Baldur's Gate Readme and Manual Addenda Baldur's Gate (tm) Release Version 1.1.4315 Contents x. What's Changed in Version 1.1.4315 a. Installing the Patch b. Game Changes and Additions 1. Getting Started a. System Requirements b. Installation c. Registering Baldur's Gate with Black Isle Studios d. Running Baldur's Gate e. Configuration Program - Baldur's Gate Config f. Visit the Baldur's Gate Web Site g. Revision History 2. Manual Addenda and Corrections a. Additional Credits b. Manual Addenda c. Corrections d. Design Notes 3. TroubleShooting a. Tweaking Performance b. Known Problems c. Updates 4. Interplay Customer Service Information (North America) 5. European Information a. Customer Service Information b. Limited Warranty 6. Legal Information ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ x. What's Changed in Version 1.1.4315 This patch is being released to fix some bugs and gameplay issues. The fixes made in this version should not have any affect on previous save games. The crash associated with using save games with the Beta Patch has been fixed. Players participating in Multiplayer games must have the save version in order to play. xa. Installing the Patch Run the self extracting executable to decompress the patch files to a temporary folder on your hard drive. After extracting these files, run the SETUP.EXE program to patch Baldur's Gate. Follow the on-screen instructions. Make sure to install the patch to the same path you installed Baldur's Gate to. The default path Baldur's Gate installed to is: c:\program files\black isle\baldur's gate\ The patch will not tamper with or disturb your game saves. They will all be intact and usable. This readme file replaces the original readme that was released with the game, so it contains some redundant data. Revision History: 1.0.4309 - Original release 1.1.4312 - Beta Patch 1.1.4315 - Release Patch and Production Revision xb. Game Changes and Additions: Support for increasing the path searching AI. To increase the path searching AI, the following entry has been added to the baldur.ini file that is installed in the root of the installation directory: [Program Options] Path Search Nodes=4000 To increase or decrease the AI, vary the number of Nodes (4000 above). The range can vary from 2000 to 32000. Increases the number above will increase the number of nodes in path searching at the expense of responsiveness to movement commands. Note that unless your machine is slower than a P2 you can probably set the value to 32000 and not notice any speed difference. This will help fix getting stuck on terrain obstacles. Spell speed increases: Magic Missle - the speed was doubled Chormatic Orb - the speed was increased 50% New Manual Correction: Unfortunately, the charisma table is misprinted in the manual. Here is the table that the game uses: Charisma Reaction Charisma Reaction 1 -10 14 +2 2 -9 15 +3 3 -8 16 +4 4 -7 17 +4 5 -6 18 +5 6 -5 19 +8 7 -4 20 +9 8 -2 21 +10 9 -1 22 +11 10 0 23 +12 11 0 24 +13 12 0 25 +14 13 +1 New Manual Addenda: Starting Gold: The starting gold is random but affected by your character class, as per the AD&D rules, even though it's not listed in the Baldur's Gate manual. Here's the table (copied from the "Money and Equipment" chapter of the _AD&D Player's Handbook_): Character Group Die Range Warrior 5d4 x 10gp (50gp - 200gp) Wizard (1d4 + 1) x 10gp (20gp - 50gp) Rogue 2d6 x 10gp (20gp - 120gp) Priest 3d6 x 10gp (30gp - 180gp) Multi-class characters use the most advantageous die range of their classes. Since your character is a mage/thief, the starting gold would be 2d6 x 10gp. Quick Save: At any time during play you can press 'Q' on the keyboard to save the game. This 'quick' save is always saved in the same slot and will overwrite itself. Using the Quick Save will not touch any of your other save games. Party Order: To change the order of the characters in your party, drag and drop their character portraits to exhange them in the party order. For example, to switch the order of "Char1" and "Char2" left click on Char1, continue to hold down the mouse button and move the cursor over the portrait of Char2. Release the mouse button and Char1 and Char2 will change places. Bugs were addressed in this version and there were some scripting changes to the game. For information on these fixes and changes, please check the Update section of this Readme. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Getting Started 1a. System Requirements Required: Pentium (or compatible) 166 MHz 16 MB RAM *32 MB RAM for multiplayer Windows 95 with DirectX 5.0 or later 320 MB of Hard Drive Space (60 meg more required if playing multiplayer) 4X or faster CD-ROM DirectX Certified Video Card with at least 2 MB of video RAM DirectX Certified Sound Card Keyboard, Mouse Recommended: Pentium (or compatible) 200 MHz with MMX 32 MB RAM 570 MB (or more) of Hard Drive Space 8X (or faster) CD-ROM DirectX certified Video Card with at least 4 MB of video RAM Notes on Video Cards: While you can still run Baldur's Gate with a 1 meg video card, we highly recommend against it - performance will be very poor. To check if your video card is 2 meg, go to the Display folder in the Control Panel and choose Settings. If your video card can display 800x600 resolution at 24-bit color depth, then it is capable of running Baldur's Gate. We do recommend that you obtain the latest DirectX drivers for your video card, direct from the video card company that makes your card. WINDOWS NT 4.0: Although Windows NT 4.0 is not supported in an official capacity, Baldur's Gate can be run correctly under Windows NT 4.0 if the following conditions are met: You will need at least 32 MB of RAM and must have NT 4.0 Service Pack 3 installed. If you wish to run multiplayer, then Service Pack 4 is required. Slow downs during gameplay have been reported under NT. These are due to the way that Direct Sound and the System Timers interact. This may be corrected in future version of NT. 1b. Installation Insert the CD-ROM labeled Baldur's Gate Disc 1 into your CD-ROM drive and follow the onscreen instructions. If your autorun is disabled, find the autorun.exe application in the root of Disc 1 and double click to launch the Installer. After