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moonlightcheese
October 24th, 2005, 08:42 am
For those having issues running the game i'm posting possible fixes here so you can get the game up and running. this is a composition of posts from other forums from members having game issues. first, i'd like to say that nVidia seems to have fixed all of the game dynamics issues with the 81.85 driver, as i have a 7800GT OC and there seems to be no more issues with collision detection and characters getting "stuck". that being said, here are some fixes for issues with not getting past the splash screen. if you have more fixes to add just post em and i'll add them to this top post. just tryin' to help ;)
NOTE: there is an issue with the "splash screen of death" not relating to windows 2k OR to save games. i was having the issue the first time i started the game on my new system running WinXP. there are two possible solutions with the issue and i'll be back later tonight to tell you which is the absolute fix. first, here are the system specs and info for those with the same issue as myself:

Windows XP SP2
DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra D
some generic DDR400 (doesn't really matter)
BFG 7800GT OC PCIe
SATA HDD (Maxtor DiamondMax10)
IDE CD-ROM

the reason for posting my storage hardware will be evident in a sec. there were three possible issues i've found. first, when updating the BIOS i noticed that the option for SSE/SSE2 was added. this wasn't there before. i disabled SSE and restarted and still had the error but when i re-enabled SSE and restarted Windows refused to boot until i validated my copy (i had already done this and apparently changing the SSE setting messed this up in Windows somehow...) so i was forced to reinstall basically.

after re-installing with SSE/SSE2 enabled, Windows added the SSE2 instructions to the OS. so... one possibility is that SSE2 needs to be enabled during install of OS.

second... i used the DaemonTools image found at gamecopyworld to mount the necessary CD files on my HD to avoid messing with that crap Lionhead media.

third... rather than using the nForce4 ATA drivers, i'm using the standard Windows ATA drivers. Yes, i know it's slower but it is working...

of these three i do not know which is the fix. later this evening i'll back up my games and unmount the DT image, using the disc to run the game, which will eliminate the media as the problem. then, i'll install the nForce4 drivers and see if this messes anything up. so if those two do not create a problem in reading the game then SSE is the culprit. i'll post here again later on tonight with results and hopefully lay this thread to rest.


i can understand some of these oversights considering they work so hard on the AI for the game and the detail level and dynamics. however, it's inexcusable to sit idly while so many users are having this issue. i saw no public bulletin with the solution and i haven't seen any posts in this thread from a lionhead representative. the support in this issue has been non-existent AFAIK. granted i'm sure they are working hard on these updates, there should at least be someone to test these issues so people can get the game running on their hardware and a public bulletin posted with links to possible fixes on the main BW2 site.


in any event, i'll post tonight with conclusions. hope this helps some peeps get up and running.
For the above fix, if you are unsure whether the problem is SSE, you can get wcpuid (google it) and run the "tweak" to enable SSE emulation. if the game starts to run, there's your problem, you are now past the splash screen of death. however, running the game on emulated SSE is incredibly unstable. i recommend checking your BIOS to make sure it's enabled and re-installing the OS after enabling.

wcpuid:
I'm pleased to announce I'm no longer a member of the Splash Screen Club!

Sadly, I'm now a member of the 'crashes after sloshy logo' club. The shame...

Some folks on here have reported that Cpuid *doesn't* let them flip their SSE. The problem seems to be that many copies of wcpuid 3.3 are lacking the necessary SSE-toggling plugin. The way around this? Do a search on wcpuid 3.1a, which has the required plugin. Toggle and make happy squealing noises of glee!

Now to try and get this damn thing to run *after* splashiness..

regarding windows 2k systems with the splash screen of death:
For windows 2000 yes :

If white.exe crashes immediatly after the splash screen :
Install the "Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 SP4" (you need Service Pack 4 installed)

You can find it here : http://www.techspot.com/downloads/1...ndows-2000.html

If you have a nVidia card:
Install the BETA driver 8185

http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_d...betadriver.html

And remember : Google is your friend.
This seemed to fix the problem for a lot of users running win2k

if you are want to run the game without inserting the media to see if that might help, read this post...
hi all!

just puttin my $.02 in.

i have/had the "splash screen" problem as well. splash screen comes up, cd drive attempts to read from disc, no error message, program activity stops, splash screen stays on screen.

i found what worked for me was the loading/mounting of a "mini-image" into a virtual drive. i know its been mentioned before, but i think many of you arent paying it due attention. i know it isnt solving the underlying problem, but it does seem to be a workaround for this particular issue, if you are willing to go the extra steps. for those of you who are pulling out hair and thinking of selling the game, this might be well worth the time/effort. for those who already have daemon tools or alcohol 120% installed, there is no reason not to use this method. i used the 5.5MB mini-image located at gamecopyworld.com, although some of the others might work as well.

for those of you who dont know what daemon tools/alcohol 120% is, do a google search please. for how they pertain to us, they are programs that allow you to create "virtual drives" on your computer. in other words, they trick the pc into thinking it has an/several extra cd-rom drives installed. onto/into those "virtual drives", a cd image (or in this case a mini-image) can be loaded/mounted. think of it as you placing a cd into your drive and closing it up, except there is no physical disc or drive. hope im not losing ya. :)

SupaTroopa
October 24th, 2005, 11:36 am
Good luck cheese - my crashes are randomn and of the "white.exe error" variety and I haven't played the game in a while as I'm just waiting for LH to patch it, or a fix to come out for now. I am also tired of toggling shaders down to 1.1 in order to play it at a reasonable frame rate.

