Every time I play a game in Gog....something happens and I can't play anymore. What is going on????? It is sad because I enjoy it until it fails!!!!!

Yeah It is not right to say the game is not good YET you haven't played it for much because of crashes.

Its probably your PC or programs on you pc interfering.
Close down other things running and give the game a go.
Also there is a known bug that restarting your computer fixes, how you tried that?

Good luck.

I have to agree that this game has faults. It installed cleanly on my Acer Extensa 5220 laptop but crashes as soon as I attempt to run it.

I did try the re-start fix - to no avail.

Running XP SP3 with DirectX 9 and Linux Mint

This is the only game from G.O.G. with which I have had issues and tone of the only classic games (apart from Discworld 3 and Lost on XP).

Were it not that I saved this to play during my holidays (so I bought it more than 30 days ago) I would ask for a refund.

The game may well give pleasure when played, but it gets a low score for immediate unplayability.

If I look at your system my guess is that the problem is caused by it rather than by the game itself.

The Acer Extensa 5220 uses the Intel chipset graphics of the GM965 chipset (also called Intel GMA X3100) and was originally sold with only 512MB RAM.

If you now look at the system requirements at the gog shop page for the game it says 1GB RAM for Windows XP. The info about the requirements for the graphics unit is missing though. If you look for the system requirements elsewhere (steam or other shops) the lowest requirements with details you can find are 512MB RAM for Windows XP and a DirectX 9 graphics unit with 128MB VRAM (video memory).

So if your Acer Extensa 5220 only has 512MB memory it simply doesn't meet the system requirements. You have to take into account that the Intel GMA X3100 doesn't come with its own VRAM. Instead is uses shared memory. That means it uses a part of the RAM as VRAM. Therefore the amount of usable RAM is lower. If your system has e.g. 512MB RAM and uses 128MB shared memory as VRAM then the usable RAM may only be 384MB. So with a system with 512MB RAM and the Intel GMA X3100 as only graphics unit you can never get 512MB usable RAM and 128 VRAM at the same time because they share memory. Probably for that reason gog simply said 1GB RAM as minimum requirement to make it easier.

In case your Acer Extensa 5220 came with or was upgraded to 1GB RAM it can fullfil the minimum requirements. With older chipsets like the Intel GM965 the amount of shared memory to be used as VRAM is often a setting in the BIOS. And very often was set to 64MB to not lower the usable amount of RAM too much. So you should have a look for a BIOS option that mentions something that sounds like shared memory (or amount of VRAM or something like that) and have settings like (32MB, 64MB, 128MB, 265MB, 512MB). As I said Gray Matter needs 128MB VRAM / shared memory. You shouldn't set a too high value since it lowers the usable amount of RAM.

If you are not sure how much RAM, shared memory or VRAM your system have you could create a DxDiag.txt protocol and post it here:
- press and hold the Windows-key and then the R-key (a run window opens)
- type in "DxDiag" and press Enter (DirectX Diagnostic window opens)
- wait until the progress bar disappears
- click at the "save all information" button an select a folder to save the DxDiag.txt
- open the DxDiag.txt with an editor or wordpad and post its content from top down to the section "Sound Capture Devices" here
That way we can see some basic infos about your system and what graphics driver you're using.

The next thing is the graphics unit Intel GMA X3100 itself. Compared to NVidia or ATI/AMD graphics units its performance is really low. Partially because it doesn't have its own VRAM. Another problem is that the compatibilty of the first graphics Intel released for it was quite bad. But many notebook manufacturers never uploaded updated graphics drivers to their support pages. So often obsolete drivers with bad compatibility are still in use with laptops using this graphics unit. Therefore it's a good idea to check the driver number/date. On way to check it is the mentioned DxDiag.txt.


