Crashing on startup

[Omnipotent Erman]

Things i've tried so far:

profiler.dll
divxmedialib and divxdecodar
set compatibility mode to windows xp
ran the game in admin mode

i can't think of anything else how do i make thid damned game work?

[TheInfamousNA]

Same.
Tried all the same steps too.

[henning.urch]

same also with my game

[JuIcE]

I have been trying to solve this for maybe two or three years. My exact same PC actually was able to play it with no problem before that. I have tried everything and nothing works, it just crashes at launch. I hoped this anniversary version would have fixed it. Apparently not.

[SoulEater]

Originally posted by Omnipotent Erman:

Things i've tried so far:

profiler.dll
divxmedialib and divxdecodar
set compatibility mode to windows xp
ran the game in admin mode

i can't think of anything else how do i make thid damned game work?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3338434009
Try my guide!

[BlackMarshG]

Try this everyone. It was suggested in a earlier thread. I applied the dll replacement in the main Dawn of War II local install folder. It worked for me. In my install I replaced divxdecoder.dll, divxmedialib.dll and the profiler.dll

Intel 13900k, 4090, 64 gigs of ram on Win 11 Pro are my pc specs.

Originally posted by Squint-E:

Hey guys I picked up this game due to the sale, when I open it it opens a window with nothing in it on my desktop, it locks my mouse and doesn't let me click on anything unless I open task manager and close the blank "Dawn of War" window.

Anyone know a fix for this?

Originally posted by refriedbeans:

https://github.com/maximumgame/DOW2CoreFix/releases/tag/v1.0

[Lars]

I am NOT replacing .dll's or anything I expect a fix. this is not the late 90s where I manually crack stuff and whatnot.

[SoulEater]

Originally posted by Lars:

I am NOT replacing .dll's or anything I expect a fix. this is not the late 90s where I manually crack stuff and whatnot.

Unfortunately, Relic is not doing anything and the devs that know anything about coding this game have long left the company. Its nothing personnel. Its just the company's priorities. The only ones actually doing something are us fans / players. I highly recommend the fixes but its your loss if you can't play the game.

[Orbot]

+1 for broken game - but what strikes me as odd is I played it just fine literally yesterday. I notice that both the GOG and Steam versions are broken in exactly the same way.

[Omnipotent Erman]

Originally posted by BlackMarshG:

Try this everyone. It was suggested in a earlier thread. I applied the dll replacement in the main Dawn of War II local install folder. It worked for me. In my install I replaced divxdecoder.dll, divxmedialib.dll and the profiler.dll

Intel 13900k, 4090, 64 gigs of ram on Win 11 Pro are my pc specs.

Originally posted by Squint-E:

Hey guys I picked up this game due to the sale, when I open it it opens a window with nothing in it on my desktop, it locks my mouse and doesn't let me click on anything unless I open task manager and close the blank "Dawn of War" window.

Anyone know a fix for this?

Originally posted by refriedbeans:

https://github.com/maximumgame/DOW2CoreFix/releases/tag/v1.0

Are you being intentionally dense ? I already said I TRIED THESE STEPS AND THEY DID NOT WORK.

Originally posted by SoulEater:

Originally posted by Omnipotent Erman:

Things i've tried so far:

profiler.dll
divxmedialib and divxdecodar
set compatibility mode to windows xp
ran the game in admin mode

i can't think of anything else how do i make thid damned game work?

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3338434009
Try my guide!

I DID try your guide NONE of the steps did ANYTHING. I followed every step in the "game crashes on startup" section and they didn't help with anything.

[Looongcat]

Same for me. Tried profiler and the other 2 dlls.
Pressing Play in steam seems to do nothing, the button changes to Stop for a few seconds and then back to Play. Nothing launches.

[SoulEater]

Originally posted by Omnipotent Erman:

I DID try your guide NONE of the steps did ANYTHING. I followed every step in the "game crashes on startup" section and they didn't help with anything.

I've added a new one, the one with the Ransomware Management. A user reported that without excluding DOW2, it kept crashing. Small off chance that could be causing it.

