Can't seem to get SH4 to run.

[peteuplink]

Hi all. Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, but I couldn't see anywhere else to post it. I've just bought SH4 and it installed with no problem, but I have had trouble getting it to run.

1st problem) the Ubisoft intro video doesn't play and just shows a green screen with the music. Then hangs the PC. I was told this could be a codec issue, but I've reinstalled codecs and updated graphics drivers and nothing I've done seems to have fixed it. In the end I deleted the Intro and Logo vids from the Movies/Intro folder.

2nd problem) So now I can get to the main menu, set game options, graphics settings and so on no problem. However when I try to start a mission, the progress bar goes all the way to the top, I get the "Please Wait" message and then the screen goes black and the PC spontaniously resets.

Anyone else come across anyhting like this? I'm running Windows XP SP3, with 2GB RAM, a 256mb Nvidia Geforce 7600 GS graphics card, and a Creative Soundblaster Audigy.

the rest of your system looks decent enough but you have the bare minimum video card to run sh4 or maybe its not enough to with only 256mb card. you really are struggling there so you have to take every step you can to not run anything but the game and you might get it running untill you come to AI activity in the game at which point im pretty sure you'll get a CTD so even if you find a way to get it running it wont run very well and you will constantly be getting herky jerky slow motion displays.

i wish you luck but i think you need a better card to be able to run sh4.

when i had your card it was a 512mb version and mine would do that to me sometimes unless i defragged everything, cleaned out all temp internet files, made sure nothing else was running, and even then the event cam would turn everything into super slow motion.

you can try setting all your game video options to minimum and it should run but turn OFF the event cam for sure because it will give you a CTD.

the ad-on ubm v1.5 will help some because it loads faster and is a less demanding game but not by a lot.

you will not be able to use most mods unless they are ver basic and small in size, for sure you wont be able to use any of the big mods like TMO or RFB

here are some 9800gt 512mb cards to look at: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ue&Order=PRICE

if you can afford it a 1gb card would be a better choice the way games are nowadays.

another suggestion is since your system is still good enough to get a good resale price so give serious thought to selling it and putting the money into a new system.

if you have even modest knowledge of how computer components are connected then building your own very nice medium high end system can be done for under $1000 or you can just buy a prebuilt thats more up to date and able to handle the games they are making today.

[peteuplink]

Thanks for the reply. Guess I'll have to shelve it for now and stick to SHIII. I have noticed that the intro video on SHIII and IL2 is doing the same corrupted thing as SHIV, though. So it's looking likely that I have some kind of system glitch, but it only seems to be affecting games with a .wmv intro.

However I can play the .wmv videos on WMP. I'm not sure what the problem is.

[irish1958]

Originally Posted by peteuplink

Thanks for the reply. Guess I'll have to shelve it for now and stick to SHIII. I have noticed that the intro video on SHIII and IL2 is doing the same corrupted thing as SHIV, though. So it's looking likely that I have some kind of system glitch, but it only seems to be affecting games with a .wmv intro.

However I can play the .wmv videos on WMP. I'm not sure what the problem is.

A reinstall of a codex pack wouldn't hurt.

yea before you give up try installing the latest video drivers for your card OR it is possible if you recently updated your video driver you may have used the wrong one for your card since its so old.

then as "irish1958" said the game has its own codecs for the game that are extra from directx 9 and they should get installed with the game unless you tell it not to.

so i would reinstall directx 9.0c then reinstall sh4 and make sure you say yes to install the extra codecs for the game. (you dont need game shadow BTW)

if it still wont work then an upgraded video card is needed to run it. if it does work you will still have issues running it but it might at least run.

and the last thought i had is that your video card is crapping out on you and is about to fail altogether which is very possible.

[Knox]

Hey there,

I had pretty much the same issue with the intro's when I was on my old video card(GeForce 6200 256mb).

The intro and logo video's would show up as green/pinkish redish pixelated puke. They would swirl and stuff. However the sound played fine. I would just hit space bar to get past them.

I figured it was my video card drivers and I tried to update them, however they were not installing properly. I'd say make sure your driver's(video and sound) are up to date. or go get yourself a newer faster card.

Good luck!

[Captainchaos]

Get a can of air and blow all the dust out of your computer and video card to start with.
Delete all the game files and re-install fresh.
Check firewalls to allow anything to do with the game (worth a shot).

See if that works.

[peteuplink]

Just bought a can of air and spent the last hour and a half taking the PC apart, cleaning everything, reseating cards and memory sticks...

Steps I've taken so far.

1) formatted the PC and reinstalled from scratch.
2) taken the PC apart and cleaned everything.
3) downloaded new sound and graphics drivers.

What happened last time I tried the game is it ran (last night after my format, without the intro and logo videos because I renamed the folder so it would skip then). I was able to attempt the first training mission and complete it no problem. I'll try it again after making this post.

*edit*

It gets weirder!

Well the game runs if I bypass the .wmv vids at the start, but only if I plug my monitor into the 2nd port on the graphics card (I forgot to mention that point last time I posted) Don't know what the 2nd port is called it's called. Not the small one, the longer thinner one with the aid of an adaptor.

