I have been searching the web for a cure for this problem I believe it is quite common but can find no definitive solution to fix it. I have installed the patch atlantis3v3 but this did not solve the problem. I have also tried to slow down the processor with cpu grab but to no avail. Does anyone out there have a definitive fix for this? Thanks.

Have you tried using compatibility mode for Windows 2000 or Windows 98? It's been a while since I played it, but I remember the game crashing near the beginning after you speak to the guard in the camp. Installing the patch wasn't enough. Compatibility mode was also needed.

I just finished this game on win XP, had no problems.
Sorry :-\

thanks for your reply robert had it on compatibility mode but still crashing. i'm surprised there is not more interest in fixing this problem as it looks as though it could be a good game and if it's got to the 3rd part a lot of people must be disappointed they can't play it. we live in hope for other posts.

I would not assume it's a common problem. There are many people who played this game with no issues at all. Is your game crashing at the same point I described earlier? If you have any programs running in the background, such as an anti-virus, you should always close them before you play your games, as they can conflict and make your game crash or cause poor performance.

hi, i tried it with starting in safe mode loading up windows basics i think turned off firewalls, anti virus etc. but still no joy. i have had it running on my old windows 2000 computer but the game runs very very slow. any ideas how i could speed the game play up on the 2000? and i could content myself in the cold spare room (we are in scotland) where the old computer has been abandoned while looking round the net i have found a lot of sites having this crashing problem but nobody seems to have found a solution so common or uncommon it seems to be an acknowledged problem. it's a shame that there is not a fix for this after getting as far as the 3rd chapter. i don't know if this makes any difference but in uk it's called "atlantis III".

I don't think this game will run in Safe Mode. Booting in Safe Mode loads only very generic and compatible drivers. Any game that needs hardware acceleration will not run properly from Safe Mode. It's OK to install from there, but don't run the game from there.

Can you give us the specs of the old Win 2000 computer? I played it on a 400 MHz computer and a 750 MHz computer in Win 98, and it was actually noticeably faster on the 400 MHz computer. Apparently the read speed of the CD drive has a lot to do with the speed. It ran a lot better on the 750 MHz computer after I started using a CD emulation program to run it directly from the hard drive.

I don't remember any problem where the game crashed at the 3rd chapter. There was a crash near the beginning of the game which was common, and was solved with the patch. So I don't think your problem is common.

Is that the crash when you speak to the guard in the camp, Jenny? Am I remembering that correctly, or was that a different game? If I have it right, that particular crash is one of the things the patch was supposed to address.

The crash near the start of the game is the one that happens when you speak to the guard. Watchmaker's crash was at the start of the 3rd chapter, much later in the game.

sorry to be away from the thread, first when I said the 3rd chapter I meant the 3rd game in the series (sorry about that). It is the problem when you speak to the guard or if you ignore the guard and go towards the first puzzle with the spinning top it crashes there. The patch does not help. I would really like to play this on xp rather than the old computer as it is in the attic with a 14 inch screen. So I would be grateful if anyone can give any further help, that would be ticketyboo. Cheers.

This is an old patch and may not automatically locate your game. Did you place the patch in your game folder before running it?

If it still won't work, try using a CPU slowdown program like Turbo.
http://www.geocities.com/kulhain/
The original game had problems running on computers faster than 800 MHz. The patch 'should' have corrected this, but who knows.

hi again, I did unzip the patch in the game folder and also in my first post I said that I had used cpu grab but this has had no success (cpu grab has worked for other games though). Being a moderator have you no influence over the folks at adventure games who I think bought over cryo? to hassle them about the problem? Paradoxically, sometimes when I try to load the game now it freezes before the opening screen. Weird eh!

After unzipping the patch, did you run it as well?
Have you tried the patch from TAC or did you use one from another website?

I have no influence over TAC or JoWood at all.

Hi, Yes I unzipped it and then ran it. The patch is atlantis3v3.
What is TAC and I will try their patch?

TAC is The Adventure Company.
http://www.adventurecompanygames.com/tac/support/pc/patches/ba2.php

tried them all in different combinations (patches/loading/cpugrab/etc) no joy.i feel i have wasted my money on what initially seemed to be an interesting adventure game
oh well. life moves on,to researching games more fully on gameboomers before purchasing
thanks to all contributors

It is a wonderful game watchmaker. I pulled out my w/t and the only note I made was to use the patch. I too played in XP but had to use Compatibility Mode 98/ME.

Have you tried to use someone's save for right after the guard since this is where most of us crashed before using the patch? Also, in the w/t it tells you the best course of action is not to speak to the guard and if you do, don't do it twice.

That is such a small part of the game that I hate for you to quit there. I don't have a saved game but I would reinstall and try to play to send you one if no one at Hints has one. Just PM me if you need me to do this. In MHO this was the best and funniest of the Atlantis games.

Linda

SUCCESS Thanks Linda for encouraging me to have one last go. I reinstalled, downloaded both patches (atlantis 3 european and atlantis 2 us), extracted in the atlantis file and loaded up playing player 5 (as suggested earlier in thread) and so far have managed to get through the first portal. Hope there's no more glitches and this will help others as there have been a few hits on this thread.

Cheers.

Way To Go watchmaker you should be proud of yourself.

The only other thing to happen to me is when you see the dolphin (won't say much more) and you must do all the converstions or you get stuck and can't completely finish the game.

She (dolphin) will give you 2 more clues to the corridors and without them you will be plumb out of luck as I was. But fear not, I was still able to get to the end of the game but couldn't complete to Finish. Game was still awesome.

When you find the Dolphin and want to know more, let me know with a PM and I can better tell you if you are not following a w/t. Best bet is to save save save. The Dolphin would not allow me to ask the needed questions later in the game, I know because I tried.

Have fun!
Linda