@RedGuard so @ermo 's previous warning of buyer beware for intel integrated graphics was a load of BS. You cant beware of a change days before release. thanks for clarifying. What I WILL beware of is pre ordering anything from this company again. The amount of dissatisfaction I have with the level of "enhancement" that the game has already makes me wary of even buying the sequel not even including the fact that I can't even play on my laptop.
@ermo dude you cant blame intel this much, the fact of the matter is that @BradgarTheBlack is right and we paid for a product and expected it to work... I dont need to go into depth about consumer sales and when intel made chipset versions for when.. Beamdog admits the screwed up, They didnt do enough testing and realized that it doesnt work for selected drivers. You need to stop blaming Intel who doesnt actually care and has bigger fish to fry than to answer my ticket questions about some random game. I dont know why bradgar is complaining so much when he has another computer that can run it... its only worth 20 dollars and at least it works for you. Ive bought a game for 50 dollars that never worked and Sega never fixed my problem or refunded me, so at least theyre trying... But still, its been weeks and i can only run a laggy slightly enjoyable non magic using version of the game. I've asked a few days ago on how the fix is progressing and got no reply.
Whoa, I warned about this but didn't expect a 20-page thread before I could read even the first post. Is there a summary of potential fixes/ameliorations other than the OP?
I agree with Miloch. Could someone from Beamdog or a mod of the site compile all possible fixes and workarounds people came up with in a comprehensive list. It's not very helpful having to work through 20 pages of posts, some of which aren't even about workarounds but about venting complaints.
@RedGuard so @ermo 's previous warning of buyer beware for intel integrated graphics was a load of BS. You cant beware of a change days before release. thanks for clarifying. What I WILL beware of is pre ordering anything from this company again. The amount of dissatisfaction I have with the level of "enhancement" that the game has already makes me wary of even buying the sequel not even including the fact that I can't even play on my laptop.
I first looked at the preorder around 4 weeks before release. I know the warning was there 2 weeks before release, but I can't remember if it was there around the end of October.
We certainly differ in our perspectives, considering that I have bothered to educate myself on the PC ecosystem and which components to avoid, while you haven't. In other words, Caveat Emptor as a principle has worked just fine for me.
I still maintain that it is backwards to blame Overhaul for the fact that the OpenGL support on Intel hardware is spotty for various reasons, since Overhaul was in good faith when they updated the BG:EE engine to work with OpenGL 2.0 for portability reasons.
At this point, we're just going to have to agree to disagree I guess.
@ermo First of all, you seem to be forgetting or having selective memory that Overhaul failed to deliver the game on their initial release date in September. To say then , after their initial failure to deliver. Two weeks before their second release date is an appropriate timing window to inform a good chunk of their player base that they will be again failing to meet their needs?? I say no.
Secondly regardless of your education level on pc ecosystems, and their compatibility , which is wonderful and all... yet it is utterly meaningless in this conversation. I have two computers and I consider myself lucky to be able to afford those. Regardless of what state the game was in upon release, neither of those computers would be getting any type of hardware upgrade nor would I be planning on purchasing a new computer . Then in good faith, MONTHS before release I give overhaul my money , expecting to be rewarded with one of my favorite games of all time with a new coat of lacquer and polish on it. Instead I got a buggy game with limited enhancement that doesn't work at all on my laptop. I feel my right to be upset is just in this situation. And being someone who isn't very computer savvy and not at all interested in forcing a possible system collapse on my laptop I would have expected a patch to have cleared things up by now. Unfortunately that is also not the case. So please Ermo tell me , what do I have to be happy about in this situation?? Other than Baeloth being slightly entertaining... : p
So please Ermo tell me , what do I have to be happy about in this situation?? Other than Baeloth being slightly entertaining... : p
Not a whole lot it would seem.
I recognize that your expectations have not been met, and I hope Overhaul finds a solution that fixes things up for you both in terms of game bugs and the whole Intel graphics driver situation.
My experience has been different, because I didn't invest a whole lot in BG:EE other than keeping a curious eye on things. I also preordered BG:EE late on and deliberately didn't set my expectations very high.
I've also followed the technical situation -- as well as the modding situation -- with great interest, and based on what I have seen, I have faith that Overhaul will eventually ensure that the modernized engine and content will end up being better and easier to work with for both modders and Overhaul themselves.
Well, I can't believe it. I *finally* got the game to run fast without lag. At first, I was doing the whole Windows 95 compatibility thing which allowed me to move around but spell casting made it basically unplayable. No white screen issue.
Restarted the game and now had a new issue - the white screen. Googled the work around of Alt-Enter, exit game, restart game, Alt-Enter back to widescreen.
And guess what? Game runs perfectly fast now with no issues. I'm so pleased. Let the journey begin anew...
