I have the Steam version of Gothic 2 and have installed Ironkeep's Patch v2.10 and I get a lot of crashes. I can play 20-40 minutes and eventually the game will have an Access Violation crash or the game will just hang, anywhere.

So my question is, will the GoG version be any more stable after patches? Has anyone been able to compare the two?

For reference, my system specs are:
Intel Core i5 2600k factory settings
Geforce GTX 560 Ti
Drivers: GeForce 320.49 Driver
Version: 320.49 WHQL
8 GB Ram 1333MHz
Gigabyte H67N motherboard

Let me know, because I want to finish this game in a week or two, not a few months from now :)

edit: If this has already been answered, point it out to me and the mods can delete this thread. Thanks!

Have you tried playing without the Ironkeep patch? I've never used this patch myself. It could be that this is the source of the problem rather than something specific to the Steam version of the game.

The main problem of Steam versions of Gothic that leads to crashes (especially Access Violation) comes from In-Game Steam Community overlay. Try disabling that: Steam -> Settings -> In-Game and make sure the option is not checked.

I'd also strongly recommend you doing a clean reinstall, without any patches whatsoever, as my Gothic (I + II) experience taught me you don't need any of those to complete the game in a perfectly fine manner.

Please post back if this helps.

Steam isn't compatible with many of the older games they sell. You might have to rename and move it to a new folder. This works in at least one game I know of; I'll get the details as it might work for this one too.

OK; VTMB refers to the other game so ignore that and any specific patches or mods in the instructions. I'm not a techy but I am assuming the method and reasoning would be the same for this game:

(1) Locate your VTMB installation within your Steam folders.

(2) MOVE that entire VTMB folder (and everything that it contains, including all sub-folders) to a new location on your hard drive. I suggest placing it in its own unique directory called "VTMB" or something similar.

(3) Install the True Patch Gold Edition -after- you have moved the entire game away from Steam.

(4) Install any TPG-compatible mods that you might wish to use.

(5) Create a new desktop shortcut to the vampire.exe file within your main VTMB folder. Simply locate the vampire.exe file, highlight and copy it (press Ctrl-C) and then, right-click anywhere on an empty area of your Windows desktop and select "Paste shortcut" from the pop-up menu (or whatever the equivalent command is for Windows 7).

(6) Add any necessary command line switches to the "Target" box of your new VTMB shortcut.

If the fix described above doesn't work for any reason, or you're struggling with it, post again as I'm familiar with the game referred to and yes, one the fixes that works with VTMB may provide a fix that resolves your issue with Gothic 2. I'll keep checking during the rest of today in case you need an alternative.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I've been out of town for a few days and will begin trying some of these ideas to see what resolves this.

I have previously tried to play without the IronKeep patch and I had the same results.

Update: Nothing so far has worked. I tried

- Doing a complete reinstall without the IronKeep patch
- Disabling the Steam Community overlay. I disabled everything for this, including screen shots through Steam
- Moving the directory for the game outside of the Steam common apps, but the game would not launch after moving it

I still am freezing and crashing with Access Violation about 45 minutes to an hour after starting to play. I haven't installed the IronKeep patch again yet. I'm thinking at this point it may be worth trying GoG's version to see if it's any more stable.