This is truly disappointing. I remember this game from my childhood and was excited to find it here on GOG... I guess I won't be purchasing it from them by the sounds of things :(.
I've had previous experiences of buying games from GOG only to find out that they don't work the way they should (graphical glitches, crashes, lag etc). Most of the time these problems seem to be ignored despite pleas for help on the forums or through official channels. Luckily I always check the game specific forums these days when I'm considering a purchase. I won't make the same mistake again.

I suppose it is time consuming to fix every single problem that might occur with so many old games on the website but I wish that GOG wouldn't be in such a hurry to release a game if they suspect that it is still in an unstable/unplayable state.

That said, my sister has a non-GOG version of this game. She apparently managed to get it running under Windows 7 64-bit using Win 98/ME compatibility mode, turning frequency of comments (in the sound option menu) to minimum and applying the latest patch from the spellbound website: http://www.spellbound.de/front_content.php?idcat=17&cat[2]=6&sblinkid=5

I have no idea if this would work for others, as I do not own the game myself and the tips that appear on this thread seem rather varied. Judging by the frequency of the advice pertaining to fiddling with the sound options of the game, I'd make a blind guess that this is where the problem seems to stem from.

Has anyone tried the aformentioned solution?
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/desperados_wanted_dead_or_alive/constant_crash/post52

In addition, I've stumbled upon these tips while googling:
- set the compatibility of the *.exe to Win 98
- make sure the game utilizes only one processor core (http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/how-to-set-processor-affinity-to-an-application-in-windows/)
- go to options-sound-set the frequency of comments to minimum
- alt-tab out of the game and disable explorer.exe.

Could anyone test these, please? I'm interested in purchasing the game, but I'd rather refrain from doing it if there's absolutely no solution to the crashes. Also, how widespread are these problems?

Edit: Rats, it seems certain solutions have been posted already just above. My apologies.

The game installs and runs flawlessly with the following set up:
ASUS All-In-One 23 Inch Touch Screen
Intel I5
Radeon HD 6470M
4 gig memory

No tweaks, no compatibility changes, no patches.The only change I made was in-game for the Options/Video resolution, I changed it to the max of 1028-768.

I'm not saying there are no problems with the game, especially for NVidia users it seems, but I wanted to let potential buyers with questions know the game does work under my set up.

In my opinion This game is kinda crash prone even if you have the orginal .
I remember when i had the orginal i tested it on several machines, some it crashed on, some it didnt.
Good game though, just remember that you need to save frequently.

I too am getting the frozen screen + 'motorboating' sound issue, first starting happening in mission 4 (rescue the doc). can't get through the mission at all since it happens every few minutes.

Never had this issue with my disc version, on the same machine. Sadly, my disc died a hideous death.

The GOG version is already patched so that ain't gonna help.


Here's hoping for a proper fix - not some bodge where one has to manually disable cores etc. and then re-enable post-playing. That sort of thing really isn't acceptable in my book. Oh, and my integrating graphics card is not Nvidia, so that's not the cause.

Can't attach dxdiag info because .txt format is not a valid attachment. sigh.

Oops, my bad. Uploaded my dxdiag with a support ticket. Has everyone else done this too?

Fingers crossed this'll get fixed somehow.

So about that fix then? Could we get one?

Nope, never :(

My issues with this game have made me realize that gog's customer service needs some work.

As i pointed out earlier, with minimal sound the game plays okay. I was playing just with gun sounds/screams only, no music. Yes it is kind of wierd, but gameplay was still ok for me. The crash comes from something interfering with animation/sound. So the game also crashes in animation heavy levels (this one town fight with soldiers/outlaws/artilery crashed 3 times for me, untill then i had no crashes).

As for the service, it is almost impossible for gog to fix something wierd as that. I think maybe something in the lines of microsoft compatibility toolkit could help. But someone needs to experiment a lot...

Man, I really should have read the forum before buying the game. It's a great game and loads of fun, but the near constant crashes, sad as it is, kills it for me.

I found a solution for those random crashes - at least it works fine for my computer configuration. See here:
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/desperados_series/possible_solution_to_crashes_maybe

I've managed to fix a few issues plaguing the game, but now a new one (the infamous sound-related crash) has reared its ugly head...

I did convert the sound files following the steps described here, to no avail. Desperados still crashes randomly (it's incredibly difficult to shut the process down, I might add (Win 7 64bit)) whenever a sound it deems problematic (be it a gunshot, scream etc.) is about to be played.

Guys, any solutions for the crashes? This game was my first purchase from gog. On a desktop machine running win8 pro 64bit the game does not crash, but runs terribly slow (hardly playable, can't stand it). Tried all combinations of compatibility modes, even installed older DirectX, but nothing changed.

Then on my laptop, win 7 home premium 64 bit, it runs flawlessly (no FPS delays etc) for about 10 sec, then crashes.

The other difference that i can see is that on my win 8 the game covers the entire wide screen, while on the laptop the game plays 4:3 ratio.

In either case the game is literally unplayable, too bad for a first purchase.

I have a saved game, and 5 seconds after i load it, the game crashes :/