Schrullenhaft

I'm not sure what the 'true solution' is to this problem. I suggest canceling the install ('killing it' within Task Manager) and then downloading the latest PhysX installer and install that. I assume that the game itself has been installed by the time you get to the PhysX install, so terminating the install at that point shouldn't corrupt the game install to my knowledge.

You may want to check your anti-virus/security software. It may have quarantined the executable files for the modules ('CMSF Marines Module.exe', 'CMSF British Module.exe' and 'CMSF NATO Module.exe'). If that is the case, then you will want to 'restore' them to their original location (typically 'Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force\Modules') and also put an 'exception' in for them within the security software so that they do not get quarantined again. This can happen when new 'signature' files are updated or there has been an update to the security software. If that isn't the solution, let us know and other avenues will have to be explored.

Upgrading the OS can frequently cause issues with the copy-protection system (resulting in a mismatch in the 'fingerprint' that is created at the time of activation). I would guess that this would happen most of the time rather than rarely with an OS upgrade. The Helpdesk can provide you with either the gsClean utility for the game or you can possibly perform a 'manual delete' of the license activation files. However this will delete the activations for ALL of you Battlefront games on the Mac. Once this is done you can then reactivate the game/modules (using up another activation).

More than likely down-grading to the 14.4 Catalysts is a 'permanent' solution to the reddish coloring of shadows with the 14.9 Catalysts. It appears that AMD has introduced some sort of bug with their OpenGL drivers, while their DirectX drivers may be fine in most respects. If we're lucky, AMD will recognize this bug at some point and fix it. However the last time we saw a significant bug in AMD's OpenGL drivers it took them about 8 months or so to fix it. On top of that AMD is no longer releasing driver updates as frequently has they have in the past (which were supposed to be almost once a month - in the past). Battlefront CANNOT program around all bugs in drivers. On occasion this is possible, especially if it is a definitive change in the way that the driver and future drivers will render 3D objects/textures. This can happen when AMD or Nvidia decide that they are no longer going to support a particular 'API call'. However such changes are not easy to implement and can cause a 'cascade' of additional work and programming to accommodate the new programming routines. If, on the other hand, the issue is an unintended bug, then patches to address this are NOT an effective use of programming time, especially if there is a working driver available. Sometimes a working driver is NOT available (usually to newer video cards) and this is taken into consideration, but usually it is an issue that the video developer needs to address rather than Battlefront. Remember CMx2 games utilize the OpenGL API, which is not used by many other games (the majority of which tend to use DirectX as the API). So there is a possibility that a driver may work very well with other DirectX games, but you may not have any other OpenGL games to compare the issue with.

Installing the Marines module will down-grade your installation to version 1.10/1.11. You would then need to reinstall the patches to bring it back up to version 1.32. The same situation exists with NATO, where you will be down-graded to version 1.30 after installing NATO. Here's an article about installing modules and the need to repatch and here's an article about the reinstallation of CMSF and modules, which should tell you the necessary patches to install.

I believe downgrading to the 14.4 Catalysts resolves the issue. I don't know what is going on with the 14.9 Catalysts, but several users have experienced this problem with the 14.9's.

Old purchases had a limited download time of 1 year or 10 download 'attempts'. This was a limitation of the downloading service. Battlefront has now moved to a different service and there is no longer a limit to the number of download attempts or the download access expiring. CMSF on the PC uses eLicense. This allows for two simultaneous activations of the game. To activate another installation you need to unlicense one of the previously activated installs (or both, if they are no longer being used). You also want to unlicense the game/modules BEFORE you make significant changes to the computer such as hardware updates or certain operating system changes (upgrades, etc.). For eLicense the 'Order Number' IS actually the license key, which is often a 32 or 15/16 character string (not counting the dashes, which DO have to be typed in). If you are getting an 'error 501', that suggests you may either be using the wrong license key or there is a typo in what you are typing in. Also when it comes to bundles, you have to make sure everything is installed BEFORE using the license key to activate (assuming there are different installers and not just a single all-in-one installer). So a CMSF+ Marines bundle would need to have the Marines module installed BEFORE attempting to activate. With eLicense you can possibly run into issues involving DEP (Data Execution Prevention) or your security software. For DEP the following article should help: When I launch the game, nothing at all happens! (or I get a 0xc0000005 error) For security software issues, you may need to an an 'exception' for both the game executable and the eLicense service ('Runservice.exe'). How you do this will vary depending on what security software you're running. I'm not sure why the Helpdesk has not responded to your requests. They're usually pretty good about responding to help requests. I suggest selecting 'License Activation' for the 'Department' setting in your request form. Make sure to fill out the entire form, including the bottom part to 'prove you're a human' filling out the form. With downloads the license key should be in your account

If you had the modules, then purchasing the 1.21 patch was unnecessary. Once you install one of the modules, you can now use any of the Battlefront patches (including 1.21). As others mentioned, you can find your license keys in your Battlefront Store account IF you purchased a download ('download only' or 'download + mail delivery'). Purchases that were 'mail delivery only' will have the license key printed on a sticker that was attached to either the manual (if there was one) or the original disc case. Here are the steps for reinstalling CMSF. If you don't use this order then you may be missing textures or modules may disappear, etc.

