Larian Studios Forums Beyond Divinity (English) Technical Problems Patch 1.49 - English version Beyond Divinity

A new patch for Beyond Divinity is available. It removes the Starforce protection, fixing a number of problems players have been reporting including Windows Vista compatibility. Click here to download it.

MAY YOU NEVER USE STARFORCE NEVER NEVER NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!

Thanks devs for the final patch of goodness that deserves to be praised <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

My question now is, can the game be installed without infecting one's system with Starforce in the first place? Perhaps with an alternate installer? If so, I may finally pick BD up after all these years.

If you install the game and run the Starforce removal program (see here) before rebooting (perhaps delete the '..Beyond Divinity\StarForce Driver Installation' folder and check the Windows temp folder) that should probably prevent the drivers from being installed.


Welcome to the forum. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

Starforce ONLY gets installed if you run the main game EXE.. Hence why some people had to reboot after they ran the main exe file <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

"Probably" doesn't exactly fill me with hope. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> I'll certainly take a look at what you mentioned if I end up purchasing the game, but I really need a definitive answer (preferably from the devs) before I do so. I've heard a lot about Starforce over the years, and it just doesn't seem worth the gamble.


Thanks! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />


How sure are you of that? Has it been definitively confirmed anywhere?

edit : i wish to make an appology , i just installed beyond divinity and it said

Starforce - " PLEASE REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER TO COMPLETE SETUP "

Now im pissed off i haven't starforce on my computer since well over a year!
Im going to warn everyone else to avoid the game still , cause it still installs starshit without authorization.

=============================================


EDIT 2 : When it said i should reboot to complete setup (DONT CLICK OK)leave it open - i did a CTRL+ALT+DEL and looked for the starforce initiation.. And i saw something called DRIVERINIT or something. I shutdown that task and as yet i can't see starforce on my system

This is exactly what I was worried about. As great as it is that the game itself is now Starforce-free, a custom installer would be nice as well. Hint, hint. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

You do not HAVE to reboot your computer when the installation asks you to...

Just let that reboot window sit unattended , run the patch file (1.49) to remove the copy protection. Delete folder: "C:\Program Files\Larian Studios\Beyond Divinity\StarForce Driver Installation" and THEN only reboot your computer.

Starforce will not be installed. - I just tested it to confirm this.

P.S. blooduk - you are quick to jump on your high horse - i am sure that you could have figured this one out if you took a moment to think before you posted angry messages.

I would just like to report that the Lucky Cap(that the talking skull turns into) disappeared from my inventory in all of my savegames. I thought that maybe I had just sold it somewhere, but I went to a savegame before I had met any merchants(even the Imp at the beginning), and it was gone! It was a nice cap, but I do not feel like starting over from that point again. Poop. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/disagree.gif" alt="" />

Btw i edited my post as i decided to test it myself , i then made the appology there was NO need for you to even mention my name!

My post was made before you edited your post... but sorry.

Apology accepted <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />

I just upgraded to Windows Vista and now I can't even start the game. ARGH!!!!!

What happens when you try to start the game? (nothing, error message, crash...)

Did you install the patch before or after upgrading to Vista?

Did you run the Starforce removal program (see here) to remove the drivers after you installed the BD patch?

In Windows Explorer, can you browse to the 'Beyond Divinity' folder and double click on the div.exe file to start the game directly?

You could try a clean re-install of the game and patch, using Lady Rain's advice above to avoid having the Starforce drivers try to install.
Zip or otherwise backup your saved games folder to another location first, just in case. Each save is a separate subfolder in the '..\Beyond Divinity\savegames' folder; the 5 'bd_act#_start' folders are created/updated by the game/patch, and do not need to be backed up.

Easiest way to install Beyond Devinity on Vista:
(in otherwords the easy way to bypass all the extra obstacles that Vista has)

1. Copy the content of both Cd's into a folder on your hard drive (this is not mandatory - but it makes the installation much faster and avoids crashes due to crc-check failures. Even though my Cd's are both perfect, i had CRC-check errors on all my installtion attempts until i copied it (with NO errors interestingly enough) to the hard drive).

