Failure to start on Windows 8.1

Discussion on technical issues (installation, launching).
User avatar
Tsototar
Level 2
Posts: 111
Joined: Thu 13 Mar, 2014 1:44 pm

Failure to start on Windows 8.1

Postby Tsototar » Wed 04 Feb, 2015 6:10 pm

(Hopefully this saves people from the huge amount of time I spent chasing down dead ends)

On a fresh Windows 8.1 machine, Steam client installs fine, DoW2R downloads fine... but will not launch.

Symptom: Click "play". Mouse pointer does the wheel spin... then back to normal pointer, with no error message. Game does not launch.

Fruitless googling, many dead ends. Verify game cache does not solve problem. Reinstalling graphics drivers does not solve problem. Setting compatibility mode does not solve problem.

What solved the problem (for me anyway) was... reinstalling older version of DirectX (9.0c). I downloaded and ran the "DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer" from Microsoft Downloads. Game has been working since.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download ... aspx?id=35
All Eldar are witches... even the men
User avatar
Jes
Level 1
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon 02 Feb, 2015 6:25 pm

Re: Failure to start on Windows 8.1

Postby Jes » Thu 05 Feb, 2015 5:38 pm

Steam should actually have run the pre-launch for Retribution, which should've included the latest DX9 distributables.

It's odd (read: stupid) that MS chose not to include at least the latest revision of DX9 in Vista and up, especially considering that games that use DX9 are still being made.
User avatar
Tsototar
Level 2
Posts: 111
Joined: Thu 13 Mar, 2014 1:44 pm

Re: Failure to start on Windows 8.1

Postby Tsototar » Fri 06 Feb, 2015 12:58 pm

Jes wrote:Steam should actually have run the pre-launch for Retribution, which should've included the latest DX9 distributables.


didn't happen for me... it really drove me crazy, since I actually got the new PC specifically to play DoW2! can you imagine, when I kept trying to launch it and it didn't...

It's odd (read: stupid) that MS chose not to include at least the latest revision of DX9 in Vista and up, especially considering that games that use DX9 are still being made.


I guess it's a business decision to try to force people to move in a particular direction... Apple did the same thing with the first release of Mavericks, they actually took out USB syncing for iDevices (I think they thought everyone would be happy to just sync to iCloud); lucky for me the uproar was enough that they put it back in the next patch
All Eldar are witches... even the men
User avatar
Tsototar
Level 2
Posts: 111
Joined: Thu 13 Mar, 2014 1:44 pm

Re: Failure to start on Windows 8.1

Postby Tsototar » Sun 02 Aug, 2015 12:00 pm

The DX9.0c "web installer" will refuse to run if it detects any trace of a pre-existing DX9c installation (even if it's broken). To work around this, you can use the "full" installer which will just plunk everything down without caring (which is what you want to happen if it's not working for you) -

https://www.microsoft.com/en-sg/downloa ... px?id=8109
All Eldar are witches... even the men
Deadpwner
Level 0
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed 16 Nov, 2016 7:30 am

Re: Failure to start on Windows 8.1

Postby Deadpwner » Wed 16 Nov, 2016 5:00 pm

Do you know why my download might not fully work
im on win 10
the Dow2Ret is great
i download this mod
it makes a file in the DOW file called elite
but there is no shortcut
the download says it should be in the desktop
not there
help please
Atlas

Re: Failure to start on Windows 8.1

Postby Atlas » Wed 16 Nov, 2016 5:07 pm

Deadpwner wrote:Do you know why my download might not fully work
im on win 10
the Dow2Ret is great
i download this mod
it makes a file in the DOW file called elite
but there is no shortcut
the download says it should be in the desktop
not there
help please


If the shortcut wasn't pre-made, then you can make it yourself.

In Steam, right click on DoW2Retri. Once there, go to Properties -> Set launch options. Make sure:

-nomovies -modname Elite

Is in there. Once that is done, right click on DoW2Retri again in your Steam and hit "Create Desktop Shortcut" and that should do it!
byronorape
Level 0
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed 01 May, 2019 1:17 pm
Location: Norway

Failure to start on Windows 8 1

Postby byronorape » Fri 03 May, 2019 7:49 pm

Every time i try to click START GAME button i get this message...

Failure in Patching

Help Please I Want to Play

Return to “Technical Issues”



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests