I downloaded the demo and placed the folder in the applications folder.

I'm running 10.4.10 on a dual 2.7GHz G5 mac.Graphics card is an ATI Radeon 9650.

Whenever i launch the demo i get the start up window. But when i press the start button the app crashes. i've tried both full screen and windowed, 16 and 32M colors. The screen resolution changes or the small window appears before the crash. the small window is all black. Here is the crash log

**********

Host Name: dads-computer
Date/Time: 2007-12-12 17:27:32.847 -0800
OS Version: 10.4.10 (Build 8R218)
Report Version: 4

Command: Eschalon Book I Demo
Path: /Applications/Eschalon Book I Demo/Eschalon Book I Demo.app/Contents/MacOS/Eschalon Book I Demo
Parent: WindowServer [84]

Version: ??? (???)

PID: 494
Thread: 0

Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE (0x0002) at 0x00000034

Thread 0 Crashed:
0 Eschalon Book I Demo 0x00105d34 brl_audio_CueSound + 16
1 Eschalon Book I Demo 0x0000cb5c 17235 + 36
2 Eschalon Book I Demo 0x00004a1c 4 + 48
3 Eschalon Book I Demo 0x00004638 run + 144
4 com.apple.Foundation 0x92bdfae4 _nsnote_callback + 180
5 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x90805078 __CFXNotificationPost + 368
6 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x907fd114 _CFXNotificationPostNotification + 684
7 com.apple.Foundation 0x92bc9eec -[NSNotificationCenter postNotificationName:object:userInfo:] + 92
8 com.apple.AppKit 0x9379ef98 -[NSApplication _postDidFinishNotification] + 112
9 com.apple.AppKit 0x9379ee84 -[NSApplication _sendFinishLaunchingNotification] + 92
10 com.apple.AppKit 0x9379e9cc -[NSApplication(NSAppleEventHandling) _handleAEOpen:] + 264
11 com.apple.AppKit 0x9379e574 -[NSApplication(NSAppleEventHandling) _handleCoreEvent:withReplyEvent:] + 92
12 com.apple.Foundation 0x92be0af0 -[NSAppleEventManager dispatchRawAppleEvent:withRawReply:handlerRefCon:] + 380
13 com.apple.Foundation 0x92be0950 _NSAppleEventManagerGenericHandler + 92
14 com.apple.AE 0x914fe960 aeDispatchAppleEvent(AEDesc const*, AEDesc*, unsigned long, unsigned char*) + 208
15 com.apple.AE 0x914fe7fc dispatchEventAndSendReply(AEDesc const*, AEDesc*) + 44
16 com.apple.AE 0x914fe654 aeProcessAppleEvent + 284
17 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x9329a2e0 AEProcessAppleEvent + 60
18 com.apple.AppKit 0x9379ccbc _DPSNextEvent + 856
19 com.apple.AppKit 0x9379c7a8 -[NSApplication nextEventMatchingMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 116
20 com.apple.AppKit 0x93798cec -[NSApplication run] + 472
21 Eschalon Book I Demo 0x000049a0 main + 484
22 Eschalon Book I Demo 0x00002f18 _start + 760
23 Eschalon Book I Demo 0x00002c1c start + 48

Could this be similar to our Windows "My Document" problem?

Do you have a folder called "Documents"? This is where the game is trying to create the saved game slots. If you don't have it, or if it is named something different or uses non-English characters, you may be having a problem there.

I have a documents folder and the game created a new folder with a .cfg file and several folders for what i assume are saved games. also if you look at the log though it looks like the crash had something to do with playing a sound.

Are you using a special sound card, or special sound drivers? You're the first person out of a couple thousand demo downloads to say there is a sound problem, so we need to start by asking what is different about your system.

actually your first step is to apologize for my trouble. just kidding. Anyway i don't have anything special for sound. here's the About this mac report on the built in audio
could the relevant sound be corrupted? anyway to send me a new set of sounds rather than me downloading the whole demo again?

Devices:
Texas Instruments TAS3004:
Inputs and Outputs:
Line Level Input:
Controls: Left, Right
Playthrough: No
PluginID: TAS
Headphones:
Controls: Mute, Left, Right
PluginID: TAS
Internal Speakers:
Controls: Mute, Master
PluginID: TAS
Line Level Output:
Controls: Mute, Left, Right
PluginID: TAS
Crystal Semiconductor CS84xx:
Inputs and Outputs:
S/PDIF Digital Input:
Controls: Mute
Playthrough: No
PluginID: Topaz
S/PDIF Digital Output:
Controls: Mute
PluginID: Topaz
Formats:
PCM 16:
Bit Depth: 16
Bit Width: 16
Channels: 2
Mixable: Yes
Sample Rates: 32 KHz, 44.1 KHz, 48 KHz
PCM 24:
Bit Depth: 24
Bit Width: 32
Channels: 2
Mixable: Yes
Sample Rates: 32 KHz, 44.1 KHz, 48 KHz
AC3 16:
Bit Depth: 16
Bit Width: 16
Channels: 2
Mixable: No
Sample Rates: 32 KHz, 44.1 KHz, 48 KHz

I doubt this is a sound file corruption, because the files go from the master directory into the .dmg file (getting checked for bit accuracy), and then from the .dmg to your computer, again getting checked for bit accuracy. If there were any corruption, even by 1 single bit, you would have gotten an error notifying you of this.

