12 replies to this topic

[Joe Ferris]

Hello.

 

I am a huge fan of Battle for Middle Earth, and recently encountered a seemingly hopeless issue.

 

I installed both games on my Windows 10 PC, and I got them to work. I installed the follwing mods for BFME1 over the course of two months:

 

BFME HD Edition

Patches 1.03, 1.05, 1.06

BFME Special Extended edition 0.875

 

 

A few  months later, I tried to start BFME1 HD, nothing happened, so I looked at the Task Manager. For some reason it said that game.dat wasn't responding. 

I decided to try to do a clean reinstall (disable and delete all mods, and then reinstall) and nothing changed. I even got another copy of the game, and still, game.dat doesn't work. Over all my systems that I have had this, this issue has never happened. 

Because multiple re-installations didn't work, I abandoned this because I had no idea what to do. This was November 6th.

 

I resorted to BFME2, with the following mods and patches installed:

 

BFME Patchswitcher

BFME2 HD

BFME2 Deluxe edition 0.50

 

I also had a file called AssetCacheBuilder, that, when run, removed the 16 custom maps I had made, along with everything in the Appdata-Roaming-BFME2 files. 

Since then, I have restored the folder, done a clean reinstall, and repeated- nothing works. 

 

I really need help with this, because BFME has been my favorite game for eight years. 

Thank you,

Joe Ferris

[Joe Ferris]

An update:

 

I tried taking a USB to another person's computer, copied the game.dat, and I got an error:

Uknown Field 'TimeAfterDamageUntilRepairAllowed' in block 'GameData'.

Error parsing field 'TimeAfterDamageUntilRepairAllowed' in block 'GameData' in file 'Data/INI/GameData.ini', line 63.

 

Because of the severity of this error the game will now exit.

 

I find this good, because with correct debugging and file digging, I could potentially fix this if I know what I am doing.

[ICT]

For BFME1 install the clean game with patches 1.03, 1.05, 1.06 as described in our guide. Check if it works before you attempt installing any other mods.

Make sure to run the game as admin and in winxp sp3 compatibility mode.

[Joe Ferris]

I did all of that, along with the compatibility settings (always necessary for windows10), and yet, the same issue occurs.

It says "game.dat - Not Responding"

 

BFME2 still just pulls up a window, it turns black, and then I get a crash with the 'BFME 2 has stopped working' window.

[ICT]

Did you fix your options.ini ? See the pinned topic.

[Joe Ferris]

I did fix the options.ini upon installation for both games. Also, when I didn't have it, when I first started the game, I got a different error.

[Joe Ferris]

One notable thing is that upon starting BFME2 1.06, I get an error that reads the following:

 

Unknown field NumToSacrifice in block Object.

 

Error parsing field NumToSacrifice  in block Object in file data/ini/object/evilfaction/isengard/insegardhordes.ini.

 

And then it lists all references to said missing field.

 

 

Also, for some reason, Patchswitcher is unable to switch to the 1.09 patch, let alone play the game with that patch.

[Joe Ferris]

One thing! Great News! I installed a patch known as the "Turin Turumbar BFME2 Fixxer", and now patch 1.00 works in BFME2.

 

But BFME1, my personal favorite, still must be reckoned with.

But, hey, hooray for BFME2. Still a great game.

[ICT]

What exactly is the error you get for bfme1?

[Joe Ferris]

There is no error screen or anything. I click the icon, and it is frozen on the launcher screen. After 5 minutes it closes without anything else. 

Upon entering the Task manager, the file that is "Not Responding" is game.dat.

[ICT]

Are you sure you fixed the options.ini? Maybe it was saved as options.ini.txt instead.

[Joe Ferris]

Ok. I reinstalled the game with another disc set, for BFME1. I installed the t3A patches and everything, and it works now!

 

But, there remains BFME2 for patches 1.06 and 1.09. 

[Joe Ferris]

Yes, the options.ini in BFME1 was saved as just .txt. However, the options.ini for BFME2 is saved correctly, and in the right place.