Easy Tutu

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Is this worth trying? Keep in mind that my biggest beef with the original Tutu was that once you installed it, it was impossible to play BG2 without uninstalling it, and since I typically import my BG1 characters into BG2, it was a pain in the arse to keep installing/uninstalling it, especially when I found my BG1 character to be rather uninspiring in BG2.

My basic questions are this: Does it allow you to play BG2 without uninstalling? And does it change anything else from what the original Tutu did?

 

As someone who hates Tutu, EasyTutu is a very good alternative. It leaves both your BG1 and BG2 installations untouched (making copies of the files from both instead of co-opting them), meaning that you can play both vanilla BG1 and BG2 while still having EasyTutu installed.

As for changes, EasyTutu also includes the core bugfixes from TutuFix. Something you surely would have done yourself anyway.

The only detriment (IMO; others may look on it as a virtue) is the standardized install. There are no options like a WeiDU mod, the installer instead looking a bit like the ones you used to install both games.

 

As a base install, this is not really a detriment. There is no difference in customizability between Tutu and Easy Tutu. The only real difference you'll find is that the optional kit additions for each NPC are installed after running the easy tutu install instead of during it. This is definitely a bonus since, in the previous version, you changed your mind about the Kit Assignments you gave the NPC's you essentially had to rerun the entire Tutu conversion. Other than that difference, there is no difference between a Tutu and Easy Tutu install.

 

Hello -

Yes! A completely impartial opinion.

Yes. EasyTutu creates a separate, playable installation (located by default in CProgram Files\BaldursGateTutu).

EasyTutu includes a great number of bug fixes and enhancements that go beyond what is available in conventional Tutu. The EasyTutu change log covers these enhancements and fixes in detail.

 

Im currently half way through BG using easy tutu and the BG1NPC (banterpack) mod it runs much better than normal tutu and i have found no bugs or glitches so far (chapter 5). You can also play BG1 and 2 without installing, i would definately recomend it.

 

I've Easytutu and finished twice. Just don't save in Beregost, save before entering there. It crashes the game. This is also written in readme file but i didn't read it until my game was crashed.

 

Really? ive never experienced that and i save often using quicksave everywhere, i must have saved in Beregost several times so far in my game without any sign of a bug.

 

It doesn't happen always. I save before Beregost and only quicksave in there and it works usually. But sometimes crashes and i reload before-Beregost save. For more info look at : Easy tutu homepage

 

I haven't crashed in Beregost yet either. I thoroughly enjoy using Tutu myself; having played BG2 first, I never could get myself to play with the BG1 interface. The ability to Tab and see containers is worth the install by itself IMO.

 

@Chitinous Shell:I completely agree what you said. Also using kits in the BG1 is funny.

 

I have mixed feeling towards EasyTutu because I'm a perfectionist bastard.

But my answer isn't different from the other replies: go for it. It's worth because:

- Leaves your BG1/BG2 installs unharmed.

- Makes you able to use kits and NPC banter/interjection/romance mods

- With BG1 GUI mod, it will feel just like good old BG1 without the limitations it had in comparison to the BG2 engine, like faster walking speed, higher res, etc.

However, there are some minor issues and I guess it wouldn't hurt if I warned you about them:

- Beregost is really a problem. I just lost my game this morning after it corrupted a savefile I had (it was like the 10th time I entered Beregost and I thought nothing would happen then). Now I know that it isn't the developers' fault, but it's really frustrating anyway. I feel like I wasted a couple of nights on a game that I'll just have to restart.

Workaround: the readme has some info on it.

- The BG2 engine will always give you an extra 10% XP on top of what the dialogue box tells you. It's barely noticeable on BG2, but at the lower levels, it can make a difference. You'll level up noticeably faster, specially if you don't take a full 6-char party right from the start (as I don't).

Workaround: you could use Sim's XP fixer and set all XP awarded to 90% of normal, which would actually give you slightly LESS XP than normal, unless the game rounds those values up. But that shouldn't be much of a problem since it's not hard to hit the XP cap in BG1.

- Spawns are not great. From what I read, they've been worse and a lot of effort was put into fixing/balancing such issues, but it's still a little bit unbalanced in comparison to vanilla BG1 (things like dire wolves and vampiric wolves showing up where you'd get only regular wolves, or groups of 10 gibberlings where you'd only face 3 or 4).

Workaround: guess there isn't one.

- Since your character is brought down to level 1 AFTER character creation (I guess there was no other way), a brand new mage will start with 7 (or 8) known 1st level spells instead of 2.

Workaround: it shouldn't be too hard to erase the extra ones if you had ToB installed.

- Weapon proficiencies for most warrior NPCs were poorly chosen. Most of them (at least Minsc, Khalid and Shar-Teel) will have precious proficient points spent on Two Weapon Fighting.