installing Baldur's Gate, you will have options for installing DirectX 6.0. Gamespy software is automatically installed. Software for HEAT.net is also included on Disc 1. If you do not have DirectX installed, install DirectX 6.0 when prompted during the installation process. If you obtain a newer version of DirectX, it is recommended that you use that. Later versions of DirectX often have driver updates which will make Baldur's Gate run better on your system. However, Baldur's Gate only requires v5.0. You should regularly defragment your hard drive, as fragmentation can result in poor performance. Minimum install versus recommended install: A minimum install represents the base information required to be on the hard drive to play. A recommended install includes more information that would otherwise have to be loaded each time - for example, there are more custom sound sets available for use by your created characters and there is more music available in the recommended install. You must leave the CD in the drive at all times when playing with a Minimum Install. Custom installs: You choose custom install if you wish to install more than recommended - all the way up to a full install. The more areas you load to your hard drive, the shorter the load times while in game. Note on Full Installations: Windows 95 does not correctly report the free space on hard drive partitions larger that 2 gig. Because of this, you may get an "insufficient disk space" if decide to install everything from the CDs, even if you do have the disk space available. To bypass this, just choose to "install anyway" when you receive this error and installation will proceed correctly. 1c. Electronic Registration Please take a few moments to fill out the Electronic Registration for Baldur's Gate. Your feedback will make you eligible for special offers and promotions, and it also provides us with information we need in order to make better games. We'd appreciate your time. 1d. Running Baldur's Gate If you use the default installation settings for Baldur's Gate, it will be installed in a 'Black Isle Studios' Program Group in your Start menu. 1e. Baldur's Gate Config One program of note in your Program Group is the Baldur's Gate Config program. This application will allow you to set the various hotkeys for the game as well as set up several other options. The various options are contained within four tabs. The various Shortcut tabs allow you to modify the different 'hotkeys' for the game. Refer to your Game Manual for information about these. The Options tab contains various game settings: 1. Region: This setting is used for Gamespy connections 2. Cache Size: The Cache is Hard Disk space that is reserved by Baldur's Gate for storing area data. The more cache you make available to the title, the less loading you will have to do when returning to areas in the game. 3. Game Speed: The Game Speed setting allows you to speed up EVERYTHING in the game. Because Baldur's Gate is real time, allowing running unbalances the game. The Game Speed option allows the user to speed up the overall play of the game. This option is not officially supported and could cause problems, especially in multiplayer. The default setting is 30 AI Updates/Second. Note: this will result in a performance hit on any machine because the game is attempting to process all data at a higher speed. This will cause more slowdown in various places in the game. 1f. Baldur's Gate Web Page If there is anything that are having problems with or cannot find in the manual, stop by the Baldur's Gate Web Page at http://www.interplay.com. Aside from cool game materials and errata, you may be able to find an answer for whatever question you might have. 1g. Revision History 1.0.4309 - Original Release 1.1.4312 - Beta Patch 1.1.4315 - Release Patch and Product Revision ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Manual Addenda and Corrections 2a. Additional Credits Black Isle Studios Black Isle Movie - Gary Platner Add'l Box Art - Aaron Brown Bioware Elben Schafer's name was misspelled in the credits movie. Sorry Elben! Interplay Productions Associate Producer (assisting) - Jeff Jirsa Int'l Traffic Coordination - Richard Barker Production Assistance - Chris Benson (more) QA Project Supervisors: Steve Mclafferty Darrell "Maestro" Jones (more) QA Testers: Jeremy "Sweeney" Seely, Tony "Wardog" Piccoli, Herschel Greenberg, Rick Avalos, Rob Giampa, Tim "Cthulhu" Anderson Special Thanks to the Beta Testers: Zac Harris, Michael Kaae, Joseph Chang, Milton Fader, Greg Lewis, Stanley Ho, Joseph Avery, Casey C. Clark, Daniel Yoon, Jeff Smith, Joe Mauga, Steve Lewis, John Allen, Jason Medders, Joseph Lee, and Lawrence Bolante 2b. Manual Addenda Generic Addenda: Quick Save: At any time during play you can press 'Q' on the keyboard to save the game. This 'quick' save is always saved in the same slot and will overwrite itself. Using the Quick Save will not touch any of your other save games. Party Order: To change the order of the characters in your party, drag and drop their character portraits to exhange them in the party order. For example, to switch the order of "Char1" and "Char2" left click on Char1, continue to hold down the mouse button and move the cursor over the portrait of Char2. Release the mouse button and Char1 and Char2 will change places. Items in the Game World If you leave items on the ground in the game world, they will disappear after a period of time (with a few key items as exceptions). Bodies will begin to decay from the world after about half a day. Items will begin to decay from the world after a day or two. The decay represents the effects of scavengers and other folk. If you want to stash items, put them inside any container; for example, a chest, bookshelf, or box. Item prices in stores. Prices items in stores vary according to how many items of that type they carry. Prices also vary according to the reputation of your party (p.146) and the Charisma of the present Leader, who always represents the group. The leader while in a store is the top-most character who entered the store (assuming you haven't turned on the option setting requiring all players to enter the store together in a multiplayer