It's been a few years since I've played BG 1&2 and wanted to play for a couple of hours on my day off work. I currently have BG1&2 Complete NOT the Enhanced edition on a Windows 10 operating system. In the past, when I had the game installed, I was able to open the baldur.ini file and add the necessary verbiage under Program Options to enable the in-game cheats. When I downloaded the game from my GOG library, today, I started a new game, played for about an hour and then closed out of the game in search of the file in question. But, I haven't been able to locate it in any folder on my PC.

I went online to troubleshoot and all I keep finding is how to locate a newer version of the .ini file aka .lua but for the Enhanced edition. Do I have to purchase and download the Enhanced Edition to utilize cheat options, now? I've opened every single text file in my BG folder on my computer looking for anything that resembles the old .ini file and haven't found anything with the right verbiage in it. I really only use the cheat for a little extra gold and to teleport around the map so I don't have to walk everywhere once I've explored a location. Does the Compete version have it built in already and I just need to know a new key-stroke to open it in-game? Shall I just give up and lose all hope? :p Any assistance is greatly appreciated!

No. The original games work exactly the same as they always did, even with any modifications GOG has made for them to work in newer systems. The latest Windows installations for BG1 and 2 are still the same as they were in 2014.

I could not guarantee that would be the case for the original versions that accompany the EE release (since I do not own them), but from the way you phrased everything, I assume you have the originals from before they were removed from sale, same as I do. You must be looking in the wrong place. Baldur.ini, which is still called the same as it always has in both BG1 and 2, is located in the same folder as the game's executable (BGMain.exe). If it was not there, the game would error out when executing BGMain.exe since it would not be able to find the files needed to run, by using the fields in the "Alias" heading of Baldur.ini.

Care to post a file list of the folder you are looking in? A screen capture of the explorer window would be just fine.

Where did you install the game ?
If it was in Program Files(x86)... then the ini might be in a hidden folder, like C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Local\... something about GOG or Baldurs Gate

I have installed the games many times, from the backup installers and through Galaxy, in C:\Program Files (x86), in other folders, in other drives, and I have no reason to believe that could happen with these particular games under any circumstances (see attached image for an example). Why do you think that could be the case?

Simply because the OP couldn't find them.
I've never used Gog Galaxy, so I didn't know, but a lot of applications hide .ini files in AppData\Local|... when in ProgramFiles(x86)
Since that is not the case here, the op should check folder view options to show known file extentions.
Also a lot of old games have troubles with modding, when in a protected folder, so it should be avoided.

I installed the game in the recommended path which is the same one you have listed above. I have every other file in that folder except the .ini. I've opened up every word doc just to double check that it wasn't named something completely diferent and it just doesn't exist. I've never had this issue before... it's not the end of the world I suppose but just frustrating that in all of the years I've played these games this is the first time I didn't have a .ini file to modify. Guess I can buy the enhanced version and see if I get a version of the file with that edition. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Just in case, even if I insist you must be looking in the wrong folder:

For BG1: How many files with the name Baldur do you have in the folder you are looking in? (only Baldur and nothing else, without taking extensions into account)

And how many files of 1 Kb or less in size? If they are not many (let's say less than 10), would you mind writing down their names? If you have the money to spare, sure, use that sledgehammer on the mosquito. And bear in mind BG1EE will be a very different game for you that have only played the original BG1.

One more thing you can try. If you know how to open an elevated command-line prompt, you can execute the following command (I'm assuming you installed the games in the C drive from what you mentioned):

findstr /sipm /c:"BitsPerPixel=" C:\*

You could try with a non-elevated command-line, but I would not risk it, since it might turn up nothing if it cannot access the file location where they actually are.

It can take quite a while to complete, because it will look through the whole C drive, but along the way it should show the full path to Baldur.ini for both BG1 and 2.

It should find them if you already run the games and changed the options, or even if you install them from scratch and still have not run them at all, since BitsPerPixel= is present in both games' Baldur.ini right after installing them (unlike some other options).

--- edit ---

I have not run a full disk text search like that in quite a while, but now I remember that you could run out of memory if findstr runs into a particularly large file. Then you would have to narrow down the folders for the program to look into, excluding the one with that large file.

TL;DR: it might be too much trouble for the non-OS savvy to do it

This is what I don't get. The game won't even launch without this file in the installation folder, much less letting you play for an hour. So we can assume the file wasn't "quarantined" or something by the system or some antivirus software (though I doubt this could possibly happen in the first place). I've never seen this file being hidden, either, and I've done countless installations on this machine which is also win 10 x64. You can click "View" option in the folder toolbar and tick "Hidden items", if you wish. Are you saying that atm you can play this game without baldur.ini being in the game folder?

How about just reinstall the game, outside of drive C:\, and see if this file will be there?

I will try that! I appreciate everyone's feedback.

Update: I uninstalled/reinstalled the game and I was able to locate the file. I did have to show hidden items but this time is was in the game folder whereas last time I couldn't locate it all even after "showing hidden items" before the uninstall. Anyways. Now I can teleport to my heart's content.

!!!!!!HERE IS HOW YOU DO THAT NOW!!!!!

Sorry to necro this, but I found the resolution after being unable to find it online.
And if you are like me you hate having to re-research the wheel.

The functions of file baldur.ini have been replaced by the file Baldur.lua.

This file works very similarly to the way baldur.ini worked except it has a different syntax in the lua file.

I know you referenced not having the lua either, but since no one seemed to touch on this I figured I would also add this in here. Next, if this doesn't work you can try searching with something like everything search.

I hope that helps.

TLDR;
Change Baldur.lua by adding the following line.

SetPrivateProfileString('Program Options','Debug Mode','1')

It's the old hack, but according to the new rules.

The OP is talking about the original BG 1 and 2, not the enhanced editions.