kb.exe has stopped working on startup

[Setanta]

Hi there,

I just bought the game through Direct2Drive. Having installed it and run it, the game loads to a black window and then I get a windows message "kb.exe has stopped working". I can run other games such as Borderlands, Dragon Age, Arkham Asylum without and problems - I can even run the original King's Bounty (which I purchased with Armored Princess) without an issue. I've gone through the support page and tried all the workarounds/suggestions to no avail. I've tried running as administrator, DEP is off etc.

I've included a truncated copy of dxdiag below:

Thank you


------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 12/12/2009, 14:56:01
Machine name: xxxx
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.090803-2339)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Acer
System Model: Aspire 5738
BIOS: Ver 1.00PARTTBL
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P7450 @ 2.13GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.1GHz
Memory: 3066MB RAM
Page File: 1088MB used, 14382MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 7.00.6002.18107 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce G 105M
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce G 105M
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_06EC&SUBSYS_02051025&REV_A1
Display Memory: 1776 MB
Dedicated Memory: 499 MB
Shared Memory: 1277 MB
Current Mode: 1366 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
Driver Name: nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dll
Driver Version: 7.15.0011.7930 (English)
DDI Version: 10
BGRA Supported: Yes
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 12/17/2008 10:03:00, 5971968 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-45AC-11CF-6F6D-0E2201C2CA35}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x06EC
SubSys ID: 0x02051025
Revision ID: 0x00A1
Revision ID: 0x00A1
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C ModeVC1_C ModeWMV9_C

[Setanta]

Just as an update, I downloaded the demo and it runs fine. Direct 2 Drive corrupt file on the game download?

[Coin-coin le Canapin]

Did you try to re download it?
Maybe your file was corrupted.

[Setanta]

I'm an Aussie and have to watch out that I don't get capped (we have monthly download limits set by our ISPs). When it installed the file-checker it all came up as ok - but I guess that I might have to bite the bullet and try again.

[rattaplan]

I've got exactly the same problem.
Downloaded the game from Direct2Drive and after a brief black screen I get a "kb.exe has stopped working" error. Tried running it as an administrator, as well, to no avail. I'm on Win 7.

FYI, the Zip file unzipped without a problem so it's doubtful that the file was corrupted during download.

Here's some extra information about the error (in case it's useful).

Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: kb.exe
Application Version: 0.0.0.0
Application Timestamp: 4a51a438
Fault Module Name: kb.exe
Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 4a51a438
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0023b051
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1043
Additional Information 1: b856
Additional Information 2: b85601dbefe83727fb9d28848a0ac799
Additional Information 3: 7b15
Additional Information 4: 7b156abb17e114d87a57441eb6c74993

[gtcjr1]

I'm having the same problem, anyone have any idea on how to fix it?

[rattaplan]

Anything known about this issue yet?
I've tried Direct2Drive technical support but all I got from them was the suggestion to go and ask support from the game developers..

P.S. I've tried the demo and that worked fine for some reason.

[Nike-it]

This issue is forwarded to the devs. I'll post the answer, when I get one.

[Nike-it]

Guys, please post the size of the KB.exe please.

[rattaplan]

The size of my "kb.exe" is 19.022 kb.

Incidentally, I've got some more information that may perhaps prove useful for the devs.
As an experiment I just installed the game on one of my older PC's (with WinXP) and the game booted up without a hitch.
So it looks like this issue is concentrated to Vista and Win7 only.

[Setanta]

I got an email from D2D asking me to re-download the file making sure I used their downloader and deletig all instanes of the download/installed game off my system. I did so and it now works fine. Corrupt file at either the D2D end or corrupted in the DL process maybe - but interesting that I wasn't the only one. DON'T download the zip file by right-click download, install the D2D downloader and get the file with it (I had to use IE for this, not Firefox) as it auto-extracts the zip as part of the DL process.

I had a quiet giggle over one or two other emails that I got saying that my video card/laptop (6 months old) was too old for the game etc... because the demo and original game play out just fine as do games that have higher resource needs :) But I guess you have to exhaust every avenue.

[rattaplan]

I followed your suggestion of using the D2D downloader with IE Explorer and voila it friggin' worked!
Might have been worthwhile for D2D to mention this sort of thing. Not everyone uses IE Explorer, after all, and not everyone likes using d/l managers!

Still don't understand why it did work under WinXP without this "trick", though. Ah well, I'm good now. :) Thanks for the help!

[gtcjr1]

My kb.exe size is 19,022 kbs