CW3: Black window at startup

[Darklurker]

When I run the CW3 Demo, all I get is a black window.  I can hear the knuckle-cracker-logo sound, then nothing.

I'm running on Win2003 Server, 32-bit. CW1 and CW2 work fine, and AIR is up to date (does CW3 even use AIR?).  I've looked around the site some, but didn't happen across any required specs, so I'm not sure if Win2k3 is just too old to run CW3 or not. 

I've tried rebooting and running it as Administrator.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Dave

[Grauniad]

Win2003 Server? You're kidding me.

CW3 does not use AIR, it's written in Unity3D.

The issue is with your graphics capability - if you even have any. Since you provided no further information, I'm unable to assist more than that.

[Michionlion]

What G means is, do you have any type of graphics processor on you computer, and if so, what is it?

[Darklurker]

Hey, I'm a Novell admin and this is my office admin desktop... ;)

Graphics wise, I've got a Geforce FX 7 with 256 megs.  Remember AGP, yeah, that's what this is.  In an IBM iSeries 226 server from ~2004.  Dual hyperthreaded Xeons, 2 gigs of RAM and six U320 SCSI drives.  Smokin....  But hey, it's been running 24/7/365 for almost 10 years now and never gets shut down (partly because it takes 10 minutes to boot back up).  I can't complain too much.

Is there a Unity runtime other than the 1-gigabyte Unity dev package?  I tried the Unity web player, but that didn't make CW3 work, although I haven't rebooted yet.

Thanks for the answers,
Dave

[Grauniad]

Here is the Unity3D Official requirements page. Look towards the bottom.

I believe you need Direct3D 9.0c(?) capability. You may try updating your graphics card drivers and see...

Speccy from Piriform is a good tool to provide all system specifications (just make sure you download it at Piriform site, and not at the Filehippo site).

The game itself tries to write a log file to %appdata%\CreeperWorld3 (though where that is on a Win2003 server is anyone's guess. If you can find it, attaching it here is also good for us to see what the game reports.

[Grauniad]

Oh  if you have really been running 24/7/365 for "almost 10 years" you are so behind in service and drivers, it's a wonder that box can run anything. :)  And BTW, you should buy some canned air and clean out Your PC, the amount of dust in it means it probably will overheat if you try to play a reasonably new game. :)

[Grayzzur]

You're talking about an IBM workstation/server circa 2004. The Unity specs call for a DirectX 9 (shader model 2) graphics card and states "any card made since 2004 should work." Servers typically aren't concerned with 3d graphics capabilities, so it's probably a safe bet you're lacking enough 3d hardware to run Unity. What's the video card in your machine?

[Grauniad]

What's the video card in your machine?

Graphics wise, I've got a Geforce FX 7 with 256 megs.  

Having Googled it, I guess that's the series description, not a specific model within a wide range of cards... :(

Reading more, the FX 7 series debuted around 2003, with the AGP models being 2003 (in line with the Windows Server 2003 OS?).

There is a lot of unfavorable observations of the early cards' ability to support DirectX 9. At the very least a driver upgrade (if one can be found somewhere) may be indicated.

[Grauniad]

You're talking about an IBM workstation/server circa 2004.

Now it's getting a little weirder. The IBM iSeries machines seems to be the replacement/follow-up for the AS/400 line of minicomputers. The IBM xSeries had a model 226 that just about fit the specs the OP listed, except it had an ATI graphics card. http://www-947.ibm.com/support/entry/portal/docdisplay?lndocid=migr-58358

One is now left to wonder what the exact situation is, since there are some crucial discrepancies between the x-Series 226 specifications and the OP's description as well.

[CastaS]

you can treat win 2003 Server as win xp. though it may not have all Features per Default installed, such as the DirectX redistributable. Download it here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35 (WebInstaller)
I'm not sure if CW3 even starts if it's missing. it won't hurt if it's being updated. and gpu Driver update as Grauniad mentioned.

[Darklurker]

It's been a month, but just a follow-up...

I brainfarted in my earlier post.  I admit, I was on heavy cold medications in early December. My video is an Nvidia GeForce FX 5700, not an "FX 7" (if there even is such a thing), and I've got an xSeries IBM, not an iSeries minicomputer.  (I used to have an AS/400 here at work, but that's another story).  Meh.

Anyhow, after doing some heavy googling, I don't think my FX 5700 will do DirectX 9.0c.  From what I can tell, it just won't, and that jives with what I'm seeing in dxdiag where the DirectDraw Acceleration and Direct3D Acceleration buttons are greyed-out.  I've tried a few different versions of drivers, and none seemed to make any difference.

Strangely, CW3 does sort of run on my (equally ancient) IBM R40 laptop at home with a puny 16-meg video card (can't remember if it's ATI of Nvidia).  It's sluggish, and the menu for assigning keystokes doesn't show, but the game itself does work.

Anyhow, I'm ditching the old IBM xSeries soon for a newer HP workstation running Windows Server 2012.  CW3-demo runs fine on the HP, so I'm happy.

Thanks for the suggestions last month.

[Grayzzur]

That would do it. The nVidia 6xxx series, a generation newer than yours, was the oldest they made that supports DirectX 9.0c, and even that is about 10 generations out of date now. A fairly recent workstation with "integrated" graphics that by today's standards is rather slow would be much faster than an FX5700.

Good luck with that newer HP!