Well I guess it was too much to hope for a game to load and work properly first time. I wonder when programes like this will get properly tested.
The problem I have is basically the game is un usable. It starts fine, but when you get to the menu screen the menus are dancing all over the page, kind of like a rotating spiral. Of course you can't see any of the menu options and the background and window options are all in black.
Anyone got any idea whats up with this?
Thanks in advance for any help,
G

Just a moment...

You get past the opening movie; and you're at the Main menu screen with the chess board and the three buttons (one for each area of the game), right?

If you hover over one of the buttons, it expands to show icons representing the various options of that area.

Is that what you're seeing? If so, hover over the middle button (Play); then once it expands, click on the next icon over (Training Area). Then you'll be able to start a game.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: KHollister,

KHollister, If I can't see the menus, for the reason mentioned earlier, how can I do anything with them?
G

Okay, let's try this again...

1. What video card do you have?
2. Do you have the latest drivers?
3. Have you installed the latest updates for Chessmaster?

What a good idea...

1. What video card do you have?
Matrox P650.
2. Do you have the latest drivers?
Yes.
3. Have you installed the latest updates for Chessmaster?
Yes, currently I think it's V1.2.0

G

Well, your video card might explain it...

According the System Requirements, the only cards that are supported are:

• NVIDIA® GeForce™ 3/4/FX/6/7/8 series (GeForce4 MX NOT supported)
  
• ATI® Radeon® 7500/8000/9000/X series
  

Laptop versions of those cards might work, but aren't supported.

At this point, I'm not sure if anything can be done. You can contact Ubisoft Technical Support for help, but I'm sure they'll repeat what I've said: your video card isn't supported.

Sorry...

You'd have to wonder what they have done wrong.
Haven't ever seen a software not supported because of a Graphics card.
Thanks for your help anyway.

Here's some info regarding this problem, just to add to the fun.

I loaded the program onto a second machine. This one has a Matrox Parhelia 128 Graphics card, and you guessed it, it works perfectly. So, now that I can see whats going on I go to the other puter and press some buttons on the menu screen. Can't see what I'm selecting but I manage to get past the menu screen and into the program where everything is working perfectly.
So except for a dum menu screen this software seems to work flawlessly on 2 different types of Matrox cards, I guess you can see what I mean about software not getting tested.
Anyway, I shall wright to Ubi to express some more discust. I mean I could do without the opening menu screen, if they just put all those options in the program itself, or just get rid of the fancy who needs it graphics on the menu page, this program could work on a whole bunch of computers regardless of cards.
G

quote:

Originally posted by gorleash:Anyway, I shall wright to Ubi to express some more discust.

Because....???

It says it's for NVIDIA GeForce and ATI Radeon cards only. And now because you don't coply to the requirements, now you will complain about it???


If you bought a diesel, would you complain why it doesn't work properly on gassoline?

gorleash,

I can understand your frustration; but the software was tested. You just didn't bother reading the system requirements.

It's not like Ubisoft was hiding anything, either... The system requirements are posted on the web site, and on the box. All you had to do was read them.

At some point, the end user has to assume some responsibility, too.

Well you both missed my point.

I have now tested the software on both a Matrox Parhelia 128 and I did also eventually get it to work on the Matrox P650 that I mentioned earlier.
So...they did not test the software on these cards.
I did read the system requirements, but I never find these specs to be at all accurate, mostly because software vendors "DONT TEST THERE SOFTWARE"
I have proved this point by making 2 suposedly non compliant cards WORK.
G

It's Ubisoft's fault that you didn't pay attention to the System Requirements, even though you read them?

By the way, there's a big difference between non-compliant and non-supported!

Again -- Ubisoft did test the software, according to the required system specifications, which were the NVIDIA and ATI Radeon cards. They can't test for every single video card on the planet...

If you finally got things to work, great... However, that would lead to the conclusion that the settings for your card were incorrect.

No, you missed the point.

Ubisoft stated that only the NVIDIA GeForce and ATI Radeon graphic cards are supported. That doesn't mean that the game won't run on some different graphic card, but if it doesn't work properly then it's not their fault, now is it? You can only complain if you have all the specification and the game doesn't work properly.


If I make some program and specify that it is only for Windows XP, but you buy it and try to run it under Windows Vista, then it is not my fault if the program doesn't work like it should. You shouldn't have bought it in the first place.

As KHollister points out, there's a big difference between supported and compliant, your card may be unsupported, but it is compliant, as it otherwise meets the requirements in terms of performance and DirectX compliance.
An example of a non compliant card would be a Geforce 4mx card, as this, although it meets all other requirements, hasn't got hardware pixel or vertex shaders, and therefore isn't Dx9 compliant.
your card is roughly on a par with a Geforce 4Ti or an ATI radeon 8500.
Unsupported doesn't mean it won't work, it means that if you have problems, then you can't complain, as they already said the magic word, unsupported.