.wmv files will run in windows media player 11 (all other video formats are fine), but lock the computer up if I use them in windows movie maker or if they're used as an intro to a game.

Anyone know of anything else I can try?

[Captainchaos]

What sort of result do you get with this? http://cyri.systemrequirementslab.co...option_id=4368

Not exactly accurate, but might give an idea for a problem area.

[peteuplink]

Ran the test and got these results:

First minimum settings:

CPU: P4 or AMD Athlon Pass (AMD Athlon)

CPU Speed: minimum 2ghz Pass (2.6ghz)

RAM: minimum 1GB Pass (2GB)

OS: minimum XP or Vista Pass (Win XP SP3)

Video Card: minimum 128MB, DX9 compatible, pixel shader 2.0 Pass (256MB, DX9 compatible, pixel shader 3.0)

Now recommended settings:

CPU: P4 or AMD Athlon Pass (AMD Athlon)

CPU Speed: minimum 3ghz recommend upgrade (2.6ghz but this still shouldn't cause the game to crash or reset it should just run slowly in some places)

RAM: minimum 2GB Pass (2GB)

OS: minimum XP or Vista Pass (Win XP SP3)

Video Card: minimum 128MB, DX9 compatible, pixel shader 2.0 Pass (256MB, DX9 compatible, pixel shader 3.0)

Attributes of your Video Card (my results in brackets)

Video Ram: 256mb (256mb)
3D: Yes (Yes)
Hardware T&L: Yes (Yes)
Pixel Shader: 2.0 (3.0)
Vertex Shader: 2.0 (3.0)

The game should run, and reasonably comfortably since I'm only out by a little on the processor and everything else meets recommended spec. When it does run with the older drivers installed it runs very smoothly (so the game obviously will run if I can find out why the reset occurs with the new drivers), but I need the newer drivers to run my newer games. Spore, Sims 3 and Dragon Age won't run properly if I have the older driver installed for SH4. And quite frankly if I'm running games as new as Dragon Age without much problem, SH4 should run.

Originally Posted by peteuplink

The game should run, and reasonably comfortably since I'm only out by a little on the processor and everything else meets recommended spec. When it does run with the older drivers installed it runs very smoothly (so the game obviously will run if I can find out why the reset occurs with the new drivers), but I need the newer drivers to run my newer games. Spore, Sims 3 and Dragon Age won't run properly if I have the older driver installed for SH4. And quite frankly if I'm running games as new as Dragon Age without much problem, SH4 should run.

no it doesnt work that way, sh4 is unique it how demanding it is and it can be stressfull on the best of systems.

the minimum recommended specs are pretty much a lie and you can start the game and it will run with them but to "play" the game you really need a lot better than that or you'll have all sorts of issues. i think you can get it going on your system though and you just have to put up with slow fps rates


your video problems could be connected to your flash media or regular media players (i doubt it but it couldnt hurt) so make sure those are up to date.

if you havent already done so, go to nvidia and get your driver straight from them because they should have a more up to date driver than the one you that came with your card and you will be sure you're using one thats made to work with your card version

one more thing, now that you have fixed your power issues its possible your game install got corrupted because of power fluctuations so try a fresh new install of the game now that you have full power to your system again.

if you still have problems then i recommend you try this website for more experienced troubleshooting help than we can offer for you here so give them a clear detailed explanation of exactly whats going on and what you have done so far and they can help you figure this out. its a good site without spam but you will have to register.

find it here: http://forums.techpowerup.com/index.php

[peteuplink]

Thanks Webster. Not wanting to sound ungrateful here, but you say the game is demanding on even the best system. To me it seems more like the developers did a really poor job of making an efficient engine and then didn't bug test it properly to make sure that it ran on the specs given for the game. As I already said, the game will run 100% on the older drivers, just not on the newer ones. So it's nothing to do with the game being too demanding for my system.

Besides If my PC can run games that on paper are much higher spec than SH4... FSX being an example. Then it should be able to run a 2 year old submarine sim.

i think the problem is the AI that is running so much stuff everywhere overwhelms the game engine and its my personal belief that the specs are for what it takes to make the game start up and run but they never measured what it takes when you have a screen full of AI activity going on all at once.

i tell people look at the specs and double the ram and video specs and thats what i see as what you need to run sh4 comfortably on high settings.

i dont think the cpu is ever a really big concern because they always tailor it to the average size cpu in systems when the game is made so we all meet that spec

ubi isnt alone in underestimating the "true" requirements, most games do so it increases sales and even those who cant run it well are happy they can run it at all in most cases.

people found out their computers can run crysis a lot easier than they run sh4 but crysis was the big complaint about "oooh i need a better computer to run the game".

sh4 is unique in the intense amount of things all going on at once so i dont call it a neglect or flaw but more of they did so much that it came to cause issues so rather than not finishing the game i think it was a case of doing too much with too little resources and not enough time to refine the problems.

the UBM v1.5 ad-on made some corrections and improvements that make the game less demanding and run better and load faster so the guys making the game were trying to give us a better product but management often overules them (thats good enough, put it on the market)