I purchased this today and well, so far, I keep getting crashes usually every 1/2-1 hour, sometimes it's around 15 minutes. It wouldn't be so bad but when it crashes, I can't bring up the task manager so I have to restart my PC. Help?

Getting the same sort of problem - I've just battled through it!

Tends to need a computer restart when it happens though. Once it hits though it requires a restart either way or it just kicks up again.

Wasn't sure if it was a Windows 7 problem or not.

Yep, same problem here. Hard reset required, no solution found so far.

Running Win 7 as well.

Tried Win XP compatibility, no fix.

My version is not from GOG so I am not sure if it is the same issue. Sometimes the game just freezes and sound is stuck. What I do is lots of quicksaving and when it happens I just use Ctrl+Alt+Delete and kill the application. For me it works. And I just start the game quickly again.

Guys, read my other thread. I lost all my f'ing saves after restarting.

Same problem here... I got through the first three missions without a hitch, now I'm about to rescue Doc - but after 10 minutes or so the game freezes, sound loops and a reboot is needed. AMD QuadCore, Win 7 64 bit...

I'm having the same problem, playing under XP.

This is a workaround rather than a real solution, but: if you play with all of the sound options on the lowest notch (ie, with no sound) it doesn't seem to ever crash. Unfortunately, this game is unusual in that the sound isn't just atmospheric; it's used to convey information to the player they don't get any other way. So you're playing with a real handicap with the sound off (not to mention that the game just feels "flatter" without it.) Still, it beats the heck out of doing a hard restart every 20 minutes if you're determined to play the game...

Mmmh... certainly not ideal. But if sound is the culprit, we can fudge around with it a bit and see if someone gets lucky.

Ok, I installed patch 1.01, and it seems to have done the trick; at least I could now play three missions without the game crashing. Why didn't I look for a patch in the first place? Probably because I thought GOG had supplied the patched version.

Anyway, patching the game apparently creates some sort of checksum problem, because thereafter it demands a CD and refuses to start otherwise. There are, of course, ways around that problem, but for obvious reasons I won't post a link to them. ;-)

So, in short:

1. Patch it to 1.01
http://www.fileplanet.com/64352/60000/fileinfo/Desperados:-Wanted-Dead-or-Alive-v1.01-Patch

2. Apply semilegal measures

3. Profit

Worked for me, thought it would be nice if GOG would patch this version of Desperados, so we won't need to crack it.

EDIT: Scratch that. 4 Missions without a hitch, next mission the sound bug rears it's ugly head again. Damn. I hope somebody takes a look at this...

1.01 already installed.

Well, I got through my latest crash-intensive mission with the XP SP2 Compatibility mode. Here's hoping the luck will last. The whole thing seems so random.Could it be caused by a corrupt sound file? One specific type of enemy saying one specific line - could explain why it doesn't happen on every mission, and since they say different things in the same situation there'd be some leeway even within a mission that features the hypothetical "crash guy".

I tried it out on my desktop, and the game claimed I had only 4gb of ram, while my computer actually has 8gb of ram. The game kept crashing like it did for others, and I was thinking the issue was with the game not functioning properly when you have too much memory (Akin to Vamprie bloodlines), so I installed it on my laptop, which has 4gb of ram, and it has worked like a charm, no compability mode or anything.

Both my machines run Windows 7 64bit.

Well, I got 4 gigs too... and the game just crashed again, with XP SP2 compatibility enabled. This is starting to get somewhat annoying.