Quick And Easy Week – Day 1: Grim Fandango Launcher + Grim Fandango Setup

Here we go then…

Quick and Easy week begins with an update and a new tool. First up, Grim Fandango Launcher has been updated. Its had a redesign to make it look better, has full Vista compatibility and now supports 64 bit versions of Windows. The full list of changes can be seen below.

New in version 1.5:

  • Cosmetic changes: Interface redesigned, text and icons made clearer, changed the launcher images.
  • Vista compatibility: The launcher now automatically prompts to run as administrator when its started, the program icon now includes all sizes up to 256×256 and if running on Vista the launcher now uses vista fonts.
  • Fixed a small memory leak.
  • Now uses windows temp folder rather than Grim folder for extracted resources like the readme and patch.
  • Now uses the excellent Grim Fandango icon created by Thanius.
  • 64 bit versions of Windows are now officially supported. The launcher has been tested on XP64 and Vista64.
  • Old versions of Windows are no longer officially supported. Versions before XP (95/98/ME/2000) should be fine but the launcher hasn’t been tested with them.

Download it here.

The new tool is Grim Fandango Setup. Its a replacement installer (setup program) for Grim Fandango. The installer that comes with the game can be problematic with newer versions of Windows and refuses to work at all on 64 bit Windows. This installer doesn’t have those problems and comes with the above-mentioned Grim Fandango Launcher.

Download it here.

Grim Fandango LauncherGrim Fandango Setup

48 thoughts on “Quick And Easy Week – Day 1: Grim Fandango Launcher + Grim Fandango Setup”

  1. Excellent! Quick and Easy week is already officially the best week ever. The original launcher continues to attract loads of traffic on the GFN so it’s great to see an update that fixes the most common problem nowadays: 64-bit.

    Good job Benzor!

  2. So uh? What does this launcher actually do that’s different than the original official one? I see a few extra options, is that it? No game compatibility enhancement?

    Just wondering as it doesn’t say and I’ve long since forgotten! Thanks for these excellent tools!

  3. As the readme says, the differences are that it lets you run in windowed mode, play without the cd’s and enables developer/debug mode. The original launcher also doesn’t work under some newer windows versions.

    There only available ‘compatibility enhancement’ for Grim is a dual-core disabling fix. This couldn’t be included in the launcher and the reasons for this are detailed in the lf forum thread.

  4. Cool, thanks! I found the thread. I actually have completely different issues, running an 8800 gpu, which royally screws up GF. Just kind of hoping it might be some miracle fix… *sigh* …Thanks for updating these tools!

  5. Thanks, looks good. However I find the in-game Menu text missing. It just shows the graphic name at the top and the rest in invisible.

  6. The sound seems to keep hanging. I installed the patch, installed via the installer, used the launcher, set up DIB windowed mode in setup. and tried some changes as well no luck

    very bad, I really wanted to play this game

  7. Hi,

    I just ran setup and downloaded the launcher for Grim Fandango. It installed the game into my hard drive. I have an AMD Athlon X2 64 6000 with 4 gb ram and a NVIDIA Geforce 7900 GT KO. I am using Windows XP Pro 64-bit. I can run the launcher, but when it tries to start the program, if I?m lucky I see the initial splash screen then that window or fullscreen goes black and I get the following error:

    Res.c(2075): (int)fh > 0 && (int)fh <= MAX_OPEN_FILES

    I tried changing compatibility of the various programs to windows 98/me mode and also changed affinity so only one cpu was used, but still didn?t work. I get the same error even when I change the compatibility mode. Keep up the good work though, I think you are getting close because at least the game installed onto my hard drive, which I was not able to do before!

    I had the same error also whether or not I started in fullscreen or windowed version.

  8. Update:

    I can actually run the game from the folder it was installed to. I double click on grimfandango.exe and it runs fine, so far. My version of GF already came with that 1.01 patch installed.

  9. Thats a strange one. If you’re up for it, could you contact me via my contact form and I could try emailing you a different version of the launcher that might fix it.

  10. That is very generous of you, thank you! I will do that.

    I was just playing some more and I noticed that sometimes when I press F1 to goto the menu and then return to game, I will lose the sound. On other occasions that doesn’t happen, ie. when you are given a choice of dialogue to say to one of the other characters.

    I was able to save the spot in the game as well as load a saved game with no problems. I could even view the cutscenes.

    Thanks again for helping me to get this to work on my dual core!

  11. Thanks a lot for your work with this game, I’m actually going to play this very first time now and since it’s 10 years old, that wouldn’t be possible without yours new tools for Grim Fandango. I have feeling that this game is goona be experience like no other in adventure games 🙂
    Very excited, thanks again.

