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SanitariumWeird graphics glitch in Sanitarium(21 posts)solved(21 posts)solved
(21 posts)solved
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Posted December 19, 2009
Hello everyone,
I recently bought Sanitarium but, even though I feel like it, I'm not here to boast it. Ever since I first launched the game yesterday I've been encountering a graphical glitch that seems to be related to colour depth or something similar. Basically, shadows are pixelated and sport a sort of psychedelic rainbow gradient.
I attached a screen shot of this 'pixelated layer' to help understand what the problem is and, possibly, figure out its cause. Please note that my game isn't black. The 'Print Screen' key conveniently grabbed this glitchy layer instead of the whole thing. I assume that's for the same reason that one can't take screenshots of videos played in BS Player or other media players.
I have updated my system's drivers, all of them. To double check, I did it again this morning. I tried running the game in all of the compatibility modes available for Windows XP but the problem persists.
I hope you can help.
-- poltergeist92.
EDIT (15/05/2010):
I haven't been around for a while and I'm sorry for that, but as ikantspelwurdz said, having a Windows... well, window open in the background solves the problem.
The reason why the game behaves this way (at least in my case) is because I have all this desktop-clutter removal type software installed. Stuff like Samurize, Fences and RocketDock. I figured out that if I closed down RocketDock and hid my Fences windows the game ran fine and without a problem.
Post edited May 15, 2010 by poltergeist92
This question / problem has been solved by ikantspelwurdzimage
Posted December 19, 2009
Could you post your system specs please?
Posted December 19, 2009
Sure thing, Ralackk.
Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 @ 2.4 GHz
Sapphire RADEON HD3850 (512 MB)
3.5 GB DDR2 RAM
I came up with a temporary fix after looking through some posts on the other subforums. I shut down a couple of applications and in the executable's properties window, under the 'Compatibility' tab, I disabled visual themes and forced the game to run in 640 x 480 screen resolution. The game ran fine for roughly an hour, after which it succumbed to the effects of the 'bug' that's bothering me.
In case you're into specifics, I could attach the DirectX Diagnostic Tool's output to my next post in both .txt and .xml formats (depending on your personal preference), but I'll have to find a way to 'trick' the attachment restrictions. How does an archive inside an image sound to you?
If you have any other questions or requests, feel free to ask or request :)
Thanks for replying!
--poltergeist92
Posted December 19, 2009
Have you tryed setting it to 256 colours in the compatibility menu? I don't think the game uses more then this anyway.
You could also try rolling back your ati cards drivers to see if that works, I've heard 9.4 doesn't work well with alot of older games. Alternatively you could try the omega(?) drivers.
Does the game have a graphics setup thing under its start menu or a ini/config file in its folder with rendering options?
Posted December 20, 2009
I tried setting it to 256 colours and, unfortunately, it doesn't fix the bug, not even temporarily. But yes, you're right, the game doesn't use more that 256. The developers even state so in the manual.
The game has a dxwnd.ini file in its folder. At first glance, I'd say that this file is in charge of drawing the game window. Here are its contents:
avatar
poltergeist92: [target]
path0=C:\Program Files\GOG.com\Sanitarium\Sntrm.exe
ver0=1
flag0=258
initx0=0
inity0=0
minx0=0
miny0=0
maxx0=639
maxy0=479

I'll try rolling back my drivers later today.
Thanks for the suggestions!
--poltergeist92
Post edited December 20, 2009 by poltergeist92
Posted December 21, 2009
I just got this game today, and had the exact same problem. Then I discovered, totally by accident, that if I alt+tab out of the game and then switch back the colors are normal.
Posted December 23, 2009
high rated
I just found an even better solution. I assume you are running Vista or Windows 7. Open up the window where you installed the game, but don't run the game. Then right click the desktop, and choose "screen resolution."
This should open a control panel. Don't touch anything, but leave the panel open. Switch back to the game directory, and run sntrm.exe. It should have no color problems at all, as long as the resolution control panel is open.
No, I have no idea why that works either. But it does.
Posted December 25, 2009
This is indeed a problem and hopefully there will be a fix soon. The 'open resolution panel' trick, funnily enough, does help, as does alt-tabbing, but the fluorescent colours keep creeping back in.
Posted December 28, 2009
Thanks for the workaround, ikantspelwurdz.
Btw, is this happening to ATI video cards users?
I am using a Radeon 4770 on WinXP SP3 btw.
Post edited December 28, 2009 by ghanz
Posted January 05, 2010
I was just coming here to talk about this, as I'm having the same issue.
EDIT: Well, the rightclick/screen resolution trick works. I played for an hour straight with no problems, but when I came back to Windows my cursor was massive. I'm thinking a reboot will straighten this out...
EDIT2: Yep, a reboot fixed it.
Post edited January 06, 2010 by james5272
Posted March 21, 2010
I see there are tech issues about color glitches & such here. I'm super interested in buying the game, but I don't want to have to mess around, altering a bunch of stuff on my puter...=(
Are the graphics not crisp? The screen shots make it look kinda "pixel-y"
Thanks for any responses.
Puck
Posted April 09, 2010
avatar
ikantspelwurdz: I just got this game today, and had the exact same problem. Then I discovered, totally by accident, that if I alt+tab out of the game and then switch back the colors are normal.

This worked for me.
Posted April 16, 2010
avatar
ikantspelwurdz: I just found an even better solution. I assume you are running Vista or Windows 7. Open up the window where you installed the game, but don't run the game. Then right click the desktop, and choose "screen resolution."
This should open a control panel. Don't touch anything, but leave the panel open. Switch back to the game directory, and run sntrm.exe. It should have no color problems at all, as long as the resolution control panel is open.
No, I have no idea why that works either. But it does.

Dude thanx, you saved my life, I didnt know what to do and this fixed it completely, cheers
Posted February 12, 2011
avatar
poltergeist92: I figured out that if I closed down RocketDock and hid my Fences windows the game ran fine and without a problem.
Yep, hiding fences windows did the trick for me. Thx for the info!
Post edited February 12, 2011 by lowgr8
Posted May 14, 2011
Curious solutions, wonder how they work. I have experienced a similar graphics issue with a different game in the past and there is a pretty easy solution (that only needs to be prepared once and not actively watched out for).
Some older games seem to have graphics issues while the explorer is running. This can be avoided simply by quitting the explorer, but restarting it after gaming is bothersome so you need to do a batch file for it.

simply put a textfile in your game folder, open it in editor and put the following in:

taskkill /F /IM Explorer.exe
sntrm.exe
Start explorer.exe

Save the file and change the file ending to .bat or .cmd
Opening this new batch file will now close the explorer for as long as you play and reopen it as soon as you close the game. The graphics issue should be solved. (it is for me)
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SanitariumWeird graphics glitch in Sanitarium(21 posts)solved(21 posts)solved
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