Telltale Games

Steltek · 11/23/2006, 11:41 pm

Hmm, true. 192MB of RAM isn't much, a good part of it probably goes off to your operating system and then your PC has to start swapping (which of course is quite a performance killer) to load the larger scenes in Sam and Max. Do you see the harddrive working a lot when your PC slows down? You might try to defragment your pagefile (if you have the utilities to do so), it might not help much but if your pagefile is very fragmented now, defragging could improve performance a little.

maximmortal · 11/24/2006, 02:21 am

Yes, the harddrive struggles a lot during the big scenes! I will see about defragging, otherwise I might buy some more RAM. Thanks for the suggestions!

SplitSoul · 11/24/2006, 08:53 am

So is there a patch in sight? I really want to complete this game.

Emily · 11/25/2006, 06:24 am

We have not determined exactly what's causing the problem (it doesn't seem to be the same thing for everyone in this thread), so no patch coming as of yet. We have to diagnose it before we can fix it. Sorry.

galdab · 11/30/2006, 12:58 am

I can get the game to BSOD almost every time using this method. If you can get Sam stuck and then save and load, it's a guarantee. I have had it happen on a TI4400 and a TI 4200.

1. Start an new game
2. Skip text and work your way to outside the office
3. Head to the Psycho chicks office
4. Enter the office (My frame rate drops to about 5 at this point every time. Note: If i save restart the app and then load the problem is gone)
5. Release the chick from the cupboard.
6. Skip text until you can walk around the office freely
7. Walk around the office (click far left, click far right) and hit ESC a few times while doing this. At this point several things can happen.
a) The game can just crash 5%
b) The grey cog attached to the menu tab can become detached from the menu and float on the screen 70%
c) Sam can become stuck and unable to path 15% He does however point in the direction that you click. If you save and load here (without restarting the app) it will blue screen 100% of the time. Loading the save game after the app has been restarted though does not yield a crash.
d) Performance continues to degrade but nothing else of note happens 10%

I am just about to check if I can just save and reload when the performance is low without it crashing. I'll get back to you with more findings. Any questions, just give me a yell. I've got a feeling that someone is not clearing memory.

Edit: Found that when my frame rate is super low, saving and then loading without restarting the app will fix the problem.

Emily · 11/30/2006, 08:33 pm

Thank you for the information. Our technical team does read this forum, so any specific information people can provide about performance problems and when they occur is useful!

Killing Hands · 12/02/2006, 03:42 pm

Ack, crashes for me too...

... So freakin' sad. I got the Raedon Mobility x300... When I try to update the driver from ATI's sites, it says I can't and that I have to go to Dell's sites to get the driver from there, but they only have the old release!

Someone call Dell, my free support period is dead and gone

Shouldn't they put up new versions of the drivers as they are released by themselves though?

Stormtrooper · 12/15/2006, 03:28 pm

Hello, hate to add another nail in the coffin but the game crashes over here as well. Got latest drivers for my Radeon 9600Pro just a few days ago, and I doubt another bunch has been released since. Anyway, not wanting to moan and whine much, here's the thing, it crashes when I leave the office, no resolution or graphics adjusting helped etc. I run a 4 year old tin can at 1.7G w/ 256 RAM, my single proud thing being that Radeon. I guess we're all stuck at the moment, dang

SplitSoul · 01/05/2007, 06:56 pm

Having the exact same problem with Situation: Comedy. It seems it only happens in full-screen mode, when windowed it doesn't crash at all, just runs a bit poorer.

SplitSoul · 01/06/2007, 06:30 am

I retract my previous statement; Whizzer turned completely grey and then the game crashed.

Mepper · 01/06/2007, 09:39 am

I fixed the problem on my PC...

I was getting a crash to the desktop at scene transitions when I ran in fullscreen mode. I have a Dell with an ATI X1400. I upgraded my graphics drivers to the new 6.12 version. The game now runs without any problems, and I can even run it at a slightly higher resolution than before without slow or jerky graphics.

The tricky part is that ATI won't let you download or install their standard drivers onto Dell PCs, and Dell hasn't come out with an updated custom driver since July. Normally in this situation I would get special custom drivers from Omega Drivers, but he's been awol since the 6.9 drivers. My final solution was to build custom .inf files for the ATI 6.12 drivers and then use the "update driver" Windows feature instead of the ATI installer.

I see that www.ngohq.com now has custom ATI 6.12 drivers that should work on many different PCs, including Dells. I haven't ever tried these drivers, but it seems that many people use them.

The proper fix in this situation would be to get Dell to release updated custom drivers, but I've tried to get them to do it in the past without any luck, just more aggravation.

