Unplayable - "Please insert the Earthworm Jim 3D CD-ROM"

[George from Austria]

Hello!

Every time I get into the game after a certain amount of time the message "Please insert the Earthworm Jim 3D CD-ROM" pops up and crashes the game. Well, the game does not exactly "crash", but I can not do anything once this message pops up, forcing me to externally close the game via task manager. I have heard about people experiencing the same problem, however for me it appears every time I play, sometimes right after I get into the game or after about 10 minutes. This makes it impossible for me to progress through the game.

I have tried to find a pattern to figure out what triggers the message, but so far without success. The message popped up occasionally during the first half of the game, maybe three or four times while playing through the "Memory" and "Happiness" section, but not as often as it would make the game unplayable. When I reached "Poultrygeist" and "Poultrygeist Too" in the "Fear" section of the game however, the message always pops up after like 15 minutes. (To be fair, not knowing when the game will crash truly comes true to the name of the "fear" section of the game, increasing the immersion I guess :P).

After I played on the Steam Version, I have also tried the GOG version of EWJ3D, hoping that the problem does not appear there. I copied my save game file from the Steam version into the folder of the GOG version, so I could continue my progress. Unfortunately, the message "Hi there! Jump if you really want to play" pops up instead of "Please insert the Earthworm Jim 3D CD-ROM". Even though the message itself sounds completely different, I have observed that it has the exact same "functionality", appearing seemingly randomly and freezing the game without option to continue. I can say that the message pops up consistently during the first 15 minutes of "Poultrygeist" and "Poultrygeist Too" for me, and occasionally also in different parts of the game.

I have tried the approach discussed in this post, however it did not manage to solve the issue with it:
https://www.speedrun.com/ewj3d/guide/dmfo9

It's such a shame, because despite the aged mechanics and the clunky camera, I think it's still a great and fun game, and I really enjoy the humor and clever puzzles. I remember playing it when I was like 5 years old with my brother, and we could never make it past the "Memory" section of the game because it was too difficult for us at that time. Recently I picked it up again on Steam (because or old CD is damaged) and I was amazed about how awesome this game actually is, and I would love to finally beat it after all these years :)

I am playing on Windows 10 Home, Intel Core i7-10750H, 16GB RAM and Nvidia GTX 1650TI Max-Q and a 4K Display (that I usually scale down to 1080p for games), no disk drive.

Maybe also worth mentioning: I have tried various different display settings in the game, as well as the windows compatibility modes for Windows 95, 98 and XP. Also, I am usually playing with a Xbox Wireless Controller connected via Bluetooth.

Does anyone have some new info on how to fix it, or where I can find a version of the game where this problem does not appear?

Thank you!

[Thelightingking9000]

easy go to a rom website download the n64 version and emulator then you'll never need a disk again.

[Cindy_Bubsy3D]

Originally posted by Thelightingking9000:

easy go to a rom website download the n64 version and emulator then you'll never need a disk again.

Playing the N64 version on emulator breaks the game since emulators force the game to run at 2-3x the game's normal speed. Also the N64 version is horribly downgraded

[Thelightingking9000]

Or simply go to ebay or somewhere that sells the game and get.

[Thelightingking9000]

Roostergamer all versions of Earthworm Jim 3d is a downgrade from Earthworm jim 1,2