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Rage Expendable on XP

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First post, by Sune Salminen

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Hi. I need some help getting this fine game working again.

Expendable is crashing on me. It used to work fine but this time around go.icd crashes immediately after loading the first level.

Menu, sound and intro movies are working fine.

I own a boxed original but I'm getting the same crash if I install the demo version, so I figure it can't be because of the copy protection.
I've also tried with a no-cd patch as well as some dodgy 'backups' I could find but the same thing happens regardless.

What bugs me is that this game used to work fine on XP... but I can't remember if I've actually played the game before on my present system or if it was on my old PC!

Here are my specs:

Geforce 7600GT AGP, latest forceware, DX9.0c march 2008 update
Soundblaster X-fi Xtrememusic, latest drivers from Creative
P5P800-SE with ICH5 and i865PE chipset, latest drivers from Intel
Pentium 4 model 651, 3.4 GHz
1GB RAM

I tried setting the affinity of go.icd to one CPU thread in Task Manager but that didn't help anything.

It's a DX6 game - when running DXdiag from DX6 (it's on the game CD) it complains that DDHELP.EXE is missing, but all the other files it checks for are present. It's on the CD though, but when I try to run it I get this error:

DDHELP.EXE - Entry Point Not Found

The Procedure entry point RegisterServiceProcess could not be located in the dynamic link library Kernel32.dll

Any ideas? I don't know what to do from here.

S

Reply 1 of 33, by leileilol

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Sune Salminen wrote:

Geforce 7600GT AGP, latest forceware

This is your issue.
Nvidia drivers post-77.xx kill a LOT of compatibility. They don't want you to play Expendable. They want you to abandon your favorite old games and buy Crysis.

apsosig.png
long live PCem

Reply 2 of 33, by Sune Salminen

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Maybe you're right - the D3D test in DXDiag from DirextX 6 fails before it can even start.

Just for the hell of it I dropped DDHELP.EXE in the system32 folder, rebooted in safe mode and reinstalled DirectX 9.0c, and when I rebooted in normal mode, DDHELP.EXE wasn't there! It seems 9.0c deliberately removes it. Fair enough, since my XP kernel apparently doesn't support it anyway..

Tried lowering 3D acceleration under troubleshooting and the game still crashes in the same spot.

Tried turning off all settings like bump mapping, mipmapping, antialiasing and so on and that doesn't help either.

I saw a program once that could enable or disable certain DirectX features, and also emulate newer versions of pixel shaders if your card doesn't support them. Does anybody know what I'm talking about? I can't find it again.

Maybe with this program I could disable some features of the card, maybe that would help?

Reply 3 of 33, by eL_PuSHeR

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I think you mean 3D Analyzer.

Alternate download.

Download it at your own risk. Haven't tested it.

Intel i7 5960X
Gigabye GA-X99-Gaming 5
8 GB DDR4 (2100)
8 GB GeForce GTX 1070 G1 Gaming (Gigabyte)

Reply 4 of 33, by Sune Salminen

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Yes thank you very much, that's it, exactly like I remembered.

Here's the website of 3DAnalyzer:
http://www.tommti-systems.com/main-Dateien/files.html

Unfortunately it only works with .bat and .exe files!
The safedisced executable has an .icd extension.

..and the generic safedisc decryption tool on gamecopyworld has a virus in it.

HMM. Guess I'll sacrifice a yet another copy of a Virtual PC. 🤣

Reply 6 of 33, by filipetolhuizen

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Try using compatibility administrator 5.0 to set custom compatibility modes. Some games would run just fine by enabling "SingleprocAfinity" (disables muti-core).
OT-
I won't touch Crysis 'till I get my Geforce 8800 GTX fully working with my old favourite games! 🤣

Reply 7 of 33, by Sune Salminen

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I've got the ACT 5.0 installed but I have no idea how to use it.

Will mess around some more. It's very confusing.

3D Analyzer didn't help, I found an unprotected version of the game so I could target the .exe but none of the settings in 3D Analyzer seems to 'take'.

I don't want to downgrade video drivers because I'm currently playing Bioshock and Lost Planet Extreme Condition.
Hmm..I might do it anyway just to see if it's really the drivers, got the first ones that supports the 7600GT downloaded and ready.

Reply 8 of 33, by Bambo

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I had the same problem with this game. Probably it don't likes your CPU but I found the solution somewhere in the web: Just start the .exe with -nocputest

Now it works fine with all options maximized.

Reply 9 of 33, by peterferrie

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The DDHelp.exe that you want to use is specific to Windows 9x. It will not run on later systems. Try using the compatibility mode to get the game to run, even though the DirectX check might fail.
Or use a VM with Windows 9x in it.

