Sanitarum

I loaded this game and the intro movie played smoothly but as soon as it began the actual game the colours became all glitchy and it closed the program which generated the Error Report: sntrm.exe. I also tried this game on a different pc and the same thing happenedd but further along in the game. Here is my Belarc info.:
Operating System System Model
Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (build 2600) Enclosure Type: Desktop
Processor a Main Circuit Board b
2.10 gigahertz AMD Athlon XP
128 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. 7VT600-P-RZ
Bus Clock: 167 megahertz
BIOS: Award Software International, Inc. F5 10/01/2004
Drives Memory Modules c,d
119.99 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
83.42 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

ASUS CRW-5232AX [CD-ROM drive]
ASUS DVD-E616P3 [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

WDC WD400JB-00JJC0 [Hard drive] (40.02 GB) -- drive 0, s/n WD-WMAMA9556675, rev 05.01C05, SMART Status: Healthy
WDC WD800BB-75JHC0 [Hard drive] (80.00 GB) -- drive 1, s/n WD-WMAM9P076720, rev 06.01C06, SMART Status: Healthy 768 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'A0' has 512 MB
Slot 'A1' has 256 MB
Slot '' has 32 MB
Local Drive Volumes

c: (NTFS on drive 0) 40.01 GB 21.28 GB free
d: (NTFS on drive 1) 79.98 GB 62.14 GB free

Network Drives
None detected
Users (mouse over user name for details) Printers
local user accounts last logon
Lotus 6/10/2008 1:39:05 PM (admin)
local system accounts
Administrator never (admin)
ASPNET never
Guest never
HelpAssistant never
SUPPORT_388945a0 never


Marks a disabled account; Marks a locked account HP PSC 1500 series on USB001
Microsoft XPS Document Writer on XPSPort:

Controllers Display
Standard floppy disk controller
Primary IDE Channel [Controller]
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller]
VIA Bus Master IDE Controller RADEON 9600 PRO Family (Microsoft Corporation) [Display adapter]
RADEON 9600 PRO SEC Family (Microsoft Corporation) [Display adapter]
NEC 1740CX [Monitor] (17.1"vis, s/n 62116564NA, February 2006)
Bus Adapters Multimedia
VIA SATA RAID Controller
VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller (4x)
VIA USB Enhanced Host Controller C-Media AC97 Audio Device
SB Audigy
Standard Game Port
Communications Other Devices
SupraMAX 56i [Modem]


VIA Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter
primary Auto IP Address: 192.168.0.3 / 24
Gateway: 192.168.0.1
Dhcp Server: 192.168.0.1
Physical Address: 00:0F:EA:0F:01:DB

Networking Dns Server: 66.82.4.8
HID-compliant consumer control device
HID-compliant device (3x)
USB Human Interface Device (3x)
HID Keyboard Device
HID-compliant mouse
USB Composite Device
USB Root Hub (5x)
I do have DX9 and the game wanted to load DX5. Is that the problem and can this be played on XP? Thanks so much for any help.
Lotus

Should have played fine, it did for me when i tried it when i got it a few months back.

Try the patch here

Also you may need to use w2k mode in compatibility mode. (right click on sanatarium.exe (find it where you installed the game) click properties then compatibility tab at top then click use compatibility mode and using the drop down menu select windows 2000 mode then click apply on bottom then try running the sanatarium.exe see if it works. If not try one of the other compatibility modes available like w9x.

Thank you so much for the information, Skeeter. Problem is I couldn't find the patch. I guess I am a dummy but every link I clicked took me to search sites for patches and medals and even buying the game. I am stymied, as usual. I will try it in compatibility and then check back here to see if you have any idesa for me??? Many thanks for your time.
Lotus

Lotus, that is an extremely ad-intensive and confusing site. Mystery Manor has the patch and you can download it directly from there. Scroll down to the Sewing Room, enter and click on the Game Patches Database. I believe the Sanitarium patch in on page 2.

Mystery Manor

Like Skeeter says, try a compatibility mode. Sanitarium is a bit picky about playing on XP. It plays perfectly for some and not at all for others.

