Matrix Games Forums

I've been playing SPWAW for years and suddenly it won't start.......the screen goes black when I click the exe and then nothing...I have to reboot the computer.....anyone experience anything like this....?

thanks

pops wrote:the screen goes black when I click the exe and then nothing

Do you mean you start the game directly from the mech.exe file, already?
Cause this is the most common and effective workaround for cases like yours (skipping the intro movie, I mean).

...yes even starting the Mech.exe directly......game just hangs at black screen....

Did you delete the steel.prf file ? and the start from mech.exe ?

Have you installed a new video/soundcard driver or a newer version of DirectX recently? The had a similar problem about 3 years ago when I installed the newest DirectX version, only to discover my video card driver didn't support it. I had to use a program called 'DirectX Blaster' (recommended by someone on this forum) to remove DirectX and then installed an older version.

...tried deleting pref file and reinstalling video drivers....no joy so far.....

Let's approach this logically. It was working, right?

Now its not.

So what is different now from what was before the game began crashing?

1. Have you added any new programs?
2. Have you added any new scenarios? (A bad scenario can cause a game crash in a heartbeat...even a bad cmt file)
3. Does the game start and then crash or does it go black when you click on the start icon?

Answer those for me and we'll go from there?

Thanks for your kind consideration...

...my screen goes black when I hit the mech.exe..

..I've just reinstalled 7.1 with no luck as well as reinstalling my video drivers and directx (same versions as before....the game worked with these before, I just thought I'd try...)

...the only thing new I've installed prior to my problems was Microsoft .net framework which leaves no option to uninstall that I can see, but to be honest I can't recall whether or not I had the game successfully started since installing .net or not.....

?

Hi, Black screen usally means video problem. Are you closing all other programs first? Black screen is most often a video conflict with another program. (The last one installed?)

Hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete together then end task for everything except explorer. (ctrl-alt-delete as many times as needed.)

Now open folder and click mech.exe


If that does not work click settings/control panel/display/settings/Advanced/performance (whew) now adjust the bar to the left. And reboot computer and retry mech.exe

I would suggest double-clicking the mech.exe command from the file manager. Do you know how to do that?

It may be that you have a bad start-up file in the icon.

Give that a try and see if it works...Wild Bill

Mogami wrote:Hi, Black screen usally means video problem. Are you closing all other programs first? Black screen is most often a video conflict with another program. (The last one installed?)

Hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete together then end task for everything except explorer. (ctrl-alt-delete as many times as needed.)

Now open folder and click mech.exe


If that does not work click settings/control panel/display/settings/Advanced/performance (whew) now adjust the bar to the left. And reboot computer and retry mech.exe

Better leave systray running too.

Yes please what is this file manager you mention?

I've tried shutting off all other programs and lowering my video settings all the way down...trying each step along the way....no luck so far.............?..........

Another thing you might try is downloading and running Ad-Aware. You may have some sneaky sh!t running in the backround that's preventing the game from loading. It certainly can't hurt.

If you haven't checked yet, run DxDiag to see if DirectX and your video card are getting along. You should find it in the /program files/Directx/setup folder.

I'll pass along any other ideas that 'the vioces' tell me. :p

I had the same peculiararity with SPWW2 recently. It played the sound of the intro but no picture.

Step one: Does any programs work normally anymore? If not, ignore the following:

In the case I decribed earlier, this occured after I had started running that Turbo program with SPWW2, but I did find a workaround. This might be worth the effort. RMB (right mouse button) the SPWAW shortcut and select 'properties'. Then select the tab called 'screen' and try the opposite 'usage' of what is there. Restart from the shortcut and see if that does it (In SPWW2 'normally' you'd select 'full-screen', but after Turbo I had to start selecting 'window' instead).

There's more knowledgeable people that could help you with more video settings and such, but that one takes no time and worked for me.

Mogami wrote:Hi, Black screen usally means video problem. Are you closing all other programs first? Black screen is most often a video conflict with another program. (The last one installed?)

Hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete together then end task for everything except explorer. (ctrl-alt-delete as many times as needed.)

Now open folder and click mech.exe


If that does not work click settings/control panel/display/settings/Advanced/performance (whew) now adjust the bar to the left. And reboot computer and retry mech.exe

BTW, Mogami, you don't have to hit ctrl-alt-del for every program you wish to bring down. You can use ctrl-LMB to select as many of them as you want, and then end them all at once. I've only tried this once on a W2000 at work, but it did bring them all down. Did get some kind of error, but there's been no ill effects from that as far as I could tell. It's a super-nifty way, should you find yourself using a computer that has no popup killer, like at work maybe, and you want to knock out a porn-popup blitz that might have hit you out of the blue.

Describe to me what is in your megacam directory. What folders or directories do you find inside the Megacam folder?

WB

...not having any extra money for Megacamps....my folder contains:
\Mainsplash.lbm
\Save\Holder.txt

Itried deleting the .lbm file but this changed nothing so I put it back in......

Could tell me what resolution the game runs in and what is the intro movie and what res it runs in.....maybe if I make sure my desktop is set to the same it will work....though I have tried changing my desktop res to no avail already.....?///

thanks

From what you are saying here, you don't have the game in the Megacam folder!

There should be a folder that says "The Desert Fox-41." there should also be a file, a cfg file, that says "The Desert Fox-41.cfg."

You don't have either one of these in your Megacam folder?

WB

.....I don't have any mega campaigns unfortunately ($) so that can't be the problem ....

....I am working on a brand new install of 7.1 I downloaded from here because my last install started the problem I have now - I was hoping a new install would be a fix....

Pops from your last transmission it sounds like you only downloaded the 7.1 update (patch) not the entire 7.1 ????????