Steltek · 02/10/2007, 02:12 pm

Hmm, I had this problem in all Eps (1, 2 and 3) but in 3 I noticed that it might actually be related to the sound routines rather than the autosave. Every time the game crashed during a scene switch, I could briefly hear both the background music of the scene I was leaving and the background music of the one I was entering. At one particular time, I entered the casino and NO background music was playing at all ... sure enough a few seconds later I triggered a cutscene by using the one-armed bandit and the game crashed again (in the same fashion that it does when switching scenes). Might be worth a check to see whether the music playing routines leak memory or something...

Mizer · 03/12/2007, 03:08 pm

If any of the folks who are having problems with restarts have minidump logs generated from them (c:\windows\minidump - look for files with recent dates), I would be happy to take a look at them if you can upload them. If you have 5 or so from the date(s) that you've been having crashes then this will help narrow the problem down even more.

I have no idea how Vista handles crashes so I probably won't be able to help with anyone running it.

BobWoodward · 03/17/2007, 01:43 am

Thanks Emily! I had the same problem (windows restarted when entering new areas) and I simply installed the driver recommended in the support faq. Since then I encountered no problem at all and am happy to play the most enjoyable game in years.

Bob

Ahare · 03/31/2007, 09:46 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Killing Hands

Ack, crashes for me too...

... So freakin' sad. I got the Raedon Mobility x300... When I try to update the driver from ATI's sites, it says I can't and that I have to go to Dell's sites to get the driver from there, but they only have the old release!

Someone call Dell, my free support period is dead and gone

Shouldn't they put up new versions of the drivers as they are released by themselves though?

There's "unofficial" third party drivers that fix this problem.

http://www.omegadrivers.net/

Hopefully that'll help you.

Alsurag · 05/10/2007, 01:17 pm

I have a similair problem: The game crashes each time I try to switch Max's Head with Brady's Head in the Dream Scene, weher Sam trys to break free of Bradys Control.

The error-message is:

AppName: sam & max - culture shock.exe AppVer: 0.0.0.0 ModName: t3.mll
ModVer: 0.0.0.0 Offset: 00185bd2

I have the newest Drivers installed.
DxDiag.txt is as a .zip file attached

Thanks in advance

edit : forgot to attach the dxdiag...

Emily · 05/10/2007, 01:43 pm

Hi Alsurag,

If you'd like to send us a saved game right before this point, someone here can play through the spot where it's crashing, save, and send the save back to you.

Either post it as an attachment here, or email it to info@telltalegames.com. (Not Support because our support ticket system would probably have trouble with the attachment.)

Alsurag · 05/11/2007, 06:32 am

Sure Thing, here you are.

Just attach max head to his body, and the game crashes.

11/30/2006, 12:58 am	#45
galdab Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 14	I can get the game to BSOD almost every time using this method. If you can get Sam stuck and then save and load, it's a guarantee. I have had it happen on a TI4400 and a TI 4200. 1. Start an new game 2. Skip text and work your way to outside the office 3. Head to the Psycho chicks office 4. Enter the office (My frame rate drops to about 5 at this point every time. Note: If i save restart the app and then load the problem is gone) 5. Release the chick from the cupboard. 6. Skip text until you can walk around the office freely 7. Walk around the office (click far left, click far right) and hit ESC a few times while doing this. At this point several things can happen. a) The game can just crash 5% b) The grey cog attached to the menu tab can become detached from the menu and float on the screen 70% c) Sam can become stuck and unable to path 15% He does however point in the direction that you click. If you save and load here (without restarting the app) it will blue screen 100% of the time. Loading the save game after the app has been restarted though does not yield a crash. d) Performance continues to degrade but nothing else of note happens 10% I am just about to check if I can just save and reload when the performance is low without it crashing. I'll get back to you with more findings. Any questions, just give me a yell. I've got a feeling that someone is not clearing memory. Edit: Found that when my frame rate is super low, saving and then loading without restarting the app will fix the problem. Last edited by galdab; 11/30/2006 at 11:43 am.

12/02/2006, 03:42 pm	#47
Killing Hands Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 1	Ack, crashes for me too... ... So freakin' sad. I got the Raedon Mobility x300... When I try to update the driver from ATI's sites, it says I can't and that I have to go to Dell's sites to get the driver from there, but they only have the old release! Someone call Dell, my free support period is dead and gone Shouldn't they put up new versions of the drivers as they are released by themselves though? Last edited by Killing Hands; 12/02/2006 at 03:47 pm.

