My in-game movies (briefings and cutscenes) aren't playing anymore, how do I fix it?

LarryG on 25/6/2011 at 16:39

This is on a Vista64 machine. The movies no longer play in either MediaPlayer or Thief1/G/2, and they used to. They do still play using VirtualDub, so I figure the codec's OK. But I reinstalled it and re-registered it (successfully according to the screen message) anyhow, with no improvement. I wonder if I should just convert them all to a more modern codec. Will they play in-game if I do, and what codec is preferred?

I've tried:

Quote:

Solution:
You have to reinstall the indeo video codecs. You will find them on Thief: TDP's disc, and on disc 1 of Thief Gold. If you have Thief 2, you can find them on CD2 (the file is iv5play.exe). In the past you could also download them from this site for free, but unfortunately the codecs have since turned pay-for. This problem often arises because of conflicts with some other programs such as Real player or Windows Media Player; the video codecs become corrupted and no longer work. There is an incompatibility between the Indeo codecs and Windows XP. If you wish to view the in-game movies and have Windows XP you must install the codecs every time you play Thief.

Alternatively:
Scrooge's Permanent Movie Fix
1) Locate (use "Search") the file named "regsvr32.exe". It is located in the Windows SYSTEM directory (if 9x/ME) or SYSTEM32 (if 2000/XP/7). Copy it to your Thief installation.

2) Create a text document named "RegIndeo.bat" and copy/paste the following text:
regsvr32.exe /s LGVID.AX

3) Save it (The file extension must be .bat)

Simply double-click on the file when your movies don't play.

Note: it is not needed to repeat the operation in all your installed Thief/Gold/II, simply use one of them. The "registration" process will fix the problems in all installed Thief games present.

A third option if the above have failed:
1) Press Start

2) Press Run

3) Type regsvr32 c:\your\path\to\Thief\LGVID.AX where "c:\your\path\to\Thief\" matches your own path.

4) You should get a message box pop up that says dllregisterserver in module c:\your\path\to\Thief\LGVID.AX succeeded.

Yandros on 25/6/2011 at 17:20

I can tell you that you can convert them to a modern codec and it will work, assuming you have it installed naturally. We debated whether or not to release the 7SoM movies with XVid or Indeo, since the XVid provided greater quality and smaller files, but in the end we wanted to make sure that most players could see them, so we stuck with Indeo.

LarryG on 25/6/2011 at 19:53

Hmm. That didn't work. I converted the Thief2 vids to MPEG4, and while I can play the result with MediaPlayer, Thief2 crashes when I try to play them from there. :(

I'm going to try a few other choices but ...

Yandros on 25/6/2011 at 22:25

Well, ok technically I only know that XVid worked on a few people's systems for 7SoM. You might try that codec.

LarryG on 25/6/2011 at 23:23

No good for me. I may have to try for a 100% clean install from the CDs and then reapply everything. I'm not looking forward to that. Thing is, I think all was well until I tried TafferPatcher. It wasn't broken, so I broke it.

Yandros on 26/6/2011 at 01:24

You mean you tried it on a working installation? Seems like it would have been netter to use it on a new install folder.

LarryG on 30/6/2011 at 06:01

Yeah. I was stupid.

Arykel on 3/7/2011 at 01:21

I'm having this trouble too, on Windows 7 64bit, tried installing the iv5setup Indeo codec again, and then also going the regsvr thing (which said it completed correctly) but still no movies. At a loss as to how to fix this!

Dresden on 5/7/2011 at 13:47

Quote Posted by Arykel

Have you tried right clicking, "Run as Administrator"?

Arykel on 5/7/2011 at 14:14

Yeah all that happened is that it froze for a few seconds before not playing :P

Most recently tried reinstalling from iv5setup.exe and reinstalling thief, then running it using ddfix but all that happens now is that the game crashes when it goes to play a cutscene. Hmm.