Crashes on the "Please Wait" screen

[Darkdragoness]

I just bought this game yesterday and I've never seen past the "Please Wait" screen. I have all of the system requirements, and I downloaded the patch just a few hours ago.
To be more detailed about the crash, though, whenever I try to start the game it goes to the, as I said, "Please Wait..." screen. When the bar is ALMOST loaded, the entire game crashes and it goes back to my desktop. I tried uninstalling it and reinstalling it again, but to no avail. This is really getting on my nerves, especially when none of the support features help. Has anyone had this problem before, and how do you fix it? I'm about to take the thing back...

[mouse]

Please post your DXDiag using the manage attachments button below. Also make sure to turn off your virus scanner when trying to play.

[NumakNatut III]

Darkdragoness,

To post your computers specific Dx Diagnostic file:

Click on START, RUN, then type in dxdiag , and press enter.

Let it run. (watch the progress bar on the lower left)

Once it's finished, click on the SAVE ALL INFORMATION button on the lower right.

Watch where it is saved, or save it to somewhere you can find it, because you will need to upload it as a file to a post on the forum here.

To do that, you make a reply, then scroll down the page to below where it says MANAGE ATTACHMENTS, click on that, then a window will pop up with a bunch of blank squares, next to them is a button called BROWSE, click on that, go to where you saved the DXDIAG.TXT file, click on it, and select OPEN.

You will be back at the window that popped up. Select UPLOAD.

Select CLOSE THIS WINDOW, now you can SUBMIT REPLY and the uploaded dxdiag.txt file will be attached to your forum post.

That should get the ball rolling.

[Darkdragoness]

Thanks, Numak lol

[Keith]

Your graphics Intel 82810 Graphics Controller (http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df/Detail_Desc.asp?agr=N&ProductID=178&DwnldID=4665) is not the best for playing CotN. TM says you can use it but you may have to make some sacrifices on performance by lowering all the video settings to get it to run.

Plus, your video drivers for the Intel are 4 years old and desperately needs updating (http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df/Detail_Desc.asp?agr=N&ProductID=178&DwnldID=4665).

You may want to consider a more up to date video card like a ATI RADEON or NVidia Geforce.

Your sound drivers are also 4 years old and need updating.

But your biggest problem right now is that your system doesn't have enough RAM to run the game unde Windows XP (Pro). The minimum requirement for a XP based systems is 256MB RAM (http://www.immortalcities.com/cotn/gameinfo/faq.php#fq11).

[Manni]

........and the graphics

Display Memory is 4.0 MB

[Darkdragoness]

Alright, I updated the video stuff, and now the thing isn't even getting to the "Please Wait" screen... now, about five seconds after I click the button it crashes and windows sends me a little thing saying "an error occured" or something of that sort. *sigh*

I guess I'll send that dxdiag again just in case anything's changed since yesterday... :confused: Another thing, I'm not very computer literate when it comes to those abbreviations like RAM and such, lol, I'm assuming that's memory...? If it is, then what kind of files are the biggest? The only thing that I can think of that might be taking up LOADS of space on my computer is music, which is very understandable seeing as I have hundreds of songs... but what other kinds of files are really huge? (Top 5, maybe??? :confused: )

Oh yeah! One more thing... about the drivers... those be updated via internet, right?

[Keith]

I think your best option is to add at least another 128MB of RAM (memory) to your system at the bare minimum, or add enough to bring it up to 512MB total (another 384MB added). That will get your system over the minimum requirement hump of 256MB when running under Windows XP.

You may want to consider a new graphics card, rather than continuing on with your current on-board system (which will have to be disabled if a seperate card is used.)

A seperate more up to date sound card might be a wise idea as well.

Your system is also just below the minimum speed required for the game. Your system is a 700Mhz and the minimum is 800Mhz. So if nothing else if the new additional RAM, video and sound cards cure your problems the game may run just a tad slow.

Then again it may be time to just get a new computer. ;) There are lots of deals out there for faster better equipped machines than the one you presently have.

[NumakNatut III]

Hmm.. Sounds to me like maybe a new PC is another option. Time to do a little research into getting the most bang for the buck. There are a lot of nice deals out there in entry level gaming machines. $700-800 can get a really nice basic gaming system these days. My tastes lean toward the $1800-2300 middle range. One of these days I'll need to buy up into some higher technology myself.

You might try picking up a PC gamer or PC magazine issue at the grocery store or library and looking at what's available. Even the Dell ads look interesting these days. ;) PC gamer has a 'Hard Stuff' page in the back that lists the components of three levels of gaming machines. Look for something that has those parts in it, or you could find a Computer savvy friend to put one together for you.

Or maybe you could just take the game back and wait a while. It looks like your current machine needs a lot of work, and cash, to bring it up to speed. :(

btw the current issue (march 8, 2005) of PC magazine goes into detail about this very subject. The title article is "Upgrade or Start over?" You may find it interesting. :)

[GillB]

From your new dxdiag, it looks as though the new video drivers are still nearly 3 years old - are they the most recent you could find? If so, then I think a new graphics card is a must to be able to play CotN.