Fixes for Dark Messiah of Might & Magic

This guide will teach you how to solve annoying crashes while playing and on exit with Vista+

Fixes for Dark Messiah of Might & Magic

"Still one of the best melee 1st person combat system ever..."
(THIS GUIDE IS FOR THE SINGLE PLAYER GAME)

THE ISSUES

NOTE: this guide doesn't cover crash on startup or other launch issues a very few users are reporting, but is to fix silent crash on quit or in-game instability. See the Settings section in case... or write in the generic community thread. THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT PLACE TO ASK FOR HELP IN THAT CASE.

The game always crashes when it has to quit back to desktop (either a silent crash visible only from Reliability Monitor and Event Viewer or a requester with the classic "mm.exe has stopped working" error).
Steam version can also randomly crash while playing or when loading new levels...

July 2019:
Added a few benign patches/tweaks (see at the bottom) solving game stability issues.

N.B.: the Steam version uses a buggy build 168.62579 (master 1.02). The retail DVD version + 1.02 official patch 175.52126 (master 1.02) is newer, more stable and recommended. But you can't apply the retail patch to the Steam version. Thanks to this guide the Steam version will became just as stable as the retail version anyway...

(Small donations 💰 to buy and fix some more games are welcome from my profile page)

📢 Before you apply the steps below, be sure you removed any exe compatibility setting you might have changed (run as Admin, XP mode etc.), and remove any Steam launch option if present. Be also sure the game is forced to run on dGPU and not iGPU.

CRASH ON QUIT FIX FOR WINDOWS 10+ (1903)

(Hexaae, July 2019)
These Compatibility Fixes* seem more reliable under Windows 10 1903 with improved performance:

• HeapValidateFrees
  
• IgnoreCRTExit

* See for example my other guide with instructions on how to install and use Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit to manually apply the fixes.

Simpler solution: here is the DMfixes.sdb file for those lazy or newbie users scared by MS-ACT:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!ApMUGr0cuN39hIlt25hat56_58w57Q?e=I5AycO
Download (it's just a OS-wide compatibility patch data file specific for this game) and apply it from an Admin CMD prompt, like this:

sdbinst -q DMfixes.sdb

You can then uninstall this fix at any time from the list of Windows installed programs.

ADDITIONAL PATCH TO ADDRESS >2GB RAM

It should reduce loading crashes.
With an hex-editor you can patch the game (mm.exe) to be able to use >2GB:

Go to byte position $DD6 (=3542 in decimal numbers) and change the byte $0F to $2F

Byte position	Change	To
00000DD6	0F	2F

If you're too noob to manually modify the exe, you can try with tool 4GB Patch: https://ntcore.com/?page_id=371

INCREASE DATA CACHE FOR GAME STABILITY

This seems to be a benign setting improving stability against unexpected crashes while playing.
On modern systems with 4GB+ RAM and 2GB+ VRAM, set as Steam game launch option:

+datacachesize "128"

HINTS & OPTIMIZATIONS

SKIP INTRO VIDEOS
Add this game launch option:
-novid

🚨NOTE: unfortunately this old game seems to have some issues with modern multicore cpus, resulting in random minor stuttering and non-perfectly smooth experience because it won't distribute cpu work over all free threads. There is no known fix ATM, but as a partial workaround you can try hitting ESC (pause menu) multiple times and see if this improves smoothness...

PARALLAX MAPPING
Not sure if it this actually works (should enable parallax mapping for an improved real 3D bump effect for some texture?), but you can try opening registry at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Valve\Source\mm\Settings
and modify:
mat_parallaxmap = 1

Warning: this can cause the game to crash according to https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/$parallaxmap

LAST RESORT
If the game still crashes unexpectedly while playing, the last thing you can try is to set through NVidia Profile Inspector or NVidia driver settings: Threaded Optimization: OFF.

Settings

If you have problems with settings that won't be saved on exit, be sure your Windows registry keys for this game are ok. In particular check under:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\Source\mm\Settings

If you have multiple entries like these:

"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\Source\sourcetest\Settings"
"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\Source\<path to your game installation like D:\Steam...>\steamapps\common\Dark Messiah Might and Magic Single Player\mm\Settings"

make a backup and DELETE them as they can interfere with Dark Messiah which can be confused mixing all these different settings together (!).

