This or the GOG version for Windows 11?

[JDR13]

Has anyone played this recently in Windows 11? Any major issues?

[Bobo]

Windows 11 here. I tried playing it today and 5 minutes in it crashed. Tried the patches I found in the discussions and still crashes in same spot every time. Been trying for an hour. Seems the steam version is no good, at least for me so far. Although in the discussions here, alot of people having the same problem. Cant speak for the GOG version.

[JDR13]

Originally posted by lgnhanson:

Windows 11 here. I tried playing it today and 5 minutes in it crashed. Tried the patches I found in the discussions and still crashes in same spot every time. Been trying for an hour. Seems the steam version is no good, at least for me so far. Although in the discussions here, alot of people having the same problem. Cant speak for the GOG version.

Thanks for the info. I actually ended up getting it from GOG yesterday for less than $2. Haven't had time to try it yet though. The sale is over, but it's still only $5 anyways.

[_SUCKLEAD_]

The GOG version contains the fixes that you need for Windows 11 or you can use the v1.7 patch at https://dcotetools.sucklead.com/p/dcotepatch.html to get the same fixes.

[a7]

Originally posted by _SUCKLEAD_:

The GOG version contains the fixes that you need for Windows 11 or you can use the v1.7 patch at https://dcotetools.sucklead.com/p/dcotepatch.html to get the same fixes.

No version of the game contains the fixes needed for proper running on modern systems. This game was full of bugs even at the time of release and didn't run properly then, and should never have been released in such a broken form.
Selling it today is just a crime, at most it should be archived somewhere and maybe offered for free as a curiosity.
It's nice that fans like you are trying to get it fixed, but unfortunately it just creates the illusion that the game is suitable to play on modern systems.
Sorry, but the only good solution would be a proper port or remake.

[JDR13]

Originally posted by a7:

Originally posted by _SUCKLEAD_:

The GOG version contains the fixes that you need for Windows 11 or you can use the v1.7 patch at https://dcotetools.sucklead.com/p/dcotepatch.html to get the same fixes.

No version of the game contains the fixes needed for proper running on modern systems. This game was full of bugs even at the time of release and didn't run properly then, and should never have been released in such a broken form.
Selling it today is just a crime, at most it should be archived somewhere and maybe offered for free as a curiosity.
It's nice that fans like you are trying to get it fixed, but unfortunately it just creates the illusion that the game is suitable to play on modern systems.
Sorry, but the only good solution would be a proper port or remake.

Exaggerate much? I played it to completion several times back in the day without any issues. It was only with later OS that it became more difficult to run, but I've talked to people that were still able to finish it. Unfortunately, you just have to jump through some hoops.

[a7]

Originally posted by JDR13:

Exaggerate much? I played it to completion several times back in the day without any issues. It was only with later OS that it became more difficult to run, but I've talked to people that were still able to finish it. Unfortunately, you just have to jump through some hoops.

I'm not exaggerating, I remember reading reviews criticising the technical problems of the game even at the time when it came out. I bought it anyway and saw that the critics were right. The game lagged, I encountered various bugs like falling "diamonds" instead of rain, but the worst were the occasional crashes.
Unfortunately the developer went bankrupt without properly updating the game, and the publisher Bethesda hasn't fixed it either.
I've returned to the game from time to time since then with different hardware builds and various Windows versions, and I also bought the GOG version, which is supposedly better. Yes, some bugs disappeared, but the biggest problem, which is instability of the game, remained. I tried it again recently and again it was sometimes crashing during gameplay.
When I read player feedback, I see that many gamers have a similar bad experience. Just because it happens to work for someone doesn't mean it's okay.

To sumarize: The original game was a semi-finished product with plenty of bugs, some of which have been fixed by fan patches, but it's just impossible fixing everything in the game properly without access to the source code.
With the modern systems a number of other problems have emerged, such as the refresh rate issue, which is addressed in the GOG version but not in the Steam version (where it requires replacing the executable with the original one and applying a fix from Sucklead). The technical state of this game from its release until now is far from desired and anyone trying to run any version of it should be prepared for possible issues, although the GOG version should be the better than Steam and original versions without the fan patch.
Unfortunately the publisher doesn't care at all about fixing the game (see empty update history).

[JDR13]

Originally posted by a7:

Originally posted by JDR13:

Exaggerate much? I played it to completion several times back in the day without any issues. It was only with later OS that it became more difficult to run, but I've talked to people that were still able to finish it. Unfortunately, you just have to jump through some hoops.