The game is fun and all but the technical issues are beyond ridiculous. I am not having the splash screen problem but am wondering if installing a no-CD .exe file from GCW will help now possibly if the disk protection sw is causing problems somehow. Who knows.

phoenix17
October 24th, 2005, 11:48 am
How could the disk protection cause in-game problems ?

SupaTroopa
October 24th, 2005, 12:34 pm
How could the disk protection cause in-game problems ?

"I've" never had a problem - but others have depending on the type used - I'm considering every option because Lionhead/EA has no clue what they are doing still when it comes to QA, that or they simply don't care.

moonlightcheese
October 24th, 2005, 01:23 pm
i highly doubt the fault lies with nvidia at this point. 81.85 fixed everything for me and it "should" technically fix all the cards but you never know, supa might be a special case ;)

i highly recommend trying the gamecopyworld nocd trick. that copy protection seems to be messing with a lot of things ranging from random crashes to splash screen errors. give it a try supa. and it couldn't hurt to check for SSE2 with wcpuid. it's just some quick things you can do to try and get it up. they seemed to work for me just fine. i'm on land 5 now. plays like a dream, no random freezes or reduced quality.

i know it seems strange that the media would cause this but it seems to be a fix for a lot of people with widely varying issues.

SupaTroopa
October 25th, 2005, 10:34 am
Well I tried the no-cd Daemon tools deal, and installed the 81.85 drivers, but I still have to knock the game down to 1.1 shaders to get rid of the "stuttering" in-game.

Nevermind the rest of it I figured it out - game crashes once in a while during saving or quitting, but that seems to be it. Can play for hours with no problems.

Still looks very good and no slowdowns at all.

Defprophet
October 29th, 2005, 12:08 pm
My game randomly freezes, and there is a layer problem all trees and objects are on top of this blue square that makes the island look like the right corner is under water. If I look in the sky it doesn't do it but then it froze so I don't know more than that. What should I do?

SagaciousNJ
November 5th, 2005, 04:19 pm
#1. How do you turn off SSE if you are using an intel CPU (yes I tried WCPUID and yes it had a plugin the might have allowed me to turn off SSE if I had been using an amd chip, but when I came to the menu in WCPUID it was greyed out)

#2. Does anyone know if there is a cracked exe for this game? Keep in mind that I am asking explicitly for a cracked version of "white.exe" or a program that will crack it and not a minidisc image and I have already installed the game.

An answer to either would be greatly appreciated.


Thank You
NJF

Soulstu
November 5th, 2005, 04:27 pm
I also crash after the splash screen

my pc stats are

intel 2.6ghz ht
512mb ddr 400mhz ram
geforce fx5500

any ideas why its crashing?

SupaTroopa
November 6th, 2005, 01:28 am
The game still crashes on me constantly, resigned to waiting for a patch or fix. But it happens to me in-game at randomn intervals. It's pretty stupid you can't skip thru the splash screens either, but my game doesn't crash there.

It's unforunate as I really like the game itself.

ScoobyDooby
November 14th, 2005, 05:05 am
I tried all the pixel shading tricks but none of that worked for me..
I'm using the 8187 betas right now from 8185, but drivers aren't the issue. It's all the game.
It starts for me in the 3rd map. The first two played perfectly, but now its getting pretty bad. I can still kinda play it because it's intermittent, but its still a bummer.
They're working on a patch and shouldn't be long before its out.

SupaTroopa
November 14th, 2005, 11:12 am
Boy this game is truly one buggy mess. I can't even imagine how many hours I've spent playing it already - mainly due to randomn, unpredictable crashes in-game that require me to start over from my last save point. I simply remember to save more often now. Then I started over as a good God/creature combo instead of Evil, which also takes longer since it's predicated on city building and defenses.

1. The Siren Epic is one of the cooler gaming moments ever - the music and the cut scene I enjoy watching every time - it really makes you feel like a God and not a micromanager of resources and a pet owner. :) I still have not gotten far enough yet (or evil enough) to buy either the earthquake or hurricane or volcano epics - but can't wait to do so.

2. The enemy AI regarding the troops is rather sad - sure when engaged it behaves normally, but the fact they stand outside your walls and allow themselves to get pelted with arrows seems like a glaring error that I don't see how the devs looked over.

3. Make sure you look up the easy tweak to the graphics .cfg file you can change to make your creature twice as tall/big.

