Stuck on intro screen

[zoltanblue]

I downloaded From Dust from Capsule, having purchased it from greenmangaming.com. Installation and authentication went fine, but after the PEGI and Ubisoft splash screen, I'm treated to an intro scene of a sort of desert at night, with sparkles, cacti, and the camera slowly shfting back and forth.

No amount of key-pushing or mouse-clicking will allow me to advance from this screen. There's no "press any button to continue" or any logo or indicator whatsoever. Just a UI-free nighttime desert scene with sound and slight camera movement. What the heck is going on?

[zoltanblue]

I downloaded From Dust from Capsule, having purchased it from greenmangaming.com. Installation and authentication went fine, but after the PEGI and Ubisoft splash screen, I'm treated to an intro scene of a sort of desert at night, with sparkles, cacti, and the camera slowly shfting back and forth.

No amount of key-pushing or mouse-clicking will allow me to advance from this screen. There's no "press any button to continue" or any logo or indicator whatsoever. Just a UI-free nighttime desert scene with sound and slight camera movement. What the heck is going on?

[Dienamite]

Yeah I'm getting the same problem - I bought my copy through Steam.

[ctcc42]

I am having this exact same problem.

System Specs:
CPU I7 x990
RAM 24gb
GPU 3x Gefrorce GTX 580 3gb cards in 3 way sli for nvidia surround.
PPU Geforce GTX 460 1GB
SPU Creative Sound Blaster X-fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro
MB EVGA x58 4 way SLI classified

All drivers and firmware are uptodate.

[pulse72]

I am getting the exact same problem too. I am running Windows XP and I got the game from steam.

[Hyetal]

Same issue, though I was able to start the game properly once. Restarted to find the inescapable screen of sand.

[Shumaa1]

It happens every 2nd or third time for me, just restart until it works.

[Mr_Shade]

Hi guys,
Please make sure you contact Ubisoft Support.

I am reporting the issue - but you also need to see if Support have some info about it.

I'm sorry that you are having the issue - I take it you have tried pressing enter?

forgive me if you have.

You can use the links in my signature to contact support.

[zoltanblue]

I've tried pressing enter, I've tried unplugging my Logitech controller, and I've tried clicking all over the screen. Nothing so far has had any effect. I've tried starting up the game half a dozen times to no effect.

I just submitted this problem as a question to Ubisoft support.

[ctcc42]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mr_Shade:
Hi guys,
Please make sure you contact Ubisoft Support.

I am reporting the issue - but you also need to see if Support have some info about it.

I'm sorry that you are having the issue - I take it you have tried pressing enter?

forgive me if you have.

You can use the links in my signature to contact support. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I just reported my problem. And yes enter does nothing, neither does any other button.

Out of curiosity, has any one ever actually received advice from any companies support service over then download x drivers, or re-install your operating system?

Just interested because in 20 years of gaming I have only ever received help from indy developers and other users, and then it has always been found on forums.

Are not the publisher support pages just there for people who have difficulty turning their computers on?

[zoltanblue]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by ctcc42:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mr_Shade:
Hi guys,
Please make sure you contact Ubisoft Support.

I am reporting the issue - but you also need to see if Support have some info about it.

I'm sorry that you are having the issue - I take it you have tried pressing enter?

forgive me if you have.

You can use the links in my signature to contact support. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I just reported my problem. And yes enter does nothing, neither does any other button.

Out of curiosity, has any one ever actually received advice from any companies support service over then download x drivers, or re-install your operating system?

Just interested because in 20 years of gaming I have only ever received help from indy developers and other users, and then it has always been found on forums.

Are not the publisher support pages just there for people who have difficulty turning their computers on? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I can't recall any particular instance where submitting a problem to a developer's official support website has helped with software issues. All my fixes have come from knowledgeable fellow players. Still, maybe our submissions will have an effect on a future patch.

[Siduakal77]

Same issue.. really kills the excitement to play.

[TheAnticitizen]

Same issue.

[Mr_Shade]

If you report the issue to support - they can alert the Developers - where needed.

They then can produce a patch, where needed.


That's why it's important to contact them, so they are aware of the issue and the scale of it.


It may be a simple fix which support can advise you on.



The forums, like I said, are not a replacement for Support - posting here, does not always mean a fix being posted.

[TheAnticitizen]

I purchased mine through Steam.

[Loxrie]

It was playing just fine for me earlier today, and now I have the same problem. I got the game through GetGames so I don't believe this is a problem just for you steam guys.

I now expect their servers are overloaded and won't display '' until it syncs.

