Problems launching the game

[Ascender]

Hello,

I'm not entirely sure where to start on this so I will begin by saying I have tried many things, went over many topics and have not found a solution or figured out what the extact problem is. I have managed to launch the game succesfully on my laptop, but it is still consistently failing on my desktop (which I would prefer to use to actually play this game).

When I launch the game, I get a black screen, even before the splash screen, and it will hang there perpetually until I either bring up the Task Manager or until I hit "Escape". When I go into the Task Manager I will get a crash which reads:

Unhandled exception: c0000005 At address: 0686fc3c

Acknowlidging the exception (or hitting Escape after launching) will bring up a windows APPCRASH event with the error seemingly located in StackHash_0a9e

 

I have tried launching the game with virtually all compatibility modes, with 16 bit screen colors selected, 256 colors, 640x480, downscaling the screen's natural resolution to something similar and none of it worked. I feel the biggest issue is my screen's native resolution of 1440p which the game can't handle, but this would pose no issues if I downscale it both through the compatibility options and through windows.

 

If anyone can help me resolve this I would be very grateful!

 

 

Edited September 7, 2016 by Ascender

[Schrullenhaft]

The first that that the CMx1 games like CMBB do when they are run for the first time on a system is run through a resolution selection process. This will be a black screen with a small dialog box in the middle listing the current resolution and vertical refresh rate. This is NOT a standard Windows dialog box, but a custom one created with DirectX routines. Your 1440 resolution is 2560 x 1440, is that correct ? If so, that MIGHT be the maximum resolution that the CMx1 games run at, but I've rarely seen it (since I've rarely run a monitor that supports that resolution). The lower supported resolution that most users might see is 1600 x 1200.

The game tries several VERTICAL REFRESH options at a particular resolution before automatically (usually after about 5 seconds or so) before going to the next resolution. What is attempted is usually determined by the video drivers and what they support. So 2560 x 1440 might start at 120Hz and then go down from there at that same resolution, but the next lower supported vertical refresh rate (say 100Hz or 90Hz, etc.). Once it reaches about 60Hz for a particular resolution (if that is supported by the video driver), then the next lower resolution is attempted, but at the highest vertical refresh rate supported. So in this example it may drop down to 1600 x 1200 at 160Hz or 120Hz. Again going through the vertical refresh rates supported at that resolution by the video driver until 60Hz is reached and then the next lower resolution is attempted.

Typically you have to either click 'any key' on the keyboard or click a mouse button on the screen (if you can see it) to select the currently visible resolution. CMBB would then startup at that particular resolution and vertical refresh rate. If something IS NOT selected by the time the game reaches 800 x 600 at 60Hz, then you get an error. I'm not absolutely certain if it is the exact error you have, but it is typically a 'c0000005' error. In this case simply restarting CMBB should go through the resolution selection process again.

What Windows version and what video card and driver are you running ? Most of the compatibility modes you have selected usually aren't necessary, but a number of users may need to launch the game by right-clicking and selecting "Run as administrator" from the popup menu (this can also be set from the 'Compatibility' tab of the 'Properties' menu: 'Privilege level' > 'Run this program as an administrator').

Is your copy of the game protected by eLicense (which requires a license key) or is it simply protected by the presence of the disc in the optical drive ? Is this a Battlefront copy or possibly a CDV or other distribution of the game (with different copy protection schemes) ? If you purchased the game directly from Battlefront sometime after 2006, then it is an eLicense protected game and using the 'Run as administrator' may be necessary along with some other details about 'Data Execution Prevention' settings that may need to be set. This Knowledgebase article talks about the settings that may be necessary to get the game to activate and run:

http://battlefront.mojohelpdesk.com/help/article/127954