Newbie questions on Upgrading from SOA to TOB

[Rudradaman]

Hello Everyone,
I’m playing though SOA for the first time, and am still in the early chapters. However, I also have TOB, (not installed) and was wondering how exactly I should upgrade from SOA to TOB. My apologies for asking questions already asked a million times before…I have SOA installed with the official Patch, Baldurash patch for SOA, and the bonus merchants. Now, my questions:

1)Can I just store my SOA saved games somewhere, uninstall SOA, install SOA and then TOB on top, apply the bioware and Baldurash patches for TOB, and use my SOA saved games without any problem?
2)Once I install TOB, does the Xp cap automatically go away in SOA and do I get access to higher level spells at the appropriate level?
3)How exactly do I move from SOA to TOB? How exactly do I “import my party” into TOB? Or does the game do it automatically from a SOA saved game when I open TOB?
4)Will I get the bonus merchants in TOB or do I have to buy everything from them right now in SOA? I have not found a bonus merchants fix for TOB on the web.. can I just use the same fix I had for SOA?
5)By Installing TOB, do I lose out on the cash flow cheese in SOA of stealing and reselling to vendors like the guy in the sewers and Mae’var’s guild? I read somewhere that installing TOB does not allow you to resell stolen items in SOA…

Thanks…

[kopywrite]

Lotsa questions... answered in reverse order:

ToB doesn't stop you stealing and reselling stolen items (to fences). However, in ToB I don't think there are any vendors that handle stolen merchandise.

You would have to buy any items from the 2 bonus merchants before moving into ToB.

You can decide if you want to import a saved game (including your party) from SoA or a saved character and start ToB.
The best way to do it IMHO is to play through to the end of SoA and following a cut scene, ToB starts automatically with you and your party and all their equpment.

The cap vanishes as soon as you install ToB...even if you've only just started the SoA game. All the lovely high level spells and abilities become available in the normal game.

I believe that the SoA Baldurdash fixes need to be removed and then ToB Baldudash fixes installed. IIRC, there is a utility on the Baldurdash web site which helps you do this. You'll also need the official ToB patch which should be installed before the ToB Baldurdash stuff. You shouldn't need to uninstall BG2 at all.

[JackOfClubs]

Also, if you do uninstall SoA (or if you have already done so), you shouldn't have to move your save game files. They remain in the proper folder ready for the re-install.

[Phantom Lord]

4) The latest official ToB patch from Bioware includes the SoA bonus merchants.

One warning: If you move from SoA to ToB make sure to have all items of importance with you. There's no way to go back to SoA to get the stuff that you forgot in your keep - unless you store it somewhere in Watcher's Keep, eg in the fireplace in the first level. But take the wardstone with you ...