Hi everyone,

Is there a patch for this game? I just got it, had trouble with the install, finally got it installed, but now it won't play. I get error messages.

Happy New Year,

Maverick

Maverick,

I haven't seen any English patch.
Best to post at Glitches with a description of the problem as well as you computer specs.

This is the error message:
nD3D9Shader:failed to load fallback shader 'shadersobsolete_vs_3_0_ps_2)'!

I am using a Lenovo PC with Vista SP2. It is a 64 bit system, Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU, & 6 GB RAM.

I have had problems with the 64 bit system before. Could this be it?

Maverick

There error sounds like your video chip isn't up to par. What model is your Lenovo?

My machine is from the Lenovo Product Family: IdeaCentre K230 and was manufactured 1/7/2009.

Maverick

I would say your video card is not able to meet the minimum requirements for the "Shader model" version needed.Check game box to see what "Shader model" version is required and check your video card to see if it has the needed version.You can type your video card into Google for a quick check.This happened to me with "Bioshock".The game required version 3 and my card only had version 2.

That model can come with different video,
NVIDIA GeForce 9300GE or Intel GMA 3100 are Google's first guesses.
If you have the Intel graphics, it may not meet the game's requirements.

There could also be a problem with 64-bit Windows, but I'd check the video card first.

This says it has Shader model version 4:
( http://forums.techarena.in/monitor-video-cards/1204213.htm )
I would say that this is probably up to date,so the next step would be to download the latest drivers.Also allow game to update DirectX if it wants to.

IF he has the Nvidia 9300 and not the Intel 3100.

I've come on to this thread as I have the identical problem that Maverick had with Treasure Island.
My computer is Acer Aspire t120 and my graphics card is ati Sapphire Radeon 9200 which I know is an old video card. I'm on XP SP3 32 bit.
I tried to update the driver but it didn't work. I thought I had successfully unzipped the file. On installation the ati through up an error message saying a file was missing. I was going around in circles.
Before I keep trying this did Maverick resolve the issue and find out the cause? My problem is bound to have an identical cause and therefore solution.
Would I be better uprating my video card and if so to what would you recommend?

Theres a problem with the game. I installed it on Win 7 and it ran but not in widescreen so I changed one of the settings and and the game stopped working and I kept getting the above error. Reset the setting back but that didnt solve it, neither did uninstall reinstall. Tried it on Vista and the same thing happened - worked at first then as soon as I changed the setting it broke.

So you can't play the game on a widescreen monitor?
Or if you do, you shouldn't try to make it play in widescreen?

Seems to be the case (for me anyway).

Just tried reinstalling to check and the error I get is different, it's

nD3D9Server:Could not create d3d device!
DirectX Error is D3DERR_INVALIDCALL

Also I said I tried to change the settings back, I now see I couldnt because I cant get back into the game to do so.

If I could find were the game stores its settings I could reset it I suppose.

I did not have the shader issue, but did have the same problem/error codes as mj2c (and likely meryl). I cannot confirm it, but I think the game somehow "sets" the screen resolution in directx, and this collides with the actual monitor setting that you run your pc at. In any event, I FIXED IT (after much wailing and gnashing of teeth). Here's how:

The game comes with 3 monitor settings (accessed with Options and then Resolution): 800x600; 1024x768; and 1280x1024. I did the same thing as mj2c, and put a different setting to the one that is set when you install game (which I believe is 800x600). The game would then refuse to run subsequently. I also uninstalled and reinstalled (both the game and the dx9.0c files), but nothing worked. It is actually discomfiting to me that the input setting I did on the first install would not be overwritten, but it was not (to digress: a guy on the Tap Repeatedly site uninstalled Mass Effect, and when he installed the new Mass Effect 2, it "remembered" all of his previous game details).

So to fix: CHANGE YOUR COMPUTER MONITOR SETTING TO THE ONE THAT MATCHES THE GAME SETTING, AND START THE GAME AS USUAL. You can use the Control Panel_Display_Settings_Screen Resolution Slider (note: my slider did not have a 1280x1024 option), or the Video Card's Driver Program (I have the ATi Catalyst, you might have a similar nVidea, which had all 3 options). If you are uncertain which of the 3 settings you input in the game (like me), just try them one at a time, then start the game. No go, reset the monitor to another of the settings, and try again.

