All of my Sam and Max game son Steam crash

[Levybreak]

I just bought the Sam and Max complete pack on steam the other day, and to my surprise, every single Sam and Max game crashes on startup. I have no idea why this would happen, especially since a long time ago i downloaded S1 Ep4 and it worked fine. I looked through the telltale forums and steam support, and failed to see any problem like this. To be precise about the crashes, All the Season 1 games I click "Launch" and then immediately after steam's launching dialog closes I get the standard XP "Application has stopped working" dialog. With all the season 2 games my screen just flashes black and then back to normal, no game, no error. Any ideas?

Windows XP 32 bit
nVidia GeForce 6150 LE (getting a new card sometime in the next week)
2GB DDR2 RAM

[DjNDB]

Is your display color depth set to 32 bit?

[Levybreak]

Originally Posted by DjNDB

Is your display color depth set to 32 bit?

Yes, it is.

[The Spoony Hou]

Have you tried updating your drivers?

Sorry, kinda obvious, but I can't think of anything.

[DjNDB]

Originally Posted by The Spoony Hou

Have you tried updating your drivers?

Same goes for your DirectX and Internet Explorer.

If nothing so far helps please give us a dxdiag log.

dxdiag
Windows XP: Go to your start menu and click on run. Type in "dxdiag" and hit enter
Windows Vista / 7: Press the windows key on your keyboard or click on the start menu. Type in "dxdiag" and hit enter.

Now click on the button that says "save all information".
It will prompt you to save a file. Save it where you can find it.

Then zip the file and attach it to a message.

[Levybreak]

Yeah, my drivers are updated, updating IE was something I tried after reading these forums and that didn't fix it, but yes it's updated, and my DirectX is indeed updated. (9.0c, I think) So I've attached the DxDiag info you've asked for.

[DjNDB]

Okay, there are some things you can try.
Update your Realtek HDA drivers and disconnect all USB devices except keyboard and mouse. Especially the gamepad and Headset.

[Levybreak]

Originally Posted by DjNDB

Okay, there are some things you can try.
Update your Realtek HDA drivers and disconnect all USB devices except keyboard and mouse. Especially the gamepad and Headset.

I updated with those drivers and tried unplugging all my stuff, and it still doesn't work.

[Jake]

Have you written into support@telltalegames.com ? Support staff should be back full time starting Monday (tomorrow).

[DjNDB]

Okay, let's try a different approach.

Have you verified your game cache files?

Originally Posted by Levybreak

I have no idea why this would happen, especially since a long time ago i downloaded S1 Ep4 and it worked fine.

How long ago was that and what has changed in your system since then?
One thing that obviously changed is your graphics driver, or did you just update that?
You could try an older version from around the time it worked from Nvidias Driver Archive.

Originally Posted by Levybreak

nVidia GeForce 6150 LE (getting a new card sometime in the next week)
2GB DDR2 RAM

It is possible that the problem just vanishes when you install the new card.

[Levybreak]

Alright, I got a new graphics card (and motherboard and CPU since it didn't work in the old board), and it STILL doesn't work, and with the same problem! This would lead me to believe that it is some kind of software problem or something, no?

[The Spoony Hou]

Can't you disable some software? Like the anti-virus and such? There must be something running background crapping things up.

Maybe it's time to upgrade Windows?

[DjNDB]

Originally Posted by Levybreak

Alright, I got a new graphics card (and motherboard and CPU since it didn't work in the old board)

Did you reinstall windows after you installed he new Motherboard?

A new dxdiag log would be great too.

Originally Posted by The Spoony Hou

Can't you disable some software? Like the anti-virus and such? There must be something running background crapping things up.

Instructions below.
Booting clean in Windows XP:
1. Click Start --> Run --> Type MSCONFIG --> Click OK
2. On the General tab, choose Selective Startup
3. Uncheck Process SYSTEM.INI file
4. Uncheck Process WIN.INI file
5. Uncheck Load Startup Items
6. Click on the Services tab
7. At the bottom, check Hide All Microsoft Services
8. Uncheck all boxes in the window or click the button labeled Disable All
6. Click OK
7. Click Restart
8. After reboot, run the game to see if it works.

After performing the necessary steps, restore your system by doing the following:

1. Click Start --> Run --> Type MSCONFIG--> Click OK
2. On the General tab, choose Normal Startup
3. Click OK
4. Click YES, when asked to restart your computer

Based on Will's post

[Levybreak]

Alright, here's a new DxDiag report, I'll go start with an empty startup now...

And no, I didn't reinstall windows. I just uninstalled some old drivers and installed new ones. :3
(I really don't want to have to go through the hassle of reinstalation...)

[Seg]

From the looks of it, you haven't installed the most recent drivers for your graphics card. While it's an ASUS, it's actually an ATI Radeon HD 4650 class. You should get the ATI drivers as they're maintained.

ATI Catalyst 9.12 Display Driver for Windows XP Professional/Home Edition

[Levybreak]

I thought I had installed the latest drivers for it, but it turns out I had only installed the lastest CCC. Anyways, I updated it and the problem still exists. :S

[DjNDB]

The clean boot changed nothing either?

[Levybreak]

Originally Posted by DjNDB

The clean boot changed nothing either?

No, it did not.

[DjNDB]

Originally Posted by Levybreak

No, it did not.

Okay, time for some new ideas.
Does the free Sam&Max Episode you can download from TTG directly still work?
How about the demos of W&G or ToMI?

[Levybreak]

Alright, just tried the free same and max from TTG, and the launcher pops up, and then the opening gametap and telltale logos popup, and then it goes back to desktop and nothing happens.