Warning: fails to launch, Steam refusing refund

[derek]

New Dell XPS 15 system with discrete GPU and plenty of RAM running Win 10. As per past similar reports on this forum from various people (and no resolution) the game loads, hangs for about 20 sec on initial, static screen, and terminates. I contacted the developer, Marko Dieckmann (ION LANDS) and provided the log. He was unwilling to help, and responded:
"It’s hard to investigate system issues remotely. The log doesn’t show much. At this point I can only suggest to get a refund".

I bought the game some time ago and never played it before. Steam refused request for refund saying: "We will not be granting a refund at this time as there is no evidence that the product has a major defect as defined under Australian law."

In summary: the game fails to launch on a new, clean Win 10 system (many other more resources demanding Steam games run just fine), the developer does not care anymore to fix the issue, Steam considers failure to load not to be a major defect. Keep the above facts in mind before deciding to purchase the game.

[Jaunitta 🌸]

Dont use discrete GPU use dedicated gpu.
Move monitor cable to dedicated gpu.
explains the diference
https://steamcommunity.com/app/476360/discussions/0/2132869574257182516/

[derek]

Thank you for your suggestion, Jaunitta, hower this makes no difference. I have many Steam games installed, and this is the only one failing to launch.

[Ion]

Unwilling to help? That's not true, we investigated the issue in our email conversation, but sometimes, if we can't find a solution, the only way is to suggest a refund.
Why Steam refuses the refund is unacceptable, though. If you haven't played more than 2 hours, that should be no problem. Please do it again and state that we approve the refund.

[Sunshineacid]

For me shutting down MSI Afterburner and Rivatuner solved the startup-problems (crash without any initial ingame or menu-picture).
I asked the support to add this to FAQ - no luck until now.

[derek]

Well, Ion, you said in your email that "The log doesn’t show much" -- it shows as much or as little as you designed it to log. The issue is happening on loading the game, which never goes beyond the initial screen, not during some unusual in game combination. What appears to be similar issue (the same symptoms) has already been reported here by other users long time ago. You also said that "It’s hard to investigate system issues remotely", but this is exactly how vast majority of issues would be investigated. Your offered no technical advice of any sort, no enhanced logging method or tool, no other technical suggestion which could potentially lead to resolution. I received from you just one two lines long email saying along the lines: give it up, do not try to start the game, ask for a refund, I will not be involved in trying to fix it for you.Regretfully I have to stand by my original statement: this can only be seen as no interest to help.

I installed the game on a one week old Dell XPS 15 with clean factory Win 10 with all drivers and system updates current and only one application installed so far: Steam. I would expect that the game should run, and I do believe that it is very unlikely that the issues is caused by anything on my system.

Yesterday I have re-submitted refund request to Steam and this time it was accepted, I am credited with full refund. In this sense your advice was helpful (though I would work out this course of action myself): dump the game and ask for a refund.

[Thrall72]

Minimal Specs:
Graphiques : Dedicated GPU, NVIDIA or AMD, 1.5 GB video memory

[gnarlyhotep]

I was able to get past the "LOADING" screen by launching the game as Administrator.
After that it will start normally.

[wolis]

When it crashes for me I see this in the log:

Unloading 10 Unused Serialized files (Serialized files now loaded: 0)
UnloadTime: 0.348400 ms
Non platform assembly: data-1339C358 (this message is harmless)
Fallback handler could not load library C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Phoning Home/PhoningHome_Data/Mono/data-1339C358.dll
Non platform assembly: data-133A78F8 (this message is harmless)
Fallback handler could not load library C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Phoning Home/PhoningHome_Data/Mono/data-133A78F8.dll
Non platform assembly: data-1BB0A020 (this message is harmless)
Fallback handler could not load library C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Phoning Home/PhoningHome_Data/Mono/data-1BB0A020.dll


But there is only one file in the Mono folder called mono.dll

So it looks like the install is missing some files.

For reference:

1. I played this about 2 years ago without problem on my Razer Blade PRO 2019.. recently re-installed to continue playing.

2. Specs from log file:
Initialize engine version: 5.3.4p2 (fdf8d87c549e)
GfxDevice: creating device client; threaded=1
Direct3D:
Version: Direct3D 11.0 [level 11.0]
Renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 with Max-Q Design (ID=0x1e90)
Vendor: NVIDIA
VRAM: 3072 MB
Begin MonoManager ReloadAssembly
...

[carolynpossamai]

I also played this game several years ago, recently reinstalled to play on my new laptop and it fails to launch. I don't imagine steam will refund and by the sounds of it the developer has no plans to fix this issue. Soon the game will be obsolete as no new computer system will run it. Shame to waste the effort that went into making it.

[carolynpossamai]

My husband just solved the issue. He told me to go to the game folder which you can get to through management in steam or searching phoning home in your folder system (most of you know this I'm talking from my point of view which is as a noob). Then he had me right click on the executable file phoning home and click on properties. Then he had me change compatibility mode to Windows 8 (even though there is a warning saying from Jan 1st it will only be compatible with win 10 on I know). We then ran it and it worked like a charm. Hope this helps others.