GameBanshee Forums

I've got another thread going in Baldur's Gate 1...

But my computer hasn't played games for over a year and now all my old games are not working so well.

I only recall updating drivers on this computer. I don't know if I have a setting switched that will play these games. I think I will try turning off the graphics accelerator??

But let me know if you have some ideas

Edit: for NWN1 the game loads but is stuttering and choppy.
for BGtutu (in BG forum) the game doesn't load at all

Try running NWN1 with Win XP SP2 compatibility enabled and as admin.

I tried as admin.
I tried without antivirus
I tried in single core

But as to service pack combatability:
When I go to compatability options it lists other operating systems but not service packs. Is there a different location than right clicking on the exec and going to properties?

By the way thank you for answering

Are you running the GOG version or the original disc version, or some other version? This game engine is old and buggy when it comes to modern software and hardware so errors like this are not surprising to see.

How exactly does it 'not work'? Are you getting an error message of any kind?

Hi Tricky. It loads but it is very choppy so much that it is unplayable. It is as if I didn't have the specs to handle the game, but I am using a 2006 computer on a 2000 or so game so that shouldn't be it? Could I have turned off my graphics card? Is that possible?

Claudius wrote:Could I have turned off my graphics card? Is that possible?

You can disable any piece of hardware, but I don't think that is the case here. Most games simply will not run and give you an error message if they can't find any graphics hardware.

But NWN and Baldur's Gate are older games, so I can't tell for sure. It would imply every single 3D game having serious graphical issues (perhaps Baldur's Gate as well, since it does have some limited 3D acceleration *if* enabled and a 2D engine that takes advantage of DirectDraw). Have you noticed anything like that? I suppose you could have disabled parts of the basic 3d acceleration support in Windows. I don't remember exactly where that setting (a slider - my best guess somewhere under (advanced) System Properties) can be found, but I remember lowering the amount of acceleration used to solve problems with older games. Maybe you did that at some point?

Perhaps it is something as simple as another process eating away all your CPU resources. Older games have different and lower amounts of 3D acceleration, making the CPU an equally vulnerable bottleneck to the GPU. Morrowind is a classic example of this. Launching the task manager and having a look at all the different processes might shed some light on this. Alternatively you can download the more in-depth Process Explorer from Windows SysInternals.

There is another generally overlooked problem that can easily affect performance for all games. Overheating. Especially modern GPU's and CPU's have safeguards that severely downclock your system to protect the cores involved from physical damage, resulting in low performance. How old is your system and how long has it been since you last cleaned it out?

@sear, it's the GOG version..

@Tricky. I tried changing the 3d accelaration and it doesn't work with it either all on or totally off.

I may check the Windows SysIntervals? My sistem has been going since 2007. What do you mean by cleaning it out? I assume something more than c-cleaner? I have run c-cleaner. So I am not sure what is meant by cleaning out.

to "clean" a windows system one uses things such as Ccleaner and Revo Uninstaller for example, but my advice would be to format and reinstall the C drive completely.

As to the Win XP SP2 part, that is found when right clicking and properties under compatibility, if you run Win7. If you run winxp I'm not sure you can go back a SP.

It's strange that it doesn't work, but it can be something as innocent as 'environmental audio' is for the BG-series, so could be NWN calls an old DirectX function that is no longer used in the newer ones.

You could install DX9 if you don't have it, should work with all the old bells and whistles, unlike DX10.

I'm sorry, I used some odd phrasing there. By 'cleaning it out' I meant removing dust and such. Overheating due to poor cooling.

Thanks everyone! I'm going to take a break on trying to figure it out. I might try uninstall from GOG and reinstall.