Unable to Install Vanilla SHIII

[Grumbling Grognard]

Hello All,

I have owned SHIII for a couple of years now and my son and I enjoyed the heck out of it on my old PC. Well, it has gone the way of all old PCs and I built a new PC. Firstly, I am not a total newb. This is not my first box I have built (nor the second or third or fourth...you get the point). My drivers ARE current (let's just not go there, okay). Secondly, I am in information technology. I have been for 15 years. I can find my way around WinXP just fine. My box is rock solid stable, except for this game which will not even install...

I have attempted to install/reinstall the game literally more times than I can count (only for my son would I do this!)

When I try to install SHIII the new installation fails every time with the same error message:

"Error 1305.Error reading from file C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\SilentHunterIII\data\NavalAcademy\Na val Artillery\English\Naval Artillery\Naval Artillery.wmv. Verify that the file exists and you can access it."

...Well, sure it exists, but hell no I can't access it because the damned installation program has it locked! So, it seems to me that this great prog can not even decompress its own files consistantly?! Gee, might this have something to do with copy protection (again)?!?!?!

SH3 does 'not' always fail on the same file, but it does always fail with the same message and it does always fail while trying to read/copy *wmv files from-to ...SilentHunterIII\data\NavalAcademy directory.

Sometimes a retry works, generally not. IF it works on the first file, it will always fail at on this particular file (I don't even want the damned tutorials!)

The PC works fine. Tons of disc space, lots of memory and other games work fine.

Now, before anyone tells me it is my disc, it is not. I have been able to install and play this same cdrom on my Father's PC (he has an off the shelf HP we got a few months ago). Performace blows due to his lack of a vid card, but it installed fine and runs. My Dad's pc has a DVD drive... 'but' it is not a R/W drive, just a ROM...

I will be honest, I work in software development and I have just completed spending about 40 hours of my spare time trying to get ANOTHER G-damned game working for my son (yes this is for him as well). That "free time" was wasted because of issues with their copy protection software VS my DVD drive.

Now, after a bit of reading about StarForce and considering the symptoms, I am practically postitive it is this copy protection on SHIII that is preventing me from installing SHIII.

If this is truely the case, and it is not resolved damned soon I 'will' never, NEVER buy another G-damned UBI game again, period. I kid you not. Ask Atari how many of their games I am buying after the issues I had with Securom and thier total lack of support?

Considering my boy's b-day is in March (when SH4 is due), and at least a dozen family members continously come to me for "computer help" and "game reviews" for their kids/themselves (sorry, I 'am' the family computer geek) and my boy and I tend to buy about three dozen games a year that would be too bad for us all.

Can anyone help me get this damned game reinstalled on my new box before I swear off UBI forever (literally)?

A very, very frustrated and equally tired,
GG

P.S. My frustration, anger is not directed at anyone on this forum, unless you own Sony, Starforce or UBI stock. In that case, it is all yours! :down:

[Abd_von_Mumit]

No knowledge of your problem, but a tiny idea: Did you try to produce an image of the disc and than to install the game using the image? (and yes, I suppose there is no way to make an image because of these protection issues).

Did you try to use the DVD reader from your father's computer in your son's one?

Did you run a cleaning disc in your CD/DVD drive?

No more tips... Wish you luck, anyway!

[Albrecht Von Hesse]

I hate to say it, but it seems, based upon what you've said, that the problem probably lies between a conflict of (yes, unfortunately) the copy protection versus your DVD drive. Is there any way of adding a CD drive to your box and trying to install--and run-- using that?

[Grumbling Grognard]

No knowledge of your problem, but a tiny idea: Did you try to produce an image of the disc and than to install the game using the image? (and yes, I suppose there is no way to make an image because of these protection issues).

No. And, sorry, nor will I. I will just sell it on eBay and swear off Ubi.

Games (esp ones I spent $50 for) are 'supposed' to be fun, not a pain in the arse that takes my entire free weekend to get working.

Did you try to use the DVD reader from your father's computer in your son's one?

No. My Father does not live in town and I do not think I should have to tear apart TWO PCs to get a 'game' working.

Did you run a cleaning disc in your CD/DVD drive?

Yes, first thing as well as polish the disc.

