Schrullenhaft

Yeah, that was for CMBO (the first Battlefront game) that used DirectX 5/6 and the user in this case had a GeForce with the 30.82 driver. The Prefs file in this case set the resolution (which had to be a discrete setting - 'Desktop' wasn't available). The Prefs file for CMBS will hold the resolution selection and a couple of other Options settings in the game. Generally the issue you're experiencing shouldn't be affected by settings in the Prefs file. The display appears to be coming up (you can see the game mouse cursor), but there are no other graphic images to be seen and you simply have a black screen. I installed the Black Sea Demo 1.02 on another computer and it worked fine (so the download is good, if you got it from Battlefront and their Sharefile server). I installed it to the default directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\Battlefront\Combat Mission Black Sea Demo). The major files of importance are: CM black sea demo.exe (10,398KB in size) in the 'Data' subdirectory is the BRZ file: Black sea v102 demo.brz (1,808,977 KB in size). There's also a hotkeys.txt file and an intro.wmv file in the Data subdirectory. The game also installs files in to your user account's Documents folder (C:\Users\{your user account}\Documents\Battlefront\Combat Mission\Black Sea Demo). Within here are the two directories with the scenarios, emails and campaigns and the other with a hotkeys file. Within the root of this directory is the 'display size.txt' file and the 'Preferences.pfc' preferences file. The 'display size.txt' file potentially holds custom resolutions (CM only offers a few discrete resolutions). The file is in the format of: 0 0 0 This is the 'horizontal resolution' (space) 'vertical resolution' (space) 'vertical refresh rate' (in Hz). I can't remember off hand if this resolution is used automatically if the settings are defined or if it has to be selected within the Options settings (which you haven't seen yet). Again, 'Desktop' is typically the default and should work for most people. When you launch the game it should run the 'intro.wmv' movie which is just the Battlefront logo of an M48 firing in the dark with audio playing. You should then be dumped to the main menu screen with audio playing. Do you hear anything at all when launching the game ? Typically just seeing the mouse only suggests that the game can't read the BRZ data file to get the graphics and audio.

The issue with Intel GPUs is not necessarily the hardware (though it is far slower than many Nvidia and AMD GPUs), but the OpenGL drivers. Intel seems to drop the ball a bit on the OpenGL drivers and their support for classic (2.x) OpenGL calls. Some drivers may work, while others may experience problems. I don't know which specific version of the UHD620 drivers may be best for CM. Do you know if you can use Intel-provided drivers or do you have to use what comes from your laptop manufacturer ? Sometimes the only way to tell is to attempt an install of the Intel-provided drivers, which may end in an error about being unable to install with OEM hardware, etc. In which case you may need to check your laptop manufacturer's support site and see if they have an updated driver (many, unfortunately, do not update their drivers from initial release). If you can use the Intel-provided drivers, then these are the latest for the UHD series (which should include your 620) under Windows 10 64-bit (the Beta drivers may work, but you may want to try the standard release first - the top-most driver): https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/211968/Intel-UHD-Graphics-Family

Yes, the EXE should NOT be inside the Data directory. If you haven't modified the location of any of the files, then they typically should be in their proper places after an install. Are you trying to run the game on a laptop ? The integrated video in some laptops might have a problem with the CM games (typically some Intel integrated video and the drivers that might come from some laptop manufacturers).

