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inability to play game - 11/30/2006 6:38:36 AM   
tomas1931

 

Posts: 11
Joined: 1/9/2002
From: Illinois
Status: offline 		I downloaded the game with no problem . When I click on the desktop icon everything appears normal It takes a long time to load the voice giving instructions to load and fire seems to be long When i click on a local game nothing happens yet my mouse is able to move and i can hear the music . I canonly go to the next screen if I press the Windows button on the key board it then appears to go to the next screen If i press CTRL-ALT-DEL the task manager shows the game is running
I cant find an ini file inthe directory
I have a Dell Dimension 8200 with a Pentium 4 2.38 gigs,1gig of memory a Geforce 7800 GSC video card a soundblaster audigy All the drivers are up to date I sent my direct x txt by Email to your support Department Needless to say after spending over 40 dollars I cant play the game
Post #: 1
RE: inability to play game - 11/30/2006 6:42:39 AM   
Adam Parker


Posts: 1848
Joined: 4/2/2002
From: Melbourne Australia
Status: offline 		You could be missing $9.99 of game. Everyone else paid $50!

Sorry for the sarcasm. I know how frustrating it is, been there before.

I'm sure Erik will get you playing in a short while.

(in reply to tomas1931)
Post #: 2
RE: inability to play game - 11/30/2006 7:00:47 AM   
Erik Rutins

 

Posts: 37503
Joined: 3/28/2000
From: Vermont, USA
Status: offline 		tomas,

quote:

ORIGINAL: tomas1931
I downloaded the game with no problem . When I click on the desktop icon everything appears normal It takes a long time to load the voice giving instructions to load and fire seems to be long When i click on a local game nothing happens yet my mouse is able to move and i can hear the music . I canonly go to the next screen if I press the Windows button on the key board it then appears to go to the next screen If i press CTRL-ALT-DEL the task manager shows the game is running
I cant find an ini file inthe directory
I have a Dell Dimension 8200 with a Pentium 4 2.38 gigs,1gig of memory a Geforce 7800 GSC video card a soundblaster audigy All the drivers are up to date I sent my direct x txt by Email to your support Department Needless to say after spending over 40 dollars I cant play the game


Sorry to hear about the problems you're having. Can you please also post your DxDiag file here for us to review in the forum? Thanks.

As far as general advice, have you tried disabling all other background programs to see if any of them are interfering in some way? Were there any errors during installation?

Regards,

- Erik

_____________________________

Erik Rutins
CEO, Matrix Games LLC



For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/

Freedom is not Free.

(in reply to tomas1931)
Post #: 3
RE: inability to play game - 11/30/2006 7:53:04 AM   
SlapBone


Posts: 269
Joined: 7/27/2004
From: Houston, TX
Status: offline 		This game is a beast. I cannot even play it on my laptop (1.7 centrino 512 RAM), which is the computer I usually play my strategy games on. On my home pc (2.53 P4 1GB RAM), I have to kill the process from the task manager every time I want to exit the game.

_____________________________


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Post #: 4
RE: inability to play game - 11/30/2006 7:59:19 AM   
Gil R.


Posts: 10821
Joined: 4/1/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: SlapBone

This game is a beast. I cannot even play it on my laptop (1.7 centrino 512 RAM), which is the computer I usually play my strategy games on. On my home pc (2.53 P4 1GB RAM), I have to kill the process from the task manager every time I want to exit the game.


This should play on 512 RAM, but you'd have to disable sound and/or lower the animation rate. Eric tomorrow can explain how this is done.

The problem exiting is strange. Perhaps if you wait a bit you won't need to go to the task manager, since I know it usually takes my laptop close to a minute to exit, and I also have 1GB RAM.


(in reply to SlapBone)
Post #: 5
RE: inability to play game - 11/30/2006 8:16:25 AM   
SlapBone


Posts: 269
Joined: 7/27/2004
From: Houston, TX
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Gil R.

This should play on 512 RAM, but you'd have to disable sound and/or lower the animation rate. Eric tomorrow can explain how this is done.

The problem exiting is strange. Perhaps if you wait a bit you won't need to go to the task manager, since I know it usually takes my laptop close to a minute to exit, and I also have 1GB RAM.




