Tech help: Game start hangs on "loading data files"

[Aesirkin]

I installed SEv and played for a while tonight. All seemed fine.

I came back after dinner and tried to start a new game. The loading bar got to about 85% of "loading data files", hung there for 5 seconds, then the screen started to flicker rapidly with no further progress. My computer was mostly locked up; I did a ctrl+alt+del, opened task manager, and killed it.

I've now tried several more times, always with the same result. I have tried:
- Restarting the computer many times
- Restarting Steam
- Verifying files through Steam
- Reinstalling the game through Steam
- Running as admin
- Switching to RGB Emulation at 1024x768 (it ran fine before at 1920x1080)
- Installed an old copy of the Balance Mod and tried starting a new game with that
- Both starting a new game and loading my saved game
- Uninstalling, manually deleting the entire folder, restarting the PC, reinstalling through Steam

What could cause this and what else can I try to fix it? Seems like there's some problem with the data files and they can't be read or something, but they haven't changed since my first run, and I've reinstalled many times so they should be fine.

Thanks!

[Aesirkin]

Well, I managed to get past this error. For others experiencing it, it turns out that if you wait 10 seconds for the Steam notification in the bottom right to disappear before starting a game, everything works.

Unfortunately, after starting a simultaneous game with all computer players, it continuously hangs on processing turn at around 80% complete.

I thought this was permissions related as I also noticed that when I try to save a game it gives an error ("cannot create file ...SpaceEmpries5/se5/temp/temp_1.dat") and crashes. However, I resolved that by removing all readonly flags on the entire install directory, and settings permissions for all applications to full control. Processing still hangs at 80%

I tried running as admin again, but now every time I try it tells me a Steam dll is missing, but starts fine when not run as admin. I tried compat mode for Win XP, Win7, and Win8 without success; the file save problems reappear in all compat modes.

I would welcome other suggestions.

[CaptainKwok]

For the game loading issue, disabling the steam overlay (in the Steam options) could help you out.

What version of the Balance Mod are you running?

[Aesirkin]

Originally posted by CaptainKwok:

For the game loading issue, disabling the steam overlay (in the Steam options) could help you out.

What version of the Balance Mod are you running?

Thanks.

The old balance mod I have is in a folder labelled v115+ with a last update of 2010. I grabbed it off a backup of my old PBW server.

[Aesirkin]

Success!

I tried again today, now that the craziness of Christmas is over.

I uninstalled completely, then installed it to a different hard drive to see if it was some weird permissions issue on C. I went into new game creation, set some stuff, then tried to save the game settings and got an error about not being able to save the file.

I looked and the Gamesetups folder didn't exist. Apparently the game couldn't create it. I unticked readonly for the whole folder again, but still no joy. So I manually created that folder, and suddenly I could save the game setup.

I created an empire and tried to save it; same problem. So I manually created savedEmpires and Savegame folders. I could then save my empire and start the game. Unfortunately, it still hung on processing.

So I figured there's obviously some permissions issue going on here. It seems likely it's looking for another folder during processing that it can't find nor create. If so, manually creating that folder might allow it to process, and it did!

I looked at that old backup again and found that these folders existed there, but not in my Steam version: Backup, history, maps, and temp. I created each, unticked readonly on all of them, set permissions to full control for everyone, and started a new game. Turn 1 processed correctly!

So for anyone else experiencing this issue, create those 7 folders and it may fix it for you.

[CaptainKwok]

If you're going to run the Balance Mod, there's been plenty of versions since then as well that are more stable and refined vs the v115+ series.

http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod.php

[Aesirkin]

Thanks Captain; I'll check it out. First I think I need to reacquaint myself with vanilla though.

[m98s]

Originally posted by Aesirkin:

Success!

I tried again today, now that the craziness of Christmas is over.

I uninstalled completely, then installed it to a different hard drive to see if it was some weird permissions issue on C. I went into new game creation, set some stuff, then tried to save the game settings and got an error about not being able to save the file.

I looked and the Gamesetups folder didn't exist. Apparently the game couldn't create it. I unticked readonly for the whole folder again, but still no joy. So I manually created that folder, and suddenly I could save the game setup.

I created an empire and tried to save it; same problem. So I manually created savedEmpires and Savegame folders. I could then save my empire and start the game. Unfortunately, it still hung on processing.

So I figured there's obviously some permissions issue going on here. It seems likely it's looking for another folder during processing that it can't find nor create. If so, manually creating that folder might allow it to process, and it did!

I looked at that old backup again and found that these folders existed there, but not in my Steam version: Backup, history, maps, and temp. I created each, unticked readonly on all of them, set permissions to full control for everyone, and started a new game. Turn 1 processed correctly!

So for anyone else experiencing this issue, create those 7 folders and it may fix it for you.

THANKS A LOT ，I DO IT AS YOU TALK。SUCESS！