Game crashes after movie intro

[Mraah]

ORIGINAL: hEad
I noticed that there is mention in the diag of a system.dll missing and that i should reinstall dx9. I have done this but the file is still noted as missing - don't know if this is of any use to you, but getting a bit desperate for an answer - nothing more bloody infuriating than a computer mucking you about!

hEad,

I'm not tech support but I may have a few ideas ...

You mentioned that the SYSTEM.DLL is missing.
I searched my harddrive for that file and it's under the WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\ version folder.
I have two versions on my system, v1.1.4.4322 and v2.0.50727.

When I installed PcK I didn't have them install Microsoft.NET or DX9c, since I knew I had both.

Anyway, do a search of your C: drive for the system.dll file ... It can take a few minutes. Check to see if you have the file at all and where it is located. If you want to make the search faster then search C:WINDOWS\ directory only.

My only other suggestion regards the video driver issue. Sometimes having the latest video driver isn't always the best thing to have. New drivers introduce new problems. I've had problems with new drivers before causing games to crash because the game was in development for over a year and they used old drivers for the test.

I don't have the Radeon 9800 but I have a 1600xt from ATI. You might want to try installing older versions of the drivers (ATI page shows the oldest as Catalyst 7.4, April 2007... the current is Catalyst 8.3, March 2008).

Here's the link for previuos Catalyst drivers ... http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/xp/r ... us-xp.html

So, if you can't solve your problem, try starting with Catalyst v7.4 and work your way up to 8.3. Sometimes reading the "Driver Release Notes" for the drivers may help ... they contain fixes and problems.

Just a suggestion.

Hope this helps.

Rob

[Mraah]

Sorry to add another post ... I wanted to let you know hEad that I'm stilling running an older version of Catalyst for my 1600xt ... my version is Catalyst 8.1, 8.451, January 16, 2008 .

Usually I don't install a new version until I run into problems. If it ain't broke , don't fix it ... my philosophy.
I like to download them for archive purposes ...

I even still have v6.9 [:D]

EDIT NOTE : They just posted v8.4 April 16, 2008 .

Rob

[hEad]

ORIGINAL: Mraah

hEad,

I'm not tech support but I may have a few ideas ...

You mentioned that the SYSTEM.DLL is missing.
I searched my harddrive for that file and it's under the WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\ version folder.
I have two versions on my system, v1.1.4.4322 and v2.0.50727.

When I installed PcK I didn't have them install Microsoft.NET or DX9c, since I knew I had both.

Anyway, do a search of your C: drive for the system.dll file ... It can take a few minutes. Check to see if you have the file at all and where it is located. If you want to make the search faster then search C:WINDOWS\ directory only.

My only other suggestion regards the video driver issue. Sometimes having the latest video driver isn't always the best thing to have. New drivers introduce new problems. I've had problems with new drivers before causing games to crash because the game was in development for over a year and they used old drivers for the test.

I don't have the Radeon 9800 but I have a 1600xt from ATI. You might want to try installing older versions of the drivers (ATI page shows the oldest as Catalyst 7.4, April 2007... the current is Catalyst 8.3, March 2008).

Here's the link for previuos Catalyst drivers ... http://ati.amd.com/support/drivers/xp/r ... us-xp.html

So, if you can't solve your problem, try starting with Catalyst v7.4 and work your way up to 8.3. Sometimes reading the "Driver Release Notes" for the drivers may help ... they contain fixes and problems.

Just a suggestion.

Hope this helps.

Rob

Rob, thanks very much for chipping in!

I searched the system.dll and found 3 of them as follows:

1.0.3705.6018 C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.0.3705
2.0.50727.1433 C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727
1.1.4322.2407 C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322

3 different versions in 3 different places - does this mean anything to you?

As for the drivers, i settled on version 7.7 as this seems to be regarded as the most stable of the lot. (according to various boffins in tech support forums)

On of the other things that gives a result on google is this

Error in the application.
-2005530516 (D3DERR_INVALIDCALL)

It seems to suggest a direct 3D issue and comes up on a couple of game programming forums. Its definately getting a bit egghead heavy for me. You sound like a knowledgable sort, does it ring any of your bells?

Thanks again for your help

dave

[Mraah]

ORIGINAL: hEad
I searched the system.dll and found 3 of them as follows:

1.0.3705.6018 C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.0.3705
2.0.50727.1433 C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727
1.1.4322.2407 C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322

3 different versions in 3 different places - does this mean anything to you?

Ok, you've got the file then. Was just curoius.