Yea, I can see your baby likes the RAM. Maybe if you hadn't fed him so much RAM during development, he wouldn't be so greedy. And I know this is not the animation you are talking about, but when I first saw the splash animation, the first thought that popped in my head was "how the hell do I turn that off?"

Also in the other thread you were asking for manual errata. Did you write this?

quote:

Sometimes, such compromises caused not only anger and resentment,
but violence as well: most notably, this occurred in Kansas after the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 put the decision of whether Kansas would become a free or slave-holding territory in the hands of the people of Kansas themselves, leading to guerilla warfare between supporters and opponents of slavery, many of whom crossed the border from slave-holding Missouri.


If so, I have to ask; why did you stop? You could have easily tacked about three more sentences onto that. Don't mind me. I've just been finishing up all of my term papers for this semester, so I'm on the prowl

Edit: errata even

< Message edited by SlapBone -- 11/30/2006 8:22:07 AM >

_____________________________


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Post #: 6
RE: inability to play game - 11/30/2006 8:19:34 AM   
Gil R.


Posts: 10821
Joined: 4/1/2005
Status: offline 		Personally, I think that run-on sentences have gotten an undeserved bad reputation. You go back a hundred or two hundred years and people loved run-on sentences. But now everyone thinks one is supposed to write like Hemingway.

(in reply to SlapBone)
Post #: 7
RE: inability to play game - 11/30/2006 8:25:26 AM   
SlapBone


Posts: 269
Joined: 7/27/2004
From: Houston, TX
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Gil R.

Personally, I think that run-on sentences have gotten an undeserved bad reputation. You go back a hundred or two hundred years and people loved run-on sentences. But now everyone thinks one is supposed to write like Hemingway.


For what it's worth, I agree with you 100%. My English teacher just has me wound up. She brutalized me on a paper that I wrote from a 10-year-old POV (using kid's slang and such), but then she raved over a paper where I completely butchered all of the tense in the last paragraph. Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled game release. I'm digging the game, it just needs some work on the performance.

< Message edited by SlapBone -- 11/30/2006 8:29:35 AM >

_____________________________


(in reply to Gil R.)
Post #: 8
RE: inability to play game - 11/30/2006 4:01:03 PM   
ericbabe


Posts: 11927
Joined: 3/23/2005
Status: offline 		On a system with 512MB, it'll run, but there will be caching to virtual memory that can lead to some intermittent delays.  It does run better in the low-animation mode. 

In case anyone was wondering, the big difference between regular graphics and low-animation: low-animation turns off things like the province background pictures and unrest flames, extra frames of animation in quick combat and smoke, and uses the chit-view instead of the little guys in detailed combat.

(in reply to SlapBone)
Post #: 9
RE: inability to play game - 11/30/2006 4:18:50 PM   
SlapBone


Posts: 269
Joined: 7/27/2004
From: Houston, TX
Status: offline 		How do we enter low-animation mode?

Never mind. I found it in the readme.

< Message edited by SlapBone -- 11/30/2006 4:34:35 PM >

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Post #: 10
RE: inability to play game - 11/30/2006 4:33:26 PM   
ericbabe


Posts: 11927
Joined: 3/23/2005
Status: offline 		From the ReadMe file:

**********************
* Low Animation Mode *
**********************
Users who have difficulty running Forge of Freedom on their computer can try to run the game in "Low Animation Mode." Open the file forgeoffreedom.ini. (This file is typically found in your Windows directory or in the ForgeOfFreedom directory.  You'll need to run the game at least once for this file to be created.)

Add the following entry:
LOWANIM=1

Make sure there are no entries that read:
LOWANIM=0

To turn animation back on, either set the LOWANIM value to 0 or remove all LOWANIM entries in the forgeoffreedom.ini file.

There's also a "No Sound Mode" which is similar to Low Animation and can help squeeze out performance on some machines:

*****************
* No Sound Mode *
*****************
Users may also disable all sound effects in the game to increase performance on their machines. Using the procedure outlined for Low Animation Mode, add the entry:

NOSOUND=1

to the forgeoffreedom.ini file. To turn sound back on, change the entry to NOSOUND=0 or remove all NOSOUND entries from the file.