2. Right click on the "BeyondDivinity.exe" file and select Run as administrator. (also not mandatory, but it bypasses ALL security obstacles)

3. WAIT (yea this one is mandatory <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" /> Vista inspects the code of the whole 700MB file before it allows it to run - so on some computers it will take a while.

4. Allow any security questions that come up. (this will depend on what you did in point 1 and 2)

5. Before you click on Finish, take the tick out of "create desktop icon". (not compulsory, but this option caused an error on 2 out of my 3 installation attempts - not fatal but annoying).

6. say no to the prompt to install DirectX. (Vista does NOT like older versions on DirectX - dont even try it)

7. IGNORE the prompt to restart your computer. (Until point number 12)

8. Download the patch 1.49 (if you havnt already)

9. Right click on "BeyondDivinityEnglishPatch1.49.exe" and select Run as Administrator (again to bypass security obstacles)

10. when the patch is done installing, DO NOT RESTART the computer yet.

11. Delete the folder "C:\program files\Larian Studios\Beyond divinity\starforce driver installation\"

12. restart your computer (finally).

13. Go monster bashing <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

now worth the money <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

thanks for that fix <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />Hiya Lynn
I have downloaded the 1.49 patch and when i go to install it, it says "this is not a good game version" as you can guess this is getting me upset as this is the third time i have downloaded it with the same results and to top it all i am on dial up connection so it takes forever. Could you please tell me what is wrong if you can or where can i go for help thanks.

yours
Kazza

When run, the patch checks the registry for the install path and language version, and gives the error you stated when it does not find the expected information. Do you have the North American or UK English version of the game?

In Windows XP, if you installed the game from an account without administrative privileges, that might prevent the registry entries from being created. A recent system restore or an over aggressive registry cleaner could also be the problem, in which case re-installing the game from an account with administrative privileges should help. If Windows boots straight to the desktop, you just have one account, and it has administrative privileges.

Also, you can email Larian (support@larian.com) to get a vbs file that can create the required registry entries. A description and a reg file that works for the UK / North American version is near the end of this topic.



Welcome to the forum. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wave.gif" alt="" />

hiya
Tryed what you said lynn, i have now got the patch to work but it still does not let me get the key from tax to get into the dungeons for the summoning book in act 4. I reinstalled the game put it into a different directory copied my saved games and opened the patch. Started the game and he gives me the key, but it is not there in my inventory and when i go back to tax he repeats the same thing gives me the key but i never get it HELP i am now screaming at him LOL please please help.

yours
Kazza <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/down.gif" alt="" />

Did you try clicking on the locked door after Tax says that he has given you the key? (I assume so, but it can't hurt to check) The key should have been placed in your hero's inventory, but could be hidden or obscured by something else.

If you had your DK talk to Tax, perhaps your hero would have better luck?


If you do not have the key, it is possible to get a replacement copy (I would have to load one of my old saves at that point to get the required inventory files).

Alternately, you can bypass the locked door either by hex teleporting or using the technique described in the armory trick in act 1 topic to get a summoning doll through the wall, and have it enter the BF, then exit to get your main characters through (repeat the process to get out of that room again, when you are done in the maintenance tunnels).

Let me know if you would prefer the inventory files method.


If you need more help we should probably take this to a new topic, as it is no longer about the patch.

hiya
I have now got through the dungeon, thanks for all your help, i am so grateful not making myself bald by pulling out my hair LOL.
thanks again this site is fab, cheers for all your help
Kazza <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/up.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />

Hello. I am French and does not speak a word English then I use a translator. I hope that you will understand what I say a minimum… I read all the posted messages because I had a similar problem: after installation of the patch 1.49, a message announces "This is not good range version". I tried to translate words of Raze I did not completely understand. Moreover, in what relate to me I only found an Australian or English version and my Vista is French I believe. Can you help me please please please ? I have haste to play but I desperate…. Thank you very much

Ambre

Hello Ambre and welcome in our forum

Unfortunately my French is rusty... but I'll check with one of my French colleagues and ask him to help you.

If you send an email I can try to help you step by step, however in English or you can post your question in the French forum for

Hello,
New to game.. I am playing game ..all is working o.k. ( P.C. ) but I don't know how to stay alive or to arm my self ... I eather use a knife or a sword ... how do I get more help to fight others..
do i need a patch...
thanks
Slick Kidd

In the main menu, the game version number is listed in the bottom right corner of the screen. With the English version of the game, 1.49 is the latest release.

