The Movies

Followed the friendly set up and the game worked perfectly for 2 hours, then crashed and now won't let me start a game or continue a saved file.
I can launch the game, but the game crashed when loading a new game or saved file.
Any suggestions!? :)

If you are having issues playing this on MAC with parallels like this guy:

" jnicks18 2025-10-23

I'm playing this on a Mac, but via Parallels, so I'm using Windows. The issue I'm having is that the information bubbles won't stop popping up continuously. No matter how many times I close them down, they pop back up. And so many pop up, I can't even play the game."

Right click movies.exe, go to compatibility tab

"Windows on Arm" click change emulation settings,

tick "Hide x64 emulation capability (x86 apps only)

Tick use advanced settings
Multi-Core settings fast

Tick Disable hybrid execution mode (x86 apps only)

The bubbles will work now.

If you are having issues playing this on MAC with parallels like this guy:

" jnicks18 2025-10-23

I'm playing this on a Mac, but via Parallels, so I'm using Windows. The issue I'm having is that the information bubbles won't stop popping up continuously. No matter how many times I close them down, they pop back up. And so many pop up, I can't even play the game."

Right click movies.exe, go to compatibility tab, tick "Hide x64 emulation capability (x86 apps only)

Tick use advanced settings
Multi-Core settings fast

Tick Disable hybrid execution mode (x86 apps only)

so sad and dissapointing I cannot play one of my favorite games on mac due to lack of 32 bit support... countless hours wasted to making this work both mac and windows versions, also via crossover just gives blank screen due to windows media player not working properly...

I need the mac version to be fixed!!!

I'm playing this on a Mac, but via Parallels, so I'm using Windows. The issue I'm having is that the information bubbles won't stop popping up continuously. No matter how many times I close them down, they pop back up. And so many pop up, I can't even play the game.

how do I make Mac work ? It says dev needs to update to work with my version of iOS

One question, is there a Spanish version of the game?

French version just provided :
https://www.abandonware-france.org/ltf_abandon/ltf_jeu.php?id=5454&fic=liens

I always wanted to play this game as a kid when I was saw it looked like The Sims 2 or an expansion to it. I always know it didn't have the best ratings ever but I now can play it! I haven't fully tested the gameplay yet but I did download the friendly setup, which includes an expansion?! It works for me, well at leasts loads the game, I will edit if I can if I have issues.

I can't build new movie sets because the sets aren't properly loaded in therefore they can never be built and so can never be used? I do lose money trying to build them, though. What am I doing wrong?

Any one knows how to install and pay the game on the newer macbooks?

Works great on win10 lastest patch.

Hello, do you know where i can get a french voice pack of this game ? Thanks in advance

you just don't know if this game would run in windows version 2h22, huh?

Larkey Vista's guide is spot on - one thing to add is that the Daemon thing seemed to be adware, so if you're not happy installing that then I used Virtual Clonedrive. But other than that, spot on guide and very happy to be playing The Movies and S&E once again after 15 years!

I was having issues with the characters turning into shadows which I fixed with 4patch but I’m still getting an issue which is minor (meaning the game is still playable) but annoys me as it isn’t true to how this game used to be able to be played. Basically when you start out in the 1920s the movies you made in the original game
were all grainy and black and white but in this download only the title credit does that and the movie itself has no effects and even once you get the post-production office it doesn’t let me edit any of the colouring or effects like it used to. Anyone else have this?

I have 0 experience on intalling old games - I've never played this game before but I saw a stream from Alanzoka and he played for several hours making me want to play it too.

The tutorial still works as in 2025 - but I had a problem with the directx - just asked for some help to Chat GPT and a couple of hours later, I managed to run the game smoothly.

The game keeps blacking out and flashing a white box. I did what older commonts said but is still dont work. HELP!

CD Key for the Polish version: TZ7N-D9A3-H9HT-9DH7-7FA1

The mac version doesn't work for me :(. It says that it needs to be updated. Any tip for that?

I'm so desperate to find the working version of this for Mac! can anyone help me? I really would appreciate it or any tips.