4. Once you get a city over a 1,000 in population it's quite impressive if you have bought enough variety of buildings to keep them happy and productive, and you can then get massive armies - love watching 500 archers reign down death on all of my enemy's towns.

5. i'm finally starting to get the rather easy side quests - that you almost have to do if you want enough tribute to buy anything useful eventually

6. This is a truly great game despite it's flaws and weakenesses and am quite suprised at the lack of response from the gaming community - sure it could use some more variety and technical polish, and better AI, but over-all I just think it might be a bit underrated and ignored, which is too bad.

Rafal Dudek
November 14th, 2005, 11:45 am
Well I'm about to reinstall the game. Forgot to backup my savegame files so I'll have to play through it again hehe. Wonder how it runs with new system =D

ScoobyDooby
November 14th, 2005, 02:58 pm
^ Question.. did you install the first patch with the game before?
Cuz technically, you'd need to start over from scratch anyways if you install the first patch, and maybe once the next one comes out.
Reason being, that the savegames aren't compatible between patches, and will crash the game. They recommend removing all savegames from V1.0 to v1.1. So really, you'd have to start from beginning anyway.. be sure to install the patch before you play it on your next install!!

I have a question though.. does ANYONE know how to skip the stupid logos at the very beginning of the game? I'm so sick of seeing the lionhead logo and EA splash every time I enter the game.. thanks for any info.

Rafal Dudek
November 15th, 2005, 10:35 am
Well I played a bit of it last night, got to the 3rd island. Runs silky smooth with my new system =D

SupaTroopa
November 15th, 2005, 12:25 pm
Yeah I still have to set the shaders to 1.1 with the tweaker tool from 3dguru - runs great with that enabled though.

Scooby - unfortunately you cannot skip the stupid logo splash screens - it's ridiculous, and hope that is included in this long-awaited patch they are working on.

In addition to the crashing and unskippable splash screens/logos - if I zoom in too close to my villagers - they disappear - which i I think is more of a driver problem as I was having the same thing in a different sense in Serious Sam II I noticed.

I d/l the new Nvidia beta drivers last night, so far so good, but haven't seen how B&W2 works with them yet.

Rafal Dudek
November 15th, 2005, 12:38 pm
I d/l the new Nvidia beta drivers last night, so far so good, but haven't seen how B&W2 works with them yet.

How ironic. I could of sworn you once complained about ATi's buggy drivers :p:

ScoobyDooby
November 15th, 2005, 03:09 pm
I ended up doing the same and downloaded the newest betas and have been with them since. I haven't seen any huge improvements, but I will admit I'm suprised at what happened when I went from map 3 to 4..

I was playing three for a while, and the stuttering started to really bother me. To the point where everything I did was stutter stutter stutter.. I ended up finishing the land and moving on to the next one, and all of a sudden, the stutter is now gone!!
I can't understand what changed. I built a huuuuuge city.. even bigger than the last one, and yet, the stutter still hasn't happened once.. maybe I'm just lucky.

I'm pretty choked though about the logo screens.. might not seem like a big deal, but seriously.. they take like two minutes each time. What a waste.

KoLdDoOm
December 30th, 2005, 06:00 am
Hi,
I recently had to reinstall windows due to my computer staying on the windows 2000 is loading screen. It wouldn't even boot into safe mode.
Anyway, since the install, I decided to install the bare minimum; that is, the bare minimum for playing games ;-)
So I installed the latest Nvidia drivers, my sound card drivers and my LAN card drivers. After adding other stuff such as DirectX 9.0c, I decided to try out Black and White 2. And yes, I am getting the same problem as you guys, the splash screen. And I'd like to say: Thank you! I didn't think of Windows update (I'm running Windows 2000), and that's likely to be the problem. I'll let you know how it turns out :)
EDIT: Damnit! Sorry, didn't see how old this topic was. Sorry for the post resurrection :P

SupaTroopa
December 30th, 2005, 02:05 pm
Don't worry about it - people do that all the time Kold. Let us know if you still have problems. Just keep in mind they STILL haven't patched the game nor fixed any of the numerous problems with it. It's a broken mess if you ask me, but playable if you can do some tweaking. Right now I haven't touched the game in weeks, as I'm just waiting for the patch to come out - which LH said was supposed to be out in December...so much for that. It should be out in January.

KoLdDoOm
January 3rd, 2006, 12:34 pm
Well I got it running, but after importing my old save, my camera continuously rotates and I can't stop it. Your right- it is a broken mess :(

JENocide2006
April 12th, 2006, 12:14 pm
I've got the latest drivers and direct X 9.0c installed. My system specs well exceeds what is needed for the game. I start installing the game, and it gets stuck at installing direct X 9.0c and then an error message pops up saying,

" Black and White 2 has failed to install.
Your system has not been modified.
Please re-run the installer to try again.
Error: Unknown Error"

What does this error mean? Has anyone else encountered a similar problem? Please, help me. I really really want to play this game. :(: :wtf2: