What version is the Gog download of Divine Divinity?
The Larian Studios website describes an extensive set of
bug fixes in their patch, but when you download the patch,
you get the error message that DD was not found on the computer!
Gameplay:
Seth states that he is marking General Alix's location
on your map, but it never shows up!
A walkthrough I came across states this:
"Go back and talk to Seth again, and he will tell you to seek out General Alix in the Rivertown barracks to arrange an escort. So, head straight south along the path towards Rivertown... once you've gone a fair way's south, you'll be accosted by a dragon rider..."
(No, actually, that never happens. No "dragon rider"
ever shows up. Instead, insane numbers of
Orcs chase you around and very promptly kill you)
"... No matter what course of action you take, you're
dead in short order. But fear not, the game shall not end so quickly. Salvation is there in the form of the wizard Zandalor, who vanquishes your foe, and is also there to resurrect you."
(Uh...no. No wizard ever shows up.)

****Thanks, Stuff, that was a pretty good answer.
Some things I'm hoping for from the Bug Patch:
An option to turn on Autosave.
No more crashing!! This game crashes, and crashes and crashes about every five minutes!
Bigger flags, and an option to choose colors for them! You get down in the tombs under the Healer village, and click on Diary>Map, and the whole map is full of blue dots (the ubiquitous pots!). And, you guessed it, all you can do is place BLUE flags!
When you kill a creature, they frequently drop an item in such a fashion that you are unable to pick it up...that's gotta go!
Some sort of easier way to use skills! I still can't figure out how to make my warrior repair weapons! I've gotten as far as figuring out that you have to right-click on the skill icon, and turn the mouse pointer into a moving hammer....but after that, I'm mystified. Nothing causes this icon to repair any weapon it is dragged over, never mind the percentage!
You talked about enemies being "just right".....I feel that this game gets it really wrong.
There is a very unpleasant "Aracade button masher feeling" to play when enemies
chase you for insane distances, and gang up in such huge numbers. Yes, you can figure ways to cope (eventually) but this is VERY discouraging for a newbie.
The game manual (like almost all computer game manuals) is NOT specific enough.
I need to know the exact mouse, keyboard and menu sequences, carefully explained in detail, on how to do specific things......a really really good example is the Skills descriptions, not enough care is taken with the description of Repair:
"Repair - To repair an item, make the skill your active skill...."
This stinks, because they do NOT explain HOW to "make the skill your active skill".
Maybe it sounds silly to you, but I NEED TO HAVE THIS EXPLAINED in terms of mouse clicks, menus and keyboard keys.
Game manual designers waste resources on ugly / stupid artwork, watermarks that make it hard to read, fonts that cause eyestrain, a whole lot of overstating the obvious,
and very very very very very little EXPLICIT instructions on how and where to use the mouse to get things done!
Evidently designers just assume that people have played these sort of games before, so the conventions are just "understood". Yeah, brilliant. You've just alienated thousands of people. Assume NOTHING. Explain, explain and explain again!
Manuals don't much need a table of contents. The do, however, all desperately require a very extensive alphabetical INDEX. A glossary wouldn't hurt, either.

