Project: Snowblind is among those games that some people enjoy and some don't. Some will call it a good game and recommend you to play it, and some others call it a wasted opportunity and discourage you from playing it. However, there's one thing that everyone agrees upon: this game was made many years ago and just like many other old games, it can have issues running on modern hardware. In this case, we are facing random crashes to desktop.

A few will not run into any issues while playing this game. But the majority of players will find the game crashing to desktop at random intervals. And this can become a huge issue, considering the game does not have autosaves. Unfortunately, there are no community patches and no universal fix to apply to the game. But there are some known methods that might fix your game. I've collected all of them here so you don't have to surf the entire internet to find them.

Of course, if you know any more fixes, please tell me in the comments and I will credit you.

This guide aims to provide every known fix from various sources on the internet, providing both technical and non-technical ways of dealing with this problem in one easy-to-access webpage, while explaining steps in an easy-to-follow manner. It is entirely up to the user to choose which one of these fixes is more convenient for them.

If you don't have enough computer knowledge or have doubts about trying more technical and complicated fixes, try one of the simple fixes instead. The author of this guide will not take any kind of responsibility for the possible damages caused by following the steps mentioned here.

Unfortunately the game has this problem where it will pop up an error upon launch, notifying you that it wasn't able to find Steam running.

To prevent that, copy the "Steam.dll" file next to game's executable so it can shut up about not being able to find Steam running. You can find this dll in Steam's root directory next to "Steam.exe".

Now let's get to the actual problem you're here for.

First things first, you should try to set the game to run in a compatibility mode.

• Open the game's install location (Steam/steamapps/common/Project Snowblind)
  
• Right click on "Snowblind.exe" and choose "Properties"
  
• Choose the "Compatibility" tab
  
• Check the "Run this program in compatibility mode for" option
  
• Choose "Windows XP (Service Pack 3)" from its dropdown list
  
• Check "Run this program as an administrator"
  
• Confirm all changes by pressing "OK"

Note: Be aware that by doing this, Steam Overlay can become deactivated. Use another program for taking screenshots.

Apparently, Project: Snowblind does not like multi-core CPUs and unfortunately, that means nearly all of processors we use today. So, one of the most commonly used fixes is to change its process' affinity. To do this, you have several methods to use.
Before we begin, I have to mention this type of fix can cause performance issues depending on the game, because the game doesn't know it is restricted, but knows how many cores there are on your system and might create more work for the cores you have limited it to. If you run into performance issues, try another fix.


Special thanks to Chuzzle44 and Opera for suggesting this program.

• Download ImageCFG by going to this address: https://robpol86.com/imagecfg.html
  
• The download comes in form of a zipped executable. Extract the contents of zip file in the game's installation location.
  
• Backup Snowblind.exe
  
• Open a Command Prompt or Powershell window in the game's installation location. You can do this either by right clicking in the folder and choosing "Open in Terminal", or by typing "cmd" without quotes in Windows explorer's address bar while in the game's installation folder and pressing Enter.
  
• After PowerShell/Command Prompt opened, copy this code and paste in in its window, then press enter:
  

  imagecfg -u Snowblind.SP

• Now copy this code and paste in the window, then press enter:
  

  imagecfg -a 0x1 Snowblind.SP

• This will patch the single player executable so it only runs with one CPU core. Run the game from Steam like normal.

• Create a new text file in the game's installation directory by right clicking -> New -> Text Document
  
• Name this file however you want, but I recommend setting it to "Run Project Snowblind" for ease of use.
  
• Open the text file, copy this code and paste it in the window that opens:
  

  start /affinity 1 Snowblind.exe

• Save the file and close the window.
  
• Set your operating system so it shows file extensions. This is somewhat different for each Windows version so consult online guides depending on yours.
  
• After doing the step above, change the extension of your file from .txt to .bat and confirm the change.
  
• Run "Run Project Snowblind.bat" to launch the game with only one CPU core enabled.

Note 1: After using this method, you have to run the game only from the .bat file
Note 2: This method will run Project Snowblind as a non-Steam game. You may have access to Steam screenshots by adding a shortcut of the .bat file to the client, but playtime tracking and community features will be inaccessible

• Run the game
  
• Press Alt+Tab to go back to desktop
  
• Open Task Manager
  
• Choose the "Details" tab
  
• Find "Snowblind.SP" in the list and right click on it
  
• Choose "Set Affinity"
  
• Uncheck all CPU's except for one of them (so the game runs with only one core)
  
• Close Task Manager and go back to the game

Note 1: This method might not work and the game might crash upon going back to it.
Note 2: If this method worked for you, you have to do this every time you start the game.

If none of the previous fixes worked for you, there's only one more fix you can try. And that is to change the game's screen resolution.

• If you have installed the Widescreen Patch, remove it. We need 4:3 aspect ratio
  
• Open the game's configuration tool ("Project: Snowblind Setup" when launching the game from Steam)
  
• Set the resolution to 800x600
  
• Confirm the change
  
• Launch the game

• Be aware that these fixes might not completely stop the game from crashing and instead, delay it for a long amount of time. I, for example, had crashes between 20 to 30 minutes of gameplay. But upon applying the fixes, I could play the game for over an hour before facing a crash.
  
• Because of the reason mentioned above, try to save your progress right at the moment you see a save room in the levels. Better safe than sorry.
  
• Do not try to change the extensions of "Snowblind.SP" and/or "Snowblind.MP" to "Snowblind.exe". While doing so won't cause the files to get damaged, it will break all of their functionality. For example, the single player mode will not load properly and will show a debug map selection menu upon startup instead.

Then maybe it's time to refund the game.

I know, you want to fix your game and probably did not expect to see something like this. But if it's not working correctly and there's nothing you can do to fix it, refund it.

You have payed for this game. You knew this game is really old, you knew it might work badly and you might have payed a small amount of money for it in the sales, but that's no excuse to keep unto something that does not work correctly and cannot be fixed. Maybe you can refund this and buy another title for cheap that actually works with not that much hassle.

Or you can keep it. It's your choice.