Thank you sooo much. I will try everthing!!!


==========================================
Installed the patch and ran in every compat mode there is and it is still glitching and trying to send error messages to MS. I will come back here at another time to see if there are ANY other ideas. It is strange that this has happened on two different pc's, one of which was just completely gone over and formatted at the shop within the week....this one. I am bummed. Thanks for all the help and I will come back just in case.... COULD it be that I have DX9 and not DX5? If so, how would I rectify this?

Hmmm... Sometimes they say to install the DX version that comes with the game, but I'll let someone who may have more knowledge about this game weigh in on this. IF that's an issue, you would let it install the DX version that comes with the game during the installation.

Like I said, Sanitarium is picky when it comes to XP. I may have to load it up and see what it does on mine. I played before on my old 98SE computer.

I sure hope you get it sorted out. This is just a great game.

EDIT: I just loaded the game on my XP Home computer with DX 9. I did not install the DX 5 that came with the game. I am not playing in any compatibility mode at all. I played about 1/2 hour and did not get any errors or issues at all.

You might try Inferno's XP Compatibility site and see what might help you there. In particular, be sure to run her "drill."

Inferno's XP Compatibility

I'd try lowering hardware/graphics acceleration, as well.

You are definitely not alone. There are a whole bunch of suggestions here:

SANITARIUM WOES

Outstanding, Marian. I was hoping someone who knew more than I did could help...

You guys and girls are simply AWESOME!!! I will go to this site and study up on it. Thank you sooo much! It may be a few days or more but I will let you know what happens.

=================================================

Not a few days and I am back and cautiously optimistic. That page seems to be the help I needed. I slowed down the acceleration on graphics and sound to one level above the lowest. Then, per instructions, I turned off the DX DirectDraw. Next I opened Internet Explorer and clicked on "work offline" and minimized it and also opened another program randomly, Notepad. It is working thus far. I don't know if I needed to do all of these things but I REALLY want to do this game. I made it almost to the end of Part Two on my other pc before it began crashing so maybe this is the fix. I will let you know if I complete it ...or not. Thanks so very much. I am off to play.
Lotus

Apologies for not checking that link to a patch i provided. I saw it on a site and thought it was a direct link to the patch so should have worked but it didn't.

No problem, Skeeter, it was at Mystery Manor and now all is well.....thus far.

=======================================================


I cannot believe this! Everything worked PERFECTLY last night and I started up the game this morning and same problem. As soon as the actual game loaded all of the people in the scene went psychedelic/glitchy and the game crashed. Over and over. I tried all of the compat. modes again and rebooted, cleaned up the pc and defragged it and still the problem occurs. It is beginning to look as if I cannot play this game which, btw, is the XS editiona and should work. Boohooo, stomp, kick and scream! I will check back in case someone else has any bright ideas.....s-n-i-f-f-f.
Lotus

Are you still trying that approach of running a couple of programs in the background while running the game? And disabling Direct Draw?

Tryed dosbox or vdmsound? I know san.. is a windows game but dosbox works with them as well i think.

Hi, Lotus777

I had a Radeon card on my Gateway..I tried in vain to get sanitarium to play, but it would crash right after introduction..I even posted here for help,but no luck...Then the computer blew up ...I bought a Dell XP & bought a Nvidia GeForce 8600GT card...So one day I said let me try this game again on this computer...well it worked Great..Never crashed it was pure heaven to play it with no glitches...

I do hope you get it to run...Also you might want to try a Clean Boot...Go to Inferno's site...There you will find how to do it..

Marion, yes I am.
Skeeter, I don't know anything about DosBox or vdm sound. Now you know how ignorant I am.
And Darlene, thank you for your input also. I am hoping to bump up my pc later this year and will definitely be switching to Nvidea so if this can't be resolved soon I will wait til then and maybe it will work.
Thanks everybody for all of the support and help.
I will still check back here just in case........
Maybe I will try it without running the programs in the background....AFTER I do a clean boot.
Lotus

Try disabling catalyst AI in your catalyst control panel. Or if its off try setting to low. Tells you here how.

