I bought W&W a long time ago and never got around to finishing it (and may have even been a member on these boards once upon a time). Well, I recently decided I was going to replay the game so I installed it on the computer I bought about a year ago (Pentium 4 with WindowsME).

Anyway, I seem to be having some technical problems and was hoping someone could help:

Every so often when I enter a town or save a game (when the cursor changes to the hourglass) the game will freeze up -- I hear a little ding in the background and then can't do anything. Well, it doesn't happen frequently, so I've been ignoring it.

The problem is that I cannot get into the Stout Mines at all because of it. Every time I try to go in, I'll head over to the window with writ in hand, the Stout will say "Hullo" and then the game will freeze up.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? Thanks. btw I'm running the game with the patch. Thanks.

Welcome to the Board, gdm2415!!!!
(or Welcome back...as the case may be.)

I'm running without the patch on an ME machine...But I never had that problem.

What graphics card are you using?
Are the drivers for your Video card up to date?

Are you able to get back to the desktop....or does your system hang-up, as well?

[ 08-23-2002, 08:51 PM: Message edited by: Packrat ]

Ok, to answer your questions:

I'm using the Nvidia GeForce MX/MX 400 card and the drivers are up-to-date.

I'm able to get back to the desktop with ALT-F4 about half the time, the other times it just completely freezes up . . .

Up-date:

Just upgraded my system to Windows XP, which is something I've been meaning to do for a while, and this gave me the excuse . . . Anyway, it still freezes, but now it freezes after I put the writ in the tray rather than after the guy says "hullo" -- and a simple ESC brings me back to the desktop every time

So, I've tried everything I can think of, including reformatting my hard drive when I upgraded to XP . . . I know I don't need to complete the Stout Mines to solve the game, but still would like to if anyone has any suggestions. Thanks.

Welcome gdm2415,
I use ME without the sorts of problems that you are having. I have run patched & unpatched. I dont think ME is the problem.
XP on the other hand is a different ballgame. Look in the tech tips thread for the well documented solutions to the XP problems. I think that you will have to address those problems before you go looking at other things like your video card.
Goodluck.

So you now have winXP? Gooood!! here´s what you do to lower the rate of those pesky freezes. In windows find your shortcut (either in start menu or on the desktop), right click the shortcut and choose properties. Click the compatibility tab at the top, check run in compatibilty mode and select Windows95 compatibility layer. Try the game now... Hope this helps!! :D

Oh and Kev, winME is very known to be a troublemaker! Drivers behave very irregular and programs too... It's probably the worst OS ever.

And "dang" how could I forget? Welcome to the boards gdm2415!! :D

[ 08-25-2002, 04:57 PM: Message edited by: WillowIX ]

Thanks Willow, that seemed to work -- at least I was able to get into the Stout Mines. I'm sure that I'll have some trouble using XP, but at least this seemed to solve the most pressing problem. Thanks again.

Welcome to the boards, gdm2415. As you can see, the help around here is pretty hospitable.

May your travels through the Gael Serran be enjoyable and challenging, and never so challenging as a recalcitrant computer...