Freelancer won't start
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Don´t know if this helps but my suggestion would be:#
Do a clean INSTALL of Freelancer as Admin !!! Run EVERY Freelancer-related application like 1.1 Patch ,FLMM, Server.exe and sure Freelancer.exe as Admin. (with appro. admin rights)P.S.:
Throwing out some more Suggestions if u don´t mind:
-If u can already find an PerfOptions.ini in your MyGames Folder the 3D sound entry should look like this to disable it without getting into the games options menu:
USE_3D_SOUNDS = 0.00-I also recommend to do the official 1.1 Patch (as admin)!!!
-“Intel HD 4000” is a bit suspicious to me… is this an integrated graphics chip? If so… i remember there´s a major and common issue with such Intel-graphics.
if these “brainfarts” of mine don´t help any further… idk… sorry
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A few notes, perhaps:
-The 1.4 patch most likely isn’t compatible with many mods. If you’re using both that and a mod, that might be part of your issue. If you’re going to use a mod, only use that and nothing else - any relevant patches will be rolled in the mod.
-Make sure you’ve associated the game with the discrete GPU in your NVIDIA control panel. If you don’t, the game will start with the HD4000 chip by default as it’s not recognized by the driver as being a game (too old). -
J.R. wrote:
Don´t know if this helps but my suggestion would be:#
Do a clean INSTALL of Freelancer as Admin !!! Run EVERY Freelancer-related application like 1.1 Patch ,FLMM, Server.exe and sure Freelancer.exe as Admin. (with appro. admin rights)-I also recommend to do the official 1.1 Patch (as admin)!!!
Tried to install and run everything as admin, nothing changed.
P.S.:
Throwing out some more Suggestions if u don´t mind:
-If u can already find an PerfOptions.ini in your MyGames Folder the 3D sound entry should look like this to disable it without getting into the games options menu:
USE_3D_SOUNDS = 0.00There are no config files in that folder as the game was never able to run :-(. Only thing I got there is server related. FL server was able to run but it complained about failing to initialize DirectPlay.
I assumed that on demand component installation does not work in the case of Freelancer (which is ironic because it is even a Microsoft software) so I operated a bit in Windows features and found DirectPlay under Legacy components. Installed it and the server ran fine.
Funny thing: it solved my problem with the game as well. Runs just as it should.-“Intel HD 4000” is a bit suspicious to me… is this an integrated graphics chip? If so… i remember there´s a major and common issue with such Intel-graphics.
Yes, it’s an integrated chip.
if these “brainfarts” of mine don´t help any further… idk… sorry
No worries. You lead me to the solution. Thanks for the suggestions.
FriendlyFire wrote:
A few notes, perhaps:
-The 1.4 patch most likely isn’t compatible with many mods. If you’re using both that and a mod, that might be part of your issue. If you’re going to use a mod, only use that and nothing else - any relevant patches will be rolled in the mod.
-Make sure you’ve associated the game with the discrete GPU in your NVIDIA control panel. If you don’t, the game will start with the HD4000 chip by default as it’s not recognized by the driver as being a game (too old).Assigning it to the discrete card produces the same symptoms. “FL has stopped working” error at first run plus “memory could not be read” error on consecutive runs.
Why that would be a problem anyway? I run many games deliberately on the integrated chip due to its power and heat efficiency. The benefits of the nVidia card are great calculation power, frame limiting option and forcing FXAA on any application even on oldies like Freelancer which is great.
Thanks for replying. I might drop the 1.4 patch then, did no know that it could cause problems with mods. -
Intel’s GPUs just suck. They often won’t support some games properly, especially less mainstream ones. Also, forcing options in the GPU drivers can often lead to compatibility issues. When facing a random glitch like this, one of the very first steps is to disable anything the drivers might force, including AF, AA, etc.
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FriendlyFire wrote:
Intel’s GPUs just suck.That’s what I thought. Have a look at newer ones, anything above HD4000. They offer a wide compatibility similar to software rendering but it is much faster. I tested many games with it when my laptop had problems with the dedicated graphics for almost half a year. I was surprised how capable it was. Torchlight 2, Transformers: War for Cybertron and similar not so old titles ran without a hitch.
Some very old game does not like modern dedicated cards and then my integrated chip comes in handy. For example Stratosphere. Or any game that checks for vRAM size and can’t handle gigabytes (therefore thinks I have 2MB).
I’m not saying Intel GPUs for the win, don’t get me wrong. They were really terrible, I remember. Intel was new to GPUs. What if they improved? -
Freelancer is DirectX 8. Intel had stopped optimizing for DX8 ages before they even thought of the Core architecture.
If you don’t want help and would rather stick to what’s clearly not working, be my guest. I’m only pointing out that Intel’s GPUs, regardless of the generation, are notorious for not playing too well with FL. One would think I’d have just a slight idea what the hell I’m talking about.
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Saying that something sucks and won’t work is not particularly helping.
