CMSF won't run on new 64 bit i7 system

[theFightingSeabee]

It looks like that should be on your computer.

[Schrullenhaft]

The 'VirtualStore' is a directory/folder on your hard drive. The '\Users' is also a directory/folder on your hard drive. VirtualStore is a new feature of Windows Vista and Windows 7 (it came out when they were released) that redirects files that are being written to certain directories that are considered privileged and protected, such as the '\Program Files' and '\Windows' directories/folders.

[Erwin]

I have Users\Admin\ but after that I do not see any {account name}\AppData\Local etc.

Followed your instructions re adding <space> -unlicense, but got "...application was unable to start... (0xc0000005)."

[Schrullenhaft]

{account name} in your case is 'Admin'. For others it will be 'Joe' or whatever; it is variable and can be a million different things.

The 'c0000005' error is most likely related to DEP somehow, but if you have already added the CMSF executable ('CM Shock Force.exe') to it, then I don't know what else to change since that is the executable that can be associated with DEP that will launch the licensing process's DLLs.

[Erwin]

Under Admin , I do not see a folder called AppData.

Since I noticed that Win7 provides multiple Download folders (not sure why some d/ld'd apps save to one d/l folder and others to another) I wonder if there are also multiple folders for Admin(?) and maybe another one has the address you wrote:

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

[Schrullenhaft]

What account name do you login as ? When you open up the Windows Explorer file manager go to 'Organize' on the top menu. In here go to 'Folder and search options'. Click on the 'View' tab. In here click on the 'radio select button' for 'Show hidden files, folders and drives' under the 'Hidden files and folders' section. Also UNCHECK 'Hide empty drives in the Computer folder', 'Hide extensions for known file types' and 'Hide protected operating system files (Recommeneded)'. Click the 'Apply' and then 'OK' buttons. Now open the drive (C:) and look for the '\Users' directory/folder. When this opens up find the user that you login as and then open up that folder. With the changes you made earlier, you should be able to see the AppData folder now. The rest of the path should be accurate.

When you launch the game to license it, right-clicking on the icon and selecting 'Run as administrator' should allow the game to write the 'receipt.txt' file into the actual '\Program Files (x86)' directory for the game and looking for the file in the 'VirtualStore' directory would be unnecessary. But in this case there is a possibility that the file got stored in the VirtualStore redirect directory instead of the actual game directory. The end result here is just finding the 'receipt.txt' file to see if the game is licensed. However with the issues you have attempting to unlicense it would seem unlikely that you were able to license the game (since the same files and code gets run to license or unlicense the game).

[Erwin]

I will attempt what you suggest. But, FYI: I have not yet attempted to unlicence. I have uninstalled and loaded the game 3 times, but have never selected the unlicense option.

Should one unlicense when one uninstalls? If that is an issue, maybe I should also attempt a complete uninstall and unlicense and start from the beginning again(?).

(Have been enjoying replaying the sample scenarios in the demo. But, I sure hope we can get the full game up and running heh...)

[Schrullenhaft]

When you uninstall it is NOT necessary to unlicense, unless you do not intend to install the game again on this computer. If you're not going to install the game for awhile, then it may be best to unlicense it so it doesn't get "lost". If you uninstall a game it does NOT get automatically unlicensed. Some of the uninstallers will bring up the licensing dialog box and others will not. If you're going to "nuke" a folder (manually deleting all contents and possibly the entire folder itself) that the game was previously installed in, then you SHOULD unlicense the game first before "nuking" a folder since this process will delete the "receipt.txt" file.

When you uninstall and then reinstall, the system remains "licensed". So what you have been doing is OK, unless you attempt to manually delete files and folders. I'm not absolutely sure of the effect of deleting the "receipt.txt" file and what effect that has on the game's licensed state (which does have some registry entries).

Remember to right-click and select "Run as administrator" when you do the installs and when you initially run and license the game. This should allow for the 'receipt.txt' file to be copied to the '\Program Files (x86)' directory.

