_1.log.txt.
Copying and unpack on device
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I will assume that you have previously connected your device to your PC and copied files. If this is not the case, then let me know.
Copy BG1EE.2.5.17.0_FirstModfile_1.zip onto your device. You can place it anywhere, but I generally put them into:
Android/data/com.beamdog.baldursgateenhancededition
The game doesn't touch this folder so you can store any related data here.
If your file manager doesn't handle .zip files well or you are unsure, I use RAR for Android which works.
If you are using RAR for Android, the open the modfile using it (or your File Manager), select both items, then long press, copy to clipboard, and navigate to:
Android/data/com.beamdog.baldursgateenhancededition/Files
Paste.
You should now have something like:
Android/data/com.beamdog.baldursgateenhancededition/Files/override
Android/data/com.beamdog.baldursgateenhancededition/Files/save
Android/data/com.beamdog.baldursgateenhancededition/Files/lang-en_US.zip
Android/data/com.beamdog.baldursgateenhancededition/Files/baldur.lua
and any other folders such as portraits (for custom portraits or character to hold your .chr files).
The lang-en_US.zip should not be unpacked, just leave it as is.
Make sure there are no other .zip files in the folder... (especially if you are updating/replacing your modfile).
You are now ready to test the game.
Start the game. If everything starts well, your modfile should be OK. You wont really know until you are able to read modifications in the dialog.tlk. Using your mods selected, the easiest way would be for you to create a druid and summon an Animal Companion (abilities icon). You wont be able to yet, but you should be able to read the spell name and the resulting message saying you don't have enough skills yet...
If that shows, then all should be good.
Fault Finding
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If the game crashes on start, then the most likely contender is that there are two .zip files in the game folder (where lang-en_US.zip is). This is the most common error.
If the game starts, but there are Invalid statements in you dialog box, or on character creation etc, then it could be that the lang-en_US.zip was compressed (not STOREd) before centralfix was applied, or another is that lang-en_US.zip is not being read by the game. This can happen because centralfix.exe wasn't run against lang-en_US.zip. In some instances, dialogf.tlk wasn't used as a work around. There are other tricks for BG2EE, but we can look at those later.
So that is it for now, in summary, you do the following:
Install the mods
Copy the content to _Modfile
Create lang-en_US.zip using STORE compression method
Centralfix lang-en_US.zip
Package file and transfer to device
Unpack and test
If all is good, gather your party...
Let me know how you go and don't hesitate to ask any questions about the procedure. When you are ready to look at the next step, we can go on from there. Either SOD, BG2EE or more for BG1EE. Once this is mastered, the rest should be much shorter in length.
@Gusinda Followed all these steps and got it working faster than expected and with no issues at all. Thanks a lot for the help! Looking forward to playing through the game with mods for the first time.
I'm having a wee bit of trouble installing a companion mod. I have BG II EE for Android, but I'm doing all the mod prep on a Windows 10 machine. I doubt the trouble is with the mod itself, as the symptoms are so strange that they would have to have been seen before.
Specifically, I installed the Sarah companion mod. Sarah shows up where she is supposed to, but when I initiate dialog, I get a bunch of random messages instead - such as "Your party leader has been killed..." and other messages that are clearly meant for something else. It's like the dialog is missing the new entries and is instead linking to existing strings.
I followed the directions in the original post to a T, so I'm not sure where I went wrong. As an aside, the mod came with a copy of Weidu that "installed" the mod to my extracted installation folder. It didn't seem to have any issues.
[UPDATE] I found the problem. I needed to repack the update OBB without dialog.tlk, moving it to the files/lang/en_US folder as an override. That sorted everything out - but I found that on page 9. This should really be further up.
Hi @Maurvir, although removing the dialog.tlk out of the patch.obb does work and hopefully will be fixed for the next update, there have been some work other methods where the .obb doesn't need to be touched. MIt didn't suit those who didn't have a PC (using the page 9 document, there is a link on the OP for that btw).
If there is a requirement to touch the .obb, then you can use RAR for Android, rename the .obb to a .RAR, open the file and rename the dialog.tlk to dialog.000 or similar (need to have xxxxxx.xxx format).
Another way is that if you are using english language, then before you package your modfile, make a copy of dialog.tlk as dialogf.tlk (in the same folder), package the .modfile and centralfix. This has allowed most mds to run.
If they don't, or you are using a different language, then there are also other methods to try as well but duplicating the dialog.tlk has fixed most for me.