game). Starting Gold for Characters. The starting gold is random but affected by your character class, as per the AD&D rules, even though it's not listed in the Baldur's Gate manual. Here's the table (copied from the "Money and Equipment" chapter of the _AD&D Player's Handbook_): Character Group Die Range Warrior 5d4 x 10gp (50gp - 200gp) Wizard (1d4 + 1) x 10gp (20gp - 50gp) Rogue 2d6 x 10gp (20gp - 120gp) Priest 3d6 x 10gp (30gp - 180gp) Multi-class characters use the most advantageous die range of their classes. Since your character is a mage/thief, the starting gold would be 2d6 x 10gp. Multiplayer games without other players. You can play the game in a multiplayer fashion without any other players in it. In this way you can create all of the characters in your party, or some of them, if you like. For this to work, you must have some form of multiplayer protocol installed on your system. If you do not have a multiplayer protocol installed, you should be able to start a SERIAL game. If you are unable to create a new game using SERIAL, try changing the COM port you are creating the game with. Custom Portraits The measurements for player portraits are 38X60 pixels for the small ones (8-bit color only) and 110X170 pixels for the large ones. Put these in the Portraits directory (in the install directory for the game) and add a S to the end of the small portrait name and an L to the end of the large portrait. The names must be 1-7 letters long, maximum. For example: XXXXXXXS.bmp for small (38x60, 8-bit) XXXXXXXL.bmp for large (110x70, 24-bit) For multiplayer, each player must have a copy of the portraits, otherwise they will see a blank icon where the other player's custom portraits would be. Custom Sound files The following is a list of the WAV files for the custom sound sets. Replace each 'XXXXXXX' in the filenames with the name of the sound set (MAX 7 CHARACTERS). All the WAV files should be 22 khz, 16 bit mono sounds. Copy the WAV files to the Sounds directory located in the directory that Baldur's Gate was installed in, and then select this sound set either in character creation or in the "Customize" button off of the Character Record page. For multiplayer, merely send your custom sounds to all of the people you are playing with and have them copy them to the Sounds directory - if you have installed the sounds to your character in your game, everyone will hear your sounds once they copy them into the correct directory. XXXXXXXa.wav : Battle Cry XXXXXXXb.wav : Becoming Leader XXXXXXXc.wav : Tired XXXXXXXd.wav : Bored XXXXXXXe.wav : Badly Wounded XXXXXXXf.wav : Selected 1 XXXXXXXg.wav : Selected 2 XXXXXXXh.wav : Selected 3 XXXXXXXi.wav : Action Acknowledgement 1 XXXXXXXj.wav : Action Acknowledgement 2 XXXXXXXk.wav : Action Acknowledgement 3 XXXXXXXl.wav : Being Hit XXXXXXXm.wav : Dying XXXXXXXn.wav : In Forest XXXXXXXo.wav : In City XXXXXXXp.wav : In Dungeon XXXXXXXq.wav : Daytime XXXXXXXr.wav : Nighttime XXXXXXXs.wav : Rare Selected 1 XXXXXXXt.wav : Rare Selected 2 XXXXXXXu.wav : Rare Selected 3 XXXXXXXv.wav : Rare Selected 4 XXXXXXXw.wav : Reaction to Party Member Death AI Scripting For information on creating custom AI scripts please read the ScriptCompiler.doc located in the ScriptCompiler Directory located on CD 1. You can read this file using either Word97 or WordPad. Modal actions for characters If your AI button is turned ON you may notice your character's modal abilities turn OFF occasionally. Modal abilities are those abilities that you can turn on an leave on (e.g. thieves' detect traps mode). These modes can be turned off when a script action occurs for that character. If this is causing problems for you, you can either load "None" as the script for your character or click the "AI on/off" button (on the main game screen at the lower right) to toggle this. The To-Hit Roll If you have turned on 'To-Hit Rolls' in your Feedback settings, the game will display the rolls on each attack. The roll will display X + Y = Z Where X = base to hit Y = any +'s to hit Z = total to hit roll Y is the total non-character related bonuses/penalties. These include spell effects, fatigue and the like. Strength, Dexterity, and magic weapon bonuses and penalties are applied directly to the character's THACO. Reading dialogue stored in the buffer In many cases, you may want to scroll up through the dialogue in the text window. If you find that game messages are interfering with this (the window will reset to display new messages), hold down the left mouse button while using the slider thumb. While the left mouse button is depressed, you will not be returned to view the new messages. dialogue window resizing in multiplayer When another player initiates dialogue in a multiplayer game, the window will resize to fit the text that comes up. When the other player finishes dialogue, the dialogue window will resize to what it was before, unless you were typing a chat message in, in which case it will stay in medium or large mode (in which the chat line is present). Reform party button in multiplayer Only the server can use the reform party panel button - clients can not depress this button. If a client wishes to remove a character for which he has control and the server has given the client "Modify Character" permissions, then this character can be removed via the Character Arbitration page, or the client can ask the server to remove the character in the Reform Party panel. Dual Classing - Required Attributes When you dual class a character, you must possess the attributes required to be able to dual class to that new class. If you do not see the class that you wish to dual class to in the available classes (i.e., it is dimmed out), then this means that your character does not possess the required attribute(s) for that class. However, any classes to which the character CAN dual class WILL always be displayed as available. Multiplayer Timeout Settings The server (and only the server) can adjust the timeouts for all clients in multiplayer by manually editing the Baldur.ini file. WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS FOR THE NOVICE! however, if you wish to increase or decrease the timeout settings, then adjust the line "ClientTimeout=X" under "[Multiplayer]" in the Baldur.ini file, setting X to whatever seconds value you wish (the default is 150 seconds, so X=150 initially). Specific Addenda: p.13 Clock Note that the Clock, as shown in the screenshot, is also the Pause/Unpause button. (Spacebar works as well). p.22 Containers When using containers, if the character's inventory is full, the item will not be transferred, and the backpack will be grayed out. p.22 World Map Note that sometimes your world map will be updated through dialogue or events within the game. p.27-28 New Options Graphics Transparent Shadows: This option enables transparent shadows beneath the characters. Disable this option to increase game performance. Sound Environmental Audio: This option uses the Creative (R) Environmental Audio (tm) technology to increase the realism of your audio environment. You must have a sound card with this technology to enable this option. E.g. SBLive. Gameplay Group Infravision: Enables infravision if any character in the selected group has the infravision ability. Weather: Disable this to remove all weather effects. This may improve performance on some lower end machines. p.28 Select Sounds In the game Select Sounds are displayed as Character Sounds. p.70 Auto-Pause The Auto-pause settings can be found under "Autopause" in the Gameplay section of the option screen. p.77 To-Hit Rolls and Melee Combat In Melee combat, not every swing is intended to hit. A character in Baldur's Gate may make an "cosmetic" swing during the 6-second round aside from the actual attempt to deliver damage. This swing represents the feints and parries that would occur in real combat. p.99/103/116/118 The following spells create pseudo weapons. For the purposes of combat they are treated as follows: Chill Touch (p.99) uses a Blunt Weapon proficiency. Ghoul Touch (p.103) uses a Blunt Weapon proficiency. Shillelagh (p.116) uses a Blunt Weapon proficiency. Flame Blade (p.118) uses a Small Sword proficiency. p.103 Detect Evil Detect Evil is missing from the "Mage Spells - Level 2" list. This spell functions the same as the 1st level Priest Spell of the same name (p.115). 2c. Corrections to the Manual and Quick Reference Card Quick Reference Card In the character state icons, 'Nausea' is incorrectly labeled 'Disease'. Disease does not exist in the game - replace it with "nausea" where you encounter it in the manual. Manual Corrections p.10 Specialization Note that only Fighters can assign more than 2 points to a given Proficiency. Rangers, Paladins, and Multi-Classed Fighters are all limited to 2 points. Dual Class Fighters may only add points above 2 if they are active in the Fighter class. p.12 R-Click Information The second bullet under "R-click information" should be "On an item or spell on inventory page or spell page - item or spell properties screen brought up." p.15 Guard/Protect If the Guard/Protect mode is chosen and a point on the ground is L-clicked, the character will remain stationary at that point, though he will respond to attacks. p.17 Use Item Should read: If L-clicked, allows you to use any item with usable properties that you are wearing. p.20 Reaction Adjustments Reaction adjustments will be based on the charisma of whichever character you use to initiate dialogue. NPCs will maintain their current opinion of the group for a few minutes after dialogue is initiated, so make the first impression count. Stores are the exception, wherein the present leader always represents the group. p.26 Dual Classing The only classes than cannot dual class are the Paladin, Ranger, and Bard, though others may have restrictions on which classes they can switch to. The character must also have 15 in all the prime requisites of his first class, and 17 in those of the second class. p.32 Characters in Multiplayer Sessions Once a character is created it can be modified by clicking on the player name, which brings up a window allowing the player to create or delete (the active character must be deleted before a new one can be created in the same slot). p.87 Fighter/Mage/Cleric Cleric spells function when wearing armor. Only mage spells cannot be cast while wearing any armor. p.87 Mage/Thief This character can use the abilities of a mage and a thief, though mage spells cannot be cast while wearing armor. p.93 Specialization Table The number of attacks refer to melee weapons only. An extra 1/2 attack is gained at 7th level in addition to those shown on the table. p.94 Thieving Abilities Thief stealing/stealth abilities can go over 100% but this only gives player 99% chance to succeed. p.95 Magic and the Spell System Should say: (only 1st though 4th level spells are learnable, though some 5th-level spells are available for use via scrolls and by NPCs) p.97 Spell Range Additional note on spell range: All spell ranges are capped to the visual sight of the caster. p.98 Armor Duration on Armor should be 9 hours. p.99 Charm Person Duration on Charm Person should be 17 rounds. p.102 Protection from Petrification This spell has been changed to a 2nd Level Mage Spell. p.106 Vocalize Duration on Vocalize duration should be 10 rounds. p.106 Web Range is correctly listed as 5 yards/level. However, the Range extends to a maximum of 20 yards at 4th level. p.107 Clairvoyance The Clairvoyance spell description should read: The Clairvoyance spell empowers the wizard to see in his mind the geographical features and buildings of the region he is currently exploring. It extends to a great range, but cannot reveal creatures or their movements. This spell does not function indoors or underground. The duration of Clairvoyance is Permanent. p.110 Protection from Normal Missiles The description should note that the protection extends only to non-magical projectiles and does not protect against magical arrows, axes, bolts, etc. p.115 Detect Evil Range on Detect evil should be "Sight of Caster". Area of Effect should be the area visible on screen. p.115 Magic Stone Range on Magic Stone should be "Sight of Caster". Area of Effect should be "1 creature". p.119 Silence The saving throw for this spell is made at -5. p.123 Animal Summoning I Duration is 24 rounds. Casting Time is 7. p.123/124 Cure Serious Wounds/Cure Critical Wounds Note that the damage is permanent only insofar as the character does not take further damage. p 124 Animal Summoning II Duration on Animal Summoning II is 24 rounds. p.134-5 Resurrection Survival is not used when raising dead. 