Callahan's Crosstime Saloon--Quest #5 bug/error/crap!

[NemelChelovek]

I've just started Quest #5 (the one with Joe, the deaf man, who is going to look for his dog Ralph), and as soon as I drive out of Callahan's parking lot, it fades out and...the screen is still Callahan's parking the lot. However, the hotspots all correspond to whatever screen I'm supposed to be on (I think it involves a fence and a guardhouse), so I have no idea what it is I'm doing. If I talk to Joe again and then leave, it'll take me to a black screen. I can still move the cursor and interact with hotspots, but I can't see a damn thing. Has anyone else encountered this problem? If not, does anyone have a savegame at this spot that you could give me, because I'm too caught up in this game to give up now. Thanks a bundle.

[fov]

Welcome to the forum!

I played Callahan's recently and did not have this problem. I can probably send you a save though. It'll take a little time because it's on my other computer and I'll have to dig the game out. PM me with your email address and I'll try to send you one tonight.

[Josho]

Nemel,

I have to say I've never heard of this bug before -- but that doesn't mean much! I'm going to have Jim Montanus, who was Lead Programmer on the project, take a look at your message. Maybe he can help (although a saved game is probably the best way to proceed in the short run -- and I suspect your game and the game from which the saved game originates both need to be the same version, meaning either patched or not patched).

--Josh Mandel

[fov]

The save I sent didn't solve the problem, so if Jim has any ideas that'd be great. :)

[Josho]

Here's a reply straight from Jim Montanus:

I'm delighted you are enjoying CCS, and I'm sorry you're having trouble. I'll try to help in any way I can. Here are my thoughts of what the problems could
be:

1. Problem: System memory leak. The new picture is not getting displayed properly because there is not enough memory to load the new picture.

Solution: Go out into the parking lot and quit out of the game. Start the game back up and see if the picture loads properly.

Comments: I don't know of any memory leaks, so this is unlikely to be the problem, but I think it is the most likely simple solution that might work.

2. Problem: Corrupted picture file. If the install failed to properly copy over the picture file for quest #5, Ralph's story, then the program would be unable to decompress the picture file.

Solution: Copy off the save files (*.sav, including autosave.sav), and reinstall (including patch if needed). Letting me know if you are using the patch would be helpful to me in diagnosing the problem.

Comments: The install typically does a checksum to ensure the file is properly copied, so this is unlikely to be the problem.

3. Problem: Not enough system memory. If TSR's and other resident programs are sucking up memory, this could prevent the picture from getting loaded into memory.

Solution. Disable TSR's and other RAM resident software.

Comments: Not likely to be the problem either, since the parking lot art is no bigger than other of the room's picture files.

4. Problem: Coding bug. I do have a faint recollection of this problem during testing, and I was fairly certain that it was fixed (it was a bug I finally had to step in to make sure it did get fixed).

Solution: Anyway, if it is a programming bug, and if you go back to a point in the game where you've just finished the 3rd story, I'd suggest trying Ralph's story next. It should then work without a problem, but it would mean you would need to redo #4, Pyotr's story.

Comments: If this doesn't work, I'll look up the cheat codes that let you bypass stories - then you can start from scratch, cheat through each story, and get back to story #5.

Thanks. Hope that helps!

Jim Montanus