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Tex Murphy seriesOverseer -crash problems, glitchy noises(21 posts)(21 posts)
(21 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted July 22, 2009
Within the first ten minutes or so, while searching Tex's office, and getting used to the new interface, and reveling in how beautiful this game looks [compared to the last 4], I have been plagued with crash problems.
I don't know why, or how -- but at random points, it seems -- the game just locks up.
It's happened twice already, and is making me a little nervous. Sure, UAKM crashed a few times near the end, but that was about it. It was always at the same point with that game.
Pandora was flawless, never had a problem with that one.
But in Overseer, it just seems to happen whenever. The game locks up, I can't move, I can't access the [in game] control panel. I literally have to smash alt, ctrl, delete a few times and just shut the entire program down.
Could this be because I'm playing at 800x600? Some of the games on my computer, more current games, tend to crash -- then I change the resolution -- and they work perfectly.
Also, there's a lot of "click" and "pop" noises during the voice overs while I'm in the "search mode". So, I'll be looking around, click on something to observe it, and when Tex talks, I hear all these weird, glitchy noises behind his voice. This is also followed by lag, if I move around when he talks.
Just wondering if anyone's experiencing the same thing. If the guys at GOG can help, it's much appreciated.
No posts in this topic were marked as the solution yet. If you can help, add your reply
Posted July 22, 2009
Try disabling or reducing sound acceleration in dxdiag (run dxdiag, find the sound tab and adjust the slider).
Posted July 22, 2009
I have the crash problem, too...
Posted July 22, 2009
I had the problem too and corrected it by changing some RSX 3D values. Unfortunately, the RSX configuration utility is not part of this distribution so you'll have to go through the Windows registry:
- Click Start->Run...
- Type "Regedit" (no quotes) in the box then OK
- Go to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Intel\Realistic Sound Experience\2.0
You'll see a bunch of keys there but the two that are the main concern here are "BufferSize" and "Cache Time".
Double click on BufferSize and type the value 100 which will give you (256) in milliseconds. Then double click on Cache Time and enter the value 6.
You might have to play with these value to find a sweet spot according to your system. Don't push these values too high though since you would experience adverse effects. Keep them under 300 (likely around 240) for BufferSize and 10 for the Cache Time.
BufferSize will have a direct effect on the "glitchy noises". You should try to find a value where the glitches are reduced to a minimum.
You may also disable 3D Sound from within the game (Settings->Preferences->Advanced...) Having this turned off doesn't really change anything to the audio experience but helps to reduce the chance of a crash.
That should greatly reduce the frequency of crashing (I was able to play more than one hour with these settings without any crash and I quit the game normally).
Now if we could get rid of RSX altogether... But Overseer needs it to work...
Posted July 22, 2009
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Starfox: I had the problem too and corrected it by changing some RSX 3D values. Unfortunately, the RSX configuration utility is not part of this distribution so you'll have to go through the Windows registry:
- Click Start->Run...
- Type "Regedit" (no quotes) in the box then OK
- Go to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Intel\Realistic Sound Experience\2.0
You'll see a bunch of keys there but the two that are the main concern here are "BufferSize" and "Cache Time".
Double click on BufferSize and type the value 100 which will give you (256) in milliseconds. Then double click on Cache Time and enter the value 6.
You might have to play with these value to find a sweet spot according to your system. Don't push these values too high though since you would experience adverse effects. Keep them under 300 (likely around 240) for BufferSize and 10 for the Cache Time.
BufferSize will have a direct effect on the "glitchy noises". You should try to find a value where the glitches are reduced to a minimum.
You may also disable 3D Sound from within the game (Settings->Preferences->Advanced...) Having this turned off doesn't really change anything to the audio experience but helps to reduce the chance of a crash.
That should greatly reduce the frequency of crashing (I was able to play more than one hour with these settings without any crash and I quit the game normally).
Now if we could get rid of RSX altogether... But Overseer needs it to work...