'Raise Dead' is always successful. p.136-7 Magical Defense Adjustment is not used. p.136-7 The charisma table is misprinted in the manual. Here is the table that the game uses: Charisma Reaction Charisma Reaction 1 -10 14 +2 2 -9 15 +3 3 -8 16 +4 4 -7 17 +4 5 -6 18 +5 6 -5 19 +8 7 -4 20 +9 8 -2 21 +10 9 -1 22 +11 10 0 23 +12 11 0 24 +13 12 0 25 +14 13 +1 p.139 Some spell colors were changed after printing: Conjuration is Purple, not orange. Enchantment is gold, not magenta. Illusion is magenta, not multicolored. p.143 "(start)" is shown next to Reputation 10 in Table 9b. This is errata. The Player Character starts with a Reputation based on his alignment as shown in Table 9a on the same page. p.144 Table 9c shows a "0" reputation. Reputation cannot fall below "1". p.146 Stores have been changed so that they sell to parties with Reputations as low as 1 or 2. These parties are charged +1000%. Other Animate Dead has a duration of 8 hours (rather than permanent). 2d. Design Notes * NPCs are sometimes removed from the game world. NPCs in the game often need to become inactive to preserve the integrity of the storyline. These characters will attempt to leave the current area they are in via an exit. If they cannot find one, we remove them from the map and they effectively vanish. This is not a bug - just how we have dealt with the need to remove them. * Magic Resistance Magic Resistance affects all spells and magic. A character with this resistance is as likely to resist a healing spell as they are to resist a Fireball. We have chosen not to differentiate as selective magic resistance proved too powerful in the Baldur's Gate environment. In Baldur's Gate, Magic Resistance is both a curse AND a blessing. Used correctly, you will still find it quite powerful. * Spells not affecting Party Members and Neutrals Several spells are completely ineffective against party members or neutral characters. These spells are Sleep, Hold Person, and Entangle. These spells do not affect these characters because they are area affect spells and in testing we found that they were extremely frustrating. In order to make these spells worthwhile, we have made them only affect hostile characters. * NPCs initiating dialogue with Invisible/Stealthed characters. You will find that some NPCs in the game will initiate dialogue when you should not be seen by them. In order to ensure that the player receives all critical game dialogue, all game critical dialogue will be received. * Unjoined NPCs not worth XP. NPCs who can join your party are not worth XP if killed. This is not a bug. * Items transferred to the ground. If your character's inventory is full, and an NPC gives you an item, you will receive the message about the party receiving an item. The item will, however, be at the feet of the PC and must be picked up to use. * Multiplayer: Stores, Inns, Taverns, Temples, and dialogue In multiplayer games, all players must see all dialogue. This is to ensure that all players don't miss any critical portions of the game. Also, this prevents disturbing occurrences, such as player 1 killing the merchant while player 2 is bartering. During dialogue mode all players are paused. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. TroubleShooting 3a. Tweaking Performance Increasing Performance: 1. Weather. In the options menu under 'GamePlay', turn off Weather. The graphic effects that rain and snow use can cause large performance drops on lower end machines. This does not affect gameplay in any way. 2. Translucent Shadows. In the options menu under 'Graphics', turn off translucent shadows. Turning this off will cause all shadows to appear solid, rather than blending a dark shadow onto the background. 3. Character Movement Sounds. In the options menu under 'Sound/Character Sound', turn off Character Movement Sounds. 4. Other Audio. Turning off any of the audio may result in a performance increase. Moving the sliders in the options menu under 'Sound' all the way to the left will completely disable the playing of these sounds. 5. Virtual Memory. WE DO NOT RECOMMED ADJUSTING YOUR VIRTUAL MEMORY. Baldur's Gate will eagerly use up any Virtual Memory (hard drive) and non-Virtual Memory (RAM) you allocate to it. If you choose to add more memory to your system, or increase the size of your Windows swap file, the game speed MAY increase. However, as you increase your Virtual Memory, expect longer clearing times to remove this 'Virtual Memory' from the hard drive after the game is terminated. Things that will Decrease Performance: 1. Brightness/Contrast. Adjusting the default settings for these options (located in the options menu under 'Graphics') will result in a performance hit. If you find the game is too dark, we suggest adjusting your monitors brightness. 2. DirectX Hardware Calls. In the options menu under 'Graphics' there are three toggles for various 'BLTS'. Enabling these will result in a (sometimes drastic) performance hit. We recommend enabling these only if you have graphics glitches that you have been unable to resolve. 3. Running the game in Windowed Mode. Running the game in a Window on your desktop will decrease the overall game performance. Pathing Performance: To increase the path searching AI, the following entry can be modified in the baldur.ini file that is installed in the root of the installation directory: [Program Options] Path Search Nodes=4000 To increase or decrease the AI, vary the number of Nodes (4000 above). The range can vary from 2000 to 32000. Increases the number above will increase the number of nodes in path searching at the expense of responsiveness to movement commands. Note that unless your machine is slower than a P2 you can probably set the value to 32000 and not notice any speed difference. This will help fix getting stuck on terrain obstacles. 