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11/23/2006, 11:41 pm	#41
Steltek Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 18	Hmm, true. 192MB of RAM isn't much, a good part of it probably goes off to your operating system and then your PC has to start swapping (which of course is quite a performance killer) to load the larger scenes in Sam and Max. Do you see the harddrive working a lot when your PC slows down? You might try to defragment your pagefile (if you have the utilities to do so), it might not help much but if your pagefile is very fragmented now, defragging could improve performance a little.

11/24/2006, 02:21 am	#42
maximmortal drugxfree Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Posts: 177	Yes, the harddrive struggles a lot during the big scenes! I will see about defragging, otherwise I might buy some more RAM. Thanks for the suggestions!

11/24/2006, 08:53 am	#43
SplitSoul Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 11	So is there a patch in sight? I really want to complete this game.

11/25/2006, 06:24 am	#44
Emily Formerly of the Telltale Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: San Francisco Posts: 4,549	We have not determined exactly what's causing the problem (it doesn't seem to be the same thing for everyone in this thread), so no patch coming as of yet. We have to diagnose it before we can fix it. Sorry.

11/30/2006, 08:33 pm	#46
Emily Formerly of the Telltale Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: San Francisco Posts: 4,549	Thank you for the information. Our technical team does read this forum, so any specific information people can provide about performance problems and when they occur is useful!

12/15/2006, 03:28 pm	#48
Stormtrooper Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 1	Hello, hate to add another nail in the coffin but the game crashes over here as well. Got latest drivers for my Radeon 9600Pro just a few days ago, and I doubt another bunch has been released since. Anyway, not wanting to moan and whine much, here's the thing, it crashes when I leave the office, no resolution or graphics adjusting helped etc. I run a 4 year old tin can at 1.7G w/ 256 RAM, my single proud thing being that Radeon. I guess we're all stuck at the moment, dang

01/05/2007, 06:56 pm	#49
SplitSoul Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 11	Having the exact same problem with Situation: Comedy. It seems it only happens in full-screen mode, when windowed it doesn't crash at all, just runs a bit poorer.

01/06/2007, 06:30 am	#50
SplitSoul Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 11	I retract my previous statement; Whizzer turned completely grey and then the game crashed.

01/06/2007, 09:39 am	#51
Mepper Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 7	I fixed the problem on my PC... I was getting a crash to the desktop at scene transitions when I ran in fullscreen mode. I have a Dell with an ATI X1400. I upgraded my graphics drivers to the new 6.12 version. The game now runs without any problems, and I can even run it at a slightly higher resolution than before without slow or jerky graphics. The tricky part is that ATI won't let you download or install their standard drivers onto Dell PCs, and Dell hasn't come out with an updated custom driver since July. Normally in this situation I would get special custom drivers from Omega Drivers, but he's been awol since the 6.9 drivers. My final solution was to build custom .inf files for the ATI 6.12 drivers and then use the "update driver" Windows feature instead of the ATI installer. I see that www.ngohq.com now has custom ATI 6.12 drivers that should work on many different PCs, including Dells. I haven't ever tried these drivers, but it seems that many people use them. The proper fix in this situation would be to get Dell to release updated custom drivers, but I've tried to get them to do it in the past without any luck, just more aggravation.

02/10/2007, 02:12 pm	#52
Steltek Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 18	Hmm, I had this problem in all Eps (1, 2 and 3) but in 3 I noticed that it might actually be related to the sound routines rather than the autosave. Every time the game crashed during a scene switch, I could briefly hear both the background music of the scene I was leaving and the background music of the one I was entering. At one particular time, I entered the casino and NO background music was playing at all ... sure enough a few seconds later I triggered a cutscene by using the one-armed bandit and the game crashed again (in the same fashion that it does when switching scenes). Might be worth a check to see whether the music playing routines leak memory or something...

03/12/2007, 03:08 pm	#53
Mizer Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 8	If any of the folks who are having problems with restarts have minidump logs generated from them (c:\windows\minidump - look for files with recent dates), I would be happy to take a look at them if you can upload them. If you have 5 or so from the date(s) that you've been having crashes then this will help narrow the problem down even more. I have no idea how Vista handles crashes so I probably won't be able to help with anyone running it.

03/17/2007, 01:43 am	#54
BobWoodward Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 7	Thanks Emily! I had the same problem (windows restarted when entering new areas) and I simply installed the driver recommended in the support faq. Since then I encountered no problem at all and am happy to play the most enjoyable game in years. Bob

05/10/2007, 01:43 pm	#57
Emily Formerly of the Telltale Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: San Francisco Posts: 4,549	Hi Alsurag, If you'd like to send us a saved game right before this point, someone here can play through the spot where it's crashing, save, and send the save back to you. Either post it as an attachment here, or email it to info@telltalegames.com. (Not Support because our support ticket system would probably have trouble with the attachment.)