Thief 2 will not start up - Intro plays in WMP

Fearless Son on 1/12/2008 at 21:24

An update.

The "No DirectX7" problem was solved. The issue was that I was running it in compatibility mode for Windows 95 (oops.) I set it to Windows XP SP2 compatiblity, and it no longer shows that issue. However, it has gone back to blanking the screen then quitting with a standard error dialogue.

bikerdude on 1/12/2008 at 22:41

Quote Posted by Fearless Son

However, it has gone back to blanking the screen then quitting with a standard error dialogue.

I assume your running vista..? what cideo card have you got..?

Also have you installed DDfix..?

biker

Fearless Son on 1/12/2008 at 23:58

Yeah, I am running Vista Home Premium x64.

I am a little embarrised to admit, but I am actually using my H.P.'s onboard video instead of a dedicated card (specifically an Intel G33/G31 Express Chipset Family according to my computer management tool.) I could not afford a card at this time, but I plan on picking one up during the holidays. Still, the onboard stuff should be fine for modest applications, runs WoW alright (though not great.) Should still be plenty powerful enough to run Dark Engine applications (Thief 2 demo version runs well.)

I have installed DDFix, but I have no thief2.icd file, which is one of the things that DDFix modifies.

Out of curiosity, why would the Thief 2 demo work without the *.icd but the full version will not?

bikerdude on 2/12/2008 at 02:55

Quote Posted by Fearless Son

* Yeah, I am running Vista Home Premium x64.
* I am a little embarrised to admit, but I am actually using my H.P.'s on-board video instead of a dedicated card (specifically an Intel G33/G31 Express Chipset Family according to my computer management tool.) Should still be plenty powerful enough to run Dark Engine applications (Thief 2 demo version runs well.)
* I have installed DDFix, but I have no thief2.icd file, which is one of the things that DDFix modifies.
* Out of curiosity, why would the Thief 2 demo work without the *.icd but the full version will not?

Vista 64bit will cause issues, but I have read of other people playing thief on it.

That gfx chipset is ideal for running thief in vanilla mode - eg as well as it running LGS intended you get the stars and fog as well - ddfix wont do fog. but for the new textures available in the NTEX pack you`ll need ddfix.

With regard to the icd thing, don't know, i would do a search in the forum. But the black screen issue is a well known problem, but because you have 64bit OS and its vista that complicates things.

The copy of thief you have sounds the same as my copy - 1x DVD disc with T1 on one side and T2 on the other, if yes then setting compatibility mode should work. May i suggest you un-install thief, then download the latest gfx driver, latest version of DirectX and motherboard driver. Then install in the following order.

Motherboard driver
directX
gfx driver
thief

Then see if Thief runs, if not then install DDfix (but you`ll need to run the DDfix gui in compatibility mode).

biker

jtr7 on 2/12/2008 at 03:27

He can't do a reinstall, 'cause he doesn't have a copy of the game discs to reinstall from.:cheeky:

I'm guessing that the *.icd file is for the much-bigger full-sized game, while the demo is not only much smaller than the full game, but has many differences from Life of the Party. The demo is more self-contained. My guess.

bikerdude on 2/12/2008 at 04:05

Quote Posted by Fearless Son

I picked up the double-pack version that had Thief: The Dark Project and Thief 2: The Metal Age on it. I later bought Thief: Gold seperately

Jtr... did you miss this post then..?

jtr7 on 2/12/2008 at 04:14

No, but what about this part:

Quote Posted by Fearless Son

However, I can say with some misfortune that I have not seen my CD of Thief 2 in several years. I somehow got lost in the shuffle (I have lived in four different places since I bought it.) As a result, I no longer have the CD that came with it.

:D

Since having a copy to reinstall or repair a broken installation is important:
(http://www.amazon.com/Thief-2-Metal-Age-Pc/dp/B00004NS0Z/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=software&qid=1228196748&sr=8-2)

(Used, starting at US $4.69 after shipping and handling. :laff:)

More:
(http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_sw?url=search-alias%3Dsoftware&field-keywords=Thief&x=15&y=13)

sNeaksieGarrett on 2/12/2008 at 05:57

Hi Fearless Son.
I don't know if this .ICD thing really matters. My guess is your version of thief 2 never had it, and that's why it is missing. After all, you installed thief 2 a long time ago on your external drive, why would the ICD suddenly disappear?
Did thief 2 work on the old machine?

Quote Posted by Fearless Son

Anyone know a method to force Thief to ignore the results of a DirectX version check?

I don't know if this would really help you or not, but you can add skip_starting_checks to your cam.cfg file. This skips checks such as thief checking to see if you have the required disk space to run or something like that.

jtr7 on 2/12/2008 at 06:00

Maybe someone can explain what it's really for. It is 2.53 MBs, after all.:wot:

Fearless Son on 2/12/2008 at 07:10

The version of Thief 2 that I bought came in (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00007KLI1/ref=pd_luc_sbs_02_01) this bundle, by the way. I bought it shortly after I bought my previous computer back in 2002. I would have bought the Thief games earlier than that, since I fell in love with their demos played on a friend's computer when those games came out, but until then I did not have a computer capable of running Thief. I have not played them any time recently on that computer though. The copy was originally installed to my internal HDD on that machine, but when that started to get uncomfortably full a few years back I bought an external HDD and copied the game over to that. It remains on that HDD, so was right there when I plugged it into the new computer.

Taking jtr7's suggestion, I orded a used copy of Thief 2 online, no box or manual, just the disc for seventy cents. Total cost after shipping was less than five bucks. While I appreciate the thift value in this, it is kind of sad to see it go for so little. I am pretty sure that my Thief 1 disc was lost with my Thief 2 disc, but I am also pretty sure that I still have my Thief Gold disc so I do not need to re-order my original copy. Unfortunately, they estimate it will take a week to get here. :p

The really odd thing that I find is why does the demo version of Thief 2 work on my machine but not the full version? Barring some minor bug fixes between the alpha version and the release version, the engine is practically identical. The demo version does not seem the least bit bothered by the 64-bit, so why should the full?

Oh, incidentally, you may find it amusing that on my old old computer, I was so desperate to play Thief that I got a Windows 95 emulator installed and downloaded the Thief Gold and Thief 2 demos. Beat the Thief Gold demo (which was way too short compared to the full version of that level,) despite the game slugging along at glacial speeds in software rendering that was being translated to a completely different instruction set. However, when I tried to open the Thief 2 demo, it told me "Your graphics card is not supported by System Shock 2". Heh. ;)