Freelancer.exe does not complete launch/start-up

Sat Oct 21, 2006 8:36 pm by OvermindDL1

I've finally re-installed Freelancer again after probably two years.
I install properly. Then try to launch. I then see the normal splash screen, a second later the resolution switches lower as the game loads up. When the resolution switches, I then see the full screen first screen that shows while it loads everything. A split second after that screen starts to show then the game goes back to desktop and the Freelancer process disappears in an instant. No crash report, no dialog box, nothing.
If I install patch 1.1, the exact same thing occurs.

I am running Windows XP Pro SP2.
Athlon 64 3400+.
One GB RAM.
Three CD Drives.
One DVD Drive.
Six Hard Drives.
Drive Letters D through R are used. F is the boot drive, D is the CD drive I have the Freelancer CD in (I tried them all).
Ati Radeon 9700 Pro
All drivers and API's updated from the motherboard, sound, video, DirectX, Windows in general, etc...

Also, as testing, if I run the server, then the console repeatedly states this over and over about once every second:
Connecting to list server...
Failed to make connection to list server...
Connecting to list server...
Failed to make connection to list server...
etc....
No firewall. It is a direct connection. All other games, servers, applications work perfectly.

Thoughts?

Sat Oct 21, 2006 9:48 pm by Cold_Void

not sure about the console error - i see it all the time myself... but the server does list. is it accessable from the net?

i have heard that FL does not like XP x64...

the main CTD error in freelancer sounds like an audio codec problem- if you look on the disc you will find under the redist folder a couple packages... wmfdist is windows media 7. i think it includes an mp3 decoder that FL needs - some codec packs overwrite it. This fix has worked for me before, but i'm not going to promise it will definitely work - i'm not sure what effect it might have on windows media player 9 or 10 though (or whatever version they're on, i stopped using it a long time ago when media player classic came out with all the same features and none of the crap XP styling)

the Quickfix pack is a more important bugfix than the 1.1 update, which is really just a few cheat patches that serverop software can detect now... besides correcting 1000's of bugs in INIs, Quickfix adds support for more cards and disables 3d sound (which has been known to cause errors)

Edited by - Cold_Void on 10/21/2006 10:49:28 PM

Sun Oct 22, 2006 3:21 pm by Chips

I am at a loss apart from what's mentioned... however, my mind immediately thought "save games" - do you still have old save games on the computer for freelancer, and could it be them? Slim as hell chance, but it's best to check anyways.

Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:52 pm by OvermindDL1

It was a fresh install, no save games or settings from before, and I cleared out both directories each time I tested. The Quick-Fix worked. Thank you much.

Sun Oct 22, 2006 10:22 pm by Cold_Void

you're welcome, I'm glad to know it worked

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