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2 of 3 games of UFO trilogy won't start


zimmer1213

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I just installed the UFO: Trilogy on my new laptop that I got for christmas and can only get 1 of the 3 games to work. I bought the Trilogy a while back from cenega gamesplanet, and they emailed me some 8 download links and an activation key. On my previous laptop all 3 games downloaded/installed and played properly on xp. On the new laptop the only game that I can seem to get running is UFO Aftermath.

 

UFO Afterlight is giving me an error saying that it cannot open dynamic link library file: OPENAL32.DLL and prevents the game from even starting up

UFO Aftershock tries to start up as it begins to change the computers resolution, but then crashes instantly giving me the following error message

 

Assert_fatal

 

file:C:\workdir\Src\liblgview\core\BasicOglWnd.cpp line:203 wglchoosepixelformatAKB() failed!!

 

 

Not exactly sure where to look for all the system specs for my new laptop, but I will list what I know.

 

Running windows 7

I5-2430M 2.4ghz dual core

4gb ram

 

the video card is the embedded Intel HD Graphics Family

 

 

Any help on getting either game to work would be great. I have tried several different things to fix it myself that didn't work. I downloaded the 1.7 patch for Afterlight, but when installing the patch I get an error message saying it cannot locate the file gamedata.vfs even though I can see the file in the afterlight folder.

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Ok, this is really odd now. I posted the above about the 2 games not starting after messing with it the last 2 days. I also went into the control panel under programs and features and tried to "Run programs made for previous versions of Windows" on both afterlight and aftershock and neither would start up. Aftershock giving me some other error but still the assert_fatal box at start up, and afterlight was denied.

 

Now afterlight is starting up even though there isn't an openAL32.dll file in the folder and even though I couldn't get the 1.7 patch to install. The Afterlight game doesn't fit the screen properly and leaves an inch of my background up on the right side, but the game starts up and looks like it will play. All that is left is to get Aftershock working

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By the nature of your error messages the problem is apparently somewhere in the graphics section. I take it that the graphics is the one integrated in processor and what Eriss stated before is absolutely true. Buying a notebook with integrated graphics and trying to play games on it is usually not possible without occasional mysterious errors and crashes. Was even more true with those older chipset integrated graphics.

 

But it doesn't have to mean you won't be able to play it. I would first check for a new Intel driver, then tried reinstalling DirectX, mabe even NET framework and Microsoft Visual C++. It will also help if you type those error messages into google, there must have been someone before you with the same problem. Example:

https://www.fixya.com/support/t10894954-pro..._pops_up_states

It might not help you directly, but you'll always find there more about the problem.

 

By the way, that openAL32.dll is a system library and you'll find it in windows/system32, if nothing else helps, you may also download its latest version and replace it, i recommend to leave a backup of this one though.

Hope I helped a bit :)

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Ok, I won't rant here, but the above is why I buy AMD based laptops. They are better for gaming, all around. Not as good as desktops, but still good to play games on. Upgrade your drivers, your DirectX, etc. Also, check for conflicts. That maybe something else going on. But updating your drivers maybe the key.
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Thanks for all the responses. I wasn't sure if this forum would have traffic considering the age of the games and the official forums are no longer up. Anyways, I tried googling the errors many different ways and had no luck. What I found were closed forums, one dude on steam with same exact asking about a refund. I updated all the drivers for my computer, there were no new ones for my graphics card though.

 

 

More than likely it will be because this laptop has the intel HD graphics card, as I emailed their support and the dude said exactly that "intel gpu's are not supported and there is nothing I can do for you." I'm just finding this all hard to believe as this is a brand new laptop and the I5 core isn't that bad. I understand that laptops are not built for gaming, but they still do support this. My last one that I bricked had an AMD Athlon 2.2GHz processor(single core), 1.25GB RAM(because I put a 1gig stick in it), and ofcourse had an embedded ATI radeon xpress claiming a 128 video card and was able to play all 3 of these games and games like warcraft 3 or everquest. It didn't meet the requirements for starcraft 2 though. This new laptop plays starcraft 2 without a problem with a combination of high and medium graphic settings, but some how isn't good enough for these games?

 

 

I installed the trilogy on my brothers 1yr old alienware laptop with dual GeForce GTX 260M graphic cards, and wish I could remember what fixed the openAL32.dll problem. Are you sure that is something in the system32 thing? There is a file in the UFO:aftershock folder with that name.

UFO:Aftershock launched on his computer but only so far as to show me the cursor for the game with a black screen. I alt+tab out and then pull it back up for it to show the games start up menu, but there is no movement on the screen except for the cursor and I'm unable to select anything. Had to crash it manually so no error codes to refer.

As soon as I figure out how I fixed the openAL32.dll thing the first time I will give that game a try on his computer and see whats up. He is running Vista though.

 

Oh yea the computer came with directX 11 when the game requires directx 9. I did try reinstalling that yesterday though.

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The only thing I can think of is that these games haven't been updated to support newer graphics technology specifically - onboard or otherwise.

 

I would say that the comments about onboard graphics being not fit for gaming would be the case on older laptops, but I've used a few on the original Core I5's that were just fine with onboard graphics (though I'll admit my latest laptop does have a dedicate 1GB Nvidia mobile graphics chip in it :)).

 

As for AMD versus Intel, I've used nothing but Intel and haven't had anything to complain about, however I'll admit I've personally not tried these games recently.

 

I just did a search for openAL32.dll and it threw up quite a few Google results for people suggesting that you download the latest dll's for newer versions of Windows. Try downloading and installing the latest package from here: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j...Wkw&cad=rja

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The only thing I can think of is that these games haven't been updated to support newer graphics technology specifically - onboard or otherwise.