Ok i heard of a weird fix i duno if it will work for you but worth a try. The guy started then minimized firefox and dosbox but other programs like IE and windows media player combo might work. So start them and minimize them then start san... it might work. As i said its bizare but ppl say it works.

Also another fix someone posted somewhere is that you turn off directdraw in dxdiag (run "dxdiag" from run command box) and go to display tab at top then u'll see directdraw on, turn it off then try the game.

Edit - ah i didnt see some people suggested these things to you. Ah well.

Hey Skeeter, no harm done. I am happy that sooo many people here are so helpful. Well, I have just reread Inferno's General Drill and there are a gazillion things I can try including setting up the DosBox and vdmsound. I will check out the catalyst that you mentioned. I must try everything as I am bound and determined by my oath of "play all games" to do this.....haha.
Lotus

I've been doing some more reading about this problem (I've played the game but it was on my Windows 98 computer), and some people have suggested the game tends to have fits with ATI cards in a way that it doesn't with Nvidia. Darleen's experience would suggest this, as well. I wish I could think of something else to suggest.

I've got an ATI card and hyperthreading on my Windows XP computer, and I doubt that trying it on my computer would yield anything positive in the way of usefulness.

I have a ati x1950pro and it worked ok but i immediatly used the patch after install and it worked fine. Using 8.3 drivers at the time or 8.1 i believe. Im on 8.5 now tho, tho it should still work if i reinstall it again. Im on xp pro with sp2, and a dual core cpu (not hyperthreading like p4s do).

Have you read this yet?

Sanitarium Setup Walkthrough

inferno

Thank you, Inferno. I have doen some of the things you recommended but hadn't seen this. I shall look it over and try to follow your directions. I did notice that I don't have the option for 800x600,..... 100hz, the highest setting I can find is 70hz. Is that okay? Also my ATI Catalyst Control Center wasn't loaded with the drivers which are up-to-date. Would that make a difference? I am referring to Skeeter mentioning that I disable the Catalyst... I sure appreciate all of the input from eveyone here, you are all wonderful!!!
Lotus

If you dont use Catalyst control center then try ati tray tools there much less resource greedy and are really nice to use.

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=733

Wow and thanks so much again. I will not be able to keep at this much longer today as we have company from out of state, motoring around the area at the moment, but will be back when I can.
Lotus

Skeeter, perhaps you can explain this: I have a dual core processor; of that I am certain. When I look under device manager/computer it says that I have an ACPI Multiprocessor PC. I am confused as to whether or not I have hyperthreading, as someone told me a while back that if I had a multiprocessor PC that it then meant I have hyperthreading. Now, I'm not sure. How do I determine whether I have hyperthreading or not?

I may give Sanitarium a whirl and see whether or not I can get the game to run, following inferno's setup.

Hyperthreading is for P4 range of cpus, its similar to true dual cores. Either way they do a similar job tho real dual cores are far more effective with splitting up tasks. What cpu do you have btw? As for hyperthreading that is only a intel p4 technology if you have a conroe or a amd x2 cpu then you wont have hyperthreading it will be dual core.

More info here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-threading
http://blogs.msdn.com/gauravseth/archive/2006/03/20/555519.aspx

About sanatarium you should be able to run it, i have dual core and it ran fine for me.

Marian,
A dual core processor is not the same as a hyperthreading processor, but it can have the same problems with older games as hyperthreading processors. Some dual core processors have hyperthreading, some don't. Hyperthreading is an Intel technology, but not all Intel processors have it. Here is a page that mentions some Intel processors that don't
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/23/intel_next_gen_architecture/

Intel's upcoming Nehalem processor will have hyperthreading according to this
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000091,39286539,00.htm

I have a dual core also....I really think it has to do with something in the Video card...But don't quote me on that...

All I know it played great with my new card...

And just to throw more confusion into the mix, Sanitarium is playing beautifully on my XP Home, SP2, P4 with hyperthreading @ 3.0 Ghtz, 2 GB RAM, 256 Mb nVidia 7600GT.

Hi, Drac

I think it has something to do with the Nvidia cards...

Cause My new puter is an XP Dell with that card...I couldn't believe that it ran on my new computer..

