Lol, Beamdog employees/fans must be monitoring this thread daily. All new posts got again downvoted within hours. Pathetic behavior that speaks volume about that "company" and their "fans."

Hi,

I'm working on some interface mods for BGEE and BG2EE that looks like the original BG2 UI.
I'm also starting to get interested in GemRB.

I have to download a pirated version of the original games while I have all the EE games on Steam or Gog.

Beamdog, you don't make me want to work on your games. You are really taking too much advantage of the mythical nature of Baldur's Gate, the goodwill of the fans and their incredible work and support.

You give me the impression that you want to be hated by the IE games fans. So weird.

If you have the EE versions on GOG, you will also have a redeemable key for the original Bioware versions.
Through your browser (not galaxy) select BGEE > Downloads then More then Serial Keys. (see pic)
It will say Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition, but that is actually the key to add the original version to your library.

Thank you. Well hidden.

You have messed up these games beyond comprehension. I tried to play BGII today, and the Docks have no way to exit them anymore. The district exits do not have the wheels to trigger an exit. You failed to tweak the timers for the quests. You forced what is in essence modded material into the main games, so that players cannot shut it off. You have destroyed excellent, classic games. The least you could have done was leave us the choice of buying the originals, without your forced content and broken content.
I am angry beyond words at not knowing how to access the original games. The Beamdog version are junk in my opinion. It is modded content forced down my throat, and they have built in so many bugs. They also failed to alter the clocking method, so that NPC quests trigger insanely quickly. I really hate these versions. You have your opinion. That does not make other people's opinions exaggerated or invalid. I have been playing these since they were first released and have played the BGs and PlaneScape many times through. I did not play the IWDs as much, because I do not like the linear nature of them.

Geez, all the comments in this thread are still downvoted. Some losers have too much time in their hands.

Downvote us all you want because that's the only thing Beamdog and its loser lapdogs does best.

The method has been described several times in this thread alone. A quick search for serial led me to the following posts. There may have been other people who posted these instructions without using that word.

First, there was my (now downvoted(?)) post that described the process in detail (follow link to my post for full instructions):
To which two people replied, quoting and expressing appreciation:
Someone else described the process independent of my post:
And another independent brief description:
And another. This one even included a screenshot, for people who prefer that over the text instructions I posted back in early 2021.
I find the downvote on my 2021 post odd, since it was purely an instructional post and expressed no opinion on the relative merits of the editions. I can only conclude that it was collateral damage from someone blindly downvoting every post in the thread.

Don't be surprised, any post here will be downvoted for no reason. I think yours was downvoted since you gave instructions on how to download the original versions of the games, which "implies" that people prefer to play the original versions instead of you know what.

I bet the only post that will not be downvoted/even upvoted here will be about praising Beamdog to no end.

I prefer the classic editions over the EEs. (*gasp* The Horror!)

Especially classic BG1, which is not balanced to be used with the BG2 engine. And classic BG2 is just perfection.

But... that is just my opinion. Go ahead, Beamdog folks. Low-rate me for my opinion and preference.

Very bad decision on their part. I have the original classic versions of these games, and not giving people the choice to have one or the other for themselves is plain stupid. Proof that sometimes having these in physical form is best.

Comparison between the EE and classic version.
Classic graphics looks smoother with better colors. The EE are rough and missing some pixels, the UI scaling/balance is atrocious. The EE UI look is a big middle finger to the original's design. It is not as snappy with items. etc...etc...
The classic versions of ALL the Infinity engine games should be available at GOG with their own pages.
EE are bastardized versions that are great for smartphones and tablets but should NOT replace what the original Black Isle developers created in the 90s. These have their charm and should be remembered as is when they were released; not replaced by our current <modern> sensibilities.
That is why we love these good old games!

I might get down voted for this but I've yet to hear a compelling reason to spend the money again to purchases the EE editions of the Baldur's gate series, NWN, and Icewind Dale Series for someone in my situation.

Money has been tight and with the mods I run I've had a smooth experience reliving my childhood(BGT version). I know that one day once my house is paid off and I have money and time when no longer working 2 jobs I'll look into purchasing the EE editions to see what all the talk is about. I'm sure I'll find a bunch of new things to love again.

Yep, absolutely every post on this thread was downvoted (including Beamdog, themselves, lol) before GOG decided to remove downvoting, recently, with posts in all kinds of threads being heavily downvoted for even saying one word in agreement with a post that was doing anything but praising the glories of GOG and/or <insert game here>. It doesn't seem that GOG will ever really fix/update the forums, but I suppose removing an abused feature is something.

