Soopytwist

I've followed instructions to set-up Halo but it's not working with Chimera. The instructions for Custom Edition didn't really make a lot of sense, suggesting I install the original game first (from disc) which I did but then CE installs in a separate directory anyway so what's the point? So I've got two Halo directories, one is installed from the disc and the other installed from Custom Edition. I ran the Halo Custom Edition Patch v1.09 which comes with CE then I put the chimera.dll in the controls folder in the CE main directory. Next I put the contents of the d3d9 folder from InjectSMAA into the CE base directory, edited the .ini and changed HIGH to ULTRA. When I run the game the screen goes black then the desktop comes back and a message says: "Could not find player_id_s signature, thus Chimera cannot load. Make sure you're using Halo Custom Edition v1.10". Then another message that reads: "Could not find map_header_s signature...." and rest of message same as the first. The game then runs, well the main menu appears at least, but I assume Chimera isn't working.

I hate the 101% FOV (what the hell does 101% even mean?!) in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided so I downloaded the "Enhanced FOV Settings for DXMD" mod. Unfortunately now the game doesn't even load. I can't be doing with the maximum FOV the game allows, if 101% is 90 degrees then it's not enough. I get a headache soon after starting the game, I can only play it for a short while.

I'm using Flawelss Widescreen but I honestly couldn't see a difference - I don't think it's working. Is this Cheat Engine script okay for 16:9 (2560x1440)?

I can't get Flawless Widescreen to change the FOV. Either it makes no difference or crashes the game on launch. Any ideas? I'm running the game with Origin in offline mode because I have no choice (BF4 freezes on load after the intros if Origin is online). EDIT Forget it. I sent the game back to Amazon for a refund. I only played two minutes of it but spent two hours trying to fix the FOV. I have now boycotted all future EA games for the PC (and Ubisoft)...until they stop taking the piss.

I can't run it. This is the retail disc version of Escape From Butcher Bay I'm trying to run, not the Dark Athena later release. I just get this message immediately after the legal notice: Game has crashed. Do you want to create a crashlog? And then this after clicking yes: ...encountered an unhandled exception. Crash log file has been generated And in the log it has this, followed by a huge list of random numbers and letters (memory addresses?) Exception type: Unknown Exception address: 0x00000000fdac940d (C:\Windows\system32\KERNELBASE.dll!RaiseException) StackTrace: 0x00000000fdac940d C:\Windows\system32\KERNELBASE.dll!RaiseException (null):0 StackFrame: 0x000000000011d560 I have Windows 7 64 bit.

Yeah this is pretty much impossible to play. Sam looks like he's in dark shadow but the light meter is all the way up and he's spotted immediately. Not only are the there no shadow casting but light sources are not rendering properly either making most attempts at stealth nigh on impossible or at the very least extremely difficult - rather unfortunate for a stealth game, uh?. Reading that section of the wiki on the Windows port from the Xbox it looks like only old Nvidia cards from 6 onwards (and certainly not two GTX 780's!!) are not supported and this was never patched. The Tom Clancy wiki does mention these can be forced on - doesn't say how to do that and the PC Gaming wiki doesn't say anything about it either - that's kinda' odd for this site claiming to fix PC gaming. Strange that Splinter Cell 1 being the oldest runs better than Pandora Tomorrow. Time to give this up. Thanks for all your help Mirh but this is where I get off.

None of that made a difference just like the OP of that thread - and I'm not going to bother changing drivers either, bugger that. I've tweaked nearly everything in the ini's one-by-one from true to false and vice versa and checking each change - nada. Guess I'm not going to fix this...aside from actually building a retro PC out of the crap I've still got hanging around in the loft. There's always virtual XP but that's a lot of taffing about. I'm just going to play it like it is and make do, unless it starts crashing again and then I'm afraid it's in the bin with Elite Force for poor old Sam Fisher.

Well shit...looks like it was the k-lite pack causing the problem just like you said. I've not bothered to install VLC yet though, wanted to test the game out first - maybe even finally play the damn thing before doing so too. Even without k-lite I still seem to be able to play .f4v in WMP, although .flv currently plays with no video. I guess I don't need to play .flv right now and I make videos in the .f4v format now anyway so I'll leave VLC for another day. Okay, that sorts out the crashing, now what about the texture issues as shown in my Youtube vid?

DirectShow Filter Manager reports several ffdshow codecs, if I disable them can I get them back again using this tool or do I have to reinstall the K-Lite pack?

Yes, I have the K-Lite codecs installed. I made this just now: http://youtu.be/GalccgnUopk Oh and I had the idea of disabling SLI but then realised to my horror that it was already disabled after a recent driver update, I did wonder why Goat Simulator was running like a pig (or goat?) when all hell was breaking loose, now I know why! Anyway I turned it back on and Pandora Tomorrow is the same.

