ToB insert disc error - how to fix

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After a long time I decided to install my original version of BG2 and ToB on my computer (Windows 7 Home Premium) from my original CDs. Being old and forgetful, I let it install to the Program Files (x86) folder. No problem running BG2, but when trying to go to Watcher's Keep I get the error message "no disc in drive" even though the disc is in the correct drive. And now that I'm at the final battle with Irenicus and defeated him, get that error as well. I know it has something to do with file locations and administrator accounts, but not being a computer guy I don't know exactly how to fix it.

If I right click and run as Adminstrator, I don't get the error message, but also my saved games do not appear.

Searching through these boards, the solution appears to be uninstalling, then re-installing the game in a folder other than Program Files. How do I ensure that I keep my saved games? When look in the Save folder, my saved games aren't visible. I can see the Auto-save and Quick-save folders, but not my games. However, when I use the CharView program, and open files, I can see my save games (they have the little lock icon beside them).

I tried creating a file on my hard drive "Games" and copying all the game files there, then editing the Baldur config file in Notepad so that it points to the new directory I created. The game worked and no error message, but my saved games did not show up either.

I've tried creating a Temp folder on my desktop and copy the Save file to it, but still can only see the Auto-save and Quick-save folders, so not sure if my saved games are being copied. There is only one account on this computer (mine) and it is an administrator account. I know I need to install the game in a location other than Program Files, I'd just like to keep my saved games without having to start over from the beginning. Can anyone offer a solution? Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance.

 

I could tell you the "proper" way to fix it by editing the .ini file in both \program files (x86)\ as an administrator AND the version found in the virtual store in your appdata, but the easiest way to handle this is to backup your override and save folders (just make a ZIP or RAR archive for now), plus if you added any custom pictures or sounds, add that to the archive. Then reinstall the game, install TOB, and apply the official patch to another folder like cgames.
Then overwrite the override folder and the save game folders with those archives you made. Everything should be there including your mods.
Actually, the easiest but wasteful way if you have plenty of hard drive space to spare, (and by today's standards BG2 isn't that big, unlike when I got it which took a 6gb chunk out of my 40gb drive, but it's not much to a 2,000gb drive) you could just back up the entire Baldur's Gate game folder, then once you've reinstalled the SoA & ToB simply overwrite it with your backup and you don't have to bother patching or modding.
I do empthesize that you need to install both SoA & ToB to get some registry entries correct, but if you use the second method you don't have to install the patch or anything else, overwriting the BG folder with your backup will put everything back as it was.

Let me know if you want me to track down the details on how to fix your current installation, basically you just have to modify the baldur.ini (or whatever it is called exactly, the computer with BG2 installed is turned off at the moment so I can't check) file in BOTH \program files (x86) and the virtual store to both point to the same places.
To modify the former in \program files, you have to run Notepad++ (or just Notepad) as an administrator and open the file from within the program. Otherwise it doesn't work.

Also, to get your saved games to appear when running as an administrator, you need to locate them in the virtual store for your standard account and copy them to the virtual store in the admin account you ran the game as.

If you don't know what I'm talking about with the virtual store, check this out:
www.networkinghowtos.com/howto/windows-virtual-store-location/

Sorry for being to lazy to boot up my Windows 98SE/XP machine and track down the exact details, but it should be enough to work with. There's a line in the baldur.ini file (I think that's what it's called, or something similar as I could be thinking of BG1, but it's pretty much the same solution for all the Infinity Engine games. These solutions can be easily applied to BG1, IWD1, PST, and IWD2 by substituting the appropriate .ini file or game directory) about the path to the game data. Make sure it is pointing to the correct path. What is probably tripping it up is the \program files (x86) instead of \program files used in Windows 95-XP (and IIRC the 32-bit versions of Vista, 7, and 8. not sure about 10, have'n't tried 32-bit 10).

 

Thanks, this was a huge help!

 

It's wasteful, but those same paths I mentioned in the .ini? You should be able to copy the CDs onto your hard drive and change those paths to point to the folders you copied them to if you want to skip disk swapping at the cost of an extra 3.5gb of disk space. Again, that was huge when I first got the game, but not much today.

 

In the future, just make sure you don't install stuff to Program Files. Old games will often want to do that, but it was a bad idea even back when this was a thing.

 

Prior to Windows XP, I don't see what the problem was.
it was only when Microsoft started trying to protect the Program Files folder from being altered by viruses and malware that the problems started, and you will note that it only happens with games backwards compatible with Windows 9X.

The real issue is that Microsoft changed the procedures for how to do things. It used to be the official, correct procedure was to use a .ini file in the program files folder to store certain settings.
Then they decided allowing write access to the folder where you store your programs was a bad idea because viruses could alter said programs with malicious code. They decided to make everything stored in the registry the official policy.

That's the main reason for the problems. The special protection put on \program files that got even stronger with Windows Vista.

I don't see why "program files" was a bad idea at all, just the initial implementation in Windows 9X.

 

Because it became the de-facto location where companies would dump all of their crap, kinda like they're doing these days with AppData, instead of using more appropriate locations. And don't even get me started on how much garbage went into the registry after that became the next big thing.

There's nothing inherently wrong with having a "program files" directory, although there's something to be said about putting all your eggs in one basket, it just led to decades of poor file organization and people abusing the convenience.

 

As I said, it wasn't really poor file organization, just the change from .ini files for program configuration that were favored in Windows 9X, especially Windows 95. I'm not saying they were not a mistake that should never have been used, especially given that Windows 95 had a registry not that different from that found in Windows 10 (though much smaller, my Windows 10 registry for the computer out of the box is bigger than a fresh Windows 95 install).
.Ini files required the program to be able to modify it's own directory, which was asking for viruses to take advantage. Having a separate, non-executable directory to install and store those files to would have made more sense. Something like %appdata% but for all users like the way the registry hive HKEY_Local_machine works or the shared/public folder.