Struggling to get Ship Sim Extremes Working

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

[mcrat26014]

Hi

We have just purchased this game via Steam, and got all the extra content to go with it, but are having great difficulties trying to install it.

First of all when we got to the screen to enter the unlock key codes the screen started flashing and eventually the game crashed and it done this every time, so we decided to delete all the data and try again but ended up with the same fault. So we proceeded to do a clean install of the whole pc in case there was an error somewhere on the computer, and now we cannot even get to the screen to enter the codes, but we are getting a box coming up with command prompt.dll

we are not sure what is going wrong, does anyone ever have this problem, and manage to get the game working eventually

Thanks for any help
Tony

[mcrat26014]

Have just had this notification come up to add to the problems

Quest 3D Viewers registry key not found

It seems that Quest3D is not correctly installed, or this viewer is run from the wrong directory

[LucAtC]

Hello Tony,
ShipSim Extremes is a Windows 32 bit DirectX 9.0c game, using some PhysX routines and many VC++ processes. It runs on OS from XP to Windows 8, 32 bit computers and 64 bit in compatibility mode.
It should be installed and first time started as an administrator. There is an utility called "unregister.exe" to clean the register base to help cleaning in view of re-installing the game if something went wrong.

I know not much of Steam, perhaps doesn't it check the tools that it doesn't distribute, DirectX, vcredist, physx and certainly it doesn't check if Windows updates have been installed.
One update is often missing for systems when automatic updates weren't allowed at the time of its publishing, theMicrosoft Visual C++ 2005 Service Pack 1 Redistributable Package MFC Security Update (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=26347). A link is provided to the file vcredist_x86.EXE with the install instructions, in case it wasn't installed on your pc. If not properly installed, it lets the game crash with various dll errors.

It also could help if you could eventually post your PC Dxdiag report, and in case it is a Steam issue, other people more knowledgeable will certainly try to help.

Regards,
Luc

[mcrat26014]

Thanks for the reply LucAtC

I am a complete computer novice and most of that I would not know what to do, but I have managed to get a copy of my computers DXdiag which is listed in the attached document due to the limit on size of message you can post

[LucAtC]

A good news is that your computer seems to be quite capable to run Extremes, unfortunately I am not able to confirm that the motherboard graphics could handle the game, due to its lack of dedicated memory.
It should nevertheless be able to play Extremes at its lowest settings (I think), and certainly the game should at least start before showing you the first game slides (sorry, that is an easy one).

You should first let Steam re-install the game, and the Steam support can give you the instructions to do that, as most of it is automatic.
Hello Steam players, can someone tell you how to do that?

Good luck,
Luc

[mcrat26014]

thanks for the info, but I cannot even get past the screen to entering the keys for the game before it decides to crash, I have contacted the developer to see what they say also. Hopefully soon will have a resolution.

I also have euro truck sim 2 and trainsim 2014 on steam and both of these work on the highest graphics with no problems, so I am totally confused why ship sim is causing any problems

Also I downloaded the demo version of ship sim from steam and this worked perfectly and that is when I decided to make the purchase 

[mcrat26014]

Have finally got the game working, I had a response from the developer saying the game will not work on my PC due to having onboard graphics only, but I thought that cannot be right as the onboard graphics of my PC are very powerful.

So off I went trying to think of other problems which can be possibly causing problems, and this morning had a  moment, and downloaded a registry cleaner and  hew presto a working game at last and on the highest graphics possible with no problems and the game runs very smooth.

[LucAtC]

Not only very good news, but also interesting that SSExtremes can run on Intel HD Graphics 4000 onboard graphics, not so far indeed of GeForce 9800GT benchmarks (http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/common_gpus.html#).

Regards,
Luc

[mcrat26014]

Gutted again been playing the game perfectly on high graphics for a while now, I have just installed windows 8, and set my pc up again and had to start putting the CD keys in again, and I am back to the game freezing and not responding when entering the keys to unlock the game 

[Captain Cadet]

Hey
Could you use the regestry cleaner again or try ccleaner?
Thanks and happy new year 

[Mr Robville]

It sounds like your PC does have another GPU processor next to your Intel one.
Although the behaviour of Intel GPU's is quite random when it comes to compatibility, it should not be possible to use the highest settings and be able to achieve smooth gameplay at the same time with such GPU and amount of dedicated memory. Onboard graphics on that matter, can never be as powefull as a dedicated graphics card.

Since your registry cleaner solved the problem at first, I think it may have changed a value which tells the computer which GPU to use for the game.

The contrast between 16GB of RAM memory with an I5-3.8 Quad core processor opposed to a 64MB Intel 4000 series also supports my idea that you have a dedicated chip installed, as such Intel GPU is an insult to the high end hardware the rest of your system has.

Are you using a desktop or laptop?

[weejam]

one thing you may be able to try and this is just a shot in the dark. Go into your graphics settings and turn anistropic filtering, anti aliasing, and any other graphics enhancers to either the lowest settings or the use application settings options. I have an HD 8670d with 762mb dedicated and 5000 something shared for a total of 6 gigs and can run everything on ultra high except for refractions and antialiasing in game with the GPU settings set to "use application settings". Also with "upgrading?" to windows 8 you may need to update the drivers for your GPU. This might at least get it to run.

I agree with Mr Robville in that an HD4000 graphics is a weak link in an otherwise strong chain.