Vista - AACW/BoA won't run?

[AndrewKurtz]

I knew I was taking a risk upgrading to Vista, but I didn't expect the risk was this high I can't run AACW and BoA!

When I launch either game, it appears in my list of processes (i.e. in task manager), but there is no CPU activity and the game never appears on my desktop.

Anyone else ever seen this? Any ideas on a work around?

[AndrewKurtz]

On a whim, I changed the BoA settings from Windows to Fullscreen. At least right now, BoA seems to load EVERY time. Tried the same with AACW and I'm not seeing the same. Although, with AACW, the Configuration tool won't display either. In that case, I manually changed the settings in Display.opt to match BoA.

Pocus...would any valuable information come from me turning on verbose logging?

[Pocus]

look not too good, if you have no crash, this must not comes from the video. The process is perhaps stuck in memory because of a security control performed by Vista, I will ask Celtic, the dev who got a Vista machine.

[AndrewKurtz]

OK. I'll also keep playing around with different settings and keep you informed.

What I see is that the process loads but almost immediately stops any activitity. Memory when this happens is only about 2mb.

[Celtic]

becarefull, because some times, when an application is starting on Vista, Vista need an authorization to launch it (the screen comes darker and a windows appears un the middle). But if, just after launching this application, you change the focus, this authorization is minimize and nothing append more.
Perhaps you have just to look on the taskbar to activate this window.

[AndrewKurtz]

becarefull, because some times, when an application is starting on Vista, Vista need an authorization to launch it (the screen comes darker and a windows appears un the middle). But if, just after launching this application, you change the focus, this authorization is minimize and nothing append more.
Perhaps you have just to look on the taskbar to activate this window.

I've seen that, but it isn't happening here. I've also tried running as Administrator, in which case I get the window asking whether to allow. I allow and see the same thing.

Oddly, I was seeing the exact smae with BoA, managed to load the BoA Configurations, changed to Full Screen and I haven't had an issue. Could be coincidence, but seems odd.

I will keep testing.

[Pocus]

strange that BOA runs and not AACW, they use the low level components.
Have you updated your video card driver?
Can you set in the ACW\settings\general.opt the key
LogBatch = 1

(at 100 in your version I think)

then run the game, and give me the logs in the log directory please: support@ageod.com

[AndrewKurtz]

I'm confused...I made the opt file change and ran AACW and the Vista User Access Control popped up with a message if I should allow. I told it OK and AACW ran. I change the logging back to 100 and the User Access COntrol still pops up, but now it always runs.

Oddly, BoA never initiates the User Access Control.

I didn't reboot or change ANY thing else.

[Pocus]

the fact you edited a file convinced perhaps Vista that you really wanted to run the game?

I don't understand the logic, but if it works...

[Obediah]

Well, here are my experiences so far...

1) I downloaded & installed the AACW Demo to my spiffy new laptop running Vista OS. The first time I tried to open AACW, it too a looong time to load, then would crash, completely locking up the computer (I had to unplug the laptop & then remove the battery to get the thing to shut down). I then uninstalled AACW.

2) I then downloaded/installed the Demo onto my desktop (running XP). No trouble here; it runs fine, except for one tiny problem: it takes 15 minutes to load the game before it can be played!

3) Next, after finding out about the infamous missing .DLL file for Vista, I re-installed the Demo on my laptop & added the .DLL file...and what do you know, it only takes 6 minutes to load on this computer...sadly, it runs so slowly, it's almost impossible to play!

What I've seen of the game itself looks really good, though...just a little more complicated than BOA.

[SIZE="4"][color="Magenta"]THAT'S MY STORY AND I'M STICKING TO IT![/color][/size]

[tagwyn]

leure: My son gave me basic vista for my b'day!!! My son-in-law says he can't install vista onto xppro and he will have to install xphome and then delete xppro to finish installing vista! I am seriously depressed!! After all this, my favorite game will not work without me trying to become a flaming programer!! Celtic/Pocus Please tell me this is not so!! I buy games to play them; not to reprogram them!!!!!!! I was going to buy BOA but not at this rate. Alas! Larry3 leure:

[Korrigan]

Well, here are my experiences so far...

FMI, what are your specs? 15 min to load on XP is abnormal

[Pocus]

You did the right thing Obediah, with Vista you should try the demo before buying the game.

AACW takes between 45s and 90s to load on most computers, if you have a 2 years or less PC with 1 gig of RAM. If you don't have that, then it means a part of your machine has trouble.


Tagwyn I'm sorry, but we don't officially support Vista for now, we have to code differently many things because of Bill Gates move, and we are something like 3 months of the date where the changes will be all done. That said, many Vista people are able to play AACW, but it is not predictable. It also depends of the last driver date provided by your video card manufacturer for Vista.

