Features

GemRB is a portable open-source implementation of Bioware’s 8 Infinity Engine versions.

  • Runs the Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale and Planescape: Torment games, their expansions and mods
  • Cross-platform: runs on Windows, OS X, Linux, *BSD, Android, iOS and more
  • Free Libre Open Source Software, available under the GPL
  • Nearly feature-complete (TODO)
  • Usability innovations, including touch based input and scaling
  • Extensible plugin-based design that removes many limitations of the Infinity Engine
  • Increased moddability over the originals

Not convinced? Check out some screenshots and videos or perhaps the FAQ.

Status

Game Playable Completable Polished TODOs
Baldur’s Gate 1 yes yes yes bg1
Planescape: Torment yes yes no pst
Icewind Dale 1 yes yes yes iwd1
Baldur’s Gate 2 yes yes yes bg2
Icewind Dale 2 yes no no iwd2
GemRB demo yes yes no demo
New game no no no New game
Any Enhanced Edition no no no EE

PST is completable, but has some notable missing features, making it the least polished game. IWD2 is playable quite nicely up until the Volcano time loop. Both still require a lot more love to reach the level of the other games.

The GemRB demo is bundled with GemRB, so it can be ran immediately.

Multiplayer is not supported.

If you can’t wait to see what improvements the next release will bring, a terse overview of what has already been done is in the changelog in the making, updated approximately every 100 changes.

Wide screen, higher resolutions

The original games only supported a fixed list of resolutions through their data, with the widescreen mod enabling more choice. GemRB on the other hand supports whole-window scaling (resize the window to see), which in effect produces larger pixels and looks best at integer multiples of the base resolution (eg. 3x bigger). GemRB also supports arbitrary resolutions without the widescreen mod, but in that case the GUIs will remain the same size, only centered.

Setup Resolution Pixel scaling Requires mod
Originals Fixed no no
GemRB 0.8.7 Fixed optional no
GemRB 0.9.0+ Arbitrary optional no
Widescreen Arbitrary no yes

So feel free to run at any resolution and if you’re discontent with the GUI, consider installing the widescreen mod and bigger fonts.

Confused? Watch this video explainer.