Arsenal of Democracy Has Stopped Working

[Maverickajm]

I know this problem has been posted in a number of threads for HOI2 as well but I am a very desperate Paradox gamer in need of help from better techy people than me!

I have a 64bit Vista Ultimate PC, GeForce Graphics card (Full specs in system diag below) and was playing Hearts of Iron 2 Arm. last year perfectly on the same PC.

However, I recently purchased both Arsenal of Democracy (Plus recently bought Vicky Complete from Gamersgate to keep me going until AoD came out) and the same problem occurs for these games and HOI2 now which had been working.

I also have EU3, HOI3 and EU:Rome and all work without a single hitch.

The problem occurs at start up and each game begins to load up but before it gets to the end of the loading bar, normally at "Initialising Globals". I then get black screen and the message:

"Arsenal of Democracy has Stopped Working"

I have tried every single possible solution posted on the forums (Change resolution, installed in different location, reinstall graphics drivers, reinstall DirectX, disable UAC, rename AVI file and run in XP Compatibility mode) but nothing sorts out the issue.

I would really appreciate any fresh suggestions anyone may have on this, I love Paradox games and have been looking forward to AoD.

Time of this report: 2/25/2010, 22:38:18
Machine name: HOME
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Ultimate (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.091208-0542)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: X48-DS4
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9550 @ 2.83GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Memory: 4094MB RAM
Page File: 1906MB used, 6472MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 7.00.6002.18107 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 2: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (retail)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 9600 GT
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0622&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_A1
Display Memory: 2286 MB
Dedicated Memory: 495 MB
Shared Memory: 1791 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Acer H243H
Driver Name: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Driver Version: 8.17.0011.9621 (English)
DDI Version: 10
BGRA Supported: Yes
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 1/12/2010 04:03:33, 11862120 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4562-11CF-2546-0B201FC2C535}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x0622
SubSys ID: 0x00000000
Revision ID: 0x00A1
Revision ID: 0x00A1
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C ModeVC1_C ModeWMV9_C

 

[Maverickajm]

OK had a theory I was hoping other people could help confirm. Does AoD (And HOI2 and any other games using the same engine) run successfully on a DVI only graphics card, ie. not using the older VGA port?

After much brainstorming I realised that I don't think I have played HOI2 since I got my new graphics card and then looking at other posts with people having same problem, all of them have newer graphics cards that only have dual DVI slots like my one.

Just want to know if people could help confirm this theory and that is why we cannot start the game?

 

[BSPiotr]

I doubt this. 260M here (newer than the 9600 GT by far), no VGA, just DVI/HMDI, no problems.

What was your old card btw?

Also, same error in windowed mode?

What does the error say? if you click to get more info, does it just specify the executable or another file?

 

[Maverickajm]

Windowed Mode does the same thing, after the "Stopped Working" I just get another box saying "a problem caused the program to stop working correctly..."

Interestingly I tried running in Windows 98 compatibility and it went past the initialising globals to the main menu, but as soon as I pick a country and click start it crashes every time still.

 

[cmstea0]

Win 7 Professional, using VGA inputs on a widescreen monitor, running AoD in like 1600x1028 or something. havent seen this problem before. i dont think it's related to the monitor. i have an Nvidia GeForce 250 gfx card.

 

[BSPiotr]

Windowed Mode does the same thing, after the "Stopped Working" I just get another box saying "a problem caused the program to stop working correctly..."

Interestingly I tried running in Windows 98 compatibility and it went past the initialising globals to the main menu, but as soon as I pick a country and click start it crashes every time still.

Hmm... I know there's a way to get debug information out of that, but I forget how at the moment (stressful day)

What was your old card?

Have the latest .net? (3.0 at least) Latest Direct X files (Feb 2010)?

 

[theeleven111]

Mystery Solved

Installed windows 7 and runs great !

 

[blur1985]

Game Crashes

I have run Hoi2 and and it's many mods as well as EU3 on this machine just fine. Bur AoD has never ran for more than a years game time without crashing. I cannot play this game as is. It's a bummer because I was enjoying it so far.