[Erwin]

Ok. I see a receipt.txt file. You want me to post contents here or e-mail it someplace?

(I rechecked that I was Admin and tried to start the game manually from the directory, but still no go...)

Note that the address is .../VirtualStore/Program Files (x86)/SIMS/Battlefront/... etc. I hope that putting everything in a SIMS folder isn't a problem.

[Schrullenhaft]

Putting games into a 'SIMS' folder should not be a problem, but you do have to remember the path to them when you apply patches since the patch will probably assume a default path (which isn't the case here).

You do NOT need to post the contents of the 'receipt.txt' file since one of the lines is your license key (which might get 'borrowed' by an unscrupulous reader). Inside the file the 'Order ID' line is your actual license key. The 'License Number' line will indicate if this is the 1st or 2nd activation on this license (01/02 or 02/02).

I assume that eLicense should be able to track the 'receipt.txt' file in the VirtualStore directory. If not, try to copy (not move, click the file, hold down the 'Ctrl' key and drop the file to the other directory - that will copy the file) the 'receipt.txt' file to the actual directory where the game is at '\Program Files (x86)\SIMS\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force'.

[Erwin]

I copied receipt.txt (it is the second 02/02 activation as the first is on my old computer) to the main CMSF folder (containing the .exe file).

Still won't start. Same (0x0000005) message. Do I need to reboot, or...?

(BTW: For safety, should I reset the View tabs back to "default?")

[Schrullenhaft]

At this point I suggest deleting the DEP settings you have created and recreate them ('runservice.exe' and 'cm shock force.exe') and see if that makes a difference. The error you're getting generally points to DEP (especially with nothing coming up).

You can set the file views back to their defaults if you feel you may accidentally delete some system files (usually doesn't happen too often). It's not necessary, it's just a precaution that Microsoft makes the default to protect people from themselves.

[Erwin]

Willco later...

Re "Run as Admin" I noticed that my (free d/l) SpyBot won't let me Immunize after an update as it says that I need to be elevated to Admin. But, I have right clicked on the SpybotSD.exe and clicked on Admin several times, and it STILL says I need to be elevated to Admin.

Could there be something else going on here that is causing these CMSF issues?

Incidentally, I also have the free d/l versions of AVG and AdAware. Is there something I may need to turn off to run CMSF?

[Kawabonga]

On my system Windows 7 x64 game crash on start. On Windows XP SP3 game run OK

Asus P7P55D LE

Radeon 4850 512MB

Core i5 750

4GB DDR3

Podpis problemu:

Nazwa zdarzenia problemu: APPCRASH

Nazwa aplikacji: CM Shock Force DEMO.exe

Wersja aplikacji: 0.0.0.0

Sygnatura czasowa aplikacji: 4a5fa1db

Nazwa modułu z błędem: atioglxx.dll

Wersja modułu z błędem: 6.14.10.9405

Sygnatura czasowa modułu z błędem: 4b4e85ea

Kod wyjątku: c0000005

Przesunięcie wyjątku: 00031a70

Wersja systemu operacyjnego: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1

Identyfikator ustawień regionalnych: 1045

Dodatkowe informacje 1: 0a9e

Dodatkowe informacje 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

Dodatkowe informacje 3: 0a9e

Dodatkowe informacje 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

[Erwin]

Kawa: You you should start a separate thread on your problem as otherwise it will get confusing as to whether tech support is addressing my problem or yours.

Good luck!

[Schrullenhaft]

I'm not aware of any settings for AVG, Adaware or Spybot that need to be changed. With the exception of AVG the free versions of these programs tend to be 'passive scanners' - you need to launch a scan manually for it to be doing anything to the system. AVG does have some active security, called 'Resident Shield'. Apparently when you launch the control center (from the system tray in the lower right hand corner of the Windows desktop), you can double-click on this icon and there should be a way to disable it.

It does seem strange that Spybot is requesting an 'elevation' when you run it as admin (with the right-click and 'Run as administrator'). That usually should be sufficient since the program is running as the 'administrator' account (equivalent to a 'sudo' command in Linux).

