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Baldur's Gate 2

post #1 of 9
11/29/01 at 1:13pm
Thread Starter 
I just got BG2 last night. After getting burned on the crappy buggy almost unplayable port that was BG1 I wasn't sure I wanted to fork over money for it.

A review said that it was sooooo much better than BG1 and that a different company had done the port and that the performance was nothing like BG1. So I bought it.

Well they were right. So far it's running well on my Rev C iMac and most of the annoying stuff about the play has been fixed.

Anyone else buy it?
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post #2 of 9
12/1/01 at 3:33pm
Yes, I did.

I really enjoy BG2, however OS X performance (OS X 10.1.1) is so bad that it makes BG2 completely unplayable (this is on my DP 500 G4 w/ 512 MB RAM, Radeon, and SCSI HDs!)

On the absolute lowest settings, I get maybe 4 fps in OS X, while on the top settings (with OpenGL effects, advanced pathfinding, etc., etc. turned on) in OS 9 I get 30 fps. This is not acceptable for a primarily 2D game. Heck, intensive 3D games such as Giants and RTCW run the best I've ever seen them run when in OS X.

Other than the X performance, BG2 is a very engrossing, addictive, fun game. They could have made it better by having more NPCs (especially evil ones) and by having more evil alternatives to missions that really feel like they belong in the storyline. Tough to do, but hey, I want quality .

I hope that the next BG game in the lineup is even better!

-Ender
If you find yourself sided with the majority, it is time to change your thinking.

-Mark Twain
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If you find yourself sided with the majority, it is time to change your thinking.

-Mark Twain
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post #3 of 9
12/4/01 at 8:44am
Chris Jacobson recently posted some things you can do to speed up BG2 in OS X.

Here's the link:
<a href="http://www.macbaldur.net/forum/index.cgi?read=12863" target="_blank">http://www.macbaldur.net/forum/index.cgi?read=12863</a>

-Ender
If you find yourself sided with the majority, it is time to change your thinking.

-Mark Twain
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If you find yourself sided with the majority, it is time to change your thinking.

-Mark Twain
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post #4 of 9
12/5/01 at 8:06am
I bought BG2. Currently in Chapter 6, nearly at the XP cap. i'm completely addicted.

re: the previous post, it seems that OS X performace can be improved by reducing the bit depth to 16 (from 32) in OS X and turning off hardware acceleration. Haven't tried yet. I've just been playing in OS 9.

Currently playing with a lvl 19 Monk as my main, Minsc, Anomen, Nalia, Imoen, and Arie (sp?)

post your parties...
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post #5 of 9
12/5/01 at 8:24am
I'll be getting my copy of Baldur's Gate 2 this week (finally!) and was itching to play it on Mac OS X. I haven't booted to Classic in over a month, and I was hoping I didn't have to. I played Baldur's Gate under Mac OS X and it was ok except when I had to swap CDs -- Mac OS X would seem to take over the game.

Anyway, its also good news that MacSoft is porting Icewind Dale! Hope that they also bring Planescape Torment.
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post #6 of 9
12/5/01 at 9:11am
Thread Starter 
Anyone have that annoying problem where the view of the game jumps to the lower left of the map. It's driving me nuts.

Also I'm running on an iMac so the game is "slow". But whem I click on the map and then look at the wide area map. When I get back to the game everything is faster? WTF?
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post #7 of 9
12/5/01 at 9:46am
I like playing with a party entirely created by me, so once I beat the single player game, I started a multiplayer game that only I played (so I could create 5 characters and have 1 NPC for quests). I think it's a lot of fun, and you can determine exactly how your party will play together.

I haven't played much recently though, because of the dismal performance in X (and to a somewhat lesser degree in 9). Currently I'm playing Red Faction.

As for CD swapping, if you have the HD space, I would suggest doing a full install. That way you only need the disk in to verify that you own the game. Baldur's Gate 1 needed something like that... there, you were CONSTANLY switching disks.

I tried some of the suggestions to improve performance in X by reducing the bit depth to 16 bit and lowering the other options significantly (especially 3D effects and the pathfinding nodes). It helped, but it still didn't play as fast as in OS 9 with all options turned on full...

A great game crippled by a lame engine. Even the inventory screen feels "sticky" to me (on a DP G4/500 w/ 512 MB RAM, no less).

-Ender
If you find yourself sided with the majority, it is time to change your thinking.

-Mark Twain
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If you find yourself sided with the majority, it is time to change your thinking.

-Mark Twain
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post #8 of 9
12/5/01 at 11:18pm
BG2 is MUCH better than BG1.
I borrowed a copy of BG2 (I dont care about your silly moral issues, I see no problems with borrowing software as long as you dont copy it) from a friend and managed to get up to the last level, got fed up there and havent played it since though
Those who dance the dance must look very foolish to those who can't hear the music
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Those who dance the dance must look very foolish to those who can't hear the music
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post #9 of 9
12/6/01 at 4:11pm
[quote]Originally posted by Scott H.:
<strong>Anyone have that annoying problem where the view of the game jumps to the lower left of the map. It's driving me nuts.

Also I'm running on an iMac so the game is "slow". But whem I click on the map and then look at the wide area map. When I get back to the game everything is faster? WTF?</strong><hr></blockquote>

I haven't experienced the game map jump but I have heard of others experiencing it. Are you pausing the game during a critical hit? That's what seems to cause it, whether it's a manual pause or one of the auto pause settings, I'm not sure.
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