CMSF won't run on new 64 bit i7 system

[Erwin]

Just did a basic CMSF install with no modules, updates or patches to test the install and it wouldn't run.

When I click on the shortcut or the .exe file, nothing happens.

I didn't want to spend the time to install marines and brits and update to 1.21 if there is something else that I need to fix first.

Any help appreciated.

[-Eddie-]

I have Windows 7 64-bit i7 and it runs smooth for me. Tried running as an admin?

[Schrullenhaft]

The game should launch a 'license dialog box' when you initially run CMSF (assuming you have purchased the Battlefront version). As the previous poster mentioned you may want to right-click and select "Run as administrator" from the popup menu.

Another possibility we've seen with Windows 7 and i7's is that you may either need to confirm the DEP (Data Execution Prevention) setting as being set for "essential Windows programs and services only" and reboot. Or you may have to enable it and add exceptions for several files (a few of which may not exist until you successfully license). Here's our Knowledgebase article on DEP for Battlefront games. If you do enable DEP, you'll probably want to add the following files:

'\Windows\Runservice.exe'

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force\CM Shock Force.exe'

The '\Program Files' directory will be '\Program Files (x86)' in 64-bit versions of Windows. 'Runservice.exe' will not exist until you successfully license the game. If you install the modules (Marines, British Forces), then there will be two more executables to add to the DEP list.

You may also have to add 'exceptions/exclusions' to your anti-virus if you're running one. Add these files:

'\Windows\Runservice.exe'

'\Windows\mmfs.dll'

'\Windows\lcmmfu.cpl'

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force\elicen40.dll'

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force\msvcr71.dll'

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force\CM Shock Force.exe'

The Marines and British Forces modules will add the following executables:

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force\Modules\CMSF Marines Module.exe'

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force\Modules\CMSF British Module.exe'

[Erwin]

Thanks guys.

Am completely unfamiliar with and rather lost in W7. Where do I "right click" in order to "Run as Admin?" (And what W7 info books does anyone recommend?)

I'll start with that, and work my way thru your other suggestions.

My main question was to confirm that the base game should run without any updates, patches etc? So, not having those installed is not the problem?

(BTW: BTS' new torpedo boat sim demo loaded and ran without any problem at all!)

[Goose of CM]

I had the same problem on XP I had to load both disk Shock Force and Marines.

[Schrullenhaft]

Interesting that PT Boats runs without issue, but CMSF is giving you problems.

No updates are necessary for CMSF to run in Windows 7. So a base install of CMSF (1.01+) should still run.

"Right-clicking" is meant as right-clicking your mouse button on the shortcut or executable name (in File Manager). This produces a popup menu where, close to the top of that menu, is the option for "Run as administrator". Even if you have administrative-level privileges on your account, this step is often necessary. For some games you may want to make it a 'permanent' selection by right-clicking on the shortcut or executable and selecting 'Properties'. In here go to the 'Compatibility' tab and go to the bottom section labelled 'Privilege Level' and put a check mark in the box next to the text that says "Run this program as an administrator" and click the OK button.

I actually would have expected the same process would have been necessary for PT Boats.

[-Eddie-]

I'm not sure how you installed Windows 7 but I upgraded from Vista, basically keeping all my documents and programs intact. Before upgrading I still had to run CMSF as an Administrator because it would launch CMSF v1.20 if I didn't. Maybe your CMSF is trying to launch a version it doesn't have?

To run as admin, go to Start > All Programs > Battlefront/Combat Mission Shock Force > Combat Mission Shock Force and then find the 'Combat Mission Shock Force' .exe. Right click this and click 'Run as administrator' which should be the second option from the top of the list.

Note: I added two directories after All Programs as my other computer registers CMSF under Combat Mission Shock Force and the one I'm on now lists it under Battlefront.

[Erwin]

Eddie: I followed your instructions, but I think I already was administrator as there already was a yellow/blue shield logo beside that option. My vanilla install still didn't launch. So, I'll try the suggestions by Schrullenhaft.

Another question: When I had an XP machine I NEVER put games under PROGRAM FILES. I always created a SIMS folder under C:/ and loaded/installed all my games in that folder. (I did not want to mix up possibly critical windows apps with games, and that way it was easy to find the games and not overlook some game I wanted to delete.) But, is there a good reason that all game apps should be installed in the PROGRAM FILES directory, or is my way of doing things just fine in W7 as it seemed to be in XP?

