Dark Messiah Of Might and Magic will not launch.

[Enmity NZ]

I was looking for a good game using archery so I purchased this game through steam - it quite simply does not launch for me. I go to launch it, it appears to be trying to launch but then nothing..nothing comes up. Upon checking task manager I cannot see the game in the "applications" tab, but I can see the mm.exe running in the processes (which I have to manually end task if I want to try and execute the game again.)

I posted in the below thread but apparently that was the wrong place, here's that thread for your reference :
http://steamcommunity.com/app/2100/discussions/0/864975632619786501/?tscn=1392299287#p3

The troubleshooting I have tried thus far is firstly disabling crossfire, no dice. Verifying Integrity, rebooting, then verifying again, which verifies fine every time anyway..no dice. I tried the windows/system 32 suggestion from Uisor..but I couldn't get that to work as when I move the bink32.dll into system 32...I can not find it again to copy it back to its original place..so it copies to system 32, says its successful...but I can't see it in there now to copy back. I've set it to "show all files" including system files but still cant see the bink32.dll when its in the system32 folder...then I verified integrity again which brought the bink file back to its original place...so tried to copy it again to system32 - this time It says it already exists, do I want to replace it?..yes...and again, can't find it..even using the search option in the top right corner...so I dunno.

Other things I have tried is launching with -autoconfig -condebug -heapsize etc, no dice.

Another suggestion was moving the bink32.dll from the Bin folder to just the main folder where the mm.exe is found, no dice.

After trying all of the above, I read a post from the earlier mentioned thread and followed these steps in the case of me messing my Dark Messiah Installation :

Right-click the game -> Delete local content.
Exit Steam.
In your steamapps\common\ folder find and delete Dark Messiah Might and Magic Single Player folder.
In your Steam directory, find and delete your ClientRegistry.blob file
Reboot the PC.
Launch Steam
Download Dark Messiah Might and Magic Single Player

Upon following these steps, and trying the game with and without crossfire..I am still unable to launch this game, and again, as far as steam is concerned it's launching - steam says I have played like 4 hours of this game..but it never launches. The only indication I get that the game has launched is that the mm.exe process is active in task manager - but usually a game is shown in the "applications" tab of task manager too, which has never happened. I am almost at my witts end with this and on the verge of asking for a refund - I'd just love to play this game again like I did years ago before I lost it.

I am running windows 7 ultimate x64
Catalyst 14.1 beta 1.6

System :
i5 3570k@4.4ghz
8GB DDR3 1600mhz
2 x Sapphire 7970Ghz Vapor-X's
Asus P8Z77-V Motherboard.

[Genesis]

Originally posted by Tinkerton:

I just tried to start the game and had the same problem. Start the game through the library, Steam says it's running, the process appears in the task manager, but nothing happens. Drivers up to date and fiddling with compatibility, run as admin, affinity and verifying the game cache didn't help.

Since some posts around mention certain problems with SecuROM, I decided I'd try to crack the game and lo and behold, it works. I used a 1.2 MULTI5 cracked exe (and accompanying DLLs) and the game started with no problems, first level loads fine and level transitions seem to work fine (tested to the point where you calm down the undead situation in the city and get a chance to wander around). I know it's a bit late, but for anyone still looking for a solution I guess this is it.

Note: I'm not responsible for any damages made to your computer, your copy of the game, your Steam account or any ensuing VAC-bans because of this. I'm not sure if you could get VAC-banned for cracking the game (considering it has a multiplayer component maybe it's possible?), but do keep it in mind before trying this.

A ban would just be a cherry on top of the turd cake that is old and semi-old game support on Steam (especially ones with copy protection). Would it kill anyone to, I don't know, release a product that works? Once in a blue moon, at least?

SP and MP are considered as 2 different games on Steam, so even if you do get a VAC ban, that would only be in MP, which is pretty much no longer played.

I think this game used to work fine, back when it was released. It just doesn't seem to be friendly with modern systems/hardware and it's rare when developers fix their games to make them work on newer systems. Though the game works fine on my Win8, thank you for the heads up, this should help those having trouble playing it.

[Tinkerton]

Well people got VAC bans for modding Dark Souls IIRC, but that's a sort of SP/MP grey area. Also, you'll be banned from any other game that happens to use VAC.

When I say release, I actually meant re-release on Steam. Re-releasing a game on Steam which, in and of itself, is a type of DRM, and then not removing old SecuROM, GFWL or any other ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ your game happened to have on release is a very lazy move. It's downright flippant and irresponsible.

