Download Scratches (Director's Cut) (Windows)

The game with patch and Update has been tested on Windows 7 64-bit and Windows 10, works fine. You may experience some small troubles when you play the game, check our Guide and Notes for details

If you are installing any retail release (original or Second Edition) - make sure to follow the steps in this guide and edit scream.cfg file before the first launch! Otherwise the game will show BSOD!

Install & play guide (for original retail release):

• Mount the disc image. You will need the utility for mounting disc image files, like WinCDEmu, UltraISO, Alcohol 52%/Alcohol 120% or Daemon Tools Lite
• Launch the installation (if autorun doesn't work - simply launch the installation from Setup.exe inside the disc)
• It is recommended to install the game not in default path C:/Program Files folder, but in some other, non-system folder, like C:/Games/Scratches
• After you installed the game - install the patch, it aims to increase the stability of the game. If the patch installer cannot find the game folder - select it manually, by clicking "Browse"
• After that install Update for Scratches Director's Cut. If Update installer cannot find the game folder - select it manually, by clicking "Browse"
• Don't launch the game yet! First go to the directory with installed game and find scream.cfg file. Open it in Notepad and change RATE 0 to RATE 60; DEPTH from 0 to 16, 24 or 32. Save the changes
• Open the directory with the game and find scream.exe. Right click on scream.exe - Properties - Compatibility - Set "Run this app in compatibility mode with Windows 98" and "Run as administrator"
• Launch the game and play. If the game doesn't work in compatibility mode with Windows 98 - try to launch it in compatibility mode with other version of Windows (Windows 2000, XP, etc.)

For Second Edition: do the same steps, but skip the installation of patch, Second Edition is already patched. Update for Scratches Director's Cut can be downloaded from our website, or you can find it on CD2 of Second Edition

Install & play guide (for GOG release):

• GOG release is simple installer, just install & play. We uploaded it because the critical bug that results to BSOD was fixed in that version. The game was removed from GOG in January, 2015, we uploaded this release because it is the best version of the game. We recommend to use that version, it is already patched and fixed and has all the content of Director's Cut

Notes:

• If the installation doesn't start - try to launch Setup.exe in compatibility mode with old version of Windows (98, 2000 or XP)
• We recommended to install the game not in default path C:/Program Files folder, but in some other, non-system folder, like C:/Games/Scratches, to avoid possible troubles with the game. Most versions of the game are DRM Free and can be played without the disc
• It is recommended to install all versions of Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable and NET Framework for the correct work of the game. Also it is recommended to install K-Lite Codec Pack for the correct work of in-game videos, and OpenAL for the correct work of in-game audio
• There's a critical bug in retail version of the game - when you run it on modern systems it will show BSOD, so you must edit scream.cfg before the first launch! Open scream.cfg in Notepad and change RATE 0 to RATE 60; DEPTH from 0 to 16, 24 or 32; save the changes. That bug was fixed in GOG release of the game
• RATE setting is responsible for screen refresh rate. By default the game in Fullscreen mode works only on 60 Hz, so if you're playing in Fullscreen - make RATE 60, for the correct work of the game. If you're playing in Windowed mode - you can set RATE to your display's refresh rate, like RATE 120
• When you launch the game you will see only the grey window - that's the game is loading, just wait few seconds
• If you have troubles with the game not saving your progress, or you have only the black screen in various locations - make sure that your username is English only. Sometimes the game cannot make savegames when username is on another language
• If the game is working too fast, camera speed is too fast or you have movement problems - change in-game options: set Camera speed to Slow, set Slideshow to Off, set Alternate controls to Disabled. Also run the game in compatibility mode with Windows XP SP3
• If it didn't help - cap the game's framerate to 60 fps, through video card panel (Nvidia Control Panel, AMD Control Center, etc.) or through one of the apps that allows to limit the framerate (like RTSS or Bandicam)
• The game works only in 4:3 screen resolution. Do not try to change resolution in scream.cfg, otherwise the game interface will be broken
• If you have stretched picture in game - change your display resolution, set it to 1024x768
• If you want - you can launch the game in Windowed mode, just open scream.cfg in Notepad and change FULLSCREEN from 1 to 0
• If you want to disable background music - open scratches.res in HEX-editor, find trck-mansion_1-F.ogg and rename it to 0000-mansion_1-F.ogg
• If the game is crashing or lagging when you enter the chapel: make the save game in front of the chapel door, open that save game in HEX-editor, find is_chapel_locked=1, change 1 to 0; save the changes and run the game again, now the chapel door must be opened
• If you want to play with Italian translation - download the fan translation from here (the file is also mirrored on our website)
• If you want to play with Spanish translation - download the fan translation from here (the file is also mirrored on our website). Also, check this guide if you have the game on Steam and want to install Spanish translation
• Be careful, Russian version of the game is protected by StarForce DRM that can break your system! If you want to play Russian version - make sure to install NoCD before the first launch, instructions are inside the archive. Russian version is an ISO image with NoCD inside, that NoCD showed a lot of false positive warnings on VirusTotal, but it is safe to use. To install NoCD add the files in antivirus exceptions
• Don't forget to check PCGamingWiki if you have troubles!