And BTW: My i7 / W7 machine is brand new, with new installs of i7 OS and Win7 (not upgraded from XP or Vista etc.).

[Erwin]

Schrullenhaft: I followed your instructions re adding the .exe and "runservice" files, and restarted. Still won't launch. (I did license the game earlier and did not unlicense it.)

I don't understand your instructions to add "exceptions/exclusions to my antivirus." I have AVG (as well as ZoneAlarm, AdAware and Spybot). How do I do that?

Thanks...

[Schrullenhaft]

The 'ZoneAlarm' that you have, is this just the firewall software or is it an 'internet-security suite' ? What version is your AVG software and is it the 'free' version or a purchased product (with possibly additional features) ?

The AVG 9.0 anti-virus software doesn't seem to have an 'exclusion list' capability as far as I can tell. The closest thing is reporting false positives, which would be the case if a scan quarantined a file (probably not what is happening here). Here's the false-positive reporting process:

In case AVG detects some file on your PC as infected, this file was moved to AVG Virus Vault, and you are sure that this file is correct and clean, it is possible that the detected file is a false alarm.

If so, we shall prepare the correction as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, false alarms do appear from time to time in every Anti-Virus software.

To solve the problem, please send us this file for analysis directly from the AVG program this way:

* Open AVG User Interface.

* Choose the "Virus Vault" option from the "History" menu.

* Right-click the false positive file and select the "Send to analysis" option from context menu.

* Fill in your e-mail address

* Confirm the dialog

This way file will be sent to our virus specialists for analysis and we will inform you about the result.

Can you find the files '\Windows\Runservice.exe', '\Windows\mmfs.dll' and '\Windows\lcmmfu.cpl' ? These are copied over after you successfully license the game the first time. If these files are not present, then the game can't run.

'Runservice.exe' needs to be running in order for CMSF to run. You can press Ctrl-Alt-Del and Start Task Manager and look in either the 'Processes' or 'Services' tab to see if it is present. If you can't see it then go to the Start Menu > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services control panel and look through the list for a "LicCtrl Service". This is the 'runservice.exe'. You can check one of the columns to see if it is 'started' or not. If it isn't, then you can either highlight the "LicCtrl Service" text and click the 'play icon' button at the top of the window or you can right-click on the text and select 'Start' from the popup menu.

If you licensed successfully, then there should be a 'receipt.txt' file in your CMSF directory. If this doesn't exist, then the licensing wasn't successful.

Battlefront games do not necessarily have to be installed in the '\Program Files' directory, but you need to know exactly where you have installed the game for future patches, since most will assume the default path is where the game is (and you'll have to manually indicate the actual directory during patch installs).

[Erwin]

Schrullenhaft: Thanks for the info. I just got back from a trip, so I will get to this asap.

FYI: Both my AVG and ZoneAlarm are the free download versions, not the full suites.

To what address do I send the files you asked for?

[Schrullenhaft]

The information in the previous reply about 'sending files' is to send "false positives" to AVG. It is done within the AVG program itself. They will then check the files and possibly add them to their internal list of files to exclude (or whatever it is that they do).

This scenario would probably only be true if you ran AVG and it reported your files as "infected", when they really are not (assuming that they are not, it is possible to get our files infected). Some anti-virus programs will falsely quarantine some programs because they behave like other 'suspected' programs. The 'Runservice.exe' file along with other associated eLicense programs may get flagged as having a particular type of trojan, when that would actually be false.

AVG's instructions on reporting a 'false positive':

To solve the problem, please send us this file for analysis directly from the AVG program this way:

* Open AVG User Interface.

* Choose the "Virus Vault" option from the "History" menu.

* Right-click the false positive file and select the "Send to analysis" option from context menu.

* Fill in your e-mail address

* Confirm the dialog

If you are getting 'false positives' from AVG, then once you have sent the report to them, unquarantine the files and disable AVG and see if you can get the game to run. If that still doesn't work, then you may need to uninstall AVG.

