With Baldur’s Gate 3 gameplay now out in the open, there’s almost too much anticipation to know what to do with. We thought, as we’re sure many of you have, that this is the perfect opportunity to jump into the Baldur’s Gate series from the start. However, Baldur’s Gate first launched in 1998, and even the Enhanced Edition might be a little dated by now. That’s why we put together this mod list to help you have the best time with the game while eagerly awaiting Baldur’s Gate 3.
We’ve pointed out, where we’re sure, which version of Baldur’s Gate these mods support. The majority of these are Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition mods.
Cosmetic Improvements
These mods don’t massively impact gameplay, but they will provide significant improvements to the UI and visuals that you’ll be thankful for when you’re 40 hours deep in your next playthrough.
The Picture Standard
This mod upgrades the portraits for characters and NPCs in Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition (to be written as BGEE for finger fatigue) to the highest possible standard. The pictures in the base game are fine, but they’re still quite old, and could use all the optimization they can get. This mod does just that, plus it swaps out portraits from other mods for more lore friendly ones.
The Picture Standard works with BGEE, and the creator explains that while there might be better mods for portraits out there, you shouldn’t let your game fall below this standard.
Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition Classic Movies
This mod restores the classic Baldur’s Gate movies, and some from Baldur’s Gate 2 to BGEE. In the new version of the game, the original movies have been replaced by little more than flash animations, and they’re just not as good. This mod restores the old movies, and resizes them to the same resolution as BGEE while maintaining aspect ratios.
One massive boon with this mod is that it re-enables the Beregost movie when first entering the area. It also adds a movie that was cut from the original game for Elfsong Tavern. It’s well worth having if you want a pure BGEE experience, so that you can catch all the references that are bound to be in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Tweaks Anthology
Tweaks Anthology includes a wide variety of changes to BGEE, but what we’re concerned with right now are the cosmetic changes. These are small and unnoticeable to anyone who hasn’t played the game before, but they’re incredibly helpful from a practical standpoint. Simple things like the removal of helmet animations just help make the game a much smoother experience, but there are also a range of fixes in there for good measure.
Beef up the core game
Baldur’s Gate was a fantastic game, but there have been some great mods that have built it up to be even better. These are just a few of the best mods to use to make your time with the game much more epic.
Baldur’s Gate NPC Project
If you’re planning on playing BGEE, then you need this mod at the very least. It improves the depth of characters in the world and makes the game feel more like an RPG that would be released today.
NPCs have more banter with the player’s character, they’ll interject in certain situations, and they even now have their own side quests. If you’re a fan of BioWare’s other RPGs, then this mod is something you want.
Unfinished Business
This mod is widely regarded as the best for BGEE, and is mentioned in almost every mod list for the game alongside Baldur’s Gate NPC Project. The mod restores a huge amount of content that was cut from the original game.
Some of the content is a bit broken, like how Entar Silvershield will appear in his home, immediately calling the guards when spoken to. But this is outweighed by the new characters, encounters, and creatures you’ll come across.
Practical Changes
Given how long ago Baldur’s Gate launched, there were some features that are baffling today. These mods add just a couple of practical improvements to help you have an easier time.
Wand Case
If you’ve never played BGEE then this mod’s usefulness might be lost on you. All it does is add an item called the Wand Case, but you’ll thank yourself that you installed it when you don’t have to spend hours managing your wand inventory.
All it does is give you a dedicated ‘bag’ that stores every one of your wands, but it means that you don’t need to organize them over and over again within your main inventory. It also keeps your inventory nice and clear, if that matters to you.
Big World Setup
This is an all-in-one mod manager. It supports BGEE, and contains hundreds of different mods for you to choose from. As you start it up, it will guide you through the list of mods you want to have installed, and help you work out which ones are most compatible, including the order in which to install them.
This is a really useful mod for anyone who wants to set up a game with mods without downloading lots of separate ones. It was discontinued a few years ago, but there’s a new version up and running for you to try that still supports most of the original mods.
Feeling Lucky?
There are way more mods out there for Baldur’s Gate, too many for us to list. These are some of our favorite wild card mods that may make the game too difficult for a first timer, but they’re exactly what a veteran of the series needs to keep the game interesting.
Warlock Kit
There are lots of different Kit mods for BGEE, but this one comes highly recommended for those who want a challenge. It adds an entirely new class for players to try out a playthrough with. There are loads of benefits, such as amazing spells, but also those punishing drawbacks that you’d expect, like the inability to wear heavy armor.
This mod is for those who want a challenge from BGEE, and something entirely new.
Sword Coast Stratagems
Another mod for those who want a challenge from their next playthrough of BGEE. Sword Coast Stratagems collects a number of mini-mods together, offering optional tweaks to the core gameplay. Essentially what it does is rewrite the AI in the game, making it more lethal, dangerous, and intelligent in ways you won’t expect.
You can really easily tweak how hard the enemies in the game are with a slider, or delve into the details and define just how harshly each enemy will punish you. This mod isn’t for the weak.
Those are our recommended mods for making the most of Baldur’s Gate Enhanced Edition before the release of Baldur’s Gate 3. What other great Baldur’s Gate mods can we add?
