After playing a little bit I've tried to change the tables... well, the game crashes and a window pops up telling that SerialKeySample MFC crashed. So, I'm back at the desktop. Don't know if it is a bug or what, but for sure it is annoying. It's a nice game, but this issue is ruining it.

I'm having the same problem here. I'm using windows 7 32bits

Yep, I'm having the same problem on Vista 64-bit. I can't even get it to run - it immediately blows up saying it can't find d3dx9_33.dll, and then follows on with the SerialKey/Sample MFC Crash.

GOG, Help!

Thx

jamist

This is one excellent game, marred by the annoyance of game freezing or crashing. I've experienced both but undeterred I set about trying a variety of PC configurations to eliminate the problem.

WRT SerialKeySample MFC crash. I've - strangely - encountered this only once. Since then, had no random problems with game crashing on exit. Weird.

Anyhow, whether the following changes helped, I don't honestly know for sure. Of course, what I've tried isn't going to work for everyone because of individual PC specifications. For reference, mine is a laptop running W7 Premium 64-bit with Intel dual-core CPU and the Intel family GPU. Anyway, hope it works for some of you.that have W7 64-bit.

1. First, on your PC, click on Start, then in Search box, type advanced system properties.
2. Now click on the Advanced tab, then for Settings, click - yep, you guessed it, Settings box.
3. Tick Adjust for best performance, then Apply, finally on OK

Try playing the game. Still crashing? Try this in addition to the above:

1. Download Gamebooster (Google it) - it's a free app that turns off many PC resources (fully customisable) that squeezes more capacity out of your PC.

Game settings: Obviously varies according to your PC specifications. If, like me, you find the game sluggish, then keep Resolution to 1024 x 768 x 32 (lose scorecard if any lower) but for all other settings, keep them off and/or Low. And more importantly, ensure Pixel Shader is set to 1:1.

I've applied all off the configs above and so far, had no crashes OR freezes. Freezes used to be very unpredictable - annoying when amassing a high score then game hangs on you.

Cracking game. Love to see a sequel.... ;)

Just bought in the sale - enjoying the game, but having to reload every time I want to swap tables due to the bug outlined by the OP.
Tried all suggestions so far, no luck. Anyone suggest anything else?

Edit : as above poster, SerialKey crash gone away on its own. And I'm using top graphic quality and highest resolution all the way. Windows 7 64 bit

Tried all possible and impossible solutions I found here and elsewhere on the net - nothing helps, game crashes constantly on Windows 7 when "SerialKeySample mfc" stops working. Uninstalling now, not happy, not at all. This game is definitely not worth the money, not even on discount.

I get it too, although not so much that I can't play.

It seems to be that the DRM has been disabled, or bypassed rather than removed.

I'm still experiencing this crash on dad's lower end machine.. working on software solution.

Update: Recently got another laptop (Acer Aspire 64-bit / Quad core / AMD Radeon 6520G / 6Gb RAM) and..... this game is running like a dream. To date, I've had no crashes / lag / errors, nothing. Which is odd given how old this game is!

Configure the game as you Like but leave PIXEL SHADER at 1:1 and you shouldn't get many crashes anymore!

Just picked this up on sale and I'm getting the same problem. I get to the third screen, the Nvidia thing pops up in the top right corner, the screen goes to greyish black then to total black and then it kicks me to the desktop with the serial key error. No matter what I do I cannot get past that third screen.

Is there a config file I can edit outside of the game to do this? Does anybody know? Does anybody play this anymore?

I don't remember sorry.