Hey folks,

Most people will have problems with Sanitarium crashing all the time at the VCR scene. This is due to problems with DirectDraw and the transition from cutscene back to gameplay.

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Technical stuff and explanation:
DirectDraw isn't supported or used anymore since NT (i.e. Windows XP). This means, whenever a program uses DirectDraw to display certain elements (in this case the FMV movies) it is emulated. However, the emulation is rather buggy and so is Sanitarium. When switching back from DirectDraw (= the cutscene) an exception is thrown. Sometimes "Compatibility Mode" provides a better emulation, emulating the operating system chosen more directly. Or something like that
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Here are some tipps on how to avoid this:

- Install with Administrator privileges (right-click on the setup file, select "run as administrator") and do NOT change the setup path!
- Run the game directly (sntrm.exe in the install directory) and as Administrator (right-click the file, then select "run as administrator")
- Under XP, 7 and above set the compatibility to "Windows 98 / ME", check "Disable visual themes" and check "Disable Desktop composition"
- Let some other programs run in the background to reduce windowing-problems and idleing the CPU, so open up some Firefox, Outlook, Explorer, whatever you have. The more the merrier.
- Disable DirectDraw acceleration (using dxdiag or the "Display" properties, depending on your windows) and / or Direct3D acceleration
- Make a new shortcut to sntrm.exe on your desktop (right click the file, "Send to..." > "Desktop (create shortcut)" and edit this shortcut (right-click > properties). In the field "Target:" add to the end " -e" (just blank dash e, no quotes)
- If possible use a tool to reduce CPU speed so that you don't have more than 1GHz of power
- If you have more than one CPU core, you may need to start the game, ALT-TAB out of it and open up task manager. There under "Processes" find the game, right-click it and uncheck all CPU cores except for CPU0 (thus reducing the software to one CPU core)

However, and all in all, this one is a buggy mess! I did not get it to work on Windows XP SP3 or Windows 7. It works with WineSkin under Mac OS (sort of).

If you want to run Sanitarium under Mac OS or Linux, use Wine / WineSkin with the following settings:
- Set the max. resolution to 800x600 so the frame rate goes up
- To stop the flickering of the cursor and other glitches, use Winetricks to set
ddr=gdi
rtlm=readdraw
- If you want you can adjust the "performance"-slider within the game to the lowest setting (clicking "-" until the scale is replaced with text), so the gameplay is more fluid
- important: use an up-to-date Wine library. I used 1.9.x and it works like a charm

Hope I could help some people here :)

Other ideas for the crashes after the FMV scenes (VCR puzzle, etc.)

- Deactivate the DirectDraw Speeder (open dxdiag, go to Appearances)

- Intel Hyperthreading may cause crashes as well, so deactivate it if possible ;-)

Thank you for this post! I found another thing that helped with one persistent crash - going into in game Settings and bringing down the Performance slider all the way down. That allowed me to go past the crash that happened when you enter the portal in the Hive, and then I switched back to full performance in the settings again.

edit: windows compatibility was also set to windows XP pack 2 along with "run as administrator"

Hello,
I'd like to share here all methods which helped me with Sanitarium crashes (GOG version) and see the ending of this wonderful game.

Brief system info: Windows 7 Pro, Catalyst 15.9.1 Beta installed

Attention: below you can find some spoilers but if you read this topic you are here probably for some help with crashes anyway.

#1 Run Sanitarium WITHOUT "Windows Explorer" running.
This is a BASIC method which has worked for me well until Aztec Ritual.
You should use it all the time while playing Sanitarium.
Example of procedure: Open "Task Manager", kill explorer.exe entries and run Sanitarium via "File" -> "Run new task".
Note: no need to change compability mode of the game.
Reference:
www.gameboomers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/965156/Sanitarium/my_error_or_game

#2 Turn off subtitles in game menu.
This one helped me with crashes since Aztec Ritual and I've used it for the rest of the game.
(well I've tried to turn subtitles on but after few more crashes I've turned them off again)
Reference:
steamcommunity.com/app/284050/discussions/0/613940477766945987/?ctp=2

#3 Add "-e -window" parameters to the "sntrm.exe" shortcut
I've used this method only once: just before the cutscene where Max transforms. After the cs ends you can save the game, exit it and use methods #1 and #2
Reference:
www.gog.com/forum/sanitarium/sanitariums_new_20_installer/page3

That's all, good luck!

HI

I bought this game and tried to play it again (after some decades) and the game keeps crashing at cutscenes.

After some testings i found a solution (at least for me)

I think the games crahes because it tries to alter the desktop resolution to 640x480, wich is not supported by Win 10 (at least the lowest resolution of my desktop is 800x600).

So, i created a custom resolution of 640x480 and i´ve been playing with no problems at all. I've tested with a lot of cutscenes and with subtitles always on for dialogues and movies. I'm on chapter 3 and no more crashes.

So, first download "Custom Resolution Utility (CRU)" and create a custom resolution of 640x480

Restart computer and play the game

You can even deactivate compatibility mode with win 98 on .exe file or run game at 640x480 by checking it at .exe compatibility options, but it won't upscale graphics and they'll look a bit worse.



I hope it works for you and have fun playing it

Bye

Try this:
Buy it on Steam. The Steam version works with no crashing problems. GOG has been knowingly selling a completely broken version of the game for years. It's such a sleazy business practice of a sort they do frequently in my experience with them.