Patch troubles

[Chryse]

I had difficulties getting the game to run when I first got it, I think due to a bad install. When I finally got it going two days ago it seemed fine. I was playing the tutorials OK, but unfortunately today I downloaded and installed the patch and everything went wrong! The game wouldn't start, just the black screen and invitation to report the fault to Microsoft. Also, it is impossible to delete it using the Installshield Wizard - I just get an error message that the wizard has terminated without finishing the job. I can manage it using a combination of an uninstall utility and the wizard, but I'm not certain I have cleared everything. This happens each time I try to uninstall it. Also, since the crash today I can't restore my PC to an earlier point. (I'm on XP Home with SP2). Has anyone else had problems with the patch, I wonder? Of course, my problem could be faulty hardware, but I just don't know. I don't have problems with anything else.

AMD XP2000+
512 MB DDR
ATI 9600 256MB DDR (running at x4 on my GA7DXE Motherboard)
Plenty of disc space

[Keith]

Sounds like you may be having some system issues. Not being able to restore to a earlier point is not a good indicator. You might want to run chkdsk /R to repair any problems on the hard drive.

Did you try to do a disk cleanup and defragmentation after uninstalling the game as best you could?

Then reinstall.

[Mulluane]

Compac has a warning on their site.

Update: System Restore


Once you install SP2, you are not able to use System Restore to go back to a previous restore point unless the following update (SP26352) has already been installed. If you have already installed service pack 2 and want to access restore points made before service pack 2 was installed, uninstall service pack 2 and apply this update:


System Restore Update (in English).

Now this was listed under my make and model of computer but I would imagine it applies to all computers. Hope this helps :)

[Chryse]

Thanks. No, I didn't defrag, but I did search for any CotN related files and deleted them. At this stage the relay to my graphic card was clicking on and off repeatedly, but deleting a stray file called 'something pre-fetch', (sorry, should have noted it down) seemed to cure it. I left it till this morning, checked everything else was working OK, DXdiag was fine, other 3D software worked OK, then I made a restore point and tried to reinstall. It crashed halfway through, with a message about turning off shading in BIOS. I was able to revert to the new restore point this time and will try Chkdsk /R. My graphic driver is only dated April 04, so I didn't think it was too old, but I will search for a newer one just in case. If not, I suppose I'll just have to give up, which is very disappointing but there's not much else I can do. I am truly grateful for all the help and advice.