Game does not start (hangs with 99% CPU use)

[jordarkelf]

Game version: CK Paradox version (bought online) with 1.04/1.04 beta
OS: WinXP Professional SP2 (WinNT 5.1.2600)
CPU: AMD Mobile MP-M 2100+
RAM: 1GB
Free disk space: ~40GB
Videocard: NVIDIA Geforce FX 5900XT
Soundcard: Creative Live! Value
DirectX v9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
I can't think of any hardware/etc. which would affect CK.
That should be it... on to the problem.

I did a full reinstall of CK to get back to an IAC for the last release candidate, and now the game won't start. I double-click the shortcut icon or crusaders.exe, and then nothing else happens. I can see in task manager that CK takes up 99% of my CPU, but nothing further happens.
I have uninstalled and reinstalled again up to the 1.04 official patch, with the same results. The game version does not appear to matter.

AVI folder is renamed to avi.off.

The game does not launch *at all*: I remain in my Windows desktop. Only crusaders.exe is running but it doesn't seem to do anything.

Any help would be welcomed. I have gone through all troubleshooting steps I can think of, alas thus far without succes.

 

[Castellon]

Do you have the latest driver for your Video card installed?
Have you tried completely wipping the game from your system and reinstalling?

 

[jordarkelf]

I was able to play CK with the same system configuration, it just suddenly stopped working. My current display driver works.

I uninstalled CK completely, then also deleted the registry entry for it and deleted the install folder.

 

[Castellon]

The first time it stopped working before you reinstalled, was it the same exact problem?
What changed in your system just before that? This is a program it does not just decide to work differently then everytime before, something had to have changed that caused the new behaviour, that is what we need to track down.

Also if you leave it running for say 20min, does it eventually run?

 

[jordarkelf]

It was working fine until I uninstalled (I wanted to revert to a clean install).

The only change was the uninstall/reinstall.

It has actually launched once now (thought the problem was solved)... and now won't, anymore, after a reboot.

The longest I've let the game try to launch is just over 10 minutes, I'll try waiting longer. Normally it launches immediately, though.

 

[Castellon]

Try waiting 20 min as I suggested, that will tell me some things.

 

[jordarkelf]

Okay. Leaving crusaders.exe running for now 25 minutes: no sign of the game.
Mem Usage is constant at 17,480K (never changes).

 

[Castellon]

Try hitting alt-Tab when the game is running like that.

 

[jordarkelf]

There's nothing to alt tab to. Crusaders.exe is running now, but in the alt-tab list only my web browser, the task manager, and an explorer window appear. I can't see anything other than these apps on my taskbar either.
The only evidence I can see that CK is running is the process crusaders.exe (and the computer slowdown): the application window is not drawn at all.

 

[jordarkelf]

Source of problem found.
For some weird reason character_names.csv lacked
#EOF;;;;;;;;;;;x
at the end. I have redownloaded the patch and the game loads now every time. Even after rebooting my PC.

Apparently the game really does need a marker like this.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[Castellon]

Strange that it loaded for you once though?

 

[jordarkelf]

That was CK version 1.00 (or whatever the CD version is). Any other time I patched to 1.04a immediately. In any case it works now

 

[Castellon]

Great!