Reply 10 of 33, by ZellSF

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Bambo wrote:

I had the same problem with this game. Probably it don't likes your CPU but I found the solution somewhere in the web: Just start the .exe with -nocputest

Now it works fine with all options maximized.

Awesome, but eh, where did you find out about that option? I tried reading documentation but couldn't find any... Then again I also thought it was the graphic card 😒

Reply 11 of 33, by Sune Salminen

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wow, thanks for the tip bambo.

I'm going to try it out on Vista as well and see what happens.

Reply 12 of 33, by Devil Master

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W00T!!! Thanks for the heads-up, Bambo!

Reply 13 of 33, by iMiKE

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Hello all!
I have a crash during startup of go.exe under my Windows Vista 64bit.
I have installed ACT5.5. and inspected whats wrong.
Here is result:

Target Name : go.exe Report Created : 28.06.2009 1:18:11 […]
Show full quote

Target Name : go.exe
Report Created : 28.06.2009 1:18:11

******** File (0)

******** Registry (0)

******** INI (0)

******** Token (0)

******** Privilege (0)

******** Name Space (0)

******** Other Objects (4)

[ 1 ]
Severity : Error
Noise : No
Executable : go.exe.0
Object Name : \Sessions\1\BaseNamedObjects\DINPUTWINMM
API : OpenEventW
Object Type : Event

[ 2 ]
Severity : Error
Noise : No
Executable : go.exe.0
Object Name : DINPUTWINMM
API : OpenEventW
Object Type : Event

[ 3 ]
Severity : Error
Noise : No
Executable : go.exe.0
Object Name : pid 0x00000cd8
API : OpenProcess
Object Type : Process

[ 4 ]
Severity : Error
Noise : No
Executable : go.exe.0
Object Name : WH_MOUSE_LL
API : SetWindowsHookExW
Object Type : Windows hook

******** Process (0)

1. The application tried to set a global Windows Hook (SetWindowsHookExW 14 (WH_MOUSE_LL) called to set a global

Windows hook.)
2. The application was denied to access an object (OpenEventW: Event (DINPUTWINMM) is denied 'EVENT_MODIFY_STATE' access with error 0x5.)
3. Access was restriced to truted users only (OpenEventW: Event (\Sessions\1\BaseNamedObjects\DINPUTWINMM) only grants requested 'EVENT_MODIFY_STATE' to 'NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM')
4. Access was restriced to elevated processes (OpenProcess: Process (pid 0x00000cd8) only allows 'PROCESS_VM_READ' access by elevated processes with high mandatory integrity label)
5. Access was restriced to elevated processes (OpenProcess: Process (pid 0x00000cd8) only allows 'PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION' access by elevated processes with high mandatory integrity label)
6. Access was restriced to truted users only (CreateFileW: File (\Device\NamedPipe\lsass) only grants requested 'FILE_APPEND_DATA' to 'BUILTIN\Администраторы')
7. Access was restriced to truted users only (CreateFileW: File (\Device\NamedPipe\lsass) only grants requested 'FILE_APPEND_DATA' to 'BUILTIN\Администраторы')

-nocputest dont works - still crashin.

So, how to start Expendable under Windows Vista 64? Should I use ScummVM or smth like that?

Reply 14 of 33, by Sune Salminen

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Looks like the game isn't allowed to write something.

If that's what's wrong, installing the game to a folder in your documents folder should help.

Reply 15 of 33, by iMiKE

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Sune Salminen - man, if you don't know,better don't write. There is no restriction on game from me.
1-7 - was denied to use a hook and so on. They are low-level pieces of code which has been blocked by vista's security.

Maybe thre is another way to run Expendable?
I have installed MS Virtual PC 2007 SP1 - as this software emulates S3 Trio 64V+ videocard with no 3D there is no chance to play Expendable on virtual PC

Reply 17 of 33, by Sune Salminen

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iMiKE wrote:

Sune Salminen - man, if you don't know,better don't write.

Dude, that's a shitty attitude, especially when displayed by someone who has only been a member for two days.
I was trying to help you. You can be sure I won't try again.

I'm glad I didn't comment on your idea of running Expendable under ScummVM.

Reply 18 of 33, by iMiKE

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My version already cracked and dont asks a CD
Sune - ScummVM was my fault, yepp, sorry.

I have installed Sun VirtualBox (Win98 dont start, XP wont play - error @ starting go.exe)
Now I have installed VMWare (supports 3D in XP), installed Win98 - all the same, Cant Initialize Video Device. Installing WindowsXP