Thanks anyway,
GG

[Abd_von_Mumit]

Forgive me saying that, but maybe it's time to blame your disc reader producer instead of Ubi? As far as I remember you are the very first person to report such problem... (though I'm new on this forum, other users could have well met this before).

[Grumbling Grognard]

I hate to say it, but it seems, based upon what you've said, that the problem probably lies between a conflict of (yes, unfortunately) the copy protection versus your DVD drive. Is there any way of adding a CD drive to your box and trying to install--and run-- using that?

Is it possible? Sure it is 'possible', but will I waste another 2-3 hours of my "free" time as well as buy ANOTHER DVD drive for a game I have already paid for...no I don't think I will.

Oh, did I mentioned that I orginally bought this Sony DVD drive FOR THIS GAME! Yes, that is right, this game worked on THIS drive before I replaced my Motherboard and CPU...and memory...and HD...and PS...and vid card...

Yep, that is correct. My DVD drive, my floppy drive and the fan cooling my box are about the ONLY parts I used from my old PC. That was the box when SHIII 'used to work'. Nice, real nice.

I suspect some new driver loaded with/for XP has screwed up the copy protection for this game (Starforce I think, not that I 'really' care) on this particular DVD drive (yes, I 'really' did go to the Sony web site and resintall my firm ware for my DVD drive--only way I could get Neverwinter Nights 2 working...grumble...grumble...)

Thanks anyway,
GG

[Grumbling Grognard]

Forgive me saying that, but maybe it's time to blame your disc reader producer instead of Ubi? As far as I remember you are the very first person to report such problem... (though I'm new on this forum, other users could have well met this before).

You are not forgiven.

My disc reader works with all of my other games/music cds/you name it (sorry, not going to count but we have about 20 other games installed and working now). It 'did' have a problem with a securom game... But that is now resolved. And, do you really want to go there as this 'is' the exact same issue now on SHIII?

So, are suggesting it is the DVD drive manufacturer's fault that SHIII's copy protection does not work with their DVD drive/drivers, two years after the drive is purchased? No, sorry, I disagree.

GG

[Albrecht Von Hesse]

I'm really sorry about your problem. :cry: Having been in similar situations before myself, there are few (if any) things more frustrating than what you're going through.

I wish I had a fix for you. I've never had your problem because I bought my copy online and downloaded direct, so I'm rather short on possible resolutions. But if this helps at all, I do understand your frustration.

[John Channing]

Some interesting reading here...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/248263#appliesto


JCC

[MobyGrape]

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/fastFaqLiteDocument?lc=pl&cc=pl&product=421635&dlc=pl&docname=c00058571
and,

TROUBLESHOOT: Installer "Error 1305: Error reading from [filename]. Verify that the file exists and you can access it."
Installing and Running added on 06/11/2004
1. Dirty or scratched disk
Please check the disk for scratches, fingerprints, marks or anything that could cause to disk to fail reading properly. Sometimes it doesn't take much before a cd- or dvd- drive has problems reading a disk. Try cleaning the disk with a soft cotton cloth.

2. Try the disk in another drive
Test the disk in another drive if possible, such as another drive in your computer, your family's computer or a friend's computer. If the disk does work in another drive, the problem is the drive itself, not the disk.

3. Renaming InstallShield folder
If you scratches or dirt on the disk, try to rename the "InstallShield" folder in "C:\Program Files\Common Files\" to "InstallShieldOld". Try to install the game.

[Grumbling Grognard]

Thanks for trying, but the disc works fine in another DVD drive.

The disc worked fine until I updated my DVD firmware to the MOST CURRENT VERSION from Sony.

Now it will not read the large wmv files (that I suspect are used as checksums in the code somewhere).

On the good news...all my browsing piqued my interest and I installed DOSBOX and DFEND and we are now enjoying Silent Hunter Commanders Edition (the original).

I think I will wait at least a month or three after SH4 comes out and read a few forums before I drop another $50 on a game that is copy protected so damned well a ligit, 40-something long time gamer can not play the game.

Still very unhappy with the state of copy protection in that it only seems to screw around the folks like me that actually pay $ for their games EVERYFREAKINGTIME.

Thanks again for your concern,
GG

[stabiz]

No Starforce in SH4, by the way. (totally agree with you on the copy protection debacle, but hey)

[Madox58]

Sorry I caught this thread late.