@cyrus213 I'm trying to express my dissatisfaction on behalf of all the people who can't play the game the way they want to. Just because i'm able to play on my desktop, doesn't mean thats very convenient for me. I just want them to make it work so everybody can play. Originally I was mad when i posted a few days ago about this whole mess just because i feel like so many people invested their time and money and hoped and thought they would get more out of it then what i feel I've gotten, which is basically a BG Trilogy /BGTUTU except it doesn't include baldurs gate 2... which just seems weak to me. Now, I really don't care. I've gotten my value out of the game considering i've beaten it and the black pits also, and 20 bucks isn't too much money to lose... I just guess I wanted more. Oh well. Hopefully there will be mods and they will fix these issues. Then theres also Project Eternity and Wasteland 2 to look forward to. I still have faith that ....eventually I'll be able to play on my laptop fingers crossed.
@BradgarTheBlack i agree with you i was just asking, and it is inconvenient... I seriously just hope this wont turn out like Blizzard, Sega or like Ps3 skyrim where they said they'll make a fix and never do it. I see a lot of promises but not much progress. It's really a hit and miss thing for the developers and mistakes are always made even by the best teams. I also wanted to support a great writer RA Salvatore working with beamdog for an enhanced edition expansion. But they hired David Gross instead...
Well, I can't believe it. I *finally* got the game to run fast without lag. At first, I was doing the whole Windows 95 compatibility thing which allowed me to move around but spell casting made it basically unplayable. No white screen issue.
Restarted the game and now had a new issue - the white screen. Googled the work around of Alt-Enter, exit game, restart game, Alt-Enter back to widescreen.
And guess what? Game runs perfectly fast now with no issues. I'm so pleased. Let the journey begin anew...
Which Intel CPU model do you have? I ask because in most cases, the CPU model dictates which Intel graphics chip you are saddled with. If you got your system to work, odds are that other people with similar systems can get it to work as well...
I just tried installing generic drivers manually again, which didn't work. Then for no particular reason I tried installing them automatically one last time, and this time it worked! I have no idea why it let me do it this time and it hasn't the last half dozen times I've tried it. In any event, the game's opening movie now runs, which it has never done before and after a very brief test it now appears I can use magic with no hiccups. Nothing weird has yet happened with my computer either.
I did notice that I may have gotten a slightly different file this time. The one which installed successfully also had audio drivers in it, but so far as I know the one I tried before only had drivers for the graphics.
I did notice that I may have gotten a slightly different file this time. The one which installed successfully also had audio drivers in it, but so far as I know the one I tried before only had drivers for the graphics.
Sounds like there might have been a difference between the chipset driver package and the pure graphics driver package.
Ok scratch what i said... @Nathan 's uploaded message about the update drivers finally worked for me, im also running on combat 95 mode (Im not sure yet if i still have to, too busy playing BG) I almost gave up hope but the forced update worked great after some difficulties with the download and windows. Game running at top speed and all movies run smoothly, thanks guys. My specs are : Toshiba Satelitte L745-S4210 Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 2310M CPU @ 2.10 GHz Intel(R) HD Graphics Family
Initially Windows was confused about installing a 32-bit driver although core i3 can run both 64-32 bit, Running the 64-bit update for win 7 worked and is running smoothly.
I do appreciate the effort on the part of Overhaul in attempting to fix this issue, but the obvious frustrations are there and they do stem from it being a 2D game! I know my laptop is a bit crap! it was pretty cheap, gets on the internet and runs CAD well enough to take to work and that was why I brought it.
Because of the "crappiness" of my computer, I instinctively i know not to buy Borderlands, Skyrim or Witcher! (that's where my XBox comes in) and i think most customers are aware of the benchmark settings of their computers. If this was a PC exclusive NWN remake in the style of Witcher 2, I would not be sitting here, grumbling swearwords under my breath, i'd be coverting new laptops in "Stuff" magazine or on "The Gadget Show" knowing that it was completely my problem that I wasn't able to run it.
So yeah! hurry up and fix the bloody game, to get us dinosaurs off your back!
Hang on, could I run it it with the graphics turned down and in 2D only like BG I & II? I'm happy with Icewind Dale/BG I & II type graphics - I'm not that bothered about eye candy really, otherwise I wouldn't still be using Neverwinter Nights 12 years after release. :-)
@redguard I have managed to get BG:EE to run on my intel duo chipset with intel GMA 4500 HMD... The quest is nearing an end... Problem is you may have to stop looking out the window... Will reveal more after some serious checking and testing (although it runs smoother than my BGT install at present...)
I'm at this situation too... the movies doesn't play good and any magic, like "entangle", or many sprites/movement effects on screen, freeze the game speed...
