I am a bit confused.... once I download and run the modmerge in my BGEE folder.... what do I do then? Am I able to install my mods as per normal? Or does it have be done a special way?
Mac user here, I have just downloaded a file named "modmerge" ( no extension) and placed it beside the chitin.key file.... What I am supposed to do now? ( I mean, I can open it with TextEdit but it is not executable.....)
On a mac: After you have copied modmerge beside your chitin.key file, start terminal.app type the following.
cd "Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition"
chmod +x modmerge
./modmerge
Step 1 changes your current directory to where steam has downloaded things. Unless you've changed locations that's where it should go. Step 2 makes modmerge executable and Step 3 runs it.
So after the modmerge the game just reverts to a non-SoD(e.g no interface changes and can't start the SoD campaign since its icon is to longer present in main menu). Is this okay? If yes, then what is the point of this tool if you can simply not install SoD in the first place? GoG version. My deepest excuses if this was mentioned before, meant no offense with my post.
No, something's gone wrong with your installation. After modmerge, you should still be able to play SoD. Modmerge is just supposed to move the SoD game assets from the DLC .zip file and add them to the game's override so you can use WeiDU to mod your game further.
Ive done the complete reinstall of game + mods and it seems to be okay now(no bugged item descriptions, SoD interface, can start SoD campaign), but a few issues suddenly came up oO For example, the localization mysteriously switched to Russian, and game resolution changed to larger.
So... I installed BG1:EE+SoD v. 2.3 no problem. I then modded it with the Tweaks Anthology. I started playing BG1:EE and it was working fine. I did notice that a few of the item descriptions had been replaced with some weird dialogue but I soldiered on because the changes I had made with the mod was working as intended. I then got to the SoD part of the game and suddenly all the mod changes broke and was no longer working. Hoping that a clean install of BG1:EE+SoD followed by modmerge followed by Tweaks Anthology will be enough to keep the mod changes during SoD?
EDIT: Perhaps the mod creators could note in all their mods that modmerge needs to be installed if used on GoG/Steam with SoD.
@Lifat: That was only required since 2.0 came out. Quite a few modders do mention it, because it's something a lot of people run into, but some older mods are obviously not updated, and even with newer mods, those that run the Beamdog version may not be aware.
Sorry to revive this thread, but I just want to ask a quick question in regard to installing mods post-modmerge installation. If I decide to uninstall mods currently being used or install new ones, so long as I do not create a fresh install of the game (i.e. leave modmerge exactly as it is now), I shouldn't have any issues using the mods, right?
I would just assume yes based on what I've read, but given the issues I initially had getting modmerge to work properly, I'm hesitant to do anything that might mess things up again...
Sorry to revive this thread, but I just want to ask a quick question in regard to installing mods post-modmerge installation. If I decide to uninstall mods currently being used or install new ones, so long as I do not create a fresh install of the game (i.e. leave modmerge exactly as it is now), I shouldn't have any issues using the mods, right?
I would just assume yes based on what I've read, but given the issues I initially had getting modmerge to work properly, I'm hesitant to do anything that might mess things up again...
Copy your newly modmerged installation to another location and mod it there. That way, your unmodded game stays clean. If you want to do a major mod change, don't even bother with uninstalling/reinstalling mods, just make another copy of your baseline and install your new mod setup.
What is modmerge and what does it do? I don't know the meanings of the words Weidu, NearInfinity or DLTCEP, so any useful answer will either avoid those words or use them after explaining their meaning.
I noticed that nobody has answered your query. I am not the best person to do so, but here goes as well as I can.
Weidu is a way of writing mods to make them compatible with each other. If you install non-weidu mods don't be surprised if you have problems with mod compatability.
NearInfinity is a program which tries to emulate the Infinity Engine. (The engine that runs BG, BG2, IWD etc) It is a useful tool to modders.
I have no idea what DLTCEP means either. Perhaps it's Dave Lee Travis covered Extended Players. Knowing who Dave Lee Travis is and what an EP is shows my age.
As for what WeiDU is, it stands for Weimar's Dialog Updater. The IE games aren't really made for modding and one of the main problems back in the early days was text. All the text in the game is stored in a single file called "dialog.tlk". It was done this way to facilitate translations. Just replace the dialog.tlk with one of a different language, and you don't need to replace any other file. If you could open a file that contains a sword (for example), you'll see that the name of the sword, the unidentified description and the identified description aren't text, they're numbers called string references (stringrefs). These stringrefs point to entries in the dialog.tlk.
Back when the games first came out, modders used hex editors to open the games resources and change things inside. Soon, DLTCEP (DragonLance Total Conversion Editor Pro, (no really.)) and Near Infinity were created to edit the various resources: Item files, spell files, etc. But the text and the dialog.tlk was still a big problem. As modders created more and more sophisticated mods, they were all incompatible with one another, because the creators had to package an edited dialog.tlk with their mod.
