TFE-X.exe suddenly won't launch & reinstall doesn't fix it

Discussion in 'ToEE Front-End X' started by josh, May 1, 2016.

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  1. josh

    josh Member

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    I was happily using the Co8 modpack (v 8.1.0) and got as far as the moathouse. Then one day the shortcut to TFE-X.exe stopped working. Attempts to load with toee.exe were still successful, and still mentioned the modpack on the splash screen. After trying a number of things, I shrugged, and decided an uninstall / reinstall was in order. Maybe a bad move... the fresh copy of TFE-X still didn't work, but now I'd lost the reference to the modpack on the splash screen.

    Since that wasn't working, I decided on a clean install. Downloaded the newest Java, installed a fresh copy from GOG, applied Co8... still nothing. (The modpack exe unpacks, but clicking on TFE-X has no effect, other than to give me a momentary hourglass symbol.) Tried different directories, both the GOG and Co8 default ones - no luck. Tried an older version (v 7.9.0), again, no luck.

    My attempts were done as administrator with my antivirus off. (Though my original, successful, attempt didn't do either, and worked fine for the first week!)


    Has anyone else experienced this? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... after spending extensive time planning my party and getting it off the ground, I could live with losing the saves... but I don't think I want to play TOEE without the Co8 fixes and content, given the vanilla game's reputation.

    edit:
    Further notes: browsing the TFE-X thread, I also tried the following, still with no luck:
    - confirmed I don't have an older version of Java also present
    - set the permissions for "USERS" on toee.exe to "full control" (other groups already had it)
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2016
    josh, May 1, 2016
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  2. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    What antivirus are you using?
     
    Gaear, May 1, 2016
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  3. josh

    josh Member

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    Microsoft security essentials. But I tried installing with it off as well.
     
    josh, May 1, 2016
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  4. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    MSE is a known offender for deleting or quarantining the ToEE executable, but it doesn't sound like that's actually missing if you were able to launch the game through it directly. But sometimes with the antivirus bugaboo you actually have to uninstall the software for it to leave it alone, incredibly.

    Have you tried the other usual stuff like not installing to Program Files if you're above Windows XP?
     
    Gaear, May 1, 2016
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  5. josh

    josh Member

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    I've tried installing in each of the default folders (separate attempts):
    C:\GOG Games\Temple of Elemental Evil
    and C:\Games\Temple of Elemental Evil

    I've tried uninstalling MSE.

    UPDATE: on another forum here, I found a link to v 3.0 of the front end. Installing that, TFE-X *does run*!!! However... since the current version is 4.7, I don't know what the risks are of using the older front end.
    link: http://www.co8.org/community/index.php?threads/toee-front-end-x-4-0-discussion-thread.10373/page-7
     
    josh, May 1, 2016
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  6. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    That makes it sound like a Java issue because I'm pretty sure 3.0 still ran on net framework.

    Something else I read in the thread you linked - did you uninstall earlier Java versions?
     
    Gaear, May 2, 2016
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  7. josh

    josh Member

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    I checked, and no older versions of Java are present. This copy of Windows was only installed a couple of months ago. I suppose I could try to find an *older* copy of Java someplace and see if that helps? What's baffling is that everything was working for the first week of using Co8; I can't imagine why it would work and then stop. My first guess would be Windows Update, but my most recent update was 8 days ago, and the problem only started a couple days ago.

    Would you have any idea if it would be safe to run version 3.0 of the front end?
     
    josh, May 2, 2016
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  8. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    It should, as long as you're not running Linux or a Mac OS. Still not ideal though because it's like using an old OS that isn't supported.

    Couple other questions - do you have toee.exe and temple.dll whitelisted in your antivirus? And are you trying to use a link to launch TFE-X by any chance? It's easy to break links, like if you added TFE-X to your desktop or start menu. (Test that by trying to launch TFE-X straight from your ToEE root directory.)
     
    Gaear, May 2, 2016
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  9. josh

    josh Member

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    Well I tried running it with the antivirus completely uninstalled... so I'm thinking it's not the cause. ;)

    I've tried loading TFE-X both with a shortcut and directly; I get the same non-result with either.

    I'm running Windows 7, so maybe I'll stick with v 3.0 then and hope for the best? Ideally I'd prefer to run the newest version of course, but I don't know what else to try. I appreciate your efforts though! (Including further suggestions if you happen to have them, but I also don't expect others to support me on a free product lol!)
     
    josh, May 2, 2016
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  10. josh

    josh Member

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    Sigh... no luck. v3.0 installs fine, but once the game loads up it freezes in the menus. It seems that TOEE is determined to not let me play it. :(
     
    josh, May 7, 2016
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  11. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Might be a little late now but have you tried a system restore from back when the game was working? It's clearly something that changed with your system, since it worked at one time and just stopped.
     
    Gaear, May 12, 2016
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  12. josh

    josh Member

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    I didn't try a restore, but I did check for windows updates, and none had occurred in that time period. That said, I eventually got it working with v3.0. It turns out the problems with 3.0 stemmed from using the "skip intro videos" option. Once I re-enabled the videos, I've had a reasonably functional game - a couple of crashes to desktop, and one corrupted save, but really, nothing gamebreaking, nor anything worse than I've experienced with some AAA titles.

    Thanks for the suggestion however, it's a good one!
     
    josh, May 16, 2016
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  13. Gaear

    Gaear Bastard Maestro Administrator

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    Gah, that was a popular problem a year or two ago, but I thought it had gone away for the most part. (It's not an issue with the mod really, just a mode switching problem with some systems.) Wish I'd suggested that earlier.

    Incidentally you could probably go back to the current front end and fix it the same way. Although I know the feeling of not wanting to fix it if it isn't broken. ;)
     
    Gaear, May 16, 2016
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  14. josh

    josh Member

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    I considered that as well, but I don't think it would fix the new version. My problem with the new front end is that it won't start up (the front end) to begin with, thus the intro video issue never arises.
     
    josh, May 16, 2016
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  15. Sitra Achara

    Sitra Achara Senior Member

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    Hi, can you send me the corrupted savegame?
     
    Sitra Achara, May 16, 2016
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