Has anybody used BG II with win XP successfully? Is it possible? Cant imagine why they overlooked the most common operating system in the world!

Actualy, at the time BG2 came out, winXP was still in beta. Still it works flawlessly in XP [b]if you have the patch[/]. If you don't have the patch, no characters will talk with you. Funny bug, but there you go.

<font color=skyblue>Actually, I ran BG2+ ToB with out the Official ToB patch the the ToB Fix until just a few days ago. I'd occasionally get the 'Character X appears busy' bug, but that doesn't mean that no characters would talk to me. In fact, almost every character would talk to me.</font>

I run XP, but ever since I got the patch, I have no problem with talking, but my game crashes after about 20 - 60 minutes of play. I can just restart it, but it is annoying. I goes into "flicker mode" (flickering screen) right before you crash it, and it is only a matter of time after that you will be looking at an assertion error. When it is flickering, it will let you quicksave (if it doesn't happen during a fight), but a regular save crashes the game. Very odd bug. I have the same problem with Planescape: Torment, except that one doesn't go into "flicker mode"; it just dies.

The BioWare tech support forum has a number of XP crash/can't install solutions. http://forums.bioware.com/viewforum.html?forum=10

It could, of course, be a conflict between your computer and the graphics card. I've got the same problem.

I've ran BG2 on XP every time I've played it -- on 2 different laptops now. The only problem I ever had was Norton recognizing the BG exe file link as a bad registry item and deleting it. Until the patch fixed that, I had to weed out that registry edit from Norton's "to fix" list.

I've never experienced the "appears busy" problem.

... at 120 miles per hour [img]smile.gif[/img]

...without brakes [img]tongue.gif[/img]

... or steering wheel.

Come to think of it, playing a computer game unpatched is more like having no bloody car and having to walk to the shops instead.

You guys exaggerate. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

The point of my metaphor is that it is possible to play the game without the patch. However, if anything happens in/to your game, and it was something that is fixed by the patch, and you know about the patch but choose not to install it (aka put on your seatbelt), then it is your own bloody fault.

If the car had no brakes, no steering wheel, no nothing, then we ain't talking about Baldur's Gate 2 already, but Pool of Radiance. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

i agree. [img]smile.gif[/img]

i often make it a habit to play the game AFTER i install all the updates so i get no worries... [img]smile.gif[/img] so far it is working like a charm on my XP... no probs whatsoever... and that goes for ALL my games ;) even FF7

man... that was bad Dundee... hehehe good thing I didn't even buy that game. Is it true they say that you cannot finish Pool of Radiance without the patch? wow. that is like buying a car and they only give you the chassis.

The most infamous bug about PoR (unpatched) is the one whereby if you tried to uninstall the game, your harddisk gets formatted. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Personally, I always search for a patch first, before playing any game.

Is PoR even worth it?? I heard it is bad but it looks cool....(srry if it is a little off topic)

<span style="color: lightblue">Crash explorer before playing - run the game from Task manager.

what is POR?

also. on this topic could i ask some questions. i am comming back to BGII to pass it another round - this time with my necromancer i near completing the first BG with.

the bugs that made my hair fall out were:
- the "character X is busy" bug
- (this was a REALLY annoying one) the stutter bug where your characters will walk a few steps, pause, take a few more steps, pause


could you guys tell me which patches fix these up for good and where to get them?? thanks for any help [img]smile.gif[/img]

ToB Official Patch and then ToB Fixpack. On the second link, download the FixPack v.12 (first download on the page)

I had ToB without the patch running on my XP machine, the only thing that didn't want to talk to me without the patch was my familar..

Your familiar wouldn't talk to you? That's really strange. But there are lots of other people that won't talk either...they must be hiding a secret that they won't tell us [img]tongue.gif[/img] .

PoR=Pool of Radiance. ;)

Well there's nothing wrong with driving in a car without wearing a seat belt. It gets a problem when you're driving fast and hit something. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

A bug happens due to several possibilities. Namely coding errors or logic errors.

Scenerio
----
You are driving at a normal speed. Suddenly the road turns to icy slush, rain pours from the sky and wait! Is that a granny skidding towards you in a shopping cart? What is that you say? Forgot to put on your seatbelt? Awwww... crash and burn baby. ;)
____

Accidents can still happen even with the seatbelt on, but at least you will be a whole lot safer wearing it.

Now who's exaggerating? You're talking granny Bhaal-powers here Dundee! Innate power to cast Grease, Ice Storm and Simulacrum! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I've played ToB without a patch with XP and it works fine except that most of the important people that I have to talk to are too busy to talk to me [img]tongue.gif[/img]

That's because they are IMPORTANT people, and you are not important! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

I am very important! When other important people don't talk to me, I dispose of them and go around town causing mayhem and chaos :D