Greetings my fellow Infinity Engine game lovers, I have scoured the internet through various forums (gibberlings3,IronWorks,Beamdog, etc.) looking for a solution to this problem with no avail. I recently bought a new graphics card (Nvidia GTX 750 Ti) and have encountered a major issue for Baldur's Gate 1 & 2. The speed of the entire computer jumps from normal to super slow lagging visual and auditorialy. It will jump back into normal speed at random and jump out of it. I can't pin point anything in the game that causes it ie. menu, spells, battles, selecting items, saving. They all attribute to the lag at random; I can play for about 10 minutes before the whole game crashes and my audio is left stuttering until I restart the computer. Please guys, I know this has been discussed at nausium but I can't figure this out and I'm not the most computer savvy individual but I can fix it under the guidance of someone who is. I really love these games and would love to play them on my new setup. Can someone please hold my hand and walk me through this?? Thanks!

PS: I'm not using any of the "enhanced" editions

Hardware:
-Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti (newest driver)
-6 gigs RAM
-Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
-Intel Pentium Dual Processor 3.20GHz
-Direct X 11

soultutions I've tried:

-set affinity of baldur.exe to multiple CPUs
-turned on/off 3D acceleration
-turned on/off automated speed adjustment
-tried 16 & 32 bit colors
-when using 16bit coloring, turned on/off software transparent BLT
-opened in compitablity mode with 98,2000,XP,7
-used the microsoft application compatibility tool to "force direct draw emulation"
-updated nvidia driver to newest (heard older versions work better though)

First, and foremost, make sure that in config/options that colour depth is set to 32, and that all BLT options are disabled. Also try toggling 3D acceleration.

*sigh* I already tried all those things. I listed everything I already tried in the previous message and everything you just said was in that message....

Just curious, are you running any mods, or are you running vanilla BG? Thanks. =)

I have the same video card (EVGA GTX 750 Ti 2GB OC), so I'll do some testing and see if I run into the same issue.

Edit: I haven't been able to replicate the issue yet. I played vanilla BG for about an hour with no mods, default GOG installation. Also briefly tried BG2, again using the default GOG installation.

If you're certain the graphics card is to blame, maybe try a clean install of the drivers? When you go to install the driver, select the Advanced options and under the list of components to install is a checkbox to perform a clean install. It will remove the existing drivers before installing the new drivers.

You may also want to try re-installing the games using the current installer on GOG's site if you have one of the older installers. And make sure it's not installing to Program Files or Program Files (x86) as UAC's data protection can cause havoc with older games. For example mine is installed at D:\Games\Gog\D&D Games\Baldur's Gate I

Let us know if any of this helps. =)

Flynn

Try monitoring your processors temperature. If I recall correctly it tends to use up one processor completely. If you have any issues it might make it slow down a lot.

Good thinking. The graphics card could also be getting too warm. Also, other issues could include a bad RAM chip (memtest86+ can detect this) or not a strong enough power supply (needs a minimum of 450w power supply for the card + basic components).

KitchenK, start with what I posted earlier and if that doesn't help, start looking at the ideas from Elaborigen and in this reply. We'll start from the simplest and work our way forward. There is a free program called Speccy that can list all of the components in your computer, display the temperature of you CPU, graphics card and provide a lot of useful information. =)

Flynn

I am running vanilla with the tob patch and no mods

I have uninstalled the previous drivers and installed the newest drivers

according to newegg and gigabyte's specs, the card I have needs 400w and I have a 400w power supply

the temp in Speccy for my graphics card is 37 Celsius during game play and lagging

anymore suggestions?

thanks guys

Does the system exhibit similar symptoms while running other programs or games? From what you listed above and your initial post, I'm thinking you have an inadequate power supply. The graphics card specs list a minimum of a 400w power supply, but don't forget it has to run the rest of the components in the system as well. My computer, for example, has a 600w Corsair power supply (link to Amazon page - not an affiliate link), which may be considered overkill but it lets me add things in as necessary without needing to worry about replacing it unless I finally want to go SLI/Crossfire.

So, I would check into at least a 500w - 600w power supply and see if that helps the problem. You can get one from any number of vendors, but I would stick to the more recognized brands such as Corsair, EVGA and such. And avoid any power supply that says anything about "up to XXXw" as they are not meant for day-to-day systems.

Hope this helps. =)

Flynn

I see what you mean. The only time I have this problem is when I play Infinity Engine games. listening to music while saving 1080p movies and surfing the web all at the same time do not give me these issues. Only when I start playing BG1 & BG2 (haven't tried IWD1 or 2). How sure are you on a scale 1-10 that if I get a better power supply (is Antec bad?) it will alleviate my problem? how many watts should I get? thanks again Flynn

Then ensure that you have DDrawFix installed. It comes installed by default with the latest GOG versions, but if you have another, or older version, you may not have it installed. Install it before all other fixes/mods.

PS: I apologise for the lack of attention in my first post. I'd had a trying day, and it was a case of me being text-wall punch-drunk.

no need for apology. I have installed ddrawfix and directx9.0c and things seem a little smoother but still slight lag and slow down then the crash.

starting to lose hope :(

I'm thinking about an 8 or 9 on the sure-ity scale, but I'd like you to try something first. Do you have any other games aside from the IE games that you play (e.g. Minecraft or Hearthstone)? Do any of them give you problems? As for suggestions on a power supply: It's important to try this with other non-IE games and let us know if they cause problems as well as that will help narrow down the issue.

Hope this helps. =)

Flynn

thanks for the psu adivce. I have played X-com Apocalypse through Dosbox for hours with no issues and I have played hours of NWN 2 on the highest performance settings with minimal problems if any but nothing as horrendous as bg1 and bg2.

Hmm... NWN 2 should be putting as much stress, if not more, as the IE games. I'm still leaning toward the PSU being the culprit though. For giggles, try IWD 1 & 2 and see if they exhibit any similar behavior. Thanks =)

Flynn