Crash ?!

[ConstantinScipion]

Hi,
I have newly acquired THE GAME: WW1 and I have to say it's the bomb in both meanings. I own a Intel core2 duo E7400 @ 2.8GHz & 3Go of ram and nvidia 9600gt. I only have succeed once to play the game (load grand campaign). I experienced at least 30 or 40 crashes to get 2 there with a patch 1.04c w/o screen locked w/o sound w/ modif of nvidia chges & launch from the menu start... Is it me or I am not the only one to live this game so badly when the subject is so interesting?

1) usally the starting video goes well (if selected) but at the end of the movie the screen stays black with nothing happening. if I use ctrl+alt del then I may see the General menu screen but the mousse is frozen and that's it

2) if no starting movie selected then sometimes the loading screen do not appear, using Ctrl+alt+del then general screen loaded but frozen.

3) once, I succeed w/o starting movie and sound & did tuto: the music disapeared after a while... why??? and wanting to continue in a large campaign, it crashed at the end of the loading screen...
4) last I played before I wrote this I had lauch successfully a grand campaign but w/o sound but I really like those music from back in the days so when I tried to relauch the game with sound modif it crashed like in case 2.

I do not feel sorry for myself and I read dozens of thread explaining their own difficulties, but somebody could have an idea on how to improve that situation, thanks in advance.
PS: is it true the last patch 1.04d should go on the 27 of nov?
ciao

[calvinus]

Hi,

so I understand your main problems come from the playback of sounds & musics.

The problems come from the current MP3 playback library we use in the game (freeware, the only one we found available for a commercial product! ). We discovered (too late) that it generates frequent crashes on some configs, like yours . In fact, no beta tester reported problems with the sounds, exacly like what happened with the AI engine uncompatibily issues .

I'm currently working on the integration of a new MP3 playback library. I need a few days to finish such complex job. As soon I will finish, I will select a group of volunteers to test the new version. This new library is shareware, and quite costly! So, before paying a considerable sum of money for nothing, I want to be sure it works perfectly on all your PCs!

Thanks,
Calvinus.

[ConstantinScipion]

Hi,
And first of all, thank you for responding so fast it's nice.

well now I get what's not running properlyin this game, but still how is it possible to have a game where music do not work properly in 2008 especially after a patch 1.04c... but I will gladly volunter to try it cause it is unbearable to play this game w/o sound.
I did several testing t'll 5 am & now i am sure the game runs fine played w/o sound. but as soon as I choose one of the option like sound and voice then it's freezing time forevever, too bad.

But again thks Calvinus