3b. Known Problems * Graphic Errors Some video cards may experience graphics glitches while playing the game. These problems are caused by DirectX Hardware Calls to your video card that are not functioning. We have written software renders for all of these calls to allow people to play even with drivers that are not 100% compatible with the DirectX standards. You can enable a software render for these calls if you have the most recent drivers for your video card and are still experiencing problems. Using the software render will probably fix the graphic glitches, but WILL result in a performance hit. IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING PROBLEMS WITH THE GRAPHICAL DISPLAY OF BALDUR'S GATE, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE LATEST VERSION OF YOUR VIDEO DRIVERS. DRIVER UPDATES ARE AVAILABLE AT MOST (if not all) HARDWARE MANUFACTURERS AND CHIPSET MANUFACTURERS SITES ON THE INTERNET. You may also try installing DirectX 6.0+ if you are experiencing graphical problems. If you have the most recent drivers for your video card, and you are still experiencing problems, you can enable software renders for these calls. The options are available in the options menu under 'Graphics'. The following list describes the known graphics glitches and which Call should be disabled to fix them. If in doubt, try different combinations and this may help. You can always turn off all software renders to return to the default settings. ------------------------------------------------------------ Glitch Disable ------------------------------------------------------------ -green boxes surrounding Software Transparent BLT any object in the game -box surrounding mouse cursor -animations appearing Software Mirror BLT 'reversed' -Fog-of-War appears in a 'semi-checkerboard' pattern -fog-of-War has edges that look 'spiky' -vertical lines down Software Standard BLT the main game screen -the game Cursor is leaving 'artifacts' of itself on the game screen -any other non-resolved graphics problem Specific Video Cards and Fixes ------------------------------------------------------------ Matrox Millenium (1) : Enable Software Mirror and Software Transparent BLTs. Permidia : Enable Software Standard BLT. * Minimizing Baldur's Gate If you minimize Baldur's Gate using either Alt-Enter or Alt-Tab (and then bring it back up by left clicking on the minimized application), the sound effects for the game will stutter, loop, and skip. This is caused by a lack of resources available to Baldur's Gate after you go from full screen to a minimized screen, and it will correct itself after a short period of time. If you minimize Baldur's Gate and then bring it back up, the game may run more slowly for a time. This is caused by the game re-accessing resources that become tied up by minimization. Running the game in a window may result in lower performance overall. * Biff the Understudy This bug is believed to be fixed in all situations. If you have a conversation which requires a 3rd person who is not present, Biff the Understudy will appear and take the part of the other character. This keeps the conversation from crashing the game and ensures the player doesn't miss any critical game dialogue. * Strange Characters Joining Party However unlikely, it is possible that some NPCs may attempt to join your party when you have not even spoken with them. This is caused by an unlikely situation in which NPC 'pairs' find each other after one of the pair has been kicked from the party and rejoined. To preserve the integrity of these pairs, we have allowed this. You will not be able to keep one of the pair without the other. This only happens if both of the characters who normally leave and join together are in the same area when you ask one to rejoin. * Quick Weapon Switching If you use Range scripts for your characters, they will switch to their most powerful melee weapon. This may cause your character to change from one melee weapon to another under certain circumstances. Most powerful melee weapon is the one delivering the most damage. * Multiplayer: Failure to Connect Baldur's Gate will sometimes display a "Connection Failed" message when you are attempting to connect and are suffering from slow ping times. This could happen as often as 1 in 4 times if your ping time is greater than 500ms. Try again and you will connect. * Multiplayer: Proxy Servers If your Internet connection is through a Proxy Server, Baldur's Gate may not be able to connect to other Multiplayer games. Try disabling Winsock 2 support (use Winsock 1.X instead) and this MAY help. * Multiplayer: Running under 16MB Baldur's Gate multiplayer will function running with only 16MB of RAM on Win9x. However, this is not officially supported and WILL lead to game abnormalities including crashes. Baldur's Gate officially requires 32 MB RAM for multiplayer. * Multiplayer: Minimizing BG During Loading Using Alt-Tab to minimize Baldur's Gate during Game Creation or Area Loading may cause the application to either hard lock or terminate. If possible, don't do this. * Multiplayer: Character Doesn't Appear In a multiplayer game, if the host is controlling more than one character(s), and Alt-Tabs during an area transition, the secondary character(s) will not appear until the host restores the game. This cannot be resolved as the character data cannot be transferred to other game machines if the host machine is not active. * NT 4.0: Screen-Saver While running under Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3, we have experienced intermittent problems with Screen Savers. We recommend disabling your Screen Saver while playing Baldur's Gate. 3c. Updates Baldur's Gate original Release Version was 1.0.4309. This version is 1.1.4315. If necessary, further patches may become available for the product that add functionality or correct bugs. These updated versions will be made available at the Interplay site at http://www.interplay.com or you can connect directly to the Baldur's Gate Files directory by clicking on the 'Update' button in the Baldur's Gate AutoRun. Scripting Changes in Version 1.1.4312 and 1.1.4315: - Lothander subplot has been clarified. Dialogue has been changed to make the plot more easily understood. - The Gatewarden will now initiate dialogue only with the protagonist. - All scripts have been refined in the Belt and Liia scene. - The Skeleton Warrior's toughness