Plus Freelancer is DX9. It is given in the requirements and is bundled with DX9 redist, check any retail CD. In addition it is working.
No hard feelings, I don’t want to make you look bad, just prevent others from reading incorrect information.
Here is some official proof: http://support.microsoft.com/KB/814552
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Szasz wrote:
Saying that something sucks and won’t work is not particularly helping.Plus Freelancer is DX9. It is given in the requirements and is bundled with DX9 redist, check any retail CD. In addition it is working.
No hard feelings, I don’t want to make you look bad, just prevent others from reading incorrect information.
Here is some official proof: http://support.microsoft.com/KB/814552
You gave me a good laugh there. Freelancer, DirectX 9? Hah! Sure, they ask for the DX9 redist, because that’s what was around at the time of distribution, but Freelancer is DirectX 8.
But really, I think you don’t need my help after all since you seem to know better. I hope you resolve your issue and please do document it here if you do so that others don’t have to go through this maddening process.
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You gave me a good laugh there. Freelancer, DirectX 9? Hah! Sure, they ask for the DX9 redist, because that’s what was around at the time of distribution, but Freelancer is DirectX 8.
You’re right. Despite the requirements, the engine is written for DX8.
…I hope you resolve your issue and please do document it here if you do so that others don’t have to go through this maddening process.
Already did. It is in the main post. The problem was a missing DirectPlay installation.
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Szasz wrote:
Saying that something sucks and won’t work is not particularly helping.Plus Freelancer is DX9. It is given in the requirements and is bundled with DX9 redist, check any retail CD. In addition it is working.
No hard feelings, I don’t want to make you look bad, just prevent others from reading incorrect information.
Here is some official proof: http://support.microsoft.com/KB/814552
Just so you know, mate, you’re talking to the man who’s taken apart FL’s render pipeline and put it back together again. FL’s DX8.
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I hadn’t seen that edit. That’s intriguing, first time I hear of that.
By curiosity, was that 8.1 retail, or 8.0 updated to 8.1?
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Hi Folks.
This time I have the “same” problem by “myself”… to be more accurate… its the prob of a friend who wants to play on my server.OS: WIN 8.1 Professional 64 Bit
Grafix: Geforce 530
RAM: 8 GB
CPU: AMD3
2x SSD-Drives (120 and 250 GB)Activated FULL ADMIN-ACCOUNT (built in but hidden by default)
created a Folder on the second drive and checked for FULL-ACCESS with the logged in User (FULL-ADMIN)
Installed Vanilla-FL and official Patch 1.1… Done… no issues
Checked for installed DirectPlay … Done… no issues
Guess what… FL works fine !!!Installed FLMM… Done… no issues
Installed Mod and activated it… Done… no issuesNo Problems so far but the weird thing is yet to come:
Suddenly Freelancer doesn´t start at all due to lack of access-rights to drive/folder/file or whatever !!! H UHHHHHHHHHHH ???
Even just to change the version-number of a vanilla freelancer.exe (because my mod-files refer to version 4.46) and just copy it into the modded or un-modded gamefolder/EXE leads to the same problem !!!
After deactivation of the mod and all other changes the vanilla-game doesn´t start either due to lack of rights !!!Checked and tried here and there and totally ran out of options. :((
Some help or further ideas would be VERY WELCOME !!!
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You should make a new thread as your issue has nothing to do with this thread.
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-SOLVED-
The issue wasn´t caused by ANY Win8-related feature…
Further investigation confirmed:
The latest update of AVAST-Antivirus flags all types of moddified *.exe-files and denies/prevents every further access-attempts. So far so good… ´cause thats what AV-Software is supposed to do. But the most annoying thing is: AVAST does it without ANY WARNING/PROMPT or OPTION to prevent this unwanted flagging/deleting of the “suspicious” file Freelancer.exe !!!Greetings J.R.
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There is a Security Update for Windows 7 that apparently breaks the game. When you click on the icon, the cursor ‘spins’, but you never receive the Freelancer splash screen / intro.
I went through all my recent updates that were applied just before the game broke. I narrowed it down to the Security Update KB3086255 - which is related to the system’s graphics:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3086255
Hope this helps somebody else, but it drove me nuts figuring it out.
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Win7Pro with EVERY update, I’ve never experienced a problem loading FL. Next time it won’t load open up taskmgr and see if Freelancer.exe is already running in the processes list. If it is, right click and close the process. See if it fires up then.
@Dilbert. Can you think of anything that security update might be associated with? It might be system dependent. (maybe it only happens with systems that have a certain video card or something)
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To All,
I read the description, through the link, and it looks like another back-door for Microsoft to freely install Windows 8.1 over whatever you are using. I remember before they released 8.1, they were putting updates out which put the updater into the users tray. I “hid” those updates, because I would not use 8.1 on a bet. I had to work on a friend’s computer, which was really fouled up from the install. How the mighty have fallen!Pascal05
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Please don’t hide security updates… They’re security updates for a reason.
