game won't load

dark_angel

dark_angel

Member
I have just bought a couple of games and they both installed perfectly. When I try to play them, a black screen comes up as if the game was loading and then just suddenly quits to the desktop.
My computer matches all the recommended requirements, can anyone help solve my problem?
Thanks in advance!
 
The first thing usually done before playing a new game is setting up the controller, audio, abd video settings. If those games connect online you will have to look over any firewall or other protections there to see if one of those is blocking the games. What titles are those? That msy be useful for the troubleshooting information.
 
Try shutting those and other antivirus programs down when going to run either game. These tools are commonly known for raising havoc with pc games at times. I doubt you saw a bad install of both games unless the optical drive needs a good cleaning or is on the way out?

One other idea is using the taskmanager to see what else is running. If you find some program you don't need running in the background uncheck it in the msconfig utility's startup and maybe services groups to keep it from loading up with Windows.
 
Yeah you should shut down any firewalls. I had a similiar problem with Prey, Doom 3 and UT2004 with my firewall enabled. It showed the splash screen and just hanged, I think its trying to connect but the firewall is preventing it and it got into a loop.
 
well i just got a new dvd drive today as the old one had back in so i know it not that.
i have lots of background programs running so not sure what i can close down. i will try closing down the fire wall and see if that works.
edit: closed down firewall and does the samething.
 
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um now i think about it i'm not sure. i havn't done anything ot them since i got the computer so properly not. my rig is in my sig and not sure where to get drivers
 
For games that connect online you will usually see a popup or other screen stating that the latest version is now available for video cards. Depending on the gaming engine you may see that for sound as well. Besides the hinderance with a running firewall the msconfig utility still seems to have a place there.

Things you can start up with a desktop shortcut at any time are also things that don't have to load automatically at bootup. Disabling a few things can also free up memory for gaming. This can also help in keeping other things from clashing with either game while boosting performance a little.
 
PC eye said:
For games that connect online you will usually see a popup or other screen stating that the latest version is now available for video cards. Depending on the gaming engine you may see that for sound as well. Besides the hinderance with a running firewall the msconfig utility still seems to have a place there.

Things you can start up with a desktop shortcut at any time are also things that don't have to load automatically at bootup. Disabling a few things can also free up memory for gaming. This can also help in keeping other things from clashing with either game while boosting performance a little.
Click to expand...

well i've never had popup saying new drivers are available for video card.
 
There may not be a pop-up all the time, but you can get new drivers for your video card directly from the manufacturers. nVidia makes a general driver for all of their cards, so you may not want to go with the newest one, since the card you have is about 3 or 4 years old...

Just for kicks, go to this site and select BF2, I have a feeling that your card is not up to snuff. Even if you may have the minimum, my old 6600 GeForce would barely run BF2, and that was a good 2 generations past what your comp is running...

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

*Edit: Just did a quick check, and it says that the game requires a GF 5700 to run. Looks like it's time for a new card...
 
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yeh video card is the problem.
This is what i got
Video Card
Minimum: 100% DirectX 9 compatible 128MB Direct3D Card (GeForce FX 5700+/Radeon 8500, 9500+)
You Have: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000 (Microsoft Corporation) (GeForce4 MX 4000)
FAIL: Sorry, your video card does not meet this minimum requirement. Upgrade to a more powerful video card will make all your applications look better. Click the 'We Recommend' button to see some great options.
Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card

Video RAM: Required - 128 MB , You have - 128.0 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Vertex Shader Ver.: Required - 2.0 , You have - 0.0
Pixel Shader Ver.: Required - 2.0 , You have - 0.0

only the two bottom things it failed on.
 
Yeah, the GeForce4 family of cards is a little dated these days... :) Do you have a particular budget (in AU$ or US$), and what type of interface do you need on the card, I imagine AGP?
 
That would definitely be an AGP model there. You are probably running an AGP 2x/4x board as well. One of the game engines that will have popups with the message that new drivers being available is Steam's Source. BF2 isn't one of those like HL2 or CCS but I haven't run BF2 here. At this point you would be probably considering upgrading the entire system then trying to struggle with some of the newer games out.
 
I was thinking that it would be more a 4x or 8x board if it's a GeForce4, my GeForce2 was a 4x. Anyway, it wouldn't be too bad to upgrade for about $50-$75 US to a card that would service these current games. However, if you're expecting something that will last longer than a year or so, you're going to need to look at at least double that cost...
 
Besides the card the eventual upgrade to Vista or even the proposed Vienna would then put pressure there to seek newer hardwares all around. If you plan on staying with the AGP type card you would then want to follow DCIScouts recommendation on getting a much newer model if indeed the board is 8x. The driver support alone for older models wanes fast for both ATI and NVidia alike.
 
thanks for all the help. I think i'll stick with what i've got for now and just buy a new rig later on. I'm going to be sticking with xp as i prefer that over vista. I'll just stick with the games i have for now.
 
So far I have been running just about every game I ran in XP without too much trouble. But then I'm not after the fastest frame rates or high end performance but compatibility issues and driver support. XP has already been worked out and you won't need newer versions for the other programs you already have. Why do you think I dual boot instead of simply running Vista only? :confused: They haven't released Vista patches for many things just newer versions! :eek: :P XP for now!
 
^^ Isn't that the truth... I've actually got one game that has a few parts that don't work properly with XP SP2, SP1 is fine, but not 2 (and it's a Star Trek game, too :)). Anyway, yeah if you're not too interested in getting into some new games, I'd just wait for a bit and replace everything because there are quite a few different aspects that could use a little bump up in your current rig. :)
 
Currently the MSI Radeon X1300 Pro PCI-Express card has been seeing results with HL2, Prey, FEAR and the expansion pack as well as the older games like Return to CastleWolfenstein, Soldier of Fortune I+II, Duke Nukem Manhattan Project, next 007 Nightfire with a beta download someone passed along to me regarding the lack of EAX support in Vista!

Speaking of Start Trek games, is that the one where you have to buy planets or something on that idea? With me I'm always in the middle of some situation where you have to keep moving fast. :eek: :eek: :eek: !!!



OOPS! :P
 
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