So, I've seen this brought up before but the threads were too old to post in and both had answers that were blatantly wrong. Every thread on every site I see this mentioned has the same answer which has been very frustrating. That the gems only protect you from radiation and do nothing else and a Light spell is required. This is wrong. I played this when it was first released. I know.

The Gems of Infravision ARE meant to give you increased infravision when in your inventory. That and the protection from radiation is their entire function. You are not meant to have a Light spell on the entire time that would be ridiculous. That would mean you'd have to always create a party with someone who can cast Light (and if you just happened not to or that character died along the way you'd just be screwed) and it doesn't force you to do that.

If you have elves in your party they should already have infravision from the start which you can see in the beginning at night with everything having a red tinge instead of being blacked out

The problem is that as soon as you enchant the gems...infravision breaks completely, even what you already had before, UNLESS you put a gem on Drizzt...then it works fine again.

Obviously this isn't supposed to happen. You only get three for a reason. Drizzt isn't supposed to need one.

I don't know why it's doing this or if there's any possible way to fix it or avoid it happening. I tried reloading an earlier save and making sure no spells were in effect or anything I thought could cause an issue. It didn't help.

No, you get 4 gems. You don't have to take Drizzt along.

Also I do have an elf in my party and her infravision is not helpful at all. It's still way too dark. Whether that is intentional or a bug I cannot say. Doesn't make a difference whether I have the gems in my inventory or whether they are laying on the ground in front of the party.

So, yes, you have to have a light spell on at all times. Arguably not having a mage or cleric in your party is more ridiculous, IMHO.