When I first started up Still Life, all I got was a black screen with nothing happening. I did a bit of digging around and learnt that the fix was to try some of the compatibility settings - people have reported success with both the "Windows 98 / Windows ME" setting and the "Windows NT 4" setting.

Once in game, I then found that I couldn't speak to the first cop as the dialogue text wasn't appearing. More digging around informed me that ticking the "Disable visual themes" setting resolved this.

For reference, I'm running Still Life under Windows 7 Professional x64.

Hope this little tip is of use to someone...

I'm am running 32-bit and I tried the settings that you suggested and the game still doesn't work for me. It's rather frustrating.

What's happening? Are you getting one of the two issues I mentioned, or is it something else?

Well, before I messed with the compatibility options, the game wouldn't start at all. The exe file would just be running in the background but not actually doing anything.

After I messed with the settings, it started up but with a black screen covering part of the screen and nothing happens after that.

ah.... I didn't know you guys here were talking about the issue I just had posted about here(speech causing a game hang). Believe me when I say I have tried just about everything besides all the differen codec out there and this game and nothing has worked so far. Compatibility settings will not fix the speech issue. Well that answers my question then, same engine/same version used as with iWin games. Too bad cuz I was looking forward to playing this again.

You might want to contact GOG support for this thing. The game is labeled as Windows 7 compatible, but open a support ticket just in case.

EDIT: I bought the game today, but sadly, won't be able to download it during the promo to test it.

There is nothing GoG can do, I've been through all this before with iWin. They are just a 3rd party seller here, they have nothing to do with actual game code and development of it. The engine used in Still Life is what is needing an update. Proubly due to Microsoft and the removal of Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL). I believe Post Mortem does this as well, I'm not 100% sure as it was such a long time I tried another game using the same engine, both suffered.

Well, then the game shouldn't be labeled as Windows 7 compatible, don't you think? :)

(assuming this issue will affect everybody using Windows 7, not just some rare unlucky people)

I agree with that. Misleading and a waste of money.

Did you specifically try running the game in NT4 compatibility mode? I found that to work where 89/ME would not.

Yes, I tried that mode.

Unfortunately, while the game would actually start, it would just be a partial black screen and nothing more.

Have you checked the 'run as administrator" options? I only ask because no one specifically mentioned it in this thread. Although, I suspect that the game does not actually run if you don't have it in admin mode!

You might want to check this thread as well.

I have the game running no problem with Windows 7 Professional 64bit. I just loaded it up and spoke to the first police officer to confirm that it works.

Second, check the drivers for your video card. It certainly can't hurt to check your hardware drivers....

Lastly, do not underestimate GOG support. They may not be the developers, but they did test the game before publishing it. I think they could probably give you a few extra pointers.

Everything runs as administrator for me. Drivers are fine for my video card.

I will try having everything on as is said in the other thread though.

Was having problems with the game too, but a NT4 compatibility flag fixed that.

I simply don't understand why GOG add more exe files that just bloat stuff.

The game runs just fine using the original exe and NT4 compatibility.

Also... since we''re talking about bloat, each GOG installer adds useless registry keys for no reason, and the "delete saved games" stuff doesn't work at all.

This fix worked for me. I could not get beyond opening scene nor could I save games. Now, everything is working fine. My set up is Vista 32. Thanks.