Game hangs on launch with black screen

[jackbird]

When I run the .exe, I get a black window on my desktop (a different size every time). After a few seconds or a few clicks, the window title changes to (not responding).

WinXP x64 SP2
intel core2 quad 6600
4 GB RAM
nVidia 6800GT
dual 1920x1200 monitors (disabling monitor 2 does not change behavior)

[the_Fifth_Horseman]

Try launching the game with parameter -resolution 640 .

[jackbird]

Thanks, works great.

-resolution 1280 works even better - I can read the text that way ;)

[Wraithbloodbane]

When I activate the exe file I get a loading bar and then a black screen. Shortly there after I get an error message and windows searches for a solution. Any help?

[the_Fifth_Horseman]

We're not parapsychic to know what error message you received.
Without knowing that, we can't help you.
So, what does that error message say?
EDI: Also, what version of Windows are you running and on what hardware? This might make a major difference here (the game was developed for XP and Vista, remember - mostly the former)

[alex3337]

Also, did you try the -resolution 640 option pointed out above?

[jackbird]

Back again, it seems.

After a couple of enjoyable evenings playing through the tutorials and the first couple of campaigns, The game now hangs on launch after the "Please wait while loading" bar fills up.

Renaming ingame.dat, log.dat, progress.dat, and stats.dat (all of which are empty files) allows the game to launch, but all the soldiers have names like Sgt. ^X^^^^^^^.

Starting a new campaign restores the soldier names, which would seem to be a solution, except that it's now happening every time I run the game.

I am also suspecting that exiting the game is crashing my whole machine rather spectacularly, but Flash CS4 and an unstable-as-hell middleware plugin are being questioned as well.

[Niklas]

If you have empty files you need to remove these as the game will try to read data from them if the files exist. They are corrupt and will generate corrupt content (soldier names and so on...)

Remove all progress.dat file in all directories (in data and in missions subdirectories). Remove ingame.dat and stats.dat too. Or simply remove the entire game and unpack the original zip file again. If you don't want to have to replay all campaigns again to get access to the missions you can use the unlock missions cheat.

No one else is having these problems so I guess it has something to do with your computer setup or some other conflicting software. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.