Crashing, im going insane, help plz.

[damonash]

Ok, I've been looking forward to this game since like 98. At this point I've been trying to get this to work for 8 hours. Read alot of these posts and still can't figure it out.
Game is installed. Try to start Scenario says "invalid save, must close" then closes the game. Try to restart game and the whole "Windows visual C++ Runtime Error."
I've followed all trouble shooting tips from the web sites, and tried to understand what eveyone here is talking about. Could someone/anyone Please explain it to me as if you were talking to an 8 year old.
This is my last chance before i give up and just return the damn game.
Please help.

[Estavius Maximus]

Don't hold your breath.

[Kiya]

First thing I must say that I am not a techie person myself, but trying to learn something while reading these endless posts of problems people are having. Well, this is what I found out.

Your video card should be OK (according to Keith's list, all Geforce cards above 5200 should handle the game). Your CPU number (1.70 GHz) is just above the required minimum of 1.60 GHz, it is not what is recommended. But what might cause trouble is that you have a Celeron thingie and not Pentium 4. (The one thing when choosing my laptop was NOT to get it with Celeron; no cache memory and thus slower, sorry guys if I am not able to put it right using your words. :p )

Also I am sure Phil from our techie team would mention your audio drivers: some of them are as 'ancient' as from early 2002.

[Manni]

Ok, I've been looking forward to this game since like 98. At this point I've been trying to get this to work for 8 hours. Read alot of these posts and still can't figure it out.
Game is installed. Try to start Scenario says "invalid save, must close" then closes the game. Try to restart game and the whole "Windows visual C++ Runtime Error."
I've followed all trouble shooting tips from the web sites, and tried to understand what eveyone here is talking about. Could someone/anyone Please explain it to me as if you were talking to an 8 year old.
This is my last chance before i give up and just return the damn game.
Please help.

Hello damonash,

Kiya is right!

Try and find at your manufactorers site HP a fresher sound-driver for your SoundMAX Digital Audio first.

In addition to that please unplug the Logitech Microphone (Pro 4000), just to see if it does effect the gaming.

Try also another possibility (if aboves didn`t help):

unplug your internet-connection
lay off the virus-guard

try the game again!
--------------
Are there many applications visible in systray? (systray is in the right corner next to the clock)
many applications running in systemstart?

[Agamemnus]

I have had some problems with certain combinations of video settings crashing the game. Try changing the performance to the lowest, see if it works, and if it does then tweak it from there.

[damonash]

I appreciate the attemted help everyone, but i've tried everything with no success. I give up. I do find it odd though that my computer supports any other game I happen to play on here, i.e. city of heroes/city of villians ( a game much more demanding on you system) rome total war ( a game almost identical to caesar) all "hitman" games. So maybe I'll buy the game again in another year and see if they have all the problems worked out. At this point i doubt it though. So good luck to everyone, and if anyone reads this having similar problems, do yourself a favor and return the game before you waste an entire day and night (literally) of you life away.

[Keith]

Sierra posted this general troubleshoot item in their support area:

Game crashes and followed by Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library: Runtime Error (http://www.europesupport.com/vivendi_current/(fwaa15rrdqt4osjw2qwxwaza)/Pages/ViewFAQ.aspx?FAQID=1946)

It may or may not help to go through the steps there.

[damonash]

yeah, i tried everyone of those before comming here to get advice. As it turns out the joke is on me, store won't let me return the game either. So now I guess I'll just have to either keep working on it or burn it.

[Agamemnus]

You should never burn plastic (or metal, for that matter). It releases harmful chemicals into the air.

[damonash]

agreed, never burn plastic...... I didnt. I acutally fixed it, after like 36 hours. Fianlly was brave enough to try the regmon thing and change my permissions (even though they said it could f*** up my comp, and now it works. Thanks for the help everyone.

[Keith]

Chalk up another one for RegMon. :)