As for ZoneAlarm, I believe it has a list of programs that are allowed to go through the firewall. Since you were able to license the game successfully, it appears that this was not blocked (unless you licensed BEFORE installing ZoneAlarm). You may want to add the previously listed executables to have access to the firewall. Primarily the main program ('CM Shock Force.exe') needs access to the internet via TCP Port 7023 in order to play TCPIP real-time games, other than that the programs really don't access the internet. However it may be possible that your ZoneAlarm is blocking more than internet access.

[Erwin]

There is nothing in my AVG virus vault.

Tried following the DEP example from Battlefront, but IN MY i7/Win7 version I cannot find MY COMPUTER.

If I right click on (what replaced) the START button, and select PROPERTIES, there is no ADVANCED tab.

If I left click on this "START" button, and click on COMPUTER (in the RHS column), there is no ADVANCED tab.

Frankly, I do not understand how to do some of the things you are telling me to do.

Tried starting the game manually and get "...unable to start... (0xc0000005...)"

Tried to find runservice.exe, and could not see it it. But, unable to comply with instructions to START MENU > CONTROL PANEL > ADMIN TOOLS >SERVICES as there is no ADMIN TOOLS button in my version. Where does one get runservice.exe and in which file/folder is it supposed to be?

Can you guys write a crayon version for us non-techie dumb-asses of how to get CMSF working on i7/win7 64 bit machines? It would save a whole amount of your time answering what must be repetitive questions.

[Schrullenhaft]

If there is nothing in your AVG Vault, then AVG isn't getting a false positive on a file and quarantining it. That's probably the only way that AVG would recognize that their software is giving a false positive - if it quarantines the file.

The error you're getting with "...unable to start... (0xc0000005...)" sounds very much like a DEP problem.

To access DEP in Windows 7 go to Start Menu/Windows button > Control Panel > System control panel (click 'View by' text in the upper right-hand corner and select 'Large' or 'Small icons' to see this individual control panel) > select 'Advanced system settings' from the bottom of the text menu on the left > 'Advanced' tab (default) > 'Performance' section (at top) > click on the 'Settings..' button in the Performance section > 'Data Execution Prevention' tab. You should be able to follow the instructions given earlier in the 'DEP Knowledgebase article' now.

You will need to add the '\Windows\Runservice.exe' file as well as the executables for CMSF (wherever you have installed them).

To find the Service control panel (where 'Runservice.exe' gets launched from) go to Start Menu/Windows button > Control Panel > Administrative Tools control panel (click 'View by' text in the upper right-hand corner and select 'Large' or 'Small icons' to see this individual control panel) > click on Services (alphabetically in the list on the right). When this opens up you should be able to find 'LicCtrl Service' listed alphabetically.

[Erwin]

I do have "LicCtrl Service."

FYI: What confused me is that I don't have a button called "System control panel", just "System" which leads to the "Basic info about your computer" page. From there I finally saw the "Advanced system settings" button.

Am also confused by the DEP article. Am I supposed to "Add..." the .exe files, or...? I now have a DEP window that has both CM Shock Force.exe as well as CM Shock Force. (As well as Runservice.)

And the game still wont run.

All I have installed so far is the base CMSF with no patches.

Rebooted, but it still won't launch.

[Erwin]

BTW: I installed the Brit Demo and it runs just fine.

Could there be something else going on with the CMSF install since both the Brit Forces and PT Boats demos run fine?

[Schrullenhaft]

The Demo versions do NOT use eLicense, which is the reason that DEP is possibly necessary. If the eLicense system isn't fully running, then you will get issues such as the game not running.

For DEP did you select the 'radio-button' for "Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select:". There also needs to be a check mark next to the listing for it to be 'excepted from DEP'. Typically adding a program is just clicking on the 'Add' button and browsing for the executable to add in a standard file dialog box. I'm not sure why you have two different entries. In my list there is no '.exe' extension on the name in the list.

When you found the 'LicCtrl Service', was it 'Started' ? This needs to be running in order for CMSF to run. Possibly stopping it and then starting it again MIGHT help. If you Ctrl-Alt-Del and 'Start the Task Manager', 'Runservice.exe' should appear in the 'Services' tab list.

[Erwin]

Yes re the radio button turned on with check mark.

