I found a supposed "fix" from the BG3 Steam forums but It's from 2020 and does not work
for the current version (v4.1.1.3636828_Hotfix3) on Windows 7 SP1 x64.

Has anyone gotten the game to run on a Win7 machine?
Does anyone know of a way to mod/hack the game to work on Win7?

UPDATE:

The game just received the patch v4.1.1.3648072 - Hotfix4 Launcher fix.

It has not magically fixed BG3 for Windows 7 SP1 x64. Although trying to boot the game for the first time
after updating via shortcut got a black screen for the first and only time, but the possess crashed with
a mouse click. Have not been able to replicate.

I've also tried setting all exe's to Windows 7 compatibility mode with admin privilege. No dice.

Also attempted using -skip-launcher (no effect) & -vulkan shortcut arguments for bg3.exe which resulted
in the following attached image. (trying -dx11 or -d3d11 gave the same error)

UPDATE 2:

So far no alternative methods work so far:

- no permutation of holding down SHIFT for any exe's works
- no permutation of admin permissions for any exe's works
- no permutation of shortcut arguments for any exe's works

I think the only way for release BG3 to work on Windows 7 SP1 x64 is either through editing/deleting/adding/modding any of the files causing the incompatibility.

To anyone who is successfully running release BG3 on Windows 7 SP1 x64/Windows 7 x64 please share your specs.

Mine are:

Ryzen 7 3700X / Radeon RX 5700 XT / 16GB 3200MHz DDR4 / CT1000MX500SSD4 (BG3 installed here)

2D Driver Version - 8.1.1.1634
Direct3D Version - 9.14.10.01494
OpenGL Version - 29.20.11000.14831
AMD Audio Driver Version - 7.12.0.7736
Vulkan Driver Version - 2.0.179
Vulkan API Version - 1.2.170

I remember that when I still had Win7 Pro during the EA, the only way I could run the game was launching the executable manually and with admin rights, otherwise it would quit to desktop before getting to the menu. I don't know if that's the problem you have now though, since there's not much detail.

Setting compatibility and admin rights on \bin\bg3_dx11.exe just gets me and empty window (not even a black screen) and I have to kill the process in taskman.

As for \Launcher\LariLauncher.exe it just gets "has stopped working" even with compat & admin.

I'm afraid that's the only work-around I knew of, sorry.

Did you manage to install DirectX 11 on Windows 7? It wasn't possible before, but apparently it is now.

DX11 is the default for Win7 and all the graphics API's get updated with your graphics card drivers.

try putting you laptop in flight mode or unplug the network cable so its locked away from the internet then right click bin/ bg3_dx11.exe and run as admin

if that boots then its your network not permissions

It may not be related to the version of Windows:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/1086940/discussions/0/3808408328760585549/?ctp=2


Have you reported that as a bug (from the launcher)? They may just say they don't support win7, but who knows. It's worth the shot. Chances are other people reported this and it will give more weight to this problem.

You might try this: doubleclick the DX11.exe while holding the shift key. Hold the shift key until the game is started.

It works for me and others I know.

Nice try, but no dice.

Just caused Radeon to time out and crash.

And this is after DDU'ing and reinstalling my graphics driver fresh.

None of the game exe's work and CrashReporter.exe can't do anything
because the game hasn't generated any crash reports for it.

I hold down shift and then right click the exe and select run as administrator. Works for me.