I don’t know how it’s possible, but I hadn’t heard of EasyTutu until just this weekend. This project is completely made of win. It’s developed by the Pocket Plane Group, and the bottom line is that it takes the Baldur’s Gate 2 engine, and lets you play Baldur’s Gate 1 with all the enhancements of the sequel. This means BG2’s improved interface, kit classes like Sorcerers, Monks, and Bounty Hunters, and 1280×1024 resolution.

But unfortunately, I’m running Windows Vista, and Windows Vista hates old games. I’ve recently managed to get Thief 3: Deadly Shadows running on my Vista Machine, but it’s a wonky prospect, and functions only barely, with a lot of bugs. Luckily, I’ve recently gotten Microsoft Virtual PC running on my machine, and installed an old copy of XP Home. I’m still working on getting a Windows 98 virtual PC running to check out a copy of Clive Barker’s Undying that I bought on EBay, but in the meantime, the XP Virtual machine works great, and I spent the time today to install what I needed to get the EasyTutu version of Baldur’s Gate up and running. I’m loving it.

I started a multiplayer game, and created a barbarian and an archer. I picked up Imoen, Khalid, and Jahiera, and am ready to hit Nashkel. In the past, every time I’ve tried playing the game, I hit a crash bug when entering the Nashkel mine, but I’ve got a feeling that now that I’m playing with Tutu, I’ll be able to circumvent the bug, and that this will be my first full replay of Baldur’s Gate since I first played about a decade ago.

Installing EasyTutu is pretty easy if you follow their instructions. Install Baldur’s Gate, Sword Coast, and the patch, then install Baldur’s Gate 2, the expansion, and the patch. Then install EasyTutu. The whole process is somewhat time-consuming, but worth it when you can play a game that was originally intended for 640×480 resolution in hi-res fullscreen on your 32″ flat panel monitor.