C'mon ubisoft. We're paying customers, we've accepted your DRM. Now please keep up your end of the bargain. Always on is fine, can you keep your end on?

**just contacted support also**

[TheAnticitizen]

I thought their DRM was a one time only? Nice how paying customers get punished.

[zoltanblue]

The response from Ubisoft support is the standard "update your drivers/BIOS" suggestion. My drivers are fully up to date, and my BIOS is flashed to the most recent firmware update. I hope this thread attracts the attention of someone with an applicable solution.

[Loxrie]

It might be for From Dust, I don't know. But it is syncing the saves. So if the servers down I guess it won't be able to retrieve your saves? Maybe I jumped to a conclusion. Not sure.

After another restart it's now loaded.

[Mr_Shade]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by TheAnticitizen:
I thought their DRM was a one time only? Nice how paying customers get punished. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>According to the info I have and what is pinned at the top of the forum, it should be.

That is the only information I have.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by zoltanblue:
The response from Ubisoft support is the standard "update your drivers/BIOS" suggestion. My drivers are fully up to date, and my BIOS is flashed to the most recent firmware update. I hope this thread attracts the attention of someone with an applicable solution. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

All I can suggest is people who have problems with the game is to contact support - the first reply will be an automated reply - with some basic trouble shooting.

Make sure you reply to that and state it did not fix the issue - that will prompt the system to flag it for a detailed reply.

Please do the reply within 48 hours to stop the ticket being locked.

[ARustyFirePlace]

too bad no one tested the PC version before making us pay 15 euro for a broken game.

[TheAnticitizen]

After a short update the game seems to be working, will update later.

[Doc_Whiteface]

What update is this?

I just managed to finish downloading, using current drivers and all that shizz. By 'just finished,' I mean I finished around an hour and a half ago and it still won't get past the Ubisoft logo. Is there an update out now for this or will we have to wait like we did with Asscreed 2 for a day or so after launch before they patch the damned thing?

[mistascotti]

Yeah same issue here and I had just installed the latest AMD drivers pressed esc, enter etc nothing happens so annoying

[Flemosk]

Also getting this issue. Only things I've found are threads saying your drivers might be out of date or your computer might not be powerful enough.

Frustrating that this is happening after waiting for release but good to know it's not just me ;l

[Flemosk]

Turns out it's working now. A good old reboot prompted a steam patch which fixed all - maybe I should have tried that in the first place :3

[Loxrie]

Worked from my last post through for me. 2am though and time for bed. http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif This is an awesome game, but boy that lava.... it's pernicious.

[Loxrie]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Flemosk:
Also getting this issue. Only things I've found are threads saying your drivers might be out of date or your computer might not be powerful enough.

Frustrating that this is happening after waiting for release but good to know it's not just me ;l </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It really isn't either of those issues. I had the game working fine for a couple of hours in the afternoon, then it bombed out for a while displaying no menus... then it's been fine ever since a restart (of the game, not the PC).

[mobrockers]

It fixed for me simply by restarting the game a couple times.

[Loxrie]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Mr_Shade:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by TheAnticitizen:
I thought their DRM was a one time only? Nice how paying customers get punished. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
According to the info I have and what is pinned at the top of the forum, it should be.

That is the only information I have.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm afraid, from my tests, your information is incorrect. The game does the following from my network tests:

- Synchronises data upon load/quit.
- Will let you play the game if your network bombs during play, but will fail to synchronise on exit (obv.) not sure what the effect of this is as I didn't play through a level in this state. You may or may not lose progress?
- The game will not load at all without an internet connection.

So although the drm is not of the dreaded evil always on variety you will need a network connection to actually start playing. I guess it's the quasi evil variety.

I don't hold out much hope with support providing a response to the question as I said I could now play the game.

So please can you find out:

- Whether or not ubi servers being down or struggling under load would result in the complaint that started this thread?
- what happens should connectivity be lost during play, re: progress and resuming?

Although I'm guessing, this is great folks, if ubis servers are down.... we can't play the game.

TIA

[ctcc42]

I Fixed it!

I belive the cause of the problem is a limitation in the games ability to display differant resolutions.

It attempts to match your desktop resolution by default and if that isnt one it can render properly it just gets stuck loading the main menu.

I resolved the problem by searching through my system registry and looking for entries related to ubisoft and dust. I found two entires for height and width and changed them to Width 1920 Height 1080, Now the game works.

Detailed instructions for those who dont know how to edit there registry will follow. Just wait a moment while I check what I changed.

[ctcc42]

Ok this is how I made the game work for me:

Hit your start button.

If your running an older OS you may need to hit the run button. With windows 7 you can just type the following into the search box.