You're welcome.
Yes, we all have high hopes for the patch. Most DD crashes (IMHO) are graphic related. This release added more resolutions and seems to have lots of graphic problems as a result. I applaud Larian for adding the extra capability but it did induce some problems (much to their dismay I'm sure) Their response has been extraordinary for an old game, most old games never getting a new patch, especially when the game is seven years old. Having the latest video drivers helped my install greatly, the driver I was running was about a year old. I saw a big difference after updating the driver. . . still had many problems but was able to finish the game.
In this release, Larian added support for many higher resolutions. The problem,depending on how you look at it, is the higher the resolution, the smaller the graphics appear. The game was designed to play at the highest res available at release. I don't know what that was for DD but for a long time 800 x 600 was a maximum res supported with 1280 x 1024 being a big deal when games started using that. In this release, just about all resolutions can be used. If you are running a very high res than your flags will be very tiny since the graphics were not originally designed to run at the higher res. I found myself playing at the three lowest resolutions, 640 x 480, 800 x 600 and 1280 x 1024 for most of the game. 800 x 600 and 1280 x 1024 seemed to give me the most acceptable graphic size. If your flags are really tiny, try running at a resolution closer to what the game was initially designed at and remember . . . the flag size is not really important, it's the location it represents that matters, mouse over the flag and you should get a pop-up describing the location. The blue flags are a bonus as many older RPG's don't give you the means to mark a location and adding more colors would require programming time which is better spent on the game play itself . . . I prefer the time being spent on game play . . .=) It sounds like many of your graphic problems will be solved by playing at a lower resolution. BTW, press the A key for the map rather than clicking on the diary button, much quicker.
Not being able to pick up items may be addressed in the patch. It is complicated to make everything work correctly at every resolution, twips and all. Trying pressing the ALT key to highlight a dropped item and double-clicking the highlighted text. Sometimes this will allow you to pickup an item and this also works great for letting you see all the items you might want to pick up.
Skills/Repair - see the attached repair image, hope this helps. Bare in mind that your repair skill level may not be high enough to repair some items or to repair items completely. When you hold the anvil/hammer pointer over an item, the description pops up, look at Durability, if the left side number is lower than the right side number ie 10/14 . . . it needs repairing. You can�t repair things that says 0/1 until you have 5 levels of repair. Part of the fun of RPG's is building your character . . deciding what skills to spend points on and what level to raise the skill to . . . game replay value is in the many options you have in building the character. I am still playing games from years ago just to find that ultimate character build. I usually try to play several levels with every character offered before moving to another game . . . some characters . . . I know immediately that I don't want to play them..
Enemies chasing you - You have to change your tactics (depending on the game), RPGs are RPG's, you have to use different methods from time to time, when you are just starting out and weak, try going slower and approach just close enough to lure only one critter at a time, lure him away and defeat him by himself go get another. Gaining experience points and leveling up is crucial to RPG game play. As you get stronger and find better weapons/armor you will find the game play gets better . . . still . . . it is common to get overwhelmed if you rush into an area . . . even if you are very strong . . . part of the fun of RPG's is to out think the enemies. Save often for the times you get too brave . . =) . . . If you killed all/most enemies in the catacombs beneath Aleroth you should be strong enough to move outside of Aleroth . . . if not then you may have difficulty with the Orcs outside the gate. You will be playing the game for 45 to 60 hrs so there is plenty of time to learn and gain the experience needed to defeat the game.
Game manual are notorious for not being helpful (there are exceptions). There are many helpful websites for finding out about the game play. This link will take you to some of them. If you are new to gaming it can be overwhelming, often those of us who have been playing for decades forget how it was when we first started. As you play more games . . . your understanding of common game play will improve, be patient and enjoy the experience. Unlike casual games, RPG's are meant to challenge and progress can be difficult, figuring out how to do things in the game is part of the fun for most. This is a great community of experienced gamers, post questions in the game forum using a header that is simple and gives a clue about what you want to know. Someone will answer if there is a solution to your question . . . usually anyway. Posting in the General Discussions forum is likely to get you the least help and a suggestion to post in the game forum.
Anyway, my best advice is to stop playing until the patched is released, a buggy game is even more difficult for someone who doesn't have much experience. Waiting for the patch may eliminate much of the frustration you have with the game. Playing at a lower resolution may help as well since it "looks" more like it was designed to look.
The new patch is supposed to work with saved games but . . . if you don't know how to backup your saved games reinstalling will probably overwrite your progress so far. Find someone to help you backup your save games ( found at [ your drive letter ]:\Program Files\gog.com\Divine Divinity\savegames\ [ your character name ] ) before installing the updated game. After the install, copy your character back to the same directory in the new install. GOG will announce when the updated game is available for download so check this forum for news of its release.

I wish I could afford to pay you for your help.
I think it's great that the game is being patched, but, to me, this is just the
MINIMUM that is owed to customers from Larian and/or Gog.com
I don't really care that most old games never get a patch.
The fact that most companies cheat does not making ripping customers off okay.
I am strongly in favor of gangs of armed men going out to find designers, beat them until bones break, drag them back to a computer lab, and chain them to a desk until they finally DELIVER on what their customers PAID for.
That is what is wrong with the world today...people don't estimate things in terms
of OBJECTIVE VALUE.....instead they say, "Well, they all suck, that's normal".
That is a SICK attitude and it is destroying our world.
As far as I'm concerned, selling this game in it's present condition
is literally fraud on the part of Gog.com.

I suggest you contact GOG support with your complaints.
I don't know what their return policy is but they may refund your money and remove the game from your account, again I don't know their policy nor do I have any affiliation with GOG . . . so . . . I'm suggesting what I would do if I was as dissatisfied as your are.
As a fellow gamer I have given you my best advice . . . which is to wait for the patch like the rest of us . . . all of whom experienced the problems you describe months ago.
The problems with DD are well documented here in the forum with several pages of discussion. I would suggest, if you buy more games, that you go to the game forum and research any issues the game may have prior to purchase.
Good luck, hope you can get the issue resolved quickly . . .