I've had little to do with GOG for several years, now, but was slowly getting back (going through the last four years of this thread was interesting), but the recent Blade Runner debacle got my attention (luckily, that got fixed). Beyond Beamdog, which is a part of it, I'd been fed up with various bad decisions by GOG. Yes, GOG *is* partly responsible for the Beamdog mess (and similar messes) for not putting their foot down. I'd rather see the game, including original, removed entirely, than GOG bending the knee for devs, while at the same time insulting customers, and being forced to buy someone else's version (poor or not) to get it. When GOG was "Good Old Games", I used to buy it here even if I had the game elsewhere (even DRM free elsewhere), not so much anymore.

I believe GOG once did a study that showed DRM games are more pirated than DRM free which, beyond defeating the point of DRM, showed that people will support being treated fairly and given a better experience. Putting the originals behind a gate, a more expensive and insulting gate in this case, isn't customer friendly and, like DRM, probably led to more piracy of the originals. This is just one of the things I dislike about the modern GOG. GOG once stood against the customer unfriendly practices of DRM. If a company/dev insisted on DRM, they wouldn't be on GOG (GOG/CDPR did/does have a say and Beamdog was, in a sense, right about that). Gating old games behind new versions, often with higher prices is just a newer, customer unfriendly practice that GOG isn't willing to stand up to.

It seems to me, besides DRM free, we now need a "Gate free" store. Every time I see a game removed and gated behind a new version, it just screams "This new version is terrible and the devs know it or they wouldn't mind competing with the original". As far as I'm concerned, it's not available for sale, anymore, and is abandonware. Are these gated classics getting updated to run on newer systems or just left to rot behind the gate?

It's funny how Beamdog (and WotC, along with Hasbro, who both had a say in what Beamdog was doing) were like a precursor to all the woke/SJW stuff going on with other media, now - insult anyone who doesn't like your garbage and watch it go down in flames. Brilliant tactic, lol. For the most part, other media couldn't remove the originals so easily or force you to consume it to get the originals. Just look at how well Top Gun: Maverick did in comparison to other IPs (Maverick wasn't a woke sequel, remake, reimagining, etc, etc) and even how the original Star Wars Trilogy is being fixed by fans. George Lucas didn't mind mutilating the Original Trilogy and doing his best to make sure no one could watch it that way, again, in higher than 480i quality, now he complains about what's being done to Star Wars by the company he sold it to, lol.

Anyway, long live the originals with their reviews, extras and so on (I'm enjoying posting this in Beamdog's thread). Copy/paste or these will just take you to the GOG store, not sure how to fix it:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160418201422/http://www.gog.com/game/baldurs_gate_the_original_saga
https://web.archive.org/web/20160418213324/http://www.gog.com/game/baldurs_gate_2_complete
https://web.archive.org/web/20160416184523/http://www.gog.com/game/icewind_dale_complete
https://web.archive.org/web/20170411155744/http://www.gog.com/game/planescape_torment
https://web.archive.org/web/20181011141148/http://www.gog.com/game/neverwinter_nights_diamond_edition

Heh, so GOG finally decided to remove the downvoting option. Maybe now the Beamdog shills can have a life other than downvoting people who dare to criticize their glorious Beamdog supreme leader and their business practices. I haven't bought a game in GOG since 2020 and looks like I haven't missed anything of relevance to date.

Glad GOG finally decided to remove the downvote button. Now BeamDog and their fanboys can stop stalking their threads every hour and every day.
It should've been done well over 2 years ago but we're here now.

I still have my original digital copy of Baldur's Gate 2, I wish I had more money then to buy the original copy of Baldur's Gate 1 when it was still labeled 'Developed by BioWare' which it should still be.

But hey, BeamDog is still on suicide watch, still raging that they don't have rights to Baldur's Gate III, so that they can create an ""Enchanced Edition"". Because they cannot create anything original and having to beat the dead horse of ancient games they're trying to develop political agendas thinking they can be 'hip' with the political trends. Well tough luck. Even if BeamDog tried to make anything original, they'd never be willing to invest into a quality product, instead using the cheapest methods possible while forfilling their agendas first and foremost.

And the people who go "Oooh, if you buy EE, you'll get the Original too. Why are you complaining?" First, I don't want EE, I just want the Original and how it was. Second, screw BeamDog. Thirdly, Screw BeamDog.
They're literally have the power to give us the option of buying which version of the game we want. But they knew we wouldn't accept EE because it's so crap. So they forced both games together at a higher price, and can proudly brag how well their EE is doing.