Working fine here. I'm already walking through New Phlan with my party. I just would like to know if it's safe to ignore the copy protection (code wheel) or if you better look up the correct word. That would be each time you start the game which is annoying.

I just typed 'X' when asked for the code wheel word and it worked fine.

Yesss... but as I recall, these games didn't immediately boot you out if you missed the copy-protection question. I think failing the question had other, more sneaky, repercussions. It has been a long time, so my memory might be foggy, but I would advise being careful.

Edit: Nope, just double checked. Apparently the original game copy-protection gave a player three chances to answer correctly before exiting the game. So, typing 'X' should be fine, if it didn't ask you for another code or boot you out.. Gotta love 25 year old foggy memories .. bah!

I do wonder what game I was thinking of though. I know there was at least one game that did that from that era...

I think it was Wizardry 6 that let you continue playing even if you failed the copy protection question, but your characters constantly missed in combat.

There is a post by someone from GoG on the main forum for the bundle stating that you can enter whatever you want for any game except for Hilsfar.

Sounds right. I was certainly thinking of a game changing hit/miss ratios on a failed copy-protection check.

how do I navigate vertical menus? -- particularly starting menus, starting char. menus. -- arrows don't work, page up/page down don't work, etc. so, for example, if I try to make a character I can only choose the first race, etc. -- thanks!

Haver you tried the numpad?
7 and 1 should work.

I had to use Fn+Left or Right arrow. I'm using a laptop without a numpad, so navigating the menus is a little annoying.

Remap them.