I downloaded this iso awhile ago and installed it with the stunts and effects add-on worked great on my xp machine .when I decided to unstall the game I couldn't do it so. . it was left on the hd

Italian DVD :
https://archive.org/download/redump_pc_M/Movies%2C%20The%20%28Italy%29%20%28Disco%20di%20Gioco%29.7z

Dutch :
https://archive.org/details/themoviesnl

Greek (seems to be texts only) :
https://archive.org/details/the-movies/

whats up guys! today, im going to be downloading the best game in history 🤑🤑🤑

"Friendly install" didn't work at all for me. Both the Star Maker and main game exe just resulted in a black screen for a few seconds, and a return to desktop.

What's more, I find the install highly dubious. When opening the folder you chose for install, it contains nothing more than the game exes. The 2GB+ of game files are nowhere to be found. Why would a game need to hide away most of it's files from the end user? You decide.

can you only run it on it's lowest settings? i can get it to work on the worst settings but on the best it crashes every time at some point, i think it is because i don't know how to do the last part and change the display settings on the "regedit folder", does anyone know how to get there?

No sound effects of dialogue. Only music. How to fix this?

I have a AMD GPU, I followed the instructions above after it black screened at launched. I got it working, and loving every minute!

To fix dgVooDoo seams in character textures: force bilinear mapping and point bitmapping.

Addendum: dgVooDoo causes visible seams on actors' face when up close. Do not know how to fix just yet.

Here is what I did to make it work (Win 10 64bit):

1- Install with the easy install.

That's the extent of what I had to do on my NVidia PC.

However, my newer PC with AMD hardware required these extra steps (as of 2024, you probably need to follow these):

2- Open the game EXE properties and untick "Read-Only".
3- Find the 4gb patch online. Patch the EXE.

To fix the game not detecting DirectX, and remaining graphical glitches (like sand texture being black, ground being transparent when zoomed in, etc):

4- Download dgVooDoo. Copy and paste the EXE, CONF and watermark DLLs (separate download) to the folder where the game EXE is. Also copy x86 DLLS from the MS folder into the game EXE folder.

5- Open the dgVooDoo control panel. Use best available AP, force it on all adapters. On the "DirectX" tab, use the dgVooDoo Virtual 3D accelerated card, maximum VRAM (if your PC can handle it), use desktop resolution.
Tick force vsync, dgVooDoo watermark (you can uncheck this after testing), and fast video memory access.
Antialiasing option to taste (8x worked).
Do NOT tick phong shading or bilinear operations. Those caused graphical glitches.

6- Open the regedit folder for the Movies and set your desktop resolution. For some reason width came after height so make sure you don't invert them accidentally, as the game does not open otherwise.

The game should now work flawlessly. So far on my end: No glitches, no crashes, can save and load the game with no problems.

At this point, feel free to enable all decades, cheat the unlocks, install mods, etc.

Note: If you ever make a movie you want to export, use OBS to record your screen instead of actually exporting the movie, as even the highest setting results in a low-resolution and low-FPS piece of crap video.

I will contact MyAbandonware to bundle this readme with their upload. Hopefully I can bundle the 4gb patch and dgVooDoo files so it's as foolproof to install as possible.

Enjoy, folks.

I've installed DirectX 9.0c as a standalone instance via the June 2010 Run-Time, but for some reason the game does not recognise it, as it's still demanding I install DIrectX 9.0C

Not sure if anything has changed/patched but the friendly set-up version worked like a charm for me with no issues. Running on Window 11 on a computer that is less than a year old, and so far no compatibility issues.

This was a HUGE part of my childhood, so thrilled to be able to actually play it again.

game crashes during the first awards ceremony :(

I dont know what Im doing wrong.
The ISO Version wont even launch, and the "Friendly Setup" version launches but I cant keep the screen open. It keeps auto closing but I can hear the game running.
I followed everyones instructions:
Installed it
Ran 4gb_patch.exe on the Movies.exe in the programs86 folder
Set compatibility to Windows XP service pack 3
- Keeps closing
So I set compatibility to Windows XP service pack 2
-Still didn't work same issue
So I Set compatibility to Windows 7
-Still same issue

Anyone have any advice?

Try 4gb_patch program. You can download it here: https://ntcore.com/4gb-patch/
It is easy to use it. Open program and chose directory where you've installed game. Then check game icon and press open. That should create backup file and now game should work well.

