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- Audio Problems: I don't hear sounds or music in my game.
- Backup/Recovery: Can I back up my savegame files and/or move them to another Windows computer?
- Backup/Recovery: Can I make a CD backup of the setup file for the game that I downloaded?
- Cauldron: My villager dropped the cauldron, and I can't find it anywhere. Can I get it back?
- Collectibles: Collectibles aren't producing tech points.
- Deleted game: Is it possible to recover a game that was accidentally deleted?
- Display Problems: All I see is a black (or white) screen when I launch the game.
- Display Problems: The game does not display properly on my computer.
- Display Problems: The game doesn't fit on my screen.
- Display Problems: When I try to run the game, my screen is gray.
- Elders: I can't get more than 50 Esteemed Elders/Totems.
- Error: The game crashes when I try to run it. Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
- Errors: Virtual Villagers - The Lost Children.exe is not a valid Win32 application. How do I fix this?
- Errors: "Error while unpacking program, code LP5. Please report to author." when attempting to run the game.
- Errors: "Program stopped working" in Windows Vista.
- Errors: "Update failed. Are you online?" message when attempting to update my game stats.
- Errors: "Virtual Villagers has stopped working" message in Windows Vista.
- Errors: Failed initializing DirectDraw. Only 16-bit and 32-bit displays are supported in windowed mode.
- Errors: I can't install the game, due to an NSIS error.
- Errors: I get an error message: Could not open display. Error code=0xc8660160 or 0xc8660110
- Errors: Missing export DDRAW.DLL:DirectDrawCreate.EX.
- Errors: This program has been damaged, possibly by a bad sector of the hard drive or a virus. Please reinstall it.
- Forums: I am having problems trying to access the game forums.
- Game Freezes: My game freezes when I try to refresh statistics.
- Game Freezes: My game is sluggish, jerky, or freezes up.
- Game won't run: My Virtual Villagers: The Lost Children (Windows) game quits before it completely loads.
- Game won't run: The game minimizes to the taskbar and can't be played. I hear the game running, but when I click it the game goes back to the taskbar.
- Gong: I can't get one of the gong pieces.
- Gong: I can't pick up one of the gong pieces.
- High Scores List/Leader board: Can I get on the leader board if I didn't buy my game directly from LDW?
- High Scores List/Leader board: Why don't my game scores appear on the leader board?
- Installation: How do I reinstall Virtual Villagers: The Lost Children for Windows or install it on a different computer that I own?
- Internet: Do LDW's games connect to the Internet during game play?
- Masters: My villagers aren't progressing beyond Adept skill level.
- Missing .exe file: When I try to launch the game, I get the message that Windows is searching for the .exe file. Where did my game go?
- Multiple players: How do I have multiple games going in Virtual Villagers: The Lost Children?
- Names changing: Why do the names of my villagers keep changing and duplicating?
- One gender left: There are only males (or females) left in my tribe. Is there any hope for this game?
- One villager left: There is only one villager left in my tribe. Is there any hope for this game?
- Pause: How do I pause (or unpause) the game?
- Pause: I paused my game overnight, but my villagers all died. Why did that happen?
- Pause: I paused my game, but when I started it again my villagers were all in different places. Why did that happen?
- Percentage completion: The game isn't displaying the percentage of completion on a project that my builders are working on.
- Population: What is the maximum population that I can have in my game?
- Saving game: My game isn't saving my progress, and it starts a new game every time I launch it.
- Stew: Why don't all of the stews that I make count in the stats?
- Time Change: Will Daylight Savings Time affect my games?
- Time: Time isn't passing properly in my game.
- Transferring characters: Can I transfer my characters, food, tech points, or anything from Virtual Villagers: A New Home to Virtual Villagers: The Lost Children?
- Virus/Spyware: My anti-virus software has notified me that there's a virus in the game and has removed it. How do I get my game back?
- White boxes: I edited some of the images in my game, and now they have white boxes around them. How do I fix them?
- Windows 7: Will LDW's games work with Windows 7?
- Windows Vista: Will LDW's games work with Windows Vista?
- ~~ My question is not listed.
Frequently Asked Questions
My game is sluggish, jerky, or freezes up.
The cause of the problem is usually another application that is consuming a high percentage of system resources, particularly CPU. To keep from adversely affecting other programs on your computer, the game was designed to yield priority to any applications or processes that are running on the computer, even if they are background processes such as Windows system tasks or anti-virus protection processes.
The best way to determine if another application is causing the problem is to open Task Manager (right-click on the taskbar or Ctrl-Alt-Del and select Task Manager), click on the Processes tab, and sort the processes by CPU usage (click on the CPU heading twice - the first time will show the lowest usage processes on top; the second click will sort by processes that are using the highest amount of CPU).
We know of several applications and Windows system processes that occasionally use very high percentage of CPU, including a popular virus scanning program. If you find a process that is consistently using more than 50% CPU, it is likely causing the game to become sluggish, jerky, or even freeze for a time. In that situation, you should try stopping the process that is consuming excessive system resources and see if the game operates normally again.
If you don't find an application that is consuming system resources, you should check to make sure that you have the proper driver installed for your processor. At least one user has reported severe problems with game performance after allowing Windows to install a processor driver during a Windows update. After removing the driver and installing the correct processor driver from the device manufacturer, the problem was corrected.
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