Probably worth a try to install older vcredist.exe file.
You can find it bundled with some older games or download it from somewhere.

Thanks.

I had the issue before in another PC, but I cannot seem to solve it on my current one, which is also quite different from yours. I had not played since that previous PC, so I did not find out until I started testing now that it also errored out in this one.

I tried several more things yesterday, but today I woke up to a COUNTRYWIDE power blackout :/ No idea yet when we'll have power again.

Since I had the time yesterday, I did this so far: I used an HDD I had laying around (checked to be perfectly fine) for a clean Win 10 Pro 1803 install, kept it offline, and the only way in which the error did not occur was while running the system on the MS basic video driver (which bugged the shit out in many other ways, obviously). As soon as I installed the latest NVidia drivers (for my 1080), it errored out again. Tried all of the NVidia control center options more or less one at a time, just in case, and of course running the game with 3D acceleration completely off from the game config... Nothing worked.

I recorded all the files the game was writing to, and there is no correlation with the errors.

Also tried disabling every advanced processor option I could in the Bios (Asus Maximum VIII Hero Alpha), hyperthreading, virtualization, etc. No difference. Also with the RAM (4 sticks of 8Gb Corsair 3200Mhz DDR4), I left one stick in, and ran it at standard speed (not even XMP profile).

So, going back to the drivers, I say "Progress!" and tried with enabling only the integrated video from my i7 (HD 530), which was completely disabled before (not even in multi monitor mode). Did not use the disc image taken right after Win 10 was installed, that I was using to keep things clean while trying different options and drivers, but installed from scratch again. Installed DCH Intel drivers, and... Same error.

Will try with different Win 10 versions when I can. But I'm starting to think this is a matter for GOG's support to handle. I simply cannot understand how there are not more reports on this if it happens on such different hardware. Searching online only shows a couple of reports in forums, and they went unanswered.

---

Thanks, already tried. But will investigate more on the version of the files needed by BG2 and try and get the closest to those as possible.

Scratch that. It only worked the first time. We regained power and when I tried again with the "Microsoft Basic Display Adapter", just to see if I could figure out anything else of use, it bugged out.

It has to be an OS issue

Let's say that this issue can't really be fixed at all by the consumer, how would one go about contacting GOG and informing them about this issue? Would they even bother at all with trying to fix it thanks to the EEs plaguing the series? Would really blow if they just went all "lol just buy the enhanced editions nerds!"

I wouldn't put it pass them to turn away from trying to solve it, but it still is an issue with a product you paid for, EEs or not.

You should file a support ticket and if you want to point them to this thread and ask them to contact me if needed, go ahead.

Just submitted a support ticket. Here's hoping they don't ignore it.

Well, contacting GOG support about this didn't help much at all. This is what I've got in reply to my ticket:

"Hello

I will forward your feedback to our Product Team, but please keep in mind that Baldur's Gate 2 is no longer sold on GOG and when it was sold Windows 10 was marked as not compatible because the game had issues with it. Since we never advertised the game as compatible with Windows 10 we do not provide support for it when run on this operating system.
sorry for the inconvenience.

There is a fixpack you could check:
https://www.gibberlings3.net/mods/fixes/bg2fixpack/
dgVoodoo 2 seems to also work with the game, might fix some issues.

Regards
Genoan
GOG.com Support"

The fixpack contained nothing that would have anything to do with the crashing issues and dgVoodoo 2 didn't help at all.

The reply I got that was this:

"Hello

Unfortunately I'm unable to provide further support in this case.
I apologize for the inconvenience.

Regards
Genoan
GOG.com Support"

Ah well.

This is all the support they are willing to give you? That's messed up.

Can't remember if Win10 was or not officially supported before they pulled the plug. Win10 was quite mature by that moment and I don't see that many reports of these or other issues with it online.

In any case, keep pen and paper notes instead of in the journal or the map and enjoy the game regardless :P

Yea, it's not like it's an issue that makes it unplayable. Been blasting the game for quite a while now, just kinda annoying to know that it isn't working 100% as it should.

I ran into the .BIO crash issue in my BG2 installation a while back. It's a modded original version, not EE. I later figured out the fix which is to delete the .BIO files from Characters folder. Since I started reading this discussion I've tried to reproduce the issue, but simply can't. Somehow the crash doesn't happen anymore. After importing a character, I can edit/save bio just fine during character creation, even when the .BIO file is still in Characters folder. I've always used Win 10, and the game is the exact same installation since a very long time ago. The issue just went away by itself, at some point, and I don't know when or how. Could be because of a Win update? I don't know.

Funny thing is, when I first run into this issue, I tried importing the same .CHR file into the EE version, to see if the crash happen. It didn't. Only happened to the original game. The EE games I'm having right now (v. 2.5.16.16) also don't have this problem.

The map note crash also happened to me a long time ago (if it's indeed the same issue), also in modded original game. It happend during the thief stronghold acquisition, which involves map note being changed by the game. The game would crash if a savegame happened, and I had to teleport the party to a different area to save, and just avoided saving whenever I was in the Docks. I always chalked it up to faulty installation, since I always had a lot of mods, and constantly had to solve compatibility issues. The issue also eventually disappeared, and I haven't run into it again after several different playthroughs. I never found out how or why exactly this would happen.

Maybe you guys can cross-compile Wine for Windows or download somewhere Windows version of Wine.
Just a wild guess. I heard some people were able to play old games using Wine on modern Windows systems.

Also, can newly added Win10 feature called Windows Subsystem for Linux run native Linux Wine?
If it does - you can try it as well.

GOG also has wine-wrapped classic versions of BG1 and BG2 (for Linux of course).
Would be nice if Win10 WSL could run them.

Hey guys, I had the same issue on windows 10. I first got hit by it when playing a thief and accepting the thieves stronghold after the mae'var quests. Apparently that alters the map marker for your guildhall.

What worked for me is run it in windows xp mode. I just used the windows tool to determine that. Just to be comprehensive; to do that rightclick bgmain.exe -> properties -> tab: compatibility -> Run compatibility troubeshooter.

Thanks to everyone in this thread for figuring out it most likely was an OS issue.

Edit:
Celebrated a bit too early.. I can open the map but now it crashes on save which is a problem because it means you can't leave the area since it auto saves on exit. Hope somebody has any more bright ideas.

Don't know if you still have the problem, but IIRC, it only crashes on save on that map. Try teleporting to a different area then saving.

I think I've a solution. I've got retail, non-EE versions and am on Windows 10 if that matters.I thought I fixed it with setting compatibility mode alone, but then experienced crashes when saving game with map notes/biography edits etc. Without any compatibility modes, it crashes as soon as I try to add/edit anything.

1. Go to the game's folder, right-click on BGMain.exe and select Properties.
2. On the compatibility tab, select bots "Run as administrator" and set compatibility mode to Windows XP.
3. Load existing save or start new game.
4. Add a map note, or edit biography, or add player journal entry. There might be a couple seconds delay/freeze when adding first edit.
5. DO NOT SAVE. Quit to main menu.
6. Load the save again, or start new game again.
7. You should now be able to add notes etc and then successfully save without crashes. From now on, this save should be crash-proof when it comes to map notes or journal entries.

Try if that works for you, folks.

Awesome! That did work for me! Thanks a lot man. I've crossposted your solution to https://www.gibberlings3.net/forums/topic/30097-add-map-notes-crashing/ crediting you ofc.