For those of you still having problems with the game...

...here's how I worked them out with Customer Support:

- If you still have the game installed, delete it. Also delete the files that the game stored in C:\program files.

- Then open your Big Fish Game Manager.
- Click Options.
- Set Game Directory location to "C:\Program Files"
- Install the game

Worked like a charm for me. Operation system is Win XP, should be analogue to others.

Thank you so much for your post. It helped me alot. I contacted customer service but it's been almost 3 days and haven't heard back from them and I was starting to get upset. I don't like the idea of paying for my games and not being able to play them.

This worked.

Yep! Worked like a charm! Thank you!!! (Windows 7)

This didn't help. I delete the game using game manager. I then look for any leftover files of the game, trying your method, and can't find anything left from the previous installations. I don't understand. All of the other games I have purchased have worked, all except this one.


Does anyone else have any ideas???

Hey mbatter,

For the best help, please get in touch with Tech Support. Please include any specific error messages or a screenshot of the issue you're seeing with this game to further help the rep.

To get in touch with Support, click on the green envelope to the right, then click "Contact Us" (bottom left) of the next page to reach the online web form. To submit the web form, first click "Check for Answers" to visit the Help pages, and if you still can't find an answer, you will then be able to click the "Submit" button to send your ticket to our reps.

If you're a Big Fish Game Club member, you can connect to Live Chat for real-time support through your "My Game Club" page. Chat hours are Monday through Friday 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM PST.

-bfgArnoStyx

Laflamme wrote:...here's how I worked them out with Customer Support:

- If you still have the game installed, delete it. Also delete the files that the game stored in C:\program files.

- Then open your Big Fish Game Manager.
- Click Options.
- Set Game Directory location to "C:\Program Files"
- Install the game

Worked like a charm for me. Operation system is Win XP, should be analogue to others.

Thank you...Thank you!!! I was just about ready to give up and go to **** ****! This worked like a charm, finally! I have windows 7.

Add one more to the group of people this worked for (Win 7 64 bit).

Tried changing the .ini files (like the error box suggested) to no avail.
Apparently something's hardcoded where this game wants to be found.

There's a very simple way to fix the issue of this game not wanting to run on Windows 7. Here is what you do: Open up the Game Manager, go to Options, then go to Downloads, then go to Game Installation Location on the bottom of this page. Browse and choose to download to Program Files, rather than the default Program Files X86. Download the game, install, play, and enjoy. Then go back into Game Manager and back to Game Installation Location and set the default back to Program Files X86 so that future games will download to that location.

That's all there is to it; this game will not run when installed to Program Files X86, but runs perfectly if you install the game to Program Files.

I hope this solution will help other Windows 7 players in the future.

You are absolute stars. Thank you so much for the info regarding changing the file destination, it worked a treat for me. I was on the verge of launching the laptop through the nearest window. (Windows 7)

absolutely nothing is working. the code says: "unable to open CAL or CIF TREE file C;\Program Files\Nancy Drew- Danger on Deception Island\cifttree\CIFTTREE.DAT. Chaeak the path in your . ini file" then i click ok and a message like this pops up: " Error Access violation at 0x0041437A (tried to read from 0x00000000), program terminated." please help, this was the one game i looked forward to playing and i paid for it so its dissapointing i cant play it. ive tried deleting it from my computerfiles, i tried downloading it to a different file, AND went to another computer and tried to download it and it didnt work, PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

I'm running Win 8 (which, if you don't already have it, I recommend staying as far away from as possible -- it's a nightmare). I'm having to replace my boxed Nancy Drew games, which Win 8 spits out, with digital versions from Big Fish, which work.

I've already bought several and they run without a hitch. When BF had the 2 for 1 sale yesterday, I snapped up four more. But silly me, I didn't look at the system requirements. I just took it for granted they'd run on Win 8 as well.

Unfortunately, three of them, including Deception Island, wouldn't start. It was then that I discovered that the system requirements for all three don't reflect Win 8, but stop at Win 7. I was crestfallen. I love Nancy Drew games!

So I came in here and saw the solution for Win 7 users who had gotten the same error I was getting. It sounded as though switching the install path from Program Files (x86) to just plain Program Files might work for me as well.

I had nothing to lose, so I tried it. It worked!

So even though Big Fish doesn't say the three games will run on Win 8 (the other two are The Haunted Carousel and Message in a Haunted Mantion), it's possible to tweak them into doing just that.

I want to thank you guys for being so very helpful. You've put a great big smile on my face!

Thank you so much!

Howatch had the clearest instructions and it worked great. btw, I'm running Windows 8.1

I just got a new computer that had 8.5, and just updated to 10. I couldn't get it to work either, but I followed previous instructions to change the c:\program files (86) to just c:\program files. Game works just fine. Just an FYI.

Well, I get where to go in big fish to change the location path but when I click browse to look for C:\Program Files\ , I can't find it in the browse? These are the options it gives me... Desktop, OneDrive, Homegroup, My folder, This PC, Libraries and Network. I have no idea what on to go into to find C:\Program Files\ ! Can anyone help?

This is for Little_Mouse12 and anyone who can't find their program files to change from C\Program Files (86) to C\Programme Files. When you click browse to look for the Programme Files you will be given a list. Click on This PC, then scroll down that list past Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos until you get to the name of your computer with (C: ) after it. Mine is an Acer so for me it has Acer (C: ). Click on that and scroll down to Program Files. Hope this helps.

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! omg i am happy this FINALLY worked!!! ok so i have tried this so many times and finally got it. so i have windows 10, i deleted the game off game manager and for me that was all i had to do bc it never had a file in my file manager. so if you have windows 10 then go (on the manager) to options> downloads> game installation ... when you change the location it probably has C:/ programs file ( x86) or something like that. click browse, go under THIS PC> OS (C: )> program files. this is above program files(x86). click that and confirm. download it again and it should work. hahaha i am so so happy this worked !!!!!

THANK YOU!!! TOTALLY WORKED!

[Removed by Moderator], the paths in ini file aren't even used as I changed it to reflect where I installed my games (D:\Games\Big Fish) and it still was looking for Program Files. Once I moved the directory to Program Files (didn't even change the ini file back) it worked. [Removed by Moderator].

[Removed by Moderator]. Guess what, the free upgrade to Win 10 ends next month, so I am guessing a lot more people aren't going to be running Win 7 anymore - [Removed by Moderator]