Eeeeyaah! Shadow's of Amn is AWFUL!

[Bran Llwyd]

I can't play it! Literally, it won't let me play! It shuts off on me! All of my stuff is compatible, I have Win98, a Rage card, DirectX 7, lots of HD space, and a compatible processor, all the settings are right, and I even have Baldurs Gate 1 on this computer, it runs fine and no trouble with it.

Now, I bought Shadows of Amn yesterday. It played fine, other than a little lag now and then. But after Imoen and Imenicus were taken by the Wizzards, I left the area (Waukeen's Promenade) and headed to the slums. Keep in mind that I haven't even really gotten to play this game yet...

Anyway, I met that guy that always says "COO!" and went to his house. When I left, it started this film from the magic prison, and EVERY TIME that one guy says "What is known?", the game shuts off. Every single time. It's done that 39 times, yes - I counted. I even contacted Interplay Technical support on the phone and talked to an operator, he told me to download the newest driver for my ATI rage card, which I did. The game STILL does it. I can't believe it, I spend 50 bucks on a game, and I can't even play it. I've heard of Windows XP screwing up, but not 98. And worse, I can't seem to find any way to correct this. No patches, no troubleshooting, nothing. Can someone here PLEASE tell me what's wrong?

[Maxamus]

maybe a vital file is missing in BG2, or a bug

try downlaoding the BG2 patch

[Draggor]

yeah sounds like a missing file or bug on the cd. Try reinstalling and if that doesn't work see if you can get a replacement copy from where you bought it.

The only advice I can give you is to install your copy of BG2 on someone elses computer and if the same thing happens, take it back to where you got it.
The person that told you to install the latest video card drivers is an idiot. If the game starts to run fine, then it isn't going to just die on you because of the video card. If it is a video card problem then the problem happens at the start of the game or when the game boots up.
Anyway try it on another computer first.

[shadowhound]

You are lucky you are new here, putting a heading like that up around here could lead to some dangerous moments [img]tongue.gif[/img] . As for your problem i wouldnt have a clue. i just saw the title and came in to true to kill you, your lucky your new and you were just saying something about it not working instead of saying the game itself sucked.

[Radek]

I think your CDs are defective somehow. Nothing special will happen after the "what is known" - the cowled wizards will continue their dialog. Therefore, no special effect in the cut scene caused the crash. Also, I've never heard about something that has happened to you. Try the following if you can:
1. Borrow another set of installation CDs from your friend, install the game from them and see whether the game will continue after the "what is known".
2. Install the game on another computer from your CDs (the best choice is a computer where SoA has already run) and see whether the game will crash.
3. Go to your shop and request replacement. Tell them that the CDs are defective and do not allow any discussion about it.

[Bran Llwyd]

Well, it IS my computer. After an hour and a half discussion with the Wal Mart service people, and finally convincing them to give me another, I found that a new batch of disks does the same thing.

Nearest I can tell, I'm guessing it would have to have something to do with the processor. I've upgraded the RAM and the video card should be fine, unless it just shuts off or something. The processor is a Intel Pentium 2 300 MHZ. That should be enough according to the specifications, but I dunno.

SO, until my crappy computer gets an upgrade, I can't play BGII.

And that definately means no Icewind Dale or other fun stuff. I'm just gonna start playing Baldur's Gate one again till I figure something out.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll have kicked Irenicus' ass before this summer is up.

"Butt kicking for goodness!"

[drewal]

If the specs say your comp is fine, try turning down all game settings to the lowest possible...

also make sure there is nothing running in the background on your comp...

This probably isn't too helpful and maybe even make you feel worse about it all, but I used to have that same problem. For the longest time the game seemed to work fine and then one day it just started kicking me over and over. I re-installed the game and it still did it. After a while I got irritated and played other games instead, until one day months later whne I got a new HD and reinstalled windows and everything and tried the game again. It has worked perfectly ever since. I can't explain it maybe it conflicts with some other program or something don't know, just wanted you to know that you aren't the only one whose had to deal with that. On a side note I have and had then duel booted winXP and 2000 and the problem occurred with both. I wish I could tell you how I fixed it but I don't know besides wiping the HD and starting over, which would be too much trouble in my opinion to even try not knowing if it will solve the problem. Sorry I can't be of more help.

[Radek]

Your computer is not "crappy", Bran. 2.3GHz processor is not crappy - it is dozen times faster than it is required by the game. I am sure that upgrading will not help. But I guess that another thing is crappy - the damned WinBlows as the Orion's post hints. As we all know, any app can modify this horrible trash during installation and cause crash of another app this way. Therefore, I suggest to direct the investigation there.
1. Which kind of WinBlows is your computer suffering from? WinBlows 2000? WinBlows XP? Check posts about "I cannot run with WinXXXX" and so on.
2. Reinstall that damned shoddy produced by The Great Bill if you can. Install only those apps that you really need. Now, try the game again.