Baldur's Gate Mod List · 11:51pm May 17th, 2013
Here are some of the mods I found essential during my latest BG playthrough. These are all for the fully patched original games with expansions.
1: Baldur's Gate Trilogy or TuTu.
These mods both port Baldur's Gate into the BGII engine if you aren't using the enhanced edition. My personal preference is toward BGT, since it goes the extra mile and stitches both games and their expansions into one game. It is a bit complicated on the install though.
Links
Tutu: http://www.pocketplane.net/mambo/index.php?option=content&task=blogcategory&id=143&Itemid=98
BGT: http://www.spellholdstudios.net/ie/bgt
2: Widescreen
I think this one speaks for itself
Link: http://www.gibberlings3.net/widescreen/
3: Tweakpacks
These give you a ton of options. I find some of the convenience tweaks, like bottomless bags of holding, to be essential. There are several rules changes I'd stay away from though, as they tend to make the game less fun. These mods are also easy to install.
BG1: http://www.gibberlings3.net/bg1tweaks/
BG2: http://www.gibberlings3.net/bg2tweaks/
4: Fixpack
This mod fixes a number of bugs found in BG2
http://www.gibberlings3.net/bg2fixpack/
5: Item Upgrade mod
This mod can be unbalancing, but it adds a lot of neat upgrades to items that I think deserved upgrades, like Celestial Fury
http://weidu.org/item.html
6: Banter pack
If you like it when party members say stuff to each other, this mod can be sorta neat.
http://www.pocketplane.net/mambo/index.php?option=content&task=blogcategory&id=95&Itemid=78
7: BG1 NPC project
I typically don't like mods that attempt to add content, but this one was pretty cool. It adds some of the party interaction flavor that BG2 had into BG1
http://www.gibberlings3.net/bg1npc/
8: Shadowkeeper
Shadowkeeper isn't really a mod. Its an awesome, easy to use, save editor. It lets you save time by not spending ages rolling up game-breaking stats. It lets you make Jaheira into an OP ranger/cleric. It lets you navigate some tangled romance bugs if your romance gets stuck even with the bug-fixes. All in all, its a fantastic tool if you can resist abusing it.
http://www.mud-master.com/shadowkeeper/
Number 0- Dungeons Be Gone. Cmon being able to skip the first dungeon is priceless if you do lots of play throughs and it is funny to boot.
Honorable mention- Kelsey for being probably the best NPC mod. First because it gives a good male romance and secondly it gives Imoen more lines and personality if you don't romance him.
Also I would remove Shadow Keeper (only because it is not a mod it is still greatest thing ever) and add Ascension. I remember that being almost a requirement for the community and it made the last fight harder too which was nice (but not too hard for your average gamer).
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Admittedly, I haven't gotten around to playing TOB with Ascension, which is why I didn't include it. In general, these are mods I'd recommend for a first play-through, since I was thinking that some people might try out the series after reading my story.
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I personally prefer TuTu. It was easier to instal as you say (especially if you used Easytutu) and further at least a while back it supported more mods than Trilogy which had issues with several mods (though it has been long enough that I do not remember what they were). Granted the biggest reason was that Easytutu was so much easier to instal that it could not be ignored by a guy like me.
I will admit your story has made me want to play BG again. Your Pinkie also reminds me that I still really want to create a thief kit that mimics many aspects of being a monk. Basically it would remake 1e monk which in a gross simplification is the BG2 monk with less accuracy and health but with access to the important thief skills (open locks find and REMOVE traps) which means you could replace the thief in your party with a monk. If only I had the time.