I will investigate the error closer with Apple and with BRL. It may take some time to get a response from them, but I will stay at it until something is figured out.

Thanks for posting your system info.

i created a new admin account which means none of the various customization apps i normally run, such as fruit menu, were in place. on that account the game runs fine. this means the data files aren't corrupt. it also means that the problem is a conflict with something else running on my system.

I have the problem too. I launch the game, the options window comes up with colors and window mode and right after I click start it crashes. Would love to try this game!



Date/Time: 2008-01-17 10:59:31.365 -0800
OS Version: 10.4.11 (Build 8S2167)
Report Version: 4

Command: Eschalon Book I Demo
Path: /Applications/Eschalon Book I Demo/Eschalon Book I Demo.app/Contents/MacOS/Eschalon Book I Demo
Parent: WindowServer [9451]

Version: ??? (???)

PID: 9911
Thread: 0

Exception: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE (0x0002) at 0x00000090

Thread 0 Crashed:
0 Eschalon Book I Demo 0x000f99c6 brl_stream_WriteLine + 21
1 Eschalon Book I Demo 0x000613ad 17 + 45
2 Eschalon Book I Demo 0x0000783e 5038 + 21
3 Eschalon Book I Demo 0x00003aab 4 + 20
4 Eschalon Book I Demo 0x000034c5 run + 162
5 com.apple.Foundation 0x927f015b _nsnote_callback + 230
6 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x908563ca __CFXNotificationPost + 345
7 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x9084db69 _CFXNotificationPostNotification + 600
8 com.apple.Foundation 0x927e8704 -[NSNotificationCenter postNotificationName:object:userInfo:] + 121
9 com.apple.Foundation 0x927ef6a9 -[NSNotificationCenter postNotificationName:object:] + 55
10 com.apple.AppKit 0x9327eeb4 -[NSApplication _postDidFinishNotification] + 124
11 com.apple.AppKit 0x9327ed9e -[NSApplication _sendFinishLaunchingNotification] + 67
12 com.apple.AppKit 0x9327e89d -[NSApplication(NSAppleEventHandling) _handleAEOpen:] + 273
13 com.apple.AppKit 0x9327e468 -[NSApplication(NSAppleEventHandling) _handleCoreEvent:withReplyEvent:] + 96
14 com.apple.Foundation 0x927f5e45 -[NSAppleEventManager dispatchRawAppleEvent:withRawReply:handlerRefCon:] + 447
15 com.apple.Foundation 0x927f5c6f _NSAppleEventManagerGenericHandler + 91
16 com.apple.AE 0x915236c5 aeDispatchAppleEvent(AEDesc const*, AEDesc*, unsigned long, unsigned char*) + 147
17 com.apple.AE 0x915235f6 dispatchEventAndSendReply(AEDesc const*, AEDesc*) + 44
18 com.apple.AE 0x915234c2 aeProcessAppleEvent + 190
19 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x92df8084 AEProcessAppleEvent + 37
20 com.apple.AppKit 0x9327c65d _DPSNextEvent + 1044
21 com.apple.AppKit 0x9327c076 -[NSApplication nextEventMatchingMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 137
22 com.apple.AppKit 0x93275dfb -[NSApplication run] + 512
23 Eschalon Book I Demo 0x00003a71 main + 1078
24 Eschalon Book I Demo 0x00002d0e _start + 216
25 Eschalon Book I Demo 0x00002c35 start + 41

Oh here are my computers specs.

MacBook Pro 17", 2.4Ghz, 4GB RAM, OS 10.4.11, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT 256MB

I have the same problem (1st click on the option window crashes the game), running on a Mac Pro under Mac OS X 10.5.1.

There is something strange with that: this happens only, if I use the installed game (tried different disks and folders and also different users), but if I start the game directly from the .dmg file, it runs fine.

pumilamac's problem doesn't look sound related. It crashed when trying to write the cfg file back to disk:



Not sure at all about why this would have crashed. We got to find out what is different about your system versus everyone else's.

How about virus protection- are you using anything?

Hm, I do not use any virus protection and the Mac OS X Leopard internal firewall is open.

Date/Time: 2008-01-18 20:02:06.452 +0100
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.5.1 (9B18)
Report Version: 6

Thread 0 Crashed:
0 Eschalon Book I Demo 0x000c9acc brl_audio_PlaySound + 21

And I can think of no reason, why Eschalon runs from out of the .dmg, but not from a folder.

Edit: just to restate it - the game crashes on the first mouseclick, after the sound has been played

If you drag the folder to your Applications, the game fails to run? Could this be a rights issue? Check to make sure the game has the proper rights to write to that folder.

I'm quite sure, that is no rights issue. I tried it as normal user, as Administrator and as root. Also when installing in the Applications folder, the system asked for the Administrator password. Additionally - as I suspected some permission problem too - when installing in a folder on another drive, I did a on the command line. All these did not help.
Starting Eschalon from the .dmg, it runs nicely and reads and writes the save files in my Documents folder.

As expected the same problem occurs with the full version ...