Installation, mods, and ISOs

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Technical question - I've just created a fresh install of the games. I'm planning on creating an ISO to eliminate CD swapping. My question is, if I create the ISO before adding mods, will I be able to install them to the new image without issue? Or is it best to add mods and then create the image?

Relatedly, I also plan on using Tutu. I assume I create a pointer to the Tutu folder (as opposed to the BG2 folder). Am I correct? Thanks.

 

Uhh I am not the most technical person outa here, but you mean the ISO of the play disc (ToB CD) right? You install the mods in the main game folder, in other words, where you installed the game at the first place, and it has nothing to do with the ISO of the CD, AFAIK. Hmm maybe you mean something else I too have the ISO file of the ToB CD on my desktop, and I reinstalled the game using it, then I added up my (too many to count) mods. But, be sure to unmount it while installing mods, especially larger ones, just in case.

 

Also, you don't need to make ISOs to skip CD swapping. There is a better way: Full install.

 

Well, when I say "eliminate CD swapping" I mean "eliminate CD use. Normally, I would just use a no-cd patch, but all of theose installers are 16-bit, and I can't use them on 65-bit Windows 7 Home edition. (I could use a virtual machine with XP installed, but I can't find a copy for less than $200 which I don't want to pay just for playing games. Ironic, since I work for MSFT! )

So, the Tutu installation is the one I'm a little confused about. If that points to the ISO of the virtual drive where BG2 is installed, will it work okay?

 

16-bit installers? I don't think BG2 is *that* old. I think you can use a 32-bit patch though, since the game itself is 32-bit as well.

 

Right, but there aren't any 32-bit patches that exist. At least, none that I could find.

 

I have BGTutu and BG2:ToB installed on my netbook, which doesn't even have a CD-drive. Luckily, creating an ISO of the ToB disk should help you out plenty. Don't know if BG can find the disk ok if it's in a different drive than the one you installed it from, though. It's been a while since I actually used the original game disks.

 

I think that might indeed be an issue, and might be solved by modifying one of the .ini files.

 

These values are stored in baldur.ini. This is what to look for, toward the top of the file:

CD1:=CProgram Files (x86)\Black Isle\BGII - SoA\CD1\
CD2:=CProgram Files (x86)\Black Isle\BGII - SoA\CD2\;CProgram Files (x86)\Black Isle\BGII - SoA\CD2\
CD3:=CProgram Files (x86)\Black Isle\BGII - SoA\CD3\
CD4:=CProgram Files (x86)\Black Isle\BGII - SoA\CD4\
CD5:=CProgram Files (x86)\Black Isle\BGII - SoA\CD5\

 

I'm playing on a 64-bit machine (where'd you find a 65-bit computer), and I haven't had any problem with no-cd patches. Plus, with the full install, you only need the TOB CD in there, so no switching (unless you mean to another game).

And yes, an ISO is typically made straight off the disk. No mods. Install the mods after installing the game (with or without ISOs).

 

I noticed those too, but they don't seem to be what you need to look for if BG can't find your disk drive. Notice how none of these paths refer to your DVD-drive. Instead, I think they're just there to tell the game where to look for game data in case you did a full install.

I just checked by loading the ToB disk into different virtual drives and it doesn't seem to affect the game at all, so it appears that BG is not affected by which drive you load your disk/ISO to.

/edit
If you're still wondering what to make an ISO of - make an ISO of the ToB disk (or all disks just in case one of 'em gets scratched in the future). Then back up your original install, including latest patches and possibly also something like the G3 Fixpack, to some other location before installing mods. Then, when a mod messes up your game, you can just copy the original install back if other fixes don't work.

 

Yeah, I was making this much more complicated than it needs to be (in my defense, I've got the flue). I just made ISOs of all the CDs/DVDs. Since Tutu uses the TOB cd, I can just basically keep that mounted in one of the virtual drives all the time. It's super simple.