(in reply to SlapBone)
Post #: 11
RE: inability to play game - 11/30/2006 9:16:39 PM   
Great_Ajax


Posts: 4774
Joined: 10/28/2002
From: Alabama, USA
Status: offline 		Same problem here. Load up and select new game and select all my starting options and click "ok". Main screen comes up with all the changing pictures and does not transition to the game - it just hangs. I can also click new game and it will start an additional version. As a work around, I am able to alt-tab out and then back into the game which helps the game to load up normally and I was able to play. Game also hung up on exit and I had to alt-tab out and in for it to shut down normally. The odd thing is that now that I have ran the game since the above episode, it works fine with no hang ups and exits normally. It worked itself out somehow.

Trey


quote:

ORIGINAL: tomas1931

I downloaded the game with no problem . When I click on the desktop icon everything appears normal It takes a long time to load the voice giving instructions to load and fire seems to be long When i click on a local game nothing happens yet my mouse is able to move and i can hear the music . I canonly go to the next screen if I press the Windows button on the key board it then appears to go to the next screen If i press CTRL-ALT-DEL the task manager shows the game is running
I cant find an ini file inthe directory
I have a Dell Dimension 8200 with a Pentium 4 2.38 gigs,1gig of memory a Geforce 7800 GSC video card a soundblaster audigy All the drivers are up to date I sent my direct x txt by Email to your support Department Needless to say after spending over 40 dollars I cant play the game


(in reply to tomas1931)
Post #: 12
RE: inability to play game - 11/30/2006 9:39:59 PM   
Hertston


Posts: 3564
Joined: 8/17/2002
From: Cornwall, UK
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: el hefe

Same problem here. Load up and select new game and select all my starting options and click "ok". Main screen comes up with all the changing pictures and does not transition to the game - it just hangs. I can also click new game and it will start an additional version. As a work around, I am able to alt-tab out and then back into the game which helps the game to load up normally and I was able to play. Game also hung up on exit and I had to alt-tab out and in for it to shut down normally. The odd thing is that now that I have ran the game since the above episode, it works fine with no hang ups and exits normally. It worked itself out somehow.


Exactly the same problem. It gets to the main menu screen (changing pictures), select Local Game, the music stops and nothing. Main menu is still there, and not locked-up; you just aren't seeing the right screen. Windows key or alt-tab means you can see the Local Game options screen (under the original loader - the one where you select play, manual, etc) which you have to move out of the way. From there, select your options and then OK and its back to the changing pictures. Nothing happens until you Windows key/alt-tab again, then you hear the narration and then the actual game loader bar and the map, and it's finally playable without trouble.

Above is in my native resolution of 1280x1024. Drop to 1024x768 before running the game, and the first problem goes; you get the local game options menu without trouble. Click on OK, though, and the same thing as before.

DxDiag attached.



Attachment (1)

< Message edited by Hertston -- 11/30/2006 9:48:46 PM >

(in reply to Great_Ajax)
Post #: 13
RE: inability to play game - 11/30/2006 11:34:31 PM   
tomas1931

 

Posts: 11
Joined: 1/9/2002
From: Illinois
Status: offline 		I just send my dxdiag It looks like the game is hanging on the intro video or splash scree

Attachment (1)

(in reply to tomas1931)
Post #: 14
RE: inability to play game - 12/1/2006 2:32:40 AM   
tomas1931

 

Posts: 11
Joined: 1/9/2002
From: Illinois
Status: offline 		I uninstalled the game and then installed Same problem hangs with splash screen I canget the game to play bt Alt Tab twice The game then plays normal until I want to exit again freezes at splash screen It must be related to the video pictures or my card Game is ver frustrating because it looks to be one of the best civil war games I played If it cant be fixed I am sorry I bought it

(in reply to tomas1931)
Post #: 15
RE: inability to play game - 12/1/2006 2:55:14 AM   
Raskal67


Posts: 63
Joined: 7/8/2001
From: Eugene, Oregon
Status: offline 		Hello Guys,
Same problem here with the hanging.