Does anyone know how can I stop the game from crashing after a few minutes of playing, I installed it on a windows 10

I figured it out, the error was caused by a recent windows 11 update. I downloaded windows 10 on a Virtual machine and the setup worked. The error in question was:
Error applying transforms. Verify that the specified transform paths are valid.
F:\1033.mst

The friendly setup worked for me and it never crashes, but saving doesnt work which makes it unplayable. So I tried manually with disks and got the error I commented about. A fix for any of these 2 problems is appreciated.

I have the same error as the 2 bellow me running the setup for disks:
Error applying transforms. Verify that the specified transform paths are valid.
F:\1033.mst

How do i Get the Game on windows 10 i did the setup but what now?

Hi

I have found a way to run the game in 4k, eddit register, anyone know a way how to increase to fonts? Without a magnitude now its barely readable ;)

thank you !

Same issue as the guy below me

Sorry for 2 comments in a row, but i get the error: Error applying transforms. Verify that the specified transform paths are valid. F:\1033.mst

Can't get it to work on Windows 10. I've tried everything said here but the game just doesn't want to start, throwing an error about DirectX 9.0c even though I've installed it through the game's installer and through the distribution on Microsoft's website.

My game keeps freezing and sometimes even closes randomly. What can I do to make it run smoothly?

I have it working on Windows 11. The game was crashing and I had to change it to windows XP service pack 2. The game is running well. With the use of AI this game is more playable. I can use AI created songs and voices. I played it when it originally came out and having the AI voices really help.

StarMaker don't save my stars anywhere. After creating a star, I click on save, but I can't load it back and I can't import it in-game. Anyone knows how to fix it?

My games keeps crashing randomly in 1944. I had no problems up to the 40s but then it randomly started crashing in 44. I cannot save the game or it will crash and it will randomly crash at other points.

Hey,
with Friendly Setup you only need this step:
9 - You now need the 4GB patch NTCore. Before you do that, you right click on "MoviesSE.exe" (which, don't forget, at this point is supposed to be the NoCD version you put there, not the original exe created by the installation), and make sure than on "Properties" the game is not marked as "Read only", otherwise the 4GB patch won't work. Once you do that, you download the 4GB patch, open it, then go to the game's folder and select "MoviesSE.exe" . A new "MoviesSE.exe" will be created, while the original one will be automatically renamed "MoviesSE.exe.Backup"

and all works just fine - without actors' "black silhouettes"!

I've been having this problem that my game simply freezes out of nothing. Someone faced that same issue?

Trying to follow the windows 11 tip and its telling me for the set up theres an error applying transforms amd to verify that the specified transform paths are valid, is there any way to fix that?

If anyone is needed up-to-date help, here's some (Windows 11):

First off, I found NOT downloading the DLC was helpful because it caused the most crashes (at least for me)

1. Download the ISO Version. Next, download WINCD EMU as well.
2. After downloading both, you'll want to go into each folder labeled (CD1..CD2..CD3) and double click until the pop-up to mount comes up. I just pick letters in order so H, I & J, for example.
3. Go back to CD1, double-click it and run the setup.exe (scroll down with the blue icon type). Use one of the codes on this page. Doesn't matter since they all work. Just don't register the code.
4. Don't download the direct or other thing that pops up. Your computer should be well ahead of its time.
5. Go back into the CD1 folder and look for the crack file...you'll want to copy the movies icon into the folder where you just installed the game. The easiest way is to find the shortcut on your computer and right click it then hit "folder/icon location" it'll take you there.
6. Then drag or copy the movies icon FROM the crack folder into that folder (you should get a pop-up that says file can't be copied or something...I went ahead and replaced the file as selected because the other option didn't work for me.
7. Make sure to run as administration if it pops up.
8. Double-click the newly replaced icon in the CRACK folder and your game should run! :)
9. I couldn't figure out how to make a shortcut to my desktop but i did a test and even though it was still in the folder when I ran the game back up, my save was still there.

idk man old stuff sometimes works and sometimes doesnt

Loved this game when it came out, but got rid of the CDs about 10 years ago, so great to get it again. Does work on my laptop, but if I set the video to the highest settings, it is really slow. The nvidia GTX1050 is my card. Any one had a similar issue?

nothing works it the star maker thing will just show a white screen and close

is there any anti-piracy stuff to deal with?

the game The Movies + Stunts and Effects Friendly setup English version 2.2 GB runs good, but somehow my scriptwriters only write 2star scripts and after i watched some youtube tutorials i saw that they had additional buildings like PR and some othr additional features. Somehow i think this version is the anti-piracy version with crucial buildings und other stuff missing

anyone else having trouble once the game gets going a bit? I've got to 1935 but now the game crashes when I load my save files and I don't know what to do.

