Rilian43

Reply to Fences 2.13 compatible with new Windows 10? in Fences Stardock Forums

I had the 'blank desktop on startup' bug on only one of the two computers I've upgraded from Win7 to Win10. The 'good' computer was on the latest version of Fences and upgraded fine. I'd not realised the other computer was on 'Fences Pro' which is out of date. I missed it as 'check for updates' in Fences said there weren't any, which was unhelpful. So I accidentally upgraded to Win10 on top of Fences Pro which seems to be a bad idea. O

Reply to What are the Top 5 Game Sites in 2013? in PC Gaming Stardock Forums

Rock, Paper, Shotgun Blue's News

[CRASH] to desktop early in tutorial in FE Support Elemental Forums

I ran the tutorial and after moving my leader (not obvious, the numpad didn't work at first and I was slow to guess I should use the numpad at all) and scrolling the map (also not obvious) I moved to the first pickup. I received a popup window telling me to (I think) start new research, and then all of a sudden the game was gone, crash to desktop. I ran the game again and I believe the first time it died the moment it should have shown the message popup starting 'a swift kick.

Reply to CD Projekt Statement on Witcher 2 and DRM in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

Didn't they release a patch for the first Witcher that removed the DRM completely? Anyway, I'm only partway into Dragon Age but Witcher seemed a better game; Dragon Age feels like a copy of it having a similar setting but being less developed and less mature. Of course Dragon Age has a party, and stronger RPG elements, and Witcher more of an 'action' feel. Dragon Age still feels more juvenile (Blood! More blood! FOUNTAINS of blood!) and Witcher a more advanced game in a more plausible, comple

Reply to How much of a graphic improvement are we to expect? in War of Magic Elemental Forums

I have to agree - the faces look lumpy and unnatural although the figures otherwise are good. Overall the game models are nice but there's too much reflectivity (?) or bloom (?) - anyway, things look 'shiny metal' when they shouldn't. Building roofs, for example, seem to have a few mirror tiles. I suppose that's by design although I find it rather spoils the look. It's looking very good. For those who think it hangs at startup - wait. I was sure it had crashed, but I left it a f

Reply to [CRASH] Failed to download data file in WOM BETA Builds Elemental Forums

I have the same issue with 0.302, has anyone figured out a workaround for this 'failed to download data file' problem?

[0.291 CRASH] Crash on Choose your Sovereign screen in WOM BETA Builds Elemental Forums

I've not tried Elemental for a few versions although I've been taking the updates when offered. After using Impulse to 'verify' I have a good installation, running the game looks good at first until I get to the 'choose sovereign' screen. It has no images at all (should it?) and no sovereigns to pick, so I click the button to create one, as there's nothing else I can do. The empty boxes of the 'choose' screen and for a second I'm looking at an Elemental fullscreen backdrop picture, then crash

Reply to Fences - Icons "fall out" and overlap (Win7 x64) in Stardock Support General Stardock Forums

I think that's it. The icon escapes every time I play 'Lord of the Rings online' which runs in panel native resolution - but I think the splash screen shown on loading is in a lower resolution. It would be great to see a fix for this, it happens so often and with many programs.

Feature request - animated avatars on Windows logon screen in Object Desktop Stardock Forums

My home PC (Win 7) has a user account for me and for each of my children. The kids each have a little icon, from the standard Microsoft stock, to represent their user on the logon screen. I'd like the 'icons' to be animated - like the little portraits you get in games like World of Warcraft. A suitable Stardock product could supply a collection of nice 3d-modelled walking robots, swaying flowers, cartoon figures etc, and maybe add the ability to use any video clip of the appro

Reply to A very anoying yet old FENCES bug in Object Desktop Stardock Forums

I have the 'escape to deaktop' bug and it's not just with new icons. I have the launch icon for 'Lord of the Rings Online' in a fence (runs DX10, fullscreen, same native res on desktop). Every time I run it, when Windows switches off Aero Glass so the game can run, the icon escapes to the desktop. Every day, I put it back. It's not as amusing as it once was. Windows 7 full version, home premium, ATI 48xx video. (sorry if dupe - the forums just 'went boom

Reply to Fences - problem with full screen game (Age of Empire 2) in Stardock Support General Stardock Forums

Same here, the good news is I have a workaround. Create a batch file in the game directory comtaining the following: taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe Empires2.exe start explorer.exe Run the batch file and enjoy the fixed graphics. If you're on XP you may not have 'taskkill' (test first, before launching the script). If that's so you can download it here (not my site, may be useful): <a href="http://members.ziggo.nl/gigajosh/2005/

Reply to Fences Win7 bug / feature request in Stardock Support General Stardock Forums

I know it's following up my own post, but I now have a workaround and confirmation that it's not 100% a fences problem. I can make the games run with a batch file that kills Explorer, runs the game, and re-enables Explorer. I can also make the problem manifest on a Win7 computer without Fences. However I can only make it appear in XP _with_ Fences. Also the problem seems intermittent on the no-Fences computer, and 100% present on the one with Fences. Conclusion: <

Reply to Fences Win7 bug / feature request in Stardock Support General Stardock Forums

Yes, it does persist I'm afraid. I have some more info, a suggestion and a request: INFO: 1) When game is running, alt-tab and killing all Explorer processes fixes the screen corruption in the game. 2) Probably not a Win7 issue. I remembered that my parents computer (XP, out-of-date NVidia drivers, Fences) does the same thing in some games (childrens' 'cluefinders' games) intermittently. I don't have enough access to prove it's the same thing but its suspicious and bef

