Distorted on start-up

[Flashback007]

So I got this game with the Steam Summer Sale. Was looking forward to play it. I started it up and it looked completly distorted on start-up. Almost like a tv-test-screen. All kinda colors running through each other and lines. The strangest thing is, I was thinking about making a screenshot and showing it here. The screenshot turns out fine? I don't have any issues with any other games in my libary so I don't know what to do know.

[Max Mraz]

Haha, no one will ever believe you if you can't take a screenshot!

Just kidding. I think this happens when your machine doesn't support hardware acceleration. There's a workaround though- you can download the Solarus Launcher from solarus-games.org and use that to launch the game. In the launcher, there's an option for "force software rendering", which, if this is what I think it is, might fix it.

[Flashback007]

It worked! But now when I start it up I can get to the main menu, but no options appears there to select.

[Max Mraz]

Hmm, very odd, there should definitely be some options there, haha. Is the screen wider than your window/monitor, and they've gone off the side? Like, if you press the space bar or action button on your controller a few times, does anything happen?

If not, there ought to be an error.txt tile sitting near the Solarus Launcher exe, which might have some clues for us.

[Flashback007]

Nothing happens when I press space bar or any button.

I did get this error.txt-file:

[Solarus] [8630] Error: In on_started: scripts/fx/swipe_fade.lua:20: Failed to create shader: shaders unavailable
stack traceback:
[C]: at 0x62bdcb60
[C]: in function 'create'
scripts/fx/swipe_fade.lua:20: in main chunk
[C]: in function 'require'
scripts/menus/map_banner.lua:23: in main chunk
[C]: in function 'require'
scripts/game_manager.lua:15: in main chunk
[C]: in function 'require'
scripts/menus/title_screen_menus/new_continue_etc.lua:3: in main chunk
[C]: in function 'require'
scripts/menus/title_screen_menus/top_menu.lua:14: in function 'previous_callbacks'
...
scripts/multi_events.lua:41: in function <scripts/multi_events.lua:40>
[C]: in function 'stop'
scripts/menus/language.lua:15: in function <scripts/menus/language.lua:11>
[C]: in function 'start'
scripts/menus/initial_menus.lua:86: in function <scripts/menus/initial_menus.lua:86>
[C]: in function 'pcall'
scripts/menus/initial_menus.lua:86: in function 'callback'
scripts/multi_events.lua:41: in function <scripts/multi_events.lua:40>
[C]: in function 'stop'
scripts/menus/solarus_logo.lua:126: in function <scripts/menus/solarus_logo.lua:125>
[Solarus] [12890] Error: In on_key_pressed: scripts/menus/title_screen_menus/top_menu.lua:35: attempt to index upvalue 'current_submenu' (a nil value)
stack traceback:
[C]: in function '__index'
scripts/menus/title_screen_menus/top_menu.lua:35: in function <scripts/menus/title_screen_menus/top_menu.lua:33>
[Solarus] [13390] Error: In on_key_pressed: scripts/menus/title_screen_menus/top_menu.lua:35: attempt to index upvalue 'current_submenu' (a nil value)
stack traceback:
[C]: in function '__index'
scripts/menus/title_screen_menus/top_menu.lua:35: in function <scripts/menus/title_screen_menus/top_menu.lua:33>
[Solarus] [14100] Error: In on_key_pressed: scripts/menus/title_screen_menus/top_menu.lua:35: attempt to index upvalue 'current_submenu' (a nil value)
stack traceback:
[C]: in function '__index'
scripts/menus/title_screen_menus/top_menu.lua:35: in function <scripts/menus/title_screen_menus/top_menu.lua:33>
[Solarus] [16670] Error: In on_key_pressed: scripts/menus/title_screen_menus/top_menu.lua:35: attempt to index upvalue 'current_submenu' (a nil value)
stack traceback:
[C]: in function '__index'
scripts/menus/title_screen_menus/top_menu.lua:35: in function <scripts/menus/title_screen_menus/top_menu.lua:33>
[Solarus] [17720] Error: In on_key_pressed: scripts/menus/title_screen_menus/top_menu.lua:35: attempt to index upvalue 'current_submenu' (a nil value)
stack traceback:
[C]: in function '__index'
scripts/menus/title_screen_menus/top_menu.lua:35: in function <scripts/menus/title_screen_menus/top_menu.lua:33>

I hope this the right one and can help. Sorry, for being such a bother

[Max Mraz]

Oh, it's no bother! Thanks for you assistance looking into the problem.
So, it looks like you system doesn't support the shaders. The engine uses OpenGL for this stuff, so it might be possible to download something like drivers maybe? Getting into that type of system-level stuff is a bit outside my area of expertise.

The other option would be going into the code and commenting out the shaders XD
I'm mostly kidding, but they are only used in a couple places and aren't super important, so if you're a coding-minded person it's actually doable.