(in reply to tomas1931)
Post #: 16
RE: inability to play game - 12/1/2006 3:16:14 AM   
Raskal67


Posts: 63
Joined: 7/8/2001
From: Eugene, Oregon
Status: offline 		I just renamed in the video folder these files: matrixintro,intro,WCSintro, and other than the splash and title screens not working the game is running fine now.

(in reply to Raskal67)
Post #: 17
RE: inability to play game - 12/1/2006 5:55:47 AM   
tomas1931

 

Posts: 11
Joined: 1/9/2002
From: Illinois
Status: offline 		Did the same thing and game plays after a blank splash screen but when I tried to exit after a battle the game froze and again had to alt tab Unfortunately there appears to be a lot of bugs This game should still be in development we are becoming beta testers
Disappointed

(in reply to Raskal67)
Post #: 18
RE: inability to play game - 12/1/2006 7:46:05 AM   
Hertston


Posts: 3564
Joined: 8/17/2002
From: Cornwall, UK
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: tomas1931
Unfortunately there appears to be a lot of bugs This game should still be in development we are becoming beta testers
Disappointed


Nah, the testers wouldn't have missed this; none of them had the problem. It's more likely to be 'us' than 'it', its just a case of finding out what is causing it.


UPDATE: Sussed it, for me, anyway

Firstly, stupidity time, I hadn't upgraded my graphics drivers in a while. Did so to latest nVidias. At this point, same result as using 1024x768 even when at higher native resolution (i.e no probs getting game options menu). Then tried switching native resolution to 1024x768 before running game - the game works properly if you do that.


< Message edited by Hertston -- 12/1/2006 8:08:30 AM >

(in reply to tomas1931)
Post #: 19
RE: inability to play game - 12/1/2006 12:49:20 PM   
Marc von Martial


Posts: 10875
Joined: 1/4/2001
From: Bonn, Germany
Status: offline 		Do you guys all have Adobe® Flash® Player 8+ (Formerly Macromedia Flash Player) installed as mentioned in the minimal system requirements?

_____________________________

Marc von Martial
instagram stream

(in reply to Hertston)
Post #: 20
RE: inability to play game - 12/1/2006 1:25:16 PM   
Erik Rutins

 

Posts: 37503
Joined: 3/28/2000
From: Vermont, USA
Status: offline 		tomas,

quote:

ORIGINAL: tomas1931
Did the same thing and game plays after a blank splash screen but when I tried to exit after a battle the game froze and again had to alt tab Unfortunately there appears to be a lot of bugs This game should still be in development we are becoming beta testers
Disappointed


I think the video issue is a simple one - some codecs were not included in the final installer and I'm about to upload them here (we'll also include them in the first patch and updated instaler). The second crash may be a fluke or related to the first, but let's fix one thing at a time. Fortunately, very few customers are having problems, unfortunately you're one of them, so we'll work to get it working for you.

Please download the attached zip file and run the Codec Installer included there, then reboot and let me know if that helps at all.

Regards,

- Erik


Attachment (1)

_____________________________

Erik Rutins
CEO, Matrix Games LLC



For official support, please use our Help Desk: http://www.matrixgames.com/helpdesk/

Freedom is not Free.

(in reply to tomas1931)
Post #: 21
RE: inability to play game - 12/1/2006 5:17:32 PM   
tomas1931

 

Posts: 11
Joined: 1/9/2002
From: Illinois
Status: offline 		I dowmloaded the codec and then rebooted It allowed me to get past the first splash screen on to the setup panel I then played first sargeant Lincoln as human and advanced game I then hit the ok and go to the second splash screen which again does not chang I again have to alt tab i the get two copies of the game and one plays trying to exit requires a taskmanager and then I get a microsoft error I also installed the new adobe flashplayer 9 which made no difference

(in reply to Erik Rutins)
Post #: 22
RE: inability to play game - 12/1/2006 5:58:55 PM   
Great_Ajax


Posts: 4774
Joined: 10/28/2002
From: Alabama, USA
Status: offline 		Downloaded the codec and the Flash Update from Adobe and then rebooted. First try and the game hung. Next five tries and the game worked just fine and on the sixth, it hung again. Resizing desktop to 1024x768 seemed to not make a difference. On the positive side, I noticed that if the game start hangs, all I have to do is press the "exit" button on the main screen and the game immediately kicks in. No more alt-tabs to get the game to start.