The first entry had no .exe extension. But, when I tried adding again, and browsed to the CMSF folder and clicked on the .exe file to "Add," the file with .exe showed up in the listing window underneath the original executable. Did I "Add" the wrong file? (I thought I needed to "Add" the file with .exe at the end.)

I see LicCtrlService in the Services window under Task Manager. However, I do not see RunService.exe.

How do I "start" LicCtrlService?

[Schrullenhaft]

In DEP, the listings for the exceptions typically do NOT have the ".exe" extension on them. When you are browsing for the file in the dialog box, the .exe shows up in the files displayed. It is just the listing in DEP that typically doesn't show it. You can probably delete one of the entries for CMSF or both and redo it.

"LicCtrl Service" IS 'runservice.exe'. In the Services panel the columns are 'Name', 'Description','Status', 'Startup Type' and 'Log On As'. The 'Status' column will tell you if a service is 'Started' or not ('blank'). If 'LicCtrl Service' is not started, then highlight it and either click the 'play' button icon at the top of Services window or right-click on the text and select 'Start' from the popup menu.

In Windows XP 'Runservice.exe' shows up in the 'Process' tab of the Task Manager. In Windows Vista and Windows 7, the service shows up in the 'Services' tab and is labelled by its service name as 'LicCtrlService'. The 'Runservice.exe' name doesn't appear in either the Processes or Services tab of Windows Vista and Windows 7.

[skelley]

Erwin Try this. Go to CMSF Proerties, then to Compatibility and check the box "disable display scaling on high dpi settings". Worked for me and I think we were having the same problem. Do the DEP stuff though too.

[Erwin]

I restarted LicCtrlService, but I do not see c:/windows/runservice nor do I see runservice in the Services or Processes windows.

There is no 'receipt.txt' in my main CMSF directory.

(BTW: I now install all games into a C:/SIMS/ directory so that I would never accidentally delete an important app from PROGRAM FILES (as I once did) while trying to delete a game.)

So, what's next...?

[Schrullenhaft]

If you do NOT have a 'receipt.txt' file in your main CMSF directory, then the game is not going to run. It is basically seen as 'unlicensed'. If you do not have a '\Windows\Runservice.exe' file, then I don't know what the LicCtrlService is trying to run. Again, for Windows 7, you will NOT see 'Runservice.exe' in the 'Services' tab. Instead you will see "LicCtrlService". 'Runservice.exe' appears in the 'Processes' tab for Windows XP.

[Erwin]

Well, I have no idea what I am doing, just trying to follow all the instructions - and those may be confusing Win7 with XP - or maybe it's just me getting more confused.

I do have LicCtrl Service in my Services window.

I know I typed in the license code from my game when I installed it.

I see elicen40.dll in my main CMSF directory. But, I do not see receipt.txt. So, that is probably the problem. What to do now?

[Schrullenhaft]

OK, so 'LicCtrlService' is running. That is good. Now for licensing of the game, the 'receipt.txt' file HAS TO EXIST. There is a possibility that it may be in the VirtualStore directory. This is typically in

'\Users\{your account name}\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force'

Check to see if this directory exists and if the 'receipt.txt' file is there. If you still cannot find the file, then find the shortcut you use to launch CMSF and right-click on it and select "Create Shortcut". With this new shortcut, right-click on it and select 'Properties'. The 'Shortcut' tab should be the default with the text in the 'Target' box highlighted. Unhighlight this text and go to the end after the last quotation mark ("). Add a space (<space>) and then type the following (without quotes) "-unlicense". Click 'Apply' and 'OK'. When you launch this shortcut it will bring up the license dialog box to unlicense the game. If your game is not licensed, then I believe it will just bring up the license dialog box.

If this still does not come up, then there is something wrong with your eLiense files ('elicen40.dll', 'msvcr71.dll').

[Erwin]

Am almost embarrassed to ask, but what is the "VirtualStore directory?"

I don't know where \Users\ is. Is this on my computer or at BFS site?

How do I find it?

BTW: I notice that my machine has "Internet Protected Mode" on and it seems to be interfering with my accessing links to some websites. Could that be a factor and should I disable protected mode (and if so how)?

(I must get Win7 and Office 2007 manuals. So much has changed from my old system.)