Enter the great prophet Weimar. He created WeiDU. What WeiDu does is eliminate the need for separate dialog.tlk's for each mod, because it allows modders to insert text into the players' dialog.tlk's dynamically. So a modder can now create a sword in NI, but leave all the text fields blank. He then writes a WeiDU script that contains the text. Then, when the player runs the mod setup, it will append the text into the dialog.tlk, and insert the correct stringrefs into the sword's item file. WeiDU can even handle multiple languages, so the player can choose his language at installation time and the text will be fetched from the correct translation file.
Modmerge is a solution to a problem caused by the way Siege of Dragonspear is distributed on Steam and Good Old Games. The DLC is inside a zip file in the game directory tree. This zip file contains the dialog.tlk with all the text for the expanded game. The way the game works now, it looks for this zip file, and if it exists, it uses the dialog.tlk inside and ignores the old dialog.tlk in the game folder. The problem is, WeiDU patches the dialog.tlk in the game folder. So when you start your modded game, your mods are referencing stringrefs in the game folder's file, but the game is returning text from the DLC's dialog.tlk. What modmerge does, is unpack the .zip file, copy all the resources inside to the override folder and (most importantly) replaces the game folder's dialog.tlk with the zip file's version. Now when WeiDU updates the dialog.tlk, it's the one the game is actually using.
Disclaimer: I was an active player on the BBS's that are now known as "Pocket Plane" and "Gibberlings Three" back in the early days of the IE games. This post is completely from memory and so I may have gotten some details wrong. Also, I'm kind of tired and slightly drunk, so, there's that, too.
What is modmerge and what does it do? I don't know the meanings of the words Weidu, NearInfinity or DLTCEP, so any useful answer will either avoid those words or use them after explaining their meaning.
I noticed that nobody has answered your query. I am not the best person to do so, but here goes as well as I can.
Weidu is a way of writing mods to make them compatible with each other. If you install non-weidu mods don't be surprised if you have problems with mod compatability.
NearInfinity is a program which tries to emulate the Infinity Engine. (The engine that runs BG, BG2, IWD etc) It is a useful tool to modders.
That's actually GemRB that tries to emulate the Infinity Engine. NearInfinity is a cross-platform game file editor/browser for Infinity Engine games.
I have no idea what DLTCEP means either. Perhaps it's Dave Lee Travis covered Extended Players. Knowing who Dave Lee Travis is and what an EP is shows my age.
DLTCEP is short for DragonLance Total Conversion Editor Pro. It is also a game file editor/browser for Infinity Engine games.
@BillyYank and @AstroBryGuy Thanks, those answers have given me a lot more insight, and more importantly answer Alonso's queries perfectly so long as he has a reasonably good grasp of computing.
I never install mods when I've got a game going, it almost always messes things up. I copy my installation directory to someplace else, then mod it there. If I want to try out another mod, I'll just make a new copy of the original game and mod that new directory. I usually have at least 2 working setups in addition to the original game directory going at any one time.
I never install mods when I've got a game going, it almost always messes things up. I copy my installation directory to someplace else, then mod it there. If I want to try out another mod, I'll just make a new copy of the original game and mod that new directory. I usually have at least 2 working setups in addition to the original game directory going at any one time.
I have already done as you suggested, and for the same reasons. What I am not sure about is whether I need to: 1) Run modmerge again before installing the new mods, or 2) Whether everything that needs to be done has already been done with the result that I only need to install the new mods on top of that copied installation.
So, I just purchased the dlc. When I modded everything without the modmerger, everything seemed to work... except the dialogue in bg1npc were off. Of course, I learnt about the modmerger, uninstalled the bg1npc, used the modmerger, re-installed...
and my game doesn't start anymore. It is there if I go in task manager, but it doesn't start. Also, when I try to install mods like verssza, which has a dlc component, it says the chitin.key lacks some line, sodrace.2da. I am not sure if the two things are connected...
I've moved my sod-dlc.zip file into the DLC directory of my GOG install, and ran the merger in my root directory. It's saying "No sod-dlc.key found, attempting to extract sod-dlc" which is what I assume is supposed to happen. It's been stuck on the 'extracting files' portion for a while though, like 5 minutes or longer. Should I just manually unzip it myself with 7zip, or is this normal?
I've found a bug in CHARSND.2DA after modmerge is run, but since I don't know how exactly it's generated, I'm not sure whether it's a problem in modmerge or in the DLC data itself. So, here's what it is, and I'll let you guys figure out where the problem lies.
After running modmerge from a fresh Steam install of BGEE, in CHARSND.2DA, column MALE8, rows 8 and 20, the sound ID for both is 68739. Row 8 should actually be 68738. Even updating this with NI, though, I then get the right sound for boredom, but not the right text, which is still the severely wounded text. Not sure how to fix that.
Comments
I am a bit confused.... once I download and run the modmerge in my BGEE folder.... what do I do then? Am I able to install my mods as per normal? Or does it have be done a special way?
Seems like SoD brought a bunch of issues...
type the following.
cd "Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition" chmod +x modmerge ./modmergeStep 1 changes your current directory to where steam has downloaded things. Unless you've changed locations that's where it should go.
