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Officers WAS Working, Now it ISN'T

 
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Officers WAS Working, Now it ISN'T - 1/8/2010 11:55:51 PM   
ceb2

 

Posts: 27
Joined: 4/27/2008
Status: offline 		Officers was working up until today. I tried running the game in XP Compatibility Mode to see if the load times would be faster. I now click on the PLAY heading and nothing happens.

I took it out of XP Comp Mode and tried again, still no start.

I've tried running as Adminstrator and still no go.

I have the digital download of the game.

My system and specs:

Falcon-NW FragBox2 Gaming PC
3.16GHZ Intel Duo-Core Chip
Vista 32-bit OS
ATI Radeon 4850GC
Post #: 1
RE: Officers WAS Working, Now it ISN'T - 1/9/2010 5:25:09 AM   
SeanD


Posts: 1574
Joined: 3/2/2006
Status: offline 		Hi ceb,

Please try to navigate to where you have Officers installed (generally Program Files/Matrix Games/Officers). In that directory there should be a "bin" folder with an Officers.exe file. Double click that and see what happens. If you can't find Officers.exe please try to search for it with the Windows Find feature.



_____________________________

Sean Drummy

Marketing and Press Relations Manager

(in reply to ceb2)
Post #: 2
RE: Officers WAS Working, Now it ISN'T - 1/9/2010 1:12:37 PM   
ceb2

 

Posts: 27
Joined: 4/27/2008
Status: offline 		OK, I opened the game file. In the bin folder the only item close to the Officers.exe is Offrez.exe with a disc icon above it.  I checked my program files under Officers. There is a Quick Start which I tried, it comes back with the message: "This item has been changed or moved and no longer works." I haven't changed or moved anything other than what I mentioned in my first post.

I looked in the video config to see if there might be an Avi file I could rename (as that is sometimes a fix for games that won't execute), but I see the files don't look the same as other games I own.

BTW, I also tried "auto-run" in the main directory and the aforementioned Offrez.exe.  Under video config the rez IS set to 1680x1050 which IS my monitor's native resolution.

Where do we go from here?

(in reply to SeanD)
Post #: 3
RE: Officers WAS Working, Now it ISN'T - 1/9/2010 1:14:45 PM   
ceb2

 

Posts: 27
Joined: 4/27/2008
Status: offline 		Follow-Up. If I search for Officers.exe in the Program Files it replys with: Item not found?  Seems I've somehow lost my game execution file. Very weird.

(in reply to ceb2)
Post #: 4
RE: Officers WAS Working, Now it ISN'T - 1/11/2010 3:40:37 AM   
SeanD


Posts: 1574
Joined: 3/2/2006
Status: offline 		Sit tight, ceb. We're working on this one.

_____________________________

Sean Drummy

Marketing and Press Relations Manager

(in reply to ceb2)
Post #: 5
RE: Officers WAS Working, Now it ISN'T - 1/12/2010 6:44:49 PM   
SeanD


Posts: 1574
Joined: 3/2/2006
Status: offline 		This is really really strange. Try doing this: Disable every possible piece of your virus scanner - please be thorough. Re-download the game. Reinstall. Try to run Officers. If all goes according to plan it could have been your virus scanner suddenly detecting the EXE as a virus and nuking it. Obviously if you get it to run and then the EXE disappears you may need to whitelist the EXE on your virus protection.

_____________________________

Sean Drummy

Marketing and Press Relations Manager

(in reply to SeanD)
Post #: 6
RE: Officers WAS Working, Now it ISN'T - 1/12/2010 8:15:11 PM   
ceb2

 

Posts: 27
Joined: 4/27/2008
Status: offline 		Sean, I always deactivate my virus scanner when playing games. I don't use Norton, etc. I used the virus and spyware that comes with my provider CenturyLink aka Embarq aka Sprint. I also keep UAC off on Vista (too many problems with it and gaming in general.)

It IS possible that I may have forgotten to deactivate the Virus when I ran Officers one time (I'm not as young as I used to be, could've been to quote Pink Floyd "A Momentary Lapse of Reason.")

Anyway, I'll certainly go with your info and give it a shot (since I've never seen this either.) Thanks for your help.