Hi @Gusinda ,
I'm loving that you are still supporting and helping people here.
I've recently tried to get PST:EE working with mods using both guides- the one in the first post and your solution here.
With the original solution I can load into the game but I have no idea if the mods were actually applied properly.
When trying your solution, I hit a few problems. My unpacked OBB ends up being bigger than the original - when I repack it, even though all I've done is extract it.
Wondering if you're instructions for PST are up for date, or if I've missed something super obvious anywhere.
Hi @Mazen, although it should still will work with unpacking the .obb, modifying it then repacking etc, fortunately there has been better methods to configure the modfiles.
I am assuming that you have a PC and that you have either already created mod install area with the Android game files, or have the PC version installed (the same version as the Android game). For both, you can leave the .obbs as they are on your Android device. I am also assuming this is the en_US version.
- Install all the mods etc
- Before you are about the create the lang_en-US.zip, make a copy of dialog.tlk and name it dialogf.tlk (in the same folder), then include both in the lang_en-US.zip. Apply 'Centralfix' to the file, then create the modfile to copy to your device for unpacking.
If you were having problems with the first method, hopefully this would then allow your mods to work fine.
When you say that you don't know whether the mods worked, what sort of mods were you installing? Perhaps there can be an easy way to test.
I do have a pc. I'll run you through what I'm doing.
Install PST:EE on my tablet, grabbed the OBB and pulled it onto a PC.
Got the mods I wanted and installed them into the extracted OBB.
Mod list:
cdtweaks9
detect traps
Save Nordem
JournalPortraitConversations (I think)
BagsofTorment
BanterAccelerator
and UB Reloaded.
I then grabbed the override and lang folder, put them into a zip, central fixed them and copied the zip to the data folder on my device.
I've realised I should be able to test by doing a fresh install and changing the options in UB reloaded for the different Morte starting text. I'll redo everything just now and see what happens, taking into account the new step .
Do I still need to do use the big_biff and if so which option do i pick 1 or 2?
Do I copy the original dialog.tlk or the modified one?
Hi @Mazen, good to hear that you have things going. I guess that you have already got which dialog.tlk to copy (the modded one). Do go for the JournalPortraitConversations as it makes the game a bit more enjoyable and immersive.
Re the Biffing; I have never biffed any modfile that I have put together within the EE series (yet). I suspect that you would also have no need either.
I missed your earlier question about the movies, sorry... I have never tries this but you can have a look here. You should be able to treat it just like any other mod. I just means a large modfile to transfer to the device and unpack. The link os the forum discussion but in the first post is a link to the download. It is about a 660MB download.
The 'extra step' method works for BG1 and BG2 (as well as IWD). If you have any problems with BG2 (due to its version), there are some more 'tricks' that can be tried to prevent any of the invalids or crashing from occurring, but we can cover that if the problems happen.
Hi all. I'm going to try my luck at adding some npc & tweak mods to the android app soon, just copied and extracted the .obb files to my PC for now. Anyone found any peculiarities to be aware of with it compared to BG1 or 2's apps?
Hi @Mantis37, quick question... do you own the PC versions of the game? If so, you can mod those and create the modfile from that config. If you do have the PC versions, I can pass on some more tips.
To answer the Q, I have had little problems of late installing mods into either environments. There should be no need to remove the dialog.tlk out of the .obb on the device anymore and should be used as the last resort.
You may have problems if your are modding BGSOD and don't have the PC version as some files (BG1EE files) that the mods need are not included with the Android BGSOD, so they will complain. One way to fix that is do the mod first in BG1EE, copy the files into the BGSOD override folder and install the mod again into SOD. Not a convientent way but it should work, again the mod install will complain as it wont have anything to mod but it will just be a warning instead of an error. Only the dialog.tlk could be a prob but the reinstallation of the mods should update it.
I am guessing here that it is the english version that you are modding. If so, I have found that making a copy of dialog.tlk renamed as dialogf.tlk has fixed most of the problems that we had with BG2. Although it wasn't a problem for BG1, I do the same just to keep my process happy and singular. BG2 may need some further assistance depending on the errors recieved, like creating 'sort of' empty files for various folders (like Sounds etc), and including them into the lang.zip file. If you run into BG2 problems with your mods, I can explain further as it is a branched solution; IF THIS, DO THAT problem solving.
If you need any help, let me know and I will provide what I can.
