38 réponses à ce sujet

[Qoatl]

I am trying to get Mass Effect working and the EA support site doesn't seem to contain the answer I am looking for.  After the splash screen, I get a blank screen with a working cursor and it grinds away indefinitely without ever loading the game.

OS: Vista 64-bit Home Premium, SP2
Mobo: ASUS Rampage Formula
RAM: G.Skill x 8GB
Proc: Core 2 Quad Q9450
Video: Radeon HD 4870
Audio: SB Audigy 2 ZS
DX version: 11

Mass Effect is patched to version 1.02

I have tried the following:
* Stopped all unnecessary processes / programs
* Updated video and audio drivers
* Disabled UAC
* Added Mass Effect and Punkbuster as exceptions in windows firewall
* Ran as administrator
* Ran in compatability mode (XP SP2)
* Changed audio to software mode as recommended by someone on the help forum (compatability issue)

Any other ideas?

[Doofus42]

Try updating DirectX. You can find this at:
http://www.microsoft...&displaylang=en

this will install all updates to directx 9.0c, which is what ME 1 uses.

You might also check that your MB BIOS and chipset drivers are up to date.

Modifié par Doofus42, 19 janvier 2010 - 01:37 .

[Qoatl]

My drivers are up to date, including my chipset.
I am not going to flash my bios to make a game work unless there is a good indication that this may solve the problem. So far, I have seen nothing on the forums or on the support site to indicate that this is a solution that has worked for anyone. There is no reason to upgrade bios unless you know there is a problem.

Technical support on the new forum site is practically non-existant.  When I made this topic there were only 4 topics on the entire tech support board.  I appreciate you taking the time to try and help me, but at this point I need suggestions that aren't entirely obvious.  I am looking for someone who has had problems running ME1 on Vista or with similar hardware who tried something specific that solved a similar problem after the obvious fixes failed.  I think there's probably not enough volume of traffic on this forum to get the answer I'm looking for.  I will try to find a fan forum on another site.

Thanks again for trying to help.  Lord knows tech support reps have not been helpful.  They like to tell me to do things that I know won't work.  They insist, I do them, they don't work, and I have to wait in a queue again for 30 minutes to get one more suggestion that doesn't make sense.  I have yet to be given any recommendations that are specific to ME1.  They basically assume I have screwed something up on my end -- meanwhile, every other game I own works fine

Modifié par Qoatl, 20 janvier 2010 - 05:04 .

[Doofus42]

Well, if you don't want to change anything then you are SOL. There will be no new updates to ME1. You don't seem willing to try anything, so good luck with that.

[Qoatl]

I have tried many, many things. Flashing your bios can cause more harm than good and really isn't worth doing unless you have a strong suspicion that it will solve a problem. I have been on chat with support reps half a dozen times, looked through many forums, and searched the support site thoroughly and there has been no indication that upgrading bios has solved anyone's problems with Mass Effect, and doing so can potentially cause new compatability problems with other software / hardware.

[crapmonster13]

flashing your bios isn't really that big of a deal but i have to agree, I doubt that is the problem here.

[Qoatl]

It's a good thing car repair doesn't work like computer game technical support.

Customer: My car is still stalling every time I stop.

Mechanic, reading from a book: It says here that faulty window motors can cause a problem with the alternator. You should replace your power window motors.

Customer: But my windows work fine and the power doesn't cut off when it stalls

Mechanic: But that's what it says in the book. You can come back if that doesn't work.

[Qoatl]

Oh, and Doofus42, I do sincerely appreciate you trying to help. At least your recommendation is something original. The tech supprot reps at EA just keep sending me links to support pages that I have already read or that have nothing to do with my problem.

[KBGeller]

Have you tried reinstalling to replace corrupt files?

[Qoatl]

Yeah, I have reinstalled several times in the process of attempting other solutions.

[KBGeller]

Hmm... when this happens, have you opened task manager to see what is using resources?

[Qoatl]

Yes, and Mass Effect is obviously using the most. Anything else that is a non-system, unnecessary process has been killed prior to starting. Nothing strikes me as particularly problematic. I will try stopping my anti-virus program, although I would be really surprised if that is the problem. My system is not exactly low-end. If I was just barely able to get it to start to the point that anti-virus software would need to be stopped just to get it to load, there would be an awful lot of people who are totally unable to run the game (especially at the time it was released).

