I give up

[Patboot]

For some reason, I can't get SH3 to run again on this machine.
I've tried every trick I can think of, but it still refuses to run.
I can only think it's the Win SP-3.

[VONHARRIS]

Some more details please.
An idea might come up.

Don't give up yet.:up:

[Jimbuna]

I'm not sure SP-3 will be the cause, I'm farly confident I ran the game on XP with SP-3 installed in the past.

[Mittelwaechter]

Some solid details on your rig, your SH3 version and all the tricks you have thought of and we'll get you running...

[Herr-Berbunch]

You say run again, when did it last work successfully? Have you reinstalled SH3? At what point does it fail to work?

[Jimbuna]

I presume you performed a registry clean after deleting the original SH3 folder prior to reinstalling the game.

[GreyBeard]

How smoothly did Windows Update go after the reformat/reinstall of XP? Reason I ask is because I did the same thing on my work computer computer about 5/6 months and had a horrible time with the updates. The Background Intelligent Transfer Service kept getting deleted, which stopped the update service from working properly. After googling the problem it appeared there were a great number of people experiencing windows update problems with XP.

I noticed in one of your other posts you mentioned indexing. Try turning it off or on as the case may be. Some years ago I had another game, Grand Prix Legends, that refused to run on my XP machine unless indexing was turned on.

[Patboot]

Thanks for the replies: The game ran fine on this machine in the past. I had to do a reformat (falcon NW factory disc, no new hardware) and did a complete windows XP pro update. In the past I had NOT installed XP SP-3.
Indeexinfg was on- WTF I need indexing for I dunno, I allowed everthing to install/run whatever it wanted...

Head hurts

[Sailor Steve]

I'm not sure SP-3 will be the cause, I'm farly confident I ran the game on XP with SP-3 installed in the past.
So that's why you asked me about SP-3 earlier. I didn't look then, and now that I'm looking I don't know where to look. I can't find the Service Packs anywhere. :oops:

[GreyBeard]

SP-3 for XP was released April, 2008. Surely someone would have complained about SH3 having a problem with SP-3 earlier, no? A corrupt installation I can see, hence the reason I asked about Windows Update. Was there any problem installing SH3, or just that it won't run?

[Mittelwaechter]

To check the XP Service Pack - rightclick "My Computer" -> Properties -> General Tab

It should read your OS and the installed Service Pack - iirc (has been some time now)

Don't install SH3 into the default path - as SP3 came with some sort of UAC.

UAC protects certain directories and you may have trouble with modding the game.

[Jimbuna]

To check the XP Service Pack - rightclick "My Computer" -> Properties -> General Tab

It should read your OS and the installed Service Pack - iirc (has been some time now)

Don't install SH3 into the default path - as SP3 came with some sort of UAC.

UAC protects certain directories and you may have trouble with modding the game.

Yep, that reinforces my thinking....the game used to be installed on my D drive on my old system :yep:

[Sailor Steve]

SP-3 for XP was released April, 2008. Surely someone would have complained about SH3 having a problem with SP-3 earlier, no?
A good point.

To check the XP Service Pack - rightclick "My Computer" -> Properties -> General Tab
Thanks for straighting out my poor old head. Yes indeed, I have SP3, and SH3 runs perfectly.

[Patboot]

So, try to reinstall on a separate drive then?

Or perhaps reformat again, but use the starfarce-free version? Where would I find that, at UBI?
Back in a bit.

[Jimbuna]

So, try to reinstall on a separate drive then?

Or perhaps reformat again, but use the starfarce-free version? Where would I find that, at UBI?
Back in a bit.

Got to be worth a try...good luck.

[Sniper297]

"I give up"

Well if you're on the German side in WWII eventually you'll have to, that Churchill is a bulldog. :up:

I have XP Media Edition, similar to XP Pro but with some fluffware. After a OS reinstall I usually have to remove a bunch of stuff from startup, or change the settings in START, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services. Particularly crap like Adobe and Java automatic updates, which insist on setting themselves to automatic startup then check the internet to see if there's an update every two minutes while you're trying to run a game. Most likely cause of any problem after a new OS install is conflicting crap that really doesn't need to be running.

Other possibility is some DirectX files didn't get installed, START, RUN, type DXDIAG in the RUN window to see what you have.

"Don't install SH3 into the default path - as SP3 came with some sort of UAC."

I had to install SP-3 for one of the Trainz patches, no UAC here. AFAIK Vista was the first Windows to have UAC.

[flag4]

I'm not sure SP-3 will be the cause, I'm farly confident I ran the game on XP with SP-3 installed in the past.
...same. worked fine.

[Patboot]

Separate drive, no go.
It's gotta be the win update.

[Pisces]

It doesn't have to be a different drive. Just not in "Program Files". So any other folder created in the C-drive should do fine to avoid UAC. If it is actually present in SP3, I'm not sure myself. But it can't hurt to install it elsewhere.