[tagwyn]

Pocus: I understand. I screwed myself. I should have known better. Do you know my friend Patrice DuMonbrisson Fuchierer (sp). I met him while I was in college. He was from Lyon, we argued geopolitics. We didn't always agree but we always got along. L3

[Pocus]

so ACW don't run under Vista? What is the exact message? Do you have the last video driver possible?

No I don't know about your friend, sorry.

[Chamberlain]

Pocus,

I am running ACW successfully without any problems with Vista Home Premium Operating System.

It is the OS system that came with my new PC:

HP Pavilion Media Center m7750n
5000+ AMD Athlon 64 X2 (Dual Core Processor)
2 Gig memory
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS (I upgraded to this video card), with Driver Version 7.15.10.9734 (right out of the box) with Screen Resolution 1280 x 1024 pixels.

I have been running ACW without any problem for the last 2 months.

Chamberlain

[blackbellamy]

Just want to say AACW works perfectly on my Vista system:

Vista 64-Bit Home Premium
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Allendale 1.8GHz LGA 775
EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1

No crashes no weirdness no nothing.

Of course the VERY FIRST thing I did after OS install was to disable the goddamned UAC (User Access Control), which seems to cause all kinds of problems when you want to run anything more complicated than Notepad.

[Pocus]

thanks. I know that the majority of Vista players can run AACW, the thing being we still don't know why some can't

So again I advise anyone having Vista to try the demo before. If the Demo runs, the game will run. And the reverse is true.

[tagwyn]

demo runs great! AACW will not load nor run. leure: I know it is my fault. I give up. Larry

[Pocus]

hu weird, it means the problem is not in the video driver, so it lies in Vista itself. Have you disabled the UAC feature?
Try editing an AACW file manually, it did the trick for another user. After editing the file, the user could run AACW, as if Vista understood this was an application allowed to run on the computer (don't ask the logic there!)

[richfed]

Running Vista Ultimate 32bit on a 2 and a half year old Gateway desktop 7200 series [with UAC enabled!] - Pentium 4, 3.4 MHZ processor & 3 GB RAM, ATI 550 Video Card - Game [and BOA for that matter] runs fine.

I do experience 2 negative things, but am not sure they are because of Vista:

1 - Screen turns black every once in awhile, but it comes back up when the AI is done. Happens rarely and I can't connect it to anything I am doing. Seems random.

2 - After several turns - like maybe in July '61 during the Grand Campaign - my mouse will no longer pan the map down. It will go in all other directions, but not down - unless I drag a Unit or the map itself. Usually, when I resume the game after a save, it works again - very erratic, but no more than a minor nuisance. This has happened with all the patches ... currently using 1.045.

[Obediah]

Just want to say AACW works perfectly on my Vista system:




No crashes no weirdness no nothing.

Of course the VERY FIRST thing I did after OS install was to disable the goddamned UAC (User Access Control), which seems to cause all kinds of problems when you want to run anything more complicated than Notepad.

At the risk of showing too much ignorance, where, pray tell, do I find the "goddamned UAC?"

[richfed]

Hey Obi -

Go to Control Panel --> User Accounts & Family Safety --> User Accounts --> Turn User Account Control On or Off

[Obediah]

Thanks Rich, I finally found the [what blackbellamy called it] UAC & shut it off. I then rebooted & reinstalled the AACW demo onto my laptop. It's performance was still unacceptable (like running in quicksand) so I unstalled it again...I'm tired of this!

FYI, here are the specs on my laptop:

CPU: 1.73 Ghz Intel Core Duo - 64 Kb primary memory cache - 2048 secondary memory cache.

RAM: 1014 Mb installed memory

Video: Mobile Intel 945GM Express Chipset Family (display adapter)

OS: M$ Vista Home Premium

[Pocus]

its criminal from Microsoft to let people believe 1024 Mb of RAM is enough for Vista.

[TomATL]

Vista works fine for me, at least the first time through. When I close the program I receive an error message saying that a component is incompatible with Vista (this is from memory, as I'm not at the affected computer now). From that point forward, I can double-click on the icon to start the program but nothing happens. Running task manager shows an "AACW.EXE" application running, but the program itself won't launch.

Strange behavior, but not crippling!

[Ashbery76]

The game works fine with Vista64.

[Chamberlain]

Vista works fine for me, at least the first time through. When I close the program I receive an error message saying that a component is incompatible with Vista (this is from memory, as I'm not at the affected computer now). From that point forward, I can double-click on the icon to start the program but nothing happens. Running task manager shows an "AACW.EXE" application running, but the program itself won't launch.

Strange behavior, but not crippling!

TomATL,

Have you installed the missing DLL Vista file needed for "AACW (although you can play without the file, and you will only get an error message when exiting the game, without further interference) ? "

http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?t=3122

Chamberlain

[mwindaji]

Moi aussi il ne demare pas ??? (AACW.exe) mais j'ai windows XP ....

[Pocus]

if AACW is in memory but don't start, check your anti-virus (Norton is notorious for this kind of problems), any security program (do that off line). If under Vista, disable UAC.