You can download a pdf version of the BD manual if you do not have one (it may be on the CD), and there is also a Beyond Divinity Strategy Guide. Kiya's BD demo screenshot walkthrough/spoiler covers the first level of the full game. There are also various helpful topics in the Help/Tips/Tricks forum, such as Killing Fergus.

At least get the manual, but if you don't want to read ahead and possibly get spoilers, post a new topic with details of where you are and what you are having trouble with.


Welcome to the forum.

Hello again ,
I have to ask...
I see there is a help / tip for Divine Divinity ( crate your own destiny) is that the same game as Beyond Divinity ? or is that a different game ? I am now playing the DD crate your own destiny is there a down load for this game ?
I have been trying to stay alive when I have to do battle ... beyond the wood fence or in tunnels there is a a guard at the gate ... he talks a bit and fights and leaves then I fight with and die and have to reload..
thanks for your help
Slick kidd

Divine Divinity (DD) and Beyond Divinity (BD) are separate games, and there are separate forums for them. In the main forum list, the DD forums are listed under the BD English, German and French forum groups. To the far right of each group heading, there is a symbol with a '-' sign to indicate that the group is expanded; if you are logged in you can click this symbol to collapse the group to just the title bar; for example, I have the 'Divinity 2 - Ego Draconis (German)', 'Beyond Divinity (German)' and 'Beyond Divinity (French)' groups collapsed to make it easier to see the English forums for Larian's games.


There is a pdf version of the DD manual you can download, as well as a patch.
Some re-release versions of the game may already be updated to the latest 1.0034A version, as shown in the bottom right corner of the main menu, so would not need to be patched. The DVD version is already updated, and the patch (designed for the CD version) should not be installed.


There are a number of quests you can do in Aleroth before heading too far into the catacombs or outside, and if you explore everywhere and loot wherever possible you should be able to get a few equipment upgrades. Outside, opponents are weaker and spread out more to the east, west and north of Aleroth, but get relatively strong as you head south.

Early Starting Tips

Early Starter Tips (NON-Spoiler Version)

Hi.
Boy o Boy read all the help tips from you and others ...
Thanks for the help I only help I can get them in use ... to play out the game...
again thanks
Slick Kidd

hey everyone...I've been having a weird problem, and it looked like some solutions may come here so here we go

I just got the game, and ran into some troubles. The troubles lie at the end of of act 1, with that imp character, razhox, who is supposed to give you the key to a chamber nearby that should give you entry to samuels lair. Anyway. I had that cital armour, but got better one on battlefield, and forgot to switch back to other armour once I teleported back. Next thing, whole floor attacked me. Thnx to 50 potions and quicksaves I managed to kill them. But that left me with the cook problem.

The man is dead, my saves are all from after his death, and the imp character is falling in loops not giving me a chance to either persuade him to give me the key or allow me to kill him too, but the fact that he's a friendly is not helping much...I tried to find a away on the internet to attack friendlies, but to not success so far.

Next thing; easiest way to fix such things is to keep an eye out for new patches I thought. However, it fails to patch. The patch installs, but the game isnt patched. When I open it it says 1.470 in the bottomright corner. And apart from that, the saved games are also saved in version it seems, since that part is displayed next the savefile. So even if I succesfully patched the game, would I succeed in fixing the bug if that was somehow part of the patch? Cuz since it's version related, wouldn't it open in the old version then?

I hope any1 here has a good solution cuz starting all over again would be...well....a lot of ugly words in a row?:P

The imp Rashax only gives you a key to open the door to the cook's supply room. To get to Samuel's lair, head south of the kitchen / storage room, then to the far east. There is a locked door on the way there, opened by a lever a little to the south.

When the game is patched from 1.47 to 1.49, the game version can still be shown as 1.47 on the main menu (it gets displayed correctly installing over an earlier version). This is just a cosmetic issue, though; if the game starts without the Play CD in an optical drive, then the patch installed correctly.
There were no changes to the game itself in the 1.49 patch, so no changes in the save file format or version.


