TuTu or Trilogy?

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I've never gotten around to trying Tutu or Trilogy. Partly as until recently I had limited hard drive space on the old computer I had BG & BGII installed on.

That computer just had the DVD laser in the CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive fail. It reads CDs fine, although I haven't tried burning one, but it refuses to recognize any DVDs. Presumably it's the laser. To add insult to injury, I've been laid off from work so I can't go out and buy a new drive and I have no chance of getting one for free from a dead computer at work on its way to e-scrap (for the last two years that was a possibility).

I could pull out my old backups of the CDs for the game, but I'd prefer playing off a DVD I made from them. I dislike all the disc swapping. So, I'm FINALLY going to install Baldur's Gate I AND II on my more modern Windows 7 computer.

It seems a perfect time to try out either TuTu or Trilogy.
I'm trying to read through the pros and cons of each, but I can't figure out which one I should try.
If I list desired mods based on a plain install, could the members here make some suggestions on which one to choose? I'm drawing a blank on the complete list of mods I had installed on BG1, so I might amend the list. I can't find the text file where I wrote it all down.

ToTSC
ToB
Fixpack
G3 tweaks
atweaks
dTweaks aka "Ding0's Tweak Pack"
official Bonus Merchants & Pre-order merchants patches from SP.
Level 1 NPCs
Nalia Romance or Imoen Romance

Also from BG1 the early NPC mod that lets you recruit Tiax, Alora, etc early enough in the game for them to be useful.

I'll be using Windows 7 Professional 64-bit on a Windows Vista Home Premium/Windows 7 dual-boot system with 6gb of RAM.
I might desire to install the game to the same partition on both OSes, so that there is only one copy installed on the hard drives that can be played regardless of how I boot, but then again I only boot Pista to help a couple of relatives too stubborn to upgrade to 7 or when I'm trying to troubleshoot my own machine and want to see if it's a hardware or software issue.

 

Never tried tutu. Maybe it's simpler to set up for you if you only want a handful of mods. Or two hands full, in your case. But I'm a completionist player, and I wouldn't want to miss out on content. I have almost every content mod installed, with the exception of all those NPC mods (i like to edit the Bioware NPCs instead). Hundreds of mods, tooks over a week for me to install, but it was worth it. You can find links to Leonardo's Big World Project install guide over on Mega Mod Help.
But there are so many mods out there, and ALL are compatible with BGT, while modmakers often haven't even tested them on tutu. Some aren't compatible with it either. Trilogy suits my needs best, but if you want a simpler setup, maybe tutu fits your needs.

 

How difficult is it to add and remove mods with trilogy then? Is it as easy as with the plain games?
There are quite a few I haven't gotten around to trying but intend to.
Every time I start a new game, I have a new or different mod installed.

 

It should be safe enough to add mods after the fact, because my install still had missing stuff which I could add later, with no problems.
But the more mods you play with, the more compatibility issues arise. That's why the BWP pdf is invaluable. I always check what it says if I want to install something later.

The advice usually goes like: you can install mods B, C, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V in the order you prefer, but mod A must be installed before M and T because it overwrites stuff that those mods edit. Mod D must be installed in parts, because some components overwrite data that later mods edit, while other components should be installed after the mod K overwrites stuff. W must be installed after all mods that add areas because it alters the map. X must be installed after all Mods that add items because it adjusts their graphics. Y must be installed after all Mods that add creatures because it adjusts their graphics. Installing mods after X and Y that add creatures or items might cause graphics issues, but rarely a CTD. Z must be installed last because closer installation bla bla bla.
It can get pretty complex, but I valued the insights, and reading it was like a week-long appetizer to all the yummy stuff that those mods were going to install.

The BGTrilogy is safe and stable, from my experience. It allows you to carry over items, abilities, spells and other things from mods that would be lost in the TuTu transition: BGT is one game. TuTu uses BG2 engine, while not being in the same game. For Example: If you have a sword or mage robe you like from a mod in BG1, the unit would lose it in the transition from BG1TuTu to BG2, because the mod isn't installed in your BG2 game.

 

Before I start any confusion: Mod installation becomes more complext the more *mods* you decide to install.
Trilogy is the more reliable bet when you decide to play a megamod, and it's not *innately* more difficult to install. You might read about more people having installation woes with trilogy, but this is simply because they've taken on more mods than they know how to handle. I'm no exception, but I always found a way out of problems, and unlike some I usually enjoyed the learning experence. From observing online, Tutu versions would appear to run more smoothly, but this is merely the result of the sparse amount of mod content that players choose to install with it.

I'd always choose trilogy over Tutu simply because you can carry over mod items and abilities from BG1 into BG2. But if you savour the challenge, and enjoy a 'fresh' start in BG2, by all means Tutu is for you. A megamod should not be attempted unless you're prepared to deal with some bugs (i've encountered very few because i mostly followed the aforementioned pdf's instructions). The Big World Project pdf is also useful regardless of your choise of Tutu/BGTrilogy, even if you're just installing a few mods: You may just have chosen one of those troublesome mods (Ascension is popular), and if you want to get the bug-free experience, reading up on what the community knows about compatibility is very helpful.

 

With CluaConsole and SK, you can easily bring your character over to BG2 using TuTu as well. Never really understand why Trilogy is applauded for having that option over Tutu. Tutu generaly has more mod options and is a bit easier for newbies during installation.

 

ADDIT: Ah nevermind. Did a complete reinstall of the whole package (minus planescape). Then a re-download and reinstall of the Easy TuTu and Voila! it works !

I just installed BGTuTu, which I found here. It was easy.

Launched it. It crashed. Any advice?

My build is the Gamersgate Anthology package.

CAtari\DnDAnthology\Baldur's Gate

CAtari\DnDAnthology\Baldur's Gate II

and then I created and installed BGTUTU

CAtari\DnDAnthology\BBGTUTU

My BG II includes both expansion packs, and I made sure to install the version of BGTUTU for Throne of Bhaal. Nothing seemed the least bit questionable. It seemed to install fine and the finish screen indicated everything was good.

Then it crashes as soon as I try to boot the .exe in the BGTUTU directory.