  12. Awsome dude!!! This game just brings back so many memories…the music, the characters, the strategy and difficulty…just complete nostalgia for me. Thank you so much for making it possible for me to play it on a 64 bit!!
    Only problem is the sound sometimes cuts out and it froze on me once, hopefully wont freeze anymore as I can deal with the sound problems. Thanks again!

  13. Same problem as Ed and Tim. Without launcher game works but it’s slow.

    Can you send other version of launcher via e-mail me too?

    My computer:
    5000×2
    4gb ddr 2
    gf 8800 gt/512

  14. There isn’t a new version of the launcher right now. Ed’s problem went away after a reboot and after he went into the options in the launcher and made sure that the game was running from hard drive. (Make sure its ticked in the launcher)

  15. ??????!!! ??? ???????????? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ? ? ?????? ????????? ????????? ??? ????? ?????? ???? ???????? ??????????, ??????????? ?????? ???? ??? ???, ??? ??? ?????? ??? ???????. 100% ???? ?????????? ??? ????? ???????! ?????????!!

  16. I am having the same problem as Dinesh (posted January 28th, 2008) with the sound, but have not yet done any of the things they tried. Do you know how I can fix this?

  17. Hey gbennyboy,
    Thanks for making this game work again. It all works, except for the subtitle and the text options that appear in-game. Those are all gone.
    Do you have any suggestions?

  18. Hiya!

    I also had the Res.c(2075): (int)fh > 0 && (int)fh <= MAX_OPEN_FILES problem but I set it to run from the hard drive and now it seems to be working. If I had any money to donate in gratitude, I would but since I don't you'll have to be content with hugs and kisses

    Arigato!

    P

  19. I’m having the same problem as Al, no in game text during the dialogs or in the menu, though you can get subtittles for the cut scenes. Any suggestions?

  20. Hi,

    I downloaded Grim from squakenet.com.

    It came bundled with the patch and your installer. Unzipped to hard drive, it runs via your launcher but crashes frequently. It seems more stable on compatibility mode, but the cut-scene sound echoes badly.

    In options on your installer, it won’t let me check ‘run from harddrive’ saying required files are missing. Although it runs from harddrive, does this mean the installer isn’t running the programme as its mean to, hence the instability?

    I’m on Windows XP, P4 3.0 ATi X1600.

    Many thanks for helping to keep this game alive!

  21. I’ve done some googling. I didn’t realise the tenuous legal status of abandonware, and that it probably is, if not actually enforced, still under copyright.

    There are many used copies available for resale, but ‘distribution’ is also an infringement of the license agreement.

    Therefore, it is sadly impossible for me to legally own a copy of Grim Fandango. A pity, I’m sure you’ll agree.

    I fully understand you position, and many thanks for your time. 🙂

  22. I run the launcher and I get: “Grim Fandango registry keys not found! The launcher will not function without these registry keys. The easiest way to fix this is to re-install the game.”

    Well, the reason I downloaded the launcher is because I can’t install the game. It won’t let me install it w/ 64 bit Windows, so I downloaded the launcher.. but the launcher wants me to re-install the game? Help!

  23. Hey, I installed grim on xp, with the installer and launcher, but when I click on play game in the launcher all that happens is a black window pops up for a second and then goes away. The game never actually launches. Ive dl’ed the patch and still doesnt work. Help?

  24. Experiencing a problem many more seem to have. The sound just disappears whenever I use the menu. Also sometimes the sound gets stuck in a loop. The only thing to do then seem to be to save and restart.
    Looked around a little and can’t find any help with this and the patch doesn’t seem to do anything either.
    I’m using Windows 7, 64 bit.

  25. This works great for me on Windows 7 64 bit as long as I run it from the hard drive in Me/98 compatibility mode. The desktop shortcut was crashing. Thanks so much — I made a donation!

  26. I tried installing the game using the Setup and it said I needed to insert disc, I thought CD’s were not needed to play?

  27. I had the sound problem (crashes in menu or changing screens). I set the launcher in windows 95 compatibilty mode. Works like a charm on windows 7 64 bits.

  28. Ok! Just after saying that i went back playing and the sound went crazy and the game crashed my computer. ><

  29. I patched the game and run through game launcher but I still have a problem with a sound and freezes. When I go to the options and exit then there is no sound and when I talk to somebody then I can’t move.

  30. I will write here my expirience so others could learn about how to do it if they can’t run Grim Fandango.

    First I have the CD game. I’ve been looking for a lot of websites but none of them gave me a solution for my game.
    But I find one man that say that if I install a patch for the game and a setup also it will run automatically. I did it and it seem to me that it was runnint ok but it only appeared a photo of glotis and manny and then the screen turned black instantly. So, I read one comment that say that if I try to run it from the CD and not for the setup I installed, it will work. AND I DID IT AND NOW I AM THE HAPPIEST GIRL ON THE ENTIRE PLANET!

    Thank you!!!

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