Frictional Games Support

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Penumbra: Overture crashes/returns to the desktop after the intro ends?

The game can launch and display the menu on cards that are not supported, but as the game needs to load advanced 3D routines the game will crash. Check the following options:


1. You do not meet the minimum system requirements
Graphics: ATI Radeon 8500/NVIDIA GeForce3(GeForce4MX not supported).
Audio: Basically any audio card able to output stereo sound in Windows.

See related article on Requirements to get a full list of computer specifications.


2. Your drivers are not up to date.
The drivers for your video and/or audio card needs to be updated, visit the manufacture to download the latest version.

See related articles on how to find out what video card you have & what audio card you have.
See related articles for a list on common manufactures of video/audio cards and their websites.


3. You do not have the latest patch.
Make sure you have the latest patch of Penumbra: Overture.




Current News
Before looking at this support site please review the following information, it will save you some time!


PENUMBRA: REQUIEM

Requiem 1.0.1 Update
A small update to Requiem has been released, it will mainly improve performance in levels 03, 06 and 09. Get it here.

General Info
If you are having a problem, check the Penumbra: Black Plague articles as Requiem is an expansion for that game, if you do not find the answers you seek look at the Penumbra: Overture articles as that is the first part in the Penumbra series and has most articles with solutions.


PENUMBRA: BLACK PLAGUE
Rare crash bugs - Full version & Demo
In the original US & EU retail CD release there is a rare crash problem in Level 4, Level 13 & Level 16. On picking an object it could also crash with certain configurations & some users with ATI cards had severe graphical glitches. Please download this update to correct the problems.

Finding the right answer to a problem
As Penumbra: Black Plague is the sequel to Penumbra: Overture and also using the same engine, most of the technical problems you might have are covered in the Penumbra: Overture topics.


PENUMBRA: OVERTURE
Mac & Linux Update - Full version & Demo
The Mac & Linux ports of Penumbra: Overture has been updated to fix numerous bugs and adding optimisations. You can find the Mac update here and the Linux update here.


COMMON PROBLEMS
Question: The game is crashing when I try to run the game or shortly after the intro movie.
Answer: Make sure you meet the minimum requirements and that you have properly updated the drivers for your graphics card. Take note that the game requires ATI or NVIDIA graphics cards, any other graphics card might or might not work and it is not something we are trying to add support for.

Minimum Requirements(Overture)
OS: Windows 2000/XP
Processor: 1Ghz
Memory: 256MB
Video Card: Radeon 8500/GeForce 3(GeForce4MX not supported)

Question: The game crashes and displays a message about my graphics card not supporting shaders.
Answer: Same as above, make sure you meet the minimum requirements and that you have updated your drivers properly.

Question: The game crashes, I have latest drivers & meet minimum req.
Answer: Make sure you uninstall the driver first, then reboot and then install the new drivers. It could also be that the new drivers are causing problems, try downgrading to an older more reliable driver.

Question: This support site isn't helping me, what do I do?
Answer: Contact the publisher according to the instructions that came with the game. If you bought a digital download, contact the site where you purchased the game.


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Last Updated: 15th September 2008.