Since BG2 can be played in both 3D and 2D I wanted to open a little discussion about which one everyone thought displayed BG2 better. In my personal experience, BG2 is one of the few games I have ever played in which 2D seems to look better than 3D. I get many more colors and the game actually seems to run better in 2D as well. I have a plenty good enough 3D card, so that is not the reason. So if it is a common opinion that 2D looks better, why on earth is that? It just doesn't make any sense to me. But if there is a simple reason for this, please enlighten me.

I havent tried it 2D yet. I run a Riva TNT 2. It seems to run ok. Slugs down a little though. Definatly slower than BG. Ill be curious to the responses that people post here. Maybe Ill end up running in 2D myself if people have had enough probs!

My sys specs:
P233
64MB Ram
40X CDROM
3.2GB HD
Riva TNT 2
Win 98
Reccomended install

Some slow down. Figured it was just my S**t CPU. If its 3D related though and I can clunk out a few extra frames Ill be glad!

I have a Pentium III 450 with a Matrox G400 Max AGP running at 2X. 128 megs of RAM and a 20.4 gyg hard drive running at 7200 RPM. Certainly not the best, but certainly no slouch either. After trying every trick I knew to get smooth graphics, from getting the latest drivers for everything, to downloading directX 8.0, and even tweeking my BIOS, I finally gave up and began playing in 2D. For some reason BG2 in 3D mode bogs down my computer like no flight sim or space sim can. I think that's just one of those strange computerland glitches for which no one has an answer. Maybe some day we will have a patch from Interplay to fix this, but in the meantime, I guess it's long live 2D!

Just in case anyone was wondering what my "plenty goodenough 3D card" is, it's a Voodoo 3 3000 AGP. My specs are:
AMD K-6 400, 128 megs of RAM, 12G HD, 40x CDROM, Win 98.
I'm well aware that it isn't a super-computer or anything, but why would BG2 actually look better in 2D? And run better? I've always had it the other way around, if any game CAN be played in 3D, it has always been smoother, and better looking...... except this one. Don't get me wrong, I ain't complaining, I love this game and I no longer have any semblance of a life because of it, I'm just curious thats all.

733 mhz
133 mhz via board
Voodoo 3000

I tried both 3d and 2d and found the 2d vastly superior. I dont know what graphics cards the developers tested, but after trying all the settings for both 2d and 3d and also doing some research I found that 3d is only for some configurations and even then the advantages are small. Fog of war is rendered a bit faster in 3d as well as some magic affects. However since the rest of the graphics are made with spirits (non 3d) it really is no trgedy of your 3d card is not supported.

P700mhz intel
voodoo3 3000 AGP
256mb
ME

I too was experiencing slow graphis first, then i installed Directx 8, didnt notice much if any improvement, except d8 screwed my internet access up , nearly totally.rans setup.exe on win me disk, did a 'quick' install from with windows (not from c:&gt then after that i went to windows update , and there appared right before my very eyes, a 'new' voodoo 3 3000 driver, downloaded this and everything looks 'very'' colourfull now. I fully Recomend it!
8*)

kay.........
what did you do gungk?
You went to windows update and there was a new voodoo 3 driver there for you? and now you can play the game in 3D with as many colors as 2D? First of all, I didnt think that was possible. second, I certainly didnt think that the windows update page gives you updated drivers for your video card. I'm not at all saying that you arent telling the truth, I'm just curious on how you did it!

yeah, i was surprised to see a driver too, seemed strange ..but i have the proof inthe form of a printed out installation history it says:

Microsoft - Display (version 6/8/2000) was succesfully installed.
14:38:14 12 November 2000 : 3936

i just did start --> Windows update

like in bg2 the only 3d graphics are smoke, spell effects, torch flames, and all these seemed to improve a lot, and also the scroll speeds smoothed out..id recommend defragging every now and then as well.
hope this helps )
GuNk

3936 should read 55166 - dont think this will be much help though