Demo Not Working?

[GI Jas]

I downloaded and installed the demo from the Gamershell site but when I start it all I get is a black screen. I noticed in the readme that you can set the resolution once in the game through options and it also listed about four different resolutions but I have a wide screen monitor and my resolution wasn't listed which is 1650x1080. Any help will be appreciated...

[Elmar Bijlsma]

Isn't there an option to set it to the desktop resolution too?

[GI Jas]

Yes, but I cant see anything but a black screen when I start the game. I dont see the menu or anything it's just black.

Core Duo 2.66 ghz

4 G of RAM

Nividia 275 GF 896 MB

Windows 7

Does this demo run on Windows 7 32 Bit OK? I read the min specs and it states it does?

[slug88]

FWIW, I ran the demo (and now the full game) just fine with Windows 7 64bit. When you were presented with the black screen, how long did you wait? Did you try clicking the mouse, pressing escape, anything like that? If you're not even getting to the menu, the game might be crashing when it tries to play the intro video, so perhaps a codec issue is at fault here.

[Lethaface]

Ah Slug,

Where is me turns!@##@$

Which intro video btw? I dont have any intro's with the full game or demo :S

Got the full game yesterday, didn't play too much but surely looks interesting!

@ GI Jas,

Also playing on windows 7 64bit without any problems. Make sure you run the game as Administrator though, apart from the obvious updating of all drivers (specifically video).

GL

[GI Jas]

FWIW, I ran the demo (and now the full game) just fine with Windows 7 64bit. When you were presented with the black screen, how long did you wait? Did you try clicking the mouse, pressing escape, anything like that? If you're not even getting to the menu, the game might be crashing when it tries to play the intro video, so perhaps a codec issue is at fault here.

I waited around five minutes and still nothing but a black screen. I didn't touch any keys or move the mouse during this time. I think you may be right though, about the video codec not running properly. However, all my video card drivers are up to date with the most recent driver release for Nvidia. The only thing I wasn't doing that was mentioned here was running the demo in administrator mode. I will try that and let you know.

[RSW]

Hi,

Same problem here. It runs OK in my old XP but not in my new Windows 7 rig. All drivers up to date in my new rig and have no problems whatsoever with other games and sims. What codec that would be, I wonder? Would installing CMSF in my new rig help?

Cheers,

[GI Jas]

I own and play CMSF and it plays fine on my current system but not this demo.

[RSW]

The intro is just a splash screen, this shouldn't be a codec issue (?).

I really would like to play and review this game for my blog, but with my new W7 machine not the old XP one.

Cheers,

[RSW]

What do you say GI Jas, give it a try and buy it to see if the full version installs something missing in the demo?

I could do that, I still have the old XP rig after all. But I fear a e-license activation/deactivation nightmare ... Is there anyway to make this any more difficult?

Cheers,

[Schrullenhaft]

GI Jas & RSW - did you install the CMA Demo into the default directory ? The default is the 'My Documents' folder (I'm not sure why). You may want to try installing the Demo in a different, custom directory to see if that helps in any way.

I highly suggest right-clicking on both the installer and the game itself and selecting "Run as administrator" from the popup menu. Typically this is needed for games installed into the '\Program Files' directory, but it may be worth trying even if you install the game elsewhere.

I don't believe a codec is involved in the initial screens, but it is possible that the method of drawing to the screen MIGHT be problematic for some drivers. I'm not really sure on that one.

RSW - what issue are you having with licensing and unlicensing ? Do you have questions on this or just bad previous experiences ?

[RSW]

Gah!

Now I cannot place an order because my e-mail account is already in use.

Too much for one night.

Cheers,

[RSW]

Hi Schull,

I tried to migrate CMSF/Marines/BritishForces to my new rig and couldn't because the license was in use.

My plan now was to buy CMA, install it in my new W7 rig (to see if it by chance works as a full installation) and if it doesn't work just install it in my old XP rig. I fear the new W7 rig may eat my license.

Cheers,

[RSW]

Well, I bought the full version and it works fine in the W7 rig (the one that didn't play the demo).

Is there a splash screen in the full game? If yes, it is bypassed in my computer. Maybe in the demo there is no chance to bypass it (I'm thinking on the "buy now" nagging screens) and that's why the game hangs?

Anyway, off to play.

Cheers,

JC

[Schrullenhaft]

RSW - in order to 'move' the games, UNLICENSE them on the original computer. You should be able to unlicense the British Forces and Marines modules (each of them a separate unlicensing step), but attempting to unlicense the main game may not go anywhere. That's because the modules install a different version of the main CMSF executable. Once the two modules are unlicensed the executable isn't really associated with the original base game license anymore (its a different file).

If you have licensed the base game on this machine, then what you can do is re-install the 1.21 patch, but ONLY FOR CMSF (don't list any of the modules in the drop-down dialog selection). Once this has finished, then you should now be able to unlicense the CMSF base game, if you had licensed it separately from the modules.

Do not UNINSTALL anything until you have UNLICENSED everything on this machine (you can't unlicense if you uninstall). Let us know if you have any problems unlicensing.

As for the 'screen' difference between the Demo and the full version, I'll have to check that out.

[GI Jas]

I got it working. Started in administrator mode in the start menu and it ran fine. I thought I had tried this before but this time it worked. Nice demo. I take it the random battle generator is not operational in this demo?

[Battlefront]

I got it working. Started in administrator mode in the start menu and it ran fine. I thought I had tried this before but this time it worked. Nice demo.

Thanks, and I'm glad everything is running smoothly now.

I take it the random battle generator is not operational in this demo?

Right. It lets you peek at the setup screen, but won't generate a quick battle.