Hi there. Thanks for the advice. I have the PC version from Beamdog in English- I've given them plenty of my money I guess . So I didn't need to copy the Android obbs then? I will try updating that to the correct patch and modding it with a few things I guess, and then copying that across. I still have the zip file from BGEE for my present no-reload run as well, but I'm not sure if reinstalling the mods over that will go smoothly so I shall try from the start first.
@Mantis37, no need to copy the .obbs. The vanilla dialog.tlk is the same for PC anf Android version. You can either mod the PC version and play both with the same mods, transfer your saved games etc to continue the same game pn the different platforms; or you can make a copy of the PC game, mod it the way you want for Android, test the mods on PC, then create your modfile from that.
Hi Gus. Well, I installed a few mods into the SoD folder on my computer, and then transferred them onto my tablet, but the dialog.talk is making trouble as usual, even if I add a copy of dialogf.tlk to the lang.zip archive and centralfix it.
Looking back... for BG2 I previously made a dialog.000 file etc., is that sort of step necessary for modding the SoD app? (Sorry, I think I forgot to mention that this was my first crack at modding SoD for Android.)
Looking over the SoD app there is one additional language that already contains langf.tlk, and that's Brazilian Portugese. Apart from that I do have some extra stuff in the lang folder, some of the extra soundsets from Smeagolheart's mod but they've never been a problem before.
@Mantis37, are you modding the English version? Also, for the SOD package, is this mod being installed with the PC version (ie: BG1EE + SOD) or just using the SOD Android .obbs unpacked? You are better off using the PC version if you have it.
If you are using the Android .obbs, then it will likely be a double install. This means that you install the mods into the BG1EE game first to pickup all the BG1EE files that aren't with SOD (required for installing mods but not all), copy the override files across to the SOD override, then install the mods again onto SOD. Then create the modfile from the result.
No need to edit the patch.obb to rename dialog.tlk or create dialog.000 (thank goodness). This step is currently the last resort for BG2, being the version that it is, but I haven't had to use it for a good while.
For the English BG1EE+SOD, you shouldn't need to put in the dialogf.tlk, I just do it that way because it doesn't hurt the game and I don't have to have 2 different batch files to create the modfile. It is sort of safety step.
From memory, there are problems with the soundsets because of the extended sounds for SOD haven't yet been implemented into the mods. There is a semi-fix for it somewhere in the forum, I will try and find the link and place it here. BTW, you can copy the sounds into a folder called '..GameFolderName/Files/sounds' where GameFolderName = the path to the game etc. If you aren't interested in the subtitles, the sound files can just be copied there.
What sort of mods are you installing? If the modfile is small enough, could you upload that and the WeiDU.log so I could have a look?
Hi Gus. Yes, I'm trying to mod the English version of SoD, by modding my PC version of BG1 + SoD and then transferring the relevant directories to the com.Beamdog.SiegeofDragonspear/files directory. I can see that the kit mods at least have installed from how the 'invalids' are spaced out. I tried the usual way of Centralfixing lang.zip, and then with dialogf.tlk included as well but no luck so far.
Smeagolhearts soundsets installed OK after applying the relevant fix. The other mods are some npc mods and some other mods- like Subtle Doctor's kit mods- mostly to keep the environment similar to the game I played in the BG1 app so I can keep my no-reload going. The modfile is about 200mb, and the dialog.tlk is about 13mb right now, though I could probably cut that down! A few things like Northern Tales I installed just so the items will carry over!
Edit: Yup, renaming the dialog.tlk to .000 in the patch doesn't work either. However, removing the sounds & having dialogf.tlk in as well does! I did that without any expectation of success whatsover . My only remaining problem is importing the save from BG1, no luck so far- I deleted BG1 app as there wasn't enough space.
Hi @Mantis37, excellent stuff... Did you have the sounds inside the lang.zip?
For the BG1 - SOD import, (as long as you still have your saved game), you can create a folder on your device called:
Android/data/com.beamdog.baldursgateenhancededition/files/save
and copy the '\000000200-BG1End' saved game folder into that. When you import the game, SOD will look in the teh save folder for BG1 games.
I'm trying to get S9SoundsetsVol2 into my Android version of IWD:EE.
Steps I'm taking:
Copy OBB files to PC
Rename extensions as .zip
Extract (main file first)
copy S9SoundsetsVol2 files to directory
run "Setup-S9SoundsetsVol2.exe"
After install create new folder (Android Files)
Copy lang/en_US/dialog.tlk (maintaining folder structure) and overide folder to Android Files
Add to mods.zip without compression (I used 7Zip)
Run centralfix mods.zip
Copied mods.zip to the correct directory on the tablet (.../files)
Launch IWD:EE on tablet, create new character and... no new voice packs listed. Not sure where I'm going wrong.
