Prob gonna get ignored but... Game now crashes upon startup...

[AtmaDarkwolf]

Goes to black screen and after a few seconds, closes with no error. Very odd since I was using it not too long ago and it worked fine (Same pc, everything is same as before, just recently removed a monitor)

Anyone know how I could fix it(If it is the monitor issue, which was a 165hz 1440p monitor and current is 1080p 60hz, how do I get game to 'forget' previous settings? - I completely wiped game from SSD and re downloaded and installed and still does it)

[Wolförian Garmdomia]

Have you made sure that your PC is linking/projecting/broadcasting/displaying to the primary monitor for the game? In Windows 7 days (when the game was made), you'd have to manually assign a monitor to be the primary monitor, and have a set secondary monitor. If the game is attempting to display to the now missing monitor, it may get some internal error of not being able to find the resolution you're trying to play it on. (i.e. the game is referencing a pixel that doesn't exist in your monitor, so it breaks it's code, and Crashes to Desktop)

So I could guess that if you have set your primary monitor (manually, by going into Settings>System>Display>Advanced Display Options, then selecting from the first drop-down menu, under "Select a display to view or change the settings for it", then select the monitor that you want to play the game on) and that might fix it.

Other issues could be that you need to run it on DX9 or DX11 (Direct X 9.0/11) and then restart the game. To do that, you'll need to open up the Properties of the game and under Launch Options, and type "-force-d3d9" without the quotes for DX9, or "-dx11" for DX11.

[AtmaDarkwolf]

I have already gone into registry and removed all references to the other monitors(well every monitor including the one being used now lol) but from past experience with the same issue (And similar issues) where you want to change display 1 to display 2 (not just switch main monitor, but change what windows identifies as the first and 2nd monitor, etc) - windows can often be a jerk and just NOT accept (or forget) older monitors.

But given that that is the ONLY change (I have not even updated windows lol, like literally sat and played a few games, shut down old pc and set up new one, and went back to old one to see which games I had installed before I gave it away) I feel it is something along those lines - The game, even if being completely re-installed, is trying to launch in the old mode @ 165hz -1440p (Where the current monitor is limited to 60hz and 1080p)

but I cannot find any advice on how to 'TRULY' make windows forget monitors and/or force games to launch differently (Even windowed so I can adjust settings?)

[Wolförian Garmdomia]

Alright, so I think we can do it with a little Steam Launch Magic!

The same route you'll use for forcing it to launch in DX9/11, but instead of typing in "-force-d3d9" type in the stuff here, carefully, "-w 1024 -h 768 -windowed" but without the quotes in there. This should, in theory, launch the game with both a smaller resolution, AND Windowed mode. If that doesn't work, then try flop-flipping the two things around, like "-windowed -w 1024 -h 768" , again, without quotes.

You also may want to adjust the two numbers that come after -w and -h with the width and height of your monitor, as measured in pixels.

(Sorry if my specificity is too much, just hoping that this will help others in the future if it also works for you.)

[AtmaDarkwolf]

nope, didn't work :( Was hopeful too cuz took a little longer to crash out than before, but same result.

Tried with just res, then just windowed, also, same result.

Edit, just tested on new system, and while I found a nice smattering of new issues with steams UI scaling on the new monitor (on new pc) dust runs fine. It auto-installed net framework, but other pc does not(says I already have it installed) so later am going to try to uninstall net and reinstall and see if that fixes it.

[AtmaDarkwolf]

reinstalled net framework(Although could not for whatever reason uninstall, repair, or reinstall framework 4, just kept giving 'already installed' message, even when attempting repair.. which is beyond dumb) removed all monitors (Again) from regedit, tried every launch option, etc. Only dust seems affected, all other games run fine, just for whatever reason it won't launch on that pc. (It will on this one even with reduced settings, etc)

So no clue and am at a loss at this point, giving up and moving on.

[AtmaDarkwolf]

Ok so nvm I DID find fix but it is byond stupid... Audio.

Apparently the game looks for an enabled (Active) audio device and if there are none (or all are disabled, muted, or 'off') it simply crashes.

After I moved it back and attempted on the old monitor again, i just had a thought and plugged in my void wireless headphones and poof worked. (Not sure if complete reinstall of steam, the game, etc, did anything, but all this was done before the headphone idea, although DID try after all that but before headphones and got same crash, so prob 95% confident it was the audio issue...)

So leaving this here and hoping maybe someone with similar issue happens accross it and finds this works for them without them having to do all the above :/

[Wolförian Garmdomia]

Good! I'm glad you found the solution to the issue. It's a weird one for sure!