please help if you can...

long time ago I've played some Divine Divinity and than stopped and didn't pick up until after some years - I still had the game installed so I continued, meanwhile I bought the game here on GOG, and lost the old CD (I've used a no-cd crack)

now I'm almost at the end of the game and can't continue as there's a bug - if the original CD is not inserted, the game gets stuck (a "ritual" video needs to be played from the CD).

so I said to myself, no problem, I'll install the GOG version and continue, but I can't either as the saves don't seem compatible! :(

my saves are from the version 1.0034A, but neither the old GOG version (downloaded a couple of months after it was released) nor the new GOG version I've downloaded last week work... I can load my 1.0034A saves in the GOG versions, but can't save, the game just crashes.

so please, is there a way to convert saved games 1.0034A to the new GOG version? if not, I'll have to try to finish the game in one go (as I can't save) and hope there are no other issues other than saving that might cause the game to crash...

thanks to everyone who might know the answer!

How far in are you.

[to people who haven't played the game - obvious spoilers ahead]

yep, SPOILERS follow:

I'm ready to perform the ritual but after the in-game cutscene and some dialogues I get stuck in the "black" area... see this thread (apparently this is a known bug), also it's Chapter 77 of this walkthrough...

so I'm pretty far, but not quite close to the end yet...

This is a known feature of using a no-cd crack.
I know it's not what you wanted to hear, but with this save, you will NOT be able to get any further.
Install the GOG version & restart....

restart...! :D I've been playing this game for over 6 years (with loooong pauses obviously) so I can't really imagine going through all that again, I'll probably try to finish the game using GOG version and my saves without any more saving (I think I'd need a whole weekend :D, or just read the end of the walkthrough...

or... GOG might look and find some old build of the game they got from Larian that would be compatible with my saves and lend it to me (as I bought the game here... :o)

You might want to upload that save file so others can experiment with possible solutions. :)

Game saves from NO_CD games are not compatible with other versions of the game.
With your current NO_CD game, you will not be able to get past this point.
With GOG (Or other NON NO_CD) versions, it will crash as you have seen.

You could try and ask Lars or someone at Larian to see if they can "fix" your save.

Contact them vis the tech forum :

http://www.larian.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=5&page=1

do you have a favourite upload service? :) the folder (zipped) has 8 MB and I don't think I can attach it here... (or can I?)

EDIT: ok, here goes the link to my save (the zip file will be available for 7 days apparently) - you unzip it and copy the whole folder into the "savegames" folder in your DD installation

Hmm I wanted to give you a few pointers how you can technically quick-finish the last chapter of the game (the wastelands), but perhaps having to go on no saves and no assurance it won't crash on you anyway, plus the tricky end boss, I guess that would be a daunting task anyway.

Divine Divinity is not a demanding game at all. What you could do is install a virtual machine,throw winXP or whatever on it, and then play Divine Divinity trough that. Most VM software lets you make a snapshot of the current computer's state and then just resume from it, so you can 'save' the game this way. Of couse, it's going to add a few minutes to launching of the game.

Not that this matters, but the no-CD hack is superfluous. With the updated disk version, if you edit the config.div and in the line startup logo 1 change the one to a zero, it will eliminate the need for the Play CD, except for the cutscenes at the Blessing Ceremony and end of the game (the same limitations as the no-CD hack). If that line isn't present, you can add it to the end and hit enter before saving (the game expects the last line to be blank and ignores it).


There are two ways you can continue with your existing save, either by supplying a Play CD so you can continue with the disk version, or fixing the compatibility issue so you can transfer your disk save to the download version of the game.


If you burn the bik files from the download version of the game (in the '..\Divine Divinity\static' folder) to a CD/DVD-R/RW labeled 'LARIAN_DIV3' (in the '..\disc3\static' folder), you will have a new Play CD for the disk version. A virtual CD program should work, as well (didn't try). I'm not sure if the DVD version of the game changed the name of the disk or the path to the bik files.

After you load your save, you can safely drop keys, rope and other miscellaneous items before hitting the gong.


I looked at a different disk save a couple months ago, with the same crash trying to re-save after loading in the download version. There was something in the inventory files which caused the problem; replacing them with ones from my save (244KB, started in the original, unpatched disk release) allowed that save (and yours) to be loaded and re-saved in the download version.

My first character was a warrior, but the equipment isn't terribly different from what your mage is using. Also included in my inventory files are charms, gold, restoration potions, some spare equipment kept for skill bonuses, statuettes, teleporter stones, Finnigan's magic lockpicks and the portable bed.

Load your wtf save, drop any potions, etc you wish to keep (anything without random stats) on the ground, save the game under a new name, extract the gonginventory.zip file into that save folder, overwriting the files there, then reload that save, pick up whatever you dropped, and hit the gong.


I would have seen this sooner if you posted in the GOG Divinity forum.

thank you so much, I'll try that right after I come back from work!

I've tried loading my save with the GOG version, I threw all the items on the ground so that my inventory is empty and tried to save but the game crashed again :(