Vista Graphics Issues

I got a new computer running vista, but I'm having a graphics issue.

When I try to play Baldur's Gate (a rather old game) I get black boxes around most of the item images and some sprites. I tried messing with the games graphics settings but nothing worked.

It asked to install direct x 6 at installation but I declined because I thought Direct x was backwards compatible. Could this be my problem?

Any advice is much appreciated.

Aren't there some advanced graphics options for Baldurs Gate which deal with transparency issues? It's been ages since I played it, but I kinda thought there was something for this.

You may need to install DX9c on your system. I "think" it can be installed side-by-side with the version(s) of DX that ships with Vista. Note, I do not use Vista, but have seen this solution suggested on various forums.

Try running the game in compatibility mode for an older version of Windows --> right click on the .exe, somewhere in the properties you should find 'compatibility mode'. That option sometimes helps a lot.

I had a similar issue to you and network/lan gaming did not work properly for some reason. It works sometimes but not others with no logical reason as to why. I had to use XP to play baulders gate in the end. The GF was keen to play with me and kept moaning, so i did not get time to fiddle too much.
It probably can be got working in vista but i had neither the desire or patience at the time.

There was a thread running around here with all the problems of baulders gate on vista. Both myself and others too had problems with it.

Edit here: http://www.blitzmax.com/Community/posts.php?topic=73227

I even tried it with a straight PC-2-PC crossover cable with a straight 1.1.1.x IP setup - and still no joy.

Baldur's Gate is not just "a bit old" it's 10 years old. 10 years in the computer business is like 100 years in most others.

The network parts don't work on Vista because Vista uses a completely new Network stack. Old games like Baldur's Gate will probably never work with it.

The graphics issues are probably because:

BG predate's DX 7 before which DX was quite buggy and much more "in development" than now.

Although DX is designed to be backwards compatible support for many standard methods and operations where only brought in with Direct X 7, this includes support for (now standard) GPUs. As this software is Pre-DX 7 it could have all sorts of issues with the current hardware.

Windows does have a lot of legacy support but support for 10 year old gaming tech is stretching it a lot. If you really want to play this game I would try it on either a Virtual Machine or find an old hard disk and dual-boot XP/2000/9x.

Darkheart

Everytime i have mentioned DirectX could be adding add a shelf life (and that B3D could be next), people usually scoff and dismiss it. If it were a proper open-standard then people could write (decent) emulators for playing old games like this. Otherwise these classics will dissapear forever :(

Its not as if there is any 3D involved its only directdraw stuff, has the DD/2D side of it changed that much?.

Yes, in Vista it no longer exists.

Have a look at this article and bear in mind it was written in June 2001 (2 years after Baldur's Gate), 7 years ago!

Having standard's that don't change is fine but when the whole industry is moving as fast as the gaming and graphics industry has over the last 25 years then it's unrealistic to expect hard and fast standards so that a game written 10+ years ago will work correctly on a completely different platform. On the hardware side the cards we use today are barely recogniseable compared to those we used in the late 90's.

You don't need an emulator, if you've still got an old PC or a copy of your old OS simply load it onto an old disk and away you go. Or use a VM, Microsoft Virtual PC is a free download...

Darkheart

Yes i agree it is unrealistic. However my point if DX was a open standard then it could be emulated and understood by developers much better. Also, its a pain to have to reboot/or wait for a VM to load into ram.

Whilst your way works, what happens when all the copies of XP,98,2K etc finally disappear forever. Also, its breaking laws for most (not that you would care for say.. win 95, but still.) I have no 98 license anymore and i cannot buy one, so I would have to pirate a copy of windows just to play an old classic game.

What happens in 30 years when the "Museum of gaming and home entertainment" wants to exhibit it? (Or more importantly if I find it in the attic and want to play it again with my son/grandson? Where the hell will i get a 98 license and a copy of DX6 in 2038?!!) I think MS should show some responsibility and release DX7 and backwards as open standards (and so on when each version is old enough).
I read somewhere the human race is set for a digital 'Alexandria', to loose MASSIVE amounts of info, documents, artworks, games and other data thanks to greed and proprietry public standards being protected for way too long.
Yet another reason why OGL is 'better' i guess :/

Any museum of old games would probably have old OS's and hardware to run them. I doubt the world will ever run out of Windows 9x or 2000 copies with the number in circulation.

I still own most of my original disks for Windows and Office, every game I've ever come across that requires a version of Direct X (or any other library) has shipped with a version of that library present in case I don't have it installed (before the internet distribution was common this was the main way people updated their DX version).

You could also run it on WineX .

I think Microsoft will eventually release the code for 9x, however I think doing that now would draw a lot of critism as there are probably still people using it. Besides there's no compulsion on author's to release their source just because their product is out-of-date.

Darkheart

True, Wine runs baulders gate fine with a some tweaking. It doesnt run the sequel or the others because of the copy protection but aparently the game itself runs if you can hack through the protection.

I think an XP-VM, Dual boot or Wine are your best/only options.... for now :/

Ok well I tried the compatibility thing, still not working. Should I reinstall and install the entier game as well as Direct x 6?

This is why I still keep my windows 98 computer around...

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=822640AB-0983-4C41-9C70-632F6F42C557&displaylang=en

^^^Install that.

Still not working.