is there any way to make the ui in iwd2 look decent in widescreen (without huge empty space and being stretched)? or maybe a way to use iwd 1's ui in 2?

I've got it running at 1600x1200 on a monitor with a native resolution of 1920x1200. I don't find it bad at all.

so is there a huge empty space on the bottom right side of the screen for you? i just want to make sure that i installed it right. i think i wouldn't mind as much if it were centered or something.

Nope. Looks like the attached (except, of course, larger and better quality)

that's strange. following the guide in the sticky'd thread, my game looks like this: http://zeckul.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/011012_2203_icewinddale13.png?w=584

is the widescreen mod you're using the one up at http://www.gibberlings3.net/widescreen/ ?

I'm not using the widescreen mod. Just run the config utility from the main IWD2 folder. Under the Graphics tab, Just check the Unsupported box in the Resolution field. Depends on the res you want. The games natively supports 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x960, 1600x1200, and 2048x1536 resolutions

If you're looking for s different resolution, then you'll need to use the widescreen mod, and unfortunately, that does not scale the UI. Check This Installation Guide for more info (it talks about the Widescreen mod at the bottom).

thanks for all the info. my resolution is 1600x900, and the higest im able to get it to go to in the config utility is 1024x768. better than 800x600 anyway.