Vista problems

[Amemait]

Is it a Vista-related problem that's preventing the game from running correctly?
I start the game, all goes well. I get to the start menu. The main screen played music the first time I played the demo - that's gone about 75% of the time. Whenever there isn't music, there's also blank yellow over the majority of the background (behind the characters - nice touch, by the way).
If I'm lucky, I can access my saves, or attempt to start a new game. If there hasn't been music right from the start, that's where everything will go black.
I really, really, really wanna play! And it won't let me...

I briefly solved this with the demo by uninstalling the entire game, and then reloading, from scratch. But frankly, this isn't really a logical way to do things.
_________________
Although you are capable, feign incapability.
~Sun Tzu, The Art of War

[Mark Pay]

Hi Amemait. Are you running the game with Administrator privileges? Because the game uses its own directory to save and load game data, rather than one of Vista's pre-designated ones like My Documents, Vista's UAC can complain and block the necessary file access without warning the user.

[Amemait]

It's my own computer, and I've got it set for administrator.

I've now tried getting through the first three screens to create a new party (still no music, even in the credits, but now the yellow background is black - probably the patches I downloaded), waiting a few moments, and then pressing the escape button. This manages to take me to the map. It then informs me:

Error detected!
There is a mismatch in your save files.
If you have just loaded, that save file may be corrupt or sections may have been removed.
If you have not recently loaded, your current file may have become corrupted. Please try reloading from your last save position.
Please Click on this Message to Continue:

(I can provide a screencap if needed.)
Clicking on the message goes back to the main page.
I've tried replacing the saves with the ones that I had saved from the demo. No effect.

_________________
Although you are capable, feign incapability.
~Sun Tzu, The Art of War

[Mark Pay]

Some of the data files aren't loading correctly. I'm not sure what might be going on if you have Admin priveleges. I'll try and figure it out, but I'll need your help. I'm sorry that you've encountered this problem.

You say the demo worked for you with no problems, and still works? What version of the demo do you have?

What version of the full game do you have the installer for? You've patched it up to 1.03 successfully?

[Amemait]

Actually, the demo stopped working properly after the second load. I eventually gave up on attempting to load it, and uninstalled it then reinstalled it. It worked again for a good three opens, and then I finished the game.
The first version of the demo was the one that I used. I didn't get patches for it. I haven't tried it since getting to the end of the demo. Not too long after, I bought the full version (I had to wait for my birthday, figured I may as well get a decent game going first).

For the full version, I have gotten the patches. 1.01 refused to load (really), so I went for 1.02, and then 1.03.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the full version, and that failed to show any improvement.

I loved the first game, and I adored playing through the demo of the second one. Just really, really wanna play more...
Thanks for your help.
_________________
Although you are capable, feign incapability.
~Sun Tzu, The Art of War

[Mark Pay]

It sounds like the file copy from master to temp is failing. But the file decrypt *is* still working, and that's also a file alteration.

Okay - you were able to play through the demo okay? Then it stopped working, you reinstalled and it then worked for ~3 loads before the problem reoccured?

That's so odd. Argh, Vista, what are you doing?

Could you try installing the game into your user's 'Downloads' or 'My Documents' folder?

[Amemait]

Sure. Would you like me to include the patches, or just run from basic first?

Yeah, about three loads before the problem recurred. But by that time, I'd finished with the demo. I thought maybe it was a minor demo-Vista glitch.

(Just without any of the patches, it seems to be running thus far - I'm getting music, get the credits-cutscene and get have gotten past the map to Ionae's monologuing. I haven't transferred over any of the demo-saves yet.)
_________________
Although you are capable, feign incapability.
~Sun Tzu, The Art of War

[Mark Pay]

Install as many of the patches as you like, they shouldn't affect the save/load system.

I don't know what is happening with Vista. There has been one other user who reported a similar problem. I'm running the 64bit version here, and file loading is only affected like this when I remove my Admin privileges for either my account or the application.

I'm thinking about some changes to the save/load system to get around Vista's prickly behaviour without requiring Admin rights, but it would necessitate placing files outside the original install folder, and I am opposed to this sort of behaviour from applications.

Thank-you for your patience in dealing with the problem. Please let me know how you get on with this new install.

[TwiTerror]

Try moving all of the game data files OUTSIDE of the "Program Files" directory if possible and placing it in either a Documents folder or similar location on your PC. That should help - but I imagine that this might be your problem on Vista. I have Vista and tested thoroughly and had no problems like this - granted I've been playing it in c:\games\tse2