Common BH problems & solutions

[Starg]

Hi all,

I just thought I'd roll up the various issues people have had with the game and offer some solutions to them.

General:
- Ultra uses DX9 where Classic uses DX8. Make sure you have DX9c or later: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=35

- 'Can't find appropriate full screen video mode.' Crash
If you are running Win 8 you are going to need to find game's executable file
(most likely somewhere around here C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Beat Hazard)
Enter properties, Compatibility tab and check "Disable Display Scaling On High DPI Settings" and then ''OK'' It should work now, you may also need to check "Run as administrator"

BH Crashes / resets on start up:
- Try disabling the Steam overlay. (Uncheck the box next to "Enable Steam Community In-Game" in the game settings in Steam)
- Set up a pref command and run in a window. Try this command first: CustomRez 1 800 600;
- The games will crash if you have AmBX running in the background. (Disable this and it should be fine)
- You can also try this: Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\beat hazard. Then go to beat hazards properties and select the compatibility tab, there tick the "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings" option.
- If you have 'Shadow Ops' DLC, try unsubscribing all the ships in the workshop. Some ships can work on some machines, but not others.
- For Win8 users: You might need to check compatibility settings. The first may only apply to 8.1, so if you're running 8, it may not work. The second supposedly works for both versions. (Thanks to Waste_of_skin)
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/older-programs-compatible-version-windows
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/6832-compatibility-mode-use-windows-8-a.html

BH stuck on loading screen:
This is where the game is trying to load your save game from the Cloud, there are a number of possible fixes:
- Steam cloud support must be turned on for BH (Go to steam, then Steam+Settings then Downloads+Cloud and there enable Steam Cloud)
- Try playing a game with Steam in offline mode. Then play online. This can cause a re-sync and fix it
- Try deleting the file BeatHazardSongSave.sav (This will be somewhere in your appdata/roaming folder)
- It could also be a corrupt save (see next comment)

BH crashes after loading screen:
This could be a corrupt save game.
- Set up a pref command file ( http://steamcommunity.com/app/49600/discussions/0/882960080238317839/ ) and use the ResetMySongSaves_NoReally; command.
If this doesn't work, try the NewSaveGame; command
Remember to remove these commands once the game is working again.
- Delete the files in the '[user]/appdata/roaming/Beat Hazard' folder. You can find this folder by typing %appdata% in to a file browser window.

Preparing to launch, but never does:
- Could be that Steam is down, check the stats to see if there's a dip in the graph
- Exit Steam & re-run & delete & re-install BH.
- Try running the game direct from the Steam apps folder, you might get a better error

BH sometimes minimizes
- A reboot can fix this most of the time
- If you have mIRC, GlovePIE, TwitDeck running, try turning these off.
- Try closing Firefox

Music volume 'ducks' when I blow stuff up
- This is caused by windows automatically trying to 'protect' your speakers. It happens when the combined volume of the music & the SFX exceed a preset level. Try turning the music and SFX volumes down to 3 or 4 and turning up your speakers to compensate.

If none of these work, the game can output debug text that can help me track down the problem. To do this, set up a pref file and use the WriteDebug; command. The output will be in the Steam apps/Beat hazard folder and it's called DebugMsg.txt

Let me know if I've missed anything. I'll keep this first page up to date.

[duduu]

any solution to connectivity issues like high ping in my game room? Does the ping is all about my internet or/and my partner internet too? Or does bit hazard server has anything to do with it?

[Starg]

BH uses a peer to peer system, so no servers are needed. The ping time is just the time taken to send a message and get a response back from the other player.

If it's more then 200ms or so it prints the ping up as a warning to let you know.
As to why it's high, I don't really know. It could be a number of reasons. Do both have you have good internet connections? And check if you have anything else running that might be using the net/downloading stuff.

[LucK_]

I have no issues with the game, but think it's great that you've given such a detailed list of instructions for those who might. Loving Beat Hazard so far, great work! :)

[duduu]

Originally posted by Starg:

BH uses a peer to peer system, so no servers are needed. The ping time is just the time taken to send a message and get a response back from the other player.

If it's more then 200ms or so it prints the ping up as a warning to let you know.
As to why it's high, I don't really know. It could be a number of reasons. Do both have you have good internet connections? And check if you have anything else running that might be using the net/downloading stuff.

When my friend was the host ping was like 3000-4000... when I hosted it was like 350 ms... anything up to 150 ms is most likely to make the game unplayable... it's probably ♥♥♥♥♥♥ internet connection... thanks for the information tho!!

Also, face another issue when playing the game... if you join the game by a friend's game invite, it says something like

"You have been logged out from steam

Returning to main menu."

But when a friend invite you when you are playing the game already it works just fine

[XT-8147]

To the "BH crashes on startup" list I'd like to add the following:
* Make sure all the lines in BeatHazardPref.txt end with a semicolon.

BH was crashing on startup for me. I checked BeatHazardPref.txt and saw this:

CustomRez 0 1440 900
ThanksButNoThanks;
end;

The fix was to add a semicolon to the end of the CustomRez line. The weird part is it wasn't crashing before and I hadn't edited the file recently.

Is there any way that the game could check the syntax of BeatHazardPref.txt and display a nice error if there are issues, rather than crashing?

[Starg]

There should be a ; at the end of every line. (You should add one to the first line too). It is a little flakey as I added this code quickly just to help players get custom settings sorted in the game.

[PashaNN]

How to play custom tracks with friend in coop-mode? Well, i send to him track, what's now?

[Starg]

You both need to 'index' your tracks from the options screen. The game uses the index list to match up which songs you have in common.

[PashaNN]

Special directory needed for index? Or it can be any directories on my and friend PC's?

[Starg]

Folders can be anywhere, as long as the files are the same

[Gecko]

Hey. Just downloaded this on my Retina Macbook Pro, and all of the text is made up of some weird shapes, makes it incredibly hard to get into a game.

Also, is there any way to play on my Mac using a 360 controller?

EDIT: Found the solution from a few months ago, works fine. Still curious about the controller though...

[Smomeh]

Even if I change language the game is still in English. Why? I'm playing it on the last 13" MacBook Pro.

[Dret]

Before formatting my PC, the game was working fine, but now it fully crashes my PC. I've tried everything here, but nothing works. I'm using Windows XP, Directx 9.0c, Nvidia GeForce 6200. I'm sad I can't play the game anymore >.<

[mm00]

Originally posted by Dret:

Before formatting my PC, the game was working fine, but now it fully crashes my PC. I've tried everything here, but nothing works. I'm using Windows XP, Directx 9.0c, Nvidia GeForce 6200. I'm sad I can't play the game anymore >.<

me too, i installed the game yesterday.

[Serious]

I was wondering if anyone is having a online issue. I noticed alot of people had this problem but no known resolution was available. The problem is when i tried to connect to other people's online game I could join the room but it would continually say I am loading for a good minute or two and then disconnect.

I have tried disabling my firewall and checked my network permissions.

Thank you in advance :)