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OK, the game has been working fine but I suddenly get a crash when I attempt to enter the Police Station in chapter 3. All I get is a standard "The Longest Journey has stopped working" message from Windows.

A search on-line indicates the problem is known but says the fix is to install the 1.61 patch then adds that all current digital distribution versions have the patch already applied. I tried it anyway and it says it isn't valid with my version of the game.

I've tried turning 3D acceleration off and High Quality 3D models off (and tried changing color depth to 16 bit). I've also toggled W-Buffer and Single buffer in the advanced settings. I'm running in XP compatibility mode. This is on Windows 8.1

Anyone have any ideas?
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It looks like one way to get around the bug is to do the following:
I was able to avoid the crash by launching configure.exe and unticking the two first settings. This resulted in some graphical glitches like models flashing through certain things, I just re-enabled them after I had gotten past that one screen.
disable "Enable 3D Acceleration", "High Quality 3D Models" and set color depth to 16-bit in the TLJ config at the start. It'll be quicker than trying to install the patch.
Make sure you have a save for right before you enter the stations. Then exit the game, change those settings, and try reloading and entering the station. Save, exit, and restore the previous settings you had.

If that doesn't work, someone else reported that you can manually extract files from the patch (using something like 7zip or winrar) and copy the patch files into your TLJ installation folder.

http://www.gamefront.com/files/7318417/The-Longest-Journey-v1.61-Patch/
I made a back up of the main files, copy/pasted the patch contents into the TLJ folder, started the game and went into the police station then made a save, switching back to the original installation files after.
Make sure to backup the original installation files and restore them after you enter the station and make a save.

Good luck!
I swear I searched the forum before posting and somehow completely missed that other thread. Sigh.

I'll try the manual extract method on the patch. In the meantime I was able to find the alternate way of getting into the station and based on what I looked at to find it I didn't really miss anything (apparently I would have had to do what I did anyway). It's still a bit frustrating.

I can't find anything called configure.exe. I did disable every option I could from the launcher with no change. I'm going to try installing on another machine to see if it is something specific to my video card (nVidia 760). I'm pretty sure my laptop can handle a 15 year old game. :)
I had the same problem, and none of the suggestions worked for me. I tried some other stuff in addition to the stuff already mentioned, and it finally worked. I don't know what did the trick exactly, but this is what I tried:
- In preferences.ini, set bool_Subtitles, bool_ShadowsOn, bool_UseGFX to 0, and bool_ForceSingleBuffer to 1.
- Set the compatibility mode to Windows 95
- After starting the game, opened task manager and set the process affinity to CPU0 only.
The game became chunky and slow, but it did finally let me enter the police station and save. After getting everything back the way it originally was, I could load and play on.
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tanstaafl: I can't find anything called configure.exe. I did disable every option I could from the launcher with no change. I'm going to try installing on another machine to see if it is something specific to my video card (nVidia 760). I'm pretty sure my laptop can handle a 15 year old game. :)
There's no configure.exe in the GOG version. The configuration utility launches when you run the game through the shortcut, and you can change your setting there.

EDIT: and it turns that going through that screen wasn't even necessary at all. :x
Post edited April 20, 2014 by AntonB
I just posted this in the other police office crash thread, and for completeness thought I'd post it here too.

----

Ok I just ran into this problem and might be on to something. You tick off the two boxes as mentioned above (I didn't set the game to 16bit), and when you climb the stairs don't doubleclick for running. For me the game continously crash when I do that. When I walk (single click) up the stairs however the game doesn't crash. If I don't tick off the boxes the game will crash on me whether I walk or run up the stairs.

Funny thing is that ones you're past the crash point, you can reload the save you made at the foot of the stairs and now you CAN both run and walk up the stairs. If you completely restart the game in the same settings, you have to walk again. At that point running up the stairs will still crash the game (for me). For me it works like this 100% of the time.
Post edited August 09, 2014 by DaGobbo.280
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AntonB: I had the same problem, and none of the suggestions worked for me. I tried some other stuff in addition to the stuff already mentioned, and it finally worked. I don't know what did the trick exactly, but this is what I tried:
- In preferences.ini, set bool_Subtitles, bool_ShadowsOn, bool_UseGFX to 0, and bool_ForceSingleBuffer to 1.
- Set the compatibility mode to Windows 95
- After starting the game, opened task manager and set the process affinity to CPU0 only.
The game became chunky and slow, but it did finally let me enter the police station and save. After getting everything back the way it originally was, I could load and play on.
This worked me. Followed steps 1 & 2, didn't have to set process affinity to CPU0. Thanks a lot!!!!
I also had this problem. If would be nice if GOG could release a patched version.
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AntonB: I had the same problem, and none of the suggestions worked for me. I tried some other stuff in addition to the stuff already mentioned, and it finally worked. I don't know what did the trick exactly, but this is what I tried:
- In preferences.ini, set bool_Subtitles, bool_ShadowsOn, bool_UseGFX to 0, and bool_ForceSingleBuffer to 1.
- Set the compatibility mode to Windows 95
- After starting the game, opened task manager and set the process affinity to CPU0 only.
The game became chunky and slow, but it did finally let me enter the police station and save. After getting everything back the way it originally was, I could load and play on.
avatar
tanstaafl: I can't find anything called configure.exe. I did disable every option I could from the launcher with no change. I'm going to try installing on another machine to see if it is something specific to my video card (nVidia 760). I'm pretty sure my laptop can handle a 15 year old game. :)
avatar
AntonB: There's no configure.exe in the GOG version. The configuration utility launches when you run the game through the shortcut, and you can change your setting there.