@martinistripes, for that soundset, it installs the sound files into '/lang/en_US/sounds'. You could take the entire sounds folder if you want (the folder is about 7m in size without the additional mod files) and copy it onto your device. You can either copy it to:
/Files/sounds
or
/Files/lang/en_US/sounds
You could even place the mod sound files into the override folder if you want, but I like to keep them apart...
Comments
1024 files? I think we found the possible problem. Which version do you have? v1.3 had about that amount in both files and folders. I am using v2.5.17.0 and the dialog.tlk posted above is too small for that version. When looking at the file properties, the v2.5 version size is 4,731,376 bytes whereas your dialog.tlk is 4,666,687 bytes.
If you have 2.5.17.0, then the patch..obb contains 2088 files and 86 folders, main..obb contains 30 files and one folder, so it could that the patch..obb didn't unpack properly. What file compression tool are you using?
We will get there!
Gus
Can I confirm that you are using 2.5.17.0 of the BG1EE?
If so, here is what I am show for my version unpacked. Most of the files are in \lang:
2117 Files, 86 Folders (3,183,828,320 bytes) full game
676 Files, 49 Folders 1 (993,093,348 bytes) without \lang
1441 Files, 36 Folders (1,190,734,972 bytes) just in \lang
162 Files, 3 Folders (43,550,951 bytes) in \lang\en_US
And then there is the concern about the size of the dialog.tlk.
Gus
Either way, I would be happy to help you out with the procedures and work arounds. To do this, you would need a PC as you can't install the mods directly using the Android device. If you don't have a PC, we could still put something together for you to try out.
Gus
We will do the setup first:
For this, you will need to have separate PC installs for
BG1EE,
BG1EE with SOD (if you have them), and
BG2EE.
Of course, if you have IWDEE and PSTEE, you can do the same.
For info (you don't need to do this), this is my config (all PC based):
BG1EE.2.5.17.0
BG1EE.2.5.17.0.Android
BG1EE.2.5.17.0.Clean
BG1EE.2.5.17.0.SOD
BG1EE.2.5.17.0.SOD.Android
BG1EE.2.5.17.0.SOD.Clean
BG2EE.2.5.16.6
BG2EE.2.5.16.6.Android
BG2EE.2.5.16.6.Clean
The concenpt here is that the game without anything foloowing is my modded game on PC. The one with .Android is well uhm my (and others) Android Modded games, and the .Clean contains a clean copy of the game for any vanilla run (which I haven't done in years and it is a backup incase anything goes wrong with the other two folders. Bit redundent but I have the space on my HDD. All games are in my E:\Games folder away from any Windows System security. BTW, I didn't install them individually. Only installed once, then copied them to the other folders.
From what store did you purchase your games from. Only ask as, by default, they install into different folders. You likely have them installed already (except for the standalone BG1EE) so you can copy them into new folders if you want. If you intend to have the same folder and play the same mods, then if you have them installed in 'Program Folders' somewhere, they will need to be copied or reinstalled into a neutral drive or part of the drive (no where near system files as Windows gets a bit iffy playing with files in that area).
What sort of mods were you looking at? I am only suggesting the one or two so that you can get the procedure under your belt (but you can do more if you want), then look at the the total modded game you want and we can step through that. Starting with BG1EE because it is the easiest
If you have installed mods before, then you are likely to understand a big part of the process (like getting your mods install order correct).
As part of the initial setup, grab yourself Centralfix.exe (which can be found at the start of this discussion. If you have pruchased from GOG or Steam, then you will also need to get Modmerge or DLCMerger, which will prepare BG1EE-SOD for installing mods. They both do the same thing but I use Modmerge. It only happens once.
With-in your BG1EE game folder, create a new folder called '_Modfile'. The _ in the name will place the folder at the top of the screen and this will be the location where you will create your modfiles for transfering to your device. You can do this with each game folder and copy centralfix.exe into each one.
In BG1EE.2.5.17.0\lang\en_US, copy 'dialog.tlk' and paste into the same folder. Rename as 'dialog_orig.tlk'. This keeps a backup of your dialog.tlk in case anything goes wrong or you want to create a new modfile with different mods. Again, you can do this for all the game files.
I will introduce you to the batch files to assist later when you understand what is happening.