I'm not absolutely sure, but I believe you are probably missing a patch to the game. I think it is the 1.10 patch that needs to be installed (which has some ground textures that are missing in your install). The problem is that you will need to reinstall all of the appropriate patches/modules after installing the 1.10 patch. CMSF reinstallation instructions

JoMc67 is correct as far as I'm aware. The video card companies (along with Microsoft) dropped support for fog-tables in Windows Vista and later in DirectX. Under Windows XP fog-tables appear to still be supported (even with newer drivers), but the video drivers for Window Vista and later (7, 8, etc.) no longer support them.

It looks like you have tried the necessary steps ('Run as admin, Nvidia program profile, XP compatibility mode, etc.). You can see nothing intelligible in the "flashing black screens", is that correct ? If you can see something legible, you may want to hit the 'Enter' key to select it and see if that helps (though the menu screen and the game will appear in a similar display state as your resolution selection screen appeared in). The "failed to initialize Direct3D" error is normal if no resolution is selected during the resolution selection process (since it can't 'loop' back). Typically the largest resolution that the CMx1 games support is 1600 x 1200, though it does actually support a much higher resolution than that from what I've heard (2304 x ?). For most users the 1600 x 1200 will be the max. None of the, now common, widescreen resolutions are supported. So everything you will be offered is typically of the '4:3' aspect ratio type resolutions, which I assume will work on your laptop.

I assume that this issue is addressed in the CMBN Tech Support thread about OS 10.9.2 Update problems, which you have already contributed to. However your situation is a bit unique compared to what is initially mentioned there since your Mac Pro doesn't have built-in video to my knowledge (and thus no 'work-around'). This simply suggests that Apple has screwed up the Nvidia drivers that they're providing with 10.9.2 and you'll have to wait until Apple addresses that with a patch or the next '.' update (which may take awhile).

Please open a ticket in the Helpdesk. Attempting to run the game on a new computer (by moving files from an old one) causes issues with the copy-protection system when it recognizes that it is not running on the computer it was activated on. The Helpdesk will have to send you an utility to delete the activation on your new Mac. You can also potentially delete this file yourself with these instructions from a Helpdesk article: Unable to load license for this application or Error: errorcode

The eLicense control panel typically does not work and that is expected. It was originally created for Windows 98 and 2000 and rarely worked with newer versions of Windows. If you need to unlicense the game, then you can modify the shortcut's command line with the " -unlicense" text string (there is a 'space' and then the 'dash' and then 'unlicense'). This is OUTSIDE of the quotes for the game executable in the TARGET line. This is all mentioned in the Knowledgebase article on manual unlicensing. Also remember to set exceptions within your security software for the game and eLicense executable. You may want to do this BEFORE activating the license key (and afterwards for the 'Runservice.exe' file).

64-bit versions of Windows could sometimes prove problematic for running PT Boats, though I wasn't specifically aware of permissions issues for 64-bit. Typically all that was usually necessary for permissions was right-clicking on the launching icon and selecting "Run as administrator". If you have installed as a different user and then attempted to play as an user different from the installer account, that MIGHT create issues. PT Boats uses the eLicense copy-protection system, so you may need to make changes to your DEP settings. The 'Runservice.exe' file will NOT be present until you successfully activate the license key (where it is silently downloaded and installed as a service). If you have security software may also want to add 'exceptions' for the game/copy-protection executables (though I don't know if this could possibly result in a 'permissions issue').

There could be a couple of issues here. One could be your security software and/or the need to make changes to your DEP (Data Execution Prevention) settings within Windows and the other could be which video chip you have in the new laptop. For the security software you may need to make exceptions for the game executables and the 'Runservice.exe' file (which is the eLicense service) within your security software. For DEP, you will want to follow the instructions in this Helpdesk article covering DEP. This article will also list the file names that you may need to add as exceptions to your security software. The other major possibility is that the video chip in your current laptop is incompatible with CMSF. If your laptop ONLY has the Intel integrated video, then there is a good chance that the game will NOT work on that laptop. If your laptop has BOTH the Intel integrated video and either a Nvidia GeForce or AMD Radeon video chip, then you may be able to make some changes to your control panel settings for the video chip to get the game to run on the GeForce or Radeon rather than the Intel.

