1) what is the different between wizardry 7 and wizardry gold? (except the graphic)

2) how to summon more than 1 creature at the same time?

I guess Wizardry gold is pentium compatible and has a built-in help system.
Avoid it, because it can ruin the game experience. :)

About how to summon more than one creature at the same time - you can't. You can summon only one time during a battle, and if you try to cast more summoning spells "nothing appears". However with some levels of some summoning spells often more than one creature of the same type appear, like with Illusion level 3-4 and Fairy Witches, I had often 6 of them. That's also a random thing, sometimes it's one, sometimes it's two and sometimes it's many.
One spell I recommend especially - Create Life (Alchemist). Cast with level 7, it summons a powerful Godzylla (a dinosaur-like monster, sometimes but rarily 2 of them are summoned) that has an insane character level, immune to all magic except that cast by Gorrors (as they have even much higher level than him), can breathe fire and can crush enemies for 200 points by stomping them. And his armor is very hard to penetrate though he's easy to hit. Even if he attacks just by lashing, he easily deals 60-100 damage. One of the reasons I always loved to have an Alchemist in my party :P

when i played dsavant it was in 93 there was no wizardry Gold. i heard Gold gave better portraits and general facelift to graphics as well as fixed up some bugs.

so if i were to replay wizardry 7 again today , should i not pick Gold instead or play original dsavant again?

Not sure if they fixed some bugs in Gold, I actually didn't really notice any in the original Wizardry VII. As for the new portraits, they look quite different from the original ones and in my opinion of quite worse quality.
Of course, that doesn't mean you won't like them either, you can feel free to try out the Gold version. But if you ask me Wizardry Gold didn't do anything to outdo the original Crusaders of the Dark Savant, aside of that Pentium compatibility, which is hardly of any use today.

Actually i did encounter some problems with dark savant in '93, i can't remember the exact specifics now but something like the function or spell to recharge my Avenger and other charge items didn't work. i just couldn't recharge anything.

this time round i might give wizardry gold a try but that pentium thing is a deterrant factor as i would much prefer to run dosbox so i dunno. must i really run Gold from windows?

haha i remember what i was really happy about when i played the original dsavant was that they fixed the problem in wiz6 whereby if u managed to get every single skill in the game @ 100, and u levelled up some more u would get locked in the level-up panel

You can play Wizardry Gold in DosBox too, of course, just need to increase the CPU cycles to a high enough amount if your machine is strong enough for it (most today's computers should have no problems there), something like 25.000-30.000.
If there're any problems running or installing in DosBox just post a thread in Troubleshooting.

I guess this is kind of off-topic, but I saw that this was the most recent posting on this game. I played this long ago, and have just been able to re-start game and was wondering if anyone is still playing and offering to help. I have gotten stuck a couple of times and was looking for some help.

Of course you can post any troubles or questions you have in this discussion & help thread about Wizardry VII, which can also be downloaded from this site - Link
Since (at my knowledge) Wizardry Gold doesn't add anything new to Wizardry VII, aside of few graphic changes, it should be perfectly ok to ask about it there also.

Thanks!! The biggest problem I am having right now is trying to beat the Lord of the Dark Forest. I can not find anything to hurt him. I can do some damage every once in a while, but not enough to kill him. And, if I do manage to silence or capture him, it doesn't last long enough for me to kill him. My characters are all level 9, so maybe they aren't high enough to kill him. But, I am afraid that if I leave now and try to do some other things, that when I come back the chest with the Holy Work will be empty. Don't I need that to get the Legend Map from Father Rulae in New City? Or will the leftovers in the chest be enough?

Don't worry, only maps are found by other parties. And even if another party gets the legend map before you you can just pay for the map or kill them.
So there's time enough to grind up levels if you aren't strong enough yet.

Thanks for the response. I have had to re-start 3 times since I started playing again because I had forgotten how to work things and this time I figured out how to place my points so that I get better spells earlier on, how to assay books into the spells, etc so I was happy with the way things were going until I got here! I have just one more question for now-how do I use the "regents" that I find. The aromatic crystals, lions claws, deadman's hair, etc. I don't know what to do with those. Or what to do with the white rubber bear, "aank"(sp?), cross of protection? I don't know what to do with them so I am carrying all this stuff that I don't even know how to use.

You equip all these reagents and the cross in the amulet slot (press E while picking them up with the mouse). As for what properties they exactly have, you need to cast Identify spell of according enough level (some require higher spell level than others) on them to see what benefit they provide.
When the item is already identified (by high enough Artifacts skill for example, or earlier Identify), you can save the game before casting Identify, then cast it just to see what a thing does, then load the game again now that you know what it does.
Deadman's Hair provides some % resistance against Poison, for example. Those reagents don't disappear when equipped, providing benefits constantly.

If you equip the White Rubber Bear, it will ask if you want to use it. If you do, it increases your Swimming skill up 5 or 10 points I think, dissolving after that. So be sure to use it up on a character with lowest level in Swimming.

Thanks again-I couldn't figure out how to get all those things to work. I can see what the do in the clue book, but coldn't figure out how to use them. Will they protect the whole party or just the person equiping it? And, do they have to give up one of their hands to use it? My fighter has a 2 handed weapon and my bard had a bow with arrows. My mage also uses a bow and arrows. Again, thanks much. I don't usually use message boards, so finding one and actually being able to post to one is and read the responses is progress for me!! I appreciate all the help. This is the one game I have started that I actually want to see through to the finish!! Even my kids like standing over me watching and they now have an incentive to get good grades. If they keep their grades up, I told them they can start their own game with whatever characters they want! Take care!!

Items a character equips benefit only this one character, not the entire party. Also reagents/amulets/rings/crosses/bracelets etc. are of a different kind of equipable items than weapons, so no, they don't take up any of the two hands. They all go (technically, though you can't really tell ingame aside of item color change when equipped) into the jewelry slot, while weapons go into the hand(s) slot(s). Funny enough, the game doesn't differenate between amulets, bracelets or rings, so you can equip only one of a kind at any given time.
Similarly, armors and cloaks/capes occupy different slots when equipped so you can equip both simultaneously.

Just wanted to say thanks for your help. I went to find a treasure chest between New City and the river that you had to swim to, to get (nobody mentioned the piranha or the giants that attack you). Then, I had a few more battles, equipped my people with various regents-my fighter was wearing the armor that was in the chest and using the new axe-and went after that Lord of the Dk Forest again. Finally got him last night and opened all the various treasure chests. Only lost my priest, but resurrected him-I know its not always advised, but his vitality is at 14, so I'm going to go with it! Will be going for that map tonight-hope its still there! So, thanks for the help and advice!