So at the end of this, we should have all the games setup in a Games folder, _Modfile folder created and centralfix.exe copied, as well as a backup of dialog.tlk.
For the next session, we will install some mods and generate a modfile to test on your device. Let me know which mods you want to play with. If it is something like Tweaks Anthology, then you will also need to look at the components and decide which ones.
Good luck
Gus
This is rather a large wall of text and a bit to get through so take your time, the idea is to understand what is happening So pose any questions you need to.
Modding the Game
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first thing to do is to download and unpack the mods to BG1EE folder. For most these days, the mods are contained in .zip, .rar, .7z or a .exe. All of these can be unpacked using WinRAR or 7Zip. The .exe is generally self unpacking, but can be manually unpacked as well. Most contain the WeiDU runtime (which is the file setup-modname.exe) and a folder (modname). Both go into the root folder of the game where you will find engine.lua and chitin.key.
So now you will have something looking like (where x = your drive letter):
x:\Games\BG1EE\_Modfile (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\AnimalCompanions (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\cdtweaks (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\data (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\lang (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\movies (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\PPE (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\scripts (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\Baldur.exe
x:\Games\BG1EE\chitin.key
x:\Games\BG1EE\engine.lua
x:\Games\BG1EE\Setup-AnimalCompanions.exe
x:\Games\BG1EE\setup-cdtweaks.exe
x:\Games\BG1EE\Setup-PPE.exe
etc...
The setup-modname.exe are essentially all the same file but, initially are most likely different sizes and different versions. Although they should update each other to the same version, some don't so it can be a problem sometimes (just something to keep an eye on). If, after first run and they don't update themselves, it can be done manually by copying the youngest (generally the largest and most upto date), pasting as a copy, then renaming the copy to the setup-modname. ie: If Setup-AnimalCompanions.exe is an older WeiDU version and setup-cdtweaks.exe is the latest, then copy setup-cdtweaks.exe and paste it as a copy, then rename it to Setup-AnimalCompanions.exe (after you delete the original one of course). Hope that makes sense...
Next is to install the mods in the right order. There are many dicsussions in this forum about the order of mods install, but if you have a look here, it is a good place to start.
So for this installation, you would start with Animal Companions, Tweaks Anthology then PPE. To install, run the setup-modname.exe, select your language and answer the prompts. Do this for all three mods. You will see if there are any errors during the install. These can come from any number of things; the mod isn't suited for the game version, incorrect install order, conflict with another mod, incomplete mod etc. This is something that needs to be discovered and sorted at the time... Use the forums if the errors don't make sense.
To add to the above structure, you should now have the additional:
x:\Games\BG1EE\override (Folder)
x:\Games\BG1EE\weidu.conf
x:\Games\BG1EE\WeiDU.log
and a number of .debugs.
The override folder is where most mods place their content. Some (not many) also place files into \music and \scripts etc but with experience, you will be able to find those.
The weidu.conf is simply a reminder to WeiDU what language your using, and WeiDU.log contains your mods setup. If you want to change something in your mods, WeiDU looks here to remember all the mods installed and what order etc. It is also a great place to do your own fault finding. Also as part of fault finding are the .debug files which capture everything that happened during the install.
At this point, you can test your mods on PC if you wish to make sure that they are what you want and it also gives you an idea of what to expect the Android version to be like...
Preparing to create Modfile
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now that you have installed the mods (successfully?), we are going to copy the content for modfiles and create one.
Start by right clicking the 'override' folder and select copy.
Move into the _Modfile folder and paste.
While we are here, create a folder called 'lang', the a subfolder called 'en_US'.
Move back to the root of the game folder, enter '\lang\en_US' and copy 'dialog.tlk'
Move to '_Modfile\lang\en_US' and paste.
Copy dialog.tlk and paste making a copy. Rename the copy to dialogf.tlk
You should have something like:
x:\Games\BG1EE\_Modfile\lang
x:\Games\BG1EE\_Modfile\lang\en_US
x:\Games\BG1EE\_Modfile\lang\en_US\dialog.tlk
x:\Games\BG1EE\_Modfile\lang\en_US\dialogf.tlk
x:\Games\BG1EE\_Modfile\override
x:\Games\BG1EE\_Modfile\centralfix.exe
The reason we are making a copy of dialog.tlk called dialogf.tlk is that some mods on some games upset the billy cart and conflict with the vanilla dialog.tlk or not read at all. This is one of those work arounds and might not be needed with 2.6. I just do it now for all the modfiles to save trying to remember which ones...