in modern system RSX audio needed adjustments to buffer times. I would of thought GOG would of made these changes before they released the game.
Posted July 22, 2009
avatar
Starfox: I had the problem too and corrected it by changing some RSX 3D values. Unfortunately, the RSX configuration utility is not part of this distribution so you'll have to go through the Windows registry:
- Click Start->Run...
- Type "Regedit" (no quotes) in the box then OK
- Go to the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Intel\Realistic Sound Experience\2.0
You'll see a bunch of keys there but the two that are the main concern here are "BufferSize" and "Cache Time".
Double click on BufferSize and type the value 100 which will give you (256) in milliseconds. Then double click on Cache Time and enter the value 6.
You might have to play with these value to find a sweet spot according to your system. Don't push these values too high though since you would experience adverse effects. Keep them under 300 (likely around 240) for BufferSize and 10 for the Cache Time.
BufferSize will have a direct effect on the "glitchy noises". You should try to find a value where the glitches are reduced to a minimum.
You may also disable 3D Sound from within the game (Settings->Preferences->Advanced...) Having this turned off doesn't really change anything to the audio experience but helps to reduce the chance of a crash.
That should greatly reduce the frequency of crashing (I was able to play more than one hour with these settings without any crash and I quit the game normally).
Now if we could get rid of RSX altogether... But Overseer needs it to work...

I seemed to have gotten the game to work as well... but there's a problem. The more I progress, the more the crashes happen. So, the further I get into the game -- bam! Frozen screen, can't get out of it, have to restart. It's maddening.
I think the GOG guys just need to work on this game a little more then they did. Because, obviously, there is a big problem here. I'll try downloading and re-installing, but that's a son of a bitch.
Hopefully there's a patch released, or something... I don't know, but I'm not going to continue playing this game if it keeps crashing like this. I could stand it at the end of UAKM, because I could just restart from where I ended at the last cutscene of the game... but this is just plain fucking ridiculous.
And whenever I try to adjust something -- the game freezes. It sucks.
I'm sorry if I seem a little pissy. But damn. I really wanted this game.
Posted July 23, 2009
Launch the game then at the menu hit ALT+TAB to go back to desktop. in the notification area of the Windows taskbar you should see something that seems like a red headphones set. Left click on that and uncheck "True 3D Sound". See if that helps.
Post edited July 23, 2009 by Starfox
Posted July 24, 2009
OK, I found the culprit for the lockups in Overseer I experienced on my system. My creative X-Fi sound card. As soon as I decided to deactivate it and to use the motherboard Realtek sound processor instead, the lockups went away.
Note that you don't have to physically remove the card. Just deactivating it via the hardware manager then activating the motherboard audio instead (you may need to activate it from you BIOS then to install the drivers first) is enough.
Of course this solution is only of use if you happen to have a Creative sound card and if you motherboard has built-in audio (but today every MB does).
Posted July 25, 2009
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Starfox: OK, I found the culprit for the lockups in Overseer I experienced on my system. My creative X-Fi sound card. As soon as I decided to deactivate it and to use the motherboard Realtek sound processor instead, the lockups went away.
Note that you don't have to physically remove the card. Just deactivating it via the hardware manager then activating the motherboard audio instead (you may need to activate it from you BIOS then to install the drivers first) is enough.
Of course this solution is only of use if you happen to have a Creative sound card and if you motherboard has built-in audio (but today every MB does).

