Hi guys!

I bought Betrayal in antara from G.O.G. about 3 weeks ago, and have now reached chapter 4 and get the same errors as you do.
It crashes in the conservatory (10840.v56) and in combat north of Varnasse.
I didn't realize that so many people have these errors and that nothing's been done in over a year :(
This is not acceptable, and I will also stop buying games from GOG.

I got a response in November that they are working on it, but they have been saying that for well over a year. Best action is to continue to tell them about it and to not buy any more games until they resolve the issue. I would take a refund, but that is unlikely (read the ToU)...

What's funny is I remember having the same issues with BiA on the original disks when it originally launched. Getting past Chapter 4 was a headache due to bugs in the program. Just keep that in mind, it's an error that was inherited by the team at GOG, not something created by them.

GOG
y u
SLOW?

The patch Sierra put out to solve the issues works - it's that GOG is unable or unwilling to patch their version.

So GOG, how about an update on that fix? Are you still working on it? Or have you given up?At least if I know the patch won't happen, I can delete BIA and forget about it. Last I heard it was being worked on, and that was April of 2011. Thanks

Okay, I got the patch from Sierra, and so far, have had no luck getting it to run under Windows 7 (I keep getting an error that says it needs a different version of Windows, no matter what compatibility settings I use). If GOG is having the same issue with the patch, then it's possible they have no more means of patching the game than I do. (Mind you, I didn't even get to Chapter 4, as I ran into the Missing Temple bug in Chapter 1, the patch is supposed to fix that problem as well.)

If you got the patch to work, then I would ask that you post where you got the patch, and what you did to get it to work. For all I know, it was written to run under Windows 3.11, and there's no compatibility setting for that in Windows 7.

My latest email bypasses everyone and jumps straight to Guillaume Rambourg, who is listed as the company's Administrative contact, Billing Contact, and Zone contact. I'll let everyone know if I hear anything back, but I'm really hoping we'll get an official response.

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Subject: Many GoG customers' pleas for help are being ignored.

Dear Mr. Rambourg,

My name is [redacted]. I currently own 82 games that I have purchased from GoG. One of them, Betrayal In Antara (from the Krondor pack http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/betrayal_at_krondor), has been broken since its debut on GoG in 2010. Many customers, including myself, have emailed support with no response. Many customers, including myself, have pled for help in the game's appropriate forum. The last official response we received (in the forum) was from April, 2011, and read simply, "We are going to adapt our version to the patch removing the bug as soon as possible."

I will continue to support GoG, because I believe that your love for both the old classics and your customers is second to none, but something like this blemishes the incredible reputation you have all worked so hard to build. We're not asking for an immediate fix; indeed, we have all been extremely patient, considering a game we paid for is unplayable. All we want is to know that somebody is actually trying to remedy the problem, and communicating with us.

The forum where you can see the history of our conversation is at http://www.gog.com/en/forum/krondor_series/bia_error/page1

Thank you so much for your time and attention,

[redacted]

And the March 2012 issue of PC Gamer gave GOG.com a nice litte pat on the back for keeping these older games alive. Also means more visitors, who I'm sure would like to play these games bug free.

SUCCESS!!!!! What an unbelievable reply (and show of commitment) from GoG's Managing Director!!! I encourage everyone affected by this bug to purchase a new game on GoG (you know, that one you've had your eye on for a while). I picked up D&D: Dragonshard. Show them that the love goes both ways.

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Hello [redacted],

Thank you for your e-mail and apologies for the slight delay in answering – I was on a business trip actually.

First of all, it seems that we had an internal gap of communication between our support and tech teams on this case; which explains (yet does NOT justify at all!) the lack of clear news since April 2011.

As for the bug itself, it seems to be an issue that has affected only a small group of gamers. Our external tester who did the QA on this title finished the game and provided us with save files throughout the whole process, so it seems that certain player choices change whether you will encounter this bug or not. Still, we do care for every gamer out there and this is why we agreed on the following plan:

1.our tech team is currently looking for a rock solid solution to fix this bug. If such a solution is found before the end of next week, they will provide you (and all other gamers who faced this bug) with a clear ETA as for when a patched version of the game will be made available.
2.if no such solution could be found, then we will offer gamers affected by this bug a coupon to redeem for free any other game of the same value ($5.99) on GOG

To sum up, please do expect a clear conclusion from our support team by the end of next week the latest. I asked them to get back to you via the associated forum discussion thread.

My apologies for the inconveniences on your end. We will (always!) do our best to keep your confidence in GOG!

Best,

Guillaume-

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My response:
Hello Mr. Rambourg,

I can't thank you enough for taking the time to write such an incredibly thoughtful and personal response. I am certain you have made many faithful GoGers happy, and I cannot wait to share the news that our cries have not gone unheard!

As a personal thank you, I've just gone and purchased a $10 game on GoG, and I will certainly encourage others to do the same. Any company that shows this much concern for its customers deserves to have such appreciation shown in their bottom line.

Thank you again!
[redacted]
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Quote: As for the bug itself, it seems to be an issue that has affected only a small group of gamers.

I too appreciate his response, altho I question "a small group"?
Good job SpiderFighter on the email.

Nice job SpiderFighter! That seems to be a handy email address!

Thanks, guys! I wish I'd thought to do that sooner.

ohiomailman, I thought the comment about it only affecting a "small group" of players was odd, too. At least it's being addressed now, finally. I really hope they can fix it. The coupon toward another game is nice (although I already own everything I want from GoG), but I'd rather play Antara. :)

I'm still pleasantly stunned by his generous response.

I wonder if they can make their distribution compatible with Squirtthecat's update -
http://www.squirtthecat.com/games/betrayal_in_antara/index.html

I lost my disks many years ago, and bought the pack for Antara (already had Krondor installed and running when they started selling both games as a package). I was upset to find they did not include the patched version of Antara.