I also copy over the WeiDU.log so that I can store it with the modfile. This way, I can be sure what was in the modfile.
Creating the Modfile
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now that we have all the modified content copied, we can create the modfile. I use WinRAR so will describe using that.
Sitting in the _Modfile folder, right click on 'lang' and select 'Add to Archive...'. There will be something in the context menu depending on what you use.
In the dialog, name the archive 'lang-en_US.zip'. This can be any name, I just use this to show that it is the language file for en_US...
Set the format to be .zip.
Set the compression method to be 'STORE'. STORE simply means that there is no compression. The .zip is just a container. This is important!! If there is any compression, the dialog.tlk will not be able to be read by the game. If you ave a look at the end result file size, you will know whether you selected the right method.
Once you are satisfied that everything is good, click OK.
Next step is to fix the .zip index file using centralfix.exe. This allows the game to be able to read the (STORE) .zip file and therefore the dialog.tlk.
You can do this a number of ways. One is to simply drag 'lang-en_US.zip onto centralfix.exe. The problem doing that is that you don't get to see if the process was correct. The best way is to use the Command Prompt. If you haven't had much to do with this before, then we will create a batch file to do the work for you. If you have had experience with Command Prompts, then you will know what to do with the commands in the batchfile.
In the _Modfile folder, create and empty text file called 'centralfixlang.bat'. This is done by right clicking in white space on the left had windows of Windows Explorer, select New, Text Document and give it the name.
Once that is done, right click on centralfixlang.bat and edit. Type the following two lines into the file:
centralfix lang-en_US.zip
pause
Save and close. When you run this, it will apply centralfix to lang-en_US.zip and pause showing the results.
Run it now. You should see that a new index has been written.
That is the language file complete. The next part is to package the files to be able to copy them to your device.
Using CTRL key, left click on 'lang-en_US.zip' and then on the 'override' folder. You should have both selected.
Right click on one of those (while they are selected) and select 'Add to Archive...' from the context menu.
In the WinRAR dialog (or whichever compression tool you are using), give the archive any name you wish. I usually include the game version, and some identifier. eg: BG1EE.2.5.17.0_FirstModfile_1.zip.
Make sure the format is .zip. Well it can also be .rar if your file manager on Android can handle the file. You are generally safe with .zip.
This file can be compressed as it will be unpacked on your device.
Select OK. It will now create the archive which can be copied onto your device.
You can open the file and have a look inside, you should have the override folder and the lang-en_US.zip.
Rename the WeiDU.log in _Modfile to be BG1EE.2.5.17.0_FirstModfile_1.log.txt.
Copying and unpack on device
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I will assume that you have previously connected your device to your PC and copied files. If this is not the case, then let me know.
Copy BG1EE.2.5.17.0_FirstModfile_1.zip onto your device. You can place it anywhere, but I generally put them into:
Android/data/com.beamdog.baldursgateenhancededition
The game doesn't touch this folder so you can store any related data here.
If your file manager doesn't handle .zip files well or you are unsure, I use RAR for Android which works.
If you are using RAR for Android, the open the modfile using it (or your File Manager), select both items, then long press, copy to clipboard, and navigate to:
Android/data/com.beamdog.baldursgateenhancededition/Files
Paste.
You should now have something like:
Android/data/com.beamdog.baldursgateenhancededition/Files/override
Android/data/com.beamdog.baldursgateenhancededition/Files/save
Android/data/com.beamdog.baldursgateenhancededition/Files/lang-en_US.zip
Android/data/com.beamdog.baldursgateenhancededition/Files/baldur.lua
and any other folders such as portraits (for custom portraits or character to hold your .chr files).
The lang-en_US.zip should not be unpacked, just leave it as is.
Make sure there are no other .zip files in the folder... (especially if you are updating/replacing your modfile).
You are now ready to test the game.
Start the game. If everything starts well, your modfile should be OK. You wont really know until you are able to read modifications in the dialog.tlk. Using your mods selected, the easiest way would be for you to create a druid and summon an Animal Companion (abilities icon). You wont be able to yet, but you should be able to read the spell name and the resulting message saying you don't have enough skills yet...
If that shows, then all should be good.
Fault Finding
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If the game crashes on start, then the most likely contender is that there are two .zip files in the game folder (where lang-en_US.zip is). This is the most common error.