In case, to reset everything 'till next game launch, you can delete the whole "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\Source" registry key, which will be re-created on first game launch.

Old fix👴🏻 for Vista, Win7...

Original (lost?) post: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=28043316&postcount=1

For further issues with old and unsupported Windows 7 (e.g. the game is not starting/black screen), please read this: https://steamcommunity.com/app/2100/discussions/0/558747922227774495/?ctp=5#c1747897731973522665 (in brief you could try adding the Compatibility Fix "IgnoreLoadLibrary" (-> gameux.dll as Parameters) to avoid mm.exe hanging at launch in Win7)

Ursprungligen skrivet av thepassengersep:

Hello all.
Thanks to the efforts of a GOG community member I was able to obtain a fix for the crash on exit that occurs on Windows 7 64bit.

I have copied the instructions over from the page below; but as the fix was originally meant for PlaneScape: Torment, I have made the proper adjustments:

http://www.gog.com/en/forum/planescape_torment/windows_7_64bit_fix_for_crash_on_exit_screen_shaking_flickering

1.) Download & install the Application Compatibility Toolkit Setup from here
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install

NOTICE: You don't have to download 4GB of full ADK package: it will run a small Microsoft downloader from which you can select only the required tool (less than 15MB)

2.) Run Compatibility Administrator, the 32bit version (since mm.exe is 32bit).
It will start with New database(1) [Untitled_1] highlighted.
At the top, click on Fix.

3.) Name the file to be fixed ( I put Dark Messiah ). Then browse to your mm.exe file.

4.) Click next, to the compatibility mode screen. Ignore that & next again.
At Compatability Fixes, tick the ones you want.

EmulateHeap
IgnoreCRTExit
IgnoreFreeLibrary

were enough to stop it crashing on exit.
You can click Test Run to make sure.
Then next, then Finish.

5.) Highlight New database(1) [Untitled_1]. Above click on save.
I saved my file in the same directory as mm.exe and named it Dark Messiah Fix.

6.) Then right click on New Database(1) & install.


Here you can find the descriptions for each flag I used:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc765984%28v=ws.10%29.aspx (updated Jul 2017)

I hope this helps those whom are bothered by the crash on exit, and I will post again if I discover any undesirable effects.

But in the meantime it works rather nicely.

Thanks and credit goes to torarngu & olnorton of the GOG community for original post and clarified instructions respectively.

[Son of Dad, Vnuk of Ded]

I previously thought there would be another episode after the last choice. But apparently the game just ended, so there is no problem as such

[hexaae]

@Son of Dad
can you share save game right before the ending sequence, so I can test it?

[Son of Dad, Vnuk of Ded]

after the ending video there is a black screen, does anyone know how to fix it?

[hexaae]

👍🏻

[JÀŸ]

Works great stopped all my crashes Thx

[Pr.Jitterskull - best bug fixer]

Any chance you can make guide for Multiplayer version of the game?

[0bama]

{LÄNK BORTTAGEN}https:// mega .nz/file/YodA3BDb#4cNlgcG_hL51SegAvURjM70lBvE8NZCPSgGIxdGv8KU (remove spaces)

[0bama]

Hello, I made a small patch for Steam users. It will upgrade Steam copy to latest version of game. Instructions are simple: drag and drop files with replacement.

DL: {LÄNK BORTTAGEN}https://mega.nz/file/YodA3BDb#4cNlgcG_hL51SegAvURjM70lBvE8NZCPSgGIxdGv8KU

Enjoy!

[hexaae]

@CONQUEEFTADOR
What part? Crash on quit fix? Follow my other guide with detailed instructions on how to add compatibility fixes with MS-ACT, even though in this case you have to set just these "Fixes":
HeapValidateFrees
IgnoreCRTExit
for the mm.exe...

[CONQUEEFTADOR]

I'm sorry for being stupid, but I don't understand how to install this FIX. some one can help me?