Quagmire

Dave, is it the same laptop but running Win7? If so I might consider upgrading mine, at least I'll be able to add more memory then. Yesterday I played through the Defence of Kozda mission to test a scenario that involves a lot of vehicles. Generally the FPS were around the 25 mark throughout but did drop to 19-20 when viewing dense artillery action. All sliders were set to zero though. (And I scored a major victory, so that was nice.) Q

@dave1978 & Blackdeath: You say you both have the same/similar laptop? A friend of mine recently suggested I upgrade mine to Windows 7. I've heard that the Geforce Go 7950GTX can have some issues though with the fans running constantly and other issues with Win7. How did the upgrade go for you? I'm currently running XP (that the laptop was installed with). Is there anything else I should take into consideration; memory, networking etc or is it quite straightforward? (given the right drivers of course). Thanks.

Hi Homer, yes I'm able to launch SB 3.0 with this batch file. Curiously though, when I exit SB and return to the desktop Windows Explorer opens soon after. EDIT: Just ran it again and before it closed I happened to read "taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe 'taskkill' is not recognized as an internal or external command. This is WinXP Home by the way.

Thanks Mark I didn't realise that. Each time I've reinstalled it Hamachi asks for an account name before it lets me continue to add your network. I'll use the same name as before so this should be the only entry in your list. Cheers!

Guys, take a look at this thread first of all. I'm having some problems with executing SB 3.0 and there are some graphical issues too. Look through and you will find some screenshots with FPS readings too. Q

@Crusty, that's interesting. I've been reading through their forums and a lot of people have raised the issue of Hamachi refusing to go online so maybe it is related. @Mark, following some advice on Hamachi's site I did a complete re-install of their program and cleared out any existing registry entries etc. I also removed the automatic updates option as that has caused connection issues for some, but when joining the existing network (the one supplied in your email) Hamachi says 'that network appears to be full'.

Hmmm, I hope not although I haven't made any changes in that area as far as I know. I'll check the firewall and do another reboot to be sure. Right now Hamachi shows grey icons (offline) next to the server connections. Earlier they were blue and indicated they were being 'relayed', but I couldn't start SB3.0 when they were in that state. EDIT: Mark, I had already set Hamachi as a trusted application on the firewall so that shouldn't be an issue, but after rebooting the laptop Hamachi started and your connection was live but as I watched it Hamachi went offline - clicking the startup button just leaves your connection greyed out for some reason. Do you know if Hamachi is set to time out after a few seconds? That seems to be the problem I'm having, the connection won't stay up. EDIT 2: I just shut down my firewall and A/V and Hamachi still has your VPN as 'no connection'. Very odd...

Hi dunc, Previously, after changing video drivers numerous times (before reverting back to 179.48) I was able to launch the game. I tried the tank range first but the images were those in post #26 - jumbled colours. After launching again (some time later) I checked the Graphics menu and saw that the sliders by default are not at zero, so I set them to zero manually. I was then able to launch scenarios; namely the tank range and introductions to see how it performed. It was here that I noticed that moving the Shadows too far crashed the game to desktop but up to about level 3 or 4 it worked (but very slowly). The CTD also came with a standard Microsoft error. Moving anti-aliasing one step (to 2) gave the jumbled colours. I tried it again this morning to test the settings with a couple of maps, one heavily built up and the other a desert, but changing the sliders gave the same results as previously posted. Right now all sliders are at zero and screen resolution is 1440x900x32. I've attached a couple of screenshots (jpg format) showing FPS on a small section of the map, they drop by 10fps but still seems playable (fps counter is included in the screenshots for comparison). (Images taken during an artillery attack - lovely sounds by the way! ) Busy screens though - say with several vehicles visible can reduce the game to a crawl. @Homer: I can't test the batch file just yet as I can't access the test license. Once Hamachi shows a connection I'll give it a shot. Q