Was SH3 ever installed on this system before or is everything virgin?

I'm not questioning your skills.
I'm just looking for answers to assist in future cases.

Yes I agree with you that a Game should not be a PITA to install.
But being in IT, you should know that, Not all is as it should be!

If it was, you wouldn't have a job!

Being in IT, IF 1 version of the CD works but the other does not?
Then there is a problem with the disk or reader.
The fact that Reader A has no problems but reader B does
tells me Reader A has a problem.

I've been doing PC work for years and I have no problem slapping a different
piece of hardware in a system should I encounter a problem like this.

It's a few minutes work compaired to the hours you seem to have wasted!
Sometimes, stepping away from our expertize, and takeing some advise
from others is helpful.

[Grumbling Grognard]

The system is a fresh install. HDD was complete reformat. It 'now' has a few other games and apps on it, but it is "pretty clean". Yep, first thing I did was update the drivers and a firmware update on the DVD R/W drive was required to get Neverwinter Nights 2 to work (SecuRom).

I do not own another DVD drive, or I would have swapped them out the first night as well. The other DVD drive (mentioned above) is at my Father's home, 60+ miles away and he uses it. And even if he did need his drive I am not going to rip it out of his box, reinstall it into my PC just to get an old game working that 'should' work in the first place.

IOW, I will not push the hidden costs of a multimillion dollar corporate software publisher onto my dear old Father who is retired, not in good health and has substancially less $$ than UBI does (oh, and he does not even like PC games!).

IMHO this entire issue is about "Hidden Costs" and the publishers pushing them onto honest comsumers instead of bearing the ANY of these costs themselves (think about it, they really do not take ANY losses from piracy...they just pass them along to us...so if I am paying anyway...just in different ways). I would rather pay an extra $5-10 without this crap-copy protection software to help pay for these lost revenues...oh wait...we ALREADY ARE PAYING THIS ADDED COST AS WELL!!!!

Thanks anyway,
GG

[ReallyDedPoet]

Yeah no Starforce in SH4:up:

[Zantham]

The problem is neither UBI nor Starforce. Error 1305 is a Windows Installer error having nothing to do with copy protection or cyclic redundancy checks at all. While I'm no fan of Starforce either....this time it is not the culprit, as this error can occur on non-copyrighted cd's, and can even occur on files downloaded from the internet. The interesting thing about this error is the disc, as you noted, can work perfectly fine on another computer. There is a known problem with Windows Installer reading compressed files from CD that occurs on some CD-ROM drives. This can occur even if other media reads correctly. Have you tried copying the DVD to your hard drive and installing it from there? Another option is to reinstall the Microsoft Data Access Component. And a third option, if you have another computer in the house that is networked to your system and has a DVD drive then try mapping that drive to your computer and doing an install over the network.

[Grumbling Grognard]

I have stacks of other cds. I burn pics from my cameras (compressed) as well as to my digital player (in several compression rates)...etc...I use ftp and vpn for file transfers and occansional burns to cd. No problems. :hmm:

Thanks anyway,
GG

[Zantham]

Burning pics from your camera, working with music with a digital player, vpn'ing, and burning cd's do not involve the Windows installer. You will even notice (and I think you even said it yourself) it's not even the same file that fails. Literally you could try installing this over and over and over again and not achieve success...or the very next time will succeed perfectly.

Your symptoms describe a fairly rare, but known issue, with the Windows installer. I see this exact error several times a month, both on newly formatted computers and computers that have been running for quite a while (seems to happen most for me when installing Norton Antivirus on customer's computers for some reason). There is no apparent pattern that I've particularly noticed to brand of computer, brand of optical drive, whether its a CD or a DVD, whether its on XP Home, Pro, or Media Center, updated or not, whether the disc has some form of copy protection or not (Norton does not use copy protection other than cd-key and activation)...I've also encountered it on Win2K machines.

Generally I simply reinstall the Windows Installer and the problem is fixed (maybe 90-95% of the time). I have also been successful copying the entire disc to the hard drive and installing from there.

I apologize for the long post, but I am only trying to offer what I hope are reasonable suggestions for you to try so that you can enjoy Silent Hunter 3 as well.:up: