Not sure exactly what happened here, but somehow The Longest Journey now wants to open as Gray Matter. When I open the file location for TLJ, I still get Gray Matter information, including its configuration. Also, when I open the file location for Gray Matter, it appears under Funcom, and I'm pretty sure I didn't save it there, unless something went wrong.

It seemed to start when I upgraded to a twenty three inch monitor and turned the settings up on Gray Matter. Not sure why this would effect TLJ, though. I'm really baffled here. Does anyone know of any possible solutions for this?

I've not played The Longest Journey, so I don't know how the game is started; desktop icon, etc.

By what you're saying venus, if the game starts by a desktop icon then it sounds like the "target" path has changed. That is, the path to The Longest Journey has been changed.

If the game starts with a desktop icon, right click on the icon and go to properties. There should be several headings at the top of the window that opens. Look for the "General" tab and check to see if the path to The Longest Journey's program file is listed correctly. You should see a Target and a Start In on the General Tab. If either on is incorrect, find where The Longest Journey is stored and use that information to correct the Target or Start In boxes.

Homer, it looks as though both The Longest Journey and Gray Matter are listed under TLJ's target path. I'm not sure where Gray Matter is supposed to be, as it appears its target is missing. My guess is Viva Media, but the only thing I see there anymore is Edna and Harvey. It's very strange. Should I uninstall/reinstall Gray Matter?

venus that would be one way to correct the path for Gray Matter, but I believe the long way around.

An easier way to fix the Target path would be to find the file for Gray Matter by going to Start/Search/and put Gray Matter as the file you want to find. Once you find the file then all you'd have to do is put in the Target box the path that would let you start Gray Matter; I'm not sure of the exact format so I'm not saying how or what to type in the Target box, I'd look at The Longest Journey to get a general idea.

And if someone else who has Gray Matter loaded comes along I'd guess they could give you the nitty gritty on what should be in the Target box.

You could also delete the icon with the incorrect path, go find the Gray Matter game folder, right click on the .exe or application file which starts the game and select Create a Shortcut. A new game icon should be created which you can then move to your desktop or where ever you want it.

Homer, thanks for your advice. The problem is, whenever I search for Gray Matter's files, I keep coming up with Funcom and The Longest Journey, almost as if their files got combined somehow. I can't find Gray Matter's original target anywhere, and it looks like its configuration file and possibly even some saved games are mixed in with Funcom files as well. I'm not sure what could have made this happen.

Hey, Draclvr, too slow today. As I said, unfortunately the problem is, I can't find the Gray Matter folder. It seems its files got mixed in with TLJ's, and I'm pretty sure I didn't install them there. I don't know how changing Gray Matter's graphical settings could have altered its location, but it sure seems as though that's what happened. Bizarre.

You might be able to find the files by doing a search for Gray Matter. Even though it doesn't seem the Gray Matter folder exists the files for Gray Matter might. And if a search doesn't turn up anything, then do an uninstall/reinstall for Gray Matter.

All of my searches for Gray Matter lead me to Funcom and The Longest Journey. The Longest Journey won't even start under its old executable, and its icon has changed to the Gray Matter icon. Not even sure if uninstalling Gray Matter would do it, since all of their files seem to be in the same location now?

I suppose I could theoretically play TLJ from my D drive, since it's still there and seems to work from that location. I hate to have to do it that way, though.

Venus I am trying to process this. Are you saying if you click on the TLJ icon Gray Matter starts? If that is the case your TLJ icon somehow got associated to the Gray Matter location. AND! whatever is written in the target box of your TLJ icon is where gray matter is installed. What happens when you click on the Gray Matter icon?

Right click on the TLJ icon select Preferences, under the general tab it should show a box next to the word target. What is written in that box? Whatever that line says is the location of the file it is trying to open.

Also newer games have been creating a save folder under my documents for games installed in program files in XP. You may have to look in both places as both places may have game folders.

In XP the default path for TLJ is C:\program files\funcom\the longest journey. The Game.exe file is in the main root folder (the longest journey)and will show in the listing on the right when you look at it in windows explorer. The icon target path should read in that case as
"C:\Program Files\Funcom\The Longest Journey\game.exe"
Assuming you are using XP and it was installed to the default position.

