I downloaded and installed Tesla Effect from Steam. The game worked absolutely beautifully for 2 chapters, and then I saved and logged out.

When I went back to load the game the next day, I got a white screen and an error message that my drivers stopped and recovered. Since then, I cannot load the game again unless I right-click on the icon and use the high NIVIDIA graphics option. The game will open in a small window with the start up menu, but I cannot play the game within this window because all of the options and graphics are off the screen.

I've contacted Steam and the Atlus and BigFinish; but have gotten no responses. This is the most frustrating thing I have been through trying to play a game because I really, really love Tesla Effect.

Has ANYONE out there either experienced this, or have any idea what is going on? My Windows 8.1 laptop is 3 months old!

Thanks much for any help that can be offered.

Until one of the experts gets here, I'll just ask if your laptop meets the minimum video requirements of an Nvidia 200 series. It doesn't matter how old the laptop is if the integrated graphics doesn't meet the requirements. What is the processor on your laptop? Or do you have Optimus graphics?

It sounds like you might have a laptop with "Optimus" graphics, which is supposed to automatically switch from high power to low power graphics (the low power graphics being incapable of playing games).

If this is indeed a laptop, make sure it's plugged into the wall and not going on battery, because being on battery could cause a laptop to use a low-power profile.

If you have Optimus graphics, there should be options similar to the ones described ***here*** to allow you to set graphics settings to "High Performance." Check the section called "Default Graphics Processor Override - nVidia Optimus" on this webpage. Even if you don't have a Dell laptop, the instructions should be similar.

If you are using a desktop with a discrete video card, the problem is probably due to something else (unless it's one of those little skinny "desktops" that use laptop graphics). Let us know what brand and model computer you have.

Cool... Jenny's got you covered, bootskitty!

I have an ASUS Intel 2.6 GHz - 8 GB RAM - CPU 2.0 GHz - NIVIDIA Geforce 840M. I don't know where else to find more information -- I'm really at a loss with this laptop. I've used a desktop with XP for years and years. I use a 24" monitor and wireless keyboard and mouse. I do not use the laptop keyboard at all.

The Geforce 840M is an integrated graphics chip that uses Optimus -

And therein lies your problem... see if anything Jenny suggested will help.

Thank you everyone, and especially Jenny, for giving me a link for my Geforce Optimus. This is the first forum that actually game me viable information and ideas. YOU ARE THE BEST ... I uninstalled Tesla, so I am reinstalling it and will try the suggestions on the page you sent me, Jenny.

Leave it to Jenny and Inland! Good luck and hope you get it working OK for you.

I installed Tesla Effect, and added the high-performance option in my NIVIDIA control panel. Now the game opens correctly. HOWEVER, I cannot find where I can adjust the various options in the game to get full screen - it is windowed, and the graphics are off the screen so I cannot adjust them.

Again, this game lives on my computer downloaded through Steam. I've looked everywhere I can think of to use the options menu within the game itself, but I cannot find a way to make it full screen and readable. I know I'm not explaining this well, but when I click on the "options" button on the home screen of the game that has Play, Options, Load Game, Change Profile and Quit, all of the information there is so large it is off the screen so I can't do anything with the options.

I suppose it's possible that all the game needs is for you to reboot the computer. Not difficult and worth a try.

I don't have any direct experience with Optimus laptops or configuring Tesla Effect,
so I can only guess what might help.

If you switch back from "High Performance" graphics to what it was before, are you then able to start the game and have it display so you can get into the Game Options and adjust the resolution?

If you can't get into the game after reducing from "High Performance" graphics, you may as well set it back to "High Performance." Since I don't have the Steam version of the game, I don't know whether it is possible to edit a game file manually to adjust the resolution.

And if none of the above work, I wonder if maybe when you installed the game the first time, that it autodetected the low power graphics and configured itself to display with those graphics, then saved the information somewhere -- and now it's using the information for displaying the low power graphics mode to try to display the game with the high power graphics -- and it's not quite the same. It might help to uninstall the game again and make absolutely sure there is nothing that looks like a configuration file in the save game folder (sometimes games put configuration files in the save folder along with saves). Delete any configuration files you find.
I don't know for sure where Steam puts the saves in Windows 8.1,
but apparently Tesla puts saves here on Windows 7
C:\Users\{YOUR USER NAME}\Local Settings\BigFinishGames\TeslaEffect

After getting rid of any of the game's configuration files, try reinstalling it with "High Performance" graphics on.

Good luck

Again, I want to thank everyone on Gameboomers who tried to help me. Jenny, you sent me a link to a site that showed me how to run Tesla under high graphics. That allowed me to launch the game. I had also reached out to Big Finish, and one of the techs emailed me with instructions to delete my old registry for Tesla - that allowed me to launch the game in all it's HUGE GLORY on my 24-inch monitor. I am absolutely thrilled and cannot, once again, thank you enough for. GameBoomers is just the best site on the web for adventure gamers like me. I absolutely loved all the Tex Murphy games and cannot believe how fun Tesla is for me.

Glad to hear it's working now and that you're enjoying it.