No interface on start screen with red demon

[LarsT]

Hello everybody, this is my first post on the forum.


Unfortunately I can't play FFH2.

When I start the mod, all I get to see is the red horned demon. It also plays an animation where a bright sphere appears and then disappears. But there is no interface. By wildly clicking on the screen, I then can get the cursor to turn into the turning globe that indicates that Civ4 is busy processing data. After that, by moving the cursor over the screen, I can see, that it sometimes changes into a two-arrowed cursor. It even lets me change the size of a "phantom menu" - the tow-arrowed cursor then appears at a different place than before. In the lower part of the screen (over the demon's crotch to be precise) the cursor turns into a text cursor.

All the above leads me to the assumption that the interface is actually there, but that it's either invisible or overlayed by the demon's picture.

(Btw: the music plays fine, so there's no problem here so far.)


My OS is Windows XP SP3 (german version).
The graphic card is a Radeon 9700 Mobile.

I'm running FFH 2 under Civilization IV Complete (german version) with Beyond the Sword patched to version 3.17 (as the mod requires).
The problem occurs with both the version 0.40 and 0.40y of the mod. Installing the media pack doesn't help either.

I already tried reinstalling Civ4 itself and the mod several times.
As far as I can tell everything is installed in the right place.

Unfortunately I couldn't find any log file giving a hint what the problem could be. (I may just have overlooked it or not have realized that it was giving a hint. I don't have much knowledge about how Civ4 and its mods work.)


(It also seems I'm having the same problem as Durserak here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=286688
But I didn't want to revive that old thread and thus started a new one.)


I'd appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.

 

[armenard]

I just installed version 0.40 and I'm having the same problem. 0.34 was running fine yesterday, and normal BtS still runs. Installing the latest 0.40 patch does not help. Deleting and reinstalling FfH does not help. Rebooting windows does not help.

I'm running on windows XP sp3, US/english version.

Turning on the python error messages does not generate any errors (though I do get some running vanilla BtS whining that the default map is set to Erebus -- oops).

I'm currently picking through the config files, poking random things in hopes of figuring something out, but I'm not very hopeful.

Hello everybody, this is my first post on the forum.


Unfortunately I can't play FFH2.

When I start the mod, all I get to see is the red horned demon. It also plays an animation where a bright sphere appears and then disappears. But there is no interface. By wildly clicking on the screen, I then can get the cursor to turn into the turning globe that indicates that Civ4 is busy processing data. After that, by moving the cursor over the screen, I can see, that it sometimes changes into a two-arrowed cursor. It even lets me change the size of a "phantom menu" - the tow-arrowed cursor then appears at a different place than before. In the lower part of the screen (over the demon's crotch to be precise) the cursor turns into a text cursor.

All the above leads me to the assumption that the interface is actually there, but that it's either invisible or overlayed by the demon's picture.

(Btw: the music plays fine, so there's no problem here so far.)


My OS is Windows XP SP3 (german version).
The graphic card is a Radeon 9700 Mobile.

I'm running FFH 2 under Civilization IV Complete (german version) with Beyond the Sword patched to version 3.17 (as the mod requires).
The problem occurs with both the version 0.40 and 0.40y of the mod. Installing the media pack doesn't help either.

I already tried reinstalling Civ4 itself and the mod several times.
As far as I can tell everything is installed in the right place.

Unfortunately I couldn't find any log file giving a hint what the problem could be. (I may just have overlooked it or not have realized that it was giving a hint. I don't have much knowledge about how Civ4 and its mods work.)


(It also seems I'm having the same problem as Durserak here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=286688
But I didn't want to revive that old thread and thus started a new one.)


I'd appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.

 

[Thunder_Gr]

Make sure you have BtS 3.17 patch installed. Even if you think you have it, reinstall it.
It is the most common issue.
FfH2 needs BtS 3.17 patch to be installed.

 

[Antinous]

I have this problem too.

Ok, so this is a step by step of what I did before and after getting this error:

Downloaded FFHII mod and installed
Downloaded FFHII media pack and installed
Downloaded 0.40 patched and installed

clicked on the desktop shortcut and got this:

Came here and read this thread. Downloaded the 3.17 Civ4 patch and reinstalled it (I already had it, but I reinstalled it anyways like the fella said)

Tried running the game again and got the same screen
Clicked randomly on the screen to start up a game.
After the game started, it immediately crashed.

This is the error report:

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Thunder_Gr]

I have this problem too.

Ok, so this is a step by step of what I did before and after getting this error:

Downloaded FFHII mod and installed
Downloaded FFHII media pack and installed
Downloaded 0.40 patched and installed

Hmm...This does not make sense.
My suggestion is this:
1)Delete the FFH2 folder in the Beyond the Sword/mods directory.
2)Install the FFH2040 mod.
3)Install the FFH2040z patch
4)Run the game

If it starts OK, install the Media pack.

Let us know what happened.

EDIT: Before doing all this, make sure that Beyond the Sword(without the mod) starts and plays normally. It may be a CIV4 installation issue.

 

[Antinous]

Hiya

Okay, I did what you asked.

I deleted FFH2
Re-installed the main .exe file
Then installed the 2040z patch

When I ran the program, the same thing occurred (along with the immediate crash when I force a game to start)

So, this eliminates the media pack, right?

Oh, btw, I also can run BTS just fine normally.

 

[Thunder_Gr]

Next step, I guess, is to check if you can run any other mods at all.
I would try Age Of Ice, FF, Orbis. Normaly FF or Orbis shouldn't work, since they are based on FFH, but they change a lot of things and one of them may be the one that causes the problem.

Your crash is an "Access Violation Error". You do not happen to run Vista, do you?
If you do, do check that your security properties for FFH II are the correct ones.

