I bought a double pack of Murder on the orient Express with And then there were None (Agatha Christie) and I can play the Murder on the orient express just fine, but, when I try to play And then there were None it just goes away - I click the play button, but, it just disappears and won't play. I am using windows 7. I would figure that since one of the games in the double pack mystery works, the other one would too. I have uninstalled it and re-installed it, thinking that would help, but, so far nothing. Any ideas? Thanks.

I haven't found any troubleshooting tips specific to this game so I don't know what to suggest except to try the usual general tips that have helped with getting other older games to run.

• Try running as Administrator (right-click the game shortcut or game exe and choose Run As Administrator).
• If that doesn't work try running in Compatibility mode (right-click the game shortcut or game exe, choose Compatibility tab, set compatibility to XP, 2000, or 98, whichever works best).
• If that doesn't work, try installing by using Compatibility mode on the game's setup.exe on the game CD before running the setup to install.

Good luck.

I notice Big Fish doesn't sell these Agatha Christie games any more.
Steam doesn't sell them either.
Not sure why.

I tried it as administrator and also changed it to windows 98 and windows xp and it still won't start. But, thanks for trying. If you can think of anything else, please let me know. It is so strange - it just disappears! no trying to start or anything. It is in my program files 86 folder and I see the Exe file but, nothing.

I wonder if it has DRM that is being blocked by Windows 7. That's exactly the way it behaves when it does.

I have And Then There Were None in its original box, sold as a single game - and it not only runs on Windows 7 but can also be played without the CD in the drive after installation.

The box is this one and says The Adventure Company in the lower righthand corner.

yes, that is what is funny about this. I bought the double pack with murder on the orient express and that works great. I notice that it does have a protection on the disk but, since the first one works, I would figure this one would too. I really don't know what to do. It is installed - but just won't work.

Does it tell you the name of the protection?

No, it didn't say or I don't remember. I just know that when I was installing it, it said checking disk or something. I can uninstall and re-install again to make sure if you want.

I would definitely recommend uninstalling and reinstalling in any case.

I have uninstalled 3 times and this time used the revo uninstaller to get rid of everything. I installed and I get the first icon that says play game and it just disappears. It is in my folder and I see the exe file but, nothing. I give up. I would like to play this game, but, too many headaches for me. thanks though.

Oh, well... you sure gave it every effort!

I'm suspecting that And Then There Were None is missing a DirectX file.

Sometimes the later reissue versions of a game don't include the DirectX that originally shipped with the game. Unless the computer has every DirectX file that the game needs (already installed from a previously played game, or included with Windows, or installed with the game), the game won't work. Windows 7 comes with DirectX 11, which doesn't include DirectX 9 files by default.

Even if the Agatha Christie double pack shipped with a version of DirectX 9, if it only included the DirectX files needed by Orient Express, that doesn't necessarily mean it has all the DirectX files needed by And Then There Were None. Considering that And Then There Were None is for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP and Orient Express was for Windows 2000/XP, the two games may have used different sets of DirectX 9 files.

People tend to think that when they install DirectX 9.0c that they get all possible DirectX 9.0c files. But even if you download what you think is the entirety of DirectX 9 from Microsoft, it won't include the lesser used files. If a game uses any of those lesser used files, the installer has to supply them, or at least check that they're already present on the computer.

This situation is explained by HowToGeek here
https://www.howtogeek.com/323523/why-does-every-pc-game-install-its-own-copy-of-directx/
under where it says "If It’s Included With Windows, Why Are Games Installing It?"

+_+_+_+_+_+_+

That's my guess anyway. The symptom of missing DirectX files can be the same as the symptom of failed DRM -- game doesn't start and no message on modern versions of Windows. On XP you'd get a message that some .dll file or other was missing, but Windows 7 and later seem to suppress such messages from older games made for previous versions of Windows.

The original version of And Then There Were None (the one Marian had) has a DirectX installation folder on the CD.
Maybe that is what you need.

ahhhhh. interesting. so, If I were to download a directx file that might make it work?? I am willing to try anything. so where do I get this directx file

You probably can't is the short answer. It would be a DirectX file that shipped specifically for that game as Jenny says.

We don't know which DirectX file or files the game needs that might be missing from your computer.
The best way to get the file or files would be to install the DirectX that shipped on the game CD of the original version of And When There Were None.

Check your game disc to see if there's a DirectX folder on the And When There Were None CD.
If there is, see if there's a Setup file inside the DirectX folder. If there is, try running that Setup file. You might or might now have to reboot afterwards to complete the installation.

I'm not 100% sure that missing DirectX files are the problem, but it may be worth a try if your game has that folder on the CD.

there is no directx folder in the game. I check the Orient express folder too and there was no directx in there either, but that game works. I have directx 11 on my computer.

The instructions that come on the game CD say,
"Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None also requires the installation
of DirectX 9. If you don't have the latest version of DirectX, please
install it directly from the Agatha Christe: And Then There Were None
installation CD, or download the installer from:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/downloads/default.asp"

The above implies there are no special DX files only for the game. The list of files on the game CD won't help much either.
BDA.cab
BDANT.cab
DirectX.cab
dsetup32.dll
DSETUP.dll
dxnt.cab
dxsetup.exe
ManagedDX.CAB

Look on the game CD, not the game folder.
On CD1 of the original version of the game there was a folder called "DirectX9"
Robert Gault has listed the files inside this folder.
If you have this DirectX9 folder on your CD1, you'll want to run the dxsetup.exe file.

Since I don't have the Agatha Christie double pack, I can't check the game CD that came with your version.


All Windows 7 computers will have DirectX 11.
DirectX 11 doesn't include any DirectX 9 files by default.
You have to add them by running a DirectX 9 installer.
On Windows 7, this will add the individual DirectX 9 files to your hard drive, where DirectX 11 will have access to them. Running the DirectX 9 installer won't replace DirectX 11.

You already have some DirectX 9 files installed since Orient Express worked for you.
But And Then There Were None is an earlier game, worked with older versions of Windows, and at least some of the DirectX 9 files it used were probably different from those Orient Express used.

I was looking at the folder in my program files X86 under The Adventure company. but, when I put in the disk for an autoplay, it does say "do you want to install directX" and I do push yes. but, when I click on play game, it won't do anything. but, thanks for trying to help everyone! My next step will be to try and install it on my old computer with windows 98. I will let you know if I can play it on that old machine.

I'm not sure whether the autoplay is actually able to install DirectX on Windows 7.
At some point Microsoft may have blocked it on Windows 7 for security reasons.
I'd try running the DirectX install directly from the dxsetup.exe just to be sure.

And Then There Were None should run on Windows 98 though, as long as the computer meets the requirements:

Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
850 Mhz Pentium 3 or equivalent
256 MB RAM
DirectX 9 compatible video card with 32 MB video memory

requirements from ***this Mobygames picture of the box***

that will be my next step - to try on my old computer. as I said before, it is just strange to me that Murder on the Orient express from the game box works well, and this one doesn't. argh.

edit: I just installed it on my old windows 98 computer and it works great! I just will have to play on my old machine.