If the game starts, but there are Invalid statements in you dialog box, or on character creation etc, then it could be that the lang-en_US.zip was compressed (not STOREd) before centralfix was applied, or another is that lang-en_US.zip is not being read by the game. This can happen because centralfix.exe wasn't run against lang-en_US.zip. In some instances, dialogf.tlk wasn't used as a work around. There are other tricks for BG2EE, but we can look at those later.
So that is it for now, in summary, you do the following:
Install the mods
Copy the content to _Modfile
Create lang-en_US.zip using STORE compression method
Centralfix lang-en_US.zip
Package file and transfer to device
Unpack and test
If all is good, gather your party...
Let me know how you go and don't hesitate to ask any questions about the procedure. When you are ready to look at the next step, we can go on from there. Either SOD, BG2EE or more for BG1EE. Once this is mastered, the rest should be much shorter in length.
Good Luck
Gus
Specifically, I installed the Sarah companion mod. Sarah shows up where she is supposed to, but when I initiate dialog, I get a bunch of random messages instead - such as "Your party leader has been killed..." and other messages that are clearly meant for something else. It's like the dialog is missing the new entries and is instead linking to existing strings.
I followed the directions in the original post to a T, so I'm not sure where I went wrong. As an aside, the mod came with a copy of Weidu that "installed" the mod to my extracted installation folder. It didn't seem to have any issues.
[UPDATE] I found the problem. I needed to repack the update OBB without dialog.tlk, moving it to the files/lang/en_US folder as an override. That sorted everything out - but I found that on page 9. This should really be further up.
If there is a requirement to touch the .obb, then you can use RAR for Android, rename the .obb to a .RAR, open the file and rename the dialog.tlk to dialog.000 or similar (need to have xxxxxx.xxx format).
Another way is that if you are using english language, then before you package your modfile, make a copy of dialog.tlk as dialogf.tlk (in the same folder), package the .modfile and centralfix. This has allowed most mds to run.
If they don't, or you are using a different language, then there are also other methods to try as well but duplicating the dialog.tlk has fixed most for me.
Good to see you have it going though.
Gus
I'm loving that you are still supporting and helping people here.
I've recently tried to get PST:EE working with mods using both guides- the one in the first post and your solution here.
With the original solution I can load into the game but I have no idea if the mods were actually applied properly.
When trying your solution, I hit a few problems. My unpacked OBB ends up being bigger than the original - when I repack it, even though all I've done is extract it.
Wondering if you're instructions for PST are up for date, or if I've missed something super obvious anywhere.
Super psyced to play this again though
I am assuming that you have a PC and that you have either already created mod install area with the Android game files, or have the PC version installed (the same version as the Android game). For both, you can leave the .obbs as they are on your Android device. I am also assuming this is the en_US version.
- Install all the mods etc
- Before you are about the create the lang_en-US.zip, make a copy of dialog.tlk and name it dialogf.tlk (in the same folder), then include both in the lang_en-US.zip. Apply 'Centralfix' to the file, then create the modfile to copy to your device for unpacking.
If you were having problems with the first method, hopefully this would then allow your mods to work fine.
When you say that you don't know whether the mods worked, what sort of mods were you installing? Perhaps there can be an easy way to test.
Gus
Thanks for the reply.
I do have a pc. I'll run you through what I'm doing.
Install PST:EE on my tablet, grabbed the OBB and pulled it onto a PC.
Got the mods I wanted and installed them into the extracted OBB.
Mod list:
cdtweaks9
detect traps
Save Nordem
JournalPortraitConversations (I think)
BagsofTorment
BanterAccelerator
and UB Reloaded.
I then grabbed the override and lang folder, put them into a zip, central fixed them and copied the zip to the data folder on my device.
I've realised I should be able to test by doing a fresh install and changing the options in UB reloaded for the different Morte starting text. I'll redo everything just now and see what happens, taking into account the new step
Do I still need to do use the big_biff and if so which option do i pick 1 or 2?
Do I copy the original dialog.tlk or the modified one?
I just need to know whether to bif or not biff, then I'll try this for BG too.
Re the Biffing; I have never biffed any modfile that I have put together within the EE series (yet). I suspect that you would also have no need either.
I missed your earlier question about the movies, sorry... I have never tries this but you can have a look here. You should be able to treat it just like any other mod. I just means a large modfile to transfer to the device and unpack. The link os the forum discussion but in the first post is a link to the download. It is about a 660MB download.
The 'extra step' method works for BG1 and BG2 (as well as IWD). If you have any problems with BG2 (due to its version), there are some more 'tricks' that can be tried to prevent any of the invalids or crashing from occurring, but we can cover that if the problems happen.