Hi Homer, the path is: C:\Program Files\eSim Games\SB Pro PE\Release\SBProPEcm.exe Prior to installing 3.0 I did a full uninstall of 2.654, including all folders & files in the Documents and Settings folders for All Users and all other accounts. All mods were also disabled (with JSGME) prior to uninstall, then a clean of orphan registry files was carried out with CCleaner followed by a full system cleanup using the same app. Q

dunc, I forgot to add this to the post above, its a screenshot of the VMT GUI. It just shows some details of the GPU etc. Q

dunc, the VMT test has finished. The contents of the log file are below. Hope it helps! Cheers, Q [22/09/2013 23:55:04] Test started for "Primary Display Driver (NVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 GTX)"... Trying 16bpp RGB:565 mode...OK Trying 16bpp RGB:555 mode...OK Trying 16bpp BGR:565 mode...NOT SUPPORTED (Code: 88760091) Trying 32bpp RGB:888 mode...OK Trying 32bpp BGR:888 mode...OK [23/09/2013 00:12:22] Pass completed (0 errors found).

Hi dunc, last night and this morning I was playing around with more graphics drivers. I previously mentioned 198.01 that worked (sort of) before reverting back to 179.48 - well, this is where it gets odd... This morning I decided to launch it 'one last time' and this time it worked (with 179.48), not perfectly but it launched. I went straight to the Graphics menu, and when I moved the anti-aliasing slider forward the game instanty gave me the jumbled colours seen in my previous post. So, relaunching it I moved all sliders to zero and launched the Tank Range - and I was able to play it - quite smoothly I might add. I was also able to lauch a few scenarios, namely the introductions to see how the game performed. Below are 3 screenshots taken randomly testing the graphics. One without any sliders set, one with shadows and the one with anti-aliasing - this messes up the graphics. Its definitely not perfect, but it did launch. I guess adding and removing countless video drivers had some impact there. One other error I've seen though is also attached. It popped up randomly but I don't recall the scenario etc. Unfortunately the temporary license I was using was no longer available so I've been unable to test it further today. I just want to thank Mark Gibson for his help and for the temp license. Cheers Mark! Anyway, I hope the screens and error help. In the meantime I'll run the video test from the link supplied. Q

OK, I've spent the afternoon/evening trying to find an answer to this - and perhaps a driver that may work. Well, after narrowing the search 3.0 launched when using Nvidia driver 198.01 - although this isn't a certified one as it came from the laptopvideo2go.com website. However, hopes were dashed when I clicked on the tank range and was presented with a complete jumble of colours. The menus were fine, as were the briefings but the actual gameplay screens are not, See the attached screenshots to see what I mean. Its the same in full screen and windowed mode. So right now I've reverted back to 179.48, the one that worked fine with SB 2.654 (and all previous versions). Haven't a clue what to try next... :frown:

Thanks for the upload, but upon running it I still get the same message regarding the previous DirectX installation: "DirectX setup has determined that a newer or equivalent version of DirectX has been installed already. No installation is necessary."

Same problem. Pic of the error attached.

Mark, the following pops up when clicking the link: "Restricted Content This file is no longer available. For additional information contact Dropbox Support."

Sean, I can't reinstall DirectX 9.0c as the installer tells me it's already present and working fine. (I've also run the tests in dxdiag and it passed them all). I don't like the idea of manually uninstalling DX (even Microsoft don't recommend doing it), particularly as I'm worried how it may affect some of my important work programs, like trade charts etc. I've already reinstalled SB 3.0 and CM three times now... :biggrin:

Hi Retro, a copy of the Debug file is attached. Thanks. debugLog.txt

The options folder located at 'docs & settings - Admin - App Data - eSim Games - Steel Beasts - options' is empty. I copied the options.dat file from the 'c:\program files - esim games - misc' folder and pasted it into the one above. Upon launching SB 3.0 the error about the Codemeter stick not being installed appeared (I'm using a loan one from Mark Gibson to test 3.0), but when I hit Retry the usual error message about the rasterizer popped up. So, no change I'm afraid. :confused: EDIT - Forgot to add, there was no read-only permission etc on the options.dat file.