 

[unmerged(162341)]

Ok, guys maybee my 5 months of suffering becouse of HOI III simmilar(much worse) problems had some purpose at the end since I learned about ways how paranoid windows Vista/Windows 7 are screwing games.


This may help:
1.Firstly disable user accaunt control in Visata and lower down to lowest same controll in Win 7-before instalation of the game.

2.Try to install AoD in folder that is NOT Program files.

3.of course allways run as administrator and in Windows xp (SP 2 !) compatibility mode.

 

[Maverickajm]

Had a bit of spare time yesterday and decided to format PC (Was planning on doing this at some point anyway as I bought a new 1TB hard drive).

So installed Vista again from scratch and after initial set up installed AoD first and it worked perfectly again! Didn't even have to change a thing or run in compatibility mode.

However next game to install was EU3 which had a different known error because DX9.3 isnt built into Vista (You start with DX10) and so installed the update for that.

Completed some other Windows Vista updates over night and was going to get into a new game of AoD and back to the "Stopped Working" so it has to be down to either something within the DirectX9.c download I installed (Which I doubt) or more likely a recent widnows update that is causing the issue.

Going to try reinstalling AoD with UAC off and see how I get on but wanted to share some more info on my findings.

 

[unmerged(162341)]

Had a bit of spare time yesterday and decided to format PC (Was planning on doing this at some point anyway as I bought a new 1TB hard drive).

So installed Vista again from scratch and after initial set up installed AoD first and it worked perfectly again! Didn't even have to change a thing or run in compatibility mode.

However next game to install was EU3 which had a different known error because DX9.3 isnt built into Vista (You start with DX10) and so installed the update for that.

Completed some other Windows Vista updates over night and was going to get into a new game of AoD and back to the "Stopped Working" so it has to be down to either something within the DirectX9.c download I installed (Which I doubt) or more likely a recent widnows update that is causing the issue.

Going to try reinstalling AoD with UAC off and see how I get on but wanted to share some more info on my findings.

Its fact that AoD seems to be freezing for to many people.
Developers should feel encouraged to investigae this and possibly fix.

 

[Maverickajm]

Not just AoD but HOI2 so it is the engine rather than AoD itself that is the problem.

Tried everything again and still back to crashing...

 

[BSPiotr]

Strange. So it worked at first but then after you updated more it died again? I'm wondering, did you install any of the Vista Service Packs?

 

[Maverickajm]

I did install Service Pack 2 yes, and from what I recall this wasn't updated until Sunday morning, and from my time playing HOI2 Arma this certainly makes sense as it worked fine last year.

Will have to go check when SP2 was released to see if we are getting to the root of the problem.

Anyone else having the same problem or people running on Vista ok, do you have Vista Service Pack 2 installed?

 

[RedBaron782]

I have the exact same problem. vista64 ultimate + SP2

 

[Cap`n Jim]

I think I'm having the same problem.

I haven't actually been able to play any HoI engine game for the past few months - they keep crashing as soon as I try to launch them. I disabled the Blink player and fiddled with the screen resolution, but it didn't do a thing to help me. I'm really stuck.

 

[Lennartos]

Well i have an suggestion.. since we live in the modern ages, why dont we just use the features the internet gives us.

If someone lives in europa, and has this error - please install skype/msn and teamviewer, and pm me.
After we get instant messaging contact me or my associats will then try to help with remote desktop.

If there is anything wrong we might be able to help all usern experiencing that problem.

 

[unmerged(96075)]

AoD 1.03!!

Johan: Please fix this. Larry3

 

[Inner Circle]

Johan: Please fix this. Larry3

Johan has nothing to do with AoD

 

[Cap`n Jim]

Ok, I tried reinstalling the game into a Games directory instead of Program Files, but that didn't work either.

I'm really hoping that somebody can help with this problem, as I haven't even been able to play a HoI game - nevermind AOD - for a few months now. Everytime I load it up, it doesn't even get to the intro cutscene, it just "encounters a problem and needs to close."

If anybody would be able to help, that'd be fantastic, because this is really starting to get annoying.