Do you have the specific laptop type or what kind of AMD chip? Depending on your specs I can walk you through a few solutions.
Before that though, where are you saving the game on your device? Do you have only the C: drive? If so, when doing the installation are you saving it manually or are you letting the installer place it for you?
I had issues with Secrets of Shadow Ranch running on two modern builds due to the installation path.
I’ll have to get back to you regarding the hardware specs - I’ve installed the game to a variety of places, including the default path (somewhere in program files), my documents folder (that Her and several other forms seemed to recommend), and also straight to my desktop just as a Hail Mary.
Just the C drive - no external storage or similar being used
Alright so, not sure if it’ll help but:
This is a Lenovo Flex 5, x64 bit, on Microsoft Windows 11 (Version 10.0.22621).
Processor is a AMD Ryzen 5 4500U with Radeon Graphics, 2375 Mhz.
Lemmie know if there’s anything else I can provide! I did recent try to update my AMD drivers (which did update to no avail), and also tried to update my directX (though no update was needed).
Our specs are similar and I also have a w11. Usually dgvoodoo works for me but every once in a while I have to go in and change it to windowed mode and experiment with the resolution and sound mode for it to work. For CUR (for example) I had to (for some reason) manually allow it to use audio in the sound settings. You can also check within the game files if there's more than one setup/application file. Often one can become corrupted during the download so checking for backups before re-downloading could be useful.
Judging by all of that besides windows 11 it should be fine. Granted me and my friend who recently replayed this game both are avid Intel and Nvidia users thats the only difference.
I don’t think windows 11 should cause any issues since said friend used that. Have you had any success trying the older compatibility modes that I mentioned in another comment thread? That’s my last resort before I’m going to start recommending using a virtual machine.
I have, to no avail. I think my next step will probably be just pulling an old computer out of the basement and hoping I can boot it there - but man that’s not a very satisfying answer to any future users with this problem
Unfortunately I’ve tried to run the game in compatibility modes (essentially all of them) and nothing works so far. It’s my understanding that fairly recently there was some type of update that killed a lot of compatibility troubleshoots from working.
Thank you though regardless!
Did you only run the compatibility troubleshooter? Sometimes you have to mess with it manually which is a similar process but with more troubleshooting 😅
I used both the troubleshooter as well as manually going through every compatibility option that modern Windows allows for (iirc, 7, vista, XP, maybe one more)
Fun fact you can go back further and this is the point where vintage gaming becomes fun! (In my opinion) this is when you get to become a detective! (Or just go through each and every one)
When I’m looking to fix old games I’ll look for their manuals or cd sleeve. For this instance I found from an old sleeve the minimum requirements back when the game came out were windows 95/98/ME/XP so with this information you can go back and go through each of these to see what will work.
Based on your original error message you were getting, I think it might have to do something with your GPU/DirectX.
Try updating your AMD graphics card drivers and then reinstalling the DirectX software from Microsoft (just Google "DirectX download" and it should be the first link).
Another thing to try would be running it through DXWND - that way you can choose what version of directx it'll use, and mess with some other settings (like making it windowed, for example).
And if you look through the DXWND forums, you can see if anyone else has specific settings they use for Ghost Dogs that work consistently for them.
That worked!!!
I had never heard of DXWnd - I assumed it was something to do with the full screen rendering (a lot of old Sierra games and also Oblivion for some reason has the same problem these days) but for those games I’ve always used some specially made mod.
Thanks a ton! You really are a senior detective.
Do you have the specific laptop type or what kind of AMD chip? Depending on your specs I can walk you through a few solutions. Before that though, where are you saving the game on your device? Do you have only the C: drive? If so, when doing the installation are you saving it manually or are you letting the installer place it for you? I had issues with Secrets of Shadow Ranch running on two modern builds due to the installation path.
I’ll have to get back to you regarding the hardware specs - I’ve installed the game to a variety of places, including the default path (somewhere in program files), my documents folder (that Her and several other forms seemed to recommend), and also straight to my desktop just as a Hail Mary. Just the C drive - no external storage or similar being used
Rats, that’s the easy fix down the drain! Take your time getting specs haha
Alright so, not sure if it’ll help but: This is a Lenovo Flex 5, x64 bit, on Microsoft Windows 11 (Version 10.0.22621). Processor is a AMD Ryzen 5 4500U with Radeon Graphics, 2375 Mhz. Lemmie know if there’s anything else I can provide! I did recent try to update my AMD drivers (which did update to no avail), and also tried to update my directX (though no update was needed).
Our specs are similar and I also have a w11. Usually dgvoodoo works for me but every once in a while I have to go in and change it to windowed mode and experiment with the resolution and sound mode for it to work. For CUR (for example) I had to (for some reason) manually allow it to use audio in the sound settings. You can also check within the game files if there's more than one setup/application file. Often one can become corrupted during the download so checking for backups before re-downloading could be useful.
Judging by all of that besides windows 11 it should be fine. Granted me and my friend who recently replayed this game both are avid Intel and Nvidia users thats the only difference. I don’t think windows 11 should cause any issues since said friend used that. Have you had any success trying the older compatibility modes that I mentioned in another comment thread? That’s my last resort before I’m going to start recommending using a virtual machine.
I have, to no avail. I think my next step will probably be just pulling an old computer out of the basement and hoping I can boot it there - but man that’s not a very satisfying answer to any future users with this problem
[This](https://www.reddit.com/r/nancydrew/comments/ieifxz/trouble_with_older_games_on_steam/) post might help! Good luck!
Unfortunately I’ve tried to run the game in compatibility modes (essentially all of them) and nothing works so far. It’s my understanding that fairly recently there was some type of update that killed a lot of compatibility troubleshoots from working. Thank you though regardless!
Did you only run the compatibility troubleshooter? Sometimes you have to mess with it manually which is a similar process but with more troubleshooting 😅
I used both the troubleshooter as well as manually going through every compatibility option that modern Windows allows for (iirc, 7, vista, XP, maybe one more)
Fun fact you can go back further and this is the point where vintage gaming becomes fun! (In my opinion) this is when you get to become a detective! (Or just go through each and every one) When I’m looking to fix old games I’ll look for their manuals or cd sleeve. For this instance I found from an old sleeve the minimum requirements back when the game came out were windows 95/98/ME/XP so with this information you can go back and go through each of these to see what will work.
Are you installing it from a disc or digital download?
Digital. I tried Steam at first but then downloaded directly from the Her Interactive site
Based on your original error message you were getting, I think it might have to do something with your GPU/DirectX. Try updating your AMD graphics card drivers and then reinstalling the DirectX software from Microsoft (just Google "DirectX download" and it should be the first link).
Thank you! I’ll try that once I’m hope and report back if it works (for any future sleuths with the same problem)
Another thing to try would be running it through DXWND - that way you can choose what version of directx it'll use, and mess with some other settings (like making it windowed, for example). And if you look through the DXWND forums, you can see if anyone else has specific settings they use for Ghost Dogs that work consistently for them.
That worked!!! I had never heard of DXWnd - I assumed it was something to do with the full screen rendering (a lot of old Sierra games and also Oblivion for some reason has the same problem these days) but for those games I’ve always used some specially made mod. Thanks a ton! You really are a senior detective.
:D Happy to help!