Trey

(in reply to tomas1931)
Post #: 23
RE: inability to play game - 12/2/2006 12:47:15 AM   
ezjax


Posts: 75
Joined: 7/5/2005
Status: offline 		Ok, I believe I am having the same problem. After game loads I get opening screen ref (1) and all seems normal, ( I here music and flash videos randomize). If click Local Game or PBEM Game, music stops and Game navbar locks and system hangs on Opening Screen but flash videos still randomize. I Don’t have this problem with the other buttons (Load Local Game, Load PBEM, Remote Game, Credits). My work around like others is to ALT/TAB which then kicks game over to the Setup Screen ref (2) . I can also get to the setup screen by first clicking on credits and then clicking local game and will go to setup screen.

ref 1


ref 2


dxdiag

Attachment (1)

(in reply to Great_Ajax)
Post #: 24
RE: inability to play game - 12/2/2006 12:57:00 AM   
Hertston


Posts: 3564
Joined: 8/17/2002
From: Cornwall, UK
Status: offline 		Hmmm.. an 'intermittent'. Agreed on changing resolution, that appears to have been coincidental. One time in six or so its OK, the rest it isn't, although just hitting the Windows key does the trick.

Flash player was up to date, codec installer run (I'm pretty sure they were OK, too), drivers up to date and problem still there. Not a killer, but I think you guys may need to think again as to what's causing it.

(in reply to Great_Ajax)
Post #: 25
RE: inability to play game - 12/2/2006 1:03:27 AM   
histgamer

 

Posts: 1455
Joined: 11/30/2006
Status: offline 		I have a laptop with the following specs

1.6 GHZ dual Core Processor
1.5 Gigs of Ram
128 mb video card (but its a normal laptop one so just a standard random video card not gforce or any gaming card or anything)

should the game work fine on my laptop?

(in reply to Hertston)
Post #: 26
RE: inability to play game - 12/2/2006 1:21:03 AM   
Gil R.


Posts: 10821
Joined: 4/1/2005
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: flanyboy

I have a laptop with the following specs

1.6 GHZ dual Core Processor
1.5 Gigs of Ram
128 mb video card (but its a normal laptop one so just a standard random video card not gforce or any gaming card or anything)

should the game work fine on my laptop?



Here are the minimum requirements. You should have no trouble.

* Minimum System Requirements
* Windows 2000 / XP
* 500 MHz CPU
* 1GB RAM (512MB for low animation)
* 32 MB Video Card, DirectX 7 Compatible
* Sound Card (Windows XP Compatible)
* 1GB Hard Drive space
* CD-Rom
* DirectX 7+
* Adobe® Flash® Player 8+ (for intro screen only)


(in reply to histgamer)
Post #: 27
RE: inability to play game - 12/2/2006 7:08:59 AM   
Hertston


Posts: 3564
Joined: 8/17/2002
From: Cornwall, UK
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: ezjax

Ok, I believe I am having the same problem. After game loads I get opening screen ref (1) and all seems normal, ( I here music and flash videos randomize). If click Local Game or PBEM Game, music stops and Game navbar locks and system hangs on Opening Screen but flash videos still randomize. I Don’t have this problem with the other buttons (Load Local Game, Load PBEM, Remote Game, Credits). My work around like others is to ALT/TAB which then kicks game over to the Setup Screen ref (2) . I can also get to the setup screen by first clicking on credits and then clicking local game and will go to setup screen.


Certainly exactly the same problem as me. As you say, everything works fine if you just select the credits first (didn't think of that!)

(in reply to ezjax)
Post #: 28
RE: inability to play game - 12/6/2006 2:49:28 AM   
tomas1931

 

Posts: 11
Joined: 1/9/2002
From: Illinois
Status: offline 		To date other than the codec which should have been present there has been no answers the game still freezes unless you hit the credit button and if you want to exit the game either crashes or you have to hit the taskmaster and end the program to date the game is unplayable because of these problems

(in reply to Hertston)
Post #: 29
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