So I downloaded all this, did everything that @SWEETOLEBOB18 did and it seemed to work fine, tried loading up a game and I booted me to a black screen. decided to uninstall the game and reinstall to double check and now I just get a screen prompt that reads "CD KEY CHECK" and then the installer closes.

Was really hoping to play this game again as I haven't touched it since 2014 but it seems that now, unless I can find the single .ini file that the cracked key lives in, I'm just blocked from even trying to reinstall this thing.

Looks like the comment section on this page is basically dead since 2020 besides from some other folks have a few unsolved issues. I'm going to attempt to fix this and hopefully try and put together a working guide for 2024 but I will have to see if I even have the time or patience for it.

If anyone have Black NPC Issue
Then Apply NTCore 4GB Path and this will resolve that issue

How do you actually play the game after installing onto files am I missing something?

like blaulia, struggling with directx - can't install through CD, tried the redists from June 2010, uninstalled and reinstalled, messed around in regedit, patch, etc. Is the game no longer playable on latest windows?

Did Anyone else install and it's missing setup.exe??

Hey,

When I try to run the Stunts and Effects Version the Game starts lagging endlessly as soon as I move the camera, and the fuller the lot the worse it is.
I'm trying to run it on Windows 11 and it worked perfectly for the first few years until I unlocked the bar. Ever since it first crashed it's been this way.
Thanks
DirectX works and is installed
tried reinstalling mulitple times
the 4gb patch from nt core doesnt work (couldnt open executable)

To fix the directx 9c error, uninstall the game, open regedit and remove the movies folder under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Lionhead Studios Ltd\. Reinstall the game and it should work now again.

I used the Movies and Stunts and Effects Friendly Version with windows 11 and it installs, but when I try and launch the game I get an error message saying that DirectX 9 is either not installed or disabled. I have installed it, and I have tried so many fixes and nothing works!
I have tried:
- 4gb patch
- installing direct x end user
- ticking legacy in windows features on/off
- uninstalling and reinstalling

Do you know how to run in the latest Mac ios versions?

Still no fix for the "Error applying transforms" problem with 1033.mst? Try googling the issue but couldn't find a way to fix it. I guess I'll just download somewhere else.
Stunts and Effects works great without any patch if you just dont go beyond Mid quality for textures, which isn't really great quality from a 2005 game. The biggest deal is that you can't even watch your movies. Making them is fine but watching the finished product just freezes your game, you hear the music, sounds and voices used but the screen just stays frozen and never resumes into the game so you have to start the game again...

Great game but not a great share. Pls fix your files

nvm it was my own dumbass, the game works great and for me it was extremely easy to download, i only downloaded the stunts thing and downloaded that and it works great!

i can't write anything on uppercase :c does anyone have any solutions for that?

Vielen Dank fürs bereitstellen. Das Spiel ist eine Jugenderinnerung. =)

When you use the Stunts and Effects Frendly Setup be carful when uninstalling it because I nuked a hard drive doing so. Thankfully it was only games on that drive but still just be safe.

i want this game so bad!!!!!!!!!. ima call my mom for it

People seem to think that the original game is an essential install to get going...
No so!
I managed to get the game working without installing it - Stunts and Effects that is.
Playing it right now.
S&E is being called an extension to the original game but IT'S NOT!! (Lionhead being sneaky!) It is simply the original game but with more features (including stunts and more camera-control.)
Forget the original game, you DON'T NEED IT..! Just download the S&E and you're good to go. It has everything the original game has and much more!

Has anyone got tips for installing on windows 11 i cannot get it to work :(

Yeah just install the 4gb patch, by the way do you have a amd cpu?

Any idea how to stop the actors from looking like shadow people? Does one of the patches fix this at all?

hey man it works for me on windows 11, make sure to use the friendly setup, another tip would be to install directx 9

I cannot for the life of me figure this out. i have windows 11 so maybe thats it, but every single guide ive tried, either something is different in my files or i get some sort of error that i cant find a fix for. good luck to those on widows 11.