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The Betazoid's Guide to the Beta Testing Galaxy: BG:EE / BGII:EE 2.0 Edition

CerevantCerevant Member Posts: 2,314
edited March 2016 in The Road to v2.0
Welcome to the beta of the 2.0 update for Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition and Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition!

Beamdog QA Team:
QA Lead: Jeff Payne (Cerevant)

Filip Flechtner (Hurricane)
Richard Hilton (Gate70)
Jalily
Keith Marshall (Elminster)
Robert Rath (Galactygon)
Anders Svensson (hook71)
Troodon80
Douglas Wagner (Illydth)
Mike Wellman (Skary)

Do not tag team members in your bug reports. Our internal QA people will go through the topics and enter each reproducible issue into our database.

I. How to get builds for each platform

To participate in this beta, you must first have purchased the game on the platform you wish to test on. Note that purchasing on Beamdog gives you access to the PC and Mac versions, while purchasing on Steam gives you access to the PC, Mac, and Linux versions.

Steam: Opt in to the beta for PC, Mac, or Linux by installing BG:EE or BGII:EE. Then do the following:
  1. Right-click on the game, and choose Properties.
  2. Click on the Betas tab.
  3. Enter the beta access code for the game you are testing:
  • Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition - aeK4fiexKuz4voav
  • Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition - zee5Ahgegoh4Ohgh
  • Click on "Check Code."
  • Under Select the Beta..., choose the option ending in "_beta" from the dropdown.
  • Click Close.
    • Beamdog: If you were part of the Road to 1.3, you will find the Beta products in your Beamdog client. Just download and go! If you don't have these, we'll let you know when we are adding new testers for the Beamdog versions.

    II. I have my build(s); now what?

    Start playing! We're interested in hearing about any issues you may come across, although we have particular interest in UI issues, character generation, and multiplayer, since there were recent changes in those areas.

    When you find a bug, follow the directions in How To Report Bugs and create a separate ticket for each issue. A Beamdog team member will attempt to reproduce the bug using the steps provided. You may be asked for more information at this point.

    If successfully reproduced, the bug will be logged into our development database and the topic will be updated with the ticket number.

    III. Tips for successful beta testing

    1. Do not apply mods to your games or alter the game files in any way.
    2. Do not use editors such as EEKeeper on your saves.
    3. Do not use the console except to obtain information for bug reporting or to pass a game-stopping bug. [spoiler=To enable the console]Ensure that your Baldur.lua (NOT Baldur.ini) file (located in Documents\Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Edition or Documents\Baldur's Gate II - Enhanced Edition) contains this line: 
    SetPrivateProfileString('Program Options','Debug Mode','1')
    To open the console in the game, press Ctrl+Space.

    If the console still doesn't appear, it might be because you have multiple languages enabled. To disable it on Windows, right-click the EN (or whatever the language is) on your toolbar and choose Settings. See these links for further details:

    Windows XP
    http://stackoverflow.com/questions/179119/how-to-prevent-windows-xp-from-stealing-my-input-ctrl-space-which-is-meant-for-e

    Windows 7
    http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/8305-ctrl-space-not-working.html[/spoiler] 4. Make regular saves in new slots. Reproducing issues will be much easier if you can provide a save from just before the bug.
    Have fun, and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!
    Post edited by Cerevant on

    Comments

    • CrevsDaakCrevsDaak Member Posts: 7,155
      The "How To Report Bugs" page you're linking leads me to a Permission error. I believe you've meant to link this one, right?

      Also, I'm on Mac and thus can't use the Beamdog Client to download the Beta, so, is there any way to download them from zero? Anyway, I have the old v1.3 BG:EE beta launcher, but, does that one still works?
    • CerevantCerevant Member Posts: 2,314
      Thanks for the heads-up, I've fixed the link.

      Whatever method you used for the 1.3 beta should work for this update.

