Help please
 

Having just retired and moved back to the UK I decided to install SH3 on my Dell laptop (XPS Inspiron M1710, 4 Gb Ram, Intel Core 2 CPU T7600 @ 2.33 GHz, with NVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 GTX video card, running under Windows Vista Home Premium) an old workhorse, but a good 'un.

I installed SH3 via a USB connected Philips DVD player/recorder (the one built into the Dell has become a bit iffy over time.)

My copy of SH3 is an original version 1 Ubisoft one with the disc-check program.

Before patching the game I tried to run it to check that the vanilla intallation was OK. I put the SH3 DVD into the drive from which I'd installed the game (the separate Philips drive) and clicked on the desktop SH3 icon. The "Checking Disc" window appeared, but it requested that I put the SH3 DVD into a different drive. After retrying several times I decided to give the original built-in drive a go - same rersult.:damn:

I downloaded a "no-dvd" fix and swapped the appropriate files to bypass the disc-check - naughty, but necessary, I'm afraid. This time I got the Ubisoft titles etc and the intro movie - then a blank screen. I checked the task manager and SH3.exe was running as a process, but not as an application :doh:.

Any and all suggestions gratefully received.

This Just Gets Stranger
 

Further to my earlier posting, I decided to experiment and installed SH4. The installation seemed to go well. I installed SH4 into a new folder away from the C:\program Files folder.

When I came to run the game, exactly the same thing happened as with SH3!:doh: I got the Ubisoft title-page, the intro-movie and then a blank black screen. In the Task Manager, which I ran almost immediately I got the blank screen, I noticed that SH4 was running as an application, but suddenly changed from "running" to "not responding."

Help!

Did you play on this laptop on SH3 before?

Are you familiar with this thread?
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=105144

Don't try to run the game before patching and cracking it - the starforce drivers try to install but are incompatible with Vista.

Get you the starforce removal tool from star-force.com

http://www.star-force.com/support/sfdrvrem.zip

Remove all the starforce crap.
Deinstall all SH3 files and clean the registry.
Same with SH4.

Restart computer.

Install SH3 as administrator - from any drive - but don't run it!
Install patch 1.4b - US or EMEA
Install NoDVD crack - overwrite the five files in the games root directory.

Now check the game if you want - it should run like a charm.

Install any mods you want - JSGME, GWX, SH3 Commander...

Enjoy

Much simpler to get the newer Starforce-free and fully patched version. Very cheap too.

Sitting in front of my computer I guess it's simpler to download and install two patches rather than enter the next store where to find the un-starforced and patched version of SH3. And it's cheaper too. ;)


But you mention a valid alternative.

My problem is that I have uninstalled and reinstalled SH3 more times than I can count. I found mine in a store, but Amazon has them very cheap, and with Amazon Prime everything I order gets here in two days.

Oops, I'm sounding like a shill. :oops:

Thank You
 

Sincere thanks to one and all. I've decided to take Sailor Steve's advice and have ordered a new version of SH3 from Amazon. It should arrive tomorrow. Very cheap at £3.59 plus free delivery.

Thanks again.

I think you'll find it was well worth the price to avoid dealing with DRM hassle - particularly if its something you end up having to reinstall on another rig or OS somewhere down the line. :yep:

I have the old starforce riddled disk, and it's not been a problem - especially if you follow Mittelwaechter's concise post. Once you've done it that way you'll (probably) not forget how.

If, however, you do end up getting new disks, don't forget the subsim-amazon link :D so this site will benefit from your purchase.

I have both....SF and none SF :smug:

:sunny:

Now I'm really Confused
 

Sorry for bumping this topic, but things are getting very odd.

My new version of SH3 arrived today. It's by Focus/Revival - no indication of a version number anywhere.

I'd already cleared out the earlier installation of the Starforce protected version, run the Starforce Removal Utility and done housekeeping on the Directory.

I insalled from the new DVD and all seemed fine. When I came to run the game I got the Ubisoft logo screen and the intro movie and then, just as before, a black, blank screen!!!

I Alt/Tabbed back to the desktop and ran the Task Manager. SH3 was shown as "running" as an application and appeared in the "Processes" list.

I closed SH3 down from the Task Manager and tried again, this time running it with compatability set for Windows XP - same result.

I ran the Starforce removal program again, but it came up with "no protection to remove" or some such.

I have, yet again, uninstalled SH3 and cleared out the Directory. :damn:

Anyone have a brainwave. please? I'm at a loss. My set-up is:

Dell XPS Inspiron M1710 laptop, 4 Gb Ram, Intel Core 2 CPU T7600 @ 2.33 GHz, with NVIDIA GeForce Go 7950 GTX video card, running under Windows Vista Home Premium. All drivers are up to date

You didn't install into default path, did you?

You deleted or renamed all SH3 data from old installation path and from 'My Documents'?

You did run a registry cleaner like 'CCleaner' from Piriform to delete all old SH3 entries?

Rightclick the SH3.exe and choose Properties - under Details your data version should read 1.4.0.1 to be patched.

Having just read your post and especially the word "laptop", it somehow "clicked". A few days ago I had quite some trouble getting SH3 work together with the War Ace Campaign 4.1 mod and the symptoms you described are very much the same. They usually occur on laptops or other systems with widescreen displays, and from what I read your laptop display uses a native resolution of 1920x1200 - meaning 16:10 format. I myself am running on an Acer Aspire 8940G with a 16:9 resolution of 1920x1080.

The problem you describe has nothing to do with any kind of protection but rather with the fact that SH3 was natively made for 4:3 resolutions and therefore has some problems with modern displays which mostly use widescreen resolutions.
As far as I was able to find out,there are the following ways to fix this issue:

• lowering the anti aliasing setting to less than 4x
• and/or
• switching anti aliasing transparency to "multisample" in your nvidia settings

WAC 4.1 for example is so very much resistant to any widescreen resolution that I have to run it in height-scaled 4:3 mode with black bars on the left and right.
If you are using mods like GWX however, using MaGui or any other widescreen GUI could do the job since they usually also include a widescreen patch in order to have the 3D scenes of the game displayed in a proper aspect ratio (usually fitted to 16:9 resolutions, but should also work on 16:10).
In any case, try a right click on the sh3.exe in your windows explorer (or whatever filemanager you're using) and choose "properties". Then check the version number on the details page. It should read "1.4.0.1" - if it doesn't get the latest patch (1.4b) from the SubSim database and of course don't forget the 4GB patch for your version - here the link:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/down...p?do=cat&id=56


That should fix it - at least it did on my laptop. WAC 4.1 seems to be a special case though.

Hope this helps, regards from Kiel,

Hess

This may probably not be very helpful, however, SH3 was not running for me on Vista either. I have the same Dell than Von Manteuffel and was having lots of issues with Vista (app running slow. app not working) that I decided to go for Win7.
Since then I am a much happier person, everything runs without me doing mumbo jumbo and sacrificing chickens.

I know Bernard likes vista, but don't listen to his whining.