Are you sure you aren't thinking about SSI's Pools of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor? In that game, originally, if you installed the game to something other than the c:\ default path, then it would erase your entire hard drive whenever you tried to uninstall the game. It was corrected in an official (and hastily written) patch, but I never heard of that rather severe bug happening with Temple of Elemental Evil (and I've played that game from the original disc(s) all the way through, with no hard drive erasing bugs ever occurring).

Edit: "It was Pool of Radiance 2. I have no idea why people keep confusing these two games with each other. It's not the first time (nor the second) that I've heard people claim that ToEE had this bug, which isn't the case. "

I didn't read TILT's post before I responded to broether-eros. Thanks for beating me to it, TILT!

Hm, GOG apparently installed moebius2778's old patch, which is explicitly stated to be incompatible with the new Co8 modpack. Who knows if installing the Co8 modpack over it causes problems (Edit: probably not, see later posts). It also explains the "borrowed looking" Co8 files mentioned earlier, as the temple.dll md5sum matches.

Temple of Elemental Evil Unofficial Patch (apparently already installed in GOG's version):
http://www.sorcerers.net/Games/dl.php?s=ToEE&f=ToEE/temple.zip

http://www.co8.org/forum/showthread.php?t=6070
The Co8 Guide to Successful Gaming With ToEE: Still debating whether to get the GOG version, but using the workaround on the Co8 forum I mentioned some posts back, I installed all Atari patches one at a time and checked what files were copied over. I don't have the game installed so this may not be reliable, but it's something anyway. (I couldn't open them as an archive with WinRAR or 7-zip either, but maybe something else could).

http://img806.imageshack.us/img806/8428/toeepatch.jpg
http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/7706/toeepatch2.jpg

As you can see, between Atari patch 2 and 3, ToEE.exe didn't change - but for all I know maybe some v2 DLL looks at a different part of the EXE for copy protection, but if the game still runs then hopefully that's OK (if doesn't wait to cause a problem). Not that you couldn't "pull a GOG" and find another "suitable" EXE for Atari patch 2 if it weren't.

I believe the Co8 modpack also makes changes to things like temple.dll, so you might really want to Atari patch 2 version to avoid problems.

Atari Patch 3:
38e3bde8108bb4834b24081914544625 tio.dll
fbded7d2c9e3532cd0d094ec2955ed9b temple.dll
80520f40a78f83bdba33aa33b593856f pyToEE22.dll

Atari Patch 2:
87d9c7dc7d2d3d8f5ed2c5bc0675f379 tio.dll
d745e0e59163cb6b33ea39f2885e0389 temple.dll
2929b0c9720a027cb8619e382ef906c7 pyToEE22.dll

actually, it warns against installing the patch after the mod pack. It's quite likely that the entire patch will be overwritten by the Co8 modpack, so it shouldn't really cause any problems. (warning: I don't know anything about this, just interpreting)

Yeah, that's why I tried to hedge my wording on it, but do we know for sure if the Co8 overwrites or just patches temple.dll? Also, Atari Patch 2 has some other DLLs that are different, which may not matter really, but I wouldn't trust the I/O DLL being different to not cause issues.

EDIT:
OK, apparently using the Atari Patch 2 temple.dll or the moebius2778 temple.dll results in the same temple.dll file after activating the Co8 modpack (on the patch files, I don't have the full install, and I don't have the patience to try again with Atari Patch 3 temple.dll).
MD5 after Co8 activation: a0edc48adb70146a46fd341f561092cf temple.dll

However, *if* GOG has the Atari Patch 3 installed, then tio.dll and pyToEE22.dll are unchanged by Co8, but not the same as the Atari Patch 2 versions. Installing Atari Patch 2 over Atari Patch 3 *seems* to leave those new DLLs that patch 3 added, but it probably doesn't matter, as long as pyToEE22.dll can find msvcr70.dll for Atari Patch 2 (msvcr71.dll for Atari Patch 3).

Ok, now I'm not sure I can follow you guys.

So here is the ultimate question: Is it ok if I install the C8 mod over the gog version or not?

Agreed, what is the consensus? Lots of tech talk and I am getting lost because I am slow :|

Yes, it works perfectly on a fresh gog install. This was confirmed elsewhere and I have no problems on mine.

Doesn't work here at all, getting a .NET Framework error upon execution of TFE-X.exe (run as administrator) and to add insult to injury my newly rolled party was gone after the botched Co8 installation :(

Since you've mentioned a .Net Framework error, have you made sure it's updated? One of the steps say - STEP 5: INSTALL MICROSOFT .NET FRAMEWORK VERSION 2.0 OR HIGHER. Maybe that will help?

