Game stops responding upon startup

[SykoFused]

The main game runs with no problems however when I install the expansion the game will not run at all. I've tired running it as admin along with other compatibility options but all ended with the same result. Any help will be much appreciated.

[Erik Rutins]

Hi SykoFused,

Are you running it from the Game Menu or the Quick Start link (direct to the executable)? If the latter, you need to "Run as Administrator" and be logged into an Administrator account.

Regards,

- Erik

[SykoFused]

Hello Erik, Thank you for the reply.

Yes I've tryed running from the game menu and the quick start exe as Administrator, I'm Alsoly on an administrator account. The game just stops responding before the loading screen pops up. I tryed to restall both main game and the expansion. The main game works fine but once the expansion is installed it stops responding. Theres no errors, no crashs or any other noticeable problems.

I got windows 7 home premium edition. My system specs are above the game requirements.

[Erik Rutins]

Hi SykoFused,

Can you please post a DxDiag for us?

Have you updated to the latest version of Windows Media Player?

Regards,

- Erik

[SykoFused]

Hello Erik, Thanks again for the help.

I have the lastest vesron of windows media player

and as requested the dxdiag report.(think I got the right thing)

[elliotg]

Hi SykoFused

Did you install both the original Distant Worlds and the Return of the Shakturi expansion while running as Administrator? I'm wondering whether the expansion install did not complete properly.

Could you also please check whether there are any entries in your Windows Event Log that relate to this problem with Distant Worlds? (Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer) If you find some entries, please post the contents of those messages here.

Thanks
Elliot

[SykoFused]

Hi Elliot,

I installed the original Distant Worlds(tried both patched and unpatched) as Administrator then installed the ROTS expansion as Admin aswell. I used the downloaded verson of Distant worlds and ROTS by the way.

I was looking though the event log and found a event that relates to the game. Hopfuly this is what you wanted.

Thank you for your time.

[SykoFused]

Any chance of a solution? or am I pretty much ****ed?

[tedmc]

I'm having the same problem. I uninstalled & reinstalled DW & the expansion with no joy. I attached my dxdiag file (I think).

[alexalexuk]

whats your machine specs?

cpu, motherboard, video card, sound card

there could be a link here and some directx weirdness...

[tedmc]

Hi alexalexuk,
That information should all be in the attachment I attached to my earlier post.

Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+ (2 CPUs), ~2.6GHz
Memory: 3070MB RAM
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Business (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.100608-0458)
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: Digital Output Device (SPDIF) (High Definition Audio Device)
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

[SykoFused]

Hi,

My system specs are:
ASUS P7H55-M pro
Intel core i5 750 @ 2.67 GHz
8 GB ram
Geforce GTS 250
Realtek High Definition Audio
Windows 7 64-bit home premium
DX 11

Thing that confuses me is Distant Worlds runs fine for hours on end but the ROTS expansion won't start no matter what I tried. I'm starting to think DX11 or the 64-bit system has trouble reading the games new exe file.

[Spacecadet]

ORIGINAL: SykoFused

Hi,

My system specs are:
ASUS P7H55-M pro
Intel core i5 750 @ 2.67 GHz
8 GB ram
Geforce GTS 250
Realtek High Definition Audio
Windows 7 64-bit home premium
DX 11

Thing that confuses me is Distant Worlds runs fine for hours on end but the ROTS expansion won't start no matter what I tried. I'm starting to think DX11 or the 64-bit system has trouble reading the games new exe file.

I'm not sure of this, but you may need to run DW in 32 Compatibility mode - right click on the .exe and set it.
Not familiar with Win 7, and yes DW original runs fine, but it's worth a try.


EDIT:

Actually you may need to run the Expansion installer in 32 bit mode, and then it may run okay.
Just a couple things to try.

[Spacecadet]

ORIGINAL: tedmc

Hi alexalexuk,
That information should all be in the attachment I attached to my earlier post.

Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+ (2 CPUs), ~2.6GHz
Memory: 3070MB RAM
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Business (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.100608-0458)
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: Digital Output Device (SPDIF) (High Definition Audio Device)
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

tedmc,

You didn't by chance build this system yourself or have someone build it for you did you?