A major consideration with purchasing a laptop will be what your price limit will be. Laptops tend to have a bit of a price premium compared to a similar desktop. There's also a lot of reliability and ergonomic factors that are somewhat fixed with a laptop. I'm not sure what brands are truly the best in this regard. For CM what you MIGHT be looking for may be regarded as a 'gaming laptop' or a 'desktop replacement'. This is a term that suggest that the laptop may not have a whole lot of running time running off of a battery. Features to consider when it comes to a laptop (purchasing new; used ones could probably relax some of these specifications): 1. CPU: I would suggest something that has a base clock speed over 2GHz (though some laptops may advertise their CPU speed with their 'Turbo/Boost' speed). I would suggest an Intel i5 or i7 that is 8th, 9th, 10th or 11th generation (i.e. - an i7-9750H running at 2.6GHz; a 9th generation CPU). Ryzen 5 and 7 series CPUs can also work, but I don't have a lot of experience with them running on laptops. CM is mostly a single-threaded application that benefits from a high clock-speed. Generally I would suggest 4 cores or more for the CPU and as high a clock speed as you can comfortably afford. More cores are not beneficial for CM at this point, so opting for a CPU that has a higher clock speed rather than more cores would be the most beneficial for CM. 2. Memory: CM is a 32-bit application on Windows. It can only utilize up to 4GB directly itself. I would suggest a minimum of at least 8GB of RAM, while 16GB or 32GB would be good for the variety of other tasks you may utilize the laptop for. 3. Video: A LOT of laptops will have Intel integrated video. This is a GPU that is built into the CPU and is a cost effective and power efficient way to drive a display. However for CM there can be a number of limitations with this GPU that can cause problems running CM. Therefore I suggest getting a laptop that has a 'dedicated video/GPU' (with Intel CPUs that Intel GPU will be present too and will actually run the display most of the time, with the 'dedicated video' being used for games or other graphically demanding programs), primarily I would suggest an Nvidia GeForce GPU. 4GB of video RAM should be sufficient. The lowest model I would recommend would be the GeForce 960, but most modern performance laptops should be offering the GTX 1050/1060, GTX 1650/1660, RTX 2060 and above. Laptop video chips are a little less powerful than their direct desktop versions. I would suggest an RTX 2060 if that is within your price range. 4. Storage: Most laptops should come with an SSD/NVMe solid state drive. I would suggest at least 500GB drive to fit most things comfortably on it. Larger is generally better, though some larger drives MIGHT have less performance or longevity (solid-state drives tend to have a certain lifespan for writes, though for most users this isn't too significant of an issue). 5. Ergonomic factors: Screen size, keyboard layout, mouse/trackpad. There's a variety of things that differentiate laptops and they'll be a personal choice. IPS display types for the screen offer somewhat nicer color presentation, but I'm not sure how to qualify that compared to other, standard display types. Often the brightest screen might look the best in a store. Screen refresh rate is a bigger deal for gamers that run high-framerate games, CM typically doesn't run anywhere at those framerates to probably make much of a difference with a high refresh rate display. As suggested above, definitely purchase a mouse to play the game (trackpads are just too infuriating to use with a game). 6. Reliability/Warranty: This is a hard one to quantify since each vendor has probably released flakey hardware (in the past or present). If you get a high performance laptop (like what is being suggested here), you'll want something with good cooling. Some laptops can easily overheat, especially on soft surfaces that might block some of the airflow or insulate the bottom of the laptop. A number of 'gaming/desktop replacement' laptops can be quite noisy when running with a demanding game (fans noise typically). You're tolerance for that (fan noise) may be a factor to consider. Looking at reviews for your laptop will probably be something you should do quite a bit of (Amazon, Newegg, BestBuy, etc.). However, where you purchase your laptop will affect what models are offered. So a model at Amazon might NOT be exactly the same as one that is offered at BestBuy or Costco. Sometimes the models are similar enough that the reviews might be relevant, other times the models may differ quite a bit in their specs and warranty (and possibly quality of build).

Until the game launches AND closes properly there will be no Prefs file. This is true of every installation; it is not a file that is initially present in any install. The default resolution, 'desktop', usually works for almost everyone (there are only a couple of discrete resolutions listed other than 'Desktop'). Do you have an unique resolution or a multi-monitor setup ? What actually might be happening here, somehow, is that the executable file is in a location where the data .BRZ files are not at. So it has no graphics files to load up for the screens. Typically there should be a 'Data' directory where the executable file is at and in here will be the .BRZ data files (the executable file for the game will be OUTSIDE of this directory). The only common reason I can think of that would cause a situation like this is that the executable file was possibly moved to the Desktop (rather than a shortcut to this file) and now the game executable can't find the data files.

For the 4.0 Upgrade installer (the 'all-in-one') you will typically need the 4.0 Upgrade and 3.0 Upgrade license keys to get the base game running. If your purchase of CMBN was very recent (when 4.0 was current), then only the base-game (4.0 Engine) license key is necessary. If you purchased the 3.0 + 4.0 Upgrade bundle, then only that license key is necessary. The 1.x base-game and 2.0 Upgrade license keys are unnecessary and will likely not be recognized (producing an 'invalid license key' error).

