*IMPORTANT* Regarding Intel Hardware! Driver issues, slow game performance

Nathan

Hi folks, I have an important announcement to make with regards to integrated Intel graphics chipsets and performance with BG:EE.

First: our apologies for this. We tried everything we could, and in the end it seems like there will unavoidably be some of you that experience this issue.

We have not forgotten about, and will not forget about this issue - and are actively looking into solutions.

Sadly, due to poor OpenGL support for Windows on Intel's part, BG:EE suffers the consequences of this (yes, there are 3 links in that last sentence) and may experience slow framerates or issues.

We're not the first game with this issue (or one similar to it) and we likely won't be the last, sadly.

----

Q: What's the deal? Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 run on my toaster!
A: Yes, sure it does, but it didn't run 3D-Accellerated on your toaster. In fact, if you tried the 3D test included with Baldur's Gate on your toaster, it'd probably fail that test despite working fine in the old 2D engine.

Q: Did you try to fix it? Will you be fixing this going forward?
A: We exhausted EVERY avenue available to us with this. The unfortunate fact of the matter is, it's not up to us as to whether or not the OpenGL problem gets fixed - that's all on Intel's shoulders. You could try contacting them, but I can't guarantee that would fix the issue if the legions of Minecraft players who are or were experiencing similar OpenGL-related issues couldn't. Or maybe it will!

As for fixing it going forward, we're looking at our options. For obvious reasons we can't promise anything just yet.

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Q: What ELSE can I do to try and fix this myself?
A: The previously linked modded drivers didn't really seem to help anyone. So instead, now that we have a few fixes in, what I've noticed is that there are more than a few people that seem to be stuck with old OEM drivers due to an installation decision on Intel's part.

In the next little while I'll I now have a link here that explains how to install Intel's latest reference drivers for your particular Intel graphics chipset, and bypassing the detection that says "Go to your manufacturer's website". Note that Windows detects the new drivers as fully compatible and everything, but any of this will still be an "AT YOUR OWN RISK" situation as we cannot officially support anything other than what Intel and/or your manufacturer recommends you do.

Here it is: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/12156/how-to-forcibly-update-your-intel-drivers-at-your-own-risk

If you decide to try that, please read the whole thing.

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Something else you can try is the following: in your baldur.ini file, located in your My Documents/Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Edition folder, modify the part after INSERT INTO options ROWS ( to reflect the following:

INSERT INTO options ROWS (
	'Graphics',	'OpenGL Version',	'1',
	'Window',	'Full Screen',	'0',

I can't guarantee this will fix everything, but it may be the difference between the game running or not running for some of you, regardless of performance.

----

IF you experience problems, please feel free to post in this thread with details concerning what Operating System you're using, and what exact chipset you have. More information is always a useful thing.

Again, our sincerest apologies for any of you affected by this. We're working hard on a solution. If you feel this is too unacceptable for you and wish to discuss it with us directly, then feel free to e-mail support@beamdog.com and we'll try to accommodate your request.

swnmcmlxi

Well, may Tymora be with us all! ;)

DLite

I asked about this in july, and they give me an answer just before unlocking. tsk..

HoboJoe0858

Sucks I cant run this well. Hopefully maybe there will be a fix of sorts.

Kilivitz

I'm not 100% sure on the usefulness of my feedback, since I'm running the game on a PC with an integrated intel video card on Windows 8 with Windows 7 drivers.

The only problem I seem to have is that when booting up on fullscreen mode, I'll get a white screen. Starting the game on windowed works fine, then I can alt+enter to play fullscreen.

I had a few problems with lagging - nothing that rendered the game unplayable, just a one-sec pause when starting dialogue or changing screens. Running baldur.exe on Windows 7 compatibility mode seemed to solve it.

topymacijie

I have an Nvidia graphics card, and it's still not working for me. The game starts up, but it's just a blank white screen. Nothing I do seems to fix this. Help, anyone?

Moira

Argh, the game is pretty much unplayable for me. Sooo sloooow. Will have to do some further testing tomorrow, it's wee hours here now.

Jonoleth

I initiate the game and it starts to play sound and immediately crashes to desk top with unknown problem.

milhouse14

Intel GMA 4500 2A42 pretty much unplayable. Tried gl1 switch in baldur.ini and manually increasing FPS. No luck.

Artemas

Mine won't even start. the launcher is just stuck at "preload complete" but it sounds like It won't matter with my computer anyway. Don't know how true it is (I did hear it from the internet ;) ) but supposedly intel is "asked" by the Graphics card manufactures to nerf their own cards even though the specs are decent.

earstench

I have a white screen, i can still hear things and click from what it sounds like but not bgee for me.. :/

CaptainConor

Extremely laggy with regards to combat, movement etc. My laptop is an Acer Aspire 5732z with the Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family. Opening movie is similarly unwatchable due to exterme lag.

topymacijie

earstench said:

I have a white screen, i can still hear things and click from what it sounds like but not bgee for me.. :/

that's exactly what's happening to me

Vynee

So do we get to refund the game since it doesn't work properly?
At least until the problem no longer exists.

