Need some help with error messages please.

[lm178]

I was returning to base (Brisbane) from the Bismarck Sea area in a career,all torps fired and all deck gun ammo used with a tonnage score of 148500 and in 2048 time compression,crash to desktop error in sound.act with a horrible screeching from the speakers.reloaded the saved game and tried a lower compression many times,best I could acheive was an hour in game time before ctd with the same error sound.act.With the Bismarck Sea 3 days sailing from Brisbane and the game crashing after 1 hour max game time restarting the game loading the save adding 1 hour and saving game before ctd.I would not live long enough to get the boat home.
So I decided a reinstall was wise thing to do.The game uninstalled no problem.Did the reinstall and applied patch v1.2 and got this long CRC Error near the end.

CRC Error The file C:\Program Files\Ubisoft\Silent Hunter 4 Wolves of the Pacific\sh4.exe doesn't match the file in the setups .cab file,the medium from which you are running the setup maybe corrupted;contact your software vendor.

And the 3 options of Abort,Retry or Ignore.

And when I try to run the game I get this error message

SH4.EXE-entry point not found the procedure entry point?stopfacialexpressions@characterinstantion@@Q AEXXZ could not be located in the dynamic link library anim.act

Now I have uninstalled reinstalled 3 times.
I have cleaned the registry and removed the SH4 folder from My Documents after each uninstall.
The game will run as V1.0 but appling Patch v1.2 causes these error messages and my hair loss.
I have redownloaded the 1.2 patch in case it was corrupt.
What's next?

[SteamWake]

Hrm... I was going to say a corrupted install but I see youve tried it several times.

My second guess would be current drivers for your audio and video cards.

Also since you have a daughter card for the soundcard make certain the one built into your motherboard is disabled.

Oh yea next time before you "re-install" do a defrag first. Its possible you have a few bad spots on the fixed disk.

[lm178]

Motherboard sound is disabled.
Error checking of disk done.
Defrag done.
Before I uninstalled the first time I restarted the patrol and could time compress without problem until it came time to return to base,then the ctd's struck.

[SteamWake]

Did you reboot after install and patch .. prior to starting a mission ?

Ive heard some folks have issues with that.

[9th_cow]

try cleaning your SHIV disk. i know that is a daft suggestion but the .cab files originate from there in the first place. maybe its a little dirty.

or you have a bad patch. only 2 things that spring to mind.

[HolySdrJR]

This is what I would do if I were in your situation (bear with me here, I know you've done some of these):

1. Uninstall (w/restart) - reinstall (w/restart) w/o patches
2. Uninstall (w/restart) - reinstall (w/restart) w/1.1 patch
3. Uninstall (w/restart) - reinstall (w/restart) (apply 1.1 patch, then 1.2 - don't skip over 1.1)

You said it works with out any patches? This suggests the patches are currupt.

1. Download a new patches, following same routine as above.

Still not working? Before I go any further, I want to make sure it's my PC not the program...

1. Grab another PC and try the install on that one. Since we're getting the error during the install now, it doesn't have to be a PC that will run the program, just one that will install. Although - getting as close as possible to your PC would be "experimentally" correct.

Installs on the new PC?

1. Try to run it (again, it helps to have another PC similar to your own). Run it for an hour, sit and play it at that computer. Tell your wife/brother/mother/uncle that you are commandeering their PC for research reasons - they might let you use it for a while. On second thought, maybe not ;-)

Still not working? Check your directX and driver installation.

1. Start->Run...->"dxdiag"
2. Go to the Sound tab
3. Test sound at the current level (there are four - something like off, low, med, high) - if you get a driver issue here, update your directX - or reinstall
4. Turn OFF Sound acceleration and try the game.
5. Check your System hardware and see if there are any '?' or '!' - and then fix the problem.
6. If you just updated your drivers, roll them back.
7. Defrag
8. Disk check
9. Memory check (my opinion: at least 24 hours of constant memcheck is needed to 'find' any errors)
10. Back up your data and do a fresh install of your chosen operating system. Update the drivers, update the O/S, install the game. DO NOT INSTALL anti-virus or anything else until you know if the game works/doesn't work

There might be more stuff to try too, I had a bunch in my head before I started this, but I keep getting sidetracked by children... I know it might take a while to try all this stuff, but look at it this way - there might be a 1.3 patch out by the time you figure out that there was nothing wrong with your PC, and it's just another bug in the software... ;-)

[lm178]

Originally Posted by 9th_cow

try cleaning your SHIV disk. i know that is a daft suggestion but the .cab files originate from there in the first place. maybe its a little dirty.

or you have a bad patch. only 2 things that spring to mind.

Disk is clean and no scratches.
Have downloaded fresh patch.
Patching the game is what stuffs it up!
My saved career is v1.2 1943 with a Balao and an experienced crew.

[lm178]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

Did you reboot after install and patch .. prior to starting a mission ?

Ive heard some folks have issues with that.

Yes I rebooted after each reinstall and the CRC Error appears during patching with v1.2 a fresh download.
Attempting to start sh4 after patch install gives me the SH4.EXE-Entry point error and no game start.