[Aras]

I just checked this post http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=144708 , it seems the problem is not XP SP3.

There is surely another problem with your case.

[Mittelwaechter]

True - there was no UAC in SP3 - nor in XP. Just some system file protection and limitet non-administrator access. Should have been no problem with SH3. Still I'm quite sure I didn't install into default path for some reason.

Patboot - did you install the SP1a/2 first?
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/help/learn-how-to-install-windows-xp-service-pack-3-sp3

[Patboot]

Mitt, XP and everything came on a factory image disc, and I simply let MS do its own thing as far as updates. I assume it had Sp1x at a minimum.
Again, I was playing on this system just fine, minus SP-3, not a few months ago. XP version is '2002', not the x64. AMD Athlon64 FX-62,
4gb ram, and 2x Nvidia 7900 GTX cards in SLI compliant.

[Patboot]

Just to add- thanks everyone for scratching thier heads over this.
My hairs been pulled out so its easy for me now.

[Aras]

Would you mind to uninstall SP3 from your computer to see how the game will react to it ?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950249

[Patboot]

That is what I was thinking of doing, Aras. My concern is what other programs this might affect.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Never had the problem you are experiencing, however I have done more than a few re-formats of my computer when I have had issues with it. I have an external 1tb hard drive to back all of my stuff on, and all the necessary discs-files to do a reinstall.

Its a hassle and time consuming, but worth it in order to sometimes correct issues with games or windows related issues for that matter.

[Aras]

One of my friends is working in IT Business for more than 10 years. I explained your situation to him. He advised to not to uninstall SP3 since it eliminates some Security Vulnerabilities.

However he said you may try your chance with “Compatibility". Right click to sh3.exe > Properties > Compatibility > Select Run this application in "XP SP 2" or another one that suits you and "Run as Administrator".

[Mittelwaechter]

Well Patboot, it is pretty difficult to imagine what happened as long as you don't want to provide some information on your proceedings.

As far as I understand it
- you formatted your harddisk - (why?) and reinstalled WinXP.
- you used Windows Update to level up to state of the art :)
- you reinstalled SH3 (did you?) and it doesn't want to start - or so...

Did you install other software successfully?
What SH3 version do you try to run? Is it starforced?
Did you update your drivers?
Did you install DirectX9.c?

[GreyBeard]

.......I simply let MS do its own thing as far as updates......

That's the whole problem right there, not SP-3. Windows XP Update is broken, has been for some time. And MS is not about to fix it. If your XP system is functioning correctly, then the update service works okay. It's when you reformat/reinstall that it turns into a nightmare. The simplest thing to do would be to reformat again, reinstall everything from your factory disc, turn off windows update and leave it off. Try googling "windows xp update broken" and see how many results you get and how far back it goes.

[Mittelwaechter]

Well - Microsoft tries to find support for pushing people to update XP to Win7 or Win8. The official XP support ends in April 2014 and I would not be astonished if MS is not highly motivated to fix a "broken update function". :03:

Honi soit qui mal y pense.

If you really want to reinstall, get you the SP1a, SP2 and SP3 as downloads - they are still available on the internet.
I may link you a 451 MB install routine of all the critical and high security XP patches since Sp3 - up to date - including February 2014.

You would not need to run Windows Update at all, you could even deactivate the service.

[Patboot]

One of my friends is working in IT Business for more than 10 years. I explained your situation to him. He advised to not to uninstall SP3 since it eliminates some Security Vulnerabilities.

However he said you may try your chance with “Compatibility". Right click to sh3.exe > Properties > Compatibility > Select Run this application in "XP SP 2" or another one that suits you and "Run as Administrator".

Yeah, removing SP-3 was a really bad idea.

[GreyBeard]

Well - Microsoft tries to find support for pushing people to update XP to Win7 or Win8. The official XP support ends in April 2014 and I would not be astonished if MS is not highly motivated to fix a "broken update function".

Exactly. I agree 100% with your assessment. :salute: The same thing will probably happen to Vista as more and more updates get piled on top of it.

[Aras]

Did you tried the compatibility mode ?

[Leandros]

I'm not sure SP-3 will be the cause, I'm farly confident I ran the game on XP with SP-3 installed in the past.

I still do.

Fred

[Jimbuna]

I still do.

Fred

That confirms it then.

[storm-petrel]

I used to have a desktop with XP / SP3 and every update going.

GWX ran perfectly well, so it is definitely not that causing your problem.

I now have a laptop with the Windows 8 OS and think it is pretty carp, it sometimes takes me up 3-6 attempts to get past the 'SH3 has stopped working' message and see the 'not so long ago' screen.

Sorry I cant be of anymore help, but if I were you I'd do a complete wipe of your hard-drive and then re-install your OS from scratch. Just do not give up yet mate !