Runyan99 - not sure if you want any further info on this or you were simply venting with no further intention on pursuing this matter. To my knowledge CMFI was originally released with the 2.0 Engine. It's possible that your 'Engine 2.0' license key for Gustav Line might be a 'bundle' of the base game and the Gustav Line module, your Order history should indicate if this is the case or not. Gustav Line only required the base game at Engine 2.0 to my knowledge (the 3.0 Upgrade was NOT necessary to run the module). If you do NOT have either the 3.0 or 4.0 Upgrades, then you can purchase a bundle of both the 3.0 and 4.0 Upgrades for US$15. This purchase would have a download link to the all-in-one 4.0 installer. Each 'engine upgrade' is a purchase and is NOT automatically included with any patch. To use the 4.0 'all-in-one' installer you would need to have purchased the 4.0 Upgrade AND the 3.0 Upgrade at some point. You CANNOT install any of the patches for the 4.0 Engine if you do not have the 4.0 Upgrade installed and licensed/activated. The latest patch/version for the Engine 2.0 version of the game is 1.12. If your purchase of Gustav Line was a 'mail delivery only' product, then the license key should have been printed on a sticker attached to the disc case (typically a small, thin, clear plastic cover with a dark plastic disc tray backing). If your order was a 'Pre-order', then typically the license key should be recorded in your Store account (along with a download link) and NO license key sticker will be attached to the disc case. Were you able to run the game (without any further activations) and change the resolution from the 'Options' menu ? If so, what resolution did you select (the 'default' is usually 'desktop') and what does your display normally support. There are only a few resolutions listed in the Options menu and most specific resolutions would require manually editing a text file (which would then set your display to that particular resolution). If you installed the latest patch, then the game will NOT startup properly with what you have activated. With the latest patch the game is expecting both the 3.0 Upgrade and the 4.0 Upgrade to be activated and if they are not then the game will not run. Often you would need to use the 'Activate New Products/Modules' shortcut that would be on your desktop or within the main game directory in order to properly activate those license keys (though I don't think any of the patches would install this shortcut).

So what you did was copy your pre-Fire & Rubble installation of CMRT to another directory (to use in a PBEM game) and the original installation was upgraded with the Fire & Rubble module. Nothing else changed about the computer, including installing the 2.11 patch on the old installation ? Now when you attempt to run either the CMRT-only installation or the CMRT upgraded with Fire & Rubble you get prompted to activate the license key each time you run the game (this being the Fire & Rubble license key that you're putting in) ? Were you previously getting 'successful' activations with the resulting screen showing what has been activated in green boxes ? I'm not sure what happened here. If the game was copied to a new directory on the same Windows system, it should continue to work and NOT require any sort of activation again. One activation should also be enough and there shouldn't be further requests for activations. With an installation of CMRT with the 4.x engine, you typically have to put in both the original CMRT (engine 3.0) license key and the 4.0 Upgrade license key (assuming your copy of CMRT was purchased BEFORE the 4.0 Upgrade came out). Again, this should only be required once and you should only be prompted to activate again if there are significant hardware changes to your computer (new Windows install, new hardware such as video card, CPU, motherboard). With two installations of the game on the same computer both installs will refer to the same 'Users' directory that stores the game files (scenarios, campaigns, etc.). This will result in a number of scenarios and campaigns that will not load with the CMRT-only installation (though PBEMs should be fine). You'll need to open up a Support ticket (click on the blue '+ new ticket' button in the upper right) and provide your license keys (possibly your CMRT 3.x, 4.0 Upgrade and definitely your Fire & Rubble license keys). Activations can be added to your Fire & Rubble license key. You might need to temporarily disable your security software when you activate the game in case the activation process is being interfered with (something that is very rare to my knowledge).

If these were 'original' MG scenarios, then the 3+4 Upgrade should NOT affect that. If these are downloaded MG scenarios, then it is possible that they were created with a newer version of CM and then those WOULD be available with this upgrade (assuming the MG module is activated). When you launch CM, the initial splash screen menu should show icons along the bottom that indicate what has been activated. In the case of CMBN there is an American Sherman tank (base game), Cromwell tank (Commonwealth module), two parachutes on blue background (MG module), Flakpanzer 38 (Vehicle Pack), and a generic explosion (Battle Pack).

Make sure you select the 'Upgrade 3.0 + 4.0 Bundle': https://www.battlefront.com/cmbn-upgrades/cmbn-upgrade-3-4-bundle/ Your bundle of the Commonwealth + Market Garden modules appears to be 2.x only, so both the 3.0 and 4.0 Upgrades are necessary and the above bundle is the best price for them.