I do hope you get it to run Lotus...Its a neat game...

Thank you, Jenny100 and Skeeter. Skeeter, I have a dual CPU E2160 @1.80 GHz. This information is very helpful.

The ATI card I have might give me problems with Sanitarium. I will give it a try, though, because now I'm really curious!

It played on my HP dual core 2.8 with a Nividia 7600gt--- good luck-- it was a fun game

Well, I have tried all sorts of tweaks and fixes and my pc started acting weird so I undid them and will shelf Sanitarium for now until I get that coveted Nvidia card. (I need more memory and a bigger hard drive anyway.) Boohoo. I am curious to see if Marion gets hers to work, though..... Guess I will head back to D'ni or maybe load up a newer game for now. Again, thanks to all for their inestimable help and support. GameBoomers rocks!
Lotus

Wow. There's a lot of misinformation flying around here. I just loaded up Sanitarium on my dual core (nVidia 8800 GTX graphics card) with XP Home SP2 and it ran flawlessly. Now, I *know* everyone's PC is different (for starters, I can see that Lotus777 has an ATI Radeon 9600 graphics card), but some of the things being discussed are completely irrelevant, most notoriously:

hyperthreading

Sanitarium is NOT one of the games affected by this problem, as you can easily determine by taking a look at the 'Legacy Games & Hyperthreading' doc at the top of this forum. And once and for all for the record, yes, hyperthreading and dual core are different, but they *produce the same problems* with games that are susceptible. And then you should use imagecfg to fix the affected .exe file.

Sorry for being so stroppy, but all this back and forth about irrelevant stuff only serves to confuse the person that you are trying to help.

In the end, I think it matters more which version of the game you have. In the AG thread that Marian pointed us at, it seemed the people who couldn't run it had the 'XS budget re-release' version, where the people that could had the original version of the game (as I happen to have). It seems from that thread that if you have the XS budget re-release version, that you need to run the game in Compatibility Mode for Windows 98/ME. But after all this chatter, we're still not sure what version of the game Lotus777 has, are we?!

Cheers,
MetzO'Magic

Hi Steve,

Thank you for setting the record straight. It just so happens that I have the original release of the game, so perhaps I would be able to run the game without problems. The reason I haven't tried it probably borders on the absurd (mixed with needless paranoia!), but it's because I have read about the "exploding CD" problem that some folks experienced with the older version running with high-speed CD drives. I've been worried that one of the CDs might explode in my drive. Perhaps I will muster up the courage at some point, but because the game plays just fine on my older Windows ME computer, at this point I decided not to risk it with Windows XP.

Off topic here, I want you to know that I checked out your website today, along with the transferred Quandary reviews, and it is going to prove very useful to me. I also found the System Shock 2 setup very interesting indeed! Nice to see a picture of you, as well.

The trouble with that list is that it only shows which games are known to be affected by hyperthreading.
It does not discriminate between "works fine" and "not tested."

I didn't know that the XS version of Sanitarium had a problem. I remember something of the sort with Zork Nemesis -- that the original Activision version would work but the Xplosiv reissue version would not. It's weird because you'd think the newer version would be more apt to work on current computers than the older version. Anyone know of a reason why the older versions would be more compatible? Are files missing from the newer versions? Were some files or folders renamed in the newer version? If the newer versions work OK in Win 95/98/ME, why don't they work in XP?

I was wondering the same thing, Jenny. Did they actually rework the game in the newer version? I have the old version and it's running on my XP 3.0 Ghtz P4 with hyperthreading without a hitch and not using compatibility mode.

I also had the old game...

...My game I got was from a trade at Boomers two years ago...It had the old cardboard sleeve..

It's been awhile since I posted on this topic and it is interesting to see all of the discussion and input....not that it makes me any wiser as to hyperthreading etc., haha. FYI, I do have the XS version and have not been able to get this to work on my Radeon card. However, I came up with an entirely different fix that is, knock on wood, working thus far. I got my hands on an ancient WinBook FX with 95 on it and the game is working...whoohoo. I am now stuck but that is for another Forum. Just thought I would give an update....
Lotus