(in reply to SeanD)
Post #: 7
RE: Officers WAS Working, Now it ISN'T - 1/12/2010 9:17:57 PM   
ceb2

 

Posts: 27
Joined: 4/27/2008
Status: offline 		Follow-Up

Ok, Sean, I reinstalled Officers (all Virus & Spyware Off.) Didn't have to DL again as I had kept the Officers-Setup-Release exe. I just put in my serial no. again and activated the install. Even though I deactivated the Virus & Spyware the OS still came up with a Query on whether I wanted to give the program permission to run. Your must be using something really different than some of the other digital DL games I own. You've probably checked this but I suspect something is unusual in your game exec. file that may trigger this problem. I HAVE on occasion run other games with the Virus and Spyware package on with no ill effects. Usually I keep it off to prevent in-game crashes with graphically and memory intense games. Many of my games, even though XP/ Vista-specific, I will sometimes run in XP-Comp mode since XP is less of a resource hog. The WWI flight-sim Rise of Flight is one example, since changing it to run in Xp-Cmp mode, no more crashes in graphically intense missions.

Suffice it to say Officers is running again, hopefully it will continue as such.

While I've got your attention, I've got a question: This game has probably the longest load times I've ever experienced in a game (and I've got others that can be long too, but nothing like this.) Is it because of the scope of the game and multitude of units? I'm just wondering if there is anything I can do on my end to improve this. You know, in my first post I mentioned that I tried to run the game in XP-Comp mode. I'm wondering if that somehow caused the game exe. problem? I certainly won't try it again though. Thanks Again.

(in reply to ceb2)
Post #: 8
RE: Officers WAS Working, Now it ISN'T - 1/12/2010 9:38:56 PM   
ceb2

 

Posts: 27
Joined: 4/27/2008
Status: offline 		2ND FOLLOW-UP (IT HAPPENED AGAIN!!)

OK, Sean you were right.  After activating my Virus app to get online and send you the above email, my Virus app came up with two messages. 1) win32.Pioneer.A removed and 2) C:\Matrix Games\Officers\bin\Officers.exe "Quaranteed."

When I checked the details it happened the first time on 1/3/2010.  What is odd here is I purchased an DL'd the game on 11/19/09 and have played it many times between 11/19 and 1/3/2010. I always activate my Virus app before going back online. I'm wondering why this cropped up only on the 1/3/10?

Possibly it could be that my provider has upgraded their Virus and Spyware package.  I don't suppose that my download is corrupted in some way? I just want to make sure that the game.exe does not have any virus before proceeding further.

Before I un-install and re-install the game again, refresh my memory about the procedure for whitelisting the game on my PC. I know I've done this before but its' been awhile.  Thanks.

(in reply to ceb2)
Post #: 9
RE: Officers WAS Working, Now it ISN'T - 1/13/2010 6:29:07 PM   
SeanD


Posts: 1574
Joined: 3/2/2006
Status: offline 		That would depend on which AVG installer you have. Tell me the specific brand and I'll see if I can find specific instructions.

Generally there's just a box that lists all whitelisted files. You should be able to just click an "add" button or something like it and then navigate the file box that pops up to the EXE. It will exclude the file from all subsequent scans.

_____________________________

Sean Drummy

Marketing and Press Relations Manager

(in reply to ceb2)
Post #: 10
RE: Officers WAS Working, Now it ISN'T - 1/14/2010 1:46:33 AM   
ceb2

 

Posts: 27
Joined: 4/27/2008
Status: offline 		OK, I just had to uninstall Officers again.

These are the steps I performed before installing it the last time:

Went into my Windows Security/Firewall Settings and excluded the Run.exe and QuickStart exe. so the firewall would allow the program.

Went into my CenturyLink Internet provider's Virus & Spyware package and excluded it from scanning.

Upon running Officers again, message again popped up with virus warning about the game. The options gave me no choice but to delete the virus which also happens to be the start.exe. I assume.

Currently, I play five other games that need to be connected for some facets of gameplay with no problems including Empire Total War, Order of War and Crusaders: Thy Kingdom Come through Steam. Also Rise of Flight and security-intensive Company of Heroes and World in Conflict. I also play 25 other games offline like Officers with no issues of this kind. None of the aforementioned games set off my security software. Clearly, something is not right in your start exe.

My question now is: Would I have the same problems if I obtain the "hard copy disc version?"  Is this problem only associated with the "digital download version?" From the message I posted in my previous post above, Windows Vista 32-bit seems to have a problem with the game as well.

I own a hard -copy of your game "Panzer Command Kharkov" which I purchased from your online store when it was published. I've never experienced any problems with it either. 

What are my options here?