Thanks for the tip dunc, I didn't consider the logs. :redface: The last one from 12:40 is relatively short so I'll post it here. Hopefully someone can make sense of it. I suspect 3.0 doesn't like my laptop - or vice versa... [12:40:39,578] WARN : ------------------------------- [12:40:39,578] WARN : Steel Beasts Log File v3.002 [12:40:39,578] WARN : Sat Sep 21 12:40:39 2013 / 1160 [12:40:39,578] WARN : ------------------------------- [12:40:39,609] WARN : Could not look up file attributes for 'C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\Application Data\eSim Games\Steel Beasts\options\options.dat'. Error code: 2 [12:40:39,609] ERROR: Failed to open memory file 'C:\Documents and Settings\Admin\Application Data\eSim Games\Steel Beasts\options\options.dat'. Error code: 2 [12:40:39,718] ERROR: ConfirmDevice failed: D3DCREATE_PUREDEVICE [12:40:39,718] ERROR: ConfirmDevice failed: D3DCREATE_PUREDEVICE [12:40:39,718] ERROR: ConfirmDevice failed: D3DCREATE_PUREDEVICE [12:40:39,718] ERROR: ConfirmDevice failed: D3DCREATE_PUREDEVICE [12:40:39,765] WARN : *** PresentationIntervals NOT SUPPORTED! (Initialize3DEnvironment) *** [12:40:39,968] ERROR: Failed CGame::RestoreRenderTargets, landscape, hr=0x80004005 [12:40:39,968] ERROR: Failed! CDisplay::RestoreRenderTargets | gpGame->RestoreRenderTargets(): hr=0x80004005 [12:40:39,968] ERROR: Initialize3DEnvironment failed: USING REFERENCE RASTERIZER [12:40:39,968] ERROR: Generic application error Switching to the reference rasterizer, a software device that implements the entire Direct3D feature set, but runs very slowly. [12:40:44,718] ERROR: Warning: Nothing will be rendered. The reference rendering device was selected, but your computer only has a reduced-functionality reference device installed. Install the DirectX SDK to get the full reference device. [12:40:46,156] ERROR: CreateDevice FAILED. hr = 0x8876086A [12:40:46,156] ERROR: Initialize3DEnvironment failed: USING REFERENCE RASTERIZER [12:40:46,156] ERROR: Generic application error This program will now exit.

Hi dunc, that's the video driver I've already reinstalled. You're right about Dell, they haven't updated theirs in ages (years!) so I've been using 179.48 for some time. I thought a reinstall might do the trick, but sadly no. Thanks.

Quick update, I've just reinstalled the video driver from Nvidia's website but it's had no effect. :frown:

Hi dunc, the specs are: Dell XPS M1710 laptop MS Windows XP Home SP3 Intel Core2 CPU T7400 @ 2.16GHz 3.2GB RAM NVIDIA Geforce Go 7950 GTX (512MB) I just tried another DirectX install and it still tells me "DirectX setup has determined that a newer or equivalent version of DirectX has been installed already. No installation is necessary." Thanks.

Hi Mark, yes I should have been clearer. DirectX 9.0c is indeed installed.

Hi guys, I'm having an issue launching SB 3.0 for some reason. Mark Gibson has kindly offered to loan me a temporary license to see how my system handles version 3.0, but when launching it I get the following error messages: Generic application error Switching to reference rasterizer, a software device that implements the entire Direct3D feature set, but runs very slowly. This is followed by another popup with: Warning: Nothing will be rendered. The reference rendering device was selected, but your computer only has a reduced-functionality reference device installed. Install the DirectX SDK to get the full reference device. Final popup states: Generic application error This program will now exit. I did a search and found others have had this error in the past, for example this thread, but it was from a previous version. I have since done a full uninstall of both SB 3.0 and CM and reinstalled it all from scratch but the errors persist. My system is Windows XP Home SP3. SB version 2.654 ran without this error so I'm not sure what's causing it with 3.0. I have up-to-date DirectX and an attempted reinstall from Microsoft confirmed it. Any suggestions? I can't get any further than the errors. :confused: Thanks all. Q