If you activated any of the games by right-clicking and selecting 'Run as administrator' from the popup menu, then you may need to do that in order to run the game. For some users the DPI Scaling causes problems. Right-click on your game executable and go to 'Properties' in the popup menu and then to the 'Compatibility' tab. In here click on the 'Change high DPI settings' button near the bottom. Typically I have both of these settings off (though I run on a standard computer display). If you have either of these checked, then possibly UNCHECK them. Otherwise you can potentially experiment with 'High DPI scaling override'. In the Nvidia Control Panel > Manage 3D Settings > Global Settings or the Program Settings (with the games added) I would set Antialiasing - FXAA to OFF and Image Sharpening set to Off (Sharpening Off, Scaling disabled). I don't know if the latter setting would cause problems, but scaling in general might. Generally I wouldn't expect the need to create any Nvidia Control Panel profile on a desktop computer. The above settings probably would NOT prevent the games from running if they were enabled.

Have you purchased the 3.0 Upgrade and/or the 4.0 Upgrade ? If you purchased the 3.0 Upgrade only, then there is a download for that (from its purchase link in your account) which is an 'all-in-one' installer. I believe it should get you to the latest patch of the 3.x series with that one download (and all modules are installed with this one download). If you have the 4.0 Upgrade, download from that purchase link and it will also be an all-in-one installer, but for the 4.x series. I believe it should be fully up-to-date with the latest patch and all modules (4.03). If you have activated a game/module on this computer before, then you should NOT need to activate it again (on this computer) if you have NOT reinstalled Windows or done significant hardware upgrades. I can't remember if the 3.x series had the 'Activate New Products/Modules' shortcut or not. This shortcut link basically launches the game and calls up the activation screen to activate a license key. If you don't have it, you can create one yourself by modifying a shortcut created from the game executable and modifying the command line. For CMBN 3.x you would need the following license keys to activate everything: 1) CMBN 2.0 Upgrade (or the base game if it was purchased when 2.0 was the current version) 2) CMBN 3.0 Upgrade 3) Commonwealth module 4) Market Garden module 5) Vehicle Pack 6) Battle Pack For CMBN 4.x you would need the following license keys to activate everything: 1) CMBN 3.0 Upgrade (or the base game key if it was purchased when 3.0 was the current version) 2) CMBN 4.0 Upgrade 3) Commonwealth module 4) Market Garden module 5) Vehicle Pack 6) Battle Pack The order of licensing the keys should not matter, though you will not be able to run the game from these downloads until you have activated the two Upgrade/base-game license keys first.

Were you able to activate FI, BN and CW ? While CW would have only one license key, the others may need more than one and you would need to use the 'Activate New Modules' shortcut. Unless the 'base game' purchases are fairly new, you'll need both the 3.0 Upgrade and 4.0 Upgrade license keys to activate the base games. It's not a common problem as much anymore, but sometimes security/anti-virus software can prevent the games from running. Make sure to list exceptions for the game executables and/or their main game directories to make sure there is no active interference from the security software. Do you have 'profiles' for each of the games in your Nvidia Control Panel's 3D Settings ? This shouldn't be necessary to run on a desktop, but it might help.

After installing the game and then launching it for the first time you will typically be presented with an activation screen. Entering the license key/activation code here should activate your game. If for some reason you don't see this, then possibly running the 'Activate Modules' shortcut MIGHT bring this activation window up. This shortcut MIGHT be on the desktop or in the Windows Start Menu folder listing for the game otherwise you will need to browse to the game's installation directory and look for it there. If neither of these methods launches the game/activation screen, then you may have an issue with something interfering with the game running. This would likely be security/anti-virus software or it might be a 'permissions' issue (game installed while logged in with one account and then attempting to run the game while logged in with a different account). In the case of security/anti-virus software you may need to either temporarily disable the security program or add an 'exception' for the game executable/directory so that the security software doesn't interfere with it. For a 'permissions' issue you may need to login with the account that originally installed the game or POSSIBLY running the game by right-clicking on the icon to launch it and selecting "Run as administrator" from the popup menu. If the game launches with 'Run as administrator', then you MIGHT have to run it that way each time (with the 'right-click', 'Run as administrator'). Once activated, you can uninstall and reinstall the software and it will remain activated. If, however, you reinstall Windows or run the game on a different computer (or install some hardware upgrades), then it would need to be activated under that new OS installation or new computer. With laptops, you MIGHT have a choice of what video chip the game is running on. If your laptop has an Intel CPU, then it MIGHT have a choice between the Intel integrated GPU and a dedicated GPU (such as Nvidia or possibly AMD). In these situations you will want the game to run on the dedicated GPU (Nvidia or AMD) rather than the Intel, which is a likely default since the game may not be detected as needing a more powerful 3D GPU. Running on the Intel may result in problems ranging from the game appearing not to run to minor graphical corruption (hard to read text) and low performance. Typically creating a profile in the dedicated video chip's Control Panel, will often set it to run on the dedicated GPU (but possibly not always... some extensive power-saving settings might prevent this).

I THINK it is MacOS 10.7 (Lion) that is the oldest MacOS that can support CM (including the 4.0 Engine). I think MacOS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) MIGHT have been a possibility, but there may have been some issues (that I can't recall). The CM games on Mac are 64-bit executables to my knowledge. If your friend is running a Mac or a Mac OS that is only 32-bit, then CM will NOT work.

I suspect all of the CM games may have this problem. In the past there were some translations of the original CMSF game, but those were European languages with single byte characters. I'm not aware of any attempt to get the CM games to run with multi-byte keyboards. IF it is to happen at some point in the future, I would guess that it would end up being part of an engine upgrade. The 2D screens utilize Qt, which could probably be fairly quickly modified for support. But the main 3D portion of the game is a more proprietary environment when it comes to input and character support (at least probably some older APIs that may not have a lot of current development) and I don't know what it would take to get multi-byte input support within that. So for now I would guess that the English keyboard selection within Windows will probably be the only available workaround. Mentioning this on Steam may take a little while since it is probably Matrix/Slitherine that is responsible for the information content that appears there.

GoodSoldierSchweik - You're logging into the Battlefront Store account, correct (https://www.battlefront.com , clicking on 'Login' button in upper right) ? You need to use the email account that you originally created the Store account with as the 'Username'. If the email account is unrecognized, it's probable that you will not get a password reset email. If you no longer have access to that email address, then you'll need to open a Support ticket (https://battlefront.mojohelpdesk.com/ , clicking the blue '+new ticket' button in the upper right). The crashing that you're experiencing is with CMFB or CMSF2 ? Do you know if anything is different about your game installation (recently applied a patch) or your computer/OS (new drivers, etc.) ?

So using the Turn 40 that you provided me and performing the number of moves/orders I did, do you still frequently get invalid/corrupt files ? It's possible I've only been able to manipulate so much of the game that I'm not causing it to output a corrupt file.

I'm unable to duplicate the problem with your Turn 40. Every turn I generate is fine (approx. 50MB file). I've tried no movement orders, a few movement orders, a few more movement orders and artillery/mortar fire adjustments and CAS requests. The only problem I had was when the game attempted to overwrite the same filename (I hadn't moved a file out of the 'outgoing' folder). The procedure I used was: 1) Load game, select 'Saved Games' and then the PBEM file. 2) Watched one turn of the playback (usually not moving the camera and not fast-forwarding through anything). 3) Issued orders of various types (I couldn't really call new fire missions since almost no one had any line of sight). 4) Saved file and exited game. Moved file from 'outgoing' to 'incoming' game folder. 5) Reloaded game and selected new PBEM file and 'cancelled' out once I reached your opponents password login. Exiting the game after this. I had no problems with any saves (over 20). On average it took around 50 seconds for a file save. This was with a clean/un-modded install of CMBS 2.14 with the BattlePack. I'm running Windows 10 64-bit version 20H2. The system has an Intel i7-7700k, 32GB RAM and a GeForce RTX 2070 Super running the 456.71 driver (Sept 2020). The only things loaded were the Windows File Manager, a Firefox browser (with few extensions), Avast free edition (no exceptions for CM, to my recollection), Steam client, Malwarebytes (free edition), a Samsung SSD utility, Dropbox, MS One Drive (don't really use it - and files are NOT going to it), and a Garmin client (GPS). Since the UAV was 'busy', I was unable to do anything with it. I wonder if that could have anything to do with it (if the problem is within CM). Beyond CM itself I can only think of looking for some software that could somehow be interfering with drive writes (typically this would be security/anti-virus software) or somehow inordinately occupying the CPU while the game is trying to write the file.

We'll want the last file that was good and the next turn that was bad and any passwords needed to open either. We're hoping that the first file will generate a bad one consistently (or mostly so). The other details requested will be helpful, though unlikely to be a factor in the problem. About how many attempts does it take to generate a good file ? Has the opponent confirmed that they are good (other than their size) ? Is this now happening consistently at this point in the game (i.e. - that you will generate bad files on every PBEM exchange) ? I assume that this was a QB, is that correct ? If so, were you using one of the QB maps that came with the game or a custom one ?

