How to fix the bug with freezing NPC animations and doors?

Solution 1:

Me and my friend also encountered this problem today while playing in windowed mode for sharing screen via Skype. To fix this, toggle between fullscreen and windowed mode by pressing Alt+Enter until the animation resumes as it should. If it doesn't work right away, try loading the game before the animation freezes and play it in fullscreen mode. Then you may resume playing in windowed mode.

Solution 2:

I know it is a bit late... but I figured out how to get past this... in your installation folder of the game, go to the DEFUSER.ini file, it is a file for changing keystrokes in the game, then search for backspace, and type next to it Ghost, it will be backspace=ghost, also change another button, say button B, to walk, B=walk, then while in game and the imp is frozen, hit the backspace button to activate ghost mode, fly through the roof, and hit button b to activate walk mode again, and you can continue from there without problem

Solution 3:

A bit late probably but for anyone who hasn't got this fixed yet, this worked for me. A combination of what others have suggested:

• Find the folder where HP3 is installed. Mine is at C:\Program Files (x86)\EA Games\Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(TM).
• Go into the System folder, and find the Default.ini file.
• Copy it elsewhere, like on your desktop, for a backup in case something goes wrong when you edit it.
• Right click on the Default.ini file that is still in the System folder (not the copy you just made), click Properties, then the the Security tab. Click Edit to change permissions. Click on the group or user name in the box, then tick the box next Full Control under Allow. This will give you administrative permission to amend the Default.ini file and will stop the error message when trying to save it later. Click Apply, then OK.
• Next double click the Default.ini file in the System folder and it should open with Notepad or a similar text editor. If it asks what to open it with, choose Notepad.
• Scroll down to about 3/4 of the way down, and find the section headed [D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice]. If you search, it will probably be the 2nd entry you find, not the first one. Under the heading [D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice], scroll down a little until you find this line: ReduceMouseLag=True ... delete the word True and replace it with False and save the document.

The second thing is compatibility. Right click on the desktop shortcut icon of HP3, and click Properties. Click the Compatibility tab at the top. Tick the boxes for:

• Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
• Run in 640x480 screen resolution
• Run this program as an administrator.

Click Apply, then OK. Then just double click the game shortcut icon to start the game as normal. These things fixed this for me.

Note: I wrote it out in so much detail for the users who might need it explained in detail. Don't leave out the run in 640x480 screen resolution because it is necessary.