[Enmity NZ]

Agreed, at least someone is providing support for this problem. I'd like the ♥♥♥♥ out of your comment if I could, Tinkerton. Thank you :)

I gave up on this game a long time ago because of this issue so i'll give this a whirl. If I dont report back its because i'm playing one of my old favourite games again.

[HACKER FODDER!]

Originally posted by Enmity NZ:

Agreed, at least someone is providing support for this problem. I'd like the ♥♥♥♥ out of your comment if I could, Tinkerton. Thank you :)

I gave up on this game a long time ago because of this issue so i'll give this a whirl. If I dont report back its because i'm playing one of my old favourite games again.

Hello Nice Person! ? did you get it running after all of this I had to reinstall it and when I went t play it same things happened to me but I can't for the life of me remember all I had to do years ago when we had to get it to run. If the above worked or something else plaease reply back if you would be so kind. I see that you played it on the 22nd so you must have gotten it to work?

Thanx much,

[Trey]

Hi there! Have same problem over many years..thought that may be the game was..."broken" or something (lol).

Read one Russian guide (something new, haven't seen it here yet) - my rough translation:
run the game - find it in process explorer, right click then (not sure how to translate this line) - you should push the button in the menu that will lead you to the core selection for this process - choose only 1 core. This should help (wont? - try doing same with Steam process)...it didn't really help me -__-

Cracking is the only option! :[

[Tinkerton]

Yes, that's the Set Affinity option in the task manager, it didn't help when I tried it. It does help with many older games (NOLF, for example) that won't run, so keep it in mind when you're trying fixes for something else. The only working fix for this game so far was the crack.

[Enmity NZ]

Sorry guys, the weird thing is...I decided to just try and launch Dark Messiah and it just randomly worked lol...so umm..I really have no idea what made it decide to work other than my recent upgrade to windows 10 from 8.1 lol (not likely)

[Trey]

erm...ooooookaaaaaaaayyyy....so...you're leaving us pondering...
whatever - got mad and playing pirated repack xD

[Vegetarian]

I had same problem as you.I set it to run as admin and run in windows xp service pack 3 mode.It worked.

[Trey]

doesn't work, K19 - I've tried all the possible settings and methods I found online and here. Somehow nothing helps :\

[Vegetarian]

I also started game from steam library "common" folder,not from steam directly.This can may help.I still can't run game directly,but I have to start like this everytime.

[Kamakaze]

Haven't played this game for years and wanted to play it again.
Had this issue after installing, moved the binkw32.dll file from the bin folder to the main folder.

Worked for a few days then started doing it again then moved it to the trash then tried to run, mentioned something about binkw32.dll missing from computer, moved it back to main folder and magically started working again.

[hexaae]

Originally posted by Kamakaze:

Haven't played this game for years and wanted to play it again.
Had this issue after installing, moved the binkw32.dll file from the bin folder to the main folder.

Worked for a few days then started doing it again then moved it to the trash then tried to run, mentioned something about binkw32.dll missing from computer, moved it back to main folder and magically started working again.

Apply these fixes and will solve all crashes in this game:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=307579490

[headholo]

event viewer shows this:
Faulting module path: D:\Dark Messiah Might and Magic Single Player\bin\shaderapidx9.dll

Might explain the white screen then crashing or a red herring as i have other event viewer errors too.

Though i think it could also be something to do with securom.

I was shocked when i read this :
https://forums.ubi.com/archive/index.php/t-598970.html

This problem has been going on well over 10 years.

[hexaae]

Originally posted by headholo:

event viewer shows this:
Faulting module path: D:\Dark Messiah Might and Magic Single Player\bin\shaderapidx9.dll

Might explain the white screen then crashing or a red herring as i have other event viewer errors too.

Though i think it could also be something to do with securom.

I was shocked when i read this :
https://forums.ubi.com/archive/index.php/t-598970.html

This problem has been going on well over 10 years.

What's your specs, CPU, RAM, OS version...? That was a bug reported by a small amount of players because they messed up Windows services and/or have files manually put in %SystemRoot% (f.e. binkw32.dll from other games), and/or system messed up by malware or blocked by antiviruses...
When today this game starts fine for 99.9% of normal Windows 10 installations, it must be something weird in your system cfg. I'd investigate my Win installation and check the games requirements if I were you.