Shattered Union program error

I'm not sure this belongs in gaming or hardware. I am attempting to run the game Shattered Union. It installed without a hitch, but when loading, I get a program error message "OpenPIMipmapChain: Unable to locate a valid DDS, JPG or TGA file for 'Solid Colors'."
In my Nivida control panel, There are three options under 'force mipmaps'; none, bilinear, and trilinear. I get the same result in each setting, also no change when running in compatibility mode for previous windows versions. Can anyone offer any advice?

 

Driver version? Which OS? Game fully patched?

We'll do our best to help. the more information you can give us, the better.

 

Sorry,
I have attached the dxdiag, if that can help.
I am running Vista Ultimate x64, 8GB RAM, on NIVIDA GeForce 8800 GTS (tried most recent driver from NIVIDA and MS, (same version, anyway)), and as far as fully patched, I cannot find any support for this game. (Shatteredunion.com, 2k games, poptop software, all dead ends.)
I have installed this game on a different machine running Vista Home Premium (x86), and XP, it runs fine on both OS, that's why I am thinking possibly a problem with my card?

Thanks to anyone who can help.

 

OK, I didn't attach it. Here it is.

 

Aside from agreeing with what Halo said, I have another question. Have you tried running the game in compatibility mode on the 64-bit system? Did you have the same problem when you did?

 

Halo and Mimsy,
Thanks for the help. Yes, I have tried different compatability modes on my x64 machine, comes up with the same error message.
I have been in contact with 2k games technical support, who also requested the dxdiag report, and they told me to try the different compatibility modes and to install directx9. I did, and their correspondence has kinda dropped off.

On a side note, I thought that programs such as games, were alway backwards compatible on x64 systems. ?

 

Now we're moving into how software works, so I'm a bit sketchy n the details, but my understanding is that 64-bit and 32-bit systems have to use different drivers, and that can cause problems with games, particularly older ones that may not have support for the newer graphics drivers in Vista 64-bit. I have not had any problems with my own games yet, which I'm very grateful for, but I have friends who ran into minor difficulties with the 64-bit graphics drivers when they tried to play games originally made for XP. The games would run,but the graphics were not as smooth.

 

Thank you both for your help. I install my games on a stripped drive seperate from the (C drive. I thought this might be contributing to the problem so I uninstalled and reinstalled in the default folder it wanted (program files x86) and still came up with the same problem.
It seems my last hope is to see if the developer has an update for 64bit because the same game runs fine on my 32bit machine. Unless anybody else comes up with any more info for me, this thread is dead. Thanks to all.

 

Hi. I have the exact same experience you had with the game. And unfortunately the exact same lack of support from 2K games.

I'm running a Gateway FX7026 Q9300 quad core, 4 gigs of DDR2 the same geforce8800 video card and vista 64. I too believe the game is simply looking in the wrong place for the files due to the x86 folder structure of Vista64. I would also like to note that I do not consider this an "old" game. It's not that much older than my computer.

I would like to point out that 2K games has NEVER patched this game. It's still V1.0. So either this game was released in perfect form or they simply abandoned it and don't bother with tech support. Took me almost 3 weeks to get a reply from them and all they told me to do was try playing in compatibility mode. when I replied that I already did and no results my next reply was:

Response (Kris) 16/11/2008 12.01 PM
Hi Howard

Your question was answered :banghead

When I tried to send another reply to request an answer I got this:

The question you wish to update has been closed and the deadline for reopening it has passed. If your issue is not resolved, please submit it as a new question which references this question.:flip

As far as I'm concerned anything produced by 2K or it's affiliates :crap is on my "do not buy" list. :neener

If you've got this game to work then please let me know otherwise I'm just gonna delete it. It's wasting HD space.

So far this the ONLY game that would not work on my Vista64 system and I have no problems with diablo or X-com apocalypse, space empires 4, Dark Star One and another dozen or more titles that are ancient compared to shattered union all work without a hitch on my system. :dancer

FYI this was a digital download from Direct2Drive who were very nice and gave me credit for the game. :clap They couldn't give me a refund because the game key had been issued/activated already.

 

Kudos on them for giving you credit, that's more than I have seen DL services do in situations like these. Sorry you didn't get Shattered Union to work though...

 

Thanks Mimsy. Yeah Direct2drive has been very accomodating to me and I would highly recommend them. I've bought nearly a dozen games from them and no problems at all.

The only criticism I would make is that they can be a bit pricey. Their games are the same or a bit higher than boxed titles and it takes them a long time to reduce older games. Stuff I can find in a junk bin for $9.95 might still be $20-$30.

I think digital downloads should be cheaper than boxed titles because you have no disk, printed manual or box so no manufacturing/shipping expense there and less product for the customer.

On the up side I LOVE not having to track down a disk to play a game only to find that it fell behind my desk and I accidentally ran it over with my chair so it's scratched beyond use. Yeah....I'm a klutz and a forgetful one too. I'm always losing disks so I'm hoping to rebuild my game collection as all digital; storing the games on an external HD and keeping a digital and printed copy of the game keys just to be on the safe side.

 

Update for Maruader7:
Since posting this thread, Shattered Union has worked for me on my x64 system, even with the game installed in my custom location.
I think that Vista 64 still has plenty of bugs. Several times I have had programs stop working. Sometimes a reboot will work. Sometimes an uninstall/reinstall will do the trick. Other programs, like the software for my scanner, will just not work at all, even though it claims it was successfully installed. Microsoft's 'problems and solutions' feature is filled with errors for my machine even with regular reporting. (and yes it pains me to cooperate anything with microsoft.) I have taken steps to eliminate the possibility of hardware problems, I am convinced it is the OS. I am considering reinstalling Vista, possibly on a RAID1 drive to try to eliminate errors?

Biostar TA770 A2+, Athlon x2 5600+ oc'ed @3.2ghz, 8gb Mushkin DDR2 @1066, GeForce 8800gts

 

Sorry to hear you're having so many problems. My experience has been the exact opposite. I'm just in shock that I have a windows OS that actually works! Everything I throw at this thing runs perfect the first time and I've got an off the shelf gateway (with all the junk software removed).

I'm curious as to what your custom location was. I've never tried a custom location other than telling the software to install on my 2nd drive but with the same directory structure as the default install (just replaced the C with the E). I keep my C drive untouched and used for windows only and everything else gets installed on my E drive. I'm wondering if Vista 64 still uses the x86 directory structure even if you specify a custom directory.

I see you have your cpu overclocked. Have you tried throttling it back a bit to see if your system becomes more stable?

Hope you get your rig sorted out and running smooth soon.

 

Hi. Thanks for your concern. I spent the weekend doing what I was thinking. I reinstalled Vista to a RAID 1 drive (Windows Easy Transfer makes this less of a hassle.) So far so good. But another thought occured to me. My original set up I used had windows on an IDE drive and all other programs and files were on a SATA drive (RAID 0). So perhaps there is a problem with the IDE drive or the IDE interface on the mobo.

Anyway, to answer your question, I installed my progams much like you did, when prompted for the install location, I just switched C: to D:. In a previous install, I put all programs (x86 and x64) into the same folder without a problem, but for simplicity's sake, I just changed the drive letter and let it keep the same arcitecture.

I doubt any of this applies to your difficulties with 'Shattered Union', but I would like to hear how you solve it.
In an issue related to game installs, another 'old' game I installed on Vista x64 was SimCity4, and it would ask for the correct disc be inserted even though it was already in the drive. Several uninstall/reinstalls later and it finally worked (no, the disc was not dirty)

Good Luck!