Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura

[Hand of Vecna]

picked this game up with some of my Christmas money. Installed it on my sister's comp, worked fine, had a great time with it.

Then I came back to my apartment, installed it on my computer (which is a few months newer than my sister's), and got ready to play. Started it up, got the Sierra screen, then the Troika screen, then the briefest flash of the "Game Loading" screen (the one with the train)...

... and then the game shut off.

I uninstalled the game, defragged my comp (just in case), and reinstalled the game. Same results.

I downloaded the latest patch from the Sierra website. No change.

I've tried everything listed at the Sierra Support Site. No change.

Before I call their Tech Support number (a long distance call for me), I thought I'd ask if anyone here has had similar problems with this game, and what y'all might recommend.

My comp has a Pentium 3 Processor, 127.0 MB of RAM, over 15 Gigabytes of free memory on the hard drive, and is running Microsoft Windows Me 4.90.3000. The comp itself is a Hewlett-Packard Pavilion xt953. Far as I can tell, there's no video card (I can't find one listed anywhere in the Control Panel or System Properties), but I'm able to run games like Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale and Diablo II and Planescape: Torment just fine. I don't know what my sister's comp has, and I've not been able to contact her to ask.

 

[KenM]

sounds like you have an intergraded video card, its right on the motherboard. I'd check your computer manual, ect. you have to get your specs right when you call tech support. This also means getting a video card is harder then just switching them out.

 

[Azure Trance]

I would very much advise going to www.terra-arcanum.com and their message board asking for help. I go there all the time for in game advice (not by posting, usually by backtracking and seeing what other people post). They've seen everything and will probably know what you're suffering from.

Good luck! Enjoy the game; I never finished it since I kept restarting with new characters ALL THE FRIGGIN TIME. Magic? Guns? Regardless, usually my characters had deviancy [sp] with being klepto.

 

[Hand of Vecna]

heh, yeah, when I played it on my sister's comp, I kept being a klepto, to... I made it to the Black Mountain Mines with my Half-Orge (specialized in Melee and Dodge, and had a few Tech skills up his sleeve, to).

Video card, eh? Well, that's actually the best-case scenario, since I got a video card with some of my Christmas cash (mostly so I could play games like Morrowwind and Neverwinter Nights. It's an NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440-SE. I've no idea on how or where to install it (I opened my comp up and was blinded by all the prismatic-colored wires), but fortunatley I've got 2 old college buds who are quite good with computer stuff, and hopefully I'll be able to get one of them to install it.

 

[KenM]

same card I have, its a good mid range card. made sure your friends check to see if you have intergraded vieo on your motherboard. you might have to just disable the bios for them, but not sure.

 

[Hand of Vecna]

and, at the risk of sounding as a complete n00b, how would I disable the bios?

 

[gariig]

and, at the risk of sounding as a complete n00b, how would I disable the bios?

When your computer boots up does whats called a POST(Post on Self Test, I think it the correct acronym) which basically means it checks your RAM, CPU, and IDE ports(meaniinig Hard drive and CD-ROMs) it should say press some key to enter BIOS. Some manufacturers also put a graphic over the POST information, if your computer does this try the DEL, F1, or backspace key as they are most common(at least I think backspace is). in all honesty I'd have your friends do it.

Also, I would take back the video card and wait to go shopping with your friends. There are two types of video card slots out there. There is the specific AGP slot which is made for video cards only and some motherboards with integrated video(especially older ones) lack. Then there is PCI video cards which is what all your other peripherals(modem, network card, sound card) probably use.

Gariig

 

[KenM]

Yes, make sure you have the right slot for your video card.

 

[Hand of Vecna]

well, the video card I got is a PCI one, so hopefully that'll work. And I do still have the receipt for it, in case it isn't.

 

[Hopping Vampire]

Hand of Vecna:

there are two slots your video card fits into. One of them is a off white colored slot (called a Pci slot), the other is a brown slot (called an AGP slot).on the box it should say whether the card is AGP or PCI. since you probably have onboard video, you wont have and AGP slot. try fitting the card in either a brown or a white slot. if it doesnt slide in (be gentle), i'd see about getting a new vid card.

another thing to get arcanum working is to try the latest version of DirectX.