Cool. I'll try it. Thanks. For the help guys, I appreciate it. I've been ripping my hair out. I played the game for 2 hours the other day, and it crashed 5 times. I don't think I've ever, in my life, ever, in one single game -- saved so much. Every 3 seconds I was pulling down the menu and saving after every minute discovery, lol.
Posted July 26, 2009
The oddity is that I installed Overseer on my Vista laptop and there it ran for three hours straight without a single lockup or crash. Even the audio was perfect without any need to fiddle with the RSX settings. Only glitch I experienced was a graphical one with some 3D objects disappearing when I moused over them but it was quickly solved by disabling Trilinear and mip map in Overseer options.
Of course, my laptop has older hardware than my desktop so that could explain it for a part but Overseer might be just one of those old Windows games that run better on Vista than on XP.
Posted July 26, 2009
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Starfox: The oddity is that I installed Overseer on my Vista laptop and there it ran for three hours straight without a single lockup or crash. Even the audio was perfect without any need to fiddle with the RSX settings. Only glitch I experienced was a graphical one with some 3D objects disappearing when I moused over them but it was quickly solved by disabling Trilinear and mip map in Overseer options.
Of course, my laptop has older hardware than my desktop so that could explain it for a part but Overseer might be just one of those old Windows games that run better on Vista than on XP.

Well, the game was running a little better. But, now I'm totally screwed. I'm in the last level -- Alcatraz, and the game crashes, I think, if I get caught by a security droid.
I'll post the error message that pops up. Oh, and instead of just freezing, it actually crashes this time and comes up with a Windows Error Report.
Here it is:
ERROR SIGNATURE, OVERSEER.EXE
"This error report includes: Information regarding the condition of OVERSEER.EXE when the problem occurred; the operating system version and computer hardware in use; your digital product ID, which could be used to identify your license; and the IP address of your computer."
I know that basically tells you nothing, but, when I was looking through the error report, scanning all the information regarding the crash -- I saw a lot of AVI file associations. I was wondering if a certain AVI file that was missing or corrupt, could be causing this mess? I've investigated it somewhat, and I think if I get caught by a security droid in Alcatraz -- that it plays an AVI showing me get killed.
I think it might be the problem, what do you guys think?
Posted July 28, 2009
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Starfox: The oddity is that I installed Overseer on my Vista laptop and there it ran for three hours straight without a single lockup or crash. Even the audio was perfect without any need to fiddle with the RSX settings. Only glitch I experienced was a graphical one with some 3D objects disappearing when I moused over them but it was quickly solved by disabling Trilinear and mip map in Overseer options.
Of course, my laptop has older hardware than my desktop so that could explain it for a part but Overseer might be just one of those old Windows games that run better on Vista than on XP.

Actually -- never mind. Just beat the game.
A warning though. When you get to alcatraz -- watch out for the bot in the first cell block. Sure, it might catch you -- but it also might crash the game if it catches you! All the other cell blocks were fine if I was caught. A video played, and I just started over.
Beware the cell block A bot!
Posted July 29, 2009
Don't know what to say... I "volunteered" to be killed quite a few times in cell block A and each time the video with Tex saying "Of course that would have been stupid so I did it another way..." (or something similar) played and I got back to the menu.
Posted August 03, 2009
My experience in Alcatraz:
Alt-d is removing the droids, and it isn't droids that crash the game (because if I just stand in one place, it never happens. My _guess_ is that either a piece of scenery or a sound file that is associated with a piece of scenery is corrupted. Cell block A is roughly U shaped, with a row of cells back-to-back in the middle. The game crashes if (roughly) the middle of that row of cells comes onto the screen. This seems to be true from either side of the U. If I stare at the outer walls as I move around, it doesn't crash. As soon as I get the middle of that row in view, it crashes. Makes finding the barb wire a little tricky, but once you know it, it helps you get through.
I also found this page that has some RSX tips at the bottom. Haven't had a chance to try them out yet, so I don't know if they'll help, but thought I'd pass them along. Oh, and the RSX configuration tool is installed, it's just installed in its own program group, not in the Overseer group.
Posted August 03, 2009
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MacReiter: you know it, it helps you get through.
I also found this page that has some RSX tips at the bottom. Haven't had a chance to try them out yet, so I don't know if they'll help, but thought I'd pass them along. Oh, and the RSX configuration tool is installed, it's just installed in its own program group, not in the Overseer group.

yes that's correct, rsx is not part of overseer it's just software added to the installer, this has always been the case.
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Tex Murphy seriesOverseer -crash problems, glitchy noises(21 posts)(21 posts)
(21 posts)