Dialogues sometimes skip . Found a solution for WinXP (turn off hardware sound acceleration), but that's not much help for Vista. Any suggestions?

Thirded.

Tetris!!

Ehm... People don't you have nothing better to do than post some numbers on some random forum? Thanks to you this topic is probably not taken seriously by other people. Its actually kind of trolling :/

You appear to have misunderstood me.

Hey, I'm not the only one with this problem. Cool.
I wonder about this problem... It seems to me like this would be a simple issue to fix. After all, all it would take is to delay the transition from one character's dialogue to another's by an extra second or two... Then again, that might make some conversations feel laggy. Hmmm...

How bad is the skipping? Maybe in terms of percentages? If anyone can clarify how much skipping there is, it would help me decide if I should get it again. (Had it on Win 98! Miss it!) And has changing the sample rate/bit depth lessened it for anyone?

I'd rate it as pretty serious; about 20-30% of the dialogue gets 'trimmed." I have not fiddled with the sample rate, however.

Its unplayable for me, personally.
Haven't messed with settings..
Does the same on Windows 7, if you were hoping that might solve your issues come release time.

Well, I bought it. :D It's not that bad for me (so far, knock on wood). The problem's there, but it's much better than it was on XP, which is good since that's what got me to sell my disc version. And now I'm on Vista and can't turn off the HW accelration. I think I'm OS-incompatible. :(

Under Vista 32 SP1, WinXP 32 SP3, 64 SP2 and Windows 7, I was not able to duplicate any of these problems on two computers. I cannot crash my computer with the movies, cause the audio to skip / trim in-game (or in the FMVs) or anything else listed on this or other similar threads. In XP, I have full hardware acceleration. I did not change the sampling rate. I did not try the game out on Ubuntu with a Windows emulator. I have the latest DirectX drivers. I did not run the executable in compatibility mode. I have all of the latest fixes for every OS. I never tweaked a single setting anywhere.
Here are the two computers I tested it on:
Desktop:
OS: WinXP 64-SP2 and Windows 7 Build
Intel Quad 9550 OC'ed
ASUS Rampage
8 GB DDR3 OC'ed
ASUS TOP ATI 4850 512 MB x 2 Crossfire OC'ed
Creative Titanium Series
Raid 50 x 6 - 750 GB Hitachi Ultrastars
Netbook:
OS: WinXP 32-SP3, Ubuntu, Vista 32 SP1, Windows 7 Build
MSI-Wind U100
1.6 ghz ATOM OC'ed to 1.98 ghz
2 GB DDR2 memory
160 GB 5400 RPM
Intel GMA OC'ed to 400 mhz
For both computers, I have the following in the background (besides regular ATi device drivers, etc.):
Daemon Tools
AVG Anti-Virus
For both computers, here is my movie setup:
K-Lite Codec Pack 4.9.5 (no media player classic installation, H.264 installed, everything else untouched). Uninstalled Quicktime. Google and download QT Lite 2.9 (or latest). The latest Real Player Alternative is installed on both systems. Both computers have the newest VLC player.
*Winamp with iTunes lossless codecs
From the 1.02 patch (the GoG version is 1.04):
For movies, possible fixes and explanations:
"Problems With Movies
Many users have experienced compatibility problems when DirectX and
QuickTime are used in conjunction with one another. We have
"discovered" several things which might help if you don't see the
movies:
1) Completely uninstall and reinstall QuickTime. The version on the CD
was current as of September, 1999 but there may be a more recent version
at http://www.quicktime.com
2) Open QuickTime setup from the Windows Control Panel. In the
drop-down list select "Video Settings" and uncheck the box for "Enable
Direct Draw Acceleration".
3) Some have suggested that installing DirectX Media and the latest
verison of the Windows Media Player might help.
4) If the movies are playing, but poorly, this may help. Create a
shortcut for Septerra.exe. In the shortcut's properties, add -d to the
end of the Target line (be sure to include a leading space). This will
cause the engine to play the movies back at their native resolution
rather than doubled. With 1/4 of the pixels to render, it should be
better.
5) If you're just sick of messing with it, put -m on the Target line
instead (with a leading space). This causes the engine to not play
movies at all. I don't recommend this - I think the movies are
terrific, but it's there if you need it."
I have two other computers, but neither are meant for playing titles. I have access to an i7-975 Intel system with Vista 64 Ultimate, 3x SLI GTX 260 and Creative Titanium, but I don't know when I will be able to test it out on there. After I can run this game on there, I will post my results.
Here is the link to Septerra Core files:
http://valkyriestudios.com/Septerra/
As mentioned before, GoG is already running the 1.04 version.

In regards to your suggestions on the movies, specifically the QuickTime issues; I'm afraid none of that fixes the problem on XP for me.
1. Uninstall/reinstall QuickTime - Immediately after the install is completed, SC runs perfectly, without modifying the sound hardware acceleration or sampling rate. However, after a reboot, the game goes back to producing the "Fatal Panic" error upon launch
2. Changing the QuickTime video settings - Again, immediately after doing this, the game appears to work fine, but the effect does not survive a reboot and the "Fatal Panic" error returns.
These two circumstances lead me to believe that the problem has something to do with the QuickTime preferences being loaded and resident in memory after the initial QuickTime install and after making the settings adjustment, so that when the game is run, it uses those settings instead of the defaults from the game directory. After the reboot, those settings are not resident and the game goes back to using its normal QuickTime.qtp and the "Fatal Panic" error returns (I know, its a pretty extreme leap of logic).
I decided to test this theory by copying my default QuickTime.qtp from my user profile (found in C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple Computer\QuickTime) and used it to replace the one in the game's install directory (after making a backup of the original)...
Holy crap, it works!
I used a brand new install of QuickTime and the only settings change I made was disabling Direct Draw acceleration. Just to confirm that the setting was required, I re-enabled it, copied it over to the Septerra directory, rebooted the machine and tried again...
"Fatal Panic Error"!
One more confirmation, disable Direct Draw Acceleration, copy the file over, reboot the machine...
Holy crap, it works again!
I can now launch and play Septerra Core with full hardware acceleration on my sound card, no decrease in sampling rate and no errors at all (so far). So, while your suggestions did not actually fix my issue, they were very helpful in pointing me towards a solution that did work for me, so I must say thank you very much for that!

cogadh Wow! You hit it right on the head. This WORKS! :o)
You should create a new Thread and list the fix and then GOG should sticky it, bold it, give you rep points, and hire you as an adviser!
Seriously, you figured something out that I think should have occurred to GOG.
Thank You very much.

Are you on XP or Vista? I'm curious to see if this affects any of the issues Vista users have.
No, I have not done that, but I have confirmed that QuickTime does not need to be installed in order for the game to continue working. The game comes with its own QT library for running the movies, so you only really need QuickTime in order to create the modified preferences file.

cogadh, I am using XP Pro SP3.
I have Vista Ultimate, but have never installed it. I guess, I just do not trust it to run my programs.