The game was working fine just the other day, and then the next day I try to start it again and it suddenly doesn't work.

I try to run the game by double-clicking the Launcher.exe, or the shortcut icon to the launcher, or the bin/stranger.exe. If using the launcher, the launhcer window opens and lets me select options, and hit Play. All of them end up with the same result - the process stranger.exe starts and is running and visible in Task Manager, but nothing else happens. No game window appears. My computer thinks for a while - the spinner/hourglass cursor is visible for a moment - and then nothing. The process stranger.exe keeps running, seemingly indefinitely - I left the computer on for a long time, and nothing still happened and the process was still there.

I've tried to run as administrator, run without antivirus, run in different compatibility modes, reinstall the game, reboot the computer - no help. It's very weird that just the day before I was able to play the game normally. Some network settings were changed after the last time the game worked - specifically the set of available TLS cipher suites on the computer has changed - but I imagine that's just a coincidence and is not relevant to the game stopping working.

The OS is 64bit Windows 7.

Edit: The game worked again just the other day, and today it again does not work. Very strange behaviour.

Another edit: The game continues to intermittently work on some days and not work on other days. The difference likely has something to do with rebooting the computer sometimes making a difference, and at other times not making a difference.

Same here, when I try to start the game, nothing happen. u_u

SPec: Windows 7 64 bits
Nvidia GTX 560 (video card)
amd Phenom II X4 965 (processor)
8 GB RAM

+ I already tried the "below 8 sound channels" fix and the "disable threaded optimisation", none of them worked...

I found that I could get it to work by following these steps:

1. Move all save game files away from C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\Oddworld\Stranger's Wrath HD\Save (don't delete them, just move them somewhere else temporarily)

2. Start the game - the game starts normally. You of course don't have any saves available.

3. Quit the game

3. Put the save files back to where they were

4. Start the game again. It should start normally, with all the saves available again.

After these steps, the game would work again normally, until I reboot the computer at which point it might sometimes stop working again and I would have to repeat the steps.

Thanks to try helping me, but I can't even launch the game, when I click "play" on gog nothing happen. Sooo, I have not any save game.
When I try to start the game with the .exe, I got a strange error message, which is hard to translate.
But I can try:


<< E:\GOG Galaxy\Games\Strangers Wrath HD\Launcher.exe

The application couldn't start because of his configuration " side by side " (daf*q it means? O_o) is incorrect.
For further informations, blablablabla... >>

Whatever you do don't post the actual error message. You are missing one of the Visual C++ Redistrib Packages. Download the correct one from Microsoft and install it. Alternatively, an installer for it may be in the game folder.

Thanks! I don't understand why he didn't installed what programs was needed, like for every game you launch... Plus, I couldn't found what was the required software. But, you said Visual C++, and since the game is from 2010, the only C++ I was missing before 2010 (including C++ 2010 already installed), was C++ 2008, which is the one you need.
Many thanks! :3