Step 2 makes modmerge executable
and Step 3 runs it.
GoG version. My deepest excuses if this was mentioned before, meant no offense with my post.
Just to be sure, thats what ive done.
1. Installed BGEE
2. Installed SoD
3. Installed Modmerge
4. Installed mods.
Seems to be done correctly, right? I still dunno how to return my previous resolution though.
EDIT. Oh, it seems like ive just forgotten to put the flag on "Shrink UI" setting. Now it seems good.
I installed BG1:EE+SoD v. 2.3 no problem. I then modded it with the Tweaks Anthology.
I started playing BG1:EE and it was working fine. I did notice that a few of the item descriptions had been replaced with some weird dialogue but I soldiered on because the changes I had made with the mod was working as intended. I then got to the SoD part of the game and suddenly all the mod changes broke and was no longer working.
Hoping that a clean install of BG1:EE+SoD followed by modmerge followed by Tweaks Anthology will be enough to keep the mod changes during SoD?
EDIT: Perhaps the mod creators could note in all their mods that modmerge needs to be installed if used on GoG/Steam with SoD.
I would just assume yes based on what I've read, but given the issues I initially had getting modmerge to work properly, I'm hesitant to do anything that might mess things up again...
Weidu is a way of writing mods to make them compatible with each other. If you install non-weidu mods don't be surprised if you have problems with mod compatability.
NearInfinity is a program which tries to emulate the Infinity Engine. (The engine that runs BG, BG2, IWD etc)
It is a useful tool to modders.
I have no idea what DLTCEP means either. Perhaps it's Dave Lee Travis covered Extended Players.
Back when the games first came out, modders used hex editors to open the games resources and change things inside. Soon, DLTCEP (DragonLance Total Conversion Editor Pro, (no really.)) and Near Infinity were created to edit the various resources: Item files, spell files, etc. But the text and the dialog.tlk was still a big problem. As modders created more and more sophisticated mods, they were all incompatible with one another, because the creators had to package an edited dialog.tlk with their mod.
Enter the great prophet Weimar. He created WeiDU. What WeiDu does is eliminate the need for separate dialog.tlk's for each mod, because it allows modders to insert text into the players' dialog.tlk's dynamically. So a modder can now create a sword in NI, but leave all the text fields blank. He then writes a WeiDU script that contains the text. Then, when the player runs the mod setup, it will append the text into the dialog.tlk, and insert the correct stringrefs into the sword's item file. WeiDU can even handle multiple languages, so the player can choose his language at installation time and the text will be fetched from the correct translation file.
Modmerge is a solution to a problem caused by the way Siege of Dragonspear is distributed on Steam and Good Old Games. The DLC is inside a zip file in the game directory tree. This zip file contains the dialog.tlk with all the text for the expanded game. The way the game works now, it looks for this zip file, and if it exists, it uses the dialog.tlk inside and ignores the old dialog.tlk in the game folder. The problem is, WeiDU patches the dialog.tlk in the game folder. So when you start your modded game, your mods are referencing stringrefs in the game folder's file, but the game is returning text from the DLC's dialog.tlk. What modmerge does, is unpack the .zip file, copy all the resources inside to the override folder and (most importantly) replaces the game folder's dialog.tlk with the zip file's version. Now when WeiDU updates the dialog.tlk, it's the one the game is actually using.
Disclaimer: I was an active player on the BBS's that are now known as "Pocket Plane" and "Gibberlings Three" back in the early days of the IE games. This post is completely from memory and so I may have gotten some details wrong. Also, I'm kind of tired and slightly drunk, so, there's that, too.
http://www.gemrb.org/wiki/doku.php?id=start
https://github.com/NearInfinityBrowser/NearInfinity/wiki DLTCEP is short for DragonLance Total Conversion Editor Pro. It is also a game file editor/browser for Infinity Engine games.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/gemrb/files/Utilities/
However, new mods are coming along all the time. What do I need to do to install an additional mod?
1) Run modmerge again before installing the new mods, or
2) Whether everything that needs to be done has already been done with the result that I only need to install the new mods on top of that copied installation.
So, I just purchased the dlc. When I modded everything without the modmerger, everything seemed to work... except the dialogue in bg1npc were off. Of course, I learnt about the modmerger, uninstalled the bg1npc, used the modmerger, re-installed...
and my game doesn't start anymore. It is there if I go in task manager, but it doesn't start. Also, when I try to install mods like verssza, which has a dlc component, it says the chitin.key lacks some line, sodrace.2da. I am not sure if the two things are connected...
Can somebody help me? Thanks!
Did you try without moving anything?
After running modmerge from a fresh Steam install of BGEE, in CHARSND.2DA, column MALE8, rows 8 and 20, the sound ID for both is 68739. Row 8 should actually be 68738. Even updating this with NI, though, I then get the right sound for boredom, but not the right text, which is still the severely wounded text. Not sure how to fix that.