1.7.0.17 Beta-OK, 1.7.0.20 Beta-No Go

[ravincravin]

Installing the new beta patch (1,7,0,20 Beta) on an existing copy of DW (and also a new install of Legions) will not run on my computer. Tried to run it using the menu shortcut and also the quick start shortcut to no avail. Click on it and don't even get a loader screen. Nothing happens at all. Zip, Zilch, NaDa!

As mentioned in the subject line of this thread, I had no problem with the 1,7,0,17 beta patch. Unfortunately I deleted my copy of that patch and need a new copy of it. I'm now running the 1,7,0,16 patch which is dismal.

Help Codeforce.

f/y/i Dell Dimension 4600, 32 bit, 4 gigs of RAM. Intel pentium 4 (3ghz) with hypertreading, Nvidia GeForce 7600GT with 256k.

[jesuswhywhy]

run as admin?

[ravincravin]

Yes I am administrator, running under Windows XP.

[JosEPhII]

You may have hit your limit on the 256k vid card.
Really need a better one with at least 1GB of vid ram.

Pretty low end computer you have there, nowadays. Sorry.

JosEPh

[ravincravin]

Yeah, this rig is 12 years old. Saving my pennies for a new one. Still not a bad choice considering I'm still able to run most software today. Unfortunately the Vid slot is for an AGP card which limits me to 512k max video RAM.

I'm still waiting on Code Force for an answer to the problem. My understanding is that DW is more RAM processor dependent as opposed to RAM video dependent. I would also think they would inform us if there was a rig requirement change for the patch to run.

[Sithuk]

I have the same issue. I've already reported in the patch announcement thread.

The game no longer loads after patching to the Beta v17 from the latest official v16. I double click on DistantWorlds.exe and nothing happens after patching. I have tried checking the "run as administrator" to no effect. The Beta v20 patch does not work either.

Reverting to v16 and everything loads fine.

I have a higher end system. Hardware constraints are unlikely to be an issue here. I have never experienced a similiar issue before.

[ravincravin]

Very interesting that you are experiencing the same problem with the 1.7.0.17 patch which I am experiencing with the 1.7.0.20 Patch. I just reinstalled the 1.7.0.17 Patch I received from Ehsumerell1 and it runs fine. Your 1.7.0.16 patch runs fine and 1.7.0.17 doesn't. YIKES!!!

What's the deal Code Force?

[Sithuk]

Ravin: Beta v17 doesn't work. Beta v20 doesn't work. Neither work. I've edited my previous post to make it clearer.

[ehsumrell1]

ORIGINAL: ravincravin

Very interesting that you are experiencing the same problem with the 1.7.0.17 patch which I am experiencing with the 1.7.0.20 Patch. I just reinstalled the 1.7.0.17 Patch I received from Ehsumerell1 and it runs fine. Your 1.7.0.16 patch runs fine and 1.7.0.17 doesn't. YIKES!!!

What's the deal Code Force?

Ravincravin, the 1.7.0.17 beta you have was before the German language fix was added (which is
in the 'Public' Beta 1.7.0.17 I believe) I will ask Erik if he can verify this. I'm suspecting that
the problem might be in one of three areas that the patch affected. Policy file additions, ship weapon
design loadouts for the AI, or the German crash fix.

[Erik Rutins]

Hi guys,

Have you tried a full reinstall? There aren't that many changes between 17 and 20 or 16 and 17 that I would imagine preventing the game working at all, so I'd suspect an installation issue first.

Also, if you install the latest public beta and it does not launch, do you see any crash log? If so, please post the contents of the crash log here.

You can find it in:
(C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Code Force Limited\Distant Worlds\1.7.0.20\CrashDump.txt)

Regards,

- Erik

[ravincravin]

Hi Erik,

Thanks for your response.

As stated in the first post in this thread, I tried the patch on a fresh reinstall. I also downloaded the patch a 2nd time thinking a got a bad download. That did not work either.

After reading this post. I tried installing the patch again to check to see if I get a crash log after running. No crash log was generated. In fact, when running it, it didn't get far enough during execution to set up a new 1.7.0.20 file folder.

After this last try, I reinstalled the 1.7.0.17 patch over the files subject to this last try and everything is working properly.

So basically I'm still at 1.7.0.17-OK, 1.7.0.20-NO GO.

[ravincravin]

Just tried a stupid experiment. I updated to the 1.7.0.20 Beta but retained the distantworlds.exe file from the 1.7.0.17 beta and used that to start the game. Surprisingly the game opened and run normally.

What does this prove besides that I am an idiot? All other files updated by the 1.7.0.20 patch are fine and my problem is localized in the "distantworlds.exe" file.

I have owned DW since it was initially released and this is the first time I have had any problems installing a beta patch. I have been active in testing all of the beta patches for DW, RotS and Legends so I have installed over 20+ patches.

[Sithuk]

Is the patch effectively applied if you retain a previous distantworlds.exe?

[ravincravin]

It says 1.7.0.17 on the screen so any updates addressed in the distantworlds.exe file will not be included. I guess if any data files that were updated with the patch would be included. Code Force could answer your question more effectively.

[ravincravin]

I was reviewing the DW updates and noticed that the patch v1.7.0.19 – January 28th, 2013,
Fixes and Improvements, Fixed threading-related issues that would happen while playing a very big game on a very fast machine.

This could be the cause of the trouble I'm having because, in the past, issues have arisen when patches incorrectly addressed the instructions for my particular chip (Not with DW but with HoI3 For the Motherland). I have an Intel Pentium 4 Northwood model. This is a type MMX, SSE(1,2) meaning 1 core with 2 threads. My understanding is that this is a particularly rare chip and unless your instructions don't allow for 1 core than there will be a problem on my machine.

OK Eliot, will you please look into this for me.

Thanks,

Rick

[Sithuk]

I have a quad core, so that theory shouldn't hold true for me.

[ravincravin]

Unless Eliot tinkered with the hyper threading on the 1.7.0.17 patch, no it wouldn't. I guess it wouldn't hurt for Eliot to check it out for all configurations though.

[Erik Rutins]

We're working on figuring this out - as soon as we have a moment between Shadows beta builds we will see if we can come up with a test build to let us know what's going on. Just to confirm, if you just install the earlier update right now, it all works again?

Regards,

- Erik

[Erik Rutins]

Ravincravin,

We need a full DxDiag from you if possible. Could you either post one here or e-mail it to me at erikr@matrixgames.com please?

Regards,

- Erik

[ravincravin]

Hi Erik,

I appreciate your and Eliot's attention to this matter. I'm in no rush, I know you guys are busy with Shadows.

To answer your question, I can switch freely between the two patches with my current installation. 17 works, 20 doesn't. I have downloaded 20 twice. I have tried it on a fresh installation.

My Dx report is attached to this post.

Thanks guys!