For instance, vanilla BG1 Khalid used to be proficient with Large Swords and Bows, in Tutu he has Bastard Swords and 2WF. No ranged weapon proficiency. Plus, magic Bastard Swords are preety rare in BG1 (there's a +1 you can buy, but they're not widely available like Long Swords. In BG1 it wasn't really a problem, as you'd use the same proficiency to wield both Long and Bastard Swords. In BG2 it gets more complicated, as they're distinct proficiencies).

Jaheira also has 2 points in Clubs, which suits her character from BG2. However, as far as I can recall there are NO magical clubs in BG1. Couldn't they just assume she got those points later?

Workaround: Of course, you could always SK them. I wouldn't consider it cheating, since their BG2 proficiencies aren't "official" choices to start with.


I hope I didn't sound like I was trashing Tutu. I like it A LOT, and I'm surely giving it another shot.

 

Hello -

Yes, the Beregost problem is undoubtedly the single worst issue plaguing Tutu / EasyTutu. However, the issue is very well documented in the readme, and includes save game advice that will allow easy recovery from the problem if it occurs. Every time someone complains of a lost game, they have inevitably ignored or strayed from that advice.

I mainly replied to this post because the above paragraph is fairly inaccurate. Spawns have been completely rebalanced, with direct control over the number of monsters spawned placed directly into the hands of the end user, via the difficulty slider. Your example of 10 gibberlings is non-existant -- you wouldn't get so many even on Insane difficulty. Further, most spawn points are capable of spawning multiple creature types, so for the most part there are no spawn points that should definitively spawn any one exact type of creature.

 

I'll admit that I didn't do a lot of research on what to do AFTER Beregost causes game crashing. Maybe I'm just in a bad mood but I get your message. To the Pocket Plane board.

EDIT: apparently there is no solution when a savegame is already corrupted. And I actually did what I was supposed to before first entering Beregost (save beforehand, enter the city, leave, try to go back). It all worked, the game only crashed way later. Unless I was supposed to test it EVERY TIME I had to enter Beregost, then I probably haven't payed it much attention.

About spawns: maybe I didn't get exactly 10, but close to that, for sure, maybe 7 or 8. And I'm not the first one writing about meeting at least a couple of dire wolves (at the same time) on the area E of Candlekeep (where you start chapter one). It's preety hard to fight those with a level 1 char, even if I take Montaron and Xzar with me, and I don't recall meeting DIRE wolves at that area in vanilla BG1.

Other than that, sorry for any lack of accuracy. No sarcasm, really.

[ June 19, 2006, 22:30: Message edited by: Hethan the Skald ]

 

Actually, I believe there is still one solution. Go the save game directory in NI. Open up Baldur.sav. Decompress it. Delete Beregost's area file (FW3300). Recompress it and save. It should work just fine after you do that.

 

Thanks a lot, Drew. Will try that as soon as I get home.

 

Ive just finished the game (just started ToSC) and i thought my party was a little higher exp wise than usual, its not really a big difference though as im using a 6 character party and the EXP cap is easy to hit anyway with ToSC.

Yep they can be bought plus theres one on the bandit like character upstairs in the elfsong tavern and also you can do the Merchants League quest (the one with the doppledangers (spelling?)) in Baldurs gate to receive the bastard sword + 1 (+ 3 versus shapeshifters) i think, but yeh they arent available till pretty late so the weapon profficiency selections are quite poor.

Nope i cant recall any magical clubs but the BG1NPC mod from gibberlings 3 adds a +2 magic club which can call lightning once per day if you complete the druid / jaheira quest in cloakwood. I would highly recommend this mod it adds lots of banter, some romance options, extended and new quests and theres even a extended ending which links into BG2 once you kill Sarevok which added a nice touch to the game. It can be found here .

 

It was 8 (ran into the same thing myself), but that is fixed in the more recent versions of EasyTutu.

 

I don't know if this is normal for BG1 or not, but in my Tutu game the named bandits (the ones you can get the location of the Bandit Camp from) all spawned with ~6 regular bandits with them, that seemed a bit excessive. I also ran into the Dire Wolves in the area E of Candlekeep.

 

Hello -

The area E of Candlekeep has one spawn point capable of spawning dire wolves, and another capable of spawning dread wolves. If you examine the spawn points in vanilla BG1, you'll find the same is true.

As for the bandits: do you mean Deke? He spawns with 5 bandits in tow. This is a scripted encounter, and the numbers are identical to vanilla BG1.

 

Are you serious? I've played vanilla BG1 countless times, and the only creatures I've ever encountered east of Candlekeep is a regular wolf, and an occassional black bear. Never saw a dire wolf, and I absolutely don't want to run into any stinkin' dread wolves with a level 1 character and Imoen.