As for the drivers, i settled on version 7.7 as this seems to be regarded as the most stable of the lot. (according to various boffins in tech support forums)

From your earlier posts you tried other drivers then ... for Pck ? ... like v7.8-8.4 (latest as of yeasterday).

Error in the application.
-2005530516 (D3DERR_INVALIDCALL)

It seems to suggest a direct 3D issue and comes up on a couple of game programming forums. Its definately getting a bit egghead heavy for me. You sound like a knowledgable sort, does it ring any of your bells?

[:(] Sorry, I'm not that knowledgable in this sort ... I can only give ideas if it sounds like something I've come across.

Perhaps this is unrelated ... I don't know, might be ...
A few years ago I had a problem with DX when I tried to update to 9c. One of my DLL files was corrupt and it couldn't update ... it was telling me it was unregistered. After talking to MS they told me how to register every DLL and then reinstall DX9c so it would update all the files properly. It was very odd and I haven't had DX related problems since. Registering the DLL's were easy ... just typing a command for each dll through the DOS window.

Sorry if I wasn't much help ... Seems you really are in a pickle [8|]. Hopefully other will chime up and holler an idea or two.

Rob

[hEad]

I haven't had any explicit dx errors saying that it couldn't up grade. I dug out my Civ4 disk and ran dx set up from there - it made no difference.
 
I tried driver versions 7.3, 7.7, 7.9, 7.12 and 8.3 - haven't tried 8.4 but have become sceptical that its driver related.
 
I've got no idea whatsoever. Never had a problem running a game like this. Just to make sure i wasn't having a system melt down i loaded and played a few other games - civ4, company of heroes, EU3, galciv2, BF2, CMBB etc etc and they all ran with out a hitch.
 
Anyways Rob, your a gent. Thanks for taking the time to have a crack at it.

[Mraah]

One final stab in the dark ... [:)].

What happens if you disable the movie intro ... rename the panzedcommndintro.mov file to .bak ? (main folder)

Maybe the movie is crashing the game before it even starts?

My reasoning is that I've had problems with stuff like that when it switches the video mode or resolution or what not.

That reminds me ... have you tried different resolution config settings? LIke running different Refresh rates, bit depth, antialiasing, antisotropic.
Anyway, sometimes the refresh might be goofy and your Catalyst settings cause problems.
Sometimes Disabling Catalyst A.I. fixed a few problems on some games I have (S.T.A.L.K.E.R for one)

Anyway, play around with the Catalyst settings ... if nobody said that before ... might have.

Rob

[hEad]

ORIGINAL: Mraah

One final stab in the dark ... [:)].

What happens if you disable the movie intro ... rename the panzedcommndintro.mov file to .bak ? (main folder)

Maybe the movie is crashing the game before it even starts?

My reasoning is that I've had problems with stuff like that when it switches the video mode or resolution or what not.

That reminds me ... have you tried different resolution config settings? LIke running different Refresh rates, bit depth, antialiasing, antisotropic.
Anyway, sometimes the refresh might be goofy and your Catalyst settings cause problems.
Sometimes Disabling Catalyst A.I. fixed a few problems on some games I have (S.T.A.L.K.E.R for one)

Anyway, play around with the Catalyst settings ... if nobody said that before ... might have.

Rob

Done it all!!

Renamed movie - check
fart around with various combinations of settings - check
played with the catalyst settings - check
clean booted system - check
unistalled and reinstalled game x4 - check
installed the game into program files in stead of C: just to try something - check
Installed a different sound card - check
installed a dx9c version from different sources - check
updated sound and video drivers numnerous times - check
chainsmoked whilst repeadedly bringing my forehead into swift contact with the monitor - check
Tried everything that has been suggested to me in this thread thus far - check
Trying really hard to not loose my cool - check(ish)

Hopefully Eric and the devs have an epiphany.

Thanks for all your suggestions Rob - i do appreciate the effort! [:)]

[Erik Rutins]

We're working on it, sorry but this really is a mysterious problem - we have some more ideas which I'll post this morning. I appreciate your patience on this.

Regards,

- Erik

[Mraah]

Ok ... I've been trying to duplicate your problem ...

You said it crashes after intro ...
Does it show you the splash screen ... then crash? See screen shot.

In the \media\graphics folder, are there files called splashscreen and MM screen ?

Anyway, I can make mine crash if I rename them.

That's my last guess [;)]... missing files.

Rob

[hEad]

No problems Eric I know my little issue isn't your only concern, there is still a little hope burning.

