Demo stuck on splash screen

[LordLOC]

So I happily downloaded the Silverfall demo today, as I was quite looking forward to trying the game out.

Unfortunately I cannot get past the Silverfall splash screen. I set my video options using the config tool, but no matter what I do I can't get past the splash, it just sits there with a windows mouse cursor.

I'm running on an AMD64 3200+, an Nvidia 6800GT, 2GB of DDR, and Windows XP Pro with all current updates. I'm also using the latest Nvidia forceware drivers. Oh and I play at 1024x768.

Has anyone had this issue, and does anyone know how to get the demo to actually start correctly?

[mysterd]

Originally Posted by LordLOC

So I happily downloaded the Silverfall demo today, as I was quite looking forward to trying the game out.

Unfortunately I cannot get past the Silverfall splash screen. I set my video options using the config tool, but no matter what I do I can't get past the splash, it just sits there with a windows mouse cursor.

I'm running on an AMD64 3200+, an Nvidia 6800GT, 2GB of DDR, and Windows XP Pro with all current updates. I'm also using the latest Nvidia forceware drivers. Oh and I play at 1024x768.

Has anyone had this issue, and does anyone know how to get the demo to actually start correctly?

Odd.

I started the demo and it ran fine -- and my PC's specs are beneath yours.

Win XP
Intel P4 @ 3.2 Ghz w/ HT
128 MB GeForce 6600 GT
1 GB DDR2 RAM

[Warrior_]

I face a similar problem. The US Demo crashes shortly after the splash screen. The program seems being unable to initialise the graphical subsystem.

My configuration:

Win XP Pro SP2
Intel P4 @ 3.0 Ghz w/ HT
256 MB Radeon X800
Sound Blaster Audigy 4
1 GB DDR RAM

Any suggestions?
----
Addendum

GPU:

Name ALL-IN-WONDER X800 Series
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4A4A&SUBSYS_44221002&REV_00\4&38B71F77&0&0008
Adapter Type RADEON X800 Series AGP (0x4A4A), ATI Technologies Inc. compatible
Adapter Description ALL-IN-WONDER X800 Series
Adapter RAM 256,00 MB (268.435.456 bytes)
Installed Drivers ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version 6.14.10.6660
INF File oem37.inf (ati2mtag_R420 section)


GPU driver details:

Driver Packaging Version 8.33-061220m-040997C-ATI
CATALYST® Version 07.1
Provider ATI Technologies Inc.
2D Driver Version 6.14.10.6660
2D Driver File Path System/CurrentControlSet/Control/Video/{79290AA3-C15F-493D-B3B8-13540C2A3BA8}/0000
Direct3D Version 6.14.10.0464
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.6287
CATALYST® Control Center Version 1.2.2545.38916
AV Stream (T200) Driver Version 6.14.1


Error log:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: ati2mtag
Event Category: DAL
Event ID: 43009
Date: 30.01.2007
Time: 13:45:28
User: N/A
Computer: PERSEUS2
Description: Invalid display type
Data:
0000: 00 00 00 00 01 00 5a 00 ......Z.
0008: 2a 00 00 00 01 a8 00 c0 *....¨.À
0010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........

[[BFs]GBesaw]

Please post any error messages that you are getting. And check the system/application logs for any errors. What gpu and gpu driver versions are you using?

[Warrior_]

Someone suggested that installing the demo on an partition other than C: could cause the error. Sounds extremly strange...

Could someone verify this?

[[BFs]GBesaw]

Originally Posted by Warrior_

Someone suggested that installing the demo on an partition other than C: could cause the error. Sounds extremly strange...

Could someone verify this?

I do not believe that to be the issue. It appears that you have a driver related issue. If you have not used drivercleaner to completely remove old driver/registry entries, I would recommend that you download drivercleaner (google for the free version). Uninstall 7.1 from the control panel, boot into the safe mode, run drivercleaner (all ati/nvidia options), reboot and install 7.1. Other gamers with similar issue have reported that this has greatly improved performance and stability.

[a_ndy]

I also get stuck on the splash screen. Just prior to this I receive the error message:

"Unable to create the Direct3D device. This program will now exit."

System configuration:
Windows XP Home Edition (SP2)
Intel Centrino Duo 1.66 GHz
Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family
1270 MB RAM
DirectX 9.0c

I know I have a really shoddy laptop video card. Is this the reason that the game won't run?

[Mathmaruader]

Is your firewall/windows firewall coming up because that will crash the game if you havent given it permission yet.

[[BFs]GBesaw]

Originally Posted by a_ndy

Mobile Intel(R) 945GM Express Chipset Family
1270 MB RAM
DirectX 9.0c

I know I have a really shoddy laptop video card. Is this the reason that the game won't run?

That is your problem. Sorry.

[switch_foot4]

When i start the demo it sits at the logo screen with my hourglass cursor for 4 minutes and 38 seconds. yes i timed it. then it goes to th eloading screen (which i would love to see a loading bar not just a spinning wheel, and maybe some tips or background story or something to read) anyway it takes over 5 minutes to get to the main menu from when i double click on the desktop icon. so maybe if you let it sit there for awhile it'll eventually work for you?