Welcome to the forum.

omg I totally missed that damn lever....all that cuz I missed a lever...I'm sort of embarrased

But thank you verymuch raze, can go on now

Hi everybody, I am new here.

Here is the thing: installed BD on my new Windows7 machine; I *think* I followed the procedure of installing the game, NOT rebooting, deleting the "StarForce Installation" files, running the patch. So I should have no traces of StarForce in my system...

However -- Event Viewer accuses an error:
"\SystemRoot\SysWow64\drivers\prodrv06.sys has been blocked from loading due to incompatibility with this system. Please contact your software vendor for a compatible version of the driver."

I checked this, and prodrv06.sys seems to be a StarForce related file. So I guess some of it got into my system, huh? Can you guys confirm that in your systems?

Note: I just reformatted my HD 2 days ago, and BD was the first game installed, so SF did not come from anywhere else, AFAIK.

Now, I do not want to cause an uproar -- I am very happy that Larian tried to make this patch available to remove the SF protection, it was a good move to compensate for a very very bad one (of including SF in the first place). But, if I am correct, someone should add instructions to remove these files from the system in that list of instructions way further above (by Lady Rain -- thanks you for that, it was helpful!), no?

Thanks a bunch!

Just to make sure I run the StarForce Driver Removal Tool whenever I re-install the game. An older version (that I downloaded after the 1.49 patch) left the prodrv06.sys file is in my c:\windows\system32\drivers folder (Win98, also deleting the Starforce related files in the BD folder and installing the patch before rebooting). I just tried the latest version, which removed it.


Welcome to the forum.

Hi, Raze. When I tried to go to the site that you link to for the Stardriver removal, I see the site, briefly, then I'm redirected almost immediately to this site:

http://www.1923turk.com/index.php

Very strange.

Checking the Starforce support page, it looks like they have started hosting the driver update and removal tools themselves. Whatever happened to the other webpage, it is no longer necessary to go through a third party.

I have done absolutely everything to try and get the Corrupt Items glitch to go away, I have reinstalled 3 times to make sure the Starforce thing is not installed, and all the times the folder was not even there, even the removal tool said there where no items to remove. I didn't reboot and installed the patch before rebooting. I have tried to set it to all Compatibility modes there is and the game crashes no matter what one I use. It will only run on Windows 2000, XP and vista and when I untick it and run it on Windows 7 but all those have the glitch.

So I am really at a loss, I have no idea what to do.
I have bought the game as a re-release as DVD from the distributor xplosiv on amazon, which has it's own install button and the 1.49 patch included. And so I am guessing Starforce is not even on this the DVD.

Someone else had a problem getting the game to run in Win9x compatibility mode (in Vista), but I'm not sure if that ever got resolved (about half way through the topic below).

Inventory graphic placement bug corrupt items in Vista/Win7

When I set the game to run in windows 98/me the game starts as it should I can see the wolf running on my screen and Larian studios, but when it comes to nVidia my computer goes out to windows and the game is running in the background I can even hear the Death Night talking in the intro video. When I click the game on the task bar the game opens for about 1 second and then goes back out to windows, so the game is running I just can't open it to play it.

Even when I hit escape, the game goes strait out to windows and the game is running in the background.

I am not really sure what to do, but I hope there is a solution to the problem.

I am suspecting it to be the DVD I am running it on, so I am thinking about buying it on gog.com but I want to make sure that it can run on windows 98/me before I buy it.

In Windows Explorer, you can browse to the '..\Beyond Divinity\Static' folder to view the 'intro.mpg' video. Rename that file and the game will skip playing it on startup. That may not help (it did in a couple cases of a crash after the video: see here), but it will at least remove a step each time you try the game.

Someone else had a problem with the game automatically minimizing during the intro movie and crashing if they tried to maximize it (BattleFields N00b ?), which was fixed by a Windows patch for XP.

A few people with problems on startup could avoid it by setting their desktop resolution and the game resolution to be the same.

Are you shutting down all non-essential programs (especially anti-virus) before starting the game?

There may be some things you have not tried yet in the topic below, as well.

yet another "Game simply won't start!"-thread


With the 1.49 patch installed, you shouldn't need the DVD at all. There were no changes to BD with the download version, so I don't think getting it from GoG would help, unless there was a scratch on the DVD or something, and the install program did not report an error in some file.
The topic Crash on start up contains a file verification method you could try.

