Demo won't start

[Bertaut]

Hi there, I'm unable to get the demo for Champions of Anteria to run. I initially installed it quite some time ago, and it worked fine. I last played it a couple of months ago, and again, had no trouble. However, in the last couple of days, I've tried playing it multiple times, and nothing happens. The splash screen appears on-screen for a split second, and then it just disappears and Uplay opens. I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling, I've tried running it in compatibility mode, I've tried verifying the install, I've tried running it direct from UPlay, I've tried running it as an Admin. Nothing works.

My system is fully up to date, as is Uplay (and Steam).

Any ideas?

Thank you.

[Cyberaapje]

Same here and i just bought the game...

Also tried the usuall stuff, admin/compatibility mode/directx redist 2010, should i find a sollution i post it here but i doubt it.

[Radio Raheem]

same deal, i own the game but cant play it...

[AbyssalZombie]

Yeah, I am in the same boat cannot even play the game. I tested many things and just launches then closes it self. I wanted to try and finish this game for once.

[Cyberaapje]

Currently having a ticket open with Ubi about this, its not that i or "we" are the only ones that experiencing this issue.

Offcourse Ubi's first reply is the standard one, display drivers, admin rights etc. So i did like they asked and replied:

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Hi Deyan

Thanks for answering my ticket.

I got the same issue some others are experiencing (ppl who own the full game, and ppl who try to play the demo) and are reporting since a while.
As soon as i start the game from Steam or UPlay, it only displays the splash screen briefly.

Been gaming for 25 years (yeah that sounds pathetic but hey gaming is a hobby) so its not that im very unexperienced with computers, etc.
And i know u have to ask these things first to rule out the problem is caused by for example a video driver or myself (my last job was technical support representative).

So i am gonna take the time for this and do everything i can to help you help me.
Currently having 257 games installed on my machine which are running fine, its only this game not launching.
I updated the display driver like u asked, did run the game with admin rights again, however sadly the result is negative.
Its not gonna be that simple.

Like u requested i added updated dxdiag and msinfo files to this post.

Question, are there no error log files for this game? (can't find any)
There is no error displayed, but the reason could be the game doesn't even boot up, just displays this splash screen briefly.

When i look at online forums ubi, steam, etc. i can see this game was working fine a year ago.
Windows 10 did undergo massive changes, (i been a Windows 10 Inside since 2014 and i know past updates did break a lot of stuff, btw not running the insider version anymore incase u wondering if that could be the problem xD).

Its a guess in the wild but i am thinking something in Windows 10 changed in the last year which causes this game and the demo not to work anymore. Offcourse could be i am wrong... like i said its a guess in the wild, but seems like something changed which caused this game to stop working.

Hope you can help me and other who would like to try/play and buy this game figure out whats causing the problem.

With regards,

Patrick aka Cyberaapje
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I keep u guys informed about any progress, lets see if Ubi is willing to take this seriously and is gonna help fix the problem.

Because i did see other posts about Ubi support at the end giving up on ppl and just told them their machine is just not compatible.

I got all the time, and i am not giving up anytime soon. If its true this game is not running on the current build of Win10, they should come up with a fix, or remove it from Steam/Ubi store.

[Radio Raheem]

Thanks for the update mate, I'm also a long time gamer and if a game won't work I can normally fix it myself with this being the exception.

I think you're right about it being a windows 10 update issue and we all seem to be experiencing the brief splash screen then the game closing with no error message.

Hope they get back to you with some decent info or actually give a sh*t enough to look into this poorly selling game!

[Neokin]

i have the same issues and I try them in two different pc with win10 i hope they should come up with a fix, thx to keep us informed. (y)

[Buschi VP]

I have the exact same problem here.. Bought the game on steam and uplay (twice), problem shows up with both versions. I tryed all of the workarounds / reinstalls etc. nothing changed it for me! Hope Ubi does something about it!!!

And thanks for your commitment Cyberaapje

[Bertaut]

Yeah, it's definitely a Windows 10 update issue. The game worked fine for me about a year ago when I first downloaded it. I played it again about three or four months ago, and it still worked fine. But then, out of nowhere, it stopped working, and the only change that had been made to my system was a Windows 10 update. I also opened a ticket with Ubisoft, and they were less than helpful. After doing all the usual bits and bobs, they basically said "Yeah, sorry, we've no idea what's wrong with it."

[Radio Raheem]

Any word, Cyberaapje?

Maybe I should also create a ticket as perhaps the more people that bug them about it could make them more likely to get their butt's into gear and sort this out

[Cyberaapje]

Yeah got a response:
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Hello Patrick,

Thank you for contacting us back with the files requested.

I would first like to thank you for the descriptive and positive manner in your contact.

Since the issue that you are encountering appears to be hard to reproduce at this point, we would like to make few more suggestions that you may try before running the Champions of Anteria again.

I would first suggest that you try running the game with all the overlays and background application disabled.
By overlays I mean programs such as: Discord , MSI Afterburner and of sorts. We have received reports from players that some of the Overlay programs can interfere with our games.

