HELP: Game locks computer

[Vukir]

Hey all, got a problem.

Bought the retail version of Prey earlier today and installed it this afternoon. After installation completed, I tried to run the game, and it does nothing. The screen doesn't flicker, no error comes up, nothing noticable happens. However, the process (Prey.exe) is still running and I cannot make Windows terminate the task. After a few moments of waiting to see if the game boots, the system slowly locks up, and has to be hard restarted.

I updated my Video drivers (NVidia)
Running current version of DirectX
Open AL is installed
System meets or exceeds all recommended requirements
Uninstalled/reinstalled and still the same problem
Error reporting for all programs is enabled

ANY help or ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

[IceColdDuke]

try turning fullscreen off when you run prey to do your testing so you can close it faster, when you do that goto taskmgr and report how much memory its taking up.

And specfic specs on your system would also help...also make sure SMP isn't on.

[Vukir]

Well, there is no fullscreen to disable. I still see my desktop and keep control of my mouse.

Prey.exe has a mem usage of 13,000k or so.

[IceColdDuke]

Go to base/preconfig.cfg find r_fullscreen change the 1 to 0, are you using Triton or is it a CD/DVD copy? Try deleting preconfig.cfg and see what happens, or you can try reinstalling the game...seems more like a hardware/driver issue though. Can you verify that you have the NVIDIA 9.whatever drivers installed? Can you run Doom 3/Q4?

[Vukir]

There is no preconfig.cfg in my base folder. The base folder contains 6 pk4 files (game00, pak00-04) and the preykey file. The PK4 files don't like to be opened with text pad either.

Tried uninstalling and reinstalling several times, to no avail. Made sure the last time I did it that ad-watch and all other processes and programs that could screw it up were turned off. Still get the same problem after each install.

The game is a legit copy I bought earlier today. DVD for the PC and doesn't give any errors when installing.

Double checked to ensure the installation of DirectX 9.0c, and that's fine. NVidia 91.31 driver is installed, and I don't have a copy of Quake 4 or Doom 3.

[IceColdDuke]

Put this in there and see what happens just have to change the r_fullscreen. Just change .txt to .cfg.

[MisterE531]

No change. I have the exact same issue. Still not loading at all. Changing .txt to .cfg makes it an Outlook file.

[Vukir]

I placed the preyconfig file in my base folder, and also changed its extention to .cfg as well as changing the full screen setting. Unfortunatly, it had no effect, and still continues to idle the Prey.exe process in the background.

[Dropkick]

You could try right clicking on the short cut and run launch analysis to see if the problem is down to the copy protection.


You could try setting the compatibility properties for prey manually:

1. Right-click the shortcut then click Properties.

2. Click the Compatibility tab, and change the compatibility settings for your program. Try Windows 2k and if that does not work then reboot and try win98/me as I could not remember which one fixed a similar problem I had on GTA SA

[SoulBlazeK]

I've also got this problem, too. >< Very aggrivating.

Tried everything everyone's suggested, nothing's worked. Anyone know how to contact the techs who made this game? <<

[Vukir]

Let me save you some time. Spent all afternoon on the line with the techs, and at the end of the day, they pretty much told me they didn't know what was wrong...

They said they were looking into a solution, but at the moment, I was S.O.L.

By any chance, SoulBlazeK, are you running a Dell? And did you try to install the game on someone elses system and see if it runs there? It might be a problem with the disks we got.

I did check the Launch Analysis (with Take2 support), as well as trying to switch the compatability. Neither worked, and it gets annoying having to constantly re-start my computer every time the game fails.

And lastly, Soul, to get ahold of the tech support, call 1-866-219-9839 if you are in the U.S., or 1-800-638-0127 for Canada. The numbers are in the back of the Prey manual.

[SoulBlazeK]

Custom built computer. By myself.

Haven't tried on someone else's yet. Haven't really had time. That was my next move, honestly.

Edit: I also just updated all my drivers and such. Same problem.

Got a X-FI and a GeForce 7800 GTX.

Pentium Dual-Core, too.

Any other hardware details nessecary?

OH, and to answer your other question, yes, I have the special edition DVD version

[Dropkick]

Did you try creating a new admin account and then try starting the game from there.

[SoulBlazeK]

Don't think that'll affect anything, but sure I'll give it a shot

Edit: Updaaaate! No, didn't work. Tried the compatibility thing and config thing. I'm trying to think what it could possibly be... it's got nothing to do with the security or start-up. I've started it up without the DVD in, and it asks for me to put the DVD in... but that's about as much of the game as I get to see. <<

[R.Zotti]

I have a solution... Not the best one, but the game works fine after this...

When you start the game and nothing happens then wait....... After 10-20mins the game starts. Don't ask why it takes so long, but it works fine after that fantastic loading time :doh:

I have the same problem with Titan Quest... Maybe both games use the same Copyprotection :confused:

[Neo]

This can also be a fault of the CD or DVD in your computer, if the firmware is too old or not even updated it can have trouble reading certain disc if they have copy protection. worth a shot upgrading it if you still have trouble.

