Vista, again and again...

[Amiral Crapaud]

Hello everyone

I looked for a solution around here, checking the numerous topics written by people having issues with Vista Pro (32 bits), but Im not quite sure I found my very problem, nor my solution. So maybe there's someone around here who resolved it already and then could please give me a hand...

my game, right now, doesn't work. Once the intro movies are over, and the loading screen bar full, Ive got a beautiful CTD, either Im on 1.0 or patched to 1.4.
Starforce has been updated since long, and well Ive tried several times to install - uninstall SH3, but the same issue remains.

I do not have problems with my pilot - just to check if it was video related, I just got my GF 8300 the last driver update, but to no avail. Does anyone have any clue?

Thanks in advance

AJ

[Philipp_Thomsen]

The best i can tell you so far is that its just too soon to use vista... compatibilities now are not in the right spot yet...

i have the vista ultimate here... installed but its just not in the right spot yet, a lot to be fixed/worked.

I will use my windows xp pro sp2 until end of the year, or maybe around august ill change... i suggest you do the same!

[johnno74]

Well I've been playing SH3 on vista since march last year, no problems at all. Infact I noticed that my loading times dropped hugely under vista.

I have applied the patch that cannot be mentioned here, to solve issues with starforce...

Anyway, keep at it. SH3 DOES run under vista. Infact I've yet to find anything major that doesn't work. Few glitches here and there, nothing serious. After installing SP1 release candidate performance is much improved too.

[Amiral Crapaud]

Thanks for getting interested to my problem people ^^

Johnno Im sending you a PM...

[TomcatMVD]

Vista here, and no problems...
I did something with Starforce also...I just can't remember what...

[seafarer]

Did you install in the default "program files" path? If so, when you uninstall/re-install, did you use the control panel tool, and did you also delete the SHIII folder in the hidden AppData folder in your user's directory?

I've been running SHIII under Vista since July, no problems.

I would suggest the following:

Uninstall the game using the control panel tool. If this will not work, then you will then know already that you have a corrupted install. In that event, delete the folder in program files, delete your user folder, and find and delete the SHIII folder buried deep in the hidden AppData folder in your user's directory. Get a hold of and run a registry cleaner, or, if you are comfortable with it, use regedit and purge your registry of all SHIII entries (ie, SHIII, Silent Hunter III, sh3.exe - there may be other key words to search with too).

Now to re-install, when the install presents the path to put the program into, change it from the default to somewhere else - anywhere other then "program files" (stick it in the drives root directory or your own user's directory). You do not need to make the directory first, just change the path in the installer. This will bypass Vista's UAC and allow the patches and mods to find the true correct paths to write to. Reboot after the install to be sure the registry is updated and re-scanned by the system.

Now run the 1.4 patch, and you should be good to go (although you may not have a desktop icon by default - just make your own shortcut to the exe file in the program directory).

[GoldenRivet]

some folks here are all too familiar with my vista problems... The problem is that vista likes to hang on to some slightly hidden files associated with games when you uninstall them.

An easy fix is to follow the advice above and when you reinstall... Do so OUTSIDE of program files directory.

For example, my SH3 path is directly in the C: in a folder entitled "Kriegsmarine" and is not installed within program files.

Since adopting this method of installation/ uninstall I have had ZERO CTDs in Sh3... And I used to be a CTD king when it came to GWX!

Good luck with your problems.

~GR

[Friedl9te]

Shure, finally SHII will work under Vista. But from my point of view Vista a piece of "peep" and nobody really needs ist.

I cannot see any advantage except the fact to use more powerful processors, to achive the same performance.

Intel recently thanked Bill Gates for his unbroken effort to make software slower and slower.:rotfl:

[seafarer]

To be honest, this is just getting tiresome. Someone is using Vista - and the reasons do not matter - and posts here for help. Instead they get someone's negative opinion of Vista over XP, and absolutely no help with their actual problem.

What is the point of such posts? If you cannot help the OP, then just don't post.

