Hi fellow GOG members

I just joined this site yesterday, and to say it mildly, im thrilled to be apart of this site. I have played the Baldurs Gate series, Icewind Dale series and Plancescape Torment since their release. I am now 27 years old, and I find myself playing these games over and over again.

So I decided to install my BG games once again yesterday. The first couple of hours of both BG and BG2 went well, then suddenly my quicksaves and loading new areas stopped working in BG. I decided to try out the BG2 just to see if I would run into the same problems, and I actually did, I got the same saving problems, and the game would crash on new area loadings.

I have the box set which includes 4 cds, BG, BG:TOSC, BG2, BG:ToB. To be honest, I think I tried almost everything:

Re-installing both games many times to different locations
Running them in different screenresolutions, with and without 3d acceleration
Followed many different guides especially from this forum
Updated both games
Running games as administrator

Didnt have any succes with any of these solutions. So right now I am wondering if I ever will be able to play these games ever again!? Im currently on a laptop with window 7 64-bit. I dont have any memory issues in any kind of way.

So here I am, stopping by this site and realizing I am able to buy the games through this site, and ofcourse my hopes are through the roof again. As mentioned above, I own all games on cds, but I have no problem in buying them again digitally. So my question to you guys is:

If I buy BG, BG2, IWD, IWD2 and Planescape Torment:

1. Will I run into the same problems with saving and loading?
2. Do I have to install any kind of software to run the games (thinking Steam like)?
3. Have any of you experienced the same kind of problems, and actually got it to work by buying the games digitally?

Since this is my first post, I will problably add some information if I missing anything. Feel free to ask questions if Im missing any kind of information you need, to answer my questions the best way possible.

One last thing, i'm not really into the modding thing, I just want to play the games like they are.

I sincerely hope you will answer my questions and help me the best way you can.

KingLBJsix

I have the same 4 CD box and I've never run into any problems on several playthroughs, using Windows XP.

Any thing I can think of is that maybe you are low on HD space, but that is a real longshot.
Other longshots:
Too weak video card?
Run DxDiag from Start-> Run and see if there is any problems with Direct-X.


If you buy the GOG versions you don't need to run them through 3rd party malware, which is why GOG is GOOD.

The thing is I have around 100GB free on each HD, so that shouldnt be a problem. I will try out the other solutions you mentioned, thanks for the quick reply btw.

One more thing, I noticed on the box-set it doesnt say its compatible with Windows 7, but if you buy the game through GOG, it says it is compatible with Windows 7, which kind of confusses me. Does that mean they optimizied it for windows 7, and i wont have any problems running it on my laptop?

KingLBJsix

It just means Windows 7 didn't exist at that time the box set was released. :-)
Which reminds me: you may want to try to run the game in compatibilty modus.

Sorry I haven't had the time to play the game version I bought here longer than 2 or 3 hours, so I can't tell if you'll run in any problems like this.
But I can answer your second question:
GOG does not have any special software like the Steam or Desura client you have to install. There is a downloader, but it is totally optional and only provided for convenience.
And all games on GOG are DRM free (except the good old copy protections with the included manual), so they don't install some hidden programs like SecuROM. And as long as you have the installer file you'll always be able to install the games on as much PCs (with a compatible OS) forever. GOG only packages the files into a custom installer and if they need to tinker with the games to make them more compatible with modern OSes.
You can actually test GOG, there are some free games, i.e. the RPGs Ultima 4 and the 2 Worlds of Ultima games. The smaller free games take a little longer to install than they should because the installer waits till all GOG adverts were shown, but paid games of similar size will install more quickly.

Its so great with this many replies!

@Gabelvampir - Thank you for making it very clear what GOG is all about, i feel very confident with this. Im not sure I will have the time to test the free games out tho.

@Coelocanth - I tried to install the games on both my C drive and D drive which didnt work, so I dont think that is the problem. Do you have any problems with saving at all?

Okay guys, I decided to get the BG Saga through GOG, I downloaded the "GOG downloader" and the game itself. I had no problems installing the game and actually playing it. I decided to take an old save game from my previous install from the original CD and import into the new one from GOG. I can now go from area to area without any problems, but as soon as I try to quicksave or just save normally, it crashed...

I have absolutly no idea why it does that. As mentioned before I have plenty of HD Drive :(

KingLBJsix

Okay, so I decided to test some different saving methods, and it looks like it was the old save games from my original cd install of BG that made the game crash, which kinda makes perfect sense :) Right now everything seems to work perfectly, and I will now be back in the BG world for the first time in many years.

I wouldnt have come this far without your help.

Off-topic: I decided to go evil, but I remember from my first days of BG, members of the party start to leave if they differ to much, do I have to do their missions fast so they dont leave?

Thank again,

KingLBJsix

Edit: I thought I could give everyone an "solved" tag, but it looks like their can only be one lucky guy. Whish I could do it on everyone who participated.