Baldur's Gate 1 quirks

[Guest The cranky hermit]

Short version:

 

The widescreen mod only works with the UK version, and not the US version. It also doesn't work with the DirectX patch.

Also, resolutions above 1280x1024 make TotSC crash.

 

 

Long version:

 

I have the US version of Baldur's Gate 1, with TotSC installed. On top of that are two patches - "Tales of the Sword Coast US Patch," and "Tales of the Sword Coast English DirectX Patch" (the second one is just a replacement for the BGMain2.exe file).

 

Anyway, if I try to apply the widescreen mod on this, it will ask me to input the resolution, and when I do, it gets an error when it checks the filesize of BGMain2.exe, claiming that this game is not supported. It then quits. I looked up patches for the game on Fileshack:

http://www.fileshack.com/browse.x/494

 

There are four patches here for "Tales of the Sword Coast," and all of them are installers that can be opened with WinRAR. For each of the four, I have tried extracting the BGMain2.exe file with WinRAR and copying it to my game directory. Only the one from the patch marked "Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast UK Patch" would be accepted by the widescreen mod setup.

 

So basically, the only way to use this mod with the US version is to apply the UK patch, or at least use the executable from it, and I have no idea what miscellaneous problems this may or may not cause when playing the game.

 

The other problem is that resolutions above 1280x1024 make the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion pack crash. If I use 1920x1200, for example, the game will start up, the static 2D menus will be in a small window in the upper-left of the screen, and I can start a regular new game just fine. But if I start a new game and choose "mission pack," the game will show the loading screen and then dump me to the desktop. 1280x720, 1280x800, and 1280x1024 do not have this problem. But 1440x900 and 1920x1200 do have this problem.

[the bigg]

So basically, the only way to use this mod with the US version is to apply the UK patch, or at least use the executable from it, and I have no idea what miscellaneous problems this may or may not cause when playing the game.

I'm pretty sure none, unless you want to play multiplayer. One of these days I might get around to fixing the other versions, but don't hold your breath.

 

The other problem is that resolutions above 1280x1024 make the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion pack crash. If I use 1920x1200, for example, the game will start up, the static 2D menus will be in a small window in the upper-left of the screen, and I can start a regular new game just fine. But if I start a new game and choose "mission pack," the game will show the loading screen and then dump me to the desktop. 1280x720, 1280x800, and 1280x1024 do not have this problem. But 1440x900 and 1920x1200 do have this problem.

WSM on BG1 and PST isn't compatible with older saves (such as the Mission Pack). You can play fine from a new game.