[[BFs]GBesaw]

Originally Posted by switch_foot4

When i start the demo it sits at the logo screen with my hourglass cursor for 4 minutes and 38 seconds. yes i timed it. then it goes to th eloading screen (which i would love to see a loading bar not just a spinning wheel, and maybe some tips or background story or something to read) anyway it takes over 5 minutes to get to the main menu from when i double click on the desktop icon. so maybe if you let it sit there for awhile it'll eventually work for you?

Ouch on the load. What are your system specs and have been been able to get in game and play after the loading?

[switch_foot4]

3.4 GHZ Pentium 4 (lga775) 1.5 gigs of ram, geforce 6600GT, about 40 gigs free HD space. Some other things that i've noticed. I dont see any video intro yet i ehar other people talk about it. I double click the icon it takes about 10 seconds to load the game, then i see the silverfall logo with the busty elf chick, that sits there for 4mins or so then i see the loading screen with the wheel turning. after that its right to the main menu and i can play the game with no hiccups. I havn't messed with the config files or anything, and my computer is 100% spyware and virus free. I'm pretty anal when it comes to my computer and i take good care of it.

[Warrior_]

Originally Posted by [BFs]GBesaw

I do not believe that to be the issue. It appears that you have a driver related issue. If you have not used drivercleaner to completely remove old driver/registry entries, I would recommend that you download drivercleaner (google for the free version). Uninstall 7.1 from the control panel, boot into the safe mode, run drivercleaner (all ati/nvidia options), reboot and install 7.1. Other gamers with similar issue have reported that this has greatly improved performance and stability.

Besides the fact that I did not suffer from bad performance and instability, I gave it a try. I even installed the Silverfall Demo on the default location on drive C:, but nothing helped.

Any further ideas?

[Warrior_]

Finally, I found a solution. I let SILVERFALL.EXE run in Windows 2000 compatibly mode.

Maybe a problem with multi core CPUs oder Hyperthreading? Whatsoever, this plus the missing read.me seems like the absence of Quality Assurance to me.

[Rychster]

This has happened to me too. I have an ATI X800 XL with the latest drivers (it happened even with a fairly old one too).

I have been able to reinstall the game and have it work right after that. However, if I quit the game and come back to it, I gets stuck loading at the splash screen and never works from that point on, even if I try to reset or restart my PC.

I have an AMD XP 64 3200+ with 1GB RAM with a Nvidia chipset.

Frustrated about this because I need to play to make a decision on whether to buy this game.

[[BFs]GBesaw]

Have you checked to see if you have loaded the lastest Nvidia chipset drivers? In particular, if you are using on board sound, the sound drivers.

[Rychster]

Originally Posted by [BFs]GBesaw

Have you checked to see if you have loaded the lastest Nvidia chipset drivers? In particular, if you are using on board sound, the sound drivers.

Hello,

I use hardware sound, Creative Audigy 2. My chipset driver is the latest.

Bob

[Warrior_]

Ever tried a different compatibly mode?

[Rychster]

Originally Posted by Warrior_

Ever tried a different compatibly mode?

I wouldn't know how since having XP is the preferred version for Silverfall. I tried it again with failure at the splash screen. It hung for over 10 minutes before I turned off my PC and restarted.

[[BFs]GBesaw]

Are you getting any error messages or error in the system or application logs. Have you ever used drivercleaner before when you change ATi drivers? If you haven't, try this: download drivercleaner ( http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745 ), uninstall your current drivers from the control panel, boot into the safe mode and run drivercleaner (all ati options), reboot and install Catalyst 7.1.

[Warrior_]

Originally Posted by Rychster

I wouldn't know how since having XP is the preferred version for Silverfall.

I've got lots of experience with crashing games, because from time to time I tend to play very old games within Windows XP like the 'Thief' series or 'System Shock 2'. Especially on modern PCs with more than one CPU this programs will not run firsthand. But with little effort, I managed to play them flawlessly, like using the compatibly mode (Thief) or assigning only one CPU to the program (SS2).

My conclusion: Try and see wether it works or not.

[Rychster]

Originally Posted by [BFs]GBesaw

Are you getting any error messages or error in the system or application logs. Have you ever used drivercleaner before when you change ATi drivers? If you haven't, try this: download drivercleaner ( http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745 ), uninstall your current drivers from the control panel, boot into the safe mode and run drivercleaner (all ati options), reboot and install Catalyst 7.1.

I did what you said and it still failed (However, I was unable to boot into safe mode - it kept on looping from the safe mode selection screen and re POSTing back to the selection screen). I do not know how to run Silverfall in a different compatibility mode either.

[Warrior_]

Originally Posted by Rychster

I do not know how to run Silverfall in a different compatibility mode either.

1) Locate SILVERFALL.EXE
For example, right click on the Silverfall Demo Icon on the Desktop or in the Start Menu an select 'Properties'. A new window will pop up. In the lower left corner of this window you will find a button 'Find Target...'. Just click it and the explorer will open a window with the contents of the folder where SILVERFALL.EXE is located.

