After Patch, Launcher.exe fails

[decay]

Hi,

After Steam updated CoD today, the game does not get past the launcher.exe

That comes up for about 2 seconds and then disappears.
No reporting of errors or anything useful.

I've deleted local content through steam which has uninstalled Cliffs of Dover, and I've deleted my C:\etc\1csoftclub\ folder.

I'm downloading the whole thing again.

- That's alright, this game has been so broken for so long that I never got past the first 10 missions.

Thanks,

Dave Decay

[decay]

okay.
Updated nVidia Drivers.
Deleted local game content.
Deleted Cache.
Got Steam to install it again.
ran it.
"starting GDFinstall.exe" or something like that.

Then nothing.

anyone know any command line switches for running it in a safe mode?

[Troll2k]

You might try searching the forum for GDFinstall.I saw a thread (I can not remember when) that said it was really not needed.The poster had created a simple do nothing problem that works.All he had to do was replace the original with this and it got around the error.

[kevinh]

I have exactly the same problem. Launcher.exe reports it has to close just as the mission finishes loading. The error (in event viewer) is an unhandled exception in .Net Framework. As recommended in the forum I repaired my .Net Framework 4.0 installation (using the latest installer from Microsoft). I also ran the DirectX and .Net40 installers that come with CLOD. The CLOD .Net40 installer reported an error as it was trying to install an older version that currently installed, not surprising really. DirectX installed OK. I've deleted cache, I've even deleted the whole game and downloaded it again from Steam. All to no avail.

My old graphics card went u/s a couple of days ago and I just installed a new one (Radeon 6670 HD 1GB, latest drivers). I hadn't run CLOD for a while, so didn't get the chance to run the game with the new card and and a known working version of CLOD as Steam automatically installed the latest version when I ran CLOD. So the new card may be part of the problem. It ought to be OK though as it's DX11 compatible. My old graphics card (Geforce GT240) wasn't listed as supported but still worked (just). But as I said, I hadn't run the game with that card and the new patch and steam updates.

Selected resolution is native to my monitor. I have medium to low detail settings with no grass, shadows, etc selected. I've run out of things to try unless anyone has any new suggestions.

Kevin

Update: since my post I've tried a few more things:

I deleted .Net Framework completely and installed the verion which comes with the game. No improvement.

I tried lowering screen resolution (1240x800), again no improvement. However further bugs emerged. When you change the settings it auto-reloads as expected. When it does so launcher.exe does not stop but generates an error which is again related to .net runtime. So when the game reloads there are two copies running, so you must exit, kill launcher.exe in task manager then reload the game. Also when you exit the game at this low resolution the desktop does not revert to it's normal resolution and remains at the lower setting. The way the game interacts with Windows is seriously messed up.

PC specs:

OS: Windows XP home, SP3
CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 565 3.41GHz
Memory: 4GB RAM
Graphics: Radeon 6670 HD, 1 GB GDDR5

[5./JG27.Farber]

Sorry Kevinh, but my advice is to get win7 64bit.

As for the original poster if you delete the 1cSoftclub the game will NOT work! I tried that one also. Had to completley uninstall, run Ccleaner, reinstall the game and verify the integrity of the cache at least 4 times. Then manually install Direct X and .netframework, then repair .net framework in add/remove programs. Put on green socks and cross fingers when launching,

[kevinh]

As I've said in another thread, buying a new OS so a flawed patch will run is not a viable solution. The game is supposed to be compatible with Win XP. If the patch is no longer compatible then it should be fixed so that it is. Win 7 isn't given away free, and even if it was I'd have to reinstall everything I have just so this one game will run.

A 32 bit OS is a limitation on addressable memory but should not cause a problem for a patch of an existing game. I get error reports that Launcher is trying to read memory at location 00000000. It's not running out of memory, it's trying to read locations it shouldn't.

Kevin

[FFCW_Urizen]

Even with the last official patches, it became clear that windows xp causes more trouble than vista (!), windows 7 is just vista as it should have been.

[kevinh]

I'm pretty sure I had the last official patch and it worked OK, though it was particular about settings. No worse than before. I wonder if 1C even tested the latest version on XP? If they have they would be aware of the problem and should have informed users the game may no longer run if they update. Maybe kept the older release available. In that case I could still run it, but because Steam updates automatically by default I didn't get the chance to freeze my installation at a working version. This would be easy to do with normal download game.

I certainly won't be rushing to buy Win 7. There's no guarantee CLOD would work for me after upgrading. I've emailed 1C support in an attempt to get their opinion on the issue. Maybe they can make sense of the event viewer log and addresses that Launcher reports as having a problem. I don't have cash to spare right now to spend on more PC upgrades.

"CLOD" nicely sums the history of this game up.

Kevin

[JokerMan]

Decay, I am in the same position here too, as Kevin described well. Also an XP SP3 32bit user.

Frankly, I felt a little cheated by this 'no longer supported XP SP3 32bit OS' reality post patch and still do but I'm moving on!

I appreciate XP is now 4 OS's in OS history [8, 7 and Vista] and I can understand 64bit becoming the main platform architecture.

Anyway, for me, that there is little future in complaining. A roll back to 1.05 would be great but I fear that will never be allowed now.

So il2 1946 is keeping me entertained whilst I save for a new rig [no value in upgrading my XP rig anyway !!]

Anyone need their leaves raked, car washed, driveway swept ???

[kevinh]

1C support have referred me to Ubisoft. I wonder who they'll refer me too? I'm not giving up on this. As far as I can see the game is still supposed to be compatible with Win XP. Maybe they never tested that, and so a fix might be possible. In the mean time I've reinstalled and rediscovered the patched and merged Pacific Fighters.

One thing is still bugging me. When I first selected CoD it said it was being updated so it ran more efficiently under Steam. After that the latest official patch was downloaded. Did anyone else notice this? I can't help wondering whether it was the Steam update which was flawed, not the patch.