Gus
To answer the Q, I have had little problems of late installing mods into either environments. There should be no need to remove the dialog.tlk out of the .obb on the device anymore and should be used as the last resort.
You may have problems if your are modding BGSOD and don't have the PC version as some files (BG1EE files) that the mods need are not included with the Android BGSOD, so they will complain. One way to fix that is do the mod first in BG1EE, copy the files into the BGSOD override folder and install the mod again into SOD. Not a convientent way but it should work, again the mod install will complain as it wont have anything to mod but it will just be a warning instead of an error. Only the dialog.tlk could be a prob but the reinstallation of the mods should update it.
I am guessing here that it is the english version that you are modding. If so, I have found that making a copy of dialog.tlk renamed as dialogf.tlk has fixed most of the problems that we had with BG2. Although it wasn't a problem for BG1, I do the same just to keep my process happy and singular. BG2 may need some further assistance depending on the errors recieved, like creating 'sort of' empty files for various folders (like Sounds etc), and including them into the lang.zip file. If you run into BG2 problems with your mods, I can explain further as it is a branched solution; IF THIS, DO THAT problem solving.
If you need any help, let me know and I will provide what I can.
[Casts Luck]
Gus
Gus
Looking back... for BG2 I previously made a dialog.000 file etc., is that sort of step necessary for modding the SoD app? (Sorry, I think I forgot to mention that this was my first crack at modding SoD for Android.)
Looking over the SoD app there is one additional language that already contains langf.tlk, and that's Brazilian Portugese. Apart from that I do have some extra stuff in the lang folder, some of the extra soundsets from Smeagolheart's mod but they've never been a problem before.
If you are using the Android .obbs, then it will likely be a double install. This means that you install the mods into the BG1EE game first to pickup all the BG1EE files that aren't with SOD (required for installing mods but not all), copy the override files across to the SOD override, then install the mods again onto SOD. Then create the modfile from the result.
No need to edit the patch.obb to rename dialog.tlk or create dialog.000 (thank goodness). This step is currently the last resort for BG2, being the version that it is, but I haven't had to use it for a good while.
For the English BG1EE+SOD, you shouldn't need to put in the dialogf.tlk, I just do it that way because it doesn't hurt the game and I don't have to have 2 different batch files to create the modfile. It is sort of safety step.
From memory, there are problems with the soundsets because of the extended sounds for SOD haven't yet been implemented into the mods. There is a semi-fix for it somewhere in the forum, I will try and find the link and place it here. BTW, you can copy the sounds into a folder called '..GameFolderName/Files/sounds' where GameFolderName = the path to the game etc. If you aren't interested in the subtitles, the sound files can just be copied there.
What sort of mods are you installing? If the modfile is small enough, could you upload that and the WeiDU.log so I could have a look?
Gus
Smeagolhearts soundsets installed OK after applying the relevant fix. The other mods are some npc mods and some other mods- like Subtle Doctor's kit mods- mostly to keep the environment similar to the game I played in the BG1 app so I can keep my no-reload going. The modfile is about 200mb, and the dialog.tlk is about 13mb right now, though I could probably cut that down! A few things like Northern Tales I installed just so the items will carry over!
Edit: Yup, renaming the dialog.tlk to .000 in the patch doesn't work either. However, removing the sounds & having dialogf.tlk in as well does! I did that without any expectation of success whatsover
For the BG1 - SOD import, (as long as you still have your saved game), you can create a folder on your device called:
Android/data/com.beamdog.baldursgateenhancededition/files/save
and copy the '\000000200-BG1End' saved game folder into that. When you import the game, SOD will look in the teh save folder for BG1 games.
Gus
Steps I'm taking:
Copy OBB files to PC
Rename extensions as .zip
Extract (main file first)
copy S9SoundsetsVol2 files to directory
run "Setup-S9SoundsetsVol2.exe"
After install create new folder (Android Files)
Copy lang/en_US/dialog.tlk (maintaining folder structure) and overide folder to Android Files
Add to mods.zip without compression (I used 7Zip)
Run centralfix mods.zip
Copied mods.zip to the correct directory on the tablet (.../files)
Launch IWD:EE on tablet, create new character and... no new voice packs listed. Not sure where I'm going wrong.
/Files/sounds
or
/Files/lang/en_US/sounds
You could even place the mod sound files into the override folder if you want, but I like to keep them apart...
Hope that helps
Gus