[tedmc]

I didn't build it myself but I have upgraded parts of it over the years. Why? Does something look unusual to you about the specs?

[SykoFused]

ORIGINAL: Spacecadet

ORIGINAL: SykoFused

Hi,

My system specs are:
ASUS P7H55-M pro
Intel core i5 750 @ 2.67 GHz
8 GB ram
Geforce GTS 250
Realtek High Definition Audio
Windows 7 64-bit home premium
DX 11

Thing that confuses me is Distant Worlds runs fine for hours on end but the ROTS expansion won't start no matter what I tried. I'm starting to think DX11 or the 64-bit system has trouble reading the games new exe file.

I'm not sure of this, but you may need to run DW in 32 Compatibility mode - right click on the .exe and set it.
Not familiar with Win 7, and yes DW original runs fine, but it's worth a try.


EDIT:

Actually you may need to run the Expansion installer in 32 bit mode, and then it may run okay.
Just a couple things to try.

I gave both suggestions a try but either worked. Next thing I'm going to try is removing DX11 and put on DX9.0c but I'll be doing this Saturday.

On a side note, It's kind of ironic I managed to get Longbow 2(a old game thats tough to run on winxp) to work with win7 but yet the ROTS expansion has me completely stomped.

[Spacecadet]

ORIGINAL: tedmc

I didn't build it myself but I have upgraded parts of it over the years. Why? Does something look unusual to you about the specs?

Well, I'm not real familiar with DX logs, but when I looked at it there were a few devices that didn't have drivers.
The first thing I thought is if this is a custom built system that maybe the Chipset drivers didn't get installed.

Maybe it's supposed to be that way, I'm not sure, but it just kind of struck me as being odd.

[Spacecadet]

ORIGINAL: SykoFused

ORIGINAL: Spacecadet

ORIGINAL: SykoFused

Hi,

My system specs are:
ASUS P7H55-M pro
Intel core i5 750 @ 2.67 GHz
8 GB ram
Geforce GTS 250
Realtek High Definition Audio
Windows 7 64-bit home premium
DX 11

Thing that confuses me is Distant Worlds runs fine for hours on end but the ROTS expansion won't start no matter what I tried. I'm starting to think DX11 or the 64-bit system has trouble reading the games new exe file.

I'm not sure of this, but you may need to run DW in 32 Compatibility mode - right click on the .exe and set it.
Not familiar with Win 7, and yes DW original runs fine, but it's worth a try.


EDIT:

Actually you may need to run the Expansion installer in 32 bit mode, and then it may run okay.
Just a couple things to try.

I gave both suggestions a try but either worked. Next thing I'm going to try is removing DX11 and put on DX9.0c but I'll be doing this Saturday.

On a side note, It's kind of ironic I managed to get Longbow 2(a old game thats tough to run on winxp) to work with win7 but yet the ROTS expansion has me completely stomped.

I would think DX11 should have backwards compatibility built in, but I haven't gotten into that yet.

You might be onto something though, I believe DW is developed on .Net 2.x & 3.5, and I'm not sure if they were doing DX11 when those were in use.

Two other thoughts come to mind here.
There's a tool on the Tech forums to basically rip out .Net.
You could try uninstalling all of DW, and you might need to delete a few DW directories afterwards, and then use the tool to clean out .Net.
Do a new full install and let it do DX 9 and .Net 3.5 and see if it works then. Maybe the .Net's hosed up, it happened to me the very first time I tried to install DW way back.

The other option I don't know if I'm too keen on, as it would involve installing .Net 4.x.

I think I'd try using the tool to clean out your existing .Net and go from there.

I also installed .Net 1.1 and 1.1 SP1 just in case something was used in that. These two aren't included in the .Net 3.5 package.


EDIT:

It could be something as simple as your Anti-Virus interfering with it.
You might want to check what and how many processes you have running.

[alexalexuk]

so, you guys doubleclick the icon, and nothing happens?

[tedmc]

When I doubleclick the start 'Play Distant Worlds' icon to start distant worlds, I get a little popup that says (in the title bar - Distant worlds - not responding) & (in the body - Distant worlds Return of the Shakturi). At the same time I get a microsoft windows popup that says 'Distant worlds has stopped working'.

Also, Merry Christmas to everyone!