Majoca

I like how this has been posted before the release. I think this may be a problem I have Intel processor and Integrated graphics card, but also a separate graphics card? so surely it should work right?

ccoolleeiiss

Kilivitz said:

I'
The only problem I seem to have is that when booting up on fullscreen mode, I'll get a white screen. Starting the game on windowed works fine, then I can alt+enter to play fullscreen.

I can't find a config file. How did you start it in windowed.

Oxford_Guy

It seems playable on my mid-2012 Macbook Air (running Windows 7 under bootcamp), which has an Intel HD 4000 chipset, though is not completely smooth, especially when panning around the map, which is quite slow and there is some tearing - is this currently to be expected with this chipset under Windows?

Will it run smoothly under the Mac OS X native version on the same machine or be even worse? I'd like to know before paying again for the Mac version (though I'd prefer to run the Native Mac OS X version, if possible).

milhouse14

Intel GMA 4500 2A42 pretty much unplayable. Tried gl1 switch in baldur.ini and manually increasing FPS. No luck.

CaptainConor

@Nathan Could you please post a screenshot of the Baldur.ini file containing your suggested change as I'm unsure if I've pasted it properly. Thanks.

Nathan

@Oxford_Guy unfortunately, yes this is to be expected in Windows. It will run smoothly under the Mac native version - Apple has finer control over their drivers and we experienced no problems with the Intel hardware under Mac OSX. In this case, I'm using a 2011 Macbook Pro with an integrated Intel 3000ish chipset coupled with an AMD Radeon Mobility - in Mac OSX I saw no issues thus far.

Nathan

@ccoolleeiiss and anyone else, if you wish to switch to windowed mode to try things out, the windows hotkey combo "Alt+Enter" should do that on the fly for you.

Coriander

@ccoolleeiiss Documents/Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Edition/baldur.ini You need the line
'Window', 'Full Screen', '0',

Nathan

@captainconor I've attached the image to this post of how my baldur.ini looks with the renderer change. Hope it helps!

Coriander

@CaptainConor
CREATE TABLE options (
section string,
name string,
value string
);
INSERT INTO options ROWS (
'Window', 'Full Screen', '0',
'Program Options', 'Renderer', 'GL1'
);

Oxford_Guy

Nathan said:

@Oxford_Guy unfortunately, yes this is to be expected in Windows. It will run smoothly under the Mac native version - Apple has finer control over their drivers and we experienced no problems with the Intel hardware under Mac OSX. In this case, I'm using a 2011 Macbook Pro with an integrated Intel 3000ish chipset coupled with an AMD Radeon Mobility - in Mac OSX I saw no issues thus far.

Okay, I will struggle through with the Windows version for now and discard it as soon as I can run BGEE under a nicer OS...

CaptainConor

@Nathan
@Coriander
I think that was entered successfully, but it made no difference to my lag issue. I really hope this is sorted as I'm extremely keen to play this game.

ccoolleeiiss

Nathan said:

@ccoolleeiiss and anyone else, if you wish to switch to windowed mode to try things out, the windows hotkey combo "Alt+Enter" should do that on the fly for you.

Coriander said:

@ccoolleeiiss Documents/Baldur's Gate - Enhanced Edition/baldur.ini You need the line
'Window', 'Full Screen', '0',

Thanks to both of you. Got it working with the windowed mode and the line that you gave us to put in the .ini file. It seems to doing ok so far. also, @Nathan, Thanks helping people on the forums and not skirting around the issue like many other developers I know. You're doin' a great job.

CaptainConor

@Nathan
Just double checked my Baldur.ini and everytime I load the game, the ini file seems to reset itself and loses the Renderer line?

rafaelnader

Kilivitz said:

I'm not 100% sure on the usefulness of my feedback, since I'm running the game on a PC with an integrated intel video card on Windows 8 with Windows 7 drivers.

The only problem I seem to have is that when booting up on fullscreen mode, I'll get a white screen. Starting the game on windowed works fine, then I can alt+enter to play fullscreen.

I had a few problems with lagging - nothing that rendered the game unplayable, just a one-sec pause when starting dialogue or changing screens. Running baldur.exe on Windows 7 compatibility mode seemed to solve it.

I'm on Windows 7 with updated Intel drivers, and I had the same issue here: white screen with sound.

Using windowed mode then fullscreen works great! And no lag on the game. Really thank you, @Kilivitz!!

What I did:
open -> white screen.
alt + enter -> windowed white screen
close
open -> ok screen!
alt + enter -> fullscreen ok with no lag

I have to do this all the time I wanna play, so I have to remember to "alt+enter" before quit.

Corvus_Metus

topymacijie said:

earstench said:

I have a white screen, i can still hear things and click from what it sounds like but not bgee for me.. :/

that's exactly what's happening to me

I've got this issue too.

I understand that Beamdog is a small company working on a big project so there's going to be problems.

I also understand big, AAA titles are often released with problems and filled with game breaking glitches.

But... This is really, really disappointing. I suppose I need to be patient and understand crap happens. Its just hard when this was the only game I was looking forward this year.

killy

http://www.majorgeeks.com/GLDirect_d381.html this seemed to fix issues for me with the original 5 discs on a windows 7 computer with Intel i7 processor