SH4 Won't Run!!
 

I'm a newbie and ussually don't post as my questions are normally addressed in threads or figure them out on my own; however, experiencing following problem and no dice as far as solutions:

Ran clean install of SH4 and then installed patch v1.2. Game installed flawlessly. Problem is when I click the "Play" icon, nothing happens, disc drive running and apparently data being read, but nothing happens...no crash, no blue screen, no error message just a brief slight "flicker" of screen (barely noticeable) and then...nothing. I know SH4 may not be compatible with some disc drives, but don't think this is the problem. I have installed the game 2X already and experiencing same thing. A bit confused considering game apparently developed for Vista.

Forum is great and I appreciate any help/advice you can offer (besides contacting Ubisoft which is next option). Computer specs below for reference:

OS: Windows Vista Home Premium (32bit)
MB: Nforce 570SLI
CU: Intel Dual Core E6600 (2.4ghz)
Graphics: BFG 7950 GT/OC (512mb)
RAM: 4gb (4X1gb Corsair DDR2 sticks)
CD/DVD Drive: 16X/48X LiteOn DVD-Rom
(All drivers are up-to-date)

Thanks In Advance,
Brandon

Did you install the version of DX that game with the game, when prompted...?

And does your mouse pointer change into a spinning CD for a few seconds?

Try turning off your Norton or whatever you use. Besides the game runs better with background programs turned off anyways.

Remember to turn it back on after playing.

This happened to me once. I ended the process (sh4.exe) with Task Manager (ctrl+alt+del) and then tried running it again. It worked fine the second time.

The fact that your drivers are up to date makes this much more complicated to diagnose (as that is usually the culprit). I second checking directX drivers to make sure they are installed from the disk. On more then 1 occassion I had a "newer" version of the drivers and didn't use the disk's which caused issues.

This is frowned upon but I would try a no-cd crack and see if the game runs. This will eliminate the possibility that the disk is somehow damaged or being picked up as non-legit. I doubt this is the case but it would be a very simple check to confirm that the disk is not the culprit.

After that there are a whole host of possible reasons, unfortunately you have the worst type of "crash", that is no noticeable errors or symptoms to start ruling out components.

Please note I do not condone the use of no-cd cracks, piracy, etc. The method described is a way to attempt to learn what is the cause of the failed load.

Agree 100% with this post.

If your not getting the Securom spinny CD mouse pointer then its most likely a legit-CD check issue. If you can, try installing another DVD drive in your computer (different brand preferably) and try that, and if you happen to be running any virtual drive software (Nero, Daemon Tools, Alcohol to name a few) then try uninstalling those too.

And while I'd be VERY careful using a crack to diagnose this, even if it works with a crack I'd not continue to use the crack to play the game since it can/will cause its own problems affecting gameplay.

Here is a link to the Securom support site. You can generate a logfile that you can send in to them that can help them analyse if their copy protection is at issue here.

http://www.securom.com/message.asp?m=analysis

I certainly appreciate help and will try some things when I return home tonight. FYI: I did install Direct X drivers from CD and yes, the mouse pointer switches to the "spinning cd" icon. I tried checking if any other programs/apps running in background with task manager, but no apps were shown to be running (of course, not even SH4). I went to the securom website after 1st time it happened and confirmed settings in device manager were correct....unfortunately still did not work.

I loved SH3 and waited until patch 1.2 released to install SH4. I never would have thought I would have problems on machine i'm using as most simulations install and run great after few tweeks (even if not devoloped for Vista). This is a bummer to say the least.

I appreciate advice so far and welcome any additional comments, etc. Thanks again for help and I'll keep you guys posted if problem is ever resolved.

Brandon

Your rig is better than mine and I play both at full throttle with Big and alot of mods with high fps. 60 to80 avg.

I shut everything down to just a gamin rig and no probs.

3 yo.

Intel 2.4Ghz
2 gigs ddr ram
7600 512 NV AGP
500 watts ps

Defrag , shut stuff off and give it a try. Good Luck ?

I had same problem, and reason was in "Process explorer" app, I guess securom blacklisted it, but this is Microsoft's application :o. Nevertheless, when my taskmanager was changed to process explorer - this problem occured, when I changed it to a standard one - problem disappeared :-).
Hope this will help.

There is a known issue (in XP, dunno about Vista) where machines running Kaspersky conflict with Securom and seems to cause what you describe. Others have the same issue with AVG.

It appears that Microsoft Hotfix 917422 may be the issue, in other cases people that uninstalled this hotfix (from XP) were able to run Securom games normally. Installing Hotfix 924867 apparently fixes the problem too.

Do you have any other Securom protected games that use the same version as SH4 which uses v 7.31 (or later) and do these run?

Ohhhh dident know he was running Vista... uhh... good luck.

I run XP with Kaspersky......no problems whatsoever.....not before or after any hotfix...

That's the problem with Securom and several other security programs, they can work fine on one configuration and be flagged on another similar config. I use AVG on my XP system and don't have problems either (I don't shut down any background programs during play).

The symptoms you described in your latest post definitely leans towards Securom being the culprit. Again just to rule this out (or confirm it :yep: ) I would recommend trying the game without the disk. If this works fine you have several options, with none of them being to continue to use the no-cd crack and play.

UBI are you listening? This is what happens when you spend time and money trying (in vain) to prevent pirates from playing your games. You do nothing to stop the pirates, all you do is piss off LEGIT OWNERS. And then you rub salt in the wound by releasing such a buggy game. Can you imagine how much more finished this game would have been if they didn't take time out to program all of these anti-nocd crack "mods"? :down:

Could you imagine how good Windows would be if Microsoft didnt have to spend so much time and money patching security flaws because of some people's dishonesty? Makes me wonder what will happen to Mac OS now that its invulnerability is beginning to be challenged.

I'm sure that Ubisoft and other companies would be happy not to have to pay Starforce or Securom for their protection systems, but thanks to a minority of dishonest people we have to deal with cumbersome CD-keys, disc verification systems, and so on.

The noteable example of course is Galactic Civilizations which doesn't incorporate any invasive form of protection. It will certainly be interesting to see if Stardock releases more games if these will have protection or not, beyond the serial number required to register for patches, which I happen to think is a really nice system.