Vista, W7, 64bit, and the somehow confusing nature of it.

Problems with game starting

The problem that I am having with Arcanum on my laptop is only after I install either of the unofficial patches out there. What happens is that after opening up Arcanum.exe, the Sierra loading video starts, but then the window closes and I go back to the desktop. Arcanum is still running, but if you go back to it again, it keeps doing the same thing, until it finally force closes. Has anyone else had this problem, and know how to fix it.

Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

 

It'd be REALLY, REALLY nice if people could atleast let us know what they've tried in order to rectify the problem instead of posting on a forum with minimum information and expecting a solution.

I'll go through the usual crap here, most likely this'll fix the problem but if not we'll attempt something else.
1/ Install the official patch before UAP
2/ Disable UAC in the control panel or ensure that "run as administrator" is enable under properties->compatibility for Arcanum.exe and the unofficial patch installers.
3/ Have you tried running Arcanum.exe in compatibility mode? Properties->Compatibility change "run in compatibility mode" to Windows XP SP2 and try again.
4/ Try the -doublebuffer and -no3d executable parameters - append either or both of these to the shortcut path.

 

My apologies, since I had completely read through the forum posting here and had tried all of the different solutions already posted, I didn't think to say that I had, since I thought that should be a given. But I appreciate your reply and attempt to help.

 

You would be surprised about how many members simply sign up to request help without even attempting to fix anything on their own.

Again, though - it's very hard to diagnose to any problems without significant information. What are your system specs? What, exactly, did you try and did it help? Have you tried reinstalling the game or disabling/removing the videos?

 

I had tried all of the previously posted solutions, none that really helped, since I wasn't having a problem with the game installing, or playing slow. Just that it wouldn't get past the first video and to the main screen without minimizing itself repeatedly to the task bar. But anyway, I've got it kinda fixed for now, after restarting my computer a couple of times, it seems to have worked itself out, which now confuses me even further lol. Oh well.

 

Re: Vista, W7, 64bit, and the somehow confusing nature of it

Should we update the OP of this sticky for Windows 8? FWIW, what I did (based mostly on tips from the GoG forums) to improve things:

1) Install the GoG version of the game (comes prepatched to 1.0.7.4)
2) Install the UAP [necessary for a million reasons, but in this context the most important thing is that it enables the -window flag to the Arcanum binary]
3) Install the HiRes patch
4) Set the launch shortcut to Compatibility Mode for Windows XP
5) Set the launch shortcut to "C:\GOG Games\Arcanum\Arcanum.exe" -window
6) Delete the Direct3D DLL in the Arcanum folder

Without #5 and #6, the game runs at a snail's pace in 1920x1080 mode despite my computer being pretty powerful (I built it about a year ago, it runs FONV and other modern games at near max settings without the framerate dipping), and also has crazy (about 20 second) loading times whenever you change areas despite my computer having a crazy-fast SSD. #4 is probably as effective as biting the head off a chicken and sprinkling the blood around while chanting, but it gives me warm fuzzies and probably doesn't hurt. With #5 and #6, the game runs at 60fps most of the time but slows down somewhat when one or more characters are occluded (eg. when I walk into a shop and there's a roof between the game's camera and the PC/party), and the load times are instant as they should be.

Others have had similar problems with Windows 8 (problems which are not present on Windows 7; this is what I get for buying a new operating system when I built the machine because it was cheaper instead of sticking with the one I knew worked!).

 

How do I get the drag cheat mode enabler to work properly? It's in my Arcanum folder, I click to get it to run. Hit the enable level3 button. Start the game. Press Alt+3 in-game and nothing happens. None of the cheats listed work. Am I missing something?

 

Since Windows 10 has made getting Arcanum to work even more of a nightmare, I have created a video tutorial that combines all the performance "tricks" for modern versions of Windows. I hope it helps.

 

Nice work sir.

 

I did the same as described in video but I'm still facing problems is Drog's high resolution patch mandatory ????

 

Drog's high resolution patch is optional.

What problems are you having? Maybe I can help.

 

Thank you very much for your attention, well the game still seems lagging a bit and when I go for example Bessie toon's mine Bessie hereself looks like a shade to me is this normal after the fix ??

 

Bessie Toone is actually a ghost, so she is supposed to look like that. How much is the game lagging? Did you put the .dll files in your Arcanum root directory (C:\Sierra\Arcanum or C:\GOG Games\Arcanum) and use the shortcut with the -no3d and -doublebuffer command line arguments? Those are the two most important things.

 

Yes I did, but still some lags a little actually and I knoe Bessie is a ghost problem she used to appear with colors to me now she is just a black shade

Note: actually I don't use gog version

 

Is it more than you would lag normally on previous versions of Windows? Arcanum isn't a perfect game, so a little bit of lag at times is normal. If it's severe lag that makes the game unplayable, though, something is wrong. As for the Bessie Toone thing, I believe I've had that happen to me before as well. Are there any other graphical glitches in the game that you've noticed?

 

Still not, so far ive played till shrouded hills, after installing W10 but I'm still on route to reach the void and conclude the game

 

I've updated the original post to include a link to the W10 video.

 

Thanks! I hope it will help many people.

 

I have uploaded an updated version of my tutorial to include support for the CD and Steam versions of the game. Hopefully this is the last Windows 10 tutorial for Arcanum that I will ever have to make.

 

I have created an Essentials Pack for Arcanum. It includes everything you need to get the game working on Windows 10, plus some extras. It has some things that are not yet available for download on TA like the Wine DLLs.