So, you need to use the profiler.dll and perhaps that solution for the Ransomware Managament thing.

If that doesn't work, then I have no clue. There are edge cases that the guide doesn't cover.

[Omnipotent Erman]

Originally posted by SoulEater:

Originally posted by Omnipotent Erman:

I DID try your guide NONE of the steps did ANYTHING. I followed every step in the "game crashes on startup" section and they didn't help with anything.

I've added a new one, the one with the Ransomware Management. A user reported that without excluding DOW2, it kept crashing. Small off chance that could be causing it.

So, you need to use the profiler.dll and perhaps that solution for the Ransomware Managament thing.

If that doesn't work, then I have no clue. There are edge cases that the guide doesn't cover.

I put DOW2 on the exceptions list, still crashed. I turned off my antivirus, still crashed. I did both with the profiler and the 2 dlls placed in the game's folder and it still crashed. I have no idea how to make this game work.

[SoulEater]

Originally posted by Omnipotent Erman:

Originally posted by SoulEater:

I've added a new one, the one with the Ransomware Management. A user reported that without excluding DOW2, it kept crashing. Small off chance that could be causing it.

So, you need to use the profiler.dll and perhaps that solution for the Ransomware Managament thing.

If that doesn't work, then I have no clue. There are edge cases that the guide doesn't cover.

I put DOW2 on the exceptions list, still crashed. I turned off my antivirus, still crashed. I did both with the profiler and the 2 dlls placed in the game's folder and it still crashed. I have no idea how to make this game work.

Okay, this is my last final trick.

Try playing this game in safe mode. If it plays in safe mode, then its some software causing it, that's the only confirmation that it can give.

[Omnipotent Erman]

Originally posted by SoulEater:

Originally posted by Omnipotent Erman:

I put DOW2 on the exceptions list, still crashed. I turned off my antivirus, still crashed. I did both with the profiler and the 2 dlls placed in the game's folder and it still crashed. I have no idea how to make this game work.

Okay, this is my last final trick.

Try playing this game in safe mode. If it plays in safe mode, then its some software causing it, that's the only confirmation that it can give.

So i did run the windows in safe mode **with** network connection but i couldn't get dow2 to run, it kept giving me "failed to find a working fullscreen mode" error. I tried to run the game windowed mode, change the resolution from the config file in the my games folder and changed the comp. mode to windows 7 and even xp but none of them worked.

[SoulEater]

Originally posted by Omnipotent Erman:

Originally posted by SoulEater:

Okay, this is my last final trick.

Try playing this game in safe mode. If it plays in safe mode, then its some software causing it, that's the only confirmation that it can give.

So i did run the windows in safe mode **with** network connection but i couldn't get dow2 to run, it kept giving me "failed to find a working fullscreen mode" error. I tried to run the game windowed mode, change the resolution from the config file in the my games folder and changed the comp. mode to windows 7 and even xp but none of them worked.

Thanks for trying.

Out of desperation, I asked chatgpt on the nature of the error and this is what it gave me.

The "failed to find a working fullscreen mode" error suggests that the game is unable to switch to fullscreen mode

1. It asked to update graphics card, but I assumed you've already done that.
2. I'll also assume you've updated the both the DXSETUP.exe and vcredist.exe.
3. It also asked to try turning the game into windowed mode, and see what happens (change the setting in configuration.lua in C:\Users\<your user name>\Documents\My Games\Dawn of War II - Retribution\Settings.

setting = "window",
value = 0, => 1

3b. In that same file, there's something called horizontalmonitorcount, change that to 0 or 1, and see what happens.

4. Check Screen Resolution Compatibility
The error might occur if the game tries to run in a resolution that your monitor does not support. Ensure that your desktop resolution matches what the game is trying to use:

Right-click on your desktop and select Display settings.
Check the current resolution and compare it to the resolution set in the game.
Lower the desktop resolution temporarily and see if the game launches properly.

After that, I got nothing. But I'm pretty certain its resolution related. You can also try to disable v-sync.