Rob, It crashes before it reaches those screens. Before i renamed the intro movie, i would double click the exe, the graphics options screen would pop up. I click play and end up with this error immediately. There is no nothing. Escape out of movie then bam. (of course with no intro movie, i just click play from the options menu then bam)

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: hEad
No problems Eric I know my little issue isn't your only concern, there is still a little hope burning.

Understood, we hope we will be able to figure this out too.

Rob, It crashes before it reaches those screens. Before i renamed the intro movie, i would double click the exe, the graphics options screen would pop up. I click play and end up with this error immediately. There is no nothing. Escape out of movie then bam. (of course with no intro movie, i just click play from the options menu then bam)

That's what's making it so tough to resolve, frankly. It's happening outside the main part of the game. It's happening in a section where all that really happens is the playing of the video and the setting of the screen resolution. The errors you're getting are very general in nature and we feel certain there has to be something else installed that is somehow interfering, but we can't figure out what it is.

[hEad]

Oh and Rob, both the splashscreen and MM screen .png files are there.
 
I admire you mate. Here i am not able to get the game running, and here you are with a running game trying to break it! Classic! [;)]

[hEad]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: hEad
No problems Eric I know my little issue isn't your only concern, there is still a little hope burning.

Understood, we hope we will be able to figure this out too.

Rob, It crashes before it reaches those screens. Before i renamed the intro movie, i would double click the exe, the graphics options screen would pop up. I click play and end up with this error immediately. There is no nothing. Escape out of movie then bam. (of course with no intro movie, i just click play from the options menu then bam)

That's what's making it so tough to resolve, frankly. It's happening outside the main part of the game. It's happening in a section where all that really happens is the playing of the video and the setting of the screen resolution. The errors you're getting are very general in nature and we feel certain there has to be something else installed that is somehow interfering, but we can't figure out what it is.

What sort of thing may interfere with the game at this stage? I know you said "Morgan Stream Switcher" earlier, but as i mentioned i have booted up with minimum services in the background. Have a look at my task manager.
You do know that I can watch the movie with no problems?
Its not a Direct3D thing as noted in the other error the game generated?

[Erik Rutins]

Well, you can try a program like "EndItAll" to shut down everything that's unnecessary before launching the game to see if that makes any difference.

One place to get that is here:

http://www.docsdownloads.com/enditall-1.htm

[hEad]

Thanks Eric.
 
It closed another 6 processes down but failed to make a difference to the game starting - same error as before. I just used the close and not the kill option in the program. Seems like a vicious little bit of software!

[Erik Rutins]

Ok, one more additional question from the developer:

- Do you have only one monitor hooked up to your system?

[Erik Rutins]

Additional comment/question from the developer. Have you tried running it _immediately_ after a clean reboot (sounds like yes, but making sure):

"The error D3DERR_INVALIDCALL is so generic, it hurts. According to the docs, "The method call is invalid. For example, a method's parameter may have an invalid value." Usually, if you start getting Invalid Calls on something that usually works, it's time to reboot your computer. I'm sure he's done this several times. I would like to know if he gets Invalid Call every time he runs the game and after a fresh reboot."

[hEad]

Only one monitor in use.
 
Yes, i have been operating with a clean boot since trying to get Kharkov running. When i was reinstalling drivers, i would reboot and immediately try to run the game. I have only had the invalid call error once. This was after playing with the game settings, but in particular after changing resolution to 1200xsomething.
 
I am in the process of dusting off one of my old harddrives to install XP on it. From there i will update drivers etc then install Kharkov and see if I'm in business. It doesn't sound like anyone else is having this problem so logically it must be something inherent to my particular system set up, and damn it, i'm fed up of drooling in the main forum like a starving little boy watching fat people eat donuts (no offense to fat people.. or donuts.. or anyone in the main forum who may indeed be fat.. or a donut!)
 
Thank you for championing my cause. No one could honestly complain about the service Matrix provides!

[Mraah]

ORIGINAL: hEad

hEad,

Thanks for putting up with me ... one comment ... your screen shot .. mentions Common Language Runtime Debugging Services ...

What's that? You're not having the same trouble as those language folks, eh?

I'm sure considering all possiblities you've ... been-there ... done-that [;)].

Rob

[Raindog101]

I stopped playing PCK I installed 3 more games, "Making History, HoI2_DD, and Steel Panthers_GE"

Now when I try to run PCK I get the same error as HEad does.

Same exact thing only my numbers are (3748) and (3216)

Sigh.

Uninstalled, reinstalled .....

Same error.