Arma 2 not working, at a loss for solutions

[Fatal_Papercut~SPARTA~]

Howdy folks,

 

My Arma 2 games (original and OA) have stopped working. The game stops running at start-up, during the part where I see the little white rectangle with a series of check-boxes. The rectangle just disappears; there are no error messages generated by the game or by Windows 7. I checked the Task Manager to see if any Arma-related processes were running, but there were none that showed. The game had been working earlier. I was playing on our ACE server without any issues. I shut down for a bit, and when I tried to launch the game again, the problem began.

 

Now, believe me, I've tried everything I could think of to resolve this issue, but rather than bore you with an exhaustive list of ALL the things I've tried, I'll just detail the most recent thing I've tried, because I think it's pretty comprehensive.

 

1. I installed a new HDD in my system (so currently there are 4 HDDs inside my rig) and did a fresh install of Win7-64 on that drive; I now have a dual-boot system. Everything I mention from this point on has been done on the fresh OS install.

 

2. I updated Win7 via Windows Update. I only installed what I think are the most basic, necessary drivers: chipset (but not on-board audio), mouse (only what gets installed when I plug it on, not any fancy configuration software - Logitech G5) and video card drivers (current Nvidia 266.58, GTX 580). I did NOT install any audio drivers.

 

3. Installed Steam and Arma 2/OA. I did not add any mods. Same problem, Arma fails to complete loading.

 

4. Tried older Nvidia drivers 260.99, same problem. Tried new beta drivers 267.24, same problem.

 

5. Tried cycling through video drivers again, but this time with two different cards: GTX 280 and 9800 GT. Same problem.

 

6. Went back to the GTX 580, and installed my audio card drivers (SB X-Fi). Same problem.

 

7. Uninstalled audio drivers and physically removed the audio card from my system. Same problem.

 

What I have mentioned above are the only things that I installed on the fresh OS, other than what Windows installs. No alternate browser, no anti-virus, etc. I spot-checked other demanding games on my original OS install: Metro 2033, STALKER CoP, Crysis, BC2. All of those games work.

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[peter~SPARTA~]

Have you try to delete your profiles

From my documents folder?

[Yankee~SPARTA~]

I'm sure you tried this, but I once had to run arma 2 vanilla as admin to refresh cache then startup OA normally.

[Gunthar~SPARTA~]

Hammer time?

[GooniversalSoldier~SPARTA~]

I'm sure you tried this, but I once had to run arma 2 vanilla as admin to refresh cache then startup OA normally.

 

i always try to run as admin as i have had similar problems with STEAM. Also, run steam as admin.

[custard~SPARTA~]

I noticed that steam asked for my password at switch on tonight, is it something related to a steam update.

[GooniversalSoldier~SPARTA~]

Probably. Have you checked that Steam is not mid-update or something? That has happened to me before where it is updating but will let me launch the game which then crashes.

[Batwing~SPARTA~]

Well,

 

I read yesterday somewhere a new ArmA patch was out.

 

I don t have Steam but i do understand Steam games automatically patch themself to the latest one. if that is right, it is possible the new Patch is giving you the problem, not the game itself.

 

I didn t download the standard patch, so I have no idea. I would suggest you to google the issue to see if users from Steam are suffering the same issue possibly related to an auto-patch procedure.

 

Considering you are running on a almost clean fresh system, it cannot other than a patch either on the OS or on the Game itself screwing the game.

 

I am pending for the Game patch issue because if it was an OS patch, we should have a similar issue.

 

Do you have any chance to install a DVD retail version, to try and see if an Unpatched version would start ?

[Fatal_Papercut~SPARTA~]

OK, so bear with me, because at the moment I only have the bare minimum of hardware necessary to boot. I am installing Win7 from a flash-drive onto a single HDD in my system, and once the install is complete, it usually takes 90 minutes or so for Win7 to finish updating, THEN I have to reinstall Steam and Arma.

 

I will post again as soon as this process is complete.

[Batwing~SPARTA~]

But you don t really need to update win 7 just to check if a game is working. furthermore, if you do not update it yet, you can verify if is an update issue.

 

Most importantly, you didn t answer to the question if you are using a freshly patched Arma or a just very basic vesion Unpatched.

 

You don t need to patch it to simply see if it works, maybe Steam will not allow you to run an unpatched version anyway, so.. f the issue is related to the latest patch, you may continue to have an issue.

 

I do understand your act of desperation stripping your machine to the bare minimum, but really, makes no sense.

 

If yesterday was working fine and today is not, you have to focus on something it may happened during night or in the last few hours, which in my understanding can only be the very recent Arma patch just released.

[bwana]

I had issues with OA even with the 1.08 and 1.57 update. What resolved them for me was the latest beta patch- 1.59

Does anyone know if steam updates in the background without consent? Did you try a restore point with your old system to a date and time where it was working? Sorry if i missed that but i didnt see it mentioned. Although you did say you did a 'nuke and pave' I assume you tried restore?

[Fatal_Papercut~SPARTA~]

To answer some of the questions above (multi-quote is not working):

 

My game is the Steam version, so my installations are whatever comes from Steam's servers. No patches have been released via Steam at this time. I have downloaded the new Arma 2 1.09 patch and am working on downloading the OA beta patch as well. If all hardware configurations continue to fail, I will attempt to install the patches.

