Hi,
I just bought G2 to run on my Vista 64 machine (SP1 + all patches to today, 8GB RAM, Radeon 4850 w/Catalyst 9.5, Intel e8400) and I can't get it to actually start.
The game installed fine and gave no errors at all. I didn't monkey with the ini or anything, it's all default.
When I try running gothic2.exe (or the shortcut) the cursor goes busy for a few seconds, but nothing happens. No screen blink, nothing. There is still a gothic2.exe running in task manager showing as *32 bit. If I try multiple times, I get multiple running processes.
I found another thread with this exact problem, but it's not solved and there isn't really any useful info in the thread.
I tried run as administrator, disabling firewall, and running with XP SP2 compatibility all with no avail. This is a pure gaming machine, so I don't have any AV software installed and only minimal tray stuff like Steam and a couple other things. UAC is turned-off (from day one!)
Any ideas on what to try before I try the official GoG support?
Thanks!

Well, after a full system power cycle, the game now starts OK.
However, some of the full motion video, like the intro when the game first launches, are just black screens.
More importantly, the mouse is entirely absent. I can left click and it will do the same as hitting 'enter' but there is no mouse cursor anywhere to be found.
I guess there's still some issues to be worked-out with Vista 64 huh?

I just have the same problem, i hope this gets fixed.

The video integration Gothic uses isn't fully compatible with Vista/7. You may be able to get the videos to display by disabling antialiasing in your video card's control panel. There are only about three videos in the entire game, however, so losing them doesn't disrupt the game all that much. You can manually view them outside the game using the RAD Video Tools.
Gothic and Gothic II never have a visible mouse cursor. This is normal. All menus and inventory screens are navigated entirely with the keyboard. The mouse is used to aim the camera, as expected.

Thanks Arkose. The videos didn't worry me as much as the missing mouse. I'm so used to having a pointer to click on stuff it's a bit strange to play without one.

The video issue can be at least partially remedied by going to the .ini file and disabling video scaling which is just a few lines down from the top. This will make the videos very small depending on your resolution, but at least it wont be a black screen.
I am having the same problem brought up before where the launcher just wont work. I disabled UAC (Action Center) and tried running it with XP/Vista compatibility as administrator. There will be activity for a few seconds before it fails and the disk stops spinning. Right now I have the windows 7 evaluation version and I cant seem to get it to work at all. Is there anyone with 7 who has managed to get the game to work? I had the same problem with Vista x64 but eventually got it to work after 10 min or so of fiddling with the launcher and autoplay. Seems like once it got going it worked more consistently.

I have had no problems running either Gothic game on Windows 7, whether the beta (build 7000) or the RC (build 7100), with the exception of one time when my security suite (Comodo Internet Security) interfered with the installation routine somehow. Switching CIS to its "Installation Mode" during installation resolved this (after that I was able to run it fine, even with CIS fully enabled). Try reinstalling with your antivirus/firewall/etc. temporarily disabled. Security programs tend to only interfere during installation, so after that you would probably be able to play with them enabled as usual.
Except for the time CIS interfered both games have worked perfectly right out of the box (so to speak); I have not needed to disable UAC, run it as an admin, set a compatibility mode, or anything else like that.
If disabling security software during installation doesn't help, try updating DirectX (using the DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer) and your video card drivers from the manufacturer's website (the ones on Windows Update will work to some degree, but the manufacturer's own drivers are preferable).

I tried reinstalling the game, turning off all windows security components (I have no independent firewall or antivirus programs), turning off internet access, updating DirX, updating graphics drivers, doing a full power cycle, running with XP compatibility, starting it in 640x480 res, disabling desktop composition, closing all other programs, asking it nicely, yelling at it, and even tried a no CD crack (fail). Nothing works. I also read the posts on the JoWood forums and tried everything they suggested. Clearly I'm not the only one with this problem, but it seems that some are able to overcome this gauntlet somehow. Perhaps it is some hardware incompatibility? No, that wouldn't make sense since I was able to run both G2 and NOTR before I installed 7. And you (Arkose) said you were able to run them fine with 7 so no, it's not the OS. Faulty CDs are thus also out of the equation. Something weird is happening now though. Earlier I would open the launcher and it would go inactive, leaving a gothic2.exe *32 process and stacking up if I tried running it again. Now it appears in the task manager for a few seconds before disappearing. Something changed, but I have no idea what. I guess I could try appealing to JoWood's support personnel...that would probably be my final attempt.
Here are some threads I investigated:
[url=]http://www.jowood.com/?lang=en&site=5&iid=12379&gameid=gothic2&faq=17[/url]
[url=]http://forum.jowood.com/showthread.php?t=163872[/url]
[url=]http://forum.jowood.de/showthread.php?s=f9a56058f179770dfd19e2dcd79a4586&p=2067014#post2067014[/url]

Sorry those links didn't work, copy and paste if if you want to take a look.

I'm having problems in Windows 7 x64 too, though not quite the same.
Gothic 2 starts fine and all's well while inside the starting castle - looks and plays smooth as silk. As soon as I step outside though, it begins to stutter very badly until eventually the screen just turns blue. The game still appears to be running though, as I can just see the outline of the sheep near the gate moving very jerkily through the blue screen.
I have a fairly recent system: Core i7, 6GB DDR3, GTX285 with all the latest drivers. I have uninstalled/re-installed several times and tried all the other things mentioned in this thread - all to no avail.
It does appear to be a texture problem with the lager view distances outdoors. If I reduce the view distance to 20%, it's a little better, but still eventually becomes unplayable as I walk further into the wilderness.
Any ideas? I thought the point of the GOG games was to enable these older games to be playable on newer systems *shrug*?

same problem here... running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (no RC or beta),
no firewalls, no antivirus,
tried full powercycle machine, run as administrator, winxp sp2 compatibility, disable desktop composition,
turned off Anti-aliasing - Mode in Nvidia control panel,
process Gothic2.exe *32 starts and nothing happens.

me too

This is a known problem with Win7 and Nvidia cards. There are discussions about it on World of Gothic forums. I'm running it on Win7/64 with an ATI card and have no problem.

Exactly.. It is impossible to play Gothic 1&2 on Windows 7 with any Nvidia card. Look here [url=http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=104636&st=80http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=104636&st=80[/u[/url]]