Are there any news about the "definitive cure" to our issue?
The definitive cure is for us to re-write the entire renderer around the poor quality Intel Graphics Open GL driver implementation. We are underway on this re-write, but it will not be a fast or easy fix. We made a mistake in assuming a very common feature specification from 2004 (Open GL 2.0) would be supported by most cards and by performing most of our testing with gaming enthusiast computers which featured better video systems we were caught unaware of the scope of the issue. Going forward we now have a few examples of the poor performing hardware in-house and we'll try to keep it in mind for our future work.
I have now changed baldur.ini as indicated in the other thread, and manually updated my driver as directed in this one and the game still runs unbearably slow. I'm so sad!
My laptop is running a Pentium Dual-Core CPU T4400 @ 2.2GHz prossesor with the Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family.
The definitive cure is for us to re-write the entire renderer around the poor quality Intel Graphics Open GL driver implementation. We are underway on this re-write, but it will not be a fast or easy fix. We made a mistake in assuming a very common feature specification from 2004 (Open GL 2.0) would be supported by most cards and by performing most of our testing with gaming enthusiast computers which featured better video systems we were caught unaware of the scope of the issue. Going forward we now have a few examples of the poor performing hardware in-house and we'll try to keep it in mind for our future work.
-Trent
Thanks for taking the time to respond and explain, it is appreciated. I do realize that this must take up a lot of your (limited and valuable) ressources. Good luck and I hope a new renderer is available soon enough for us unfortunate Intel laptop users... cheers
The definitive cure is for us to re-write the entire renderer around the poor quality Intel Graphics Open GL driver implementation. We are underway on this re-write, but it will not be a fast or easy fix. We made a mistake in assuming a very common feature specification from 2004 (Open GL 2.0) would be supported by most cards and by performing most of our testing with gaming enthusiast computers which featured better video systems we were caught unaware of the scope of the issue. Going forward we now have a few examples of the poor performing hardware in-house and we'll try to keep it in mind for our future work.
-Trent
I think the easy way is to build installer that works well in linux in WINE I use Xubuntu 12.10 on my X3100 laptop and BGEE runs without problems. I'm almost finishing the game and no graphic bugs occur. The only thing is to remember: install in windows, use (X)ubuntu 12.10 and WINE, then copy game folder into linux partition. So, please, do a proper installer - because the only problem is with upgrading the game - still needs Windows system (which is a crap IMHO)
The definitive cure is for us to re-write the entire renderer around the poor quality Intel Graphics Open GL driver implementation. We are underway on this re-write, but it will not be a fast or easy fix.
We made a mistake in assuming a very common feature specification from 2004 (Open GL 2.0) would be supported by most cards and by performing most of our testing with gaming enthusiast computers which featured better video systems we were caught unaware of the scope of the issue. Going forward we now have a few examples of the poor performing hardware in-house and we'll try to keep it in mind for our future work.
-Trent
Re. the rewrite, are we talking months or what? Are you still targeting an OpenGL renderer for windows or are you building a separate DirectX code path into the renderer?
From what I can tell, if you can get BG:EE to run fluently on laptops with 45nm Core 2 Duo CPUs and X4500 IGPs (circa 2008) with updated drivers, you will have struck gold. Bonus XP for getting it to work with X3100 IGPs (which only support OpenGL 1.5). But yeah, tough luck on the Intel OpenGL driver front...
I think the best thing for Beamdog to do at this point is to bite the bullet and do a full conversion of the renderer to DirectX. Like it or not, integrated Intel chipsets make up a large proportion of the Windows based tablets out there and many of them will think twice about buying another Beamdog game without this support. It will also open up the new Windows RT and Windows 8 tablet and convertible market for them.
I have now changed baldur.ini as indicated in the other thread, and manually updated my driver as directed in this one and the game still runs unbearably slow. I'm so sad!
My laptop is running a Pentium Dual-Core CPU T4400 @ 2.2GHz prossesor with the Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family.
Hope this helps.
I have the same chipset and same thing here, even with updating drivers and using suggested work arounds, I cannot get it to run. Running in windows 95 compatibility does offer some relief, but as soon as spells start flying it's unplayable. On my desktop PC the game runs like a dream, so at least I have that.
As far as the Ubuntu suggestion, that's great, but not an option for everyone. The post in the thread on how to do it is much appreciated though and I'm glad to see the community offering up ideas such as this for other players.
As far as the Ubuntu suggestion, that's great, but not an option for everyone. The post in the thread on how to do it is much appreciated though and I'm glad to see the community offering up ideas such as this for other players.
@SirK8 Thanks for the love! Had two positive results so far. Two more people playing BG:EE without problems is a bonus to me!
