help please!

Ok. Let's just start this off by saying this is my first post. Long time Arcanum lover, I've beat it more than a few times and still love playing. However, the issue I have is with my computer. After going to college, I am now stuck with a Win 98 piece of crap in my apartment. Arcanum crashes immediately after the Troika thing with the guy pushing the watch hand. I've reinstalled a few times and that doesn't seem to solve the problem. No message comes up. I think it's probably a problem with the video card, however, I KNOW that Arcanum will run on it, because I used it about 3 years ago when the game came out. The computer doesn't have access to the internet (this is being posted on a friend's). Anything I can do? Or will I have to live Arcanum-less forever?

 

Well, my first question would be how well does your computer run when not playing Arcanum? Is it slow? Does it crash with other applications or games? I would need some more information.

 

Well, it's not fast compared to today's machines, but to give you some comparisons, it can run games like D2, IWD2, Civ3, Fallout 1 & 2, Sim City 4. It doesn't crash much...well...at all actually. This is the only game I've had trouble with.

 

Have you tried installing the patch? I don't know if it will make a difference, but it's worth a shot. What's your RAM? For anyone out there, does Arcanum take more memory to run than other games?

 

Arcanum has a requirement of at least 64 megs of ram. If you have more than that, it should run fine.

 

Ok...I just tried to install the newest patch, and that didnt help. The computer has 256 mb RAM and the video card is NVIDIA RIVA TNT2. Any help will be appreciated, and i want to get back to Arcanum ASAP.

 

Wow. I'm stumped. I wonder if the problem is with the game itself or the computer. Can you get your friend to allow you to install Arcanum on his computer, then try to run it there? If it doesn't run, then that leads me to believe there's a problem with the game. If it does run, then I'm totally stumped.

 

According to the box, Arcanum requires a minimum Pentium II 300mhz CPU. Sounds more like the PC, or specifically Windows 98 has a problem with Arcanum. Have you tried reinstalling the video card drivers?

 

You could try running it in safe mode or windows compatibility mode.

 

Ok...i tried the arcanum3.dat thing, and that didn't work. I'll try running it in safe mode, but I don't think that's the problem. I think the only option is to reinstall the video card, which i'd rather not do, but unless anyone's got any better solutions thats the only option left open. Once again thanks a lot guys.

 

I don't know if the Direct X is the problem, he said he's been running it on the same computer for...forever. Hell, it might be. Maybe the software had a heart attack and can't run properly with updates.

 

I was being completely serious.

 

OH ok. I thought at first that i had offended you.

 

I used to run Arcanum on win98 with the same video card, and sometimes it would hang on the loading screen.
My guess is the following need to be updated:
Video card drivers, DirectX. (Load then on a USB drive if you dont have internet.)

After that, make sure you've got virtual memory enabled. Sometimes that helps performance.

If that doesn't fix it, try clicking past the logo's real fast when they're loading, hold your breath, cross your fingers, and pretend not to look at the monitor. Gates is always watching! It worked for me. :???:

Best option, go to an online auction site and pick up a new one for a song.

 

Hrm... so my best bet is to get the update for the video card? Thats what I figured I'd have to do anyways, but alright thanks. If this doesnt work I'm going to burn a copy of the game and try the burnt copy. Would that help? Either that or borrow another friend's copy. I've tried loading it a bunch of times, and the DirectX comes on the CD, so I don't know if either of those options will help. I'm very sad. :cry:

 

If you video cards choking on Arcanum, I doubt a burnt copy will help. After loading the latest driver, download the newest DirectX anyways. I think its 9.0c. Its free, and will prevent other problems, so why not? Your win98 might be a bit outdated too, but you'll need internet access for that. Also, the latest version of Arcanum is 1.0.7.4, its been know to resolve a number a snafu's....
http://www.sierra.com/file_list.do?gamePlatformId=4