has been reduced. - You now get more XP for killing Shlumpshathe. - Nikolai has been moved to improve his ability to intercept the player. - Ragefast will now initiate dialogue with the player. - Ramazith will now initiate dialogue with the player. - The journal entry for Brielbara's quest now lists the rendezvous point. - Chloe's plot has been changed slightly. Bugs fixed in Version 1.1.4312 and 1.1.4315: - Baldur's Gate now checks the cache size, and gives a warning if the user is running out of hard disk space. - Baldur's Gate checks the Hard Drive for space before saving games. The game will give a warning if the user is running out of disk space. - The script compiler now works. - The crash that was occuring after some players pressed ESC to exit the World Map has been fixed. - The following Assertion Failure was fixed: "An Assertion Failed in D:\Dev\Baldur\ObjAnimation.ccp at line number 13665. Programmer says: Bad Terrain code used in search code map for area." - The following Assertion Failure was fixed: "An Assertion Failed in D:\Dev\chitin\chnetwork.cpp at line number 463. Programmer says: que messages corrupted." - The following Assertion Failure was fixed: "An Assertion Failed in D:\Dev\Chitin\CnNetwork.cpp at line number 463. Programmer says: CnNetworkwindow." - The following Assertion Failure was fixed: "An Assertion Failed in D:\Dev\Chitin\CnNetwork.cpp at line number 7936. Programmer says: Uncompress in network layer failed." - The following Assertion Failure was fixed: "An Assertion in D:\Dev\chitin\CnNetwork layer failed." - The random Jovial Juggler crashes have been fixed. - The maximum number of portraits that Baldur's Gate will acknowledge in your Portraits directory is 255. This fixes a crash bug. - The multiplayer crash that would occur if you were watching another client's character when that character was killed in a separate area has been fixed. - The hard lock which occured when saving a game after having deleted save games on the save game screen has been fixed. - A bug involving general weirdness after the main character was killed by magic missles which travelled through an area transition to kill the character has been fixed. - The bug in which dual classed mages cast spells at the lower of their two levels has been fixed. - A lockup which occured when the "eject" button is pressed on a Creative 2x DVD has been fixed. - Characters will no longer get stuck when flooding cloakwood mines. - The bug in which Garrick would block the stairs to the Burning Wizard after being rejected, and following a party based area transition, has been fixed. - An intermittent bug which prevented Imoen from being resurrected has been fixed. - Gandolar Luckyfoot's dialogue chain has been fixed. - Several minor text errors have been fixed. - An incidence of Biff the Understudy showing up when dealing with Viconia and the Flaming Fist Soldier has been fixed. - You can no longer turn both Viconia and the Flaming Fist Mercenary hostile. - Dual class characters no longer gain 1 hp every level until reaching previous level +1. They now get none, as they are supposed to. - A major text error in the Journal entry recieved from the Nymph which stated "Ragefast's home is just West of the Hall of Wonders," has been changed to correctly refer to it as "...Northeast..." - You can no longer return Brage to the temple and then return later and kill him without penalty. - You can no longer attempt to join the bandits after having routed the bandit camp. - Importing 2nd or higher level characters with stats only works correctly now. - The price for drinks now works correctly. - The SITT Panel in the Temple of Helm is no longer incorrectly named as Alvahendar's Healing and Sundries. - Yeslick will no longer complain if the player has flooded the mines in Chapter 4. - A bug with the Shadow Armor was fixed. - Characters will no longer become trapped on different floors in the Duchal Palace. - Color Spray should no longer affect the caster under any circumstances. - +1 Bolts are now correctly shaded red for Clerics to indicate that they are not usable due to class restriction. - The area map for the small warehouse near the Nashkel mines has been replaced with the correct map. - The crash bug associated with save games in 1.1.4312 was fixed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. Interplay Customer Service Information This information is only valid in North America. TECHNICAL SUPPORT TROUBLESHOOTING DOCUMENTS ONLINE! Interplay Productions Technical Support now offers troubleshooting guides with complete installation and setup instructions as well as information that will help you overcome the most common difficulties. If you have access to the World Wide Web, you can find these at: www.interplay.com/support/ Here you will find troubleshooting information on as well as information on regular system maintenance and performance. DirectX www.interplay.com/support/directx/ Joysticks www.interplay.com/support/joystick/ Modems and Networks www.interplay.com/support/modem/ (For game-specific information and additional troubleshooting, visit our main page at www.interplay.com) If you have questions about the program, our Technical Support Department can help. Our web site contains up-to-date information on the most common difficulties with our products, and this information is the same as that used by our product support technicians. We keep the product support pages updated on a regular basis, so please check here first for no-wait solutions: www.interplay.com/support/ If you are unable to find the information you need on our web site, please feel free to contact Technical Support via e-mail, phone, fax, or letter. Please be sure to include the following information in your e-mail message, fax, or letter: Title of Game Computer manufacturer * Operating system (Windows 95, Windows NT, Windows 98, etc.) CPU type and speed in MHz Amount of RAM Sound card type and settings (address, IRQ, DMA) Video card CD-ROM Mouse driver and version Joystick and game card (if any) A copy of the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files from your hard drive A description of the problem you're having If you need to talk to someone