      Mac users can use the Beamdog client if they have access to a windows machine. You can download the app on the PC and transfer it to mac. I've found that this work better using removable media (thumb drive) than using a network copy.
    • AronAron Member Posts: 94
      I'm up for this! Going to try BG1 SoD and BG1 SoD :)
    • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,754
      Is it a bug to see this message during the opening cinematics, or is it an intended beta easter egg:

      image
    • TressetTresset Member, Moderator Posts: 8,268
      @bengoshi That would be an incorrect string. It is a bug.
    • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,754
      And now I will post a bug report. You know, I want that badge!
    • EnilwynEnilwyn Member Posts: 140
      Can I still get in on this? I have the beam dog client. Call me ;-)
    • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,754
      edited March 2016
      I have a small question: while clicking Overview, we see a list of QA staff and a list of Beta Testers. How does one get into that list of Beta Testers, shown on the Overview page? :wink: I believe it's not an automatic procedure, is it?
    • CerevantCerevant Member Posts: 2,314
      That would be the list of private beta testers, who aren't allowed to talk about what they are up to. :)
    • Surat01Surat01 Member Posts: 11
      If I open the properties for the games there is no "Betas" tab. How do I find that?
    • Surat01Surat01 Member Posts: 11
      How do I get to be a beta tester?
    • CerevantCerevant Member Posts: 2,314
      Just follow the instructions in the OP.
    • Surat01Surat01 Member Posts: 11
      Cerevant said:

      Just follow the instructions in the OP.

      When I go to properties I don't see a "beta" tab, that is the problem.
    • SurvivorSurvivor Member Posts: 68
      Surat01 said:

      Cerevant said:

      Just follow the instructions in the OP.

      When I go to properties I don't see a "beta" tab, that is the problem.
      You have to check the "properties" tab in Steam, not in the explorer - in case you missed it like I did the first time I was looking for it...
    • SaulerSauler Member Posts: 100
      I have beamdog version. How can i have beta access, without steam? Because i don't use steam for play BG:EE, i use simply bgee of beamdog.
    • ItomonItomon Member Posts: 187
      I do have access to the BGEE beta because I was a betatester in 1.3. But how can I have access t BG2EE 2.0 beta test?
    • FranpaFranpa Member Posts: 637
      Itomon wrote: »
      I do have access to the BGEE beta because I was a betatester in 1.3. But how can I have access t BG2EE 2.0 beta test?

      By following the steps in the first post?
    • ItomonItomon Member Posts: 187
      Guess I can't then, gotta wait. :/
    • chilvencechilvence Member Posts: 50
      edited March 2016
      Doh... I bought my Enhanced editions on GOG...

      Is there any way I can still get in on this? I'm already smashing through BG1 again to get ready for Siege of Dragonspear but I would love to be able to try out the beta :(

      edit: never mind, found my answer in another thread. If I had money to burn right now though, I would literally be making piles of it and throwing it at you lot for this :)
      Post edited by chilvence on
    • SCARY_WIZARDSCARY_WIZARD Member Posts: 1,438
      edited March 2016
      Itomon wrote: »
      Guess I can't then, gotta wait. :/

      Same, canna find tab. Halp!

      also, how do I fixed cup holder on computer
      EDIT: Oh, it's for Steam. arglebargleonlydoingthisbecauseIloveyou
      Post edited by SCARY_WIZARD on
    • cmk24cmk24 Member Posts: 605
      Tad_Has_A_Cold_Olive wrote: »
      So Steam users can opt into the beta, but Beamdog client users that weren't a part of the 1.3 beta can't?

      That seems... weird.

      It turns out that steam's dev tools for making betas public are easier/faster to use than the system Beamdog put in their own client. It takes less time for Beamdog to send steam keys to existing owners of the Beamdog version than to add them to the beta using the Beamdog client. So instead of wasting using valuable dev time on the game client they are focusing on the actual games.
    • FranpaFranpa Member Posts: 637
      Tad_Has_A_Cold_Olive wrote: »
      So Steam users can opt into the beta, but Beamdog client users that weren't a part of the 1.3 beta can't?

      That seems... weird.

      Beamdog users can request a Steam product key from Beamdog (Free) and access the beta via the Steam version of the game.
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