I'm finding that the game hangs at the same point no matter what I try to do. If I go through the tutorial it gets as far as the point you're supposed to select the first unit then freezes. The mouse pointer doesn't even respond. Eventually you get back to the desktop and there's a "Memory access violation". I have tried disabling all sound and features and lowering graphics quality but get the same issue. If I try to play the campaign I can move the camera around OK, position units OK, but as soon as I click to start, the same 'hang' occurs.
My PC is a 2.6GHz quad core CPU (ASUS mobo), with ASUS ENGTX280 GPU (latest Nvidia drivers at v195.62). Soundcard is an Audigy2. I have 4GB DDR2 RAM.
I'm running 32 bit Windows 7 (which I suspect may be the problem?) and have tried variations of "compatability mode" as per suggestions in the similar thread about Windows 2008 Server.
I purchased the game via Impulse (but I doubt that's relevant?)
Can you try downloading the demo from our website and see if you have the same problem, just to make sure it is not something with Impulse:
http://www.chroniclogic.com/ke_download.htm
Thanks!
I notice that the demo says v1.58 whereas the full game I downloaded via Impulse is v1.57 however both exhibit the same issue.
I notice that the sound actually continues playing after the hang, however any animations e.g. the windmill stop. I have yet to see a unit move/animate in any way. Both the tutorial and campaign appear to stop whenever units are meant to be 'in action' if that's significant?
Very strange, I will look into it.
I have been testing on Windows 7 and have been unable to reproduce the problem. It must have something to do with the video/sound hardware or drives.
I had the same problem in 7. I've also got a Nvidia card so it may be related to that. (I can get more specific specs later but I'm not at that machine right now.)
Strange, maybe it is a video driver issue with NVIDIA and windows 7. Try updating the video drivers if that is possible.
One of the first thngs I did was update gfx drivers. I have since then re-installed Windows7 (but as 64bit). As soon as I had all drivers updated I tried again on this 'clean install' but got exactly the same issue. In the tutorial the first unit appears but then the game crashes to desktop within a split second of that.
Shortly after that I also upgraded my soundcard (was Creative Audigy2, now SB X-Fi Fatal1ty) and still have the same issue.
In desperation I finally got round to updating my BIOS in order to enable hardware virtualization (as I wanted to try out XP mode) but of course that was never going to work anyway for a 3D game. Still it got me to ensure everything is as up-to-date as it can be! ;)
FRUSTRATING! :-\
At least now I know it's not just me.
Will do some more testing and see if we can figure anything out. Thanks for all the information.
As far as I can tell the significant thing would seem to be units moving or when the AI kicks in maybe?
i.e. in the tutorial it's the point where your first unit appears and would be just about to animate/move. Wheras if you start the campaign you can place units but it's when you start the action that the game crashes.
Is there a particular sound that plays when units start to move by any chance?
Is there any sort of diagnostic mode (startup paremeters) or logging I could enable to help determine the cause?
Just wondering if there's any news on this? Scribbler can you provide more detail of your spec; maybe that will help diagnose where the problem lies?
I am still trying to get a system that I can reproduce this on so I can properly trouble shoot it.
I have a test system setup which is pretty similar to the problem systems. I will be doing some testing and see if I can figure out what is going on.
Thanks for the update. I have got the game (barely) working on a netbook running XP. I may shortly be able to attach a spare HD to my 'real' (W7) machine and try installing XP on that to see if it's hardware/OS-related.
I am really interested to know if it works in XP on the same computer it crashes in Windows 7
I believe I have figured out why this crash is happening. It appears it is a bug with nvidia drivers and Windows 7. It is a problem for all games made with the Bltiz3d engine. I am looking into a fix. I also found one other possible problem with the same engine which should be fixed in the next update.
If anyone is interested in testing please let me know.
I'm certainly up for testing a patch. ;D
I was actually hoping to try and fit an old HD to my main PC this bank holiday weekend (where does the time go?). That way I could try installing XP and see if the game works with the same hardware (just not W7/drivers). By the sounds of it you've identified the issue though; probably no point me trying that now?
If you'd need extra confirmation that it's a W7/nVidia drivers issue I'll still give it a go!
[Update] It would seem to be something to do with the nVidia drivers. I installed the latest W7(64bit) version today (197.45) and found that I now get at least a few frames of animation after starting the battle (before the same issue occurs). Hopefully I'll be able to give the HD/XP a trial tomorrow.
I had to make some changed to the game to work around the driver issue. I am almost finished and should have the patch ready for testing by Monday. I will post a link to it here and you can give it a try and let me know if it fixes the problem.
Thanks!
Well I've fallen at the first hurdle; I don't have enough IDE connections on my mobo! (should have realised sooner) :-\
Sorry.
Let me know when a patch is available for testing.
Out of curiosity I also tried the latest version of VirtualBox (now it supports 3D) running an XP(SP3) VM but Kingdom Elemental fails to even start with "Unable to set graphics mode". I did briefly get a different message but can't remember how I got it ???
I do have VirtualBox's "Guest Additions" installed (to allow Direct3D as well as OpenGL support).
Not exactly conclusive, but I have managed to get other (Impulse-installed) games to run under this VM e.g. Flotilla, Eufloria, GSB and Osmos so I know 3D is working in VirtualBox.
Here is a new version to test, hopefully it will have the win7/nvidia driver problem fixed. Try downloading and unzipping it into your "Kingdom Elemental" folder:
http://www.chroniclogic.com/next/ke.zip
Make sure you backup your current Kingdom Elemental.exe before overwriting it with the new one.
It will say a update is available, this is because this version is actually newer then the current, so just ignore that bu clicking cancel at the update screen.
When you start the game it should show as version 1.6.
Let me know if the game works correctly.
It's not accepting my serial number (from Impulse) :'(
Probably because Impulse gives you a "Serial Number" (not keycode). It's too long.
Expected format = XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX
Impulse "serial" format = KE-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXXXX
I can't create an updated impulse version with out sending it to them, I will just PM you a key for this version.
Thanks, the key works...
...and...
... SO DOES THE GAME! ;D
I'll let you know how I get on with it.