2) Right click SILVERFALL.EXE, then 'Properties', then 'Compatibly'. Activate 'Run this program in compatibly mode for:'

3) Now you can select different Windows versions. I would recommend starting with 'Windows 2000', maybe 'Windows 98' oder 'Windows 95' will work also. 'Windows NT' shall not work with games because of missing DirectX compatibly.

4) Press OK and you are done

[Northone]

Originally Posted by Rychster

This has happened to me too. I have an ATI X800 XL with the latest drivers (it happened even with a fairly old one too).

I have been able to reinstall the game and have it work right after that. However, if I quit the game and come back to it, I gets stuck loading at the splash screen and never works from that point on, even if I try to reset or restart my PC.

I have an AMD XP 64 3200+ with 1GB RAM with a Nvidia chipset.

Frustrated about this because I need to play to make a decision on whether to buy this game.

I had the same experience as Rychster, the game worked when I first installed it but got stuck on the splash screen when I quit and restarted it. Uninstalling and reinstalling had the same result. I did all the 'have you updated your drivers' stuff, I even did the changing the compatibility mode suggestion.

This is disappointing as I would love to buy this game, but not if I can only run it once.

[[BFs]GBesaw]

Northone -- What are your system specs including gpu and OS?

[Toryn]

I had this problem as well, demo ran once and then would lock up. The most annoying thing was there was no way out of it besides simply turning off the computer. Ctrl-Alt-Del wouldn't work, nor could on Alt-Tab out of it.

I tried all the updating and stuff and in the course of doing all that, decided to simply to format my hard drive and reinstall all my stuff. (For various other reasons, not just to try to run the Silverfall Demo LOL)

So with a fresh installation of WinXP and all my stuff clean and healthy, this "bug" occurred again. I played once and got stuck again afterward. However, being persistent, I tried something different from what's been offered here. I went into the Silverfall Demo Options and set the game to Windowed Mode. First try, it locked up on the spalsh screen. However, this time I was able to kill it through Task Manager. I then imediately restarted it. And this time, success. Since then, I have yet to have it stick at the splash screen. However, running it in Windowed Mode is a pain for several reasons. For one thing, it takes up a few more resources from your computer then runnign it in full screen. On top of that, some of the bottom half of the game screen is never visible (the cut off is right below the health and energy bars). However, I am able to run it with video settings set to High with minimal slowdown. Its a wee bit sluggish, true, more so than it would be in Full Screen I imagine. I'd much rather play it in Full Screen. I have tried to run it in Full Screen but I get stuck at the splash screen. I've tried shutting off my firewall (Zone Alarm) and my anti-virus (Kaspersky), but turning off one or the other or both has not led to a fix.

For reference here's my computer specs: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4600 (2.41Ghz); 3 GB RAM; e-Geforce 7600 GS.

[Northone]

Hi GBesaw, This is what I have:

Computer:
Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack: Service Pack 2
DirectX : 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)

Motherboard:
CPU Type: Intel Pentium 4, 3066 MHz (23 x 133)
Motherboard Name : Intel Blue Mountain 2 D845PEBT2 (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 2 DIMM, Audio, LAN,

IEEE-1394)
Motherboard Chipset: Intel Brookdale i845PE
System Memory: 1024 MB (PC2700 DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type : AMI (10/21/02)

Display:
Video Adapter: RADEON X700 Series Secondary (256 MB)
3D Accelerator:ATI Radeon X700 Pro (RV410)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Creative SB0350 Audigy 2 ZS Sound

[Northone]

I seemed to have solved my lockup problem. I took Toryn's suggestion and ran the game in windowed mode. As soon as I did my ZoneAlarm popped up asking for permission to let the game access the internet. I told it 'yes' and to let it remember the setting. I then put the game back to full screen and the game loaded.

I think what happened was the game popped up the ZoneAlarm warning before the splash screen the first time I ran it. The second time I ran it the splash screen came up first and then the ZoneAlarm warning came up. The splash screen was then hiding the ZoneAlarm. Everything was just waiting for me to answer the ZoneAlarm question.

[[BFs]GBesaw]

Good to hear that you have it sorted out .

[Rychster]

Originally Posted by Northone

I seemed to have solved my lockup problem. I took Toryn's suggestion and ran the game in windowed mode. As soon as I did my ZoneAlarm popped up asking for permission to let the game access the internet. I told it 'yes' and to let it remember the setting. I then put the game back to full screen and the game loaded.

I think what happened was the game popped up the ZoneAlarm warning before the splash screen the first time I ran it. The second time I ran it the splash screen came up first and then the ZoneAlarm warning came up. The splash screen was then hiding the ZoneAlarm. Everything was just waiting for me to answer the ZoneAlarm question.

Games should not do this. ZA has been around for eons and I am not sure who to blame anymore. ZA shouldn't make it so difficult to accept traffic from the computer during game loads and games should explicitly allow configuration for firewall settings way before it become invisible without any control of the PC.