I am having problems with FPS, which is very slow and makes the game quite unpleasant to play. Main menu and everything before the actual in-game content are running very smoothly. I'm guessing somewhat 15-20 FPS. I really need to know if this is normal, since Sacred 2, for example, runs very fine with very smooth FPS.
My specs:
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium SP1
GPU: GeForce GTX 260
CPU: Intel E8400 (Dual-core; 3,6GHz clock)
Mobo: ASUS Striker Extreme
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda x 2
Thanks in advance!

Thanks to everyone for your help. This is the ultimate solution for my problem. Thank you very much, Darcalus, for helping me with my problem.

Damn, all that does for me is make the pointer act strangely, then causes the game to crash and a "Program has crashed and will be closed" dialogue to come up as soon as I try to fire a bow.... No change in the steady 20fps I get.
I'm just going to chalk this up as another "old game on new technology" problem.. I'm still glad I purchased this game, because it lead to me finding Sacred 2, which runs at a nice steady 60fps and I've enjoyed immensely.. One of these days I'm going to finish this game, regardless of the low fps..
I am wondering if this solution is limited to 32 bit OSs. I have pretty much the same setup as the others (Geforce GTX 260, 4GB RAM, 3+Ghz Core 2 Duo) but I have a Gigabyte mobo and use Vista Home Premium 64bit.

it could be Vista 64, or possibly your drivers? even though 64 bit OS's have been around for a long time hardware manufacturers still don't put much effort in 64 bit drivers. i'm planning on installing vista 64 ultimate here soon, i'll see if i can replicate said behavior. no one should have to play @ 20 FPS -- that's a slideshow.

UrielDagda : i installed Vista 64 and couldn't replicate the behavior you described. i ran nearly 60 FPS the entire time.
i would just check for upgraded drivers. if i can think of any other solution i'll post it here. sorry i couldn't help you

instructions : right click your "sacred gold" shortcut and then click the "compatibility" Tab.
check "run this program in compatibility mode for:" and select "windows 98/ Windows ME" from the drop down box.
then check the box labeled "Run this program as an administrator"
This is not a solution actually, since it makes the pointer go mad when the framerate drops below 60. What actually helped me was FORCING AA in the Nvidia control panel. Now the game runs quite smooth, though some minor artifacts occured (the screen is divided into many small squares which are difficult to recognise), but all in all the game is totally playable now.

I can confirm in Windows 7 that the Compatibility settings do not work. However, I setup an Nvidia profile and set it to single display performance mode, and forced 4x AA (as Serg suggested) and it works great now.

Hi folks,
Unfortunately I'm experiencing exactly the same problem.
Low FPS - approx 15-20 and then after a short time playing it'll drop further.
I've tried everything I can think of to fix the problem.
All the compatibility modes, assigning the Sacred process to a single core, tweaking nvidia graphics settings - unfortunately nothing has helped.
My specs:
Dell E6400 laptop
Nvidia 160m 256MEG discrete GFX
4 GB RAM
Plenty of hard drive space etc.
2.6 Ghz Intel Dual Core CPU
Windows 7 Ultimate RTM
Clean install - no nasty background processes running.
No Anti-virus or anything that could cause problems.
If anyone has any further ideas, the help would be much appreciated.
Thanks.

I hate bumping old threads, but since this is relevant:
I was having FPS issues like many of people in this thread, and I tried all of the options listed in th is thread - nothing really worked. Today however I tried something at random because my display didn't come out of compatibility mode when exiting the game at one point:
I opened up the configuration tool to see if there was an option to use Software renderer - didn't remember and, of course, it wasn't there. There was, however, the option to use 32 bit color - I checked that box and then turned off all compatibility settings for sacred.exe (GoG by default puts it into 'Disable Themes'. With no compatibility and the 32 bit color depth box checked I found myself playing smoothly!
I don't know why this worked or if it will work for others, but thought I would share.
NOTE: I have forced AA to 4 in nVidia Control panel and forced VSYNC and Triple Buffering in nVidia Control Panel; Everything I have done combined seems to do the trick.

So far, the above solution seems to work. I'll tell if something comes up.
Thanks a lot man.

I have tried this as well, and it works beautifully. Good deal!

I had the exact same problem on my two machines:
1) CoreToDuo E7500 2,93Ghz, 4 gb ram, 1 gb Geforce GTS250, Vista SP1 32 bit (desktop)
2) CoreToDuo 2,15 Ghz, 2 gb ram, 256 mb Geforce 8600MGS, Vista SP1 32 bit (notebook)
I had the annoying stuttering issug on both machines when moving my chr in Sacred. Then I both set the compability mode to Windows 98/Me and from the Sacred Config menu I set the color depth to 32 bit. Now Sacred runs perfectly. Thanks for the solution.

Sorry to bump this, but no matter what i try i get 25 FPS in fraps and the game is just a bit to jerky for my taste. It ends up giving me a headache.
My system is a modern one and can run Sacred 2 at 60+ fps so...
I really wish someone could make a patch or something, it's really frustrating to buy a game that is programmed so poorly....
Any new ideas about this problem?

If the method above failed and you have tried the solutions referred to in the game support articles (log in, click support, scroll down to SG and click the support articles to the right of the game icon ) then I only have a couple of suggestions.
By modern system, I assume you are running Vista / Win 7. Make sure you are running the game as an admin. Right click the game icon, click Properties, click the Compatibility tab and check mark the "Run this program as an administrator"
Make sure you are running the latest video drivers. I had a similar problem which was fixed by updating my six month old video drivers.
Nvidia
ATI
Many Intel cards will not run Sacred (see the support articles)
If you have an AMD Dual Core CPU you might try the AMD Dual Core Optimizer. It fixed some stutter problems with PK on my laptop. I also have SG installed but I already had the Optimizer installed so I don't know if it helps SG. SG runs great so . . . it doesn't hurt. It will not work on an Intel CPU or on a single core AMD system.
You could also try RunFirst. It is a small, free program that sets the affinity to a single core on multicore systems. It will not work on a single core system. Setting the affinity to a single core on multicore systems sometimes clears up some nasty graphics problems. You can do it manually by starting the game, open task manager (CTRL - ALT - DEL ), find the Sacred exe on the Processes tab, right click the exe and click Set affinity . . . on the resulting dialog. Un-check all but the CPU 0 check box. Close the task manager and play the game. If this helps I suggest using RunFirst as it sets the affinity for the game without having to go thru the task manager process each time you play.
Hope you find a solution . . . =)

I tried the dual core optimizer, I tried setting the CPU affinity. I've tried every combination of options on this forum. Me thinks it's time to get my money back....very upset i payed for a game that just refuses to work. And yes i have win 7 AMD dual core.
It does work great on my single core AMD with the windows 98 compatibility checked, I would use this method but it causes the game to run even worse on my dual core. *sigh* so very lame....