Comments
But still, its been weeks and i can only run a laggy slightly enjoyable non magic using version of the game. I've asked a few days ago on how the fix is progressing and got no reply.
We certainly differ in our perspectives, considering that I have bothered to educate myself on the PC ecosystem and which components to avoid, while you haven't. In other words, Caveat Emptor as a principle has worked just fine for me.
I still maintain that it is backwards to blame Overhaul for the fact that the OpenGL support on Intel hardware is spotty for various reasons, since Overhaul was in good faith when they updated the BG:EE engine to work with OpenGL 2.0 for portability reasons.
At this point, we're just going to have to agree to disagree I guess.
Secondly regardless of your education level on pc ecosystems, and their compatibility , which is wonderful and all... yet it is utterly meaningless in this conversation. I have two computers and I consider myself lucky to be able to afford those. Regardless of what state the game was in upon release, neither of those computers would be getting any type of hardware upgrade nor would I be planning on purchasing a new computer . Then in good faith, MONTHS before release I give overhaul my money , expecting to be rewarded with one of my favorite games of all time with a new coat of lacquer and polish on it. Instead I got a buggy game with limited enhancement that doesn't work at all on my laptop. I feel my right to be upset is just in this situation. And being someone who isn't very computer savvy and not at all interested in forcing a possible system collapse on my laptop I would have expected a patch to have cleared things up by now. Unfortunately that is also not the case. So please Ermo tell me , what do I have to be happy about in this situation?? Other than Baeloth being slightly entertaining... : p
I recognize that your expectations have not been met, and I hope Overhaul finds a solution that fixes things up for you both in terms of game bugs and the whole Intel graphics driver situation.
My experience has been different, because I didn't invest a whole lot in BG:EE other than keeping a curious eye on things. I also preordered BG:EE late on and deliberately didn't set my expectations very high.
I've also followed the technical situation -- as well as the modding situation -- with great interest, and based on what I have seen, I have faith that Overhaul will eventually ensure that the modernized engine and content will end up being better and easier to work with for both modders and Overhaul themselves.
So I did the force new drivers method found here: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/12156/how-to-forcibly-update-your-intel-drivers-at-your-own-risk
Restarted the game and now had a new issue - the white screen. Googled the work around of Alt-Enter, exit game, restart game, Alt-Enter back to widescreen.
And guess what? Game runs perfectly fast now with no issues. I'm so pleased. Let the journey begin anew...
I think I need to try that as well, then.
My specs are :
Toshiba Satelitte L745-S4210
Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 2310M CPU @ 2.10 GHz
Intel(R) HD Graphics Family
Initially Windows was confused about installing a 32-bit driver although core i3 can run both 64-32 bit, Running the 64-bit update for win 7 worked and is running smoothly.
Because of the "crappiness" of my computer, I instinctively i know not to buy Borderlands, Skyrim or Witcher! (that's where my XBox comes in) and i think most customers are aware of the benchmark settings of their computers. If this was a PC exclusive NWN remake in the style of Witcher 2, I would not be sitting here, grumbling swearwords under my breath, i'd be coverting new laptops in "Stuff" magazine or on "The Gadget Show" knowing that it was completely my problem that I wasn't able to run it.
So yeah! hurry up and fix the bloody game, to get us dinosaurs off your back!
Never give up hope...
Game playable for me, but still a lot of lag and I am forced to stay away from heavy magic usage (AoE spells in particular).
Are there any news about the "definitive cure" to our issue?
It is not a cure, only a solution. It does however get the game running a ok
We made a mistake in assuming a very common feature specification from 2004 (Open GL 2.0) would be supported by most cards and by performing most of our testing with gaming enthusiast computers which featured better video systems we were caught unaware of the scope of the issue. Going forward we now have a few examples of the poor performing hardware in-house and we'll try to keep it in mind for our future work.
-Trent
My laptop is running a Pentium Dual-Core CPU T4400 @ 2.2GHz prossesor with the Mobile Intel 4 Series Express Chipset Family.
Hope this helps.
The only thing is to remember: install in windows, use (X)ubuntu 12.10 and WINE, then copy game folder into linux partition. So, please, do a proper installer - because the only problem is with upgrading the game - still needs Windows system (which is a crap IMHO)
From what I can tell, if you can get BG:EE to run fluently on laptops with 45nm Core 2 Duo CPUs and X4500 IGPs (circa 2008) with updated drivers, you will have struck gold. Bonus XP for getting it to work with X3100 IGPs (which only support OpenGL 1.5). But yeah, tough luck on the Intel OpenGL driver front...
As far as the Ubuntu suggestion, that's great, but not an option for everyone. The post in the thread on how to do it is much appreciated though and I'm glad to see the community offering up ideas such as this for other players.