In Xp the default path for Gray Matter is C:\program files\Gray matter I have the British version. The viva media version could have inserted Viva Media in the path ahead of gray matter the way funcom did with TLJ.

I understand in Windows 7 and Vista they defaulted to My Documents instead of program files. If so the path would be different.

Both game programs by default should have installed to Program Files in XP ( my documents in vista win 7)

You can find them by clicking on START/PROGRAMS/ACESSORIES/windows explorer/

Click on windows explorer to open it. You should see MY Documents at the top of the tree on the left side. Double Click MY Documents to expand revealing the folders inside. If installed to my documents you will find the game folder there. Open it and look for the exe file of your game it will be listed on the right side when you highlight the folder. Don't be surprised to see several folders inside your game folder. The exe file will be in one of them. Right click on it to make a new icon and send it to the desk top.

For program files double click MY Computer near the bottom of the list under my documents. It will expand the listing to show your drives. Double click LOCAL DISK C to expand the list further. About midway down you will see program files folder. Double click to expand program files to show the folders inside program files. Your game folder should be in there. Do the same as your did in my documents to search for the exe file and make an icon.

Oldmariner, I have Windows 7, and you are right, there is a folder under Documents. However, I only see the saved games located there as well as a file called Profile.dat. All of the rest of Gray Matter's files appear to have been transferred to The Longest Journey folder. I have no idea how this could have happened. As I said, it seems to have occurred after I replaced the 19 inch monitor with a 23 inch and upgraded the settings Gray Matter runs in - its resolution and such. Now, all of a sudden, TLJ's Desktop shortcut is sporting a Gray Matter icon, and it won't run. It gives the message that game.exe has stopped working.

Gray Matter, on the other hand, runs from Funcom's folder. If I go to the executable located there, it runs Gray Matter. Also, there is Gray Matter information located there, its characters and locations, etc. It's as though both games made it into one folder somehow, and perhaps this is preventing TLJ from starting at all.

venus it is possible to pull the Gray Matter files out of The Longest Journey folder but only if you know for sure what files belong to which game.

However, since TLJ has stopped running it sound like many of the files for TLJ have been deleted, especially the game.exe file.

If you aren't certain which files in the TLJ folder belong to which game, and because running TLJ brings up and error message about game.exe, the easiest solution would be to uninstall/reinstall both games. Doing this will insure you get both games into their respective folders with all the files you need to run both games. And this will also correct the mess with the desktop icons.

Just be sure to backup/locate the save files for both games before you uninstall.

Venus, I agree with Homer I can't see how this could happen adjusting a monitor or graphics settings. The best solution would be to uninstall both games. Save your game folder for both games somewhere else on your pc. After re-install replace the new save folder with your saved ones. The new install should put them in the same place you found the present ones, however, the present one may have gotten moved. So it is best to save them elsewhere and do an uninstall then look to see if the new install put them in the same place.

Homer is right about being able sort the files but that would be a daunting task. The root file of TLJ contains 140 files and folders. The GOG re-release of TLJ places the game in program files and the saves in Documents and Settings/username/applications/longestjourney. There is a folder called save with another folder inside named 01. That is where the saves are. Gray Matter in My Documents, while the original dvd version of tlj put the saves folder in the root program under program files.

For TLJ the saves folder contains an index.dat file. There are two files for each save, a .tga and a .tlj file. They are numbered in sequential order beginning with the first named SAVE00.tga and SAVE00.tlg

For Gray Matter the save folder contains a file called profile.dat plus one file for each save, again in sequential order beginning with save000.sav

Anything else in those folders could cause a problem.

I wonder if your hard drive's ***Master File Table (MFT)*** has become corrupt. If that's the case, you may have to replace your hard drive soon, and should probably start backing up anything you want to keep.

Okay, thanks Homer and oldmariner. I will completely uninstall and reinstall the games and back up the saves.

Jenny, really? I just got this hard drive not too long ago. Okay, thanks for your advice, and I will back all of my files up just in case. Hopefully it will last long enough, until I can afford a new hard drive, or preferably, a new computer.