Problems with FEAR

[Sabeatin]

A little while back I purchased FEAR off Amazon.com because the FEAR 2 demo intrigued me.

The disc arrived in the mail and I put it in my system... DVD drive doesn't read it. I boot into my XP Partition, DVD drive doesn't detect it (The first time I was in Vista).

After trying to change the regional settings on my DVD drive (I believe I have a UK version of the disc, but people tell me PC Games aren't region encoded?) it still doesn't work. I put the disc in my mom's awful laptop, and it reads it no problem! So I rip the ISO of the disc, burn that to a DVD and put the clone disc in my desktop.

The installer loads up and I install the game. Hurray, it's able to run!.... for about 10 minutes.
The game constantly either simply locks up, or it starts to artifact!

HARDWARE:
Core 2 Duo E4400 2.0 Ghz (I OC'd it to 2.5 Ghz)-- TRIED SETTING IT TO STOCK SPEEDS, GAME STILL UNSTABLE
2 GB RAM
8800 GT (Stock speeds)

Dual booting XP (SP2) and Vista

Graphics drivers are up-to-date

If I use the clone of the disc in my Vista partition, the game locks up before it even gets to the main menu.

Anyone have any similar problems or suggestions?

 

[Sabeatin]

Hahahahahah, I just downloaded service pack 3.

Ran the file, it came up with some error. Google the error, website suggested I change a value in the registry and then re-run the installer, so I do and it works great. Reboot, and now I get a BSOD as soon as it gets to the Windows XP Logo loading screen.

I'm assuming it's because the website never told me to change the value back to what it was, so I didn't.

If I put in my windows xp disc and run the recovery thing, will that fix this? I'd be so mad if I used my XP partition at all <.<

 

[inquisitor03]

Sounds like you've got yourself in a right pickle! ;-)

What does the BSOD say? Can you boot into Safe Mode? What was the error and the fix for installing SP3?

I had a 7800GTX once and it worked great in every game except FEAR where it would artifact constantly and then the framerate would drop to below 10. I RMA'd it (after ages trying to convince XFX it was the card as it only happened in FEAR) and it worked FEAR ran fine after that... bit wierd i know!

It's hard to say if the XP Recovery will fix the problem as we don't know what the original problem was. It might... it might not!
If you can get into Safe Mode try changing the registry value back to what it was originally and try that.

 

[Sabeatin]

I haven't thought of trying to boot into Safe Mode, but I don't know what the BSOD says- the system reboots before I can even read the first word.

As for trying to RMA my 8800GT, I don't think that's an option. I have an aftermarket heatsink on mine, and the original one is long-gone.

http://www.askvg.com/windows-xp-sp3-setup-error-cannot-update-a-checked-debug-system-with-a-free-retail-version-of-service-pack-3/
This is the error, and what I changed.

 

[Sabeatin]

Bump for suggestions on my original problem

 

[inquisitor03]

OK, obviously something with the SP3 install went horribly wrong. The fix the website suggested should work no problem but what they are actually telling you to do is fool SP3 into thinking you have a different version of windows.

A restore of your original should put your PC back to whatever Service Pack comes on the CD so you may need to then install SP2 again(or even SP3 again if your brave!)

Again this may or may not work depending on what has become corrupt/damaged.

See if you can get into Safe Mode and if you can you should be able to uninstall SP3 from there and then try booting into windows normally.

If that doesn't work, try Safe Mode with Command Prompt and then run "sfc /scannow" from the DOS Prompt. This will try and scan your system for any damaged/missing system files and try to repair/replace them!


Good Luck! (My apologies for the late reply)

 

[Sabeatin]

Thanks-- I was just in safe mode after I bumped and it booted no problem, tried to change the value in the registry back but that didn't help.

Will try your suggestions in a bit.

 

[inquisitor03]

Cool as you can get into Safe Mode your in with a chance.

Try from a Command Prompt "chkdsk /f /v /x C:" - Say yes to checking your system after restart and this will run a chkdsk on the drive for any problems.

If that doesnt fix it try the "SFC /Scannow".

If that doesnt work, then try uninstalling SP3.

and if that fails, try a recovery from your original XP CD.