Vista - S.T.A.L.K.E.R fails to run

I got STALKER yesterday and it installed on my system with no problems but as
soon as I try and run the game all I get is a blank screen and the THQ logo
sounds, then after a few seconds I just get kicked back into Vista, here are
my full system specs

AMD Athlon 64bit X2 4800+
2GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT 256MB GPU (forceware version 100.65)
300GB HDD with 16MB cache
Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit

I would be very grateful for any help in trying to run the game

Thank you

It's the nVidia card most likely.

Their drivers right now are pure garbage


"K86" <K86@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A067FBAC-485F-4F40-A110-3C10100C111F@microsoft.com...
>I got STALKER yesterday and it installed on my system with no problems but
>as
> soon as I try and run the game all I get is a blank screen and the THQ
> logo
> sounds, then after a few seconds I just get kicked back into Vista, here
> are
> my full system specs
>
> AMD Athlon 64bit X2 4800+
> 2GB RAM
> NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT 256MB GPU (forceware version 100.65)
> 300GB HDD with 16MB cache
> Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit
>
> I would be very grateful for any help in trying to run the game
>
> Thank you
>

"K86" <K86@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:A067FBAC-485F-4F40-A110-3C10100C111F@microsoft.com...
>I got STALKER yesterday and it installed on my system with no problems but as
> soon as I try and run the game all I get is a blank screen and the THQ logo
> sounds, then after a few seconds I just get kicked back into Vista, here are
> my full system specs
>
> AMD Athlon 64bit X2 4800+
> 2GB RAM
> NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT 256MB GPU (forceware version 100.65)
> 300GB HDD with 16MB cache
> Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit
>
> I would be very grateful for any help in trying to run the game
>
> Thank you
>

Not sure if this is the problem, but found this on NVIDIA's site.

Driver Installation Hints


a.. "Download Accelerator" utilities should be disabled when downloading any drivers.


b.. Do not run virus protection software in the background while installing the drivers. This prevents the driver from configuring itself properly.


c.. Before installing new drivers make sure you uninstall all NVIDIA display drivers from the Windows Control Panel. Browse to the Start Menu > Windows Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs and search for "NVIDIA Windows Display Drivers" or "NVIDIA Display Drivers" and select remove.

Try here:

http://www.vistareadygames.com/showthread.php?t=11

BoXy

www.VistaReadyGames.com

Sounds like the video isn't playing right. I had some weirdness like that
when trying to play FarCry 64. FC32 ran fine, but the newer FC64 used
different videos and Vista couldn't load the Codecs for them, so I just got
a blank screen that caused me grief, since the videos appeared to hang.

In my case, I just found the videos, renamed them, so they wouldn't play and
everything worked fine. I don't have Stalker yet, so I can't tell you were
to find the videos


"K86" <K86@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A067FBAC-485F-4F40-A110-3C10100C111F@microsoft.com...
>I got STALKER yesterday and it installed on my system with no problems but
>as
> soon as I try and run the game all I get is a blank screen and the THQ
> logo
> sounds, then after a few seconds I just get kicked back into Vista, here
> are
> my full system specs
>
> AMD Athlon 64bit X2 4800+
> 2GB RAM
> NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT 256MB GPU (forceware version 100.65)
> 300GB HDD with 16MB cache
> Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit
>
> I would be very grateful for any help in trying to run the game
>
> Thank you
>

Your not alone - I have an almost identical spec, although I run 64bit vista
and have a GTX i get the same symptoms

Toby

"K86" <K86@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A067FBAC-485F-4F40-A110-3C10100C111F@microsoft.com...
>I got STALKER yesterday and it installed on my system with no problems but
>as
> soon as I try and run the game all I get is a blank screen and the THQ
> logo
> sounds, then after a few seconds I just get kicked back into Vista, here
> are
> my full system specs
>
> AMD Athlon 64bit X2 4800+
> 2GB RAM
> NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT 256MB GPU (forceware version 100.65)
> 300GB HDD with 16MB cache
> Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit
>
> I would be very grateful for any help in trying to run the game
>
> Thank you
>

Well, In about 2 days, I'll have my copy of Stalker and if it works, I'm
going to say "neener neener boo boo" to you Nvidia owners, As I got the same
specs, except for an ATI X1900XTX.