 

I would say that the comments about onboard graphics being not fit for gaming would be the case on older laptops, but I've used a few on the original Core I5's that were just fine with onboard graphics (though I'll admit my latest laptop does have a dedicate 1GB Nvidia mobile graphics chip in it :) ).

 

As for AMD versus Intel, I've used nothing but Intel and haven't had anything to complain about, however I'll admit I've personally not tried these games recently.

 

I just did a search for openAL32.dll and it threw up quite a few Google results for people suggesting that you download the latest dll's for newer versions of Windows. Try downloading and installing the latest package from here: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j...Wkw&cad=rja

 

Aye, I did find that I had an openAL installer that i used to fix the openAL32.dll thing. I could launch Afterlight, but once again once it was 25% into the loading the game stopped responding. His laptop didn't give me an error code but I'm assuming its the same thing. My brother's alienware laptop is more like a 25lb mobile desktop. You are probably right about the games not being able to play on newer machines, although we got XCOM: Apocalypse to work using a DOS bot on xp. I'm going to see if he needs to update his drivers, but that is doubtful.

 

 

I just don't want to give up on these games. It's sad that I spent $20 on the trilogy to not get to play them much, and worse that I'm considering sinking another $10 just to try buying a new version of Afterlight. I considered returning this laptop and switching it out for a somewhat slower AMD one, but since I can't get the games to work on my brother's laptop with Nvidia graphic's cards like the ALTAR stated as a requirement in the email, I decided to keep this one. Since I at least got a response from ALTAR I will follow up his email to see if I can at least get it to work on his computer.

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I am afraid I wont be of much more help because I am playing UFO games on older hardware and never had issues with any of them, excluding frighteningly buggy 1.0 Aftershock. Mentioning that, even after patching Aftershock out it's a picky game, you'll best run it on a classic pc with single non integrated GPU. I'm not surprised it didn't work on SLI GTXs. The Afterlight, however, is much more friendly and should be running just fine. Here I can only tell that it is not OS related, I play both Afterlight and Aftershock on WinXP 32bit and Win7 64bit and no problem so far.

 

Pete: I admit that I haven't tried those new processor integrated GPU's. I built a PC with Intel's i7 2600K for my sister some time ago, but didn't have time since to play with all its features. But my experience with previous (chipset integrated) generation was just awful. It might have been good for work and easy to cool, but attempts at playing games nearly all failed, be it because of low speed, crashiness, or inability to even launch. And those laptops I tried were mainstream ones, not some semi-netbooks :)

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How are you not surprised it wouldn't work with the nvidia cards? I figure if his laptop can play a demanding game like starcraft 2 flawlessly with max graphics or MMORPG with all graphics, it should be able to play either of these games.

 

Hearing that you can run both on win7 is helpful to rule that out. I suppose I can try and unbrick my old laptop to get the games working again.

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Add options in your launcher:

--options loadall=FALSE nointro=TRUE fullscreen=FALSE

 

In \Profiles\[your_name_of_game] profile, go to the options.txt file:

Find in the bottom and edit like that:

STRUCT "system"

GKEY 2 "scale_texs" INT 3

GKEY 2 "safe_refresh" BOOL TRUE

GKEY 2 "old_va_mode" BOOL TRUE

GKEY 2 "true_color" BOOL TRUE

GKEY 2 "use_shaders" BOOL FALSE

GKEY 2 "gamma" FLOAT 0.5

GKEY 2 "video_mode" INT -1

GKEY 2 "anisotropic_filter" FLOAT 0

GKEY 2 "antialiasing" INT 1

GKEY 2 "tutorial" BOOL FALSE

GKEY 2 "smart_gamma" BOOL FALSE

GKEY 2 "shaders" INT 4

GKEY 2 "sound" BOOL FALSE

GKEY 2 "shadows" BOOL FALSE

END_OF_STRUCT "system"

Try the game. If it works, go in the options of the game, and try to find better setting without breaking the game again (shaders could be the cause).

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  • 2 weeks later...

Do not reinstall or add anything to your command line, it won't help. The problem is in Intel's opengl library, ig4icd32.dll. wglchoosepixelformatARB() is actually there. As I understand, the problem is in the customized drivers for Intel graphics, which are usually the only option for notebook owners. They cannot be updated, even though there are drivers on Intel's site for regular adapters. Because "vanilla" drivers won't work with customized hardware.

 

So yes, it's a bug of intel driver, it was fixed, but you won't be able to get the update, because the notebook manufacturer customized the hardware and the drivers.

 

And the game developers are not going to fix it, because it's the problem, which the notebook manufacturer made, not them.

 

If the game developers are still willing to try, UFO games fail on wglChoosePixelFormatARB() because of WGL_BIND_TO_TEXTURE_RGBA_ARB

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  • 1 year later...
  • 3 months later...
i rebuilt my computer & installed all 3 of the ufo games (but from individual game disks) on it. i can play am no problem. but as & al freeze after i start a new profile i have all the updated patches & the such. i'm running win 7 32bit. ati with a built in radion or of that such. is there any difference between the individual games & the trilogy were all the games come together. i dont know the version of the individual games though. any help would be helpful. i don't get on here very often email me at chadsrobertson@yahoo.com with usefull info. ty in advance.
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You might try running this under XP compatibility mode and with admin rights. You might also try disabling UAC.

If you don't know how to do that - google is your friend.

 

I'm running under Windows 8.1 x64 without any issues - but I am using GoG version which shouldn't be any different than the patched versions I think.

 

It might also be an issue that you are using integrated video card, which in those games is an issue but then again you wouldn't be able to start the game at all I think.

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