I've been wondering if the GoG.com versions of Baldur's gate 1 & 2 run properly on Windows 7? I haven't played either BG 1 or 2 since back in the Windows XP days because ever since Vista was released, they don't run properly under anything with newer versions of Direct X. So, my copies have been on the shelf for years. Now that I'm seeing these emulated versions, I'm wondering if there's a difference between them and the original cd versions. This goes for any of the infinity engine games. None of them worked properly on anything past Windows XP. How do the GoG versions compare?

Hi Iconoclast12 , i have the baldurs gate 1 from GoG and then Bg2 and ToB on cd , i use them both with no problem , the ones that come from GoG are allready patched so you dont have to worry about doin so , the only recomendation that everyone says is to install the games in another place apart from Program files because it gives problems , atleast in windows 7 , i think its probably the same for vista .

Also i used to have a problem and like many others that the games had some lag when you used magic and such , and thanks to the user @Olnorton i and many others found a solution , ill just copy paste hes solution from the icewind dale forum , it works as well for baldurs gate if you get the problem :)

Download the DXSDK from Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=6812
It's a large download, but it will give you all the old DX libraries (as apposed to the latest "backwards compatible" ones)

It will also give you a way to disable Hardware Acceleration for Direct Draw.

Go to:
Start
All Programs
Microsoft DirectX SDK (June2010)
DirectX Utilities (Not the 64bit version)
DirectX Control Panel

On the DirectDraw Tab, untick Use Hardware Acceleration.

i do that each time i have to play eather Baldurs gate or Icewind dale and they work without any problems , just remember to put the acceleration again if you play a new game ;) , well hope this helps a bit ,

I'm playing BG1+2 in Win7 64-bit from the original CDs and they run fine out of the box. I'm sure the GOG versions would too.

I've never needed to mess with hardware acceleration for BG2, though you might have to for vanilla BG1 (I recommend using Tutu though). It probably depends on your video card drivers. There is a fix here for Nvidia cards that worked for me with PST.

See, I'm honestly not sure how you do this.. Running the old cd versions on Win 7 without any tweaks.. Any version of DirectX over DX 9 is not compatible with the infinity engine (baldur's gate, icewind dale, planescape) and it really confuses me how I and many other people have had so many problems and you don't?

Maybe your GPU is an intel chipset without any 3D acceleration?

I have no idea. What problems are you talking about?

Besides, the GOG game page clearly states WinXP/Vista/7 and plenty people here appear to be playing it. Perhaps you should try installing it again for nostalgia sake. ;) GPU = Nvidia GTX 550 Ti (running 280.26 drivers)
MB = Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 Intel Z68
CPU = Intel Core i3 2100 Sandy Bridge 3.10GHz

I've always had 3D Acceleration enabled using OpenGL in the BGconfig.EXE - all the bells and whistles are switched on. This is BG2. (I no longer have vanilla BG1 installed - I had it on here briefly to install Tutu and then removed it, but do not recall any problems running it either)

Anytime I've tried to run any of the infinity engine games on Windows 7 or Vista I get directx problems. Usually distorted graphics. Things like blinking mouse cursors and trails, freezing when casting spells, no transparency, clipping issues and other graphical glitches. It was never a problem until Vista came out and ever since then I have never been able to properly run an infinity engine game on either OS. They install fine and they are playable, but the glitches really hinder the experience. So, yes, I really don't know what you're doing that I'm not doing, but directx 11 is killing the experience for me and my system is very similar to yours.

They work perfectly fine for me. However, I never use 3d acceleration, because that has caused weird glitches for me both on my old Win98 system and my old WinXP system, as well as my Win7 system. They're the same glitches every time, though, so I can only assume that it's something in the game itself and not the operating system. Honestly I think the game looks better with the 3d off anyway, so it's not really a problem. Just make sure you turn the 3d animations on but leave the acceleration off.

I don't use the widescreen mod, though. Widescreen mods for other games often cause issues with flickering or mouse trails, so that might be the issue.

@ Iconoclast , those problems are known , and they happend to some of us and not to some others , why it does i do not know , anyways i used to have really bad lag each time i cast a spell , and sometimes the mouse problem leaving trails behind , honestly since i did what i sugested you above it has never been a problem again , just give it a try and see if it helps

For me getting my games to run was just a matter of downloading DirectX9 from the microsoft website. Dxdiag says I run DX11, but I remember downloading DirectX9.0 and all games have been working flawlessly since. I guess my computer now has relevant files for both DX9 and DX11 games.

Install DX9 on your system. Win7 comes with DX10 installed by default, but that does not include many of the files/libraries from DX9. So just install the latest DX9 version as well and you'll find a lot less problems with games that use it. There won't be any issues with doing this.

As far as the BG games go, I have Win7 Pro 64 bit on my rig and the GOG versions of the games installed (outside Programs or Programs x86) and it runs fine, even with mods and the Baldur's Gate Trilogy mod installed.

Agreed you need to update DirectX. That was definitely one thing I remember doing, possibly for another game (something about DLLs missing?). I used the web installer here. Just a small setup file that checks your system and then downloads what you need, so you can be assured you're getting the most up-to-date install.

As for mouse trails and flickering issues, this could be caused by your video drivers attempting to do anti-aliasing and such. Go to your video card control panel, make a profile for BGMAIN.EXE and turn OFF all anti-aliasing options, anisotropic filtering, and perhaps triple buffering. Infinity Engine games do not need any of that stuff.