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Unable to run game.

Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2025 10:58 pm
by DeckelT
I down loaded and install my update package but when I try to run the game I get bug report. The bug report won't send because it wants me to create a profile on Outlook which I already have. (See attachment) When I close the bug report the opening screen appears minus the new game graphic. (See attached screen shot) All but the What's New and Preference buttons produce further bug report messages and the game does not run.

I do not see the installation for FPC:Cold War on my E: drive. When I look for the installation I find E:Program Files (x86)/Matrix Games/Flash Point Campaigns Southern Storm but no Cold War directory. I have tried looking for the Cold War directory but can't find it.

Ted
FCBugReport.txt
(1.44 KiB) Downloaded 8 times
openin screen.png
openin screen.png (81.63 KiB) Viewed 311 times

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2025 11:20 pm
by DeckelT
I tried to reinstall the game but the installer forced me to uninstall the original installation. When I did that the installation required a serial number but I don't have one. I tried the Souther Storm serial number that I used the first time and I was told that was not valid. There is no entry for Cold War on my list of games on My Page so I I can't find a serial number to reinstall with.

Frustrated,

Ted

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2025 12:09 am
by budd
When i purchased my serial also was in an email sent to me. The game doesn't seem to be auto registering on purchase as usual if your logged in when purchasing. I manually registered my game to get my Steam key.

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2025 12:23 am
by DeckelT
Thanks for the input. I found the serial in an email which I didn't originally look for because I expected it to auto register like usual. I'll have to try manually registering and see if I can get my steam key and see if that works.

I did finally get it uninstalled and tried installing it in E:Program Files (x86)\Matrix Games\Flashpoint Campaigns Cold War but that didn't work either. I still get bug reports and and no game to play

Ted

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2025 1:40 pm
by DeckelT
This morning I registered my game and got it posted to My Page where I could access my Steam key. After activating Cold War on Steam and installing it, I was able to access the game and play it. So everything works if use Steam but my direct download installation doesn't work as described above. Any ideas about how to fix this?

Ted

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2025 1:57 pm
by MaximKI
Thanks for the report. Could you please let us know, what exact installer file you ran to install Cold War? Where did you download it from? Did you fully unzip the folder before running the installer? Have you checked if there's any interference from anti-virus?

Glad to hear that it works on Steam!

Inputting your Southern Storm serial key will not work for the Cold War installer.

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2025 5:49 pm
by DeckelT
I originally downloaded from the Matrix website. Since I received the email with my serial number key, I have downloaded from the link in the email. I originally did not unpack the zip and double clicked on that to start the install. I have, since reading your reply, extracted from the zip and done an install. That didn't work either and generated the attached bug report with the incomplete opening screen. I then repeated the proccess with my anti-virus turned off but still got the same bug report and incomplete opening screen that lacked the Cold War graphic.

Ted
new FCBugReport.txt
(1.56 KiB) Downloaded 7 times
openin screen.png
openin screen.png (81.63 KiB) Viewed 237 times

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2025 6:01 pm
by MaximKI
Thanks for the additional info. This is certainly an odd one - haven't seen other reports like this.

Just to confirm that there isn't something strange with the installer - do you have the game registered on the Matrix account? If so, do you mind going to your My Page section on the Matrix website and finding the entry for Cold War? Go to File Downloads, download the 'FlashpointColdWar-SetupRelease-v3.0.0.10187.zip' from there. Unzip and run the installer. Let us know if anything changes.

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2025 7:33 pm
by CapnDarwin
Do you write permissions to the Program Files (x86) folder? The error is that the game cannot write information to its INI file at launch. Try installing in another folder, like E:\Matrix Games.

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2025 10:21 pm
by DeckelT
I will follow through with doing the download from MY Page. However, I originally downloaded it to the default location provided by the installer (E:Program Files\Matrix) and changed the drive from C: to E: But that was the didn't work. It was the first time I saw the problem, so I changed it to E:Program Files(x86)\Matrix\Flashpoint Campaigns: Cold War because that was where the E:Progam File (x86)\Souther Storm is and the same problem keeps occuring.

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2025 11:07 pm
by DeckelT
I went to My Page and File Downloads, turned off fire wall, downloaded the zip, extracted the files, and ran the installer. The installer wanted to put every thing in C:Program Files\matrix games\Flaspoint Campaigns Cold War. I changed the drive to E: everything on my hard drive and ran the program. I still get the bug reports and the program closes after the fouth bug report. I have attached all four bug reports to be most accurate.
1st FCBugReport.txt
(1.52 KiB) Downloaded 3 times
2nd FCBugReport.txt
(1.95 KiB) Downloaded 4 times
3rd FCBugReport.txt
(2.18 KiB) Downloaded 5 times
4th FCBugReport.txt
(1.82 KiB) Downloaded 4 times

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2025 12:58 am
by CapnDarwin
What kind of anti-virus or malware software are you running?

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2025 1:58 am
by DeckelT
I use Bitdefender for my ani-virus and Malwarebytes for malware. I turned the Bitdefender firewall off for down loading the installation zip file but have done nothing with the Malwarebytes.

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2025 3:40 am
by DeckelT
Sorry, I just noticed Captain Darwin's note about not being able to open flashpoint.ini. I looked at the install files in the E:Program Files\Matrix Games\Flashpoint Campaigns Cold War folder and there is no flashpoint.ini file listed in that folder.

As to your question about writing permissions to E:Progam Files (x86), the first thing I did when the installation didn't work in E:Program Files was uninstall and do an installation in Program Files (x86) because almost all of the programs/apps I have installed are in that folder rather than E:Program Files. Writing Cold War in that folder seemed odd to me.

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2025 4:44 am
by ChesterNimitz
I am relieved to see that I am not the only one who can't get it to play. I bought the upgrade bundle this Fri morning at Matrix and after installing it, kept getting a bug report which I submitted as per the directions. Then it stopped loading altogether before I could play a game.

It's 8:30 PM now on Friday and I have wasted 3 hours trying to reinstall it. The problem is that it keeps telling me that I already have FC:CW installed and must uninstall it first.

I keep getting this message

Image

The game is not installed since I uninstalled it hours ago. Moreover, I have done everything suggested here, including using RevoUninstaller, to remove any remaining molecules of the game from my H drive.

https://search.brave.com/search?q=I+am+ ... cabeee2bd6

I hope there's a solution to this.

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2025 10:51 am
by ChesterNimitz
Problem solved.

8-)

I registered my game manually.

Then I grabbed the Steam Key to have it install the game.

Just go to your My Page and click on manual registration using the serial number emailed to you at purchase.

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2025 12:11 pm
by DeckelT
Thanks for trying to help. I did register manually and get my steam key. I see that message every time a do a re-installation and have to uninstall what I just downloaded. My problem seems at this point to be a missing flashpoint.ini file. The game works fine if run it using Steam but if crashes from the start if I try to run the direct installation on my computer.

Thanks again,

Ted

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2025 12:29 pm
by ChesterNimitz
Why not just have steam install and maintain it for you then?


I only bought it here thinking the developers would trouser more money if Steam didn't take a cut.

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2025 3:13 pm
by DeckelT
True, and I will be using the Steam version but I'd like to be able to use the version on my computer. No real hard reason, just what I've done in the past not having to rely one Steam.

Re: Unable to run game.

Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2025 3:42 pm
by CapnDarwin
To clarify, the Flashpoint.INI file is generated when you first start the game, and the game needs to be able to write to the drive. In your case, the write operation is failing for some reason (permissions, AV settings, disk error, etc.)