Ugh. Game won't play

[Torvald Von Mansee]

I installed the multiplayer demo for Return To Castle Wolfenstein, and it changed some settings in my computer and now SHIII won't play. I don't even know what settings were changed, as I'm not really that technical a person!!! I think it's something in the display settings (when I start the game, and it switches to the opening sequence w/the logo and then the cutscene of the attack on the convoy, the screen goes "bloop" and everything blacks out for a second or two...it's less smooth than how this worked before the settings got changed).

Any ideas on what to do? I uninstalled RTCW MPD for what it's worth, and did some fiddling w/the settings.

EDIT: I can get to the menu page, but if I try to resume a career, the game quits and offers to send an error report to MS. I'm also running GW for what it's worth.

[Torvald Von Mansee]

WELL, it would seem the only thing I CAN'T do in the game is load my primary campaign!!! My secondary campaign guy loads fine!!! Does this mean that file got corrupted? Because that would be really really really really really really annoying if that were the case.

[Kingcobra24]

Originally Posted by Torvald Von Mansee

WELL, it would seem the only thing I CAN'T do in the game is load my primary campaign!!! My secondary campaign guy loads fine!!! Does this mean that file got corrupted? Because that would be really really really really really really annoying if that were the case.

I'm pretty much just guessing, according to what you've posted, BUT....

1.) It may be that your first campaign reloads using previous settings - the setting that were changed by Wolfenstein.
2.) If you're using Windows XP, you could try SYSTEM RESTORE. Select a period of time AFTER you installed all your mods, but BEFORE you installed Wolfenstein. This way, it'll reset your previous parameters to what they were and your first campaign should work properly once again. Since you RESTORED at a point after you had installed all your mods, you won't have to reinstall them.

[kiwi_2005]

If ya have System Restore on you can do a roll back to before you installed Wolfinstein. When the crap hits the fan for me i usually do a 24hr roll back, if its serious i do a reformat. lol.

In your case a roll back would do.

Edit: Whoops just realised Kingcobra24 already mentioned this.

[Kingcobra24]

LOL

Great minds think alike!

[Torvald Von Mansee]

Thanks!!!!

I started playing another guy, this time on 100% realism, and when I went back to play him, today, all his files were gone!!

Yeah, I'm on Windows XP. I'll try that system restore thingie

EDIT: GAH!! It didn't work!! I guess that career's gone, then.

Though, really, I'm almost wondering if I should try to continue the career thing, as it would seem that both guys I have tried were lost even before the end of 2 patrols.

[Torvald Von Mansee]

OK, I give up. I started yet ANOTHER guy in the 1st. Flotilla, got him almost through the Kiel Canal on his first patrol. The game abruptly quits for reasons unknown, and when I come back and look in the "saved" career for the new guy, there's NOTHING there!!!!!

Three careers, gone. Just like that. While the game may be fun to play in single missions and such, it appears to me that the "meat" of it would be the campaign mode.

I probably won't buy SH4 if I can expect this kind of performance.

[Captain Nemo]

I may be stating the obvious, but have you tried a reinstall? Or alternatively you could try and install another SHIII then patch and add GW as follows:

"Rename the SilentHunterIII folder (the one in C:\Program Files\Ubisoft). Now put your DVD back in and click on install. Then click on repair and it will create another SilentHunterIII folder which you then patch to 1.4 and add mods etc".

Once you have done this and hopefully it then works without problems you can just delete the old installation folder.

May be worth a try, you never know it might just work.

Nemo

[Torvald Von Mansee]

Originally Posted by Captain Nemo

I may be stating the obvious, but have you tried a reinstall? Or alternatively you could try and install another SHIII then patch and add GW as follows:

"Rename the SilentHunterIII folder (the one in C:\Program Files\Ubisoft). Now put your DVD back in and click on install. Then click on repair and it will create another SilentHunterIII folder which you then patch to 1.4 and add mods etc".

Once you have done this and hopefully it then works without problems you can just delete the old installation folder.

May be worth a try, you never know it might just work.

Nemo

Yeah, I had thought about it. I guess I'm just not in a good mood about it, right now.

[Deputy]

I just went through a similar problem only much worse. I wanted to update my video drivers (ATI9800) after installing SH3. I went to the ATI website and they recommended downloading their Catalyst Control Center, along with the drivers, and to use the CCC I also had to download Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0.
When I installed the Microsoft crap my computer rebooted and then went into an endless loop of rebooting. Couldn't do a system restore even from the Safe Mode.
Had to do a total reformat and lost EVERYTHING on my comp
I wouldn't blame SH3 for your problems. There are so many variables when installing these complex new programs that each one is a major gamble. BTW...I downloaded ONLY the Radeon drivers after the reformat and everything is working fine. Don't you just love it when companies give you bad advice on upgrading THEIR software?

Dep

[Torvald Von Mansee]

Well...I guess the words I used stated I blamed SH3. I should have phrased it that I was just annoyed w/the situation.

Your problem was much, MUCH worse!!!!!

Well, since I don't have any saved careers, right now, I might as well do a fresh install. I suppose I could save my results from the Naval Academy, somehow, so I don't have to do that, again.

[svenks]

All of this can be summed up in one word: BACKUP!

No, I'm not trying to be smug here, but the price of an external hard disk has become so low, that it really a shame not to buy one - AND use it!

As for backup software, well XP has it built in (almost - you have to find it on your install disk and install it from there). You can also find backup software at reasonable prices on the Net. I use Paragon, and am quite happy with it!

So whenever you are about to install *anything*, take a backup first - it may save you hours of grief and hard work, since doing a System Restore may not always do the trick.

BRGDS
Sven

[Deputy]

As I found out, the backup and system restore software on WinXP is NOT always reliable. I've never found the need for backup software. I don't run critical work on my comp, just games. And the games themselves are on DVD. I suppose backing up the important data for a current SH3 campaign would be a good idea (I'm still a newbie and I stink, so a SH3 crash wouldn't matter much to me), but I can't see spending any money on external hard drives to back up games or large files. I don't know what "low" means as far as hard drive prices are concerned, but I'm no millionaire (I paid $12 for SH3), and some of us have pretty tight budgets. Funny how the mortgage and eating seems to come up with regularity

Dep

[Torvald Von Mansee]

You know, I uninstalled the game and reinstalled it, and the same careers were there from before!!! Huh!?!?

[Kingcobra24]

Originally Posted by Torvald Von Mansee

You know, I uninstalled the game and reinstalled it, and the same careers were there from before!!! Huh!?!?

That's because the game is installed in the Program Files area under it's own Ubisoft/SH3 folder. The saved games/careers are saved in your My Documents folder under SH3. This is why they're still there, and why you have to delete that folder whenever you do another re-install.
If your re-install is due to a problem that can't be resolved, and you don't delete this particular folder, all you're doing is re-installing the game and keeping the problem intact if it's located in one of the saved games or .cfg files in your Documents folder.