So last year I bought the Atari Dungeons and Dragons Master Collection and installed Baldur's Gate (I have the game on CD and on GOG as well). I remember installing the widescreen hack and a GUI mod and everything seemed up to snuff.

Cut to right now in 2013 and the game crashes on startup. It opens a window, which goes black. My mouse shows a loading icon and it ends up saying "Tales of the Sword Coast has stopped working". I can't remember there being any specific startup instructions when I installed those mods... I definitely had it running and I haven't touched it since. I just tried putting it in compatibility mode for Windows XP and running as administrator, but no change.

Any advice?

I guess if worst comes to worst I could download the GOG version and copy my save file over. I think I had the Atari Master Collection version because it downloaded all the games at once (including BG2, Icewind Dale, etc).

Please clarify: you mentioned copying your save files over. Does that mean that the game crashes when loading a save file, or does it crash on startup? Very important.

I just said I could install the GOG version and copy my save over if need be.

This is what happens when I click baldur.exe or the shortcut:
The little screen with Play, Uninstall, View Readme, View Demos, Configure, Update and Exit appears. If I click Play, a black window opens up, stays black and then stops responding after a few seconds.

If you have any mods installed, post your weidu.log here. If not, then post your baldur.ini here. Or do both.

weidu log

// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~WIDESCREEN/WIDESCREEN.TP2~ #0 #0 // Widescreen Mod -> for the original Infinity Engine (CHOOSE THIS!): Widescreen Mod v3.02
// Recently Uninstalled: ~TWM_GUI/SETUP-TWM_GUI.TP2~ #0 #97 // Better GUI for BG1 with WideScreen Mod in higher resolutions: v0,994
~TWM_GUI/SETUP-TWM_GUI.TP2~ #0 #97 // Better GUI for BG1 with WideScreen Mod in higher resolutions: v0,994

ini
[Alias]
HD0:=C:\Program Files (x86)\Atari\DnDMC\Baldur's Gate\
CD1:=C:\Program Files (x86)\Atari\DnDMC\Baldur's Gate\data\
CD2:=C:\Program Files (x86)\Atari\DnDMC\Baldur's Gate\data\
CD3:=C:\Program Files (x86)\Atari\DnDMC\Baldur's Gate\data\
CD4:=C:\Program Files (x86)\Atari\DnDMC\Baldur's Gate\data\
CD5:=C:\Program Files (x86)\Atari\DnDMC\Baldur's Gate\data\
CD6:=C:\Program Files (x86)\Atari\DnDMC\Baldur's Gate\data\
[Program Options]
SoftSrcKeyBltFast=0
SoftBltFast=0
SoftSrcKeyBlt=0
SoftBlt=0
SoftMirrorBlt=0
Translucent Shadows=1
Maximum Frame Rate=30
Path Search Nodes=32000
Tooltips=10
Sprite Mirror=0
Gamma Correction=0
Brightness Correction=0
Volume Movie=80
Volume Music=30
Volume Voices=80
Volume Ambients=80
Volume SFX=80
Strref On=0
Full Screen=0
Screen Position X=362
Screen Position Y=133
BitsPerPixel=32
[GameSpy]
Region=0
[Program Options]
Volume Music=40
[Game Options]
Memory Access=100
Footsteps=1
Weather=1
Memory Level=1
Mouse Scroll Speed=50
GUI Feedback Level=5
Locator Feedback Level=3
Bored Timeout=3000
Always Dither=1
Subtitles=0
Keyboard Scroll Speed=36
Command Sounds Frequency=2
Selection Sounds Frequency=3
Effect Text Level=62
Infravision=0
Tutorial State=1
Attack Sounds=1
Auto Pause State=0
Difficulty Level=3
Quick Item Mapping=1
Environmental Audio=1
[Config]
CacheSize=240
[Movies]
BG4LOGO=1
TSRLOGO=1
BILOGO=1
INFELOGO=1
INTRO=1
DEATHAND=1
FRARMINN=1
[MissionPack]
HardDrive=1

Uninstall both mods and the game. No, seriously. You have the game installed to Program Files, and you have the widescreen mod installed while trying to troubleshoot. You need to install the game outside of Program Files, and do not install the widescreen mod while troubleshooting.

NB: Your ini suggests you are trying to run the game (while the widescreen mod is installed) in windowed mode:
"Full Screen=0"

Sorry I took so long to reply.

I just set it to full screen and it works now.

Secondly, I knew there were issues with the odd game being installed in Program Files on Windows 7 (like Fallout 3 and some of Bethesda's older stuff, I think?) but I thought most were fine.

It's a crap shoot. Best practice is to install games outside Program Files as a matter of habit.

The problem with installing game inside of 'Program Files' is that many games want to write to their installed folder during gameplay, but Windows will not allow this -- it's a protected folder structure -- and moves everything that is written to that folder by the game to a virtual folder. This can confuse games to the extent that they cease to function correctly, and sometimes not at all. Never install any game to Program Files... ever.

Thanks both of you for the replies. Hmm. Are the issues mostly with older games, out of curiosity? I'm certainly not taking what you say lightly or disregarding it, but I've installed dozens of games on this PC to the default directory and had no issues at all, though I haven't installed a whole lot of old games on it as of right now. I did install Morrowind, Fallout 3 and Hitman contracts to a different directory, presumably because there were issues.

It has nothing to do with the age of a game. Since Windows began protecting it's Program Files folder -- to update security -- it is a Windows issue, not any particular game issue. So, the age of the game is irrelevant. What counts is whether the game wants to write to the folder that it is installed to -- to update ini or cfg files, for example. Newer games may be less prone only because (some) developers take this into consideration and code appropriately.