Black screen lockup.

[Burningmace]

Hi,

I installed RCT3 this morning, and ran it. I got a black screen with an hourglass mouse pointer for about 10 seconds, then a quit back to the desktop.
I assumed I needed a patch, so I downloaded the EU 1.0 to 1.2 patch. I installed that, rebooted and the game did the same thing. I patched my graphics card drivers to the latest version and still got the same problem. I've re-installed DirectX from the CD so that I have the exact version that should work, and the game does the same thing. I also tried killing all processes in the background.
As a long shot, I've even tried doing scandisk and defrag, but still the same thing happens.

I've phoned Atari, and they couldn't help me. They said that my graphics card (ATi Radeon 9200) had some issues which were fixed by the latest patch and drivers, but because I've done that and still have the same problem, it's probably software related. My system specs meet the game's requirements.

Here's my stats:

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA7DXR+
Processor: AMD Athlon 1500+ (1313MHz)
RAM: 512MB PC133 SDRAM
Graphics: ATi Radeon 9200
Audio: SoundBlaster PCI 128
CD: DVD-CD Combo (the one I'm using for my game CD)
Operating System: Windows XP Pro SP1 2002

I hope somebody has SOME idea of what I can try, because I don't!

Thanks in advance for your help,

Graham Sutherland (Burningmace)

EDIT:

I've just ran Regmon and Filemon and ran the game, it has no problems with the registry, but it looks in a load of directories for "Smart.dll" and gets a "FILE_NOT_FOUND" each time.

I wonder if that's the problem...

Also, metamorphosis_addr_values1.txt through to metamorphosis_addr_values4.txt are not found in the RCT3 path.

[Fluxx]

Hi

Sorry to hear youre having problems........:frownblue

You obviously know your way around this, so Ill spare you the usual kid gloves treatment (have you got the latest drivers etc...;) )


Its not your drivers (Im assuming youre using the Cat 4.10 drivers)
Its not SP2 (shudders :lightbulb )
Its not that your systems underpowered (although your graphics card is at the low end)

I really dont know what to suggest.......:confused:

Have you checked for virus'/ adware/spyware? (I know this is obvious but im clutching at straws here...:frownblue )

Try uninstalling and reinstalling the game.....? (Not ideal, I know:lightbulb )

Redownload the patch and make sure its scanned for virus'?

Possibly the best suggestion I have is to post your dxdiag and Ill get one of the smart mods to have a look. (Hes very good and there may be something youve overlooked)

Id also suggest sending it to Frontier at

rct3game@frontier.co.uk

with a brief explanation of your problem.

Hope we can get it working

Fluxx

[Burningmace]

Right, I'll post the DXDIAG later.
I've tried re-installing now, no workie!
It works on my other machine (AMD Athlon 900MHz, 512MB RAM, ATi Radeon 7500) but lags like hell. It's not exactly... playable. Its running XP SP1 2002 (same as this machine) with DX9 off the CD installed. Unfortunately, it's not networked and has no access to the net.

I've got college now, so I'll post DXDIAG then.

I've tried killing Virus scanner and stuff, no difference. The patch has no viruses, as my virus scanner scans every file/folder I create, move, open or even query.

I wonder if it's one of those phantom OS bugs which occur after you've had XP running for a few years....

:lightbulb

I have no clue.

EDIT:

And I just got a call saying that my lessons are cancelled for this afternoon.
How handy.

I'll post my DXDIAG in the next post.

[Burningmace]

Attached to this reply.

Also, the DP8Sim.dll thing has been there since I uninstalled the DirectX SDK. It's not been a problem before.

[Warspite]

The DX8 directplay thing is monkeyed on my machine too, but doesn't give any problems.

is DX using its default refresh rate? Run dxdiag, and click the last tab on the right.Select override, and doublecheck that default is selected. If there is a value inserted instead, knock it down to 60, and see if that runs - it may be that DX and your monitor are trying to use different rfresh rates. Make sure your are using the exact correct driver for your Monitor, not just "Plug and Play" generic driver. Let us know what happens.
And run a "chkdsk/f" from a command line too -it will take ages, but should fix any windows errors - I had a few that meant HL2 wouldn't installl, and it worked fine after a checkdisk:tup:

[Burningmace]

The refresh rate thing didn't work.
I had a 3 hour call with the Microsoft Game Technical Support manager, and he went through all the stuff it could possibly be and how to fix it. I did it all and NOTHING worked.

He said it was a total mystery to him, the only thing he could think of was that their might be an odd hardware incompatability which the developers overlooked.

Also, the reason HL2 wouldn't install was that you were trying to write to a bad sector on your disk which chkdsk fixed. All my files are 100% working, because I copied them onto a CD and tried them on my brothers PC (deleted all his installed files and pasted mine into the directory). Also, my Filemon and Regmon outputs are EXACTLY the same as his.

I sent my DXDIAG, along with an explanation of the problem to Frontier two days ago, still no reply or as much as a confirmation.