Just bought one 2 hours ago, Can't Play it. HELP!

[ace_armo]

It runs perfectly at first. The intro movie was nice, the beginning was flawless, but when the game loads...I see a "BLACK" screen in front of me. a part of it is working because i see the big head on the lower left and all the buttons, but the center where the map should be is black.

What do you all think is happening here? am i doing something wrong?

For Info im using a windows XP on a macbook laptop (yikes could this be it), 2 GB Ram, 200 GB hard drive, Intel 950 video card, w/ direct x and pixelshader.

It happened to me before, its the Intel card over and over again. Nonetheless, im keeping my fingers crossed on this one. I hope theres still something i can do. I spent a fortune on this game and im dying to play it after seeing the screen shots. **hits head***

So how about it guys? is there a chance i can play this game?

[BTOG46]

I'm afraid you've already answered your own question....... Intel 950 video card,
Strictly speaking, only Ati and Nvidia are supported, and officially, not even their laptop versions are supported, merely that they "may" work.
I don't know if a utility like 3DAnalyze might help or not, it has helped with this problem in other games, but there's no way of knowing if it will help you, it might worth trying. http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[ace_armo]

Wow thank you, there may still be a chance to saving this.

Do you have a link of that "3D Analyze" by any chance? im trying to find it but i keep hitting spam sites.

Thanx!

[ace_armo]

i just found it, forget my first question.

Theres practically 80 individual buttons here, anyone in this forum ever used 3D Analyze before? im sure there are some...mind sharing with me what exactly to press to make the game work on an intel 950 video card?

thanx again.

[BTOG46]

I've never had to use it myself, but I don't think the Intel chip has hardware pixel and vertex shaders, or transform and lighting, so those might be a start.
Also, how old are your drivers, the fact that you get some display is in itself a good sign, if the chip was incompatable it would normally just crash, so it may just need better video drivers.
My own Ati card had the same fault as yous has till I updated my drivers, so you may yet be able to get it working.
I don't know if this link might be of use to you. http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/intel945gm/

[vacman08]

yes the intigrated graphics card is just a no go really... is your comp a laptop or is it a desktop machine? if its a desktop machine u can buy a decent graphics card for such a cheap price now... and it would be very worth it for you in the long run... 100 bucks if that..

[comexmix]

Ifacing the same problem.
I just bought it yesterday. Today i have installed it on my laptop with the following video card: ATI Radeon Mobility X600. Drivers are updated downloaded from ATI website.
The intro of the game is awsome, great but when i click to start the campaign i see a black screen and one of the knights speaking. Going further to see if the game starts, it appears markus on the left speaking, the map on the right side and some animals on the top. The rest is all black
Anyone can help?
Cheers

[silant]

guy's... big no-no on getting laptops to play games...

your video card is not supported with settlers rise of an empire.

[BTOG46]

Officially, only the desktop cards from Nvidia and Ati are supported, the laptop versions MAY work, but are NOT Officially supported.
pad11 can run the game on his laptop fine, but his is an Alianware gaming laptop, and as such is far removed from the laptops normally on sale.