Issues with Sanitarium

[CrimsonOsiris]

I did an extensive search for the game Sanitarium by ASC Games, but could not find anything relevant. My apolgies if i missed it...

anywho, I bought Sanitarium quite some time ago, and it worked fine (great game!) on my old computer. However, after beating it, i uninstalled it, and havent touched it again until today. I am using a new computer, and while i had no troubles installing the game, it crashes within the first few minutes of play.

I believe this to be an issue with Windows XP, given the facts that the game is relatively old (i believe it was written for Windows 98 specifically if i remember), and that the difference in the version of Windows i am running is the only relevant variable i can think of between the comp i use now and the comp that i used to play sanitarium with. I had been running Windows ME on an alienware when sanitarium worked, but i am now running Windows XP.

I know for certain it is not a problem with my hardware as my system is as follows:

P4 @ 3.0 ghz with HT
2048 mb DDR 400 RAM
ATI Radeon 9800 pro all in wonder
blah blah blah, etc, as you can see its a decent system plenty capable of running sanitarium.
DirectX is at 9.0b or whatever the latest is, openGL is updated, video drivers are as current as possible, and so are the sound card drivers.

i have fiddled with the Windows Compatibility program, and set the compatibility at windows 98, with 256 colors, themes off, and advanced text services off.

i also downloaded that patch that was supposed to correct the error in chapter 2.

however, none of these things have prevented the game from crashing due to a fatal error.

does anyone know of any other fixes for this game? i know this is a longshot given the age of the game, but i really want to get it working so my girlfriend can try this game out (it will scare the crap out of her... i know im evil O:-) )

i was thinking there might be a windows XP patch, but found out that ASC Games went under in 2000, well before XP was released...

please help if you can... thanks in advance

[Corrosive]

As you say, if the company behind the game went kaput before XP was born, the chances of finding a patch for the game is virtually nil.

The only way I can think of sorting this one out is to dual boot with Windows ME, or to use an emulator to mimic 9x. The former would be the best route, but will only work if you still have the disks - the latter is a bit on the illegal side, but a possible soultion.

But I'm jumping ahead of things here. What I think we'd really like to know is exactly what the error message is. From there, we may be able to get it sorted and hopefully you'll have a working game and a terrified girlfriend.

[CrimsonOsiris]

OK, i loaded up the game again, and wrote down as much information as i could about the error.

initially, the error reporting window pops up, with the following message:

"sntrm.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. If you were in the middle of something, the information you were working on may be lost."

then it goes on to say, click here to report this error to microsoft, etc, blah blah.

knowing that this isnt giving much information about the error, i opened up the section on what the error report contains. a very very long list of lots of binary looking crap, i picked a few things that might be of help on the error...

"Exception Information:
code: 0xc0000094
Flags: 0x00000000
record: 0x0000000000000000
address: 0x000000000040b179

error signature:
Appname: sntrm.exe
Appvers: 0.0.0.0
modname: sntrm.exe
modvers: 0.0.0.0
offset: 0000b179"

there was also a file to be included in the report, some long unknown name found deep within the windows temp folder hierarchy.

not sure if any of this helps, if there is anything more specific that is needed, ill look to see if i can locate it.


something else that i have noticed however:
it doesnt seem as though the crash is as random as i first suspected. Each time i play, i can make it a little further into the game before it crashes, and it seems like it only crashes when you reach a new area where new information needs to be loaded into the RAM or something... dont know if this is accurate or relevant tho, just an observation ive made...


once again, thanks mucho for the help. i think my girl will definitely like this game, and it would score me some points to keep her entertained...  


also, if anyone has time to work with me directly on this or whatever, feel free to contact me via AIM or YahooMessenger... might be easier to work on this through that media rather than over a message board...

[CrimsonOsiris]

ok, so how about emulators then? anyone wanna give any suggestions? recommendations?

thanks

[Corrosive]

Looking for emulators is something you'll have to do on your own, I'm afraid. It is illegal, after all.

But, having done a search for "sntrm.exe" in Google,
I came across this board which seems to offer potential solutions:
http://forums.adventuregamers.com/archive/index.php/t-1403.html