So to recap; you were able to generate one or more turns successfully, by going back to the last valid PBEM file (50MB or so in size), but you have now experienced the same problem with the 1MB PBEM files, correct ? Though it may not resolve anything, try again (with the ORIGINAL last good 50MB file your opponent generated). However this time both you and your opponent should issue NO NEW ORDERS when it is your turn to do so. See if the files maintain their size or again drop back down to the 1MB invalid files. If this has worked (the files are now back to the proper size), then issue the new orders, but keep track of EXACTLY what new orders you issue and to what units. Both you and your opponent will need to do this. If the problem returns then we can submit a bug report which would have the following: 1) Specs of each computer (OS/Windows version, CPU, memory, video card, video driver version). 2) The PBEM files, to include the first batch with the last good file and then the next file that was bad and then the second batch with its last good and first bad file. 3) A list (from each opponent) of the orders they issued right before the files went bad. 4) Both passwords for the PBEM game. This is a bit tedious, but it may help find whatever may be the bug. The more we can document to consistently reproduce the bug, the greater likelihood that the problem can actually be addressed. I'll try to reproduce (with your files) what you've experienced with a clean (un-modded) install of the latest version of CMBS (what you have) and then report it to the bug-tracking system if I reproduce the problem. When it will get looked at I wouldn't know. Right now Charles is quite busy with the pending releases and other programming chores and I don't know his workflow of when he looks at the bug reports to resolve them.

I've heard of issues like this before, but I don't know what causes it specifically. It's best to go back to the player that first generated a 1MB file and have them redo their turn (that resulted in a 1MB PBEM file) and see if they generate an appropriate sized file. I assume that even if you do nothing, the files should still be fairly large. Make sure that the directory that the PBEM files get written into is 'whitelisted/excepted' within whatever security/anti-virus software you use, just in case it has truncated/messed up the file as it was being written. Such interference, with this type of result, should be extremely rare, but it would be worth doing just in case.

The 'preferences.pfc' file is just the Preferences file that holds your settings such as those in the 'Options' menu and the last set of selections in a Quick Battle. To my knowledge the file will be created on a normal exit from the game. So run the game, checking the settings you want in the 'Options' menu and then exit the game. The file should get written. I don't think that the absence of this file would be causing your crashing. On my main computer I run a GeForce 2070 Super with NOT the latest drivers, so that likely isn't the problem. Some users have run into issues with Windows Defender (though most haven't), but I believe it will usually result in the game being unable to run AT ALL (being blocked from running). If you have another anti-virus/security program installed it will typically deactivate Windows Defender from running its active protection functionality (which is typically what interferes with programs). Are there other games you've run on this computer for an hour or more that do NOT crash ? What I'm getting at is if there are any stability issues with your computer that CMSF2 may be bringing out. Usually CM will stress the CPU more than anything else. But with crashing related to hardware I would assume that the crash would bring down the whole computer/OS and not just the game alone. Do you know what other programs may be running in the background ? Outside of some Nahimic sound control software I'm not particularly aware of any incompatible programs that interfere with CM.

Are you looking at your 'order' in an email or are you looking at your Account online ? Both should include a link to the 'Sharefile' (hosting service) download of the game. The directions for finding the file are mentioned in my previous post in this thread.

What file "downloaded" ? I'm not specifically aware of any update as of yet via Steam of CMSF2. Are there more details about the file that failed to "validate" via Steam ? Is CMSF2 currently crashing after the reinstall (the '1-2 hour crashing to desktop') ? Were you able to run it for more than 2 hours in the past ? Do you know if you updated some drivers or something that may have changed about your computer since it wasn't crashing running CMSF2 ? What anti-virus software do you run ? Sometimes 'disabling' it doesn't truly work (a number of anti-virus/security programs continue to do something when they are 'disabled'). Have you added any exceptions within the anti-virus software for the CMSF2 game directory and/or game executables ? Usually, though not always, you get a notification from your anti-virus software when it has shutdown a process that it thinks is a security threat. However when security/anti-virus software is a culprit in a game not running it usually results in the game not running at all or crashing immediately after launch. Do you get a specific crash message when the game 'crashes to the desktop' or does it simply disappear with no message ? What videocard and drivers do you have installed ? I'm not specifically aware of any drivers that are incompatible, other than Intel integrated video drivers having occasional problems running the games (these will most often be encountered on laptops).