For CMSF, running as administrator allows it to write out the Prefs file in the '\Program Files (x86)' directory. Otherwise it will get written out to the 'VirtualStore' directory (which may still work).

Another thing you could do is to just turn off UAC (User Account Control). It's a mild security risk, but it may help.

However the error that you're getting doesn't necessarily seem to involve UAC. The 'c0000005' error is typically either DEP or some issue with DirectX/OpenGL. Since the Demo works, I would assume it is DEP since the priimary difference between the two is eLicense and the encryption that occurs with it.

[Schrullenhaft]

Kawabonga - Do you know which particular Catalyst driver version you are using ? I can't tell by the version number I'm seeing (6.14.10.9405) and which Catalyst driver it relates to.

We have had issues with the 9.4 - 9.9 Catalyst drivers because of a certain OpenGL bug. However this bug usually took several minutes of play before it occurred. It seems your error occurs immediately on launch, which suggests that it may not be this particular OpenGL bug.

I suggest downloading and installing Catalyst 9.10 or newer. The current version is 10.1, but I don't know if it has any unique problems or not.

CMSF and its demo should work fine under Windows 7 64-bit. It is a 32-bit program, but it isn't hugely dependent on any particular system files.

[Erwin]

This is starting to remind me of the tech problems with the otherwise xnt Panzer Elite (all those tears/years ago).

So, should I just try a complete uninstall including license and try to install from the beginning again?

Is this a problem from Win7 being too new that there are inherent conflicts or problems?

What else can I do, or check to get CMSF running? It shouldn't be this hard.

[Schrullenhaft]

At this point I don't know what else to check beyond what I have mentioned already. It really shouldn't be this hard and I'm not sure what the issue is.

CMSF works with Windows 7, 32-bit and 64-bit. There are a number of people using it with Windows 7 currently. Typically the biggest issues we have are the need to turn on DEP (which is not consistent - some do, some don't) and video drivers.

Unlicensing, uninstalling, reinstalling and relicensing may be something to try. Again, make sure to right-click and select "Run as administrator" from the popup menu during installation and the first time you run the game.

[Erwin]

I'll let you know... thanks

[Gromit]

Not sure if this is related guys, but I also have the 64-bit version of Win7 and have run across the following little "hiccup" multiple times with games.

After installing a game, it tries to launch using a default setup. If this entails using a screen resolution that is different than your desktop resolution, the game will not launch or drops immediately to the desktop.

I had this happen with Silent Hunter 3, Galactic Civilizations II and a couple others I can't think of at the moment. The solution varies, but editing the .ini file for the game worked for GalCiv2; firing up SH2 on an older 1280x1024 monitor did the trick for SH3.

Win7 deals with old stuff in a lot of new ways that will drive you batty- takes some getting used to...

[Erwin]

Am back and am going to try uninstalling and reinstalling the base CMSF game again.

Re resolution. Should I try setting the game to my monitor resolution (2560x1600) or the monitor to the max in-game resolution?

FYI: I did manually reset the game res. to my (max) monitor resolution with no result. But, I haven't tried reducing my monitor resolution (shame to have to do that).

There are just so many dam variables!

[Schrullenhaft]

I'm under the impression that CMSF uses the 'desktop' resolution as the default. But maybe the menu is coming up at 1024x768. Possibly try that resolution (setting your desktop to that before running) to see if it helps.

When you 'reset the game resolution' how did you do that ? Was it via the 'display size.txt' file or did you get to the main menu ?

[Erwin]

I set the 'display size.txt' to: 2560 1600 75

That's my monitor's current resolution setting that I use (it's a 30" Dell).

Hopefully, setting refresh to 75 rather than 60 doesn't affect anything deleteriously. The demos run fine.

What res do you recommend for the file, and should I therefore select the same for the monitor?

[Erwin]

I also wonder if I have my security settings too high as I have problems navigating some websites that I don't have with my old computer (which I still also use).

Could that be an issue - not communicating with BFS properly? If so, what Privacy and Security settings are needed or recommended?