[Doofus42]

Qoatl - This is what I did on my system recently and ME1 is running fine. I chose to re-install Vista this December and I will outline the process I followed:

System:

Windows Vista x64 Ultimate
EVGA 780i MB (nVidia 780i chipset)
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 OCed to 3.0 GHZ
4 GB Corsair Dominator (4x1GB) @ 1066 MHZ
Onboard RealTek HD Audio (driver 2.39)
2 nVidia 8800GT in SLI (driver 195.81)
McAfee Security Center 9.15 (provided by my ISP)

December Install Process:
1. Wipe the HD clean and perform a clean install of Vista x64 Ultimate.
2. Update all Windows patches except for a few ultimate extras and optionals updates.
3. Install the nVidia 780i chipset drivers from www.nvidia.com
4. Install nVidia geForce video driver 195.81
5. Update DirectX with the dxwebsetup.exe command from http://www.microsoft...&displaylang=en
6. Install the July 2009 release of the 2005 Visual C++ Run Time, both the x86 and x64 versions. http://www.microsoft...72-9112bab119c2
7. Install the McAfee security Center 9.15
8. Install ME1 and 1.02 Patch
9. Uninstall the ME1 installed Visual C++ version 8.0.56366. The 2 installed C++ RTEs I have are x64 8.0.59192 and x86 8.0.59193

This works for me. There are 2 major differences between my system and yours, the Video card and the Audio cards. There are also 2 potential major differences, the Chipset and the AV software.

I have seen some AV software scan the entire file when it is opened. This does not cause a noticeable problem when opening a few small files, but doing this when opening many large files is another story.

What AV software are you running?

My recommendation is the following:

1. Update Chipset drivers obtained from either Intel or nVidia
2. Update DirectX from above link.
3. Remove all installed C++ RTE's and install the two listed above.

Modifié par Doofus42, 20 janvier 2010 - 06:14 .

[Qoatl]

Thanks for the tip.

I have updated my chipset and DX recently, but I will give #3 a try.

I'm at work, but I'll try it tonight.

[Doofus42]

If #3 does not work, I would look at your AV software.

[Qoatl]

Doofus42:

Specifically what aspect?

Nothing is actually running.

Do you mean what programs handle which AV file types? Additional installed codices?

I wouldn't think these would be invoked without the associated encoding.

Can you please clarify what you mean?

[Doofus42]

What AV software are you running?

The AV software installs itself as a filter driver in the NTFS stack. It intercepts all NTFS filesystem fopen(), fread(), and fwrite() calls made by any application. There are two ways to do this. The first is to scan completely at the fopen(). This can cause problems when the texture file is 2GB+. The texture file is usually indexed so that textures are grabbed only when needed.  The other way is to scan only on access.  The first slows application initialization and the second slows application running.

Does your AV software automatically scan the entire file upon opening? If so then your AV software may be trying scanning 8GB+ of textures etc. during start up, which could take some time. I have heard of this problem with a version of AVG Free on another game. You may need to exclude the ME1 directories from being scanning during real-time.

Modifié par Doofus42, 20 janvier 2010 - 07:10 .

[Isaantia]

I have a similar problem and a similar config:

Windows x64 Ultimate SP2
nVidia nForce 780i ATX
nVidia 9800 GTX+
4GB Corsair
Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.0GHz
300GB Velociraptor


This and Borderlands won't run. They start up and hang before fully loading. Mass Effect used to run on this system just fine.The only thing that changed is that I have a 30" Apple cinema HD display. I used to have a 28" HannsG.

Dragon Age, CIV IV, Tropico 3, L4D, L4D2 run fine. My drivers are all updated. I even rolled back my video drivers to an eariler install to see if that was the issue. Direct X is updated as well.

Any ideas?

Modifié par Isaantia, 20 janvier 2010 - 07:10 .

[Doofus42]

What AV software?

[Adaram]

Qoatl wrote...

I have tried many, many things. Flashing your bios can cause more harm than good and really isn't worth doing unless you have a strong suspicion that it will solve a problem. I have been on chat with support reps half a dozen times, looked through many forums, and searched the support site thoroughly and there has been no indication that upgrading bios has solved anyone's problems with Mass Effect, and doing so can potentially cause new compatability problems with other software / hardware.

I agree with this guy.  Flashing your Bios seems to not be a big deal, but can cause serious damage if not done correctly (ie wrong version by accident).  Take it from someone who accidentally flasshed his BIOS to try and get a game to work! :-o

[Isaantia]

Doofus42 wrote...

What AV software?

I have norton, but that hasn't changed either.

[Doofus42]

I haven't used Norton in years, but......



Have you done these mentioned above?



1. Update Chipset drivers obtained from nVidia - 15.51 are the ones I have installed

2. Update DirectX from above link.

3. Remove all installed C++ RTE's and install the two listed above.



What is the Audio card/built-in that your are using? Has this been updated and to what version?

[Doofus42]

The nvidia chipset drivers are fairly new

http://www.nvidia.co...a64_15.51b.html

Version:15.51 WHQL

Release Date:2009.10.06

Operating System:Windows Vista 64-bit

Language:English (U.S.)

File Size:50.4 MB

[Isaantia]

Doofus42 wrote...

What is the Audio card/built-in that your are using? Has this been updated and to what version?

I'm using the built-in stuff that came with my board. SoundMax.

Whats frustrating about this is that Mass Effect was working the last time I played it in Nov. 

All my other installed games load, with the exception of Borderlands. I guess I will try uninstalling that game next.