Type regedit and hit enter.

Now if you dont know what the windows registry is I should warn you, Be very carfull what you touch, you can literaly stop your operating system from working hear.

There are two places to edit. I think you only need to change one of them for this to work but lets do this properly. First go to:

HKEY_Current_USER &gt; Software &gt; Ubisoft &gt; Dust &gt; GraphicsSettings

Once you click on that folder its contents should be displayed on the right, Right click on the Width item and change its value to the width of your desired resolution. Make sure that decimal is selected under the base option before you put the number in. Unless you just happen to know the right number in Hex.

For me 1920 worked but depending on your system you might want to try something lower. The lower your resolution the better your chance that your system can handle it. I recomend keeping to common 16:9 resolutions though as I know they work. Hopefully 16:10 and fullscreen resolutions will work also but some one else is going to have to test that.

once you have changed the width change the height the same way. 1080 worked for me.

Now go to

HKEY_USERS &gt; S-1-5-21-2720561282-1989682528-1937113504-1001 &gt; Software &gt; Ubisoft &gt; Dust &gt; GraphicsSettings

I am not cirtain the big long number bit will be the same for every one, if you dont have that you might want to use the find function under edit to look for a folder called Dust anywhere under HKEY_USERS

Change the Height and Width values hear in the same way you did before to the same numbers you put in before.

Then close reg edit, Say and prair to what ever gods you worship and try running from dust again. Good luck, I hope this helps at least some of you.

[zoltanblue]

I noticed a small patch being applied during a recent attempt to play the game again. Unfortunately, it didn't fix the problem at all.

Your solution looks promising, ctcc42, but my desktop resolution is already 1920x1080 (as was From Dust's resolution per regedit), so it doesn't really seem to apply to my situation. I do think the overall situation relates to resolution, though.

[Loxrie]

I'm not sure it's resolution based as I've consistently run the game at 1920x1200. Sometimes with and sometimes without the problem now.

It might be that whilst you've been changing stuff the server side problem has been rectified/rectified itself. In other words it might be coincidence and not cause/effect.

Or... there's more than one issue at play here. :/

[ctcc42]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">
It might be that whilst you've been changing stuff the server side problem has been rectified/rectified itself. In other words it might be coincidence and not cause/effect.
:/ </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

This sounded like a reasonable explination so i put it to the test. I just reverted my registry edit and the game went back to hanging before bringing up the menu. Fixed it again and it loads again.

Cirtainly it is more then likly there is more then one posible cause for this sympton but It also seems cirtain that resolution is a factor.

So hear is my current suposition. Bassed on the fact that my solution has not fixed your problem. The game is porly optimized. Simple as that.

I am running a dream machine which I recently built, with three 3gb 580s in three way sli, a 1gb 460 for dedicated physx, 24gb system ram, and i7 x990 hexcore.

Now for games that dont have HUD and FOV issues I generaly game at a resolution of 6010 by 1080, across three monitors. When I first booted from dust it atempted to run at my desktop resolution of 5760 by 1080.

At that resolution I experianced the same problem as described in the first post of this thread.

Now there are two likly reasons for this error to have occured. The first and what i origionaly thought most likly. Is that the game engine simply couldnt deal with such a wide and relativly short display. This is normal, about 50% of todays games require substantial tweeking and moding to get working in surround mode.

The second explination was that the game had been coded too porly for even my monster machine to cope with it over such a vast display.

Now while I would have accepted the first explination by default when I came to the forums I found others were also experiancing this problem, and as im sure you arnt all using three monitor setups, I can either asume thate two differant causes share the exact same affect or, if I am to use occam's razer, I can assume that there is a differant reson.

Now the server syncronization theory proposed by others, which I felt had a very strong chance of being the cause,, seems to in fact not be. As I was able to both replicate and fix the problem repetedly in a controled way. Coincidence is of couse always posible, but in this case I dont think it is probible.

So we come back to my second theory, the one about this game simply using more resorces then it should.

Now obviusly anything that runs on an x-box should play like a dream on even a substandard gaming pc. But if the devs did an astronomicaly bad job converting it then it is posible that just as I have to play it at a resolution one 3rd the size of my normal one, then some one with a perfectly good recently built pc that wasnt as astronomicaly expensive to build might also have to play it at a lower one.

So it is still posible that there is more then one way to achive the same bug. But for the sac of experimentation i propose people try some resolutions they wouldnt normaly dream of reducing themselves too. The lowest resolution in the menu is 800 by 600. I dont think ive used that since the 90s, but It might be worth trying that if you still havnt got the game working. You can always try turning it up from there if it actualy works.