BG and BG2 store stuff in their Override folders?

Franpa

Aren't these folders meant for mods and stuff? Why do these games include stuff in their override folders by default? (this issue might not be exclusive to the 2.5 beta).

I'm purely curious and not at all complaining.

Grond0

In an unmodded new installation of the main updates the override folders would be expected to be empty (and they are for v2.3). I guess that for beta versions they've left fixes in there which will be taken out once they're sure the fixes work.

PaulaMigrate

Having things in override (not biffed) used to be an issue in the classic game.
This problem has gone with the EE's. I use very large modded EET-installs with the game where the override folder has 10.000+ files and several GB data. There are no performance issues from that at all.
This used to be the problem you had in the old game. Just the opposite - biffing mod contents in EE can create problems as there are some new file formats unknown to the mod-biffing.
So I guess your concerns are no longer applicable for the the new generation.
There is no reason not to use override (or portraits, which is working in a similar way) in a regular way.

Garvin77

@PaulaMigrate: The 2.5 patch betas include content in the override folder by default (which, as @Grond0 theorised, are probably temporary fixes/enhancements that will either be removed or edited if non-functional, or integrated into the regular folders if successful/approved of by testers). Let's not forget that we are posting in 'The 2.5 Update Beta' sub-forum.

Thels

The override folder initially was designed for patch files, and was something mods could piggyback upon. This allows patches to remain somewhat small, rather than having to replace entire archives.

Nowadays that's not much of an issue anymore, and since the current developers are aware people use override for mods, they seem to have focused on keeping a clean install override folder empty. It shouldn't be a problem if it's not, though.