Downloaded demo, it won't launch.

[Moondust727]

I downloaded the demo, unpacked and installed it. When I first clicked on the shortcut, the screen turned black and then I got an error message. I have been reading most of the postings and I am sending you my dxdiag.tx file. I have been playing Pharoah for several years and this seems like a fantastic upgraded version. I can't wait to buy it, but if I can't get this demo to work, I can't waste the money to buy the retail version. Please help.
Moondust 727

[Keith]

What was the error message you got?

It is possible that your video card is not capable supporting CotN. I don't know if Intel graphics adapters support Transform and Lighting, which is required, or not. My guess is "not".

Minimum:

Pentium® III or Athlon® 800 MHz processor or higher
Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP operating system
128 MB of RAM (256 MB required for Windows® XP)
1.1 GB uncompressed free hard drive space

A 100% Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP-compatible computer system including:
DirectX® 9.0b
100% DirectX® 9-compliant true 16 bit sound card and drivers
100% DirectX® 9-compliant 32 MB video card and drivers
100% Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP -compatible mouse and drivers
100% Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP -compatible keyboard
100% Windows® 98/2000/ME/XP -compatible quad speed (600 K/sec sustained transfer rate) CD-ROM drive and drivers

[Hans Schroeder]

Your video card is indeed below min spec. This will cause the problems you described. Upgrading your video card should solve your problems.

[Moondust727]

The error message I first received said that there was a problem with the signature. Since that time, I have been unable to get even a black screen. What type of video card do you suggest for my computer? My family wanted to buy this game for me for Christmas, but I am holding them off until I get the right video card to make it work.
Thanks for your help.
Barbara

[Vizier]

The error message I first received said that there was a problem with the signature. Since that time, I have been unable to get even a black screen. What type of video card do you suggest for my computer? My family wanted to buy this game for me for Christmas, but I am holding them off until I get the right video card to make it work.
Thanks for your help.
Barbara

See this post for a list of supported and NON supported video cards. I'm a fan of nVidia myself.

http://www.tiltedmill.com/forums/showpost.php?p=34204&postcount=6

Viz

[Sauron]

Euhm,...little question here! I'm running a INTEL video card and in the list it says it not supported....does that mean a can't play COTN :( (I can play the demo without problems! But I'm still waiting for the game to be released in Europe :o ) Or am I wrong??? (I hope so!)

[Keith]

Unless your Intel card can support Transform and Lighting you probably cannot run the game. I don't believe Intel cards support it so you should probably be considering a new video card, ATI or Nvidia

[Pecunia]

Euhm,...little question here! I'm running a INTEL video card and in the list it says it not supported....does that mean a can't play COTN :( (I can play the demo without problems! But I'm still waiting for the game to be released in Europe :o ) Or am I wrong??? (I hope so!)
Well, if you can play the demo, you should be able to run CotN itself too.

[Sauron]

Thanks Pecunia, you make my day :D !!! I almost fainted when Keith said I probably couldn't play COTN :o

[Raccoon_TOF]

You may be able to play it, but you will likely experience severe slowdowns when playing the full scenarios. They are quite a bit more hardware-intensive than the demo/tutorial missions.

[Keith]

The demo is based on some of the tutorial scenarios and neither the demo or the tutorials really put your system to the test.

[Hans Schroeder]

There are cases where people are able to play the demo but not the retail game, and it has to do with borderline video cards primarily. 90% of the time, if you can play the demo, you can play the game.

As to the specific case you are interested in (intel 845 video chipset) we have tested the game, and I believe it will work, though as Keith and Raccoon have said, you may well have performance problems. This is due to the fact that the graphics chipset has to steal a fair amount of processor time to do the work of a dedicated graphics card with hardware T&L.