So if you want to try to make the game run, you should do the following:
- check if your system has more than 512MB RAM (otherwise your system simply does not meet the games system requirements)
- check if in the BIOS a shared memory option exits and is set to 128MB
- if the game stil doesn't run please create a DxDiag.txt and post the parts I mentioned above here, so that we can check if there are more current graphics drivers and if the RAM/shared memory/VRAM configuration meets the games system requirements

Oh - and can you please clarify what operation system you're using? You wrote Windows XP SP3 and Linux Mint in the same line. Are you using two partitions (one with Windows XP SP3 & one with Linux Mint)? Or are you using Lunix Mint emulating Windows XP SP3 using Wine?

Greetings Bakhtosh,

Sorry for the delay -busy at work.

I run XP separately from Linux in a different partition.

Here's the DxDiag - I fear my system may not be powerful enough.

Regards,

DAvid

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 8/28/2015, 18:03:45
Machine name: YOUR-8BA3EF5378
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_qfe.130704-0421)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Acer
System Model: Extensa 5220
BIOS: Ver 1.00PARTTBL
Processor: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 540 @ 1.86GHz
Memory: 1014MB RAM
Page File: 731MB used, 1709MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Music Tab: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.
Network Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (n/a)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Chip type: Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family
DAC type: Internal
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2A02&SUBSYS_011F1025&REV_03
Display Memory: 384.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 800 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: igxprd32.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.5218 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 1/13/2010 13:18:36, 57344 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: igxpmp32.sys
Mini VDD Date: 1/13/2010 13:18:36, 1730272 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B78E66-6942-11CF-F767-1521A2C2CB35}
Vendor ID: 0x8086
Device ID: 0x2A02
SubSys ID: 0x011F1025
Revision ID: 0x0003
Revision ID: 0x0003
Video Accel:
Deinterlace Caps: n/a
Registry: OK
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Not Available
DDraw Test Result: Not run
D3D7 Test Result: Not run
D3D8 Test Result: Not run
D3D9 Test Result: Not run

-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: Realtek HD Audio output
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0268&SUBSYS_1025011F&REV_1000
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: RtkHDAud.sys
Driver Version: 5.10.0000.5423 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
Date and Size: 5/30/2007 20:04:56, 4424192 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
HW Accel Level: Full
Cap Flags: 0x0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: Yes, Yes
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: Yes, Yes
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No
Registry: OK
Sound Test Result: Not run

---------------------
Sound Capture Devices
---------------------
Description: Realtek HD Audio Input
Default Sound Capture: Yes
Default Voice Capture: Yes
Driver Name: RtkHDAud.sys
Driver Version: 5.10.0000.5423 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 5/30/2007 20:04:56, 4424192 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x0
Format Flags: 0x0

You're clearly near the minimum of the system requirements, but from what I can see still meet them.

Your system has 1GB RAM from which 384MB are used a VRAM for the Intel GM965 chipset graphics (GMA X3100). I've seen Gray Matter running at system with the GMA X3100 with low resolution an low quality settings. That system had 2GB RAM though. But it might work. What the GMA X3100 does not support as far as I know is full screen antialiasing. So the game may crash because of high quality settings that includes antialiasing.

What you should try is to run the Gray Matter configuration tool (doubleclick at the config.exe in the game folder) and then choose the following settings:
- Full Screen: not checked (the game should run in a window then)
- 1024x768 (depending on you display may even work only in window mode)
- Shadows: NONE
- Mirros: NONE
- Rendering: LOW
- Quality: LOW
To confirm the changes click on "Save and Run Gray Matter".

If it works you can try to choose 1280x800 and check Full Screen.

If you can't choose any settings because already the configuration tool crashes, just post it. That problem can be fixed.

Thanks for the advice.

I followed the instructions and obtained a peculiar result. First, a black screen, then the Application error message:

The instruction at "0x006b64e3" referenced memory at "0x00000000". The memory could not be "read".

A conundrum defeating even the information behemoth Google!

Thanks for your help - I shall conceded defeat and find another game to play.

I fear you're right in case that you were able to do the changes in the config.exe, saved them and the error message appeared once you tried to start the game afterwards. :(