After I got control of the game back, I changed the Resolution setting to 800x600. I changed my Monitor back to its native setting (1440x900), and everything runs OK. I am not certain why.

I wonder if installing monitor drivers (assuming there were drivers), and or, changing your video settings to Hide Unsupported Resolutions might not work as well?

I think the hoops that Bald Bob had to jump through to find a solution to his problem are jaw dropping.
(No it didn't help me; I still have the shader obsolete problem due to an old video card presumably)
But it makes me very angry that in order to play our games we are starting to have to become computer whizz kids. What happened to the days when you just put the disk in the drive and it worked?
Why are there seldom any issues with the Nancy Drew series? There, even with the latest games, you just put the disk in the drive and it all happens. And the games seem to work pretty much with all operating systems.
The lengths that people have to go to , in order to solve gaming problems, is getting ridiculous.
Or am I just becoming a grumpy old woman who expects too much?

Game developers are developing their games to take advantage of more up-to-date technology. This includes adventure games. If you have an old computer, it is going to become more and more difficult to expect these new games to play on them. Even the new Nancy Drew games are starting to require better video cards for example.

Being one myself, I like grumpy old women! However, I think you are simply expecting too much from your old computer....

Ah, the good ole days - Jumper pin settings, DMA addresses, IRQ conflicts, shadowed memory and HMA/EMM.

It's never been easy gaming on the PC, but it's always been fun.

Edit -

I forgot... The BBS/List servers, which were the only form of interactive communication between users.

I too am a grumpy old woman, ok, middle aged woman, with the same shader error message when I installed Treasure Island. Mine is "ND3d9 shader failed to load, blah blah blah, shader obsolete blah blah." I emailed Dreamcatcher and they said my video card doesn't work. I ahve direct x 9 and an Intel G33/G31 express chipset. It says on the game box that Directx 9 will work. In the email, they said it has to be 8.1 compatible. What gives? Do you think if I change the settings like other people did, it may run, or ask it to run in Win 98 compatible? I have no administrator on my computer, so do not have to that option. Will I never get this game to play? I played the newest Nancy Drew with no problem and this game is older. Really, I'm just a girl, sitting in front of a computer, wanting to play a game. I don't want to rebuild a computer. If I could do that, I'd be rich.

From what Wikipedia says, the G33/G31 chipset uses GMA 3100 graphics. It's supposed to be capable of DirectX 9.0c graphics, but few games other than casual games are made to work with Intel graphics.

If you're using a desktop computer, you should look into having a Geforce or ATI Radeon video card installed. If you decide to do this, ask us for recommendations, since some budget models aren't much better than Intel.

Nancy Drew games have always been made so they can work on as many computers as possible, including computers that are several years old and/or have underpowered video cards. So it's not surprising the latest Nancy Drew works.

bnewcol,

I'm with those of you who don't like having to do all of the tech stuff to play games. I undersyand that at some point our PCs will be out of date and will need to be upgraded or replaced due to emerging technology. However, if our systems match the game requirements listed on the game, we shouldn't have to be a techie to load the game and play it. Very frustrating!

I also had a problem trying to play Treasure Island on my wide screen monitor. I didn't get a shader (don't know what shader is) or error message but the game just looked terrible. The screen was very distorted and the characters moved slowly and the game wouldn't respond. I didn't get much beyond the first couple of screens before I called it quits and removed the game from my PC. Other games have played great.

I have since updated my drivers and deleted a bunch of junk from my hard drive, so I might try again to play it to see if the halting gameplay is fixed but I am not optimistic that it will display nicely on my monitor. I tried all kinds of things that were suggested here to fix the screen resolution but nothing worked. I was disappointed because I was looking forward to playing the game.

Gatsbygirl,
Did you check BaldBob's fix earlier in this thread? You need to try changing the resolution in the game and on your desktop the way he described.

Jenny,

When I was trying to play the game I did try to change my settings but it didn't work. It was when the game first came out so I don't remember what I did or if I did what Baldbob suggested. I will remember this and when I try to play the game again, I will try to do what he suggests.

Thanks!