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Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick ObscuraVirtual Machine Issues(7 posts)(7 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted July 25, 2010
I'm running this on Windows 7 through Parallels Desktop 5 on my Macbook (with Intel processor) and I have installed all the patches that have been mentioned in the forums as well as setting -no3d and -doublebuffer and making sure the "run as administrator" box is checked but there is a problem when I try to run the game. First the audio runs and there is no picture. Then when the picture finally shows up it's all choppy and laggy. And finally when it gets to the main menu the mouse drags black boxes and leaves copies of itself all over the place (attached pic). Is this a problem with running it through a virtual machine? I tried partitioning my hard drive and installing Windows 7 through boot camp but ran into permissions errors (plus I didn't want to have to reboot my computer whenever I wanted to change what OS I was using). Anybody have any ideas or help?
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Posted July 25, 2010
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Mrah: ...

When you installed the game, did you right click the setup.exe and click "Run as an administrator" to install? If not, this can cause a partial install. You need to do the same with the mod installs as well.
If you did the above you might first try running the game in Win 98 / Win ME compatibility mode.
If you are running the HR mod, go to the Arcanum directory, find the HighRes.bat, right click it and run as an administrator and either uninstall / reinstall as an admin or try setting the game to run at different resolutions. If you did not install the mod as an admin, it may need the reinstall first. Trying different resolutions also may fix the problem.
If you still have no joy, I would backup any saves you might have, uninstall the game, delete any directories / files under Program Files\GOG.com\Arcanum.
Turn UAC to Never Notify, create a directory outside of Program files, I use C:\Games. Right click the setup.exe, click Run as an administrator from the resulting dialog, on the first dialog for the GOG installer, click the Options button in the lower left corner and point the install to the Games directory. Install any mods by right clicking them and clicking Run as an administrator in the resulting dialog.
After install, on the compatibility tab, make sure you are running as an admin and start with no compatibility mode. If necessary try compatibility modes, starting with the newest and working backwards until you find one that works. I would also add the -no3D and -doublebuffer switches since they usually help. See attached image for info.
You would set UAC back to the default setting after you finish. That's all I have for ya . . . =)
Edit: Open a help ticket with GOG support, almost forgot.
Attachments:
switches.jpg (167 Kb)
Post edited July 25, 2010 by Stuff
Posted July 27, 2010
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Mrah: ...
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Stuff: When you installed the game, did you right click the setup.exe and click "Run as an administrator" to install? If not, this can cause a partial install. You need to do the same with the mod installs as well.
If you did the above you might first try running the game in Win 98 / Win ME compatibility mode.
If you are running the HR mod, go to the Arcanum directory, find the HighRes.bat, right click it and run as an administrator and either uninstall / reinstall as an admin or try setting the game to run at different resolutions. If you did not install the mod as an admin, it may need the reinstall first. Trying different resolutions also may fix the problem.
If you still have no joy, I would backup any saves you might have, uninstall the game, delete any directories / files under Program Files\GOG.com\Arcanum.
Turn UAC to Never Notify, create a directory outside of Program files, I use C:\Games. Right click the setup.exe, click Run as an administrator from the resulting dialog, on the first dialog for the GOG installer, click the Options button in the lower left corner and point the install to the Games directory. Install any mods by right clicking them and clicking Run as an administrator in the resulting dialog.
After install, on the compatibility tab, make sure you are running as an admin and start with no compatibility mode. If necessary try compatibility modes, starting with the newest and working backwards until you find one that works. I would also add the -no3D and -doublebuffer switches since they usually help. See attached image for info.
You would set UAC back to the default setting after you finish. That's all I have for ya . . . =)
Edit: Open a help ticket with GOG support, almost forgot.

I did all of that. Multiple time and all to no avail. I copy/pasted my original message to a GOG support email and have not yet received a reply...
Posted July 27, 2010
My guess is the VM is not transmitting the graphics data to the hardware correctly. Maybe GOG can offer a solution, sorry my suggestions didn't help . . . =)
Edit: Make sure you have the latest video drives installed in the VM if you haven't checked already.
Post edited July 27, 2010 by Stuff
Posted July 28, 2010
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Stuff: My guess is the VM is not transmitting the graphics data to the hardware correctly. Maybe GOG can offer a solution, sorry my suggestions didn't help . . . =)
Edit: Make sure you have the latest video drives installed in the VM if you haven't checked already.

It's ok, thanks for the suggestions :)
It says all the drivers are up to date...
Have you ever gone to the GOG support team for help? How long does it usually take them to respond? Cause I haven't heard anything from them, not even to say that they would look into it or that nothing can be done. It makes me a little sad cause I can't keep buying these games if they aren't gonna run for me (I also bought Fallout 1 and it has problems too). So far the three free games I got are the only ones that work (Teenagent, Lure of the Temptress, and Beneath a Steel Sky), and there are many more games I would love to buy here :(
Posted July 28, 2010
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Mrah: Have you ever gone to the GOG support team for help? How long does it usually take them to respond? Cause I haven't heard anything from them, not even to say that they would look into it or that nothing can be done. It makes me a little sad cause I can't keep buying these games if they aren't gonna run for me (I also bought Fallout 1 and it has problems too). So far the three free games I got are the only ones that work (Teenagent, Lure of the Temptress, and Beneath a Steel Sky), and there are many more games I would love to buy here :(

I have used support a couple of times and it took 3 or 4 days for the response. The support team, as I understand it, does not work weekends so you may have a couple more days delay as they work thru their backlog. If no response after 5 to 7 days I would resend the request.
The biggest problem I see is that support won't be able to help you because of your setup. Their experience at trouble shooting a game running on a Mac, in a VM, under Win 7 is limited or nonexistent, like mine . . . =) . . . The team is small from what I understand and they are probably prioritizing their work load. As you know, they only support Win 7 on a couple of games at this point. I run all of my games on XP, Vista or Win 7 and have had great success running on the native installs. Even I was reluctant to respond here in the forums . . . =)
The only other suggestion I might have is disabling Anti Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering in your video driver control panel if possible. Also, in the game shortcut, disable visual themes and disable desktop composition on the compatibility tab. You have a unique situation. It would be interesting to get the games running in that setup but . . . it would be a hands on, trial and error effort as there are not many guidelines.
It may be that they are not responding to any Win 7 support questions unless they specifically say the game will run on Win 7 in the game card.
Edit: I did a search of the General Discussion forum and this thread concerning games on a Mac. I don't have any experience with a Mac and windows games so I don't know how helpful this is. I do believe you will have to find solutions yourself if you run them in your setup . . . not too many folks have any experience with it. . . =)
Post edited July 28, 2010 by Stuff
Posted July 28, 2010
Thank you for the link to that forum. I could've sworn that I'd searched the forums for Mac gaming before... guess not, oh well. Thanks again.
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Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick ObscuraVirtual Machine Issues(7 posts)(7 posts)
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