Perform a registry cleanup and you should be good to go.

http://www.5starsupport.com/info/kernel32.htm

I use regvac...there is a free trial version here:

http://www.regvac.com/regvac.htm

I have heard about something like this before I think the solution is to delete the start up movies for some reason the game will run after they are removed.
its worth a try ????. :hmmm:

Jimbuna, thanks for the advice, but this is not the system kernel32.dll. This one comes with SH3.

Seawolf... ahh... I wonder how I do that. The cfg folder for main in docs has got a NO next to run movie, but perhaps that refers to something else. I shall look into it - thanks :)

ah, found the folder in Data, tried disabling the intro movie - made no diff. thanks anyway :(

At fear of stating the obvious and making an ass of myself on my first post, have you tried changing the "compatability mode" on the sh3.exe?

I bought SH3 off Steam the other day and it refused to run - I'm using Win7x64 Ultimate. I sorted it by navigating to /silent hunter 3/sh3.exe, right-click on it, click on the compatability tab and changing the compatability mode to Windows XP (Service Pack 3), then Apply.

If you've already tried this, then I apologise.

If starforce is the issue, have you tried an uninstall and running a starforce removal utility, then reinstalling with the DRM-free disc?

Thanks for posting that little bit of obvious advice there. I just got a new computer and therefor got windos 7 and was having a hell of a time geting my steam copy of the game working when you came along and posted that. Turns out that is all it needed to get around the "Can't start 3d engen" error it kept feeding me. Now steam is telling me that the game is unavailible but I am at leastone step closer to geting it to work.

Welcome abord

Make sure you apply the compatability mode to the actual sh3.exe in the steam/steamapps/common/silent hunter 3 folder, and NOT to the shortcut steam places on your desktop (as this shortcut actually directs to steam.exe).

And thanks - I'm new to subsim but not to SH3 :)

Panser - see you dun someone some good with your advice. :)
For me, yes, have done the compatibility thing,and replaced the Starforce files ( which we are not supposed to mention I think) and mine is not a Steam version, so no solution there for me. I am going to uninstall and clean registry of leftovers today and then re-install, because I think that it did not install GWX 3.00 properly last time, though it all seemed to go on. Not giving up yet.

Well that's me flummoxed then, but at least it got me to sign up instead of lurking :D

As for Starforce, a few years back they released a perfectly legitimate tool for completely removing their software after allegations that it could damage optical drives, so there shouldn't be any issues there :)

:salute:
but yeah, new windows are a pain, good thing sh5 is made to work on them sysyems

Yes, I have seen that tool - I thought it must be to clean up leftover files after an uninstall, as you can get for Norton's AV for instance, so you can reinstall without errors. I did not see that they would give us a tool to remove the protection at the install. Interesting.. :)

I couldn't get SH3 to reinstall until I got rid of the Ubisoft/SH3 key in the InstallShield folder on my C drive. And I couldn't get the game to start until I removed the movies from the movie folder in SH3/data.
I also uninstalled SH3 via the disc, and then used the revo uninstaller and removed a few hundred more files and registry keys.
I pitched my original SH3 disc, purchased a new, starforce free, patched to 1.4b disc to install on my machine with Windows7 and installed it outside of program folders in C:\Games.
So far, so good!:arrgh!:

I applied it to the game exacutable in the file at the end of the path but no dice, still saying the game is unavailibile. Could it have any thing to do with where the game files are located? Right now they are in the steam directory which is in the program files (x86) directory. I thought I saw some one mention that this could lead to a problem but I am not sure about much on this new operating system.

Have you checked the steam support page on that issue? the "game is currently unavailable" thing does crop up from time to time. As for the install location, that won't be a problem because that's where Steam put it.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_...4595-WEXN-6831

Again if you haven't already tried these, I'd skip straight to #2 and delete or rename the "clientregistry.blob". Although it doesn't explain what this file is, as far as I understand it's the registry of installed games generated the first time you start steam. Deleting or renaming this file causes Steam to generate a new one the next time it is restarted, potentially resolving errors associated with starting games.

I'll give them a try, thaknks.

Well, I have given up, at least until something else occurs to me.
At present I think I have tried everything everyone else has, and more besides.
I don't think it is especially a x64 problem as I have come across threads where the same black screen and music after the intro has occurred on 32 bit Vista. I also have the same problem running SH4 on W7, so if I get to solve it for SH3 that will probably be good for SH4 as well ( I shall be right miffed if it happens with SH5 though).

kernel.dll seems to figure in Event Viewer but I don't know what I can do about that. What bugs me is that for some of us the solution seems to be simple and straightforward, even though one persons solution does not work for another. I have tried them all, taken care and precautions in installing and uninstalling, tried protected and unprotected discs, tweaked configurations for video, sound, resolution, applied permissions, upgraded Dirext X, used fixes - etc etc - all to no end. So, not given up, but pausing until a new thought might occur to me. meanwhile I shall just get on with the game in XP tee hee :DL