OK, could you tell me what codec that is? I'd rather not install Windows Media Player just to find out the codec. I use VLC and it plays all videos without having to install codecs.
I think this is the most troublesome installation I've dealt with on a GOG game. They usually patch things up pretty well.

Every time I restarted windows after installing Two Worlds (but not PhysX), some weird pixelated video played (Catalyst was doing it, but it never used to prior to this) in a window in the upper left corner of the screen during startup.The graphics card is an AMD Radeon HD 6800.

Later that day:
Uninstalling Two Worlds got rid of the strange startup video, as far as I can tell things are back to normal, hopefully. I'm going to avoid doing anything else with this for now.

I don't know, it just siad that a codec was missing and asked me whether to install it. A quick Google search brought up the name "Microsoft WVC1", maybe that's the one? I never bothered uninstalling Windows Media Player, I use Windows only for games anyway, not for work.

The game itself, from what I've played so far the story is as predictable as it gets, the voice acting sounds like bard LARPers, but the main point is the world and combat, I can go anywhere and this game is not afraid of kicking the player's ass if you decide to take on and entire monster camp. That's the part that was lame about Oblivion, the entire world sacled around you. Two Worlds is more like the original Zelda, you can go anywhere, but don't cry if you get your butt kicked.

Thanks for the very clear and complete reply, and I want to apologize about the initial tone of my post. I was frustrated because I was trying to figure out what PhysX was, why the game needed it, why opting not to install it did funny things to my startup and didn't allow the game to run, and whether it being from nVidia meant that it would explode my AMD graphics card. I don't know if the codec thing was even an issue, at some point I'll try the install again and find out. I might just try to convert the videos rather than install a codec.

Shame on me for not seeing the sticky at the top linking to an updated PhysX and going directly to the community help forum.

GSpot confirms WVC1. If you need any other intel about those videos, here's a GSpot screenshot :-)

/ps: You can get GSpot here http://gspot.headbands.com/

The issue I was having turned out to be just not letting PhysX install. I have reinstalled, allowing the PhysX install and then updating it to the version with the sticky. I'm still a bit concerned as to whether it plays nice/does anything with an AMD GPU. Videos played fine for me without looking for a codec. Still, I think I might have done better sticking with NWN2 and downloading a fan made module.

PhysX runs on the CPU by default which is how Two Worlds implements it, so your video card doesn't matter. A few games offer optional higher PhysX settings for Nvidia users but this is always for extra visual things (more debris particles or whatever) and doesn't affect the gameplay itself.

Thank you.

This game takes like thirty minutes to install - GOG doesn't place a Redist folder on the hard drive - is there some place to download this specific Ageia file?

Edit: Never mind, Vertex's jpg peg of his install request gave me the exact version so I Googled.

http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/GRAPHICS-BOARD/OTHERS/AGEIA-PhysX-Driver-71113.shtml

Good ol' Softpedia will never let any legacy software ever die off the webs permanently.

"What is known today as PhysX originated as a physics simulation engine called NovodeX. The multi-threaded engine was developed by Swiss company NovodeX AG. In 2004, Ageia acquired NovodeX AG and began developing a hardware technology that could accelerate physics calculations, aiding the CPU. Ageia called the technology PhysX PPU (physics processing unit), and the SDK was renamed from NovodeX to PhysX.[8]

In 2008, Ageia was itself acquired by graphics technology manufacturer Nvidia. Nvidia started enabling PhysX hardware acceleration on its line of GeForce graphics cards[9] and eventually dropped support for Ageia PPUs."

[url=]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhysX[/url]

My installation also wanted to install that old stuff, but it found out about my PhysX being a much higher version, and aborted itself..!

Great game BTW - I'm enjoying myself very much ^^

I had a similar problem today. Upon installing Two Worlds, the installer for Ageia PhysX just showed the (already mentioned) window with the text "text", and did nothing else. I canceled it, and the installation seemed to finished, but then Two Worlds crashed each time I tried to start it.

I then checked my installed programs, and uninstalled "Ageia Gamecenter" and "NVidia PhysX". Afterwards I reinstalled Two Worlds. This time, the Ageia installer worked, and I could play the game afterwards.

Note: I didn't need to uninstall Two Worlds. This had the advantage that the Two Worlds installer took just a minute to run - apparently the GOG installer is smart enough to notice that the files were already there, so it didn't extract them again, and skipped right to the Ageia installation. Nice. :)

I see this topic is marked as solved. Maybe for some, but not me.

The latest Nvidia PhysX installed with my graphics driver. The game installer recognized this and complained that I need to uninstall PhysX and retry. I chose not to install the old PhysX, and the game crashed as described by others.

I then uninstalled PhysX per the old installer's instruction, and Two Worlds installed and ran fine. When I upgraded PhysX Two Worlds once again crashes upon startup.

GOG, what's the deal?

this post seems to explain it: http://www.gog.com/forum/two_worlds/game_crashes_on_startup_every_time/post4

Does it also work on Windows 8? That's something I'm wondering.

Yes, I'm on Windows 8 myself and it works after doing this. :)

Thanks :).

Looks like the legacy driver is a better way to go then, I'll give it a try!