immediately, call us at (949) 553-6678 Monday through Friday between 8:00AM-5: 45PM, Pacific Standard Time with 24 hours, 7 days a week support available through the use of our automated wizard. Please have the above information ready when you call. This will help us answer your question in the shortest possible time. When you call you will initially be connected with our automated wizard. For information pertaining to your specific title, press "1" on the main menu and listen carefully to all prompts. All titles are listed alphabetically. After you have selected your title, the most common difficulties will be listed. If the difficulty you are having is not listed or you need additional assistance, you may press "0" on your games main menu, and you will be transferred to a Technical Support Representative. No hints or codes are available from this line. You must call Interplay's HINT Line for hints, tips, or codes at 1-900-370-PLAY (1-900-451-6869 $1.25 in Canada only). You must be 18 years +, have a touch-tone phone, and the cost is $0.95 per minute. Interplay Productions Support Fax: (949) 252-2820 Interplay Productions Technical Support 16815 Von Karman Avenue Irvine, CA 92606 HOW TO REACH US ONLINE INTERNET E-MAIL: support@interplay.com WORLD WIDE WEB: www.interplay.com FTP: ftp.interplay.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. European Information This information is not valid in North America. 5a. Customer Services Information Write to: Customer Support Interplay Productions, Ltd. Harleyford Manor Harleyford Henley Road Marlow Buckinghamshire SL7 2DX ENGLAND tel: +44 (0) 1628 423723 Fax: +44 (0) 1628 423777 5b. Limited Warranty If within the first ninety days of purchase you have any problems with the product please return it to the retailer. After ninety days, you may return the software program to Interplay Productions, provided the fault is not due to normal wear and tear, and Interplay will mail a replacement to you. To receive a replacement, you should enclose the defective medium (including the original product label), in protective packaging, accompanied by: 1) A cheque or postal order for Ten (10) Pounds Sterling (to cover postage and packaging). 2) A brief statement describing the defect. 3) The original receipt or address of the retailer. 4) Your return address. Registered mail is recommended for returns. Please send to: Warranty Replacements Interplay Productions, Ltd. Harleyford Manor Harleyford Henley Road Marlow Buckinghamshire SL7 2DX ENGLAND ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Legal SOFTWARE USE LIMITATIONS AND LIMITED LICENSE General Product License. This copy of Baldur's Gate (the Software) is intended solely for your personal noncommercial home entertainment use. You may not decompile, reverse engineer, or disassemble the Software, except as permitted by law. Interplay Productions and Bioware Corp. retain all right, title and interest in the Software including all intellectual property rights embodied therein and derivatives thereof. The Software, including, without limitation, all code, data structures, characters, images, sounds, text, screens, game play, derivative works and all other elements of the Software may not be copied, resold, rented, leased, distributed (electronically or otherwise), used on pay-per-play, coin-op or other for-charge basis, or for any commercial purpose. Any permissions granted herein are provided on a temporary basis and can be withdrawn by Interplay Productions at any time. All rights not expressly granted are reserved. MODEM AND NETWORK PLAY. If the Software contains modem or network play, you may play the Software via modem transmission with another person or persons directly without transmission through a third party service or indirectly through a third party service only if such service is an authorized licensee of Interplay. For the purposes of this license, a third party service refers to any third party service which provides a connection between two or more users of the Software, manages, organizes, or facilitates game play, translates protocols, or otherwise provides a service which commercially exploits the Software, but does not include a third party service which merely provides a telephonic connection (and nothing more) for modem or network play. Authorized licensee services are listed on the Interplay Productions World Wide Web Site located at http://www.interplay.com. This limited right to transmit the Software expressly excludes any transmission of the Software or any data streams thereof on a commercial basis, including, without limitation, transmitting the Software by way of a commercial service (excepting those specific commercial services licensed by Interplay) which translates the protocols or manages or organizes game play sessions. If you would like information about obtaining a pay-for-play or commercial license to the Software, please call Interplay Productions in the US at +(949) 553-6655. ACCEPTANCE OF LICENSE TERMS. By acquiring and retaining this Software, you assent to the terms and restrictions of this limited license. If you do not accept the terms of this limited license, you must return the Software together with all packaging, manuals and other material contained therein to the store where you acquired the Software for a full refund. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ BALDUR'S GATE: Developed and (c)1998 BioWare Corp. All Rights Reserved. Baldur's Gate, Forgotten Realms, the Forgotten Realms logo, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the AD&D logo, and the TSR logo are trademarks of TSR, Inc., a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., and are used by Interplay under license. All Rights Reserved. BioWare, the BioWare logo and The BioWare Infinity Engine are the trademarks of Bioware Corp. All Rights Reserved. Interplay, the Interplay logo, Black Isle Studios, the Black Isle Studios logo, and "By Gamers. For Gamers." are trademarks of Interplay Productions. All Rights Reserved. Exclusively licensed and distributed by Interplay Productions. All other trademarks and copyrights are property of their respective owners. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EOF