Maybe they bought a new system that shipped with Vista and they don't have any copies of XP to use even if they wanted to go that route. Maybe they like some other aspects of Vista (eg. it will wake from sleep to run software update, then re-sleep the system).

Maybe they just don't see the point of completely uninstall the OS, and installing another, just to fix an issue with a piece of software that many here can tell you CAN run just fine under Vista.

If you want to post opinion comments about Vista versus XP, there are already threads in the General Topics forum.

Sorry, but these anti-Vista posts in response to specific posts for help have just gotten very tiresome over the past year, and they do not help the OP anyway.

[Amiral Crapaud]

Originally Posted by seafarer

Did you install in the default "program files" path? If so, when you uninstall/re-install, did you use the control panel tool, and did you also delete the SHIII folder in the hidden AppData folder in your user's directory?

I've been running SHIII under Vista since July, no problems.

I would suggest the following:

Uninstall the game using the control panel tool. If this will not work, then you will then know already that you have a corrupted install. In that event, delete the folder in program files, delete your user folder, and find and delete the SHIII folder buried deep in the hidden AppData folder in your user's directory. Get a hold of and run a registry cleaner, or, if you are comfortable with it, use regedit and purge your registry of all SHIII entries (ie, SHIII, Silent Hunter III, sh3.exe - there may be other key words to search with too).

Now to re-install, when the install presents the path to put the program into, change it from the default to somewhere else - anywhere other then "program files" (stick it in the drives root directory or your own user's directory). You do not need to make the directory first, just change the path in the installer. This will bypass Vista's UAC and allow the patches and mods to find the true correct paths to write to. Reboot after the install to be sure the registry is updated and re-scanned by the system.

Now run the 1.4 patch, and you should be good to go (although you may not have a desktop icon by default - just make your own shortcut to the exe file in the program directory).

I am going to try that again, but last time I installed it I specifically put it in another folder and that didn't help. Additionally, I disactivated UAC long time ago and Im the only user/admin on that computer, so authorization and UAC sh*t can't be an issue here.

As you see

The patch actually found its way to the game (either it's in its default folder or another).

The bug in itself is atypical - does anyone else crash once the loading bar reaches the end of its line?

[seafarer]

Did you clear out the dregs in AppData after the original install and before your install outside of program files? Those may still cause a conflict when the game tries to load.

Since you've installed outside of program files, you can blow away anything and everything related to SHIII in AppData.

[Amiral Crapaud]

Where is this folder supposed to be in the Appdata? I find no Ubisoft/silent hunter reference in my hidden C:\Users\Admin\AppData

Thanks for everything

[seafarer]

I'm going from memory here, but I think it is in:

AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\

or something very similar to that.

If you had UAC off before you ever even first tried to install SHIII, then it may not have anything there (since disabling UAC would have disabled file virtualization too).

[JScones]

Your screenshot says a lot.

As you have installed SH3 outside of Program Files, UAC is not the problem, regardless of where you may have previously installed it. The telltale proof of this is that you do not have a VirtualStore link present in your screenshot (such a link indicates the presence of a VirtualStore folder).

So, looking at other causes, a recent K-Lite codec pack has been known to adversely impact both SH3 and SH4. Have you installed such a pack lately? Indeed, I guess any codec pack for Vista could upset an "older" game like SH3.

Failing that, I have no idea, outside of the usual installation and mod/file conflict problems.

[Amiral Crapaud]

So, looking at other causes, a recent K-Lite codec pack has been known to adversely impact both SH3 and SH4. Have you installed such a pack lately? Indeed, I guess any codec pack for Vista could upset an "older" game like SH3.

Hum. That may be an interesting lead indeed. I installed a lot of codecs (CCCP related, MKV...) quite recently. Indeed, maybe that dear SH3 of mine crashes the moment it initializes the menu video... it would be logical, considering it happens once the loading bar is full.

I am going to give it another try. Thanks JScones (and the others of course, especially Seafarer )