CS stopped working

This forum is for official support and troubleshooting FAQs.

Moderator: Jason Petho

Post Reply
Erik2
Posts: 785
Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2000 10:00 am
Location: Oslo, Norway

CS stopped working

Post by Erik2 »

Worked yesterday, now all scenario/editors display the message 'Failure to create primary surface' when run.
Nothing changed on the PC except updating Order Of Battle...
Tried reinstalling/updating from scratch to default location.
There where no errors in the DXdiag report.
Attachments
DxDiag.txt
(74.98 KiB) Downloaded 16 times
User avatar
Crossroads
Posts: 18596
Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:57 am

RE: CS stopped working

Post by Crossroads »

ORIGINAL: Erik Nygaard

Worked yesterday, now all scenario/editors display the message 'Failure to create primary surface' when run.
Nothing changed on the PC except updating Order Of Battle...
Tried reinstalling/updating from scratch to default location.
There where no errors in the DXdiag report.

The symptom does seem to indicate a missing BMP unit bitmap or BIT outline file. Did you by any change update a Platoon file, pointing to a new unit bitmap file?
Visit us at: Campaign Series Legion
---
CS: Vietnam 1948-1967 < v2.10.20 Available Now (Dec 03, 2025)
CS: Middle East 1948-1985 < v3.10.20 Available Now (Dec 03, 2025)
User avatar
zakblood
Posts: 22784
Joined: Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:19 am

RE: CS stopped working

Post by zakblood »

again i take for too long to post lol with bossman beating me to it[&o]


nothing out of the norm in there i can see anyway Erik,

so apart from the standard stuff...
Typically this error happens when another application has created a primary surface in exclusive mode. Meaning another cannot be created until the lock is removed through that program or it is shut down, whichever happens first

so for me something is either missing or has been altered reinstalling all pre requisites either again or repair them, as something may have altered them so easy to install or repair to double check.

add the exe of the game to your Anti Virus and firewall program, to make sure check the logs of these to see if it was one of them which was or if any to blame.

That usually means a 3rd party program, like an Internet security programs, is or could be interfering with the game or update installation.

run the game from a admin account and use full admin permissions.
Windows 11 Pro 64-bit (25H2) (26200.7309)
Erik2
Posts: 785
Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2000 10:00 am
Location: Oslo, Norway

RE: CS stopped working

Post by Erik2 »

I did what I should have done in the first place, rebooting the PC....
Now it works again.
I had only opened a few scenarios and had a look at them, not saved anything.
Anyway, thanks for answering.
User avatar
Crossroads
Posts: 18596
Joined: Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:57 am

RE: CS stopped working

Post by Crossroads »

Glad you got it working Erik!
Visit us at: Campaign Series Legion
---
CS: Vietnam 1948-1967 < v2.10.20 Available Now (Dec 03, 2025)
CS: Middle East 1948-1985 < v3.10.20 Available Now (Dec 03, 2025)
User avatar
carll11
Posts: 955
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:07 pm

RE: CS stopped working

Post by carll11 »

theres a thread around here where in I had the exact same issue, primary surface glitch. I re'DLed the virtual C+ whatever it is, sorry I forgot whats it called exactly, and it stopped glitching..same thing happened on my Tiller HPS Waterloo game too...
User avatar
Warhorse
Posts: 5373
Joined: Fri May 12, 2000 8:00 am
Location: Birdsboro, PA, USA
Contact:

RE: CS stopped working

Post by Warhorse »

Yes, the redistributeables, they make a big difference sometimes, and also probably the cause of quite a few of CS problems, when folks are running different versions of the above!
Mike Amos

Meine Ehre heißt Treue
www.cslegion.com
Post Reply

Return to “John Tiller’s Campaign Series Support”