Direct Draw Message LoadImage() failure and CTD

[Zovs]

I just purchased this on sale.

When I click on Play Game and then on Scenario and then on the Bootcamp 1 scenario and then click Play Scenario I get this:

Direct Draw Message

LoadImage() failure

OK

And when I click OK the game exits to the desktop.

So that I can't even play this game.

I am running x64 Windows 10.

What is the problem and what do I need to do to run this game?

[Jason Petho]

Did you update the installation?

[Zovs]

Yes, I did to a 2018 version.

[Zovs]

Hopefully I can get some help making this game work. I just purchased it today and was excited to see all the content it has, and the price since its on sale, but it does not work.

I have Steel Panthers working, War in the East/West, The Operational Art of War, Tigers on the Hunt and others installed and working fine.

So not sure what the deal is.

[Jason Petho]

Two things to try:

1. Installing the game in a different location than default. Don't forget to update it to 2.01.

2. Turning off your AntiVirus. Microsoft Defender AV sometimes causes a delay, so excluded the game folder at Defender might fix that problem.

[berto]

You might have a system with insufficient graphic power (GPU RAM, for instance) to run the game in 3D.

If rebooting the system doesn't fix the issue, rather than using the default frontend launcher, try using the following special-purpose frontend launcher instead.



Yes, you will not be able to run the game in 3D, but you will be able to run it in 2D. (I had a test system with this issue. Using Middle East_no3D.exe "fixed" (bypassed) the issue.)

If that work-around doesn't "fix" your issue, you might have a corrupted installation. Try Windows Add/Remove a Program, then do the reinstall.

If that is not the issue, we can go into much deeper debugging. In rare cases, there might be something very strange about how your Windows setup deals with the game files.

Or, it could be that the game just doesn't work on your system. That happens, but quite rarely. In that case, all we can suggest is that you ask for a refund.

But please do try the other work-arounds and suggestions first.

Good luck.

[Zovs]

Some notes.

I have the game installed in:

C:\Matrix Games\Campaign Series Middle East

I went into this directory and tried to run the Middle East.exe directly and I get this Direct Draw error message:

Failure to create bitmap surface

I tried what berto suggested (running Middle East No 3D.exe) and the game actually works.

So it seems that I can't run the 3D portion on my system. No worries there, I'll see if I can't update the graphics in the future, but for now I am can run the game in 2D and that is fine.

Thanks for the help!

[berto]