Fences Win7 bug / feature request in Stardock Support General Stardock Forums

It seems that Fences does something to the Windows 7 display drivers such that a number of old games are broken. The symptom is the in-game display having its palette corrupted so that everything displays in crazy colours. It's been discussed for a number of games (Starcraft, Age of Empires II etc), in a number of places for example http://gaming.icrontic.com/articles/get-starcraft-working-on-windows-7-three-easy-steps I know it can be fixed programmatically as there is

Reply to Majesty 2 in PC Gaming Stardock Forums

Despite Stardock confirming I'd cancelled it, I received it anyway. Bother. Some folks might love it but I'm wishing my cancellation had been honoured. It's pretty and has the same voice acting as the original. Another (big) positive is the Impulse DRM; I can play LAN multiplayer with one license, like with Demigod. The list of negatives is longer. There are no random maps, no co-op, no 'freeplay' / 'carry on after mission ends'. The hero AI has many problems, s

Reply to Majesty 2 in PC Gaming Elemental Forums

Can you play local multiplayer with one license, like you can for Demigod? I cancelled my pre-order after hearing there's no skirmish play, but if the multiplayer makes a fun family game, I might reconsider. The kids liked Majesty, but I wouldn't buy several licenses of the new game for the few times they'd play.

Patch breaks Pantheon completely, in a new way in Demigod Stardock Forums

I'm finding the post-patch experience MUCH worse; what I'm seeing however is clearly different from before so the details might give a clue to someone. Before the patch I had problems at first, then forwarded ports 6073 and 6100 - 6200 and after that things went well, apart from too many bots in the Pantheon. I've played games whenever I wanted to, very successfully. Lots of fun. Now I can't play Pantheon at all. Once a game starts to be matched, I was delighted that in each o

Fences and screen magnification (crash) in Stardock Software Stardock Forums

Fences has a useful niche for low-vision users who recognise icons by screen position, and _really_ don't like them moving around on resolution changes. I installed Fences on a computer running the screen magnifier 'lunar plus' (version 7, an older version) and it crashes Explorer on boot. Here's the details: Windows XP, ATI video card. If Fences and Lunar both start at boot, first Lunar starts and then Fences crashes Explorer and locks up windows; it dies inside a Stardock .d

Ongoing DRM failure - how to clean it up with uninstall? in Beta Feedback Sins Forums

My installation of Entrenchment killed Sins, although not with the dll or wrong directory problems others have reported. I'm getting messages about 'activation failure' and Sins bails out just after the splash screens. I've been discussing with stardock support, but their help has been less than helpful so far. I'm wondering if a full, complete cleanup of Impulse and all impulse related games might help. I don't want to download it all again and find I didn't clean enough, though!

Reply to Pre-Ordered and in it for the Long Haul: Sound Off in War of Magic Stardock Forums

Oh yes. I have no hesitation advance-funding this particular combination of genre and developer!

Reply to question about UK price for Sins: Entrenchment in Sins of a Solar Empire Stardock Forums

This is very poor. I'm in England and thus don't care about non-English translations, or prices and rates in Euros. It's fair enough that the non-English speaking Eurozone might have differential pricing but there's an amount of 'lets rip off England because we can' going on here. I'll buy the expansion because Sins is so much fun, but I'm most unhappy. This doesn't fit with the attitude of the 'gamers bill of rights' at all, I'm having to pay extra for nothing. <humou

Reply to [Nitpik] User Interface Mouse doesn't scroll map in Demigod Stardock Forums

I agree - I coudn't move the screen when I wanted to (yes, I found drag-zoom but find it clumsy), and adding that to the difficulty with working out who owns the units running around, and wondering what things like the light towers were for, I gave up after ten minutes. I just couldn't find a game in there. On the upside, it performed well and looked great, so I'm looking forward to the next beta in the hope of it having a game in it!

Reply to System Requirements? in Demigod Stardock Forums

I tried it on my laptop: Vista, 8600M-GT graphics, 2G RAM, dualcore 2.4GHz, old video drivers. It ran at 1440 x 900 (laptop native resolution) and while the framerate was kind of low, it was very playable, technically. Unfortunately I failed to figure out how to play - I was completely baffled, fought the user interface and was entirely lost. So it succeeded in the 'not fun' objective for Beta-1 !

Death by diplomacy in Strategy Sins Forums

Alright, I admit it - the AI is consistently beating me with diplomacy. Help! I've had a few tries playing a random medium map (as TEC) against three 'normal' AI players. Each time I do very well for a while but soon end up with all three against me, and over several hours they gradually wear me down until my position is hopeless. Three giant 'blobs' of ships at once are too much! The real problem is my inability to stay friends with even one. Does gifting resources help at all

Reply to Sins Beta 1 - Gameplay Feedback - *Post Here* in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

In contrast, I like jumping 'through' a well, and would like to suggest one change that will get more people in tune with this feature. The change is to show people in advance, in the tutorial. If it comes as a surprise people _will_ be unhappy, the game looks 2D enough that it's unexpected. If, in a tutorial, an enemy scout does this to the player, and the popup tutorial box says to guard the entry point close, or build inhibitors, that would be fine. The reason it's great is