Help first time owner - please!!

[SolomonGrundy]

I hope someone can help me. I received Commander:Europe at War for Christmas and guess what...it doesn't work. I have the physical copy and it installed fine. However, when loading from the "Play" link, it simply loads indefinitely without stopping. I have a Pentium D dual core (3 GHz) and an Nvidia 7900 GTx card so I don't think my specs are the problem. I have sent a number o emails to support but no replies. I'm not gonna lie; I am a first time buyer from Matrix and so far I am not very impressed across the board. I'm hoping that someone can help me and change my mind because I would really like to have fun with future matrix products!

[JudgeDredd]

Have you tried this?
tm.asp?m=1584140

Basically you have to right click on the shortcut and select "Run as administrator". I'm not sure, but I think this is a Vista issue, so if you are running Vista, you might want to try it.

Where did you get the game from? Was it a gift?

[JudgeDredd]

You may want to tell people what OS you are running (Windows 2000? Windows XP? Windows Vista? Vista type??)

It helps because sometimes (quite often really) it makes a difference)

[SolomonGrundy]

My OS is Windows XP. I downloaded the patch and it still won't finish loading. I was able to pick the language and computer specs is asks of me but then at the red screen with Guderian to the far right, it just keeps on loading.

[JudgeDredd]

Have you tried the suggestion to run as Administrator?

[SolomonGrundy]

I've tried right click...nothing.

Hey Judge! My wife bought the game for me as a Christmas gift. I think she ordered it straight from matrix games (or their sales agent). It was a sealed box.

[SolomonGrundy]

It doesn't give me the option to run as administrator when I right click.

[JudgeDredd]

Nice one. Well it's a good game...but some people have had issues starting it....but they've all been resolved from what I gather.

I'll look through the posts and see if I can't find anything to help.

Can you explain exactly what you do and what the game does pls?

[JudgeDredd]

You could try this also

firepowerjohan
Try this in combination.

1) Rename the jre folder (the 50+ megabyte one in the root path of your game) to something else, which means it wont be used by the game

2) Install Java 1.5 (game uses only Java 1.5)
https://sdlc4d.sun.com/ECom/EComActionServlet/DownloadPage:~:com.sun.sunit.sdlc.content.DownloadPageInfo;jsessionid=A70876783526873CD1DFE73F14B8D6D1;jsessionid=A70876783526873CD1DFE73F14B8D6D1

pick the jre-1_5_0_12-windows-i586-p.exe 15.88 MB one from that web page



Result:
Due to renaming the jre folder (jre folder is first priority for the game to use), now the game cannot find it and will instead look for any Java installed on the machine instead. It will find the Java 1.5 on your machine. I hope this helps and would like to know how it turned out.

He's the dev. The game uses Java and it's very fickle what version...so if you try those steps above, it may help...but I'm unsure still of your specific issue.

[SolomonGrundy]

ok here are the steps:

1. put disc into drive.
2. double left click the shortcut on desktop.
3. a screen pops up with a big "PLAY" at the top and other options below (manual, forum, etc).
4. left click "PLAY"......sometimes it will accept the click and proceed, sometimes it does nothing at all at this stage. If it proceeds.....
5. flag screen appears asking the language of preference. I click the good ole Union Jack!
6. a page or two of credits (Kameleon, Matrix, etc) show up and run through.
7. A short snapshot of a battle (tank and infantry in a city I think) runs through.
8. The red loading screen appears (Guderian to far right). The words "Loading Game" are at the bottom and slowly strobing in and out while the game loads. No progress is ever made from this point!

Thanks Judge!

[SolomonGrundy]

Oh Man!! I'm not really sure how to do that...renaming the root path! Can you give me a simple walk through the process?

[firepowerjohan]

The Java is working if you see any menus or dialogs starting, so since you got to the loading screen then it cannot be a Java issue. 

[SolomonGrundy]

Hi Firepower...any suggestions as to what I should do then? Could it be a bad disc? Anything else I could do to get ot working??

[JudgeDredd]

Well, although it probably isn't the cause, you have no need to put the disk in. I'm only thinking perhaps you putting the disk in whilst you click on the shortcut on the desktop kicks off the installer on the disk whilst you are starting the game, then XP get's it's pants in a twist and hey presto....

So try again but do not put the disk in.

Also, are you using high graphics (can't remember the option)...if so, try changing that to a lower level (although 1GB should be enough).

try these and let me know.

Ans by the way...when you say "The red loading screen appears (Guderian to far right). The words "Loading Game" are at the bottom and slowly strobing in and out while the game loads. No progress is ever made from this point!", how long do you wait and what do you have to do to get out the game?

[SolomonGrundy]

Ok more info:

1. When I click play, it usually does nothing at all. The only time it will bring me to the loading screen is if I rebbot the computer and then try to play the game.

2. Did not put the disc in...same result. Waited for 10 minutes while still loading.

3. Interesting note.....while loading I hit alt esc to bring me back to desktop. It showed the Play screen again (as it should) but something seemed odd to me. In the taskbar at the bottom, there were two active tasks.....the first responsible for the play scree (menu screen) and the other for the loading screen. However, the task for the loading screen had no name in it...all it had was a blank task box with a "Java cup" symbol in it, nothing else!

[JudgeDredd]

Did you try reducing the detail level a notch? Just as a test?

[SolomonGrundy]

Well I tried the disc at a buddy'd house and it works fine on his PC. I have no clue why it won't work for me.

Man this is frustrating!! I even tried installling the latest Java download.

[SolomonGrundy]

Hi Judge......reducing the detail level a notch??? How do I do that?

[IainMcNeil]

Sorry you are having problems. Solomon did you download the Matrix patch, and not the Slitherine patch. Each version has its own patch. This might be the issue? Also, what are the specs of the PC - maybe it is not powerful enough?

[SolomonGrundy]

Well the computer is a Pentium D Dual Core with an Invidia 7900 GTX card. 2 gig of RAM.