This Helpdesk article on DEP should get you up to speed if you need to make such changes. From what you're describing, I assume that the 'Switchable Graphics' may be the more likely solution.

Does ONLY the Editor crash the game or are you able to load up and play any game normally ? Are you attempting to load a particular scenario to edit or are you starting a scenario from scratch ? How come you have it patched to only 1.08 ? I'm not specifically aware of any crashes in the Editor being addressed with later patches, but I'm curious how come you didn't install all of the patches ? What Windows version, video card and video drivers do you have installed ? You may want to uninstall the game completely and reinstall it from scratch (backing up any saved games, downloads, mods, etc. beforehand). Do you have only the base game or do you have some modules ? Is this the Battlefront distribution or the Paradox/Gamersgate one ?

Which Catalyst version are you running ? Catalyst 9.4 - 9.9 had an OpenGL bug that would crash the game anywhere from 5 - 20 minutes. Upgrading to a Catalyst 9.10 or later typically resolved this issue.

Were you able to activate the license key ? Have you made changes to your DEP (Data Execution Prevention) settings ? Have you added exceptions to your security software for the game executable ? The 1.10 and 1.11 patches were the Paradox ones and not the Battlefront ones, is that correct ? The issue may be one of the game attempting to run on the Intel HD 4000 graphics rather than the Radeon 7670M. You will want to go into your Catalyst Control Center and modify the 'Switchable Graphics' so that the it is utilizing the 'discrete graphics' or is in a 'Fixed mode'. You MAY need to update your video drivers and that may be complicated with some laptops. I'm not sure if the Sony laptops can use the AMD-provided Catalysts. Updated Catalysts necessary for the 'Switchable Graphics' option HP's Switchable Grahpics settings (may NOT be the same as Sony/AMD's)

Yes, often the file that is 'missing' is a DirectX 9.0c related DLL file. Windows Vista and Windows 7 did NOT come with a full install of DirectX 9.0c related DLL files. If you look at the download that is linked you will see that it applies to both Windows Vista and Windows 7. I'm uncertain of its applicability to Windows 8.x. The game typically should run a DirectX 9.0c installer near the conclusion of the installation process (at least the Battlefront installer does - I'm uncertain of the Gamersgate installer). In this particular case the game loads up, but crashes once it tries to load the 3D screen. Usually this suggests some sort of issue with the video drivers.

'Running as administrator' involves right-clicking and selecting "Run as administrator" from the popup menu... that is what you mean by 'running as administrator', correct ? I'm not sure what file/folder permissions can be different between Windows 8.x and Windows 7. If they are as onerous as you guess, that would make installing all sorts of programs problematic. If necessary create a directory of 'C:\CMSF' and install the game into that and see if it works. This should be an 'unprotected' directory that typically shouldn't involve UAC (but the registry changes that the licensing process involves will make you want to use 'run as administrator' anyway). The error '0xc0000005' is HIGHLY indicative of either an issue with DEP settings or security software (in the case of eLicense protected games). Since you don't have security software installed at the moment, it would seem to point at an issue with DEP.

If you're looking for your NATO license key, then it may be recorded in your Battlefront Store account. When you purchase a 'download + mail delivery', the license key is ONLY recorded in your Store account and NOT printed on a sticker attached to the case. Stickers with license keys are only for 'mail delivery only' purchases.

You will want to ENABLE DEP and then set an exception for the game executable ('CM Shock Force.exe'). The 'runservice.exe' file will NOT exist until you successfully activate the license (online or via the 'off-line' method involving a visit to the license.net website). At that point it gets silently downloaded and installed (to run as a 'service'). Once you have successfully activated the license key, then you will need to add the 'runservice.exe' to the list of exceptions for DEP.

The default is to use the 'desktop' resolution. So the quickest method would be to set your Windows desktop to 1600 x 900. The other method involves editing the 'display size.txt' file. In this file you should see '0 0 0'. Change this to '1600 900 60' (a single space between each number and no quote marks). This is the horizontal and vertical resolutions and the last number is the vertical refresh rate. If you have the game installed within the 'Program Files' or 'Program Files (x86)' directory and you're running Windows Vista or later, then you may need to launch the editor (Notepad, etc.) by right-clicking and selecting "Run as administrator" in order to save changes to the file. The next time you launch CMSF you should have the resolution listed in your Display Size options (which you will have to select and restart CMSF in order to have the game run with). There can only be ONE resolution listed in this file. It does NOT support more than one set of settings.