Well I finally got it to work, I even bought a second copy at gog.com just to find out you where right that it wasn't the CD.

When I changed my screen colour from 32bit colours to 16bit colours, it all works fine.

So thanks for your support to all my whining.

Game works great now, and it's really fun.

Glad you got it working and thanks for the update.

I never would have guessed the desktop colour depth would cause such a problem with certain compatibility settings. Hopefully this will help if anyone else runs into similar issues.

sorry i'm new here and can't seem to locat the patch for divine divinity...could someone direct me in the right direction???

Are you posting drunk, or is someone else using your account/computer?

no it's me but i can't find the patch hasha

The Divine Divinity forums would probable be a better place to look for the patch than Beyand Divinity, or if you go to Larian's homepage and click on Support, there are separate pages for each of their games.

Thank you Raze, sorry I was trying to get the game going for my daughter to play. Thanks again. Glad your still here

Ah, slaughtering evil doers... a good wholesome family activity.

Hello,

I strangely have some items who're equipped at bad slots in my hero. For armors they go in legs slot, shield in boots' and I can equip a second sash in a slot on side... That's quite strage. I made modification Raze done to get some more skill points but that's all (and I only changed free skill and free stat points).
I'll test with a new game without changing stats to see if I made a mistake.

If someone have an idea, I thank him in advance.
Good day,

Is this with the disk version of the game?
This is a known issue when playing the disk version in Vista or Win 7/8/10, which can be prevented by playing the game in Win 9x compatibility mode. Unfortunately, this only helps with a new game or a save before this started; once the inventory becames corrupt, switching to a compatibility mode will not fix or limit the problem.
Right click on the div.exe file in the install folder, or a shortcut for the game, and select properties, then switch to the Compatibility tab and select a Win 95/98/ME compatibility mode there (and maybe check off to run as administrator and disable display scaling on high DPI settings).

Inventory graphic placement bug

Thank you Raze.

Yes, it is.
Sorry for having asked this again ; I haven't found the other thread before you linked it.
I'll test that immediately.

But when I do that, I got heavy lags (screen and voices) who makes the game horrible to play...
I tested the trick of deleting actx/dynamic things.
I'm on Win10 here and got 2 screens.

Anyways thanks for your help.

Did you try Win 95 and the 98/ME compatibility mode, to see if the one you didn't try first would avoid the lags?

Did you try temporarily disabling your second screen, to see if that would make a difference?

Try the 4GB Patch to increase the amount of virtual memory that the game (or any 32 bit application) can access in 64 bit versions of Windows, to see if that helps with performance.


The download version of the game doesn't have this issue, so that may be an option (currently 90% off on Steam), especially if you would like the higher resolution and widescreen aspect ratio support.

Hello,

I tested with both, same "lag-bug".
Then I used the trick of the patch, its not perfect but "playable". Some slow down and some little sound bugs but no more bugs seem to happen (I was just before the guards in the corridor who leads to the arena with spiders and none of them gave me any corrupted item).
So I think the compatibilty mode is good to correct this bug. The 4GB patch helps for the lags but not perfect.
Correction : helps just a bit for lags but that hardens when "many" things are on screen...

I'll try to disable one screen but I won't get bugs of configuration after that ; I mean playnd BD is not the only use of this computer ^^
Well, buy again some old and "medium" game a second time for screen bugs, hmmm... Well... If there was a patch to make it more fun, why not. But there, nothing new, many things not very nice in game so... nope...

I have played the last weeks in my free time to some old RPG, including VERY old ones who were truly fun. Dungeon master (atari game) I had but never finished in my childhood. I edited some graphics and had fun to finish this.
I'd like to do the same with Bloodwych.
And I'm modding few strategy games old school to get fun.
Samely I was thinking "yea, why not BD too" ! But if it doesn't work I won't spend too much time with it. It lacks many intresting things in my eyes. The first opus, DD, was really more "open" and let you more "RPG" playing than this one. I'd be more ready to buy again DD than BD ! The ability system looks really less fun to my eyes even if having more than 5 levels is nice, veeerry nice (but boring to have VERY VERY few points to give in abilities !).

Anyways thanks aloooooot for your help !