I'm not exaggerating, I remember reading reviews criticising the technical problems of the game even at the time when it came out. I bought it anyway and saw that the critics were right. The game lagged, I encountered various bugs like falling "diamonds" instead of rain, but the worst were the occasional crashes.
Unfortunately the developer went bankrupt without properly updating the game, and the publisher Bethesda hasn't fixed it either.
I've returned to the game from time to time since then with different hardware builds and various Windows versions, and I also bought the GOG version, which is supposedly better. Yes, some bugs disappeared, but the biggest problem, which is instability of the game, remained. I tried it again recently and again it was sometimes crashing during gameplay.
When I read player feedback, I see that many gamers have a similar bad experience. Just because it happens to work for someone doesn't mean it's okay.

And just because some people had bugs doesn't mean it was unfinished or unplayable. The game now is in much worse shape than when it was released. The problem stems more from issues it has with newer OS than bugs that were there to begin with. At release, it was probably on par with most game as far as bugs go, but it's become worse over the years. Still, it's playable as long as one takes the time to tweak it.

And yes, you're exaggerating. "Selling the game is a crime" is just being hyperbolic. The game is only $5, and most gamers do their due diligence before buying a game anyways. It's also arguably still the best H.P. Lovecraft game out there, so the time it might take to get it to run is worth it if you're a fan of the IP.

[a7]

Originally posted by JDR13:

And just because some people had bugs doesn't mean it was unfinished or unplayable. The game now is in much worse shape than when it was released. The problem stems more from issues it has with newer OS than bugs that were there to begin with. At release, it was probably on par with most game as far as bugs go, but it's become worse over the years. Still, it's playable as long as one takes the time to tweak it.
And yes, you're exaggerating. "Selling the game is a crime" is just being hyperbolic. The game is only $5, and most gamers do their due diligence before buying a game anyways. It's also arguably still the best H.P. Lovecraft game out there, so the time it might take to get it to run is worth it if you're a fan of the IP.

I remember playing the game for the first time at the time of its release. Back then I had an ATI (now AMD) card and so ran into a weird looking rain right at the beginning, and the game also crashed for the first time during the prologue.
Then I experienced a double horror during the hotel escape scene. The attackers broke down the door, started approaching me, but everything was slowing down and eventually there was another crash. Probably a script error. And I could go on with the list of issues I encountered.
With a lot of patience, I continued until about two thirds of the way through, when the bugs definitely discouraged me from finishing the game. You can still find tutorials online from the time the game was released describing the various bugs and how to work around them. I agree that it only got worse with time, although some bugs were fixed by fans.
Yes, the price is low, but more importantly, the publisher certainly knows about the game's problems and yet does nothing and that's just wrong approach. It's like selling a car where the seller is well aware that the engine is damaged. In my opinion the game needs a major bug fixing update, but unfortunately that never happened.
I'm not a fan of some mechanics of the game in addition to my dislike of the bug issues, but I like the overall atmosphere, so I would like to finish it without technical problems someday. I'm afraid Bethesda won't ever properly patch it, and fan reverse engineering of the game (something like ScummVM does) would be a giant task.

[_SUCKLEAD_]

Originally posted by a7:

To sumarize: The original game was a semi-finished product with plenty of bugs, some of which have been fixed by fan patches, but it's just impossible fixing everything in the game properly without access to the source code.

We actually do have the scripts source code:
I was able to reconstruct the xbox source code from the debug files left on the disc.
Using the info from the debug files I was able to write a decompiler/recompiler from the PC version so that I could start fixing the bugs.
I started looking at the script bugs as you can see here (https://dcotetools.sucklead.com/2018/01/the-hanging-woman-bug.html) but from testing the bugs I could recreate they didn't happen with the 60fps GOG fix.
The GOG version also fixes the shader issue with the sorcerers that was the main game breaking issue.
As such it didn't seem worth putting in a huge amount of effort to fix the bugs in the source, recompile them and then patch them in the script files so I just added the GOG fix to the 1.7 patch.
If you can point me at a bug that isn't fixed by that I'm more than happy to try and fix it.

[a7]

Interesting, thanks for the info. I can't reproduce the bug I had when I played the game recently, because I uninstalled the game after a few crashes. This time it was crashing in the Attack of the Fishmen chapter during the escape from the warehouse.
However, I have another problem now. I've decided to try the game again, made a new install of the GOG version and now it says at startup: "Error - Failed to create device." Changing settings in the launcher (antialiasing or display mode) has no effect on this. Also, the advices I found on this problem in the forum, like setting compatibility for Windows XP, didn't help.
Any idea what else I could do? Strangely the game did not have this issue before and there are no software or hardware changes to my build: Windows 10, RTX 3060TI, i5-10400F

[Grn_Ghost]

Originally posted by _SUCKLEAD_:

Originally posted by a7:

To sumarize: The original game was a semi-finished product with plenty of bugs, some of which have been fixed by fan patches, but it's just impossible fixing everything in the game properly without access to the source code.