Yeah I tried disabling visual themes, desktop composition etc - didn't seem to make a difference and I shouldn't need to run as admin because I disabled UAC when I first had Windows 7, but I still ticked it in the compatibility settings for the games shortcut anyway. The cutscenes are all FMV, .bik files. Although they're in the install directory they are also on the disc and the disc has to kept in the drive to run - I'm wondering if it's running the videos from the disc and falling over. Hmm, further experimentation required. The funny thing is , I'm now having problems playing Double Agent (I skipped Chaos Theory because it's not that long ago I replayed it - and it was fine). The issues with Double Agent however would appear to be a bad console port. EDIT Well they're not being read from the disc because I renamed all the .bik files (to.fuk) and that skips all the cutscenes. If I was to play the game without them I'd have to play them on my iPad or something to watch them - otherwise I won't know what's going on. That just leaves the weird texture problems which is no-doubt down to the two 780's that the game assumes are older than it.

Yes I patched it. The game is part of the four title Revival edition (Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, Chaos Theory and Double Agent). I submitted a support ticket to Ubisoft and they effectively said they don't support Pandora Tomorrow any more. Fair enough, it is a decade old but then they suggested updating graphics card drivers and DirectX....as if that would make a difference to a 10 year old game! Anyway I already did that, I do it regularly anyway though there's probably a new driver since 335.23 but really, that's more likely to make the situation worse. They also suggested XP compatibility mode which I already tried and told them so in my original email.

I didn't reply to them because I gave up. I actually threw the Elite Force discs away with the full intention of fishing them out again and putting the game away but I forgot and now they're in landfill! So that's the end of that. Maybe the discs were corrupt, perhaps buying the game again from eBay I'll have a working copy but the discs will be the same age and possibly just as corrupt. It certainly wasn't an install issue because I re-installed in onto my C drive (Samsung SSD) and the same problem occurred and I didn't get around to installing it under a virtual XP mode - and now I can't anyway. Elite Force 2's issue cannot be fixed, I've hunted everywhere for an ID Tech engine FoV fix and cannot find any and Flawless Widescreen doesn't have a fix either. As for this, Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow, I'll give it ago without the widescreen hack and see what that does... EDIT Re-installed, tried running it without any configuring of settings or hacks and is still crashes in the first cutscene and again in the second if the first is skipped. Still got the flashing textures in the game too (and because I've got a 2560 x 1440 monitor three inch black borders left and right). Then I re-installed it again this time on my SSD, keeping the recommended C drive install directory, same problem...except for the fact that it installs and loads quicker obviously. The thing is the installer twice tells me my graphics card is too old (oh the irony!). Specs: Intel i7 3970X 16Gb Corsair Vengeance 1600 Asus P9X79 Deluxe 2x EVGA GeForce GTX 780 SC ACX (in SLI) - drivers 335.23 Windows 7 Ultimate (64bit) The only thing I got out of that little experiment was the unnecessary slightly reduced lifespan of my SSD.

I really don't know why I'm even bothering to try and play old games because so far they're all f'ked. I've managed to set the game to run at 2560 x 1440 with a FoV suitable for 16:9 but there are two problems. 1. The cutscenes crash the game with either this message: General protection fault! History: UGameEngine::GameFlowEndMap <- UGameEngine::Exec <- UPlayer::Exec <- UViewport::Exec <- UWindowsViewport::Exec <- APlayerController::execConsoleCommand <- UObject::ProcessEvent <- (GUIController Transient.InteractionMaster0.GUIController0, Function GUI.GUIController.SendConsoleCommand) <- UObject::execDelegateFunction <- (GUIController Transient.InteractionMaster0.GUIController0 @ Function GUI.GUIController.OpenMenu : 0103) <- AActor::ProcessState <- Object EchelonMainHUD 0_0_1_Handcuff.EchelonMainHUD1, Old State State EchelonHUD.EchelonMainHUD.s_Mission, New State State EchelonHUD.EchelonMainHUD.s_Mission <- AActor::Tick <- TickAllActors <- ULevel::Tick <- TickLevel <- UGameEngine::Tick <- UpdateWorld <- MainLoop Or this one: General protection fault! History: UGameEngine::Init <- InitEngine But the game itself seems to work - though I haven't got a clue what's going on because I can't watch any of the cutscenes. The second problem is some weird lighting issue where moving the mouse about changes certain textures from dark to light or they flicker. Any ideas what to do? EDIT Oh and the mouse cursor in the menus is floaty and totally out of control.

Actually the FOV issue seems to be the least of my problems. The elevator on the Borg Sphere after Chang is taken doesn't move and weirdest of all the turning device in front of the captured Voyager has moved behind the ship and is rotating horizontally...with the rod behind the claw-like front of the device passing through the scenery, the window and Voyager. This is as screwed up as Elite Force. Clearly both of these games fail to work on Windows 7 properly - and there doesn't seem to be A: any fixes and B: no one else having the same problem as me. Another old game I now have to throw away.