S.T.A.L.K.E.R. won't start

Mansize_tissue

Mansize_tissue

Mansize_tissue

Soldato
Joined
20 Mar 2007
Posts
3,095
Location
Norwich
So i just installed the game and, when i try to run it, nothing happens. Well, the small splash screen appears, but that's it. Anybody know why this might be happening? I'm running 32-bit Vista, by the way, and the game is patched to 1.0003.
 
Ok, some obvious questions here. Are you using the latest drivers for your gfx card and soundcard?

You can also try setting "Program Compatibility" to "Windows XP SP2". Failing this, some people have solved this problem by removing STALKER completely and reinstalling it again.

You may also want to try lowering your desktop resolution (crazy, I know) and making sure you haven't forced any settings in your gfx card's control panel. STALKER, on my system anyway, does not run properly (sometimes not at all) if I have, for example, AA forced. Set everything to "Application Controlled".

Good luck :)
 
Thank you for your reply. I've had the 160.04 drivers, and i now have the 162.15 drivers, installed; the game didn't work with either. I'm only using onboard sound at the moment, so this shouldn't be causing any problems.

I've tried changing the Program Compatibility settings, like you said, and running it as an administrator but to no avail. I just tried changing my desktop resolution to 800x600; still, the game won't launch. All of the settings in the NV control panel are set to "Application Controlled" and, not surprisingly, the game still doesn't work.

Thank you for your advice, but it seems my computer is just refusing to play this game. I've already re-installed it 3 times, the only thing i haven't tried is the 1.0001 patch since i went straight to 1.0003. Any more suggestions?
 
Have you tried the GSC Game World official STALKER forums? They have a great knowledge-base listing many known, common and uncommon problems including possible fixes. I would try and research your problem further but the firewall at work is a harsh mistress :(

I know it's a pain but perhaps the nVidia BETA drivers are worth a try?
 
Would you mind pointing me in the direction of the correct forum? I can't seem to find the right one. Thank you for all of your help, i really appreciate it. I think, if i can't find a solution at the official forum, i'll have to return the game.
 
Well, as I said before, the firewall at work is making it difficult for me to find anything. I think you can access the main forum by following this link.

Next, choose the S.T.A.L.K.E.R forum from the list. Look for "Single Player Bugs" or something similar, and the thread you are looking for should be a sticky at the top of the forum.

Hope this helps, I will be around later this evening if you are still having problems :)
 
Thank you for the link. I've had a look through the "Knowledge base", "Problems -> Solutions", "Stalker doesnt even start after first install" and "Game Does Not Start" threads but i still can't find a solution. "Error 24: startup failure" in "Knowledge base" is the same problem i'm having, however there's no solution.

I'm going to try re-installing the game and using incremental patches instead. I'll report back shortly.
 
are peopel still having problems with the game not starting *at all* unless a no-cd crack was used? i know that was the only way around it for me
 
Does the disc spin in the drive at all when you start the game? If it doesnt, contact SecuROM, [email protected] - Copy protection aint working right. They'll probably ask for a launch analysis file. Right-click on shortcut, select launch analysis and follow instructions.

Try installing the openal drivers, www.openal.org. Startup issues for this game often come down to them having problems with identifying sound hardware.

Xfire has also been known to stop it from starting, shut it down.
 
Thank you very much, procrastinator. I downloaded and installed oalinst, i believe that was the correct file you were referring to. However, this did not solve my problem. I also emailed Securom telling them my problem, and i attached my AnalysisLog file, too. Let's hope they can find me a solution!
 
For anybody who owns S.T.A.L.K.E.R., when you launch the game does the small brown splash screen saying "S.T.A.L.K.E.R." appear then automatically go into launching the game, or do you have to click on something?

Oh, and in the Event Viewer, In Application under Windows Logs, there's an error everytime i try to run the game. It says it's an Application Hang, and that "The program XR_3DA.exe has stopped interacting with Windows..."; is this significant?
 
Last edited:
I had this problem when i first got Stalker.

I also had to contact SecrueROM about it, they told me it was Process Explorer running that stopped it running bizarrely....I just cracked it in the end....

However i also had to delete the ct_oal.dll in the sys32 folder. Maybe worth a try, can always put it back if it dont work. ;)

HTH's :)

EDIT: found the link. (number 9)
http://www.stalker-zone.com/index.php?name=ForumsPro&file=viewtopic&p=153
 
Last edited:
It might be behaving like BF2 in that if you install it & then reinstall it wont go past the splashscreen.

After you uninstall it do a search on your drive & remove every trace before you install it again, dont add the patch till you are sure it will load,

the brown splash screen goes blank for a few seconds as it loads the game
 
V_R said:
I had this problem when i first got Stalker.

I also had to contact SecrueROM about it, they told me it was Process Explorer running that stopped it running bizarrely....I just cracked it in the end....

However i also had to delete the ct_oal.dll in the sys32 folder. Maybe worth a try, can always put it back if it dont work. ;)

HTH's :)

EDIT: found the link. (number 9)
http://www.stalker-zone.com/index.php?name=ForumsPro&file=viewtopic&p=153
Click to expand...
Hmm, it seems i have neither of those files you mentioned in my System32 folder. What did you do about Process Explorer?

Usher said:
It might be behaving like BF2 in that if you install it & then reinstall it wont go past the splashscreen.

After you uninstall it do a search on your drive & remove every trace before you install it again, dont add the patch till you are sure it will load,

the brown splash screen goes blank for a few seconds as it loads the game
Click to expand...
Mmm, i don't think this is the problem because it didn't work when i first installed it without the patch. Plus, when i've uninstalled it, i made sure i manually removed all (well, all that i could find) of the files that were left over. Thank you for the suggestions.
 
Mansize_tissue said:
Hmm, it seems i have neither of those files you mentioned in my System32 folder. What did you do about Process Explorer?
Click to expand...
Nothing, I just used a no cd crack and stalker ran fine. with no more issues involving PE or anything else.

If i could, i'd link to it, but google is your friend. ;)
 
V_R said:
Nothing, I just used a no cd crack and stalker ran fine. with no more issues involving PE or anything else.

If i could, i'd link to it, but google is your friend. ;)
Click to expand...

OK, thanks. So basically i just replace the XR_3DA file in the bin folder with the new one i find, correct? If so, and if i'm doing it correctly, the splash screen appears, as usual, but the Vista spinny loading sign appears when i hover the mouse over it; this didn't happen before. Nevertheless, the game still doesn't actually load. I'm now trying a different no cd crack, i'll let you know how it works our. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom