CK running but no video or task bar item

[richvh]

I have a technical problem that I need your help with please.

Game Version & Patch (incl. publisher): 1.03a over Panvision 1.00

OS & build/SP: XP Home SP 1 build 2600

Computer, CPU & speed: HP Pavilion AMD processor 1GHz

RAM: 256M memory

Free HDD space: 24 G

Video (brand, model, driver, memory): ATI Radeon 7500 128M

Sound (brand, model, driver): VIA AC'97 Audio Controller

DirectX Version: 9.0b

Other:

I read the stickies but I still have the following problem:

* I was able to play CK yesterday using version 1.03, but after installing 1.03a tonight I was not able to play. Crusaders.exe appears in the processes list of task manager, but not the applications list, nor in the task bar, and no video from CK (neither the bink introductions nor the loading screen) appear. Both of my sons used the computer in between, so it is possible that one of them did something that prevents CK from running, but if so, it isn't anything obvious. I have tried reapplying patch 1.03a over a clean install with no luck.

 

[Castellon]

Okay let's try some standard things.
1) Rename the AVI folder to AVI_back
2) Set the color depth to 16BIT
3) Turn off everything in the background like E-mail/ICQ/Messenger, Virus protection and everything in the system tray beside the clock.

 

[richvh]

No joy. There's a couple things in the system tray I didn't kill (volume control and mouse tool (for Logitech optical mouse)) since I didn't know what process to kill and they don't have a right-click option to turn them off, but they didn't cause any problem in the past.

 

[Castellon]

You can turn them off temporarily using MSconfig then the stat tab.

What I woul dlike you to try is clearing the game from your system, then do a fresh install and do NOT patch the game, does the vanilla install from the CD work okay?

 

[richvh]

I'd already tried that before posting the first time, but this time I completely deleted the Crusader Kings directory before re-installing, and now it works. Maybe it was my attempt to put event text into modtext.csv rather than extratext.csv, or maybe I just had the wrong number of semicolons on one of the lines or forgot to add an EOF marker... but is that loaded before the bink player starts?

 

[unmerged(6777)]

I'd already tried that before posting the first time, but this time I completely deleted the Crusader Kings directory before re-installing, and now it works. Maybe it was my attempt to put event text into modtext.csv rather than extratext.csv, or maybe I just had the wrong number of semicolons on one of the lines or forgot to add an EOF marker... but is that loaded before the bink player starts?

No. Binkplayer loads and plays first.

 

[Castellon]

Just read your sig as well, you played Tropico long enough to write an AAR.
I got board with it quickly although I did play T2-Pirates cove for a while.