(in reply to SeanD)
Post #: 11
RE: Officers WAS Working, Now it ISN'T - 1/14/2010 3:59:03 AM   
ceb2

 

Posts: 27
Joined: 4/27/2008
Status: offline 		Just for clarification: I'm not using any personally installed Anti-Virus Software (Norton, etc.). I'm using the AVG package provided by my Internet Provider CenturyLink. I can find NO INFO on what they are using. As stated above, I've gone into their Virus Scan App and excluded Officers from the Virus Scan as well as my Vista Firewall Security Settings.

I think you guys may need to provide a patch for this problem, as I see others are now having the same issue. Whether it is also related to Vista 32-bit and Windows Defender is also in the realm of possibility.

(in reply to ceb2)
Post #: 12
RE: Officers WAS Working, Now it ISN'T - 1/14/2010 4:00:05 AM   
SeanD


Posts: 1574
Joined: 3/2/2006
Status: offline 		A hard copy won't make a difference. It's the Officers.exe and Offrez.exe files which are throwing the virus flags. Please whitelist those guys. The EXE is perfectly secure and safe for you to run, there's something about the way the Matrix security system was implemented in these EXEs that makes some scanners believe something is amiss but nothing is. We've confirmed this thoroughly I assure you.

The Run.exe and QuickStart.exe are not what's getting the attention of the AVG. Please try to whitelist Officers.exe and Offrez.exe and see if that helps.



_____________________________

Sean Drummy

Marketing and Press Relations Manager

(in reply to ceb2)
Post #: 13
RE: Officers WAS Working, Now it ISN'T - 1/14/2010 3:29:45 PM   
ceb2

 

Posts: 27
Joined: 4/27/2008
Status: offline 		Sean,
Thanks for the response. My apologies for my previous tone in the above posts. I guess my frustration was coming through last night after another uninstall.

I want to be clear on the whitelist procedure:  I assume we are talking about going into Control Panel/Security/Firewall and adding Officers.exe and Offrez.exe to the exclusion list and also repeating the procedure for my online provider's Virus Scan exclusion list?  Is this what whitelisting entails?

I'm a retired Systems IT person, now going on ten years (which, of course, in the computer world is a lifetime) and I've learned the ins ands outs of Vista the last few years, but don't recall ever performing this procedure, hence the request for clarification.

(in reply to SeanD)
Post #: 14
RE: Officers WAS Working, Now it ISN'T - 1/14/2010 7:02:17 PM   
SeanD


Posts: 1574
Joined: 3/2/2006
Status: offline 		Hey Ceb,

The EXEs should not be needing to go out on to the net except if you're doing multiplayer stuff. The firewall whitelisting can't hurt, though. You do not require an internet connection to play Officers (or use the copy protection on any of our games) so I don't think that's as much of a problem. I guess the short answer to your two questions in the previous post is "Yes, that's what it entails."

The main thing you'll want to do is whitelist it on all scanners and system monitors your AVG has. I have no clue how that AVG package would work with your ISP so I won't be much help with that.

No worries on the tone, Ceb. I apologize for all the problems you're having!

_____________________________

Sean Drummy

Marketing and Press Relations Manager

(in reply to ceb2)
Post #: 15
RE: Officers WAS Working, Now it ISN'T - 1/14/2010 8:25:18 PM   
ceb2

 

Posts: 27
Joined: 4/27/2008
Status: offline 		OK, finally got everything fixed.  My ISP is using something called "DeepGuard" for Virus & Spyware. I don't know if that is a commercially available program or their own "in-house" brand. Even though I disable it when playing games it still picked up on Officers as a virus.  I ran a registry cleaner and then a quick disc cleaner and did a reboot before re-install.  I had to go into two different areas of "DeepGuard" and exclude Officers.exe and Offrez.exe. from the Virus Scan. I entered the execs. under both manual scan and auto scan, so hopefully it will stick long-term (fingers crossed.)

After starting the game I exited out and enabled the virus package, got online, checked email and went offline again.  Previously, this is where I lost the game.exe. when trying to start the game again. I disabled the virus software again and started Officers and it worked.  I'm still going to stick to my usual procedure of disabling the virus program before gaming (just to be safe!) I assume you guys are using something very different from your other title, "Panzer Command Kharkov", because my ISP software has no problem with it.

Anyway, Sean, thanks for your patience and help! See ya on the battlefields!

(in reply to SeanD)
Post #: 16
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