Someone else that has vista should be able to help you if this is the case. I run on XP.

 

[Antinous]

I run on XP as well. I'm avoiding vista like the plague.

I tried those scenarios again, just to be sure, and all of them run (except orbis, I don't know what that is). FF runs fine. I'll try to find orbis and install it. Otherwise, everything else seems fine.

I have civ4, warlords, and bts. I downloaded and installed the original FFH and it works fine. I had the warlords version already, so I tried it, and it was fine too. The problem seems to be the new version.

I hope we can figure this out soon. I bought BTS specifically so I can play this kick ass mod (though FF has been alot of fun).

 

[Thunder_Gr]

I run on XP as well. I'm avoiding vista like the plague.

I tried those scenarios again, just to be sure, and all of them run (except orbis, I don't know what that is). FF runs fine. I'll try to find orbis and install it. Otherwise, everything else seems fine.

I have civ4, warlords, and bts. I downloaded and installed the original FFH and it works fine. I had the warlords version already, so I tried it, and it was fine too. The problem seems to be the new version.

I hope we can figure this out soon. I bought BTS specifically so I can play this kick ass mod (though FF has been alot of fun).

FF works fine but FFH doesn't . This is the most odd problem I have heard of.

What is the name of FFH2 folder in your "beyond the sword/mods" directory?

EDIT: Stupid question. Obviously everything should be alright, since FF can find the folder on installation...I am afraid I cannot think of what can be wrong...
Except..well..FF is an acronym for Fall Further. Have you downloaded Fall Further 050?

 

[Kyroshill]

Did you buy BTS on disc or online? Then....where did you get the 3.17 patch?.... some people have had problems trying to use Direct2Drive downloads with non-D2D downloads... and some have gotten it to work perfectly.... I was not one.... I either have to everything D2D or non-D2D....


Only other thought I have

 

[Antinous]

I have good news! Well, kinda good. When you mentioned FF, I thought you were talking about "Final Frontier." I went and downloaded Fall Further and guess what?!? It doesn't work either!!! Hurray! You're narrowing it down fellas!

Okay, now that it might make more sense, let me answer your questions:

This is my directory for FFH2 (it is very convoluted, CIV4 made it this way when I installed)

C:\Program Files\2K Games\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Gold\Beyond the Sword\Mods\Fall from Heaven 2

And as for the second question, I bought BTS on a disk. I got the patch from the "advanced" menu in game; HOWEVER, when this issue arose, I reinstalled that patch with one I downloaded directly from Civfanatics.

Hope this helps!

 

[Thunder_Gr]

Can you take a look at the bts .exe and post the size(not the size on disk) and version of the file? As weird as it may sound, it is either an issue with the bts patch or an issue for not having correctly downloaded FFH.

It would help if you also post the size of your FFH2 folder.

If you are absolutely sure you have done everything right, uninstalling and reinstalling Bts, may solve the problem. This time, you should patch with the downloaded 3.17 patch first thing. It may be that, somehow, the auto-update may have blocked the downloaded patch from updating...Of course, this is a longshot, but I cannot think of anything else.

 

[Thunder_Gr]

OK, new input. What language are you running the game? If it is anything else than english, then this can be the cause of the text problems. However, only Kael would really be able to verify this.

 

[Antinous]

BTS Size = 13,994,408 bytes

BTS Version = 3.1.3.1

BTS Language = English (United States)

FFH2 Folder Size = 823,863,278 bytes

I'll remove all BTS and Mods tonight. When I reload it, I will install 3.17 patch directly from civfanatics (Right?). When that is done, should I re-download ffh2 and 0.40 patch to install, or wait?

 

[Antinous]

Okay, just an update as I do this process (mainly so I don't have to remember any info)

Just uninstalled and reinstalled BTS.

BTS unpatched size = 14,092,712 bytes
BTS Unpatched version = 3.0.3.1

reinstalling patch...

EDIT:

Reinstalled patch

BTS patched size = 13,994,408 bytes
BTS patched version = 3.1.3.1

Reinstalling FFH2...

 

[Antinous]

okay... I'm just lost now

Its working.

Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for that and all the help I got.

Its just, WTH?

I would feel a hell of alot better if I knew what was wrong. I'm sure you would too.

Thanks for everything Thunder_Gr and Kyroshill

 

[Thunder_Gr]

It should have been something with the BtS installation. Since it was not something FFH2 was rensposible for, one can only assume that the auto-patch has something to do with it.
Other people also had a problem like this, and reinstalling BtS fixed it. I can only assume they also had patched with the autopatcher, first.

Anyway, I am glad everything is alright now! Welcome to the world of Erebus!

 

[Antinous]

OMG this game is sick! I was a bit gripey that I didn't have the uber-cool fallen angel start up screen but holy . .. .. .. . man, this game has hit legendary awesomeness! Kudos! Erebus is going to destroy my social life.

 

[Kyroshill]

Awesome.... glad it's working......

You say you d/l'ed the first patch from the Advanced screen... that may have caused probs.... most connections ingame don't work... like updates and the like... so it may be when you replaced your patch that it cleared up.

Good luck and have fun!

EDIT: I always get confused that in order to patch BTS from 3.13 to 3.17 I had to install build 3.1.3.1 .... that messes with my head everytime LOL

 

[Antinous]

haha me too. I kept looking at it and was like "3.1.3.1? is that patch 3.13? No, I know I downloaded 3.17! did I?" As a side note, I did download and installed a different 3.17 patch. Maybe that had something to do with it. The first, one that wasn't working, came from Fileplanet.com, i think. I doubt that was it though, since I had originally downloaded the patch from "ingame." I guess when i re-wrote it with the fileplanet patch, it didn't remove the bug.