Installed EU2 and .... Nothing

[unmerged(2868)]

I recently reinstalled eu2. When I click on the icon the screen goes black and nothing happens. When I go to the task manager it says 'Eu2 not responding". I used to run eu2 on this box. I dont remember ever having this problem. I turned off zone alarm, windows firewall and NAV, still nothing. I hope someone recognizes this problem, otherwise I will be forced to buy a new PC

 

[TheLoneTaco]

have you patched to 1.09? the box version might be inherently unstable. also, did you install any mods? finally, try unistalling and reinstalling before tossing your computer :^)

-Matt

 

[unmerged(2868)]

No, I did not install 1.09. I did not that 1.00 was unstable as I used to play it.

 

[unmerged(3931)]

Note: read the following real expert opinions later on before doing anything I suggest. It seems that the Bink video player is the likely culprit.

I have had some problems running more recent versions of Direct X with early patches of EU2. You can try installing Direct X 8.0. If you have played HoI2 or CK, you probably have Direct X 9.x. Also, if the game is failing at startup, it is likely the Bink video that is failing. You can rename the AVI folder.

Possibly your display driver is the problem. If you are running in a display mode other than 640x480, EU2 will temporarily switch to 640x480 on startup even if the settings are made for higher resolution. That could cause a problem in the switch. Try setting your Windows and setting resolutions to 640x480. Color depth may instead be the reason I have experienced some problems.

Oh, and there is a CD check in versions earlier than 1.05. That may be a problem if your CD is not present in the lowest CD drive letter or in the CD drive that the game was installed from. That is just a total guess.

Upgrading to version 1.08 or later is probably the best option since there have been many improvements that you would probably like to have anyway. There is a patch archive that has a number of patches split into floppy-sized chunks. There should be no limitations on your ability to download a patch suitable to your needs. Personally, I prefer the March 2, 2004 beta of 1.07. The version may still have a problem with Direct X though.

 

[AndrewT]

Rename the AVI directory under the EU2 dir to something like AVI_OLD and try again.

1.00 has a lot of bugs that are fixed in 1.09, so regardless of whether the above helps, you should apply it.

 

[Basileios I]

I had this problem too with 1.04. It is the Bink Player. If you close binkplay.exe (or something like it) in the task manager the game will run. Or rename the AVI folder as already suggested or block Bink Player startup by EU2 with your Firewall.

 

[Castellon]

I had this problem too with 1.04. It is the Bink Player. If you close binkplay.exe (or something like it) in the task manager the game will run. Or rename the AVI folder as already suggested or block Bink Player startup by EU2 with your Firewall.

Bink player has nothing to do with the firewall.

Here is my standard advice if it does not work then post back here.
1) Make sure you have the latest patch for the game.
2) Rename the AVI folder to AVI_back
3) Set the color depth to 16BIT
4) Turn off everything in the background like E-mail/ICQ/Messenger, Virus protection and everything in the system tray beside the clock.
5) Update your Windows, update your Video card drivers and audio card drivers. Then repeat steps 1-3.

 

[Basileios I]

Bink player has nothing to do with the firewall.

Yes, but I used my firewall to block the Bink player, to prevent the startup of the Bink player by EU2. I just used the firewall as an instrument.

 

[jpd]

Yes, but I used my firewall to block the Bink player, to prevent the startup of the Bink player by EU2. I just used the firewall as an instrument.

That's novel. Firewalls usually cannot be abused like that. A firewall's function is to block internet traffic. Not the application itself.

But anyway, like said before in this thread, the best (and simplest) way to disable bink is to rename the AVI folder.

 

[Basileios I]

That's novel. Firewalls usually cannot be abused like that. A firewall's function is to block internet traffic. Not the application itself.

But anyway, like said before in this thread, the best (and simplest) way to disable bink is to rename the AVI folder.

I use Kerio. It alerts me if one applications starts another automatically which IMO is very good. I can then chose whether I want to block the startup or allow it and the firewall remembers my choice so it doesn't ask again. That way I deactivated the Bink Player startup.

 

[jpd]

Ok. Then your security application is more than a simply a firewall. Appearantly it hooks into the process spawning API function from Windows, and monitors activity there as well. I must say, that's a good initiative.