EDIT: and it turns that going through that screen wasn't even necessary at all. :x
I just run into this crash. I set compatibility mode to Win95 and bool_ForceSingleBuffer 1. It worked. No need to touch Subtitles, ShadowsOn and UseGFX.
Just had the crash problem and lost a lot of my progress having not saved fr a bit. :( Fixed simply setting force single buffer on in the advanced settings. (Nothing else needed to be touched)

Thanks Raneenjah. :)
Post edited November 19, 2014 by nottud
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AntonB: I had the same problem, and none of the suggestions worked for me. I tried some other stuff in addition to the stuff already mentioned, and it finally worked. I don't know what did the trick exactly, but this is what I tried:
- In preferences.ini, set bool_Subtitles, bool_ShadowsOn, bool_UseGFX to 0, and bool_ForceSingleBuffer to 1.
- Set the compatibility mode to Windows 95
- After starting the game, opened task manager and set the process affinity to CPU0 only.
The game became chunky and slow, but it did finally let me enter the police station and save. After getting everything back the way it originally was, I could load and play on.
avatar
leisbern: This worked me. Followed steps 1 & 2, didn't have to set process affinity to CPU0. Thanks a lot!!!!
This also worked for me...but my computer moved SOOOO slow starting up the game and just plain moving.

GOG does need a serious fix for this obvious trouble-spot in the game. I do see a folder in the game folder where this game ended up installing labelled 'station fix' or something like that. Went to use the file, but it asked me to insert CD 2?? Fix please.... My computer is running Win 7 64-bit. Rest of the game worked fine before this.
high rated
I can't fix this issue on my end. I've already got Single Buffer forced to fix other issues and I can't set the game to Window 95 compatibility mode because my entire system locks up when I start the game and I have to pull the plug.

Edit:
Thanks GOG.com support, this fix worked for me:

Please go to the game's directory, default:
C:\GOG Games\The Longest Journey\32\01
and replace the 01.Xarc file with the one from here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/106372714/01.Xarc
Post edited December 16, 2014 by darxide
avatar
DaGobbo.280: I just posted this in the other police office crash thread, and for completeness thought I'd post it here too.

----

Ok I just ran into this problem and might be on to something. You tick off the two boxes as mentioned above (I didn't set the game to 16bit), and when you climb the stairs don't doubleclick for running. For me the game continously crash when I do that. When I walk (single click) up the stairs however the game doesn't crash. If I don't tick off the boxes the game will crash on me whether I walk or run up the stairs.

Funny thing is that ones you're past the crash point, you can reload the save you made at the foot of the stairs and now you CAN both run and walk up the stairs. If you completely restart the game in the same settings, you have to walk again. At that point running up the stairs will still crash the game (for me). For me it works like this 100% of the time.
Thanks, that have worked for me! Turn off 3D Acceleration, Hight Quality models and (in my case) try set color depth to 16. Than WALK to police station and everything should be fine; if you try to RUN up the stairs, game will crush.
I had the same problem. The easy solution, skip going to the police station from the front door. Equaly, you won't access to the police station in this way.
I go directly with the garbage truck.

You won't loose too much.
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darxide: I can't fix this issue on my end. I've already got Single Buffer forced to fix other issues and I can't set the game to Window 95 compatibility mode because my entire system locks up when I start the game and I have to pull the plug.

Edit:
Thanks GOG.com support, this fix worked for me:

Please go to the game's directory, default:
C:\GOG Games\The Longest Journey\32\01
and replace the 01.Xarc file with the one from here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/106372714/01.Xarc
This did the trick for me. They should include this in the installation.
avatar
darxide: I can't fix this issue on my end. I've already got Single Buffer forced to fix other issues and I can't set the game to Window 95 compatibility mode because my entire system locks up when I start the game and I have to pull the plug.

Edit:
Thanks GOG.com support, this fix worked for me:

Please go to the game's directory, default:
C:\GOG Games\The Longest Journey\32\01
and replace the 01.Xarc file with the one from here:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/106372714/01.Xarc
OK, that worked. Thanks! After all these years, I can't believe such an easy fix isn't part of the game already!