Tomb Raider 3 The Lost Artefact Won't Install

[Lambernator97]

Hello, I have been recently replaying the Tomb Raider DLCs. I have finished Tomb Raider Unfinished Business and Tomb Raider 2 The Golden Mask. I have a disc copy of The Lost Artefact which I have been able to play on previous computers. However, when I have pressed 'Install' on the autorun page, the computer thinks about doing something for a minute and then just stops. I have no idea why it does this. I have tried running it on compatibility settings and this doesn't work either. I have also gone into the disc files themselves and tried to run the game through the .exe file 'TR3gold'. However, it loads as far as the title screen and you can hear the fire note of the theme tune and then it just crashes. My computer is relatively brand new and believe has Windows 11 on it. Anyone got any ideas how to get the game to run on my laptop? Weirdly I can get Tomb Raider 3 to run on my laptop, just not the Lost Artefact. Any advice would be appreciated as I am not good with computers. More of a console gamer!

[laravision]

Avoid using the autorun option and do the following:

Create a new folder on your PC (C:\Games\TLA for example). Copy the following folders and files from your Lost Artefact CD - AUDIO, DATA, FMV, PIX, DEC130.DLL, EDEC.DLL, WINPLAY.DLL, WINSDEC.DLL and WINSTR.DLL and paste them into the new folder. Once the files have been copied over, remove the Lost Artefact CD from the drive.

You'll now need to download a No-CD tr3gold.exe. This one (I believe originally by b122251) has been available for a while. Alternatively you can try Arsunt's exe which allows for widescreen visuals and other fixes. Place the exe file (and DLL files if choosing Arsunt's version) in the Lost Artefact folder you created.

To run the setup, create a shortcut of the downloaded exe file, then open the properties of this shortcut. At the end of the target/address field, add a space, then type -setup after the quote, so that it reads something like: "C:\Games\TLA\tr3gold.exe" -setup (if going by the aforementioned new folder location).



Click OK then run that shortcut and the setup menu should appear. Once you've chosen your desired settings, try launching tr3gold.exe. It's possible that you'll still have issues getting this game to run. You may wish to consult this thread for guidance.

[Lambernator97]

Hello,

Thanks for the reply. I have followed the guide to the letter but it still doesn't work. I've have now got the game to install. However, when I try and play it, it loads the 'Eidos Screen', then starts to load the menu screen and it plays the first note of the main theme tune and instantly crashes.

I am wondering if it could be something wrong with the audio file which is causes the game to crash? Also I don't have a config file. I think this is because the start of the game crashes before it can generate one. I would show a video of what happens but I can't upload a video or photos on here annoyingly! I have tried the multipatch update and it seems to not like the audio file on my disc. The audio file I have is called 'cdaudio.wad' is this is any help? Any further advice on this would be great!

[ATombRaiderFan]

@Lambernator97 I presume you still have TR3 installed on your laptop. Copy the config file found in the TR3 root folder and paste it in the Lost Artifact root folder.

If the game still crashes, open the config file with notepad and change the value of MMX to 0, then save and close the notepad. Then try launching the game again.

[Lambernator97]

Hello, thanks for the suggestion. I tried what you have suggested but it didn't make a difference Doing some digging it seems to be the exact same problem as this old feed: https://www.tombraiderforums.com/sho...d.php?t=219347 - I followed all the steps on there too but again didn't work.

[rewak]

Have you tried running it in compatibility mode? Right click the EXE, select Properties, Compatibility Mode, then select a low version of Windows like 95 or 98. Click OK and see if that helps.

[Lambernator97]

@rewak - Yep tried that too. Doesn't work either

[ANoDE]

Into which path do you have the game installed?

Have you tried something like: "C:\Games\TR3_TLA"?

[TombHackR]

So setting MMX to 0 hasn't worked...

The next thing to try (which might be time consuming), is setting VM to random numbers until the game starts working. I would start at 10 and work your way up. The game started working for me when I set it to 15 (it was originally set to 38 and the game kept crashing).

DD 0
D3D 1
D3DTF 1
DS 0
VM 15
ZBUFFER 1
DITHER 1
FILTER 1
AGP 1
SOUND 1
JOYSTICK 0
MMX 0
SFX 10
MUSIC 10
GAMMA 6.000000
DEFKEY 200 208 203 205 52 53 54 184 157 57 51 82 207 1
USERKEY 72 80 75 77 83 79 54 184 157 57 76 82 207 1