We actually do have the scripts source code:
I was able to reconstruct the xbox source code from the debug files left on the disc.
Using the info from the debug files I was able to write a decompiler/recompiler from the PC version so that I could start fixing the bugs.
I started looking at the script bugs as you can see here (https://dcotetools.sucklead.com/2018/01/the-hanging-woman-bug.html) but from testing the bugs I could recreate they didn't happen with the 60fps GOG fix.
The GOG version also fixes the shader issue with the sorcerers that was the main game breaking issue.
As such it didn't seem worth putting in a huge amount of effort to fix the bugs in the source, recompile them and then patch them in the script files so I just added the GOG fix to the 1.7 patch.
If you can point me at a bug that isn't fixed by that I'm more than happy to try and fix it.

I keep getting the ladder bug,
during the prologue at the cultist mansion, when I go down the ladder under the trapdoor in the library the game just crashes.
I tried all the suggested fixes but nothing works for me.

[a7]

So "Error - Failed to create device" is gone with the good old fix for everything - restarting the computer. I tried going through the place where the game crashed on my previous playthrough, and this time it didn't happen. I think the earlier issue was a corrupted savegame.
I ran into a minor problem when using high resolution. The mouse cursor is so small that it is almost invisible. This confused me especially in the menu where chapters are selected - I activated it for testing purposes with a patch.
This menu has a light background, so the tiny white cursor almost completely disappeared and at the same time I couldn't select chapters using the up and down keys so I thought the game froze on this menu. I think it would be useful to improve it somehow: for example with adding keyboard controls there, changing the background color or adjusting the cursor size according to the chosen resolution.

[JDR13]

Originally posted by a7:

Originally posted by JDR13:

And just because some people had bugs doesn't mean it was unfinished or unplayable. The game now is in much worse shape than when it was released. The problem stems more from issues it has with newer OS than bugs that were there to begin with. At release, it was probably on par with most game as far as bugs go, but it's become worse over the years. Still, it's playable as long as one takes the time to tweak it.
And yes, you're exaggerating. "Selling the game is a crime" is just being hyperbolic. The game is only $5, and most gamers do their due diligence before buying a game anyways. It's also arguably still the best H.P. Lovecraft game out there, so the time it might take to get it to run is worth it if you're a fan of the IP.

I remember playing the game for the first time at the time of its release. Back then I had an ATI (now AMD) card and so ran into a weird looking rain right at the beginning, and the game also crashed for the first time during the prologue.
Then I experienced a double horror during the hotel escape scene. The attackers broke down the door, started approaching me, but everything was slowing down and eventually there was another crash. Probably a script error. And I could go on with the list of issues I encountered.
With a lot of patience, I continued until about two thirds of the way through, when the bugs definitely discouraged me from finishing the game. You can still find tutorials online from the time the game was released describing the various bugs and how to work around them. I agree that it only got worse with time, although some bugs were fixed by fans.
Yes, the price is low, but more importantly, the publisher certainly knows about the game's problems and yet does nothing and that's just wrong approach. It's like selling a car where the seller is well aware that the engine is damaged. In my opinion the game needs a major bug fixing update, but unfortunately that never happened.
I'm not a fan of some mechanics of the game in addition to my dislike of the bug issues, but I like the overall atmosphere, so I would like to finish it without technical problems someday. I'm afraid Bethesda won't ever properly patch it, and fan reverse engineering of the game (something like ScummVM does) would be a giant task.

I guarantee you at least some of your problems came from having an ATI card. They were notorious for issues with a lot of games back then. Thank God they've improved by leaps and bounds in recent years or Nvidia would have no competition whatsoever.

[a7]

Originally posted by JDR13:

I guarantee you at least some of your problems came from having an ATI card.

Yes, the graphics glitch with rain was ATI/AMD specific, but I ran into a number of bugs when switching to NVIDIA as well. Here's my experience after a few more hours of testing it yesterday with RTX3060Ti:
- the game has a corrupted journal at 4K resolution, yet the "fixed" GOG version offers 4K in the settings without warning
- the game still tends to do what it's been doing to me since the beginning, stutter during some scenes where the player is injured and blood spots appear on the screen. These lags can be mitigated by using the DXVK utility and replacing DX9 with VULKAN, but I've only tested it briefly and don't know if it's stable throughout the whole game
- I've run into crashes again. The game tends to crash when the player does something other than the script expects. An example was a jail when I was fighting the cops instead of sneaking past them. So players who know the game well, or those who use the walkthrough, may not encounter some crashes at all, but the game shouldn't be programmed for only a specific type of gameplay. UPDATE: I tried fighting the cops again and this time the game didn't crash, so these bugs seem to be just random

[ムWalter★Sullivanム]

Vsync force from graphic card ezz fix