Also, I would suggest that you send us a short video of the issue happening. This might be helpful for our investigation on a bigger scale.

As a dedicated gamer myself, I understand and apologize for the inconvenience that the game might be causing to you. However have in mind that we are gathering information and searching for the cause of the issue.

If you have any other questions feel free to contact us.

Kind Regards,
Tsvetomir
Ubisoft Support.
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Hi Tsvetomir,

Sorry for the late response but i didn't really had time to test earlier.

I disabled Steam and Uplay overlays, and everything else i could find (even antivirus) and is not needed to run the game.

The result is the same however, only skips the Uplay splash screen now and instead i instant get the game splash screen for a split second.

I am also writing at the Steam forums about this and more and more ppl are reporting in with the same issue.

People that played the game 3 or 4 months ago, and now are experiencing the same issue without any changes to their build/system except for Windows Updates.

I report back Monday or Tuesday, then i have time to figure out how to make and upload a video of this.

With regards,

Patrick aka Cyberaapje
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Don't have much time now (work) but after the weekend i 'll figure out howto make a video of me trying to run the game without overlays and everything disabled what possibly could interfere with the game and send them the requested vid.

[Buschi VP]

Thanks man!!! I will open up a ticket myself as well, maybe this helps to rise the pressure on ubisoft.

[Cyberaapje]

Sure is a good idea, the more people reporting this issue the better.

In previous answer they wrote the issue is hard to reproduce but i find it hard to believe they allready tested and tried that. Because that is something u do AFTER the standard troubleshooting procedures are finished without result, to make sure the reported issue is not caused by user/hardware/drivers/3th party software, etc.

Oh well i just uploaded the requested video.
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Hi Tsvetomir,

Just added the requested video in mp4 format. Wanted to show u guys a run attempt with and without overlays, clouse save sync, but only 5MB is allowed. Can put a longer video on YouTube if you want?

The result is always the same however, the splash screen is displayed for a split second, then dissapears again together with the task in taskmanager as u can see in this video.

With regards,

Patrick aka Cyberaapje
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Lets wait and see what happens...

[Cyberaapje]

Next reply:
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Hello Patrick,

Thank you for contacting Ubisoft Support.

I understand that you have provided a video material on the issue with your game.

I would like to inform you that the game should be able to launch from your Upaly PC, in your Uplay library.

The Uplay PC overlay is related to your game, and is the platform which the game runs from.

Can you please login to your Uplay PC, find the game in your library and launch it from there. If the issue persist please contact us back.

A video of the issue in youtube is also acceptable.

If you have any other questions feel free to contact us.

Kind Regards,
Tsvetomir
Ubisoft Support.
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Offcourse i allready tried that (with and without overlay/cloud saves).

And running the game without Steam is impossible, because i have the Steam licence. Clicking play in Uplay, launches Steam, then launches the game.

So i want to test the game.

I unstall the Steam version, click install in Uplay, which then starts the installation using Steam...

Ok i don't want to buy a second licence just to see if the non-Steam Uplay version runs. So next idea i had was, uninstall the game and install the Uplay Demo.

That seemed to work, the Demo starts without Steam because i installed it directly from Uplay. But only difference i noticed was that it installs C++ redistributables and DirectX.

Result running Uplay version seems the same, problem is not related to Steam.

So i replied:
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Hi Tsvetomir,

I tried starting the game using Uplay, this makes no difference however. Tried this with and without overlays enabled. Since i bought the game using Steam and own a Steam licence, clicking "play" in Uplay just launches Steam and then the game.

I tried unstalling the game in Steam, then clicked "install" in Uplay, and it just starts Steam again to install the game. Same issue after reinstall offcourse.

So next idea i had was, lets try the game without Steam! But offcourse i did not want to buy another licence on Uplay just to test if the problem is related to Steam.

People trying the Demo on Steam reporting the same issue. Since i never tried the Demo, the Steam version of the Demo was not bound to my Uplay account yet.

So i thought lets search and test the Demo on Uplay to see if that makes a difference. Sadly enough it seems the issue has nothing to do with Steam.

The result trying the Demo version on Uplay is the same as others reporting on Steam and the issue i have with the retail version.

Also tried to search for clues in the Windows event log but i can't find anything related (or maybe i just don't know where to look for).

Are you having someone look into this issue? Try to reproduce the issue?

Multiple people reported having this issue, also people which own the retail and where able to play the game a few months before but now can't.

I am still thinking my "guess" that the issue is related to a Windows Update, and it worked in a previous version/build is not far off. Sadly i can not test this theory.

But then again, i also could not find anyone yet that is able to run the game to this date using the current Windows version/build…

With regards,

Patrick aka Cyberaapje.
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I hope they gonna actually look into it now...

[Radio Raheem]

Cheers for the update man, I hit up their support 3 days ago and still haven't heard back yet.

[Bertaut]

Thanks for keeping us updated. Really appreciated.