Have you tried turning off the UAC ? Wouldn't think it would matter, but it
might be hard headed


"Toby Reid" <toby@lashby.rem0ve.eclipse.co.uk> wrote in message
news:8B25C87D-774D-4306-9E11-032CE8D9343E@microsoft.com...
> Your not alone - I have an almost identical spec, although I run 64bit
> vista and have a GTX i get the same symptoms
>
> Toby
>
> "K86" <K86@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:A067FBAC-485F-4F40-A110-3C10100C111F@microsoft.com...
>>I got STALKER yesterday and it installed on my system with no problems but
>>as
>> soon as I try and run the game all I get is a blank screen and the THQ
>> logo
>> sounds, then after a few seconds I just get kicked back into Vista, here
>> are
>> my full system specs
>>
>> AMD Athlon 64bit X2 4800+
>> 2GB RAM
>> NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT 256MB GPU (forceware version 100.65)
>> 300GB HDD with 16MB cache
>> Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit
>>
>> I would be very grateful for any help in trying to run the game
>>
>> Thank you
>>
>

Is it possible that the game is starting up and then trying to check for
updates? I've had to run a couple of games I've installed as administrator
to get them to work. Of course I don't have this particular game so I'm
just guessing.

"K86" <K86@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A067FBAC-485F-4F40-A110-3C10100C111F@microsoft.com...
>I got STALKER yesterday and it installed on my system with no problems but
>as
> soon as I try and run the game all I get is a blank screen and the THQ
> logo
> sounds, then after a few seconds I just get kicked back into Vista, here
> are
> my full system specs
>
> AMD Athlon 64bit X2 4800+
> 2GB RAM
> NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT 256MB GPU (forceware version 100.65)
> 300GB HDD with 16MB cache
> Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit
>
> I would be very grateful for any help in trying to run the game
>
> Thank you
>

When I try to run under Vista 64, I get a nice crash screen from the game.
It seems with the UAC turned on, you have to run the game as Administrator.
Out side of that the game is running fine for me, Fine being a relative
term, since the forums seem to imply the game is a bit buggy and official
Vista support won't be there until the first patch is released.

On a side note, I found Vista doesn't have as much head bobbing as XP.
Unfortunately for me, It's making me fairly dizzy to play the game with head
bobbing. This might be the first game I've seen in a while that doesn't have
a check box to turn it off


"Toby Reid" <toby@lashby.rem0ve.eclipse.co.uk> wrote in message
news:8B25C87D-774D-4306-9E11-032CE8D9343E@microsoft.com...
> Your not alone - I have an almost identical spec, although I run 64bit
> vista and have a GTX i get the same symptoms
>
> Toby
>
> "K86" <K86@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:A067FBAC-485F-4F40-A110-3C10100C111F@microsoft.com...
>>I got STALKER yesterday and it installed on my system with no problems but
>>as
>> soon as I try and run the game all I get is a blank screen and the THQ
>> logo
>> sounds, then after a few seconds I just get kicked back into Vista, here
>> are
>> my full system specs
>>
>> AMD Athlon 64bit X2 4800+
>> 2GB RAM
>> NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT 256MB GPU (forceware version 100.65)
>> 300GB HDD with 16MB cache
>> Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit
>>
>> I would be very grateful for any help in trying to run the game
>>
>> Thank you
>>
>

i had the same problem for nfs carbon. i also renamed the movies and then it worked (i thought, it would have been a codecs-problem). i was using untill last week the vista-included microsoft-driver for my gf fx5500 at vista x64. in recently installed the 9.6.8.5 forceware (as the 100 and 101-drivers do NOT support my FX5500 anymore!?!) and stalker works for me. (including videos). i don't think a crashing game may have to do something with UAC (i turned it off, logical). The only thing for vista forceware is, that my gfx is less configurable as it was in xp.