That was indeed the culprit! Right after I saw that error message I checked my system (Windows 7 Home Premium 64) and found that I only had version 1.0 installed. After installation of the latest .NET Framework (4.0) and a restart of the system the mod installed without a hitch. Off to roll a new party.

Even if it seems to work perfectly (at first), we might as well know what state we're running the game in. The Co8 instructions say to use Atari Patch 2 - whether that's just them being cautious of an untested combination or could cause some subtle or obscure problem, who knows.

I can be pretty sure now that GOG has Atari Patch 3 and moebius2778's old patch applied from having Atari Patch 3 DLLs msvcr71.dll, dbghelp.dll, and the md5 of the following DLLs:
38e3bde8108bb4834b24081914544625 tio.dll -> Atari Patch 3
67758f8d4841f9590d5ade9369d3c8e1 temple.dll -> moebius2778's unofficial patch
80520f40a78f83bdba33aa33b593856f pyToEE22.dll -> Atari Patch 3

As I mentioned upthread, I believe at least one difference is that you'll still be using Atari Patch 3 versions of tio.dll and pyToEE22.dll with the Co8 modpack active, but moebius2778's temple.dll and data folder changes seem to be updated to the Co8 modpack's. But whether using the Atari Patch 3 DLLs will *ever* present an issue, who can say. But it's also possible to install Atari Patch 2 on the GOG version; it just requires a workaround I previously linked to in this thread.

Bottom line: People here are saying it works with the GOG version, but just realize you're still using Atari Patch 3 while the instructions say to use version 2. Will it matter? Beats me.

(Edit: posted the wrong hash for temple.dll this morning, corrected now)

oh ok. Yeah i never played unpatched because i had heard about this on some forums before i got the game ... good to know it was never a problem :) I wonder how that started? maybe someone just sharing stories and got taken out of context ... lol, i'm sure people like me have spread it pretty far though :) thanks TILT, drhoads, and DeadlyRamon for setting us straight.

Edit .... btw anyone know how to change your user name? that first e in brother is a typo but by the time i noticed it was too late ... tried looking through account settings but i must be blind :P

I think you'd have to ask support.

Hmm.. I've had some issues with it running well, even on patch 2. Things seem to work ok when I first apply it, and start a new game. After that, it seems that if I physically close down TOEE and restart it, it will lock up at some arbitrary point quickly after the main options screen appears. De-activating the mod doesn't appear to help either. I've seen lockups in the main screen, as well as in the load/save game screen, though not during the intro video that I can recall.

It may be related to multi-core and 64-bit Vista, though I've tried patching the main Toee.exe to only use one core, with no luck. The vanilla TOEE from GOG appears to run just fine. I've not seen any lockups or unexpected behavior.

System Specs:
Vista 64
Intel i7
6Gb RAM
1TB HD
Soundblaster X-FI
Nvidia 280, with latest drivers.

If anyone has any thoughts. I'd appreciate them. This looks lo be a really cool addition to the standard game, and I'd like to be able to try it out.

There actually IS a fix for the 'game not found' message. I did some searching on the 'net, and came across some info, related to a missing registry key causing the issue. Warning - Applying patch 2 will require a no-cd, as it reinstates the CD check.

The trick, is that the electronic version is not putting the correct Uninstall key in the registry, so when the patch attempts to locate the program through this entry, it is unable to find it.

Warning - Before editing the registry, please be certain to make a backup.. I take no responsibility for any issue making this change, may cause.

To create it:
Click on Start-> Run
Type regedit, and hit <Enter>

Expand HKEY_LOCAL_Machine

Locate & Expand Software
Locate & Expand Microsoft
Locate & Expand Windows
Locate & Expand CurrentVersion
Locate Uninstall

Right-click in the left-hand list on Uninstall, select "Create New Key"

Rename it to:

{AD80F06B-0F21-4EEE-934D-BEF0D21E6383}

Select the new key

In the right-nand window, add a couple new string entries

"InstallLocation"=<Full install path to TOEE, does NOT include the physical EXE file),
For example C:\Program Files\GOG.Com\Temple Of Evil

"InstallLanguage"="9"

Now, when you attempt to run the patch, it will find and patch the GOG version. You will see a warning about being unable to update the readme.txt (or at least I did), however everything else appears to go ok.