The specific code at the start of the game is as follows.
Python:
label start:
call update_quest
call update_interact
play music "mb_Snowfall.ogg"
scene black
show ai m00 with Dissolve(2)
cali "Hi. My name is Callisto."
cali "I'd really like to get to know you better."
$ cname = renpy.input ("So please, what is your first name?","John").strip()
$ lname = renpy.input ("And may I know your last name?","Smith").strip()
$ cnick = renpy.input ("And what nickname might I use to whisper in your ear later on?","Cap").strip()
$ persistent.firstname = cname
$ persistent.lastname = lname
$ persistent.nickname = cnick
show ai m01
cali "Thank you [cname]. If you wish, you can change your logon later. But first, there are some important things you need to know ..."
scene intro mw with Dissolve(1):
xalign 0.5
yalign 0.5
zoom 0.2
ease 8 zoom 1 yalign 0.7
show ai r02 with Dissolve(0.5)
cali "Welcome to the frontier regions of the Milky Way Galaxy, Captain [lname]"
show ai r09
cali "It is 2167. Over the past hundred years, the human race finally learned to live with its own cultural and physical differences and has established their presence amoungst the stars."
scene intro 11 with Dissolve(1)
show ai r02 with Dissolve(0.5)
cali "Space exploration was initially slow. It wasn't until the discovery of a mysterious space gate in orbit between Jupiter and Saturn, that other star systems became readily accessible."
show ai r09
cali "This space gate, was just one many, that formed an interstellar network within the Orion arm of the Milky Way."
scene image_series_intro with Dissolve(1)
show ai m07 with Dissolve(0.5)
cali "Soon after making use of the space gate network, humans ran into species who’s differences were far beyond anything they had to contend with up to then."
show ai m08
cali "But as they gained experience relating to difficult alien species, they gradually developed methods of cooperation and trade."
show ai m01
cali "Humans established the Earth Alliance, bringing together the races of the Pleiades Cluster."
His game dropout occurred after "scene intro 11 with Dissolve(1)", which from a coding perspective, is no different than immediately preceding code, which he successfully navigated.
The animations are a combination of normal and transparent side by side webm files. These are not playing anywhere near the dropout in question.
As far as OpenGL vs DirectX, I can't see anything in the game options settings for Ren'Py that would modify the default graphics option. I certainly haven't gone out of may way to change it away from the default Ren'Py settings.
It's unfortunate that
sanmal is having difficulties playing the game, however I cannot afford to change things randomly in the code. There still is no indication that it is related to code in the game and there is no clear indication of a problem or a solution. If there is a recommendation, I am happy to send @samnal an update of the relevant *.rpyc file such that he can trial the change.