a2 won't start single player or instant game on vista 64 sp2

[tqbball]

posted on July 19th, 2009, 8:10 pm

Last edited by tqbball on July 19th, 2009, 8:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I cannot get a2 with or without all patches 1.1, 1.2, 1.25 ( i tried after each patch) to run.  I have researched eveything I think that is relavent and need some expert help.
Prob:  when i try to launch single or instant play a2 locks up.  I have to exit to vista and kill it.
Config:  Dual core amd cpu , 3gb. Gateway laptop , running vista 64 home premium
-I have installed a2 with user controls off
-running in compatability mode xp sp2
-disable desktop composition
-running as admin

still no luck.... anyone got an idea?

posted on July 30th, 2009, 5:23 pm

A lot of times older programs either have 16  bit components ( wont run at all on 64 bit ) and being designed for windows Me and 2000 its possible that a2 has those components... The best option if if your computer has the power, get a copy of 98 or xp and run it through emulation software such as VirtualBox, but other than that I really have never played around with 64 bit vista... disabling some services helped me run a couple of of older programs... but I never tried A2.

posted on July 30th, 2009, 5:31 pm

A2 shouldn't have any problems specifically with x64. I have ran it on XP 64, Vista 64 and now Win7 CTP 64. What graphics card do you have?

posted on August 1st, 2009, 1:41 pm

ati hd radeon HD 3200.... it is in a gateway laptop

posted on August 1st, 2009, 2:09 pm

Have you got the latest drivers for that card?

posted on August 1st, 2009, 8:16 pm

I had the latest... checked and they had an update as of 7/22/09 so now they are the latest and greatest.  Same problem... game will not even start, running in comp mode, etc.. etc..

posted on August 11th, 2009, 5:07 am

Well I had a similar problem, but with Vista-32. There's a thread about it in another forum, including some of the things I tried to get it to work.
But, I intended to format my system anyways (2x a year 'spring cleaning' time :p), so I just did it a little early, and the game ran just fine.
Maybe there's something off that thread that could help you:
Star Trek Armada II: Fleet Operations - Vista - A2 + FO Won't run

posted on August 11th, 2009, 3:31 pm

thank you diabolical...

I will check and report back..

i tried to run a virtual xp client using microsoft virtual server without any luck...  my last option is to try to partitiion this system into xp and vista

posted on August 17th, 2009, 7:43 am

armada 2 should run absolutely fine (with 1.2.5 patch or fleet operations) under vista x64. the problem here is different than the one reported in the thread that diabolical posted. hard to tell what it may cause, usually some 3rd party software creates issues with armada 2.

posted on August 18th, 2009, 12:18 am

no luck with the other thread... any way to deermine what 3rd party software could be causing he problem?

posted on August 19th, 2009, 1:10 am

This may be a dumb idea but is it posible to start in safe mode then try to play A2? and if so maybe u could from there use a lil bit of trial and error to locate the 3rd party software thats interfering with A2...

Like I said most likely a dumb idea cuz I never tried it....

posted on August 19th, 2009, 1:33 am

I don't think you can play games in safe mode...

posted on August 19th, 2009, 4:15 am

I concur...Safe mode is very limited and you won't be able to run it.  However if it is some kind of virus or program that shouldn't be running, just open task manager and look at the owner processes that have high drain rates.  Stop anything that looks suspect.  That would at least tell you what program it is, and should help you find the problem.

posted on September 22nd, 2009, 4:09 pm

Well as these things seem to workout.....  I have solve my problem.  Not without some heavy lifting as in loading win 7 on my laptop.  After loading Win 7 and running as admin everything seems to be working.  So thank you to all that tried to help and good news for anyone wanting to run A2 on Win 7 on a 64bit machine.

posted on September 22nd, 2009, 4:58 pm

ever so slightly off topic for those intrested a1 works in win 7 aswell just need to be set as safemode