Chronic Logic

Thanks, the key works...



...and...



... SO DOES THE GAME! 



I'll let you know how I get on with it.

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

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.

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.

I'm certainly up for testing a patch.  

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.

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.

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?

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?

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.

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?

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?)