game not working

[stargazer]

Ok., I just bought this game yesterday at wal-mart. Brand new out of the bod. I loaded it up, and when the game started I had the couple mini movie shows, tilted mill, so on, when the game loaded to the first main screen the video was all garbled. I have had this problem with other games, but worked on the video settings and had them working. I did that for Nile, and when I restarted the computer, it wouldn't load, kept telling me I didnt have the correct disc in, I tried multiple times, didn't work. I uninstalled it (last night) and went to work. i reinstalled it this morning, and it comes up with windows had a problem with CotN.exe, send this error report (yes/no) I always choose no they never help anyways. I got on the web and download the nvidia patch required, and the patch of CON, installed both, but still the game won't run. Keeps showing me windows had a problem loading this program.

HELP!!!, I think this game would be a great game if I can actually get to play it!!!!!!!! Thankx.....

I am also sending the dxdiag file. Someone help me please, e-mail me at stargazer65@rcn.com

[Keith]

Ok., I just bought this game yesterday at wal-mart. Brand new out of the bod. I loaded it up, and when the game started I had the couple mini movie shows, tilted mill, so on, when the game loaded to the first main screen the video was all garbled. I have had this problem with other games, but worked on the video settings and had them working. I did that for Nile, and when I restarted the computer, it wouldn't load, kept telling me I didnt have the correct disc in, I tried multiple times, didn't work. I uninstalled it (last night) and went to work. i reinstalled it this morning, and it comes up with windows had a problem with CotN.exe, send this error report (yes/no) I always choose no they never help anyways. I got on the web and download the nvidia patch required, and the patch of CON, installed both, but still the game won't run. Keeps showing me windows had a problem loading this program.

HELP!!!, I think this game would be a great game if I can actually get to play it!!!!!!!! Thankx.....

I am also sending the dxdiag file. Someone help me please, e-mail me at stargazer65@rcn.com
Looks like your audio driver files are a bit too old, dated 2001. These can cause problems like you are experiencing. You should try to find newer driver versions.

http://www.sis.com/download/

[stargazer]

O.K., i did the nvidia d/l, and the CON patch but the game won't run at all now. Will the SIS do any good?? I'm really anxious to play this game, I like all games like this and am a freak at the amount of time I put into them.. :-)

[Keith]

I saw that you had the Nvidia 61.77 drivers installed. So they should be fine, provided you uninstalled your previous drivers before installing 61.77.

The audio drivers can crashing problems if they are too old. Yours are nearly 4 years old and should be updated.

Other things you should do are close down background apps that may be interfering with the game before you try to start the game.

Have you defragmented you hard drive lately, before you installed the game?

[stargazer]

O.K. I dl'ed the audio drivers, and when I reinstalled it I decided to try to run it through the installation screen, this time the game started, but once again, after the first little video segments, my screen is all garbled, it looks like the horizontal control is out of wack, thats the only way to describe it. I have to jump to desktop to shut it down. I instlaled 6177, the patch, and sis drivers. I even repaired my windows to see if there was a problem with the xp i am using. I have had this video glitch before but can't remember exactly how I fixed it, but did get the other games working. the refresh rate is at 60, my system won't run with anything else, but the game looks like it is running something other than 60. gimme more clues, maybe together I can finally get to play the game. tnx..

[stargazer]

stupid me, I wasn't thinking that in dxdiag there is an area for setting your own refresh rate. I made it 60 and so far the game started, but of course i havnet played it yet, till I end this letter. thanks for your help(s), and if I have any more problems I'll let you know. Tnx again all.

[Manni]

Stargazer has:

NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pixel Shaders is a hardware feature and is only supported by certain Geforce and Quadro NVIDIA based graphic cards. The following list of NVIDIA based graphic cards do not support Pixel Shaders (all other cards support this feature):

NVIDIA Riva 128
NVIDIA Riva TNT
NVIDIA Riva TNT2 M64/TNT2/TNT2 Pro/TNT2 Ultra
NVIDIA Vanta
NVIDIA Geforce256 DDR/SDR
NVIDIA Geforce2 GTS/Pro/Ultra/Ti200
NVIDIA Geforce2 MX/MX100/MX200/MX400
NVIDIA Geforce4 MX/MX4000NVIDIA Quadro
NVIDIA Quadro2 Pro
NVIDIA Quadro NVS
NVIDIA Quadro4 280XGL/380XGL/550XGL
NVIDIA Geforce2 Go
NVIDIA Geforce4 Go
NVIDIA Quadro2 Go
NVIDIA Quadro4 500 Go

[stargazer]

ok. game works fine since i used the dxdiag and manually set the refresh rate. I played it over and over this past weekend, and even with my 1.6 ghz and 700+ mg mem, it was slow, and choppy, even with graphics turned down. I lvoed the pharoah games, I love the ceasar games, I like virtually all these type of games, but after playing this one for two days straight... I'm sorry i spent $30 on it. Too much detail given into the zoom and full rotation effects when more of the system could be used to actually play, and battle.

If I get bored of my other games I might play this one again, but not in the near future. Oh well, not the first game I didn't like. 1 1/2 stars out of 5.

[Keith]

Sorry to hear about your experience, but the game does put a tremendous load on your system and requires a lot of resources something other games aren't doing.

At some point larger cities can even bog down my P4 3Ghz system with its Radeon 9800 Pro. Unfortunately a 1.7Mhz system is just not "that fast" anylonger and as time passes games are going to be putting more strain on it as the games get more complicated. Your MX4000 graphics card is essentially in the same situation....fine for its day, but just not enough now as time presses on.

If you get a more powerful computer and graphics card in the future, try it again. I think your star rating will go up.