SS2 Crashes upon Startup AFTER installing the SS2Tool

Telex on 24/10/2009 at 18:10

Hello all - I was determined to figure this out myself, but I can't seem to find mention of a problem specifically like mine anywhere.

I've installed SS2 from the CD (it's the version that comes prepatched on the CD) and it seemed to work alright. I then installed the SS2Tool in order to use mods and FMs, and applied the patching up, getting mod ready, bug fixes, and widescreen mod +ddfix options, and now the game is crashing. I can usually get to the main menu, but when I go to start a new game, it crashes instantly with the standard System Shock 2 encountered an error and needs to close message.

I uninstalled the game, deleted SS2Tool and reinstalled everything - same results. I've tried running the game in all the compatibility modes, same results.

Any help you could provide would be welcome. I may have simply missed a crucial step somewhere, in which case this can be chalked up to simple ignorance - but I've read and reread the FAQs here and on strangebedfellows and I don't think that's the case. Thank you in advance, I really want to play this game! :p

SYSTEM INFO:

Microsoft Windows XP
Professional
Version 2002
Service Pack 3

Intel
Pentium 4 CPU 2.60GHz
2.59 GHz, 1.00 GB of RAM

I've also included an image of my SS2 game folder in the C drive, in case something has gone awry in there:

(http://img248.imageshack.us/i/ss2folder.png/)

Inline Image:

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/1764/ss2folder.th.png

Faxfane on 24/10/2009 at 18:35

(http://www.strangebedfellows.de/index.php/topic,106.0.html) SS2 Technical FAQ sounds like your first stop, and most of the stickied threads in StrangeBedfellows' Helpdesk are highly informative.

From the FAQ, the next stop is SS2Tool with usage recommendations, followed by the SS2 Modmanager. Just keep mindful of the given instructions and you should be alright.

If not, there's a wealth of info (http://www.strangebedfellows.de/index.php/board,1.0.html) here.

Telex on 24/10/2009 at 18:40

Alright, thanks Faxfane - I'll check that out and report back.

Faxfane on 24/10/2009 at 18:56

Sure thing. I never trust my memory when it comes to darkengine game installs on XP, so I avail myself to SS2 threads at SBF's helpdesk for that game, and for TTLG's very helpful forums for everything else.

Also, SBF is where most of the mods and a good portion of fanmissions for SS2 can be found. Look around the place, and between them and (http://thiefmissions.com/) Cheap Thief Missions, you're bound to find most everything you could want for this game.

Telex on 24/10/2009 at 19:05

Alright, after playing around with it, it seems I can be more specific about my problem.

I reinstalled everything and decided to use the SS2Tool one step at a time. I started out by merging the CRF archive under the patching up option, and I started the game. Working fine, no problem.

After that I selected the entire getting mod ready category - now the game crashes right after I click on the icon to start the game, can't even get to the start menu.

So I applied some bugfixes and now I can get back to the menu, but I can't actually make it into a game without it crashing, back where I started.

I've been looking over all the FAQs I can find, but I can't find one that mentions a problem similar to mine.

Faxfane on 24/10/2009 at 20:00

Just did an uninstall/reinstall here to see if I could find your error...and the only thing which really comes to mind is a multicore fix, which is in ddfix.ini.

Another option could be that LGVID.ax isn't registered properly, which one can do by themselves or through using SS2 Mod Manager's Options.

Only other things I can readily think of would be searching through TTLG's Legacy and Troubleshooting forums.

Just for reference, my XP SP3 system uses the E7400 Wolfdale, Evga 7600GT AGP (191.07), X-Fi Extreme Audio (Audigy P17 with Daniel K's modded drivers) and 4GB (3.5 + extensions) of Gskill memory. All darkengine games have been fixed with imagecfg (to set core affinity).

***
Edit: If nothing else, check your Event Viewer and see if something wonky is going on. If you have FFDShow video decoder installed anywhere, you might want to open up its configuration and in DirectShow control, add shock2.exe to 'Don't use ffdshow in' exclusion list, as I believe that's been known to cause issues as well.

Nameless Voice on 25/10/2009 at 01:27

Where are the .crf files? In your screenshot, they are in the main SS2 folder, and they shouldn't be.
And could you post the contents of your "install.cfg" file?

Kolya on 25/10/2009 at 03:28

Quote Posted by Telex

(it's the version that comes prepatched on the CD)

I then applied the patching up

Only use "Merge CRFs", that's a subfeature of "Patching up" which can be selected separately. Also check "Getting Mod Ready". Then apply bugfixes and widescreen mod/DDFix at will.

Telex on 25/10/2009 at 22:17

Quote Posted by Nameless Voice

Where are the .crf files? In your screenshot, they are in the main SS2 folder, and they shouldn't be.
And could you post the contents of your "install.cfg" file?

I've used the SS2Tool to move the .crf files into the RES folder, so that problem is fixed - still not working however.

Here are the contents of my install.cfg:

cd_path .
install_path .
language english
resname_base .\+.\RES
load_path .
script_module_path .
movie_path cutscenes

Nameless Voice on 25/10/2009 at 22:54

Uh, wait a moment, you have no .mis files.
Did you do a full install?