The prologue runs fine on my Win 7 64-bit PC, but I don't seem able to start Chapter 1. I've already updated my video driver and installed the runtime version of DirectX, but am short of ideas on what to try next.

Thanks in advance for any insights.

Hi! Could you provide info on your PC's GPU, CPU, and RAM? (laptop or desktop?) Did you get any error messages, or is the game just stuck on the loading screen? Is it a digital or hard copy?

Thanks for asking, Frontovika. My CPU is a Core i7 920 @2.67 GHz;. The PC has 6 GB RAM and an HD 5850 graphics card. Not the latest, but not really low end for the game, either. I bought the game from GOG, so it's a digital download.

Interestingly, after exploring a bunch of cached posts from the old Witcher forums, I concluded that there's a sound issue that affects some people. I tried to update the drivers for the on-board sound, but what I've been using is apparently the latest/best there is. I was finally able to get past the chapter transition by temporarily disabling autosave and sound (not sure that autosave was necessary, but I tried that first and didn't turn it back on before disabling the sound), but that's not a very satisfactory solution, particularly if I may encounter the same problem with other chapter transitions. Once past the transition, the game runs fine--just as it did in the prologue.

Anyway, if anyone knows of a more seamless solution, I'd be interested in learning about it.

This happened to me the first time game loaded outskirts of vizima. It was just stuck on the loading screen. I haven't tried a second time because I remembered I didn't had the latest video drivers and updated them. Then I loaded the latest autosave and everything was fine. I don't know if the video driver update helped or I was just lucky with the second try.

I am having this issue as well, but disabling the sound did not work for me. During the loading screen to chapter 1, the game still freezes and stops responding.

It's too bad because I was just getting into this game.

I am using Windows 7 on an early 2011 Macbook Pro.

In my experience, saved Witcher games sometimes become glitched for no apparent reason. I've played the beginning of The Witcher at least a dozen times, and most of the time, the transition from the Prologue to Chapter 1 works just fine. But every once in awhile, it gets stuck on the loading screen for the Outskirts and never progresses. My sound and video drivers have been the same for every play-through, and I always have autosave turned on, so those factors don't vary for me, yet most of the time things are fine, but once in awhile, the chapter transition doesn't work.

What works for me is going back to a previous save, playing through Leo's funeral again, and then going on to Chapter 1.

This is true for a lot of little glitches in The Witcher, actually -- if you have a problem, the first thing to try is a previous save. Because of that, it's a good idea to save your Witcher game VERY often. Of course, if you accumulate a lot of saves, it will slow down your game, but you can store the bulk of your saves somewhere other than your The Witcher/saves folder.

So:

1. Save often.
2. If you have a problem, go back to a previous save and try from there. This will fix something like 95% of the glitches that people encounter.

The only problem with frequent saving is that it can lead you into another [semi]random Witcher bug - where large save folders cause client instability :/

The Witcher save folder grows at almost an exponential rate - mainly because the game never uses the same save file unless specifically told to do so. Auto saves and Quick Saves each get their own save - My current Witcher save folder is > 350 MB in size and that is with only 21 saves [I make sure to delete really old saves and over write non-junction saves [non-juncion meaning a save that is not near a plot critical point and little to no progress would be lost if the file became corrupt].

The transition from the Prologue to the Outskirts of Vizima is a prime place for freezes. It's nothing to do with the quality of your computer or the number of saves you have stored up.

Just Task Manager the program if that's the only way you can get unstuck, and try again. My experience is that it never does it twice in a row. Your mileage may vary, but I wouldn't call it repeatable or worry any more about it unless you get it three times in a row.

That's why I said, "Of course, if you accumulate a lot of saves, it will slow down your game, but you can store the bulk of your saves somewhere other than your The Witcher/saves folder."

You can keep the saves around in case you need them without keeping them in your The Witcher\saves folder.

Sorry - reading comprehension failure on my part. Too much working in the sun, not enough coffee :)

Thanks for the tip about saved games! I went back about three autosaves, and had to repeat no more than 10 minutes of the storyline to get it to work. I guess the game must have gotten corrupted. I also cut my save file in half from 92 mb to 45 mb or so. I don't know if deleting the saves or playing a part of the game over solved this issue, but either way it worked. Thanks again!

It was probably re-playing that worked. Having too many saves can cause the game to crash occasionally but you'd need a lot more saves than that... usually players are well into Chapter 2 before they have any issues with it.

That's a shame, because I think it's an emotionally affecting one. I save right before the cutscene and reload if it doesn't transition properly. That's always worked for me.

I usually watch most of it, only pressing the relevant key when it's about to end. If I watch the whole thing the next chapter often fails to load properly.