[SoulBlazeK]

I tried the 20-minute thing. It looked like it tried to load. And where would I update the firmware for a rather standard-issue internal DVD reader?

[R.Zotti]

Firmware is not the reason... My DVD/CD Drive has now the newest firmware!
Same problem...
AFTER 10-20 minutes the game runs great and without problems.

BTW:
Intel Pentium D 3GHz (Dual Core ;) )
Geforce 6800GT
ASUS Board with Intel Chipset (82955x)

[roadcoder]

Do you have a personal firewall running? If so, check out the earlier thread entitled: "Game won't start -- hangs computer"

[Neo]

Well fine wait 20 min then for the game to load lol obviously someting is wrong with the communication between cd and the drive.

[Brian Karis]

Yes, try following the instructions on this thread: http://forums.3drealms.com/vb/showthread.php?t=19838

If that doesn't work it does sound like a copy protection problem. Try a different cd drive if you can.

[Prong]

I had this problem and it turned out to be Zone Alarm was popping up with a request to allow internet access permission (which I couldn't see). Went into the ZA proggy list, checked the appropriate permissions and now all is well. Thanks to all for the info relating to the firewall business.

[Vukir]

I will have to try the 10-20 min wait. See if that works.

Sent my disk to a friend to see if his computer would run it, all I got was "Game runs fine."

I did that new admin account thing... Had no effect on the situation. The Take2 Support asked me to do that.

Will also try and see if my other DVD-Rom drive will read it ok.

I have no personal firewall junk aside from Ad-Watch, and I have tried with that disabled... So, I don't think that is it either.

Thanks for the info guys.

[EDIT] - Works now. Drives arn't that old, but they may not have liked the disk for some reason. Thanks for the help!

[SoulBlazeK]

While most of these ideas are good, some of you don't understand: the game is not coming up. Period. Like with the firewall business? If I actually went into the game, then there'd be a problem with Zone Alarm.

I'm still working on it here and there. Maybe it is some kind of protection problem.

[SoulBlazeK]

Question, though... is the fact that I'm not even getting the initial splash screen (is there one?) got anything to do with it? >>

[Vukir]

Blaze, does the Prey.exe come up in your process list in your task manager? Mine refused to start. When I double clicked the icon, the mouse changed and then went back to the normal cursor. No splash screen, no screen flicker, not even an attempt to change resolutions on my monitor. BUT, the Prey.exe process was running in the background (and if I tried to do much of anything else with my computer after that, it would lock up).

The only way I got the game to run was by putting the disk in a different DVD-ROM drive. While it can be a pain in the ass, if you have a spare drive, I would recommend putting it in your PC and seeing if the game will boot with that drive instead.

And I deffinatly think it has something to do with protection. Probably a disk authentication routine that the game tries to run when it launches. Pain, neh?

Other than trying a different drive, I don't have any other sugestions. :(

[Sybok]

Well, I’ve got a new system 3700+ AMD with 2GB Corsair, ASUS A8N32-SLI-Deluxe (only one 7600GT) and an Audigy 2…all latest drivers. I get the random freeze/blue screen with the driver listed in the blue screen as nv4_disp. This is an NVidia display driver. I’m not sure it if it an actual display driver problem or if it is a problem with the way the 7600 GT talks to the motherboard. Quake 4 gave me some random freezes, but it never crashed, it would freeze for a few seconds (maybe 4 to 8) and then return and I’d keep playing. That would be fine if prey would do that, but the blue screen sucks the big one. I’ve played Call of Duty 2 and a few older games (Descent 3) with no problems.

By the way, for those who don’t know, if you get the blue screen and it reboots before you can read it, go into the System Properties/Advanced tab and click Setting button in the Startup and Recovery section. Click off the “Automatically restart” checkbox so that when you get a blue screen, it will hold there and you can read it. Good luck…

Forgot, I've also got a 3.0 Intel with a NVidia 6800...2 gigs of ram...ASUS mobo...SBLive and Prey runs fine...no problems...never a crash

[mrmetal_53]

i had this problem with doom3, but not quite the same extent as you guys had. at first, doom3 would load up fine (10-15 seconds). but after some time (latest 1.3 patch installed), it would take at least one minute to load. like i said, not to the same extent as some of you guys have, but here was my problem: doom3 (for whatever reason) was taking a long time to register the GUID with the server. this was with the 1.3 patch. so my choices were to 1) deal with it 2) uninstall the 1.3 patch (which meant no multiplayer) or 3) reformat. i eventually reformatted, and it went away.

anyway, i dont know if this will help (if it doesnt it any way, im sorry) but it might help you guys/devs look at the problem from a different angle.