 

It is too late to stop Windows from updating; I think the next update will be SP1.

 

More later...

[custard~SPARTA~]

I just did a reinstall of Win7 and it is quicker to do the install then apply SP1 first mate

[Fatal_Papercut~SPARTA~]

This saga will continue on Saturday--the game downloads still have about an hour to go, and I need to get ready for tonight's festivities with my friends.

 

Thanks again to everyone for their assistance, and I'm sure I will have this beat tomorrow.

[SirSmokalot]

Fatal,

 

1. 
    
   
2. Check your "arma2.rpt" and your "arma2oa.rpt" file for clues to your errors. You should be referring to this file to debug missions anyhow I figure. In case you don't know where its at it should be in the following locations, Hit Windows Key + R and "copy and paste" the following:
    
   

   %LOCALAPPDATA%\ArmA 2 
   %LOCALAPPDATA%\ArmA 2 OA

   
    
   Check these *.RPT files as these are log files. Do not delete the previous entries as there might be a clue as to why ArmA 2 wont start there. You can make copies of these and then blank out the originals if you like, which I suggest as it will be easier to see or read the error, but keep originals as they might have clues to crash problem as well.
    
   

3. Did you migrate over the "ArmA 2" folder in "Documents" the deprecated "My Documents" location?
    
   If you did there might be something in your arma2.cfg or arma2OA.cfg files that are causing this issue. I'm thinking a corrupt or bad entry in this files maybe causing the crash. I recently have been getting crashes in "Bulldozer" the renderer for Oxygen 2 and I utilize same file to build my "buldozer.cfg" off it, luckily my arma2.cfg file is still in tact, but I had to rebuild my "buldozer.cfg" and arma2OA.cfg recently since I had similar issues. Luckily ArmA Launcher clued me in to this.
    
   
4. Did you launch ArmA using Steam or are you using a launcher?
    
   If no launcher and launching off steam, please use the ArmA Launcher f rom Alpine_Stars first of all (quicker startup and esier to go between mods then billions of shortcuts), then go into Options tab and turn on Script Errors. There's shortcut parameters, but I want to bypass Steam for this test as well, and using the ArmA launcher bypasses Steam launch. Launch game without steam turned on by exiting system tray icon as well. I use Steam version and use this app to bypass BS.
    
   
5. How sure are you that your source install files are not corrupt, if all else fails re-download source files for install to ace this problem out as last resort..
    
   
6. If you are still having issues then may I suggest you CHKDSK \R the drive to see if there's bad sectors on the drive you are installing on. The \R will repair or tell windows to bypass any bad sectors.
    
   

Edited March 26, 2011 by SirSmokalot

[Fatal_Papercut~SPARTA~]

It's working now. It would appear that one of my mobo's RAM slots is bad. Fortunately, I can still run most everything quite well with just 8GB RAM (down from 16GB), so I am going to order a new mobo (same model, dirt cheap these days) and migrate everything over when it arrives.

 

Thanks to everyone for all of the help!

[SirSmokalot]

Windows 7 is hardware abstract layer independent, meaning you should be able to just plug in the hardrive when the hardware is built and let Win 7 take over. Should work fine, done it already across some platforms. Do a couple reboots and then presto thing are good as gold, unlike how XP was. So you can start migration now if you wanted.

[Hajimoto]

Glad to hear that you nailed the problem Fatal. You were blessed with one thing though, when troubleshooting the issue, the failure was consistent. See you in game!

[Batwing~SPARTA~]

So, just to learn something new, You discovered it was a RAM stick going bad, but the only program failing was Arma, while installed with 16 GB RAM ?

 

No other program was failing? ... this open a huge amount of questions how Arma works, how it addresses RAM and how come your RAM failure was not affecting any other program.

[MedicSN6]

So, just to learn something new, You discovered it was a RAM stick going bad, but the only program failing was Arma, while installed with 16 GB RAM ?

 

No other program was failing? ... this open a huge amount of questions how Arma works, how it addresses RAM and how come your RAM failure was not affecting any other program.

 

I believe he said it was a RAM slot on the mother board and not the actual stick. He also said he has ordered a new Mobo.

 

 

Good luck fatal with the new Mobo. Was it still in warranty?

[Fatal_Papercut~SPARTA~]

So, just to learn something new, You discovered it was a RAM stick going bad, but the only program failing was Arma, while installed with 16 GB RAM ?

 

No other program was failing? ... this open a huge amount of questions how Arma works, how it addresses RAM and how come your RAM failure was not affecting any other program.

 

Actually, Arma wasn't the only app I was having problems with. I use the 64-bit versions of PowerDirector 9 (video editing) and Cubase 5 (music production), and both of them--especially Cubase--have been having hang-ups and crashes as of late. However, these are programs that I was using to process enormous amounts of data (even more than what could fit into by 16GB RAM), and so it didn't seem too odd to me that they would have the occasional hiccup. Once I get the new mobo, I will see if it also affects the performance of these other apps.