I've been plagued with problems using old savegames, crash when using statuettes, crash when saving, crash during cutscenes...and this game has only crashed 3 or 4 times in the 7 years I've playing it. I don't recommend using old saves or swapping saves between the versions, although, for all I know, these problems would occur with a fresh 1.4 character as well.
Larian has said they're "looking into" the spinning NPC problem, so that is a hint of patch.
