Game crashes to desktop frequently

[nmhansen]

Hi,

I seem to be able to play for a little bit, but eventually when switching zones/areas the game crashes to desktop with a generic error. I seem to be able to load a few different zones each run, but eventually it will crash and I need to restart my computer to get further. Very annoying. I searched the forums and tried rolling back to earlier graphics card drivers (81.95). Problems seem to exist on both them and the most recent drivers (94.24).

Bought the episodes 1-3 pack off Steam.
Athlon XP+ 3200
2GB Ram
NVidia 6800GT 128mb ram

Thanks in advance!

[AdamG]

Hmmm, it could be almost anything. But I'm guessing it's a driver problem of some sort, that's usually what causes these problems. Is your system memory overclocked? Could you be more specific about the error message?

[nmhansen]

Unfortunately I can't. There is nothing more than "Error with samnmax101.exe"

Regardless, I'm now onto Ep2, and I haven't experienced a crash yet *knocks on wood*

Nothing in my system is overclocked.

[Emily]

Were you able to tell where the error came from - i.e. Windows, Steam...? It doesn't sound like a Sam & Max error to me.

Is it always entering/exiting a specific area that causes the crash, or is it random? It sounds like your system might be having trouble with the auto-save.

Please let us know how it goes with episode 2. If you have trouble with that one, too, I can send info for accessing an alternate version that Valve set up to see if it would resolve a crash someone else was having.

[AdamG]

Error with program... Doesn't get much more mysterious then that. : / Darn error messages... Does it appear in a window? If so, is there any text in the title bar? Could you get a screenshot of this error message? If you could, that would be awesome.

[nmhansen]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I've gotten really busy lately and haven't had a chance to play at all this week. Hopefully I'll get some time this weekend. If it crashes again with the same error message, I'll write down as much info as I can. But if memory serves me correctly, I'm just getting a generic error with little to no information.

Emily, as far as I can tell, the error window that pops up is from Windows. Steam continues to run just fine with no errors.

[orangenick]

Hi, getting the same problem, usually when a scene loads or starts.

I have the steam version too.

normally it doesn't autosave (while I'm here, why doesn't autosave tell the date and time of the autosave, would be handy as the same scene is used so many times!) so I have to do it all again. still on episode 1 but will get onto episode 2 soon. Usually crashes to a black screen area on the desktop that I have to kill with taskmanager.

It seems to me that it happens either before a cut scene, or when the control is given back after a cut scene. It happens randomly and rarely in the same place twice. The only error message I've seen so far is the windows usual "we're sorry please send us an error report" message. Happens about every 10 minutes of gameplay (must be a good game cos I keep going back!) The system also seems to take a minute or so to settle down afterwards.

IBM R60 laptop ATI grafix, winxp with all current updates directx and whatnot.

I also get a problem where the speach doesn't work but the music does, again happens randomly and is resolved by restarting the game. I don't know if that is relevant.

The game gets very stressed by any desktop activity (skype message, antivirus message...) and trying to alt-tab to the desktop and back again is risky and can cause either of the sound / crash problems.

let me know if I can be of any further help.

nick

[orangenick]

yep, just did it again. Brady said "attack the dog". I clicked on the cardboard box and the screen went to a black square (1024x768) on a white background, got the windows messed its shorts message and then the desktop came back.

Interesting this time wasn't going from a cut scene to another and the process killed itself without having to go to talkmanager.

[Emily]

Thanks for the info. We have a new QA guy who just started who will be helping troubleshoot this issue. He should be in shortly to say hi.

[tabacco]

Especially observant longtime forum users might remember him

[Will]

Hey all, sorry it has taken so long to reply, I'm still getting everything set up here. I'll definitely look into it. Still getting settled of course, so forgive me if it takes a little while longer than usual to respond.